AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times
March 19, 2014
Bill O’Chee
The Hermit
Bill O’Chee is a consultant and former Nationals senator.
There is no doubt that the Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse has done much to confront the stain of child abuse.
The most disturbing revelation has been how frequently the evil of abuse occurred inside institutions whose purpose was entirely contrary. The Salvation Army was one such institution, and the Catholic Church another.
That doesn’t make these institutions bad, but we must understand how the abuse happened.
That means we need to look not just at the plight of the victims, but also at the institutions themselves. Without this there can be no way to mend those institutions, nor to properly protect others in the future.
Let’s take the Catholic Church as an example.
Among a celibate clergy, sexual conduct, much less sexual abuse, is a grave sin against God. Clergy who indulge in sex – consensual or otherwise – have profoundly violated their vows.
These people fall into clear categories. Depending on the circumstances, they have either become misguided, or are quite simply evil.
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