Child abusers are criminals - but they need support too

he first has to admit... that he raped these children... he needs help to see that he did wrong... and what he did... was the gravest sin... in the eyes of god... and man... he does not need women cashing after him... because that is the reason... the priest and nuns... have got away with their crimes... they used their power... over the children... and also over their families...  he must be laughing at these women... thinking that he has won yet again...  he needs to be on his own for a while... so he feels the children's loneliness... and shame of what he did to them... only then will he see that what he did... was wrong... and even then they say... they did not do anything wrong... that they are innocent of their crimes...  Ann

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A few years ago, in the porch of a Catholic church in a rather posh part of London, I encountered a group of middle-class women clustered around a man in late middle age. I knew one of the women and we said hello. The group then moved away, protectively accompanying this older man.

Later, I learned that he had been a priest at a well-known Catholic boys' school, and he had been dismissed for having improper relations with boys. The women with him were providing friendship and support while awaiting legal developments. They had respected this priest as a teacher and wanted to help.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/mary-kenny/child-abusers-are-criminals-but-they-need-support-too-31601478.html