Not to discount the serious of these offenses, which took place from 1978 to the early 1990s, it's interesting to see the difference in the coverage of the story by The Guardian and The Irish Times. The Guardian makes it sound like all this happened just yesterday, while the Irish Times puts it more into its proper time frame.

The original offense was in 1978, and church officials apparently did not find the original complaint credible. After other complaints, the priest was sent to psychiatric treatment in 1985, and a psychiatrist said he was "cautiously optimistic" after treatment.

There were more complaints, and he was sent away for treatment in 1988. Then there was another molestation in 1989. He was removed from the ministry in 1990 and sent for further treatment. The process to dismiss Walsh from the clerical state began in January 1992, and he was dismissed from the priesthood in August, 1993. He appealed the dismissal to Rome, which upheld his appeal saying he should be reinstated provided he enter a monastery for a period of 10 years. No monastery would take him, so Pope John Paul II confirmed the dismissal in 1996. Mind you, he was removed from active ministry in 1990 - when Margaret Thatcher was still Prime Minister of Great Britain.

The Irish Times says, "In November 1995, Garda stations began collating all cases they had concerning Walsh. In 1996, Cardinal Ratzinger confirmed Pope John Paul II was dismissing Walsh from the priesthood. The DPP directed Walsh be tried in relation to six complainants and he was sentenced to six years in jail." It appears that other complaints have resulted in more criminal convictions in the last year.

So, this priest was removed from ministry in 1990, twenty years ago. His actions resulted in criminal convictions and time in jail. Now, I do not mean to make light of these offenses, but do you have any information about recent child molestation - say, in the last five or ten years?

Maybe we need more threads about Margaret Thatcher and about how horrible she was in 1990, eh?

-Joe Offer-