Hi Foxy,

I didn't see the show either but I have some solutions

1. All church records should be immediately made accessible to the Police! No if's, no buts, No obstruction from lawyers!

2. All clergy and church members whose files have been hidden should be examined by the police with charges laid against the perpetrators, the people within the organisations that covered it up, and, any others associated in any way whatsoever, who knew of the cases and didn't report them.

We have laws for sex crimes, laws covering accessories before and after the fact and laws for interfering with an ongoing police investigation.

3. Investigate the lawyers of the Churches to see what they knew. If they are accessories charge them as well!

The fact that religions have hidden such horrific crimes means that they have been outside the law continuously and cannot be trusted whatsoever.

Finally the churches should have to reimburse the tax payer for all costs associated with these investigations and compensate and reimburse all individuals who have been harshly treated by the churches.

The only thing churches like more than God is money.

Hit them hard and make them totally liable.

What would Jesus expect of organisations allegedly associated with him, to do, if their members have committed such horrid crimes?

Jesus said Matthew 19:14 "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me....."

Well when many of them came to his organisations they sure "suffered".

Please read http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/

It is outrageous how the churches have acted on this heartbreaking subject.

And Remember "These are only the ones that the Police have found out about"

Dear Opinionated2,

Thank You so much for your input.
You're one of the first to offer advice on how
the sexual abuse should be dealt with.

Thank You also for the website that you gave.
It's excellent, and I highly recommend other
posters look it up. I had never heard of the
"Broken Rites," organisation.

Reading through
their site was a real eye-opener - especially
seeing Cardinal Pell's photograph with the
priest who was guilty of sexual abuse - Ridsdale.
Pell accompanying Ridsdale to court - on charges
of sexual abuse.

This is really upsetting - and I feel totally
disheartened. I'm beginning to see that the Church
really has a long way to go to recover the sense
that it reflects the integrity of God and the
gentleness of Christ.

Priests are supposed to mirror
hope, compassion, justice, decency, sympathy, openess,
and other traits that are Christian. People working
in Catholic institutions should treat others with the
kind of dignity, integrity and goodness with which
God treats them.

If the Church is to survive in this country - it must
clean out the sickness within. It must no longer hide
or excuse behaviour that is criminal - for that is
what sexual abuse is - a crime. The Church needs to
change - other wise it will wither and die.

There would be quite a few Labour State Pollies worried if Opinionated suggestions were carried out in NSW Parliament. Maybe a few homosexual judges also who liked boys would be squirming quite a bit.

Why runner did you post that?
You enter threads selling Christianity, defending it, but that was spiteful.
Yes ALP members have committed such dreadful acts, so too have people from all walks of life.
But while catholics do have a very big place in the ALP I see your post as biased unneeded and further proof Christianity is not for me.
Until we all of us find a way to stop these crimes against children we should hang our heads in shame.

Belly

'Why runner did you post that?'

Simply in the name of balance. I have no reason to defend the Catholic church but I am tired of the way they are singled out on a community problem. No one has ever produced statistics as to molesting priests being in higher proportions than molesting teachers or doctors or artist. What the Catholic church has done in cover up is no difference from other organisations such as boy scouts. It is despicable whether it is the Labour party or the Catholic church. I have made my views clear that I think all repeat offenders should be castrated.

I happen to agree that we all should hang our heads in shame. When a man can rape a 4 year old girl, plead guilty and still be walking free because of the colour of his skin we know we have a hopelessly inept justice system. The issue will never be addressed by catholic bashing.

The Church is based on tribalism much like corporatism.You don't rat on your friends even if your common humanity is compromised.It is all about the survival of the institution and the power of those at the apex.
Nearly all of our organisations echo our roots of tribalism.