The Catholic Church crisis in Boston has not affected churchgoer numbers here, says Bishop of Hamilton Robert Kurtz.

He said the allegations of sex abuse by Catholic priests in the US were a shock and people were threatened by a few cases, but they had to realise they happened over the last 30 years and all were not new cases.

He said: “We are all affected by what has been happening in the Boston archdiocese.”

“On Tuesday we had Chrism Mass, a blessing of oils. We prayed for priestly conservation and that we can all get through this. My sermon was on the weakness of sinful human nature and how we must protect our children and deal openly and honestly on the issues of sexual abuse.

“Priests are aware of what has to be done about sexual abuse and it will be dealt with,” he said. “We need to look at how we are screening candidates for their reaction and response, in psycho-sexual behaviour.”

He said it was now hard for priests to go out in a collar, because the general perception now was that all priests were involved.

The US Catholic church has been rocked by a child-molestation scandal since it was disclosed in January that a Boston-area priest, John Geoghan, who had been suspected of abuse was moved from parish to parish over the years.