# An open letter to Pope Francis! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 8, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808 "2014-02-08T02:10:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808/21 "2014-02-09T20:05:02Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > It would be the natural conclusion, but the amount of molesters among Catholic priests & among clergy of other faiths, including married clergy, has been shown to be about the same - 4%. And other professions which involve close contact with children hardly fare any better. A public school teacher who is a molester can have a ongoing supply of fresh meat that some priests could only dream of. Of course, the fact that the church is a huge bureaucratized institution with a sense of Diving mission has let to the coverups & shuffling. But even that can partly be attributed to what many psychiatrists were saying in the 1960s-70s- get the abusers away from the victims, put them in treatment where they can be fixed, & then rehabilitate them. So throw in the ideas that psychiatric treatments & confession/repentance would actually take hold & fix “good men who had done bad things” and you have a perfect storm for an ever-building scandal. THat’s the whole point – it wasn’t that there are more child molestors in the RCC than other denominations, it was the way it was handled that made it such a big mess. However, a lot of people in the church seem to be pushing the idea that it’s the FAULT of homosexuals, so they’re kind of making their own problems. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808/22 "2014-02-10T03:53:24Z")
I just wanted to share this rich pair of limericks I conceived, wasn’t trying to start a debate . . . But, heck, do go on! ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808/23 "2014-02-10T13:19:00Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > THat’s the whole point – it wasn’t that there are more child molestors in the RCC than other denominations, it was the way it was handled that made it such a big mess. However, a lot of people in the church seem to be pushing the idea that it’s the FAULT of homosexuals, so they’re kind of making their own problems. As I stated, it is my opinion about the R C C’s way of looking at sexuality and there are also people of other religions who were raised with ideas of sexuality. Even to think of sex is considered a sin! One can go back to the time in history where women were made to wear chastity belts. When I was growing up it was considered filthy minded to know the difference between a bull and a cow! ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808/24 "2014-02-10T13:57:27Z")
Gentleman cows wore spats. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808/25 "2014-02-10T15:32:08Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > When I was growing up it was considered filthy minded to know the difference between a bull and a cow! I hope you weren’t a milkmaid! ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808/26 "2014-02-11T12:21:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I hope you weren’t a milkmaid! No I wasn’t. Times sure change, Jack Paar was taken off the TV because he used the word for toilet! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808/27 "2014-02-12T01:07:02Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > No I wasn’t. Times sure change, Jack Paar was taken off the TV because he used the word for toilet! No. Paar left the show because he was a prima donna who had a nervous breakdown. The immediate reason he walked off the show in 1960 was because his censors cut a joke about a toilet, but he came back on a month later and apologized. It wasn’t until two years later that he left for good because the stress of putting on a two hour show every night for five nights a week was too much for him. He was moved to a weekly variety show and Carson took over. And chastity belts are largely a myth. There was never any widespread requirement that women wear them. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808/28 "2014-02-12T13:31:12Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > No. Paar left the show because he was a prima donna who had a nervous breakdown. The immediate reason he walked off the show in 1960 was because his censors cut a joke about a toilet, but he came back on a month later and apologized. It wasn’t until two years later that he left for good because the stress of putting on a two hour show every night for five nights a week was too much for him. He was moved to a weekly variety show and Carson took over. > > And chastity belts are largely a myth. There was never any widespread requirement that women wear them. I can’t argue the fact because I am not that informed, but on I love Lucy and the movies even a married couple had to be shown in Twin beds, Now anything goes. Like a song from the Roaring Twenties; " In days yore a sight of stocking was something shocking, now heaven knows, any thing goes". Sounds like today’s attitude compared to a few years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/680808.md?page=1)