At the school I attended as a child, any and all
queries by parents about the standard of teaching or the content of the
syllabus would be met by the stock response: “Take your child elsewhere,
then.” End of criticism, since to be Catholic meant an obligation to
raise one’s children as Catholic, and taking the child to a state school
would put at risk their immortal soul. In the smallest and in the
largest detail, the power of the Catholic clergy was, as remains,
absolute.
A trivial example to be sure – but one typical of the mindset that I believe to lie at the heart of the child abuse scandal that is now shaking the Catholic Church. Yes, the vow of celibacy is a contributing cause – one that can and should be rescinded. As Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil once conceded, the vow of celibacy is not dogma....
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2010/04/06/g-campbell-catholic-churchs-child-abuse-scandal/
A trivial example to be sure – but one typical of the mindset that I believe to lie at the heart of the child abuse scandal that is now shaking the Catholic Church. Yes, the vow of celibacy is a contributing cause – one that can and should be rescinded. As Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil once conceded, the vow of celibacy is not dogma....
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2010/04/06/g-campbell-catholic-churchs-child-abuse-scandal/