To most of my blog friends, I already know where you stand on this. My newest friend Victoria http://victorianeuronotes.wordpress.com/ who I just met this week has devoted some of her blog to this very subject. I wonder how many Christians especially Catholic will see a distinction just as the Vatican claims to have done when it comes to this subject. Just when I thought their new Pope might bring some sanity to their religion , I have come to realize this is an oxymoron. As a former Christian, I really have no desire to berate my Christian friends. When I read stories like this however, rolling my eyes would only show disrespect for the victims . Situations like this deserve me getting mad , ranting and doing it especially in front of my Christian friends.
People of all faiths and no faiths should be totally outraged over this ! I for one am going to post a link to this article on everyone Christian blog I visit and see how many denounce it.
Vatican Urges U.N. Not To Equate Sex Abuse With Torture As Hearings Get Underway
VATICAN CITY (RNS) As Vatican representatives prepare to testify before a United Nations inquiry into torture next week, a senior official warned investigators that it would be “deceptive” to link torture with the pedophilia scandals that have swept the Catholic Church.
The Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Friday (May 2) the Convention Against Torture, endorsed by the Vatican in 2002, was one of the most important in the U.N.’s ambit.
Lombardi also stressed in a statement the Holy See’s “strong commitment against any form of torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.”
But he urged the U.N. committee, which is holding three weeks of hearings in Geneva, to resist pressure from nongovernmental organizations “with a strong ideological character” that are intent on including the sexual abuse of minors in a discussion about torture.
“The extent to which this is deceptive and forced is clear to any unbiased observer,” Lombardi said.
But the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which represents 18,000 victims, said Friday that hundreds of children and adults were still being “sexually violated, tortured and assaulted” by Catholic priests.
“Torture and violence can be subtle and manipulative. Or it can be blatant and brutal,” said SNAP President Barbara Blaine in a statement. “Either way, it’s horribly destructive to the human spirit, especially when inflicted on the young by the powerful, on the truly devout by the allegedly holy.”
“Nothing has succeeded in getting Vatican officials to stop this violence,” she added.
In a separate inquiry in February, the U.N. watchdog for the human rights of the child issued a scathing report ordering the Holy See to open its files on clergy who had “concealed their crimes” and called on the church to remove suspected or known abusers.
In a rare interview in March, Pope Francis defended the church saying it had acted with “transparency and responsibility” on the issue.
In its submission, the group Catholic Voices USA told the U.N. committee Friday the church had become “the global model for the legal safeguarding of children” and church volunteers were often risking their lives to help the world’s vulnerable.
“Were this committee to label the Holy See a sponsor of torture, the results would be bloody and tragic,” Ashley McGuire, from the organization’s advisory board, said in Geneva on Friday.
Meanwhile the Vatican’s permanent observer to the U.N. in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, said in a newspaper interview Friday the incidence of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy was “the lowest” among all the professions, including teachers and judges.
He said suggestions that the church was some kind of “incubator” for abusive clergy were “dishonest and illogical.”
The pope recently established a committee headed by Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley to look at the issue of sex abuse and the committee’s eight members have been holding their first meeting at the Vatican this week.
Ugly. The most shocking thing I’ve heard regarding the abuse was the Vatican’s defense that priests are “not employees,” and they are therefore not responsible.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/us/vatican-is-not-employer-of-abusive-priests-judge-says.html?_r=0
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I have been to the Vatican 3 times. I have seen the priceless art objects it possesses . To stoop this low is purely about “The Money” .
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Yup. I’ve been, too… Impressive place.
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I don’t know if you have visited Gary’s blog http://www.lutherwasnotbornagain.com/?wref=bif. But today he has a post trying to show that even though Christianity is guilty for committing atrocities for 2000 years, it has done so at a lower frequency than non-christian societies. He offers no statistical data and regardless, this makes people feel better about being christian ?????
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Ken, thank you so much for the shout out. I can’t wait for the day this Roman empire implodes. I hope it happens in my lifetime. They are a cancer to the body of humanity.
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” ~Lord Acton
Regarding Gary’s new blog post — I read it earlier today. I just shook my head as I read. He really is living in his own little world.
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You are very welcome, Victoria ! I tried to comment on Gary’s blog today using my wordpress account but it would not post. He in essence was saying that although Christianity was guilty of atrocities over its 2000 year history, the frequency of their atrocities was less than a non-christian society. And Christians are suppose to feel good about this ??? Since he used Stalin as an example he might as well said, ” I as a Christian have committed atrocities but Stalin was worse, therefore I continue to be a Christian”. And his little supporters were rationalizing just as much as he was.
Enough. I could go on . 🙂 Have a great weekend !
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I was stunned that someone with 10 years of higher education sounded like he didn’t make it past 4th grade. I suppose he wasn’t aware that Stalin attended seminary for a while, and that his mother hoped he would become a priest, thus naming him Joseph, after St. Joseph. One of the reasons Stalin grew to hate Christianity because he witnessed his mother be horrible abused by his father, and she wasn’t allowed to divorce. Then he states that women gained equality because of Christian countries? Couldn’t be further from the truth.
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*was because
*horribly
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I knew what you meant 🙂 I wish wordpress had an edit feature for people who leave comments. I guess I should look at settings. Maybe they do.
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Unfortunately they don’t. Just giving us a 5 or 10 minute window to edit would be great. I get in a hurry and don’t proof, or my brain sees what I intended to write, not what’s actually there, lol.
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Hope you have a great weekend, too. 🙂
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Ken,
Have you visited Gary’s blog today? He has the Humanist Manifesto up and says in essence it was stolen from Christianity. Gag!
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LOL Ruth. Isn’t that just typical?
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Ruth,
I had a chance to read it now. The comments part of his post are disturbing . Gary claims to have left fundamentalism. In reading his recent posts and comments by him and his supporters, this doesn’t appear to be the case . I think his “Eastern Orthodox” belief system personifies fundamentalism. IMHO
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Yeah, his version of Eastern Orthodox Christianity doesn’t resemble anything I’ve read or heard about. It sounds like he’s reverting to fundamentalism to me. I haven’t commented over there but he seems pretty preoccupied with hell.
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I was quite taken aback by his recent posts after his declarations of leaving his fundamentalism behind and not judging the fate of others. Sounds like fire and brimstone over there.
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Ken, I concur.
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Ruth,
I have been driving the past 5 hours to Kansas City. I will take a look after dinner. Thanks for letting me know ! Nothing he does seems to surprise me ! Like Victoria said yesterday, for a man with 10 years of college, he seems to be all over the map with his comments. 🙂
I suppose you can be book smart and still have issues……
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