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Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on January 22, 2013 at 11:05am

I note that this report refers to communications in the mid 1980s.  I can't find the original broadcasts in the CBS archive (probably because they haven't been loaded), but I would swear that I saw a CBS 60 Minutes report on the issue of catholic priests molesting children and subsequent shuffling of offending priests as early as the mid- to late-1970s.

The ONLY reason I can fathom for the slow and frequently too-late move to prosecute (witness Bernard Cardinal Law!) is because of the "natural" deference people tend to give to priests.  I don't know how we disenthrall ourselves of these spiritual charlatans, but my sense is that, until we do, the criminals of the church are going to continue to skate on such charges in the overall scheme of things.

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Permalink Reply by Humble Pie on January 22, 2013 at 12:43pm

Being an expert in religion, it's sort of like being an expert in Santa Claus.Perhaps you get some deference when people are asking questions about the history and development of your myth, but that hardly makes you a moral authority beyond the reach of the law.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on January 22, 2013 at 12:58pm

You do know the "Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith" is the new name of an old Catholic institution that has been in existence for centuries. I guess they needed the re-branding to make it more palatable in the modern world.  The original name? The Inquisition!

I suppose in a sense, one longs for the days when "celibate" priests openly walked around with their mistresses in St. Mark's Square in Venice, and St. Peter's in Rome. At least they left the children alone (we think, speculate, hope...), considering they were banging the hookers like a screen door in a hurricane.

One thing I do have a problem with in my line of work, is explaining to criminal defendants why they have to go to prison, when degenerates like Mahoney, Curry, Garcia, Bernard Law, and other pedophiles with a Roman collar are allowed to walk the streets. Quite frankly, being the "bitch boy" on the prison gallery would be a just reward for them.

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