(June 16, 2015 at 3:53 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Catholicism does not condone any of this behavior. In fact, it vehemently teaches against it.By their fruits you shall know them.
I am well aware that Catholicism doesn't explicitly condone the behavior (already pointed out by FatAndFaithless), but the decades of abuse and subsequent shell game played with the perpetrators can only be evidence of tacit approval. It is clear that the RCC put the reputation of the church ahead of the safety and well being of the children in its care saying nothing of justice for those abused. The tu quoque defense that others do it too is rubbish; others are prosecuted and punished if found guilty. Offending priests in some cases have been given unsuspecting fresh flocks to infiltrate rather than turned over to civil authorities to allow due process to take its course.
The entire affair is morally repugnant. The dismissive hand waiving rationalizations that some provide in an attempt to maintain the moral authority of what can only be described as a criminal organization is repulsive. What should have happened is that all practicing Catholics should have immediately demanded a full disclosure and subsequent adherence to the idea that those charged with sufficient evidence would stand trial for their alleged misconduct in the jurisdictions where the crimes were said to have taken place. The fact that this still isn't happening combined with many of the devout making excuses for how the RCC has managed this is telling.
It only took the RCC 350 years to exonerate Galileo, perhaps one should hold out hope.
