Innoncence of the Church

"It is sad that so many priest have been accused of giving into unnatural acts, but my conscience guides to lean toward innocent until proven guilty"

As not to get off topic in Kevin's thread, I was wondering if you care to expand on this comment Michael given the number who have been guilty and the known cover ups that have taken place to save the face of the church.

Yes To begin with I don't believe every one convicted or has even entered a guilty plea is guilty. If you are a direct witness or have had a child molesting reported to you as the bishops have been accused of they can be prosecuted by the law as an accessory. The number of bishops serving jailtime is relatievely low, yet I agree one is too many . Would you take your child out of school if a teacher and a principle were ever convicted?

"Would you take your child out of school if a teacher and a principle were ever convicted?"

Not if the abuser was sent to prison. Trouble is, Vatican city is a safe haven for these pedophille priests, so if the pope suspects one of his lads is going to get arrested (if that is he can't scare the parents or other local clergy into shutting up about it, like he usually does) then he just pulls them back to rome, where they cannot be touched, legally speaking.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/04/22/bring-the-pope-to-justice.html

"I will state again I would not defend any wrong doing by any religious authority
In December 2002, Cardinal Law left Boston. It is often alleged that he left just hours before state troopers arrived with subpoenas seeking his grand jury testimony; however, he had previously given evidence before two grand juries and been fully investigated by the state attorney general and the 5 district attorneys in the counties in which the Archdiocese operates. When the state attorney general issued his report entitled Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston (July 23, 2003) he severely criticised Law but he did not allege that Law had tried to evade investigation and he did state that Law had not broken any laws."

There is always two sides to every stories and I won't claim my source is less bias than yours, but the truth is I am not a witness and chances are you are not either

Personally I believe many religious authorities have made mistakes and committed terrible abuses of authority, but there are leaders in science and polititics that are considered authorities also. I won't stop going to doctors because a few are guilty of malpractice.

My father and uncles were in a catholic boys home and suffered some disgusting things in their stay. 25 years later, after a long fight, they received settlements and apologies, it was never and will never be enough for them to go back to the church. In fact it was a big reason we were never raised Catholic. While I don't believe that every priest is a potential pedophile, we can't ignore their existence or the effect they have on the lives of their parishioners.

I must say with no sarcasm that makes you closer to a witness than I. Of all the catholics I know some of which claim a mental abuse such as being told it is evil to be left handed I have never met anyone who said they were sexually abused . You are the first that even knows a victim. It is a terrible shame and I can't even imagine the mental emotional and spiritual damage such and abomination would cause

"Personally I believe many religious authorities have made mistakes and committed terrible abuses of authority, but there are leaders in science and polititics that are considered authorities also. I won't stop going to doctors because a few are guilty of malpractice."

But I do hope it would make you take a closer look. Predators exist everywhere and in the end the price we pay for indifference is much higher and at the expense of more than just ourselves.

In the romantic view of many catholics the church is seen as the Mystical Body Of Christ. Tradition has it that order came from chaos. Of the twelve that christ chose, one betrayed him, one denied him, and yet anothder doubted him. As I examine my conscience which I pray is not con/science I am ashamed that it would take a lot less than you or Kevin could imagine for me to become, mindless heartless, and soulless. May God bless us all

Do you know what Ratzinger said when he heard about a priest sexually abusing 30 deaf children in his parish?

He said "the children need the most loving pastoral care provided for them"

That was his response, and the offending priest was just moved to another parish.

Fail.