The Pope

My Mum converted to Catholicism in her 50s and she and the other women in the Catholic Women's League had a good working relationship with their Priest. She once said to me that he was away for the weekend with his lady friend. I was very surprised at what she said and then very sensibly she added 'well why shouldn't he have someone to love and care for him'.

Now this may be a very simplistic view of things but I wonder if Priests were allowed to marry if this would stop so many sexual abuses of children as they would not be sexually repressed. Of course I do realise children from other religions were abused where the clergy could marry. It's a tricky question.

Exactly Paddyann, where there was abuse it must be condemned but to condemn the many who do no harm but only good is wrong. How many Catholic Churches and convents in this country, how many priests been accused of sexual abuse, how many nuns of cruelty ?

What of the nuns in enclosed orders, no contact with the outside world, are they to be condemned ? They believe a life of prayer is their calling to help those who suffer , their whole lives given up to do what for them is helping others.

Some mothers and fathers abuse their children, are all of us guilty of abusing our children? No. And not all priests, monks and nuns abuse families .

I think Annie has it right there are far more good priests and nuns than the other kind .I went to convent school as did my mother and granny before me .We all loved the nuns who taught us .The local priests were a part of the family ,there for births and deaths and all the good and bad bit in between .
I am not a practising catholic or of any religion now ,but not because they were bad to me or anyone I knew .I just grew out of it.

I have nothing but admiration for the young women and men who dedicated their lives to their beliefs .Its not something I could have done.No one is calling you a liar annsixty sometimes like chinese whispers ,myths and legends....stories grow out of all recognition.We've all come across it before I'm sure.

Ann, I am curious why the mother who was not RC was visited by the priest to collect monies

annsixty, my ex MIL was a good Catholic with five children. They lived in a tiny house with no bathroom and were very hard up. The priest used to call regularly to take money from her. When my ex husband stopped going to church, the priest threatened to turn him into a frog if he didn't return. Being a little horror at this stage, the answer was 'go on then!' I think I could have been better off if he had been turned into a frog.

Oh dear, I am not used to be accused of making stories up .
I think I will stay off contentious threads in future.

I worked with and for Catholic Nuns, I wouldn’t call them Saintly Nuns, they were/are deeply caring women , gave so much to our community regardless of people’s faith or non faith. I daily witnessed they lived by their vows.

If some nuns are to be condemed there are many who are not.

Why condemn the nuns in those mother and baby homes but forget those girls had parents who put their daughters in the homes, who didn’t want to know the fate of their grandchildren. Those babies had grandparents, uncles, aunts.

I grew up in a Catholic community and I dont ever remember priests collecting "their dues" they did visit parishioners to check on families ,had tea with them,spoke to the kids about school and catechism but no money ever changed hands .I think some people make up stories about things they are suspicious of.Our local CofS minister does the same ,visits parishioners .I think its part of the job!

He - and many popes before him - have had plenty of "golden opportunities" to address the abuse . And they have done nothing. They have protected plenty of the pedophiles though. He is no better than any of them. Don't hold your breath thinking that he will "do something".

A neighbour of ours grew up in a Catholic community but he family were not Catholics.
Her mother used to tell me of her younger days when the priest would call round regularly for his dues, while the children would have no shoes to wear and would be often hungry.
Abuse of another kind.

The pope's trip to Ireland is costing £27 million. How many people in need could that money help?

I agree. As children in a Catholic primary school, we had an annual visit from the “saintly priests and nuns” who ran a local children’s home. They told us about the good work they were doing, then handed out little envelopes that we were to fill with pennies every time we did a good deed for someone. We were not rich, so for our families the 2s 6d we raised was not inconsiderable. A few years ago the extent of the abuse meted our to those poor orphans by these “saintly” people was revealed. We wonder who in the hierarchy knew, and did nothing about it.