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Sexual Repression Doesn’t Work for Parish, Priest, or Pope

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 22:13

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(Before It's News)

The Catholic church must enact sweeping reforms, or else it will eventually fall.

With rapidly mounting evidence about The Pope's involvement in covering up evidence of child molesting priests, I believe it is time for Mr. Ratzinger to step up, or step down.

Recently, The Vatican released three legal arguments as to why they don't feel The Pope has any culpability in the cover-ups. Vatican lawyers are desperately seeking dismissal of the suit before Benedict XVI is questioned, and secret Vatican documents subpoenaed. And in a seemingly bold move, The Pope himself declared that he would not be intimidated by "petty gossip."

Petty gossip? Huh? In the US alone, some 11,750 allegations of child sex abuse have resulted in settlements by the archdioceses of millions of dollars – in Los Angeles for $660m and in Boston for $100m. And who knows how many cases have gone unreported because of all of the sexual shame and guilt that Catholicism itself instills in its followers. Few adults, let alone children have the psychological strength to stand up to an powerful priest, much less the almighty Pope.

As long as we don't speak up, child rape and molestation will continue. However, I feel that The Pope has an opportunity to stand up and take responsibility for the actions of his clergy. He has an opportunity to make a systemic change, and send a message to the world that the Catholic church will prosecute any clergy accused of child molestation.

If The Pope has nothing to hide, then he should welcomely stand in front of the harsh light of international justice.

Let me put this in perspective: suppose it came out that President Barak Obama was directly, or even indirectly involved in a child molestation cover up. How would you feel about our President?

Without the protection of the psudo-veil of religion, Obama would be drummed out of office in five minutes flat. Not only people call for his impeachment, but they would add some disgusting racial epitaphs, and perhaps even push for the death penalty.

The Vatican holds aggressively strong doctrine on sexuality, abortion, condom use, and birth control, but offers little or no protections for actual living-breathing children dealing with sexually repressed priests.

The Vatican's ancient biblical ideas about sexual repression don't work for parish, priest, or pope.

Communication, education, and science are what works. Critical thinking works. Condoms work.

As a sex educator, I feel I know something that the writers of the bible and The Vatican do not know; sex is happening. Sex is and always will be a part of human life – or else life will cease to exist.

Both The Vatican and the bible lack in this most basic understanding about the overwhelming power of sexual desire in the emotional centers of the brain. We are not dealing with evil, we're dealing with biology – and this lack of scientific understanding has allowed child molestation to continue, unabated.

By protecting pedofile and sexually molesting priests, The Vatican has all but sanctioning child abuse, and The Pope has been directly implicated. By simply sending accused priests into "rehabilitation" and then re-issuing them, in their "renewed state" to unknowing, unsuspecting people–thousands upon thousands of children's lives have been put at risk.

I assert that The Pope, and The Vatican remain in direct violation of our most basic human rights in the name of religious righteousness. The children are our future and the must be protected. If we continue with the current religious culture of shame, guilt, ignorance, and denial, both disease and molestation will continue to spread for decades to come.

It's time for us to express our outrage. For The Pope, it's time to step up, or step out.

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