AUSTRALIA
ABC News
[Submissions to the inquiry – Government of Victoria]
[with video]
A former Catholic priest has told Victoria’s Parliamentary Inquiry into child sexual abuse, the Church might reduce the incidence of paedophilia by allowing clergy to marry.
Des Cahill, a professor at RMIT University, was among those to give evidence on the second day of public hearings.
He said the Catholic Church had failed to deal properly with paedophilia and reassessing celibacy might be one way of limiting abuse.
“A celibate does not have the emotional support of a close community as a majority of people do in a marriage family context, then there’s a greater likelihood of offending,” he said.
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