' Punishment does not deter
misconduct. '

highly debatable Foxy. Singapore shouts a different outcome. Obviously discipline without love is useless although love without discipline does not exist.

Runner,

What is the difference between smacking and serious assault?

Do you belong to the "bash goodness into them" mob or "bash evil out of them"?

As well as the child victims of the churches there are countless child victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. They have no voice or avenue for compensation. Many of them probably come from households who believe in 'discipline with love'.

Francis

'Do you belong to the "bash goodness into them" mob or "bash evil out of them"? '

actually I belonged (kids now all prospering greatly) to teaching my kids to respect their parents, teachers and authority. Your simplistic options show you understand little about human nature.

Well if you were a competent parent runner you would have been able to achieve all that without resorting to assault. I hope that was the case.

A fine article, raising many possibilities.

Given current revelations, I feel it must be very difficult for many Catholics to maintain their faith - doing so primarily perhaps because of their loyalty to the Christian message (of love, compassion, charity ..), and their belief in Jesus, and in spite of the evident (and obvious) failings of Mother Church; their loyalty also being a reflection of the strongly held conviction that the great majority of Catholic priests are truly virtuous and honourable men.

However, doubt prevails regarding aspects of Church structure and doctrine:
.The incompatibility of recruiting gay priests, while berating the sin of homosexuality; (does the Church perhaps, erroneously, think it can 'cleanse' or overcome such a 'predilection' by the taking of vows)?
.The incompatibility of 'celibacy' with an expectation of priests having a sound understanding of 'marriage' or married life - or of a sound understanding of 'normal' sexuality, or of the very complicated nature of the human psyche, human nature, and the variability of human sexual proclivity.
.The stupidity of railing against contraception when it is so widely accepted and practiced throughout the developed world.

I believe the future of the Church lies in only having married heterosexual priests (and who practice responsible contraception), and in accepting homosexuality as a 'normally occurring' feature of the human animal - though disqualifying any exponents from the priesthood.

Posted by Candide, Tuesday, 17 December 2013 7:01:01 AM:
>> I believe there was research done in recent years which revealed that many priests regarded sex with someone who was not a woman as not breaking their vow of celibacy.<<

This is a real possibility, as indicated by current revelations, and represents a potential major and fundamental hypocrisy.