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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Vatican and Irish church cover-up of worst pedophile priest finally laid bare

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Vatican and Irish church cover-up of worst pedophile priest finally laid bare

Posted on Friday, December 17, 2010 at 10:09 AM

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michellep | Jan 10, 2011, 03:47 PM EST

Those poor CHILDREN!!!! ALL OF THEM....I wanted to say.

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michellep | Jan 10, 2011, 03:46 PM EST

This is another SAD SAD view of the human race! That POOR CHILD, this man should be removed from exsistance. GOD would not and will not EVER forgive this!!! SICK!!

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Monsoonman | Jan 03, 2011, 10:44 AM EST

Here in the USA, a young boy had been molested by a local pedophile, the man was arrested. The wheels of justice grind very slowly here in cali, many say that the "justice" system is neither fair nor just. The basic fact is that judges are only lawyers with a black robe draped over them...The mother brought a pistol into court and shot the pedophile, justice was accomplished in the courtroom that time.

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IRISH45MAN | Jan 02, 2011, 09:28 PM EST

RYAN AND WALSH SHOULD BE IN THE SAME CELL WHAT DIRT BAGS ONE WORSE THAN OTHER IF THEY DID THIS TO MY KID I WOULD TAKE CARE OF MY WAY !!!!!

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biggles008 | Jan 02, 2011, 09:17 AM EST

Years ago the clergy could do no wrong, but that has changed.

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John O'Brien | Dec 31, 2010, 02:40 PM EST

Send the dispicable bastard to the moon to be safe!

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McNamara31 | Dec 28, 2010, 09:13 PM EST

2BorNot2B...Yes we are all sinners as the Bible has documented through time, however the sins you have mentioned where acted out by adults. The fact that time and time again you fail to grasp is that these horrific sins were acted out on children and then enabled by a Vatican who acted more like a corporation protecting it's interests than a body of Christ. This Pope has to be held accountable for the evil perpetrated on the young during his tenure as we are accountable for our own individual sins.

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cuisle1st | Dec 28, 2010, 08:51 PM EST

wrong is wrong. From the bishops and all the way to the pope they should face criminal charges. Aiding and abetting - for starters.

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eileend | Dec 28, 2010, 12:56 PM EST

2BorNot2B--The point of the discussion, especially in Ireland right now, is not the abusers themselves; yes, there are abusers in every field.I do pray that now that a spotlight is being focused on the problem in the Church, that it is decreasing. The problem is how the Church responded to not only the initial abuse, but the revelations and accusations. Time and again during the long history of our church(yes, I'm Catholic, too), has repeated one mistake over and over again in overseeing its responsibilities. It has consistently protected the heirarchy and institution of the Church over its members. I don't understand how anyone can blindly give obedience to an organization that blames the victims, who happen to be children, in protecting predators, who happen to be the authority figures appointed by the church to minister to and PROTECT the children. Do you really, really think that Christ would follow the kind of logic that kept vulnerable victims accessible to one of the most evil and pernicious predators I've ever heard of?(and I am an ED nurse. Sadly, I saw a lot of predators). It is not a betrayal of faith in God to question the humans who administer His church. It is an obligation. If it weren't, Christ would never have thrown the money-changers out of the temple.

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adrienrain | Dec 28, 2010, 12:31 PM EST

Celibacy is as virtuous as constipation. It is also the most artificial form of birth control imaginable. I believe that the culture of celibacy corrupts.

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barneyjo | Dec 21, 2010, 04:58 PM EST

I'm kind of surprised not to find a rebuttal of my views from anyone who have rushed to dismiss my views. I wonder if it could be anything to do with people having to think again in view of the recent remarks made by the Holy Father on Monday evening in Rome. In a pre-christmas address to members of the Curia in which he referred to the Clerical Abuse issue, he had this to say; "We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life, to allow such a thing to happen." Now it would seem to me that in that statement, the Pope is clearly stating that he is now viewing the causes and course of Clerical abuse across the Catholic world as being more than just the actions attributed to a "minority" of priest offenders. He went even further in his address. Quoting the vision of the 12th-century saint Hildegard of Bingen, the pope said that “the face of the church is stained with dust”, adding: “We must accept this humiliation as an exhortation to truth and a call to renewal . . . We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the injustice that has occurred." To those that post on this site and suggest that priest abusers within the church form only a small "depraved" rump using the Church for cover, the Holy Father to my mind is clearly saying "we have to think again about this!!"

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barneyjo | Dec 20, 2010, 06:48 PM EST

Two further points; I am assuming that neither you any of your family have ever been victims or otherwise affected by Clerical Abuse. You should be thankful for that. If you have not done so already you should also read the Murphy Report, especially the just released chapter 19. If you are so certain of the ultimate infallibility of the Church Institution, you shouldnt have a problem in doing that. Mind you, I counsel you to read the actual document itself, and not the edited commentaries or hilights of it. It wont make you any less a Catholic if you do this!!

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barneyjo | Dec 20, 2010, 06:24 PM EST

contd; I have no hesitation in saying that I believe that those who have permitted such awful things to happen will be called to account in the ultimate court, before Our Lord. And I also have hope for the Church; not as it is now, but in what it can be once again. This last summer I attended the ordination of my cousin as a Priest. He is NOT tainted by the scourge of all that has gone before. He will NOT stand idly by and let others suffer at the hands of fellow clerics, or for that matter, fellow human beings. One final thought, this is MY FAITH and MY CHURCH, as much as it is yours. I wont be driven from it. I will challenge anyone, any view or any action by another in which I see the absence of Christ, be they Cleric, Layman or whoever. Its because my faith and my church are precious to me that I can do no less!!

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barneyjo | Dec 20, 2010, 06:12 PM EST

@2BorNot2B - At the risk of falling foul to your totally unwarranted vitriol against me and my viewpoint (which I accept you are entitled to do by the way) I will reply to your negative points by simply saying the following; I am a Catholic, an Irish Catholic, and a practicing Irish Catholic. I am proud of the fact that one of the great influences on my life was my late uncle who died just short of celebrating the 75th Anniversary of his ordination. I honour him and the entire scope of his Ministry, both here in Ireland and abroad in Missionary work in South America, Australia and the Philippines. Yet I have still been confronted with the unpalatible truth that during his tenure as a Senior Administrator within his Missionary Order in Ireland, he had to have knowledge of one of the Priests named in the Report of Clerical abuse in the Dublin Diocese. More specifically, I have been faced with the prospect that he had direct responsibility for the management of this individual and for the failure to prevent his continuance as a Serial Abuser for many years. That does not sit well with me. And no, I do not as you suggest, literally swallow everything that is written on this issue here on IC, or elsewhere. I have had to ask myself ( and I believe ALL Catholics SHOULD also ask this) in all that I have read about the actions of Cardinals, Bishops, Priests in respect of Clerical abuse and its cover up; where is Jesus in their actions?? It is part of my shame now as a Catholic that I now realise that God was not at the centre of the decisions and actions of many senior Churchmen across the world. And by their actions (or inactions) countless lives were damaged immeasurably when they need not have been.............

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2BorNot2B | Dec 20, 2010, 02:44 PM EST

"they are my beliefs and as such, they are both legitimate and authentic for me, as I feel these beliefs, and the truths they contain, very personally and very profoundly!!" ------- PS to barneyjo: There are some 30K proddy sects in the US alone founded by men who can describe 'their beliefs' exactly in the same way you do. I'm sure Henry VIII, his daughter Lizzie, Calvin, Melanchton, Luther et al were just as convinced as you are. So... if 'faith' is about seeking 'the TRUTH' and living it... who exactly has it? -- It's like the framers of the US Constitution.. they wrote it but then left it up to anyone's interpretation! I'd call that a recipe for chaos.

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