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Sunday 4 January 2009

How not to cooperate with the law

One wonders why bishops in the Republic of Ireland are not keen to give up the secrets of the pervy priests in their midst. Odd that they shouldn't wish to see justice done.

According to Ireland’s online Sunday Business Post, “Catholic bishops have refused to give the state details of specific cases of alleged clerical abuse that were requested as part of a major child protection audit.”

This means’ that a “key section of the first-ever audit into the Church’s handling of abuse claims” will have to be dropped. Result? “The Sunday Business Post understands the watered-down audit effectively gives a clean bill of health to all Catholic dioceses regarding their compliance with guidelines on reporting suspected abuse.”

These devious Catholics have got out of giving up their guilty on legal advice. They said they’d cooperate only if “the state would assume liability in the event of lawsuits by alleged offenders who may have been named in the audit”.

So it seems the Catholic bishops are more afraid of fending off lawsuits than doing justice for those abused; daren’t see justice done in case it costs them money, and bugger the victims (pun intended). They should, of course, have dealt with them as soon as they knew who they were, and handed them over to the secular authorities.

The story ends: “It is understood that lawyers for the state and relevant dioceses are continuing to negotiate terms under which bishops would be able to supply specific details on cases of alleged abuse.”

Negotiate? If they refuse, aren’t they simply obstructing the course of justice? And isn’t that a crime?

One wonders if your Joe and Jane Public would get away with such an obstruction.

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