Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Well Steve, I have already said that I am agnostic so I am not at all prepared to discuss the storiology of the different churches. But all I can say is that I have been to a few masses in the last several years and I found the church to be more in touch with the community than when I was a child. I have to admit that they have been at hispanic churches and they are a bit different than the traditional catholic mass here in the states, but not so much that you don't recognize them. I have found the sermons to be of hope, perseverance, and coming to the aid of those in need. I can't fault the masses that I have attended. I thought that they were a service to the communities that they served, I know quite a few people struggling through very difficult circumstances that found strength and direction in the church who otherwise may have given up.

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

as an ex-catholic, i'll say my piece. many of us are not raging on the catholic church for things done in the past, but for things they are still doing. for 1700+ years they have been doing bad things and sweeping a lot of mess under the rug. if it were not for public pressure they would be doing business as usual with no pretense of fixing anything.

Bangee5 Loc: Louisiana

I am not Catholic but I can say that there is no church or group nor organization without it's faults. Is it just because it is a church that we want to throw rocks at it? We stand on the outside looking in and say that we are better out here then you are in there. A friend and I were in a bar. He tells me that he dose not go to church because of those hypocrites that are in the church. They drank all week-end and go to church on Sunday. Better to be a hypocrites in the church then one out side the church pointing in. We Baptist have our faults as well. No man is perfect, not one.

Canonuser Loc: UK and South Africa

Jackinthebox Loc: travel the world

Stripped, whipped, tarred, feathered and run out of town.

Mary Kate Loc: NYC

I wonder if the two children will ever miss the poverty or lack of opportunity they would have had in Chili??

chrisscholbe Loc: Kansas City, MO

Did you just say..."No man is perfect, not one."?

Does that include President Obama?

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Please Chris, don't tee the president up like this.... I am going to be nice and reserve comment.

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

Dumb

venturer9 Loc: Newton, Il.

Yes chrisscholbe... but Obama just continues, day after day doing something wrong....

Most conservatives on the UHH, although defending President Bush, have also agreed that he did wrong..

Most liberals on the UHH, have never and will never admit that Obama has ever done anything wrong...

There is a difference..

Mike

diensthunds

A doctor performs an operation, drunk, after being up for 72 hours. He botches the operation causing the patient to die.
What should we do to him? Slap him on the wrist? Or perhaps charge him with negligent homicide and send him to prison for 10 to 15 years?
Perhaps when priest decide they want to do what ever they want in the name of faith, they shouldn't be allowed to be priest anymore, rather then be shuffled off someplace else.
The catholic church is one of the worst offenders of "sweep it under the rug" I've ever seen.
Honestly I think a lot of it stems from confession. What's in a confession? Well an individual goes out and sins their asses off. Lie, cheat on their spouse, steal, get in a bar fight, what ever. They go into confession, and tell a mortal individual, rather then pray to god directly (and here's what I don't get, when did a priest become the hand of god according to religious text), then get told to say 10 hail marys and don't do it again. How about they get their asses caned a few times, I bet that stops their behavior. No instead they go out again next week, commit a new set of "sins" and go through the same routine. There's no punishment, no reason to stop sinning, because since they have told god (the priest) about it they are absolved from their sins and forgiven.
Try the following out sometime and let me know how it works for you. Go out, get so drunk you can't see straight, buy a kilo of heroin, sell half to a teenager, beat a homeless person half to death, run somebody over while driving, and rob somebody, all while videotaping this. Then walk directly into a police station, show them the tap and as for forgiveness and absolution. 5 to 1 odds they don't make you say a few "our fathers" and turn you loose.

Bangee5 Loc: Louisiana

We already know that he is not perfect regardless of what he thinks of himself.

Cattreasure

Did you ever wonder how much better your children's lives would/could have been if they had been taken from you at birth?

kubie548 Loc: Northwood, Ohio (Wood Co)

The article is, at best, "fuzzy" as it talks about "the Church" doing this or that. The Church doesn't do anything, people within the Church act. I don't see who ordered the priest to Spain for "reflection." The article doesn't say. I don't see where he was actually supposed to go; a resort, a monastery, a cave in the hills? I'm not seeing what he is expected to reflect upon; maybe his being a priest in the first place?

The Catholic Church, despite its hierarchical structure, is made up of individuals, some of whom have greater authority than others. Those with greater authority use or abuse that authority as they will. Often what we condemn as abuse was seen as proper and even beneficent when it was first done. I suspect this priest saw himself rescuing these children and their mothers from a life of poverty. It's easy for us to say now, after the fact, how evil it was. Besides, we weren't there and aren't familiar with the culture.

I'm pleased a judge prevented his leaving Chile. (I wasn't sure about their having statutes of limitations).

I hope that the civil authorities can get this properly investigated and resolved.

In any case, the Church can't just "fire" a priest, that requires a canonical investigation and trial. Innocent until proven guilty is an important concept, and one well worth protecting.

Note that Pope Francis recently saw to the laicization (reduction to the lay state) of Jozef Wesolowski, former Papal Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, and has made him available to the Republic's civil authorities. He is being held at the Vatican.

venturer9 Loc: Newton, Il.

I totally do not agree with what this Priest has done... but your question and (I believe it was) Chrisscholb's can actually be answered in the affirmative...

There are Many children who would have a better life if they were adopted into a different culture and family... but of course it should be done in the "Legal" manner.

As to whether mine would have been better is, of course, a matter of speculation....My youngest is 45 and oldest is 55. They all have good jobs (Daughters are stay at home mothers & Home Schoolers) But if they had been raised by a nice Heart Surgeon father and Pediatric Surgeon Mother... they MIGHT be better or they MIGHT be BITTER at having been left alone so much of their life... WHO KNOWS....

Mike