Sexual Abuse of Women in the Church

Tessera

Friday, 12 March 2010

Sexual Abuse of Women in the Church

There has been widespread media coverage of the abuse of children by Catholic priests and few people are now unaware of it.

There has been almost no publicity about the abuse of women by male members of the clergy and, despite the evidence, the Church appears to have done nothing. When women do report the cases, the results are predictable. One Cardinal told a woman who had been abused and made pregnant by a priest that she should have an abortion. ‘Bishops try to turn the discourse to one of boundary issues, that priests and ministers have just got their boundaries confused. It is not about boundaries, the stories these women told were of rape, assault and violence; these were crimes, not boundary issues,’ said Kennedy. Some women do have fully consensual relationships with male clergy but they are a small minority. When their stories make the media, they are usually of the more lurid ‘priest has mistress and secret children’ variety.

There is some abuse of adult men but a 2008 survey in America found that 96% of the victims were female.

Abuse falls into two categories, congregants and nuns.

Congress

Criticism of religion

Wikipedia

Criticism of religion is criticism of the concepts, doctrines, validity, and/or Critics often consider religion to be outdated, harmful to the individual, harmful to society, an impediment to the progress of science, a source of immoral acts or customs, and a political tool for social control.practices of religion, including associated political and social implications.^[1]

Religious criticism has a long history. It goes at least as far back as the 5th century BCE in ancient Greece with Diagoras Critics often consider religion to be outdated, harmful to the individual, harmful to society, an impediment to the progress of science, a source of immoral acts or customs, and a political tool for social control.”the atheist” of Melos, and the 1st century BCE in ancient Rome with Titus Lucretius Carus‘ De Rerum Natura. It continues to the present day with the advent of New Atheism, represented by authors and journalists such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Alternatively, “religious criticism” has been used by the literary critic Harold Bloom to describe a mode of religious discussion that is secular but not inherently anti-religion.^{[citation needed]} Criticism of religion is complicated by the fact that there exist multiple definitions and concepts of religion in different cultures and languages. With the existence of diverse categories of religion such as monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, nontheism and diverse specific religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Taoism, Buddhism, and many others; it is not always clear to whom the criticisms are aimed at or to what extent they are applicable to other religions.

Critics often consider religion to be outdated, harmful to the individual, harmful to society, an impediment to the progress of science, a source of immoral acts or customs, and a political tool for social control.

Pope asks forgiveness for ‘evil’ of child abuse by priests

Reuters

By Naomi O’Leary

Fri Apr 11, 2014

(Reuters) – Pope Francis made his first public plea for forgiveness on Friday for the “evil” committed by priests who molested children, using some of his strongest words yet on the Roman Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis.

The Argentine-born pontiff said the Church, which last month named a high-level group on the scandal including an abuse victim, had to take an stronger stand on a scandal that has haunted it for more than two decades, and indicated there would be repercussions for perpetrators.

“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil that some priests – quite a few in number, (although) obviously not compared to the number of all priests – to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” he told members of the International Catholic Child Bureau.

 

“The church is aware of this … personal, moral damage carried out by men of the church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and to the sanctions that must be imposed.

“On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children,” Francis said in unscripted comments as he addressed the children’s rights body.

The comments, originally in Spanish, were translated by the Vatican Radio news service.

Francis did not specify whether “sanctions” would be church-enforced or involve civil justice authorities. In February the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child accused the Vatican of systematically turning a blind eye to decades of abuse and attempting to cover up sex crimes.

The scathing report urged the church to immediately hand over its records on the abuse of tens of thousands of children, immediately remove anyone suspected of abuse from their post and refer the matter to civil legal authorities. The Vatican called the report unfair and ideologically slanted.

Francis’ words strike a different tone to comments he made in March to an Italian newspaper in which he defended the church’s record.

“The Catholic Church is perhaps the only public institution that has moved with transparency and responsibility. No one has done more, and yet the church is the only one that is being attacked,” he was quoted as saying by Corriere della Sera in comments decried by victims’ rights groups.

“JUST TALK”

Criticism that Francis has not taken a bold enough stand on the issue, and did not meet sexual abuse victims in Italy and in a July trip to Brazil, has been a rare black spot in the overwhelmingly positive response to the pontiff in the 13 months he has been in office.

In particular, abuse groups have called on the church to discipline bishops accused of moving known child molesters from parish to parish, allowing abuse to continue.

“It’s nice to have expressions of concern. But actions need to happen, and people have been waiting an awfully long time for that to occur,” said Terry McKiernan, founder of BishopAccountability.org, which documents abuse cases.

“The best thing he could have done today would have been to step up to the microphone and announce that he is beginning to remove bishops who have behaved criminally in keeping priests in ministries where they don’t belong, moving them around so that they continue to be a danger to children.”

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), which advocates for child protection and urges greater transparency in the church, said Francis’ words should be received with caution.

“We beg the world’s Catholics: be impressed by deeds, not words. Until the pope takes decisive action that protects kids, be skeptical and vigilant,” SNAP Outreach Director Barbara Dorris said.

“This may be the first time a pope has talked of sanctions against complicit bishops. But that is all it is: talk.”

Under Francis’ direction, the Vatican announced in December the creation of a new dedicated group to help the church deal with the abuse crisis. Its members were named in late March.

The body of clerics and lay people includes Marie Collins, a survivor of abuse in Ireland in the 1960s who has campaigned for the protection of children and for justice for victims.

Collins, a founding trustee of the Irish abuse victims’ organization One in Four, has in the past pushed for punishment for bishops who failed to implement church rules on the protection of children.

Child abuse litigation has cost the Catholic Church some $3 billion in settlements in the United States alone, and shaken the moral authority of leaders of the world’s largest religious denomination.

(Reporting by Naomi O’Leary; Editing by Andrew Roche)

The Saint Inquisition et. al.

Source: W.J. Bethancourt III

from The Christian Enterprise Website

for England, France, Germany, Croatia, United States, Mexico, South Africa, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden

ENGLAND

Barclay, Margaret: England (year unknown)

(last name unknown), Meggs: a baker of Norwich, England (year unknown, but in 1640s)

Nottingham, John of: died in custody, Coventry, England, 1324

10. April 2014 14:52 Kirchenkritiker Karlheinz Deschner ist tot

Er ist extrem hart mit den christlichen Kirchen ins Gericht gegangen, bewusst einseitig und nicht immer ganz wissenschaftlich. Aber es ging Karlheinz Deschner auch nie um Ausgewogenheit, sondern darum, Dinge ans Licht zu holen, die viele Christen lieber im Dunklen gelassen hätten. Nun hat er, soweit es in seiner Macht stand, sein Lebenswerk abgeschlossen.
Er war einer der schärfsten Kritiker der christlichen Kirchen und einer der wortgewandtesten dazu. Seine Arbeiten haben Begeisterung ausgelöst und sind zugleich auf heftigste Kritik gestoßen. Im Alter von 89 Jahren ist Karlheinz Deschner gestorben.

Der Kirchenkritiker Karlheinz Deschner ist tot. Der Autor, der vor allem mit seiner “Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums” Aufsehen erregt hatte, wurde 89 Jahre alt.

In den vergangenen Jahren war es um ihn ruhig geworden. Aber Kritik an den christlichen Kirchen ist schließlich schon lange nicht mehr das Tabu, das sie 1962 noch war, als er sein Buch “Und abermals krähte der Hahn” veröffentlichte.

Deschner war für seine drastischen Formulierungen heftig kritisiert, für seine Aphorismen aber auch gelobt worden. Schon sein erstes Buch, der Roman “Die Nacht steht um mein Haus” (1956), hatte große Begeisterung und heftige Kritik zugleich hervorgerufen. Danach hatte er sein Leben mehr oder weniger damit zugebracht, die dunklen Seiten der Kirchengeschichte einer breiten Öffentlichkeit zu präsentieren.
Karlheinz Deschner, 2013
Das Lebenswerk des Karlheinz Deschner Flutlicht in die Abgründe der Kirchengeschichte

Er ist extrem hart mit den christlichen Kirchen ins Gericht gegangen, bewusst einseitig und nicht immer ganz wissenschaftlich. Aber es ging Karlheinz Deschner auch nie um Ausgewogenheit, sondern darum, Dinge ans Licht zu holen, die viele Christen lieber im Dunklen gelassen hätten. Nun hat er, soweit es in seiner Macht stand, sein Lebenswerk abgeschlossen.

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Als Deschner 1986 den ersten Band der “Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums” veröffentlichte, war noch nicht klar, welche Dimensionen das Werk annehmen würde: Insgesamt zehn Bände mit etwa 6000 Seiten wurden daraus. Abschließen konnte er die Kriminalgeschichte selbst aus Gesundheitsgründen nicht mehr.

Als inoffizieller elfter Band gilt deshalb das Buch “Die Politik der Päpste”, eine von Deschner überarbeitete Neuauflage eines früheren Werkes, das sich mit der jüngeren Kirchengeschichte beschäftigte. In die Gegenwart führte allerdings erst der Philosoph Michael Schmidt-Salomon das Buch, mit dem Deschner sein Lebenswerk auf diese Weise noch abschließen konnte. An der Vorstellung des zehnten Bandes der “Kriminalgeschichte” in den Räumen der Giordano Bruno Stiftung in Oberwesel nahm Deschner noch teil. Zwei Operationen wegen eines Aneurysmas schwächten ihn jedoch zusätzlich. Karlheinz Deschner ist am 8. April in einer Klinik in seinem Wohnort Haßfurt gestorben.

Warnings from history

 

Those respected educators, prophets, reformers, philosophers, theologists, writers and many more people have kept their reputation and respect of the entire free thinking world to this day due to the struggle for truth. Those light bearers hold the credit for the truth, ethics and moral in this world.

The drama between powerful and superficial christianity and people who stood for a spiritual, inner experience of  faith is almost 2000 years long. Consequences were always prosecution, torture and the cruelest death. The powerful religious community has claimed authority through state (Roman) and made way for religious dictatorship through the state very early in human history. Individual strength and perseverance of people who witnessed the faith with their lives presented great danger to those who ensured  their existence, power, reputation and wealth through faith.

Those respected educators, prophets, reformers, philosophers, theologists, writers and many more people have kept their reputation and respect of the entire free thinking world to this day due to the struggle for truth. Those light bearers hold the credit for the truth, ethics and moral in this world.

It is our duty not to forget them. We will nam e only some important people and movements and try to bring you short revision. We are hoping for your help!

Note:

Churches build their doctrine and refer themselves to some of the people listed below. Reality shows us those people were against state religion. Clergy has fought against them because they represented danger. After their death, when the danger disappeared, their teaching was assimilated.

John the Baptist ( AD 25 )

Jesus of Nazareth(AD 30)

Stephen (AD 30)

John of Patmos (AD 100 )

Montan (2 nd/cent.)

Priska (2 nd/cent.)

Maksimilija (2. – 3 nd/cent.)

Kvintilija (2. – 3 nd/cent.)

Origen (Aleksandrija, 184. – Tir, 253.), ugledni učitelj i veliki propovjednik, reformator aleksandrijske škole, iznimno utjecajan i plodonosan pisac 3. stoljeća. Zatočen, gdje nakon tri godine intezivnog inkvizicijskog mučenja preminuo.

Mani (Babilon, 216 – 276), renowned teacher and thinker, tortured, imprisoned and crucified. Manichaen, his followers were annihilated.

Paulines (7 nd/cent )

Bogomil(10. -16 nd/cent.)

Hildegard of Bingena (11.-12 nd/cent.)

The Cathars

(11. – 13 nd/cent.)

Cathari  (11th – 13th century) In Flanders, Germany, north Italy, southern France. Destroyed by catholic army in bloody crusades.

Matilda of Magdeburga (13 nd/cent.)

Joakim of Fjore ((13 nd/cent.)

Meister Eckhart (14 nd/cent.)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eckhart von Hochheim Other names “Meister Eckhart”

Born Around 1260

Near Gotha, Holy Roman Empire

Died 1327 or 1328

Avignon?

Eckhart von Hochheim O.P. (c. 1260 – c. 1327), commonly known as Meister Eckhart [ˈmaɪ̯stɐ ˈɛkʰaʀt], was a German theologian, philosopher and mystic, born near Gotha, in the Landgraviate of Thuringia in the Holy Roman Empire.

Eckhart came into prominence during the Avignon Papacy, at a time of increased tensions between the Franciscan Order and Eckhart’s Dominican Order of Preachers. In later life he was accused of heresy and brought up before the local Franciscan-led Inquisition, and tried as a heretic by Pope John XXII He probably died before his verdict was received.

Bridget of Sweden (14 nd/cent.)

Joan of Arc(14 nd/cent.)

Girolamo Savonarola (15 nd/cent..)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(September 21, 1452 – May 23, 1498), was an Italian Dominican priest and leader of Florence from 1494 until his execution in 1498. Savonarola is famous for burning books, and for the destruction of what he considered immoral art. Savonarola was a priest but he preached against the moral corruption of the clergy and the Church of Rome. His main enemy was Pope Alexander VI.

Gabriele from Wurzburg(20. – 21 nd/cent..)

Universal life (20. – 21 nd/cent..)