More thoughts about Immaculate Conception

[Abaddon_ire]

A question to Boru as an apostate catholic.... I read that "Catholic priests have been given the power to forgive sins, acting as representatives of the Holy Spirit."

If a priest is a child rapist/molester, does he retain the power to forgive sins or that power is taken back?
What did they say about this in Catholic school?

It's situational.  If a child-raping priest confesses and is absolved, he retains the authority to absolve the sins of others.  Of course, if he confesses, the local church authorities will typically visit upon him the hideous punishment of transferring him to another diocese.  In the Church, this is known as 'justice' (Catholics are often confused about what words actually mean).

Boru

Boru is spot on as my own 12 years in catholic school can confirm.

But to your question "What did they say about this in Catholic school?" the answer is nothing. The children were terrified of beatings (I had a few), the teachers were terrified of losing their jobs or, if they were a priest, brother or nun, were "simply following orders" much like another infamous organisation. It was a total case of the three monkeys.

So, what was it like? you might wonder. I can tell you quite easily.

Of all the religious I encountered, most were nice and harmless, or at worst remote, icy theology types, but some weren't. Perhaps some examples might help.

One taught biology. Not a lesson passed where he didn't comment upon or spend the whole lesson upon, how much sperm "you little boys produce" with a leer. Pretty creepy, but the guy was such comedic gold that nobody cared. 

One was seriously creepy. Somehow he purloined the role of Career Guidance Counsellor, a role which put every boy in the school alone in an office with him at least once. His nickname was "Gobble", work out the rest. When my turn arrived, I intimidated him and he avoided me ever after. I personally know of two who were not so lucky. Likely there were others. Eventually, he went too far and was immediately punished with a vicious transfer to somewhere else.

Next we have "Gonzo". Yeah, he had an enormous nose and an extremely short fuse. And he was prone to lose the plot in class. Needless to say, we all provoked him for the laugh. It was hilarious right up until the day he pulled a guy from his desk by the ear and dragged him up the class so hard that he split his ear from his head. Not entirely, but stitches were required and there was a lot of blood. What happened to him? You guessed it, he was quietly transferred elsewhere and a payment was quietly made to the parents of the bloodied bloke.

Then there was a total sadist. Not in any sexual way, you understand. He just liked inflicting pain. His favourite was a 1"" by 1"" 18"" long piece of hard wood which he would use to rap you on the knuckles not with the flat side, but the sharp edge. Bloody hell that hurt and he would laugh his head off while doing it.

Then we arrive at the amusing buffoon that was appointed head for a couple of years. He was useless and he also had a speech impediment (b came out as f and vice versa). What else are teen boys going to do but engage in outright mockery. However, a new French teacher was appointed. She was young, she was hawt, she was svelte, she was french. Imagine what that did to a group of hormonal young lads. This lasted right up until the head renounced his vows and eloped with her to the Caribbean.  Shut all of us up right quick.

So there you go. Catholic schools are mad.


ETA: Changed "1" to "One" because it scarily looked like "I". Ewww.