From Mr Martin Blake SIR – It seems to me that both the accusations of and reactions to sexual abuse have got out of hand.
That any man, trained for and ordained into the sacrament of Holy Orders, should so lose his self-control as to abuse children is appalling. While deploring the fact that about 3,000 of the 400,000 priests worldwide have been accused of molesting young people, it is still a very small proportion. There are, of course, degrees of molestation.
As for bishops covering up such cases, I wonder how many parents, knowing that one of their children has “gone off the rails”, would report him or her to the police and not try to cover up the scandal. We Catholics also believe in forgiveness.
Is it not clear that what the media hates so much is not sin, but the Catholic Church?
Yours faithfully, MARTIN BLAKE Glastonbury