Leading Irish Catholic priest: Child sex-abuse scandal 'goes right to the top in Rome'

this should have been church doctrine from the day the first gospel was written,THERE SHOULD BE NO PLACE FOR EVIL MEN LIKE THESE IN ANY ORGANISATION LET ALONE A CHURCH.How come it takes 2,000 years to arrive at this conclusion,sickening.

I don't think much about it. I was'nt altogether surprised as I grew up in Ireland in the "Pre-Vatican Two" era and as Brendan Behan once said "I spoke "Church Latin" and still do as a matter of fact. I was wholly surprised by the scope of it. Somehow, I have a certain feeling that is hard to describe in that my Parents and Grandparents did'nt live to witness this debacle. However, there was many scandals in the Church down through the ages and after the storm had subsided, the Barque of Peter was seen in Peaceful Waters. This is Jesus' Church and he has said that the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it. He will ask each one of us again "Who do you say I am?

I am very firm and consistent, not squirming, in posting my thoughts on IC. I do take an adversarial approach against what I see as Media Misrepresentation and postings of untrue and derogatory comments. As was said recently, the Media (and I add, their lackeys - that would include hate-filled anti-Catholic, un-Christian people) have to be careful that they do not become the ‘New Oppressors’. I will not shirk from anyone - including wiz, kickstar, media people or others - unjustifiably (note I said UN-justifiably) attacking the goodness of the Church that I’ve firmly and freely chosen after much soul-searching to practice my faith in Jesus through (I’ve been privileged to visit the tombs or relics of most of the original Apostles, said me prayers etc in front of the relics). I often criticise my Church as it is today and some of its priests and practices, yet I know its goodness and Truth better. Over some years, in private with friends I did say, and now unashamedly in public, do call for bishops named in the Murphy Report and others to resign their positions because they failed to protect the vulnerable, as Jesus protected a vulnerable Mary Magdalene. I don’t know all the facts about Pope Benedict’s role in these Irish events (and elsewhere for that matter) but on the face of what is so far presented, I’d even call for him to look at what he may have failed to do and consider abdication before his and our Christ. New leadership is needed, right now. If defending my chosen Church against unjustifiable attacks on its wholeness makes people sick, I am sorry... I pray speedy recovery through the love and forgiveness of Jesus.

I have never once attempted to belittle the horrors delivered upon children nor have I ever defended abusers as my postings here and elsewhere on IrishCentral hopefully show. I have been a regular contributor to various debates on IC since last March. It is a pity that the new format on IC no longer allows any one of us IC readers to check back to our previous contributions and those of others’ because everybody including wiz would have been able to see what I posted on IC on any topic in the past. I repeat here what I’ve said previously (mostly under Fr. Tim’s and Megan Finnegan’s articles) - that the Catholic Church and its hierarchy and those of other Christian Churches, including all of the Orthodox Churches, must return to the simple practices of Christianity as they were in the first centuries after Christ. I pointed out then that the earliest Christians had celebrated ‘Mass’ in their own homes DAILY with no priest present or a Bible to hand to read from (‘cos it wasn’t written until some 80 years after Christ’s time on earth and certainly wasn’t mass-distributed in those early centuries, neither could most people read or write back then). In those times too, almost all family and media things were by word of mouth. To me personally that means the Bible is slightly secondary to Christian Tradition (word of mouth), though these are regarded equal in Catholicity today. (More...)

I am humbly happy to accept wizardofoz’ apologies and appreciation that most priests are good. My main points in this debate have been to: 1) defend the majority of priests who are good and 2) attack media printing headlines worded in such ways as to daub ALL priests, of whatever rank of the Catholic Church, as evil abusers. In the way that media print headlines, I am not unaware of the use of words, fonts and editorialist practices. The way that many media make headlines is designed to make it eye-catching, shock-prompting, must-readable, and therefore a buyable, money-raking rag for the company/medium presenting these kinds of headlines. Gutter-press exercises. How many media moguls on our planet can you count on your 10 fingers/digits? How many popes of media does make up? It is these practices, going right to the top, that daubed good priests everywhere with the sins of the evil ones and which I fight against in this debate. (More...)

Barneyjo will probably appreciate this. I’m back from a bit of Christmas shopping in today’s miserable wet Irish weather, sipping some soup. Fortunately, I kept a copy of my failed postings and now re-post them, hoping they get through the internet ether or past a ‘maybe-anti-jacers’ IC sub-editor. Yes, I agree barneyjo: St. Isadore, the Patron Saint of computer users and others, including schoolchildren, may have stepped in! But I’ll have a go and see if my slightly-edited re-postings get through with or without St. Isadore’s permission. (Believe this or not – before I post anything online in debates relating to religion, I say a wee prayer to the Holy Spirit of Wisdom. I have several times reviewed pre-typed up comments and cancelled posting them. Amazing how that’s happened not a few times; goes to show that I and potential readers of me thoughts are beholden to a careful Spirit. My previous postings, the ones that failed to get through, and hopefully now following, will get through. Like B’jo, I’m happy to let God be the Judge in His love (More... In chapters, feranbegawdsake forgive me!)

I've posted a couple of replies to posts by others but they've not it made online. Probably like barneyjo's comment under another article, they've disappeared in the internet ether. Or blocked by some IC sub-editor posing as a commentor who knows my points are too strong in truth. Alas...

Wizard, thanks for your follow-up post on this. I think where we differ on this point is I am content to let the Judgment of our Lord and Saviour to be the final verdict on paedophile priests, and others who have committed the same henious acts. My piddling viewpoint is going to count for very little in the History of the Universe.No, we will all stand in Judgment before God to account for our thoughts words and deeds - best not to presume what God's Judgements might be, even less put those judgements to the test.....just in case our humanity might get in the way.

The New York Times today states, that in the past few years the Catholic Church has payed out $660 million in Los Angelos, $85 million in Boston, $38 million in Bridgeport and the most recent settlement to be paid, $250 million by the Christian Brothers. And, this was a partial list. The most terrible sin was that inflicted on the children and their families, the second wave is the impact of that sin on all the good that had been established by true people of faith who built the churches schools, hospitals and missions around the globe. Now, as schools close, property is sold off to pay for the scandel what will be left to fill the void. In some ares in New York the only alternative to poor, crime ridden schools, were the Catholic schools. How will people feel when they sell off churches where people had been married, baptised their infants and buried there parents? The accountable should step down for the greater good of the remaining church.

Does this sound like a church that would be sanctioned by Jesus or God himself...Remember "You will know them by their fruit"

A secret document which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church Crimen Sollicitationis was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope. It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests and has been seen by few outsiders. Critics say the document has been used to evade prosecution for sex crimes. Crimen Sollicitationis was written in 1962 in Latin and given to Catholic bishops worldwide who are ordered to keep it locked away in the church safe. It instructs them how to deal with priests who solicit sex from the confessional. It also deals with "any obscene external act ... with youths of either sex. It imposes an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witnesses. Breaking that oath means excommunication from the Catholic Church.

This is a chance to overhaul this den of vipers this filthy cup of venom this Roman catholic church 1] Boot out all nuns priests bishops cardinals and nazi popes 2] Introduce new church leaders "Only Female need apply" as in teachers of all sorts Women are the least abusive 3] As men will never carry a baby they should shut their mouths about abortion.

Wizardofoz. Lecturing anyone was not on my mind. Like I said in my earlier post I agree with the broad sentiments of your observations about the coverup of Clerical abuse within the Irish Catholic Church. In respect of my question about your Religious outlook, I rightly pointed out that our Lord and Saviour called upon us not to Judge others less we ourselves be judged. I am content to accept his word on that. If however you take a different view then so be it. I deeply regret it, but I acknowledge your absolute right to do so. Another gift from our Lord and Saviour

For the record and wizardofoz’ edumacation, here’s what I have said under an article by Fr. Tim, where Fr. Tim called for all of his fellow-Irish priests to head for the airports and leave Ireland: “Those few (of abusing priests and of cover-up officials, including police officers) must face the civil and religious punishments they deserve for both civil and religious abuse crimes. I wouldn’t even let them go near an airport; I’d lock them up in a lonely cell for the rest of their lives to atone for the horrible wrongs they did to people who have to live the rest of their lives suffering alone in their minds from the abuses”. That would be my wish if I was a judge, which I'm not - I'm just an ordinary guy, such as you wouldn't notice passing by you in the street. I hope this shows that my defending has been geared towards highlighting good priests and geared against gutter-Press headlines alluding that ALL Roman Catholic priests are bad, as often their headlines portray, when the vast majority of priests in our communities are not. That is my right. I will continue to defend good priests and continue to call for ‘bad’ priests of any level to atone and be reconciled to the message of Jesus, the Son of God. There’s a lot of penance and forgiveness needed yet. I don’t have to ‘order’ satan to get behind me. Christ’s love and protection in the face of satan keeps me behind Him. wiz is partly right, doesn’t need a lecture from anyone. Certainly needs a prayer though. May I suggest that wiz prays an ‘Our Father’ after s/he has read this? I will, in the moments after I post this. That might make us together again, Deo Gratis.

Wizardofoz asks why, really alleges that I defend ‘wicked scum’ and seemingly accuses me of being a ‘nefarious reprobate’ – an evil degenerate person. I invite wizard to read all my posts on this and other IC sites and find evidence of where I have ever defended ‘wicked scum’ or have ever portrayed my ‘anonymous-online-like-wizardofoz’- self as nefarious or a reprobate. wiz also seems to be fond of using Christ’s words “Get behind me Satan!”. I do hope and pray wiz is not alluding to the people s/he addresses in posts in saying these words; none of us human mortals can ever be the Lord of Evil and should not be addressed as such. I also hope and pray that wiz is not assuming s/he has the qualities of Jesus to actually command satan to ‘get behind’, as if s/he could command the supremely powerful evil spirit. (more...)