Barry Says:

It's a terrible thought that the Cathloic Church has made it an all season sport & issued licenses to all those that choose to sign up. Just like a sporting club, they hunt with impunity & without fear & all children that are under the churches unbrella became fair game.

What does matter is that the church has made the priesthood attractive to predators by it's own policies of shielding, hiding, sheltering, aiding & abetting these criminals. The priesthood has become a haven for child molestors.

Well, Barry, that's a little strong. I think you can blame church leaders for being naive and maybe lethargic about remedying the problem - denying it and hoping it go away. I've seen very little evidence that Catholic leaders have encouraged child molesters, although it does seem that in some situations there were molesters who built networks for mutual protection. Maybe there is some truth in what you say, though - in many dioceses, it has seemed to me that the "weird priests" end up in administrative positions, possibly because they don't have the social skills to function as a pastor. I've met a lot of haughty, unlikeable priests in powerful administrative positions in dioceses. So maybe there has been "protection" going on in some dioceses. It's often the case that parish priests don't trust the priests "downtown" in the bishop's office.

-Joe-