Not appreciated, Andrew.
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I went to a Jesuit School and the priests' residence was strictly out of bounds - kids were forbidden even to knock on the door. Quite aside from that point, I can't even imagine that any of the 20 or so clerics that went through the school in my 6 years there were anything but fine, upstanding and dedicated teachers and I remain friendly with many of them years later. However that being said I recall being very surprised to read an interview in 2004 between the new Jesuit Provincial, John Dardis, and Keiron Wood where he admitted that the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus had 7 documented cases of child abuse dating back to the 1940s. This story was never followed up on which I though was rather strange and testament, I think, to the rather 'fly by night' habits of the national broadcaster which isn't particularly investigative or good at connecting issues together (with notable exceptions).
Anyway, I'm not here to defend or attack the Jesuits, or Roman Catholicism - I don't even believe in god and regard the institutional Catholic Church as a complete disgrace. Nevertheless, like all people in Ireland, I have met many good priests in my time and I feel very sorry for them as their life work has been ruined by the depravities of colleagues and the unedifying and criminal cover up of superiors. Incidentally I actually visited this school in Berlin back in 1989 when we were on a school tour in Germany (three weeks before the wall came down). We were brought on a tour of the plush school buildings and the house had belonged to the Krupps family before the war. I remember that it had really beautiful walnut wainscotting, a fantastic library and was fashioned in the art deco style of the inter war period and had played host to many prominent Nazis. The kids seemed very normal to us and it was a co-educational school. Just thought I'd mention that....
Last edited by Neilob; 18th July 2011 at 04:14 PM.
A.W. RICHARD SIPE is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor who earlier spent 18 years as a Benedictine monk and priest. He was trained specifically to deal with the mental health problems of Roman Catholic Priests. In the process of training and therapy, he conducted a 25-year ethnographic study of the celibate/sexual behavior of that population. His study, published in 1990, is now considered a classic.
Sipe has no professional sympathy for the cardinals and bishops and other ranking church officials who cover up their crimes. "Some of them are so terrible," Sipe says. "I mean the plain lying that I've seen, bishop after bishop saying, 'No, this was never true. I don't know anything. I can't remember anything.' And sometimes the bishop just smiles. One bishop said, 'I only lie when I have to.' "
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I watched with glee, while your kings and queens, fought for ten decades for the gods they made.