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Priests debate Irish policies on child abuse


Irish priests are debating Irish policy on abuse
Irish priests are debating Irish policy on abuse

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Catholic Church authorities have been urged to distinguish between a pedophile priest and a cleric who commits "a minor indiscretion" it was claimed by an Irish Catholic organization on Tuesday.

The new Association of Catholic Priests challenged current policies at a private meeting in Co. Mayo on Tuesday. The group questioned the policy implemented by Irish Bishops who require priests to automatically step down from office if child abuse allegations are lodged against them.

Father Tony Flannery, a spokesperson for the group said that many priests who were present at the meeting expressed empathy towards colleagues who had been excluded from the ministry as a result of abuse complaints or suspicions.

The gathered group of 45 priests spent a considerable amount of time debating how their religious superiors handled child abuse allegations.

Fr Flannery told the Irish Independent that a clear distinction needed to be made between serial paedophile priests and the immature young clerics with little sexual experience who made mistakes.


Nster.com


9 Comments

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Now they will divvy them up by age.
I think these crossdressers should step down even before allegations are leveled against them, This would ultimately save time and effort later.
murphy66...you sly dog
And get rid of all the fancy robes, not impressive in 2010. If you want to dress up, do it on your own time.
PS..All religious denominations MUST stop child sexual abuse. It is NOT OK..period, whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, or whatever...any "holy book" that condones sex with children is a false holy book written by MEN who were depraved, at best.
That is ODD! Made mistakes? Kind of like "I only killed one person. Does that make me a murderer? I just made a mistake." Hard to believe a person with the education necessary to earn the title Priest could be so immature that he couldn't tell the difference between a young boy/girl and a mature woman..I won't go any further on that score. I objective is to STOP the sexual abuse of children..period. However, suspicion or accusation, is not proof of guilt. Take them out of service, investigate and if valid, defrock. In the US the accusation of child abuse is routinely used to attack men in divorce cases, whether true or not. False accusations by youngsters who don't like a man or woman teacher are also situations that destroy lives without trial or proof.
I blame it on the kids--the little seducers.
What? There are "minor" sins of sexual transgression--but only for priests? 'Sounds like another band-aid on an open, gushing wound. If the Roman Catholic Church is going to survive, its next era must be one of real and thorough change, and change begins with telling the truth openly. I'd prefer to hear from those young priests that they will not obey orders to remain silent about suspected sexual abuses by their colleagues, that they will report all cases of suspected abuse to civil police, without prejudging whether the transgressions are "minor" or felonious. Can they really believe that violation of a child is "minor" unless it is "serial"? Yes, we all make "mistakes," and we all suffer unjustly when accused of acts we did not commit or when charges are exaggerated. But Catholic Church authorities have demonstrated that they are not "authorities" in identifying sexual abuse. Such a charge belongs within the jurisdiction of criminal law. Under the rule of law, the innocent can expect exoneration after investigation. Any conspiracy of silence protects only the guilty.
Sounds like the usual. Soon they will be OK with having pedophiles, it will just be the serial pedophiles that they will have concern. The church will be able to argue some aspect of the numbers and just who is a serial pedophile - Oh that's Father Bob, he is only a repeat child rapist, he is not a serial pedophile because he also abused kiddies over x years of age and he also abused a woman of 40 - its obvious to the church that he is not a serial pedophile. Sounds normal for the Catholic church, the leading light of Christianity which continue to instruct the flock on how they and the rest of us should live - expect digression, diversion, obstruction lapses of memory and finger pointing for a while yet from this broken religion.
 




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