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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Roman Catholic Church Attacks Sex Abuse Victims


Or, “this is your infallible Magisterium in action”. But it’s ok, you Roman Catholics. They can be reprehensible, as a group, in real life, and still, God has committed to this reprehensible group, the charism of infallibility when speaking about doctrines and morals. Rest assured that, even when your doctrines rely on mistranslations or just completely changing the meaning of Scriptures, they are completely correct, and everything else is wrong. Never mind that Jesus said, “by their fruit you will recognize them”. Never mind that Paul explicitly stated, “the overseer is to be above reproach” … and reminds Timothy, “If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?”

                                                                                           
SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, came into existence in 1989, just five years after national attention was first focused on sexual molestation of minors by Catholic clergy. The founder, Barbara Blaine, is a survivor of abuse. The national director, David Clohessy, is also a survivor. SNAP came into existence because the institutional church, i.e., the bishops, could not and would not do anything to help the victims of the priests they were supposed to supervise.

Realizing that they would have to help themselves, Barbara and the original members started what has become the oldest and most effective advocacy and help group for the countless victims of clergy abuse throughout the United States and Europe as well.

Over the years since its existence, SNAP has done what the institutional church should have done: It offered understanding, support, solace and above all, hope for anyone who called upon it. SNAP is not a sophisticated organization with a well-oiled and financed bureaucracy. It has always been focused on providing support for victims, giving them the encouragement to begin to heal from the devastation of abuse and giving them hope, knowing they are not alone….

In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States. On the plane coming over, he spoke to the media and said, "The victims will need healing and help and assistance and reconciliation: This is a big pastoral engagement and I know that the bishops and the priests and all Catholic people in the United States will do whatever possible to help, to assist, to heal."

But official Rome speaks out of both sides of its mouth. What it gives with one hand, it takes away with the other.

The pope was wrong on that one. The bishops as a group have certainly not helped the victims heal. They have said a lot of nice things, but their response has been hypocritical. While they feign sorrow and regret, make promises and lay on church floors at organized penance services, they are also waging a war against the survivors of the molestation and betrayed trust that they themselves have brought about. They continue to spend millions of the laypeople's dollars to try and bury any attempts at bringing civil legislation to protect victims into the 21st century and, most reprehensible, they continue to try to pound victims into the ground in the courts. The bottom line is that as with everything else, the response to the clergy abuse nightmare has to be their way or no way.

The latest and most convincing evidence of the bishops' collective failure following the present pope's admonitions is the organized attack on SNAP. This attack is being carried out by lawyers who represent two priests accused of abuse, but it's not about justice for the priests. It's about destroying an organization that represents not only a source of profound embarrassment to the bishops but a serious threat to their continued duplicity. On one hand, the demand for SNAP's files is sending a horrific message to all victims of clergy abuse and to all who try to help and support them. The message is clear: Although individual bishops might be truly sympathetic, the bishops as a group simply don't "get it." Nothing has changed since 1985, when this sordid issue first came to widespread public awareness. They are only concerned for themselves, their image, their control over the laity and their money. The National Review Board had it right when they pinpointed this in their 2004 report.


This continues to be today’s news story. As a group, this Roman Catholic hierarchy is no less reprehensible now than it was in the lowest days of the pornocracy

15 comments:

  1. Church officials will use any tactic they can get away with to keep their power and to not be held accountable and to keep themselves out of jail, for covering up sex crimes against kids.

    To all victims who have been sexually abused by clerics, your voices are strong, powerful, and being heard...!..
    The church officials can't shut us up. They can't shove all the victims back under their control of silence.

    Crimes have been committed and the can of worms has been opened, and that is only because very brave victims of clergy sex abuse are speaking up, coming forward, contacting the police, exposing the truth, and trying their hardest to not allow another child to be given the life sentence of harm which they were dealt.

    For those who wish to help ...On our website - SNAPnetwork.org - are simple suggestions for helping victims beat back this assault against them by top Catholic officials. Please check it out. Thanks.

    Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511
    "Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" and all clergy.

    (SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims.
    SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 12,000 members. Despite the word "priest" in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers and increasingly, victims who were assaulted in a wide range of institutional settings like summer camps, athletic programs, Boy Scouts, etc. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

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  2. 1. SNAP is hardly an innocent organization.

    http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/snap-director-admits-to-publishing-false-information/

    It routinely presumes the guilt of accused priests and even pursues those who have been found innocent:

    http://www.themediareport.com/2011/08/11/shame-on-snap-even-after-priest-is-exonerated-group-attacks-falsely-accused-cleric/

    2. The rate of sexual abuse among Catholic priests is rare and comparable to the general male population.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/04/07/mean-men.html

    Furthermore, only a small fraction of accused priests have been convicted.

    3. Institutional cover-ups and "looking the other way" were the cultural norm until quite recently. This is tragic, but such attitudes are hardly Catholic.

    4. Furthermore, society's understanding of sexual abuse, as well as how to deal with it, has only recently changed. We now recognize that this is a chronic compulsion, a true and incurable disorder. (The same is true for rape.)

    5. Sexual abuse occurs in all denominations, religions, and professions where children are in vulnerable situations. The Catholic Church has been singled out because Protestant America continues to half-consciously harbor old prejudices. This is just the modern version of the old Puritan tales about convents as lesbian bath houses.

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  3. Philip -- my original article is right out of a Roman Catholic publication. Written by a priest who has been following this story for decades.

    You said: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/snap-director-admits-to-publishing-false-information

    That's a pretty definite headline based on a very vague admission.

    It routinely presumes the guilt of accused priests and even pursues those who have been found innocent

    In the link you provided, there was enough evidence that a grand jury brought the indictment.

    2. The rate of sexual abuse among Catholic priests is rare and comparable to the general male population.

    But the rate of bishops doing what they are doing is unique because only Rome has the power structure it has, and the systemic ability (Bishopsaccountability.org provides officially signed Roman documents directing this sort of activity).

    Furthermore, only a small fraction of accused priests have been convicted.

    There are lots and lots of settlements; plus with Rome's army of lawyers, I don't doubt that some completely guilty priests are walking away scot-free.

    3. Institutional cover-ups and "looking the other way" were the cultural norm until quite recently.

    In the Roman Catholic Church, it was not just a "cultural norm" but written policy.

    The Catholic Church has been singled out because ...

    Because it has an authority structure with written policies that protected abusers and a coordinated cover-up and denial.

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  4. From the article:

    The attacks on SNAP and the overall campaign to discredit and intimidate victims are a sure sign that an important part of the church has gone off the rails. It is a sign of a radically distorted ecclesiology.

    The author is "Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer, addictions therapist and longtime supporter of justice and compassion for clergy sex abuse victims. He is a co-author of the first report ever issued to the U.S. bishops on clergy sex abuse, in 1986."

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  5. John, no serious Catholic gives any credance to the National Cartholic Reporter. It's a liberal fishwrap. However, you seem to have a history of resorting to liberal sources if it will aid you in defaming the Catholic Church.
    And John, if SNAP is sch a wonder- ful organization for survivors of alleged sexual abuse, why do so many of the survivors denounce SNAP as an organization that exploited them? The truth is John, SNAP is a radical liberal group out to attack the Church and gain power and money for itself. It works with other radical groups such as VOTF to achieve it's goals.
    And BTW John, SNAP is also training it's guns on you Protestants as well. So be prepared to feel a hand on your rump. It will be the hand of SNAP getting into your chrches deep pockets!

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  6. "John, no serious Catholic gives any credence to the National Catholic Reporter."

    Yeah John. All serious Catholics agree with Steve. He's authorized by the Magisterium to speak on behalf of all serious Catholics. All others are ipso facto, non-serious Catholics.

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  7. The author is "Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer, addictions therapist and longtime supporter of justice and compassion for clergy sex abuse victims.

    Given Steve's categorization of the unacceptably liberal orientation of the National Catholic Reporter, I'm wondering if that is indicative of a general and overall liberal Dominican attitude that pervades the institutions that the Dominicans oversee. Aren't Dominican institutions subject to review for conformity by the authority of Steve?

    After all, "justice and compassion for victims" are code words for dissent!

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  9. Hi Steve Dalton

    no serious Catholic gives any credance to the National Cartholic Reporter. It's a liberal fishwrap.

    The fact is, these are your fellow Roman Catholics, moved by the spirit of Vatican II, serving the 67 million Roman Catholics who are 23% of the US population! "Whose interpretation" is it who's saying these really aren't Roman Catholics? I don't recall seeing any Vatican directives telling them not to publish.

    If you don't like NCR as a source of information, how about try these folks.

    Really, I think it's good that Roman Catholics are remaining within the RC structure (ostensibly as "faithful" Catholics) and trying to help the system heal from within. I did that for a while, but I found out that (a) it didn't work, because Rome is really irreformable, and (b) I couldn't, in good conscience, remain Roman Catholic myself, and (c) I certainly couldn't teach that sort of thing to my kids.

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  10. Philip Jude

    I agree with all your points but your last one

    "The Catholic Church has been singled out because Protestant America continues to half-consciously harbor old prejudices. This is just the modern version of the old Puritan tales about convents as lesbian bath houses."

    is missing a salient point, namely that CATHOLIC spain, italy ireland poland and malta were touched by pedophile priests aswell and the uproar in those countries was not caused by protestants (much less american ones!) but the catholics themselves. It would be convienent for you to blame protestants for this but im afraid its simply not the case.

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  11. The NCR is a dissident liberal rag run and staffed by folks who strain not only the boundaries of Catholic, but also Christian, orthodoxy.

    The "spirit of Vatican II" has little or nothing to do with the actual proceedings of Vatican II. It is a cover and codeword for rebellion, syncretism, innovation, and all the other hallmarks of modern cafeteria Catholicism.

    John, you write, "In the Roman Catholic Church, it was not just a "cultural norm" but written policy."

    Which of the documents do you refer to, and in what way do they constitute a written policy of covering up sexual abuse? If you point one written prior to the last few decades, you only prove my point: institutional transparency regarding sexual offenses and our society's understanding of predatory behavior are recent innovations.

    Neither JPII nor Benedict XVI are perfect men, but both took large strides to address the sexual abuse problem.

    Anyway, this problem, which exploded during the fifties, sixties, and seventies, is the result of the "spirit of Vatican II" (as distinct from Vatican II itself), which lowered priestly standards, destroyed the discipline of seminaries, and generally turned the Church into a madhouse.

    Increased transparency and cooperation, in conjunction with a return to orthodoxy, should put an end to this terrible and awful crisis.

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  12. My favorite encounter with the "Spirit of Vatican II" was when a liberal priest told my fiance and I that it was fine to have premartial sex "if our consciences permit -- so said Vatican II!" That is, of course, total hogwash. Thankfully, she and I are wise enough to consult the Word of God, as well as other priests and pious friends, and come to the correct conclusion. Ai-yai-yai.

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  13. *were

    We are happily married now. :-)

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  14. EA, I don't claim to speak for "all serious (orthodox) Catholics". Nor am I an authorized deputy of the Magisterium. All I am is a faithful Catholic who has read enough of the NCR to realize it's radical, liberal slant. I would no sooner trust NCR, than I would the New York Times for reliable information about the Church.
    Mr Bugay, the NCR was told years ago by the local ordinary to stop using 'Catholic' in their banner. That's the main reason (besides my own discernment) why I don't take that rag seriously as a Catholic organ.
    Bishop Accountability is run by faithful Catholics who are working to inform the Catholic and general public about abusive priests and their inablers. They are not trying to change the dogmas and doctrines of the Church like SNAP and VOTF are attempting to do.
    Yes, I'm staying in the Church. We may have plenty of bad fishes in the net, but unlike certain people, who use the bad members as an excuse to leave, and are angry like a certain monk was years ago about a lack of doctrinal irreformiability, I'm staying. I'm sorry you left, and put your soul in danger, but it's better for us who remain, for we don't have to worry about you being a liberal subversive trying to undermind us from within.

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  15. Philip Jude

    Sigh.. protestants, vatican 2 what next men from mars?

    Sexual abuse by priests has been documented to have been taking place since the 1930's. Please read about the abuse that happened in Ireland for confirmation. Vatican 2 is not the cause of this.

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