The absolute wrong response to sex abuse
Monday, March 29, 2010
By Bryan Cones
Comments (29)
Every day brings another headline on the sex abuse crisis unfolding in Europe and echoing again stateside. And every time the hierarchy is responding in the absolute worst way possible.
Consider this from Archbishop Timothy Dolan's Palm Sunday homily, according to the New York Post: The pope is suffering "the same unjust accusations, shouts of the mob and scourging at the pillar" and is "now being daily crowned with thorns by groundless innuendo." Dolan goes on to credit the pope with the progress the U.S. church has made on its own crisis--credit that should be going to the National Lay Review Board, which struggled mightily, at times against the bishops' opposition, to enforce compliance with the Dallas Charter. (You can read our January 2005 interview with Justice Anne Burke, who once chaired the review board, for some background.)
The Vatican's defense in its conduct in the case of a Milwaukee priest who abused between 100 and 200 children is no more helpful, in effect amounting to an argument that the Holy See didn't know about the case until long after the abuse took place. And a homily by the preacher of the papal household, Raniero Cantalamessa, ends up sounding almost deranged in its narcissistic lamentation about "the present moment of serious hardship we priests of the Catholic Church are experiencing."
It is clear that a form of defensive insanity has gripped some in the Vatican, and it is making matters worse. There is nothing more heinous than the sexual abuse and rape of children, and both civil law especially imposes harsh punishment on perpetrators. U.S. states keep registries listing the address of convicted sex offenders; there are no second chances. Indeed the violation of a child is among the few "unforgiveable sins" in the secular world. Any "defense," any shading of the truth, any appeal to the complexities of church law, only make the hierarchy look even guiltier. Any failure of leadership of this magnitude in most other institutions would have meant meant immediate dismissal, if not prosecution. Yet the sociopathic Milwaukee abuser managed to avoid canonical trial late in his life by begging to be allowed to live out his days in "the diginity of my priesthood."
It is clear the Vatican does not understand that this scandal could well destroy the credibility of the Roman Catholic hierarchy for a generation. The Holy See absolutely must come clean in every way possible and instruct dioceses to do the same by canonical force if necessary. The pope, after all, enjoys universal jurisdiction in dioceses and can require bishops' compliance by law. (There are still four U.S. dioceses and eparchies that have refused to comply with the Dallas Charter.) The pope must accept or demand the resignation of bishops and other church officials that failed to report a perpetrator. And it must do so quickly, before this pope or his office is permanently damaged (if he is not already) and while they still have a chance to get ahead of this crisis.
What the pope and other bishops absolutely cannot do is "clarify," "defend," or blame the messenger (the media) for this crisis. The church may have enemies, but if it does, this scandal has handed them the mother of all weapons of mass destruction. The only way to defuse it is to come clean: repent, confess, accept the requirements of justice, and begin to at least try to make amends.
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Possible way to help avoid future abuse (???)
By Eminem Recovery June 22 in stores (not verified) on Tuesday, May 4, 2010I just had this thought. This is NOT a solution. It's just me thinking outside the box. For some, this may sound ridiculous, but I am very serious about it when I say it. Perhaps it would help avoid at least SOME abuse cases in the future.
It seems to me that many cases of priestly abuse occurred with boys who were altar servers. Since being alone in the sacristy with boys (roughly between the ages of 9 and 14) seems to be too much of a temptation and occasion of sin to many priests, why not do this: LET'S ELIMINATE BOY ALTAR SERVERS.
I know this would be a challenge to the tradition that the role of altar boy is a stepping stone to encourage vocations to the priesthood. But let's face it: In most parishes, the role of server is mostly token now anyway.
Why not say, in our parishes, that only elderly men may be altar servers from now on? Some older men are already servers; I think many more would be willing to take on the role of server. Again, I see this as possibly saving some young boys from potential abuse. Again, being alone in the sacristy with boys has been a serious temptation/occasion of sin/ cause of scandal to many priests. It has been a factor in causing priests to be defrocked & for the Church to be in crisis! What do others think of my idea ?
Ekklesia
By KDaly (not verified) on Friday, May 14, 2010The Church needs young adults -- boys and girls -- involved in our liturgical life. Your suggestion is a 'head in the sand' way to go about what really needs to be done, namely: Seek to understand/address the psycho-sexula needs of those within ministerial leadership; provide suitable counseling fo rthose who need it; and, sort out those who need treatment or cannot reasonably perform within societal/community/ecclesial standards. Moreover, I would advocate for a complete reform/renewal theological/pastoral council study on how the Chruch engages our theology of sexuality/spirituality.
Altar Servers
By IORR (not verified) on Friday, May 14, 2010The most conservative/traditionalist parish in my diocese bans girl and women altar servers. It is about to close due to low attendance for being too conservative for most families. Since its school closed years ago and not enough families attend to provide altar boys, altar servers now consist of older retired men. This happened by necessity due to the parish's extremely conservative worship style which in addition to banning females on the altar includes kneeling for Communion at an altar rail and lots of other pre-VII traditions. Unlike the "be 'orthodox' and the pews will fill up" mantra the church is mostly empty for all masses. For unintended reasons ER's suggestion is in place at this parish. It is closing because its worship style drives away families except for a very few large traditionalist ones. Without kids they don't have what KD correctly says parishes need. For child protection the Church needs to do what the Boy Scouts did after their abuse scandals, institute a rule that adults can never be alone with a child who is not their own. This is logistically difficult but strictly followed in scouts. An additional problem priests would face is Confession but most kids don't go and in my opinion don't need to. Reconciliation rooms should be replaced with public or general Reconciliation. The BSA policy protects kids from abuse and adults from false accusations. The Church will have do adopt something similar.
from the life-experienced...
By Letha Christina Chamberlain (not verified) on Tuesday, April 6, 2010As a thirty-year veteran psych RN with a graduate education in clinical psychology/profound infancy and adolescent sexual abuse-recovered individual... also a vowed archdiocesan solitary contemplative and author/poet... I'd like to add some ponderings on the above:
Thirty years ago it was said people could recover because they DID... unaided by psychiatric "mind-fogging" drugs from which the drug companies are making trillions of dollars to promote. If modern psychiatry is so effective--why are there hundreds of thousands of the "mentally-ill" on the
streets being stigmatized and victimized by our culture? If psychiatry is so effective, why are we involuntarily-detaining and forcing ECT on unsuspecting and innocent people, only wanting LOVE? ...why have so many children become "drug addicts"--sometimes being forced by school authorities to take addictive drugs against the will of their parents (in the name of "science")?
The profundity of the violations of minds and souls of persons is complete when it is said, "this disorder is not curable"... I'm sorry, but our intellects are "darkened"--we have become "original sin".
You're All So Gullible - You Make Me Sick!
By Catholic Courage (not verified) on Monday, April 5, 2010What do you expect to read when you read use HEADLINES (that are meant to sell newspapers) for your information on Pope Benedict? How about an unbiased, full vetting of the facts? How many of you have bothered to read what the Pope has really done in this matter. Lemmings. You people aren't fit to judge a game of tic-tac-toe!
Bryan Coynes and company perpetuate a distortion of the facts and act like he's on the side of justice - you make me sick.
Just associate the Pope with pedophilia and your smear campaign is over. No retraction will ever clear his name - you enemy of God. The man is clearly innocent and all you want is to take him down.
Doesn't a one of you wonder why this all surfaced on holy week. This stuff is years (decades) old.
Undermine the authority of the Pope and homosexuals, abortionists, and dissidents can prance around feeling self-righteous. God is not fooled - and neither are the millions of people like me who took the time to follow the story.
This Pope has done more than any religious leader in history to protect children from sexual abuse - but if he said that truth you would mock him all the more.
Re: You're All So Gullible - You Make Me Sick! (Part 1)
By The_Truth (not verified) on Monday, April 5, 2010"You're All So Gullible - You Make Me Sick!"
LOL... very Christ-like indeed.
"What do you expect to read when you read use HEADLINES (that are meant to sell newspapers) for your information on Pope Benedict? "
What do you expect to read when you read information spewed out by the Vatican's Press (that is meant to cover their rears) for your information on Pope Benedict?
"How about an unbiased, full vetting of the facts? How many of you have bothered to read what the Pope has really done in this matter. Lemmings."
This whole diatribe is hilarious. Do you want a full look of the facts, here it comes: The Catholic Church has been raping children for more than half a century and the Vatican has been aware of it and has produced a type of "don't ask, don't tell" policy. There is STILL rape/molestation going on after all that time and the Vatican STILL won't make the names of these CRIMINALS public.
The facts are that if the Vatican practiced what they preach, then they'd make all the information public, remove the abusive priests immediately, give the authorities ALL the information to prosecute these criminals, allow a third party to come in and make sure they are doing EVERYTHING they can do to rectify this situation, stop trying to screw molestation victims out of money via legal means and apologize to everyone up the ying yang.
The facts are that the Pope is hiding behind his diplomatic immunity as well.
Continued...
Re: You're All So Gullible - You Make Me Sick! (Part 2)
By The_Truth (not verified) on Monday, April 5, 2010Cont...
If he truly has nothing to hide, then he should WANT to testify to clear up any sort of ambiguity. But it is obvious that he still has PLENTY to hide. I thought one of the Commandments was to tell the truth, but I guess that doesn't apply to them.
"Bryan Coynes and company perpetuate a distortion of the facts and act like he's on the side of justice - you make me sick."
You make me sick that you aren't standing up for children who can't stand up for themselves.
"The man is clearly innocent and all you want is to take him down."
You are clearly delusional.
"Doesn't a one of you wonder why this all surfaced on holy week. This stuff is years (decades) old."
It is decades old... thanks for helping me illustrate my point.
"Undermine the authority of the Pope and homosexuals, abortionists, and dissidents can prance around feeling self-righteous. God is not fooled"
LOL... Who do you think you are to think you can speak on behalf of God?
It is more like xenophobes like yourself can prance around feeling self-righteous by ignoring Jesus' message in the Bible to not discriminate and to treat others as you would want to be treated yourself.
"not fooled - and neither are the millions of people like me"
You are actually fooled into thinking you are not fooled. Classic!
"This Pope has done more than any religious leader in history to protect children from sexual abuse"
Really? How many rapes of children did Jesus cover up?
Peace.
sowing peace and discord as usual
By Beth Pennsylvania (not verified) on Friday, May 14, 2010I thought the "rules" called for no multipart word carnivals to keep folks like "truth" from bogarting the site? lol
The Church's Real Problem
By Michael N (not verified) on Friday, April 2, 2010There are going to be sexual deviants in any large population. When child rapists are found in schools, hospitals, and other secular organizations the people running these organizations call the cops. When Pope Benedict was head of the Inquisition (later renamed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) he sent a letter to every bishop ordering them not to tell civil authorities about child raping clergy under pain of excommunication.
If the Catholic hierarchy had the policy of turning child raping priests over to the cops there wouldn't be a problem. But when the Church has an official policy of supporting and protecting child rapists and when the dignity of the Church is more important than the welfare of children, then there's a major problem. What's particularly upsetting is the Church claims to be THE moral authority on Earth yet acts in an obviously immoral manner.
Frankly every member of the
By Anonymous (not verified) on Friday, April 2, 2010Frankly every member of the Catholic church should feel tarnished with this so long as the leadership refuses to do anything about it.
Vote with your feet. Leave the Catholic Church in droves - just as you'd leave ANY other organization whose first reaction to child abuse is anything other than turning over the perpetrators to civil authorities - if you remain part of the institution, in whatever respect, you personally should consider yourself as guilty of institutionalized child abuse as the criminals who perpetrated these acts.
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