Truly revolting piece by Andrew Brown.

[Jack Rawlinson]

Brown has sunk to a new low here: attempting to put some spin on the issue of Catholic child abuse on the grounds that hey, if you look at this one set of statistics in a certain way, priests are probably only about as abusive as other people.

He is starting to receive a well-deserved kicking in the comments, which is entertaining.

[virphen]

Couldn't make it through to the end :/

[devogue]

So why the concentration on Catholic priests and brothers?

Um, because they are meant to be holy.

[kiki5711]

How can they compare themselves with the rest of the population? They're suppose to set a standard!

[Animavore]

What a nob. I mean it's not just that they abused children, if it were a case were any time a priest abused a child he was defrocked and arrested it would be a different matter, but it's the fact that they covered up right up to the higher levels of their establishment and kept the public and authorities quiet through bullying and threat of eternal damnation for years that is the main problem.

[ficklefiend]

And that they worked a system that placed them frequently in the care of vulnerable children, often living away from home or those without parents. A system that forced their silence through seriously fucking up their heads with guilt and fear.

[RuleBritannia]

I think this is the first of Andrew's blog posts that hasn't got single comment in support of it, and it's obvious why.

[devogue]

It reminds me of Father Ted saying:

"Sure Dougal, say there are 200 million priests in the world - if only 1% are paedophiles that's two mil-"

[Valden]

Brown has sunk to a new low here: attempting to put some spin on the issue of Catholic child abuse on the grounds that hey, if you look at this one set of statistics in a certain way, priests are probably only about as abusive as other people.

He is starting to receive a well-deserved kicking in the comments, which is entertaining.

May he eat shit and die.

[Jack Rawlinson]

The Guardian immoderators are on hair-trigger mode over there. I haven't managed to get a comment to stick, even though I've tried to make fair criticism and use non-ad-homs. So, what the hell, I just called them a bunch of gutless fucksticks. Maybe that will last ten minutes.

Brown's pieces are essentially trolling, and The Guardian sanctions it to boost their hits. I'm getting extremely tired of it.

Edit: and now it seems any comments I make at The Guardian get sent for pre-moderation before publishing. Ah, good old Grauniad. Such a staunch defender of "liberalism".

[Pombolo]

How can they compare themselves with the rest of the population? They're suppose to set a standard!

Bingo. If they are truly walking in the footsteps of the divine, they should be morally ahead of the rest of us. If not, then, to use the words of Stephen Fry: "What are you for!"

[MartinHatter]

Andrew Brown claims that "objectively your child is less likely to be abused by a Catholic or Anglican priest in the west today than by the members of almost any other profession."

The problem with that claim is that no other profession, that I know of, is only open to men, expects celibacy from its members and has such a long-standing history of covering up abuse because of the damage that may be caused to the REPUTATION of the profession itself rather than the victims, or such trust from family members.

Colm O'Gorman's blog is required reading for people intersted in helping the true victims of these despicable acts:

http://colmogorman.com/

I suppose that the church will never be trusted again with so many children's lives is perhaps the only good thing to emerege from these recurring scandals.

[RuleBritannia]

Andrew Brown claims that "objectively your child is less likely to be abused by a Catholic or Anglican priest in the west today than by the members of almost any other profession."

The problem with that claim is that no other profession, that I know of, is only open to men, expects celibacy from its members and has such a long-standing history of covering up abuse because of the damage that may be caused to the REPUTATION of the profession itself rather than the victims, or such trust from family members.

Colm O'Gorman's blog is required reading for people intersted in helping the true victims of these despicable acts:

http://colmogorman.com/

I suppose that the church will never be trusted again with so many children's lives is perhaps the only good thing to emerege from these recurring scandals.

Not to mention it's complete horseshit anyway, I don't remember the big stock broker sex scandal or the Tesco phedophilia ring, you might hear about a teacher once a year but no where near the amount of priests.

Oh and hello to a fellow Bristolian.

[MartinHatter]

Not to mention it's complete horseshit anyway, I don't remember the big stock broker sex scandal or the Tesco phedophilia ring, you might hear about a teacher once a year but no where near the amount of priests.

Oh and hello to a fellow Bristolian.

And hello from me too.

No, I didn't mention that it's complete horseshit but then, when we're talking about christianity, that's a given

[Feck]

I just didn't understand the tone by the end .. Be thank-full that if your child gets abused it probably won't be by priest, they have stopped doing that now (honestly)WTF.