A general question. Since Pedophilia seems virtually "uncurable" as a moral perversion some have suggested that the proper punishment for pedophiles would be execution. That's not a bad idea, except I'm not in favor of executions. But it does seem to me that life imprisonment is a proper punishment for pedophilia. What say you?

Dan Lauffer

Pedophile Island and a *****-ectomy.My daughter thinks we should take all their useable organs and use them for transplant donations.


Nicky's Baba

"My daughter thinks we should take all their useable organs and use them for transplant donations."

While they are still alive?

If either of my sons had experienced such debauchery there might have been two people going to hell. The Pedophile for what he did to my son and me for what I would have done to the pedophile. His office would not have saved him.

Dan Lauffer

Dear Dan,

Isn't the Christian thing to do to forgive sins?
To tell the sinner to "go and sin no more"?
To turn the other cheek?
To turn the other cheeks?
To turn the others' cheeks?

I'm a lousy Christian. I don't believe in turning other people's cheeks when they are attacked. Especially when children are attacked.

Our society does not seem to be able to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medicine to the poor, the disabled, the mentally ill (not harmful to others), not to mention those just temporarily down on their luck due to loss of their jobs.

Can it be moral to provide perpetual food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and access to the law library to the incorrigible Dirtballs while innocent children are denied?

I know that some people do stupid things once in their lives. I know the legal system screws up and convicts the innocent sometimes. But some Dirtballs have just chosen to behave in evil ways.

For those who are incorrigible, I have big problems with perpetual care. If they can never be trusted again, why bother?

Maybe we should just fence off some territory and drop all the criminals into it and let them live with each other as long as they can, away from us and without our attention.

I am a baseball fan --- three strikes, you're hanged.

John

Glory to Jesus Christ!

This issue unfortunately is being used as a springboard for pseudo-catholic groups within the Latin Church at this time to "reform" the Church. The sad reality is that this great evil has existed in the Church probably since the beginning.

The Holy Spirit is going to do some Spring Cleaning; it's His Work, we need to trust in Him.

In regard to pedophile priests: their punishment is up to the civil courts and the church tribunals. We must pray for the salvation of their/our souls as we would any other sinner, but at the same time we must work to support the priests that are striving to maintain their commitment to Christ in their Vocation and at the same time enduring a kind of pariah status from American society.

We must also seek the healing of the victims who must be experiencing enestimable suffering.

May Christ our true God who rose from the dead raise them from their feeling of death and alienation. With His most precious and Life-Creating Spirit may Christ heal their memories and bring reconciation and restoration to their souls and bodies. May they feel His Love which can never abuse us and never causes us pain. May He do all these things for He is gracious and He Loves Mankind. Amen.

A prayer for those in holy orders:

Jesus, Head of the Church, we pray for those who are joined to You in a mysterious way by Holy Orders; may they ever be faithful to the promises they have made and be strong in You and in the power of Your might. We glorify You Most Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Now and Ever and Forever. Amen.

In Christ,


Rob

If their punishment is up to the courts, then justice demands that no one -- even bishops and Cardinals -- obstruct the administration of justice. I think this is the principal issue the faithful are troubled by.

Axios

Axios,

We agree on this issue. Some people are concerned that prison may be too harsh a sentence given that child molestors are often abused or even murdered while in prison. I disagree. I'm willing to feed them and give them access to a library. Let the abuse they may suffer be their penance.

Dan Lauffer

BTW I agree that decent priests need and deserve our strong and open support, without a doubt. They are facing the brunt of the evil committed by some of their fellow priests. They don't need our recriminations besides. Why not have some special days of appreciation offered for our priests. Let's privately reassure them of our support and let us publicly back them up.

Yikes.

Where is the mercy?

"Shoot 'em all, let God sort 'em out!"

Doesn't it say somewhere that by the measure by which we judge, we shall be judged.

It's really hard to urge mercy and actively work for the conversion of sinners who committ such henious crimes.

But, if we can't do it for love of God, won't enlightened self interest lead us to it?

Steve

Dear Friends,

A little girl named Holly was brutally murdered and dismembered two months ago and someone has been arrested in the case.

Police made public the fact that there are more than 200 released pedophiles in the immediate area of her former home - it's becoming quite an issue.

But I wonder why we would want to impose harsher penalties on priests than on others for this crime/sickness?

Ultimately, however, this whole thread is on the wrong topic.

The real topic is the bishops' responsibility to protect their faithful and how they deliberately failed to live up to that responsibility.

Another topic is accountability in the Church.

Personally, I don't see how either issue is being properly managed at the current time, pious platitudes and apologies notwithstanding.

Those are the real issues here, not executions of priests with this illness.

Alex

It's a horribly difficult question - and we aren't exactly dealing well with it.

Punishment is indeed a matter for the courts to decide. Prevention is a horse of a slightly different color.

Once a man (and it is usually men) has served his sentence, he is re-released into the community. In Ohio, offenders labelled "sexual predators" must register with the authorities wherever they live, for the rest of their lives. With a disorder like pedophilia, I think this makes sense. What I'm not entirely sure about are the various local laws which restrict sexual offenders from living within ______ (number of feet) of _________ (schools, churches, day care centers, whatever). On the face of it it makes some sense, but in actuality, it often means that ex-offenders simply cannot obtain housing.

As a civil libertarian I am very uneasy with ideas such as lifetime monitoring, but as a parent and citizen aware of the lifetime compulsion pedophiles are said to feel, I'm not sure if some sort of monitoring isn't necessary here.

A critical need is also to STOP THE CYCLE. Sure, there will always be some folks with disordered thoughts and desires, but if we as a society really decide to support and value children & families and prevent abuse & neglect (sounds easy, doesn't it??) mebbe the NEXT generation of pedophiles will be smaller.

I dunno.


Sharon

This is truly a very difficult situation with no easy fix. The bishops have to be accountable. But like Sharon I am generally libertarian and don't like the idea of new sui generis laws targeted at religious institutions. Child abuse civil laws exist in some form in every state in the USA. More laws aren't necessarily the answer.

More bishops taking the initiative to voluntarily ferret these sick men out of ministry, seminaries, monasteries, etc. etc. would be a great start and a visible sign of the good will of the hierarchy in preventing further problems.

Just or not, the most painful earthly retribution will probably be in the bank accounts of the dioceses either settling or litigating these cases.

This takes a lot of guts to discuss on a public forum, but here goes. I was a victim of sexual abuse by a cleric. I know the hell that one goes through after that sort of thing. My therapist and I often discuss what I would like to see happen and my feelings of anger and disgust over both the specific acts I endured and also the hierarchy's response to those of us who have been through this hell and their protection of the perpetrators. I find myself becoming increasingly anti-clerical and struggle against that. My therapist and I have also talked about what I would like to see done to my abuser and to those bishops who have shielded and protected him over the years. I don't want to see him killed, we have no right to take another person's life, that is in God's very capable hands. I do want him removed from society and I want him to know some of the hell that his acts have put both myself and numerous other people through. He needs to pay the price for his actions in some way in the here and now, as I am sure he will have to pay in the next life. As for the bishops...they need to share some of the blame for what happened. I recenly learned that in at least one of the dioceses this man served in prior to my experience, his behavior was reported to the local ordinary. Nothing was done except allow him to move to another diocese. When it happened to me and another novice at the community I had entered right from high school, this other novice and I went to the bishop and told him everything. Nothing was done. He later moved to another diocese and then to yet another one. My life was changed forever and I will always carry these wounds in my heart and soul. May God have mercy on us all...the suffering and those who inflicted our wounds alike. Don

Don, may God bless and heal you. And ultimately, justice will be served by the Just Judge.

Don,

I second Diak's prayer. I do believe bishops have much to answer for on the day of judgment along with the abusers themselves. There is no excuse for how the Church has allowed this evil to continue. I pray that every child that is ever abused by anyone, be they priest or anyone else, will have someone to protect them. I pray that the someone will report the abusers to the police and that abusers will be jailed for life. If they are priests let them carry out their duties behind bars. Their penance will doubtless be that they will experience the shame and abuse that other more powerful men will bring against them while they are still alive.

Dan Lauffer