Could It Ever Be Enough?

Hister, what purpose do you imagine your posts on this thread serve? If you'd like to insult me, I'm on plenty of other threads I don't care about quite as much as this one. If you'd like to ridicule religion, there are better threads for that purpose.

If you have nothing to say on-topic, I am asking you politely to please stop posting here.
 
Hister, Maddie made a very reasonable and polite request of you. I would like to think that you are enough of a gentleman to respect it.
 
If you or someone you loved had been harmed in the child abuse scandals, would this apology be enough for you to forgive?

Not me.

The Church needs to open all its records. Cooperate totally with law enforcement. Pay restitution to the victims and their families. Defrock all clergy who are guilty. End the practice of canonical trials for crimes forever.

And Ratzinger needs to resign.

If all that happned, I think mebbe I could forgive.

Unless you're Catholic, I don't see why it's your business, and I fail to see why YOUR forgiveness is of any import to the Catholic Church.

The only people whose forgiveness the Church should be concerned with is that of the actual victims. Those people, the Church should move Heaven and earth to help. The 'forgiveness' of anyone else is of absolutely no relevance.
 
If you or someone you loved had been harmed in the child abuse scandals, would this apology be enough for you to forgive?

Not me.

The Church needs to open all its records. Cooperate totally with law enforcement. Pay restitution to the victims and their families. Defrock all clergy who are guilty. End the practice of canonical trials for crimes forever.

And Ratzinger needs to resign.

If all that happned, I think mebbe I could forgive.

Unless you're Catholic, I don't see why it's your business, and I fail to see why YOUR forgiveness is of any import to the Catholic Church.

The only people whose forgiveness the Church should be concerned with is that of the actual victims. Those people, the Church should move Heaven and earth to help. The 'forgiveness' of anyone else is of absolutely no relevance.

Excellent point. Forgiveness is only for those who have been wronged. Unless you are a family member of a victim or a victim forgiveness really doesn't pertain. Beyond that it just becomes gossip.
 
If you or someone you loved had been harmed in the child abuse scandals, would this apology be enough for you to forgive?

Not me.

The Church needs to open all its records. Cooperate totally with law enforcement. Pay restitution to the victims and their families. Defrock all clergy who are guilty. End the practice of canonical trials for crimes forever.

And Ratzinger needs to resign.

If all that happned, I think mebbe I could forgive.

Unless you're Catholic, I don't see why it's your business, and I fail to see why YOUR forgiveness is of any import to the Catholic Church.

The only people whose forgiveness the Church should be concerned with is that of the actual victims. Those people, the Church should move Heaven and earth to help. The 'forgiveness' of anyone else is of absolutely no relevance.

The scandals have harmed every Catholic, CG. But I'd agree, the RCC should do all in its power to aid the children who were abused and their families.
 
Hister, what purpose do you imagine your posts on this thread serve? If you'd like to insult me, I'm on plenty of other threads I don't care about quite as much as this one. If you'd like to ridicule religion, there are better threads for that purpose.

If you have nothing to say on-topic, I am asking you politely to please stop posting here.

I am sure Hister has questions he/she would like answered or maybe a point to make, but there are a bunch of much more intelligible ways of doing such. I'm not saying that you have to, Hister, but you should for your own sake of not sounding so childish.
 
What nation would prosecute the Pope, The Light? Lawyers for plaintiffs here and elsewhere are having huge difficulty just forcing the Vatican to open its records.


Maybe because those looking to probe the issue are just as corrupt as the ones they are seeking to investigate? I don't know that that is the answer but it is a thought.

I do know that regardless, God will judge their actions and will be just in his rewards and punishments acordingly. For God alone can probe where no man can go and that is the heart.

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. -1 Corinthians 4:5


I have no idea why Islam developed as it did, but I hardly think it was some sort of conspiracy to avoid detection.

It wasn't a conspiracy, but it definitely was a smart idea.

As for the Ground Zero mosque, nobody gets a tax exemption from the IRS without a Private Letter Ruing, at least not on an enterprise this big. I am sure if there is a question about funding, the guys from the IRS are more'n competent to track it down.

Well, let's let them investigate it before it is even planned to be built. I prefer prevention as opposed to mopping up a blood stained mess. But that's just me I guess.
 
The Light wrote in part:

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. -1 Corinthians 4:5

Surely you don't mean that any seeking after Justice is in error?
 
The Light wrote in part:

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. -1 Corinthians 4:5

Surely you don't mean that any seeking after Justice is in error?

Like you Maddie, I've been on the front lines where some of the worst of the abuses have occurred and know for a fact those abuses are real, ugly, indefensible, and an abomination to humanity. There are no depths of hell deep enough for those who condone or perpetuate such things.

I've also been on the front lines where very good people have been falsely accused by opportunists or just people seeking revenge for some personal grudge or whatever, and I have seen lives deeply wounded and destroyed that way.

The scripture The Light posted illustrates both sides of the problem. It is so difficult to know the whole truth in some of these things that to assume the role of judge can also do irrevocable harm.

And there is the problem of what is justice? Is it accomplished by public burning at the stakes or putting people in stocks for personal ridicule or other public display or what? In cases where property is damaged, compensation may be possible. But how do you repair irrevocable damage done to a person's physical, emotional, or mental well being? What could those people of your past do now to repair the damage they did? What could my father do now to restore the large pieces of my childhood he took from me?

No easy answers here for sure.
 
Last edited:
No easy answers here for sure.

One answer would be to allow priests to marry. The present policy guarantees that a certain percentage of priests will fall into undesirable categories. Open up the pool of applicants and that percentage should lower dramatically.
 
No easy answers here for sure.

One answer would be to allow priests to marry. The present policy guarantees that a certain percentage of priests will fall into undesirable categories. Open up the pool of applicants and that percentage should lower dramatically.

While personally I think the 'no marriage' rule for Catholic priests and nuns is silly with little or no scriptural basis for it, I think that is a separate issue and is almost as controversial. After case after case after case and lawsuits involving pedophilia, the Boy Scouts have taken huge criticism and contempt for trying to deal with the problem by allowing only heterosexual, preferably married men to be scout masters.

The Boy's home/school I previously mentioned, to deal with the same problem, established the same rule that only married people would qualify as staff at the school. But the chaplain, married with kids, turned out to be a pedophile just the same.

And.....all such cases are not same sex molestation. Heterosexuals can also have this particular malady that makes them go after the young and vulnerable. And then there are the adult sex predators, not pedophiles, but who use people who are emotionally or mentally vulnerable in inappropriate ways.

Again such people are drawn into vocations or avocations where they have much increased opportunity to satisfy whatever lust or deviant behavior that possesses them. And it is always the most innocent and vulnerable who are the most damaged in the process.
 
Last edited:
The Light wrote in part:

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. -1 Corinthians 4:5

Surely you don't mean that any seeking after Justice is in error?

No, I don't. I posted that verse primarily for the second part of it. The first part must be taken in context with other verses.
 

New Topics

Forum List

Back
Top