See: Previous Letter regarding Magdalene Sisters (And other anti-Catholic Pornography)
-----Original Message----- From: Ben Grimm Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2003 9:28 PM To: Father Phil Bloom Subject: RE: Your Filthy Institution The difference between you & I Phil is that I know there are problems that exist in my "Protestant" church. But these problems can't be hidden by a corrupt hiearchy and these problems are nil compared to the WORLDWIDE abuse of 1000's for generations by the hands of rapist priests and nuns. The problems in the Protestant church are taken care of as soon as any particular congregation is made aware. Why Phil? Because our structure is Biblical. We give double honor to those leaders that deserve it and for those that don't we have the power to release them from their ministerial duties. You see Phil, your whole system is un-Biblical and to boot Rome forces celibacy on its priests and nuns (another un_biblical doctrine). But although priests may not marry and be able to get away with it, they sure have found a way to release their sexual frustration isn't that right Phil? Another big difference Phil is that my "Protestant" church does not mke the claims that your heretical church does i.e., holy father?, vicar of Christ, infallibility, sacrificial priesthood, one true church, hierarchy etc. etc. etc and all the other blasphemous and heretical teachings. The movie (Magdalene Srs.)may not be the real thing Phil as I do realize that the hollywood type will do anything to draw an audience but if the film has "a scene where the camera focuses on the girls' naked breasts and pubic hair" I would say that that should be given a "G" rating compared to what the nuns of your church really did to those women (girls) and a "GG" rating compared to what your fellow sodomite priests have done to children. Yes children Phil! The kind that your Bishops love to ignore the cries of and put your sodomite priests among. You look to Rome and it's blasphemous pope, I'll look to Christ.. Ben PS. If you'd really like to go tit for tat on the child abuse issue by bringing in the Protestant faith (as if that makes your church's abuse any less) then perhaps you need more prayers than I thought. But since you brought it up, these are only within the past 24 hrs: http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/05/25/news/news01.asp http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/1053854169228430.xml http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/5942028.htm http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5967_262001,001600060001.htm http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1053782202118180.xml http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-nunsexsuit0524.artmay24,0,7517323.story?coll=hc-headlines-local http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article_lc.asp?storyid=41222 http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=4458DB11-F53B-475A-8199-AE4C159C24C7 http://www.cjonline.com/stories/052403/kan_priest.shtml http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~26127~1412017,00.html http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0524priest24.html http://sfweekly.com/issues/2003-05-21/feature.html/1/index.html Actually, just click on this everyday: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46 I'm sure though that it's nothing new to you....Ben **********Dear Ben,
I do not want to go tit for tat. But as I have tried to point out to you, there is no evidence that the problem of sexual abuse of children is worse among Catholic clergy than among Protestant:
Christianity Today (a Protestant Evangelical magazine) noted that there were “70 child abuse allegations reported against American Protestant churches each week during the last ten years,” a quarter of which were against pastors. (“Go Figure” May 21, 2002)
Here in the Archdiocese of Seattle we have not had a new case in over fifteen years. Most of the accusations go back several decades.* The news articles "only within the past 24 hrs" also refer to quite old cases. Some of them are from other countries. I am sure that if you counted all the Protestant clergy throughout the world there would be more than 70 cases a week.
I agree with you that the main issue is not so much that an individual clergyman deviates (or is a deviant) but how the problem is handled. In that area both Protestant and Catholic structures have had failures and successes. As I noted, the Archdiocese of Seattle overall has been quite successful at identifying the problem and effectively dealing with it so that children are protected from that horrible type of abuse. Once again, no new cases in over fifteen years says something. During that time several thousand different priests have served here in Western Washington.
On a national level I am not proud of how many dioceses, especially Boston, handled this problem. But it is not true that Protestant congregations have always been more effective. I am sure you are aware that the largest known case of child sexual abuse involved a Pentecostal clergyman. That does not make the cases of Shanley and Geoghan any less horrible, but they were not the very worst. So let's not throw stones.
The bottom line of course is that we are all sinners, saved only by unmerited grace of Christ. And that all of our structures, whether apostolic or democratic, evidence the weakness of sinful human beings.
God bless,
Fr. Bloom
*P.S. One priest here in Seattle was removed from his parish on the basis of accusations going back over three decades. The accusations surfaced as "recovered memories" while a man was undergoing therapy. He had precise instances and dates which he stuck to vigorously. However it turned out the priest was in Europe at least during some of the time frame the man insisted on. Even though these are the only accusations against the priest - and he has the support of the people where he recently served for over a decade - he still continues to be suspended from all ministry.
**********
previous correspondence from Ben
Catholic Home Study Resources
The Christian Conscience - Ecumenical Website
About Former Priests Who Attack Catholic Church
Pedophilia and Teaching of Bible
Other Letter regarding Boston Scandal
Letter from Former Catholic
Is Peter Second Most Important Person in New Testament?
"you want Holy Priests, then we must adopt them..."
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What Jewish People Said About Pius XII
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Mit Brennender Sorge Encyclical on the Church and the German Reich March 14, 1937
Letter to Brill's Content Was Pius XII Hitler's Pope?
Nazi Policy and the Catholic Church by KAROL JOZEF GAJEWSKI
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Human Cloning: A Catholic Perspective (How the Unthinkable Became Inevitable)
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