Why I will not leave the Church
SIR – I was received into the Church, as a convert, in 1980, was ordained deacon in Southwark archdiocese in 1989 and am now retired in Essex. Recent revelations and events have left me dismayed and wondering where the Church that I love is heading. Should I leave?
In August 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury named more than 300 clergy in a report which found that more than 1,000 children had been abused. Extrapolating that across the whole of the United States would mean that maybe some 15,000 clergy might have been guilty of such abuse. Of course I know that such extrapolations are bound to be inaccurate but, in the absence of more grand jury investigations, they’re the best guide we have. Across the world we’re probably talking of tens, even hundreds, of thousands of such clergy.
