This shit infuriates and disgusts me, and I don't understand why the Catholic church tolerates it.

I hope this is the beginning of the end for the victims. I'm praying that many MANY more resignations will come.

@1 - It would appear they tolerate it because they don't want to have to give up fucking little boys. If they admitted they are an organization with a codified policy of enabling boy fuckers they'd lose access to a lot of the little boys they'd like to fuck as parents of little boys rightly flee the church in horror.

Pack their entourage. Heh heh.

@3 - as obvious as that seems, I refuse to believe it. The purpose of organized religion is supposed to be to bring people closer to God. I'd really like a chance to discuss this with a Bishop and ask.

It's always everyone else's fault. And the church is always the victim. History will hopefully show that the ultimate evil was an invention of man's savage mind known as religion. Because that is what it is. Evil.

Does ANYONE believe that over all these years, this guy has only molested that one kid? Get real. He wasn't turned into the authorities and he didn't stop himself. There are other victims. He will rot in hell.

As the truth tumbles out like water from a broken dam, my disgust is moving from beyond the rapists and the capos who aided & abetted their crime to every single Catholic who decides to stay in the Church.

I agree w/ Mr. Constant, and that the only truly moral thing for a (baptized) Catholic is to demand removal from the Church. Anyone else who participates after this is willingly condoning the institutionalized rape of children.

what a pathetic prick.
who does he think he is-
Sam Adams?

@5 That is what religion was originally supposed to do - as well as foster a sense of community, organize work for the public good, etc. At one time the Catholic church provided all of the educational and welfare services in Western Europe (to say nothing of the political administration), because they were the only institution with the resources to do this. In return they expected people to follow their direction in all matters: political and social as well as spiritual.

Nowadays we have secular institutions that provide medical treatment and care for the young, the elderly, the poor and infirm far more effectively and democratically. The Church still tries to wield total moral authority and often interferes with political and social matters. Even without this scandal, it is an institution that has long outlived its usefulness. There are decent bishops out there, but I doubt there are any that can admit to this.

@11 You need a history lesson.

@12 I was trying to be fair. Catholicism did provide a measure of social cohesion within Western Europe in the Middle Ages*. Outside Christendom, not so much.

* And yeah, I know that it was maintained by harassing/ burning religious minorities like the Cathars out of existence.

@5 If you want to be closer to God, try looking at the Hubble photographs and learn about what we know about what's out there. Then educate yourself about nature and evolution and what we know about how the world works. Don't look to religion. That is designed to blind you.

rebelling against religion is juvenile

On the other hand, anonymously accusing other people of being juvenile because they disagree with your views is totally mauture.

Again, having gone to Catholic school K-12 in the 60s and 70s... none of this reflects what I remember.

Social cohesion, or death! Hmmmmm I think I'll pick cohesion to YOUR social ideology! Quite some option there. Just ask St. Patrick's victems.

Good on that guy for telling the truth BTW. I respect him for that!

These selfish scrotums, including Pope Benedict himself, seriously need to go.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pope-Bened…

@5, if you take a step back, I think you'll find someone with an agenda manipulating people to do things that aren't in their own best interests at the core of every religion.

In the case of Catholicism, it started out with Simon Peter convincing people to lay down their lives so he and his friends could seize control of the Roman empire.

I think this answers the question of how the bishops could allow known sex offenders to do what they did.

It seems clear many of the bishops were guilty of the same thing and feared being discovered - or turned in - if they came down too hard on the priests who were doing it.

Or are we supposed to believe that no sexual predators ever moved up the ranks to become bishops (or popes)?

@6 - Yes, their religion made them do it. They had no choice in the matter at all!

Religion may enable evil, but it still comes from the same place it always has.