Archive for the ‘evolution; religion; survival; world decline; society; human failure;’ Tag
This article by Neil Macdonald seems like it has not received the attention it should have. This link to the published article still works; https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/grand-jury-report-1.4798291
Here is a slightly edited version and PLEASE NOTE: HORRIFIC DOCUMENTED CASES OF CHILD ABUSE IN THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS REPRINT.
By secular standards, the Catholic Church is a corrupt organization and
Federal authorities should treat it like one!
Neil Macdonald · CBC News · Posted: Aug 26, 2018 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: August 26, 2018
WARNING: This column contains disturbing details
Imagine for a moment that a big, admired multinational corporation, one selling a beloved product, was employing large numbers of male pedophiles and rapists, operating in rings all over the world, and that their crimes had been uncovered in Australia, Ireland, Canada, the Philippines, Belgium, France, Austria, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Britain, Germany and the United States, and, further, that senior executives had systematically covered up and suppressed evidence, transferring and enabling hundreds of predators, betraying thousands of victims.
What would happen to the company is not terribly difficult to imagine.
At a minimum, the U.S. government would likely use its Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law to go after not only the rapists and molesters, but also the company’s executives, up to and including its CEO if possible, seizing the company’s assets and seeking the harshest possible prison terms. That’s the sort of thing RICO was invented for. The company would almost certainly collapse. But of course no company’s warranty guarantees everlasting life, and no company maintains that its CEO is chosen by God.
Grand jury report: (continued) The Roman Catholic church does, which is the only explanation for why, after the release of a grand jury report that detailed more than 1,000 cases of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania over several decades by more than 300 predators in clerical collars, many of whom are still alive, millions of American Catholics continued to attend mass.
(DISGUSTING GRAPHIC DOCUMENTED CASES ARE DELETED FROM THIS REPRINTING HERE)
‘We showed no care for the little ones’: Pope’s letter vows to end sex abuse, coverups
Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Josh Shapiro, told reporters last week that high church officials “routinely and purposefully described the abuse as ‘horseplay’ and ‘wrestling,'” choosing to transfer the pedophiles to other congregations (where they’d have a whole new selection of horseplay partners), or send them away for prayerful reflection before returning to duty.
Unfortunately, though, Shapiro said, the statute of limitations has run out in most of the cases, or the priests involved had died. Pity, Shapiro was implying, because if they could, authorities would vigorously pursue and prosecute and imprison not only the perpetrators, but their enablers and protectors. Or not. Actually, probably not. Inevitably, that scale of prosecution – we are talking about inflicting severe damage to the Catholic Church in the United States – would require steadfast political will, and seriously, what politician seeking re-election wants to alienate 24 per cent of Americans, many of whom, despite clear evidence of the church’s moral rot, insist on believing it is infallible? Pope Francis released an open letter to the world’s Catholics after the Pennsylvania revelations, basically repeating the company line. (Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press)
The same goes elsewhere. Revelations of horrors in all the above-mentioned Western countries (here in Canada, there was documented abuse in Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, where the church’s Mount Cashel orphanage was operated as sort of a prison for child sex slaves resulted in dismissals of some church officials, some lawsuits and a handful of criminal convictions, but not much more than that.)
Each time, the Pope or one of his high subalterns would lament human frailty, and drone on about the sacred duty to protect the most vulnerable, while privately fighting to thwart civil suits or conspiring to keep facts from investigating authorities.
Pope Francis, who enjoys the most saintly reputation of any recent pope (except for John Paul II, who was actually made a saint, despite all the ugly revelations on his watch) released an open letter to the world’s Catholics after the Pennsylvania revelations, basically repeating the company line: gosh, sorry, that was terrible, we must do better, God bless you all, go in peace.
Noting first that “most of these cases belong to the past,” (don’t all cases belong to the past?) the Pope banged on for 2,000 words about feeling the pain of the vulnerable, and the necessity of ensuring it doesn’t happen again (and again and again and again), but his central theme was expressed right off the top in a line from Corinthians: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it.”
Yes. Of course. Let’s compare the spiritual suffering the Pope claims the revelations have caused him to that of a child being sodomized by an adult stalker in a clerical collar, a monster the boy probably doesn’t think he’s even allowed to complain about.
Resisting change
The right thing for the Pope to do would be to waive his sovereign privilege (he is a sitting head of state), and invite criminal authorities to freely and fully access church records worldwide, and drain the holy swamp. He might also consider at this stage ordaining women, because women are God’s creatures too, perfectly able to spiritually guide the faithful, and, umm, don’t tend to rape children.
But the privileged old men who run the church aren’t going to allow any of that. They’re a bit like gun control opponents, opposing an obvious solution on doctrinaire grounds.
There actually have been a few attempts to use the RICO statute against priests, notably in Cleveland, but jurors did not convict
When former Oklahoma governor and former federal prosecutor Frank Keating, a practicing Catholic, compared the church’s obsession with secrecy to the Mafia’s, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles demanded his ouster from a church board examining clerical abuse. Keating resigned from the panel.
Mahony, who covered up sexual abuse by priests in California, according to church records, retired peacefully at age 75. Only after a court order compelled the Los Angeles archdiocese to open its files on abuse was Mahony gently rebuked by the church.
The National (news cast)
Pope Francis condemns priestly sexual abuse.
Pope Francis condemned priestly sexual abuse and its cover-up by the Catholic Church, in a public letter. In addition to demanding accountability, Francis begged forgiveness for the pain suffered by victims and said Catholics must be involved in any effort to root out abuse.
By any secular standard, the Catholic Church is a corrupt organization. It in fact sets the standard for impunity.
Cardinal Bernard Law, who presided over the coverup of the church’s famous Boston sex abuse scandals, was plucked and brought to Rome by Pope John Paul II, where he resided until he died at the Vatican, beyond the reach of American prosecutors.
Earlier this year, after Bishop Juan Barros of Chile was accused of covering up clerical abuse, Pope Francis denounced the accusers’ “calumny.” When it turned out that there was merit to the accusations, and that the Vatican had been informed of the problem, Francis claimed he’d been misinformed. A few weeks later, all 34 of Chile’s bishops tendered their resignations. Francis eventually accepted three of them.
And now, Catholic activist Susan Reynolds has gathered thousands of signatures on a letter demanding the resignation of all American bishops. It would be the right thing to do, but at a guess, the very notion amuses America’s bishopry, comfortable in their armour of piety.
RICO, aggressively deployed by federal prosecutors using wiretaps, search warrants and informants, would be far more effective. They can’t all flee to Rome.
This column is part of CBC’s Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor’s blog and our FAQ.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neil Macdonald
Opinion Columnist
Neil Macdonald is an opinion columnist for CBC News, based in Ottawa. Prior to that he was the CBC’s Washington correspondent for 12 years, and before that he spent five years reporting from the Middle East. He also had a previous career in newspapers, and speaks English and French fluently, and some Arabic.
More by Neil Macdonald
CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
RELATED STORIES
More than 1,000 children abused by Pennsylvania priests, report says
THE NATIONAL TODAY Pope condemns sex abuse by priests: What we know about number of victims, scope of settlements
‘There’s no room for forgiveness’: Pope’s sexual abuse letter meaningless to survivor
Southdown Institute: A ‘shield’ for the Church or a place to provide ‘meaningful’ help for pedophile priests?
‘It wasn’t me’: Disgraced Catholic priest denies touching boy in 1970s.
Not to mislead anyone, this is not a rant against other religions, and certainly not a call to arms of any sort! In fact it is primarily a wake up call for those who call themselves ‘Christian’!
No matter what you may have been taught, there is an unseen warfare going on that many who regard themselves as ‘Christians’ have no clear understanding of! A war that encompasses all hateful human conflicts, prejudices, environmental disasters, and the list goes on! That unseen spirit is in fact ‘..the god of this system of things who has blinded the minds of unbelievers..’ as stated at 2Corithians 4:4.
True, that scripture references ‘unbelievers’ , but besides others, how many so-called Christians are included in that description!? Ask yourself; “Am I well informed and aware of this false ‘god’ and the ongoing war he is waging against all mankind, as very well described in the bible?” (see Revelation chapter 17) Most ‘christians’ are not even regular readers of the holy Bible, the very basis of their religion!
Conditions that exist on planet earth today are unmistakable evidence of this war! True, a spiritual point of view ‘is’ required to grasp this threat, but a reality check of our rapidly declining world and human conditions cannot be denied!
The unseen god of this system influences worldwide politics, economies, and religion! Indeed he has succeeded in ‘blinding’ most of mankind as to his hateful efforts! In fact he is waging war with ‘all’ humankind, but hold on, the good news is that we have an ally that will overpower and remove that evil one in the very near future!
Indeed the Creator of all things has appointed and empowered his faithful son to bring an end to that destructive hater of humanity. His name is Christ Jesus, and he will not fail to release the earth from the grip of that unseen false ‘god’!
If you would like more information on this vital subject please visit JW.org
Not often, but occasionally I see an article that I believe is worth sharing with those who may have similar likes as me. The following is reproduced from a Nice News (nicenews.com) subscription for non-commercial information purposes. Imho empathy is as essential to human life as the air we breath and hope you will find it as positive as I do…
Babies Begin Developing Empathy Around 18 Months, Study Says
Past research has shown that the human brain is hardwired for empathy and forming relationships, but at what point in our development do those characteristics emerge? A new study, published in the spring edition of the journal Cognitive Development, says it’s earlier than you may think — at about 18 months of age.
Around the same time that babies are learning words beyond “mama” and “dada,” walking on their own, and starting to feed themselves, they’re also developing the first inklings of “empathic concern,” the scientists say. They reached this conclusion by analyzing 127 mother-child pairs, bringing them in for behavioral experiments when the children were 6, 10, 14, and 18 months old, per a press release from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
The researchers tracked the children’s response to another person’s “simulated pain,” finding that their concern in reaction to the strangers’ “distress” was most pronounced by the 18 month point. They also discovered that a mother’s emotional intelligence affects the child’s.
“The more sensitively mothers responded to the needs of their infants, the greater the capacity of the children was in their second year of life to show empathic concern for a stranger,” the release reads, with study author Markus Paulus adding, “Children learn from [caregivers] how to deal with negative emotions. As a result, they are subsequently able to apply these lessons themselves.” (italics added)
Please Note the comment: ‘Children learn from caregivers!’
The claim by those involved in preventing sea turtle extinction is that they have ‘helped’ them. While this may partly seem like a matter of symantecs, the truth is that only human ‘non-intervention’ could rightly be called ‘help’, be it for sea turtles or the hundreds if not thousands of other forms of life on planet earth.
When will it be acknowledged that, in fact, it is human interference and ignorance that is the fundamental reason why all life on earth is threatened! This is not just a matter of symantecs, but a basic reality that needs to be very humbly admitted. Only then will it be possible for us to accept our supreme Creator as the guide to full and complete restoration of planet earth as it was in the very beginning.
That restoration is coming, in spite of human opposition and arrogance, very soon. So we can either submit to the Creator’s purpose, or continue to ignore it, that is the choice he has given us. For more info please visit JW.org
I’d like to address an issue that I believe has confused many of us, namely; ‘does the well-proven age of dinosaur’s support the theory of evolution?’
If this issue hasn’t confused you, good for you! However, as a result of colorful media, e.g. ‘planet of the apes’ etc. there may very well be a large percentage of the population who are, at the least, confused about this matter.
If that is the case with you, please allow me to shed some light on this subject. First of all, the age of the dino’s is certainly a well-proven fact. A great many fossils present a fascinating picture of what a great variety of creatures, large and small, may have looked like, even if much of that evidence has led to controversies as to their appearance, form, or functions, such as whether they were predators, grazers, or whatever.
And yet as interesting as they are, and their past existence indisputable, interestingly, no one can point to any ‘transitional’ creatures prior-to their existence among the fossil record either. What do I mean by that?
Very simply put, there is no evidence of ‘evolving, mutating, or experimental’ creatures, in other words creatures that were ‘dead-ends’. as would most certainly have to be the case in uncounted millions if a blind evolutionary process was responsible for bringing them into existence over millenniums of time!
In fact, just as we see separate and distinct ‘kinds’ of living creatures today; mammals; birds; fish; and insects; all of which appear ‘suddenly’ in the fossil records, the very same was true of the dinosaurs. Just as with the dinosaur age, there remains not just one ‘missing-link’ but virtually millions of ‘missing-links’ that would have to have occurred in order to support the idea of evolution. In short the evidence of that kind of process is completely absent.
But I digress from the point of this blog, so allow me to specify it; not only does the existence of dinosaur’s in no way support the pseudo scientific theory of evolution, neither does it support the idea of ‘simultaneous’ existence of ‘modern man’- no matter how stretched and fractured that theory has become since Chuck Darwin introduced it.
The distinct and well-defined Dinosaur Age is dated as having occurred literally millions of years, now estimated at the earliest to be about 60 million years, ‘before’ the very sudden appearance of bones of so-called ‘modern man’. Of that there is little or no dispute at all.
This means there has never been, and never can be, any genuine connection between the dinosaur age and humankind, no matter how much that idea has been imagined.
That gap simply cannot be filled by the fossil record or by any other means, Its just that simple.
To summarize; there is simply no support for a connection between dinosaurs and mankind by evolution or otherwise! While there is no denying the reasons ‘why’ dinosaurs were created has yet to be understood, the answer may actually be more obvious than not when you consider the vast beneficial resources of planet earth that may be the result of their existence, but that is speculation only.
One thing for sure; the appearance of both dinosaurs, and ‘modern’ man, was very purposeful, even though well separated in time, in other words neither of these events were accidental!
Its my hope this post might at least assuage the mythical ideas presented for public consumption by the entertainment media, such as ‘cave-men’ and such like.
For a very thorough scientific analysis of ‘Evolution vs Creation‘ please visit this post!
Occasionally a ‘letter to the Editor’ is worth saving. I clipped one out of the local paper some time ago, and after re-reading it today I’d like to share it with any visitors to my blog, so here it is…
(Written in response to a previous letter writer…)
“Mr. N. is entitled to his opinion in attacking Christianity and espousing education as the remedy for our problems, but I’m afraid education has not had a good track record either.
His censure of religion puzzles me. Since he believes in evolution, he believes complexity emerges from chaos. Evolution is a kind of all-wise force that always makes the right choices. Since religion, or some form of spiritual awareness exists in every known culture, it must have evolved. Since it evolved, it must be good, so he should consider joining.it.
By the way, since germs and viruses also evolved, we should not be killing them. In fact, they may be evolutionary strategies to get rid of man. And why not? If we are mere lumps of randomly arranged matter, who cares? In fact, we should also encourage war, since people have always fought each other, it must be good since it evolved. Or are these the first errors evolution has made?
The best and most recent example of society without religion was Soviet Russia. The concept was that if religion were eradicated, society would blossom into peace, freedom, and harmony. Education was to be the tool to bring about Utopia. The exact opposite occurred.
Science is not the answer either; from science we have nuclear bombs and weapons and pollution.
Its no use blaming God; we have expelled Him from our country, our lives and our affairs, so He certainly is not to blame for the mess we’re in.
The problem is not religion, it is sin – rebellion against God. When I was a boy, there was a recognition of the need for a moral base. There was Bible reading and prayer in schools. It’s a much worse world now.” (W. Bresch)
note: please visit my post: The Art of God!
