For those of you in Massachusetts who watch the news, you are most likely aware of the current scandal going on within the Archdiosese of Boston. Cardinal Law has now turned over 80 priests within the Archdiosese that have been accused of molesting children. Apparently, Cardinal Law covered these cases up, allowing the priests to continue serving the churches of Masschusetts, after attending some kind of "rehab" type program.
Is that sick or what? Ok first of all, you would think that a man of God such as Cardinal Law would not allow such a thing. It is beyond me. How could he cover up such a horrible act, 80 times no less?
Secondly, as if that was not bad enough, it sickens me to think that a priest could commit such a horrible, demeaning crime. I know that they are not "superhuman" and of course, like everyone else they sin. But, Christ (if you will pardon the expression) saying "oh shit" or even stealing something is forgivable. Molesting an innocent child or anyone for that matter is not, not forgivable by a long shot. How could Cardinal Law let that go?
Ryun and I were talking about the whole vow of celibacy thing and he said that priests should just be allowed to have sex. Whether or not they decided to change the rules in that regard would not really matter to me, but I do not think that it would solve the problem to be honest. Most, if not all of the children that were molested by these 80 or so priests were boys. So unless these priests just happen to be gay and attracted to these boys, as far as I am concerned the reason behind these molestations is not due to lack of sex. The damn hand works just as well. These priests are sick individuals...just as sick as the asshole of the street who rapes/molests a child. That aside, when they chose to enter the priesthood, they decided to devote their lives to God and live without sex. If they could not live up to that agreement, they should lose the collar. I am not trying to make it sound easy. A life without sex or even just a life partner would be a hard vow to make...but those priests did and for them to use young children as an outlet is just incomprehensible.
This scandal has done nothing in the way of maintaining my faith in God or the church. Don't get me wrong, I believe in God and on occasion attend church. I just have a lot of resentment and a lot of questions. As a god-fearing Christian my whole life (well, maybe not god-fearing but a Christian just the same) it just sickens me to have lost such a powerful trust in the priests, the church, in God himself. When things of this magnitude happen, I find myself asking why God would allow such a thing. I try to convince myself that really, it is the temptation known as the devil that allows it. However, whether it be God, the devil or some other power it is still a difficult thing to swallow.
I was raised a Roman Catholic. As a child, I attended church regularly and, I continued to do so throughout college for the most part. During college, I really began to have a lot of questions. I actually felt guilty for having sex before I was married. I felt bad about drinking under age. When I came home from school and about 8 months later got pregnant, I told my mother that I did not want to go to church anymore once I started to show. I was afraid of being judged by fellow churchgoers, never mind God. I have pretty much gotten past all of that and really try to make decisions based on what I feel and not by how others do or how God will react. I don't attend church regularly anymore but, as most practicing or formerly practicing Catholics know, there is a sense of guilt that comes along with not attending. The catholic church has a wonderful way of instilling guilt. Its a great feeling, really. Yeah right.
Although I have my own reservations about the catholic churches rules and policies, I still feel betrayed in some way by the scandal and the lack of trust and dignity I feel towards the church and all of its counterparts as a result. It is just so shocking and well, rather disappointing to put it mildly.
I don't honestly know if I will ever attend again regularly. I would like to say that I would, but that decision has only been made more difficult in light of recent events. It is really hard to have faith in something/someone that is actually practicing just what they preach against (lying, dishonesty etc.).
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