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Priests who turn blind eye are just as guilty
THERE is good and bad in every profession. The priesthood is no different.
The bad ones need to be rooted out or else they destroy the reputation
of the good.
The Catholic Church has failed the good clerics by tolerating the bad
to protect the reputation of the Church. It is truly a shocking scandal.
The policy within the Church seemed to be that if allegations of sexual
abuse by clerics against children were persistent then the only course
of action was to move the perpetrator to a different parish.
This was criminal in my view and those responsible for it should be prosecuted
alongside those who actually carried out the abuse.
It was shameful beyond belief and was tantamount to granting a licence
to the abusers.
In plain and simple language these priests are criminals.
The power of the Church in Ireland was awesome.
This was demonstrated by one case where gardaí were alerted by
British police to the activities of a particular priest.
He had sent some film to England to be processed but a technician showed
the content to the police.
However, gardaí did not even question the priest but instead spoke
to the then Archbishop John McQuaid who promised to deal with it.
The man in question continued to serve as a priest and abuse victims and
was eventually jailed.
This is just one disgraceful example. |
