Catholic Church faces fresh child sex abuse threat, warns ex-top cleric

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun

THE former head of one of the Catholic Church’s most abusive religious orders has warned of the potential for an escalation in child sexual abuse.

Fr Francis Moloney told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today that the church was moving backwards in a potentially dangerous move.

He said a wave of conservatism moving through seminaries around the country threatened the good work being done by some in the church.

“We’ve got to face these truths,” he said.

“We have a major problem in the Australian Church.

“To say that the seminarians are all fine, the seminarians have been renewed, they’ve been exposed to this wider society, that is simply not true.

“The seminaries are closing their doors, they’re putting garments on the boys, they’re having long Latin liturgies, they like to walk around the streets in their (robes).

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