Clerical abuse!

[No wides]

Will someone explain to me how it is responsible parenting in any era to drive one's young children to a meeting with clergy,let them attend the meeting unaccompanied without finding out what the hell its all about?

You mean like Confessions?

[AhNowRef]

Jesus H .. Havent been on here for a while but I see the Catholic church's answer to Donald Trump is still spouting piss & shite  ... No actually thats a major insult to Trump..

WUM or Genuine .. either way T Fearon you truly are a complete and absolute sc**bag ...  For the other posters here, Im afraid he's also just too stupid or too f**ked up to debate with as he will ignore all points made and just keep repeating his nonsensical & heinous Paedo facilitation protection stance .... as you have seen, his points dont even have to make sense 

God help the church with little monsters like him running around in it ..

[smelmoth]

It all boils down to faith.

And you can believe what you like but if it is mere faith and not backed up by any evidence then you have to get use to people not taking you/your point seriously. You will also have to get used to relinquishing the historic privilege that faith enjoyed. But you will just label that anti catholic or some such drivel 

[T Fearon]

No problem with people disbelieving etc but surely some respect should be shown for those who do.Beliefs can neither be proved or disproved,if they could they would be either fact or fiction

[imtommygunn]

Your views with regard to parents etc deserve no respect. They're deplorable. That is in no way disrespecting religion or your faith- just you.

You can't come out with the things you come out with on these subjects and expect respect.

[T Fearon]

Look,remove the anti Catholic blinkers and consider dispassionately this scenario,in the cold light of day.You are a parent of a young primary school child,and your child is summoned (extraordinary scenario you would surely concur) to a meeting,without any explanation whatsoever,by clerics,police,lay school teachers,or indeed any other adult grouping you care to name.

Would you as a parent not firstly wonder, and secondly make it your business to find out what it's all about? Would you not at least insist  on accompanying your young child  to the meeting? Would you not at the very least,either before or after the meeting,ask your child repeatedly,what it was all about,until he or she told you?

I simply cannot fathom how any parent,in any era,could accept an invitation for their child to attend a meeting of an adult grouping,without explanation,actually drive  them to same meeting,wait outside the door of that meeting,drive their child home from that meeting,without at some point,demanding to know what the hell is going on.

[Arthur_Friend]

Look,remove the anti Catholic blinkers and consider dispassionately this scenario,in the cold light of day.You are a parent of a young primary school child,and your child is summoned (extraordinary scenario you would surely concur) to a meeting,without any explanation whatsoever,by clerics,police,lay school teachers,or indeed any other adult grouping you care to name.

Would you as a parent not firstly wonder, and secondly make it your business to find out what it's all about? Would you not at least insist  on accompanying your young child  to the meeting? Would you not at the very least,either before or after the meeting,ask your child repeatedly,what it was all about,until he or she told you?

I simply cannot fathom how any parent,in any era,could accept an invitation for their child to attend a meeting of an adult grouping,without explanation,actually drive  them to same meeting,wait outside the door of that meeting,drive their child home from that meeting,without at some point,demanding to know what the hell is going on.

Remind me,  who was terrorising the child in the meeting again? The parents or the priests?

[T Fearon]

All the more reason for the parents to ensure their children weren't "terrorised" by insisting that they too attend the meeting, or at least find out the purpose of the meeting

[imtommygunn]

Your anti catholic nonsense every time you are challenged is just that - nonsense. I come from a devout catholic family and have full respect for my family's faith and religion. Most people on here would come from similar backgrounds i suspect.

I also respect that they can see the flaws in the church and individuals involved.

Your opinions deserve no respect. So little humanity and empathy in them.

[muppet]

All the more reason for the parents to ensure their children weren't "terrorised" by insisting that they too attend the meeting, or at least find out the purpose of the meeting

Are you beginning to see why we call it a 'cover up'?

Of course the parents asked. But Smyth and co chose their victims from the devout (i.e. vulnerable). They were believers and did what the Church told them.

Brendan Boland's father attended his son's 'interview', but still wasn't let into the room. Outside the room, Sean Brady gave the father an oath that Smyth wouldn't bother children again. Boland's father believed him. He later realised that was a mistake and went to the Gárdaí.

[T Fearon]

If I as a parent wasn't let in I wouldn't have allowed my child to attend the meeting.If Mr Boland's father was given an oath by the Church,that means he too knew about Smyth but like the Church,didn't go to the Police either.If it's inexcusable that Sean Brady didn't tell the Police it is also inexcusable for a parent who was aware of the abuse not to tell them either.I am sorry if this annoys people but the parents must accept a large part of the responsibility for this sorry mess.

[From the Bunker]

Of course T Fearon is correct. The Parent(s) should have been more Forthright with their concerns (if they had any). Many I fear were blinded by their faith and their trust in the Catholic Organisation. The point is that the Catholic Church is first and foremost the biggest holders of the blame at every level. They used their Power, Fear,  Influence, Trust and standing in society to maintain and hide these horrible crimes of Rape and sexual abuse. To pass the parcel of blame onto parents is a Cop out.

[muppet]

What Tony completely fails to grasp is that while some parents would have strung Smyth up on the nearest tree at the first sign of trouble, the point is that Smyth would not have dared touch a child from such families. He, and the other monsters, targeted vulnerable children of parents that would either completely trust the Church or were in no position to challenge the Church.

Either way the Church protected the Smyth's of this world and not the abused children.

[T Fearon]

So we have different classes of parents now,those who act responsibly and those cowered by fear of people wearing a clerical collar? And Brendan Smyth was able to control his paedophile instincts until he got to know and discern which type of parents his victims belonged to? What utter tosh.

The people ultimately responsible for paedophilia, in the Church,the BBC or in any other walk of life are the paedophiles themselves.That this was grossly mishandled in decades past by the guardians of the institutions and in some cases by the parents of victims is beyond question.But to lead a campaign of vitriol against one priest,not involved in paedophilia, just because he happened to occupy a position of Cardinal,a half lifetime later is scandalous.

[No wides]

So we have different classes of parents now,those who act responsibly and those cowered by fear of people wearing a clerical collar? And Brendan Smyth was able to control his paedophile instincts until he got to know and discern which type of parents his victims belonged to? What utter tosh.

The people ultimately responsible for paedophilia, in the Church,the BBC or in any other walk of life are the paedophiles themselves.That this was grossly mishandled in decades past by the guardians of the institutions and in some cases by the parents of victims is beyond question.But to lead a campaign of vitriol against one priest,not involved in paedophilia, just because he happened to occupy a position of Cardinal,a half lifetime later is scandalous.

You really are a vile individual the church facilitated Smyth moving him around Ireland giving him fresh new victims, these bastards know the children to target, vulnerable kids who maybe have issues at home.  You seriously are a horrible, vile, unchristian fuckwit, I take it you have no kids to busy licking the altar rails and posting vile on here.