Cardinal Keith O'Brien

[AgentProvocateur]

Tomorrow's Observer is reporting that three priests are alleging inappropriate behaviour by the cardinal, the UK's most senior Catholic and Stonewall's "bigotry if the year" 2012. If the allegations are true, he's also hypocrite of the year.

"It may be that we have to look at why such organisations attract abusers (clue - lots of pomp and ceremony to make weak "leaders" feel strong, lots of rules to keep the masses in their place, lots of places to hide, lots of opportunities to target the vulnerable)."

Exactly. Abusers are attracted to positions of power.

Abusers are attracted to the Catholic church as far as I can see, and in my experience as a Catholic (my parish priest when I was younger was revealed to be a child abuser) because they had a double attraction of easy access to children and if they were caught, almost no chance of sanction. In the '80s certainly, priests who were accused of 'innapropriate behaviour' whether that was child abuse or sex with parishioners were told to go on a retreat, confess their sins and move to another parish. It must have been like paradise for them. Many of them must still be hanging around. The are still not excommunicated.

I wonder how people like BridgetJonesPants are feeling now? All those who, despite the horrendous scale of child abuse by the RC church, were so ready to rush to the Cardinal's defence and to scorn his victims...

And I wonder why some parents are still prepared to send their children to Catholic schools. That one really does puzzle me.