I agree that celibacy would solve nothing or very little. I’m not sure that a married priest would not serve his flock as well as a celibate one but I’m sure that having a family would give him less time to spend on his extended family.

I don’t understand but know for a fact that women feel very comfortable speaking to priests about everything under the sun probably even more comfortable than speaking to their husbands – mur ifimhom!

However what bothers me as a Catholic is not that there was a paedophile priest but a) that this person is a disgrace to us Catholics and all that Jesus has taught us; b) that they tarnish the good name of so many other priests who are exemplary – I heard someone say that all priests are paedophiles – nothing further from the truth; c) that they are bringing the Catholic Church into disrepute and doing the complete opposite of what they are supposed to do as Catholic priests – evangelise; d) that instead of making us proud to be Catholics we carry their shame; e) that those who wanted to whip the church and us Catholics found easy pickings – maybe this is good in itself as we might get to heaven faster.

I think that the Catholic Church has mishandled the situation over the years. I don’t blame the hierarchy because I’m sure that their mistakes were a result of the shame they felt at the disgusting behaviour of their colleagues.

What I blame them for is not learning from their mistakes. I expect that after several years the Catholic Church should have an almost watertight system of weeding out the ‘sikrana’ and an effective way to deal with offenders in a human but efficient way to protect the innocent.

Jesus said that one of the worst sins is scandalising the innocent.

Fr. John Caruana
Guajara-mirim – Rondonia – Brasil

Unless it rains–there go the roads.

Should be some weekend–sandals and scandals and smooth roads.