The Catholic Pope's Healing Visit - WHEN WILL ISKCON LEARN!!!!!!
BY: JAYA KESAVA DAS
Apr 19, USA (SUN) — As most of you know, the Pope is in the U.S. and the first and main agenda
topic is reconciliation with the former survivors of Child Abuse by priests in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is hoping that by this visit, its congregation will renew its faith in the Church as well as their own personal faith -- a faith that has been severely damaged by the Church's failure to protect it's children by covering the whole thing up for so many years.
As I watched, the survivors revealed how much it meant to them that the Pope was finally admitting that his clergy did abuse children and they did cover it up, and offered his sincere apologies. What affected me the most, was how the survivors spoke of the Pope's sincerity in expressing his sorrow for the hurt and suffering caused by his Church to the children who were abused. His compassion and concern was genuine and it made huge changes in their healing.
The Roman Catholic Church has at least 1.132 billion followers and is the largest religious denomination on earth.
Here are some statistics: Christianity (33.06% of world population), Islam (20.28%), Hinduism (13.33%), Chinese folk religion (6.27%) or Buddhism (5.87%). The irreligious and atheists are 14.27% and 3.97% follow indigenous
tribal religions.
Hinduism is only 13.33% of the worlds population, much less than the Muslim tradition. In the Hindu tradition there are great religious leaders who have huge followings, such as the Satya Sai Baba, Kripalu, Radhasomai, Sikhs and the Pusthi marg - who have millions of followers each.
Our movement is only a very tiny movement in relationship to them, what to speak of world religions. Our Gurus only have at the most several thousand followers.
Yet we have a huge problem with Child Abuse. Even though such a small movement could have very easily dealt with the tiny number perverts who took advantage of us kids, the majority of devotees in positions of leadership and power spent all their time and energy in covering up the abuse. This
cover-up has led to many of the problems that we are now facing within our
movement.
Most of us kids have left the movement and many of us have become atheists. The GBC have only sleazed their way out of paying for our suffering by pleading bankruptcy and set-up more efficient means of covering up past, present and future abuses by allowing the Gurukul Principals to handle all
the child abuse problems. The same principals who have covered up all the
past abuses.
Yeah sure, the GBC has apologized, but how sincere was that? None of us accepted it. And we won't so long as the guilty still walk around like nothing happened.
Follow the example of the Catholic Church and make amends properly. Act properly and with integrity, if only for your own self worth!
Form a Subcommittee and start now to remove from their spiritual and managerial leadership positions the devotees who caused all this trouble!
Here is a short list, if you don't have the courage or the fortitude to start one:
Baktividyapurna Swami
Bhavananda das (Mayapur project)
Bhurijan das
Braja Bihari das
Dhanudhara Swami
Gauri das
Gopal Krsna Maharaj - GBC Vrindavan
Jayapataka Swami - GBC Maypur
Laksmi moni dd
Pragosh das (GBC)
Sesa das (GBC)
Tamohara das (GBC)
This is but a few past and present cover-up merchants that need to be removed from any positions of leadership and authority. If they are sincere, they will step down themselves for they know what they have done.
But until this is done, how can you expect to develop this movement properly? It must be built on integrity and truthfulness. Our leadership must protect us, not themselves at our expense!
ISKCON members are not the only ones who read websites like these. The world is
watching how we as a responsible religious movement deal with our problems. How the GBC acts will be deemed history, and so far its history has been fraught with mistakes / cover ups / devious activities and criminality. Is that how we represent Srila Prabhupada, Krishna and Lord Caitanya?
Please remember that to let these diseased individuals go will not ruin us, but make us stronger. We are still only a very small movement and have a very long way to grow. We want to grow straight and strong to be able to accept more and more devotees into our family. Not grow ugly and twisted.
Your servant,
Jaya Keshava das
