1 / 28

Catholic Church: Sex Abuse Scandal

Catholic Church: Sex Abuse Scandal. Kim Curtin Cedric Griffey Brenna Margol Souvik Sen. The Catholic Church Hierarchy. Pope Papa Nuncio Cardinals Bishops Dioceses Priests Parishioners. How the Catholic Church is a “Business”. Leadership Providing a service to the community

paul
Download Presentation

Catholic Church: Sex Abuse Scandal

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Catholic Church: Sex Abuse Scandal Kim Curtin Cedric GriffeyBrenna MargolSouvik Sen

  2. The Catholic Church Hierarchy • Pope • Papa Nuncio • Cardinals • Bishops • Dioceses • Priests • Parishioners

  3. How the Catholic Church is a “Business” • Leadership • Providing a service to the community • Receive money

  4. Catholic Church Ethics • Ethical Dilemmas • Utilitarianism Decisions • Ordination Vow

  5. “Celibacy is both a sign and a motive of pastoral charity, and a special source of spiritual fruitfulness in the world. By living in this state with total dedication, moved by a sincere love for Christ the Lord, you are consecrated to him in a new and special way. By this consecration you will adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart; you will be more freely at the service of God and mankind. By your life and character you will give witness to your brothers and sisters in faith that God must be loved above all else, and that it is He whom you serve in others.” (Celibacy…)

  6. Challenging The Ethics • Promises of a Priest • Unlawful Sex with minors • Secret from the public

  7. How many children were abused?? 10,667

  8. How many abusive clergy were there?? 4,392 = 4% of all Priests

  9. How the Church reacted…. • Tried to avoid scandal • Kept secrets • Pressured victims • Did not tell brethren when an abusive priest was being transferred

  10. What the church should have done…. • confront scandal head on • Report to parishioners and dioceses • Encourage victims to report abuse to authorities • suspend priest from ministry and report him to authorities

  11. Key Players…. • Father Geoghan • Father Shanley • Father Birmingham • Cardinal Law • Bishop D’Arcy

  12. Why did the church respond so poorly? • Church didn’t understand problem • Fear of scandal caused cover up • Harm suffered by victims wasn’t understood • Relied too much on psychiatrists, psychologists, and lawyers • Placed interests of priests above victims interests

  13. What brought the scandal to light? • Cardinal Law’s 2001 Admittance • Boston Globe Spotlight Investigation

  14. Leadership Change • Archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law Resigns • Rev. Richard Gerard Lennon temporarily appointed • Sean Patrick O’Malley installed as archbishop of Archdiocese of Boston

  15. Policy Change • Separate funds for cases • Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People Revised Edition • Independent Audits

  16. Lawsuits • Archdiocese of Boston Reaches Agreement for $85 Million • Archdiocese of St. Louis Will Pay $1.675 Million • Roman Catholic Church in Vermont Agrees to Record Settlement

  17. Increasing Debt and Church Response • Total Accumulated Debt between $350 Million and $1 Billion • Boston Archdiocese Sells Property to Boston College for $107.4 Million • Pending Cases against Insurance Companies • Attempt to Move Cases into Bankruptcy Court

  18. Overall Effects • Priest Shortage • Declining Follower Support

  19. FUTURE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

  20. WHY IT HAPPENED? • Dioceses and orders did not screen candidates for the priesthood properly. As a result , many sexually dysfunctional and immature men were admitted into seminaries and latter ordained into the priesthood. • Seminaries did not form candidates for the priesthood adequately. As a result, seminarians were not prepared for the challenges of priesthood, particularly the challenge of a chaste, celibate life. • Catholic priests are sworn to celibacy and homosexuality is outlawed by the catholic church. • Personally I would term these priests as pedophiles and frustrated individuals who are attracted by young and nubile alter boys.

  21. WHAT IS THE REMEDY • “According to one source by the Boston Globe, the priest John Geoghan, Cardinal Bernard F. Law announced a new "zero-tolerance" policy”, in which the cardinal is co operating with the authorities to turn in the perpetrator. • “As the scandal continued to grow, however, it became clear that more sweeping action was needed. In June 2002, 300 US Catholic bishops gathered in Dallas to formulate a tough new policy barring abusive priests from the ministry.”

  22. “MARRIAGE” – SHOULD PRIESTS BE ALLOWED TO MARRY? • Many would oppose the idea of a priest being married. • Any person in a good marriage would tell you that being married is being part of a complementary team. Having a spouse enables you to perform your personal and professional duties better. A wife could actually strengthen a priest’s ministry. • Would there be no more sex scandals in the Church? Maybe, maybe not. But this latest crisis to hit the local Church further begs the question, whether it is time for the Catholic hierarchy to tackle some much-needed reform, instead of enabling its members to avoid a sense of responsibility for their problems. An examination of compulsory celibacy should be one element of such reform.

  23. Closing Thoughts…..

More Related