[NYer]

"Now, as Supreme Pastor of the Church, the Pope maintains ... in this field a style of government that aims for the purification of the Church, eliminating the 'filth' that nests in it."

How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him! How much pride, how much self-complacency!
GOOD FRIDAY 2005 - MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS BY CARDINAL JOSEPH RATZINGER

[Natural Law]

Too bad so many who profess to be Christian have already made up their minds to the guilt of the Catholic Church and all of its clergy. They will be showing up on this thread any moment with the same old lies and falsehoods.

[flowerplough]

much reduced" number of cases in the U.S. and "even fewer in Europe,"

Reminds me of a fantasy newspaper headline from one of my favorite "Calvin and Hobbes" strips:

Boy genius gets A+ on Quiz, Drives Fire Truck in Parade Held to Honor Him! Relatively Few Injured."

[Salvation]

**But the “negative image” given to the Catholic Church is exaggerated, Bishop Versaldi said, considering that “no causal nexus exists” between the priest’s celibacy and deviant behaviors. **

For all to read again!

[count-your-change]

If there is rigor now there hasn't been in the past as the example of Jame Porter, a Massachusetts priest, shows. He molested over 200 minors in at least 5 dioceses.

If the total number of offenders (the Boston archdiocese had 150 priests with a record of abuse) is not large the number of their victims can be.

How could this go on without the knowledge of church officials? It didn't. Archbishop Law of Boston admitted he knew and reassigned abusive priests.

Law resigned in 2002. Anyone know where he is today?