I don't normally express opinions on this subject because I am rearing my son as a Catholic, and when news stories like these hit home, they hit home hard. It is not easy to commit to a belief system which has hidden paedophiles and continues to support conservative bigots in its upper echelons.

Practising Catholicism is only possible for me because I know several honourable, intelligent thoroughly decent priests, and a few nuns who I hope will be greeting me at the pearly gates with big, shiny "saint" badges on.

All the Pope is doing in this insane, inhumane pontificating is making their lives a misery. God knows (or does He? ) that our esteemed pontiff cares more about power and doctrine than women and children, but if he's not going to apologise for the agonising human fallout from the cover-ups and corruption then at least you'd think he'd be smart enough to keep his head down. But of course, I am just one of the "lay journalists" who have it in for the Catholic church and are waging a media war against priests.

"The Vatican has apologised, " I was told a couple of years ago. "WELL, I DIDN'T HEAR THEM!" was my reply. The Vatican has got money to apologise personally to every one in the world.

Lads, it is not the media who are letting you down.

It's the management. Not The Big Boss mind you . . .but the MD and his middle management gobshites. The last people everyone thinks about when this kind of horrific truth comes out is the good priests and nuns who are living under the shadow of the . . . pardon my French . . . s*** storm that is the Vatican PR machine. It can't be a nice place to be. They must surely wish the media would just keep their mouths shut or defend them from time to time. But this is not mindless "media frenzy." This is genuine anger being drawn out of me. I really wish I could bring my son up under the wing of a Catholic church in whose principle management I had faith. I wish I could put money in the plate every week and be guaranteed that it was being spent by my deserving, devout, dutiful PP and not being sent off to Rome where they would be using it to . . . I don't know . . . buy more purple velvet instead of bankrupting themselves to pay off clerical abuse victims and send the loose change to Amnesty International!

I am a woman and a mother who attends church every week. I love my priest and my parish, but like every other mother and woman in Ireland that I have solicited, some days it just isn't enough to keep the faith, guys. You need us, and your boss's archaic conservatism is driving you in reverse.

Stop defending him and stick your necks out in favour of your faithful. Personal faith might help . . .
but doctrine and loyalty won't defend you against this one.