Catholic church and Watchtower

by Dogpatch 3 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Dogpatch

  Some of this sounds ominously familiar in the light of the Watchtower's guilt in regards to tolerating pedophiles:
  http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/28/national/28CHUR.html?todaysheadlines

  Eugene Kennedy, a former priest and the author of "Unhealed Wound: The Church and Sexuality," said the bishops and cardinals acted more like corporate executives than church leaders, covering up a scandal, threatening those who wanted to speak out, surrounding themselves with lawyers and public relations gurus expert in polishing images and obscuring embarrassing truths.

  Of course, cover-ups are not restricted to those who stand to gain a few million here and there. The police have their blue wall of silence; doctors whisper about incompetent surgeons — not only to protect their colleagues but to protect their profession. Organizational theorists have often observed how people within institutions, whether out of self-deception or cynicism, swallow misdeeds so as not to taint the organization.

  If anything, some contend, the church is even more susceptible to such thinking. "The temptation of all churches is to see the church as more important than its message, and anytime you have that, corruption can occur," Paul Wadell, an associate professor of religious studies at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wis., said. "There is a tendency to want to protect the institution at all cost; people become expendable."

  Add to that, a particularly acute fear of scandal in the church. "The only possible but tragically wrong thing you could say is that they were trying to protect the faithful against scandal," against the notion that priests were flawed creatures, Ms. Kaveny said.

  While fear of scandal would inevitably lead to secrecy, Catholicism has an especially intimate relationship with confidentiality beyond such self-interest. Since the 11th century, when public penance fully gave way to private confession, confidentiality has had a central role in church practice. Mr. Cavanaugh sees secrecy as a systemic problem in the church, but one that has a double edge. Alongside the desire to protect the institution, he said, there is also a heartfelt reluctance to "make a public example out of somebody's sinfulness."

  Randy

  Net Soup!
  http://www.freeminds.org
• 

  Fredhall

  Randy,

  Keep dreaming dude! Don't forget, tonight is the Memorial. Why don't you go to the same congregation where Firpo Carr attend? And sit by him too. Believe me, he doesn't mind sitting by a white boy like you.
• 

  Amazing

  Hi Randy: I agree that this issue is difficult with respect to keeping sins private ... and yet, somehow shileding molesters ... I guess there needs to be certain balance, but how to achieve it will take some real good debate.

  The problem with the Catholic Church right now is not the 'Confessional' privelege for the lay member being violated, but the many Priests who have engaged in acts of molestation ... for decades, and gotten away with it.

  I believe that in the case of priests, the Church needs to remove them when they learn of the problem, and remand such priests to the civil authorities. The violation of trust is greater than the individual need for a priest to keep his sins priavte ... it is like a foreman who is trusted to stop fires, but is discovered starting fires, or a policeman who deals in drugs and takes bribes, or a doctor who uses his medical knowledge to kill people ... the violation of certain positions of trust carries a great obligation to expose the problem, rather than maintain privacy.

  Following Bible principles, we will avoid trying to live - or demand others to live - by an extensive and rigid set of dos and don'ts that go beyond the teachings of the Bible. The Watchtower, 4-15-02, pg 22, pp 15
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  bluesapphire

  Amazing, I agree with what you said about priests being handed over to the legal authorities if they are pedophiles. I feel sorry for all of those children who have been molested by priests. Those priests should be put in jail where they can't ever again harm a child.

  I also feel sorry for the thousands of priests who are good and honest. It's just like if there is a group of corrupt police officers and it gives a bad name to the entire police force. The innocent ones have to pay the price for the sins of the guilty ones. And partly to blame are those bishops who were guilty of transfering pedophile priests to other parishes. I think therein lies the burden of responsibility. Those bishops need to be accountable too!