Adrian Child, the director of Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service (CSAS), told The Tablet that communities were better protected when the Church was able to supervise known abusers and manage their behaviour after the completion of their sentence. “If there is a body of people around an offender who monitor their day-to-day activities and help manage them adopt a ‘good life’ model, this is more effective than brandishing them on the wider community, which evidence suggests could lead to more offending.”
Mr Child said that laicisation could take place if the priest was uncooperative with his rehabilitation programme.
However, campaigners called the proposal an “insult” to abused children and their families.
Peter Tatchell, a human rights campaigner, described the idea as “shocking” and said it sent a message that the Church was going “soft” on child sex abusers.
“It’s an affront to the victims to have an abuser continue his clerical duties,” he said.
CSAS is the national agency responsible for safeguarding good practice within the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
The Catholic Church is engulfed by a child sex scandal and under pressure to bring accused priests to justice.
Last month Pope Benedict XVI apologised to victims of decades of abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland and criticised the Irish church for its handling of the cases.
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