In the homily, Fr Bill Edebohls of Malvern East in Melbourne took aim at lawyers and media at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

He said he was concerned the royal commission would not give victims an opportunity to heal.

"Why? Because both the media and the lawyers, like the baying crowd of men in the Gospel ready to throw stones, don't understand the need for a justice that is drenched in mercy."

Fr Edebohls was preaching on the Gospel account of Jesus and the woman caught committing adultery.

"Maybe to get the real drama and effect of the story we ought to replace the adulterous woman with a paedophile priest," he stated.

The priest's homily went on to say: "That does not mean there is no condemnation of the sin, no punishment or consequences for the perpetrator or an institution that protected him. But it does mean justice with mercy."

"Condemnation alone leaves the person with their sin with no way out, so nothing is lost by repeat offences."

The statements were printed in the local parish school's March newsletter. The school regularly puts homilies in its newsletter.

One parent said it was abhorrent to compare a crime like paedophilia with a moral issue like adultery.

Bernard Barrett, a researcher at victims support group Broken Rites, said Fr Edebohls' comments downplayed serious crimes.

Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne spokesman Shane Healy said Fr Edebohls had replaced the adulterous woman of Jesus' time with the worst sinner in our time, the paedophile priest.

Mr Healy said Fr Edebohls was "absolutely not" comparing paedophilia to adultery.

But the spokesman added that "lazy people who didn't go to the trouble of reading the thing fully might very well land there".

Fr Edebohls wrote an explanatory note that was sent home to parents of St Mary's primary school last week.

Fr Edebohls was once the Anglican Dean of Ballarat and was Melbourne's first married priest to run a Catholic parish.

Sources

• The Age
• The Guardian
• Image: Orthocuban

Speaking a news conference at the synod on the family, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane said he was concerned an "all-or-nothing" approach tended to dominate discussions before and, at times, during the synod.

But there exists a "vast territory that calls us to a new kind of pastoral creativity", he said.

On the issue of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, the Church's doctrine is clear that they cannot receive Communion, he noted.

But Archbishop Coleridge said this is a delicate subject that cannot always be generalised and must be viewed case-by-case.

"In the case of divorce and remarriage, we're always dealing with sin, there's no news in saying that; the Church has traditionally spoken of the second union as adulterous," Archbishop Coleridge said.

He said the term "‘adulterous' is perhaps too sweeping", and that while defining the sin is "important, but in another sense it doesn't say enough".

"And I think what a pastoral approach requires is that we actually enter into what the synod is calling a genuine pastoral dialogue or discernment with these couples."

While the framework and direction of this dialogue is Church teaching, the archbishop said that the Church is also called to reach out to those who feel alienated.

"What really worries me as a pastor is that a lot of these people don't come to me or the Church," he said.

"They are seriously alienated and feel seriously excluded.

"So the question is not what do we do when they come to us but how can I/we go to them and begin that process of dialogue that starts with a kind of listening."

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• Image: ABC

Websites of at least two dozen people with the .va address are among those who had signed up to meet married people for liaisons.

Hackers from the "Impact Team" posted to the Internet a huge file including names, ages, addresses, phone numbers and credit card details.

The website works on the promise of anonymity and the motto "Life is short. Have an affair".

Ashley Madison has called the hack "an act of criminality" and the FBI is now investigating.

Continue reading

Meet Ivan Lewis, the cheater, and Sonya Gore, the mastermind behind her husband's unique and very public display of affection.

Lewis and Gore got married in 2010 but split after only 10 months because of Lewis' constant cheating.

After some time apart, during which Lewis reflected on what he had done, the guy decided to put an end to his unfaithful ways and do everything in his power to get Gore to forgive him.

On September 22, he proposed to her publicly on his Facebook wall.

Although many people were touched by his gesture, Gore wasn't too impressed.

He then posted a picture of himself holding a piece of paper which read "I cheated on my wife!!! (and she was ugly!!!)", stating that he needed 10,000 likes in order for Gore to take him back. Continue reading

The number of Catholics actively looking for affairs was almost twice that of other religions, a survey has found.

Research showed 21.5% of the 600,000 members on an extra-marital dating site were Catholic - a high figure since they make up only 10% of the UK population.

Church of England followers are less common.