"It's time to stop all this blame-laying, punish those who are actually criminals,"
A little like shutting the stable door, don't you think Joe?
The church was dragged kicking and screaming into the limelight and eventually co-operated with the enquiries, not in the spirit of jutice and honesty but as an act of damage limitation.
This has been going on for at least half a century, and had it not been exposed in the way that it has, would have continued.
I wonder - if the abuse had been committed by teachers, social workers, scout and guide leaders... or any group of people who had been entrusted with the care of children, would you all be as ready to sort out the "few bad apples", forgive and move on?
If it had been your child or grandchild who had come home saying they had been raped or interefered with, or had had physical (often permanent) damage inflicted on them, would you be as ready to move on - or would you want to know how those entrusted with the child's welfare allowed it to happen and ascertain that it never happened again?
Would you be happy to let children, yours or anybodys, continue to be under the influence of an organisation which perpetrated, facilitated and covered up systematic widespread and long-term abuses?
Shouldn't the buck have stopped with the church as a whole or was/is it a special case?
We are not just looking at a handful (or even a large number) of rogue priests and nuns, but at institutional abuse on a large scale - physical, mental, and a complete betrayal of trust over a very long period.
In a grim sort of way part of the problem has been solved; the church will never be trusted again and it will never again occupy the position of power over the minds and bodies of the population it once did.
It is still fighting to maintain its influence over childrens' education - if there is any justice in the world, that will disappear in the near future.
Any good that the church might have done disappeared in the wash of the abuse revelations.
Jim Carroll