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1. Heinous though these offences are, the name of an accused should remain confidential until proof of guilt is established. A law court is the best place to test such accusations. We do not want a kangaroo - court type of justice.
   Undoubtedly, abuse by clergy is developing into a huge problem, some think the worst the church has experienced in centuries. It is hard to see where all this is going to end up.
   Nevertheless the basic principles of justice must still prevail even if they appear not to have registered in the minds of some churchmen. Justice will not prevail if we are unduly influenced by inflammatory headlines. Often I have wished that Catholics were leading the groups seeking justice not only from the various churches but from the community at large.
   Then I recall the huge amount of good work being done by Fr Riley's Youth off the Streets and by the numerous priests, nuns and religious brothers, and, of course, lay people. This does not quite soften the overall blow, but it does create some sort of balance.

   Posted By: Mackie

2. The constant hurt being inflicted on our young ones, (and today, no longer so young) who are victims of abuse and their families, by the inability of our Church leaders to accept what has happened and is no doubt still happening is a knife being constantly turned in a wound.
   If the Catholic Church were a democracy (and we are constantly reminded it is not), the inability to face failures would see them voted out of office.
   Instead, what we experience is the rejection of one very brave Bishop who challenged his peers to face up to the sad reality of the widespread sin that is permeating the corridors of power. This visit of Bishops from various parts of the world to 'confess' to the Pope is nothing more than an attempt to dupe the faithful into thinking that all is well when really our Church leaders are still in denial.

   Posted By: Questioner.

3. Does anyone really believe that the Vatican - preoccupied it seems in this papacy with the latest liturgical dress, what language we say Mass in and generally hiding behind the trappings of 'empire' - is going to recognise its own failures and cover-ups and that we have tragically failed to hear and heed the compassionate and challenging voice of the young Rabbi from Nazareth!

   Posted By: rock

4. What is required isn't humiliation, but accountability and transparency for the crimes committed against children, young girls, boys and vulnerable adults by sexual predators and the crimes and sins of omission and commission committed by the bishops in enabling and covering up for these rogue priests.
   Cardinal Sean Brady says that 'there have been failures in our leadership', but it's more than that. The bishops' leadership failures amounted to crimes of facilitation.
   When one knowingly allows a child to be put in harm's way, that person is culpable and should be held accountable before the law. What the bishops did in their leadership failures was morally reprehensible, morally corrupt and morally dispicable. They should all be removed from their episcopal offices and the sooner the better.
   It is so disgusting to read how the bishops in Ireland and Germany along with the cardinals in Rome are attempting to extricate themselves from any kind of moral or legal responsibility for their conspiracy in covering up these crimes.
   If Pope Benedict XVI does not come out with something more substantive in his Letter to the Irish people than simply more lamentations, there will indeed be a hue and cry rising up from all peoples.
   The clerical corruption in the institutional Roman Catholic Church that enabled and protected sexual predators in their perfidy is foundational. It is systemic and endemic to the institution. It must be admitted and addressed on that level and that can only be initiated by Pope Benedict.
   Accountability and transparency for the present and the future in no way abrogates accountability and transparency for the sins and crimes of the past.
   If the pope simply beats his breast in the expected Irish Pastoral Letter, it will be described as 'Papal Whitewash'.
   Sister Maureen Paul
   Victims' Advocate
   New Castle, Delaware, USA
   maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com

   Posted By: Sister Maureen Paul Turlish

5. Sister Maureen Paul Turlish: As a 'victims advocate', why do you not write about the 23 Irish children who have died in the past 10 years in Ireland while in the care of the state? What about the hundreds of Irish children unaccounted for while they have been in the care of the state. The responsible body (the HSE) admits they do not even know how many but estimates the number at somewhere been 400 and 500.
   If these deaths and disappearances had happened at the hands of the church would you have reacted in the same way? And if not why not?
   Why do these statistics not count? Can it be that it is not really the fate of children that matters but some thing to bash the church with?
   Even in Ireland which is more Catholic than most places 95% of child abuse was not clerical.
   Do we not want to face that most children are abused in their own homes? Does this make us more uncomfortable than some how imagining that if we stay away from church we will keep our children safe?
   It seems to me that outrage at child abuse is very selective.

   Posted By: AlexP

6. Alex: I find it very sad that people appear to almost justify the Church's action by pointing out others are worse.
   It seems to me that the Church is obsessed with power and counting the grains of sand.
   Look from an outsider's point of view: taking seven years on a few word changes in the new Roman Missal. All this time and effort, while scandals in Ireland appear to go on abated.

   Posted By: Chris

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