Paedophile Priests

[RATTER15]

After seeing the Panorama documentary last night about the paedophile priests and the cover up and protection of these priests by the Catholic Church.
The priests that they send in to replace these paedophile Priests and to ensure an effective cover up have �17 million at their disposal to buy the silence required yet have no procedure or funds to help the victims. it just gives me another reason to be glad I have no affiliation to any religious organisation and proud to say I am a non believer. What are your thoughts in general and more specifically on the Catholic Church?

[steviep165]

i totally forgot this was on the other night. if anyone has an idea if its going to be repeated on bbc3/4 whatever, could they please let me know.
cheers guys.

[raysparx1]

butternut,

You are 100% right in what you say,good and bad in every culture,religion etc, the priests that were doing these evil things would be evil whatever religion they were,they are just evil, the sad thing about it,is that it is covered up, but there again Politicians lie permanently to cover the truth and on and on it goes.Ray

[RATTER15]

butternut, you are right, I'm not saying that every member of the Catholic Church is a paedophile, I'm sure that the vast majority of priests are perfectly normal people.
My problem with the Catholic Church is when these paedophile problems come to light, they should call in the police and have the problem dealt with properly, not hide the said priest away and then send in specially trained priests to cover the whole thing up with vast amounts of money.
Why do they not have specially trained priests or counsellors to help the victims?
How can any member of the Catholic church be proud to be Catholic knowing that this organisation is hiding and protecting paedophiles, and knowing that the Vatican is preventing seven priests from being extradited to face these charges.

buttercup, I accept that many priests and Catholics are very sincere people but they do still support the church that hides these sick people instead of allowing justice to be done.

Paedophiles exist in every large and small organisation I am sure, religious and non religious, but only the Catholic Church hides and protects them!!

[RATTER15]

I am a little surprised that this question has had such a small response, a lot of Catholics in our midst's maybe?

[Carakeel]

Having been one of the many children who were sexually molested by a catholic priest, I want to also tell you though that one of my dearest friends in life was an American catholic priest who became the Bishop of Sweden. He gave me such strength in my life. A film was made about my friend called 'The Perfect Priest' - and he was just this! I discussed so many aspects of my life and life in general with him, but never had the courage to mention what Father F. had done to me a few years earlier. I have always regretted not telling my friend. Sadly before I could do so, he died of a brain tumor. What I am trying to make clear with this is - I do not condemn the many good catholic priests, But I do condemn the catholic church as the 'governing body' as it takes no responsibility for or action against the paedophile priests in its midst. I also think that this problem may be more prevalent in the catholic church because of the laws of celibacy.
Lastly, there is a big difference between leaving a particular church because you cannot agree with its doctrines and lack of action and - not believing in God. I have not become an atheist, but I no longer belong to a church. Instead I have adopted Buddhist philosophy for my life. This has helped me heal many wounds and given me balance.

[crete]

a very emotive question RATTER i would prefer not to contribute though,

[RATTER15]

That's fine crete, its not an easy question to answer for many different reasons for different people.

I apologise if I have appeared to be bullying people in to giving an answer, not my intention at all.

[crete]

not at all RATTER that was not what i meant ,

[auzzie]

Sorry Butternut, i have to agree somewhat with Keith. It does appear that your are waffling on and it is not really clear what you are saying. Yes there are paedo's in every race and religion, BUT priests are supposed to be held in high esteem, they are supposed to be in the most trusted position ever. To abuse their position this way is absolutely disgusting and for the catholic church to try and cover it up is also disgusting. To me, it is not natural for a man to be celibate. Most paedo's will try and get a position where they will be trusted and where there are kids! ie schools, churches, dare i say the scouts?
I do agree with you when you said that they should all be put on an island and let them sort themselves out.

[crete]

RATTER, why did you expect a larger response from this question are you assuming Catholics would not respond ? CAN I JUST SAY KNOWING YOU I KNOW THERE IS NO MALICE IN YOUR QUESTION AND HOPE IM NOT APPEARING LIKE A NIPPY SWEETY, JUST YOUR QUESTION AND THE RESPONSES ARE VERY INTERESTING.

[crete]

no idea where those capitals came from sorry ,

[RATTER15]

Hi crete, no i'm not judging anybody that hasn't replied, least of all you, sorry if I gave that impression. I just thought that such an emotive question following the TV programme must of horrified a lot more people.

I do admit in assuming that some people may not reply due to the fact that they are Catholic.

Please forgive me if I have offended anybody, It certainly wasn't my intention. I'm a bit wound up by it all maybe.

[crete]

RATTER , im not offended at all but in all walks of life there are very wicked around who use there religeon to hide behind,

[butternut]

I guess i did not come across too well last night, I suppose if I had of seen the tv programme then my views would have been aired very differently, I maybe because of how much my parents mean to me and my dad is catholic tried to instill that I did not just believe that these ***** should be connected with catholics, this is where I apologise again because I do not follow religion due to no other fact than as a youngster of fifteen etc decided it bored me, but many years on would still say it would bore me going to church, I was not aware of ANY fact that the catholic faith was protecting such dangerous men, I agree wholeheartedly it is very very wrong and should not be allowed no matter what religion the police should be brought in to take over

[RATTER15]

No need to apologise butternut, but apology accepted anyway.

I had a feeling you didn't fully understand what I was saying. lol

[butternut]

I must say Ratter you are always such a gent lol