[oneolcop]

I'n not religious. I don't belong to any church, haven't been in a church in years. But, having studied religions for my own edification, I have come to the conclusion that the Catholic church is caught in a conundrum: On one hand, it is a church/religion that has as one of its foundation stones the acceptance of forgiveness. On another hand, it has a problem with pedophiles within its structure. On yet another hand, it has that thing about priests being bound by their tenets not to expose the confessed sins of anyone who comes to them and tells them about a wrong.

How does one reconcile these seemingly opposing values?

[RGirard]

There is a difference in confessed sins and exposed sins. As mentioned in the article, Catholics like everyone else should be subject to the laws of the land. They are there to serve others, not sexually abuse them.

[Mrs. Don-o]

In the light of the info on another FR thread at #3 and #33, effective corrective steps have reduced the incidence of abuse, at present, to near-zero in most Catholic institutions --- a record not even remotely approached in any other church or school system in the USA, and certainly not in the public schools.

One weird aspect of this is that most of the abuse was between the mid-60's and the mid-80's, which is to say, 25-45 years ago. The diligent work of Cardinal Ratzinger when he was at the CDF, and now as Pope Benedict XVI, has rooted most of this stuff out of the Church.

So now we have the New York Times banner-headlining stuff like the Fr. Murphy case, where the offenses were committed 45-50 years ago and the old perp has been dead for 12 years; and without any evidence that Ratzinger even knew about the case, they try to make it Ratzinger/Benedict's fault.

And with every step he's taken to restore discipline, he's accused of restoring the "inquisition" ---by this same NYT writer, Laurie Goodstein-- (one link of many!) and of being--- let's not forget--- "antigay."

It's frustrating that they try to pin the blame for abuse on the very guy whose main "fault' has been doctrinal and disciplinary effectiveness.

It's like blaming the fires on the Fire Department, or the crime wave on the police.