Boston Cardinal O’Malley will meet Irish abuse victims - SEE POLL

The semi-sainted, Cardinal O'Malley will have his hands full, explaining the latest revelations of Vatican Coverups, complete with the 1997 letter to the Irish Bishops, which basically "encourages" them not to involve the police in the investigation of their precious Pedophile Priests. After-all, they were told to be "Fathers," to these perverted priests, rather than policemen. Why not ask Cardinal O'Malley to explain why Pedophile Priests had more rights than the children, who they were raping and sodomizing. His answer should show how much spiritual discernment, he really has. The world is waiting for his honest answer, rather than empty apologies from the Vatican.

I gather that the Diocese of Ferns financed the building of a retirememt dwelling for the disgraced former Bishop of that diocese, Dr Brendan Comisky, and I believe he is still residing within the Diocese.

I don't think the final report will deal with all of the cases that need to be investigated. As I live in Donegal, within the Diocese of Raphoe, it is unlikely that the cases of clerical sexual abuse here and the failure of the bishops to deal with it appropriately will be thoroughly scrutinized. One particular priest, a Fr. Green, was a notorious sexual abuses of children was was moved from parish to parish for many years. He was eventually convicted, served time in jail, but thanks to many people who could not accept the truth of his guilt money was raised to buy him a house in Co. Galway where he no resides in comfort.

What is "revolutionary" about teaching the catechism? Most of the laity have already moved well beyond Cardinal O'Malley's thinking. I'd advise him to visit the praytellblog [dot] com and read an article by the author of "The Perfumed Traditionalists." According to its Zurich reviewer, “The promise in the book’s blurb to offer the key to the scandals of the Roman Church is almost an understatement. It offers the key to the Ratzinger pontificate as a whole.” The author calls for Catholics to recognize that the Vatican has drawn far-right extremist teachings into the center of church life. Thus the Church has become "a fundamentalist sect, a 'holy remnant,' and distances itself ever more from the rest of society." This author addresses the self-delusion of the Vatican about the homosexuality of its clergy and the decline of the Church's encouragement of the arts and humane culture. (If I recall, Bishop Dolan recently took the NY Times to task for one of its reviews in the arts. Clergy have come a long way since Dante Aligheiri had the freedom in 14th century Italy to write of his journey through the Inferno and his contempt for the popes he met there.) Many Catholics and ex-Catholics would add that the church's teachings on women and its abuse of children compound the problems that call for a true revolution, not just a "let's get together and feel alright" approach to re-filling the church buildings on Sundays.