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This may sound a trifle conceited, but my regular followers will have noticed that I don’t post blogs that attacks religion directly, as often as I used to. You see, I’ve found over time that religion (aided and abetted by its adherents of course) does a bang-up job of trashing itself, all on its own.
However, I do make a point of posting about religious incidents that are so outrageous, as to make one seethe in anger at its imprudence. This is one such incident…
Pope Benedict XVI, has been under the cosh of late, and for good reason. His un-thoughtful utterances have not only further damaged (if that’s at all still possible) the Catholic faith, but his own credibility too. Over the weekend he told Irish Catholics that it is a mystery why priests and other church officials abused children. While the many years of denial has finally been exposed beyond any doubt, the Catholic Church is now dealing with the fallout, but instead of trying to make things right (is that possible?), or amends (what could possibly compensate?), they continue to act like the reasons for the abuse were beyond their human ability to control. Take this statement for example:
How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord’s body and confessed their sins in the sacrament of Penance have offended in this way?
The attempt to make out that the rampant child abuse was a “mystery” is not only laughable, but outrageously mendacious. It is also an insult to the many that were hurt as a result of this dastardly behaviour.
His Unholiness should be told in no uncertain terms that there is no mystery here. The answer or part of it, is right there in that ridiculous statement he made. The repulsive ideology of the Eucharist, that man can “eat” of the body of Christ and “drink” of his blood, may not be the full answer, but it certainly points to it.
Lenny Says 
As you pointed, there is no way to compensate or to make things right for the victims. The reality is though that child molestation most commonly occurs in the home by the child’s own relatives. Its also common in schools, girl scouts, boy scouts. Pedophiles go where children are and tend to take jobs that get them in contact with children. The scandal is that Catholicism teaches that reception of the sacraments, penance and what not help us to overcome sin. We also look to our priests and religious to be an example of holiness. They have failed to do this. Its not caused by their religious beliefs though it shakes the faith of plenty over the validity and power of the sacraments and thus the authority of the Church.
Hi HC,
Most of what you’re saying is true, but I don’t believe that priests in the Catholic Church started out as pedophiles looking for a “home.” I tend to think they started out as good ordinary men who became tainted while in the service of Catholicism.
You can hold that opinion all you want, but there is no evidence for it. The most I’ve seen is a suggestion that high school pre-seminaries restricted sexual development, but high school pre-seminaries are no longer the norm, and I have yet to see any statistics of those convicted of child molestation of having gone to a pre-seminary in high school.
Hi HC,
So where’s your evidence that pedophiles become Catholic priests?
The sex abuse scandals. Its not that they’re particularly attracted to the priesthood over other choices in life. I would think school teacher or Catechist would be more attractive to them. In the parish I grew up in, it was those men involved in Catechesis and youth ministry that turned out to be the problems.
Thanks HC, that’s something new I’ve learned.