No, but NRL players don't tend to go on summer camps in leadership roles over kids. For all of its faults, the NRL does not really provide a useful cover for this sort of stuff. Church / social/ school groups do (not because any of these are inherently bad....but they can provide an environment where bad shit happens and goes undetected for some time). It turned out that my CofE Boys Society leader was molesting one of the other (11-12 yr old) kids in my group for about a year before anyone twigged as to what was going on.
I assume by C of E you mean Church of England, or Anglicans, but Gronk never mentions them. It's just a constant attack on the Catholics.
I grew up in the Catholic system. I will NEVER, EVER defend the atrocities that have occurred within the Church. It is sickening and disgusting, and completely unforgivable. Deserving of every sentence ever given to the convicted. I hope they rot in hell.
The school I went to has not been proven perfect over the years. A Marist Brothers school where 2 Brothers and one Lay Teacher have since been convicted of crimes against children.
The first brother (let's call him X) had a close association with our family. As is normal within the Catholic system, everyone helps each other. My mum volunteered to wash all his garments, as many families did. It was something that she thought would help the community. I had a very close relationship with this Brother, yet, he never tried it on me. Maybe he chose his targets. He was a great teacher, very popular with all the kids and had a great sense of humour. Little did we all know. As it turns out, his crimes were committed elsewhere.
The 2nd Brother (Y) that was convicted gave a mate and myself a job at the school for some pocket money. It was cleaning the school yards and toilets, after school, twice a week. We thought it was great at the time as it was a bit of pocket money that we could spend at the local shops on scollops or chips, which we did often. In hindsight, this Brother had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of us, yet never did. He had us alone in his office on a weekly basis to pay us, after school hours. I was in Yr 6. Nothing ever happened. Again, maybe he chose his victims on other occasions.
The Lay teacher was our RL coach in the Under 14's. It was funny because he used to load us all into the back of his ute that he owned and drive us the the games. He was the biggest dorky teacher ever. Once again, No approach was ever made to me or any of the team that I know of.
On the other hand, there were brothers that were just complete straighty 180's, and other's that were strict disciplinarians, and then other's that would sneak behind the sheds and share a ciggy with us. Strange days indeed.
In the meantime, my kids have been bought up in the Catholic system. No issues.
I sincerely dislike the tone of Gronks posts, continually tarring the whole church and congregation with the same brush, and then trying to brush his opinions off with an off the cuff one line disclaimer that he's doing nothing of the sort. What rubbish.
In my time, I've never seen or been involved with anyone in the Catholic community who wanted to do anything but improve and assist the lives of others.
