What we're talking about

Troy on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I have seen this family fighting day after day for months trying to get their kids/siblings back home. The dedication and ... more
Pauline on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' DHS have destroyed my own family. They failed in their duty of care to provide a baby moniter for the deaf , thousands of ... more
Christine on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' isn't it funny how DHS don't recognise the psychological effects of domestic violence on children and continue to allow ... more
Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' There is a family In the Cairns Area who are Foster Carers.Atherton Child Safety have threatened the carers and own ... more
duncan on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i have spent time with this family. it is a house full of love. "mum", grandfather and older sblings.this cannot be an issue ... more
Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Family Law is different from the rest of the law in this country.. Ie. Family Law is based on probability: ie if it might ... more
carol annetta on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' having known this family for some time i am disgusted with the treatment she has received. it seems more of a witch hunt ... more
Maureen Hillary on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Derryn,I have counselled traumatized parents as a result of DHS staff.There are great staff workers who care but they ... more
Janet Tavener on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I am a visitor to this country.My attention was drawn to the case of these children and their foster mother by a relative of ... more
sam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Happening in Tasmania also.Wewon a court case over 8 months ago and due process still hasn't been done.We spent 17,000 ... more
Anne Glover on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I just cannot believe what the DHS has put the Foster Mother, and the children through - I thought the DHS was supposed to ... more
Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' DHS are the most disgraceful organization I have ever had the displeasure of becoming involved with. They are so ... more
Vicki on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hi Derryn,I have known this carer since primary school, she has always put others above herself. Being a carer myself I know ... more
Gran'ma Pam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' As any of us with any sense know, these children should NEVER have been taken from this lady (mum) in the first place, they ... more
Dominic Lombardo on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I see my daughter every six months DHS are conducting a vendetta against me I have not been told why I can only see her ... more
cassy houghton on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hello Derryn,Firstly i would like to thankyou for your support and the willingness to help this beautiful family.I ... more
Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Im a carer also in Qld. I see this happen way too much from our Government. They are starting to use Carers own children as ... more
paul on "I'll pay the fee," says Hinch I believe what Liberal Party has done is stupid. But I feel for candidates like Joh Bauch and James Buonopane who want to ... more
Andrea on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Why are these public servants allowed to blatantly flout the law without the same consequences the rest of society faces? I ... more
birth mother on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i am the birth morther of these 4 children and i just want to say dhs dont care they just want the kids in care so they can ... more

'Breeding ground' for sex offenders

Posted by: Derryn Hinch | 24 May, 2010 - 3:43 PM

Read why there is renewed pressure on the Catholic Church

I know this is a bald accusation but it can not, nor should not, be sanitised in any way: The Catholic Church has been the safe haven and breeding ground for child sex offenders for decades. Probably a hundred years. And if it were not a religious organisation, shrouded in secrecy and protection, it would be ostracised and targeted by law enforcement agencies around the globe.

The protection granted to pedophiles over the years from popes (including the current one) to cardinals and archbishop is a moral and legal travesty. And it is only because victims have been brave enough to challenge the power of the church from Boston to Bendigo and launch legal actions that has forced a reluctant church to face its own demons.

It has only been since the Catholic Church, in the United States and Europe and Mexico and Australia, has been forced to pay out millions of dollars in compensation to the victims of that church’s priests that Rome has started to listen.

I mention it today because of a burst of rare honesty from two senior church figures. The Archbishop of Adelaide and the Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn.

Adelaide’s Arhbishop, Philip Wilson, was long overdue to confront the issue. He has been accused of covering up child abuse cases and protecting pedophile priests for more than 30 years.

He now admits sexual abuse has caused more damage to the Catholic Church than few other issues in history and will continue to haunt Australian Catholics for a long time to come.

Wilson claims his own naivety about pedophilia and poor recruitment of fellow clergy for the church ‘not having had the sense of how to properly care for children’.

How much sense do you need and how naïve can you be not to know that children are not there as sexual play things for any adult let alone their priest who is meant to be their spiritual guardian? That it is ethically, morally and legally wrong.

At least Wilson now admits that the church was wrong when accused clergy were not reported to police but just transferred to another diocese to often repeat their abhorrent behaviour.

He confesses: ‘I think the really big difficulty and criticism of the church is that when there was evidence of it, and it was known, that people were just moved on’. Archbishop Coleridge says the ‘culture of the church’ had led to abuse.

‘In the case of clerical abuse of the young we are dealing with crime. True sin must be forgiven, so too must crime be punished’ Hallelujah!

Archbishop George Pell – now reportedly up for a top Vatican job once said: ‘abortion is a worse moral scandal than priests sexually abusing young people.’ There were allegations of sex abuse made against Pell and he stood down. He was later exonerated by a church inquiry.

In his younger years Pell shared a house with notorious convicted paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale - one of the worst serial molesters in history.

Years later, as a show of support, Pell ostentatiously turned up at Ridsdale’s side during his first court appearance.

One of the specious arguments that church leaders from the Pope down try to use to justify the cover-ups is that times have changed. We are more aware and enlightened now. Bulldust. It’s more than 20 years since I went to jail for exposing a Catholic priest who was still ordained and still preaching and running a camp for kids despite having been jailed for rape.

That defence has also been trotted out by the Anglican Church. When Archbishop Peter Hollingworth was embroiled in cover-up accusations while Governor-General he tried to excuse his behaviour by saying things would perhaps be handled differently in these ‘more enlightened and understanding times’.

To the public they were always enlightened times. It was just the church leaders who thought it more important to protect the image of the church than help sexually abused children.

Blog comments

I believe that the Roman Catholic Church has, or intends to implement screening for homosexuality for men entering the Priethood. It might be a better idea to screen for paedophilia. While they're at it, they might allow priests to marry and ordain women priests. This might compensate for those weeded out in the screening process

Jill Tuesday 6 July, 2010 - 3:00 PM
Hey Derryn
I listened to your views today and as always you have held hard on your morals.
I am a Forgotten Australian and was raised by nuns and they were brutal and callous.
It was not just the priest, which for some reason or other, the media does seem to overlook and I do hasten to add they too come under the umbrella of the Catholic church.
It is not only the sexual abuse although I might add it seems to sell more papers than some one being beaten to unconsciousness. The Catholic church cannot try and pigeon hole sexual abuse, there were many more wrong doings within the church which it needs to apologise for.
The Catholic Church was the biggest provider for the institutionalisation of children in this country many children left these institutions uneducated, given no values raised with a stigma they should be ashamed and were also never shown how to look after themselves.
Many of these children now adults make up a good percentage of the homeless, imprisonment addicted to alcohol and drugs.
The Catholic Church has a long way to go before it could be seen as an organisation that cares.

thelastsay Monday 5 July, 2010 - 10:35 PM
Christianity rightly teaches forgiveness, but this should not mean that sins such as child sexual abuse should go on unheeded. Forgiveness is one thing, but in human society, the price still has to be paid. The victims are owed it too! There is no excuse for covering up crimes for the "greater good" of the church either, as this will protect the perpetrators. With priests forced to be celibate, children could be more vulnerable to unnatural desires. Other churches promote healthy family life for priests. However, the Catholic church is a heavy monolith that is almost impervious to change and transparency.

VivKay Thursday 24 June, 2010 - 1:21 PM
Good on you Derryn,

I have personally gone up against the Anglicans on this issue and I can assure you nothing has changed - they still protect each other and conceal evidence. They just get more polished at their public image spin.

I always wonder that the church hierarchy rush so fast to provide support to the offender under the guise of 'forgiveness' and 'Christian charity' and 'mercy for the sinner' -- but they leave the victim standing isolated and alone with no support, no compassion, no mercy.

I wish the churches looked after victims with just 10% of the efforts they put into looking after offenders. Instead they write to victims through lawyers, then turn up in person as character referees at offenders trials.

The gormless sheep in the flock just need to open their eyes to the reality of their 'shephards'.

Derryn if you want another story that will make your blood boil ask Archbishop Aspinall to show you a copy of his "Offender Reintergration Policy" and ask him to explain it to you. You might want to take a valium first....

keep up the good work

anon Sunday 13 June, 2010 - 11:43 PM
The evidence is overwhelming
www.thecatholiccoverup.com

Tor Nielsen Thursday 3 June, 2010 - 3:36 AM
Naive it may be but at the age of 40+ I heard the term pedophile for the 1st time.(Thanks to 3AW bringing to light the harm inflicted by so many on our children!) It took me several years to come to terms with the concept.
If one is intent on seeing 'the good' in others this very practice can lead to NOT seeing the evil in others.

In my own n'hood we had the problem of trying to educate our kids re drugs and discovered much later that one of the parents had the opposite view to our household.

'Similar problem',harm inflicted on the young by those intent on evil.........not good.

ruth Tuesday 25 May, 2010 - 11:05 PM