British Comedy Guide

Catholic Child abuse scandals Page 2

No not all organisations.

Alot of organisations cooperate imediately with the authorities. Including large chunks of the Catholic Church, it's the failing at the higher level that seems to be the problem for them.

Quote: sootyj @ March 28 2010, 9:28 PM GMT

No not all organisations.

Alot of organisations cooperate imediately with the authorities. Including large chunks of the Catholic Church, it's the failing at the higher level that seems to be the problem for them.

I'm sure you are right that the cover ups tend to be higher up but at the same time the organisation has secrecy at its heart - hence the confessional. If any abuse victim tells a priest everything during the sacrament of confession, how many priests will go on to report it? Or will they just pray about it?

Quote: Badge @ March 28 2010, 9:24 PM GMT

If they know of illegal acts and don't notify the authorities they are guilty as can be.

Exactly, and it's taken the pope himself to sort of obliquely aknowledge this, or maybe to head off a major police investigation. But the Irish Catholic Church has always thought of itself as being free from culpability - how many Irish priests illegally harboured terrorist murderers in the past and simply absolved themselves of any guilt? The Church of Rome has long since been quite embarrassed by their Irish members.

Well the Irish would say that a 1000 years of British occupation lead to a dangerous lack of respect for the forces of law. With the church becoming a sort of subgovernment.

Sometimes people have more power thrust upon them, than they truly want..

But most organisations do not have "God" as their lord and master, therefore in most organisations if someone is told of child abuse allegations they will report it and it will be investigated. In the church there seems to have been a tendency to think that God will sort it out. Even if you believe in Him that seems a risky strategy to me.

Quote: Badge @ March 29 2010, 12:38 AM GMT

In the church there seems to have been a tendency to think that God will sort it out. Even if you believe in Him that seems a risky strategy to me.

In general, the religious folk like to think God will do good, and choose to ignore that by their own beliefs, God's already done all the bad stuff. After all, He made kiddy-fiddlers into priests, what's all that about mr Pope?

Yes it just all goes to show what a complete man made nonsense religion ever was, it's a farce that's gone on far too long now. When bad things happen, churches just say 'It's the devil's doing.' Well in that case the devil has a major stake in the Catholic Church at the moment, in fact he's running it. Religion itself is the evil. The Bolsheviks, for all their vulgarity, had exactly the right idea about religion - destroy it!

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ March 29 2010, 9:20 AM GMT

The Bolsheviks, for all their vulgarity, had exactly the right idea about religion - destroy it!

Even they replaced it with their own atheist religion, that of the cult of leader. Stalin was the ultimate expression of this, all-powerful, fickle and prone to disastrous bouts of wrath.

A bit like our mythical 'God' then.

"Say there's two hundred million priests in the world and five percent of them are paedophiles, that's still only ten million."

Quote: SlagA @ March 28 2010, 9:24 PM GMT

Agree also with Nogget / Badge re: the organisation protecting a culprit. But all organisations are defensive until the individual is indefensible. Fortress mentality, etc.

Soots, bang on re: their work, I can't ignore this aspect. Celibacy is curious. There isn't even (AFAIA) a biblical basis for it. In fact it seems more rooted in earlier pagan ideas (babylonian priesthoods / vestal virgins?) but I'm shooting from the hip here and would need to read up on it much more.

There's a book called 'Death Row' coming out in July that explains some of the background to it amidst an excellent, thrilling read. :D

Quote: Marc P @ March 29 2010, 10:00 AM GMT

There's a book called 'Death Row' coming out in July that explains some of the background to it amidst an excellent, thrilling read. :D

No Blood? :(

Just the sweat and tears!

Quote: Marc P @ March 29 2010, 10:00 AM GMT

There's a book called 'Death Roe' coming out in July

Is it like James Herbert's The Rats? :)

It's no codswallops!

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