Smokey says:

I find it very hard to see how anyone with a conscience could continue to support such an institution.

No institution is perfect, Smokey - and no individual is perfect, either. As an ex-seminarian and someone who has worked in the Catholic Church all my life, I have had a vast amount of experience with the Church, and most of it has been positive. Yes, I have been aware of misconduct and injustices in the Church, but most times there has been a strong outcry against such abuses. And most times, I have seen far more good than bad in my church.

Catholic teaching is strongly opposed to any sort of injustice, including physical and sexual abuse of children. In eight years of Catholic seminary training, I was never taught to condone any sort of abuse. Certain individuals in leadership positions have violated those teachings - does that means that I am bound by conscience to abandon MY religious beliefs and hand over MY church to the transgressors? That's absurd! Send them to prison if they committed crimes, but don't tell me I have to give them my church.

I have to say that I have a hard time believing in the helplessness of the poor lay people in the face of the powerful and oppressive laity. If a child is abused or molested, why don't his parents speak out? If Father So-and-So is a bastard, why not treat him like the bastard he is? I've certainly told off a good number of bastard priests in my lifetime - why can't other people have an ounce of courage and do the same? And for God's sake, if your child is molested, report the criminal to the police and take your child to get help - don't wait for some institution to do it for you.

Yes, there are bastards in the Catholic Church, and there are child molesters in the Catholic Church and in almost every family and institution and community. Punish the people who committed the crimes, and punish them severely - but don't spread the blame and punishment too broadly, because we all are to blame for the ills of our society.

It's time to stop all this blame-laying, punish those who are actually criminals, and find a SOLUTION to the problem.

-Joe Offer-