The following comments reflect the balance of views we have received:

The scheduling of last night's Kenyon Confronts could have been more sensitively handled (ie not the day before the Holy Father's 25th anniversary). However, the programme admirably illustrated the issue. As a practising Catholic, I feel that it is time that both clergy and parishioners acknowledged that sexual abuse does happen within the Church. Perhaps we can then start helping the victims and protecting children and the vulnerable within our communities.
S Lambert

A very superficial, tabloid approach to a problem that has affected every profession in the last twenty years. The Catholic Church has been most unfairly represented as the only organisation which has had to struggle with a dawning understanding that child sexual abuse is deeply insidious and addictive. The cause of truth and understanding has not been served well by this programme, which gave no real credit to the Nolan reforms, distorted the information given with real honesty by the priests answering the survey and skipped forwards and backwards over a twenty plus year period to give a very inaccurate picture. Not a programme that the BBC should be proud of.
B Kinrade

Well said, Alan. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke. It's time for the laity within the Church to stand up and voice their dissatisfaction with middle management, so to speak. It's far too simple to dismiss dissenting voices both within and without the Church as "Catholic bashing" by "anti-Catholic zealots". The messenger has been repeatedly shot over the years. It's time to start listening...
Pete C

Your programme on paedophilia in the Catholic Church, apart from being highly partial, really got to the level of the Daily Star in its presentation. Emotive confrontations before an audience of (no doubt you expect) millions, do nothing to present a balanced picture of the issue. This degree of dumbing down of the BBC saddens me.
Maurice Buckley, Newcastle, Co. Down

High standards are expected from those that teach the truth, and the Catholic Church puts itself up as defender of the truth. Paul Kenyon bravely confronts the Church on its response to allegations. If the Church speaks for truth then it should reach out honestly to others with love and care, confound the critics and tell the truth. This way any victims can hold their heads high and the Church can also be proud.
John Fitzpatrick, Worcester

All groups should be accountable, including the Catholic Church.
Corey MacDonald

Of course the problem is across society but that is not the issue. The issue is whether Church leaders who KNEW about the abuse did nothing to stop it.
Anon

By not having the clergy prosecuted or removed from their posts the Catholic Church is effectively condoning child abuse. When is the Vatican going to start being proactive and actively look for abusive priests in other countries, as we have to assume this is a world-wide problem.
Dom

As a young alter server in the Catholic Church, I found that your programme was in danger of making viewers think that all Catholic priests are like those featured in the programme Jack Devine

I'm a great fan of the BBC. I'm also a Catholic. I do not and never could condone abuse in any way, especially child abuse, but I feel tonight's "Kenyon Confronts" programme might have been weighted and was not impartial or objective. In the programme, Kenyon says that the BBC invited Archbishop Vincent Nicholls to appear on the programme but he, the Archbishop, placed conditions on his appearing that were unacceptable to the BBC. Do you not consider that you should have said what those conditions were? Did you not make them public because it might have placed the BBC in a poor light? Is it true that the conditions he requested were that he would appear live? And isn't it sad that such a request should be made - it suggests that the Archbishop is not able to trust the BBC to edit any recordings of an interview in a fair way. Why was the BBC not able to agree to the conditions? And why did Kenyon not say simply what the conditions were so that viewers could form their own judgement on whether the Church, in the guise of the Archbishop, was acting reasonably?
John Sexton

It is time that the people in the Church who wish to truly stamp this out stand up and force the Church to act Alan Ferris

I understand that there are problems within the Catholic Church, but as a young alter server in the Catholic Church, I found that your programme was in danger of making viewers think that all Catholic priests are like those featured in the programme. I know a lot of Catholic priests and lots of them are going through tough times because of the media. I'm not saying it is right for some of them to be doing what they are, but how many other churches, including the Church of England, have problems like this? Priests with these problems make up a small percentage within the Church, not the whole of it. I hope you take this into consideration before making another programme like this. You could be making live terrible for some good Catholic priests.
Jack Devine

For years the Church has repeatedly told us that it will address the problem. Yet always it takes people of courage to speak out and show the hypocrisy that still exists. It is time that the people in the Church who wish to truly stamp this out stand up and force the Church to act. Remove all those who not only abused, but covered up for those who abused. Only then can the Church move forward and protect children. I cannot be the only one who is tired of them trying to blame it all on anti-Catholic press etc.
Alan Ferris

It seems that the BBC has now decided that the Roman Catholic church, to which I belong, is a superstitious, pig-ignorant outfit led by double-dealing males with, invariably, a very odd dress sense. I therefore no longer, as I did until recently, support and will actively seek to abolish the licence fee. Better the shock-jocks of America with audiences aware of the prejudices they promulgate than a publicly funded broadcaster which under the guise of objectivity gives free rein to reporters only with the mindset of anti-Catholic zealots.
Anon

Can the church authorities not be held accountable for actively harbouring and protecting these priests?
Nick Rogers

While I agree any child abuse is a terrible crime, and it may have been handled badly within the Church, I am just about fed up with the media concentration on Catholic clergy. Members of other professions and family members also commit these crimes but they are not subjected to the same amount of scrutiny and investigations. Please stop this Catholic bashing, it is getting tiresome and is becoming very obvious.
Angela Corry