Cloyne Again

The fundamental problem was that the bishop and the Vicar General chose to ignore the Irish proposals. Another problem was that the proposals were sent to Rome as if they were study guidelines. Either way, the problems were in Ireland.

The curse of pornography

A Canadian bishop who apparently dealt well with the sex abuse crisis in his diocese has been caught with child pornography. What makes a "good" person, like this bishop or Fr Kit Cunningham, do something so wicked? Most pornography addicts tend to compartmentalise their lives. Some addicts get bored of "soft porn" and a relatively small number move on to illegal material. Others are only attracted by illegal material. In either case, we may conclude that pornography addiction is damaging and dangerous.

Letters in The Tablet

Sister Myra Poole asks the bishops to support the ordination of women to the priesthood because this is the price "to pay in following a growing call 0f the spirit."
Another writer mentions the story of Ananias and Sapphira who were found lying to the Holy Spirit.
Oh, and Sister is not keen on priests being men because of the sex abuse crisis. Perhaps we should abandon the Doctrine of The Trinity and The Incarnation as well.

What happened to the Irish clergy

If Michael Voris is right, and he has not been sued, Fr Ledwith had an enormous influence over the Irish clergy, an influence that was utterly harmful. After being embroiled in the sex abuse scandals, he has, according to Voris, left the priesthood. It almost goes without saying that there had been a cover up for many years.

When will this plague end

I owe the Rosminians a great deal. One of them was good enough to be my spiritual director and he introduced me to a wealth of Catholic Spirituality.But the order has got it really badly wrong. How could they have kept quiet following the death of Fr Kit Cunningham when they knew about his past.There is now a wealth of knowledge about the consequences of sexual abuse. There is also a well documented history of Church cover up. With all that, how did they manage to get it so badly wrong?

The Culture of Death

It is easy for us to equate this phrase with issues relating to abortion and euthanasia. But Pope John Paul said that "Only a higher vision can motivate the choice for life. And the values underlying that vision will greatly depend on whether the nation continues to honour and revere the family as the basic unit of society."

The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis

Many thoughtful people have recognized that only a small number of priests are guilty of this crime.What concerns them is the cover-up and they have every right to be concerned.Sadly,the Catholic Church is not the only institution at fault.There have been similar reports of cover-up involving other religious denominations,schools,the boy scouts etc.
Does this get the Catholic Church off the hook? No. All forms of cover-up involving this crime needs to be condemned.