(Newser)
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More bad news for Catholics: A former child-abuse adviser for the Catholic Church in Scotland says its priests have been "out of control sexually" for decades, the Telegraph reports. Alan Draper, an ethics lecturer at Dundee University, says Church leaders were "unwilling" to reveal priests who led "double lives" as far back as the 1980s. "They were very reluctant to do that, and I felt that was totally inappropriate," he said. "The file should be made open to an independent group, preferably chaired by a judge."
But the Church in Scotland said only a "small" number of cases are logged each year and always get reported to the police. And Draper was removed "when others with greater competence were engaged," the Church added. The conflict comes only days after former Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Scotland's most powerful Catholic, resigned and admitted to sexual improprieties with male priests. More allegations have since arisen, and the BBC aired two-week-old footage of O'Brien laughing when asked about child-protection guidelines: "The whole world has changed almost in that length of time and certainly our attitude to child sexual abuse has changed," he said.
