At least he is consistent. He has taken a vow at his installation, and all the confessions he has heard, he heard it not as a person but as "the ears of God". What he hears as a person is blocked by his oath of office. He would not even talk about the murders Jack the Ripper would have described to him. He might be hypocrite too (if he is not already) as he could well be, or have been, one of those priests. Let him go to jail, thinking things over. But probably he will see himself as a martyr.
That's why the protection of the confessions is evil. "If we told no one would confess any more." So what? Your super-confession means nothing. People can confess directly to their God or brother and get somewhere. Priests have no super powers with God. If there were a god he would puke on the Catholic Church.
I 'm big on Biographies, but more so by the Authors and their time they spend documenting and footnoting what they find. A few years ago I got hold of the Life of Martin Luther which after I saw a You Tube of it was able to find his Bio that was written by Roland Bainton "Her I Stand" I spent more time looking up Religious terms and Definitions because they were so important in understanding what was going on and how it was being orchestrated. I found out more about the Catholic Church than I ever thought I could imagine. He goes into the confession dilemma and what was going on in Rome at that time. Now you have to remember that this man was a very pious Monk who was a Professor of Theology and was responsible for translating the Bible into German and with the aid of the Printing Press made it available for everyone to read which at the time no one had a clue what was written because the only copies were in Latin and the Church didn't want you to know what was written. Lots to read about in that one and I would recommend it to anyone who has a penchance for the history of religion which brings alot of thing that you never knew or were erroneously led to believe because you didn't know where to go.
During my christian education I already learned quite some of what you write here. Not in detail though like you do. I believe you when you tell me that you discovered that the reformation was only a tip of the iceberg. It's not for nothing that they fought wars against reformation and the relatively openness it created. But the reformation took with them a lot of the despicable things the inherited from the Catholic Church. They kept the indoctrination system of the institute, and after every schism later about interpreting and what the dogmas should contain and that lead to all those different "reformed churches", they all kept more or less the system of indoctrination that the Catholic Church had, and has developed since.
Absolutely hate this crap. No one should be put in this position. In the Psych field we had the Tarasoff's Act - which allowed us to report someone planning to do harm (or who had done harm). We had two pedophile priests in my hometown and that's only 1 reason I became Agnostic and then Atheist. (Yes been there done that had it screw up my life). (Google) Tarasoff's Act: The legal duty of a psychiatrist or psychotherapist to warn an identifiable victim of a patient's serious threat of harm has been well recognized in U.S. jurisprudence and clinical practice since the Tarasoff decision of the Supreme Court of California in 1976.
Confession is not a sacrament and cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. Nothing about Priests not being married. The mainstay of that argument is monetary. Plenty written about Jesus and Mary Magdelene who the Catholic Church had to confess was not a prostitute but one of the more knowledgeable of all of his followers whom is recorded by the other Apostles to kissing Jesus on the lips. According to Jewish Law a Rabbi had to marry have a family. She was the only one who witnessed the crucifixion and the resurrection. Look up her Gospels as well as the Gospel of Thomas and will get a totally different view of what you have been taught or were made to think was true. I would like to see the Cardinal go to prison where he will learn how to hear real confessions among those in General Population where I am sure they will give him much to think about. Aiding and Abetting a Felon is a Civil Crime of the Highest and we are talking a crime that any other citizen would be faced with serious prison and humiliation for his actions. I never saw any exceptions written in for Clergy of any denominations. I rest my case for now but I have much more to mention.
You may be right, I was no Catholic, but the dogma's of churches, especially the catholic, contain more than what you can find in the bible itself.
Where do you find the gospels of Mary Mag.? I've heard of these in some fiction - but never in reality? Though the Catholic Church is so patriarchal I do not doubt you.
The Gospel of Mary Magdelene is a published book translated from French. Look it up and get the translated copy. Same with the Gospel of Thomas which you can get on You Tube as well as in a Book. Abe Books or Thirftbooks. are pretty reasonably priced. The Gospel of Mary Magdelene has a lot of background attached which you may or may not want to believe but it also centers around the fact that she was married to Jesus and they had a child. She supposedly moved to France after the crucifixion for different reasons.
Just lock him up. The Catholic Church certainly has a great track record on abuse of children.
I wish it was only the Catholic Church. I'm very positive that you find this abuse of status or power in every religon.
@Gert Sure it is not just the catholics. Lots of examples in other religions. The abuse of women is making some news now, but has been around a long time, also.
All religion has abusers, but the demand of celibacy builds a haven for the worse of gay men. Where are they going to get their satisfaction and no one tell on them? Hmm.
Should be laws passed that people who support/encourage others to hide pedos will be jailed.
I guess that doesn't change anything. The pope and his clique has to be convinced. They probably will use these people when they are convicted (and that will not be so easy) as a martyr to gain support. I bet.
No, laws should be passed that would cause the Pope to be jailed as well. I know, he has his own country, but we could arrest him when he visits. Our highest ranking Catholic who is number 3 or 4 in the Vatican has been called back to Oz re pedo charges, previously he piked and claimed illness so we sent a heap of victims to Rome to witness as he was questioned via video link re cover ups. An uphill battle I agree, but we should not stop until it is won.
[all the confessions he has heard, he heard it not as a person but as "the ears of God"]
So he does exactly what God does: nothing
What did you expect? That he would do something while his boss doesn't? An employee speaks the words of his master. So, he says nothing.
Hart insisted that sexual abuse was “a spiritual encounter with God through the priest” and was “of a higher order” than criminal law.
I can't believe I just read that. Speechless
My sentiment exactly.
Well, even if I tried to understand some of it based on what I know of the catholic church, it still is not silencing my feelings of weirdness.
In the 80's, I think, when sexual abuse was coming out, one victim said he was afraid to tell his dad back then because he wouldn't believe it, or if he did he would kill the priest.