All In The Family

Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and therefore are bound to celibacy which is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart and are able to dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and humanity

It is unspeakably dreadful, and horribly sad that the faith and trust of so many people needing to believe, have had their faith and their trust and their belief thrust back at them, as though mocking their need. The Holy Roman Catholic Church is and always has been a shepherd in faith and trust to an immense following. Along the way, over the years measured in several millennia, faith and trust has been abused by those who wear the cassock.

Those entrusted to deliver the message of the Almighty to the vast masses of believers are held in high esteem by the community of the laity and the commune of the priestly castes. The pledge taken by all Catholic clergy to remain chaste and pure and refrain from acts of sex through the embrace of celibacy is central to the mission of the Church, that the work of the priest is to focus on assisting the laity to find their way to God with no other distractions.

Yet in the confessional, when the faithful relate their sins to find absolution, the wisdom of the clergy to offer advice is constrained when the priest has not personally had experience that relates in so many ways to the issues that beset the ordinary church-goer. Without that experience the response is pure rote, lacking the depth of understanding. And then, perhaps the ritual is reduced to a rite empty of meaning itself as sins are washed out of conscience.

For decades, scandal after scandal have rocked the foundations of the Church with ongoing revelations of sex abuse suffered by women and children through their relationships with those they most trust, their parish priest. The issue seemed to be confined primarily to North America, where abusers were being confronted by their victims and the Church hierarchy was implicated through its silent protection of the abusers.

More latterly voices in Ireland have been raised in accusations against the Church, and Pope Benedict has spoken out unequivocally, denouncing the betrayals of innocents , describing child sex abuse as a "heinous crime", a "grave sin". Thus fulfilling his obligations in censuring the unforgivable behaviour of priests. And piously giving the impression that those of pure heart representing the great majority of the clergy would never descend to such sins.

But, the Church's stock-in-trade is forgiveness, and it has found it in its heart to forgive the transgressors, while leaving the victims to fend for themselves. There has been a long history of Church authorities spiriting away from the parish in which sexual- and child-predators did double-duty as cleric and molester - protecting them, sending them for re-orientation, or just to other parishes where they continued their obnoxious offences.

Now, the revelations, admissions and grievances have spread to Europe, to the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, with victims finally finding the courage of their outraged pasts to speak in condemnation of the Church. Thus we discover that among other things, in 1980 an abusive priest in the diocese of Munich was allowed to remain in a rectory for "therapy" while Joseph Ratzinger was archbishop of Munich.

And that abuse dating to the 1970s and 80s at an elite Jesuit-operated academy in Berlin where victims claim abuse occurred - including abuse at two-thirds of Germany's 27 dioceses. One of these multiple accusations point to a boarding school with Regensburg cathedral's choir where Pope Benedict's brother George Ratzinger was present as choir master for thirty years - but he had no knowledge of that abuse.

Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, claims such abuse to be endemic in society, throughout secular institutions, and as such the Church merely reflected what was occurring elsewhere. As well, he infers that "...it is just that someone is trying to undermine..." the confidence of the faithful in their church. "But the Church has special help, from above."

The media, in reporting such sensational claims of abuse in Church institutions is somehow also largely to blame for the scandal. Some "one" is amazingly influential in the news media to orchestrate such a mass defamation and slander of the Church, quite obviously. Perhaps they too had special help, from above.

Perhaps this is God's way of alerting His shepherds to His displeasure?