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.

True to his faith, it seems as though Gradysu has climbed up on the cross, because of all the bigoted satire from Hollywood--and his fellow catholics-- and since he feels so persecuted, I will gladly accept his challenge and will give you ten anti-religious films/tv shows that critique/make fun of some faith other than catholicism.

1. "A Price Above Rubies", deals with opressive treatment of women in orthodox jewish community.

2. Several episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" brutally make fun of Othrodox Jews, specifically the "Ski Lift" episode, and the one where Larry thinks that the Gina Gershon character wants to fuck through a hole in the sheet.

3. "Orgazmo", non-stop anti-Mormom bigotry from the South Park guys.

4. "Saved", Mandy Moore and Co. rip into evangelical mega-church youth groups, very bigoted.

5. "Big Love" on HBO, not all Mormoms are polygamists!

6. "Leap of Faith", Steve Martin's prejudiced portrayal of faith healers.

7. "The Skeleton Key", hardly a realistic portrayal of Voodoo ritual/faith.

8. "The Life of Brian", you can nitpick that this film makes fun of Catholics too, but it also has plenty to offend jews and protestants alike.

9. "Elmer Gantry", the original Pat Robertson.

10. I'm going to have my final entry dedicated to literally every Hollywood action movie with any Muslim characters, "True Lies", "Delta Force", and pretty much every other Chuck Norris film. So buck up! there is plently of religious hatred around, and it's all fashionable and funny! Does anyone else have any other additions to the list?

I grew up in the 60's and 70's in a first-ring suburb populated by Jews fleeing Detroit, pretty much a middle-class shtetl consisting of Reformed or secular Jews. The public schools were probably 98% Jewish. In those days, and more or less until his death, my father insisted that the outside world was overwhelmingly antisemetic. I assumed he was paranoid.

I left my homogeous community at 18. None of my college friends, even those who'd never been around Jews, exhibited antisemetic tendencies. In grad school, I met and married a Catholic (at this time, "mixed marriages" with non-Jews outnumbered marriages within the faith). The only antisemetic-ish remarks I've overheard throughout my life have been unfortunate idioms like "he jewed them down on the price," or descriptions like "you know, the Jewish guy."

My adult life, and a good chunk of my working life, has mostly been lived in academia. And within my circles, I have never heard a racist or antisemetic remark. So it shocked the hell out of me when in the last decade or so it somehow became acceptable to express ethnic and racial prejudices in the "real world."

And I'm just not getting this. When did this become socially acceptable? I don't delude myself that any of us don't harbor some knee-jerk ethnic or racial prejudices, no matter how small. But I believed that we fight against this, and strive to be non-biased. How does Mel Gibson doing a series on the Holocaust get into development? How is it OK for Michael Medved to gloss over the antisemeitism of Passion of the Christ, because it promotes good moral values?

I always thought my father's "everybody's out to get us" attitude was crap. But it seems that a small proportion of "them" might be, and it's OK to express and defend this attitude. And that it's also acceptable to express racial prejudice, in word or deed (New Orleans, anyone?). Boy, this sucks.