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On Tuesday 26 May the Care Leavers' Association wrote to the South Wales Press in response to Father John Owen's statement on BBC1's The Big Questions, that the majority of abuse is perpetrated by gay men. Father John Owen is the communications office for the archdiocese of Cardiff and a catholic chaplain at Cardiff University.
You can read our full letter below:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Father John Owen, the communications officer for the archdiocese of Cardiff and a Catholic chaplain at Cardiff University , has claimed that ‘the majority of paedophilia was being perpetrated by gay men.’
Yet abuse takes place in a myriad of forms and there is a wealth of literature and research that proves an abusers choice of victim has no direct link to their gender or sexuality.
With so much debate currently happening in the church about sexuality it is not surprising that the reason we cannot move forward is because of ridiculous beliefs such as Father Owen’s. What is factually wrong and offensive is the perception that people who love someone of the same sex are in someway deviant and this deviance will lead to abuse. Abuse of any kind is wrong and until we have a serious debate within faith communities on understanding sexuality there will always be myths and presumptions made and they will invariably be seriously misguided.
The Care Leavers’ Association, a national charity that campaigns for the ongoing needs of adults who were in care as children, knows of no research evidence that indicates that gay men are responsible for more sexual abuse than straight men.
Is it possible that the archbishops aide is trying to divert attention away from the responsibility that the church holds for decades of abuse that have happened in its institutions?'
Yours
Zachari Duncalf ,
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) representative at the Care Leavers’ Association
Andrew Gilliver
Lesbian and Gay Foundation
The Lesbian & Gay Foundation
Princess House,
105-107 Princess Street,
Manchester M1 6DD
Tel: 0161 235 8035 |
