Catholic paper calls on church to repent over abuse

Dublin - The editor of an Irish Catholic weekly has called on the Catholic Church to show repentance and seek forgiveness from the people it had abused, national broadcaster RTE reported Thursday. Gary O'Sullivan, editor of The Irish Catholic, was responding to Cardinal Sean Brady's call on the faithful to return to the confessional.

The church "cannot just dust itself off after the abuse scandals and carry on expecting everyone to move on," RTE quoted O'Sullivan as saying.

O'Sullivan also called on the church to apologize for sermons that focused on sin and hell, for scaring mothers about Limbo where, it used to teach, unbaptized children went and for a lack of humility among the clergy.

Would bishops apologize for "the way clerics spoke about sin and the unnecessary guilt it placed on people's shoulders, the excessive piety which allowed a rich and rational faith to descend into folk religion and superstition, or for turning a blind eye to corruption among politicians and the elite of our society while excessively concentrating on the minor infractions of the poor," RTE quoted O'Sullivan as asking.

In light of this request (demand?) in the above article;

The editor of an Irish Catholic weekly has called on the Catholic Church to show repentance and seek forgiveness from the people it had abused, national broadcaster RTE reported Thursday. Gary O'Sullivan, editor of The Irish Catholic, was responding to Cardinal Sean Brady's call on the faithful to return to the confessional.

there can be found some compliance to such request, found in a link you provided on another thread you posted today. I'm under the impression that this compliance was at least as an much, and probably much more an "organic" response, then it was merely some sort of response to *demands*.

here's the link;

http://salem-news.com/articles/april182007/catholic_court_41707.php

and here's an excerpt;

A heartfelt apology was offered by the Archbishop of the Portland Diocese, John George Vlazny. “I take this opportunity to extend a sincere apology to our all our abused sisters and brothers and their families, those who were victimized in any way as a result of this scandal.”

I think the guy really means it.
Though I wasn't myself in anyway directly affected, it appears folks could and should take him at his word here?

I do hope that they may, and be willing to forgive as much as possible, for any and all other bewilderments or hurts that were suffered, associated with this problem among the preisthood.

I could be wrong, and although certainly not a member of the RCC, myself, I'm not under the impression that more than a tiny number of [sexually] abusive preists, actually exist. Or so I'd like to think...

I don't know much either, about all the small details concerning this grievious business in Portland the Archbishop there has had to deal with, but from what can be read about it, oh boy, I'm glad it's not me who had to wrangle with all the problems!

I notice the Catholic hierarchy, while never tiring of exalting "reason" and condemning "brain-dead Bibliolators" for their alleged ignorance and superstition, have a remarkable tolerance for ignorance, simplicity, and superstition among Catholic populations. I suppose so long as the "old testament" doesn't come into the picture simplicity is perfectly okay.

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