The Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; neither shalt thou desire... his servant, nor his handmaiden, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his. The tenth commandment forbids coveting the goods of another.
“You shall not covet ... anything that is your neighbor's ... You shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's. [316]
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. [317]
The tenth commandment unfolds and completes the ninth, which is concerned with concupiscence of the flesh. It forbids coveting the goods of another, as the root of theft, robbery, and fraud, which the seventh commandment forbids. 'Lust of the eyes' lead to the violence and injustice forbidden by the fifth commandment. [318] Avarice, like fornication, originates in the idolatry prohibited by the first three prescriptions of the Law. [319] The tenth commandment concerns the intentions of the heart; with the ninth, it summarizes all the precepts of the law.”
(316. Ex 20:17; Deut 5:21; 317. Mt 6:21; 318. Cf. 1 Jn 2:16; Mic 2:2; 319. Cf. Wis 14:12.)
J. Cardinal Ratzinger, Catechism of the Catholic Church,
U.S.C.C. Inc., 1994, p. 606.
"No False Prophet ever went to God in a more embarrassing position.” John XII was twenty-four when an enraged husband caught him humping his wife "And gave him the last rites with one hammer blow on the back of his head.” His Holiness Pope Benedict VII also died under similar circumstances.
Clement VII, elected in 1342, had a knack for making his cronies happy, especially his cardinals, so that "They could afford the handsomest little boys — if they were so inclined — or the most beautiful ladies-in-waiting.”
The Most Blessed Father Benedict Gaetani was crowned Pope Boniface VIII in 1294 and was one of the most cruelest, bloodthirsty, sadistic, extravagant, corrupt, greedy, and licentious Vicar of Christ. Only the Devil could have blessed him with such a diabolical character and power. His papal tales of satanic madness are too numerous to quote here. May the quote below testifying to his Dracula-like remains be sufficient to jolt religious prisoners to their senses:
"When, at the completion of the new St Peter's in 1605, his tomb had to be moved, it cracked open. To everyone's consternation, the pontiff's body, after three centuries, was incorrupt. Only his nose and lips had been slightly nibbled away.”
Another satanic sibling who loved pomp, flesh, and torture far more than anything else succeeded the pet pupil of Satan, Our Most Holy Lord Pope Boniface. The Devil must have been in ecstasy just watching his offspring excel in inflicting the most painful death on Christian victims, and erotic pleasure on wanton women.
"Catholic belief and dogma is that if a man is validly elected by the authorized electors, the cardinals, then God automatically confers the plenitude of power directly on the pope-elect.” In 1046 Pope Clement II accompanied the German king Henry III to Italy where they found "three rival popes claiming the papacy"— Sylvester III, Benedict IX, and Gregory VI. Benedict's supporters poisoned His Holiness and "Benedict then appeared in Rome and installed himself as pope.” Jean Carrier, one of Benedict's cardinal "elected Bernard Garnier as Benedict XIV, who was thus an antipope countering an already reigning antipope.” Celestine II was "elected in December 1124 but resigned a few days later and is not counted in the official list of popes.” Damascus II died of malaria after 23 days but made the papal list. Catholic dogma consoles that God automatically confers the plenitude of power directly on duly elected popes — no matter how cruel, licentious, young, or idiotic.
Pope John XII (955-C963) (deposed by Conclave) was said to have turned the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano into a brothel and was accused of adultery, fornication, and incest (Source: Patrologia Latina).
Pope Alexander VI (1492-C1503) had a notably long affair with Vannozza dei Cattanei before his papacy, by whom he had his famous illegitimate children Cesare and Lucrezia. A later mistress, Giulia Farnese, was the sister of Alessandro Farnese, who later became Pope Paul III. Rumors of Alexander's sexual activity were even more wild. (Banquet of Chestnuts). He fathered a total of seven children.
Pope Paul III (1534-C1549) held off ordination in order to continue his promiscuous lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children by his mistress. His nickname was "Cardinal Petticoat" because his sister Giulia had been Alexander VI's mistress. He made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the first Duke of Parma. Pope Pius IV (1559-C1565) had several illegitimate children. Pope Gregory XIII (1572-C1585) had an illegitimate son before he took holy orders.
"On the chair of St Peter sat not men but monsters in the shape of men. 'Vainglorious Messalinas filled with fleshy lusts and cunning in all forms of wickedness governed Rome and prostituted the Chair of St Peter for their minions and paramours.' ... If this was not the victory of the Prince of Darkness, what was?”
Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy,
Bantam Press, 1988.
"Christians disagreed about the very nature of truth. To the orthodox, who believed that truth could come only through the successors of the Apostles, truth was static and never-changing. It had been revealed only once at the resurrection. Consequently, they thought that one should learn of God only through the Church, not from personal inquiry and not from one's own experience. Blind faith was considered more important than personal understanding. Bishop Irenaeus cautioned not to seek answers "such as every one discovers for himself," but rather to accept in faith that which the Church teaches and which "can be clearly, unambiguously and harmoniously understood by all.”34 He wrote, "If... we cannot discover explanations of all those things in Scripture... we should leave things of that nature to God who created us, being most properly assured that the Scriptures are indeed perfect.”35 Tertullian declared:
We want no curious disputation after possessing Christ Jesus, no inquisition after enjoying the gospel! With our faith, we desire no further belief.36
One should unquestioningly accept and submit to whatever the Church teaches.
Indeed, orthodox Christians deemed rigorous personal pursuit of truth and understanding an indication of heresy. As Tertullian wrote:
This rule... was taught by Christ, and raises amongst ourselves no other questions than those which heresies introduce, and which make men heretics.37
And:
But on what ground are heretics strangers and enemies to the apostles, if it be not from the difference of their teaching, which each individual of his own mere will has either advanced or received?38
Since the orthodox believed truth to be known only to the successors of the Apostles, one could learn of it only by accepting the Church's teachings in blind faith.
Others, however, believing that Christ's spirit and presence could be experienced by anyone at any time, considered truth to be dynamic and ever-increasing. Some Gnostics believed that truth and Gnosis or"knowledge "was found, not by looking to the Church, but by looking within oneself. Self-knowledge would lead to knowing God. A Gnostic teacher named Monoimus wrote:
Look for (God) by taking yourself as the starting point... Learn the sources of sorrow, joy, love, hate... If you carefully investigate these matters you will find him in yourself.39
"The first century Simon Magus taught that within each human being dwells "The Boundless power, which... is the root of the universe.”40 The path to enlightenment involved not simply accepting the words of the Church on faith, but an active personal search for understanding. A Gnostic text reads, "..the rational soul who wearied herself in seeking—she learned about God.”41
These Christians believed self-exploration to be imperative to one's spiritual path.
In the Gnostic Gospel According to Thomas, Jesus says:
If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.42
They believed that searching could dispel the ignorance that produced a nightmarish existence in which one is caught in "many illusions" and experiences "terror and confusion and instability and doubt and division.”43 The Gospel of Truth reads:
ignorance... brought about anguish and terror. And the anguish grew solid like a fog, so that no one was able to see.44
Searching within oneself could bring the knowledge and enlightenment to dispel such ignorance. They believed that Jesus had encouraged self-exploration. Jesus said, "Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you and the Kingdom of God is within you.”45
Just as the orthodox wanted to control truth, so they wanted strict control over who could dispense that truth. Early Christians differed sharply about the role of the Church. Gnostic Christians who valued personal exploration believed that the structure of the Church should remain flexible, while orthodox Christians insisted upon strict adherence to a singular Church.46 Bishop Irenaeus insisted there could be only one church, and outside that church"There is no salvation.”47 He said of the Church," she is the entrance to life, all others are thieves and robbers.”48 Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch, wrote," Let no man deceive himself: if any one be not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God.”49 And Clement, the Bishop of Rome from 90-100 C.E., argued that God alone rules all things, that He lays down the law, punishing rebels and rewarding the obedient, and that His authority is delegated to Church leaders. Clement went as far as to say that whoever disobeys these divinely ordained authorities has disobeyed God Himself and should receive the death penalty.50
Long before the Church's attempt to control spirituality would take its devastating toll, the seeds of its tyranny were evident in the ideology of early orthodox Christians. Their belief in singular supremacy limited the way one could understand God and it eliminated any representation of shared supremacy. It encouraged a fear-based authoritarian structure that segregates people into positions of superiority or inferiority, restricts personal empowerment, and demands unquestioning obedience. Although orthodox Christians represented only one of many early branches, within a few centuries they had effectively suppressed the diversity of early beliefs and ideas. Orthodox Christian beliefs became synonymous with Christianity itself.”
Helen Ellerbe, The Dark Side of Christian History
Morningstar Books (July 1, 1995) ONE: SEEDS OF TYRANNY Aura HD
Notes:
34. Irenaeus Against Heresies, 2.27.1-2.
35. Ibid., 2.27.2.
36. Tertullian," On Prescription Against Heretics"Chapter VII, 246.
37. Ibid., Chapter XIII, 249.
38. Ibid., Chapter XXXVII, 261.
39. Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, xix-xx.
40. Hippolytus Philosophumena 6.9, Volume II, Translated by F. Legge (London: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) 5.
41.”Authoritative Teaching"VI, 3 34.32-35.2 from The Nag Hammadi Library, 283.
42. Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, 126.
43.”The Gospel of Truth"29.2-6 from The Nag Hammadi Library, 43.
44.”The Gospel of Truth"17.10-15 from The Nag Hammadi Library, 40.
45. Matthew 7:7 and Luke 17:21.
46. Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, 25.
47. Ibid., xxiii.
48. Irenaeus Against Heresies, 3.4.1.
49. Ignatius, Ephesians V
50. Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, 34.
A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors
Michael Farquhar, Penguin Books; (10) edition (May 1, 2001)
From Library Journal
Shaw's (The Mammoth Book of Tasteless Lists) graphic account of European royalty reads like a catalog of depravity and debauchery. Included are stories of comic absurdity, such as Louis XIV's penchant for "granting audiences to people" while seated on the toilet, to Frederick William of Prussia's weird obsession with collecting giant men to form his Potsdam regiment. More unsettling, though, are the tales of Peter the Great, whose self-named city was built on the "corpses of Russians," and the infamous King Leopold of Belgium, who tortured and nearly decimated the population of the Congo. Surprisingly, there is little overlap between Shaw's work and Farquhar's equally astonishing popular look at the monarchy. Their tragic frailties are depicted in a series of vignettes including, among many others, the "Whoring" sloth of George IV, the foolish passions of Henry VIII, and the warmongering emperors of Germany. Familial ties mean precious little as we see "Bloody" Mary imprison her half-sister Elizabeth I and learn of the "nasty feud" of "Inbred intrigue" known as the Wars of the Roses. Farquhar casts his net wider still to include the grisly details of some Roman emperors, such as Tiberius, and Nero, and even throws in some cruel, blood-thirsty Popes for good measure. Either book is recommended for large public libraries, particularly those with a special collection in history of the monarchy/royalty. Isabel Coates, Boston Consulting Group, Toronto
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Michael Farquhar writes about history for The Washington Post. His work has also appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Dallas Morning News, and Newsday, as well as on the Discovery Channel's Web site, Discover Online.
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In another royal expose, Farquhar, a writer at the Washington Post, duplicates some of the ground covered in Karl Shaw's Royal Babylon, such as Peter the Great's delight in administering torture (he had his son lashed to death) and the way Britain's Queen Mary cajoled her subjects into giving her their household treasures ("I am caressing it with my eyes," she would coyly coo). Written in a provocative tabloid style (with headings like "We Are Not Abused. We Are Abusive," “A Son Should Love His Mother, But...” and "All the Holiness Money Can Buy"), Farquhar publicly washes the dirty laundry of not only European royalty, but also of Roman emperors and popes. Murderers and torturers who slept with their siblings (and other relatives), the emperors of Rome excelled at corruption. The maniacal pedophile Tiberius Caesar (A.D. 14-37) left the corpses of his many victims to rot on the Gemonian Steps, which descended from the Capitol to the Forum, or alternatively enjoyed watching them being thrown from a cliff (“A contingent of soldiers was stationed below to whack them with oars and boat hooks just in case the fall failed to do the trick"). Many popes were no better. Not content with just rooting out Christian heretics by launching a bloody crusade against the Cathars in southern France, Innocent III (1160-1216) declared himself ruler of the world. He sacked Constantinople and massacred every Muslim he could find. Like Royal Babylon, this gossipy string of anecdotes is a popularized rather than an authoritative history and perfect for travel reading.
THE GREAT WHORE OF BABYLON — THE HARLOT CHURCH OF THE LAST DAYS
"John was given the vision of the future apostasy of the false church after the rapture of the Christians. He saw the final Babylonian religious system persecuting the tribulation saints. He wrote," When I saw her, I marveled with great amazement" (Revelation 17:6.) Although he had earlier observed the awesome career of the Antichrist, the great Tribulation and the Wrath of God, he did not use the expression "I marveled with great amazement" until he saw the Great Whore of Babylon. John's experience in the first-century Church was of a small, powerless group under continual persecution by the Roman Empire. Now he saw a vision of the false church of the last days grown rich, powerful and apostate. Instead of being persecuted, the final false Babylonian church will persecute and kill the tribulation believers who reject her demonic doctrines. Over the course of a thousand years the medieval church perverted its doctrine, lost sight of the Bible and compromised with the kings of the earth. Later, it persecuted and martyred tens of millions of believers in Christ who rejected her false Babylonian religious practices...
In Martin's insightful book The Keys of This Blood, he provides evidence that Pope Paul II and the Catholic Church are actively campaigning to establish the primacy of their church over the emerging ecumenical worldwide church. Their goal is to obtain the spiritual leadership of the New World Order...
Over the last decade there have been many ecumenical discussions between the Roman Catholics, the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches and the Church of England. Significantly, it has been taken for granted by all sides that the ultimate spiritual and organizational leadership will be provided by Rome. No one has ever suggested that the Archbishop of Canterbury or any other religious leader will lead the worldwide ecumenical church. The Bible tells us that the false church of the last days will be centered on the ancient city of Rome. In Revelation 17:9, John declares: "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.” The city of Rome was commonly known from ancient times as the "city of seven hills.”
According to Dr. Wordsworth, "Virgil, Horace, Ovid, in short, the unanimous voice of the Roman poetry during more than five hundred years, beginning with the age of St. John, proclaimed Rome as the seven-hilled city.” He also noted that "on the imperial medals of that age which are still preserved, we see Rome figured as a woman on seven hills, precisely as she is represented in the Apocalypse.” In the fifth century, the Christian writer Jerome compared Rome to Babylon when he wrote, "When I dwelt in Babylon, and resided with the walls of the scarlet adulteress, and had the freedom of Rome, I undertook a work concerning the Holy Spirit.” To eliminate all doubt, John concluded his vision with these words: "The woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth" (Revelation 17:18.) The rebuilt Babylon will be the key power center of the Antichrist, but the Bible's prophecies in Daniel 2 and Revelation 13 make it abundantly clear that the capital of the Revived Roman Empire of the Antichrist will be Rome. This does not suggest that the Papacy will be the sole participant in the coming false church of the tribulation. As explained above, every religious group in the world will join together once the true believers in every denomination have been raptured to heaven.”
G. R. Jeffry, Apocalypse: The Coming Judgment of the Nations
Bantam Books, 1994, P. 206-9
Catholics incensed as German bishop of Limburg builds palace fit for a pope
Philip Oltermann in Berlin
theguardian.com, Thursday 10 October 2013 21.27 BS
"According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus advised his followers to 'store up for yourselves treasures in heaven', but an influential German bishop has been accused of storing up treasures in his earthly residence instead.
Senior figures within the Roman Catholic church have called for the resignation of Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the bishop of Limburg, after it emerged that the cost of a building project on his property in the town has ballooned to 10 times the original estimate.
The new building, described by some newspapers as "palatial", is expected to cost a‚31m (a£26m) and features a standalone bath worth a‚15,000.
To add to Tebartz-van Elst's woes, he is now facing legal procedures for allegedly lying under oath during a legal row with a news magazine.
In 2012, Der Spiegel published an article claiming the clergyman had taken a first-class flight to India, en route to visiting poor children in the slums of Bangalore. Tebartz-van Elst had issued two affidavits denying the claims made by the magazine. On Thursday, Hamburg prosecutors asked a court to fine the bishop for providing false testimony.”
The Guardian, October 10, 2013
"The wound of how we've understood Christianity. I'll give you an example. Part of the Judeo Christian tradition is the idea of Original Sin. As a result, you have this rampant disease of unworthiness in Western cultures that, for the better part of 2,500 years, have lived with this mythology of the fall. Until we can reinterpret this story, it's very, very hard to heal the wound of feeling unworthy. We have to be able to go back and look at it again with fresh eyes. Jesus didn't go around telling people that they were unworthy. It's the theologians that went around after he died telling people they were unworthy. That never entered into any of Jesus's dialogues at all.”
Adyashanti, Author of Resurrecting Jesus: Embodying the Spirit of a Revolutionary Mystic
“Taylor is serving a seven-year prison sentence for sexual offences against children in Father Hudson's Homes in the 1960s, a Catholic charity.
Earlier this month, Father James Murphy pleaded guilty to 18 charges of indecent assault against seven children at south London parishes from 1976 to 1990. He attacked some of his victims in church itself.
In April, prison authorities in Ireland moved Father Eugene Greene to another jail following attempts to kill him. The retired priest is serving a 12-year sentence for abusing altar boys.
Four years ago, Father Adrian McLeish, of Durham, was jailed for six years. He had abused four boys - the sons of parishioners - and boasted about it on the internet. Police had seized the UK's biggest collection of child pornography from his home.”
BBC, Wednesday, 19 July, 2000
“Sixteen years later he is waiting to retell it to the commission.”I was invisible, that's how I used to think of myself. It helped me to cope.”
In his Dublin flat he recalls his years in Artane in the 1960s, where he claims sexual abuse by several Christian Brothers began when he was 11.
“A brother might go through the sexual act, which could involve anything from pet sex right up to rape and then blame you the child for tempting him into the situation, taking it out on you, punching or using his leather strap. It was horrendous.”
His allegations are among 250 complaints being investigated by a special team of the Irish police.”
BBC, Saturday, 18 September, 1999
“Yet, despite the exposure, the atrocities persist in multiplying, and the Vatican continues to cover them up. Reports from the United States demonstrate that there has been no change in depravity ongoing for centuries. Jason Berry, an expert on paedophile priests, revealed in an editorial in the Los Angeles Times of May 17, 1992, that 'since 1982, more than 400 U.S. Catholic priests or brothers have been reported to church or civil authorities for molesting children'. The number today, almost a decade later, could well be in the region of 1,000. After researching the New York Times Index for sex crimes committed by Roman Catholic priests in the 1990's alone, one researcher said he was 'absolutely aghast at the magnitude of debased depravity running rife in the Catholic Church, victimizing the innocent and betraying their trust'. He asked the discerning reader to consider the 'untold numbers of molestations which go unreported, or cloaked in secrecy by the Catholic Church' and the 'nnumerable incidents which go unreported in countries around the world - countries which do not have freedom of the press'. He concludes that the 'depth of sin of the Catholic Church boggles the mind'.”"
www.ianpaisley.org/
Catholic Church abuse scandals
Germany - A priest, named only as Andreas L, admitted in 2012 to 280 counts of sexual abuse involving three boys over a decade
United States - Revelations about abuses in the 1990s by two Boston priests, Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, caused public outrage
Belgium - The bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned in April 2010 after admitting that he had sexually abused a boy for years
Italy - The Catholic Church in Italy admitted in 2010 that about 100 cases of paedophile priests had been reported over 10 years
Ireland - A report in 2009 found that sexual and psychological abuse was "endemic" in Catholic-run industrial schools and orphanages for most of the 20th century
BBC, February 5, 2014
'Everywhere I turned, I ran into sexual abuse'
"Now Wall, along with two other former priests turned whistleblowers, has written a book called Sex, Priests and Secret Codes: the Catholic church's 2,000-year paper trail of sexual abuse. The book, he says, contains previously unpublished documents detailing the Vatican's longstanding awareness of the problem of sexual abuse. Its conclusion is that the recent scandals in the US, Ireland and Britain are nothing new, but simply the latest chapter in a story that stretches right back to the founding of the church. And the authors say they have found evidence of deliberate cover-up by the church.
Exhibit A is a hitherto secret document called Crimen Sollicationis - Latin for 'the crime of solicitation'- issued in 1962 by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), an office attached to the Vatican. Described as a 'blueprint for deception and concealment' by lawyers investigating the worldwide sex-abuse scandals, Crimen Sollicationis contains strict instructions for dealing with what the Vatican calls the 'worst crimes'- such as allegations of paedophilia and bestiality. Rather than report these offences to the civil authorities, the CDF instructs bishops to investigate them 'in the most secretive way' or face the 'penalty of excommunication'.
Then, in 2001, the CDF followed this document up with a second directive, which ordered bishops to send their reports directly to Rome, where they would be kept safely under lock and key along with other so-called Pontifical Secrets. Wall and his co-authors argue that it is this and not the Da Vinci Code that is the 'real conspiracy' at the heart of modern Catholicism. They say it is no coincidence that the person responsible for the promulgation of the second document was none other than the head of the CDF, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
According to Wall and his co-authors, if early church documents are a guide, then the sexual abuse of minors by the clergy has been an 'open wound on the body of Christ' for centuries. They say that, as early as AD309, the Council of Elvira, a gathering of bishops and priests from all over the Iberian peninsula who met to discuss theological issues and set canon law, signalled its concerns over paedophilia by ruling that any bishop, priest or deacon caught offending should be denied holy communion even at the time of death. By the eighth century, The Penitential of Bede, a medieval handbook of penances usually ascribed to the Anglo-Saxon theologian and early English historian Bede, had refined the punishments according to rank. Thus laymen caught sodomising children were to be excommunicated and made to fast for three years, while deacons and priests were similarly excommunicated but made to fast for seven and 10 years respectively (bishops were given 12 years of penance).”
'Everywhere I turned, I ran into sexual abuse'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1766941,00.html
“During the second half of the 20th century accusations of the sexual abuse of children by figures in the Roman Catholic church started to be reported, mostly in America, Ireland and the UK. The John Jay Report [1]into claims of abuse found accusations against 4,392 priests in the USA only. Some of the priests who would be implicated, such as Paul Shanley, had been openly promoting pedophilia and other forms of sex since the 1960s and 1970's.[1] Conservative and traditionalist Catholics had long claimed in fact that a significant minority of the clergy had been practicing such behavior for decades, alleging that a 'homosexual collective' within the priesthood viewed it as a 'religious rite' and 'rite of passage' for altar boys and young priests.[2]...
A number of books have been written, see Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in fiction, about the abuse suffered from priests and nuns including Andrew Madden in Altar Boy: A Story of Life After Abuse, Carolyn Lehman's Strong at the Heart: How it feels to heal from sexual abuse and the bestselling Kathy's Story by Kathy O'Beirne which details physical and sexual abuse suffered in a Magdalene laundry in Ireland. However grave doubts have been expressed about the authenticity of the latter book. [15] The Magdalen laundries caught the public's attention in the late 1990s as revelations of widespread abuse from former inmates gathered momentum and were made the subject an award-winning film called The Magdalene Sisters (2002). In 2006, a documentary called Deliver Us From Evil was made about the sex abuse cases and one priest's confession of abuse.
It is also worth noting that for decades preceding the scandal, off-color jokes about pedophile priests had been common. The 1983 book, Truly Tasteless Jokes included an entire chapter of priest jokes, which were almost exclusively about molestation.”
Roman Catholic sex abuse cases
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Catholic order pays out for abuse
BBC, 25 November 2009
“A Catholic religious order is to supply a 161m euros (a£145m) package of measures as reparation for child abuse in Ireland.
The Christian Brothers said the decision had been taken in response to the Ryan report which revealed decades of abuse at religious institutions.
The report, published in May, laid out a picture of systematic abuse...
'Endemic'
No real names, of perpetrators, appeared in the Ryan report after the Christian Brothers took legal action in 2004 to keep the identities of all of its members, dead or alive, out of the report.
More than 2,000 people told the commission they had suffered physical and sexual abuse as children in the institutions, which included schools and orphanages.
It found that sexual abuse was 'endemic' in boys' institutions, and church leaders knew what was going on.
The report, nine years in the making and covering a period of six decades, also found government inspectors failed to stop beatings, rapes and humiliation.
More allegations were made against the Christian Brothers than the other male orders combined.
The report found child safety was not a priority for the Christian Brothers who ran the institutions, the order was defensive in its response to complaints and failed to accept any congregational responsibility for abuse.
On Thursday a separate report will be published exposing child sex abuse by Catholic priests in the Dublin Archdiocese.”
BBC, 25 November 2009
NOTES
1. Among other sources, see the Boston Globe article: Sally Jacobs. If they knew the madness in me' A search for the real Rev. Paul Shanley suggests he was part hero, part horror Boston Globe, 7-10-2002. Online at: http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories2/071002_shanley.htm2. Among the numerous books which had been published on the subject long before the media scandal broke was the book 'Rite of Sodomy' by Randy Engel, first published in 1989. A review by Anne McGinn Cillis which covers some of the contentions made by the book may be viewed at: http://www.riteofsodomy.com/reviews/cillis.mht (accessed 11 October 2006)
3. Philip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2001). p. 81
This Catholic church when I read about it I am shocked, how can a religious movement be such a criminal thing. It is absolutely criminal, it is anti-Christ. It has been making all money, everything, deceiving people, and brought what, nothing but their own kingdom. They live like saints to show, but all kinds of filth is going on in that Vatican, I have read another book recently. But I can't imagine how can they call them Christians when Christ was innocence and purity. Such a shame in the name of God to do all these things.
They also made artificial, we can say artificial notes and distributed them through their own bank, they have a banking system, they have all kinds of things, I lived there, I know how terrible they are. And this is what is the outcome of such a great soul that sent by God.
They changed the Bible also. Not only that, but they tortured the Gnostics, the people, the early Christians who have had a religious experience. All nonsense they are doing morning till evening and people are absolutely slavish about it.
They are talking of conversion. What conversion has brought good to them? In Italy there is mafia, there's all kinds of nonsensical things and the Catholics are all full of sins and they have to just go and confess.”
THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
Christmas Puja, Ganapatipule, India—December 25, 1999
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THE TENTH COMMANDMENT