In defense of the church

Union Tribune
December 12, 2019

https://bit.ly/2Pr7oW8

I object to bigoted comments being made about tens of thousands of young people abused by the Catholic Church. It is a sweeping generality.

The church never abused anyone. Pedophiles lied their way into the church and took advantage of their positions. The clergy’s mistake was to not send parents to the police. If the pedophile confesses to a priest, then the “Seal of Confession” stops the priest from saying anything to anyone. It becomes difficult for them to report them to the police directly or even to their superiors. Therefore, all cases must be reported immediately to them by the parents or the priest to assure the quickest response to the situation.

The Associated Press has reported on similar type of abuse. It found 17,000 cases of abuse by students on students recorded, but not reported, in four years, while the reported cases in the church occurred over 70 years. There is no reporting requirement for these student abuses. Also, the AP feels that many incidents were not recorded and that school staffs ignored many.

What is worse, Wikipedia reports 81% of students were sexually harassed in school, 83% of girls were harassed, 78% of boys were harassed, 38% were harassed by teachers or school employees 36% of school employees or teachers were harassed by students and 42% of school employees or teachers were harassed by each other.

Domenick Amato
Rancho Bernardo