US soldier harshly treated - same old story

United States Private First Class Bradley Manning is in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia.

Manning is believed to have leaked the ‘collateral murder’ video of a US Apache helicopter killing 11 people in Baghdad in 2007, including two Reuters journalists.

Manning is kept in his cell for 23 hours each day, is barred from exercising in his cell on the grounds he might injure himself, and is under constant surveillance.

As a child it is reported he was teased for being gay.

The young man joined the US Army which at the time had a complete ban on gays. His father kicked him out of his house when he learned he was gay.

The story of Private First Class Bradley Manning is replicated in every seminary, in every place where young men are studying for priesthood.

Hopefully, church authorities and the Vatican will carefully examine the painful story of Bradely Manning and learn lessons from it.

The phenomenon of Bradley Manning is such a perfect fit for so many aspects of what is happening in the clerical state.

President Barack Obama has lifted the ban on gays joining the US Army.
That means the issue has the possibility of no longer being taboo, it need no longer be ‘covered up’, it need no longer be a secret.

It is that deathly secrecy that is doing so much harm to the church. And all the lies too. The cover ups and the terrible unhappiness.