Most Holy Father,
The Vatican must take action in the best interest of the flock.
One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. - Arnold Glasgow
This statement alone suggests that that the Vatican is sorely lacking in leadership at the present time. The primary mission of any church principally is to serve as a gateway or access point for a people to their god and teach the proper manner in which such proper access is maintained and developed over a lifetime, this is my perception of the relationship of a church and its membership. This only works on faith because basically most priest, pastors and ministers pride themselves on their integrity and believe deeply in it being a major responsibility of their profession. There have obviously been those along the way who don’t practice what they preach, but for the most part generally speaking, faith has counted on personal integrity being held to the highest level and expectation from themselves and others. More importantly, faith of any and all followers of religion count on that integrity even more so, for they are the seekers of the way, the path, the enlightenment, the door. They need the pastors, priest, and ministers to be true to their profession in order for this whole religion thing to have order, to make sense, to even offer people purpose for their daily existence. That means faith counts on those very same people not to seek this way as a means to abuse people during the most venerable and damaging time of their lives, for this source to partake in that of that kind of damage can be proportionately more devastating than any other a soul should ever experience.
Whether you are gay or straight or a variation thereof, one thing we can all agree on within ourselves, is the perception of freedom of choice. We say ‘we like the opposite sex or the same’, no makes the selection for us. The ultimate sin of the full impact of being on the receiving end of a pedophiles assault is that that freedom of choice selection we all should have the opportunity of making for ourselves is forever taken away. We will never know which choice our minds, bodies or souls would have taken us in if it hadn’t been for that one adult who saw in us an opportunity for their own personal gratification. They have taken away our moment of discovery of what excites us or scares the hell out of us or whatever happens sexually for the first time for young people when it happens in the natural course of human events in this and every society. That in and of itself is a hell of a thing to take from and impose upon a kid of 7 or 8, as that seems to be the age most preferred by them as a start range. That the pedophile is a member of the church in such a position of authority, responsibility, control and access is such a monumental detriment to the child objects of his affections as much as it is to the community in which this church sits and is allowing him to doing this damage.
This kid, unlike the kid being molested by a family member, or neighbor or teacher, not to suggest there is no damage by these individuals, this kid is being abused by someone who represents his pathway to his eternal salvation and that abuse should be considered the ultimate violation a human being can inflict upon another in a civilized society short of murder. When you find out that this has been going on for more than 50 years and on at least two continents in more than three countries to little boys and girls all over the place, you have to acknowledge the foundation of the credibility of the church is at stake here. News is coming out about requests for particular priests to be defrocked and request are denied, informing the Vatican at the very least that there where men out there sexually molesting children while standing as representatives of this Catholic Church of God. That, when these men where moved to the required treatment programs and given a chance to prove they were no longer committing those acts, it was found they generally go right back to the pedophilic behavior. This is beyond the point damage control anymore; we have at least 2 generations of children whose lives have been irreparably changed forever because the leadership of the Catholic Church refuse to protect these most innocent of their flock from the monsters within.
I think this is a most precarious of times for the Catholic Church today and its membership’s faith. A leader responsible for causing this much damage and untold pain upon its own people at the very least owes them something. The Pope track record proves he has been involved as Cardinal to the detriment of the victims since the early 1990’s. The Pope stepping down might be a start as a way to repair the relationship. It would be the ultimate statement in modern times of a man actually proving to the world and more importantly to the many faithful of its flock; the many followers of the Catholic religion all around the world, they meant more than he did, even though he was selected. It would be an admission of the failure of his leadership to address the damage that was being inflicted on the innocent of its membership by some of its leaders with the ability to do the most harm. If nothing is done, this will go down as the most obvious crime of humanity against man by one of its most sacred institutions. To still be conservative in his protection of the Church with his continued ignorance of the pain of the victims and the guilt of the actions of the Church, the Pope is stetting himself and the Catholic Church in a position his lord and savior was unable to achieve, authority above its own God. Stepping down seems to be Pope’s only graceful symbolic option. I personally, don’t see how the Catholic Church survives any other way.
Another middle-aged molested Catholic man.
