Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Worse...

[mosaix]

Up to 11 boys were castrated while in the care of the Dutch Roman Catholic church in the 1950s to rid them of homosexuality, a newspaper investigation has said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17453849

Sometimes I'm just stunned.

[j. d. worthington]

I'm taken aback, but I can't say I'm all that surprized. Given the casualness with which castration was approached for so many centuries for a number of reasons (and still is, in some places)... it really isn't all that unusual. Brutal, unforgiveable... yes; unusual, no.

[Bowler1]

[It condemned what it called the church's cover-up and culture of silence.]

The line above says it all. The Irish Catholic church has/had the same problem. This year the Catholic embassy in Ireland was closed and could be linked to its poor past. Regardless the real result is people like me. Raised a Catholic and could not care less about this out dated church today. If a church cannot act and protect innocent children, then its no church of mine.

[Kamosis]

You can just feel all that cristhian love...

[Bowler1]

Yes it is sad that a church has lost its way so badly. Power and money.

[J-WO]

Oh, for the love of Hitchens, WHY?

[Boneman]

Originally Posted by J-WO

Oh, for the love of Hitchens, WHY?

Honestly? It's all about control. If you are a 'man of God' (and I use that term very loosely, with a heavy sense of irony) then you a) can do nothing wrong, b) feel you are only answerable to God, and c) expect everyone else (who aren't men and women of God) to obey you without question. the Catholic Religion seeks to control, ultimately. In an incredibly unbelievable world that we have, it still seems impossible, doesn't it?

And with the Roman Catholic church still covering up other abuses, and moving the abusing priests on to another parish rather than showing the world they will not tolerate them in any way, shape or form (do they not realise Satan is dressed in the garb of these priests?) they will continue to lose members until they no longer exist. Won't take long at this rate, and yes, I know I'm tarring them all with the same brush, and there are thousands of Priests whose 'calling' is of the highest order. But sadly, you don't see them stepping forward to condemn those who are the evil amongst them, and you don't see them protesting outside the vatican because they won't tolerate it. Why? Well, the control the Vatican has over them - defrocked for telling the truth, excommunicated for telling the truth, evicted from home and parish for telling the truth - you can see it would be difficult.

[mosaix]

And, as if by magic, along comes a news item emphasising Boneman's point:

Pupils at 400 state-funded Catholic schools have been 'invited' to sign an anti-gay marriage petition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17883093


Refreshingly, and for me surprisingly, one pupil was quoted as saying:

"In our assembly for the whole sixth form you could feel people bristling as she explained parts of the letter and encouraged us to sign the petition," a pupil was quoted as saying.

"She said things about gay marriage and civil partnerships being unnatural. It was just a really outdated, misjudged and heavily biased presentation."

[Bowler1]

Boneman well said and sadly correct. There are of course wonderful priests out there doing very good work. Nearly all wasted by the bad apples, a heavy cross to bear for those who have done no wrong! But a cover up is a cover up. Nearly all cover up's when held up to the light of day do more harm than good. As the Catholic church have been around 2000 years you'd think they would know better!

[J-WO]

Originally Posted by mosaix

And, as if by magic, along comes a news item emphasising Boneman's point:

Pupils at 400 state-funded Catholic schools have been 'invited' to sign an anti-gay marriage petition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17883093


Refreshingly, and for me surprisingly, one pupil was quoted as saying:

"In our assembly for the whole sixth form you could feel people bristling as she explained parts of the letter and encouraged us to sign the petition," a pupil was quoted as saying.

"She said things about gay marriage and civil partnerships being unnatural. It was just a really outdated, misjudged and heavily biased presentation."

You have faith schools, you eventually get something like this.

[Bowler1]

Good find J-WO, I wonder just how much power the DfE has to counter the church on this as it was clearly over stepping the mark.

[Dozmonic]

Parts of the bible being "outdated" reminds me of this image: http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...20283848_n.jpg

Makes me giggle a little every time. It's difficult for Christianity, because the Bible says that all scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for "teaching, for reproving and for setting things straight." Yet there are some anachronistic ideals in there. For a member of Christianity to declare parts of the Bible outdated is for them to deny that it's all inspired and meant for teaching. For them to follow it to the letter leads to points raised in the image above :-)

[Dave]

Just a polite reminder to existing members and any new members that Chronicles is a Science Fiction and Fantasy Forum. We won't allow this thread to become another religion-bashing or anti-Catholic thread. Brian has a sister Interfaith Forum where all these kinds of discussions can be taken and discussed freely. We only have this World Affairs Forum here for items of topical interest. The Original Post was newsworthy and the post by Mosaix on the Faith schools "letter" is topical given that Michael Gove has only just announced his intention for the UK to have many more of them. If the thread moves off topic it will be closed. Past experience has shown us that these threads always become over-heated eventually, and then members leave their restraint, good manners, and good will behind. I've little doubt that this threat will not be the exception, but I'll leave it open for the moment.

[j. d. worthington]

In related news -- Dan Rather has put together a report which deals with unwed women who were forced, coerced, or manipulated/tricked into giving up their children for adoption and, once again, the Church played a fairly significant role. They were not, however, the only ones involved, and the number of women who went through this seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 million (and that's not even considering the children who were thus separated from their parent).

More information can be found here:

http://news.yahoo.com/abducted-generations-.html

I cannot resist drawing attention to the fact that, even to this day, so many are unwilling to concede that much of the animal kingdom registers compassion, empathy, and a sense of fair play*, reserving that for human beings alone -- the only species we know of which has managed to institutionalize such abuse of our offspring....

*as shown in numerous reports; here is an interesting video on the topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJxRqTs5nk