In 1962, with a lot of fanfare and with high expectations, Catholic bishops from all over the world were summoned to the Vatican – in view of the whole world on black and white television – to the opening of the Vatican II council which sought to renew and modernise the Roman Catholic Church.

Exactly 50 years later, in 2012, Catholic bishops from 100 countries were summoned – this time, with no fanfare – to debate, behind closed doors, how to prevent Catholic priests from abusing boys and girls. To those of us who were adults in 1962, such a large gathering of bishops at a summit to prevent sexual abuse by priests would have been shocking, scandalous, and simply inconceivable – which goes to show how far the Catholic Church has degenerated since 1962.

I’m not referring to the decline in church attendance or to the scarcity of vocations to the Catholic priesthood or to the ignoring of Catholic doctrine and morality by Catholics themselves. By degeneration of the Church, I mean the shameful sexual abuse of boys and girls by Catholic priests and the scandalous cover-ups by bishops, as in Ireland and in the United States. Surely, no other institution can be more corrupt and degenerate than that!

Behind the Church’s facade of dubious “miracles” and self-flattering “canonisations”, we have the testimony of men and women who had been sexually abused by priests – such as the nauseating comment by a female victim who still gets panic attacks from the smell of “whisky, incense, and stale sweat”.

John Guillaumier

St Julian’s