Jesus loves the truth and truth will make us free. Denying this blot on the Church’s landscape is nothing more than fear.

Further, the condemnation of the entire Church and all bishops for the sins of a very few is in itself bigoted. You and your friends paint with a very broad brush and conflate very many issues into one. In very few cases has there been any “cover up.” In most cases, it was bishops following the advice of medical experts who at the time thought that they could cure anybody and (this being the primary problem) often ignoring canon law for “pastoral reasons.”

Your theological opinion about celibacy is greatly flawed. You will have to contend with Jesus’ admonition that some are called by God to make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of God and that those who are called ought to receive the calling (Mt 19). You will also have to contend with Paul’s admonition for those to remain celibate as he was. You will also have to deal with the evidence that celibacy was practiced by Christians from the very beginning of the Church (revisionist history notwithstanding) for those called to the priesthood and religious life.

Your understanding of St. Thomas and natural law need some work, as does your proof texting approach to Scriptural exegesis. For the former, I would recommend reading Servais Pinckaers’s “The Sources of Christian Ethics.” For the latter, I would recommend reading the CCC or the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s “Interpreting the Bible in the Church.”

Rejecting reading JPTG for the reasons you cite are quite irrational. In addition, you will have to explain what you mean when you say that Scripture “trumps” the Magisterium. I do not find that word in the CCC and certainly it does not put them at odds as you seem to suggest. That is in fact, impossible. It is logically inconsistent to accept Scripture and reject the Magisterium. One would not have the Bible without the teaching office of the Bishops.

Whatever the source of your rebellion against the Church that Christ established, the solution to your problems is the healing that comes from Jesus Christ alone, through His grace. This grace comes through the Sacraments but to make it fruitful one requires cooperation. As St. Cyprian said, one cannot have God as Father unless he has the Church as Mother. You cannot find Jesus’ healing if you continue to rebel against and spew calumnies at His Bride and Body.

I do wish you and your group of friends you have brought with you, the peace that only Jesus can give but you all are going to have to first soften your hearts because He cannot come into a heart that is so full of hatred. May the peace of Easter and Our Risen Lord bring healing and peace.

Sarbanes-Oxley is a U.S. federal law enacted in response to the rising incidence of corporate and accounting fraud at prominent corporations, as exemplified by Enron, whose annual revenues in 2001 decreased from over $100 billion to nearly zero in a matter of months. Enron’’s market capitalization prior to its collapse was over $60 billion, while its ten year annual growth rate exceeded 50%. Enron collapsed primarily because its business-model was inextricably linked to the amount of trust customers placed in its financial integrity. Once this confidence withered, Enron’’s clients became unwilling to trade long-term natural gas contracts due to a concern they may never be fulfilled. The underlying market dynamics are similar to those of a bank run, where panic-driven depositors race to withdraw their funds as quickly as possible. A mounting lack of trust quickly envelops into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

These same principles, in a sense, also apply to the Catholic Church. Were the laity and non-believers alike cease to believe in the fundamental moral integrity of the Church, a global institution that is of enormous value and importance, would quickly fail. Loss of trust precipitates failure, thus justifying the initial loss of trust. The only effective antidote for preventing this outcome is the restoration of trust. Unfortunately the U.S. Catholic Bishops have failed to meet the growing public demand for greater transparency, but instead have enacted a series of measures designed to prevent further instances of abuse in every arena except those where it actually occurred.

In order to begin restoring public trust in the Catholic Church, all members of the clergy who contributed to the scandal, including Bishops and even Cardinals, must be removed from authority, and as required by law, prosecuted. Contrary to the legislative reforms enacted in response to mounting corporate scandals, the reforms enacted within the Catholic Church in America have been superficial so as to spare those directly responsible. Whereas Enron’’s former leaders are now serving serious time in prison, Cardinal Mahoney and other leaders who were aware that priests were abusing children have not been removed or even held responsible.

With respect to Cardinal Mahoney, the estimated cumulative financial loss to the Los Angeles Archdiocese is as high as $1 billion, which the laity will be expected to cover. However, the Cardinal could have easily avoided or mitigated this scandal had he acted responsibly as a leader, given that in many cases he had full knowledge of the illicit behavior committed by select priests. As a leader, he must- voluntarily or otherwise- accept full responsibility for this scandal, just as Enron’’s leaders were forced to accept culpability as well as punishment under the law for their leadership failures. This is a prerequisite if the Catholic Church in America is to retain any shred of credibility as a moral force for good in the world.

Vinnie,

I fail to see how this issue in anyway restricts my “right” to do or say anything, or how it is relevant to my post or opinion?

The sex abuse and it’s cover-up is an injustice, and understandably, The Church is being held to a higher standard, that point is not being argued. The scandal was a result of crimes committed by individual men afflicted with sexual illnesses with subsequent cover-up ranging from individuals like Sipes who may have believed they could cure them through psychiatric means to Bishops who tried to protect priests from prosecution.

You either aren’t aware of, fail to recognize, or choose to ignore the fact that the prevalence of sex abuse is not just a Catholic problem (by most estimations is among the lowest of any occupation), but a problem among all faiths and all walks of life. So, if celibacy is such a problem and responsible for the sex-abuse, what’s the excuse of teachers, protestant ministers, Jewish rabbis, police officers, construction workers, etc….?

Celibacy is in direct violation of God’s commandment to man to be fruitful and multiply

Are we to assume that all infertile and unmarried folks are in direct violation of God’s commandment? Or is it possible that this may not apply to every human being.

With regard to celibacy and sexuality, please refrain from asking me to read JPII’s writings on human sexuality. He was at the helm of the church during the biggest sex scandal to hit the church since the reign of the Borgias five hundred years ago.

During JPII’s reign as pope is when the inicidence of the abuse hit it’s lowest points. The majority of the abuse took place from the 60’s - 80’s which just so happens to coincide with the sexual revolution, let the facts speak for themselves.

With regard to celibacy and sexuality, please refrain from asking me to read JPII’s writings on human sexuality. He was at the helm of the church during the biggest sex scandal to hit the church since the reign of the Borgias five hundred years ago. That in itself is testimony to his ignorance of human sexuality and of his lack of will to address it openly. When confronted in 2002 with the beginnings of the worldwide sexual abuse scandal that started in the United States, his eloquent response to that scandal was, “Mysterium Iniquitus.” With those two words, he shed a great deal of light on his total grasp of human sexuality.

Lastly, with regard to celibacy, it is wrong and goes against the first commandment of God. Gen. 1:28 Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. Celibacy is in direct violation of God’s commandment to man to be fruitful and multiply. Where does the church come off countermanding God and forcing those who want to serve him to be celibate? The Catechism and Canon tells us that Scripture trumps the Magisterium. Secondly, and I hate to use it because it is the root of so many evils, there is Aquinas and the Natural Law. The penis has two purposes, one is urination and the is procreation. To deny either use is a violation of the natural law and as pointed out above, God’s first commandment to man.

The problem is:

A priest, nun or whoever takes a vow of celibacy. When they violate that vow, they have (themselves) ’sinned’ and it’s their responsibility to get themselves on the straight and narrow, according to what vows they made. That’s fine with me.

So, if a priest has consensual sex (although I believe the priest, like a physician or an attorney carries fiduciary responsibility and hence sex cannot be consensual), that’s one problem that’s been created.

But when a priest or a bishop ‘grooms’ a child, and later seduces the child so that the child will do whatever he asks, that is a crime in this country. Usually, the predator instills fear into the child, along with the guilt that a Catholic child is fed from the moment of birth. But when the parents of this child, if they are privileged to learn of what actually happened, goes to the Bishop, tells the story, is assured by the Bishop that nothing like this has ever happened before and that steps will be taken immediately to stop this sexually immature priest or nun from abusing again, the parents believe the Bishop. The Bishop then moves the priest to another parish or another diocese and nothing is accomplished, except that the priest is free to abuse again and the Bishop knows that he (the Bishop) is placing more children in harm’s way.

Deception on the part of the Bishop, and the life of the shattered child, are both changed forever.

1. The priest is celibate. If the priests wants to engage in sex, let him leave the priesthood and go play elsewhere.

2. The Bishop is ’seen by some’ as the Vicar of Christ or the Shepherd who tends to his flock. If the Bishop hides the predator, he is then involved in criminal activity. He probably believes that he will never be caught, that he is safe, because no person is ever allowed into this files… for any reason. Until now.

3. Historically and in all of society as well, people have been hesitant to discuss child abuse openly. In earlier times, children were considered chattels to be used in any way that the child’s parents saw fit. Children had no rights until the last century.

4. Criminal activities are just that, crimes against human beings. Now, at long last, as more and more survivors are coming forward, the church has been caught in a web of deceit of their own making. Lawyers are taking these cases to court because that, in fact, is the only way these predators and their ‘minders’ can be stopped.

5. At least leaders in organizations with criminal intent do not purport to be the final arbiters of right and wrong.

6. No child or young adult should be used like a toy and thrown away.

7. I do not care one whit what the church does. I have long since ex-communicated them from me and mine. But for the rest of my life, I will continue to fight for the rights of children.

8. There were no Statutes of Limitations when I was abused in 1952 by a (hetero-sexual priest in the State of Missouri. If one does some research, one can learn when, why and how those SOL laws came about.

9. And to add insult to injury, we are told by hypocrites from both sides of their faces how to live, how to vote, and how to think. And all of the above is based on their tax-exempt charitable religious status. It’s great hoaxology, that has been perpetrated against mankind for centuries.

First, Sipes treated these priests. If he returned them to service then he is personally culpable. If he did not and saw that they were being returned any way, then he is likewise personally implicated.

Fr. Tom Doyle has been in rebellion from the Church for many years. His distaste for the hierarchical Church, I understand, came from his experience in marriage tribunals early in his career. In many US dioceses these have been problematic since the 1960s. However, the shenanigans of marriage tribunals were the work of those who dissent from Church teaching any way. Nevertheless, his jumping on the bandwagon of sex abuse is just another vehicle for him to vent his anger at the Church hierarchy.

As far as Church teaching on sexuality goes, I would strongly recommend that you understand what you are criticizing before you criticize it. It is not even caricature that you are throwing up as the Church’s teaching on sexuality. Have you read the Catechism of the Catholic Church? How about John Paul the Great’s Theology of the Body (or a popularization of it)? Celibacy does not reject but rather confirms the meaning of sex and sex difference. It places it into it cosmic and eternal significance. Why don’t you go to our side bar and read through our series on sex and human personhood before you dismiss as a farce something you clearly misunderstand?