"I find it worthwhile to examine both the good and bad aspects of anything to achieve a balanced, realistic view."
So if a school teaches good math, but many of its teachers abuse the children that is acceptible as a balanced, realistic view, is it Joe?
"As for the entire population of Ireland being guilty of accepting oppression from the Catholic Church, I think there's truth in that,"
If this monstrous insult is true - perhaps you can say why the people stood by and allowed abuse they knew was happening to continue? Were they indifferent to the suffering of their and other people's children; did they believe that the abuse was doing no harm; was it some sort of payment to the church for all its goodness - a human sacrifice; are Irish people apathetic, cowardly, unaware, insensitive.... why?
If it is because the church mesmerised both the victims and the families to the extent that they did nothing, is that not a impelling reason to abolish the church as a threat to Irish society, as has been proposed for so many of the cults?
It's hard not to notice that there have yet to be any acceptences of guilt by the church as a body or by the Vatican, and the Bishop of Limerick is heading back to Rome without either an offer of resignation from him or a demand for same from his employers, which puts all the mealy-mouthed regrets expressed so far into context.
But that's o.k. - the responsibility really rests with the people of Ireland.
The only comforting thing about this indecent display of inhumanity is that the church, if it survives, will never again have the credibility it once had - if I were a Christian I'd offer up a prayer of thanks to that!
Jim Carroll