Cum Petro et Sub Petro

With Peter & Under Peter

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Anti Catholicism Rears Its Ugly Head Once Again

Before i go into what has caused the small firestorm i want to say a few words about the media.

The media is not very good at covering religious issues particularly when it involves the Catholic Church.They're outsiders looking in and they don't do their homework. When it's on tv they get hold of various Catholic dissidents-rather than the faithful-and let them do the commentary.These dissidents are as clueless about what the Church teaches as the media is.Unfortunately the viewing audience hears the dissidents and because they're introduced as Catholics they believe they must speak for the Church.

For Catholics they are very misinformed.Worse they have their own agenda. They are easy to find because they make a lot of noise. They are also easy to find because the media likes to use them.

Just once i'd like to see a faithful Catholic give commentary. We also have to understand that the media is largely made up of atheists,agnostics and are hostile towards the Catholic Church. Even so called conservative media doesn't always do its homework-so the reporting while not DELIBERATELY slanted isn't always entirely accurate.

Finally,there is media that is DELIBERATELY slanted and will do anything to attack the Catholic Church. Now i've been going around the internet reading various comments re Pope Francis interview and his statements re homosexuality.There were other topics Pope Francis covered but the media didn't bother to highlight those. The comments are VERY anti Catholic and some are from people who claim to BE Catholic. I have no way to verify the claim but i took a guess they probably weren't. Here is what i heard most often:

If they allowed priests to marry they would not have had the pedophilia problem. Sorry not true. If they allowed priests to marry you would have married pedophiles. Now let's get our facts straight.

"There's absolutely no evidence that priests are more likely to abuse children than are other groups of men. The use and abuse of children as objects for the sexual gratification of adults is epidemic in all classes, professions, religions, and ethnic communities across the globe, as figures on child pornography, incest, and child prostitution make abundantly clear. Pedophilia (the sexual abuse of a prepubescent child) among priests is extremely rare, affecting only 0.3% of the entire population of clergy. This figure, cited in the book Pedophiles and Priests by non-Catholic scholar, Philip Jenkins, is from the most comprehensive study to date, which found that only one out of 2,252 priests considered over a thirty-year period was afflicted with pedophilia. In the recent Boston scandal, only four of the more than eighty priests labeled by the media as "pedophiles" are actually guilty of molesting young children.

Pedophilia is a particular type of compulsive sexual disorder in which an adult (man or woman) abuses prepubescent children. The vast majority of the clerical sex-abuse scandals now coming to light do not involve pedophilia. Rather, they involve ephebophilia — homosexual attraction to adolescent boys. While the total number of sexual abusers in the priesthood is much higher than those guilty of pedophilia, it still amounts to less than 2 percent — comparable to the rate among married men (Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests).

In the wake of the current crisis in the Church, other religious denominations and non-religious institutions have admitted to having similar problems with both pedophilia and ephebophilia among the ranks of their clergy. There's no evidence that Catholic prelates are more likely to be pedophiles than Protestant ministers, Jewish leaders, physicians, or any other institution in which adults are in a position of authority and power over children.

Celibacy bears no causal relation to any type of deviant sexual addiction including pedophilia. In fact, married men are just as likely as celibate priests to sexually abuse children (Jenkins, Priests and Pedophilia). In the general population, the majority of abusers are regressed heterosexual men who sexually abuse girls. Women are also found to be among those sexual abusers. While it's difficult to obtain accurate statistics on childhood sexual abuse, the characteristic patterns of repeat child sex offenders have been well described. The profiles of child molesters never include normal adults who become erotically attracted to children as a result of abstinence (Fred Berlin, "Compulsive Sexual Behaviors" in Addiction and Compulsive Behaviors [Boston: NCBC, 1998]; Patrick J. Carnes, "Sexual Compulsion: Challenge for Church Leaders" in Addiction and Compulsion; Dale O'Leary, "Homosexuality and Abuse").

Some people — including a few vocal dissenting Catholics — are exploiting this crisis to draw attention to their own agendas. Some are demanding a married Catholic clergy in response to the scandal, as if marriage would make men stop hurting children. This flies in the face of the aforementioned statistic that married men are just as likely to abuse children as celibate priests (Jenkins, Pedophilia and Priests).

Since neither being Catholic nor being celibate predisposes a person to develop pedophilia, a married clergy wouldn't solve the problem ("Doctors call for pedophilia research," The Hartford Currant, March 23). One has only to look at similar crises in other denominations and professions to see this.

The plain fact is, healthy heterosexual men have never been known to develop erotic attractions to children as a result of abstinence".

Source: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/facts/fm0011.html

A problem faced only by the Catholic Church? No.Every denomination out there faces the problem. People just don't talk about it. I would guess because the Catholic Church is the largest and easiest target as well as having various enemies from the secular media to anti Catholics.

An article from USA today that is actually worth reading. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/2002/2002-03-12-pedophilia.htm The USCCB put in new guidelines.The media didn't cover that much,if at all. It didn't suit their narrative and it's not half as sensational. I would like to add our own diocese always had a 0% tolerance.

The next comment i read was the Church discourages (from time to time they use the word forbids)Catholics to read the Bible and that caused Pope Francis to say what he did. Actually they are going by what they think he said but that aside for now let's talk about how Catholics are discouraged from reading Scripture.

The Catholic Church discerned the inspired books of scripture and its canon.God is the author of sacred scripture.The Church has NEVER taught otherwise. It(sacred scripture) is infallible. The Church has never taught otherwise. The Protestant movement REMOVED 7 books of scripture. The Church could not have added those 7 because they were always there until the 16th century.

Second,Catholics HEAR 3 readings at every Mass.The Gospel is ALWAYS read, there is a psalm sung or read and one reading from the OT or an epistle. (f i have this wrong pls let me know.I will stand corrected. The number of readings is accurate).On solemnities and Sundays there are 4,which includes the psalm.

Three,Catholics may obtain an indulgence for reading the Bible.Could Catholics read the Bible more? Certainly. Even non Catholics could read the Bible more.I have several bibles in our home. One is the Divine Mercy Bible my husband got me at the beginning of summer.We also have a KJV his mother gave us.

Now for what Pope Francis actually said:

Homosexual acts are a sin. Men with homosexual tendencies may not be ordained priests. God is merciful and forgives sin.Women cannot become priests.Case closed.

That's what Pope Francis actually said.

The only sin God will not forgive is unrepentant sin and that is because God will not interfere with man's free will. Next to life the greatest gift God gave man was free will. We can choose heaven or we can choose hell. God does not send anyone to hell.

The people that left comments acted as if the only sin on the planet was committed by homosexuals. Jesus died on the cross so that all men could be redeemed. I don't recall Jesus excluding certain groups. We're all in that group called SINNERS and that's who Jesus died for. it strikes me funny that anti Catholics preach the saving power of the cross but will negate it if it suits them.

For Catholics who are reading these news articles re Pope Francis interview(and other Church related news)PLS go to reputable Catholic news agencies. I will compile a list of the best and post here sometime tomorrow.We seriously need to know our faith especially in this day and age. If you don't have a catechism please get one.If you can't get one you can find it online.Finally,live our faith.

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