Well it's not "any other organization" and you know that. The church isn't Walmart. It's not some fungible institution where people can decide to go elsewhere where the policies are better or the prices are lower. I would expect people who practice Catholicism out of habit or convenience or whatever to leave, but if you truly believe in the tenets of Catholicism, you can't really just decide to join a non-denominational church or something. I think for those people, the proper response is to seek justice and advocate change within the Church structure to prevent this type of thing happening in the future.
Agreed. Like I said a few posts back, the Wal-Mart comparison is absurd, but thanks for taking the time to explain the obvious.
The pedophilia/gay argument is pretty weird too. Regardless of the abuser's sexual orientation, they should be brought to justice. The Church should do a better job of vetting (and bringing to justice) these people to ensure that the priesthood isn't being co-opted by these people for sexual purposes.
The Church should also be focused on better reporting and enforcement measures, but doing a better job of barring the bad apples from the priesthood in the first place is just as important. To that end, while the undeniable homosexual element to the abuse makes people very uncomfortable from a PC standpoint, it is relevant when considering how to best prevent future abuse.
Some gays such as Andrew Sullivan acknowledge the link but believe that it's the closeted, sexually repressed, and self-hating nature (his words) of gays who choose to enter the priesthood that makes them particularly prone to being abusers. So is the solution to allow priests to marry, thus making the Church a less enticing draw for that sort of person? Seems like a good idea to me for all sorts of reasons - not just this. Or maybe the solution is to allow gay priests to serve openly (let's get real - that's not gonna happen). Or maybe be more stringent in barring homosexuals from entering the priesthood (hard to see how that's practical, or consistent with the idea that priests are supposed to be celibate anyway).
It's a difficult but important issue for the Church (and really everyone). What we don't need is the typical liberal politically correct denial of the obvious and efforts to shut down any discussion on the topic by calling people bigots, etc.
