It has been proven over and over.

Catholics simply do not care. They are not going to change. If they wanted to change, they would have.

That's the one place that children have been told they can place their trust--in the head of a church. It's sick and shameful for the Vatican to consider 1997 "old school molesting". I guess they have a more modern way to cover it up now.

Having been raised Catholic, and having had three great priests lead me since I was born, I can tell you that not all priests or Catholics do not care. You have a small percentage of these pedophiles that called themselves priests that did this. The church was afraid that they would have a huge black eye and lose money and congregates. All they did was prolong the inevitable. I no longer go to church, which is sad but the Catholic church is so mired in the old ways and is slow to change. Let priests marry and you would get rid of one of the best hiding places for pedos and homosexuals. The church needs to be more moderate/liberal and get rid of Bendict and his conservative clan.

Jodeman, you're ideas are as old and antequated as those of the Catholic Church. You immediately went to the same old prejudice that pedophilia is an activity promoted by homosexuals. When indeed, the pedophilia in the Catholic Church has victimized many girls. Pedophilia is not about sexual orientation, but is about the exercise of power over a vulnerable individual, akin to rape.

The abuses that have gone on in that church are centuries old. These are not secrets among Catholics. When I was a kid, I heard Catholics constantly discussing these abuses, like the priest who had several female lovers, etc. These things get overlooked by the faithful because one hand washes the other. In other words, they want the church to look the other way when they commit wrong doing, so they're just as willing to look the other way when the church does it. Members of the mafia are notorious for being catholic and confessing their sins openly to their priests.

Jodeman,
Please don't put pedophiles & homosexuals in the same category. They are not the same...Never have been & never will be!!! Get your information correct. Some of your post I agree w/. Let the Priest marry, yet that doesn't CURE one from being or becoming a sexual predator. Just ask any Therapist. Yet again I say...Pedophiles & Homosexuals are NOT even closely similar!!

Priests know, the Church knows, followers of the Catholic faith know. I do not agree with a cover-up, but how do we know this letter is legit? In this day and age anything can be made to look legit. Yet I know abuse is a problem...I personally know two priests whom have abused parishoners and know at least two perople whom have been abused by priests. I am not condoning abuse, but I do not agree with people trying to sue the Church for millions, billions of dollars either just because of the wealth of the Church. Any man, priest or not, will have to deal with God some day for such acts.

I agree with jodeman that Catholic people do care, that it is a small pecentage of priests that are making the ordained of our Church look bad, that the Church has been afraid of the black eye and loss of money and congregants, and that by doing so has prolonged the inevitable. I also agree that the Church is mired in old ways and is slow to change. The Vatican II Council was held in the late 1960's--and the changes it called for are still being put into place as is evidenced by the upcoming changes in Mass to occur at the beginning of the next litugical year (November/December 2011).

I do not agree with him that priests should be allowed to marry. It is a sacrifice that they are called to make in the decision to become a priest. Celibacy is expected of any unmarried person. It is a sacrifice for anyone who chooses to follow their faith devoutly.

And, by the slim chance that the jwhite who commented above is the jwhite I know who was a victim of abuse by a priest...we do care, and we are sorry. Unfortunately, it's not me who has to make the apology, and I alone cannot change the ways of the Church. I believe that in time, with enough prayer, change will happen.

It's clear that pope John Paul was aware of the abuse and did nothing to stem it's continuation. What a joke! He was told face to face and by letter from an American priest that the abuse was endemic in the US. And what did this saint to be do??? He ignored the facts and went on as the protector of pedophiles and the code of silence the church is famous for. This letter won't change anything, it's just a bunch of grimy old men (bishops/cardinals)who have their noses buried in the popes ass.

babbles...You say that you are sure that in time change will happen. Well how much MORE time is needed to get this thing taken care of? Good God! It's been going on forever.

Have you done anything or said anything to your priests or nuns or anyone? Are you still a practicing Catholic? If you are, and if you haven't expressed your feelings to your priest, then you are a part of the problem.

The church cannot be excused. The pope cannot be excused...he is NOT infallible, no matter what you might want to think. He's just a man who wears girls dresses.

No response. Interesting.

And still no response. I'm not surprised.

This article is STUNNING although it is not something I did not know already. It is beyond me how anyone, anyone on earth can be affiliated with an institution that is so steeped in illegality, perversion and hypocrisy! Like all other horrendous commissions of illegal acts the public is SO numb to it that the story dies. That is how utterly evil we have become as a species...the sexual abuse of children is absolutely UNFATHOMABLE. That it would be committed by religious entities and sanctioned by it hierarchical head is unforgivable!

The church has been sweeping these horrific acts of sexual abuse or our children for eons. This religion is so out of touch with reality and present day ethics it's like a fatal disease. It is more important to protect the pedophile priests than to take full responsibility of these crimes. It is time that this relic of an organization to fold up tent and let other good christian denominations spread the word of God.

Jode and Babbles - Really....... really? Guess what, it wasn't (as in thousands over the past 500 years) and isn't just a few priests (as in there's currently some pedo-priest right now who was hidden by the church in a third world village and is abusing children regularly). There are literally Hundreds of Thousands of Victims out there. You would never consider buying ENRON stock, why support this organization?

According to Babbles, everything is going to get better. Just look at what she said about change in the church..

The Vatican II Council was held in the late 1960's--and the changes it called for are still being put into place as is evidenced by the upcoming changes in Mass to occur at the beginning of the next litugical year (November/December 2011).

How can a sane and caring person believe what Babbles evidently believes? To act as if the letter isn't authentic is so, so wrong. We all know the letter is authentic.

How sick is it that it is okay if it takes years and years for anything to be done about this? This is absolutely disgusting to me.

Babbles, I think you should have been with me when the "church" was sending the priests (pedophiles) to New Mexico for treatment and then...........turning them loose into the parishes of the Spanish Catholics. Guess what one "cured" priest did? He bought wine and got a 15 year old boy drunk and SODOMIZED him. This was a CHILD. Children who have never heard anything else worship their priests. And he RAPED this child. The judge (who is catholic) let the priest wear his collar to court every day and sit and stare at the jury (catholics). Can you imagine how tormented those poor people were when they went to the jury room to deliberate? Can you?

Can a child wait 50 more years before someone says "I'm so sorry". In 50 years some of these "children" will be in their 80s.

Truly amazing when supposed 'leaders' have to hide face to save face.

I can see it now, Saint Pedophile. It even sounds Latin

remember ted kennedy!! mary jo???

Just makes you wonder what is wrong with people who are still faithful to the catholic church. I left long ago. Nothing but hypocrisy!!!

The Catholic have a long history of torture and murder. Not really surprising people will look over child rape as well. Disgusting.

@Tarzan,

Wrong Pope. The one that was beatified died. The one the would have caused the letter in question is the current Pope. And it isn't Catholics who don't care. It is the Church administration that is clueless. Most European Catholics and virtually all South American and African Catholics consider American Catholics as "cafeteria Catholics." They go through the line and pick and choose what they believe. But if you strip it work to essentials, both Catholics and Protestants beliefs are most succinctly expressed in The Creed (which is the same for both.) All else is man-made religious "tradition" and administrative rules and regulations. Catholics are bound only to the Nicene Creed and nothing else.

A little information about how a person becomes a "saint"

first the people interested in making a person a saint must pay at least $500,000 to get the process started and then of course they need to make sure the person looks good enough as not to produce scandle, which also is funded by the people who want to make this perosn a saint. this has nothing to do with whether a person has lived a life devoted to God and exemplified the teachings of Christ as there are many, many people who would be qualified but do not have the $. therefore are they still considered saintly?

Placing titles on dead people is also ridiculous as if what man defines as holy truly is in the sight of God. It's only a way for the church to appear that it is still spiritually connected to God and therefore should be obeyed in all its less than Christ like ways. Like when they told all of the abused that they should keep quiet for the sake of the church.

The whole church is rotten to the core, period. They condone child rape and protect and enable the rapists.

Anyone excommunicated from the Catholic Church should consider it a blessing because they were excommunicated from a Church that has long since been excommunicated by God.

Bertfw--covering for decades? Try centuries.

I know about two priests who were sent to prison. One man was elderly and I can't remember if he was killed or died of natural causes. The other priest got 15 months and that was in the early 90s......so he has been out for 20 years raping children.

Hello Sue-1244648--

My position on these horrible crimes by Catholic priests is quite clear from my other posts.

Regarding your punctuation--why do you employ three question marks?

Have a wonderful day.

Everyone who knows history shouldn`t be surprised at what the Catholics do.

Mike -- Oh please don't tell me that you have the true faith.

Sue--

I am still waiting for a reply. You are a great fool.

Is there a rule against ellipses being interrogative???

The Happy Nihilist--

"Is there a rule against ellipses being interrogative???"

I believe an ellipsis refers to a word or words left out but understood. It could also refer to a number of marks such as: "What the ..." which was my thought when I read Sue's comment on my original post. The original post was directed solely toward the author of the article, and was meant as constructive criticism.

Putting three queries at the end of a sentence is usually meant as a rather informal way to express astonishment.

Have a wonderful day.

Heal who? And How? The children?

Thoroughly agree. that is why the church disallowed priests to marry and have a family. They were losing all the money and power that priests and bishops built up while in their position. Once they passed canon law that priests were to be celibate, the church got all the money and land when that priest passed on. Therefore become richer and more powerful. They need to change with the times and modernize. The only way that this will happen is when all the old schoolers die off and a more moderate head gets into power.

Jodeman: You're exactly correct. Both of my great grandfathers were Greek Catholic married priests who immigrated to the US from Hungary in the early 1900's. I've got letters from the "holy see" telling them their wives were considered legal mistresses and unless they turned over all their property to the church, they would not be recognized by the vatican. Of course once my great grandfathers acquiesced, they were welcomed.

The vatican is all about the money.

The Catholic Church was established in the dark ages to control the people. That time has passed. The pope and his cardinals are just another corporate greed machine trying to force their will on the people. It should be abolished.

It's not only in the Catholic Church that these horrible things happen. Look around you, it's happening everywhere, in all religions, all faiths,all denominations. You seem to forget priests are human too, no one is perfect, not even the Pope. I do not condone or try to justify these crimes or their coverup by the Church. I also don't have a solution for them, do you? Wha tdo you think society as a whole should do about it?

Society as a whole should realize that this whole religion thing is hogwash.

I don't need any (more) proof that they were covering it up. Its very obvious.

In order to be powerful in the vatican, you have to have dirt on the other priests.

He who wins is the most evil of all. They all disgust me.

yes Bovine, it was formed by the Romans during the time they were losing their hold on an empire.

amen!!!!

Interesting commentary. Recognition that the message of Jesus is good, yet denial of His diety. Yes, I agree that man, being imperfect, has corrupted religion. As to whether or not the corruption is the exception or the rule, I think it depends on one's personal experience. And while corruption is certainly not limited to religous circles, one would expect people professing Christian faith to be living examples of Jesus' message. Unfortunately, we are all human. This is not to excuse or condone corruption - I agree strongly that these actions are reprehensible. However, I do hope that it's not the evil actions of people that have turned anyone away from a loving and caring God. And while you may not believe in Him, He believes in you - and us as a race. He sacrificed His Son for us to prove it.

@ Greg: "He sacrificed His Son for us to prove it."... Well, filicide is hardly a character recommendation, is it? Ditto for Abraham. Perhaps, rather, in the evolution of the human perspective, we've begun to enter the point when the Ideal Observer myth has become counterproductive.

Sandy-998626: A pedophile is only interested in sex with a child. A pedophile is not interested in sex with another adult, man or woman, big difference! BTW being gay has nothing to do with molesting children. Aproxiamately 90+% of child molesters are straight.............not gay.

It is not about gay or straight--I agree. It's about sanctioned pedophilia.

You folks are clearly misguided. You seem to think that celibacy creates the problem of pedophilia. It doesn't. It ATTRACTS the problem. How? A young man has sexual issues, perversions. Maybe he was abused himself. Who knows why he has his issues, but he does and he hates himself for it. He sees the priesthood as a way to solve his problem, to live a wholesome, meaningful life. But when he gets there he sees his problem is still a part of himself and he still hates himself. He is consumed by his sickness even as he would have been if he had not become a priest. On the other hand, I am sure there are many priests with issues who find their ministry helps them overcome many of their own problems.

I believe celibacy must be ended, but not because it creates perversions. By ending celibacy more normal, fully-formed men will be attracted to the priesthood.

I am not certain any of these theories are correct. Like rape, pedophelia is not about "sex", it's about power over the vulnerable, and secrecy by individuals who have deep seeded emotional and psychological problems and come from unhealthy dysfunctional homes and environments. Nor is it about homosexuality. However, generally speaking, no rape victim will inflict upon another the crime that was inflicted upon them, naturally, since most rape victims are women violated by a man. On the other hand, pedophiles are often created in their childhood when sexually assaulted by an adult, more often a man and authority figure who misuses his power - not sex - to diminish a child and create the cycle of abuse. I doubt the issue is even about celebacy. Rather, the issue with regard to the Church is how its hierarchy responded to the crisis and scandal: it swept it under the carpet until it exploded in its face. No rapist should ever be protected, nor should a pedophile. They should be turned over to secular authorities to face the full measure of the law. Sadly, it wasn't until the Church felt the sting in its coffers that it even deigned to notice the crime, and for that reason, it should set aside billions to compensate victims it abused all over again. Too bad.

@ sandy-998626: Unfortunately, that may never happen. In the beginnings of the Catholic Church marriage by priests was allowed. Somewhere along the line (maybe between the 2nd century AD and the "Dark Ages") some Pope and other religious scholars/figures took it into their heads that somehow sex was bad and therefore, married priests were bad so the Church rules were changed, and married priests were banned. You can believe that the problems probably started shortly after that, but despite 1500 plus years of problems no Pope and/or Congress of Cardinals has ever had the guts to rescind the no marriage rule. The Cardinals and Pope(s) who have run and are running the Vatican are too blind and conservative to ever consider changing the rule unless the Church is backed up to the wall and facing bankruptcy and/or dissolution.

Bingo!

The Pope and The Church serve a very great purpose, and will continue to do so until the end of time.

What is that purpose, Matt?

Now Rudy there are plenty of children out there who haven't been abused yet so clearly the church has a plenty of work left to do.

I lived in New Mexico when the stories of abuse broke. It exploded there because the church has a "rehabilitation for sick-***ed priests" there and when the priest is "cured", he is turned out into a Spanish parish.

The church actually appointed a chancellor who was put in charge of paying the New Mexico victims. So, what did he do? He bought a full page ad in The New Mexican (Santa Fe) telling the parishioners to increase their tithes to pay the victims...........how about them apples? If I was disgusted before, I was furious when I read the ad.

My little 80+ Spanish neighbor lady went without one meal every day so she could save and help pay the victims. But she only did that because the church told her to do it. She never accepted that a priest would molest/rape/sodomize a child.

Statements like that are what makes people like you an idiot. Money is not the solution for this.

What I can't understand about the church is their need (previous) to ship these offending priests from place to place, only to find out that they continued to offend wherever they went.

"Out of sight, out of mind".

MATT D-1143202

you are so naive, canonical law is in general used to make sure that the church's best interests are taken care of first. canonical law is not the same as secular law in which the victim is the major concern.

when they talk about taking canon law in to consideration first, it means to look at the situation and at all costs keep the image of the church untouched. that is why they did nothing about the thousands of children abused, and raped because it would cause scandle with the church.

And any catholic knows that scandle is the only force that will finally bring the catholic church to make the changes needed.

@ patA ... reminds me of an early language translation program from English to Mandarin, ... the return translation came back as "blind idiot". Fitting enough.

@ Matt D Is this the same Vatican which made it Dogma in the 50s that its followers MUST believe that the "virgin" Mary ascended to heaven in full carnal state? They say the Roman Catholic Church has the oldest legal system in Western Europe. One must not discount the issue of senility here.

Do you TRULY believe that Mother Mary is occupying "space" somewhere with a fully functioning mortal heart pumping away beneath her seamless white toga and light blue overlay?

...lordy lordy lordy...

How about Cardinal Law who is being protected by the Vatican from going to court here in U.S. for knowingly covering up many, many counts of sexual abuse going on in his diocese? I think the Vatican is protecting the wrong person here, don't you? That is just ONE example of many, if you would like more I can provide them. But to say, "The Vatican has never stood in the way of reporting when the offending priest's culpability is evident", is a load of bull!

You're getting pretty vague here. Did they do it or not? did the church follow the laws of the lands where these henouis acts happened? Is anyone in the church being above board and telling the truth? For that matter does anyone in the church have a handle on reality? I'm damned sure Benedict doesn't

A few false allegations pale in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of victims who have yet to come forward. Yes, you read it right, statistically there are Hundreds of Thousands whom have yet to come forward.

How about the Bishop in Santa Fe who disappeared when the three young women that he had sex with, told "60 Minutes" about him? That was in the early 90s and I recently read that he has been at the Vatican since charges were pressed against him. He was in Santa Fe one day and gone the next!

Do we think some Baptists swooped in and saved him?

Unjustly accused clergy? did you really say that?

Matt, you must be a priest too.

The church, the vatican, the pope, whatever! Total abuse of power since inception. Its all simply, disgusting.

Actually Mr MacD 561, the comments by MATT D-1143202 are typical for someone who enables and makes excuses for something that they cannot believe to be true. It's not his fault that he is unable to fully understand and appreciate the magnitude of the crimes.

I just love it when people say that this is about bashing the catholic church because it just proves that everything exposed and still to be exposed is all true.

I think it's save the fetus and then abuse the child

Yes, it's exerpted in The New York Times (1/19/11).

Apparently you don't understand what the letter says...

Twice you have said this now. Why not enlighten us if you know the true meaning. I'm all ears.

Yes, MikeInNY, I'd like to see what Matt has to say that is going to "enlighten" the rest of us poor souls.

Frankly, at this point, the letter is irrelevant.

We dont need anymore evidence.

I'm sorry, Jane, I must have missed the people that say that child abuse is only a catholic problem. I worked in juvenile detention centers for years and everyone knew that child abusers/pedophiles are everywhere.

And why don't we just dismantle the catholic church and be off to a huge start?

Thank you patA! exactly...

following a Antichrist....Roman Catholic = ANTICHRIST

No, you shouldn't be left guessing. You may recall another scandal involving the notorious Catholic Church in Ireland, it was the laundries in which young unwed pregnant women were banished by their families and incarcerated and enslaved by the priests in charge and the nuns who ran the laundries into whose care they were cast. There was no question that the babies would be left with these women to be raised by the mother. Instead, they were put up for secret adoption to the highest bidder - some unfortunate childless couples in Ireland and around the world, many of whom ended up in the US. Do we honestly think such a heartless, callous Catholic Church gave these babies to childless couples free and gratis as if it cared? When pigs fly and the tooth fairy is real! What happened to those babies and who profited from the sale? Yes, molestation is horrific, but I think being sold off as an infant with no hope of ever seeing one's mother is no less a troubling state in which to live one's life. But when will this story break in the media? I think any organization that spurns women does not belong minding anyone's soul or proffering opinions about spirituality it does not espouse in the traps of its greed and power plays.

Agnes, I heard of that recently. I appreciate your telling about it here. I didn't have anyone really to ask if it is true. Horrible!

cooch-1922964: Marx started with the propaganda about religion being the opiate of the masses, as his atheistic followers (Stalin and Mao Tse Tung, among others) murdered 100's of millions without the assistance of the Catholic Church or other religious institutions to bring us the good news. Yes, there are priests who are criminals and the Catholic Church has paid and will continue to pay for their crimes. There are athiests who are criminals (the biggest being Hitler, Mao and Stalin and that nutcase in North Korea), some of whom have killed millions and caused more misery in the world than the pedophiles and fornicators in the priesthood. What does this demonstrate? Only jerks believe that that because a very small percentage of priests abuse children and there other that violate their vows of celebacy, that makes "organized religion" bad. Such a position is not even rational. Where did you go to school? Your hatred of the Catholic Church and your very ignorant analysis demonstrates why you need religion (and some schooling in logic).

Aaron, you sir, are part of the ongoing problem. Stop defending them, they don't deserve it. The church would kill you and disgrace your name in an instant to save themselves from a minor embarrassment.

Its use in modern life is now completely non-existent. People like you are just prolonging the inevitable. That haven of greedy, child molesting, man raping priests, is doomed. Let it die so we as a civilization can move forward at full speed.

Aaron, the issue of (concerted bureaucratic attempts to cover up) clerical pedophelia is hardly the sole impetus for critiquing the presence of organized religion. It's just a rather inexpressibly despicable example. More to the broader point, organized religion is organized superstition. While there are clearly some social roles still played by aspects of religious activity that remain positive forces, more generally religion remains a cause of fragmentation at a time when humans need to reconceive the whole metaphor of community. Religion claims powers it does not have, and relations to the "infinite" which are simply not demonstrable. It is a subconscious fraud scheme. Its claims to metaphysical insight are without factual merit. It is dissolving. The human imagination will replace it, just as it was imagined into being in the first place. Amen.

You actually think that's going to happen?