Bishops Were Not Worried
When the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal was publicly exposed in 2001, Catholic bishops were not really worried about it. They knew the vast majority of Catholics in the pews, like robots, would keep mindlessly coming to church, and most importantly – continue to donate money!
Seven years later things are back to normal, as seen in an April 3 Cleveland, Ohio Plain Dealer article titled, “NE Ohio Catholics’ Giving Sets Record High,” which reported:
“Northeast Ohio Catholics are filling up the collection basket again as time and church reforms appear to be healing old wounds from the clergy sex-abuse scandal. More than five years after the scandal shook the church, offertory giving last year reached a record high in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese. Parishioners gave $109 million, an almost 3 percent increase, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007.”
“Sociologist Dean Hoge of Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., said national research shows that the initial outrage of people in the pews has turned so mild that ‘You can hardly see any effect. We're back to normal…I think it's just out of mind.’”
As an ex-Catholic, I know how most Catholics handled the sex abuse scandal – They closed their eyes, covered their ears, and thought to themselves, “Oh please, let this be over quickly.” Now, the storm clouds have passed, and they can go back to playing “church.”
By the way……If you or I had sexually abused children like Catholic priests did, we’d have been tossed into jail, and the key thrown away!! But the priests were protected by their bishops and all the lawsuit money paid out.
Even as the settlements were being paid, Catholic bishops knew that donations would keep coming in, and that in a few years it would all be forgotten. The bishops knew that soon enough the average Catholic would be thinking: “We’re back to normal…it’s just out of mind.”
Please keep praying for Catholic conversions, and as for the wicked Roman priesthood, let our prayer be from Psalm 58:6: “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.”
Seven years later things are back to normal, as seen in an April 3 Cleveland, Ohio Plain Dealer article titled, “NE Ohio Catholics’ Giving Sets Record High,” which reported:
“Northeast Ohio Catholics are filling up the collection basket again as time and church reforms appear to be healing old wounds from the clergy sex-abuse scandal. More than five years after the scandal shook the church, offertory giving last year reached a record high in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese. Parishioners gave $109 million, an almost 3 percent increase, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007.”
“Sociologist Dean Hoge of Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., said national research shows that the initial outrage of people in the pews has turned so mild that ‘You can hardly see any effect. We're back to normal…I think it's just out of mind.’”
As an ex-Catholic, I know how most Catholics handled the sex abuse scandal – They closed their eyes, covered their ears, and thought to themselves, “Oh please, let this be over quickly.” Now, the storm clouds have passed, and they can go back to playing “church.”
By the way……If you or I had sexually abused children like Catholic priests did, we’d have been tossed into jail, and the key thrown away!! But the priests were protected by their bishops and all the lawsuit money paid out.
Even as the settlements were being paid, Catholic bishops knew that donations would keep coming in, and that in a few years it would all be forgotten. The bishops knew that soon enough the average Catholic would be thinking: “We’re back to normal…it’s just out of mind.”
Please keep praying for Catholic conversions, and as for the wicked Roman priesthood, let our prayer be from Psalm 58:6: “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.”
posted by Robt. B. at 7:07 AM
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