Sunday, February 07, 2010

Abuse Allegations Mount at German Catholic Church

As the sexual abuse scandal has enveloped the Catholic Church since 2002, the Church hierarchy has at times tried to suggest that the abuse by priest is an English speaking country anomaly. With the scandal currently exploding in Germany, it is obvious that this excuse/damage control effort is going down in flames as more damaging information continues to come out. The truth is, in my view anyways, that the celibate priesthood and Catholic obsession with condemning all things sexual attracts sexually disturbed individuals and that the result has been a clergy predisposed to the molestation of children and youths who are frequently afraid to come forward and reveal what has been done to them. The irony, of course, is that the Catholic Church maintains that sex should be reserves solely for procreation and nothing else (hence why gay marriage is to be opposed), yet here we have priests and their superiors preying on those least able to defend themselves. How do we say hypocrisy?? When, oh when, are Catholics going to demand a thorough house cleaning of the hierarchy from Pope Benedict on down. Here are some highlights from Deutsche Welle:
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German news magazine Der Spiegel reported over the weekend that at least 10 church employees currently face accusations of sexual abuse. The magazine said more than 94 clerics and laymen have been suspected of sexual abuse since 1995. But only 30 of those suspects had actually been prosecuted, the report said, because of legal time constraints on pursuing cases. The latest reports come amid a widening scandal of serial sex abuse by Catholic priests in Germany.
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Earlier this week, Berlin's elite Canisius College admitted systematic abuse of pupils by at least two Roman Catholic priests. between 1975 and 1983 who once taught there. One of them has reportedly denied doing so. Suspicions have since emerged at three other Jesuit-run schools, in Hamburg, Bonn and in the Black Forest region, also dating back to the 1970s and 80s.
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During a Sunday service in Hanover's basilica, regional Catholic deacon, Provost Martin Tenge, said the church's "whole institution" bore blame through an attitude of "please don't talk about it." "When a Catholic priest, representing an institution with such high moral notions, commits sexual abuse, this leads to an unrectifiable breach," Tenge said.
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It is more that ironic that the Catholic Church condemns normal gays and seeks to limit our legal civil rights yet it protects and covers up for serial predator priest until such time as the lid blows off of the cover up. Rather than worrying about gays who are normal and accept their sexuality, the Church would seem wiser to clean up the foul stench within its own clerical ranks.

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