no, the Anglicans do it as well. Linked below is an audio feature relating the story of Phillip Gearing who as a young boy was abused approximately 300 hundred times by an Anglican priest. The church knew about it, convinced his father not to go to the police about it and promised to do something about it. Instead it swept it under the carpet allowing the offending priest Bob Sharwood to continue.
A Sense of Duty – download here
What really gets me though is that this man actually offended over 300 times(including raping his victim so viciously that he had to seek medical treatment for internal bleeding) and had at least two victims- time served?
Judge Fleur Kingham, sentencing Sharwood to two years and nine months jail, suspended it after 12 months, saying he had shown decades of exemplary behaviour and self-rehabilitation.
"It appears you are not now the same person as you were when you committed these offences," Judge Kingham said.
Note that the other known victim committed suicide.
Now contrast this with a story that I watched on a replay of The Force on regional television where an Indian man on holidays in Australia was sentenced to 6-7 years for attempting to solicit sexual favours from a female minor(who’ turned out to be a 40 year old male cop) over the internet. What’s the difference really?
Surely it’s not just the fact that Sharwood was white and wore a collar?
Related posts:
- Another church paedophile brought to justice. While we don’t seem to have the political will...
- Endemic abuse by Catholic Church in Ireland ABC online reporter Emma Alberici reports on a recently released...
- Tony Abbot, Child Abuse and the Catholic Church Tony Abbot MP, Liberal Frontbencher and committed catholic has...
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How people are not regularly completely outraged by stuff like this is beyond me. Just because someone is a priest they suddenly get more free passes than you can poke at with a truckload of sticks, while the victims have to suffer alone and unhelped. Soon as it's someone doing something one tenth as bad that isn't a priest, they get made an example of.
It's fucking horrific and pisses me off no end.
I have a book that I must get around to reading called God vs the Gavel, written by a catholic lawyer I believe who is fighting the church over abuse cases. Outlines all the free passes that the church gets.
It is tremendous how biassed people can be. It haunts me to know that a judge can show so little compassion to the victims who must have gone through hell. Yet these authority figures, priests and so on, sit back and claim they are all white and glossy, clean and going to heaven and if you don't do as they say you're fucked how anyone can let children near these people is way way way beyond me.
We live in fucked up times, yet we as a society is so desensitised that we don't even set the alarm bells ringing.
Religion is gross.
I wrote something about what was happening in brisbane a little while back and my concerns about religions near children:
http://wsogmm42.blogspot.com/2009/09/sensitive-ar...
So, what do you make of Roman Polanski and Hollywood's defence of him?
Not aware of the details other than he was arrested for child rape 30 years ago. I will read a bit more on the holywood reaction. My opinion is that there should be no mitigating circumstances, he should have the book thrown at him.
Back soon
Not aware of the details other than he was arrested for child rape 30 years ago. I will read a bit more on the holywood reaction. My opinion is that there should be no mitigating circumstances, he should have the book thrown at him.
Okay now that I have updated myself on the story. He's confessed, he should stand trial and for the life of me I can't see how the directors and luminaries who have signed the petition for his release can put their name to the petition and support him. It would be interesting to know their justification for his behavior.
Have you heard Whoopi Goldberg on the view talking about this? My opinion of her intelligence just dropped
In other news the Catholic Church is blaming pedophilia on homosexuals and claiming that other churches are worse. If other churches are worse, methinks the problem is much bigger than ever imagined.
http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2009/09/vatican-on-child-abuse-other-churches.html
W.T.F.? That's nearly as outrageous as the priest's behavior.
It's almost as good as the Roman Polanski defence – oh well hes done so much wonderful artistic work its okay that he raped a comatose 13 year old.