This morning.
An independent inquiry into alleged sex abuse of minors by French Catholic priests, deacons and other clergy has found some 216,000 victims from 1950 to 2020, a “massive phenomenon” that was covered up for decades by a “veil of silence.”
Via The Local:
The landmark report, released on Tuesday after two and a half years of investigations, follows widespread outrage over a string of sex abuse claims and prosecutions against Church officials worldwide.
When lay members of the Church such as teachers at Catholic schools are included, the number of child abuse victims climbs to 330,000 over the seven-decade period.
Meanwhile…
The report, at nearly 2,500 pages, found that the “vast majority” of victims were pre-adolescent boys from a wide variety of social backgrounds.
“The Catholic Church is, after the circle of family and friends, the environment that has the highest prevalence of sexual violence,” the report said.
Commission president Jean-Marc Sauve had already told AFP on Sunday that a “minimum estimate” of 2,900 to 3,200 paedophiles had operated in the French Church since 1950.
Yet only a handful of cases prompted disciplinary action under canonical law, let alone criminal prosecution.
French Catholic Church inquiry finds 216,000 sex abuse victims dating back to 1950s (The Local.fr)
Getty
and yet people still see fit to baptise and make communion with an organisation that covers up this disgusting shameful cruel behavior all the while telling you that you are a sinner, it is beyond comprehension.
Indeed. When it comes to Christianity, the very concept of original sin is an unbelievable perversion of something so pure as newborn.
yes I always felt that a particularly perverted thought
My Granny was deeply, deeply religious.
One of her babies died immediately after birth, before she could be baptised. Because she wasn’t christened she couldn’t be buried on consecrated ground. My granny was also told she would go to “Limbo” and could never go to heaven. This was a horrible torture for my poor granny.
that poor woman as if the loss of a child isn’t painful enough
The same thing happened my Mother a few years before I was born. She never got over that.
I feel sorry for all these women but come on, we’ve all been given a mind of our own.
On a separate note, isn’t it high time we began turning down invitations to first communion and confirmation parties. I’m as guilty as anyone but nothing will change as long as we keep going along with the rituals. Among my generation, the desire to placate grandparents seems to perpetuate the farce.
The older i get the weirder and more “wicker-man” it all becomes.
What’s the story with communions and the white dresses for girls? Brides of Christ is it?
And what is it that compels parents who do not attend Mass or participate in any of the established ceremony to take part in the whole charade? It can’t be Catholic guilt or a hedge-your-bets “it can’t do any harm?” sure.
That’s very sad about your Granny @Cian – making her feel like her child was something “other” or something “less.” Sort of related but my own Granny’s first born was killed by a drunken Doctor who gave her an adult dose of medicine rather than the appropriate does for an infant. Of course there were no repercussions, no investigations, no justice in the 1940s if you were a serf or peasant in the Irish theocracy of that time. Foul.
Is it pressure from parents ?
Although not Catholic my parents gently had to be made to understand I would not be baptising baby, I left the church after my communion at 16, we had a naming ceremony in the garden, her Dad wrote her name in a tray of rice and whispered her name in her ear three times we drank champagne and ate cucumber sandwiches with friends and had two poems from her ” not God parents ”
In the end they said it was nicer and a better fit for my family.
I have no intention of sending her to a religious school so no pressure from that end although I believe it’s illegal to discriminate now ?
…good luck with finding a secular school…over 95% of primary schools still practice a single religious ethos and so-called ‘educate together’ schools simply mean more religious flavours stalk the corridors…
I know realistically I’ll probably have to opt for a nice lax prod school, lesser of two evils. I really miss that about France the boys had no clue who Jesus was until secondary school, they knew some friends were Muslin or Jewish but not really what it meant because God was kept out of school.
Sounds like a lovely alternative and congratulations!
My pair of primary school-goers aren’t baptised and the eldest girl was fine when the majority of her classmates were preparing for their communions. I have a bit of a problem with school being a vehicle for communion prep when in my view we’re supposed to be a secular society. Why can’t people do this stuff on their own time? Why is one doctrine more acceptable than another to promote in school? How are non religious teachers supposed to teach this stuff?
My pair get school books to complete with all kinds of God related stuff – it’s mostly innocuous be kind to other people etc but then there’s stuff like a picture to colour in with a kid climbing a tree for example and the message “God is with me when I play.” He is my eye! The temptation to take the mickey is strong.
Personally I’d prefer zero religious education or indoctrination in schools (outside of general social studies). We’re still living with the remnants of how things used to be, kids really take things in their stride so I’m not concerned about them. Still, state funded education should be rooted in things other than pie in the sky.
Minority religion schools ( in Ireland ) such as CoI may still discriminate.
my brothers kids not baptised ” identify ” as prods so that was enough for the school
Original sin refers to how sin has corrupted human nature: it is neither specific to newborns nor principally relevant to them. Look around the world – there’s plenty of evidence for the basic thesis inherent in the doctrine.
I see far more evidence of religion corrupting humans, come back to me when there’s a world without this creepy poison of the mind and I bet you’d see a better humanity, one actually based on humanity and not some angry vengeful woman hating yet some how loving auld fella.
Your parents did the dirty, dirty sex to have you, so you’re born dirty as a consequence.
Completely FUBAR.
No, that’s not it. Mary was conceived without original sin and through normal intercourse: her conception was “immaculate” and sexual.
I find it impossible to place my “faith” in retrospective, narrative constructs imposed by religious institutions on the life of a man – the truth or what’s left of it is buried in false constructs and their revisions.
What about Jesus’s brother James – he was the son of Joseph and not the son of God so how does that come out in the wash?
plus one burning bush
Wrong thread Janet – think it’s the Muiris Houston post you mean that comment for ;)
tee hee
216,000 victims.
That is such a big number; trying to understand it is so difficult, almost impossible.
– If you just published the victims names, at two columns of fifty name per A4 page, it would be 2,160 pages long.
– An average novel is ~90,000 words; Next time you have a novel flick through it and image each word represents a victim. Now flick through a second time. And the first few chapters.
– Population of Cork city is 208,000. So a more victims than all of Cork.
Frightful
that’s just the ones brave enough to come forward,
the misery doesn’t just end with the victims but often ripples out affecting future relationships,
I’d count the damage in much higher figures.
Very true. It is mind-boggling.