When has religion irked you personally and why?

Then how would you describe the actions of that school?

Wilso wrote:

Then how would you describe the actions of that school?

Illegal

No, you are not scum. "Scum" are people that harm children, and/or continue to support and protect those that they know have harmed children. Not all priests are scum, but those that have knowledge of pedophile priests that have harmed children, and continue to protect them are "scum."

Bishop kept quiet over paedophile



The defence argues its case on Friday in the trial of a French bishop charged with concealing information that a Roman Catholic priest was sexually abusing young boys.
Monsignor Pierre Pican admitted on Thursday to the court in the northern town of Caen that he had concealed the priest's paedophile activities but said he would do the same again.

His defence argues that the secrecy of the confessional exempts him of the duty to report sexual crimes against children.

The priest, Father Rene Bissey, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last October for raping one boy and abusing 10 others in the 1980s and 1990s.

Professional secrecy

When asked during Wednesday's questioning whether, if the situation were repeated, he would denounce the priest, he answered: "Having consulted my conscience in this supreme decision, the answer is no".

"I would encourage him to give himself in. I would involve myself more personally in the case. But I am overwhelmed by the number of people who choose to confide in me, and they can do it because they know I have never turned anyone in," he said.

As the bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux in the Calvados region in northern France, he was in charge of the diocese where Bissey was a priest.

He learned of Bissey's offences in 1996 from the vicar general of Normandy, who had been approached by distressed parents.

He sent the priest on a retreat and sent him for psychiatric help and two years later transferred him to a nearby parish, where he was arrested.

The defence argues that the bishop did not know the full extent of the events and so could not judge their seriousness.

"You will see that he did not have full knowledge of the facts. We'll be explaining this... And then there was the situation of the priest who was on the verge of suicide," said his lawyer Bernard Blachard.

The bishop's lawyers also say he is protected by professional secrecy, though the prosecution says this legal notion does not apply to crimes against children.

Confession

The case has sparked a heated debate about how far the secrecy of the confessional in the Roman Catholic church should go.

Monsignor Pican denied knowledge of the priest's actions when called to testify at Bissey's trial last October, refusing to say more on the grounds that to do so would compromise his own case.

But at his trial Bissey said he had given detailed accounts to his confessors in the church.

Monsignor Pican's case could set a legal precedent and comes at a time when the Roman Catholic Church is reeling from a string of scandals concerning paedophile priests.

According to church officials in France, of the 25,000 priests nationwide, there are currently 19 under investigation for rape or sexual assault on minors.

In addition, 30 other priests have been convicted in recent years on the same charges, and 11 of them are serving prison sentences.

Monsignor Pican is the first bishop in modern French history to appear in the dock.

I am overwhelmed by the number of people who choose to confide in me, and they can do it because they know I have never turned anyone in-Monsignor Pierre Pican

Confession: Pell admits $50k offer


SYDNEY Catholic Archbishop George Pell has admitted offering the family of two child sex abuse victims $50,000 if they kept silent about the assaults by a cleric.

According to Channel Nine's 60 Minutes program, the offer was made to the family of two girls abused by their local priest over six years from 1987, when they were just five years old.

The girls' parents, who did not want to be identified, told the program they met with Dr Pell, who was an auxiliary bishop in their area at the time.

They were later sent a letter from lawyers on behalf of Dr Pell saying they could either take $50,000 in compensation for the abuse of their oldest daughter, or take the matter to court where it would be "strenuously defended" by the church.

Dr Pell initially told 60 Minutes he had offered them nothing at all, but on being presented with the letter admitted he had.

"I offered them nothing," he said at first.

"They were free to go into a process..."

He then corrected himself.

"I offered them 50 grand in compensation according to the publicly acknowledged procedure," Dr Pell said.

"They chose not to accept that."

Dr Pell admitted that had they accepted the compensation, they would have been bound not to publicly disclose the abuse.

"There is a requirement that they don't talk about it and most of them are happy not to," he said.

Dr Pell also admitted the clause was inserted to protect the reputation of the church.

"Many of them (victims and their families) don't want to be subjected to publicity and of course it's shameful for the church," he said.

But the parents of the girls involved, known only as "Garry" and "Elizabeth", said the church had been of no support to them at all.

"We came out (of the meeting with Dr Pell) feeling worse than when we went in," Elizabeth said.

They also said that when shown a photo of their daughter with blood streaming down her forearms after she slashed her wrists, Dr Pell was impassive, saying only: "Oh, she's changed, hasn't she?"

But Dr Pell said he could not recall seeing the photo at all.

"I've got no recollection of that," he said.

The much-anticipated program also aired the allegations of David Ridsdale, who was abused by his priest uncle Gerald Ridsdale.

David Ridsdale claimed that when he turned to Dr Pell for help in early 1993, Dr Pell tried to buy his silence.

"I started to get a sense he was insinuating things," Mr Ridsdale told 60 Minutes.

He said Dr Pell then used the exact words: "I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet."

Dr Pell, who admitted to knowing Gerald Ridsdale very well but said he had been unaware he was a paedophile, said he may have offered to help David, but did not offer any bribe.

"I couldn't, would never have said that," he said.

"I had no capacity to offer him anything, anywhere...

"His recollection is wrong."

Chris MacIsaac, president of the Broken Rites support group for victims of sexual abuse in the church, said attempting to silence victims was common in the hierarchy of the church.

"All bishops, not just Archbishop Pell, have always aimed to prevent church victims from talking to the media," he said in a statement.

"Victims who accepted payment usually believed that this was to keep them away from the media."

Earlier today a group of 70 young Catholics protested outside Channel Nine's northern Sydney studios over the airing of tonight's broadcast, saying Dr Pell was a victim of trial by media.

AAP