This is untrue. Portland, Tuscon and San Diego have sought chapter 11 protection. This in no way rids themselves of the responsiblity of paying victims who bring lawsuts. Truth is the Catholic church has paid over a billion dollars to date. In addtion the Catholic church is not alone in the abuse which in no way minimizes what was done and what was covered up. Take for instance the Angelican church

IN a compensation deal condemned by child protection advocates as woefully inadequate, the Anglican Church has offered a total of $825,000 to 41 former residents of an orphanage who say they were sexually and physically abused by clergymen and staff at the church-run facility.

Church "a church of compassion"

The amounts offered to the Lismore residents range from $16,000 to $22,600, compared with $40,000 to $75,000 granted by the Catholic Church in 2002 to 16 former residents of Brisbane's Nazareth House who were subjected to a similar regime of abuse.

Mr Comben, a former Queensland cabinet minister who is now the registrar of Grafton diocese, said senior counsel had advised the church it was not liable for compensation.

"We have made that offer on the basis that the church is a church of compassion and wants to make a passable approach to people who had apparently been damaged in a place that had some sort of connections with some church people," he said.


http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599...69-421,00.html

really?


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...ts-609663.html



an excerpt:

A bankruptcy filing would amount to an admission of liability by the Church, but it would also assist it in several ways. All the suits now before the courts would be suspended and no new filings would be allowed. The existing 450 actions against the Church would later be lumped together into a single class action suit, which would make an out-of-court settlement more likely

and this, from san diego:

http://www.10news.com/news/14065673/detail.html

an excerpt:

The diocese had sought to protect its assets in bankruptcy court, but quickly found it a rough venue before a judge who criticized the church for bookkeeping practices, undervaluing real estate holdings and failing to disclose facts.


now, filing may not have gotten them the end result the church sought...but they most certainly filed in an attempt to protect their vast wealth!

He did not turn a blind eye.
And he got a lot of the priests names out so that they could
be moved and then removed via the press.
And it would have happened under God's watch.
Not our god here, but the large God.

what makes the pope so special anyway....i thought we are all equal in the eyes of God.

anybody ever send white smoke up a chimney for you?? :D

Earlier in the thread:

Well it looks like he was unable to rehabilitate
the "Bishop" that believes the holocaust never happened.

Thanks for posting the article as I could not find out much about it.

I think a Pope for the week
reality show could work.
The Vatican would go along
with this...

when hell (or maybe purgatory) freezes over.

Hell is deep in the earth.
Where exactly is Purgatory (Colorado is out)

I know still not enogh for most but good enough for me

http://www.newsmax.com/international...12/181052.html

Angelo Scola for the next Pope!

I'm sorry.. but Pope Bendadick looks JUST like the evil emperor from Star Wars.

http://www.wunderkraut.com/art/pope-palpatine.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sZI4G3Je2d...vs_Emperor.jpg

http://www.edrants.com/wp-content/up...4/benedict.jpg

To put the icing on the cake he will
visit Israel in May.

Guess he figured out he had made a mess.

I say we overthrow the pope!!

Who's with me???!?!?!?!?!??!

i was reading yesterday that he has brought back indulgences...you can't just buy one, that was ruled out years upon years ago...but charitable giving can only help. one indulgence per person, per day; and they don't count unless you also go to confession once a year.

perhaps he should have considered all of this BEFORE welcoming that bishop back into the fold. far easier to measure your steps than having to apologize and/or back track..

Confession.
Damn.

I dont commit sins.
But I guess I have sinned in my heart
so I go that going for me.

jimmy carter-type sins?? lol


i remember when i was little and going to ccd that they would drag us to confession every few weeks...we'd be petrified about having nothing to confess-'come now, there must be something'...so we'd make up stuff. yeah, that's great. teach kids to lie because they're convinced they're going to hell if they don't confess their sins. ugh.

i haven't been to confession in about 18 years. and ya know what, i feel great!

awesome and congrats. I think?

Exactly what we did!

Heck I could not remember what happened 10 minutes
before I came into the churchas a kid. Like I was going
to remember what I was told I had done wrong a week before...

funny stuff though.

we didn't and our priests would except that. Sorry you all had to lie which would have been enough before you got your 10 hail mary's etc.

I am talking 2nd grade.
The priests did inform us not to say anything
if you dont remember what you have done wrong.
The nuns just hauled us in after we had
been over the procedure many times.

We are talkin 2nd grade here...


Anyways it was good practice.
The confession I mean.

Guess TX maybe backwards as we didn't or weren't confirmed till 7th grade and that's when the 1rst confession happpened. And to be honest I'm 45 and chose open-faced confession (all the time) which was a great thing as my priest (Fr. Flager) look him up Chicago; was my guy. I needed and listened to the guidance and instead of 10 hail mary's he'd say wash the car or similar for my parents when I admitted a sin towards them. And to think he's an Obama man. Guess I got lucky.

hey, i've got no complaints.

seriously?!

hell, we didn't make first communion without a thorough appreciation of the confessional. i have not sinned since my last confession. oh, come on, there must be something. the sin of omission....ah, catholic guilt!

congrats then and seriously. Made my 1rst communion in 3rd grade

thanks!

You're welome and the church if and when you decide to comeback will be waiting. If not you can still call a priest on your death bed and he will come no questions asked. Just keep it in mind

I went to a Catholic military school K- 2nd.
We went to confession way before confirmation
which I did through CCD at night after public middle
school. My wife also did her first confession in 2nd grade
in Washington DC. Maybe they finally figured out thats a bit
young by the time you went.

Cept we are only about 5 years apart age wise (you and I).

hope they're not holding their breath. i should have been a viking way back when they wore hammers on a thong around their neck. or a celt with a torque...

LMAO and no one is holding their breath. Sorry the church did that to you.

Military? wow never heard of that. Guess it goes w/Don't mess with Texas.

i don't think the church did it to me...altho i do disagree with many things the church hierarchy stands for. i think a lot of it just comes down to i don't believe in it.

They had us shining our shoes and all brass
wear (buckle, etc...) Hell I could not even
drool properly at that age so my mom did
most of it. And then I would promptly make
a mess of everything and get demerits and
have to march extra.

In the third grade my father switched me
to a public school.
There was great rejoycing on my part.
We could throw crayolas and not get beat.

wow never knew we had it that good. We had to wear uncomfortable polyester uniform shirts (blue or yellow) and got hit I but deserved it. Almost everytime. :)

Pope John Paul II letters
 

Guess this is the other side of the story.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/e...17/182609.html