I think the posts miss the safeguarding issue here. Of course legally people are innocent until proven guilty, but the church and head teacher of the school knew of the circumstances of the police investigations into Fr Charles and have done nothing to open up discussion with young people or their parents to ensure the possible abuse issues are brought out. Indeed we have met a wall of silence for most of the time following his suspension from ministry and have been patronised with sermons about patience and silence. The facts are this man hid a guilty secret and for all we know the indecent material on his computer was the tip of the iceberg. He went on holiday to Thailand, a place known for child prostituion. Was anybody else inovovled in this? Are the people telling us to keep quiet hiding secrets? No victims are likely to come forward if we don't allow a safe space for them to talk openly. If parents in the congregation loved the man and wish to think well of him, fine for themselves, but lauding the man in front of their children would send the wrong message to their children if they were victims. It would be saying, please don't tell me anything bad happened. And so the victim, abused and vulnerable is silenced yet again. Believe me, it is very difficult for young people to open up about sexual abuse and we need support systems in place. This is why sexual abuse victims often don't come forward until later on in adulthood. Meanwhile we could have victims suffering in slience.
