I began following The Southern Cross, the media organ of the Catholic Church in South Africa when they began implementing MR3 a few years ago. I return to that site regularly for sensible commentary. This week, editor Günther Simmermacher offers a South African perspective on the Vatican’s new norms for dealing with sexual abuse.
He touches on many issues, the Amnesty International condemnation, the Jay report, the authority tension between Rome and the local bishop.
The money quote:
Only a policy that is uniform, transparent and accountable will put to rest questions about the Church’s unequivocal commitment to rid itself of clerical sexual abuse.
Mr Simmermacher acknowledges that it is “remarkable” that Vatican norms are even needed. Truly, the idea that bishops need guidelines to deal with sinful behavior suggests that for all the institutional talk about sex and abuse, the clergy and hierarchy are ignorant about it all when you boil the issue down to essentials.
Mr Simmermacher also concedes that if a bishop screws up in handling a case, there’s pretty much nothing to be done. Except to watch the moral reputation of bishops, if not Catholicism as a whole, continue to circle the drain.
31 May 2011 at 3:23 pm
Priests just can’t stop raping children, and it isn’t be cause they need these “norms” and this education. They’d have to be completely stupid to know that sex with children was wrong. The fact is that a huge percentage like sex with children and they do it because they can get away with it.
Bishops know its wrong to hide it but they hide it for the same reason a 5 year old child lies – because he thinks he’ll get in trouble if the truth comes out. One rare exception is Bishop Vangheluwe of Belgium, who said it was “no big deal” when he had sex with his 5 year old nephew, then had sex with his other nephew. Even when you finally find an honest bishop, he is reprehensible beyond belief, having sex with his nephews.
The fact is that you are dealing with criminals here that don’t care about the laws of man or humanity, and they should all be put in jail. This is organized crime, where the crime is child rape, and the Catholic church has a huge, uniformly coordinated effort to hide it after it is committed.
The Catholic church breaks all of the rules of God, yet the congregation follows the bishops and priests rather than God.
This church will cause the religion to “circle the drain” unless someone stops them.