A request for the Pope

[AlphaCentauri]

Holy father in your visit to our country, could you bring some holy water to sprinkle the white house?


Also bring the ten commandments, we really need a refreshment about them:

1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.

2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's day

4. Honor your father and your mother.

5. You shall not kill.

6. You shall not commit adultery.

7. You shall not steal.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

10. You shall not covet you neighbor's goods.


and don't forget, you may attend some Sacraments of Reconciliations or confessions and be ready if the people ask you to practice an exorcism.

[guyanakoolaid]

1. Also - tell your bishops and priests to stop f*&king little boys. Thank you, Your Holiness

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Are you aware that about 85% of the boys were teenagers at the time

they allege that they were seduced by a priest? They were not "little boys" at all. Some were over the age of consent in their state. Perhaps many were; I don't think anyone has analyzed the data.

Let me be very clear that I don't think priests should be having sex with anybody since it violates their vows to God. And it is true that some priests and bishops behaved immorally. No one denies that.

If proven guilty of crimes, priests and bishops should be sent to prison. It is important to remember, though, that everyone accused of a crime deserves a fair trial, not a "trial by media." It's also important to remember that a small minority of priests and bishops were involved, and that anti-Catholic bias was very evident in media coverage.

The media never reported the "pedophile priest scandal" fairly. As I've already indicated, most of the cases did not involve pedophilia at all. Pedophiles have a sexual attraction to children who have not reached puberty. They are not attracted to teenaged boys, who were the majority of those alleging abuse by a priest.

At least one man was 21 when he became sexually involved with a priest. Years later, he filed a complaint and got money from the Church! Mind-boggling!

A woman in my state, also not a minor, had an affair with her priest and had a baby during the course of the affair. Blood tests showed the priest could not be the baby's father but he and the diocese still paid child support.

All you men who like younger partners need to be aware that there is now precedent for prosecuting men who have sex with people above the age of consent in their state, even 21 year-olds, who are adults. Women can expect that they will be prosecuted in the future, too, perhaps if they are in their mid to late twenties and have sex with a 21 year-old.

[guyanakoolaid]

4. It's hard to bring them to a "fair trial" when the Catholic Church hides them and their abuse

That is why the Catholic Church as a whole is guilty of these crimes and deserves all of their losses in both money and membership. Because even when made aware, church leaders covered up ILLEGAL molestations and shuffled the priests off to new parishes, where a whole fresh crop of new unaware victims were waiting.

You attempt to whitewash the abuse by noting a couple of victims were actually over legal consent limit. This does not change the large numbers of priests who actually illegally had sex with children, or the more heinous cover-ups. Numerous cases have been settled in court, shall I start digging them all up to prove my point?

Catholics should be contrite on this issue - they have no bearing to open their mouths to do anything but utter the words "I'm sorry".

[AlphaCentauri]

5. "the Catholic Church as a whole" that is the big disadvantage of the church

other religions and sects have the advantage of being considered independent parishes of their denomination, when Pastors and Reverends do abuse children like the recent mormon case in Texas there are no legal means on getting money from the whole mormon church. In the case of David Koresh or Jim Jones their respective church denomination disenfranchise them.

[Adsos Letter]

8. David Koresh...

and the "Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists" were offshoots from the "Davidian Seventh-day Adventists" who were disenfranchised from the parent "Seventh-day Adventist Church" back in the 1930's.

Yes, Koresh was, for a time, a member of the SDA church, but he was disenfranchised prior to his role with the "Branch Davidians."

And that underscores the point the other poster was making: the Catholic Church hierarchy often tried to cover-up the illegal behavior of abusive priests; the SDA's had diassociated themselves from Koresh long before his activities became illegal.

[guyanakoolaid]

9. Unfortunately for the church, since they knowingly moved pedophiles to avoid prosecution

they are knowingly complicit in the cover-up. The organization broke laws on top of the original pedophilia by engaging in this cover-up, allowing even more pedophilia to happen. Time after time, when confronted with the abuse going on, they chose to try and sweep it under the rug, allowing it to perpetuate, so the church itself is as guilty of pediphilia as the individual molesters in the church.

[Adsos Letter]

2. And stay out of our politics.

and our bedrooms...

[AlphaCentauri]

6. most evangelical fundamentalist want to have the commandments in publics offices

time for their members holding office to show what they preach before they imposed on others.

[Adsos Letter]

7. And those who care about keeping church and state seperate in this country...

fight just as hard to block posting of the 10 commandments in public places.

The surest way to maintain freedom of conscience in this country is to keep church and state seperate.

And I, for one, contribute heavily to organizations fighting to do so.

So, like I said...the Pope is welcome here; just stay out of our politics, and remember that the decisions made in America regarding religion are intended to be voluntary, and without effecting citizenship, or equal access to the rights of citizenship.