This book, written by a lawyer who represented victims of sexual abuse, discusses the English Catholic church and its reaction to the sex abuse crisis. Overall it gives an insightful and reasonably balanced view. The author examines two positions on how the crisis came about, the conservative position (which blames liberal attitudes to sex in the 60s and Vatican II) and the liberal (which blames clericalism, authoritarianism and celibacy), and sides firmly with the liberals.
Scorer highlights the Nolan report's insistence on the paramountcy principle (that the child's interests should take precedent over those of the accused) which led to priests being put on garden leave if accusations were made against them, and the backlash against the paramountcy principle by many clergy and Catholic laity. He suggests, I think unfairly, that priests felt themselves to be a special case on the basis that they are ontologically changed as a result of ordination. My thoughts are that priests simply wanted to be considered innocent until proven guilty.
The author believes the church still has a long way to go in supporting the victims of abuse. The church has done all it can to defend itself through the courts, to minimise payouts and to silence victims. Scorer concedes that it might be the church's insurers that have encouraged clergy to do this.
Many reports have argued that the sex abuse crisis in the church was more one of pederasty than pedophilia i.e. it involved boys in the 14 plus age group. Scorer points out that this is no less damaging to the child than incidents involving younger children, and involves the same grooming and abuse of power.
The book suggests that the abuse of vulnerable adults, not just those with physical or mental disabilities but also people in crisis who come to the priest for help (particularly women), will be the next major scandal.
Scorer points out the high rates of recidivism amongst pedophiles and the church's failure to take this seriously. There is no doubt that the church in many cases covered up, moved around or protected priests at the expense of victims. Many of the abusers were young, charismatic, sporty priests who families welcomed into their homes, and who people least expected. Others 'hid in full site', like monk David Pearce at St Benedict's School, Ealing who was known amongst the boys as 'Gay Dave'.
