Hey, if you are a priest.....try not to have sex with kids.

UPDATED AGAIN!!!  4/3/10
This is a story that will not and should not go away. The pressure from the media is not as great as it should be, but at least some news sources are not letting the Pope, the Vatican, and the Catholic Church off the hook. I find it revolting that Catholics all over the world are not cutting off their tithes and demanding that their leadership come clean and agree to make public and prosecute ANYONE (Pope Benedict included) who was involved in molestation, coercion, or the cover up of these despicable crimes against children. If we can't trust the top of the church to come clean, why are they worthy of relevance? Why are they worthy of your hard earned money? Why are they worthy of an iota of respect? Every time that there is a social crises on this planet, the Vatican has a comment. Oddly (and sadly) enough, the Vatican remains silent on the pedophilia charges. 
There has to eventually be line that can't be crossed by religion. I hear all about how the religious need to be respected, supported, and given a favored status by our government. Well, that's all good and fine, but a priest raping a child is NOT part of the deal. At that point, you deserve punishment and to be called out. If there is a God, I don't think raping children is something that would be on the Holy To Do List. Check out these links.....get pissed about this. Send an email to the Pope. Will it do any good? Probably not. But if enough people in the world are outraged and demanding answers, this thing won't be swept under the rug!


The Pope's Email:  benedictxvi@vatican.va
The Vatican Will Not Be Intimidated! 

Vaticans sex abuse hotline, melts down!!! 

Scandal going global! 




 
UPDATED---3/30/10
*updates in RED*

Louisville priest sexually abuses a child....go figure 

 click the link above for the story

For those interested, there is an excellent documentary called "Deliver Us From Evil", and it outlines how the church leadership ignored a California priests child abuse for years. They even moved him to different churches every time a new allegation was brought forth. You can read more about the content of the documentary at the links below. If you have Netflix, the documentary is available.

IMDB: Deliver Us From Evil

Amazon: Deliver Us From Evil

There doesn't seem to be a week that goes by without my having to hear about sexual abuse on children. Most of the coverage seems to center around priests and more precisely, Catholic priests. I don't know if there is anything a human being could do that is worse than harming a child.

Why is it so prevalent? And yes, 4% of 110,000 priests that were found to be abusers (between 1950 and 2002) is a large number, no matter how much damage control is done. One child being abused by one priest is one too many. These people are in a position of trust and if there is any place that SHOULD be safe for kids, it's around Christians, right? Especially Christians who maintain a high place in the church.

Obviously, it's a mental illness. Nobody would get into the priesthood or become a pastor with the intent of getting to molest kids......at least I really hope nobody has. So, I don't want to be unfair by not acknowledging the mental illness aspect. Before the media caught on and before children felt safe to really come out in the open and talk about the abuse, it got very little attention from the church itself....and by church, I mean the Catholic church (although Catholics are hardly alone in this). Priests when accused were simply moved to another city and there many of them would go right on with the abuse. For decades (and probably centuries) abuse was basically hidden by Rome. We had mentally ill clergy buggering kids and Rome did all they could to hide it and turn away from serious investigation, punishment, or rehabilitation. So, the question I have is; How in the hell is there still a Vatican, a Pope, or any Catholic hierarchy remaining?

The whole operation should have been dismantled and thrown on to the scrap heap. I'm not talking about the rank and file Catholic. I'm talking about the leadership and the top of the organization. I pretty much know the answer to my question and the answer is power. The church is so powerful, that it can pretty much get away with anything. Hell, the chirpings of the Pope has been known to turn elections, cause riots, and stymie scientific study. Why does anyone put any kind of trust or faith into an institution that has allowed so much pain and suffering to go on without addressing it? All one has to do is research the Dark Ages and read about all the horror that the church caused, not to mention holding back advances in medicine and other sciences, for over 1,000 years. If, in modern times, the Catholic church would cover up sexual abuse of children, what won't they hide? There is absolutely no reason to have respect for any of the governing bodies of the Catholic church. It's 2010 and it's time we moved on from such things.

Is there any doubt that God is rolling over in his grave? A large number of his representatives harming children? Well, anyone with the good sense to learn about the Inquistions, Crusades, Jewish history, and Islamic fundamentalism and its' origins, knows that abuse, torture, and killing is simply par for the course when it comes to religion. But this is the modern age and the fact that this kind of thing is happening to children to this day is revolting and the fact that there is really very little in the way of outrage over this is almost as revolting.

Just so nobody thinks I am bitching without a solution, here is something that may help.......let priests have sex and get married, without it being a sin against a God who people still fear is wagging his finger at them from a few thousand years ago. Sex is a natural part of the human life. It's is INSANE to deny that to any consenting adults. Heaven forbid that you spank the monkey once in awhile to relax your mind or ease tension. No.....wouldn't want to spill any "seed" now would we? For crying out loud.......just think about what people (and maybe yourself) believe sometimes. It's ignorant, out dated, and shameful to rely on pretty much anything handed down by Catholic hierarchy as having any sort of value to modern society.

Some links for those interested in being pissed off or enlightened......

CNN Report on church abuse (2004)

The Inquisition

The Crusades

The Dark Ages