The Priestly Perversion

April 3, 2010

The Priestly Perversion

By Saeed Qureshi

It’s simply nauseating to learn about the myriad accounts of the moral degeneracy of the Roman Catholic papacy. The irksome tale of priest Lawrence C Murphy is as harrowing as it is despicable and deserves the strongest condemnation of the people having a pious conscience. That a pedophile predatory priest sexually preyed upon 200 defenseless, innocent, adolescent deaf young boys and girls for 24 years (1950-1974) unfolds the diabolic dimension of human nature and the steepest degeneracy the fallible humans can fall in.
The case of another priest ( Rev.) Brendan Smyth, who was jailed decades later, after admitting to molesting and raping dozens of children in Northern Ireland and the United States leaves one aghast as to how the Jesus’ reverent ministry has been wantonly trampled and willfully violated by the votaries of the nobility of his message. Smyth died in jail 13 years ago while serving 12 years for 74 sexual assaults on children.
Apart from the incidence of this sinister crime, the hierarchy and the archbishops and Cardinals, instead of taking well defined action against the heinous culprits have been trying to cover up the immoral deeds and shielding the lustful perpetrator. In all the sexual abuse cases the “Vatican has tended to view the matter in terms of sin and repentance more than crime and punishment.”
For instance, the insidious molester (father) Murphy instead of being arraigned and punished was “quietly moved to the Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin in 1974, where he spent his last 24 years working freely with children in parishes, schools and in a juvenile detention center. He died in 1998, still a priest”: (New York Times).
The entire Europe, Australia and United States are infested with countless incidents of the child molestation by the Roman Catholic priests in the past as well in the present and would still be continuing unless definitively checked. As the time advances more cases of priestly perversion are coming to fore making one wonder why the molesters were seized by demons and devils than remaining on the divine path of Jesus Christ. Doubtlessly, these countless fake upholders of Christian belief were playing game of deception and infidelity with their faith. At least 700 priests have been dismissed in America alone for sexually abusing the young children kept under their supervision, in religious seminaries, orphanages or residential institutions.
This detestable phenomenon is not new with the Roman Catholic Church. During the medieval ages (5the to 15th century) the Church emerged as the most powerful ecclesiastical and temporal institution. The medieval church is not only recorded as the retrograde, corrupt, immoral but also the largest land holder in Europe by the 15th century. While the wealth, worldly power and supremacy of the Roman Church grew enormously, its role of a spiritual leader for the Christian faithful plummeted to the lowest levels. The papacy’s decadence and corruption in terms of promotion of their mundane well being and sexual extravaganzas overtook their selfless and pious service to the cause of their faith. The Dutch Catholic scholar Erasmus wrote in 1518: “the shamelessness of the Roman Church has reached its climax”
The common proverb that then circulated around was, “If you want to ruin your son make him a priest.” According to historian Will Durant, “in England sexual incontinence accusations filed in 1499 against clerical offenders numbered 23 per cent, including sexual favors from female penitents. Thousands of priests had concubines and in Germany all of them had.”
According to a Spaniard writer of that time, “we can scarcely get anything from church but for money, baptism money marriage money, confession money, unction rites for money, paradise is shut for those having no money.”
During the middle ages there were some very immodest and rather lecherous Popes who pursued their anti- Christianity activities with impunity. For example, Alexander VI (pope 1492-1503) acknowledged and prompted his illegitimate children, Julius II (1503-1513) was devoted to wars and art than ecceslaitical duties. Sixths IV (pope 1471-1484) enriched his nephews and nieces.
What was reformation? It was an irresistible and astounding reaction to the deformities and incurable malignancy such as indulgences or tickets for paradise, in the Catholicism for which the hierarchy from top to bottom was responsible. According to “Mankind’s Search for God”, “when the storm of the Reformation finally broke, it shattered the religious house of Christendom in Western Europe.” The historic movement divided the Roman Catholic Church into various houses: Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Anglican besides certain radical groups like Anabaptists and Puritans among others. Thes main divisions were further divided into hundreds of subdivisions each country having its own church. The Christendom thus far putting up a united house was forever divided into two branches; one the orthodox Catholicism and the other Protestantism.
Human nature readily falls to mundane temptations including prying for unhindered sex despite religious covenants to the contrary. There is an inherent flaw in the doctrinal regime of Catholicism that it obligates the clerics, priests, nuns and higher echelons like Bishops not to marry if they choose to serve the Jesus ministry. In the canon law of the Latin Church, the word "celibacy" means being unmarried or abstinence from sexual activities in all forms. Continence and celibacy is the corner stone in Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Christian traditions. The priests and the nuns were ordained to live in the colonies and cathedrals in a state of celibacy.
But it was utterly impossible to resist the human urge for biological needs, one of which is the sex. There have been innumerable accounts of the nuns and the priests having sexual relations although openly they won’t profess it. The privacy and secluded environment in the side rooms of the churches and in church’s’ colonies kept their sexual relations secret from the common public. But still the stories of breaking the celibacy pledges have been abounding causing embarrassment to the Church.
In the present times those who have religiously vowed not to marry can fall back upon sexual molestation of helpless boys and girls who cannot disclose the immoral excesses of their religious teachers and guides. In the olden times it could not be checked because of the lack of communication system that is available now. Therefore, the felonious members of Church can now be exposed to the entire world in the fastest manner.
During the past several years the Vatican Church has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement of the sexual abuses cases with the victims who grew up and started letting out the loathsome and lewd activities of their religious teachers and clergy. But mere payment won’t stop this heinous crime. Both the Vatican and Orthodox Church and the societies with Christian majorities will have to undertake radical, drastic and foolproof systems to put a stop to this abhorrent crime that on one hand defiles the fair name of Christianity and on the other pricks the conscience of the sensitive victims forever.
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