Association of Catholic Priests accuses media of being anti-Catholic and anti-priest.

yutta wrote: »

But you were still part of a society that was led by FF. By your logic, you are just as guilty as Bertie Ahern. And yes, I could smell a mile away that you don't go to Mass - the most opinionated bigots are usually that way.

Just because I live here doesn't mean I'm complicit. If I voluntarily supported FF you may have a point. If I vote for someone else, I'm doing my bit for the resistance.

I don't know how decent people can go to mass considering what has come out about the cover up of child rape by high ranking church officials. I guess many church goers are still in denial.

stimpson wrote: »

Just because I live here doesn't mean I'm complicit. If I voluntarily supported FF you may have a point. If I vote for someone else, I'm doing my bit for the resistance.

I don't know how decent people can go to mass considering what has come out about the cover up of child rape by high ranking church officials. I guess many church goers are still in denial.

EXACTLY.

Just because many of still choose to pray and believe and support those good men and women clergy members does not, as you well know, mean we support child abuse.

We are as disgusted and let down as anyone.

But I'll damned if I am going a minority of sick individuals whose crimes have nothing to with their faith, turn me away from my faith.

AudreyHepburn wrote: »

By your logic we are all to blame for Fianna Fail's failures.

Are we all members of Fianna Fail?

The hypocrisy of your post is laughable.

Look up the meaning of the word.

There was nothing anti-Catholic or anti-priest about the RTE defamation of Father Reynolds, who is innocent of any wrongdoing. It was just an abominable example of appallingly bad journalism by irresponsible creeps and a massive failure of oversight by the overpaid executives who should have prevented the cock-up.:rolleyes:

Unfortunately, in addition to the pain it has caused Father Reynolds, it has also given an excuse to the Men in Black to play the victim and continue with their denial of the grievous wrongs that the kiddy-fiddler church has perpetrated down through the decades. They had their day, and I remember it all too well, when the bishops and priests, with that execrable John Charles McQuaid foremost among them, called most of the shots in this country and their stifling effect was felt everywhere in the life of our nation.:eek:

Rather than whining about the wrongs they feel are being done to them, they should tell the Papal Nonce to quit clowning and finally give the Murphy Commission and other authorities the full cooperation they need to find out the true extent of ecclesiastical cover-ups.:D

AudreyHepburn wrote: »

That makes absolutly no sense whatsoever.

How did you get that from what I wrote? Or did you even read it?

I read it. You were equating stimpsons argument about catholics and the catholic church, with the populace at large and Fianna Fail.

I'm saying 'that's a bad comparison that doesn't make sense. It's intellectually dishonest, when a fairer and more obvious comparison would be 'Fianna Fail Voters and Fianna Fail', and you shouldn't do that'.

If the priests in question had actually had the balls to disassociate themselves in public from the actions of the institution of the church they wouldn't now be feeling victimised by the media bias (perceived or otherwise). By allowing themselves to be gagged by the official stance of the church and not openly condemning any aspect of the attempted coverups and denials of the church they allowed themselves to be tacitly complicit in that denial. Accessories after the fact.

And if there truly IS an anti church bias in the media (and even if there isn't, there's unquestionably a growing anti church bias in society), they only have themselves to blame. Less than 20 years ago the church were untouchable, they had the government, media and all of society bowing and scraping before them. They are totally and utterly the authors of their own downfall.

gigino wrote: »

there is not enough space in jails for them all.

really?

How many are there?

strobe wrote: »

If members of my company/sporting club had been raping kids for decades amongst other hideous acts and it transpired that the management at various levels had known about this and not only did they not report it to the police or sack the perpetrators, they instead covered it up and moved the guilty to other branches to continue what they were doing in secrecy... and that then they deliberately frustrated the states investigation into the abuse...

I would have no problem whatsoever with the company/sporting club existing the rest of it's days under unwavering media and public scrutiny, no problem at all.


But you know as well as I do that if this was Strobe Inc. we were talking about there would be no media spotlight because there would be no Strobe Inc. in existence any more.

This nonsense you are spouting Audrey, consistently, "oh why oh why are the church being treated differently?", is just that, nonsense. The church are being treated no more harshly than any company/sporting club in their position would be and you know that to be an absolute fact. At least be honest.

something like 92% (could be wrong) in a report published last year of people abuse where abused by NON-clergy... are they in the papers???

no- church has money = Media frenzy = Pay up.

boils down to money.:(

Teclo wrote: »

People should remember that the 'cover-up' took many forms. Yes, there were cowardly bishops(both traditionalists and liberals) who wanted it all to go away for fear that they or the church would be tarnished by association with abusers, or were overly sympathetic to the accused but there were also an over reliance on psychiatric evaluations that said abuse would not happen again, a difficultly in really believing that the claims were true or ignorance of the effect such incidents could have on children.

I know this will be seen as of little significance to victims, and the church has deservedly taken a hit over it, but if we were to be fair we would acknowledge that all these factors can be seen in every other section of society, from lay teachers to sports coaches to families. It is simply no surprise that an international organisation that had so many men who had regular contact with children would include significant numbers who abused or acted inappropriately, and that their superiors did not act in ways that we all now accept is best practice. It is not a Catholic phenomenon.

excellent post. unlike the hysterical bile eminating from the anti church brigade prevalent on boards.

FWIW- i don't go to Mass, don't practice religion.

strobe wrote: »

What?

Non-clergy child molesters are reported in the national newspapers all the time.

12 x times the amount of clergy are proven abusers.....yet its church church church...

i don't see 12 x times the coverage, do you?

strobe wrote: »

Most of the coverage tends to be about the official cover up, the lack of payment of compensation, the failure to co-operate with the states investigations etc. There is simply more to report in the churches case than in isolated incidents of inter-family abuse for example. It's a running story.

cos people keep popping outta the woodwork looking for money.

be they victims,lawyers,editors etc.


disgusting is too soft a word for it.

its also a nice distraction from the systematic rape and pillage of our land,country,sovereignty, and identity currently ongoing, but thats a different kettle of fish.