[cmj328]

Documents released last week show Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope, decided not to remove Father Lawrence Murphy even after he admitted molesting boys at a deaf school in St. Francis.

Bull.

[TSgt]

The problem with the Catholic Church seems to be the inability to acknowledge that there are bad apples in the priesthood who commit very serious crimes and who need to be dealt with firmly. Instead of confronting the problem, however, the Church chooses the path of least resistance, which is to bury the whole thing and pretend it never happened! Now, though, the issue has returned like the stench of two-week-old cow dung, and it cannot simply be ignored. Getting out of the crisis will require honest dialogue about what to do with priests who abuse their robes and authority by molesting children.

For starters, there has to be a clearly defined process similar to the one adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in December 2002.

Called the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, it clearly spells out how cases of allegation of abuse involving priests should be handled. It is a good first step that needs to be refined and implemented around the world in Catholic parishes.

It is the only way to deal with the abuses because, frankly, prayers are not enough.

[Campion]

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope, decided not to remove Father Lawrence Murphy even after he admitted molesting boys at a deaf school in St. Francis.

Wow. They're down to bald-faced, outright lies now.