re: #9 austin_blue

Why. Don’t. They. Fix. The. Problem?

Look, I was raised Catholic, and I am sure that many of the priests who taught me, advised me in my yoot, led mass, &c, were gay. Not one ever touched me. (As an aside, celibate life is unimaginable to me.)

But the problem here is that a small minority of gay priests are pedophiles, and yet the Church has *coddled* them. Which is unconscionable. Get rid of them. Put them in jail. Make your parishoners trust you gain.

I mean, really. WTF?

But whoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

The children of the Church need to be protected, even from the Church itself. Name names, bishops. Turn these guys in. Let your priests and nuns and lay leadership know that they’ll be backed up when they blow the whistle. The long-haired hippie on the holy card with the little kids gathered around him knows its hard, but he wants you to know it’s the right thing to do.

I should comment, at this point, that the Catholic high school I was at last year had to fire a (lay) teacher for molesting a student. Kid went to the dean, dean went to Father, and the teacher was removed from campus that same day. It can be done!