www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Trying to understand the clergy sexual abuse crisis

Today, while I was volunteering at my parish rectory, the February 2011 issue of THE PRIEST magazine arrived with the following cover article. I thought I would share it with you.

http://www.osv.com/tabid/7637/itemid/7283/From-Sin-and-Compulsion-to-Crime.aspx

Many Abuse Accusations Against Catholic Priests - False
« on: 12 January 2011, 17:22:28 »

Where's the Media? L.A. Attorney Declares Many Abuse Accusations Against
Catholic Priests Are 'Entirely False'

By Dave Pierre | January 02, 2011 | 20:02

In a stunning ten-page declaration recently submitted to the Los Angeles
County Superior Court, veteran attorney Donald H. Steier stated that his
investigations into claims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have
uncovered vast fraud and that his probes have revealed that many accusations
are completely false.


Read more:
http://www.newsbusters.org:80/blogs/dave-pierre/2011/01/02/wheres-media-la-atty-declares-many-abuse-accusations-against-catholic-p#ixzz1Amx64c98

Whilst the original poster links to a good article, the really scary thing about the way the media has handled this crisis is that it gives some sort of template for how the media might handle it when it works out that most abuse (physical, mental, sexual) actually occurs within families, .

The Christian church is pretty robust to criticism, having been subjected to its fair share of it from time to time. It has even survived concerted attempts to abolish it before, so I am fairly certain it has a future.

WHat I am less certain is robust and able to withstand a concerted campaign of criticism by our modern western culture is the institution of the family, and if the treatment meted out to the Catholic Church is dealt out to that institution when the media clicks that abuse is more common in families than by priests, we may be in severe trouble.

The Soviets tried to annihalate the Family and it didn't work to well either. Nature must be served, and no matter how hard you try, theres always familial ties.

That is also why the Church endures. But the forces of the world hate the Church, so will simply exagerate the Clerical Abuse, to act as if somehow the Pedophilia scandal is Unuque, or much larger, in it than anywhere else.