Whoso Shall Offend One of These Little Ones, Let Him be Absolved and Allowed to Do it Again

Australia at the moment has some serious issues to consider. As if it were not enough that the country's legislature and executive appear to comprise largely of ghastly foreigners, a man with an invisible friend has proclaimed that he would rather go to prison than help protect children from sexual abuse, should such help involve violating the pact of silence between the invisible friend and the abuser. As humble, modest intermediaries between penitents and the Infinite, Roman Catholic priests naturally consider themselves above the law; and if the law should be changed to reflect trendy modernist ideas about preventing rape and other abuses, then the law will be wrong. The sanctity of the confessional matters more than protecting children, let alone mere women; certainly it matters more than helping abusers to stop harming others, unless a few mumbles to the invisible one and a priestly admonition to turn oneself in can be said to constitute an effective rehabilitation programme. If priests would rather go to prison, then we must hope for charity's sake that Australia will give them their wish, and let them take their invisible friend along to protect them at shower-time.

Me at Poetry24:
The Judge to His Mistress