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A blighted Church

The Catholic Church simply cannot escape the ongoing issue surrounding all sorts of abuse of boys and girls by members of the clergy.   It's obviously a worldwide problem - but one which the Church appears loath to confront.    Only yesterday the Archbishop of Sydney maintained that any priest, told in the confessional by another priest that he had offended in relation a child, was not required to advise the police or State authorities.   

Australia has now followed the Irish Government in setting up a Royal Commission to investigate the way molested children have been dealt with by the various religions and State bodies.

Coincidentally, Democracy Now yesterday reported on a film (go here to view) on the very subject of abusers of children in the Catholic Church.

"Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God," a new documentary by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, investigates how a charismatic priest in Milwaukee abused more than 200 deaf children in a Catholic boarding school under his control. The young students were molested again and again by Father Lawrence Murphy, who stalked them in their dorm rooms at night, on trips to his rural cabin, and even in the confessional booth."

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