When are we going to be able to trust Catholic/Christian religions again?  How can any Christian safely leave their children unattended at either a school or an after hours activity without the threat of one of their dirty old male priests or pastors sexually abusing their child.  It is absolutely disgusting and yet it is allowed to happen over and over again.

No wonder the hordes are leaving their churches - the perverts have infiltrated organised religion.  They're everywhere.


A NSW Catholic priest has been charged with a number of child sex offences.

He is the fourth priest to be charged by Strike Force Georgiana detectives, who are investigating a number of alleged sexual assaults on young boys in the greater Newcastle area in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

The 47-year-old Raymond Terrace man, who was arrested on Thursday, was suspended from pastoral duties in May last year, pending the investigation by the strike force.

He has been charged with two counts of indecent assault upon a child under the age of 16 and under authority, and five counts of sexual assault upon a child under 16 and under authority.

He was granted conditional bail and will appear at Newcastle Local Court on March 11.

The charges relate to alleged offences at Cessnock in the early 1990s.

The arrest follows those of four other men last year, three of them Catholic priests.

Detectives from Strike Force Georgiana have so far laid 178 charges against five people after launching the investigation in April last year.

First of all, no matter how you look at it, the word "few" is inaccurate. The church's own inadequate, inaccurate self-survey indicates at least 5,400 priests are proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesters. That's just the ones they acknowledge. Second, the crux of the crisis is the complicity of bishops, not the abusive priests. It's not "some bad apples." It's the barrel and the men who built and oversee the barrel.

Put another way, bishops cover up abuse because they can. Victims, parents, witnesses and Catholics who could call 911 instead report clear or potential abuse to church officials, giving those officials the time, knowledge, incentive and opportunity to hide the crimes. Those who instead turn to the justice system -- either criminal or civil -- often fail to expose predators and protect kids because of the archaic, arbitrary and dangerously restrictive statutes of limitations or because of timid, deferential or inept police or prosecutors. In either case, bishops end up, again, with the chance to abuse their power, protect their reputations, hide their assets, circle their wagons, consult their lawyers, and activate their public relations maneuvers and plans.

It is these men, the bishops, and their nearly unchecked power, that is the problem, not the "bad apple" priests.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/66551/portraits_of_clergy_sex_abuse_(photo_essay)

Well you know what they say, Absence makes the heart grow fonder well Abstinence makes the church grow fondlers.

That's despicable. May they rot where they belong.