Hypothetically Speaking...

I just wanted to stop in and clear something up really quick, for anyone and everyone who might stumble upon this most humble and neglected blog.

If a man (say he is an American, mid thirties, well-educated, well-connected to the community, with a respectable job, living in a major metropolitan area) molests/rapes a child (the sex/gender of the child is not important), he immediately becomes a pariah, shunned from the community and very likely his own family. He will most likely loose his job (and his income), custody of any and all of his children (when his partner divorces him), and he will be sent to prison for a period of time. When news of the crime begins to spread, he will be ostracized to the highest degree. When he is released from prison, after much therapy, he will be on probation for a term signifantly longer than his prison sentance (depending on the severity of the crime, the number of children, state laws, etc.). He will still receive death threats in the mail. He will fear for his life every second of every day until his life is no more.

And that's the way it should be.

But if a group of men (say they are between the ages of 25 and 100, all well-educated, well-connected, prominent members of their respective communities, living in many towns, villages and cities across the world) collective molest and or rape MILLIONS of children, they get a slap on the wrist and are allowed to go about their work.

It seems to me as though when we are talking about an organization doing evil dispicable things, the organization is never corrected or held responsible. Individual people are held accountable for the actions of the organization. An organization is only as powerful as its weakest member, and the weakest members of the organization of which I speak are the innocent children who were raped by the aforementioned men. Every time a priest laid a hand on a child, the Catholic Church was virtually molested.

And now they blame everyone but themselves for the actions of... THEMSELVES!

If you are a Catholic, I pray that you find peace in this time of great distress for the Church. If you are a Christian, I pray that you know that the actions of the Catholic Church (and yes, by this I mean the entire Church, NO ONE is blameless) do not reflect the teachings of Jesus Christ. And if you are a human being, I pray that you work with your fellow human beings to create a better world, where children can go to Sunday School without fearing for their innocence.

Love Your Neighbour as Yourself

One day an expert on Moses' laws came to test Jesus' orthodoxy by asking him this question: "Teacher, what does a man need to do to live forever in heaven?" Jesus replied, "What does Moses' law say about it?" "It says," he replied, "that you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor just as much as you love yourself." "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you shall live!" The man wanted to justify (his lack of love for some kinds of people), so he asked, "Which neighbors?" Jesus replied with an illustration: "A Jew going on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money, and beat him up and left him lying half dead beside the road. "By chance a Jewish priest came along; and when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Jewish Temple-assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but then went on. "But a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw him, he felt deep pity. Kneeling beside him the Samaritan soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his donkey and walked along beside him till they came to an inn, where he nursed him through the night. The next day he handed the innkeeper two twenty-dollar bills and told him to take care of the man. 'If his bill runs higher than that,' he said, 'I'll pay the difference the next time I am here.' "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the bandits' victim?" The man replied, "The one who showed him some pity." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same." (TLB, Luke 10:25-37)

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday, and that everyone has a wonderful week.