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Sexual abuse within the catholic church essay
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Sexual abuse within the catholic church essay
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According to the Associated Press, since 1980, there have been as many as 3,000 abuse claims made against the Catholic Church in the United States. Many of the cases have not reached a courtroom; instead they have been settled by the defendants for millions of dollars. Just in 2003, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville announced that it would pay $25.7 million to 243 people who claimed they were sexually abused by its clergy. This settlement came after years of lawsuits, such as John Doe v. Diocese of Dallas and Rigazio v. Archdiocese of Louisville, in which the plaintiffs fought to change the statute of limitations. In Rigazio v. Archdiocese of Louisville, Donald Rigazio and his family claimed that he was sexually abused at St. Raphael’s
The Ward versus Polite case came to the Sixth Circuit United States Court of Appeals in 2011. The appellate case results from the 2010 lawsuit which the plaintiff lost. Both cases involve a self-professed Christian student, Julea Ward, in her third year of the Eastern Michigan University School Counseling program in 2009. As part of the program, all students are required to work at the university’s counseling center for 100 hours. Mrs. Ward was presented with a case file in which a student wanted counseling. The student had received counseling from the center before for depression stemming from his same-sex romantic relationship; though, the reason for this particular counseling session was unknown. Upon reviewing the file, Ward met with her supervisor, Professor Calloway. Her desire was to either refer the student to a
People can spot this place for miles and miles because the church sits upon a hill, where people can hear the bells ring every hour, and where people can go to see this majestic site; Sacred Heart Catholic Church stands in the middle of the rural town of Schnellville, Indiana. Sacred Heart, one of many churches located in Dubois County, including the following: St. Celestine, St. Ferdinand, St. Mary’s, and St. Joe’s still stand to this current day. After Schnellville received its church in 1874, Sacred Heart Catholic Church has endured two fires, a complete rebuilding of the church in 1914, numerous priests, and changes to parts of the church throughout time.
In Montgomery Gentry’s hit song “Where I Come From”, he sings about his small town southern pride. In this country tune, the line “That little white church is gonna have a crowd,” is accompanied by lyrics about a town that could easily be located in East Tennessee. One thing that can be assumed from Gentry’s song is that the, “Little white church” he sings about is probably not a Catholic cathedral. In southern towns, like the one Gentry sings about, Protestant churches drastically outrank Catholic churches. In Kingsport Tennessee, Catholic churches are outnumbered forty two to one by Baptist churches alone. This statistic makes it easy to see why, as a whole, Protestants are uneducated and overly critical about the Catholic faith, the very religion that Protestantism is derived.
One of the three basic pillars of the Roman Catholic Church is Tradition. The Church often uses this pillar of Tradition to validate its actions or to establish its own infallibility. One unspoken foundation that I feel is more essential, however, is that of Love. Love is what is taught in Scripture, another pillar of the Church, and should, therefore be the root of any traditions in the Catholic faith. By judging human actions or the spirit of God by cold laws enforced by the Church, we lose important insight into what our faith and our existence are truly about. Even the Church, in its humanness, sometimes forgets that love of God, others, and ourselves should be the core of every decision we make. The Church that many see as harsh and archaic could easily be refreshed and renewed, not by peppier music or stand-up comic priests, but by emphasis on the spirit of love rather than the letter of the law.
In 1789, the First Amendment established that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” This meant the Federal and State Governments could not be partial or show support for any certain denomination or religious organization. However, throughout the history of the United States the controversial question over the relationship between church and state has always been called into question in establishing a one religion government. The main focus of the inquiry is to decide whether to keep the establishment clause or to tear it down and move towards a theocratic system. One side of the debate is the group against the separation of Church and State, who believe that if America was a more religious nation that it would become more moral as well as bring everyone in agreement with national decision making. Therefore the belief is that the United State would become more unified in an already corrupt system. On the other hand, the side for separation argues that the distance between established religion and national government is inherently necessary to keep maintain: religious tolerance, prevent biases, and prejudices, along with any sort of religious freedom in country that has thousands of different organized religions.
Text Box: “I, (name) do take thee, (Name) to be my lawful wedded husband/wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.†A quote from the traditional Wedding Mass
Navarro, A. E., Gassoumis, Z. D., & Wilber, K. H. (2013). Holding abusers accountable: an elder abuse forensic center increases criminal prosecution of financial exploitation. The Gerontologist, 53(2), 303-312.
Orthodox Catholics - Orthodox Catholics are the most devout members of the Catholic Church. They adhere to the Church’s teachings rigorously by regularly participating in Church practices and rituals such as attending mass and other catholic ceremonies. They are fully immersed in the institutional life of the Church. Their Catholic identity is publicly manifested in their social, political, and economic life. Their social structure is almost entirely based around the church’s teachings, as well as immersing themselves around people who have the same strong catholic beliefs as themselves. It is likely that if conflict occurred between the Church’s teachings, family, work or social life, that the orthodox members will favour with the church. This was seen during the church’s child abuse scandals in 2009, members of the Catholic Church who didn’t have rigorously strict catholic beliefs tended to move away from the church after the scandals however the orthodox members remained loyal to the church. Orthodox Christians prevailed through Ireland from 1880-1990’s. Now however it is often regarded as just a ‘stereotypical viewpoint of Irish Catholism’ or something that is linked with previous generations. There has been a significant orthodox Catholics have also disappeared from the fields of education, health, and social welfare. DISAGREE ON ISSUES SUCH AS--- PROTESTS.
Rossetti, S. J. (1996). A tragic grace: the catholic church and child sexual abuse. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=JAgyfIkgNSoC&dq=A+tragic+grace+:+the+Catholic+Church+and+child+sexual+abuse+/+Stephen+J.+Rossetti.&source=gbs_navlinks_s
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...
It is clear that between 1540 & 1559 that the Catholic Church became increasingly intolerant of debasement and dissent. This is mostly due to the leaders that came to the papal throne within this period. Between 1540 & 1559 there was a variety of pope’s with very differing views on how to contend with the issues of Protestantism, debasement and dissent.
Why is the Catholic Church so corrupt in its teaching? They have found ways to control the knowledge that their followers contemplate on. The control of knowledge and power is the foundation for every successful religious organization. The Catholic Church have acquired this power through strategic control on the mind of its follower. The Catholic Church propagate their ideals as righteous in order to be accepted; for without this acceptance, they are faced with the task of initiating this power through force. So to beguile their followers, they present themselves in “sheep clothing” (KJV, Matt 7:15). They are accepted as blameless, peaceful, loving and harmless but in actuality, “they are ravening wolves” (KJV, Matt. 7:15).
Women’s rights in the Catholic Church, generally, are a controversial subject. Many people believe the Church is masculine and excludes women in any leadership rules. The Catholic Church has been around for over two thousand years. The modern world believes the Church is outdated. Jesus Christ lived during a time when women were secluded. It is time, in their thoughts, for the Catholics to change their beliefs to adequate with the contemporary society, some Catholics even deliberate with the idea of change. Pope Paul VI portrayed the Catholic Church in three words, tradition (the practices of the faith), magisterium (God’s Plan) and the Gospels (Jesus’ teachings). It is not the Church’s responsibility to change but to follow what they have been given, the Truth. As more go to the advanced society and the feminist movement continues on, the Church stays with their beliefs on who each of the sexes really are.
The word view salvation in relations to works, and believe that salvation from works is a misleading believe that have cost people their ticket to heaven. There had been numerous of people who have tried to explain the truth about salvation and works. However, they give up or distort the truth. Others have tried to unmask religious, cults, and sects. They have also failed for different reasons. Others have succeeded in explaining certain beliefs, based on their own understanding or the word of God. The few people who have fully succeeded have made history for their achievement. A known person who challenged the Catholic Church was Martin Luther, who was driven by fears of hell and God’s wrath that lead him to became a monk.
This essay addresses the question: Does more harm than good come from the internet? And the answer is sought from the largest Christian denomination (one billion members) - the Catholic Church. There is no condemnation of the internet by this church body; rather the Vatican, official voice of the Catholic Church, maintains that the internet is "not a threat"(Church).