Then, after a time of discipline and counsel, after inspection, true repentance and restitution to offended parties, then and only then is he to be brought back into ministry on a probationary basis (providing, of course, the act wasn?t a criminal offense).

This kind of policing creates within the church the proper fear of God. It protects the body of Christ from sexual predators and other miscreants.  Moreover, it can save the fallen minister, and mitigate the public scandal.

My ClashPoint is this:  Sin is a reality.  Bad is a part of the best of us.  The only way we can escape our penchant for the putrid is by constant introspection, personal accountability and a church that will enforce proper discipline.

Having said that, the Catholic Church?s recent cover up regarding thousands, if not tens of thousands, of sexually abused young boys by catholic clergy over the past 20 years has blackened the eye of the Roman Church.  The right thing to do when a wrong has been done is to confess it and condemn it, not cover it up and by doing so, covertly condone it.  Their refusal to ?church? their church has led to thousands of victims? turning into unnecessary road kill along the highway of life, with some becoming socially dysfunctional and others even committing suicide and murder.

Because the Roman Catholic Church has not dealt radically with the effeminacy of their priests, the homosexuality among the clerics has spilled on to children?innocent kids?who are being heinously abused.