Forgotten victims of miscarriages of justice.

Which reminds me - might the Pope have a few words for the poor damaged priests who are the victims of false allegations?
Unless of course you don't believe there are any, think Sally Clark was guilty and consider the moon composed of blue cheese.

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/21/p...obation.mentalhealth

yes..and for all the priests that have done bad things there are thousands of nuns and priests who selflessly devote their lives to helping others-they live in squalor and slums and have no possessions and you never hear of them.

But as for those who were abused and met the Pope in the USA..I really have to say..for Christ sake..get over it !!..Billy Connolly did and says "stop being a bloody victim you idiots".

How very sensitive of you Veritas.

And Connolly can just fuck off!

Of those genuine cases, I guess it was the stupid kids' fault for allowing the priest to abuse them...?

And another thing Veritas. In the context of the thread below, and in terms of the importance some people place on their religion, do you have ANY fucking idea of the impact on some of these kids to have a figure such as their family priest abuse that privilege for their own sickening ends...

Honestly, you fucking prat!

Sorry for the language, but your last comment shows you up for the brainless idiot you obviously are.

And Connolly can still fuck off as well...

Betrayal of trust can be very damaging, but what's done cannot be undone. I was never sexually abused, but I was physically abused by one of my teachers when I was 10, and I know I could have him arrested even at this late stage and claim quite a lot of compensation, but I don't intend to. Nor do I seek an apology.

Looking back, I should have said something at the time, and he should have been sacked. I also remember some of the better times we had with him. All my past experiences, good and bad, are part of who I am. If I let bitterness or hatred take over, I'd be less able to enjoy life. It would do me no good at all. I put it behind me and I move on.

It's the best way.

With respect Cat, getting the occasional trainer across the arse from your PE teacher (that's what happened to me more than once), is a world away from being buggered by the family priest.

You simply cannot compare the two.

The slipper was perfectly acceptable punishment in those days. I don't think anyone would call that abuse. I was referring to something rather more serious.

you are entitled to your opinion but I do have experience as I was dabbled with by an uncle when I was very young..I just haven't made it a life long thing to batter myself with-blame every failure in my life on and use it to excuse for all the things that go wrong.

I also have never sought or claimed financial compensation for it ( although it would be difficult to-not sure if the government pays out to private victims-wouldn't be interested anyway).

Perhaps I've a stronger constitution but a lot of bad things have happened to me and I recover easily-I've been nearly beaten to death-knifed in Brazil-mugged about 5 times in the USA but I recover mentally fairly quickly if not physically.

But that's because I view many Victim "Support" Groups with great suspicion especially as I know one high profile media outspokmen for one who soaks up a lot of the money from the group in expenses and seems to prolong the victim "mentality" in those who seek help.

I also note that the Catholic Church offered millions of dollars to pay for therapy as long as needed to those who were abused-the vast majority worldwide didn't bother to take up this offer preferring monetary compensation-perhaps they sought their therapy from abuse in the purchase of a new car to ease their troubles.

As a friend of mine did only 3 years ago at the age of 45 after exhausting all his savings on a variety of failed schemes he finally "remembered" his abuse at the hands of a priest who had just been charged from a school he had attended.

His first enquiry was to the Catholic Church who treated him most kindly- about how to go about claiming compensation-and then he went to the police.

It's the easiest accusation to make-rape-and the most difficult to disprove-and if you think every case is genuine you are living in a dreamland.

So you have 2 choices in this life-you can remain a victim all your life of everything that has gone before you-or you can rise above it and become a survivor and move forward.

Well actually I would say there is quite a lot of difference.

As I replied to you-I was fiddled with by an uncle..now for some reason that hasn't left any great lasting bitterness in my mind and I don't even hold any hate for him ( he's been dead for 20 years) in fact I was fond of him up till the day he died.

I never really thought about it until this subject became prominent in the media.

By contrast I went to a school in a time when corporal punishment was dished out on a daily basis and I wish it was a slap with a slipper..it was anything but. I reckon our English master was a certifiable psycopath. He would cane you on the slightest breach of the rules-six of the best but this guy was just a brute.

He would go to the very back of the room and get good 15 feet run up to whack you over the hand with a solid half inch thick cane..always six and from as high as he could raise it. There wasn't one kid not in tears after and the pain was the most intense that seemed to build up for an hour after.

This was just sheer physical assault on children and child abuse-the man should have been locked away for crminal assault but it was state sanctioned.

I still have a slightly dis-figured finger from one beating. As it was a boarding school I never told my parents until after I left-my mother was horrified as she never thought such a thing happened and said she would have pulled me out if she had known.

Perhaps a shrink could work out the effects it's had on me but fortunately-I'm not a pedofile (becaue of my uncle) and I don't visit ladies called Madame Lash for strict lessons !

I'm sure Pete is as aware as we all are that nobody would discount individuals and just as there are some kids for whom physical violence is the ultimate terror so there are gay boys with crushes on quite probably straight priests.

That is the point here. The danger of going the tabloid route and generalising in headline mode, making monsters where they don't exist, exaggerating stories in order to get better circulation...

That is the terrible tragedy of what is going on. In the overwhelming effort to increase profit, there's a tendency to paint extremes as normal.

Nobody wants to lessen the sympathy for the genuinely abused but sensible people also know that the tragedy of false accusations and exaggerations, an exploding area of crime, can be equally disatrous for people and their loved ones.

And denying one because of the other is not only stupid but wicked.