Vatican axed trial for priest accused by deaf boys

[Canceled2]

They are, at their organizational level, a criminal organization. There is no Cardinal, and probably damn few Arch-Bishops that knew nothing about the sexual abuse of children. The current pope and his predecessor were complicit in the cover up of decades of child sexual abuse. In this country, any Cardinal or Arch-Bishop that knew or should have known of the sexual abuse of children should be arrested as an accomplice after the fact. Failing to turn in someone that is KNOWN to sexually abuse children is a crime for the rest of us and should be for the clergy as well.

There are 3 models of church government that churches use:

Episcopal government

Presbyterian government

Congregational government

The Catholic Church uses Episcopal government as their model. It fails and is unbiblical, imo, because all the power for discipline remains at the top with little or no recompense for grievances from the laity.

Presbyterian government to the contrary has in place bodies for which the laity can bring charges and or defend itself in accordance to the Book of Church Order which is a book that contains clear and referenced biblical precedents for which to make or defend your case.

Congregational government has the unique trouble of constant anarchy from within and is in fact the cause of so much splintering. Because of this there is also a loss to doctrinal principles.

[Aoxomoxoa]

There are 3 models of church government that churches use:

Episcopal government

Presbyterian government

Congregational government

The Catholic Church uses Episcopal government as their model. It fails and is unbiblical, imo, because all the power for discipline remains at the top with little or no recompense for grievances from the laity.

Presbyterian government to the contrary has in place bodies for which the laity can bring charges and or defend itself in accordance to the Book of Church Order which is a book that contains clear and referenced biblical precedents for which to make or defend your case.

Congregational government has the unique trouble of constant anarchy from within and is in fact the cause of so much splintering. Because of this there is also a loss to doctrinal principles.

Who cares? Wrong is wrong, no matter how you try to justify it.

[China Apologist]

Church shouldn't have a government.

The Catholic church was trying to act like a government here, instituting there own "justice" system, and unleashing "treated" priests back on the populace, like it was just some kind of experiment. One that, if it failed, merely results in the destruction of lives. There was no justification for what they did. They were just protecting their own.

[Canceled2]

Who cares? Wrong is wrong, no matter how you try to justify it.

I was merely stating the facts on church government. The point being made about Episcopal church governance is that it creates the ability for the kind of corruption that happened in the Catholic Church. The only way that can be interpreted as a justification is that you decided that was the case.

[Canceled2]

Church shouldn't have a government.

The Catholic church was trying to act like a government here, instituting there own "justice" system, and unleashing "treated" priests back on the populace, like it was just some kind of experiment. One that, if it failed, merely results in the destruction of lives. There was no justification for what they did. They were just protecting their own.

A healthy church MUST have some form of governance. The corruption committed by the Catholic heiarchy is not indicative of anything other than a deliberate choice of a few in power to act apart from their own system of accountability...

My point was that other forms of governance have a better check and balance to maintain moral accountability.

Most churches have some form of authority with regards to their members. This should never negate or replace the authority the state has when crimes are commited.

[China Apologist]

The key problem with the Catholic church here is that they still seem to think they are a government. They are not. It's not the middle ages.

[WinterBorn]

The key problem with the Catholic church here is that they still seem to think they are a government. They are not. It's not the middle ages.

WM, they were not saying that the church is a government. What was being discussed was a method of governing a large organization.

[WinterBorn]

The law is no different for clergy than for the rest of us, except as it applies to confession. The clergy is still exempted from having to report pedophiles to the authorities if the molestation was learned of during confession or religious consultation. This is different from Teachers, social workers, physicians, foster parents, police officers, firefighters and other professionals. That is where the catholic church has made claims of innocense, even when more than one priest knew of the molestation. The Catholic church has knowingly kept pedophiles as parish priests by transferring them to new parishes. For years, priests were sent to the Jemez Springs New Mexico to The Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete. After spending several hard months in the beautiful forest retreat they were sent to other parishes to molest again, even though in the 50's the church knew that pedophile priests were not curable. The retreat in Jemez Springs was known as Camp Ped even by priests that worked there.

Here is an article about it.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org...ll_CampPed.htm

Now I wonder if this thread will have any new replies.

[Socrtease]

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

[tinfoil]

[WinterBorn]

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

No shortage of victims in this disgusting set of events.

But there is certainly a shortage of responsibility from the church leadership.

Also a shortage of comments from our resident catholic defender.