Defending the Church

I have been spending some time on another website defending the Church against an accusation that the tanks should roll into the Vatican due to the abuse scandal.  I usually try and avoid getting sucked into these debates as they generally go nowhere and serve little purpose, but this was a website I frequent because there used to be little or nothing of this sort of thing, and I was loath to lose it.  That, and I had the Bible in my mind, of how if we deny Our Lord He will deny us and so on, and so I decided to take a stand.  Those of you who have defended the Church yourselves will understand when I say just what a lousy defense "It wasn't as bad as the media makes out" is.

So far, I am holding my own, but I will not convince the other.  There will be no victory in this, and I feel exhausted even after a few exchanges.  I'd rather be working on history, or my writing, or chewing tinfoil, than doing this, but there was no one else stepping forward.

The Bishops who left us open to these charges, and put us in a position where we are obliged to do this have much to answer for.