"It isn't "The Church" that commits crime. "
It was and continues to be the Church that covered up the crim - from the top to the bottom - from the fellow priests who knew about their colleagues' "little weaknesses" to the Vatican, who locked away the details and still keeps them locked up
"The Church" is the body that makes this affair a unit - it sets it aside from all other similar cases of abuse
I have yet to get a response to the fact that, if this had happened within any other section of society it would have been handled very differently - not with mere retrospective exposures and a few sackings, but with mass legal actions against the perpetrators and their accomplices
The church, as a body, can be said to be complicit in these crimes - the knowledge of what was happening became a way of life within the church as a whole - something accepted and allowed to continue for the sake of self-survival.
I really don't believe that Joe and those who share his views really understand the enormity and the seriousness of what happened.
The issue of compensation is for the surviving victims to decide, not outsiders like us, but it is really a side-issue
I'm reminded of the twenty seven year farce following the Hillsborough Disaster when I listen to some of these arguments - the denials of blame, the blaming of the victims, the official cover-ups - above all, the denial of responsibility by those who could have done something different and didn't.
I was in Liverpool on the day that the enquiry finally laid the blame where it should have been 27 years earlier
The overall impression I was left with wasn't one of vengeance or demands for compensation, but one of relief by the families that, at long last, the truth had emerged
I have no interest in football whatever, (I hate the game) but I sat and watched those speeches from relatives with tears streaming down my face.
THat has yet to begin in this affair, yet there are those demanding that it should be forgotten and "we should be allowed to move on" - let bygones be bygones.
If the Irish Church is anything to go by, that just ain't gonna happen.
The question of compensation will be easily solved by the revenue brought in from the sale of unused churches.
Just a point about who has footed the bill so far.
"Irish taxpayers are to fund most of what is likely to be the largest payout from public funds to child abuse victims anywhere in the world. Organisations representing clerical abuse victims and members of the Dail claim the final compensation bill will be around €1.3 billion (£780 million)."........" the Catholic Church will only pay €128m towards the bill."
The rest comes out of ours - the taxpayer's pocket
And the church still prevaricates and refuses to cough up.
NOT ACCEPTABLE.
The least that can happen must be that the church - as a body - puts its hands up and admits its guilt fully and supplies all information necessary to bring closure.
The best that can happen is already happening arbitrarily
The church, as a body, must never occupy positions in our society where these crimes, or similar, can ever happen again.
The Church's role in Education is now a big issue here in Ireland
It's say in the nation's health is being challenged - the proposed turning over of Ireland's main maternity hospital has collapsed.
The referendum on same sex marriage was passed with ease, despite the church's intervention (we now have a gay Taoiseach - beautifully unbelievable).
It remains to be seen what will happen in future referendums on pregnancy termination - let's see if the Church threatens excommunication to those politicians who vote "yess", as they did last time.
At long last, the toxic mix of religion and politics is being washed down the drain - not before time
Jim Carroll