How come every time Catholic Church leaders open their mouth, they look more out of touch and insensitive?
This is my opinion, and I am a practicing Catholic who is beginning to feel some rage against the hierarchy in the Vatican. Their handling of this scandal has been unbelievably arrogant and self destructive. If they would just admit wrongdoing and move forth with the healing process, things would get better. Membership will fall enormously if they continue to be so self righteous.
Because they ARE out of touch. They are hoping to ride above the brouhaha on a cloud of sanctity and shocked unawareness, letting underlings take the brunt of the blows. They are afraid that by admitting their mistakes they will lose power and prestige. They hope that by bluffing their way through the scandal, they can hold onto the majority of Catholics while the scandals fade into history. The only way to change that is to keep the pressure on and not forget. They’re human. They will change if they see they have no other viable option. But it’s still a long way from "princes of the Church" to "serving the least".
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April 09 2010 04:12 pm | Catholic
David on 09 Apr 2010 at 9:34 pm #
Because they know the people that follow them are gullible enough to believe nothing is wrong. The Vaticans behavior and hypocrisy of religion period is just the tip of the iceberg for my atheism.
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Daniel on 09 Apr 2010 at 9:45 pm #
Be not deceived by the ways of men for Priest craft is very real and is all around us today and has been for thousands of years Priest that have no authority to preach the gospel or even to build up church unto God .
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Rev. Aaron on 09 Apr 2010 at 10:22 pm #
Catholics are the most common religious group to become atheist.
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Ha Ha @ catholicism
Fireball on 09 Apr 2010 at 10:32 pm #
not true but try Methodism….
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Marysia on 09 Apr 2010 at 11:02 pm #
no it won’t >fall enormously> for those who know anything about the real world, are active in their parish & strong in their faith. the "powers that be" will never say enough to suffice for each person. those that want to condemn will and those that want to seek out and make sure they are getting the full story (not via cnn or yahoo news or NY Times either) but the FULL story – then, there will be no arrogance or ignorance.
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Hayley on 09 Apr 2010 at 11:10 pm #
I’m also Catholic, and I feel more the opposite — that they’ve been overly apologetic for things that aren’t their fault.
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Simon T on 09 Apr 2010 at 11:33 pm #
Because they keep demonstrating how distant they are from the parishioners and how close they are to the structure and protection of the Church.
This is no different from how the Catholic church has operated for the last 1,500 years. However, if feudal societies this was expected. We have moved on, society has moved on, the church has not.
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goodluckwithhat on 09 Apr 2010 at 11:45 pm #
I hate to admit it, I’m a practicing Catholic too, but I kinda agree with you. All this covering up to save the reputation of, really, ANY organization, only serves to hurt it and make the people seem more and more suspicious. I think they are still thinking this is the 1950s or something when not many Catholics had degrees and would do almost anything they were told. Remember, it took the Church 500 years to clear Copernicus.
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Richard on 09 Apr 2010 at 11:53 pm #
You have stumbled upon the the major problem with the Catholic Church. By deciding the Church was infallible they cannot admit error without contradicting thousands of years of tradition and teaching. At this point any blemish on the ego of the church becomes catastrophic. The bigger problem is that this arrogance and unwillingness to publicly repent and work towards forgiveness has spread to many denominations of Christianity.
It would be nice if the entire Church could practice the message of repentance and forgiveness that they preach.
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Tiffeny on 09 Apr 2010 at 11:59 pm #
I don’t think their motivation is love. And God is all about love. He is love. So because they have not love……they are as empty cymbals clanging against eachother. Religion w/out love is empty.
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Midge on 10 Apr 2010 at 12:13 am #
well, I have to tell you that I share some of your frustration but remember where it lies—mostly with a few of the Bishops and not with the Pope or the majority of the Church—alot of what you are hearing is blown way out of proportion and trumped up by the enemies of the Church. The majority of these accusations are only that accusations that really carry no weight and they are made to frustrate the people—I see this like the Apostles saw it when all the people were leaving him because of what he said about the consuming of his flesh and blood–"To whom shall we go Lord for you have the words to eternal life"
For instance–one of the accusations I heard about was from a woman whose husband had been dead for 30 years but by golly before he died he told her he was abused by a priest and although they had never told anyone else she felt it was time to do so now—very convenient since her insurance had run out huh? We had a lawyer on this site even that told of how he would go into Parishes that had been accused of harboring abusers and he would talk young people into trumping up accusations because the Church was just paying off and not contesting it
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Alaric on 10 Apr 2010 at 12:54 am #
I like them. Your error, in my opinion, is to expect better from the people who promote death due to HIV, who burned Joan of Arc and Jan Hus, etc. etc. They are not trying to please people like you and me. They know who they’re trying to appeal to–and today, with their remarks about anti-Semitism for example, they scored heavy points with their preferred audience. You need to change teams.
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Gaugau on 10 Apr 2010 at 1:44 am #
I think the vatican will collapse before 2050. They just can’t keep up these days.
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Esteban S on 10 Apr 2010 at 2:00 am #
Just remember that God is also seeing what is going on, and He’ll ultimately be the judge. Until then, stay srong with you’r Catholic faith, and remember that Jesus Himself said that His church will be infallible
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skepsis on 10 Apr 2010 at 2:41 am #
Because they ARE out of touch. They are hoping to ride above the brouhaha on a cloud of sanctity and shocked unawareness, letting underlings take the brunt of the blows. They are afraid that by admitting their mistakes they will lose power and prestige. They hope that by bluffing their way through the scandal, they can hold onto the majority of Catholics while the scandals fade into history. The only way to change that is to keep the pressure on and not forget. They’re human. They will change if they see they have no other viable option. But it’s still a long way from "princes of the Church" to "serving the least".
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Daver on 10 Apr 2010 at 3:15 am #
<<How come every time Catholic Church leaders open their mouth, they look more out of touch and insensitive?>>
The answer is obvious – since you presume Catholic Church leaders to be "out of touch" and "insensative", that’s the way they’re going to appear – to you – no matter what they have to say.
That’s why you shouldn’t judge, and here you are PRE-judging!
<<This is my opinion, and I am a practicing Catholic who is beginning to feel some rage against the hierarchy in the Vatican. Their handling of this scandal has been unbelievably arrogant and self destructive.>>
Even righteous anger does not justify unrighteous behavior. You have to understand that the changes that have been put in place, and whatever other changes they make in the future, are going to take decades before the fruits of those changes becomes apparent. You’re going to have to be patient.
And "arrogant" in what way? Why? Are you upset because the Church hasn’t bowed to the "authority" of earthly justice? The Church is NOT of this earth. It is of God. Therefore, the Higher Power to appeal to isn’t some earthly government but God Himself.
It’s understandable how this can appear "arrogant", but it only appears that way to those who understand that the Church Itself is under only one Authority and that Authority is God.
That’s not to say those priests guilty of child molestation should be tried for their crimes, but there is a difference between bringing an individual pedophile to earthly justice, and vilifying the Church as a whole.
<<If they would just admit wrongdoing and move forth with the healing process, things would get better. Membership will fall enormously if they continue to be so self righteous.>>
They have admitted wrongdoing! MANY times, in fact!
In the interest of healing, YOU need to let go, so that YOU can heal along with all the rest who have been victimized in one form or another.
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Catholic by Choice. on 10 Apr 2010 at 3:31 am #
I’ll use Jesus words to answer you…You of such little faith… believe that the smear attacks on Pope Benedict are simply an attempt to try to discredit the Holy Father and the Catholic Church. There’s something rather deplorable about abused children, who were so badly violated, being used as a political football to beat the Church and the Pope with. Liberals outside the Church hate the fact that the Church stands almost alone in denouncing the sins of abortion, contraception, homosexual acts, euthanasia etc., so there is presented here- in the persons who were abused- the perfect opportunity to criticise the Church as a cover-up for the real desire of liberals to attack it over its moral positions. And of course liberals within the Church are lining up with similar motives, this time to snipe at the Pope for his years of sticking to Catholic doctrine, and not subordinating Christ’s teaching to the itching ears of those wishing to hear what they want to hear.
One senses in all the criticisms there is at heart not a desire to help the Church grow through this difficult time, but to simply point fingers and for people to delight in seeing the Church cower and almost unable to respond to criticism. To use human persons like this as a stick to beat others with demeans the inherent dignity of the abused, and shows those attacking the Church for political ends to be people who don’t give a brass farthing for the hurt experienced by so many
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cristoiglesia on 10 Apr 2010 at 4:03 am #
I think the leadership and especially the Pope has handled this situation well.The Church as a result has become probably the safest place for children. I have not seen any example of arrogance or of destructive behavior among the leadership. All I have seen is humble contrition for these things to have happened. Do you really expect them to admit to wrong doing that they are not guilty of and to lie to make you and other anti-Catholics happy? These things happened 4-6 decades ago. Almost all of the alleged perpetrators are long dead. In the last two years only 8 allegations of abuse have been made. The result of the actions of the Church are evidence that the Church has done the right things to protect children. In fact, the Church should be an example for all the Protestant churches where there abuse of children, which was already many times greater than the Catholic Church, is getting worse and cover-ups are rampant while the Catholic Church remains transparent. They are so busy throwing stones at the Catholic Church they cannot see their own problem. No one is being self righteous, just look at the facts. God bless!
In Christ
Fr. Joseph
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answer4you on 10 Apr 2010 at 4:27 am #
FootballFan1012 – With all due respect, I believe this is just a matter of opinion. I personally think they are doing what the can in light of the Media distortion…
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Saul follower of Jesus on 10 Apr 2010 at 4:51 am #
Its interesting the catholics are more worried about their image then they are about the plain fact many innocent children have been rape.
The catholics seem to be more for the image of the church than they are for protecting our children.
What have the catholics done to make sure no more children are raped? What have the catholics done to make sure our children are safe in their church?
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Misty on 10 Apr 2010 at 5:07 am #
I think it is because they are being vilified and tried in the media circus. The public is getting all their information from the media, who is decidedly liberal and against all that the Catholic Church stands for.
There were things handled wrongly by the Church, no doubt, but they are not the evil child molesters that the media is making them out to be. As they try to defend their position the only thing people focus on is the idea that their defense is akin to defending pedophiles and child sexual abuse. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Catholic Church would not be trying to defend themselves if the media would report only the facts, and not thread personal opinion into it.
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Mara on 10 Apr 2010 at 5:48 am #
I agree and I’m also a practicing Catholic. Every time someone publicly speaks on behalf of the Church, I cringe. There should be some system where cardinals/bishops/priests can’t speak unless their comments are approved beforehand.
I recently read an interview transcript with a priest. He even remarked that it sounded like they were just talking to each other. He said it just showed how out of touch they were with the majority of the people and really had no idea how their comments would be perceived outside of Vatican circles. So true but maddening as well.
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