The recent priest scandal reminded me of a paper that I had to submit during my early days in college. The professor wanted us to write an essay on whether man was born good or bad.
With that in mind, I remembered a movie called “The Bad Seed”. It was about a little girl whose life was complicated by those who loved her and those who didn’t. She set about going to great lengths making sure they died in ways nobody suspected but, in the end, she was setting the scene for another murder on the water docks during a fierce storm when she was electrocuted by a lightning bolt which struck her dead. After the movie ended, the director didn’t want the audience to believe a little girl could do what she did. So, they brought her back with her mother spanking her for her deeds in a humorous way.
I finished the essay with the conclusion that man was not born bad. That the environment had a lot to do with how they were brought up in their surroundings and the relations they had with parents and other people made a lasting impression on how they view the world around them and how to act on it.
As far as the priest abusing their young parishioners. It is a choice they made before they were priest. It was the most logical way for them to find young victims. Joining a priestly order is pretty difficult. They really had to play the part of a person seeking redemption in order to gain approval for their vocation.
When it was found that a priest was molesting young children, it was thought of as a man who has psychological problems and acting out in a sinful way. It was a wayward person with a lost soul who needed to be forgiven and place in another setting. He was castigated, counseled and remove from the parish to another parish in another town where unknown to the parishioners, he kept on abusing children.
The priest has always been a man respected and place on a pedestal where people could look up to him for spiritual counseling. He could do no wrong. So, when children told their parents about what happened they would not believe them. So, the revelation of the many priests abusing children for so many years brought to the forefront on how they lasted that long.
Pedophiles are found everywhere. Even in other denominations and organizations in which children are involved, however, for the press, they are not as attractive as the Catholic church which is recognized as a worldwide Christian church with many top church leaders.
So, in conclusion, people have to remember that priest are human and can err in human behavior. Most of them are good men who believe in the Word and follow it religiously. Today, the Catholic church has instituted a Safe Environment program to teach parent and religious education teachers to be aware of child pedophiles including priest. It used to be that parents would report the allegations to the church. Now, if any parishioner suspects anything, they would report it to child protective service and then the child abuse coordinator at each parish who reports it to the archdiocese. Child protective would investigate the allegation and report it to the law enforcement.
Nowadays, people have lost their faith and left the church because of these allegations. The true priests whose honor and reputation has been affected are crying out that now, is when you fight for your faith and your church rather than strike out and leave their parish because of a few unworthy priest.
You have to remember that when people go to church, they go to worship and praise God. The priest is an ordained minister to impart the word of God. An imperfect man testifying about a perfect man. The church is about people not a building.