http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/16/pope.wed/index.html#cnnSTCText
He spoke at a prayer service with U.S. bishops at Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Roman Catholic church in North America.
Benedict said the sexual abuse of children by priests has caused a “deep shame” and called it “gravely immoral behavior.” “
“What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?” he asked.
Benedict urged the media and entertainment industry to take part in a “moral renewal.” “
Ok, Benny, I see the strategy.
Maybe the video game industry should stop making your priests and bishops play Grand Theft Auto. That’s surely corrupting them. I bet Law and Order has some adult themes. The makers of that show should stop targeting these helpless souls.
BAH!
The Pope is passing the buck. We’re talking about clergy, people. Tell them to turn off the TV and the XBOX (which, I assure you, they’re NOT playing).
Is the Pope serious? How is he going to blame the media? Don’t the priests and bishops have the self-discipline (1) to recognize these bad influences and (2) to get away from them? The Pope is full of shit here.
I suspect the problem is deeper. What do you think happens when you tell a man not to have an orgasm? Where does that pent-up sexual energy go? When a priest tries to deny his impulses, the result is simple repression. In all seriousness, a priest needs to masturbate. That will give him a way to channel his “energy.”
-MC Spanky McGee
Sphere: Related Content
18 Apr 2008 MC Spanky McGee
Uh…Pope, can I point something out to you?
We’ve spent 200+ years in this nation defining our free market and also defining what is protected by a thing we call the First Amendment. You need to get your celibate people of god to stop molesting young boys. Allow me to rephrase: This is on you and your crew. You are the CEO of the Catholic church. You cannot shift blame on this. I can help you come up with a couple solutions if you need me to.
That leads me to the most disturbing part of the entire issue. Check out this take on the story from a newspaper in Bahrain. They essentially have the same take as Spanky, unlike our friends in the American media.
Yes, the Pope is apologizing, and the people that did this will forever be treated as “gravely immoral,” but there is no well-thought plan to respond to this. In fact, a major part of the problem in the past has been been the lack of response from the church (refusal to report incidents to police, failure to defrock offenders, blatant cover-up attempts). Sure, Pope John Paul II issued a reform document in the early 90s that emphasized the whole “don’t abuse the kids” angle in seminaries. Then there was the infamous 2005 Vatican Instruction , which was interpreted by the gay wing of the Catholic church to correlate pedophilia and homosexuality because it said that the issue of forming a position on gay priests was “made more urgent by the current situation,” without describing what the “current situation” was. (Note: the instruction also indicated that gays should be kept out of the priesthood “for the good of the candidates,” translation: “for their own good”). In short, the Pope STILL has no plan to combat this…other than the aforementioned changes in seminary training and his call for a “determined, collective response.”
To hit the reset button, chew on this from Wiki: The John Jay Report, commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, found accusations against 4,392 priests in the USA, equalling about 4% of all U.S. priests between 1950 and 2002.
This should not be a surprise. The Catholic church has made a living by ignoring “facts” and “data” for many years. If you don’t believe me, check out this article from Catholic News:
I don’t point this out to demean the value of the apology to the victims. I can’t imagine what abuse of this nature does to a person’s life generally. For that I am lucky. The point is that the church wants everyone to feel the emotion of the apology and how much better that made the victims feel about their faith. Healing is important. Prevention is more important. This phenomenon was brought to light more than 30 years ago.
Let me help:
PSSHT…Calling all porn sites…that’s right…Bang Brothers, MILF Hunters, Lusty Latinas, Gushing Grandmas, Big Boobie Babes and all the rest…we need you to cease production immediately. Your mission is to save the Catholic church. I repeat, your mission is to save the Catholic church.