The difference is, the Catholic church placed itself as the highest and final moral authority, and had everyone believing that they were infallible and no such thing as sin ever crossed the threshold of their buildings.

THAT is why people tell these stories with such zeal. State-run schools did the same thing? Yeah well whatever, what do you expect from a godless bureacracy. But from the Brides of Christ? It's not just the stories of abuse, it's the revelation of an all-encompassing hypocricy, and the realization that just about everything the Church said was a lie.

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Kate,

I do hear you and I respect your opinion, but that was also the "Cold War Catholic Church" pre-Vatican II, pre-Pope John Paul. When these issues arise, the Church confronts them.

When John Paul II found out about the problems with pedophilia in the Church, he called it "the worst abomination" of the Church and allocated monies and enlisted people to make a change. The Church spent millions to develop protocols and training classes and now prevents children from being alone with any adult. Two adults must be present at all times.

As for forgiving the priests and forgiving the Cardinal of Boston...well, that unfortunately is required by the religion that says we must forgive all ...even if it is atrocious.

This is a church of close to 1.5 billion people. There will always be instances of cruelty and degredation in an organization that large and change is slow to come with the bureacracy that goes with it.

What happened then would not happen now.

In the context of the vast numbers of Catholics, the amount of incidents is quite small compared to the fact that we have in this country a half billion people and more abuse, more crime, etc.

I recognize that you are angry with the Catholic church, but no more than I as a Catholic because I expect and want better from my faith. However, I also see the other things that you don't. It is like that old adage: one thousand "Atta boys, are negated by one "awww, sh!t". You won't see the Muslim family that our diocese adopted and brought over from a refugee camp, put up in an apartment and found jobs for because that doesn't make the news like priests abusing power. You won't see the towns we have adopted; see the children without clothing, shoes, books, or a chance finally have hope.

Hypocrisy is a bad crime, to be sure. Cruelty or apathy in the face of suffering is worse.

I hear you, I understand your rage for those harmed--I feel it as well. Who could rip a child from its mother? Horrific cruelty. But that story, the real story had people fighting to help to change, and change prevailed. What about those heroes who fought to change the dogma and won? They were Catholics, too.

These issues are complex, but thank your Wholly Other that you are not Catholic as it is ill-fitting to your beliefs. Just know the whole truth of mine before you seek to condemn billions of us for the actions of a few.

I don't hate Christians or Muslims. But, as a 60-year old Jew, I damn well hate Christianity and Islam for their historical (and present) bloodthirsty ways. Mel Gibson is just another bigot; I reject him for being Mel.

Christianity has murdered and oppressed millions of my people for almost two thousand years. Islam made Jews (and others) into second-class citizens and Jews flooded out from Islamic countries to Israel whenever they had the chance. There's a reason that Christianity and Islam have over a billion adherents each: vicious cultural imperialism. When I hear the Yeats phrase, "blood dimmed tide," I think of my people's blood. Oh, and Africans and Chinese who were "converted" to Christianity, or killed trying to resist. Or women in America perceived as witches. Or "heretics" burned at the stake. And homosexuals burned as well. Jesus, this list goes on and on! Can You help me?

And although I am having quite a hard time with Israel these days, I can't help getting burned up hearing Chrsitans of all people criticizing a Jewish state for its belligerance. How many missionaries are operating in South America right now working to "save" the natives from their sexuality, their customs, their indigenous religions?

If you think the Jews are going to burn in hell for all eternity, you are an anti-Semite. Sorry, if it's part of your religion, you have freely chosen to follow one that condones hate.

As to the anti-Catholic bigotry, I am fascinated how those who get riled up about anti-Catholic art tend to narrowly focus on works created by Catholics. This is part of the conservative attempt to stop the reforms of Vatican II.

I wish both groups (the "love the Jews, but unfortunately they are going to burn in hell" and the "Catholics creating artwork about their personal experience with the church are anti-Catholic") would just be honest in their motivations.

...this is one thing you can't blame him for. It's really a stretch. Pretty crappy article. But this is where we're discussing this, so, a couple thoughts:

I understand they have audio tape of his little rant, but they don't want to release it, or the mugshot, or the video they shot when he arrived at the Tank. Don't all police cruisers have video cameras running at all times nowadays? I've watched enough "Cops" to wonder where THAT video is. I'd love to see it, purely as a social scientist, of course. The only thing more amusing than drunks on "Cops" is drunk celebrities on "Cops."

Does it even matter if "Hollywood" stops returning Gibson's calls? He financed "The Passion of the Christ" all by himself, which means he collected all its massive profits himself-- the dude has F-you money. It will be years before we see any meaningful effect on his career, if there is any, because with "The Passion" he turned himself into an island. He's answerable only to ticket buyers now, and although it seems like he went so far out there that he can never make it back, there have been too many recent "career-killing scandals" (Bill O'Reilly, Pat O'Brien, Kate Moss, etc.) that turned out to be literally meaningless for me to believe this guy will really be held accountable in the long run.

That is, unless they show the video on "Cops."