tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2911068236939343613.post1266311645823168072..comments2023-08-24T16:41:19.306+01:00Comments on Let nothing you dismay: To admit the problem isn’t necessarily to agree with the proposed “solution.”Michael Gollop http://www.blogger.com/profile/00076220518083389674noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2911068236939343613.post-42620005987453526812010-03-16T23:50:52.428+00:002010-03-16T23:50:52.428+00:00Thank you for a very good and balanced post - a re...Thank you for a very good and balanced post - a real tonic after the hysterical diatribes seen elsewhere. In fact, the response of the Catholic Diocese of England and Wales to the problem of clergy child abuse - following the Nolan report - was praised by both police and caring professionals. It was not a perfect response and left many clergy feeling a bit paranoid since it offered no protection for those falsely accused. However, it was a robust and determined response. This has been revisited, and the procedures are now more mature although still very strong.<br /><br />Part of the problem with this whole situation is precisely the media. In recent days I have seen comparisons between the percentage of Catholic clergy involved in abuse as compared with the vast majority of offenders,(who are not priests and not celibate) and abusers of other denominational persuasions. Catholic priests are certainly not, as a group, the greatest offenders, but many people assume they are because others are not reported or treated with the same publicity. Add to that - I'm afraid - what now certainly appears to be a real anti-Catholicism in our midst, and we have a tendency to irrational and grossly unfair outbursts from people who are not interested in hearing the truth.<br /><br />In this situation there is nothing to be done but to turn to prayer. The Bishops cannot peer into people's minds, and there can never be any perfect way of filtering out possible offenders, just as we can never be sure that no one in any walk of life will let us down or create scandal. Those who attack the Pope and the Catholic hierarchy over this matter appear to think that ALL information about ALL Catholic priests should ALWAYS be to hand and that it should be perused almost constantly by EVERYONE in authority, but especially by the Pope, as though the Church had nothing else to do. It seems as though some people assume that Catholic authorities should almost abandon all involvement in other areas to concentrate on policing priests. If this is not hysteria, what is it?Fr John Abbertonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10319996483623888898noreply@blogger.com