The RADEN Report                                            March 26, 2002

Rome And Daughters Ecumenical News

Roman Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Scandal making national news
 
Recent news reports speak volumes regarding long-standing problems within Roman Catholicism. In the past RADEN reported on the RCC/homosexual/pedophile issue, but some thought this was too far distant from the issue of ecumenism. In fact, the way the RCC has handled many cases of abuse by their priests simply points to the issues of the underlying lack of credibility of many Roman Catholic leaders, their purposeful deception of the public and willingness to cover-up the truth at the expense of even faithful Roman Catholic people.
 
Yes, of course, I can hear it now even from evangelical leaders... "But there are many priests in the Catholic Church who would never do such things." And of course, this is true. But if you know how the RCC operates, then you know that bishops and priests have long known about the reality of such abuse and about the efforts of the RCC hierarchy to cover-up such cases.
 
That, my friends, is the toleration of evil at the expense of others for one's own benefit... and such wicked deception is very evil. That much of this abuse involves children makes this purposeful cover-up of evil even more repulsive.
 
Yes, I can hear the twisted defense made by ecumenists - Roman Catholic and evangelical alike... "But there are ministers who abuse people in every denomination and religion. We can't just single out the Roman Catholic Church leaders."
 
OK... so we are to just tolerate this? Of course not... but that is exactly what RCC leaders have been doing for generations.
 
More than likely, the Roman Catholic Church will soon counter all this negative publicity with a nation-wide public relations campaign. RCC leaders will claim that they are doing everything they can to curb abuse and cooperate with law enforcement officials. And we will all breath a little easier... right? Well, this has been the history of such matters, although I have to admit that these latest revelations of abuse are receiving far more press coverage than usual.
 
Will the news coming out of Boston, Chicago, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, etc, etc, have an effect on the ECT Alliance's planned release of ECT-III, "Your Word is Truth"? The negative press that the RCC is getting right now would suggest the possibility that ecumenists Charles Colson and RCC priest Richard Neuhaus may decide to wait a while.
 
On the other hand, these men have been working on this third ECT document for several years. It covers areas that were targeted but never fully explored by the RCC/SBC Conversation-Dialogue. As with most other scandals that come to light, the RCC/homosexual/pedophile news may quickly pass. Perhaps Colson and Neuhaus will simply put off releasing ECT-III for a month or two. Time will tell, of course.
 
This RCC/homosexual/pedophile issue is a far more expansive concern than we evangelicals may suppose. What has just baffled me (here in Catholic dominated south Louisiana) is that there are so many evangelical leaders who constantly want to have their names attached to ecumenical documents, to have their pictures taken and be in the news alongside RCC priests and bishops... as if there is an undisputed common moral ground between evangelicals and Catholics. This has been the cry of those defending ECT and other ecumenical dialogues... that we have a crisis in society and must stand together on moral/social issues, regardless of our theological differences.
 
While there may be common moral ground between individual Roman Catholics and individual evangelicals, the fact that RCC hierarchical leaders are commonly involved in the cover-up of gross sin by their own priests is a contradiction to the front of morality that is deceptively projected by RCC leaders.
 
Of course, there are many Roman Catholics involved with ecumenism who do have good and moral motives, but at the same time they do represent an organization that commonly hides the moral corruption of MANY of its leaders. This is IMMORAL.
 
I dare say that the Roman Catholic leadership in the USA has long known of the moral corruption of many RCC priests throughout the nation. And still, they have been willing to ignore or cover-up most of this. Is it any lesser evil to knowingly tolerate the cover-up of such wickedness? The leaders of the RCC are guilty of preying upon innocent people... largely, their own faithful Catholic people. How utterly tragic.
 
And yet, we evangelicals have little or nothing to say?
 
History repeats itself - a lack of moral integrity points to a lack of spiritual authority...
 
History is clear that such abuse by RCC leaders has been at the foundation of tremendous upheavals in the past. Public reactions to such scandals have led to persecutions and wars. In fact, it can be well argued that what initially fueled the Protestant Reformation was the moral corruption observed in the lives of local priests and bishops throughout Europe. Abuses by priests in the American West and in Mexico caused great animosity and bloodshed.
 
By and large, we evangelicals have become very poor students of even our own history. When men pervert the Gospel, perversion of morality will follow. Whether theological issues are understood or not, men will eventually revolt against moral perversion and those responsible for fostering it by covering it up.
 
History always repeats itself for those who blindly fall into the same mistakes of their ancestors. Ecumenism, perverting the Gospel by adding religious works, has always been the chief strategy of the enemy of the true Church... and ecumenism is the chief strategy of the RCC.
 
You would think that the gross moral failings of so many Roman Catholic leaders and the purposeful cover-up of such wickedness by ranking RCC leaders would alert everyone to the deception and danger of the RCC's false gospel.
 
Jerry Moser - editor, RADEN Report

The RADEN Report is a news and commentary service purposed to inform and educate the body of Christ regarding the dangers of ecumenism. For our purposes, ecumenism is defined as cooperative ventures of an evangelistic nature with individuals and/or groups which promote errant doctrine. Much of the New Testament was written to oppose the false doctrines of men who claimed to be Christian teachers, yet were bringing in "destructive heresies." According to Jude we are to "earnestly contend for the Faith that was once for all delivered unto the saints." This we aim to do and to encourage others in this part of God's work. If we can be of assistance to you in this way, please let us know. Additional copies (hard-copy) of RADEN are available, as well as other resources. Why not pass RADEN on to a friend? If you would like to read the ECT document, click here.  We also have the ECT put together into booklets, if you would like for us to send you one or more, request it by email.   Please include your home address and how many you would like.

Why not give a copy of RADEN to a friend?

RADEN is compiled and edited by Jerry Moser, and is a part of the ministry of the Bayou DuLarge Baptist Church. To receive this FREE service simply request it by e-mail. <-- Click "e-mail" to request RADEN.