we are unique,

I refer to my previous celibacy comments. I’d add that I don’t see the universally married priest thing happening soon and particularly not before this scandal abates. The Church experienced 1000 years of piecemeal attempts to address failures of married priests to be “eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven” before introducing celibacy as a standard. With failures to be sexually continent in focus putting priests in a situation where it is harder to be sexually continent is probably unrealistic. It may happen but not soon.

Jack from Bicton,

Have you considered that they might have a different theological view and are politely refraining from pointless debate in case it harms the friendship?

Oliver,

What about the mental health professionals that the Bishops wrongly delegated authority to when alternative action, albeit non-normative in the secular world at that time in history, was called for? Shouldn’t they be held more accountable legally if not morally? They were the experts relied upon and they made no vows about confession. How come Kinsey is glorified in a movie in spite of his published research on the sexual responses of infants and his organization doesn’t even get bad pr? Things were different in those days but why just the Bishops in the Catholic Church simply because the media use rhetorical descriptions of their failure and single them out for dirt digging from 50 years ago?

Being asleep at the wheel as Shepherds is something that has rightly moved the scandal to a level much higher than it would be if it was just a tiny proportion of priest abusers. Their role opens them up to special condemnation as Suzeonline has pointed out. However I don't understand why they should be legally singled out when there are so many other possible defendants.

yes Belly, but the Cure is worse than the Curse, so THAT is where the anger lies.

It is a long story but once I "came out" CentreCare [the Catholic Employment Agency] was at the start and end of the whole Towards Healing process, and as soon as I read the lovely book on TH and saw that Parky had been called in by Howard to "ammend" it, it was instant deja vu to the same as he did to Family Law Act and Child Support Acts, ie gave the impression [to all but legal experts like me] that a person no longer gets "his day in court" [see HCA re Brandy case]

So I let them know what I knew and did they ever $hit blue lights, employing an ex chief of police to do the final interview [similar to Spannish Inquisition].

I could have taken it to court because I knew how but I guess I made my point rather well on my web sites, finally getting an email from the ex wife of Parky confirming he [she calls him buckwheat, as in *uckwitt] DOES check every hour to see that "his poos don't smell" by putting his hand down his trousers and sniffing it.

Dear Olly and mjpb,

Thanks to both of you for your concern.
I won't go into to much detail as I don't
want to de-rail Suze's thread. However,
I had a scare recently by being rushed
by ambulance to the Emergency Section of
my nearest hospital with a pulse-rate that
was through the roof. They also found that
I had a lung infection - and then things
got worse before they got better. I received
all kinds of injections and medications - some
of which didn't agree with me. Anyway - I'm
slowly getting better - so all's well that ends
well. It did scare me quite a bit though.

Dear Divorce Doctor,

I'm so sorry for what you've suffered - and I
wish you all that's beautiful and good in life!

As I've written in my earlier posts - I hope that
the Church will take action on these latest
charges - and win back the trust that it's lost.
It needs to put its house in order.

I feel sorry for the average Catholic...I truly do. All they want is to follow their faith and yet aren't they continually undermined by the actions of their church and it's leaders and some of the priests?

If what these articles allege, is anywhere near correct, is the Pope and his credibility in serious trouble?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23369148-pope-led-cover-up-of-child-abuse-by-priests.do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpZz8Ps6u6M

Do these articles (if true) make the Pope's apology to harmed children in Australia hypocritical and way too little and way too late?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4361704.ece

Where is the law in these matters? Isn't there a law of "accessory after the fact"? Shouldn't those who covered up the crimes also be punished?

Is the confessional the perfect system for cover-ups and crimes against children?

Please read what the Catholic Encyclopaedia says on the confessional http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01061a.htm

Where in the Bible did Jesus allow the creation of the confessional?

When Jesus said the Lord's prayer and gave it to humankind to pray, it stated, that we repent directly to GOD... Luke 11:2-4"...forgive us our trespasses (sins)..." http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=11&v=2&t=KJV#top

Does the confessional place a man in between the sinner and his/her GOD?...Do we now have men (priests) forgiving us of our sins, and where does Jesus permit this? Do we now have priests forgiving priests there sins?

Mark 2:10 states "the son of man has the power to forgive a sin" but it doesn't give man this power.

If the confessional replaces GOD in the process, does this make it unbiblical and therfore unChristian?

Is this an obviously flawed process, and has it allowed for the catholic church to keep any criminal activity "in house"?

But let's not just criticise the Catholic Church because this has happened in many institutions.

Didn't we lose a Governor General for a similar problem? Where were the "accessory after the fact" laws in that case?

Have you seen http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/ ?

When Jesus said "Suffer little children to come unto me" many of them sure suffered...and doesn't the suffering continues through lack of justice?

Luke 18:16 http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=18&v=16&t=KJV#16

What should happen to the Pope if what is alleged in the above articles is true?

Dear mjpb,

You wrote;

“The Church experienced 1000 years of piecemeal attempts to address failures of married priests to be “eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven” before introducing celibacy as a standard.”

My understanding of the Orthodox churches is that while they regard themselves as Catholic they do not acknowledge the authority of Rome.

From what I can gather within them it is a prerequisite for a priest to be married before he can officially serve as such. However the Bishops and Archbishops are chosen from the monastery folk who do indeed lead celibate lives.

Does this structure has merit? While it means a priest can not aspire to the position of Bishop-hood it keeps the celibate monastery types from engaging in direct pastoral care, seemingly with less impact on the more vulnerable in the parishes.

Opinionated 2,

Generally fair comments if the allegations are all true. If it was all as it appeared it wouldn’t make the hierarchy look good to understate things incredibly.

Your link 1:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23369148-pope-led-cover-up-of-child-abuse-by-priests.do

I’m sure that it is true that the documentary was on the BBC made the allegations but I don’t believe that the BBC allegations were true. Crimen Solicitationis is referred to extensively and appears to be the crux of it. Doylie is quoted as saying “What you have here is an explicit written policy to cover up cases of child sexual abuse by the clergy and to punish those who would call attention to these crimes by the churchmen.” This seems to be the central thesis of the documentary. Doylie however blamed the documentary producers for misunderstanding him. He said “I do not believe now nor have I ever believed it to be proof of an explicit conspiracy, in the conventional sense, engineered by top Vatican officials, to cover up cases of clergy sexual abuse.” Last I heard the BBC has never put forward any type of correction.

Also on the program is apparently the correct revelation that certain priests were accused of child abuse and were moved to another parish and that out of court settlements have occurred.

Without mentioning a date it refers to child abuse allegations being dealt with directly by Rome. It calls this a cover up policy. However all indications are that it was a way of preventing the delays and mishandling that had been occurring. The handling by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith headed by the current Pope then Cardinal Ratzinger started in 2001. I refer again to specific information on that case:

http://catholicanchor.org/wordpress/?p=601
“When the competency was changed to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in my observation as well as many of my canonical colleagues, sexual abuse cases were handled expeditiously, fairly, and with due regard to the rights of all the parties involved. I have no doubt that this was the work of then Cardinal Ratzinger.”

CONTINUED