FAREWELL OUR FRIEND

Weekend Courier 20 August 2011 Eva Kuamin

The  Catholic Diocese of Lae recently lost a dedicated, loyal, fun and loving member of the community this year.

The late Fr. Geoffrey Lee contributed immensely to the church and the community in Lae as a devout and dedicated pastor who was also a father-figure to a lot of street kids.

His death came as a big loss to most of these young men who found hope and were given  an opportunity to education by Father Geoff who fed, paid for their tuition fees and cared for them like his own children

COMMENT: When I read this article my blood froze. Having read so much about paedophile priests across the world and the abuse of street kids, my first thought was on whether or not this applied to Fr Geoff.

He had all the attributes that we read are associated with paedophiles – interest in street kids, kind, caring and loving.

But the thought also struck me that paedophiles in the community have spoiled the reputations of all good men. Any man who is involved with children immediately raises the thought that he is sexually abusing them.

Years ago as a young man, I was a teacher in a small bush town in Queensland. I had been involved in the Boy Scouts as a 13 year old boy.

The scout troop in the town had been closed for 2 years and someone asked me if I would be the scoutmaster. I accepted but found there was a whispering campaign around the town as to whether or not I was paedophile.

 IF THE SCOUTMASTER IS PAEDOPHILE - FAMILY POSITIVE LIVING - AIDS ...

5 Aug 2011 ... A paedophile scoutmaster would rearrange activities differently. There would be
plenty of naked swimming. Boys would wash at night in a ...

familypositiveliving.blogspot.com/.../if-my-sons-scoutmaster-were-paedophile.html - Cached - Similar

This made me angry as I certainly was not. But some time later, a friend in the town told me not to take the matter personally. The troop was closed two years before when the parents found that the previous scoutmaster had been found molesting boys.

This man had spoiled the reputation of scoutmasters in the eyes of the townspeople just as paedophile priests have spoiled the spiritual credibility for all good men in the Catholic priesthood.

Catholic church hotline in meltdown over paedophile priests ...

2 Apr 2010 ... An abuse hotline set up by the Catholic Church in Germany

melted down on its first day of operation as more than 4000 alleged victims of ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/.../Catholic-church-hotline-in-meltdown-over-paedophile-priests.html
paedophile-priests.html - Similar

Catholic sex abuse cases - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sexual abuse of minors in the priesthood has received significant media
attention in Canada, Ireland, ..... Main article: Belgian pedophile priests
scandal ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases -

Cached - Similar

The Catholic Church will never ever be the same. Who wants to receive the sacraments from any priest who sexually abuses children?  Is this priest paedophile? What about that priest?

Rest in peace Father Geoffrey Lee.