Pa. man: 'Callous' church let 3 pedophiles rape me

That is so true Zap, Those people that THINK that they can get away with things just because they belong to a corrupted perverted church, and religion style. will be going straight to Hell. Those people have already sealed their fate,

You're not the only one. In the early 60s the Boy Scout troop I tried to join had a Scoutmaster who fondled all the guys. I never went back. The scoutmaster was arrested for hid deeds a few years after I left.

At least the Scouts are doing something about it, by thoroughly investigating all potential leaders and never permitting an adult to be alone with a kid.

Truely stated Adarc.

Firing them doesn't prevent them from molesting other children. And unfortunately, our understanding of pedophilia during the years this was happening, didn't go beyond any specific incident. So the "solution" for many, many years was to simply put distance between the pedophile and the child. This was NOT unique to the Catholic Church. If you know anybody at all who was molested as a child, you'll hear the same story over and over again. Once a parent found out, they were almost always told that pressing charges could actually do more harm to the child than it was worth because they start to believe that they, the victim, did something wrong. You could also have the accuser making all kinds of claims in court about what the child did or didn't do. The chances of winning a court case like that were very slim until recent years. So the response was always to not press charges and put as much distance as possible between the sick pervert and the child. As I pointed out before, it's much more common in the public school system and some teachers, after being fired, just went to another state, another school district, and did the same thing there.

And the current Pope Benedict is doing a fast-track sainthood of the previous Pope John Paul II - all whitewash and forgive and forget. Do they really think they're fooling anybody? The Church is having various archdioceses file bankruptcy in order to pay out the minimum for these lawsuits, while protecting their own wealth. I also read that the Church has hired lobbyists in Washington DC, lobbying for laws that make it more difficult for victims of sexual abuse to come forward, reducing the statute of limitations, etc. Disgusting! As a Catholic myself, I can not bring myself to donate to the Church until I see real action and progress on the part of the Vatican to make amends and rectify this horrible, criminal situation against the most defenseless in our society.

Good for you, MM. When sincere and believing CATHOLICS, rather than just infuriated members of other denominations/no denomination, it will be much harder for the Vatican to continue its delaying tactics. Perhaps if concerned Catholics temporarily redirected their tithes and offerings to charities which actually AID children, and if those concerned Catholics made CERTAIN to explain clearly WHY they are so doing, it would be much harder for the Vatican to continue its delaying tactics.

Catholics Have it all wrong, God does not recognize this religion that is why these priests are raping children. the Devil himself is at the helm of Catholicism!

From my communications with priests in the church, I understand that the church views itself on equal footing with the Holy Scripture. That is, the church believes that official pronouncements of the church are equally authoritative as Scripture. I do not believe this is true. I find repeated statements in Scripture of its own authority, but I never find Scripture saying that the church would be authoritative. Jesus said that Scripture cannot be broken (John 11:35). The Apostle Paul states that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16). The Apostle Peter states that prophecies of old were given by holy men moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21). Jesus, in dealing with Satan at the temptation, quoted Scripture as authoritative (Matthew 4:1-10). Jesus saw that even the smallest letters of Scripture were from God (Matthew 5:18). The Word of God is powerful (Hebrews 4:12) and pure (Psalms 12:6) and true (John 17:17).

But the church can and does make mistakes. Even Peter made mistakes and at one point the Apostle Paul had to rebuke the Apostle Peter (Galatians 2:11-14). Yet, Peter and Paul remained jointly committed to the Word of God and the building up of believers (2 Peter 3:14-18).

Because I find the Scriptures to be authoritative, I will always gauge all churches and doctrines in light of what Scripture teaches. I do not think that the Catholic church would disagree with this, but I find their interpretations of Scripture sometimes troubling. For instance, Scripture says that there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). Why then do people pray to Mary or the saints, when Jesus is the only mediator? Never once, in Scripture, is there a positive example of someone praying to one who has died, except to Jesus. It is almost as if people believe that Jesus is too busy or that the saints or Mary are more compassionate or more likely to listen to us than Jesus Himself. We talk about loving Jesus but then the Catholic church encourages its people to speak to the saints and to Mary rather than to Jesus Himself. I find that a bit odd. I do not denigrate Mary. I hold Mary in very high esteem. But I do not pray to her, talk to her, or otherwise focus on her. I want my focus to be where the focus of Scripture is, on Jesus.

In any event, the purpose of the church and the purpose of believers on earth is to draw people into a personal and loving relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the first and great command and the great commission. It is not the doctrine, but that relationship that will be ultimately important. If we are His children, we are accepted in the Beloved. If we are not His children, we are already condemned by our sin. We want to be accepted by God.

May the Lord Jesus guide you as you turn your eyes to seek only Him.

Exactly. Rot goes right to the top, but a double-standard protects the hierarchy as they abuse the laity. It's horrible.

The coverup will also continue.

I would like to see just 1 good priest come forward as a whistleblower. Instead, they keep quiet and pass around a 10 year old boy between themselves.