HiddenMysteries: Christian Terrorism

Letters: Clerics must pay for what they did

Sir -- I am absolutely appalled and angry at the attitude and downright arrogance of the Catholic Church, seeing how they behaved after all that has been exposed in the Dublin Archdiocese by the recent report on child abuse.

They are talking down to people, as if they were not involved in the terrible abuse that they themselves inflicted on children for decades. They even have the arrogance to tell us the bishops made mistakes when they were moving paedophiles from parish to parish to try and cover up for the perverts.

This attitude comes from brow-beating the people of Ireland over decades and dictating to the Government on matters which were none of their business.

They terrified the people of this country down the years and threatened terrible things to make them conform to their rules. This was another form of abuse.

It is high time that these bishops and parish priests who participated in shunting paedophiles around the country from parish to parish were brought before a court of law and made answer for their crimes against the most vulnerable people, the children of this country.

We can no longer accept these crimes as mistakes.

The Government is not without questions to answer. They signed an agreement with the Church, which in effect means the taxpayer will be paying 95 per cent of the compensation to the victims of abuse. This agreement should now be torn up.

The people who perpetrated the abuse should be made liable for the compensation in full.

Eamonn Burke,

Portlaoise, Co Laois

Sir -- More than 15 years ago I decided to opt out of the Catholic Church after many years of deliberation, there were just too many reasons not to stay part of something that was clearly rotten to the core.

There was the Brendan Smyth case, the Sean Fortune case, the hidden life of Michael Cleary, to name but a few. Men who preyed on the vulnerable and would go to any ends to cover up their antics.

We had the Ryan report and now the Murphy report to put concrete facts to the years of rumour.

Over the years I have often wondered how evil men could gain such power over children without causing a stir, and one day it occurred to me.

The next time you go to confession, get into the dark confessional box, reveal to the priest your 'wrongdoing' and wait for your penance. While you're in there try to imagine yourself in the shoes of the average seven- or eight-year-old child entering the box for the first time, telling this figure of power some wrongdoing you did.

He'll tell you that it's between you and him, it will go no further and he won't tell anyone else -- not even your parents.

What innocent child would question this figure of authority when they carry out indecent acts on them? After all, they were encouraged by their parents to enter the confession box in the first place.

Name and address with Editor

Sir -- Though I naturally commend Eoghan Harris's comments on the Murphy report, (Sunday Independent, November 29, 2009) his claim that the Eucharistic Congress, the Constitution, and the alleviation of John Charles McQuaid collectively corrupted the Irish Roman Catholic Church needs some important historical clarification.

These factors were largely symptomatic of a pre-existing corruption within the church body, which had its toxic roots in mid-19th Century Vatican neo-authoritarianism, institutional expansionism, and self-aggrandisement, following the loss of Rome's temporal power under the reign of Pope Pius 1X (he ruled from 1846-1878), the first infallibility pontiff.

The Archbishop of Dublin -- and ultimately Cardinal -- Paul Cullen (1803-1878) enjoyed a very close relationship with Pius IX, and conspired -- despite the valiant efforts of Archbishop MacHale of Mayo -- with Pius to subject Catholic Ireland to the full might of the Roman Church, where the art of commerce between Heaven and Earth proved to be a rich vein for both the Irish Roman Catholic Church, and its masters in the Vatican.

It is worth recalling the dying words of Pius IX: "Guard the Church I have loved so well."

To Pius IX, the Church meant literally the institution -- a money-obsessed, perverted, corrupted shell, as far divorced from the humble origins of Christianity, and the gospels, as it is possible to imagine.

Pierce Martin,

Celbridge, Co Kildare

Sir -- It seems to me that what this country needs now is more men of honour, integrity and principle. Men like Shane Ross, Alan Ruddock and Gene Kerrigan. These are men who have an eye for the common good, which is what separates the men from the boys.

Neil McCarthy,

Cork

Sir -- To all the people who are flooded, we feel very sorry for you. We say a prayer for you every morning. We hope the rain stops soon. We hope you are okay and you find a safe dry place to stay until your house dries out.

We feel very sad for all the businesses and farmers and animals. Well done to everyone who is helping out. We are thinking of you all the time.

Audrey Gildea,

Mrs Connolly's First Class,

St Paul's Junior School,

Greenhills, Dublin 12

Sir -- Why did the children who featured on this year's Late Late Toy Show not reflect or represent the general population of school-going children?

As a language support teacher in a very large primary school, I am aware how the programme is the talking point in many classes. So what kind of message does it send out when almost all of the children portrayed seem to be of the one ethnic background?

Emer Soulsby,

Castleknock, Dublin 15

Sir -- I wish to commend Ciara Kelly for her piece on the public sector strikes (Sunday Independent, November 29, 2009).

I am a civil servant and I was one of the 2,208 members of a union to vote 'No' to industrial action.

My primary reason was that I could not afford to lose a day's pay. Every euro I earn is accounted for. I bought my house in 2007. Its value has fallen by 35 per cent. My wages have dropped 12 per cent, yet my fixed mortgage remains at 5.25 per cent.

Yes, I am "a double sinner" -- I shop in Northern Ireland regularly. I must if I am to keep up the monthly repayments on my house. I call it a house as the recent financial pressures don't make it feel like a home.

My situation is not unique. I am in the majority of ordinary Irish citizens (public sector, private sector, unemployed etc.) that are cleaning up the mess after the big guys have had their party.

Thank you, Ciara, for helping me believe more in what I was already thinking. I just hope I can find the courage to stop paying those union dues and shore up an ever-declining income.

Michael McMenamin,

Letterkenny, Co Donegal

Sir -- I am writing to express the anger I felt upon reading Eilis O'Hanlon's unfortunately titled 'Can't afford this convoy of self-pity on the M1' (Sunday Independent, November 29, 2009).

Ms O'Hanlon and others are keen to purport the supposed extravagances of the public sector, when in fact I believe that they are acutely aware that quite the opposite is true.

As far as I am aware, there is nothing that inhibited their entry into the public sector, except perhaps their understanding that it entailed a lot of hard work for minimal reward.

Ms O'Hanlon criticises public sector workers for shopping rather than striking on the day in question. As schools were closed nationwide on that day, would Ms O'Hanlon like to suggest what parents were meant to do with their children while picketing?

In case you had forgotten, we did not get paid for striking and what I, and every other public sector worker chooses to do on our own time is our own business.

Can't afford this pampered convoy, Ms O'Hanlon?

Don't worry, it didn't cost you a cent.

Paul O'Connor,

Naas, Co Kildare

Sunday Independent
http://www.independent.ie

Christian Terrorism

Monday, December 07 2009 @ 06:29 AM CST