As an agnostic, I don’t really have much interest in the Catholic Church, except for what I see in the news about the abuse scandals.  I’ve always been a bit suspicious of the church given its propensity for issuing edicts seeking to run people’s lives, especially in the sexual arena.  The abuse scandals certainly haven’t helped its moral authority.  So I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised by this reaction from the bishop in charge of a Catholic seminary in Austria that is involved in a child porn and sex scandal.

A vast cache of child pornography and photos of young priests having sex has been discovered at a Roman Catholic seminary in Poelten, officials said yesterday. The announcement led Austrian politicians and church leaders to demand a criminal probe and the resignation of the bishop in charge.

Bishop Kurt Krenn, who oversees the diocese, refused to step down, however, dismissing the images as a “childish prank.” The seminary’s director, the Rev. Ulrich Kuechl, resigned along with his deputy, Wolfgang Rothe.

Until the church cleans its house of people like this and gets its house in order, it’d better keep its opinions about how we run our lives to itself.  Until then, I can only conclude that the church is fundamentally unserious about ending the abuse.