AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph
Des Cahill tells state inquiry into child abuse that Catholic Church had created a “holy and unholy mess”
Grant McArthur
Herald Sun
October 23, 2012
MORE than one in 20 Victorian Catholic priests became a child abuser and the church’s senior leaders may have to go to jail for covering up the crimes, a former priest and academic has told a state inquiry.
On the second day of public hearings into churches’ handling of child abuse, RMIT intercultural studies professor Des Cahill said the Catholic Church had created a “holy and unholy mess” it was incapable of taking action to resolve.
A former priest who, when resigning in 1976, accused the Catholic Church of being unable to face up to its problems, Prof Cahill warned the inquiry the State Government needed to intervene.
“It is an unfortunate reality that as a result of this inquiry some senior religious people may end up in jail for dereliction of duty, and they must be treated with compassion and understanding,” Prof Cahill said.
“But children matter.
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