Catholic Sex Abuse

The Catholic sex abuse cases are a series of lawsuits, criminal prosecutions and scandals related to sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests and members of religious orders, both under diocesan control and in orders which care for the sick or teach children, that first rose to widespread public attention in the last two decades of the 20th century.Although awareness of the widespread scope of these abuses first received significant media attention in Canada, Ireland and the United States, other cases were also reported in a number of other countries.

In Ireland, the Roman Catholic Church had covered up hundreds of crimes committed by its clergy in more than 30 years. Archbishops applied a "don't ask, don't tell" policy, allowing priests to sexually abuse children. The church even took out insurance polices in case the abuse was discovered.  ~Mark Simpson reports~

In addition to the actual abuse, much of the scandal focused around the behavior of some members of the Catholic hierarchy who did not report the crimes to civil authorities, and in many cases reassigned the offenders to other locations where they continued to have contact with minors, giving them the opportunity to continue their sexual abuse.

Compensation payments, bankruptcies and closures

Main article: Settlements and bankruptcies in Catholic sex abuse cases

According to Donald Cozzens, "by the end of the mid 1990s, it was estimated that more than half a billion dollars had been paid in jury awards, settlements and legal fees." This figure grew to about one billion dollars by 2002. Roman Catholics spent $615 million on sex abuse cases in 2007.

The dioceses in which abuse was committed or in which abuse allegations were settled out of court found it necessary to make financial settlements with the victims totaling over $1.5 billion as of March 2006, have had a significant impact on the finances of many dioceses. The number and size of these settlements made it necessary for the dioceses to reduce their ordinary operating expenses by closing churches, parishes and schools in order to raise the funds to make these payments.

In many instances, dioceses were forced to declare bankruptcy as a result of the settlements. At least six U.S. dioceses sought bankruptcy protection. In some cases, the dioceses filed bankruptcy just before civil suits against them were about to go to trial. This had the effect of mandating that pending and future lawsuits be settled in bankruptcy court.

Resignations, retirements and defrockings

Many of the accused priests were forced to resign or were defrocked. In addition, several bishops who had participated in the cover up were also forced to resign or retire.

Formal Apology

The Pope formally apologised on March the 18th, 2010 for 'stray priests' and called for both forgiveness by the victims and penitence by the accused priests. This occurred as new cases came to light in Germany, Ireland and Italy. (copied & edited from Wikipedia)

Sometimes I just wonder what is Christianity? Are all Christians who read bible & pray daily, attend church meeting weekly are saints? Look at those priests/fathers who are suppose to preach gospels and God's words to people had done. They can 'speak' in the meeting and 'do' sinful things after the meeting. Don't you dare to say they don't read bible, they don't pray. Maybe READ but DON'T UNDERSTAND GOD; PRAY but NOT IN THE SPIRIT?! 

We are all human beings who can easily get tempted in this Satanic world. May our Lord preserve us everyday.