I agree! As a survivor I would love to hear what he has to say!

Better yet, hit the Vatican where it will hurt the most.......................ALL CATHOLICS JUST STOP GIVING MONEY TO THEM.

After a dip in funds perhaps the Vatican and the POPE will change their tune..........neither are anything without their followers and their money............the power lies with the people not the Pope or the Vatican.

Cash and power is all the leadership care about. So, yes, the thing to do is not donate.

I am a Catholic. I love my Church. I detest the actions of pedophile priests. I am appalled by calls to invade the Vatican, kill the Pope and disband the religion.

If all it takes to destroy any religion is for its members to commit a crime, then all religions need to be disbanded. No religion is exempt from pedophiles, they go wherever they see an opportunity to offend.

The Catholic church does great good in the world, not all of that good includes preaching from the pulpit or collecting money for its causes. Throughout its history there has always been a very vocal group that would bring down the Church, from Caligula and Nero right up to people posting on Newsvine. The Church survived, and it will continue to survive, even when the threats come from within its own ranks.

Pedophile priests deserve jail. But does the Church deserves to be eviserated because some of its priests are criminals? The answer is not unless you want your own church to die by that same sword.

I think what bothers me about a lot of Catholics (I was raised one, but saw too much wrong) is their idea of how to conquer the priests indiscressions is to PRAY for them. Pray they will see their wrong and stop their behavior. Praying for something is the same as HOPING for something. Nothing will happen if you just pray for it. Bring in the police for Gods sake. These people need to be in jail, not "hoped" into salvation.

I see a lot of posts saying it was only the priests and not the church. Listen, the church has been tucking stuff under the rug for decades maybe centuries, not being the one that did it is fine, as long as you address it and immediately excommunicate or at least notify authorities.

They hid it, that is aiding and abetting a crime. This goes all the way to the top to the representative leader of the RCC and therefore the church.

It's time, as with all things, that the end is coming for the RCC and when abrahamic religion finally sees the death rattle there will be a more peaceful planet.

You know, the one where there is nothing after this and you need to make the best and be the best you can because you only have one shot at it?

Sorry, folks, but the Catholic Church *should* be disbanded. If there was any other foreign power in which the head-of-state conspired to commit human rights crimes against children all over the world, NATO would have already gone on a military offensive. We should have already added Vatican City to the Axis of Evil. It should be invaded and shut down. I'm all for regime change.

I was a Catholic now I am a non believer.All these guys in their skirts have been abusing children since day one,it seems.Don't send money,charge them,sue them.Get rid of them sooner.

Men who think they are gods.They are the modern day Pharisee.I would suspect there are a lot more pedophiles and criminal acts than we will ever know about and we all know they cant be cured and they will not stop.To all you blind sheep that continue to be Catholic,consider yourselves aiders and abettors. You now know what the church represents and to continue supporting it means you are part of it.

first of all, cant you people think on your own? why do you need somebody dictating what's right and what's wrong and how to go about your life. God gave you a mind(i think) then use it!!!

i believe in God, i pray, read the bible but i have my own views about right n wrong about good and evil...when people ask me what religion am i, i say i'm nothing i dont believe in religion i believe in God.

All religions got dirty laundry but the catholic church got the most... one thing i dont underdstand. with all the dirty and evil crap the catholic church has done thruout history why do people still follow that religion? are you guys that blind and ignorant?

If the pope represents God why is the vatican the most highly secure area in the world? the least God could do is protect him since he represents Him here on earth...

hahaha what a bunch of pathetic lies. and let me tell you the elite few, those who pull the strings of this world, they figured that if we can be so blind and ignorant then they can makes us believe and do whatever they want! and this is where politics and religion merge together as a control tool.

struggling catholics---really---are you kidding me---imagine the struggle these children went through while they were being raped and molested---and then for the rest of their lives---come on people pull your heads out of your own self absorbed bubble

i keep hearing over and over "the church, the pope" know what? F**D the church and the pope, what about the victims?????????

to those who defend and stand up for the criminal organization called the "catholic church"

how would you feel if your kid gets F**k in the @ss by some sick rat bastard priest???

would you be singing the same song? dont think so!

i know the church does not promote this behavior but many of them knew and kept it quite.

As long as millions of you people throw money at the Church in order for them to pay for thier criminal defense.... they are as safe as a bug in a rug.

I was raised as a Catholic, not really practicing at this time. I am not defending the Catholic church, but the hypocrisy and abuse does not begin and end with the Catholic clergy alone! It is just the most publicized and CONTROVERSIAL. My abuse was from SEVERAL "religious men" including the pastor of a neighborhood church and his hierarchy. It was not a Catholic church but a Syrian Othodox church, and the pastor was married with several of his own children. Sexual deviants and pedophiles are not confined to one religion. I was not the only child in my neighborhood subjected to these perverts. Every Saturday evening and Sunday morning , I had to endure these phoneys traipsing past my house. The pastor even had the balls to visit with my parents, selling raffle tickets, bringing vegetables from his garden and acting like nothing ever happened. When I was a senior in high school , I just wanted to stand on the sidewalk and just scream at them, how could they?? Of course, I never did. Too much shame and embarassment, my mother never knew. The pastor was an evil and decietful person that enticed the little girls (5, 6 yr olds) into his church , letting us play there and then engaging in group molestations with his cohorts in his church. I never knew it was wrong or bad, until I was innocently telling my older brother, an 8th grade altar boy, about it and his horrified reaction. The point is, any person can use their position, power and authority to seduce unwitting children for their own sick pleasure. I wish when I was younger that this was more out in the open and I could have gone to my parents or known how to react to a situation that was grossly WRONG. I have only told talked about this once as an adult. I am fairly normal, have been married , have adult children, am a professional person. I really am not sure how this has affected my life...I wish it hadn't happened, I wish I had been forewarned. It can be a Catholic priest, a teacher, a doctor, even a policeman that uses their authority and position. My point is that it is not only Catholic priests!!!

I could never be part of ANY organization that shields and doesn't crack down on pedophiles and molesters within its ranks.

I was baptized Catholic and made 1st communion. I read the bible on my own as a teenager, and realized the RCC follow rules they made up, over the words of Jesus.

Jesus said not to pray to anyone else but his father, God. The RCC made other men/women "saints" and encourage praying to them.

Jesus never told his followers to be celibate or not to marry.

Jesus wasn't into rituals and wearing gaudy clothing or using gold ornaments.

I seriously doubt Jesus would want people worshipping an effigy of him, which is a sadistic/morbid portrayal of the way he died. He never told anyone to worship the memory of himself bloody and suffering while nailed to the cross.

Jesus preached love and tolerance. The RCC focuses too much on the negative aspect of Jesus' life and death.

Those who are defending the pope(small case p) and the RCC, just don't want to believe their "team" can do any wrong.

"When you pray for potatoes, pick up a hoe." Something I was taught as a Catholic when I was young. All this pray, pray, and do nothing but deny and hide is an outrage. Time for the RCC to end, and for the sheeple to find a way to think for themselves. Been to the Vatican? Wow, such opulence. Doesn't fit with spirituality.

So how do we respond to the Catholic Church over this institutional problem that seems to have infected it so completely? It is apparent that there are many sexual abusers in the Church still functioning as priests. It is apparent that the Church is still in denial about the extent and seriousness of the problem and apparently believes that the scandal will go away if they keep stalling any inquiries, deny requests for information, and refuse to acknowledge and confess their guilt except in a very vague and general way. They are still insistent that the Pope saw nothing and heard nothing and was in no way responsible for the current problem, an assertion that stretches incredulity to the limit.

The Church wants forgiveness. In the Christian sense of what forgiveness means, it is only possible if there is genuine acknowledgement, confession and repentance and if the perpetrator accepts responsibility for his actions and the consequences (financial and legal) of what he has done. In the case of the Catholic Church there are some very specific implications: not only must individual priests acknowledge their guilt and accept the legal consequences of their actions in courts of law, the Church itself and its hierarchy must accept responsibility right at the top of the organization—and that means that the Pope himself must acknowledge his role in covering up immoral and illegal acts by priests and take responsibility for the Church’s moral failure in its effort to protect itself at the expense of those it was charged to care for. It must also act to protect its members from abusive priests by turning over to law enforcement whatever it knows about molesters and abusers, and then defrock and excommunicate priests who have betrayed their office and the public trust. Only then will we be able to take its confession seriously.

http://thechristianhumanist.blogspot.com/2010/04/forgiveness-for-priests-and-other-child.html

JMK - WTF does that mean ?

Methodist pedophilia is abated by permission to marry?

You clearly don't know s*** about pedophilia - and statistically Catholic clerics make up the minor percentage of "religious leaders" involved in pedophilia-ism.

I totally agree with you. Seems they cared more about the church's reputation than it's members' safety. I'm not Catholic but some of my family members are; I don't know a whole lot about the religion. But it seems to me that these priests have been abusing kids (especially boys) for decades now. Has it crossed anyone's mind that they are homosexuals? Isn't the Catholic church adamantly against homosexuality? Why weren't these priest fired and then jailed? Do they realize not how many other victims they could have saved if they had just done the right thing decades ago?

It's a sad sad day when any religious leader is found to be as sinful as us regular sinners. But how can they justify their sin in the eyes of the Lord? Yes, they pray for forgiveness and then turn right around and do it again. This is one of the reasons we have so many athiest in the world today. If we can't look up to our ministers, priests, and other holy men/women to guide us out of our sinful ways; who else is there?

Puzzling how so many people on these vines have never been, nor profess never to be a Catholic, yet they speak with such authority on the who, what, when, etc. of the Church.

Arrests should be made, guilty priests defrocked and criminally charged. Why the Church, (some of them, not all) covered these incidents up is a hard pill to swallow for all Catholics, and heads should roll. BUT...some people want to blame EVERY priest, Catholic lay person. Want to destroy the entire Catholic church. I have no doubt that EVERY church , every school, every business, every political party, has their "sinners". People in glass houses........

Personally, I'd like to see the catholic church throw away all the trappings of wealth and get on with what Jesus probably thinks they should be doing. Instead they walk around in clothing that costs more than I make in a year and molest children AND then whine about being smeared in the press.

"Pedophile priests deserve jail. But does the Church deserves to be eviserated because some of its priests are criminals? The answer is not unless you want your own church to die by that same sword."

To the person who wrote the above paragraph. Can't you see that part of the horribleness that was committed is the fact that the church/vatican covered up the crimes? Can you not see that this was a conspiracy from the bottom up?

And by your same logic PatA....how do you know if other churches are or are not covering things up? Because they would be covered up! Not excusing the actions of those who did that in the Catholic church, but, like I said, who knows?...

Aggie, this vine is about the RCC..if you want to comment on "OTHER" churches that cover things up go to that vine. Blindly defending anything is wrong!

Aggie, where did I say that I want to see the catholic church destroyed, or that EVERYONE in the church is guilty? It's just interesting that they feel quite free to dish out advice and/or derision as they see fit; and when they are found with faults of their own, they either: hide behind the holy grail and cry "catholic bashing", or say "everybody else is doing it"...

xjock...I was replying to PatA's comment. I don't see anything in my comment that "blindly defends" the Catholic Church or any OTHER church.

Davey...My comment was partly in reply to you, AND others who DID say the church should be abolished.

Excellent post!

That's been done in the USA but you won't read about it in the media. The purpose in the media is to fan the flames and put more gasoline on the fire so all the enemies of the Church can revel in the fire. It sells more news too.....how about that!

This is a serious discussion about crimes that a some priests have been involved in. It should not be a forum for those who's hatred of Catholics to begin with only brings out discusting comments of their own. These priests must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Most priests in the Church have no involvement in this and are attempting to do God's work. I am not attempting to make excuses but remember that this is a problem in too many areas. What should be learned here as well is that parents be observant of what is happening with their children regardless of who they might be.

My parents sent me to a catholic school to keep an eye on me and who I was with. I was molested and raped at school as well as my brothers. They did what they thought was protecting me by putting me in a school & paying that was smaller and more watched, BIG mistake. I would have been safer in public school. The catholic church only cares about one thing...money and if you would have seen and been put through what I have been put through you would agree. They have treated me as if I were nothing, Mahoney sold me to further his own careers. They do not deny what happened to me, the priest admitted it, then he went on and made a movie about how excited children make him, absolutely disgusting!@

As a survivor, all I have to say to that comment is AMEN!!!! You hit the nail on the head, do not say anything, do not do anything, keep quiet and hold still. Don't tell the world how we are treating you now either, just take it, you deserved to be raped as a child!!!! They do not want to help the victims, they want to shut them up and make them go away!

I agree, if you were not abused, you have no idea what it feels like. I know first hand what went on because I was abused by a catholic priest along with my two brothers. I live with anxiety daily, I cry daily, I feel dirty and ashamed daily. I can not have a normal relationship with my husband because I feel dirty when intimate. You have no idea how long the pain lasts. The church knows of me and knew of my abuse at the time yet did nothing to stop it and have done nothing to help me since. I recently lost my job and the financial stress that tops the emotional stress is killing me, I often have thoughts of ending it all so that i can be at peace. i want to go to sleep and not have my mind run through all the memories each night. It makes me sick that people are defending the church and the priests or that they are praying for them, help the victims. These priests are sick and should be locked up for life along with all those that covered it up. If it were your child or yourself that was abused I bet you would think differently.

testing

C+ (you forgot to capitalize Testing...)

As an abuse survivor (by my dad, not the priesthood), I agree with other survivors that those who haven't had the trauma have no clue how long the after-effects last. I hold down a job. I have a meaningful faith (Wicca). I have someone in my life that loves me. But it's impossible for me to ever really feel safe and I still have nightmares about my dad to this day.

when you dont have a clue about salvation tracy dont try to teach others

bob: scare tactics from the CC. Jesus said, "Love one another as I love you," or something to that effect. I found fear, loathing, humiliation, degradation, subjugation, prejudism, ignorance, voodoo in the CC, and then when I searched for something that would bring me closer to an answer, I found all organized Christian/Jewish religions are based on the same principles as the CC. Power and control. No free thinkers in any of the christian/jewish groups. Ten Commandments are written for saints and there ain't none that walk the earth. I wonder how they felt when it was rumored that the Shroud of Turin was of a dark skinned man. The Wiccas say it best, Do No Harm. Covers the whole shebang.

Of course the man in the shroud of Turin would be dark skinned, whether it is the face of Jesus or not. Jesus was a Jew, living in a desert climate....why would he not be dark skinned? Are you attempting to insinuate that the church is racist and would see and accept Jesus ONLY as a lily white person? Jump to conclusions much?

The 10 Commandements were not written just for saints...they were written BECAUSE man is not saintly. They are moral guidelines for mankind to strive to follow.

Your Wiccan motto "Do no harm" I'm sure encompasses to not harm by words, which you attempt to do to by casting aspersions on Christian and Jewish religions. Practice what you preach...

Thank you for adding this point to the discussion. The Vatican's insistence that women should never use birth control demonstrates that the leaders of the Catholic Church care more about religious dogma than the lives and suffering of real people.

In my etire life as a Catholic woman, NEVER was I or any other woman TOLD, either in person or from the pulpit, to give "loving service" to my husband. Maybe that's what your dad told you mother?

Aggie: Maybe you weren't listening. Heard only what you wanted?

1 Corinthians 2: 13-16

Happy Easter Tracy!

And the most intimate and personal way to know Jesus is in the Real Presence found in the Eucharist.

John ch6, Matt 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-23, 1Cor 11:23-29

The only place in the bible where disciples leave Jesus over doctrianal reasons is when our Lord insists that the believer must eat his flesh and drink his blood. John 6:52-71. They believed he was the Christ but the Eucharist was too much for many of those early disciples, so they left Jesus, just as many leave Jesus over the Eucharist today.

Zonk,

A sergeant in the Army once told me that "The eucharist is the part of the unicorn that the unicorn drags through the weeds."

Tracy and Bill...will you boobs quit using the Word as a club! Have some respect at least for the people here whose lives have been destroyed. Maybe its time you both shutup and just listen!!!

That is why the Word became Flesh and He founded a Church for mankind.

It takes strength to walk away from your abuser. Only the weak stay and try to make it all better.

Sick of the O: You're the perfect example of a catholic. This is why they are rotten to the core and go against all sanity: You said, "I really laughed at the guy who is joining the Anglican church....you mean the same church that approves of openly lesbian "bishops?" Yes sir, catholic to the core.

Degradation, prejudism and all the vile. This is why religions are the bane of the world. Most of those leaving the CC have had enough. After putting to rest the fairy tales of the virgin birth, the hierarchy of angels, the army of saints, indulgences, the 'priest is god on earth' philosophy, the mental anguish we suffered as children given details of the torture and crucifixion of Christ, guilt up to the gazoo, that suffering will ensure our place in heaven. And that whole purity routine of women, the intrusion into politics, the deceit that is rampant. It's time to recognize the falseness in the CC and other christian religions. It's time to clean house.

Openly Lesbian bishops are better that priest that f. little boys. I was a cradle catholic and raised by Opus Dei parents. I had to look at Jose Maria Escriva across from my place at the dinner table. We made frequent fast offering for "The Work." When I left home for college - I sh!tcanned the roman catholic church.

I don't want that kind of mind f. and wholesale guilt in my life. I hated the Eucharist but if I told my parents that, I would have been punished.

I hope that Pope Ratzdick does not step down as he will ensure the implosion of the catholic church.

9 out of 10 "Catholics" who on this board say they left the Church are lying that they were in fact Catholics to begin with.

Among the truth, There are a lot of lies told here.

Why is it that nothing is ever mentioned about the nuns who sexually abuse?They are not above the law either.There is something wrong going on in the catholic church,and they get away with it.It is time for all the truth be told!!

Bill,

Ratzdick the pope will never fork those mofos over for criminal indictment. Pope Ratzdick probably punked out a lot of the bishops himself with his short scepter.

"If you let a few people cause you to lose your faith then I don't think you had any to start with................"

I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement... faith isn't a blind thing to be followed!! The trust in churches is something fragile that should be earned and respected by the church! What a judgemental statement you have made! It is that holier-than-thou, I'm better than you, attitude that turns my stomach...

The Catholic church is a breeding ground for pedophiles.

Period.

Though the media is somewhat one-sided in their coverage...

Equal time and compassion for the pedophile side of things? Really?

Sometimes, there isn't two sides to a story.

They covered them up for thousands. You are only hearing about the kiddie raper priests and nuns.

Some priests also like adult women.

Don't misinterpret my comment. I don't feel sympathetic for the media's one-sidedness to their stories in this matter. There is no other side. Its plain and simple, for decades, the Catholic Church allowed the sexual abuse of children. For this alone, their is no valid explanation for their horrific actions.

Totally agree with you Zonk1085, remember that an ingorant catholic will always be a great protestant

So you're indicating that people who choose to leave an organization who has been complacent in the raping of young boys are doing something wrong?

What commandment is thou shall follow the business of pedophilia?

Cite your source please re: the growth of the roman catholic church. The third world does not really count as they don't bring the cc what they value as much as mind control----MONEY.

jgazza,

They often drop out of christianity completely.

The third world is the only place where Catholicism is growing. In the United States, the only three religions picking up membership are Mormonism, Scientology (very tragic), and Wicca.

True.

The prohibition of birth control causes an enormous amount of suffering to families who do not have the financial or emotional resources to take care of baby after baby after baby...

You can see the effects in Haiti, where 70% to 80% of the population is Catholic. Today's MSNBC article about Haitian orphans stated that "Most of the 50,000 children who lived in orphanages before the earthquake had at least one living parent. As many as 250,000 other children were living in a form of slavery — the so-called "restaveks" sent to live in more affluent households, where many suffer abuse — in exchange for shelter and sometimes schooling."

Every child deserves a home where they are wanted and loved and are provided with a decent quality of life.

The Catholic Church does not prohibit birth control.It highly recommends natural family planning, regularly teaches about in depth.It , if practiced correctly, is as effective as any pill or device.Check it out.

Tell that to a woman whose drunken husband comes home and forces her to have sex.

I believe that's actually how it started a few centuries ago. Don't know why it is still the rule now. Probably because the MEN who decided this have never been married or had to support a family.

Greg: that's how it's done under the guise of "more souls for God." More, more, more children to live in the streets, go hungry, go without any medical care, minimal education. Fodder, that's all they want, like the extreme right wingers, for their low paying menial jobs and bodies for their wars. There must be some sanctity and justification in all this breeding seeing as how it's espoused by so many religions.

That was a decision made by Pope Paul VI in the 1960's, in response to the birth control pill. He declared that taking the pill was the equivalent of genocide. I'm Catholic, and I didn't buy the logic - most Catholic women I know don't buy it either. In fact, the Church keeps trying to push "natural family planning" as the Church approved birth control, because they KNOW most of us ignore them.

While Pope Paul VI may have come out against the pill in the 1960's, this prohibition on "artificial" birth control began much, much earlier than that. My aunt died in the 1920's because she had a rheumatic heart and was told not to get pregnant or she would die. She was a strict Catholic, and because of the church law against "artificial" birth control, she would not use birth control. Then when she got pregnant, she refused to have a therepeutic abortion recommended by her doctor - again because of the church law. So, as the doctors had warned her, she died at age 25 - her heart was not strong enough. This has always made me angry - it was so unnecessary. If you are against abortion, you better be for birth control! I do agree with the previous poster that most American Catholics simply ignore the church on birth control - it's not realistic in today's economy. If priests had wives who could get pregnant (or when that wonderful day comes when there are women priests), I think the church will sing a different tune.