Senate Democrat Blocking Resolution Honoring the Pope?

I have been a sincere active Roman Catholic since my conversion over 50 years ago. This Pope like his predessor wants to restore the Church to the 19th century. Honoring him is honoring regression.
I wish that congress would stop doing this ceremonial stuff anyway. This is not what we elected them to do.

Or maybe this Democratic Senator (whose hand I would like to shake) realized the hypocrisy of the United States “honoring” the Pope’s message of “witnessing to the value of each and every human life” when this nation’s president has no problem destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Mr. Hamer, that seems rather unlikely, since the only pro-life Democratic U.S. senator is Bob Casey, who introduced the resolution.

Unless you’re suggesting that a pro-abortion Democrat would be concerned about the hypocrisy of the United States honoring the Pope, even though over a million children are aborted in this country every year.

absolutely not!!! we have an economic crisis and two wars going on right now and these ridiculous old codgers want to sit around and chat about the pope? i must be taking crazy pills, or having a nightmare! this can’t really be happening right? am i the only one who thinks there may be more pressing freakin issues?

I think that some are missing the point. Not only is the Pope the religious leader for the worlds Catholics, but, he is also a Head of State. He should be honored both politically as well as for his faith. We honor the likes of Falwell and Oral Roberts, why not him

I’m just wondering what the Pope’s elaborate visit is costing the American taxpayer.

Years ago this pope instructed bishops to stall clergy abuse victims from litigation against the Church in order for cases to lapse the 3 years statues of limitations. Now he’s sucking up to victims as if he just heard the news.

The real problem lies not just with priests but the bishops who transfer these priests. Back in 2002 The Dallas Morning News determined that 2/3 of the American bishops were guilty of knowingly transfering pedophile priests. A bishop from Texas actually wrote a book about his keen ability to go to a Catholic run pedophile retreat center and select “program” priests for his diocese. The Catholic code word for these kinds of bishops is “benevolent”.

This is a Catholic event and I’m supportive of any Catholic who is excited about his visit but I don’t think he should be given any special attention from any other country leader.

I think this is turning into a typcial Catholic dog and pony show full of smoke and mirrors.

Yes, I think he should be honored. He represents peace and love, something this country needs right now.

NO. Not until the Catholics can clean up thier mess, and then say, to the wolrd, we are sorry for this to be allowed in our church. What’s going on, is it religion?

I am a clergy abuse victim who has been involved with a clergy abuse support group in a leadership position for over 10 years. I got to see the Catholic Church that most don’t see and how dirty they fight.

If this Pope was about peace and love than something more proactive would have been done a long time to assist clergy abuse victims and prevent it from happening again.

One might assume that this scandal is under control but many abusing priests have been now transfered to foreign countries and we know that abuse of children in those locations are on the increase. Most of these countries do not participate with US law officials. Why do you think Cardinal Law was transfered to Rome? Why do you think Cardinal Law is not accompaning the Pope here with all the other American Cardinals? If he was not transfered to Rome most likely he would be in jail.

This Pope was named as a defendent in a clergy abuse lawsuit in Texas just prior to him becoming Pope. The lawyers were trying to prove that he was instrumental in knowingly transfering a pedophile priest. The US state department required that his name be removed once he became Pope being now a sovereign head.

To say that this Pope is about peace and love is much like appreciating a movie star because of a role they have played. Who ever though Bing Crosby was a tyrant at home.

Catholics are growing up and learning how to think for themselves and not listen to someone who is in a position to abuse power. Of course, other faiths have been doing that for hundreds of years.

This link is a Catholic organization that calls it the way it is: http://www.bishop-accountability.org

As a sex abuse survivor of a priest, I’m having difficulty with him just being in Washington, my home. He still “houses” Cardinal Lay of Boston in the Vatican. The Cardinal being a prince of the church who had to get out of the USA before he was arrested/indicted for his cover-up of pedophile priests. Given that neither he nor any priest in the whole of the US church had the moral courage to stand up and scream “stop abusing these children” or had the courage to leave the ranks and tell the public the truth. The catholic church and moral courage are in opposition. He has had since his election to express his outrage and he waits to get on US soil and then he meets with very carefully selected survivors–who don’t speak for the vast majority of us.
I’m ashamed that anyone in authority would even suggest “an honor.” He is on the same brick road with his red shoes as Judy Garland was and both trips produced by the same talent.

seriously, why Catholics revere this man is beyond me. He, as Cardinal Ratzinger,was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith formerly called the office of the Inquisition.
he insulted Muslims, homosexuals and threatened Catholics in Latin America with excommunication if they practiced birth control, caring not one bit about the poverty and misery that ensues from this
he needs to be shown for what he is, a bigot and a tyrant as well as a protector of perverted priests.

He should be welcomed. He should keep his nose out of the secular side of America. Period.

I was so excited by the chance to write something earlier regarding the pope, that I called Cardinal Law, Cardinal Lay. Sigmund must be at work! He is the archpriest of the Bascillica of St Mary Major. As long as he stays in the Vatican, he cannot be extradited. The catholic church has been the corner stone of the old boys network for centuries. With all their practice, the cardinal will no doubt rest in his hypocrisy, moral failure, and general spinelessness.

We are not honoring “The Man” but rather the position he holds as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. We should honor him as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Delhi Lama and other spiritual leaders who are in search of peace and harmony regardless of their human imperfections

Honouring the position?? Which position would that be?? He was indicted by the state of Texas. He is a criminal perriod.
To compare him to the Dalai Lama, a true spiritual leader, is ludicrous.
He goes way beyond human imperfections. This man systematically flouted the law by hiding the pervert priests and moving them to greener pastures. He needs to serve serious prison time, not honours from the American public

I’m speaking for myself but on one level I think being an abuse victim put me in a fortunate position because I got to see the reality of the Catholic Church and distanced myself from it. It’s much like a drunk hitting bottom real hard. The experience could be devastating but a lesson is learned.

The Kool Aid drinking Catholic has not hit a bottom with their church and many think clergy abuse victims are just after the church’s money.

Well, no amount of money is worth the hell the church’s pit bull hired gun attorneys put a victim through. They are totally inhuman in their demoralizing treatment and paid very well from the contributions of the faithful who think they are contrubiting to the retired priest’s funds or another legitimate sounding fund.

The truth of the matter is that the Kool Aid drinking Catholic is a victim as well but they don’t really know it. It’s like having cancer but you don’t know it. What is it like to know that there are over 15,000 known victims in the US and about 6,000 known pedephile priests just in the US?

These guys are in total control of their flock and hide behind Canon Law that instructs them to protect the Church from scandal at any cost. Also, there are church documents addressing clergy abuse back in the 1300s.

As far as I’m concern the Pope is like the head godfather of the Mafia with an appearance of legitimacy that has mass appeal. I think he is being shown a good time simply because it’s politically correct and Bush needs to be seen with someone to boost his own ratings.

The catholic mass is by their own definition a symbolic blood sacrifice to God on Jesus’ behalf. As if they could add any thing to Jesus’ ONE SACRIFICE FOR ALL SIN on the cross. They reject this biblical truth and that makes the pope and catholic church Anti-Christ

For Congress to give honour to this closet pervert would be a great injustice to all the victims of his abuses and of those under his wing, whom he’s protected. It is a sad statement of the Pres. to give credence to such evil and shows that his heart is equally stained with darkness.Wake up America, you’re being prepared to have the wool permanently covering your vision of the Truth. The Pope heads an Empire which like the ancient Romans, has no respect for life in anyway, anywhere or anyhow

I don’t get it.

Schools aren’t allowed to say “under God” and our money says “In God We Trust” … but the Ten Commandments plaque was removed from in front of a building.

I saw the Ten Commandments plaque … and realize why it was removed!!!

Anyway … better the Pope should clean his own house and not tell others how to live! His organization hid pediphiles for decades and destroyed many lives!!!

Pope — go home and clean thine own house!!

Let’s see now… which circle of hell was it Dante reserved for the hypocrites?

Our government and congress don’t indulge in honoring any religious leader; what makes a pope any different, particularly for the liberals who are hell bent on destroying any semblance of Christianity in the US? Bush ignores Christians, but Muslims and now the pope are wined and dined. What’s laughable is that the pope didn’t even have the courtesy to attend his own elaborate White House dinner, and he’s spent his time on our shores criticizing us. The moral destruction his church has inflicted on parishioners for decades is hypocritically soft-pedaled. Our do-nothing-good-for-America president and congress sqabble over an inane resolution and waste more of our borrowed money. My God is a merciful, but a righteous God. A lot of people have a lot to answer for.

The sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is deplorable, as it is in every other denomination, or schools, or sports, etc. What I am curious about is the fact that the parents of those abused didn’t seem to notice that their children were suffering. As the parent of three teenagers, I just don’t get how they didn’t know something was wrong with their children. Who was minding the children? Were the parents partly to blame for not pursuing justice when they found out their children were being abused? Why didn’t at least some of them go to the newspapers, or the TV stations? If anyone abused my child, I would be very vocal about it, and that’s a fact.

To address comment 22: Here are the facts…. Yes, sexual abuse is everywhere but the Catholic Church seems to hold the copywrite on it much like they think they hold it on God and salvation. I feel that I have my finger on the pulse of this topic and am used as a consultant by personal injury attorneys throughout the country on this subject. I’ve also been used an and expert witness in court cases.

I hear of a few cases of abuse from other denominations and, yes, there is the most recent case with the polygamists in Texas but overall it seems like the Catholic Church has the stage on this issue throughout the world; and DON’T BE FOOLED BECAUSE IT’S STILL HAPPENING. You’re just not hearing about it (yet). There are books written by credible authors on this subject.

Now about blind parents: Many of the predatory priests had great personalities and was loved by all family members. Some were single parents that loved the attention of a spiritual leader and someone who would take the child on an outing occasionally. The priest became something like a big brother going to the movies, a ball game or going to get ice cream. That was what is called “the grooming stage”. Then came the overnight trip from hell. Based on how well groomed the kid was and how much fear the priest instilled in his victims to not tell anyone the abuse was never discussed.

The other matter was that there was so much confusion around the event based on the emotional development of the child that in most cases the victim didn’t know what the hell just happened but he/she did know it was done by someone his/her parents and grandparents respected and a representative of God.

Then there is the matter of a growing up kid dealing with the God forbidden issue of possibly being gay. First of all it’s even a sin to masterbate but being gay was the most dreaded of all and sometimes worth committing suicide over. So the gay kid gets some sex from the priest but the only problem is that it’s not with a contemporary but someone in a position of power.

But then there is the straight kid who likes girls. So the kid is plied with alcohol or in my case drugs. The priest reads a few selected quotes from the bible about loving each other and the rest is history. What straight kid is going to break the news of what he did with a priest?

In either case sexual abuse isn’t even defined at that point. If the kid does tell his parents and the parents take action there are countless stories of a bishop reassuring the faithful parents that it will never happen again. There are all kinds of excuses but usually nothing is ever done. If anything the priest goes through Greyhound Therapy and is transfered.

Also, some very young kids don’t even have the mental ability to put the experience in a category and usually go into repressed memory only to have the memory emerge years later.

My parents were honored that a priest was giving me attention. I was the loner kids that didn’t play sports. I also had very low self esteem and was cute as one could be at that age. I was a perfect hit.

Now the newspapers: Here in Massachusetts newspapers in the early to mid 1990s were reluctant to print sexaul abuse stories about priests because their readership was dropping plus they had a very high Catholic readership. If they did print something usually the story was placed poorly. It was very discouraging because many of us had done all the investigative work for the paper but then it would never get printed. It was clear the newspapers were in bed with the Church. In Worcester, MA the bishop was known to occasionally storm the newsroom of the local daily and threaten any reporter who writes a story that is printed about sexual abuse with their job. So often after a run of scathing sexual abuse stories there would be the puff piece on the front page with the bishop hugging a senior lady or an AIDS victim or something similar.

Then around 2002 The Boston Globe and a few other daily newspapers were purchased by the New York Times and they printed story after story about Boston priests and Cardinal Law. Law’s response was to almost making it a sin to read The Globe. He called for a boycott which drew attention to the story more. Then the electronic media came forward with the exception of one major television station because they were Catholic and the image of their religion meant more to them than the truth.

By then hundreds and hundreds of victims were coming to SNAP meetings comparing their experiences and realizting for the first times in their lives that they were not the only one that had such a weird experience. Check out http://www.SNAPNETWORK.ORG.

I’ve just hit the tops of the waves and trust me the story gets dirtier than you want to hear but the facts are out. What has been experienced on the local level throughout the world has it’s roots in Rome and the past Pope and this one is the lightning rod that could have done something outside of nice words. I feel the Pope is over here to fluff up Catholics and throw the scent off the Church. Unfortunately, many will believe him. (read Emotional Vampires by Bernstein to understand why you believe liers in high places). Then read “Releasing The Bonds, Empowering People to Think for Themselves” by Steven Hassan (America’s Leading Cult Counselor) if you want to understand how easy it is to be dupped by a religious system.

I fully agree that the Pope should have stayed home but now that he’s here maybe he should go home and clean his own house………

I think Bill Maher explains it best: http://www.dhadm.com/content/cult-leader-versus-pope-hilarious-attack-on-the-catholic-church-by-bill-maher/

Of course we should honor the Pope. I am an agnostic but that doesn’t affect my opinion on this. He is an important guest in our country and deserves to be officially recognized.

Regarding comment #23. Your response to my question about Who was minding the children? turned into quite a lengthy and one-sided view of the abuse problem, in my opinion. With all due respect to your profession and your being an expert witness, I think you’re letting the parents off the hook; because some of them were so delighted that a person in power would give their children an outing, or the time of day, they are absolved from their parental responsibility? You’re right, things haven’t changed because people seem to be so impressed with celebrities and people in power, that in order to push their children ahead socially, they turn a blind eye to what’s going on underneath. Look at the parents who allowed their sons to be with Michael Jackson, for instance. Parents need to WAKE UP and stop trusting others with their children, regardless of who they are. Also, I truly believe that money has been a motive in some of these accusations. Sadly, sexual abuse of children goes on in families all the time, and what are we doing about that?

To be honest, I think Bill Maher is a very angry person, with a very skewed view of life, a very unhappy man.

The pope WAS honored during his visit to the United States. He was received at the White House by the president and continues to meet with key people around the country. There is no need for a congressional resolution.

Thanks so much Dave L for so elloquently explaining the situation for us so well. As for #25 I cant believe what you wrote even after the explanation given by Dave L.
As for Bill Maher, he gets it better than you obviously do.
No amount of money can ever make up for a stolen life

Thomas, many of the victims that have come forward in the past 10 years were abused in the 1960s, 70s, 80s. Many of the parents of these victims are currently in the 70 and 80s which puts them in a much past generation. That generation was pretty much the World War II generation which had much respect for authority and if they were Catholic they most likely had much respect for the Catholic heirarchy.

Often predatory priests targeted broken homes but I know of many cases where the predatory priest was very close personal friends with the parents. It was through the parents that the priest got to the kid.

I can’t imagine what parent would want their child abused. In fact, when some victims told their parents shortly after the abuse the parents were so shocked and in denial that they took the side of the priest. The reaction can go both ways.

Now about money: In the early years of the scandal (the 1990s) there were large settlements from the church because it was hush money. Then many states declared it unconstitutional to force someone to sign a gag order.

The plaintiff’s attorneys were often contingency attorneys and only took the slam dunk cases. If they settled the case than they would be paid 40% of the gross settlement.

Many victims were living compromised lives and didn’t have an extra $200,000 for legal fees so the only way this battle could be fought was through contengency attorneys.

In Massachusetts and 3 other states in the country there exists charitable immunity. The charitable immunity cap is $20,000. So, regardless of what a settment brings in in Massachusetts the Church or any other charity does not have to pay more than $20,000.

That totally devalues a case and now there are very few cases coming forward in Massachusetts because no attorney would be interested in getting 40% of $20,000.

Now in other states there are no charitable immunity cap but in those cases the Church’s pit bull, hired gun attorneys fight so hard they actually try to bankrupt the plaintiff’s attorney. One attorney that I deal with in Texas spends approximately $400,000 per case on experts, filing fees, etc. She need to settle a case over 1 million in order to make something worth her while.

In the early years most victims were involved in a cause. Many went to the Church first for resolve but only got lies, etc. Then the church took the defensive and started play tough. The victims in reaction hired attorneys but back then it was hard to find someone who was willing to go up against the church.

I do think that today there are many victims who are first interested in a settlement over and above a cause. They don’t become active in clergy abuse support groups and they don’t educate themselves on this issue. They are just interested in a settlement. They are also very young (in the 20s) and not older (40s and 50s).

This is a very long and dark scenerio. All I can say is if you know the information that I know then you most likely would feel the same way.

My issue is not with the Catholic faithful but with the Catholic hierarchy and the people who support them. They are the cause of the clergy abuse scandal and the ones with an open check book to keep it as quiet as possible.

If other visiting heads of state are accorded the honor af a resolution honoring their visit, so be it. If the Dali Lama, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the president of Russia, the prime minister of England or the Ayatollah of any major sect in Islam would be so honored, why not the Pope. He is a head of state and a person of imense influence.
As for the victims of abuse, my heart goes out to them. I believe that Pope Benedict is trying to heal the wounds caused by those crimes and deserves a chance to succeed at it. I wish the victims healing and that the abusers should be given apropriate punishment. By the way, most of the responsibility for that rests on the civil authorities in this country. They need to persevere in prosecuting those involved. The Pope has no right to send any one to jail here. The only punishment he can give is religious and the worst he can do is ‘cast out’ the perpetrator from the Church. Would that satisfy you? I doubt it. It wouldn’t satisfy me. But that’s the worst he can do. It would be very bad indeed for a person who was a devout Catholic but wouldn’t even faze a true criminal.
As for the Church regressing to the 19th century, that may indeed be true but it is the prerogative of the Church. If you don’t like it you don’t have to be involved in it. The Catholic Church is not and has never claimed to be a democracy. It is an absolute dictatorship led by the Pope as the representative of Christ on earth. If you don’t like that, you don’t have to be Catholic. Martin Luther and a host of others didn’t like it and left hte Church. They now are members of the numerous Protestant sects that, with Catholicism, make up Christianity.
I am Catholic and try to live by the rules laid down by the Church. When I fall short I see it as my failing not that of the Church. If I became disillusioned with the Church, I would leave it. That would be my choice and if you aren’t happy with the Church it could be yours. That’s your perogative. I’ll be staying.

The Democratic Party has driven millions of faithful Catholics out of its ranks by its instransigent position in favor of abortion. Antics such as this can only serve to alienate more American Catholics from the Democratic Party.