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Sexual abuse and the catholic church essay
Sexual abuse within the catholic church essay
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There are many cases in today's news stories of priests molesting young children. Therefore, how can you tell if a priest is innocent or guilty? That is the main focus in Patrick Shanley’s play, Doubt: A Parable. Based on the evidence provided in the play, I conclude that Father Flynn is innocent because he is a kind man and Donald Muller is lonely. One reason Father Flynn is innocent is because he is a kindhearted man. First, he is not guilty of an improper relationship with Donald Muller because priests are supposed to care for others. If somebody is in need of advice, people should trust the priest and be able to go to him for words of wisdom. However, Sister Aloysius questions the extent of the priests kindness and follows strict church
The play is pretty clear that Father Flynn is innocent. Father Brendan Flynn is a very conservative priest, who wants to help the students. He also tried to make changes such that student would use ball pen and sing frosty the snowman. In the other hand, Sister Aloysius is a progressive nun, who does not like the school to change. Father Flynn caught Donald drinking wine, and to save the boy from getting discharged as an altar boy, he made a promise to Donald to not to tell anyone. Sister Aloysius drove Father Flynn to the point that he had to tell the truth about Donald drinking the altar wine. The church will now have to discharge Donald as an altar boy, which Father Flynn had been trying to avoid this entire time. Before leaving Sister Aloysius’s office, Father Flynn tells her that, “He is displeased with her handling of the situation.”(Shanley 35)
In the passage from the play “Saint Joan,” George Bernard Shaw utilizes a variety of rhetorical strategies in developing the Inquisitor’s powerful speech, aiming to convince the church court of Joan’s guilt for spreading heresy.
In Arthur Miller’s book “The Crucible” there is an inadequacy of honesty which is a very important trait for everyone to learn. In this essay I am writing to prove that the paucity of honesty is negative and was very prevalent in Salem, and that very few people remained truthful throughout the Salem Witch Trials. The dishonesty in The Crucible would soon lead to the deaths and imprisonment of many residents in Salem. Those accused would lie and accuse other people of staying out of trouble from the authorities, but this took the lives of many innocent victims. In Miller's book Dishonesty is expressed by almost everyone included in The Crucible such as Abigail, Mary, and Elizabeth.
In Harry Mulisch’s novel The Assault, the author not only informs society of the variance in perception of good and evil, but also provides evidence on how important it is for an innocent person experiencing guilt to come to terms with their personal past. First, Mulisch uses the characters Takes, Coster, and Ploeg to express the differences in perspective on the night of the assault. Then he uses Anton to express how one cannot hide from the past because of their guilt. Both of these lessons are important to Mulisch and worth sharing with his readers.
A reputation can be so well established that if one person in power does a wrongdoing people will not believe it. For example when Mrs. Muller says, “Let me ask you something. You honestly think that priest gave Donald that wine to drink?” (47). Donald’s mother is questioning sister Aloysius because she does not believe Father Flynn would do something like that. He has a reputation of being a great priest and his reputation is better than Sister Aloysius’. Mrs. Muller states, “You’re not going against no man in a robe and win, Sister. He’s got the position.” (47). Just by Father Flynn being a male he has a higher reputation than a nun, which he knows and can accumulate for his actions. In the hierarchy of the Church, the head male priest is the most dominant. Therefore, nobody questions what he is doing; he has a reputation of being this influential priest who gives great sermons. He knows that he has the power to do what he wants and has his fellow Monsignor and other men in the ...
...der further than what we have in front of us. We want to impose our opinion on everything. We want to relate to it in a way that can only be done through out imagination. So, due to this, when we are not given the flexibility, then the context no longer becomes entertaining. The viewers do not want to be told how to think. Given these points, if they are influenced to believe that Sister Aloysius is a cruel individual like the movie portrays, then at the end of the movie and book when Sister Aloysius says, “ I have doubts! I have such doubts!” they will take that as a confession from her, and be further lead to believe that the accusations against Father Flynn are false. I think John Patrick Shanley chooses specific diction to create a conflict that has no precise resolution,he wanted the reader get lost in story and enter into their own story manifested within.
During this meeting Sister Aloysius started asking Father about his relationship with Donald and Flynn says at first that he does not feel comfortable: “Well. I feel a little uncomfortable. [To which Sister Aloysius asks] Why? [Father replies with] Why do you think? Something about your tone” (Shanley 32). This is showing that Father Flynn is not wanting to talk about his relationship with Donald and that he could be hiding something that he does not want to get out. It could be as bad as having made sexual advances on Donald or as small, but still bad, as giving him the altar wine he was caught drinking. Either way it is still incriminating evidence against Flynn. Flynn does not just mention Aloysius’s tone once though, he mentions it a couple more times during the meeting and also tries to sidestep the Sister’s questions. When Sister Aloysius asks him what happened in the rectory Father Flynn replies with: “I don’t wish to continue this conversation at all further. And if you are dissatisfied with that, I suggest you speak to Monsignor Benedict…” (Shanley 33). This is showing that Flynn is trying everything he can to not talk about his conversation with Donald in the rectory in fear of being caught. He also mentions that Sister Aloysius go speak with the Monsignor if she is dissatisfied which she is trying not to. She chooses not to do this because she knows that if she does he will just ask Father Flynn and believe whatever he tells him. A common argument that people might give is that he could just be following his priestly duties by not saying anything and that he has nothing to hide, well I think
In the chapter regarding the “Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale,” Margaret Hallissy gives readers background on the religion in the Middle Ages and what it means to be a medieval Christian. The section also reveals the motives, intentions, and dishonesty of everything the Pardoner does. Hallissy makes it plain to see that the Pardoner is an evil man with corrupt morals by pointing out numerous examples of persuasion, deception, and exploitation of naïve men and women who feel the pressure of having to buy his pardons and false relics. It is also brought to the reader’s attention that the Pardoner uses Christian authority to his advantage and not to benefit the spirituality of his audience. Further evidence to support his evil nature is provided
There is nothing as wonderful, then as to hearing the actual truth. Truth is when there is an undisputed fact, but to Tim O'Brien truth is never moral and doesn’t hint towards models of proper human like behavior. The truth is what creates memories and history of events that actually occurred not like in books were its story truth because it occurred in the book. Tim O’brien makes it seem like a war story that has bravery and self sacrifice is so honorable it makes it true even though it doesn’t.
It is not long before the local priest, Father Gonzaga, becomes involved in the situation and the theory that he may be an angel begins to circulate...
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.
The main character, Philip Malloy, the fourteen-year-old protagonist is a talented runner and an average student who tends to says things that are irrelevant (especially when he’s in school). He releases his frustrations in homeroom and English class through small acts against his teacher, Mrs. Narwin. My opinion of Phillip Malloy is that he is a lazy jerk who, throughout the story, lies and lies, developing into a liar—but the lies eventually comes back to bite him. The reason I call him a jerk is because he shows great disrespect toward his English teacher, Ms. Narwin, purposely even though she has nothing against him. I say Phillip is lazy because he doesn’t want to do the extra work to raise his grade so he can make the track team—he decides
... Nonetheless, the signs also point to Father Flynn hurting him, because he was violating him. People’s assumptions are based upon personal experience and gut feeling, also on their upbringing; nature and nurture. Shanley uses inference in this play to create doubt in the audience’s minds'. The verdict is never in, on Flynn; guilty or not guilty. Shanley’s audience is left to be the jury.
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that 4% of all priests who had served in the US from 1950 to 2002 had allegations of child sexual abuse made against them (John Jay College, 2004; Terry, 2008). Most victims were male and older in age compared to victims in the general population (Terry and Ackerman, 2008).The John Jay College study of child sexual abuse in the US Catholic Church found that 81% of the victims of abuse were male. Richard Sipe, a leading expert on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, reported that of the priests with a tendency to abuse young children, about three-quarters had a preference for abusing boys. The gender preference was more equal among the group of priests who targeted adolescents (Sipe, 1995: 27). Rossetti, (1995) reported on the results of a questionnaire that was sent to more than 7000 adults. Of the 25% that responded, most of the people who completed the questionnaire were either priests, nuns or actively involved in the Catholic Church. 3.3% of the men said that they had been sexually abused by a priest before the age of 18, and 1.7% of the women reported being a...
McEwan presents to the reader the confronting and unpalatable qualities of the guilt that is in falsely accusing a person of a crime of this magnitude, and the inedibility of the outcome