Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church

As many of you have probably heard, this week a report was released detailing some of the sexual abuse which has been committed by Catholic priests. As a Catholic, I want to publicly denounce what these men have done. I cannot, and will not, attempt to defend the abominable actions of these men. By being priests, these men are supposed to be spiritual fathers, but they failed exponentially in this task. Instead of representing Jesus and living in His love, these men preyed upon and manipulated many innocent victims. To make matters worse, their evil actions were swept under the rug.

I know that many people are furious, and rightly so. The disgust, anger, and horror many of us feel is justified. However, while I am deeply disappointed by the evil actions of these priests, I will not leave the Catholic Church. This statement may offend my non-Catholic friends and family members, however, I cannot in good conscience abandon the Church which Jesus founded. I am Catholic not because of the leadership of the institution, but because of the many truths of the ancient faith.

Leaving the Church because of the evil actions of some of its leaders is akin to saying that we should all leave our colleges and schools and universities because of the evil actions of teachers who have engaged in sexual activities with students. People are quick to condemn the Church itself, yet I do not see people calling for the condemnation of the entire education system. Furthermore, there are other institutions such as the film industry which have had similar problems with sexual predators, yet I do not see people calling for the total condemnation of these institutions.

Rather than running away from an institution experiencing problems, we should work to fix it. Instead of leaving the Catholic Church, we Catholics should work from within to thoroughly purge it of the filth which has infiltrated it for far too long. One victim is one too many. We can no longer remain silent and allow evil to occur. Scripture tells us "Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them..." (Ephesians 5:11). We must do something to prevent this from ever happening again.

Furthermore, we must not punish the good priests for the sins of their fallen brethren. I do not believe that all priests are predatory homosexuals. I believe there are still many good priests out there who are just as floored and angry as we are. Unfortunately, these good priests will probably suffer attacks which are a result of the anger which should be directed towards the bad priests. I feel sympathy not only for the many victims in this situation, but also for the good priests who will soon find themselves under persecution. It is a sad state of affairs when the just suffer the punishments deserved by the wicked.

Lastly, I ask everyone reading this to join me in prayer for the victims. May this be the last time such an atrocity is allowed to occur.

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Religious Sentiments

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