[small voice in the wilderness]

Add to that the Catholic Church teachings and beliefs that: 1) There is no salvation outside the Catholic Church AND 2). Priests have the power to retain or remit sins. And you can see the reasons the Catholic Church is particularly heinous in child abuse cases by priests. Public schools do not teach they have the power over a person's eternity,nor do Protestant Churches. The sexually abused Catholic Child is therefore in a true quandary. Tell on the priest and face hell, because priests can remit or retain sins. Or tell on the priest and face the possibility that they can never be saved if they leave the Catholic Church. It is a physical abuse, and more, it is a spiritual abuse, of the worst kind.

[metmom]

Thanks for verbalizing it so well.

That’s what I’ve thought as well and couldn’t articulate it so well.

Having been raised Catholic and knowing the reverential awe that most Catholics hold their priests in, especially children, I marvel that any would have the strength of will and character to speak up.

For all the hysteria about false accusations, considering the consequences that a Catholic is led to believe that they could potentially face, alone would be likely to cut down on the false accusation tendency.

Dr. Kopp’s estimates that 75% - 80% of the abuse cases are valid is very disturbing. The infiltration is greater than imagined then.

And, FWIW, I don’t have any trouble believing that it is an intentional infiltration by homosexual activists to try to destroy the church from the inside. What gave it traction is that the Church didn’t clamp down on it INSTANTLY when abuse cases came to light.