The Rev Monsignor Geoffrey Baron, a senior Catholic Clergyman in Melbourne has been caught shouting abuse including racial taunts at a group of trespassing teenagers. This happened about a year ago but has only just come to light after video footage taken with a mobile phone was posted on the internet.
This revelation came soon after the Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan debacles.

Those in positions of authority or in the public eye should be punished with the maximum sentence possible. The Catholic Church apologising is not enough. There are laws to punish those guilty of such behaviour. Geoffrey Barron is in a position of authority and is also seen as one in whose footsteps we should walk. The public 'flogging' he should receive must not be any less than the maximum allowed under existing laws.

Paris Hilton is a 'teen idol' and there will be many young people wanting to emulate her every move.....is this what we want for our children? What is needed (albeit too late now) is for the maximum sentence to be handed down and for Paris to be treated no different from you or me if we were in the same position.

There is still time for the courts to redeem themselves with Lindsay Lohan and show those who look up to her what life is really like and what they have to look forward to if they act the same way.