How to revitalise loyalty among Catholics (1)

I refer to the article Germans Lose Confidence In Catholic Church - Poll (April 11). As a Catholic myself, I certainly hope that the German Catholic hierarchy will look at the benchmarks of history and take immediate corrective action now to restore parishioners' confidence in Catholic clerics. During the protestant reformation, the theologian Martin Luther was himself a Roman Catholic priest.

He saw abuses and tried to nail a list of proposed solutions to a door of a church. Luther didn't want to part ways with the Church; he merely wanted issues discussed candidly in order to root out man-made errors and abuses. The Catholic Church didn't take him seriously; and so the Lutheran denomination and other split-off groups were formed.

Luther had researched various issues which are still hotly debated among Catholics. He addressed clerical celibacy and the sale of indulgences supposedly to buy freedom from purgatory. Martin Luther married a former Catholic nun and had several children with her. I applaud Pope Benedict XVI for allowing former Anglican priests (even married ones) to convert and become Roman Catholic priests. However, Benedict's insistence on monogamy for other priests who are cradle-Catholics is a bit confusing.

I believe Germany can revitalise loyalty among Catholics there. However, the Vatican must root out homosexual priests; it must severely punish the perpetrators of abuse by criminal penalties in both the secular and ecclesiastical worlds; and it must encourage and comfort victims of abuse to come forward now so this issue can be dealt with - and not keep it trickling-away like an unending story of misery and cover-ups.

Parishioners need full and genuine confidence that the Catholic hierarchy is listening and that congregations will be positively assured that this crisis will heal in a timely fashion.