""I'll happily tone down my inflamatory language when I see those who allowed the abuse to go on for so long and to the extent it did, are made to pay for their crimes, or at the very least, to apologise to THEIR victims - they still walk among us.""

That is exactly what I want to see Jim, and sooner rather than later, "pour encourager les autres".

But we should not forget that all of this was the fault of a comparatively small group of men within the Catholic Church.

By all means let's hunt those men down and bring them to justice, but tarring the whole church with the same brush is a step too far.

I come from a long line of Irish ancestors, and I know how the Irish clergy have behaved toward their flocks.

I well remember the parish priest in Ballyclagh back in the sixties, going through the village and dragging grown men by the ear into church on a Sunday morning.

I also remember the occasion when, one hour after our arrival from England one summer, the same priest was at the door threatening hell and damnation failing a donation to his church.

My father committed the only violent act I ever saw from him, and kicked his arse two hundred yards down the road, with a promise of a repeat performance if he bothered my grandmother again.

But I repeat, these are individuals, and it is the individuals we should concentrate on.

Don T.