Seven New Sins

You offend God not only by stealing, taking the Lord’s name in vain or coveting your neighbour’s wife (yes even when she’s a hot momma) — but also by wrecking the environment, or carrying out morally debatable experiments that manipulate DNA or harm embryos, according to Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, who is responsible for the Catholic body that oversees confessions.

As if there were not enough already, the Catholic church has added a few more sins to the list... but hey, I will say that at least ‘some’ of these make sense — unlike those added in the past (ie. thou shall not wear a condom).

 Here’s a quick run down of the new sins, you better take notes:

Drug pushing and abuse... yep, that’s fair enough.

Being obscenely rich... the Church must be exempt from this one.

 Being morally dubious... the Church must be exempt from this one too.

Polluting the environment... hmmm, I’m sure they’re probably
    a bit guilty here too.

Bioethical violations... well there’s got to be some scientific tinkering to explain why popes seem to live so long.

Contributing to the widening divide between rich and poor... hmmm... see photo.

The Good News and the Bad

The good news: Child sex abuse cases by priests were down by 3% to 689 cases in 2007.

The bad news: Compensation payouts have doubled to a whopping $665 million — double last year’s figure. $23 million of that went towards therapy for victims or support for accused offenders, and $64 million for legal fees, the rest as victim compensation.

The scale of child abuse by priests remained hidden in the United States for years until the Archbishop of Boston confessed in 2002 to protecting a priest he knew had sexually abused young members of his church.

According to the Catholic Bishop of Accountability, over 5000 priests have been denounced for sexual Abuse in the US alone.

A Sad Cycle of Abuse

A Marist brother has been jailed after being found guilty of molesting students at a Sydney school in the 1970s.

Ross Francis Murrin was habitually sexually abused himself as a young child by a family member. In 1974 the Marist Brothers’ school Daceyville appointed him as a teacher, he was just 18 — a mere boy himself. He went on to molest eight students during his time there, some in full view of other students.

Judge Helen Murrell said Murrin has since completed a rehabilitation program for
sex-offending clergymen, and was at little risk of re-offending.

The offences were generally “impulsive or opportunistic”, but Murrin’s position of authority over the students was an aggravating factor. He will serve three years in jail.

Sex, Lies and Moral Panic

Don’t panic, but if your child is a college or university student, she or he is likely to be having casual sex with a random string of partners. According to Christian conservatives, colleges and universities are just like brothels, except the sex is free and students run wild. They are warning parents about what they call the ‘sexual chaos’ on campuses today, comparing them to a sex carnival... whatever that is.

But don’t withdraw your adolescents quite yet, it might just be the latest example of unsubstantiated moral panic. Although just quietly, we actually think that young people have probably been having sex at colleges and universities for a while now!