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The unrepentant sinners of the Catholic Church

Is there any institution in today's world that is more insular and self-absorbed and truly tone deaf to the world around them than the Catholic Church? If there is, I don't think I want to know about it.

We have the spectacle of the pope's own preacher addressing the world at Easter time and comparing the "sufferings" of pedophile priests and those who have protected and sheltered them from the consequences of their sins to the sufferings of Jews during the Holocaust. He has now apologized for that statement, but I suspect the apology only came because of the storm of outrage that it provoked. I really doubt that he has changed his opinion. Others in the Catholic hierarchy have compared the priests' "sufferings" to the suffering of Jesus at his scourging and crucifixion. As I said, totally tone deaf and with no apparent remorse for the children who have been scarred for life, both physically and mentally, not to mention spiritually by their actions.

Of course, the American Catholic bishops seem to have completely forgotten their mission to succor the poor and disenfranchised, as shown by their recent statement excoriating and urging defeat of the Health Care Reform bill which will assist those people they are supposed to care about. Moreover, their opposition to the bill was based on the lie that it allowed payment for abortions. Truly, these guys are one trick ponies. They seem to have abortion on the brain and cannot see beyond the issue to the wider need for accessible health care for all.

Catholic nuns, on the other hand, defied their bishops and supported the Health Care Reform bill. For this sin, and many other acts of independent thinking in recent years, they are being investigated by the Vatican because of their straying from orthodoxy. I predict that they will be admonished and punished by their Church for following Jesus instead of the pope. When that punishment falls, I further predict that we will still be waiting to see any meaningful punishment for those in the priesthood who are still out there abusing children and being protected by their hierarchy.
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