@tom don’t be so gullible the rate is way above 2%,and worse again is nearly all priests and bishops knew it was going on and covered it up..to this day noone knows how far it stretches due to priests been moved to other parishes and sent as missionarys not taking into account still the people who are to ashamed to come forward due to media attention

I say, Let the church be and they’ll be crucified in time!

As far as I know Fr Flannery hasn’t questioned any of the church’s core teachings & beliefs. His main issue is with being told that certain subjects can’t be discussed e.g. women priests. He is not another Martin Luther & would not thank you for saying so.

Sorry, what I meant was – ” that would be an ecum… ” oh never mind

The real god is ever loving and cares for all his/her children..especially the stray sheep who he makes a extra effort.

Many stray sheep seem to be those who claim to be his direct representatives. Strange that !

Cutting of relations with the Vatican is puerile why does the USA and China and Russia want relationships with the Vatican Fr Flannery either complies with the teachings or should be excommunicated.

John what does Jesus mean to you? Your relationship does not depend on the faults of others in the past. You won’t be asked to account for what others did. Didn’t Jesus say ‘do not judge’? Calm yourself and try and relate to others who have faults like yourself but who ultimately God loves, as He created us all.

Jesus was a man or a myth, and he had some wisdom, and plenty of ignorance, like the rest of us. According to Matthew he thought castration, to avoid temptation (19:12), was a good idea, and Paul probably did it. His system of justice was stupid…reward a thief with more goods, instead of restitution and punishment. He was a bigot toward the woman at the well, comparing her to a dog, because she wasn’t a Jew, and never said a word about education, art, or thinking for oneself. The list goes on, but this is enough to show his humanity, or the human part those who created him.

@Kevin. You should try and relate to john and myself and understand that it’s hard for us to believe in the bible and Jesus Christ son of God.

Please empathize that we lack the faith that you are so blessed with… Unfortunately for us, we learned about things such as evidence, reasoning, human culture, history, theology and myths and probably lost our chance of having faith in the bible and Christ.

@Kevin. You should try and relate to john and myself and understand that it’s hard for us to believe in the bible and Jesus Christ son of God.

Please empathize that we lack the faith that you are so “blessed” with… Unfortunately for us, we learned about things like evidence, reasoning, human culture, history, theology and myths and lost our chance of having faith.

The pope does not own such land. When he dies it cannot be passed on to his relatives. The office of the pope may have an interest in land but not the pope personally.

You’re quite right Kevin. You would imagine that the supposed servants of God would be appalled, sickened, scandalised or perhaps even just embarrassed at the amount of wealth the Vatican possesses, not only the gold & cash in its bank vaults but in its museum and gallery treasures but then this is not a religion. Its a business and businesses exist to make profits. The pope recently gave $250,000 from his own vast personal fortune to misogynist defectors from the Church of England. Note his use of U.S. dollars, not pound sterling or euros. Very interesting.

Never new there was a non-Christian way to represent the date as we use it here in Ireland. So far 2013 CE has been an informative year for me.

With all due respect Lieutenant, he needs to obey his heart and his inner guidance, not misguided, archaic system!

That is not an option when you make a vow of obedience. If he cannot keep this vow surely this affects his overall credibility.

Molesting young children is not enough to affect credibility but saying the catholic church is a bit immoral in certain aspects is? Well… Credibility doesn’t mean much to me in this context.

The S.S. were obedient to Adolf Hitler, and we all know what transpired there. Would you blindly obey a system if it went against your beliefs?

Obedience is not about just doing what you are told. Maybe for catholic priests it is as it gives them an excuse not to have to think, and like Ireland’s Cardinal Brady, it means he can reassure himself he did all he could when he swore two young children to secrecy over the violent, inhuman, demonic and savage rapes they had been subject to at the hands of a catholic priest.,, “I was only following orders”. However any decent human being is ordinarily a dutiful and obedient person except when he/she is asked to do something that goes against his/her conscience – that’s morality, pure and simple.