Protect the children

Children are our future. Their development and happiness should be the concern for every parent, every teacher, every government. It is a problem when our generation cannot protect children and allows them to be hurt.

It is a problem in the Catholic Church. Sometimes I get the impression that the Pope and priests are turning a blind eye towards a big problem in many parishes, where a priest molests a child. Many priests are simply moved to another Parish, and you can bet that they continue what they have started. The Vatican has had one approach, To take care (protect) of the priest that abused a child and try to silence the allegations. This has outraged many Catholics, and no wonder why. The Church should never protect pedophiles. The Church has to protect children.

Child abuse is a great sin and the abuse can be seen all over the world. Men and women abuse the innocence that every child has. We hear of children being groomed. That is, that they get used to the idea of getting abused. We hear that pedophiles uses lies and power to manipulate the child. I have spoken with many pedophiles, and a common element is that they think that a child should learn about sex. I say why? I believe that a child be given the opportunity to play, and be with other children. To learn social values and knowlegde that they will need later. This does not mean sex with an adult.

Lets get one thing straight. Children have a sex life. The important thing is that if their sex life becomes active, it is with another child. This is OK, as both children are experimenting with their sexuality. It is an even relationship that is not based on manipulation, but two children that are experimenting with each other. This is the main point pedophiles have to remember. An adult could never have an equal relationship with a child, as an adult knows too much about sex.

So what should the Catholic Church do?
The most important thing is that the Church should be open and admit that there is a problem. The Cardinals and Pope should not hide behind closed doors and hope that thousands of victims can be silenced.
The priests should be prosecuted at bought to Justice for their crime.
The Church should say sorry to the victims and explain how they will help to bring justice to the situation.

There are other things the Church can do, like allow married priests, but lets give a few suggestions that the Church can do. Failure to do this means that the Church is trying to manipulate the public, and lets face it, we are getting too smart for that.

What we can do is pray. Pray that the Church will be more open about their pedophile priests. Pray for the victims and pray for the abusers.