It's come out that two East Sussex vicars were assigned parishes after superiors learned they'd been abusing children. One, who died in '06, was convicted of abusing a boy; another was jailed for abusing two in the 70s and 80s.
It's come out that two East Sussex vicars were assigned parishes after superiors learned they'd been abusing children. One, who died in '06, was convicted of abusing a boy; another was jailed for abusing two in the 70s and 80s.
DISCUSSION
My question, not focusing, for a moment, on the anguish this causes children and their families, which I cannot begin to comprehend here and now (or ever, hopefully): how does it behoove the church, any church, to cover up the abuse by sending the priests to other parishes? Is admitting that someone horrible crept into the parish that much of a PR failure? Isn't the inevitable revelation of the cover up a million times worse?
Or even if they wanted to cover it up, couldn't the church move them to some sort of non-ministering position where they would work with adult populations? Social work, administrative, etc?