The Roman Catholic Church

A reader in Canada sent me a link to a website named "Count Me Out" which focuses on Catholics seeking to leave the Catholic Church in Ireland. The site also has links to similar sites in other countries. To my knowledge, no website yet exists for Catholics seeking to leave the Church in the USA. The concept behind the website is to let the Church hierarchy have outright "declarations of defection" combined with shrinking mass attendance and dwindling collection plate revenues as the reward of its malfeasance. In the larger picture, this site like ChurchOuting .org (which seeks to out closeted gay priests who ... Read Full Story

Things in Ireland appear to be increasingly volatile and something that would once been unheard of is belatedly being said - such as Benedict XVI is guilty in the sex abuse scandal and should resign. The column also calls for a new method of selecting future bishops and giving power to the laity. One can but hope that this trend continues since I have zero faith in a reform of the Roman Catholic Church from within the hierarchy. American Catholics need to likewise wake up and simply say "no more" by walking away from the Church or at a minimum, withdrawing all financial support ... Read Full Story

Victims of clergy sex abuse and a group that tracks pedophile priests called on local Roman Catholic leaders and the Irish government Monday to publicly detail known connections between the clergy abuse scandals in the U.S. and Ireland. Two Irish bishops resigned on Christmas Day, joining two others who had quit since a government report in November revealed how Dublin church leaders had shielded pedophile priests from the law. Terence McKiernan, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, said the report detailed evidence that some accused priests in Ireland had been transferred to parishes in the United States. "Unfortunately the places they have been moving include our backyard," ... Read Full Story

Pope Benedict XVI made his first trip outside the Vatican amid tight security Sunday - three days after he was floored by a reportedly deranged woman at midnight mass in St Peter's Basilica. Read Full Story

Two more Catholic bishops in Ireland who were named for malfeasance in the Murphy Report on the Diocese of Dublin have resigned and pressure mounts further for a fifth bishop to resign. What is happening in Ireland remains a startling contrast from the USA where bishops and cardinals who enabled predator priests and then sought to cover up the reporting of abuse remain in office. A case in point in the USA is Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles who I will get to shortly. The other contrast is that elected officials in Ireland seem much more willing to call for resignations than spineless ... Read Full Story