www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Catholic Priest on Trial in L.A.

Dear Alice,
I'm finally getting around to reply. Sorry for the delay. The priest was found guilty by the jury on February 23, 2006.

You wrote:
"This is a painful subject that has been beaten to death by the press."

I have been posting about this issue: child abuse by clergy because it is a topic about which I have grave concerns. I feel the press hasn't really "beaten it to death" I haven't seen much in the papers I read including the national ones (NYTimes, Wash. Post etc.) To the contrary, in a way its completely dropped off National press radar screens.

It is a serious issue and worthy of note on a catholic bulletin board.

What you and Anhelina must remember is best summarized by Cantor JKF in another post which I quote below. Remember not to fear discussion. You might learn about your self if you take a minute and ask why it is you fear particular discussions and seek to suppress them here.

Please note that I don't consider my posts in the nature of ruffling feathers. I also don't think I'm expressing "a position that is controversial."
Cantor JKF:
"Just this week, the Moderators had an offline discussion on this very topic. I shared my feeling that, while we must maintain a charitable and Christian tone in the conversations on this Forum, we should not edit/delete posts simply because they express positions that are "controversial."

Some of the best ideas and discussions start when people have the courage to challenge the status quo or "ruffle some feathers;" canidly, it makes for interesting reading as well."

Dear Nonna,

First of all, I am not the Moderator of this forum. My post was an opinion on an equal playing board of all other opinions: that of POSTER.

Since I am not a Moderator, I couldn't possibly suppress this topic.

The *only* time I ever mentioned the term quote/unquote "ruffling feathers" was on another forum in the context of a Greek Orthodox priest who offered Holy Eucharist to a Byzantine Catholic. I did not want any of the parties involved to be unduly hurt.

I will also remind you that I wrote this:

Forgive me, but I fail to see where there is "fear" in any of this.

Regards,
Alice

Dear Alice you said:

"May God have mercy on the children/victims, on the Bishops, on the Catholic Church, and even on those priests who allowed the demons of sex and ego--demons which manifested themselves in an unprecedented way in these past decades of liberalized thought and behavior-- to permeate their souls and cloud their judgement."

I say:

I want to emphasize the part where you said: "demons which manifested themselves in an unprecendented way in these past decades of 'LIBERALIZED THOUGHT AND BEHAVIOR' -- to permeate their souls and cloud their judgement"

It is important to realize that the priests did not lead the people into this immoral behavior, but were a product of it in and among themselves. The immorality was being fostered by our society, and the priests were weak and therefore became part of it.

Of course in some cases, there was definitely demonic activity, as I had personally observed. As far as I can discern, at least one of the well known abusers had 'subjecated' himself to a demon.

We all have our sins. There are as many abusers of children percentage wise among the Protestant ministers and Orthodox priests...and they are married. Because of that, I know that the insurance companies are very hesitant in giving out insurance....to any Church.

So saying all this, I think that we who have the power to change society, should start doing so.

Zenovia

And who are we to judge? I also agree that there is no need for this topic. There are other educational themes we can read. The news about child abuse and all the media scandal is very unfortunate, all we can do is pray for the victims and protect our children and the ones near by. I am so dissapointed of everyone pointing at the Catholic Church when in fact other religions, sects and cults have as much (if not more) www.reformation.com [reformation.com] child abuse in their churches. This is only my humble personal opinion.

Dear Alice,

Thank you for the reply. I stand corrected. It seemed that you had endorsed Anhelina's post to me which came across as a reproach to me for posting on this topic. Her post seemed to desire suppression of the topic. The way I understood your post was as in agreement with her sentiments.


I only posted the comments of the cantor because I thought he eloquently described the value of discussion and ability to disagree through discussion. I was not attributing to you any other comments made by him. I think because of the way I edited my post it came across a bit confusing.

I understand that you seek to pray on the matter. And that is completely appropriate (in other words I agree with you) And yet, I guess for me -- prayer is not enough.

more later
Affectionately yours
Nonna