I was raised in no real faith.  My parents allowed us to pick our own.  My dad’s family was Mormon though he did not practice, and my mom had no real practicing faith, though she was baptized Catholic I found out years later.

My siblings and I started going various evangelical churches, settling on a Baptist church in Saratoga California.  I attended from 4th grade through college.

Later in life I went to Evangelical and Charismatic churches, 4 Square churches and other various flavours before deciding that I would look at Catholicism.   In 2002 I began a conversion but never finished it.  I stopped not because of the doctrine, but mostly because of some issues getting my first marriage annulled.  If anything about the catholics irritates me it is the strict legalism.

But I have to admit (not confess) that I admire the Catholics for their steadfastness of faith.  In a lot of respects the faith is unchanged from its early roots.  The Protestants, by comparison, have fractured, splintered and evolved from the beginning of their estrangement from the Catholics.

So this last week the Pope issued a proclamation about the Catholics being the true faith, to the usual uproar and disenchantment.

I’m not sure why.  First of all, most religions think their faith or sect or denomination is the true faith, and everyone else gets it wrong.  I found it interesting that the Pope did not step on nearly as many toes as the catholics in the past have.   Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (No Salvation outside the Church) used to be the mantra.  But now the protestants and the Orthodox  qualify in some respect.

I found the evangelical’s outrage at his comment particularly funny considering how many evangelical and fundamentalist churches I have attended that pointedly and clearly proclaimed that Catholics are not saved, and say very unflattering things about the Pope.

But the subject of Catholics in modern society is intrinsically associated with abuse these days.  The accusations of sexual abuse against youth by priests appears epidemic and culminated in a 600 million dollar settlement in LA. 

A few things bother me.

First, statistically, you will be just likely to be abused in public school or some other kind of church then in a Ccatholic church.  Heck the abuse stats in and out of schoo are horrible, saying that about 1 in 6 report some kind if improper contact or abuse. I assume this includes abuse at home, and at the hands of relatives.  It bothers me that that does not generate the same level of outrage.  One of the reprehensible aspects of catholic abuse is the presumption of trust we should expect from these celibate men who lead their flocks.  The abuse of trust is clearly disheartening.  But which is worse?  A priest or a father?  Or a brother or an uncle?  Or a teacher?  I won’t answer that, make up your own mind.

The main problem the catholics face is that they have a central authority that all catholic priests roll up under, where as a schools and smaller churches do not.  An evangelical minister facing allegations in his church might be accountable to a board of deacons, but in some cases the minister is the sole authority.  And what denominational affiliations he has may not have any actual authority beyond advisory.

Schools tend to be sequestered in districts where a superintendent may make the decisions subject to a school board. 

But the Hierarchy of the Catholics is predictable and absolute.  The priest answers to his Archdioceses and so on.  It is not too far to the Pope.  So all of the priests or lay ministers accused all fall eventually under a central authority.  That makes the number of priests accused seem huge, until you figure the percentages, and it is in single digits, though the perception is that it is higher.

But that also means there should be a predictable method of dealing with this.   This scandal would not exist if the Church dealt with this pro actively.

And they have their own hierarchy to blame.  One of the problems systemic in these cases has been that the Catholics have not dealt with these cases very well at all.  They shifted priests around rather then really deal with the problems.

Now being fair, the first time there was an unsubstantiated abuse claim, moving the priest was a good thing.  Schools have done the same thing because sometimes false allegations happen.

But when the complaints followed them, they should have dealt with it by sequestering them away from the victims, as well as doing a serious investigation as to whether the allegations were actually substantiated. 

Another thing that bugged me about the settlement.  The people getting the money are the alleged victims.  It is a legal term that indicates that victimhood has been alleged but not proven.  One of my favorite radio hosts has expressed mild outrage at the label.  To him, and he is Catholic, the fact there is a payoff (well thats what a settlement is isn’t it?) means an admission of guilt so the alleged are no longer alleged.

I can’t fully agree.  Can you say with any certainty that all 500 and something ‘alleged victims’ really were victims?  The allegations go back to what, 1984?

How would you prove it?  The fact is that juries are notoriously sympathetic, so the Catholic Church may have evaluated the odds and went for the settlement knowing that popular opinion would not favor them.

Remember Michael Jackson?  He settled with one of the kids who accused him.  Is that boy no longer an alleged victim but a bona fida victim?

Seems to me that Bill Clinton settled with Paula Jones, yet no one acknowledges her as being the actual victim either.  Unless the settlement specifically admits guilt of course, which I don’t know if it does or doesn’t.

Regardless, it seems to me people are getting hung up on the labels.

The last accusation I heard was that the church is a haven for pedophiles and homosexual perverts.  After all, the pedophiles typically go where the victims are.

I can’t say I accept that.  While many priests identify as gay, they are no worse off then the hetero priests in that they are expected to be celibate.

Or are you suggesting that a gay person has a lower threshold of ability to resist temptation?

I don’t regard this as a gay issue, because pedophilia, despite the crap spouted by NAMBLA, is about the abuse of a child, not the gender.

I don’t have the stats, so I can not say with any authority that there are not more priests or not that are gay.

I don’t care.  You see, the homosexual community has assured me the gay people are interested in loving relationships with other gay adults.  I know many gay people who insist this, and in all seriousness, I believe them.

Now…it may be the Church needs to evaluate the priests for signs of pedophilia or hebophilia, but not homosexuality, as long as celibacy is maintained.

The call has come out strongly that the problem is celibacy, and that priests should marry and have their own families.

Maybe so.  Maybe even the female priest issue is one that should be looked into.

But I think an attitude of responsibility by the leadership in the church and harsh enforcement of behavior would do more on the long run.  Family men abuse kids, so do women.

So is this an indictment of the Church?  Should I as a converting Catholic be alarmed? 

No.  No more the I would be at any other church, or school.  Talking to my kids, making them aware of the proper behavior of adults and keeping them willing to discuss problems.

I live with the worry of my kids in all walks of life, churches are just one of many.

And I cannot see the abuse continuing like it did, though no one can be assured it is perfectly safe.  If the Church has learned from its apathy, and if the parents keep an eye on their kids hopefully the church will be a better place.

If.  The Church has the burden here, not of paying hush money, but of exerting real leadership.

Be clear.  As a potential Catholic, I abhor any person who abuses a child.  I think any that do need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

But I do not want this to be a witch hunt.  The Church is not evil, it is just human.

It’s time for it to grow up.

 Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, Committees of Correspondence, Mark My Words, DeMediacratic Nation, Jeanette’s Celebrity Corner, DragonLady’s World, Webloggin, Cao’s Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Conservative Thoughts, Right Celebrity, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Nuke’s news and views, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, and High Desert Wanderer, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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