Saddest story of the day

Choirmaster abuses boys - boys complain - choirmaster sacked but not reported to police as long as he promises not to do it again - choirmaster sneakily does it again without letting church know. [Details]

One of the sad things being, the church in question says it was following best practice at the time - 1990 - and, you know what, it probably was. In fact it probably did more to stop the abuse than many other organisations would have done at the time. Child abuse existed, obviously, always has I suspect, out in the big bad world somewhere, but it just wasn't on the radar as something likely to be perpetrated by one of your own. I speak as someone who was a volunteer youth leader then (at St Christopher's, Cove, not too far from St Peter's in Farnborough) and still am now. Compared to now, then was a shower.

Seventeen years later, in my present church, we have a full time youth pastor, we have child protection officers, we have diocesan guidelines and everyone remotely connected with youthwork is CRB registered. A fact of which I am most proud (and which has come in handy as a children's author in getting speaking gigs, but that's a spin-off benefit). Leaving out the fact that even if I wanted to get intimate with a minor in my care then I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to go about it, I wouldn't have it any other way. Yet when I started we had a part-time and pretty ineffectual youth worker (nice guy but with issues), and to get a job in youthwork you had a nice chat with the vicar and that was that.

But for far too long the church - any church - has been seen as a perfect storm of confluences: ready access to children, a mindset that says we're all sinners and your sin is no greater than mine, a willingness to forgive - in fact, a pride in forgiving - and cluelessness about the realities of the situation. I'll bet you good money that under those conditions a lot of people came into the church for the wrong reasons, and they're still there.

Well, you can't condemn anyone for the contents of their mind, just their actions. Maybe they did come in; there's nothing that can be done about that, except pay attention to the guidelines, which - if followed - are pretty good at limiting the opportunities for abuse. Never letting kids be alone with an adult is a good start. The few times I've had to be alone with a minor, for whatever reason, I make sure there's a good physical distance between us, and they're closer to the door than me. Or we meet at their home, with other members of their family within easy reach and earshot.

My conscience is clear - I can safely no child is in sexual danger from me. (I may want to throttle some from time to time but that's another matter.) I know that, you don't. For your peace of mind it's important that I limit my actions in this way. And by default, the actions of any actual potential abusers will be limited in the same way.

But if they do find a way through ...

It's not the church's place to forgive child abusers. Any forgiveness is purely between the children and the abuser. The church's job is to protect the vulnerable, and that means that if you catch the abusers, you throw them to the dogs.