Exclusive Problem To The Catholic Church example essay topic

Is it Safe to Pray? No matter what religion a person practices, everybody has gone to church whether it is on a regular basis or for an occasion such as a wedding or funeral. When you look up at the altar and see the priest, you don't question their morality because society is taught not to question a higher authority figure. Why would such a symbol of purity and sanctity have anything shameful to hide? All of the sudden the man at the altar has lawsuits being filed against him. Child molestation is presenting itself as an issue that is becoming recurrent in society and more of an epidemic within the Catholic Church.

In the past, the priests involved in these incidents have not been subjected to a punishment equal to the crime they committed. A priest involved in such deplorable activities should immediately be defrocked and subjected to criminal prosecution. This is a problem that lends itself to secrecy. The priests who commit these immoral acts are masters at using justifications, denial, and within an environment of religion, to look for a higher power for forgiveness which allows the abusive priest in his own mind to excuse the behavior.

The failure of some bishops of the Church and the Church itself to respond effectively in the manner consistent with their positions as leaders with a duty to protect to most vulnerable members of the Church, is in some ways more disturbing than the criminal acts of the priests themselves. These same bishops may have confused forgiveness with leniency towards criminal behavior. In some cases, the bishops and other church leaders placed their thoughts and emotions with the accused priests over those of the victims, by accepting the denials from the priests instead of listening to the victims. Numerous cases are adding up into the millions and the churches are filing bankruptcy.

But ultimately where does the fault lie? What actions should be taken to see that justice is served and have the Catholic Church remain solvent? If a priest is found to have committed acts of sexual misconduct with minors, he should not be shuttled from one position in the church to another but should in fact be defrocked and removed completely from the Catholic Church and deprived of any services provided by the Church. In this manner, it is possible to remove the temptation from the priest and safeguard the wellbeing of the Church family. Due to the allegations lately, one has to question the stability of the Church. How can it hold up with this much pressure on it from the legal and public standpoints?

According to the Washington Post Foreign Service, a leaked draft from the Vatican stated, .".. 4,450 priests have been accused of molesting more than 11,000 children". Now what kind of example are these clergy setting? Parishioners go to their clergy for guidance and support but instead they are taking advantage of your children's innocence resulting in heaps of money spent on counseling and psychiatric evaluations. But as any emotionally injured family would do, you sue for $2,000,000 and receive every penny, sending your beloved faith straight to bankruptcy court. All of the Church's problems could have been easily avoided had the archdiocese legislated that the interaction between the clergy and the minors be limited solely to religious functions.

But now over 11,000 children have to go through the pain and ordeal which could have been prevented through better preparation in the seminary. The increase in sexual misconduct among catholic priests in large part due to the ineffective screening and psychological evaluations of candidates for the clergy by the religious order. According to the Desert News (Salt Lake City, UT) in a study conducted by the National Review Board (a committee of lay people), the blame for this sexual abuse crisis is not necessarily the presence of homosexual individuals within the clergy as there are many homosexual priests who remain faithful to their celibacy. The same study did infer that a "gay subculture" exists in some churches.

In 1 Timothy 6: 10, "For the love of money is the root of all evil". The thought of money can drive a person to irrational thinking and past what the situation actually calls for, justice to be served. For many years the Catholic Church has attempted to down-play the overall problem. Their solution for many years was to keep the incident quite by throwing vast sums of many at the problem rather than addressing the cause of the problem. According to the analysis done by The Oregonian, a total of $340 million over just 20 cases were awarded to the plaintiffs. Where is this kind of money coming from?

Remember those offering plates that go around the church collecting money every Sunday? Well the church is going to need a few more plates going around to compensate for this type of loss. And what family or individual when offered several hundred thousand dollars would walk away from the money to not cause a big disturbance while the church moves the perpetrator to another location? In some states, such as Wisconsin, new laws have been enacted in an attempt to reduce and eliminate sexual abuse by clergy. The new legislation created on April 19, 2004 requires clergy to report information regarding suspected child abuse unless the information is obtained in confessionals. In many cases, the church was able to hide their problem behind the veil of religious sanctity and not have to report any instances of child abuse.

With these new laws, a victim now has the opportunity to sue the church if it was known that a member of their clergy has previous occurrences of child abuse. The problem of child abuse is not an exclusive problem to the Catholic Church. Other professions such as teachers and coaches have many of the same problems as the Catholic Church and many of these people move around the country without any acknowledgment or warnings to new potential victims or schools they work for. The vast effect of media coverage regarding child abuse in the Catholic Church has created the impression that sexual abuse of minors is a catholic church or catholic priests' problem. The Catholic Church went from portraying child abuse as a sin to which the priest repented in confession to acknowledging it is truly a sickness. The Church has taken steps to make sure those priests involved will never be allowed to work with children.

In addition, the Church has developed a strict reporting policy which requires any abuse allegations to be immediately reported to the state authorities. According to Bishop Niederauer who is with the Archdiocese of Salt Lake City, Utah, "The Church had been proactive in implementing an environment that is safe for minors and that reaches out to anyone who has been a victim of abuse as a minor. Potential clergy undergo police background checks including fingerprinting and other screening procedures have also been implemented for employees or volunteers who regularly deal with minors". A lay committee was established to help insure that the Church complies with its own regulations. The Catholic Church has taken measures they feel will do away with the problems of child abuse by priests.

Are these measures adequate, are they enforceable, and are they practical? Previous revelations have shown us that the Church and its clergy are reluctant and slow to respond to adversarial situations. Stronger laws need to be implemented to ensure the safety and welfare of the parishioners as well as ensuring a strong and faithful clergy..