Mary:

It’s obvious that you have been thinking of leaving the church. It’s sad to see that your belief in Catholicism is based on the clergy and not its teachings. Man is not without flaw even if we were made in his image. Now many of our church critics seize such sandals to discredits all the good that our Catholic church does.

Am I defending our clergy for misjudgments? No. Please remember that “Pedophilia” was an unknown term when many of the allegations were made.
Only until recently has it been found that such a condition is incurable. Is it an abomination? Yes however, I’ll leave that to the Lord.

Whatever happened to the term “Innocent until proven guilty”? The argument of advising a parish that would receive a priest accused of sexual indiscretion I don’t believe is a means of salvaging one of God’s creators. Many of such transfers are made if the allegations limit the priest’s effectiveness as a spiritual leader. When evidence was found to be creditable the priest were removed.

Perhaps you have forgotten the second sacrament of reconciliation. If we fail to forgive then we are doomed and are not following the Lord’s most basic and important teaching.

The Bishops review the allegations with great vigor. Our church is not required to seek the advise of the secular to appease them.

We are required to reviews each case and seek the appropriate action. When a second allegation is made the church dismissed the priests from their pastoral duties.

Please don’t hold all priests responsible for the acts of a few. To do so would be a mistake and show a lack of compassion.

Respectfully proud chin up Catholic.

Richard L. - Phoenix, AZ