I am not in any way saying it only happens in the Catholic church it happens in most Church's.
But it happens far too often in this church.
Never forget these men for century's have told us their God is our creator.
The reason we exist, and the world exists.
They constantly tell us how to live , even when to have sex and who with.
We are constantly told God loves us.
How?
How could any man serving such a God assault a child?
How could a church leader cover up for that man?
History is full of victims,all of the Church's history these poor girls area grain of sand among many.
If the church is to move on, if it can ,it must treat these pedophiles, thats what they are, like the criminals they are.
Tell me No story's about compassion ask your God what he would think.

Foxy, thanks for your sympathetic post.

I think there are several separable issues here.

1. The cynical and unduly legalistic treatment of complaints of sexual abuse which exacerbates the human suffering of the victims and their families.

2. The mean-spirited nature of the compensation scheme which arbitrarily puts a cap of $50,000 on any compensation without regard for all the different circumstances and takes no account of the Catholic Church's fabulous wealth.

3. The secrecy of any settlements which smacks of cover-up. Pay up and hush up.

4. Once paid out, the Church believes their moral responsibility is dead, as if they're saying, "Well, we paid for your pain, now stop feeling pain".

5. The fundamental paradox and hypocrisy of the Church defending itself and its employees in the courts against victims of rape and sexual abuse who refuse to be paid to shut up and go quiet. Where's the Christian compassion and virtue?

6. The Church leadership has no understanding that the fundamental causes of sexual abuse by clergy must be tackled in order to prevent abuse of priestly powers in the future.

7. The failure of Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals and Popes in the past - and now - to show Christian leadership on, and accept responsibility for, this crystal clear moral issue.

Dear Spikey,

You've summed it up much better than
I could have done. Thank You.

It's only by people applying pressure
to the Church's hierarchy - that possibly
anything will get done.

Media attention also helps.

The Church's record is appaling to date.
Cover-ups have been a part and parcel
of the way they've dealt with problems
in the past throughout the Church's history.

It is well past the time that a mere apology
is going to suffice. As Mr Foster said, an
apology is meaningless unless its backed up
by action.

The Church must do more.

Whether it will is another matter.

HI TO ALL THE FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS

hi to everyone out their ,

foxy

i watched the program on abc about what happend to the young girls and as far as im concerned the churches have continued denial for years as that of our state of new south wales ,

also abc had on late line cardial pell the night before where he him self had covered up rapes and abuse in the catholic church dating back to 2003 ,

we know that these are crimes that will never stop ,

but we also need the prime minister of australia mr kevin rudd to give the victims that were raped and abused in the states run institutions of australia which each state had control of to apologize to us victims that were raped and abused and made slaves for their own purpose .

we are real victims that the goverment of australia has continued to cover up and we will no longer be forgotten

if its good enough for the church to apologize its good enough for the prime minister to apolgize to us victims of the state run institutions of australia as we are real victims as well ,.

foxy, belly , and all other surporters i know you all would like to hear the same as well

how much longer before our goverment will really acknowledge us victims ,

kind regards huffnpuff a real victim still trying to survive

Dear Michael,

You must be a mind reader.

I sat here watching the Papal apologise
on TV - and my thoughts turned to you.

And here you are.

As you know, I've sent emails to the PM,
I've written letters to newspapers,
I've emailed the ABC.

Let's hope that the Pope's actions will
inspire our PM to do likewise.

My wish for you is to finally get closure and be
able to move on.

The Pope's apology is a step
in the right direction, hopefully with more
action to follow.

I can only pray that the PM will follow his
example.

All The Best Michael,

Unfortunately, an apology and "full legal admissions" are two totally different things. An apology is the easy part.

In my opinion, the Church will be VERY guarded about any specific admissions for the sole purpose of protecting it's wealth. To run the church in a modern society requires MASSIVE wealth. As in the past, I believe the church will continue to place a "first" priority on it's wealth. Victims will come second to that.

It's not right, it's not Christian (in the "true" sense of the word), and if a God exists as they believe, then they will eventually be judged.

The preservation of the Church's wealth is what this is all about. Why? Because the Church's hierarchy KNOWS an impoverished Church, in a modern world, will quickly crumble.