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Re: Reform group urges Church to examine its structures


There are many good points made in this article. (I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by priests and nuns). Celibacy, homosexuality and the church hierarchy's belief that their law is above civil law are all contributing factors or as a result of generations of abuses. The notion that church law (this applies not only to the Catholic church) is above civil law has permitted many instances of abuse to go undetected. Whilst church canons continue to have regulations pertaining to civil matters many of these problems will continue.

Until policing, politicians, health professionals etc can determine where civil laws should be applied (difficult if they have had a
Christian education) then abuses and discrimination will continue. There is a simple page at www.irishfireandice.com/separation which shows this very clearly.

Here in Australia (and I imagine this is similar in many countries) if you as a victim of past clergy abuse are assessed by Christian police, health, government etc you are determined to be 'insane' as there is no other outcome or determination possible from their perspective; this is a primary cause of re-abuse by these authorities (more than 60% re-abused upon reporting). To my mind if the above pages were run in major news sites it would raise this issue of where true separation exists and would assist victims in being treated fairly in a culture and a system which has been corrupted over time. Not only would it assist victims in obtaining a voice it would also assist in reducing the number of suicides in a wider range of social ills which have resulted from this over-reaching by religion.

JD




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