New on the Blogroll/Catholic Links Page:

There's a new website on the Blogroll/Catholic Links page (Blogroll > Organizations):

• Brendan Walsh BTh Catholic Charismatic Ministry
  • "Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." Pope John II

It's a new website, too, so I suggest revisiting it at intervals to see what's new there.

A tip of the hat to Brendan Walsh on Google Plus.

That's Funny: You Don't Look Catholic

Folks have odd ideas sometimes.

Take religion, for example, back in my 'good old days.' In the time and place where I grew up, "Christian" and "Protestant" where interchangeable terms for quite a few folks.

Then there were assumptions about religion and ethnicity. Many, if they thought about it at all, 'knew' that:

• Buddhists lived in Japan
• Hindus lived in India
• "Christians" were 'regular Americans'
  • And the folks living in northwestern Europe
• Catholics lived in Italy and Ireland

An oversimplification? Certainly. Did all the folks where I grew up make these assumptions? No.

But quite a few did.

Folks with a college degree under their belt, or who were college students, seemed less apt to make those assumptions about religion and ethnicity. That's the good news.

The bad news is that a fair number of the college crowd had other clinkers in their thinkers. Like confusing Christianity with racism and European imperialism. And assuming, if they thought about it at all, that Christians didn't like science and education: and of course didn't 'believe in' evolution.

No wonder I don't admit to being nostalgic very often.

'Stereotypes are Stereotypes for a Reason'

Stereotypes - 'conventional or formulaic conceptions or images' (Princeton's WordNet) - are not, I think, a particularly good tool for understanding the real world. On the other hand, I think that stereotypes often have some basis in fact: no matter how unrealistic they become, once cut free from the space-time continuum.

Like the 'Buddhists are Japanese' thing. Turns out, a little over 71% of the folks living in Japan follow Buddhism. As of 2005, anyway. In 2001, a bit over 80% of the folks in India were Hindus. ("India" (last updated on December 9, 2010), "Japan" (updated December 7, 2010), The World Factbook, CIA)

Who Believes What and Where

After a little checking, I see that there are about a half-dozen or so 'world religions.'

My guess is that not everybody would agree with this list: but I think it's good enough as a 'for instance:'

• Buddhism
• Christianity
• Hinduism
• Islam
• Jainism
• Judaism
  EMuseum @ University of Minnesota, Mankato

I may have left out someone's favorite, like Shinto or Zoroastrianism. No disrespect intended.

The unreadably small map up there links to a discussion of religious demographics in a Wikipedia article. The point is that folks in different parts of the world do tend to follow one religion more than other faiths. Which is probably where notions like 'Buddhists live in Japan' come from.

But it's a sort of 'on average' thing. That photo shows what was left of the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, after the bomb went off. Quite a few Catholics died that day.

Does that mean, by the way, that I hate America and writhe in agony that allied forces didn't invade Japan the old-fashioned way? No.

I do think that it would have been nice if what we call World War II hadn't happened. But the world is not always a nice place. I've discussed that sort of thing before (October 27, 2010, June 7, 2009; Another War-on-Terror Blog (October 16, 2009))

The Urakami Cathedral? We built another one. The bomb didn't wipe out all the Catholics, and that's another topic.

Back to assumptions about religion and region or ethnicity. One might think Judaism was an 'ethnic' thing - but there are folks like Sammy Davis Jr..

Christianity: A 'European' Religion?

I've run into folks, on and off campus, who seem convinced that Christianity is a European religion. They've got a point, sort of.

There was a time, about nine centuries back, when Europe was the world's 'cathedral central:' Gothic architecture and all that.

When folks in Europe were sorting themselves out into nations, a cross got worked into quite a few national flags.

Then there's the Holy See: in Rome, Italy. Europe again.

Two millennia back, though, Rome wasn't so much part of Europe as it was the political and economic hub of the Roman Empire. It made sense to set up headquarters there. The city's still a reasonably central location for an organization that has branches on every continent.

Except Antarctica, apparently. My guess is that there are Catholics there, too: but so far the permanent research stations are staffed by folks who are 'just visiting.' And I'm not going to get off-topic.

I've heard Christianity called an 'oriental mystery religion.' (March 17, 2009) I didn't argue the point: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and points east are part of 'the Orient.' (Princeton's WordNet) But the Catholic Church isn't any more "Oriental" than it is "Western."

Maybe it would be more accurate to say that Catholicism is Oriental. And Western. And everything else.

The Catholic Church is "Universal:" Literally

A dictionary I use quite often defines "catholic" - lower case "c" - as "free from provincial prejudices or attachments." (Princeton's WordNet)

That doesn't mean that Catholics aren't part of the culture we're born in. I've discussed that before. (August 26, 2010, and elsewhere)

For example, I speak English with an accent that's pretty close to the old 'broadcast standard.' That's partly due to having parents who were slightly deaf, and that's yet another topic. I also like lefse, hamburgers, and spaghetti: reflecting the regional and national dietary customs in my homeland. (Lefse? Sort of like a limp tortilla, except made from potato flour.)

None of which makes me less - or more - of a Catholic than someone whose cradle tongue is Japanese, who would just as soon not eat spaghetti, and who loves playing pachinko.

Finally: Another Report from the Department of Unintended Consequences

I doubt that the radio ranters, a half century ago, realized that their (colorful?) depictions of the Catholic Church would indirectly lead one of their listeners to become a Catholic.

I'm also fairly sure that professors who explained multiculturalism during my college years did not suspect that at least one student embraced the idea - so thoroughly that he would eventually join the Catholic Church. I've written about that before. (July 14, 2010

It's one thing to teach that the cultural preferences of 'those people over there' are no better than those of an even more distant group. When someone turns around and suggests that your own cultural preferences may not be the hub around which the world turns - that's still another topic.

Related posts:

• "Shop Class, Home Ec, and Being Catholic"
  (December 14, 2010)
• "Unity, Diversity, and Being Catholic"
  (August 26, 2010)
• "Catholics aren't Klingons"
  (April 27, 2010)
• "The Catholic Church: Universal. Really "
  (April 19, 2010)
• "Faith and Reason, Religion and Science"
  (March 20, 2009)
  Particularly
  • Darwin and Huxley vs. Ussher and Carlyle
  • What If Darwin Had Been an Astronomer?

Somewhat-related posts, in another blog:

• "Murderous Muslims, Catholic Extermination Camps, and Common Sense"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 8, 2009)
• "What is Islam? Even Muslims Don't Seem to Agree"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 6, 2009)
• "America, Racism, and What Didn't Happen at Virginia Tech"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (January 22, 2009)
• "All Those 'Poor, Uneducated, Minorities Being Drafted in America!' "
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (January 4, 2009)
  • A reality check for assumptions about America's military and
    • Demographics
    • The draft
    • Economics
    • Education
• "Arabs, Jews, Israel, Islam, and More: 11,000 Years of History In 800 Words"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (October 8, 2007)

Background:

• "Religions of the World," Sara Wenner, EMuseum @ University of Minnesota, Mankato (2001)
  
• The World Factbook, CIA
  • "Antarctica" (last updated November 16, 2010)
  • "India" (last updated December 9, 2010)
  • "Japan" (updated December 7, 2010)
• "Sammy Davis Jr."
  Beth Weiss, Jewish Virtual Library

School Evacuation in Ireland, Original Sin, and Sparks

A boy didn't get hurt when he found what looked like a pipe bomb outside his school. The school was evacuated - out of an abundance of caution, I gather. It was a Catholic school in Northern Ireland.

Assumptions and Preferred Realities

Depending on a person's preferred reality, this 'obviously' is proof that:

• Catholics are troublemakers
• Protestants are troublemakers
• Religion kills people
  • Especially Christianity

My take on today's news from Ireland is that when you've got people, you've got trouble. That's not a particularly original idea:

"For mischief comes not out of the earth, nor does trouble spring out of the ground;

"²But man himself begets mischief, as sparks fly upward."
(Job 5:6-7)

It has to do with original sin: which is another topic. (May 5, 2010)

My guess is that it's not accident that the device was found in a largely-Protestant area, outside a Catholic school.

Which isn't to say that all of Northern Ireland's problems would go away if everybody stopped being Christian.

English Kings, Irish Hearts, Human Nature

I'll admit to a bias here. I'm half-Irish. I don't think that English kings have treated Ireland all that well over the last eight or nine centuries. And I certainly don't think that Henry VIII's shipping Protestant Englishmen to Ireland - at least partly in an effort to force those Irish to abandon their papist ways - was a very good idea.

A few centuries later, we've got one lot of folks in Ireland who think they're Irish because their ancestors have lived there for millennia, and who (in some cases) resent another lot who think they're Irish because their ancestors have lived there for centuries.

To make matters worse, some of the new lot aren't entirely reasonable in their attitude toward the old lot.

My guess is that some of them would be at each others' throats even if both groups had been born-again atheists for all these generations. It's like it says in Job.

But what would I know? I'm a practicing Catholic: and 'everybody knows,' in some circles, what they're like.

As I said, it depends on your preferred reality.

Related posts:

• "Rules, the Catholic Church, Neighbors and Me"
  (June 18, 2010)
• "Those Heretics May Not Like being Called Heretics"
  (May 16, 2010)
• "Demonic Deception? Or What You Get When We Play God?"
  (May 5, 2010)
• "Irish Catholic Church Meltdown: I'm Disappointed, But Not Disheartened"
  (December 23, 2009)
• "Earthquake in Ziarat: I Have to Care"
  (October 29, 2008)

More, about Ireland:

• "Ireland"
  IrelandOn-Line
• "This describes the Flight of Earls and details the reign of Henry VIII, Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I"
  Northern Ireland History

Excerpts from today's news:

"8-year-old boy finds pipe bomb outside Catholic school in Northern Ireland; 400 kids evacuated"
The Canadian Press, via Google hosted news (September 6, 2010)

"An 8-year-old boy found a pipe bomb Monday outside a Catholic elementary school in Northern Ireland - and said he picked it up to check whether the fuse was burning.

"Police and politicians blamed anti-Catholic extremists in the town of Ballymena for the threat, and said the curious schoolboy, Brendan Shannon, was lucky that the homemade device didn't blow up in his hand.

"Brendan described spotting a gold-colored pipe with wires or rope sticking out of one end as he rode his bicycle through the playground of St. Comgall's Primary School in Ballymena, a predominantly Protestant town northwest of Belfast...."

"...'To target the general public is never acceptable by any means, but to take away the secure feelings of innocent children and to put them at risk like this is beyond despicable,' Walls said...."

"...The Irish Republican Army, which killed nearly 1,800 people in a failed effort to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom, called a 1997 cease-fire and formally renounced violence in 2005. But IRA dissidents continue to mount attacks - including five car bombings this year that have caused minor damage and no serious injuries - in hopes of rattling Northern Ireland's joint Catholic-Protestant government, the central achievement of the province's 1998 peace accord.

"The major outlawed groups in British Protestant areas called cease-fires in 1994 and officially disarmed over the past year, although police say individual members continue to procure arms and mount sectarian attacks in Ballymena and other predominantly Protestant parts of Northern Ireland."

Irish Cathedral Burned: St. Mel's, Longford

My guess is that it'll take a while to figure out just what started the fire in Longford's St. Mel's yesterday. The Catholic Church in Ireland hasn't had much good news lately.

"The Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Dr Colm O'Reilly, has said he will restore St Mel's Cathedral in Longford after a devastating fire on Christmas morning caused damage estimated at more than €2 million.

"Gardai in Longford say that, while an investigation is already under way into the cause of the fire, a full forensic examination of the scene will not be possible until the fire services have made the building safe and handed it over to gardaí...."
(RTÉ News)

That €2 million is, I assume, €2,000,000.¹ That would make the damage around 2,800,000 USD (xe)

Arson? Maybe, Maybe Not

If I let my imagination go one way, it's "obvious" that this fire "must be" arson, a response to the Murphy report and a very serious problem with an archdiocese in Ireland caught trying to shield at least one pedophile priest, and cover up the scandal.

But there's no evidence of that. A whole lot of things can go wrong in a building that's over a century and a half old - or any other building.

On the other hand, there's no evidence that it's not arson.

Like I said, investigators aren't being allowed into what's left of the cathedral yet.

I checked, just a minute ago (1:37 p.m. Central). Sure enough, the speculation's starting:

• "Longford Cathedral burns down: Is the Irish Church under attack?"
  Will Heaven, Telegraph.co.uk blog (December 26, 2009)

Or, rather, acknowledgment that - given recent events in Ireland - arson is by no means incredible as an explanation for how the fire started.

It's 'Obvious?' Not to Me, Not Yet

The only thing that seems certain right now is that a fine building, built in the mid-1800s (RTÉ), burned. And that there was a whole lot of damage.

The most recent news reports I saw said that investigators couldn't get inside yet, because the cathedral may not be structurally stable any more.

The fire started sometime after the end of St. Mel's midnight Mass. One report said "The fire is understood to have started just after 5am on Christmas Day." (RTÉ)

For everyone concerned, I hope this fire wasn't arson. That sort of hate isn't good for anyone (September 1, 2009)

This is just a suggestion: but you might consider praying for the Church in Ireland, and for folks living in Longford. They're not having a particularly good time, these days.

"St Mel's Cathedral fire"

longfordleader1, YouTube (December 25, 200)
video, 2:09

(no description)

This is the video which also appears on Patrick Madrid's post, "Christmas Morning Shocker: Majestic Irish Cathedral Destroyed by Fire " (December 26, 2009).

"Longford Cathedral Christmas Day Inferno"

michaelcabz, YouTube (December 25, 2009)
video, 2:38

"Christmas morning fire at St Mel's Cathedral Longford"

Definitely amateur video of the fire - whoever's holding the camera tilts it on its side at one point, to get the cathedral's tower in the picture. That's not a criticism: amateur video, that doesn't get cut and spliced by news editors, can give at least as good a 'picture' of what's happened as the more polished professional shots.

"LONGFORD CHURCH FIRE"

DOCDOHERTY2009, YouTube (December 25, 2009)
video, 5:54

"This was the scene hours after the fire first occured at st mels cathedral in longford!"

Never mind the all-caps headline and exclamation mark: This is another good bit of amateur video, showing what seems to be a later stage of the fire, with ambient sounds and the voices. Also shows a bit of the streets of Longford: and a reporter and cameraman interviewing a fireman. Firefighter. Whatever.

Posts about the Church in Ireland:

• "Irish Catholic Church Meltdown: I'm Disappointed, But Not Disheartened"
  (December 23, 2009)
• "Pedophile Priests: In Ireland This Time"
  (December 11, 2009)

Posts touching on hate:

• " 'I Hate Barack Obama' - Maybe Not the Best Message from a Pulpit"
  (September 1, 2009)
• "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
  (August 3, 2009)
• "Three Killed in Tel Aviv Gay Youth Club: There's No Excuse"
  (August 1, 2009)
• "Beach Killer Joseph Burges: A Case of Horribly Warped Christianity"
  (July 24, 2009)
• "Forgiveness and a Spanish Priest"
  (July 23, 2009)
• "Dr. George Tiller's Murder Link Page "
  (last updated June 9, 2009)

Another blogger's commentary:

• "Christmas Morning Shocker: Majestic Irish Cathedral Destroyed by Fire"
  Patrick Madrid (December 26, 2009)

In the news:

• "Investigations continue into major Longford blaze"
  Ireland On-Line (December 26, 2009)
• "St. Mel's Cathedral fire destroys Irish national treasures"
  IrishCentral (December 26, 2009)
• "Longford Cathedral gutted in fire"
  RTÉ (December 25, 2009)

---

A tip of the hat to patrickmadrid, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this event.

¹ Differences between American and British terms for big numbers used to start with 1 times 10 to the ninth, or 1,000,000,000 (" 'billion': a U.K. view" alt-usage-english.org - and there's a rather snippy comment elsewhere online)

Irish Catholic Church Meltdown: I'm Disappointed, But Not Disheartened

The Catholic Church in Ireland is in the news again. Another bishop has offered his resignation. As I wrote, earlier this month:

"...The usual apostles of Maria Monk and Thomas Nast will, probably, say this is what Catholics do all the time. Nothing new there. ("Catholics Don't Believe the Bible: Who Knew?" (September 26, 2008))

"American college professors, some of them, will see the Murphy Report as more proof that they're right about those people who wallow in "self-satisfied ignorance" - and aren't at all like tolerant, open-minded academic people. Again, nothing new. (" 'Self-Satisfied Ignorance?' Eucharist, Quran, and Atheist Book Trashed" Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 5, 2008))..."
(December 11, 2009)

A bit of background, from "Pedophile Priests: In Ireland This Time" (December 11, 2009):

• The Murphy report, prepared by the Irish government, confirmed claims that
  • (Some) priests had abused children in Ireland
  • The Dublin archdiocese had tried to cover up the scandal
• Utterly unacceptable as the abuse is
  • Only a few priests appear to be involved
• The Vatican hadn't done anything to stop the abuse
  • Because the Dublin archdiocese hadn't mentioned it in their reports
  • Until the Holy See found out what was happening
    • Now the Dublin archdiocese is being scrutinized
    • An Irish Cardinal and Archbishop were ordered to go to Rome
      • Where they got 90 minutes up close and personal with Vatican officials

It would have been nice if this abuse had never happened. I wish it hadn't. But it did, and now it's being dealt with.

Bishop James Moriarty, the headline figure in today's news, isn't mentioned in the Murphy report: and appears to have been guilty of not doing something. In 20-20 hindsight, it's pretty obvious that he should have asked the Dublin archdiocese to look at the records of the one priest Bishop Moriarty caught taking photos of children while they were changing. (Reuters Canada, BBC)

Bishop Moriarty didn't have access to the records, himself: and didn't know that the priest had a record of unacceptable behavior.

And yes, he should have asked for a background check.

And the archdiocese shouldn't have been trying to cover up the mess.

And the priest shouldn't have taken those photos.

Now Bishop Moriarty is offering his resignation.

Hats off, by the way, to BBC. The British news service has put Bishop James Moriarty's full statement online: "Bishop James Moriarty statement in full" BBC (December 23, 2009).

Bishop Moriarty's statement, as posted by BBC, ends with these words:

"... I know that any action now on my part does not take away the suffering that people have endured. I again apologise to all the survivors and their families.

"I have today offered my resignation as Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin to the Holy Father.

"I hope it honours the truth that the survivors have so bravely uncovered and opens the way to a better future for all concerned.

"I will endeavour to continue to do my best, as I have throughout my 48 years of ministry, to share Christ's light and hope for the world.

"We are about to celebrate Christmas, a time when we welcome Christ as the 'light that darkness could not overpower'. It is this truth that leads us forward. Christ is our light.

"May the blessing, the grace and the peace of Christmas be with us all."
(BBC)

Hypocritical? Self-serving? Some will see Bishop Moriarty's statement that way. I don't, but I'm a Catholic.

It's not that I blindly trust every individual who says that he or she is Catholic, or every individual church official. I'm well aware that Catholic laity, deacons, priests and bishops are human beings. And that mankind has a long history of messing things up:

"For mischief comes not out of the earth, nor does trouble spring out of the ground; ²But man himself begets mischief, as sparks fly upward."
(Job 5:6,7)

The Body of Christ, The Temple of the Holy Spirit, and Me

The Catholic Church is more than a rogue archdiocese; more than a Catholic politician who supports policies that violate Church teachings; more than a Catholic layman who dresses up as Santa Claus and murders a family.

The Catholic Church is the Body of Christ; Temple of the Holy Spirit; with roots in eternity; supported by God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God in three persons, who created Heaven and Earth. My loyalty is to God and His Church: and my prayer is:

"Lord, send us priests.

"Lord, send us many priests.

"Lord, send us many holy priests."
(quoted July 5, 2009, unknown source)

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Pedophile Priests: In Ireland This Time"
  (December 11, 2009)
• "Ted Kennedy, the Catholic Church, and Our Law"
  (August 27, 2009)
• "Kennedys, Catholicism, and Abortion: So That's What Happened"
  (August 26, 2009)
• "Forgiveness and a Spanish Priest"
  (July 23, 2009)
• "Year for Priests: 'Lord, Send Us Many Holy Priests' "
  (July 5, 2009)
  
• "The Catholic Church and Homosexuals: Harsh and Soft, Judgmental and Understanding"
  (March 13, 2009)
  Particularly
  • Yes, I've Heard About the Big Catholic Sex Scandal
• "The Pope, Angola, and the News: No Wonder 'Everybody Knows' What Those Catholics Are Like"
  (March 22, 2009)
• " 'Get f****d, Catholic Church' - It Comes With the Territory"
  (March 18, 2009)
• "Psycho Santa's Slaying Spree - The Catholic Connection"
  (December 26, 2008) Particularly
  • I'm Not Allowed to Judge Pardo

In the news:

• "Second Irish bishop offers to quit in abuse scandal"
  Reuters Canada (December 23, 2009)
• "Bishop James Moriarty statement in full"
  BBC (December 23, 2009)
• "Second Irish bishop resigns over abuse scandal report"
  BC (December 23, 2009)

Background:

• Catechism of the Catholic Church
  • 787-795
  • 797-798
  • 1053
  • 232-267
  • 279-320
    Particularly
    • 285
    • 302
  • 871-945
  • 1880
  • 1883-1885

Pedophile Priests: In Ireland This Time

The Catholic Church in Ireland hit the international news. The Archdiocese of Dublin, anyway.

Pedophile Priests: Here We Go Again

It seems that (some) priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin 'abused children.' If they followed the general pattern of the Amchurch meltdown, most of the raped boys, but the news reports I read didn't say. Maybe this lot went after girls. The point is, some as-yet-unspecified number of priests lusted after children, did something about it, and got the local church authorities to cover up the scandal.

Unsuccessfully, in the long run. (Didn't anybody learn from Watergate?)

The usual apostles of Maria Monk and Thomas Nast will, probably, say this is what Catholics do all the time. Nothing new there. ("Catholics Don't Believe the Bible: Who Knew?" (September 26, 2008))

American college professors, some of them, will see the Murphy Report as more proof that they're right about those people who wallow in "self-satisfied ignorance" - and aren't at all like tolerant, open-minded academic people. Again, nothing new. (" 'Self-Satisfied Ignorance?' Eucharist, Quran, and Atheist Book Trashed" Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 5, 2008))

Abusive Priests in the News

Taking a look at today's and yesterday's news, all the articles mentioned that priests abused children. Some articles, but not all, mentioned the Murphy Report by name. None that I read said whether boys and/or girls were abused. Maybe news editors don't want people to get the wrong(?) idea.

The way news reports danced around just who or what "Murphy" was got my attention, so I looked at news originating in the United Kingdom. I found a lead (link, actually) on BBC. ("Pope Benedict shares Irish 'child abuse outrage' " BBC (December 11, 2009))

That BBC link led me to The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation. The three members of the commission are:

• Judge Yvonne Murphy (Chairperson)
• Ita Mangan
• Hugh O'Neill
• Maeve Doherty is the solicitor to the Commission

A bit more link-following, and I found a download page for "Commissions of Investigation Act 2004" (Act No. 23 of 2004)(pdf format). The Oireachtas is the Irish Republic's parliament. (Princeton's WordNet) Now, the Irish Republic is the government of Ireland (distinct from "Northern Ireland," for which we have the last Henry to thank). And the Irish Republic most certainly is not the Irish Republican Army, which is another thing entirely.

So, the Murphy Report is what a commission of the Irish government had to say.

Why I Don't Miss the Good Old Days

The timeline for the Dublin Archdiocese meltdown seems to follow what happened in the Catholic Church in America. I don't know who's accused in Ireland, but here in America the pedophile priests seem to have been from a relatively small cadre of priests, who went through seminary around the sixties and seventies.

I remember those "good old days:" the talent and death of Jimi Hendrix; the wisdom of Professor "Turn on" Timothy Leary; the grooviness of Woodstock; the charmingly clueless idealism and the acid heads.

It was a colorful period (remember psychedelic art?), no doubt: but not one known for rigorous adherence to traditional beliefs and practices. Like keeping your zipper up. With 20-20 hindsight, I'm not surprised that a whole lot of the American pedophile priests are around my age: that was not a time when young minds were encouraged to follow dusty old rules taught by fuddy-duddys. Like, it turns out, the notion that children aren't sexual playthings.

Relive the "good old days?" Thank you, no: I got out alive; for which I'm duly grateful. Many didn't.

Summoned to the Holy See: Yes, the Church is Taking This Seriously

It would have been nice if:

1. Another bunch of pervert priests hadn't messed around with kids
2. The local Church authorities hadn't tried to cover up the scandal
3. The Holy See (Vatican, to most Americans) had somehow known something was going to go wrong
   • And stopped it before it started

That's not the way it happened. But, now that the Holy See knows that they have been, in effect, lied to: Headquarters here on Firebase Earth is definitely paying closer attention to the Archdiocese of Dublin.

"Pope Benedict XVI and high-ranking members or the Roman Curia met with two members of the Irish bishops' conference in the papal library on Friday to listen to their concerns and discuss the issue of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin. The Pope was admittedly 'deeply disturbed and distressed' by the contents of the Murphy Report released on Nov. 29 and expressed his commitment to investigating the matter further.

"Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, and Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin met for 90 minutes with Vatican representatives, including Secretaries of State Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti. Also present were Cardinal Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Cardinal Re, Cardinal Ballestrero, Cardinals Wells and the Irish Nuncio...."
(Catholic News Agency)

That's sort of like field commanders called to the Pentagon, where top brass explain to them why they're supposed to pay attention to orders.

I'm confident, going to keep an eye on another fouled-up mess. And, I trust, encourage the Archdiocese of Dublin to make reparations to the victims.

That's not, I think, a vain hope. It's happening here in America. Not that anything will give the now-grown kids their lives back.

You might give a thought to praying for everyone involved: the kids (many now grown); the offending priests, the collaborating Church officials; everybody. That's pray for: not against. Forgiveness is a big part of what the Catholic Church teaches. (July 23, 2009) But that's getting into another topic, and it's getting late.

Sort-of-related posts:

• "Medjugorje: 'Pope defrocks priest' (Fr. Tomislav Vlasic Laicized)"
  (July 29, 2009)
  Particularly
  • The Perfidy of the Pedophile Priest
• "Eight-Year-Old Raped - Time to Think and Pray"
  (July 25, 2009)
  Particularly
  • Judgmental as This Sounds: Rape isn't Nice
• "Forgiveness and a Spanish Priest"
  (July 23, 2009)
• "Year for Priests: 'Lord, Send Us Many Holy Priests' "
  (July 5, 2009)
  
• "The Catholic Church and Homosexuals: Harsh and Soft, Judgmental and Understanding"
  (March 13, 2009)
  Particularly
  • Yes, I've Heard About the Big Catholic Sex Scandal
• "The Pope, Angola, and the News: No Wonder 'Everybody Knows' What Those Catholics Are Like"
  (March 22, 2009)
• " 'Get f****d, Catholic Church' - It Comes With the Territory"
  (March 18, 2009)

In the news:

• "Pope tells Irish bishops he was 'disturbed and distressed' by Murphy report"
  Times Online (December 12, 2009)
• "Pope 'deeply disturbed' over abuse by Irish clergy "
  CNN (December 11, 2009)
• "Pope Benedict shares Irish 'child abuse outrage' "
  BBC (December 11, 2009)
• "Pope meets with Irish bishops, plans measures to respond to abuse"
  Catholic News Agency (December 11, 2009)

---

More:

• "Pedophile Priests, Ephebophilia, and Facing Facts