Paul,

Didn't you tell your parents what was going on?

If not, why not?

fester, was I addressing YOU, so give it a rest, and I'll post what I like, is this YOUR forum?

//Shocked and saddened by this decision.// shocked that one of your heroes has been brought down, saddened that he will do time.

Hi Issy, a good question, what goes around in adolescence boys heads aged 12 in 1965, is far different to what's in the head of a 65 year old in 2019. In those days "brothers" were seen as extremely powerful figures in ones life, to be revered. The term paedophile was not known to us. As for parents, I suspect my mother, a practising Catholic, if in some way I had the courage to tell her, would not have believed that of a "brother". It would be more or less "go on with you, such nonsense, you say some silly things". My Father, although not a Catholic, would be far more difficult to tell, he would most likely be of the opinion "That kids old man should get up there and knock that bastards head off." and that would be the end of it for him, he always knew, so he said many times, the Catholics were no bloody good.

Dear Paul,

There are so many horrific stories that my husband
can also tell from the Catholic school that he
attended. Whatever the outcome of the appeal -if
this trial achieves nothing else - hopefully
it will have shown a light on the dark
recesses of the Church - which hopefully will
result in changes being made.

Frankly I can understand how difficult it is for believers
to fully accept the possibility of what could be true.
I think that no one would really deny that the sexual abuse
of children is horrendous and intolerable and that the
failure of the Church to deal with it effectively has done
immeasurable damage to victims. As I've stated previously,
the cover-ups, the protection of abusive clergy and the
refusal to admit egregious mistakes are unjustifiable.

I don't think that we have even begun to calculate the
damage these crimes have done to people's trust and to the
reputation of the Church.

All we can do now is wait for the results of the Appeal
Court. Either way - those that believe in our legal
process will have to accept the decision of the Court.

cont'd ...

Dear Paul,

I forgot to add - Thank You for your kind words.

probably the only crime worse than rape is to convict an innocent man. The only crime worse than Paedophille is to convict an innocent man. In America the Democrats and have shown they are happy to do that for political purposes.