THE NEGATIVE ACTIONS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OVER THE AGES
Posted on May 29th, 2010
Well WisherƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
The Church, especially the Catholic Church, is collapsing in the developed countries. This is because they are not following the Teachings of Jesus Christ. Instead, it has become a sort of Corporation, with accumulation of wealth & power as its goal.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In USA around 19,000 people came forward as being child abuse victims by priests of the Catholic Church. The individual dioceses ended up paying out $2 billion in damages to some of them. It was the same in Ireland where 15,000 came forward as abuse victims and were paid over $1 million in damages. In case of Ireland it was the Irish Government which paid out the damages with the tax payer footing the bill. Many of the Bishops have resigned to prevent investigation of their activities. A priest who had abused some 200 children is being charged in courts in Wisconsin, USA. Before 1139 AD, all the priests in the Catholic Church were married including the Popes. It was Pope Innocent II who decided that the wealth of the church was getting dissipated since the priests were leaving the wealth to their children and wives, and therefore passed a decree that all priests must be celibates.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This prohibition of marriage by priests of the Catholic Church has given rise to child abuse by their clergy.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Today the Vatican is the most powerful and wealthy ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”CorporationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in the world. It is a separate state with a Monarchy. The Vatican never pays out monies for any earthquake victims, disaster victims etc. It is always the local bodies and other churches which do that. It is high time that a survey was undertaken in Sri Lanka to determine who has been abused by these Catholic priests and if so those people should come forward and force the Church to compensate them for the mental anguish they have suffered over the years. We should also ask for compensation from the Catholic Church of Portugal for the damage that was done to the Buddhist temples which were burnt and the stones used to build the fortresses. Many of the ancient libraries were set on fire by the Portuguese resulting inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ losing the LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s knowledge of centuries for ever.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Also, was the Catholic Church the hidden hand behind the 1983 riots?
May 30th, 2010 at 8:38 am
100% true. Well said.
Not only Catholic Church, but majority of Catholics/Christians in Sri Lanka does not appreciate the defeating of LTTE and keep criticizing the govt. and president at very low levels.
We can understand the that they are not happy with the path we are on forward with our own identity and policy, which will resurrect our lost culture and values, which is contradictory to the western culture followed by the Catholics/Christians in Sri Lanka, whos masters are the west and western economy that controls their ideology.
Had the LTTE been won and western bised liberal Yankee culture was able to go ahead, the Catholics/Christians would have been more than happy, which would have decimated our Sinhala culture and Buddhist identity for ever.
What Portuguese were trying to do, were on the card by entire west on Sri LAnka using LTEE as shield, where LTTE leaders were also Ctaholics and Church openly supported them in neumerous ways.
When the abttle was being won, it was Catholic church that never made any comment and were sympethetic about our valiant soldiers who gave their lives, lost limbs to save motherland.
Today after liberation not only Sinhalese Buddhists, but all walks of life including Catholics live in a safe and secured country thanks to soldiers who gave their lives, not only for Sinhala Buddhists to live in peace.
There is some thing very wrong wth Catholics and Church which they should recorrect sooner than later, while we claim our lost glory and compensations to the attrocities committed and destrcutions done to Sinhalese and Buddhists by Portuguese in the first place and then by Dutch and English.
Ditta Dhamma Kamma has already given them the turn as we know in Europe the very countries are now limping in economy, struggeling to survive. Nevertheless, let us collectively claim our Buddha Land that was corrupted by various aliens and recreate Sinhala Buddhist Land free of Animal Salughter and Liquor.
The compensations must be collected from Portuguese, Dutch and English, and very resources must be used to resurrect all temples that were destroyed by invading forces, help decendants of the effected Sinhala Buddhist families, uplift their lives with education , health and housing.
This land was a pure Sinhala Buddhist land, which is now corrupted with aliens thats is contradictory to Buddhist way or living. This must be changed. Either they should convert and accept Buddhist way of life and accept Sinhala culture or must face same fate that was subjected to by Portuguaese on Sihala Buddhists.
Govt. must take this serious and urgent, otherwise Sinhala militancy is unavoidable.
Thanks
May 31st, 2010 at 7:34 am
Which ignorant and biased person wrote this report? Half knowledge is worse than ignorance.
Do you know that below 1% Catholic priests have been accused of child sex abuse world wide? And according to researchers there is no more abusers in the Catholic clergy than else where in other communties.Read this BBC article before you judge- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8654789.stm
The reason why the Catholic Church is targeted is because of the anti-catholic bias of western media which loathes Catholic Church’s orthodox stance on many issues. The instances are not less among other churches or communities. Probably even more according to Philip Jenkins the renowned author and protestant pastor who has studied this issue.
You say “his prohibition of marriage by priests of the Catholic Church has given rise to child abuse by their clergy.” First of all, celibacy is not advocated only advocated by the Catholic Church but also in other religions including Buddhism. Do you also intend to say that they also have such problems due to celibacy?
Secondly the Catholic Church’s rule on celibacy is not due to financial reasons but due to spiritual reasons cited by Christ- “to become eunuch’s (celibates) for the kingdom of God”. Christ also said that some will renounce their family and wives for the kingdom of God. And the statement that the celibacy rule originated in the 11th century is not all together correct. We have documents of the 3rd century speaking about this tradition. The bishops and pope (bishop of Rome) were all celibates from the early centuries. There only a few exceptions. In the 11 century it was actually reiterated. You can read more about this in this link – http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1343466?eng=y
And why do you speak about Vatican being the wealthiest corporation in the world. You spite ignorant venom “well wisher”.
Well not only whether abuse has been done by Catholic priests but also by leaders of other communities should be thoroughly investigated in Sri Lanka.
Not only the Catholic Church but also every religion is losing believers in the developed world which is becoming increasing secularised. Compared to many traditional Protestant Churches the Catholic Church is in a far better position.
And this sort of madness you express is regretful. You speak like a religious fanatic dear well wisher. Know the facts. Please be a tolerant and sensible man.
June 1st, 2010 at 12:44 am
I am not holding a brief either for ‘Well wisher’ or for ‘Kyriakos’. Furthermore I feel that those who write on such important issues should dare using their real names and not hide behind nick-names. There was recently an article supportd by video clips in ‘infolanka’ of paedohpile charges against a buddhist monk by the parents of the child. All private and state machinery were used to hush up the matter. This was also the case with the Catholic Church considering that paedophilia charges against members of the Catholic hierarcy are being aired after decades of silence and that at the highest levels. In the West both private and state sector have to a great extent broken these taboos which still prevail here. Here the brzen policy is ‘hide your own soiled linen, wash those of others in public’.
The basic point however is that in such matters there is no one holier than the other. This is also true for the Catholic Church. Yet quite paradoxically no religion claims to have so many ‘divine’ supports as does the Catholic Church…”grace of God, spirit of God, sacraments, communion of saints etc. Further the members of the sacerdotal hierarchy hold claims of office that could only be equated with the divine. Hence for a supporter of the Church to say ‘you are as bad as we are’ is to say the least depressing. It is something equivalent to cutting the ground under their feet and bringing down the roof over their heads.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:42 am
I am responding to what Mario Perera has to say on this issue. If the claims made on the website infolanka is true, then the Police has to be brought in and investigations made. If the Buddhist priest is found guilty, then he has to disrobe, according the laws of the Vinaya. Also, compensation has to be paid to the victim.
However, if the website infolanka has made a false claim, then the Buddhist Associations together with the temple concerned should sue the website Editor for a large sum of money.
I went into ‘infolanka’ but was unable to download the article Mario refers to.
The same approach should be made for any crime committed by any religious body. This is the way such matters are handled abroad. Lankans should overcome shyness about such matters. After all. human beings are still evolving. We are not gods. Face the problems squarely, then find the solutions.
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:26 am
Dear Fran,
I thank you for your comment. Here is the reference to the article mentioned by me.
Child abuse by a Monk in Habaraduwa
May 28 (LG) She sent her grandson to school with the idea of providing him with proper education to make him a good person. The Buddhist monk in charge of the temple asked her to send the child to the temple and she sent him there because they were poor. There was no possibility for them to pay the money for tuition fees. That was the reason why they sent the boy to the temple school. When the child began to refuse going to the temple school so adamantly, more..
The link ‘more’ also leads you to the relevant video clips.
Sincerely,
Mario Perera, Kadawata
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:24 am
We expect from a well wisher, greetings to gladden the heart. Alas, what we have here, from a writer using the pseudonym of well wisher, is something to sadden the heart.
I don’t know what the author’s objective is in writing this stuff. As far as I can see, all it can do is create ill will and mischief. Sadly, it is not very different from the anti Catholic invective we regularly read in these columns – both in articles and the responses they generate. I don’t know what sadistic pleasure people get from hurting the feelings of people of other religions or races. But such action is clearly not conducive to inter religious or inter racial harmony. And, goodness knows, we need that desperately. Is it too much to ask that we respect the feelings of others? Has anyone of us a monopoly of right thinking or a unique claim to the truth?
Mario Perera, I don’t know what your beef is if, as you say, “no religion claims to have so many ‘divine’ supports as does the Catholic Church”. Surely, you don’t have to accept the beliefs or practices of the Catholic Church or, for that matter, of any other religion – however, irrational they may appear to you – if you don’t want to.
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:10 am
Thank you, Mario. I will follow through on the link. We are only looking for the truth & for solutions to problems. I write with offence to none.
If problems of this nature exist, solutions must be found. Those unsuitable to join the clergy of any religion should NOT do so. They only bring shame & despair to the followers of that religious group, as we expect a certain Code of Conduct from the Clergy.
The Creator would not have given each human being the Reproductive System, male or female, if it is supposed to be an item of shame. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Rama or Krishna never alluded to the reproductive system as something to be ashamed of. All creatures, even the uni-cellular Amoeba, has a reproductive system, as do the lovely flowers, all created by God. Only some human beings seems to be ashamed of the reproductive system.
However, for those of us in the pursuit of the pure Spirit within us all (God Realisation or Nirvana), to DISCARD the sexual instinct is to attain the high position of being “Brahmacharya” as in Hinduism. This is true for all of mankind and not reserved for the clergy of any religious group. Mahatma Gandhi pursued being a “Brahmacharya” and he was not a part of any clergy.
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:28 am
Catholicism and catholic church must be separated. The church unfortunately has been corrupt. It has been associated with terrorism of the LTTE and has been working with anti national elements especialy the west. Kenyatta the Kenyan leader expressed it well He said when the white man came he had the Bible we had the Land. Then he said lets close our eyes and pray. When we opened our eyes we had the Bible he had the Land.This is true except now it is not the white man but the slave of the white man who is doing the donkey work.
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Unlike among Catholics, in the case of Buddhists, there is no ‘eternal damnation’ to hell, and therefore it has been easier to speak up. In that background of greater freedom of expression among Buddhists, it is strange that this subject has emerged as a real problem only in recent times. Perhaps there are greater temptations nowadays with regard to sex being brought into the mindset of bhikkus, with greater travel and exposure the the products of technological advancement, so that these transgressions have become more widespread.
That said, I find it difficult to accept Fran Diaz’s statement that:
“The Creator would not have given each human being the Reproductive System, male or female, if it is supposed to be an item of shame. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Rama or Krishna never alluded to the reproductive system as something to be ashamed of. All creatures, even the uni-cellular Amoeba, has a reproductive system, as do the lovely flowers, all created by God. Only some human beings seems to be ashamed of the reproductive system.
”
My response:
I see the evolution of sex as a natural evolution from the unicell to the multicellular state and later to organ differentiation as the most efficient way of maximizing genetic diversity. I do not see it as put in there by a ‘Creator’. There is no ‘reproductive system’ in the amoeba. It divides asexually! All its progeny are exact replicas unless some mutation occurs en-route of dividing!
Flowers evolved from unicellular plants, and underwent differentiation of sex in parallel to that in animals, from unicells to greater differentiation with both male and female organs equally developed, and also onto truly separate sexes where there are male and female plants. Many flowers are capable of self-fertilization if cross-fertilization does not take place (which humans and higher animals are fortunately/unfortunately (depending on circumstances), deprived of!).
There certainly should not be ‘shame’ in sex, but there should be discipline in sexual behavior and activity. The ‘shame factor’ has been introduced to sex in human societies in order to curtail promiscuity, and also to exercise control, particularly over females, because they are the ones that actually bring forth the new generations. Unfortunately, this wholly acceptable need for discipline is also abused by intolerant people. Human behavior has to be viewed with compassion and counseling of those who have problems conforming to the accepted norms of ‘right’ sexual behavior.
It is when human rights are used as a means to propagate an unacceptable, abnormal, or deviant behavior, especially one that can damage young impressionable minds psychologically, into thinking that ‘anything goes’, that one has to stop in one’s ‘liberal’ tracks, and take stock as to what unreined sex would do to human society in the long run. In my view, transgressions happen, and we must view them with compassion, but insist that disciplined behavior that does not send society down a downward track of societal disintegration and moral decay is maintained at the same time.
This is the difficult Middle Path!