Un-Christlike deeds of men of the cloth

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am writing with reference to the news story ‘Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse remanded’, published on July 18.

If the abuse, sexual or otherwise, is allowed to continue for a prolonged period, the trauma can act as a starting point into a life in which the brain uncontrollably releases potentially damaging levels of inflammation-promoting stress hormones and chemicals, even in otherwise non-stressful daily routines.

It has been described as a continuous, discomforting anticipation of ‘the other shoe dropping’ and simultaneously being scared of how badly you will deal with the upsetting event, which usually never transpires.

The lasting emotional/psychological pain from such trauma is very formidable yet invisibly confined to inside one’s head. It is solitarily suffered, unlike an openly visible physical disability or condition, which tends to elicit sympathy/empathy from others.

It can make every day a mental ordeal, unless the turmoil is prescription and/or illicitly medicated. (To a significant degree, I know such self-medicating from personal experience.)

Christ practised and preached the opposite of what enables the most horrible acts of human cruelty in the world. Sadly, sometimes those atrocious acts are allowed to remain a buried secret.

Thus, child-abusing clergymen, not to mention their apologists, make horrendous examples of Christ’s fundamental message of compassion and charity. Jesus must be spinning in heaven knowing what atrocities have been connected to Christianity.

FRANK STERLE, JR

White Rock, BC

Canada