Originally Posted by djplong

It's as I've always said here - the double standard.

Now did you read where I said I could understand some of the objection? It was the word "confusion" that I had trouble with.

Now, sit down before you fall down when I tell you this.

I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic schools in NY and Boston. I was an altar boy for a while as well. My first marriage was in the Catholic Church.

*Every* *single* *priest* I *ever* met was the epitome of what I would expect of a positive view of the Catholic Church. I *never* had a clue about the abuses until the scandals broke.

I was in disbelief. I had priests who were intelligent, funny, thoughtful.. I'm telling you I can't think of enough good things to say about them.

My 'problem' is with the Generals, not the ground troops. My problem is with the Pope and sleazeballs like ironically named Cardinal Law of Boston. My problem is with those who enabled *for decades* this kind of abuse. My problem is with the Church's response when this all first broke. When the Cardinal's office said it never happened - and if it did the victims should shut up because they're giving the Church a bad name - and even if they DID have problems, they should see *A PRIEST* for counseling!

So now what happens? Yeah, this tarnishes, to some degree, the good memories I had. But we keep hearing more and more stories. And how does the Church solve the problem? By selling off assets at the local level that end up closing churches and protecting assets owned by the heirarchy. So the parishoners suffer and the higher-ups are protected (the land deals in Southern California are a testament to that).

In short. Priests go rogue. They're protected by their bosses. When found out, the bosses protect each other and make the parishoners pay the compensation.

So, yeah, it was them claiming that their people would be 'confused' by the new regs. Sounds to me like they had a full understanding of what was coming. Again, I can understand the objection (although 98% of sexually active Catholics use artificial birth control, so there's a statment of sorts right there) on principal - but to claim "confusion"?