Catholic Church in UK faces Child Sexual Abuse Investigation

Westminster Cathedral, London

The Roman Catholic Church is already facing a sex abuse investigation in Australia.  Now, the Church is facing  a similar investigation in the United Kingdom.  One an only hope that the development goes world wide, including in the United States because frankly, short of a national government investigation, the Church hierarchy will never taker responsibility for the thousands and thousands of sex crimes against children and youth much less purge its ranks of those who have aided and abetted child rapists.  Yes, it is a sad conclusion but the only one possible given the Church's worldwide failure to date to hold bishops, cardinals, and yes, Popes accountable for their roles in protecting predator priests and all too often the silencing of victims of sexual abuse.  An article in The Mirror  looks at developments in the UK.  Here are highlights:

Cops are probing an alleged widespread child abuse cover-up in the Catholic Church in the UK, the Sunday People reports .

A bishop is believed to be under investigation by officers from Operation Fernbridge – set up by the Metropolitan Police to look into historical cases of paedophilia.

The detectives are examining claims that the prelate protected priests who were sexually abusing youngsters, investigative website Exaro and the Sunday People can reveal today.
Officers are also thought to be probing other areas of the Catholic church that may have been involved in a large-scale cover-up of paedophilia.

The dramatic new move comes after the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal triggered massive Met investigations into allegations of offences by celebrities and politicians.
The Vatican has been rocked by major inquiries into claims of abuse in Ireland, the US, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland.

But this is the first time the Catholic church in the UK, which has its HQ at Westminster Cathedral, has faced such a probe – although there have been isolated cases at individual churches or schools.

The scandal sparked Scotland Yard’s Operation Yewtree, which is investigating the late BBC presenter and DJ and other showbiz figures.  Operation Fernbridge is also looking into allegations boys in care in Richmond, south-west London, were sexually abused between 1977 and 1983 – initially at Grafton Close children’s home and then at Elm Guest House in nearby Barnes.
The first charges from this operation are expected within weeks.

An inquiry into 60 Catholic residential schools in Ireland found children were treated as prisoners and often raped and beaten. In the US there have been hundreds of prosecutions of priests and others.

Here in the USA a similar investigation of the Church and clerics like Cardinal Timothy Dolan among others needs to be launched.  I suspect that if the public and members of the Catholic laity were forced to face the truth about the Roman Catholic Church, membership numbers would be decimated.  Evil and moral bankruptcy in the Church desperately needs to be exposed.