The Catholic Church has faced criticism in the past

Kenyon Confronts was broadcast on Wednesday, 15 October, 2003 at 1930 BST on BBC One.

In an exclusive survey carried out for Kenyon Confronts, 58% of serving Catholic priests who replied to the poll say they do not believe the Church has behaved well in handling cases of abuse.

Two thirds (63%) of those who responded say they know another Catholic priest, personally, who has been implicated in an allegation of child sex abuse.

But almost all those (95%) who replied say that the Church's attitude towards child abuse has changed for the better over the past 10 years.

ICM Research, the company that conducted the poll, sent the anonymous self-completion questionnaire to a random selection of 2,704 Catholic priests in England and Wales.

486 priests, or 18%, responded to the survey.

Confronting the abusers

The poll was carried out as part of the programme's investigation into allegations of past abuse in the Catholic Church.

Paul Kenyon also reports from the Archdiocese of Birmingham where there has been a spate of cases of priests abusing children.

Kenyon discovers one former Birmingham priest, who is wanted by the police, living in America.

He confronts him with one of his victims, now a grown man.

Executive Producer: Paul Woolwich
Producers: Philip Wright and David Baxter

If you have been affected by any of the issues in tonight's programme and would like to talk to an experienced advisor about sources of further information and support, you can call the BBC Action Line on 08000 839 839. Textphone: 08000 15 33 50.