Every Catholic at Mass in Melbourne this weekend will hear an apology from Archbishop Denis Hart for crimes of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. He says that "since 1996 about 300 victims have been compensated, mostly for sexual abuse that took place between 30 and 80 years ago, and that there were few complaints of abuse after the 1970s. Those victims were abused by 86 offenders, 60 of them priests in the archdiocese, of whom 35 are dead".
Of course, the apologies and compensation only came after the Church's cover up regime was publicly exposed. He has still not apologised for the obstruction of justice by the church hierarchy, which he now leads and serious questions remain unanswered. How many of the known 86 Catholic offenders were reported to the police by the church management? Are the 51 living offenders now behind bars? Does he seriously expect us to believe that no further offences and cover ups have occurred "after the 1970s"?
Meantime in Sydney, the Herald reports "Catholic priest John Sidney Denham was jailed for almost 20 years on child sex charges against 25 boys in NSW between 1968 and 1986. For most of those years he was a priest at St Pius X High School in Newcastle". At least that's one who did not get away with it - but it's just a drop in the ocean. How can decent Catholic parishioners continue to support the 'World's Biggest Paedophile Ring' by their attendance and with their wallet?