Guest
"paedophilia was and is a peculiarly Catholic crime,"
Nobody has ever suggested that , and it would be insane for anyone to do so.
The fact that others outside the Catholic church commit similar crimes, and worse is totally irrelevant, yet it has become a convenient bolt-hole for those who would defend the church by defending, minimising or totally ignoring it's crimes.
At the time these revelations were coming to light, many of those in the church dealing with the cases showed, at best, extreme scepticism, but often utter contempt for the victims and witnesses, often treating them as liars, and even participators in their own violation.
Last week's radio broadcast of two nuns (conveniently referred to as "Nun X" and "Nun Y") who showed without doubt that many the church officers still regard the things that they did were done "for the good" of their victims and for society in general.
This attitude appears to go through much church thinking like "Blackpool" goes through rock.
The Vatican still refuses access to documents essential to giving the survivors of these crimes closure and to making sure that these events are never repeated; it does so by claiming church confidentiality or even State immunity.
Transfer this stance to schools or hospitals or youth clubs or scouting organisations, or anywhere where adults are given access to vulnerable children and young adults, and tell us that you would find it acceptable.
I have no religion, though many of my family have, yet I owe the church a great debt of gratitude.
They excommunicated my father, a devout practicing Catholic and talented Collegian in Liverpool's S.F.X College, for fighting in the wrong war in the 1930's (Spain). Thanks to this act of great charity (my father didn't think so at the time) my sisters and I never grew up under the influence of any religion and were able to come to our own conclusions about our lives and responsibilities.
My chosen home now is the West of Ireland, where my wife and I spent many hundreds of happy and fruitful hours learning about traditional music song and culture from wonderful, kind, gentle and welcoming old people whose generosity still makes me catch my breath - all of these, without exception, were practicing and in some cases devout Catholics.
I have no axe to grind with religion, but I do with a church that betrayed and still betrays the massive and unquestioning trust that was placed in its hands.
Afterthought - there is a likelihood that some of those presently electing a new pope will have been among those who, if not actively, certainly passively, a part of these awful events and their cover-up - the retired pope certainly was.
Joe;
"you have no idea how appalling that is to me"
And you appear to have no idea how deeply these arguments upset me.
I've never met you (nearly did once) but I've come to respect you and like you from afar via this forum.
I have no doubt that you find these events distressing, but I'm afraid I don't believe that the best way to deal with them is by reducing them to one, two, or even hundreds of abusive priests, or that to point at the crimes of others is any way to put right the massive wrongs that have been inflicted on faithful followers, down the ages, as it turns out.
Best wishes,
Jim Carroll