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P2 Philosophical
Sinead O'Connor's Open Letter to the Pope (9-20-10)Sir,
Your remarks made last week concerning church authorities' handling of child rape complaints give the impression that neither John-Paul II nor yourself knew of how these complaints were being managed.
Can you please make clear exactly who has been running the church since 1979?
You have said church authorities did not act quickly nor decisively in dealing with allegations. This is entirely dishonest.
In fact church authorities acted extremely quickly and decisively, but in protection of rapist priests and the church, not of children.
In your letter to Irish mass-goers you stated that the Irish hierarchy, in covering up rape and transfering known rapists to other parishes, where many more children were raped, had done so out of "a well-intentioned desire to protect the reputation of the church."
If there is any such well-intentioned desire on your part then why have you not in outrage fired every employee of the church who contributed even in the remotest of ways, consciously or uncsonciously, to the attack on Christ himself as made manifest in those children who were raped?
It looks extremely bad that you have not done so. And that you continue to set up lies and smoke-screens and treat us as if we are stupid.
Spokespeople on your behalf keep saying, falsely, that hierarchies acted independently of The Vatican, when countless pleading letters from bishops to The Vatican show that is not the case, as do the specific instructions issued by The Vatican in 1962 to all bishops in the world for dealing with allegations of rape and abuse.
As you are aware, those instructions required the cleric taking complaints, as well as the victim making the complaint, to sign an oath of silence under threat of excommunication.
Your letter of 2001 to all bishops in the world confirms the 1962 instructions were in operation until 2001.
Why do you allow your representatives to lie?
All reports carried out in the four corners of the earth have found, independently of each other, that the church's main concern in dealing with abuse was the preservation of its assets and reputation and that the welfare of children was not a consideration.
As an example I refer you to the fact that in 1987 the church in Ireland took out a series of insurance claims in every diocese in order to protect the church from claims they foresaw would be made.
The church then sat back and did nothing until 1995 when complaints became public knowledge.
The reports show that without exception each diocese in the world behaved in exactly the same manner when dealing with allegations.
If hierarchies had been acting independently of The Vatican there would have been differences in their behaviour.
We deserve better than lies and insults to our intelligence.
The Holy Spirit deserves better.
As long as the house of The Holy Spirit remains a haven for criminals the reputation of the church will remain in ruins.
Finally, your statement that you hope the church's "humiliation will help the victims" is deplorable on two levels.
One: not one member of The Vatican has publicly displayed an iota of humility over this issue. Instead each person who has spoken has done so most arrogantly and dismissively.
Two: how dare you use the word humiliation to describe what you and the church are going through? Hope and pray, and thank God that you will never know the abject humiliation of children who were raped by monsters in the employ of your church. That is true humiliation.
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The Buffalo Theory by Cliff Claven “Well, you see, Norm, it’s like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it’s the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.
In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.”
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P3 Political
5 comments:
right on, sinead o'connor. i wonder if the pope had the grace to cringe.
I wanted to commend you on the Sinead O'Connor letter to the ultimate 'child fucker'. I hate religion with a passion and the god thing really pisses me off. My belief is to keep your fucking god to yourself and if you can't then I've got every right to say "I hate your fucking god" (Okay, maybe I've got a problem too!). It's unfortunate that "god" has made politics so disagreeable. Remember the time when we could talk politics between each other (even through the Nixon years)? Sure it was adversarial but still people weren't afraid to say political things to one another. I believe that the divisiveness is because of god. Even Ron Owen's light bulb went on when he went to 'Ground Zero' and proceeded to walk the two city blocks to the new Mosque. Completely out of breath he then realized that this "close proximity" to the former Trade Towers was in fact not all that close. Now, since I hate all religions equally, I would argue that no church, temple, mosque, devil worshiping basement or prayer kiosk should be built anywhere at any time. Again, I'm an equal opportunity religion hater.
I find it extremely interesting that Bill Maher is one of the few, and I mean few, religion haters. I commend him greatly for it. Even good liberals defend religion. Why is it that in many European countries church and state are actually separate? Religion and god are rarely if ever mentioned in state of the union addresses or political rallies no matter what the political affliliation. I also know that bigotry over the Roma and burqa wearing Muslims in France is prevalent just like the prejudice against Jamaicans across the Channel and the North Africans in Germany. Bigotry and prejudice just exist on their own ignorant levels plus economic hard times in Europe always bring out the worst in these peoples that like to use minorities as scapegoats. But Americans are really threatened in some odd way about their beliefs and about their god. Maybe they're just hedging their bets? Again, I can't explain it and it's got to be the strangest of superstitions that exist here in this completely under educated country of ours. If indeed ignorance was bliss then wouldn't we all get along?
Just rambling here.
Also: In regards to the Meg Whitman shoving match at ebay- does that make her a "physically" conservative Republican? And how about telling her house keeper to shove off knowing Meg would be running against Jerry Brown- A real "Brown People Hater" don't you think?
Thanks for the Sinead O'Connor post. It helps me understand the full effect of what can happen when I turn away from the full truth in my own life.
Dear Ed,
I love Sinead O'Connor's directness. She says it like it is. This letter reminded me of a documentary I watched on my Netflix instant queue a few months back, "Deliver Us From Evil" - it is a riveting and well made film about Father Oliver O'Grady who, during the '70's raped many children, from the age of 9 month up to 13 years. He was convicted in a U.S. court but served only seven years. After he was released from prison, the Catholic Church paid to have him sent to Limerick, Ireland, where they continued to harbor this deviant sex criminal. The Catholic Church is not interested in punishing its sick, disgusting priests but instead, they are interested in keeping them hidden and allowing them to continue their victimization of children.
Ed, I am an unapologetic atheist. I was not a victim of molestation by a priest or any other church official. I came to my conclusions regarding religion due to a long and tenuous path of theological study. I tried religion on for size, many different ones, and finally ended up where I am now, there is no god. God was a construction of man (not the other way around.) Man needed to explain who and what we are, and God was born. Religion is not saving us but destroying us.
Now it turns out, Father Oliver O'Grady is in The Netherlands working at another church under an assumed name. http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=47075&p=3&topicID=35492158
Religion is the Opiate of the people. Karl Marx
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