Society, Church, should discuss paedophilia - Archbishop

Kevin Cassar

Apr 16th 2010, 13:14

So Paul says that the media is trying to form the people and not inform. And how is that different to the way your institution operates???? Do you know what HYPOCRITE means? At least the media does not impose the "forming" on newborns and not yet developed minds. Having said that, if one was to go by the attitude in this country, most minds remain unfortunately undeveloped because they are closed to reason and filled with fairy tales.

Paul Konti

Apr 15th 2010, 10:42

@ m attard
"Paedophilia is evil, however divorce and civil partnership can never be described in this way."
Then you do not know the bible!
Joe Zammit is absolutely right. "All these evils harm society and individuals. When we do away with God's loving law, only we will be the sufferers." Ara l-mard li hawn ma dwarna!

Joe Zammit

Apr 14th 2010, 23:00

Mgr Charles Scicluna, promoter of justice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that claims that the Pope was responsible for covering up abuse were "false and calumnious".

A.Lombardi

Apr 14th 2010, 21:49

This is what the Word of God says in the book of Timothy (written by the Saint Apostle Paul)

1 Timothy 3:1-7

1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

2 A bishop then must be blameless, the HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE, temperate, sober-minded, of good behaviour, hospitable, able to teach;

3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; ... See more

4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence

5 (FOR IF A MAN DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO RULE HIS OWN HOUSE HOW WILL HE TAKE CARE OF THE CHURCH OF GOD?)

6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

A.Lombardi

Apr 14th 2010, 21:16

@ Joe Zammit - The Roman catholic church is so far far away from the truth of the Gospel of what Jesus has preached...

I suggest you start reading the Bible the literal word of God, repent and make Jesus your only personal Saviour and ask God for the wisdom of understanding and then when you start to do Jesus only will Jesus will show you the truth which will set you FREE, up till now you are not obeying Jesus but you are obeying a religious system, if you want to truly obey Jesus you should only go by the scriptures of the Bible, and look for a Bible believing church.

Jesus said watch out for let no men deceive you; how do we know the truth? by testing every doctrine we receive by the scripture, the very own scriptures that for 100's of years people could not own to read and find out the truth, Jesus Loves you Joe and He is asking you to knock so that HE can open for you, to SEEK so that you shall Find, May you do what He is asking you, I pray in Jesus name you will!

Joe Zammit

Apr 14th 2010, 21:13

1 For many centuries the Catholic Church has educated millions of children and when these children grew up wanted to send their children to be educated by the Church.

Throughout the world millions of children attend Catholic Church lay organizations from where they take their spiritual formation. The MUSEUM is only one of them, the Salesians all over the world, the Brothers cater for an uncountable number. If we collect those who have been abused, they don't add up to 0.0005% of those millions educated by the Catholic Church.

D Grima

Apr 14th 2010, 17:40

Of course I meant..I will die,that is sure enough,just not with needless guilt imposed on me by another man.

D Grima

Apr 14th 2010, 17:32

@ Simon Ciantar

You meant context,but never mind.
I was and am under the impression that the Church above all,as the self appointed guardian of morality and ethics,should practice what it preaches.This is not the case when those who are trusted with the safety of Children then go and abuse that trust.To top it all,you the have the Bishops covering up for these abusers and instead of reporting them to the authorities, for them to take action,which it is obliged to do morally(not legally,as the Church is above the law in these Islands) slaps the abusers on the wrist and maybe moves them elsewhere for a while.

As to divorce and same sex partnerships and priestly celibacy,the Church will one day apologise for all the hurt it has and does cause, as it did for countless other mistakes it made in the past,of course it will be too late . Most will die(not me) with guilt hanging around their necks as did those who died in the not too distant past and were denied a Catholic burial and excommunicated for their political beliefs.

Raymond Sammut

Apr 14th 2010, 16:41

"He [Mgr Cremona] said these men did well to tell the people what had happened and he did not blame them for going to the media."

We should all be thankful to Mgr Cremona for not blaming these men for going to the media.

"Sections of the international media, instead of ‘informing' the people, were seeking to ‘form' the people against the church."(Mgr Cremona)

Mgr Cremona preaching about 'forming' the people, and blaming the media instead.

If we needed to be 'informed', we can all rely on Mgr Cremona, not the international media.

Joe Zammit

Apr 14th 2010, 14:36

Any evil harms society. Paedophilia is an evil. Divorce is an evil. Civil partnership is an evil. Abortion is an evil. Euthanasia is an evil.

All these evils harm society and individuals. When we do away with God's loving law, only we will be the sufferers.

The Catholic Church will continue till the end of time to echo the truth that she has received from Christ himself, and only this truth will make us free.

Simon Ciantar

Apr 14th 2010, 12:33

@D Grima - which religion are u referring to exactly ?! As far As I know Christianity preaches the possibility to have everlasting joy and happiness , while leaving everyone free to make his / her own decisions .... but teaches us what the consequences of our decisions will be .. like in everything else in life after all

As regards what the chruch did in the past - so did the rest of society , governments etc... one must not judge actions and persons out of their contest ....Just as slavery and physical punishment were perfectly acceptable a 100 years ago for example

James De Giorgio

Apr 14th 2010, 12:32

One big step in the right direction. Well done Archbishop.

Never hide these things. What is sown will be reaped.

Eric Gahn

Apr 14th 2010, 12:18

Yes let us talk more. In the meantime though it would be appreciated if all and any files on investigations into pedophilia are handed over to those who society entrusts with impartial investiagtion and guardians of the Law - The Police.

Joe Xuereb

Apr 14th 2010, 11:57

It is said that nothing is 100% good any more than 100% evil. Of course the majority of Church people are good (but it could only be a facade). what concerns us here are the proven 'bad apples'. Even just one 'bad apple' is one too many. Equally serious is that the Church did not deal with these abuses the way it should. I believe THAT is an even greater scandal. Response Teams, headed by retiried judges (for credibility?) and reference to Rome - all this is still hedging. And no amount of self-praise for the good the Church does is going to work. The Church is a victim of its own rules. Expecting celibacy - most unnatural - is setting oneself up to fail, dismally.
The problem is the Church is strong on sexual pronouncements, an issue it knows nothing about. Obsessing and making untenable rules is bound not to work. This is the inevitable result.

Joe E Galea

Apr 14th 2010, 11:54

The Maltese catholic chirch is utterly ridiculous. How come that now they feel that paedophilia is discussed. How come that now they want to meet the victims? How come that now they are very concerned on such matter?

My thought is that they are just puffing smoke in the eyes of everyone so that they try to ammortise any possibility of protests when the pope is here. I don't think the church should get away with it with just an apology and some damage limiting desperate last minute measures.

Ernest Vella

Apr 14th 2010, 11:23

why in the case of Gozo, yesterday mentioned is rape and not pedophilia? strange...is not child abuse this time

Ernest Vella

Apr 14th 2010, 11:19

Dan il-kjass kollu, ilbierah smajna li ragel ta 56 abbuza tifla ta 12-il sena, il-gimgha l-hra missier abbuza 3 min uliedu...nistghu nibqghu sejrin...Il-Problema ta Pedofilija hemm qeghda u hija ta min jikkundana, anke jekk ghamilha qassis imma l-verita hi li l-media l-intenzzjoni taghha mhux li s-solvi l-problema imma hija attakk ta mibeghda kontra l-Knisja Kattolika - l-agenda hija cara - ejja issa naqtawha npingu l-Knisja bhala l-kankru u nattakaw il-kankru l-veru

Louis Cutajar

Apr 14th 2010, 10:55

Niextieq nagħmel kuraġġ, lill-Arċisqof ta' Malta u lill-membri tal-Kleru biex ma jaqtawx qalbhom f'dan il-mument diffiċli li bħalissa għaddejja minnu l-Knisja. Bħalissa il-Knisja għaddejja minn żmien ta' tifsija u jekk saru xi żbalji fil-passat isir kull mezz biex titnaqqas it-tbatija u biex żbalji simili ma jirrepetux ruħhom fil-futur. KURAĠĠ.

William P Flynn

Apr 14th 2010, 10:29

"Cases were then referred to Rome for action". No, archbishop, the pope said yesterday they must be reported to police first. When will you be doing this?

Society has already got the laws to deal with paedophilia; arrest, indictment, trial, jail, paedophile register for life.
Your church's solution have been for decades if not centuries, cover up, confession, transfer, followed by recidivism, then more cover up, confession, transfer... and on and on it goes.

As to proportionality, the 45rapist-priests caught are the tip of the iceberg and even 45 rapist priests is like having 45 police officers with the mafia.
This sudden outburst of humility (oops! Caught!)will only embolden the undiscovered rapist priests unless the known ones go to jail and cash reparations are made by the Curia to the victims as they did elsewhere.

Mr Lawrence Grech, if you and your fellow orphan victims of rapist priests don't push for jail and huge cash compensation, other kids will suffer in the future; perhaps your own children.
Do you wish for that to happen to any child? You have the support of every parent in Malta and world-wide. Do it! Finish the job. Don't give up at the last hurdle.

D Grima

Apr 14th 2010, 10:21

Referring to Rome and having retired Judges probably with favourable bias toward the Church is not good enough. What is needed is, for alleged crimes to be dealt with by the Police from day one,and for the Police to show no fear or favour.

As for the attack on the media and the accusation that it is forming opinion(not true in my opinion),isn't this what the Church has been doing for countless Centuries,for 'form' read indoctrination,and very often not to the good neither.

It is sad that the Church keeps on glossing and hiding what are major problems,paedophilia is but one,there are also issues such as divorce,same sex partnerships and the undeniable right to happiness,something which is denied to many,by a Church which largely, is all about instilling guilt and doom and gloom to it's members..

Jesmond Micallef

Apr 14th 2010, 10:20

When a problem arises, understanding is very important in obtaining the truth. It is only then that such potential solutions be addressed and indeed implemented. It would be far more harmful when such problems are left undeclared or unacknowledged. That is the progressive stand that society and all its institutions should consistently persue. Human beings are inevitably fallable, but its what humans do about these that counts. I think that is a very unfortunate truth but nontheless, there is also plenty of goodwiill in each and every human being which should really be promoted and built upon.

Humans build "defensive walls", a necessary "evil" for self preservation maybe, but I think that trust should be given a deserved second chance. Distrust is also counterproductive.

Knowledge is allways of undeniable good order but I tend to think that Human Goodwill is also very powerfull.

C.Sammut

Apr 14th 2010, 09:49

Please Mons Cremona, not retired judges but the police. These are crimes.

Anthony Formosa

Apr 14th 2010, 09:45

Bniedem minghajr delizzju jaqa' fil-vizzju.

John Micallef

Apr 14th 2010, 09:36

Dan huwa sinjal ta rieda tajba mil-knisja Maltija fil- konfront ta dawn l-alegazjonjit.

Pero hej, nispera li ma jitlaqx il-papa u back to the old times eh!, ghax issa tant ilna nitfghu taht it-tapit, li it-tapit gie b'hotba fin-nofs.

BTW, nahseb 7 snin huma aktar min bizejed biex tinghalaq l-investigazjoni min naha tal- knisja, allura nispera li ir-rizultati ikunu mghmula publici, jekk il- knisja ghanda vera rieda tajba, li tghalaq dan il- kapitlu b'hafna ghanqbud fuqu!!