Justin Smith: 2017 was an annus horribilus for the church

It was expected and damning, but they still tried to push back against one of the recommendations — that the secrecy of the Catholic confessional should be broken in matters of child sex abuse. Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher looked like an idiot when he responded to the media. Archbishop Fisher began by saying the confessional was “entirely confidential”, but then smiled at the cameras and said the recommendation wouldn’t work because abusers’ confessions would be “extremely rare, if ever”.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/justin-smith-2017-was-an-annus-horribilus-for-the-church/news-story/971ed327261e9ab2245a201cd725e919