German Catholic Priests Abused More Than 3,600 Kids

[KevinM1]

Why the fuck would the average catholic even want to be associated any more. 

Do they understand that by remaining they are passively condoning these acts?

Rationalization is a hell of a thing.

"It's not my priest.  He's one of the good ones.  It's priests from other countries, or other parts of my country, but not mine.  And, it happened long ago, so it's over now.  And the Pope said he was going to get to the bottom of it and make sure it never happens again!"

For me, it's not just a matter of the people continuing to support the church.  Where's the outrage from the priests?  Why hasn't a schism formed yet?  I mean, thousands (if not more) children were violated in the worst possible way by people abusing the power and access the church itself provides.  So, where's the group of priests who have had enough of the church's inaction?

These don't look like the faces of people trying to stop their own from raping children:

[Minimalist]

"It's not my priest.  He's one of the good ones.

There are no good ones.  There are the ones who were butt-fucking children and there were the ones who knew about it and remained silent.

[Mr.Obvious]

You know maybe this is a deadly blow to Catholic Church because Germany is perhaps the richest "Catholic country" and I think it's safe to say that Germany is a cash cow to the Vatican, considering that Catholic Germans must pay 10% out of their monthly pay and if something was there to disrupt that it seems Vatican would be in a serious doo-doo.

But, of course, it may not disrupt the believing Germans at all and maybe Vatican has some other valuable cash sources.

Yeah, i think The RCC will have hope, as long as they haven't run out of nazi gold.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"It's not my priest.  He's one of the good ones.

There are no good ones.  There are the ones who were butt-fucking children and there were the ones who knew about it and remained silent.

And now they're bishops, cardinals, and popes. 

[Whateverist]

I imagine your average clear thinking catholic probably just regrets that child molesters are always attracted to positions which give them access to kids. It isn't as though the church was founded by child predators for this purpose.

But I do think those like C_L do well to demand the institution be redesigned specifically to make sure no man or men are ever alone with a child again. That would include looking to local justice departments to enforce, bring to trial and punish any offender. If leadership were serious, they'd do this. If the laity were serious they'd demand it.

[vorlon13]

"It's not my priest.  He's one of the good ones.

There are no good ones.  There are the ones who were butt-fucking children and there were the ones who knew about it and remained silent.

They should accept their reality and make ejaculating into a child a Holy sacrament.

[Angrboda]

I imagine your average clear thinking catholic probably just regrets that child molesters are always attracted to positions which give them access to kids.  It isn't as though the church was founded by child predators for this purpose.

But I do think those like C_L do well to demand the institution be redesigned specifically to make sure no man or men are ever alone with a child again.  That would include looking to local justice departments to enforce, bring to trial and punish any offender.  If leadership were serious, they'd do this.  If the laity were serious they'd demand it.

The position of being a priest sets up fiduciary relationships with the laity, by necessity, and fiduciary relationships, without proper oversight, lead to abuse. It's not really the problem that such abuse occurs, though we would certainly like to reduce the frequency, it's the institutional response that is faulty, and that has to do with how oversight, investigation, and discipline is justified, and implemented, within the church. Some of that has to do with the very nature of the priests' duties, as well as the church's responsibility in terms of confessional confidence, privacy for the abused and the accused, as well as insuring that accused priests aren't simply tried by a hostile secular authority, or worse, by the press and public itself. So, it's fundamental that children are going to be abused, just as they are in any other walk of life where such relationships exist. The question is how to balance the needs of all concerned without sacrificing the core goals of justice for the victims and the prevention of future abuse. In the past, the secrecy and hidden nature of the institutional response led to the abuses we see, coverups and shuffling around of abusers. What is needed is a response which doesn't lead to those outcomes, yet still respects the issues which motivated the development of the responses which ultimately has led to them.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

But who are they fiducing?