God and Mammon
The High Court struck a blow for decency and common sense yesterday - with a ruling that the Roman Catholic Church - can be held liable for the wrongdoings of its priests.
The test case involved a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted as a child - by a priest of the Portsmouth Diocese.
Incredibly, the church argued - no doubt through fancy and extremely well paid lawyers - that they should not be held to account - because the priest was self-employed.
Have you ever heard anything - so ridiculous and disgraceful in your life!
The church authtorities should be ashamed of themselves for hiding behind such bogus defence.
A priest may be technically self-employed - for tax purposes - which raises a whole lot of other issues in these harsh economic times.
But their is no doubt that the priest is acting as an agent for the church - he operates in their premises (aka House of God) - lives in their church-owned homes - uses their marketing materials - and wears their uniform and vestments.
So how can the church not be responsible for what the priest days and does?
If he started preaching that women priests are the bees' knees, or that contraception is wonderful - and that women should have the right to choose when it comes to abortion - how long do you think a priest would last?
To my mind the High Court deserves a medal - because any other outcome would have been a travesty of justice - as well as morally deplorable.
Which brings me back to this self-employed business - the only reason for going down such a route is to hold down costs and to avoid paying things like the employer's National Insurance contributions - and statutory sick pay for example.
Maternity leave is another example - but irrelevant in this case - for reasons I don't have to explain.
But why is the church embarked on this kind of tax avoidance?
Because that's what it is - the priest doesn't benefit only the church does - because it pays out less in overheads and running costs.
If the church is just keen to get more bang for its buck - then fair enough - but it should also avoid throwing stones - while living in a glass house.
