From Matt Abbott:
I find it interesting that Father Maciel apparently was "bisexual." It could be that his reported abuse of seminarians had more to do with the abuse of power than with homosexuality per se. Then again, when one reaches an extremely high level of moral depravity, it probably is easy for that individual to engage in unfettered sexual activity with men, women and even children, considering his or her conscience is nearly, if not entirely, dead. Diabolical indeed.
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For anyone who's read about child-abusers, this isn't such a novel thought.
Sexual abuse IS about power, not lust. Rape is about power. Sexual Harassment is about power.
When you objectify someone, strip them of their humanity, and convince them that you were RIGHT to do it and they were WRONG for 'tempting' you, you break them and make them easier to control.
People who abuse children aren't weak. They're not "overcome by passion." (Seriously--who'd be attracted to a teenaged guy? Even teenaged GIRLS want college guys....)
Abusers are DIABOLICAL. They are trying to break their victim. This is why I can't understand why the LC/RCs keep protecting Maciel. The only explanation that makes sense to me is that thety're ALL broken--it's just some are broken in more subtle ways.......
This is the exact thought that freed me to believe in 2000 that the accusations against MM were likely true. Carrying my ninth child didn't save me from remarkable naiveté -- I really thought sex was about sex. When I learned that for some people it was about power, manipulation and control, everything made sense and I saw that the entire structure of the Movement was of a piece.
On the ongoing debate "charism"/repentance:
http://impreso.milenio.com/node/8637500
I did't miss the fact of the insight (which is not novel), but rather the fact that Matt Abbott had this insight (which is novel).
I, too, have been totally taken aback by the lack of complete horror shown by the LC/RCs in response to the revelations of Maciel's sexual predation. (even the Legion admits that at least "some" of the allegations of sexual abuse of children are "probably" true). I can't wrap my head around it. The repeated references to the Father Founder's "failings" is an outrage.
The man was a criminal, plain and simple. We do not refer to pedophiles as people who have "failings". This is not a case of falling into a sin of lust in a weak moment. The sins of rape and child molestation are much MORE than lust (as bad as lust is). It is a horribly deviant act of control designed to degrade the dignity of the human person. Sexual abuse wreaks unspeakable damage upon the victim. This crime is one of the most horrific acts one human being can perpetrate on another, and yet the LCs continue to refer to it as a mere "failing".
This doesn't even get into the terrible further injury done to Maciel's victims over the decades that they were called liars and enemies of the Church. It must take such incredible courage to come out and admit you were abused and humiliated by the likes of a man "sainted" like Maciel was at the time. And then not only to NOT get offered any help but to be ignored by the Pope and further shredded in the media by the predator Maciel's followers must have been crushing for them.
It boggles the mind that an order of priests continues to minimize this man's terrible crimes by calling them "failings".
Matthew chapter 18 seems fitting. Here, Jesus talks about the innocent children who are first in the kingdom, and the person who causes any one of those to sin - he deserves a millstone around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea; He talks about the eye and the hand, and if they sin to cut them off in order to get to the kingdom albeit maimed; He also talks about binding and loosening as well as going public if someone is unrepentant; He talks about the hierarchy in the Heavenly Kingdom and the amount of times we have to forgive.....
So, while GOD allows just punishment for a criminal act, He does not allow this punishment out of revenge...... but punishment must be, esp. where innocent "children of the kingdom" are concerned. He does not necessarily talk about actual children. However, it is striking isn't it how the followers of MM call him Nuestro Padre - he made them followers, i.e. children...... well, Matthew tells us clearly what Jesus says such a person deserves......
Mercy!
Mum26
I find it very interesting that the Legion continues to talk about all the "good" Maciel did, as if that somehow redeems his publicly unrepentant self. Yet Jesus clearly states it would be better for the likes of Maciel to have had a stone cast around his neck and tossed into the sea! He didn't put a caveat in there "Unless, of course, he does all sorts of other good things in his life while he scandalizes the children".
This is called dissociation, folks. Do not commit the insanity of treating it as a form of understanding. The LCs dissociate as a mechanism of self-protection, and they are not aware of it. It is anti-reason, anti-understanding. There's no better way to go nuts than to try to be reasonable with an insane man. The LCs are collectively crazy. Leave it at that. Otherwise, you'll end up looking for the 5th leg on the cat, as the Mexican saying goes. But cats only have four legs! Exactly! ER
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