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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Southland Times
May 10, 2002

Catholicism
Letter to the Editor
by Tom O'Connor, Edendale

Frank Fischer's attack on what he calls the "mass sexual hysteria of the English-speaking media" is both misdirected and unfair.

Catholic priests or teachers who abuse children in their care deserve the full force of public animosity and vigorous lawful retribution.

The cases of sexual crime by the Catholic clergy, which have come to public notice over the years, are only the tip of a very large and ugly iceberg.

Osama bin Laden and his fanatical followers are pussycats compared to the bloody and brutal history of the Roman Catholic clergy over many centuries and sexual predation is only one of their crimes imposed on gullible congregations.

Subjugation by superstitious fear has long been the hallmark of Roman Catholicism and it is not long ago when Catholic children in New Zealand were forbidden by the priest from attending Boy Scout church parades or associating with children of other churches.

Catholic teenagers in the 1960s were told lustful thoughts were sins only overcome by prayer (some hope).

Marriage outside the church, birth control, the theory of evolution, eating meat on Fridays were just a few of the things we were told were sinful.

Some of this humbug is still the basis of Catholic teachings.

All news media, English speaking or otherwise, should be very cynical and questioning about this particularly dangerous philosophy.

While it would be clearly unfair to suggest all Catholic clergy are bad, their unnatural and archaic creed has left a long and unhappy wake of shattered families and damaged people, particularly women and children. Keep probing and questioning.