I too was raised Catholic. I no longer practice, but I believe my life values are still those I learned from my educators, the Jesuits. The ones who taught me were a remarkable group of men, which fact I only fully appreciated after I left college. Like Mize, I find the actions of the paedophile minority and those in high places in the church who misguidedly protect them abhorrent and that definitely contributed to my leaving active practice, although it was not the major reason (I married a divorcee).

50 years on I am still in constant contact with my old college, and maintain friendships with many old schoolmates even though I now live over a thousand miles away. My teachers are all gone now - the last one died last year, aged 104, but I have come to know many of their successors and have the same respect for them.

The Catholic Church has much to answer for, but it also does a great deal of good in the world. Most of that good is done at the coalface by Joe Average clergy and lay members.

Intelligent Catholics (and that definitely includes the Jesuits) recognise and acknowledge that the Old Testament is fundamentally allegory, not literal fact. Creationism is far more likely to be found in ratbag sects and southern Baptists.

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Paul D