Question:
Greetings, friends of Catholic apologetics; I am writing to put a question to you.
I have a friend who is a Jehovah’s Witness and who has told me that one of the proofs that they are God’s true organization on earth is that among them there is genuine brotherhood and they do not go on sinning like Catholics, among whom there are such scandalous cases of immorality and even pedophile priests who abuse minors. I frequently receive this same claim from Protestant friends as well.
Why has this happened? Are they right when they say that our Church is rotten and contaminated by sin?
Answer:
Dear brother, first of all, thank you for writing to us.
The fact that within God’s Church there have been people who have committed immoralities such as those your Jehovah’s Witness friend recounts is regrettable, and it is a reality. The first thing we must do is not deny it and try to justify it, because those who committed such crimes will have to answer to God for it.
Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh! Matthew 18:7
In his letter to the Catholics of Ireland, Pope Benedict XVI writes, referring to unworthy clergy:
“You have broken the trust that innocent young people and their parents had placed in you, and you must answer for this before Almighty God as well as before the properly constituted courts. You have lost the esteem of the people of Ireland and have brought disgrace and dishonor upon your fellow priests and religious. Those of you who are priests have profaned the holiness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, through which Christ himself is made present in us and in what we do. Beyond the immense harm inflicted on the victims, enormous damage has been done to the Church and to the way the public regards the priesthood and the religious life.
I urge you to examine your conscience, to take responsibility for the sins you have committed, and to express your sorrow with humility. Sincere repentance opens the door to God’s forgiveness and to the grace of true amendment. You should seek to make personal reparation for your actions by offering prayers and penances for those whom you have wronged. Christ’s redeeming sacrifice has the power to pardon even the gravest of sins and to draw good even out of the most terrible of evils. At the same time, God’s justice asks us to give an account of our actions, hiding nothing. Admit your guilt openly, submit to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God’s mercy.”
And it is not only those who committed the abuses who will answer to God, but also those bishops and priests who, in one way or another, covered up these abuses and prevented prompt corrective measures from being taken about the problem. In this regard, Pope Benedict XVI writes in the same letter:
“To my brother bishops
It cannot be denied that some of you and of your predecessors failed, at times gravely, to apply the long-codified norms of canon law concerning the crime of child abuse. Serious mistakes were made in responding to the accusations. I acknowledge how difficult it was to grasp the scale and complexity of the problem, to obtain reliable information, and to make sound decisions in light of conflicting expert opinions. Even so, it must be admitted that grave errors of judgment were made and there were failures of governance. All of this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness. I appreciate the efforts you have made to remedy the mistakes of the past and to ensure they do not happen again. In addition to fully applying the norms of canon law regarding cases of child abuse, continue to cooperate with the civil authorities within their sphere of competence. It is clear that religious superiors must do the same; they too took part in the recent meetings in Rome aimed at establishing a clear and consistent approach to these questions. It is necessary constantly to review and update the Church’s norms in Ireland for the protection of children and to apply them fully and impartially, in conformity with canon law.”
Jesus Christ himself, knowing that this would happen, gave us the parable of the wheat and the cockle.
“Another parable he proposed to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the goodman of the house coming said to him: Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it cockle? And he said to them: An enemy hath done this. And the servants said to him: Wilt thou that we go and gather it up? And he said: No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn.” Matthew 13:24-30
This became evident even among the 12 apostles hand-picked by Christ, one of whom (Judas) went so far as to become a traitor.
These cases are regrettable and give rise to profound sorrow in the body of Christ, which is the Church.
Nevertheless, the attitude of your friends (both Jehovah’s Witnesses and other Protestants) is not correct, because they tend to generalize and to drag the reputation of the whole Church through the mud on account of a tiny minority. This has been demonstrated by a Protestant researcher (Philip Jenkins), who, after carrying out the most thorough investigation to date, concludes that only one out of every 2,252 priests who were part of the study over a period of more than 30 years was involved in pedophilia. The book in which he publishes his research can be purchased in various bookstores, and online at Amazon.com at the following LINK
Thus, although there have been Judases among us, there have also been many saints who have gone so far as to give their lives for the faith, and they too have been members of the Church. There are sinners everywhere, beginning with ourselves, and if your friend believes that where he serves is the exception, he is mistaken.
And what about the Jehovah’s Witnesses? Do similar cases not occur among them?
Another great error of your Jehovah’s Witness friend seems to be his ignoring that among them such cases have also been seen, and they are not few, to the point that they themselves confess in their publications:
| The Watchtower of January 1, 1986, p. 13, paragraph 12, states:
“Strange as it may seem, even individuals prominent in Jehovah’s organization have fallen into immoral practices, such as homosexuality, wife swapping, and the dishonorable abuse of minors. It must also be said that, of the 36,638 people who were expelled from the Christian congregation this past year, the greater part of the expulsions had to do with immoral practices.” |
As can be seen, one would have to be very brazen to generalize by saying that other Churches are full of sinners, while they, who number roughly 8 million, had to expel more than 36,000 people in a single year, among whom are included persons “prominent” within that organization (figures they themselves provide).
Recently the New York Times even published an article revealing the story of William Bowen, an elder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who, after resigning from his post, started a group to monitor sexual abuse, and after denouncing not only the great number of cases but the utter inaction of the Watchtower, ended up being expelled.
In his letter of appeal he denounces:
Excerpts from Bill Bowen’s letter of appeal
How fortunate is that servant whose master, on arriving, finds him acting this way! 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his belongings. 45 But if ever that servant should say in his heart, ‘My master is taking his time in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.”
You see, brothers, in the illustration of the servant there is a man with a choice, to be good or to be evil. The Governing Body, as the appointed leaders of the Faithful and Discreet Slave, have instituted actions that “beat” the children of this organization. When anyone speaks about this, they are “beaten” with the threat and the use of expulsion as the way to impose silence upon any appropriate action that might be taken on behalf of the children. He has become an evil “servant” when he harms the children. Since 1992 the Governing Body was clearly informed, by means of a written report to each of its members, that children were being violated as a result of negligence in the WT Policy. Later, with great wickedness and 23,000 child molesters later, they have to this day refused to act. My June letter to the Service Committee requesting a solution to this, following the theocratic guidelines within the organization’s arrangements, then by September 27. What was the result? The Governing Body appointed a judicial committee to expel me, disregarding all the protocols when they did so. Do you really believe you can have the spirit of Jehovah by following the orders of wicked men? If I am mistaken in this reasoning, I invite you, brothers, to show me otherwise. ”.
Among some related news items and articles you may consult:
Jehovah’s Witness imprisoned for abusing children
Bethel member arrested for possessing nude photos and for other crimes against minors
You may consult the site http://www.silentlambs.org for more news of this kind. (It is a site created to help and support the victims of sexual abuse by Jehovah’s Witnesses)
And what about the rest of the Protestants? Do similar cases not occur among them?
Sadly, these cases also occur within Protestant ecclesial communities. The website http://reformation.com/ keeps track of cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by Protestant ministers, and it includes a detailed listing of the cases. At the time of updating this article, since 2003 it counted 838 in total, divided into 147 (Baptists), 251 (fundamentalists and evangelicals), 140 (Anglicans and Episcopalians), 38 (Lutherans), 46 (Methodists), 19 (Presbyterians), 197 (of other denominations).
We may take one example from the article “RAVENOUS WOLVES” …what they are like and how to recognize them… written by the well-known evangelical pastor Bernardo Stamateas.
I append a small excerpt of what he himself calls “sad stories”:
Story 1: A pastor took up his pastorate in the city of Entre Ríos, in Argentina. Within two years, in complete secrecy, he sexually abused 13 children, with penetration and oral and anal sex. When this came to light, the parents wanted to go and “kill him.” He himself fled, denying everything. The whole town found out, and after a great social scandal that church was left without members. The townspeople did not even want the “evangelical church” mentioned to them. This pastor went off to the province of Buenos Aires and joined a pastor friend who let him lead the “home for the elderly,” denying everything that had happened and believing this depraved man. After a few months several elderly people reported having been sexually abused. Once again he left, and to this day no one knows where he is.
Story 2: A pastor affiliated with a certain Pentecostal organization in Argentina had a church in the city of Hurlingham. There he preached the word and taught people to love Jesus. He had even studied at some Bible institutes. In conversation he seemed to be one of the most “sane” and “biblical” people there were. Meanwhile, in the basement of the church building, he kept weapons of all kinds, old masks, an antenna, a radio, war garb, and all sorts of electronic equipment to prepare himself against the coming attack of UFOs. He proposed to his church that they prepare for the “end” that would appear with the UFO attack, just as the Apocalypse and the whole Bible explain it, according to him. To some of his more gullible members he proposed suicide. When they refused, one day he showed up at the house of one of them, on the birthday of that man’s son; he gave the family gifts, and as a gift for everyone he drew his weapon from his briefcase and, in the presence of that family, killed himself. The news went out over Buenos Aires television across all of Argentina, showing how this “evangelical” pastor was affiliated, with credentials, with a Pentecostal organization. The evangelical world was shaken by this episode.
Story 3: A Baptist brother who had great faith prayed for the sick, and great miracles were seen in the church when he ministered. The pastors of his church recognized this, and the church saw him as having a great future. He was ordained and sent as a pastor to a missionary work. Some brothers in the faith sought him out for his “faith” and “word.” The miracles continued, and conversions appeared as well. His new church began to grow, immediately reaching an attendance of 40 people. A few weeks later, a woman called the pastor of the central church to tell him she had been sexually groped by this man. The pastor went there at once, and nine women, each questioned separately when visited, began to tell how this man made them say and repeat “that they loved him,” “that he was a man of God and that they had to take care of him.” Some he made sit on his knees; to others he gave little pecks of “love”; to others he said he was “setting them free,” laying his hands on their breasts, vagina, backside… He would open his shirt and have them kiss him on the neck as a sign of love. Meanwhile the women, seeing the miracles, the conversions, the prayers of faith, the reading of the Bible that this “Baptist pastor” carried out, grew ever more confused: Am I imagining that he touches me every time we are left alone after the service? Might he not be right in what he proposes, if he is a man of God with such great faith? This brother was then summoned and confronted, but he denied everything and even threatened the pastor of the central church that he would be confronted by God himself for what he was doing. Today he gathers in another church as if nothing had happened. The church he pastored has been dissolved, dozens have fallen away, and others, horrified, do not even want the “gospel” mentioned to them. The neighborhood speaks ill of the whole church. The pastor of the church where this perverse manipulator now gathers knows about this, but cannot believe it. This new pastor has been deceived; a mental veil and a powerful mind control have been placed over him. He sees in him a “man of faith” and of “fruits of conversions”; why doubt?
Story 4: A pastor friend tells me that in the city of Río Negro there is a “charismatic” itinerant pastor who prays for women who have cysts in their breasts. He prays only for this because, according to him, he has the gift of healing for it. He does so by laying his hands on their breasts! This “pastor” is still preaching around there…
Story 5: A “conservative evangelical” brother, in charge of a church in the province of Misiones, sexually abused about 10 little ones in a children’s home, with every kind of aberration. When he was discovered, the leaders kept quiet about it. This brother left the place and turned up in another province, Córdoba, pastoring an “independent” church as if nothing had happened. When they learned of this, the city’s council of pastors denounced him. This pastor, when summoned, denied everything, fled, and no one knows where he is. He is quite possibly still abusing other children…
Story 6: A Pentecostal pastor in the province of Entre Ríos tells a very poor church that demons take possession of things, especially of gold objects, because the devil is proud and likes to get into “gold.” He also tells them that whoever possesses it will bring upon himself a curse from God. In this way, with months of preparation for these teachings, he gets the poor brethren to bring him all their wedding rings, watches, jewelry, and so on, since the pastor, on seeing them “with his discernment,” recognizes which one is demon-possessed. He asks them to leave the items with him so that he may destroy them, and so that the church may be set free. This pastor has quite a lot of money today…
Story 7: A married couple of leaders began to practice inner healing in their church. After a while, seeing their fruits and knowledge of the word, they were ordained to the pastorate. They underwent a long examination before the presbytery, and all the pastors unanimously judged that they would be greatly used by God! In time, they began to minister inner healing to the brethren. Slowly and by means of mind control, the two pastors ended up having sexual relations with one sister, then with another, then with two. They began to preach about the love of God, love of enemies, love among brethren; and so, with great cunning, they proposed free sex, only with whomever the pastor said. Everything from sexual relations to incest appeared. Some left the church horrified; others fell away. The neighborhood found out, they were accused, and they, of course, denied everything.
Of these cases the pastor himself testifies: “I know the cases named above very well, because in some I had to intervene, in others to advise the church as its pastor, and I have had to minister to dozens of victims of emotional and sexual abuse”
The cases that have become public are also numerous; among so many we may mention that of Ted Haggard (married, with 5 children, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a group that in the United States has some 30 million faithful, and who met frequently with George Bush), who on the one hand gave harsh speeches against homosexuality, but on the other maintained a 3-year relationship with a male homosexual prostitute. When the scandal broke, he first denied it but then ended up confessing and resigning from his post. Afterward he declared that, through three weeks of intensive therapy, he had discovered he was completely heterosexual, whereby he was able to return to minister as a pastor.
You can see this news item here:
Homosexual evangelical leader claims he has ‘recovered’.
Various other similar news items:
A Protestant pastor, accused of abusing dozens of children over 25 years
The Protestant pastor accused of killing his two wives, two sons, and two stepdaughters
The accused is an evangelical pastor whom they point to as having raped a girl
Preso pastor que prometía alivio em troca de sexo
Pastor evangélico é acusado de pedofilia e homicidio
pastor é preso acusado de estuprar adolescente
Evangelist preacher Pat Robertson stirs up controversy by calling for the assassination of Chávez
Police arrest evangelical pastor accused of attempted rape
Evangelical pastor accused of homicidal exorcism
Conclusion
As we have seen, there is no impeccable Christian church; everywhere there have been, are, and will be sinners. We ourselves, even if we do not go so far as to commit sins like those, must acknowledge that we too are sinners.
It is well to recall the words of Christ in this regard: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone” or the counsel of Kempis (The Imitation of Christ): “If thou seest another sin openly or commit some grievous fault, yet thou oughtest not to reckon thyself better than he, for thou knowest not how long thou canst persevere in good”. Remember, we are what we are by the grace of God, and without it we do not know how deeply we might fall.
We must do our part so that these cases do not happen again. A pedophile must never be covered up, whoever he may be.
We must also pray for the people who have committed those sins.
Nor should we take the attitude of the sectarians who, out of their hatred of the Catholic Church, seem to rejoice when those cases occur. He who believes he has no sin is often the one who is furthest from God.
“«Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner. I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.»” Luke 18:10-14
