Father John Tolkien abuse allegations

Archbishop apologises over handling of abuse claims against Tolkien son (Guardian)

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who faces criticism over his handling of allegations against Father John Tolkien, apologised in a letter to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse...The Catholic church knew that Tolkien, the eldest son of the acclaimed author of Lord of the Rings, posed a risk to children...

Tolkien denied the allegations. He was investigated by police shortly before his death, aged 85, in 2003 but despite having sufficient evidence for a realistic prosecution, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the case because Tolkien was suffering from dementia...

Nothing there about what he is supposed to have done except that he "told boy scouts to strip naked" which, without a context, does not have to be sexual at all. But I assume that the people accusing him are not lying, so this makes me sad to hear.

If the Church ONLY knew that he had "told boy scouts to strip naked" in the sixties, then I am not surprised that they did not act upon that. I went to a single sex British school later than that. Communal showers after gym were compulsory. So did most of my contemporaries. (The possibility of teachers getting an unhealthy thrill from this didn't cross the minds of officialdom.)

It seems, from the article, that Fr Tolkien's actions went considerably further, since the CPS ruled that there was a case to answer.

But, it is not clear whether the 'known "risk to children"'' referred to in the article refers to knowledge of these other activities, or simply the author's opinion of a practice commonly implemented in those days (however foolish that might have been).

There was a Guardian article about this a few days ago which adds a lot of information to this sad affair: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/28/jrr-tolkiens-son-claims-sexually-a...

Yes, that does explain a lot.