Foxy, we will never be able to stamp out paedophilia in the clergy of any religion by 'normalising' their lives.

These predatory men are out in the community at large as well, and many are married with children, but their activities are not curtailed at all by living a 'normal' life.

They join the church because it gives them closer access to children by way of church run schools and bible classes etc.

These disgusting individuals should be treated the same no matter what job they have. They should be castrated and locked up without chance of parole.

Dear Foxy,

Agree that something must be done at a greassroots level too. Perhaps, Catholic parishioners should be more vocal, as a group. Yet, traditionally the relationship between the Lay to the Clergy is deferrential in nature, favouring the latter. Inverting the relationship would not be easy.

If the Pope was emphatic about "no tolerance", it might not stop some instances but maybe, just maybe,it could truncate the serial offences. Yet, could it be the bonds between memebers of the clergy are so tight, the Pope's declarations would be sidelined in practice?


Suzeonline,

Of course, you are correct about the Churches being magnets for these deviants. What angers me is Church cover-ups and support of these preditors. The Bishops, who just transfer a priest to another school after a priest is caught, should be charged an gaoled too. Hindering due process is serious too.

Suze:”These disgusting individuals should be treated the same no matter what job they have. They should be castrated and locked up without chance of parole.”

Something made them disgusting along with all the other kinds of criminals. I’m not suggesting lenience, the subject confuses me.

Now say you have a 13 year old mother, DNA proves the father is an older man so hense a pedophile. Why an extended court case – why the fuss or bother at taxpayers’ expense?

I think I may prefer money spent on counseling for mother and the child will probably need some later as well.

But what these young girls are handed is tens of thousands in victim compensation, they’re often damaged and likely to again become victims but this time they come with a dowry.

This cash for crime makes little sense to me.

i seen this on tv the other day and it just shows another pedophile has been caught and he was a preist gromming our young children online ,

and the church said they would not bail him out

yet his freind who is also a preist had bailed him out ,

their are people on leeser charges in gaol awaiting to attend court with out bail

but this pedophile can get bail ,of which no one will relly know if he will do this again ,

a disgace on our laws and bail conditions

looks like the law wants him preying on more young people maybe next time he won't get caught and what will happen to the child then

these people need to be six foot under and taught a lesson

to many people are getting away with these crimes and its about time the law acted for the victims instead of the pedophil

Oliver,

“Yet, could it be the bonds between memebers of the clergy are so tight, the Pope's declarations would be sidelined in practice?”

Good point. The Pope might want to “sweep the filth from the church”. However, particularly in Australia, groups of clergy often have no interest in complying with overseas hierarchy. The priest was obviously willing to break his vows. Ultimately his orientation is irrelevant. He is choosing to defy authority by attempting to have sex. Some such priests have no concern for the Catholic hierarchy and generally reject Catholic belief.
http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories2/071002_shanley.htm

“Moreover, given the heinous nature of the alleged crimes, the Accused should not been granted bail.”

Someone charged with a grooming a person under the age of 16 should stay locked up. As Pell said it is appalling. The guy obviously had pretty horrible intentions. However, unlike Pied Piper’s experience it looks to me that these days people pretty much have to be threatening witnesses or be accused of murder or have a history of failing to comply with bail requirements to be refused bail. Even then people accused of murder sometimes get bail based on:

Magistrates perception of likelihood of reoffending
http://www.theage.com.au/national/mother-charged-with-murder-of-son-gets-bail-20090723-dtur.html
Magistrates perception of strength of case
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/local/5812466/bail-for-comanchero-on-murder-charge/
and
http://www.cowraguardian.com.au/news/local/news/general/murder-accused-granted-bail/204977.aspx
?
http://www.goulburnpost.com.au/news/local/news/general/murder-accused-granted-bail/232130.aspx

“In these cases, notice how the “deed” is often criticised by the Cardinal or Bishop, not the cleric. And even this criticism, too often, is forthcoming, only after an attempt to cover-up.”

Please provide further detail. What was the attempt to cover up and when you say cleric do you mean the priest who allegedly did the crime?

Foxy,

“Perhaps part of the solution … ordination of properly trained and appropriate married men.”

(The term paedophilia actually refers to pre-pubescent children.) Anyway I struggle with your solution. Aren’t people more likely to be molested by male relatives? Don’t protestant denominations (with married priests) have a higher rate of paedophilia? Don’t paedophiles choose jobs which put them close to children rather than men turning into paedophiles if they go without for a while?

Pied Piper,
I believe most children molested by Clergy are males?

I haven't heard of any handouts of thousands of dollars given to young female victims that could be seen as dowry's by other paedophiles.
I am sure that these predators aren't too fussed with money when they are preying on children.
In any case, why wouldn't these child victims of crimes be any less worthy of compensation than any other crime victims?