Decisive action by Catholic Church could have made a difference

IT is very concerning when Catholic Bishop Michael Dooley of Dunedin is considering what he states is the ‘‘understanding of the day’’ in his contemplating a name change for Kavanagh College.

This understanding of the day must be the way that then bishops and monsignors behaved towards sexually deviant priests.

The procedure was to transfer them to other areas of the diocese, some cases being transferred even further afield.

It is an established fact that a great number of these priests went on to further offend.

What is also an established fact is that Bishop Kavanagh transferred such priests in his diocese.

It has been the failure of the various church authorities to take decisive action and instantly dismiss these errant priests that means the church is now facing what is in reality a catastrophe.

While it is realised that all of the church authorities in all probability believed that those priests would change and, as such, should be given another chance, it really was misplaced trust.

Bishop Dooley’s decision will be of very considerable interest.

Ian Morgan

Oamaru

[Abridged]

Capital gains tax

YOUR editorial (ODT, 22.9.18) mentioned ruling out taxing gains in retirement savings. This would then be added to the family home, which the Government has already said is off limits for a capital gains tax.

What then is fair for the person who, for whatever reason, decides to rent for life instead of owning their own home? Shouldn’t they also have an amount similar in value to a home ringfenced and free from CGT, plus any retirement savings?

Fair implementation perhaps means coming up with an upper limit of capital per taxpayer that is CGTfree and then the growth of any capital above that upper limit is taxed.

The above is particularly pertinent as the number of people who do not own their own homes increases. Bernard Jennings

Island Bay