Jim Carroll, there's no question that Fr. Brendan Smyth was a horrible child molester, and nobody in the Irish Catholic Church will deny that nowadays. Let me remind you, however, that Smyth died in prison in 1997. I have no defense for what happened in the Catholic Church in Ireland fifteen years ago. It's all true.
Most of what I know about the Catholic Church in Ireland is through the Sisters of Mercy, since I'm an associate member of that order (which was founded in Dublin and has its headquarters there). I know that they had problems in the past, particularly in Ireland; but they're doing wonderful things now.

Jim, I know there's a lot of crap in the Catholic Church, and you have no idea how appalling that is to me. But this is my church, and I'm going to spend my life fighting the crap. I'm not ready to give my church over to those bastards.

-Joe-