Jim Gerwing of Victoria British Columbia professes that Full Confession is the only way the Roman Catholic hierarchy can get out of the horrible mess of pedophilia by priests and the universal policy of bishops under the direction of Rome to keep silent and to move these priests around in their own dioceses, to other dioceses and to other countries.

What would a full confession sound like?

“We, the hierarchs of the Roman Catholic Church, from the pope down to the local priests, as well as the superiors and members of religious orders, confess to God and to the people of the world that we have sinned.

We have raped and sodomized and otherwise abused countless young boys and girls as well as adult men and women; we have covered up these and other heinous crimes; we have engaged in a policy of shifting known predators to other assignments where they could continue to abuse; we have refused to consider the harm done to these individuals, to their families, and to the social fabric of the church and the world; we have used our authority to inflict great harm psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually; we have instituted training methods that guarantee that these abuses continue; and we have hidden these and other sins under the cloak of divine authority.

We have used theological principles regarding the priesthood which have made it impossible for the lay members of the church to question our authority. We have called priests “other Christs.” We have used sacramental theology describing priests as acting in the person of Christ, putting them on pedestals so that lay members of the church are forced to consider them above criticism.

We confess that we have spoken of the church as the “spotless bride” of Christ, as the “perfect society,” and we have arrogated to ourselves all authority within the church. We have consistently used the word “church” to define ourselves, as in phrases like “the church teaches.” In practice, we have made lay members of the church see themselves as second class citizens who have no right to question what we do or what we teach. We have consistently refused to answer to civil authority for the crimes that we have committed.

We have done all these things knowingly and willingly.