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Dear Is Mise, Dear runner,

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You both wrote :

« Is that designation of worst offender based on a percentage comparison or simply numbers? »

You were referring to my remark :

« Revelations of Church-related paedophilia continue around the world and seem to be never-ending. They touch all denominations, but the Catholic Church is by far the worst offender – to such an extent that its endemic nature is evident »
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Crimes of paedophilia are notoriously rarely reported by children to their parents or guardians (when the latter are not, themselves, the perpetrators of the crimes) and even less so to the police and the criminal courts – especially when the perpetrators are members of the clergy. Because of this, inevitably, there are no precise statistics. My comment that “the Catholic Church is by far the worst offender” of Church-related paedophilia was based on various reports and articles, including, in particular :

1. The Australian Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuses :

Catholic……………61.8% of child sexual abuses by religious institutions
Anglican…………...14.7%
Salvation Army……. 7.3%
18 other religions....16.2%

http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/religious-institutions

2. The UN singled-out the Vatican for its appalling child protection record :

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2FC%2FVAT%2FCO%2F2&Lang=en

3. Wikipedia article : “Catholic Church sexual abuse cases” :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sexual_abuse_cases

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Runner, you should be careful bringing up Lindy Chamberlain. I worked with a mate who was once employed by the NT governments then forensic laboratory. He admitted to me, long before all of the appeals processes, that they screwed up the forensic evidence to a point where it was unable to be used in a court of law. Despite this he was adamant she was guilty based on the unusable evidence.

I was told only yesterday of a 45 year old father having been accused of sexual molestation by his 14 year old daughter & he is now in jail trying to prove his innocence.
Apparently, the Police found a how to accuse someone of sexual assault site visit on her phone but the female Magistrate was adamant & locked up the father.

Galen,

The famous 'blood spray in the car" which was forensically determined to be blood, turned out to be some body preparation sprayed by the manufacturer.

I'd be wary of citing any forensic bloke involved.

It wasn’t related to the boood splatter in the car. It related to other evidence which was mishandled and comprised and as such could not be entered into evidence. It does not disprove anything but went to the heart of the prosecution case and made it nigh impossible to conclusively seal the case against the defendant.
Galen

I am no advocate for the Church or religion in general, but this does not seem like a story that is ever going away. As a result, ordinary people might be discouraged from choosing a career in the papacy. This man's life has probably been irrevocably damaged whether he did it or not, and now everyone will always look at the Church with a hint of doubt at least.