This page highlights some antics of some of the Catholic Priests (and others) who have gained notoriety in the British Isles over the past few decades. Notoriety for sexual child-abuse that is. I was flipping though the Teletext pages of the British TV channel ITV in August of 2000 and was surprised to find most of what follows. Click here to see the story that probably inspired ITV Teletext to broadcast (most of) the CV's below. I have posted the material in the hope that the few Christians, of any sect, who may pass by this page take a few seconds to think about what all this may mean. The 'gentlemen' listed below are/were ostensibly minor representatives of the Christian God on Earth, yet if the Christian God actually exists, why does he/it let this type of suffering occur? Indeed, how could he/it allow this type of suffering? Remember most of this list is only that which I found on a couple of pages of Teletext. I suspect that the numerical reality of recent Christian clergy sexual child-abuse is far more horrifying, after all, this type of crime is always carried out covertly.
Please read the following carefully:
Father Brendan Smyth, who sexually abused small boys and girls for more than twenty years, was jailed at Belfast Crown Court in 1994.
In 1993, father Antony McCallen, aged 47, formerly of Hull, was jailed for 42 months for indecently assaulting young boys and taking indecent photographs of them.
In 1998 Father Eric Taylor, aged 78, was jailed for seven years for abusing small boys at an orphanage in Coleshill, Warwickshire, between 1957 and 1965.
Father Thady O'Malley, of Wakefield, Yorkshire, was jailed for three years in 1999 after he admitted seducing a ten-year-old altar boy in a chapel.
In May 2000 Jesuit Father John Pearson, aged 88, was jailed for two years for systematically abusing children from three families.
Father James Murphy was jailed for 30 months early in 2000 for 11 cases of indecent assault on boys at the Church of English Martyrs in London.
Father Joseph Steele, from Belfast, whose abuse of children went undetected for 14 years, was jailed for two-and-a-half years in 1996.
Father Frederick Linale, aged 59, was jailed for ten years in 1996 for abusing two teenage boys. He kept a diary of his activities in Latin and Greek.
Father Eugene Greene, 71, was sentenced to 12 years in prison (April 2000), after pleading guilty to sexually abusing altar boys. He admitted to more than 40 charges of indecent assault, buggery and gross indecency in Donegal, Ireland. Most of the offences took place between 1965 and 1982. (From a Reuters news report April 2000.)
The following examples of the love of the Christian clergy were taken from a newsgroup posting. Least we forget the other Christian denominations:
Lancashire, England, 1988. Congregational Church Minister Garvock (sic) was convicted of raping a four-year-old girl.
Winchester, England, 1988. Two Anglican vicars, a choirmaster, a solicitor, and an already convicted molester were jailed on 21 charges of sexually abusing boys at church outings, the YMCA and in a churchyard.
Solihull, England, 1990. Pentecostal Minister D. Stenhouse was jailed on five charges of indecent assault on boys aged 12 to 15.
England, 1991. Baptist Minister Ashby Breneman was jailed for molesting six boys at his Christian Youth camp.
How can such terrible things happen when the Christian God is supposedly watching over and looking after us? Below I postulate some answers, from both the Atheist standpoint (Number 1) and the Christian standpoint (2 - 8). I am wondering that if any Christians do pass by this page, they can offer any explanation other than points 1 or 4 as to why their god allows so many children to be sexually abused by the Christian Clergy? (Obviously, choosing one or more of 2, 3, 5, 6 or 8 would mean that you were not a real Christian.) Sensible answers could well appear on this page.
Gods do not exist, and terrible things happen.
God does exist, and knew of each incident, but chose to do nothing. (God is not omni-benevolent.)
God does exist, but was unable to do anything. (God is not omnipotent.)
God works in mysterious ways. (The Christian cop-out.)
God was elsewhere. (God is not omnipresent.)
God did not know about it. (God is not omniscient.)
God likes to punish innocent children (and their families). (God is vengeful.)
The Devil likes to punish innocent children (and their families) and is stronger than God.
