Anglican leader: Irish church lost all credibility
April 3rd, 2010 . by TexasFredLONDON (AP) - The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has lost all credibility because of its mishandling of abuse by priests, the leader of the Anglican church said in remarks released Saturday. A leading Catholic archbishop said he was “stunned” by the comments.The remarks released Saturday marked the first time Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has spoken publicly on the crisis engulfing the Catholic Church. The comments come ahead of a planned visit to England and Scotland by Pope Benedict XVI later this year.
“I was speaking to an Irish friend recently who was saying that it’s quite difficult in some parts of Ireland to go down the street wearing a clerical collar now,” Williams told the BBC. “And an institution so deeply bound into the life of a society, suddenly becoming, suddenly losing all credibility - that’s not just a problem for the church, it is a problem for everybody in Ireland, I think.”
The interview with Williams, recorded March 26, is to be aired Monday on the BBC’s “Start the Week” program as part of a general discussion of religion to mark Easter. But its publication ahead of the interview caught Catholic leaders off guard.
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Anglican leader: Irish church lost all credibility
As long time readers will remember, I was raised in the Catholic Church.
As a child I heard rumors whispered about Father So-and-So or Sister Such-and-Such, but it was always polite whispers. The kids weren’t supposed to hear these whispers, but you know how that story goes.
There was never a public statement of outrage, even when a child was molested. There was never a cry of outrage when a child was seduced by a Priest or a Nun. I use the word seduced because molested may not be the most appropriate word for a person of 17 years of age, unless they were the victim of clergy rape.
I was not a victim of rape or molestation. When I was 17 I was on the receiving end of some serious attempts at seduction by Catholic Nuns.
I worked in a Catholic Hospital after school my Senior year in high school and there were Nuns all over the place. Some were well known as party girls. On in particular got pregnant by a very prominent orthopedic surgeon, that was a huge scandal!
I made every effort to avoid these Nuns, I tried to maintain MY faith, until a supposedly very devout Jesuit Priest, the Chaplain of this same hospital, tried to lay hands on me, and I don’t mean in the way Charismatics lay hands. He was rewarded for his efforts! He ate dinner through a straw for the next 6 weeks, I broke his jaw when I punched him and walked away.
I was threatened with excommunication, I was told how I had embarrassed the Church, I was told I was going to HELL because I had struck Father SOB.
I was told, by my parents, that this couldn’t possibly have happened, “Father SOB wouldn’t DO something like that, he’s a man of God… ” In other words, I was telling a lie. The truth of the matter is, they didn’t want to believe that a priest was a pervert. That would shake their faith.
It was soon after that the Nun and Surgeon scandal broke, I was pretty vocal about that too, “Yeah, well, maybe she’s making it up, he is, after all, a doctor, shouldn’t he know how to screw her and not get her pregnant?” Needless to say, my folks weren’t too happy about that.
I was as outspoken then as I am now.
The fact of the matter is this, the Roman Catholic Church is rife with perverts, pedophiles, molesters, party girls and every other description you can come up with for people of loose, or NO morals.
I’m 56 years old now, and I know that they don’t represent what we’re taught is the will of God, but as a 17 year old kid, I was traumatized greatly, to the point that I have to physically force myself to enter a Catholic church, and that’s only to attend the funeral of a family member. I then get OUT of these churches ASAP!
The fact of the matter is this too, the Roman Catholic Church HAS blown ALL of it’s credibility.
These stories are happening all too often, and then the stories of past transgressions come to light. Along with these stories comes the diversionary tactics the RCC uses to protect these animals, these demons, these sorry bastards that steal the innocence of children.
The RCC doesn’t condemn the perverts, they protect them! They hide them, they transfer them to other parts of the world, they deny, they lie, they do everything possible to ignore these sick bastards actions and keep them secret. And when all else fails, they use the treasure of Rome to pay off the molested in an attempt to make it all go away.
The abuse cases of two priests in Arizona have cast further doubt on the Catholic church’s insistence that Pope Benedict XVI played no role in shielding pedophiles before he became pope.Documents reviewed by The Associated Press show that as a Vatican cardinal, the future pope took over the abuse case of the Rev. Michael Teta of Tucson, then let it languish at the Vatican for years despite repeated pleas from the bishop for the man to be removed from the priesthood.
In another Tucson case, that of Msgr. Robert Trupia, the bishop wrote to then-Cardinal Ratzinger, who would become pope in 2005. Bishop Manuel Moreno called Trupia “a major risk factor to the children, adolescents and adults that he many have contact with.” There is no indication in the case files that Ratzinger responded.
SOURCE
The RCC has done this for centuries. The evil within the RCC is coming home to roost now, they have been losing members for a long time, now they are losing HUGE chunks of some nations. And they only have themselves to blame.
German Catholics are leaving the Church in droves, and confidence in Church leadership has been severely sapped by the sex-abuse scandal in that country, according to a survey by Stern magazine. The survey found an unprecedented rate of defection from the Church, with only 34% of the Catholics surveyed indicating that they trust the Church and 39% ready to trust the Pope. Those numbers have fallen dramatically in recent weeks; a similar survey in January found majorities of 56% of Catholics trusting the Church in 62% trusting the Pope. SOURCE
So, if this Anglican leader sees the err of the ways, and says so, saying that the RCC has lost it’s credibility, and I believe they have, why then does he turn around and apologize for speaking the truth?
LONDON - The Archbishop of Canterbury feels “deep sorrow and regret for difficulties” caused by his statement that the Catholic Church in Ireland has lost “all credibility” because of its mishandling of abuse by priests, his office said Saturday.Rowan Williams’ comments came during an interview with the BBC about the crisis engulfing the Irish Catholic Church in which he said the sex abuse allegations had been a “colossal trauma” for Ireland in particular.
SOURCE
Birds of a feather perhaps? You no tell. me no tell? A crisis of conscience? Maybe it’s just a good guy not wanting to pile on when the RCC is down, I don’t know. I DO know this, you never have to apologize for telling the truth.
Maybe political correctness got in the way.
I’m not a religious man, my faith was shaken to the core many years ago. The RCC has got to get in front of this thing and take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for the actions of it’s clergy and the actions of it’s hierarchy in hiding the crimes of the clergy, and for committing such acts, no matter how far up the ladder you have to go to get ALL of the perverts OUT of the RCC.
Maybe Ratzinger didn’t molest anyone. Maybe he didn’t have illicit, and forbidden sex. But if he hid it, or ignored it, he is as guilty as anyone!
A happy Easter to ALL of you, please pray that these perverts are addressed, and stopped, before they have the opportunity to ruin another young life!
Fred as you know I’m a student of history and abuse by RCC officials has been going on for 100′’s of years. Pope’s had children, many bishops were renown for their like of ’smooth faced lads’. This sort of thing was particularly bad during the Dark Ages. Some Pope’s tried to clean up the Church and many of them met ‘untimely deaths’. The RCC helped Nazi war criminals escaped following WWII. It’s all there in this sad history of religion used for bad ends.
You know I’m not a R/C, but my wife is and she knows some things about this sort of abuse as well, as do all R/C’s whether they will admit it or not.
Like I’ve said on my blog. All Pope’s have known about this (If they didn’t know that’s still no excuse the Pope is the CIC of the RCC so he’s still to be held to account like any CIC should be when the troops misbehave) and done little or nothing to stop it.
I’m not anti-Christian, I’m anti-organized religion. Money and power always corrupt and organized religion has both money and power.
Before, I forget, happy Easter to all. I won’t get into judging the Pope and will not engage on commenting of the Catholic Church or Fred’s perspective which is shared by many. There is plenty of news out their on the topic.
But I must comment about Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams who had led England into a mess. He likes to criticise others but in fact has led his church into apostasy.
He was an advocate for Muslims and allowing Sharia law into the United Kingdom. Muslin are now governed by Sharia law and Christians and others by cannon law. Muslims can have more than one wife but others are bound by the law of having only one spouse.
Williams’ contributions to Anglican views of homosexuality were quite liberal before he even became the Archbishop of Canterbury. These views are evident in a paper written by Williams called ‘The Body’s Grace’, which he originally delivered in 1989 to the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, and which is now part of a series of essays collected in the book “Theology and Sexuality” (ed. Eugene Rogers, Blackwells 2002).
Williams continues to promote socialism. In 2002, he openly criticized Free Markets. He once commented that “Every transaction in the developed economies of the West can be interpreted as an act of aggression against the economic losers in the worldwide game.”
He is the leader of a Christian church but on the subject of Creationism (God Creating man and the universe verses evolution) he said: “I think creationism is, in a sense, a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories . . .” When the interviewer said “So it shouldn’t be taught?” he responded “I don’t think it should, actually. No, no.”
He opposed the Iraq War and possible attacks on Syria or Iran.
In closing, my silence on the Pope or my comments about Williams, might cause one to wonder if that I am a member of the Roman Catholic Church. I am not. In fact, I am an ordained evangelical minister. However, I do not like hypocrisy in church leaders or in having church leaders who are really wolves in our midst dividing Christians and presenting false doctrines.
While errors are made by all men and women, the false deceptions of Rowan Williams is of grave concern even just considering the above partial sampling of doctrinal and political. Now, he presumes to make remarks on issues which are not of concern to his church other than to run down the leader of an opposing church body. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams might have fit well into the Court of King Henry VIII in his opposition to the Catholic Church.
Please excuse the typos, I hate these small boxes and not being able to edit the comments.
But I like Easter. He is Risen!
I attended catholic schools for some three years in grammar school. The nuns were tough on me, but I must say they put me on the right path as far as school was concerned. I taught for one year in south Louisiana in a public school that may as well be catholic. Never had any problems with priests or nuns but the rumors were always there. I suspect many priests and nuns are gay and the stories over the years seen to support that. I do think that is the case in many churches but especially true in the Catholic faith.
I don’t keep up with the news stories about the church, and have come to expect these stories and accept most of them as fact. Its a shame the church can’t get their act together so as to stop the declining membership. People have lost trust in the institution and those in charge.
Losing all credibility as well as their unquestioned authority from the public in the Republic. Drinking beer on Good Friday in Irish pubs, that’s a first… *Cheers*
The RCC has been full of scandals for centuries not years. But remember that this Anglican Bishop is the same one who wants Muslim Shar’ia Law instead of English Law, has ordained Gays, promotes Gay marriage, and refuses the divinity of Christ, the Virgin Mary, etc…
I KNOW all of that about the Anglican bishop, his faults and those of his administration… That’s why I addressed him saying it, and then almost immediately, apologizing for it..
Regarding his apology, since apparently you MISSED that part…
As far as *the divinity of Christ and the VIRGIN Mary are concerned, maybe he’s not too wrong there either…
A VIRGIN birth?? C’mon, we bought that shit as kids, how can adults fall for it??
Fred I only brought those up to remind how liberal he is.
Not being brought up a Catholic, I can easily say this is not my fight, but what the RCC did was not only wrong, but criminal. What you did to Father SOB was the right thing. As for Sister Mary Ho, there are many like her in every faith.
Happy Easter to you. And remember one thing: Whatever these people did here on Earth and the punishment or lack of it they receive will be nothing next to the punishment or rewards awaiting for them (and ultimately us too) by the ultimate Judge of us all.
Just image the punishment that awaits Obama!
Wow, there are so many commenters here that have a lot of knowledge on a sad situation. I am not Catholic, but many of my dear and close friends are. I consider myself to have developed a close relationship with God, but like Basti, I don’t put much stock in organized religion. With that said, I offer my thoughts.
It sounds like the pot calling the kettle black to me. Especially since as Fred pointed out, the Anglican turned around and did an Obama (apology!). I applaud my friend Fred for telling his story and giving the errant priest a broken jaw! My thinking is that long ago the RCC should have done away with the “celebacy” requirement. The idea that one cannot “shepherd a flock” if they have a family is utterly ridiculous. All you do is attract young men and women who aren’t attracted to the opposite sex to begin with and you know you will get some perverts in THAT barrel!!! It has been creating this problem for centuries, and the papacy has no problem changing the rules if money or politics are involved… why have they not done this??? Remember fish on Fridays? That was implemented to help the Catholic fishermen in England originally. One Pope started it, another ended it. Same with Saint Christopher… one Pope canonized him and another undone it! I think if priests and nuns were permitted to marry and have a life you wouldn’t have the problems that exist. JMHO.
Excellent post Fred.
[...] What did I post two days ago? The RCC doesn’t condemn the perverts, they protect them! They hide them, they transfer them to other parts of the world, they deny, they lie, they do everything possible to ignore these sick bastards actions and keep them secret. And when all else fails, they use the treasure of Rome to pay off the molested in an attempt to make it all go away. SOURCE [...]