– Child pornography was increasingly considered “normal” by                   society..

                  – In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully                   in conformity with man and even with children

 

Those statements were part of the Christmas address                   he made to priests at the Vatican. Was he trying to justify                   the acts of some of his priests who indulged in such acts of                   violation? We don’t think so. We think he was trying to salvage                   the damage done to the reputation of the Church. That statement                   however sounded like a politician talking. It can be argued                   that considering that Vatican is accorded the status of a state                   he was making a political statement in the interest of his state.

When ISKON had to face similiar charges of                   child abuse, it responded by forming CPT’s (Child protection                   teams) and adopted a zero tolerance policy towards child abuse.The                   message was stern to its clergy. In contrast the message pope                   gave out was “its okay to abuse children”

Barbara Blaine, the head of SNAP, the Survivors                   Network of those Abused by Priests said, “The Catholics                   should be embarrassed to hear their Pope talk again and again                   about abuse while doing little or nothing to stop it and to                   mischaracterise this heinous crisis.” 

 

Does it mean that once robed as a priest, you                   get immunity from such acts? If that is not true then why not                   other criminals also be showed the same benovolance that pope                   displayed towards the bad apples of his flock. So would governments                   world wide set free all pedphoiles who are serving sentences?                   Does it also mean that all governments would repeal all laws                   made against child abuse? Italy came close to doing something                   like that. In 1999, the Italian supreme court made this judgemement,                   “that a woman wearing jeans cannot be raped” and set                   the accused free. The decision was reversed following public                   outrage.

 

The pope is a poweful figure with many political                   leaders of the western world willing to take its counsel either                   direct or indirect. Hence instead of respect there is more of                   fear of the Vatican among the general public.This fear has percolated                   to the political leadership of many nations and that has resulted                   in silence at these recent remarks by him. Imagine a similair                   statement by an ordinary person. He would be subjected to the                   harshest of restraining orders by law enforcement authorities.                 

Pope’s                   statement and Indian Church:                   This statement can have a devastating impact on Church goers                   and put them at the mercy of christian priests in India. In                   the first place unlike western counterparts, most church goers                   are innocent converts who got themselves sucked into by the                   awe factor. That combined with the fact that they dont know                   how to protest makes them very vulnerable. Moreover in India                   family honour is critically important and hence  acts of                   depravation are kept under wraps to prevent public humilation                   and shame. Given the brutal fact that governments are insensitive                   and often collide with people who can bribe them, its difficult                   to impossible to bring the bad among the priests to book. The                   book “Amen -Autobiography of a Nun” by Sister Jesmi                   in Kerala, South India, was a brave exception in which she musters                   christian courage to seek the truth in exposing the acts of                   sexual aggression commited by the catholic church. People like                   Sister Jesmi come once in a millenium and there is no record                   of how many more such sexual offences are un-reported. We hope                   that the Indian Clergy reaches out to the Hindu within them                   and act with restraint while conducting priestly dutiles on                   innocent converts. Even as we write this article there is a development that was reported by times of India.

 

“THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Kerala Christian priest as been arrested for  alleged sexual abuse of a minor girl inmate of a hostel run by Orthodox  Church at Pothukal in Malappuram district in September last year. The  victim is a student of Catholicate Higher Secondary School run by the  church.
                      Father K G Joseph alias Father Habib Joseph was  arrested and produced in a local court on Thursday. He, however, was  granted bail. Joseph later denied charges. Crime Branch sources said the priest was charged under Section 354 IPC (assault or criminal force to  woman with intent to outrage her modesty), a bailable offence.
                      Police are also probing the “unnatural” death of  the girl’s elder sister, who “succumbed” to suspected food poisoning at  hostel in October last year. A few days after her death, the 14-year-old class IX student had alleged that she and her elder sister Anu were  made to wash feet and massage Joseph and another priest who was a  regular visitor to the hostel and that it often ended up with them being sexually harassed.
                      Though they took up the matter with a nun, she  instead of helping, threatened them with dire consequences, the girl had alleged. The two sisters belonging to a poor family of Kelakam in  Kannur district thought it better to resign to their fate as otherwise  they would have had to discontinue studies.
                      Sixteen-year-old Anu, a class XI student, died on  October 24, 2009. Soon after her death her younger sister had told  reporters in the presence of her father that Anju was taken out in a car by the second priest on October 21 and they returned late in the night. Anu looked very tired and was crying and didn’t eat anything the next  day. This infuriated the nun who beat her up, she had alleged.
                    The torture was so brutal that there were blood stains on the wall of Anu’s room.”

                                                                                          

 

Pope                   and Caste:                   If child abuse is normal then why should caste be a  problem                   at all? While the predecessors of the current pope  have smeared                   Hindusim of a caste problem, this pope has had the  wisdom to                   undo the bad work of his predecessors.                   For those who are sitting on the fence and pelting  caste stones on Hinduism, they should be aware of distinct advantages of the caste system. 

 

” Historically, the caste system offerred several advantages to  the  population of the Indian subcontinent. While Caste is nowadays seen by   instances that render it anachronistic, in its original form the caste  system  served as an important instrument of order in a society in which mutual consent  rather than compulsion ruled[19]; where the ritual  rights as well as the  economic obligations of members of one caste or  sub-caste were strictly  circumscribed in relation to those of any other caste or sub-caste; where one  was born into one’s caste and retained  one’s station in society for life; where  merit was inherited, where  equality existed within the caste, but inter-caste  relations were  unequal and heirarchial. Awell-defined system of mutual  interdependence through a division of labour created security within a  community.
                      1. Preservation of order in society through the use of institutional  stratification of social groups[20].                       2. Integration of foreigners and invading forces  into Indian culture by  assigning a caste to them (a process that  historian Jawaharlal Nehru referred  to as “Indianization”: India has  faced repeated invasions from  outside the region, dating back to the  Macedonian invasion by Alexander the  Great. Most invaders were swiftly  assimilated into ancient Indian society by  assigning them specific  castes. Examples include the Kambojas, believed to be  of Indo-Scythian  descent, who were retroactively assigned a social position in  the  Manusmriti.                       3. The Varna system, with its normative  interpretation as a division of labor,  had and continues to have a  heavy bias towards spiritual evolution. The deep  religious proclivities and the urge for spiritual uplift had induced the people  to search for simpler and effective ways to achieve the spiritual goal which led  to  innovations like the Bhakti movement which had a powerful impact on the  socio-cultural-spiritual life of the people even at mass level without  distinctions of caste or class or other social differences. It is these deeply  run cultural roots which caused an abiding following for  Hinduism even in the  face of unrelenting assaults by other religions  and had in fact continued to  influence the lives of people even after  their conversion to other faiths.  Thus, the caste system can be said to have preserved ancient cultural values in  Indian society.                       4. The caste system played an influential role in  shaping economic activities.[  The caste system functioned much like  medieval European guilds, ensuring the  division of labour, providing  for the training of apprentices and, in some  cases, allowing  manufacturers to achieve narrow specialisation. For instance,  in  certain regions, producing each variety of cloth was the speciality of a  particular sub-caste.                       5. Philosophers argue that the majority of people  would be comfortable in  stratified endogamous groups and have been in  ancient times. Membership in a  particular caste, with its associated  narrative, history and genealogy would  instill in its members a sense  of group accomplishment and cultural pride. Such  sentiments are  routinely expressed by the Marathas, for instance.                       http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/History_of_the_Indian_caste_system  “

 

                                                                                                                                    

In today’s India the benefits of caste include                   – Priority for premium education seats                   – Priority for government jobs                 – Priority for access to government funding                                 Problems with caste are more of expolitation of  the  poor by the rich and that happens worldwide in every society. A example  closer home would be that of the  powerful religions of the world taking pot shots at peaceful religions. We think that the strong sense of  truth that prevades every Hindu makes him / her feel so obliged to  acknowledge even the slightest wrong doing happening within themselves.  That approach gives others an upper hand in nailing Hindus further.  Frankly speaking how are present Hindus in any way responsible for a  system that was in place for generations ahead of them. To their credit  they have done lot of work in moving away from caste related ills. Most  work  was done by the one particular  upper caste that has had a  historically  bad press, “The Brahmins”In fact in Cities of India today  you would hardly notice any mention of Caste. If it is used it is done  mainly by the politicians notably  the ruling Congress party of India.

 

So from this                   day Hindus need not be on the defensive at all when any one                   confronts them with Caste. Its a  thing                   of the past and since it has evolved over a long long  period                   it takes a little longer for the bad in caste gets  washed away.                   Advise them to be patient. If they have boundless  energies to                   fix the world then they can direct themselves to more  serious                   problems of the world. If the person who confronts &  approaches you with an conversion agenda, kindly point                   them to this image from the BBC.