I would like to inform the reader of this article that what is written next is no attack on religion, the Church or whatsoever. For this I will work with the assumption that the Church is a company providing support, safety and all other services as their business.
We all know the stories of child abuse within the Christian Church of the U.S.A., but lately more and more of these cases pop up in Europe as well. There has not been any week in 2010 that did not report such a case in the news or papers. However, this recent development in Europe may seem odd to some. If we put it in contrast: The States were already past this stage of these affairs in the nineties! Most of these cases were more aimed on punitive damages than on recognizing or fixing a problem (this has everything to do with American law, which differs a lot from European legislation). And it is this recognition that I would like to discuss.
Europe has been divided into bishops denying the allegations and bishops that confirm the existence of abusive reverends, with currently Germany as its main battlefield. This (partial) confirmation is a major development in these sexual affairs. Many people (then children) that sought support (or any other service) in between 1960 & 1990 were molested. Some of these people tried to seek contact within the higher ranks of the Church but all heard that they were the first to happen this with, or that that the person itself was lying. Not to forget; it were those times that none could object towards the Church. Apart from the act itself, many people were hurt because they were deceived. It was obvious that the Church rather protected its ‘employees’ by regulating everything intern far from media-attention. Most of the suspects are still employed and still work with children.
It is clear that if any of this would have been brought to media in between ’60 & ’90, that the Church would have taken much more damage than it does now. Therefore I am doubt; Is it wise to lie to your customers about some affairs, to save the greater good? Those allegations would have crushed the fundament of Christianity in the sixties. This would have harmed all of its followers which are in need of the Church, only because some crooked employees messed things up. So I would say that most companies would settle this intern, but keeping such suspects within any organization would only harm its image. Or am I mistaken?
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4 comments:
I agree with the writer of the principal comment that most companies would like to settle business issues internally without informing external parties. Certainly, if an employee is convicted of an offense, the company wants to avoid the risk that it gets a bad name.
However, the Church is not such a regular company/institution. If the Church dismisses accused priests, the criticism will only increase. In this way the Church confesses openly that there are priests who have abused children. The distinction between bishops in Europe which has been discussed in the comment will also disappear at the same time. The consequences will be enormous for the Church. There will be fewer people attending church services and there will become more criticism against some questionable positions of the Vatican. Some of these criticized views are homosexuality, abortion and the Holocaust. How immoral it might be, for the Church it is better to keep the suspected priests inside the Churches.
s568906
This is an interesting principle comment. We could get some inside story of the church.
However, if we want to answer the doubt of the author, we have to take into account the human nature. The bishops are human beings on one hand and some of them work in the church for the purpose of survival.
In this article, actually, the church faces a moral dilemma - is it morally right for the church to fire the people with sinful background, given that the difficulty to hire the decent and professional employees (Bishops, etc), but taking into account the bad behavior (child abuse) of these employees?
ANR: 138561
Name: L.Zhang
I think that there should not be any doubt whether to punish these pastors and cardinals or not. Whenever i go to church now i have a uncomfortable feeling. I know that it doesn't concern all of church it's "employees". But isnt church supposed to be a sincere institution? Well I am not feeling myself so pure anymore when i go to church now. People who abuse childs (also God it's servants) should be punished for their actions! I stongly disagree with the fact that church it's employees should get a special treatment. And therefore I conclude that there should be consequences for the pastors and cardinals we're talking about. And this kind of behaviour definitely is morally wrong!
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