Part 3 (Final Part)!

[Mr Veritas]

11. To my brother bishops
Only decisive action carried out with complete honesty and transparency will restore the respect and good will of the Irish people towards the Church to which we have consecrated our lives. This must arise, first and foremost, from your own self-examination, inner purification and spiritual renewal. The Irish people rightly expect you to be men of God, to be holy, to live simply, to pursue personal conversion daily.

12. To all the faithful of Ireland I am praying earnestly that, by God’s grace, the wounds afflicting so many individuals and families may be healed and that the Church in Ireland may experience a season of rebirth and spiritual renewal.

I must say I don't think that the excerpts I have posted show much of an apology,rather more of " we were caught out,and now how can we blackmail the faithful into swallowing our decisions"?
His letter seems more concerned with "pray about it and it will all be better",than addressing the fact that many of thes religious abusers are still in power(in many countries).
He hopes this will now go away,when it is only just really starting!

Apologies,I didn't realise how long this post would be! LOL

[Theland1]

Whether Christian or atheist, "Old Red Socks", should be judged by what he claims he believes.
The New Testament makes it clear the celibacy is a "doctrine of devils," and the sad outcome of it was inevitable.
The R.C. church is and always was a cruel institution, eg the Magdalene Laundries.
They have gotten away with murder.

[beso]

The sick actions of the church are an inevitable consequence of the sick philosophy forming the foundations of Abrahamic religion.

They will learn nothing from this since the Pope simply advises all to turn inwards to the doctrine again.

[chakka35]

What is your question, Mr V?

[naomi24]

I think Mr V would like opinions on this Chakka. I haven't had time to read it properly yet, but hopefully I'll get to it later.

[naomi24]

Theland, //The New Testament makes it clear the celibacy is a "doctrine of devils," //

Odd then that when I suggested that Jesus was likely to have been married, you met my suggestion with spluttering outrage. Bit contradictory innit?

Sorry, Mr. V. That was just a passing thought. Must dash now, but I'll be back.

[naomi24]

Mr V. Well it seems he is trying to make the right noises as far acknowledging that some of his priests are less than they ought to be, but at the same time he appears to be excusing them to a degree and more of less saying that if they, their victims and their victims' families trust in God and stick with the church, everything will be remedied. Well, I fear it won't. As you say praying isn't going to cure the problem, and I actually I think it's an insult to the families of abused children to say that by drawing nearer to Christ by participating in his church, they will find reconcilation, when that's precisely where their problems began. The pope and his cronies are ignorant of the real world because they don't live in the real world - and I think with his organisation having been exposed to such disgrace, it is evident that his first concern is not for the victims, but for the survival of the church. Keep telling them that God will remedy it, and hopefully they'll be gullible enough to continue to believe it. It wouldn't do at all for his flock to lose faith - or trust.

[scotman]

Naomi

I agree with you. The whole attitude seems to be that all your problems are because you don't believe enough

[society]

Naomi, you are a scholar... if in no one else book, at least in my own. :-)

And I do agree with you almost always.

[Sandy-Wroe]

The Catholic Church seems to believe that this life is only a preparation for the life hereafter with God in heaven. And that they are best placed to guide people towards reaching eternity with God and all the Saints and Angels.
If you did believe that, then what happens to someone while they are here on earth is of little importance.
So, the sub-text of any message from the Pope is that the church is more important than the people who attend.
If I believed in god, which I don't, I'd hope there was a special place in hell for paedophile priests and their superiors who sheltered them.

[naomi24]

Aww, shucks, Society. Thanks. I agree with you almost always too. :o)