No, the difference is quite clear. The horrible cases of abuse in the care system have been placed under public scrutiny in debate and examination to the public. The same can not be said of the church. Moreover, the systematic hiding and covering up was not done by the current Minister for Health or the Head of the NHS or the previous one ...
There is a very big difference between the openness and examination - I find it interesting that you can't see that. Nor anywhere have I said it was exclusive but you'd be hard pressed to find it being so covertly carried out and covertly hid in Western society.
I disagree, there are several cases where even under public scrutiny (again the Welsh child abuse scandal is an example) have been poorly conducted and have ill considered such abuses, this is why we have on occassion had several inquiries because of such failures.
Also the Church is not a govt or publicly accountable body, it is more akin to the actual examples I gave insofar as they were either not addressed or covered up by those in authority. There have also been several public and supported investigations into child abuses by catholic priests (the most recent being in California) where the Church has supported and complied with the authorities investigation as well as paying compensation to the victims (hundreds of millions if not billions overall in the US). Many accused priests have been forced to resign or have been defrocked and many of those, including a prelate have been removed from their positions in recent years...this doesn't excuse the problems or the offenses, but it does mean that the church is now more involved and more aware of its responsibilties in these cases..there is a long way yet to go, particularly in the US where some of their laws mean that there is a statute of limitations on certain accusations, again the Church has in recent years taken it upon themselves to remove such Preists that cannot for whatever reason be legally prosecuted and have judged them internally anyway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases_in_the_United_States
It is also a pint to be made that the Catholic Church (as are all western religions) is an integral part of Western Society so that claim is somewhat misleading.
And you haven't answered the actual question, do you think that someone should not speak out simply because they belong to an institution in which some members have abused their positions and in turn those in authority have sought, quite wrongly, to cover it up or deal with it secretly?
Is the Cardinal wrong in his opinon, or is he simply not allowed to speak out because he is catholic?
Personally I feel that if someone in authority, like the Cardinal, is saying to priests who have such thoughts and backgrounds that it is ok to come forward and seek help that is nothing but a good thing, and not something to be criticised simply because he belongs to the Catholic Church.
