Message #212

[Martin]

I don't think the use of the term "covered up" is the appropriate one. To me it implies connivance. It implies that the local bishop connived with the paedophile priest so as to help them continue with their child abuse, because he had been careless enough to get found out, and moved him on so the abuse could continue in a new parish with the bishop's blessing.

No, the term, 'covered up' doesn't imply that at all.  It implies that the Roman Catholic church were concerned about the embarrassment of the crime going public.  It implies that the Roman Catholic church didn't see the crime as something very wrong, something which needed to be stopped as an imperative, but rather more like a lapse of judgement, something that might go away with some low-level admonishment and a new start.  It shows a reckless regard for the safety of children and a complete disregard for the law.

The fact that you come out with this sort of statement, saundthorp, shows me that you are behaving in exactly the same way as the Roman Catholic church has.  You seek to obscure and downplay the blame the church should be taking.  Rather than this protective attitude, which has been the cause of so much of the problem in the first place, the Roman Catholic church needs to hold its hands up and address the problems of hierarchy, power and the tendency to obscure and deceive.

What was it that Jesus said about millstones?  There is a collective refusal to admit responsibility that makes everyone who subscribes to it one who causes harm to these little ones.

I do agree with you though that this sort of problem isn't confined to the Roman Catholic church.  In any church where there is a chain of authority, where ministers/clergy/leaders can get themselves into a position where others fear them or refrain from questioning them simply because of their position.  In any situation where people are used to hiding and obscuring the truth for  the sake of 'the good name of the organisation'.  In any situation where little people, without authority, feel powerless.  In any situation where children are taught not to question. In those situations an invitation is being made to abusers.