Summary
Last Tuesday there was yet another horrifying lawsuit against a Catholic bishop and diocese who have been accused of sexual abuse, more specifically involving child pedophilia. It may seem shocking that a group that prioritizes and values morality would be involved in such an alarming scandal, yet Michael J. Bransfield of West Virginia is one of many powerful religious figures that has been accused of such acts.
Bransfield, a former bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston diocese in West Virginia
How is the Catholic Church responding to these revelations of abuse that have apparently plagued the Church for years as well as have been actively covered up by powerful, participating Church members? From February 21st through 24th, heads of all national bishops' conferences (from more than 130 countries) met alongside Pope Francis at an unprecedented Roman Catholic Church summit on pedophilia- officially known as the "Protection of Minors in the Church" conference. Taking place at the world-renowned Vatican, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, the conference covered plans to handle these horrible crimes as well as covered ways to spot and end abuse for the future. Those present also heard testimonies from victims.
"Protection of Minors in the Church" Summit
Pope Francis promised to end child sexual abuse saying that guilty clergy members were "tools of Satan." He has committed to prioritizing the victims, ending cover-ups, seriously bringing all abusers to justice, and to reform and strengthen the guidelines of bishops today. Despite the Pope's forward movement, critics claim the intervention has come too late and the Church has not done enough to hold those guilty accountable after thousands of years of covering up crimes. Currently, sexual abuse survivors are asking for new protocols to protect minors and the Church itself must pick up the pieces of a crisis that has lost them all their moral authority and respect.
Connection
This certainly isn't the first, nor will it be the last, time we see leaders use their authority and respect to abuse their power and cut corners. Hitler used propaganda and his exceptional speaking skills to carry out a massive genocide. Japanese soldiers took advantage of their strength over the Chinese and brutally raped, tortured and murdered civilians during the Rape of Nanking and, like these horrifying Church scandals, history books seem to overlook the brutality of Japan's actions.
Reaction
I hope that one thing we can agree on is how absolutely horrifying these recent sexual abuse scandals are. One thing I find especially interesting regarding this topic is how many of the victims of the Church's pedophilia have actually been boys when in society we see the majority of crimes like this targeting women and girls. And while these acts are horrible, I as a follower of religion and an attendee of Church, still am trusting of the religious figures I look up to as I am unable to connect these horrible crimes to a place I find so much safety.
Questions
- How do you think the accused bishops and priests should be punished and what can the Church do to prevent these crimes moving forward?
- Do these scandals stain the name and legitimacy of Christianity and practiced religion as a whole? Why or why not?
- In a "Saturday Night Live" skit, comedian Pete Davidson made a controversial joke regarding the scandal, comparing the Catholic Church to R. Kelly. The Church demanded an apology from Davidson- Did Davidson take it too far and does Church even have the right to demand such an apology? Clip included below
Other Sources: New York Times, Washington Post
I believe that these scandals don't stain Christianity as a religion. The religion as a whole isn't defined by few people who commit selfish acts of assault. Christians are just like normal people, with similar morals. They are just as normal as any ol' Joe, but people like Michael J. Bransfield aren't normal. Bransfield is a good example of a Christian without good morals. There is nothing wrong with the religion itself, because we definitely don't believe that it's okay at all to sexually assault someone. Power does corrupt, and because Bransfield is in a powerful position as a religious leader, he clearly thought he could get away with abusing it. Sexual abuse is no joke, but just because one person commits the crime, it doesn't means the whole religion is to blame.
ReplyDeleteMichael Sipes
ReplyDeleteI think that these bishops and priests should be punished the same way any body should. I do not think that their "devotion to god" should exempt them from any of these horrible crimes that they have committed. As a whole I do not think that these scandals will stain the name and legitimacy of the religion, however it does give an opportunity for people to look down on Christianity and create stereotypes around these high leveled people in the church. This isn't the only time the church has been looked down upon for their wrong doings. Around the 1500's Martin Luther attacked the church for their "corrupt practice of selling 'indulgences' to absolve sin." (https://www.history.com/topics/reformation/martin-luther-and-the-95-theses)
This was a big issue that took advantage of many people, however the Church lived on. So, I do not think that these scandals will stain the legitimacy of Christianity as a whole.
Like with any crime, especially sexual abuse, the priests and bishops should be punished for their crimes. Some actions that could be done to prevent these crimes from moving forward are routine checks on positions on power as well as being more cautious in the future. In general, I believe that these scandals do shed a bad light on the Catholic Church, but this scandal does not reflect the majority of Catholics as a whole, but specifically of the people in power. This lawsuit allows for the people who already have a negative view on religion or Christianity to have their personal image of catholicism stained even further and can also make others become more distrustful of the religion. With catholicism being so prominent in the world (according to BBC, around 1.2 billion people in the world are Roman Catholic during 2013 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-21443313), it is hard to define one religion to one simplistic stereotype.
ReplyDeleteConcerning Pete Davidson’s controversial joke about the scandal, I feel that joking about sexual abuse is ill-mannered and disrespectful and sheds a negative light on Davidson. This joke disregards the pain of the victims and generalizes Catholics to be one single and like minded group. I feel that the Church does have some right to demand the apology due to the serious manner of the case.
Through legal standards I think that the priests should be punished like any other person. For their religious place I think they should have more taken away for them because there isn't any religion where acts like this are tolerated. In order to prevent any of this from happening there needs to be very harsh actions done by the church in order to make them pay for theses deceitful actions. These scandals do not stain the name of christianity it more likely stains the type of people who follow it. No where in the bible does it talk of rape or sexual abuse being something that's praised. It's instead the people who "follow" christianity who are sinning. The joke itself was a little immature but not to the point where catholics should be mad. There was a bad thing that happened and they need to live up to it and own it. Pete Davidson is a comedian and that's what he is paid to do.
ReplyDeleteSteve Thomas
I agree with a lot of the people above me, and I think that the priests should be punished based on the law. No matter what, crimes like these cannot be broken by anybody and should be treated equally amongst any person. This is especially because basic American standards are to follow the law. According to the constitution, nobody is exempt from the law ("No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States"). I feel like overall, this does not stain the church, but instead shows us that everyone, no matter what background, is susceptible to wrongdoing. This is because it only shows the actions of people, not under compulsion of their religion. Similarly to how extremists do not represent a population, these scandals do not represent Christianity and do not stain it. Finally, I think that Pete Davidson has no blame regarding his joke. As much as it is offensive, everything on SNL is offensive because it adds extra comedy to it. If the church found his joke so offensive, then they should have supported other people who had been insulted by SNL jokes. I think their statement regarding the seriousness of the scandal is a good way for the church to show it is trying to prevent similar events, but should simply be taken as a message and not effect the future of the show.
ReplyDeleteI really do think that the accused bishops and priests should be punished for their actions because they really do deserve the punishment. They sexually abused children which is ethically and morally terrible. As a Christian myself and many other Christians would say, the Catholic Church is a separate entity from Christianity. The scandal will taint the legitimacy of Christianity because most people will associate Catholicism with Christianity. But we will see what happens. He might have taken it too far because it probably offended those who are deeply Catholic.
ReplyDeleteWhat these priests did was wrong, and they should be punished based on the severity of their actions. Even though they are priests, their actions should not be protected by their religion and they should be as sex offenders, and receive no bias due to their priesthood. The church can't do much to help end the problem, but the police as well as the court can help end these acts by cracking down harder and making punishments more severe for these sex offenders. Currently, especially in California, practiced religion is becoming less popular, and atheism is now a commonplace. This scandal could hurt the religion as a whole because it places a bad name on the church which might deter people from joining the church. There will always be devout followers that will always believe the church and their beliefs, but the younger generation will move away from the church if scandals like this continue to happen. Today, the "Me Too" movement has been gaining a lot of support, and these priests are sexually harassing children, which will gain lots of opposition from movements like these. The scandals don't stain the legitimacy of the church, but the actions of these priests could eventually lead to a larger opposition to religion in the United States and around the world. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/world/europe/valentina-alazraki-vatican.html
ReplyDeletePriests should obviously be punished based on the law regardless of their power in the Catholic community. I also think that these scandals do shed a negative light on the Catholic church, but definitely doesn't represent the entire religion. It is sad to think that some people use these awful events to define a whole religion, when in reality, it is just a matter of some people who happen to be part of the group committing these crimes. It should not stain the Christian reputation because it is not an accurate representation of the community. This is proven by the fact that the Pope has promised to take care of the situation. According to BBC, more than 4,000 US Roman Priests have been convicted of abuse allegations in the last 50 years. These cases involved over 10,000 children (mostly boys) which is absolutely ridiculous. I think that the Catholic community needs to find the root of the problem and attempt to prevent all of this from happening again.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-44209971
DeleteAs I was thinking further on your realization that some people will use these awful events to define Christianity as a whole it actually made me realize how little this whole event has impacted people's opinion of Christianity as a whole. While yes it is true that there are some that have totally lost faith and trust in the legitimacy of the Church, it seems that most of society seems unfazed by this situation. As proven just in these comments, most are rushing to defend Christianity saying, as you did, that only a small group is involved in this problem and not all are to be blamed, and while I agree that the ideas and beliefs in Christianity should still remain valued and practiced, I wonder if something like this had happened within a different group society would be less willing to defend them. For example, recent terrorist actions by Islamic extremist groups have left many defining all Muslims as extremists and evil despite that being definitely a horrifyingly false stereotype. Yet, you said it yourself, the Catholic Church has had accusations appearing for 50 years, if not more, so why does there seem to be so little controversy over those belonging to the Church?
DeleteI think that the accused bishops and priests should be be held accountable for their crimes as anyone else would be that commited something as crude as these acts. The Church needs to, and is already on the path, on chastising these individuals. These scandals definitely do not stain the name of Christianity. The acts of certain people do not act on behalf of the whole groups morals and ideologies. Certain people believe that Muslims believe in terrorism based off of certain groups (https://www.encounteringislam.org/misconceptions) which is untrue and an idea cannot be based off of a group of people or a few people, just like with these accused bishops and priests. While knowing of these acts of abuse, it does not mean that Christianity acknowledges sexual assault, but rather how certain followers partake in sins that do not represent all people. Pete Davidsons comment did take it too far and comparing a whole religion with 2.2 billion followers to an artist who has made many mistakes for himself. The Church has a right to demand an apology and brings negative attention to Davidson.
ReplyDeleteJust as the author of this post was saying-- it's unbelievable and deeply ironic that religious leaders, who are supposed to be moral paragons in their communities, have been perpetrators of sexual abuse. They don't deserve to have any kind of religious power; I argue that they might not even deserve the comfort of religious affiliation. I understand that it isn't my place to decide another person's beliefs, especially as a person who isn't religiously educated, but it seems as if the abusers have already made that decision for themselves by committing such a crime. I think it'd be ignorant to say that reports of abuse within the church have had zero impact on the way people view Christianity, but it isn't permanently detrimental. According to Pew Research Center, about a third of the world's population in 2015 was Christian-- 2.3 billion people, give or take (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/05/christians-remain-worlds-largest-religious-group-but-they-are-declining-in-europe/). Furthermore, close to half of those are members of the Roman Catholic Church. Being Catholic, or religious in any capacity, isn't inherently tied to being an abuser-- people are able to make a distinction between abusers who consider themselves to be of a certain religion and other people from that religion. Pete Davidson's comments about R. Kelly and the Catholic Church failed to make that very distinction, which is they are so controversial: he explicitly said that he doesn't see the difference between the two, which is unfair. It is common, however questionable, for comedians to generalize certain groups for the sake of humor, which indicates to me that his comments didn't necessarily come from a place of malice.
ReplyDeleteI believe that any sexual abuser should face the consequences. There’s no justification for these sorts of issues. They should go to prison for these acts. I don’t think that having a high place in the church should give anyone any lee-way. Authority or not, these scandals are horrifying and just terrible and your position in a religion shouldn’t dictate your fate that is well-deserved. I think that these scandals do, in fact, stain the legitimacy of this religion. As said, these scandals are reoccurring. If it were not common then it’d be different because there will always be people that commit these acts, unfortunately. However, because this is something that’s been happening many times over “thousands” of years, I cannot help but feel very skeptical about the “mortality” that these figures in the church hold.
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ReplyDeleteThis ongoing scandal within the Catholic Church is terrible beyond imagine. People have so much trust within religious authority that I believe it’s one of the reasons it has been kept secret for so long. But now that people know about what is going on, there is no excuse for letting it continue. Just because Priests and Bishops are an important part of the Catholic religion doesn’t mean that action shouldn’t be taken against them for their horrible deeds. They should be treated just as harshly as anyone else guilty of sexual assault or abuse on a minor. Although I think the Catholic Church is getting a bad rap right now, I don’t think this scandal should affect or stain Christianity as a whole. The same way a single murderer doesn’t mean all people are bad and just because one person does community service doesn’t mean everyone is good, some religious figures committing sexual assault doesn’t mean that Christianity as a whole is a bad religion that should have a bad connotation.
In response to the Pete Davidson situation, I understand how come the church wants an apology. Davidson’s joke was harsh and uncalled for, especially because of how it affects the victims involved. I believe Davidson should apologize to the victims because of how disrespectful he was to them because their lives have been severely impacted, if not ruined, from what they’ve gone through. That being said, I don’t think an apology to the church is necessary. Although it wasn’t the Church itself that committed these crimes against humanity, they are directly involved and Davidson’s joke was harmless. Most comedians take jokes a step too far and don’t have to apologize, so why should Davidson be different?
The most effective way for these crimes to end is putting an end to religion in all. These crimes carried out under the guise of religion are extremely despicable. The fact that these people are exploiting a thing that others believe in, for their own despicable temptations is disgusting. The catholic church may continue to condemn these people, but until they take some real steps to end these attacks, they are just as responsible. Using "god" to rape others is beyond terrible, because not only are they being fed lies, but they are also because assaulted! The pope simply calling out and condemning these criminals isn't enough, he has to take concrete steps and actions, such as end the use of religion in all (this probably won't happen, but it'll end the problem at hand.) The Saturday Night Live skit is completely appropriate, because of the fact that it is necessary for organizations and people to face their issues head on, instead of standing behind a shield from words from the real world. Davidson simply said what many were already thinking (well he did say it in a hilarious way.) The fact that the church wants an apology illustrates how much they want people to "forget" the whole situation. The church doing all this is absurd, and the fact that this amount of people have been assaulted by bishops and priests must be stopped, whether it be through putting an end to religion, or stopping these people from getting so much power something must be done.
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