Jon Snow talks to Colm O’Gorman, the Executive Director of Amnesty International in Ireland, who was a victim of sexual abuse perpetrated by a Catholic priest as a teenager.
The video link is provided–some 10 1/2 minutes. Watch it all.
Jon Snow talks to Colm O’Gorman, the Executive Director of Amnesty International in Ireland, who was a victim of sexual abuse perpetrated by a Catholic priest as a teenager.
The video link is provided–some 10 1/2 minutes. Watch it all.
Colm O’Gorman correctly identifies the greater problem, which is not the concupiscence of the priests, but the mendacity of the more senior levels of the Catholic hierarchy.
The problem, Brer Rabbit, is that top-down hierarchical churches should not be allowed to be unaccountable. “Traditional religion” in Ireland meant a culture of abuse and domination, not just sexual, but in many other ways too.
Two things I find particularly sad after watching this interview: the current Pope’s refusal to deal with this centuries-old issue head on, and the fact that Colm O’Gorman lives today within the prison of a long-term homosexual relationship.
veritas “the current Pope’s refusal to deal with this centuries-old issue head on, and the fact that Colm O’Gorman lives today within the prison of a long-term homosexual relationship”
Perhaps the Vatican’s refusal to deal sensibly with the issue of homosexuality is a pressing matter, but do not confuse it with child abuse. The problem is with traditional religion behaving as if it was above the law. The reaction in Ireland today appears to be one of saying “Never again should we let religious leaders act as if they are above the law.” It makes it hard for Irish RC bishops to hold forth on morality to the rest of society credibly, doesn’t it?