Tallyman

It can only be described as an outrageous statement and a terrible inditement of the evil that dwells in the mind of priest Patrick Hughes (82). I write of course of his attempt to distance his raping of young Altar Boys from the same activity with those sitting in the isles. In a statement to the court Hughes said he was not a paedophile. He ‘was only attracted to altar boys’.

The very fact that his statement is of court record and was broadcast turns my stomach, but it shows just how warped these members of the priesthood actually are.

His attempts to avoid a custodial sentence by showing how ‘reformed’ he was due to the treatments he received in the US do little to take away the pain of his victim.

Judge Katherine Delahunt presiding said it took a long time to come before the court because it was delayed by ‘persons who were shielding you’. We are not talking decades ago by the way, we are talking less than a decade.

His attempts to liken himself to Christ ‘wandering the desert’ in search of answers was equally pathetic. This just angers me so much.

Victims of child abuse never really get a respite. When these cases come  into the public eye they relive the suffering, the fear, every smell, every sensation even if they weren’t the victim of the specific predator.

The Roman Catholic Church should be stripped of all but the most tokenistic of involvement in public policy and education. The reform in the hierarchy of the Church is too slow, not wide ranging enough and we should seek extradition of every Cardinal, Bishop and Priest in the Vatican who covered up this crime. Ireland should finally shed its ties with the Vatican and stand up to the oppression of Papacy.