The stand of the Catholic Church on sexual abuse issue

I never expected it coming this morning.

I always attend the 10:00 o'clock mass at Sta. Barbara Parish here in Dededo, Guam. The celebrant was Fr. Dan Bien, a Filipino priest, and his homily focuses on the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd takes care of his flock. And with that he explained that Jesus Christ Shepherding responsibility was given to the Apostles and handed it to the Pope and the bishops and the bishops handed it also to the priest in-charge of the parish.

He re-iterated that the Church condemns such act and the Church does not protect priest who does not uphold justice and abuse their position. He implores the laity to continually pray for the clergy that they may be good shepherds. Also he quoted an article by a Jewish religious leader. The article points out that the media is ganging up on the Catholic Church because such case is not limited to the Catholic Church but also to other sects and denominations. The Catholic Church is being singled out by the media for no reason at all. He ask the laity to remain steadfast in the Faith and keep the Faith. This is just one of the trials we as Catholics has to struggle and in the end we will be led to the right path as we hear and heed the true Shepherds voice, Jesus Christ.

I am a former seminarian and I would be hypocrite to say of I didn't heard of anything like this in the past. But I cannot say as well who are these priest who have failed to do what our Lord has task them to do, to take care of His flock. There is only one thing I know though, priest are humans like you and me. They feel the same things that we feel and the more they are bombarded with  temptation. Thus we need to continually pray for the clergy to never give in and never give up the calling they are called for. 

What I ask personally is for priests who has done such act should give themselves up to the proper authorities and accept responsibility for their actions. To our Church leaders I ask that they be transparent and help the victims to surpass the anguish these abuses has inflicted in them and not be silent about it. There is something wrong so we should as early as possible correct what is wrong before it corrupts us all. To my fellow Catholics as well as our brothers and sisters in the faith I asks your continuous prayer, help, and vigilance to stop such acts. 

 

I remember my co-seminarians motto in our yearbook: Hate the sin not the sinner. We are a community and thus we should not condemn and shun people but rather hate the action that they did and help them realize the wrong that they did and make the right decisions and actions about it rather than pointing and accusing and let the issue grow and grow until it will be impossible to resolve it.

Click here to read more!

A sad story: Cover up of priest abusing a minor pinned to the Pope

The news about a priest abusing young boys in his parish somewhere in Bavaria was linked to the Pope which back then was the Cardinal Ratzinger. 

The said priest was convicted but accusations that such could have been prevented if then Cardinal Ratzinger has done actions since such was under his jurisdiction. The news said that Pope Benedict knows about such pedophile priest and that just like other diocese transferred the said erring priest to hide or prevent the story from escalating to the media.

It is sad that such things happen. Specially now that we are celebrating Easter, most of the story is about it and some say that the former Pope, John Paul II, might have knowledge about such reports and no actions were made. For me being part of the Catholic community and a former seminarian puts me in a situation in which I had to chose side, to condemn this non-action or defend the Church. 

It is not new to me. Back in the Philippines there were cases of abuses that shattered the lives of young altar boys and some seminarians which were abuse by the very least person that they know would do such a thing. Such act is highly not condone by the Church. I would like to appeal to all Christians that we as part of the community must be vigilant about such sensitive issues. In Archdiocese and I believe in all diocese we celebrate Clergy Day. It is a celebration for priest to renew their commitment to the priesthood. Though they have undergone such rigorous training, priest are just as same as we are. They are vulnerable to temptation and the strength of temptation is much more stronger on there side since one they have no family on their own(I mean they have no wife and children due to the vows of chastity), they might be assigned to places far from their family(in the case of missionaries very far), and responsibility for them to take care of the flock is great since they have to accept a bigger family of which they need to focus.

I only ask one thing for those priest that faltered; please come out and face the consequences of your actions. Don't hide or ask other priest to help you out in getting out of the mess you have done. Please come out and face it.

Click here to read more!