Spe Salvi Niet de linkse joodse lobby, vrijmetselaars maar de priester en zijn lobby zelf

Goed nieuws: een ernstig stinkend lijk!

Terwijl New Yorks vroegere burgemeester Giuliani in zijn verkiezingsstrijd steeds meer in de problemen lijkt te komen met zijn vriend en medewerker, een voor sekueel misbruikend veroordeelde priester,
kunnen in Italie ook een stel politici, waaronder Berlusconi himself, hun lol wel op met hun goede priesterlijke maatje.

Valt geen goede sier meer mee te behalen nu steeds duidelijker wordt dat het niet aan linkse joodse lobby lag, of -zoals de man een paar dagen na de eerste beschuldigingen liet weten een internationale samenzwering van vrijmetselaars - dat "een zooitje criminele drugsverslaafden" zoals hij zijn vroegere pupillen -de laagsten van de laagsten - afschilderde, toch voet aan de grond hebben gekregen bij justitie met hun aanklachten wegens seksueel misbruik tegen Pierino Gelmini.

Niet de joodse, vrijmetselaars of laagste van laagsten lobby , maar een al eerder voor fraude veroordeelde priester , waarvan bekend was dat hij een seksuele bedreiging voor andere was, en zijn medewerker, die nu zijn poten niet thuis kon houden bij zorgafhankelijke jongeren.

Wil aan drugs verslaafd zijn zeggen dat je dan seksueel misbruikt mag worden door een aan zijn macht en aanzien verslaafde?

Je zou toch zeggen dat zo'n man, hoofd van zo'n 280 rehab centra wereldwijd, inmiddels zou kunnen weten, dat er in het drugscircuit van die jongens gewoon betaald werd voor rotzooi.

Hoog tijd wordt voor die andere verslaafde en zijn omgeving dat ook eens te gaan doen.

Dat vindt, integenstelling tot het Vaticaan en rechtse politieke kringen, de Italiaanse justitie blijkbaar ook!

Komt dat nu toch even slecht uit (ex) verslaafden die hun mond open doen over zo'n 82 jarige recidivist

Hij schijnt trots te zijn op zijn omgang met zijn jongens die afgelopen 50 jaar.
Nu maar hopen dat het dan "maar"bij die 8 blijft.
Maar of die hoop nu zo heel erg realistisch is?
Het sterftepercentages onder (voormalige) junks is tenminste wel in zijn voordeel, en dat van de figuren die zo graag goede sier maken met dit soort junks.
Dit lijk stinkt, en goed ook.

Als bij elke verslaving: allemaal van elkaar afhankelijk, het is maar net de vraag waar het geld vandaan komt en waar het heen rolt.

En daar beginnen ze zich in Italie en in Europa opvallend druk over te maken.

Dus of de man nu schuldig zal zijn geweest of niet, zal menigeen helemaal niets kunnen schelen.
De goot in!
Net als de rest van zijn jongens, zolang die er niet in slaagden ex-verslaafden te worden en te blijven, maar daarbij heel wat minder mogelijkheden kregen!

Zich daardoor misschien wel hebben moeten laten misbruiken.
Door Pierino Gelmini.

Maar het Verwegistan van het kerkelijk seksueel misbruik is inmiddels ook in Italie, met welhaast iedere maand een nieuwe zaak die naar buiten komt, allang niet meer zo ver weg.

Gelmini maar ook de volgende Italiaanse priester, op heterdaad betrapt , van vorige week, met zijn 12 jarig kerstkind, zal daar zeker aan meewerken, ondanks het enthousiasme waarmee Italiaanse priesters zich in de pers vertonen, al dan niet met brieven aan de Paus.

A squad of carabinieri, after receiving a telephone call, surprised the priest, teacher of religion in a middle school in Villa Literno, in a car parked on one side of a country street at a short distance from the provincial road on the way between Casal di Principe and Castelvolturno, laying down on the car seat with the boy on his side.
When he was aware of the carabinieri presence the priest fled, but he was caught and arrested after a few kilometers. The prosecutor for the preliminary investigations (GIP) of S. Marfia Capua, Raffaelle Piccirillo, confirmed the arrest after his questioning of the priest, who wasn't able to deny the charges, which were very articulate and based on what the child said to a social worker.
The priest's lawyer has announced he'll ask for his client the benefit of the house arrest. The priest was also much esteemed and appreciated for his activity as a volunteer.

Goed nieuws dus. Slachtoffers komen uit de kast en dragen een volgend ernstig stinkend lijk over aan burgerlijke justitie.

Spe Salvi

Priest accused of molesting young addicts
By Peter Popham in Milan
Published: 29 December 2007

One of Italy's most colourful priests and the founder of a network of drug rehabilitation centres is expected to be charged with sexually molesting young recovering addicts at the headquarters of his organisation near Perugia in Umbria.

Monsignor Pierino Gelmini, 82, is a household name in Italy, a strong supporter of the political centre-right and a frequent guest on television chat shows. Politicians have warmly reciprocated his support, and in 2005, the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi famously handed over a cheque for 10 billion lire (equivalent to ¿1m) to the priest, known as Don Gelmini, on television for the charitable work of his organisation, Comunità Incontro.

Rarely mentioned during his television appearances is the fact that decades ago he was sent to jail for fraud, issuing dud cheques and other offences. And now another scandal appears to be beckoning.

The shadow of accusations of sexual abuse fell across Don Gelmini in the summer when it emerged that he was under investigation for allegedly exploiting some of the charges in his care. It was reported that one of them, Michele Iacobbe, now 34, had first filed a complaint against Don Gelmini in 2002. No action was taken, but he continued to complain about the priest's misbehaviour, which he said dated back to 1999.

Eight other former wards of the organisation added their voice to his, with great detail. Two of them were minors at the time the alleged abuse happened.

The main Italian newspapers reported yesterday that the preliminary judge in the case was on the verge of committing Don Gelmini for trial on a charge of sexual violence.

When the accusations were first made public, Don Gelmini responded angrily that he was a victim of "the Jewish-radical chic lobby".

The Vatican has advised the priest to give up his role as head of the organisation only if he is sent for trial. But Silvio Berlusconi has again spoken up for him, and Maurizio Gasparri, a member of the right-wing National Alliance party and a minister in Mr Berlusconi's last government, said the priest's accusers were "very few and of scant credibility".

He was jailed Italy in 1971 after being sentenced to four years for fraud. But, according to an article in Il Messaggero at the time, he "often obliged the prison director to put him in solitary confinement to prevent 'promiscuity' with other inmates".

"These accusations will certainly not prevent me from continuing to embrace my boys," Don Gelmini said, "as I have done for the past 50 years."


Sofferto incontro tra don Gelmini e Mons. Paglia: preoccupazione per le presunte molestie sessuali
A painful meeting between Rev. Gelmini and Monsignor Paglia
Translation: TERNI (December 26)

It took place 12 days ago, and it had suffering tones, the meeting between Rev. Pierino Gelmini and the diocesian bishop of Terni, Narni and Amelia, monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, who conveyed to the priest his "concerns and those of the Church for his judiciary vicissitudes related to his alleged sexual violences."

The conversation was confirmed today by the emeritus bishop of the diocese, Monsignor Franco Gualdrini, during the celebrations held in the main center of the Community Incontro, at Molino Silla of Amelia, which were dedicated to those young men who had ended their program for overcoming their drug addiction.

For the first time Rev. Gelmini wasn't there due to his illness.

Monsignor Gualdrini, who was also symbolically nominated by Rev. Gelmini as a "bishop" of his Community, explained the meeting had been very "painful" and that it had taken place in the bishop's office, at Terni, through the initiative of monsignor Paglia.

Beside the bishop and Rev. Gelmini, the same monsignor Gualdrini was present.

It was a moment of fraternity and of ecclesiastical communion, monsignor Gualdrini said, but painful ,too, for they spoke about those issues. Even among brothers, the emeritus bishop of Terni added, sometimes it's necessary to speak about unpleasant things.

No indication, however, emerged in the meeting about a possible request to Rev. Gelmini to leave the Community in connection with the possible negative outcome of his trial.

And the priest has said to his collaborators he is firm in his intention not to abandon the boys and go back to his lay state "maintaining his total communion with the Lord" to face his judiciary vicissitudes without any interference with the ecclesiastical authority.

In the next days there will be the results of the investigations about his alleged sexual violence against some of the former guests of his Community Incontro, for which he always declared his innocence.

The Terni Prosecutor Office notified the priest the investigation is over
A collaborator, a former assistant and the mother of an accuser are suspected of the crime of "favoreggiamento" (helping to hide a crime)

Terrni - Eight are the alleged victims of sexual violence for which the Rev. Pierino Gelmini has been indicted. The Prosecutor in Terni, following the procedure, sent the priest a letter informing him of the end of the investigation. That means the arraignment of the priest is very near. Other three persons will have to respond instead for trying to cover up the crime: one is the priest collaborator at the Community Incontro, Pierluigi Larocca, and another is a former assistant.

Together with the mother of one of the accusers, Patrizia Guarino, who helped the other men to offer money to her son so that he could be convinced to withdraw his accusations, they are charged for trying to impede the investigation.

The sexual violence occurred in the period between 1999 and 2004; two of the victims were then minors. That's what the Procurator has reported; now the papers are going to be examined by the judge who will decide upon the requests made by the prosecutor.

"That infamy doesn't regard me", the 82- years -old priest had said in front of three hundred supporters last August in the main location of his Community Incontro at Amelia, in the Umbria hills.

" They believed Rev. Pierino would give up", the elderly priest thundered from the stage. "They thought they had to deal with a rabbit, they found a biting dog instead.

They wanted to take over the community", ending his speech using his umbrella menacingly. " I'm bearing the cross: I'm innocent and for that I'm absolutely tranquil".

Yet the charges seem to be very detailed.

"He was goosing me, kissing me and in many an occasion he forced me to perform sexual acts", that's what Michele Iacobbe, former drug addict, one of the main accusers, reported, and who spent jail time in Teramo for a series of crimes, extortion and calumny included.

"That man ruined me", said Iacobbe about Rev. Gelmini."He forced me to do things I would never have wanted to do. Once he told me: cut you hair, I like it short, please kiss me".

En alweer een bisschop die kinderen nodig had. de Filipijnen

Je vraagt je af hoelang die kerk en hun prinsen eigenlijk nog verstoppertje willen spelen, wanneer over de hele wereld heen het meer dan duidelijk is dat er inderdaad dergelijke wantoestanden zijn geweest.

Of deze bisschop misbruik heeft gepleegd?
Gezien de rapportages en onderzoek over de Filipijnen, kinderen en de Kerk daar, valt dat zeker niet uit te sluiten.

Hij hoeft alleen de raportages van zijn eigen bisschoppenconferentie maar serieus te nemen.

Dat er kinderen op die kamers en in de bedden van die mannen hebben gelegen?
Geen enkele twijfel over mogelijk!!
Over die hele wereld heen staat dat als een paal boven water! Daarvoor zijn daarover veel te veel getuigenissen, zeker vanuit al die tehuis situaties.

Ook in Nederland.
Zelfs ik kreeg ze de afgelopen jaren van kerkelijk functionarissen van toen en nu te horen. En van een aantal van hen neem ik ook nog eens aan ook dat dat niet eens is gebeurd met die zgn. pedofiele bedoelingen ook. Soms zelfs integendeel. Integere kerels die zich die nu moeten stellen.

Zoals ik bij integere en blije ervaringen vraagtekens moest zetten of ze van anderen wel kreeg.

De smerigheid, de hypocrisie en de seksuele verkniptheid van die Kerk heel wat meer voor vragen heeft opgeleverd. En daarmee integere mensen en ervaringen beschadigd en beschadigd heeft.

De hypocrisie en de verkniptheid in en van die Kerk heeft functionarissen tot daders gemaken, ook hen die geen daders van seksueel misbruik waren.
Mensen gedwongen tot vraagtekens zetten bij ervaringen die geen seksueel misbruikervaringen waren.

Maar het heeft vooral laten zien wat het betekent wanneer kinderen afhankelijk waren en zijn van een hypocriet systeem die die Rooms Katholieke Kerk was en is.

Met prinsen in paleizen, prinsjes en prinsesjes likkend naar paleisjes, die zichzelf en hun macht beschermen, verraad plegend aan dat evangelie.
Volwassenen, prinsjes en prinsesjes likkend naar en in paleisjes die het wisten, zagen en hun mond hielden uit angst, verraad plegend aan dat evangelie.

De incestueuze Kerk

"the bisschop is very very angry"

Tja, dat zal dan best. Weinig schokkends aan!
Net zo min als er aan het hele verhaal weinig schokkends is.
Dat is inmiddels standaard!

Daar zou die bisschop maar beter eens very very angry over kunnen worden.
En de keuzes maken die andere bisschoppen, in toenemende mate maken!
Gedwongen door slachtoffers en zelfs daders, die hun mond open deden en onderzoek eisten en mogelijk maakten.
Dat evangelie serieus nemend!

Een bisschop die jongetjes in zijn bed nodig had omdat hij niet kon slapen?
Moge hij er slapeloze nachten van hebben.

Een bisschop die nu pas kwaad wordt is daar jaren en jaren te laat mee!
Die heeft veel te veel jongetjes en meisjes in handen en in bedden laten belanden waarin ze niet hoorden of horen!

Een bisschop die nu pas kwaad wordt is een levensgevaarlijke vent!
Waar dan ook.

Biliran bishop accused of sexual molestation
A former missionary in Biliran, Leyte has accused the bishop of Naval town of sexually molesting boys.

Ging Reyes, ABS-CBN News North America bureau chief, reported that Stephen Michael Greinke, an ex-missionary who worked for the diocese of Naval in the Visayas, said he has been calling for the ouster of Catholic Bishop Filomento Bactol for the last seven years.

Greinke alleged that Bactol abused his power and sexually molested young boys.

"I lived with the bishop at his palace. And at night he would have young men sleeping in his bedroom - kids who were under the age of 16 sleeping with him at night. Again I thought that was very inappropriate and it became very 'gossiping, chismoso, around about the bishop's behavior with the children,'" Greinke told Reyes.

Greinke said he has written a sworn statement to detail his allegations. Copies of the testimony was given to the Vatican, American bishops and Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales.

He, however, admitted he never saw Bactol actually molesting the boys whom the priest invited to sleep with him in his bed.

"I never saw anything inappropriate. I did not see the bishop sexually molest (the boys). But the doors would be closed, his bedroom doors would be closed and the young men would be sleeping inside the room," the ex-missionary said.

Greinke said he confronted Bactol about this and the bishop told him: "Brother I cannot sleep, I need to have the boys with me."

Bactol invited Greinke to set up a community of brothers in Biliran in 1991. But Greinke said he did not get any support from the diocese.

"Lack of support totally. And the only way we could get him to come out and visit our monastery was bribing. I brought out chalices from America, I brought out chalices or vestments so he could come out and say mass for our monastery," Greinke said.

In 1993, Greinke was arrested for allegedly sexually molesting members of their congregation. The charges were later dismissed by the human rights commission.

Greinke also faced deportation after several complainants surfaced and accused him of being a pedophile in 1999.
He said the complaints were merely in retaliation for criticizing Bactol.

In March 2000, the former missionary voluntarily left the Philippines. He is now on the list of blacklisted aliens.

Though Bactol refused to comment on the charges, a spokesman of the diocese denied Greinke's accusations. "These accusations are all lies...the bishop is very very angry...the crimes this Greinke is accusing the Bishop of are the same accusations against him," the spokesman

Jeugdinrichtingen / Aanklacht tegen ’een uit de hand gelopen landelijke tragedie’

In de Sint Jozefkerk in Arnhem werden gisteren 1294 kaarsen aangestoken. Eén voor ieder kind met gedragsproblemen dat onterecht in een jeugdgevangenis zit, vanwege plaatsgebrek in zorginstellingen. Ouders hebben veel kritiek op deze gang van zaken. © Herman Engbers

HOHOHO

Kerst
Aanklacht tegen ’een uit de hand gelopen landelijke tragedie’
Van onze verslaggever
Trouw 24 december 2007

Ouders staken gisteren in een kerk 1294 lichtjes aan voor kinderen die ’misplaatst’ in een jeugdgevangenis zitten.

Uit met aluminiumfolie beplakte potten komen waxinelichtjes te voorschijn, evenveel als er kinderen met gedragsproblemen in jeugdgevangenissen zitten. ’Hartelborgt 20, Den Engh 77, OG Heldringstichting 119, Rentray 226’. Zo gaat de lijst door, tot het totaal van 1294 is bereikt en de trappen naar het priesterkoor van de Sint Jozefkerk in Arnhem vol staan met waxinelichtjes.

Voor de dertig aanwezigen is het nog een hele klus om de lichtjes aan te steken. In de leegstaande kerk wordt het iets minder koud. Voorzitter Rob Brakel van de Stichting Misplaatst spreekt van ’een uit de hand gelopen landelijke tragedie.’

Bijna 1300 kinderen met gedragsproblemen zitten op dit moment in justitiële jeugdinrichtingen, omdat de reguliere hulpverlening geen plaats zou hebben. Volgens Brakel klopt dat niet. Er zouden ’tientallen’ behandelplekken niet bezet zijn. „Dus ook het argument van de wachtlijsten of gebrek aan plaatsen klopt niet meer.” Ouders met kinderen in een jeugdgevangenis melden dat hun kind er traumatische ervaringen heeft opgedaan. Er zijn volgens de Stichting Misplaatst gevallen bekend van kinderen die in een jeugdinrichting aan drugs verslaafd zijn geraakt, zwanger zijn geworden of zelfmoord hebben gepleegd.

Onder een statie van de kruisweg zit Trees. Ze is net bij haar 14-jarige zoon op bezoek geweest, die ’achter mijn rug om’ van een observatiekliniek is overgeplaatst naar een jeugdinrichting. „Schandalig! Zo kan je toch niet met kinderen omgaan.” Trees’ zoon zag er ’slecht’ uit. Met Kerst mag ze niet op bezoek. „Eén uur bezoek per week, daar moet ik dan weer zeven dagen op teren.”

Zoals tientallen andere ouders probeert ze haar zoon uit de gevangenis te krijgen. En als hij nergens anders terecht kan, dan maar thuis. „Alles beter dan de gevangenis.”

Bij de lichtjes staan foto’s van kinderen. Het geeft de kerk een wat macabere sfeer, ondanks twee feestelijk verlichte kerstbomen op het altaarverhoog. Door de luidsprekers klinkt een moderne versie van Stille Nacht. De overeenkomsten tussen het kerstverhaal en ’misplaatste’ kinderen liggen voor het oprapen: kou, eenzaamheid, nergens welkom.

Kim (16) viert Kerstmis dit jaar thuis. Na twee jaar omzwervingen door de jeugdzorg is ze bij haar moeder terug, omdat er geen behandelplek vrij is. Ze heeft zelfs een jaar in België gezeten om maar uit de jeugdgevangenis te blijven. „Bizar dat je je kind in het buitenland moet plaatsen omdat er in Nederland geen plek is”, zegt haar moeder.

Gesloten jeugdzorg in plaats van gevangenis
Minderjarige jongeren, die vanwege zeer ernstige gedragsproblemen niet meer thuis kunnen wonen, maar geen strafbaar feit hebben gepleegd, worden meestal opgesloten in een jeugdgevangenis. Daar zijn ook suïcidale jongeren bij en slachtoffers van loverboys. Zij zitten vast om ze tegen zichzelf te beschermen en te behandelen.

Ongeveer de helft van de 2500 plekken in de jeugdgevangenis wordt bezet door jongeren die formeel geen strafbaar feit hebben begaan. Ze verblijven daar meestal zes maanden tot twee jaar.

Ouders en politici hebben veel kritiek op het samenplaatsen van de twee groepen, de ene binnengekomen via het strafrecht de andere via het civielrecht. Kinderrechters en gevangenisdirecteuren stellen echter dat de verschillen gering zijn, omdat beide groepen jongeren ernstige gedragsproblemen hebben en best samen behandeld kunnen worden.

Het kabinet vindt het samenplaatsen van de twee groepen toch ’naar de huidige maatschappelijke maatstaven ongewenst’. Voor jongeren met ernstige gedragsproblemen ontwikkelt het kabinet daarom een aparte vorm van zorg: gesloten jeugdzorg. De Eerste Kamer schaarde zich deze week unaniem achter een nieuwe wet die dit regelt.

Dat betekent dat vanaf 1 januari 2008 kinderen met ernstige opvoedproblemen niet meer in een jeugdgevangenis komen, maar in een instelling van de jeugdzorg. Het duurt nog tot 2010 voor er voor alle civielrechtelijke geplaatsten een plek is in zo’n nieuwe instelling. Vandaar dat velen van hen deze Kerst nog gewoon in de jeugdgevangenis zitten, tot verdriet van hun ouders. Harriët Salm
uit de reacties:

In 1951 werd ik schuldeloos ruim 2 jaar opgesloten in een rijks opvoedings
gesticht. Redenen, ik werd jarenlang sexueel misbruikt door mijn broers, en
mammie vond het beter om dit te doen, voordat ik per ongeluk zwanger werd van
die viespeuken. Ik heb mijn ouders om hulp geschreeuwd, en dit was hun hulp. Ik
sliep boven, en die beiden heren ook, dus die konden jarenlang hun gang gaan.
Mijn hele leven is kapot gemaakt, ik kan dit niet vergeten, op deze dag 24
december werd ik daar binnen gebracht n.m. Het zou ruim 2 jaar duren voordat ik
vrij kwam, na een poging tot zelfdoding. Mijn leven is een hel, en heb een
chronische PTSS daardoor.
Yasmine, Amsterdam, (24-12-2007, 10:03:21 uur)

Dank U's

Moge deze dagen ook jou de ontroering over een onschuldig kind, kracht, hoop en zorg doen ervaren
en dagen welkome,veilige jaren worden.

De Kardinaal als slachtoffer; Mahony's gezag en The American Spectator

De kardinaal als slachtoffer. Tja, de vraag is waarvan dan. Van een aanvaller op straat? Zichzelf? Zijn woedende priesters? Zijn kerk? Zijn Doorluchtigheid?
Van de leer die Richard Sipe samenvatte met: ik lieg alleen wanneer het nodig is?

Of zijn demonstratie kennelijk nog steeds niet te begrijpen wat grenzen zijn, en welletjes inderdaad -'t-is-welletjes-geweest betekent?

Pedofiliezaak was de aanleiding
Amerikaanse kardinaal Mahony zwaar aangevallen
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op
do 6 dec '07 om 04:40u

LOS ANGELES (RKnieuws.net) - Kardinaal Roger Mahony, aartsbisschop van Los Angeles, werd in juli jongstleden zwaar aangevallen door een man die woedend was over het pedofilieschandaal in het bisdom Los Angeles. Dat schrijft de krant Los Angeles Daily News.
De feiten gebeurden toen de 71-jarige kardinaal zich op straat, in de directe omgeving van de kathedraal, bevond. Een onbekende man beledigde de kardinaal en wierp hem vervolgens brutaal op de grond.

Kardinaal Mahony moest een maand herstellen van de opgelopen verwondingen maar besloot geen ruchtbaarheid te geven aan het voorval. Bij de politie van Los Angeles werd geen aangifte gedaan van de feiten.

Op 16 juli had een rechter een beschikking bekrachtigd waardoor het aartsbisdom Los Angeles 660 miljoen dollar schadevergoeding moest overmaken aan slachtoffers van pedofiele priesters. Kardinaal Mahony werd er door sommige slachtoffers van beschuldigd getracht te hebben pedofiliegevallen toe te dekken en priesters te beschermen tegen gerechtelijke vervolgingen.

The Mean Streets of Los Angeles
By George Neumayr
Published 12/19/2007 12:08:06 AM

In 1998, jurors awarded $30 million to two brothers who had been molested by Father Oliver O'Grady,
a priest who served under Roger Mahony in the early 1980s during his tenure as bishop of Stockton. Mahony had to testify in the case, and his testimony went disastrously. As one juror told the press afterwards, "I didn't believe Mahony.... I think it is pretty obvious that none of us [jurors] did."

Not wanting to go through an ordeal like that again and fearing a blizzard of new details about his derelictions of duty, Mahony settled with victims in July of this year on the eve of a Los Angeles trial in which he was scheduled as the first witness. The $660-million settlement left many Los Angeles Catholics and priests flabbergasted and furious. In order to avoid testifying, "everyone feels that he gave away the store," said one priest to me.

In an apparent bid to win sympathy from these priests, Mahony, it was reported earlier this month, informed them during their annual meeting that not long after the July settlement he got beaten up on a street near the Los Angeles cathedral by a man upset over the abuse scandal.
"He said he was walking to the post office or the store and that a man recognized him and started shouting obscenities about the abuse," a priest told the Los Angeles Times. "Then the man came up and punched him and he fell to the ground. We were all shocked. Nobody had heard anything about it."

MAHONY'S TALE OF WOE, however, backfired, generating less sympathy than puzzlement: Who was the assailant? And why didn't the cardinal call the police? It was apparently a pretty severe beating. According to Father Joseph Shea of Glendale, speaking to the AP, Mahony was "hospitalized" after it and spent weeks recovering.

The Los Angeles police department, curious about the disgruntled chap on the loose, called Mahony after the story appeared in the press. But Mahony said that he didn't want them to pursue an investigation of the crime -- a small reminder of his signature reluctance to contact law enforcement. According to Shea, Mahony didn't call the assault in because "he felt he could offer it up in reparation for the sins of others," which makes no sense since reporting a crime and "offering up" pain are not at odds.

In the past, cardinals endured physical attacks for courageously defending the faith; these days it appears they are haplessly beaten up for malfeasance.

Mahony is not the only American bishop licking his wounds. So, too, is Donald Pelotte, the bishop of Gallup, New Mexico, who recently announced a leave of absence, due to injuries from what he claims was a fall at his home this summer but which the New Mexico press suspects was a brutal altercation. According to the AP, Pelotte spent part of the second half of this year "recovering at his private Florida residence."

In early December, as Mahony was explaining the mysterious assault, more scandal dripped from L.A.'s endless abuse cases. Michael Stephen Baker, who once belonged to Mahony's inner circle, plead guilty to abusing two boys. (Journalist Ron Russell reported in 2002 that "Baker and Mahony were especially close, and that Baker was among an elite number of prelates privileged to spend weekends with the cardinal at his cabin near Yosemite National Park.")

This from a letter of Cardinal Mahony to his priests from May 14, 2002:
It is quite likely that very soon the public media will highlight
the case of Michael Baker, a former priest of this Archdiocese. You need to be
aware that such a story could come anytime now, and you need to be aware of the seriousness of his case.

Sometime in late 1986, Baker disclosed to me that he had problems in the past of acting out sexually with two minors. Baker was sent to a treatment center for evaluation and recommendation for his future. Following treatment, it was decided that he could do specialized priestly ministry not related to children and youth. He was subsequently given various ministries, such as special outreach to our retired priests. All during this time, we had no reports of abuse.

The details that made this prosecution possible came from the personnel files Mahony was forced to release this year -- records which had cleared Baker of one of the incidents in question and which managed even to get the name of a victim wrong, confusing investigators for months.

According to the Times, when police investigators did finally manage to find the victim, he told them that Baker had "befriended him as a boy and molested him repeatedly."

At one point, "Baker performed a gruesome, secret ceremony at the altar of St. Columbkille's in which the priest mingled their blood and proclaimed them 'joined for life.'" Sheriff's detectives also found that, contrary to the church report, "the victim and his mother and sister were never questioned by church officials at any time."

Baker had told Mahony many years ago of his penchant for pedophilia. "Should we call the police now?" one of Mahony's lawyers asked after this disclosure. (Baker told this story to the Los Angeles Times.) Mahony's response: "No, no, no."


George Neumayr is editor of Catholic World Report
and press critic for California Political Review.

Indrukwekkende recenscie van Leon Podles, Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church « Oak Leaves

Hohoho!

Publisher: Crossland Press
Pub. Date: January 2007
ISBN-13: 9780979027994
Sales Rank: 96,864
676pp

En een indrukwekkende recenscie op een vaker verassend en interessant blog .
En dat is, vlak voor de kerstboom, bij een niet zo makkelijk verkrijgbare studie (TIP) van maar liefst haast 700 pagina's natuurlijk nooit weg. En dat op een blog waarvan ook de reacties, alweer, ook interessant zijn.

Net als Podles eigen weblog, orthodox katholiek met een aantal zeer uitgesproken meningen wo over kerk en politiek en zeker over man/vrouw en de op zijn weblog beschikbare artikelen
dat zeker doen.

Hohoho Steeds meer goed nieuws vanaf het groeiend-front-misbruik-'t-is-welletjes-geweest!

It’s not a sin to be angry. This is evident from the scriptural injunction to “Be angry and sin not” (Eph. 4:26), as well as references to God being angry. For Thomas Aquinas, anger is a necessary element of the virtue of fortitude—fortitude isn’t a matter of just putting up with evil, or of enduring sorrow, but includes actively resisting evil, bravery in the struggle, and anger at the evil which has led to sorrow. Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, Q. 123, Art. 10.

Leon Podles is angry, and wants us to be angry, too. He wants us to be angry at the sin of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy. But more than that, he also wants us to be angry at the bishops and pope for not being angry at that same sin. That’s what irks him about this crisis more than anything else—never have the bishops or popes expressed any anger that priests molested kids or that other bishops covered it up and transferred the predators to new hunting grounds.

Podles had done his work well—as I read, I felt a surge of anger at both the system and my own participation in it as a chancery bureaucrat for nine years. I decided I needed to take a breather before writing this review. I wanted to get some perspective.
I read two other books on the sexual abuse crisis, Jason Berry’s 1992 chronicle of the Gilbert Gauthé case in Lafayette, Louisiana, Lead Us Not into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children, and Berry’s 2004 book with Gerald Renner, Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II, which concentrates on the Legion of Christ.

I’m still angry, but I’m now better able to see what is unique about Podles’ book.

These other authors give us great detail about particular epicenters of the crisis and their own journeys as they covered the stories, but Podles’ work stands out as a masterful portrayal of the big picture, linking the stories Berry and Renner reported with stories from other times and places. He paints with broad strokes in places, but gets into some very fine detail in others to help us to grasp the magnitude of some truly horrendous cases. Podles also gives us analysis of the abusers and the victims, and of how each was treated by bishops, and what went wrong.
The bishops are clearly the focal point of his anger:
...
But he goes further, seeing the crisis as about more than the bishops and the priests they coddled: Catholic culture is implicated; specifically a narcissistic clericalism in which the laity, including police and judges and prosecutors colluded.

“The abuse is far more widespread, goes back farther, and is far worse” than has been recognized to date. (9)

A canonized saint tolerated abuse. Rings of abusers go back at least to the
1940s in America, and abuse involved sacrilege, orgies, and probably murder (and
perhaps even worse). Bishops knew about the abuse and sometimes took part in it.

Those who complained were ignored or threatened, and the police refused to
investigate crimes committed by clergy. (10)

Podles reveals some of the reasons for his personal connection to the subject, and these revelations give us some insight into how he came to target clericalism. He recounts an experience of physical abuse at the hands of a Christian Brother in high school—”He walked to my desk and slugged me so hard on the face that he broke my glasses.” The teacher went to the principal, and Podles was expelled for having objected to an injustice. This served as a lesson for the boys who remained. But it is also for Podles an example of how the Christian Brothers ruled their schools by intimidation, and he sees what happened to him as one instance of a pattern of physical abuse at Christian Brothers schools extending from Ireland to the US and Canada. Many of these same schools had problems of sexual abuse as well, and Podles sees a clear connection: “An atmosphere of physical abuse had prepared the way for sexual abuse.” The Brothers got the point across that you were to do what they asked without question or complaint. (4-5)

Podles, like many Catholic young men of the period, considered the priesthood; he went to Providence College in Rhode Island, which was run by the Dominicans, and lived in Guzman Hall, a dorm for those considering priesthood. There was an undercurrent of homosexuality there, however, and when a roommate “made a sexually aggressive move” on Podles in his sleep, he fled. (6)

Over the years, he began to wonder about the Catholic Church’s relationship with men. What is it about the Catholic Church—and the priesthood in particular—that attracts such a high percentage of homosexuals and drives off heterosexuals? This question led him to write his 1999 book, The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity:.........

“I had been puzzled by the lack of men in Catholic activities, and I was
surprised that my circle of acquaintances included a large number of
homosexuals. I realized that I had met these men through Catholic activities,
through Mass and the charismatic renewal. My research soon revealed that men had stayed away from all the branches of Western Christianity for centuries. Men had doubts about the masculinity of those men who were closely involved with the Church (such as the clergy) and sometimes those doubts were justified. I decided
there was a centuries-old misunderstanding of masculinity and femininity, a
misunderstanding that led men to distance themselves from the Church and that
relegated women to a role of passive obedience.” (7-8; see also pp. 350ff)

.....
The revelations of 2002 should not have caught anyone by surprise. The Gauthé case involved all the same factors of abuse and cover-up, and had brought national attention upon the subject twenty years before. It brought together three unlikely allies, Fr. Thomas Doyle, OP, who was working for the Apostolic Nunciature, Gauthé’s attorney, Ray Mouton, and Fr. Michael Peterson of the St. Luke Institute, who together wrote a report for the US bishops in 1985, “The Problem of Sexual Molestation by Roman Catholic Clergy: Meeting the Problem in a Comprehensive and responsible Manner.” They submitted it to a committee chaired by Bernard Law. They warned of what could happen if the bishops didn’t change their ways. But their report was ignored, Doyle was sent into exile, and the bishops continued doing what they had always been doing.

But the Gauthé case wasn’t the beginning, either. Neither was Davenport. In fact, says Podles, “there is a centuries-old underground in the Church that perpetrates a tradition of abuse,” (68) and this underground is protected and is made possible because of clericalism.

While abuse exists among the laity and outside of Catholicism, among clergy of other denominations as well as scout leaders and teachers, the Catholic crisis is unique. Catholicism makes claims about its priesthood that are made by no other institution (412), exemplified by the statement of Pope Pius XI, “The priest is indeed another Christ, or in some way he is himself a continuation of Christ.” Clericalism is the idea that the clergy really are “the church,” that the role of the laity is to be quiet, give generously, pray faithfully, and, above all, to obey. Clericalism has created a vision of the church where bishops are seen as divinely appointed shepherds whose voice should be heard by both church and state on all issues, spiritual and civil, as evidenced by the plethora of letters on matters such as economics, war, immigration and criminal justice. (416)

Podles sees clericalism as just an institutional variety of narcissism, which is a psychological disorder defined by DSM-IV as a “pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy.” The narcissist “has a grandiose sense of self-importance,” “believes that he or she is ‘special’ and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions),” “has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations,” “is interpersonally exploitative,” and “lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.”

That last point, the lack of empathy, is especially important for considering the reaction of the hierarchy to abuse.

The victims were invisible to everyone. The abusers were narcissists
who had no empathy for the sufferings of their victims. The priests,
officials, and bishops of the Davenport diocese were all caught up in a
clerical narcissism, in which only repercussions that affected them had any
meaning. The laity too were afflicted by a Catholic narcissism that idolized
the clergy. (70)

Narcissism pervades Catholic clerical culture, as Podles portrays it. It creates a vision of priesthood characterized by a sense of performance. It leads to a preoccupation with reputation and appearances at all levels (299ff). It requires an audience who adore the performer, lay accomplices who grant clerics deference and privilege. They, in turn, have reacted in anger when bishops have disclosed the faults of their favorite priests and suspended them. The laity also joined the bishops in seeing court cases and newspaper articles as attacks on the church—which is why newspapers didn’t stay with the story after the Gauthé case. (p. 423 ff)

Clericalism also affects the society as a whole, as was seen in the past willingness of cops and judges to overlook the crimes of priests in the belief that bishops were better able to deal with the problem. Even in the wake of the scandals, some defend this system of privilege; Podles points to an article by Michael Orsi, “Bishops Sacrifice Accommodations, Privileges and Rights: Everybody Loses,” Homiletic and Pastoral Review, 2002. (418)

Narcissism isn’t the only psychological disorder affecting priests. Podles summarizes studies done with seminarians and priests over the past six decades indicating that psychological illnesses pervade the priesthood. Already in 1948 William Bier noted that seminarians were more likely to answer questions as women generally did. A 1968 study showed that 70% candidates for religious life were “psychosexually immature, exhibiting traits of heterosexual retardation, confusion concerning sexual role, fear of sexuality, effeminacy and potentially homosexual dispositions.” (93) A 1972 report by Eugene Kennedy said priests tended to have the emotional maturity of adolescents, and not only had sexual difficulties but problems relating to adults. (94) A 1971 study by Conrad Baars found that 60-70% of priests were emotionally immature, and as many as 25% of priests had “serious psychiatric difficulties.” In particular, they did not properly understand the role of human emotions. (95)
...........
If they read Podles’ book, maybe they might begin to understand why people are angry. Maybe then, things might change. That’s his hope. I can’t share it. I think the narcissism, the clericalism, and the emotionally repressed culture go too deep. How do you change an ancient culture? How do you change people who have been selected because they fit a certain profile and whose basic disposition has been reinforced by training and conditioning?

For me, the narcissism and authoritarianism of the Catholic clericalist system reveals the working of “the mystery of iniquity.” It illustrates how the Catholic system as a whole is corrupted by principles that are contrary to the spirit of Christ. Catholic teaching refers to “structures of sin.”

Podles is not about to abandon the Catholic Church, despite all he has related and concluded. He thinks it can be saved, and proposes a series of reforms. A policy of zero tolerance is essential, he argues, as it not only removes individuals but disrupts networks of abusers. The Vatican must extend it worldwide (495). Canon law must be changed to give bishops authority over all priests in their diocese, religious or diocesan, to hold bishops accountable, and to make it possible for bishops to discipline each other (496). The laity must be more directly involved in governance, and should be consulted in all matters that concern them; parishes and dioceses should be audited annually and the audits made public. He suggests care should be taken in ordaining homosexuals—but he goes further, and advocates the barring of abuse victims from seminary. This may well be his most controversial recommendation, but he sees it is necessary because so many abusers were abused themselves. The cycle of abuse must be ended.

Finally, he calls for a renewed ethic which restores the place of righteous anger and the fear of God. “Righteous anger is a forgotten concept, zeal is condemned as disruptive.” (507) “The bishops fear bad publicity; they need to remember the fear of God, if in fact they believe in Him.” (508)
....
That’s his hope. I can’t share it. I think the narcissism, the clericalism, and the emotionally repressed culture go too deep. How do you change an ancient culture? How do you change people who have been selected because they fit a certain profile and whose basic disposition has been reinforced by training and conditioning?

For me, the narcissism and authoritarianism of the Catholic clericalist system reveals the working of “the mystery of iniquity.” It illustrates how the Catholic system as a whole is corrupted by principles that are contrary to the spirit of Christ. Catholic teaching refers to “structures of sin.”

… [S]in makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence,
violence, and injustice to reign among them. Sins give rise to social situations
and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness. “Structures of sin”
are the expression and effect of personal sins. They lead their victims to do
evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they constitute a “social sin”
(Catechism 1869).

I’d suggest that the Catholic understanding of the papacy and the episcopacy is just such a “structure of sin”; it is “the expression and effect of personal sins,” especially narcissism. These structures that have developed from human sin, and that in turn perpetuate sin, are now seen as constitutive of the Church for Catholicism. Reformation is not possible without undoing what Catholicism sees as of its esse. This reinforces for me the urgency of the prophetic call, “Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sin.”

Kralen en eksterogen:

A Place Where Women Rule

All-Female Village in Kenya Is a Sign Of Burgeoning Feminism Across Africa
By Emily WaxWashington Post Foreign ServiceSaturday, July 9, 2005;

UMOJA, Kenya --

...... "Women don't have to put up with this nonsense anymore."
Ten years ago, a group of women established the village of Umoja, which means unity in Swahili, on an unwanted field of dry grasslands.

de rest van het artikel

........Umoja traces its origins not so much to political protest, however, as to acts of sexual violence against the women, reportedly by British soldiers. After they were raped, some of the women say, they were chased from their homes by their husbands for supposedly bringing dishonor on the community. Other Umoja women split from their husbands for different reasons and found solidarity with others

rest van het artikel

Rebecca Lolosoli, was recently invited to speak before the
United Nations in New York at a world conference on gender empowerment.
When commenting on the achievements of the village, Lolosoli said, “We’ve seen so many changes in these women. They’re healthier and happier. They dress well. They used to have to beg. Now, they’re the ones giving out food to others.”

mexico

MEXICO CITY, Dec 11 (IPS) -

Former members of the Catholic Church hierarchy and over 100 social organisations closed ranks behind Monsignor Monsignor Raúl Vera, the only Catholic bishop in Mexico who still adheres to liberation theology, and whose unorthodox stances and confrontational style are disturbing conservative sectors.

"The Vatican is wary of Vera, and there are rumours that proceedings may have been initiated against him. But we want to state that the bishop is not alone, and that we will defend him," the head of the non-governmental Ecclesiastical Observatory (OE), José Guadalupe Sánchez, told IPS.

In an open letter published Monday by several newspapers, social organisations in Mexico and abroad, and bishops like Pedro Casaldáliga of Spain and Samuel Ruiz of Mexico, who are adherents of liberation theology, a progressive theological current in Latin America, declared an "alert" because of the accusations against Vera, whom they call "a pastor and prophet for our time."

Vera, 62, was ordained bishop in 1988. He originally served in the impoverished southern state of Guerrero and then in nearby Chiapas where he was auxiliary bishop to Ruiz in San Cristóbal de las Casas.

From 2000, Vera has been the bishop in the city of Saltillo, the capital of the state of Coahuila, in northwestern Mexico.

In November a judge in Coahuila formally complained to the Vatican, in his personal capacity as a Catholic churchgoer, that Vera had abused his ecclesiastical powers under canon law.

Vera had called Judge Hiradier Huerta a "ruffian" from the pulpit, in criticism for sentences he passed against army troops accused of raping local women. Huerta accused Vera of slander and asked the Vatican to impose the maximum penalty, which is removal from office.

The bishop criticised and even insulted Huerta for the sentences of between 21 and 41 years in prison he handed down to a group of soldiers who gangraped several prostitutes in Coahuila in July 2006. Vera considered the sentences to be too lenient.

According to Huerta, the bishop seriously damaged his (Huerta’s) personal reputation and that of his family.

Vera is known for his outspoken criticism of government leaders and members of the business community, as well as for his demands for justice for the poor, especially indigenous people, and for the views he shares with the left.

Those he criticises, in turn, say that he is more of an activist than a man of God.

The Mexican Church has made no official comment, at least in public, about Vera, who is the only active bishop among its numbers who openly adheres to the principles of liberation theology, which grew out of the Second Vatican Council but which was soon frowned on by the Vatican.

During the nearly 27 years of the papacy of John Paul II, who died in 2005, this progressive current in the Latin American Church was combated by the retirement or transfer of nearly all the bishops that supported it, and the silencing of several of its theological writers. No change is expected under the conservative Benedict XVI.

Vera wrote the foreword to a book about the Church and pederasty, recently published in Mexico, which may have upset his peers.

In it, the bishop appears to give credence to reports that archbishop Norberto Rivera, primate of Mexico, might have covered up for a paedophile priest.

"We certainly haven’t seen a public reprimand from the Vatican against Bishop Vera, but it would not surprise us if proceedings are being taken against him, as rumour has it," said Sánchez. His group, the OE, was created nine years ago by avowedly progressive Catholic organisations.

When Vera worked in San Cristóbal de las Casas with Bishop Ruiz, who retired in 2000, the Vatican was openly critical of their diocese, which it viewed as "irregular" for ordaining too many indigenous deacons, and teaching unorthodox doctrines.

Vera has not specifically mentioned the accusations made against him by Judge Huerta, nor any hypothetical trouble he may have caused the Vatican. But in early November he said he was accustomed to adversity and accusations.

A member of the Dominican order, Vera is critical of the government of conservative President Felipe Calderón, a devout Catholic who, in Vera’s view, is not living up to his promise to fight poverty, and is mistakenly following free-market economic strategies.

When Calderón referred to the supposed achievements of his administration on its first anniversary, Dec. 1, Vera’s comment was that either his advisers were pulling the wool over the president’s eyes, or Calderón was a liar. "The truth is, it makes me see red; forgive me, you know what I’m like," he said.

Those who signed their names to the letter of support for Vera state that he is a good man, and that "his commitment to defending the cause of the most excluded and defenceless has resulted in innumerable threats and accusations raining down on him, intended to discredit him."

Last week, activists held a small march through the streets of Saltillo in support of Vera, and they are holding a rally in his honour in Mexico City on Tuesday.

"Let the Vatican know that we will stand firm in our support of Don Raúl," said the OE spokesman. (END/2007)

Women abused as youths by priests deserve equity

Women abused as youths by priests deserve equity
By PAT KINNEY,
Courier Business Editor

WATERLOO --- A victim of child sex abuse by clergy in the Roman Catholic Church says women in her position deserve as much attention as their male counterparts.

Rosalyn Zieser believes society tends to focus on male victims of clergy sex abuse --- possibly because such reports have been more prevalent. She also thinks some may consider the thought of male priests abusing boys more aberrant than priests abusing girls.

Zieser was born in Iowa but lives in Unity, Wis. She said she is glad she went through the claim and settlement process in her own case.
"I gained through it. I wouldn't have otherwise. It helped me think things through. I remembered a lot more things."

Zieser, an author in her early 70s with six grown children, has lived in Wisconsin since 1976. She said she was abused at age 10 by the Rev. Patrick McElliott in the late 1940s when he was at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Monti in Buchanan County.

After leaving that congregation, McElliott served as pastor of St. John's Catholic Church in Waterloo from 1954 to 1963. More recently, he has been the subject of suits alleging abuse during his tenure there, many of which were settled over the past two years. McElliott died in Waterloo in 1987.

"I know I did all I could to fix this for myself," Zieser said following her settlement last spring.
"I hope it'll give some courage to others. It opened up all the old wounds. But now, they'll heal better."

Having gone through therapy provided by the Archdiocese of Dubuque as part of her settlement, and looking back, Zieser believes women may be able to take additional steps to make the process less difficult.
"I would not go through the litigation process again without having been in therapy already and remaining in therapy during the process," she said.

Some women also may feel more comfortable having a female therapist, attorney or other professional help.
"Maybe not all women would feel they need that," Zieser said.

Attorneys
Two Waterloo attorneys who worked for many people making claims within the Dubuque archdiocese said they helped draw attention to the suffering of female as well as male abuse victims.

Tom Staack and Chad Swanson represented a comparatively high proportion of female clients in two sizable settlements. By comparison, in other regions of the country an overwhelming portion of cases reportedly involved male victims.
"I think we did a lot to change the perception, in this area, that the problem was just one that dealt with boys. From that perspective, I thought we were doing a good thing," Staack said.

Swanson said 12 of the 29 victims involved in the two settlements were women.
"In our first settlement we had eight females and in the second group we had four," he said.
Swanson said he and Staack are pursuing additional abuse claims with male and female clients.

"We do recognize the individual needs that can be specific to a person's sex," Swanson said.

The portion of abuse cases reported by women in the Dubuque archdiocese is significantly higher that even an adjoining diocese.

Attorney Craig Levien in the Quad Cities has represented victims in a number of abuse cases in the Davenport diocese and was involved in a major settlement recently. He said the overwhelming majority of the nearly 100 individuals he worked with are men.

In the area of clergy sex abuse in general, Levien said, the victimization of women has been "even more underreported" than abuse of men.
"And it's been significantly underreported by men," he said.

Other views
Others say women deserve attention.
"Every other female victim I've spoken to indicated there is a definite difference in the way female victims are treated in comparison to male victims," said Heather Smith of Waterloo, co-founder of the Northeast Iowa chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

Her conversations have been with victims involved in other settlements in other states. Her own abuse occurred in another state.
"I think society as a whole, whether it's clergy abuse, whether it's by incest, or whether it's by rape, it's perceived as more horrific if it's a male victim," Smith said.

Despite that perception on a wider scale, officials within the Archdiocese of Dubuque say they have not heard other clergy sex abuse survivors here complain of disparate treatment based on gender. Those officials also note Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus has had a policy of appointing women to leadership positions on the issue. The archdiocese has male and female victim assistance coordinators; the two directors of archdiocesan Office for the Protection of Children have been women; and six of the 12 members of the Archdiocesan Review Board on clergy child sex abuse are women, including its chair.

Archdiocesan officials point out victims pursuing claims always have the option of choosing their own attorney, male or female. They also noted psychologists used for testing and evaluating victims as part of the claims process are cleared with victims' attorneys.

Three nationally recognized figures on clergy sex abuse can't pinpoint whether clergy sex abuse victims of one gender are systematically treated better than the other. But they acknowledge differences exist in the circumstances and handling of cases with male and female victims.

"I'm not sure about disparate treatment in the judicial system, but there's certainly the feeling that female clergy sex abuse victims tend to get considerably less attention than males," said Dave Clohessy, national director of SNAP.

"I think male-on-male sex crimes are viewed as inherently more salacious, titillating, outrageous. I'm not saying they are. I'm saying they're viewed that way."

Tahira Khan Merritt, an attorney in Dallas, says the majority of cases involve male victims. She has represented a number of clergy sex abuse victims and also served as a special prosecutor in a major criminal proceeding against a priest.

"I would say 90 percent of them are male victims," she said, though she doesn't think they are handled particularly differently.
Merritt, though, notes "jury bias in every case," which may reflect society as a whole.

For example, Merritt said she is representing one of several teenage victims impregnated by a priest and must overcome biases in that case.
"It's kind of like, did they seduce him? All those kinds of things you don't have to deal with if it's male-on-male," she said.

Meanwhile, Merritt said homosexual abuse may be considered more of a taboo and more terrible, especially in the view of different ethnic cultures.

Gender issues
Dave Lewcon, a clergy sex abuse survivor from Massachusetts, provides counseling and support as a victim advocate with Merritt's clients. He says support group meeting attendance indicates the number of actual abuse incidents may be more evenly divided by gender than actual suits indicate.

"I would say the overwhelming majority of those attending were women, definitely," Lewcon said.
Clohessy reports in his group a 50-50 split between male and female victims.

"The bishops claim it's 80 percent boys, but I think those figures are highly suspect," Clohessy said.
"I think, among some older Catholic parents, if Sally has been assaulted by a priest as a girl, dad puts his arm around her and says, 'I'm sorry,'" Clohessy said.

"If Johnny is sexually assaulted, there's a slightly higher chance that the dad puts his arm around Johnny and says, 'We're going to do something about this.'"

Some pastors receiving abuse reports may have acted similarly, Clohessy suggests. He also notes that, nationally, male victims have received some of the larger settlements.

The settlements are "all fundamentally far from perfect" and can be judged with a variety of standards, Clohessy said.

Smith, with the Survivors Network in Northeast Iowa, said how damages are determined in group settlements can raise difficult questions.

"How can they walk a mile in my shoes? How can they live with devastation, and the changes in personality, and the effect it has on my daily life?" she asks.
"No one else can know that. And how can they say what happens to me is less damaging than what happens to whomever?"

Similarly, Smith suggests a perception exists that women in general can be victims, but not abusers --- despite the fact many boys were abused by nuns.
"Whether the victim is male or female, the effects on males and females are just as devastating," Smith said.
Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com.

Residential students may not get full claim: advisor

Last Updated: Friday, December 7, 2007
CBC NEWS

Poor government records may prevent some former residential school students from receiving their full compensation from the federal government, according to the Assembly of First Nations.

About 60 per cent of compensation claimants are not receiving the full amount they are requesting because the federal government cannot find records proving their attendance at a residential school, said Ken Young, a legal adviser for the assembly.

But he said it should not be up to claimants to prove when they went to school.
"Canada is responsible for the records," Young said Thursday. "For Canada to now attempt to place the onus on survivors [is] totally unacceptable, and that actually lets Canada off the hook."
Young told Dene Nation chiefs in Yellowknife that 35,000 payments have gone out across the country to date, with about 500 in the Northwest Territories.
About 80,000 former students are estimated to be eligible to receive compensation, which includes a $10,000 payment for the first year a person attended a residential school, plus $3,000 for every subsequent year they were enrolled.
Average payments are expected to be $28,000, but some may qualify for payments of up to $275,000.

Former students applying for compensation may be asked to give additional information to help the government, Young said, such as photographs, a description of the school they attended or the names of the principal or staff members.

Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus, who is also the Assembly of First Nation's N.W.T. regional chief, said he has been telling claimants who have not received their full amounts not to get discouraged.
"If, for example, the federal government doesn't have their records, the territorial government most likely will," Erasmus said. "If not, then the church also may have their records. So there are more than one avenue."

Young said any former students who cannot reach an agreement with the federal government over the duration of their residential school attendance can always appeal the decision.

Northern Stores allow cheques to be cashed

As part of the compensation package, Ottawa agreed to provide roughly $1.9 billion to the former students who claim to have endured sexual, physical and psychological abuse while attending 130 federally-funded Indian residential schools that were run by churches from the 1870s to the 1970s.

Some compensation claimants in the northern territories have cashed in their compensation cheques at Northern and NorthMart grocery stores across the North.

As of earlier this week, 15 cheques had been processed with the retail chain, which is owned by the Northwest Company.
Northern Canada vice-president Michael McMullen told CBC News that the company is waiving a 1.5 per cent personal cheque-cashing commission for those cashing in their compensation.

While stores can only give out a maximum of $2,500 in cash at one time, the rest of the money can be transferred onto debit cards, credit cards or store credit.

Instead of charging the commission, which would have taken large chunks out of claimants' payments, McMullen said they will be charged a $3 fee per store debit, or CashLink, card. Such cards can hold up to $10,000.
"The average cheque has been around $17,000, and the average fee for the entire transaction is about $6 — and that's when they load two link cards," McMullen said.

Katholiek Kleuren Coloring and Comic Books Take Aim at Sexual Abuse

Een laatste Sinterklaas cadeautje nodig?

Al een katholiek kleurboek overwogen?
Hohoho.

December 4, 2007, 12:57 pm
By Sewell Chan

New York Post

A program by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York to distribute educational materials — a coloring book and a comic book — to children to help them avoid becoming victims of sexual abuse has drawn attention in Newsweek and The New York Post. An independent expert said that the books could send the wrong message if not accompanied by proper context and guidance from adults.

In one page of the coloring book — for students in the first through fifth grades — a smiling angel tells an altar boy who is putting on a vestment: “For safety’s sake, a child and an adult shouldn’t be alone in a closed room together. If a child and an adult happen to be alone, someone should know where they are and the door should be open or have a big window in it.”

The angel adds, “Remember, it’s always safer with a group of people you know, but if you are alone with an adult, make sure others know where to find you.”

The comic book, for schoolchildren from the sixth through eighth grades, tells the stories of a girl and a boy who have been victims of sexual abuse in separate incidents, and how they handled the situations. The comic book urges children to tell a trusted adult if they have been abused. The books were illustrated by Charles Barnett, an artist in Lake Katrine, N.Y.

While the books carry messages that are widely echoed in other educational programs for children, they also arise from the context of the sexual abuse scandals that have roiled the Catholic Church.
“It is sad, but it is a reflection of the times,” said Edward T. Mechmann, a former federal and state prosecutor who was hired in 2005 to direct the archdiocese’s Safe Environment Program. “We have to protect the kids and make sure when they deal with adults that it’s within the proper boundaries.”

Mr. Mechmann said his office’s mandate was to implement the Dallas Charter issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002.
The New York archdiocese covers Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, as well as six suburban counties to the north. (The Diocese of Brooklyn covers Brooklyn, Queens and part of Long Island.)

Mr. Mechmann’s responsibilities include background checks for clergy and lay people who work with children, and an educational program used in parochial schools and religious education programs.
In an interview today, Dr. Eli H. Newberger, a pediatrician at Harvard Medical School and a leading expert on child sexual abuse, warned in an interview that young children may misinterpret well-intended messages.

“With regard to kids, any such simple message as, ‘Don’t be alone with an adult in the room,’ is susceptible to multiple interpretations children are going to place on it given their age, their previous experience with caring adults and with the person and the medium from whom the message comes,” he said.
He also cautioned that the books, coming from the Catholic Church, may inspire mistrust in some parents aware of the various abuse scandals.

Dr. Newberger added:
Conversations with very young children need to be carried out by the people closest to those kids, whom the children trust and who can talk about what this means. With first graders, very often these kids don’t easily go into the mode of thinking that enables them to deal with contingencies, the kind of what-if questions, which doesn’t develop until age 10 or 11. The worry I have is that for younger children, the simple unadorned message, “Don’t go into any room alone with an adult,” carries with it implicitly a sense of danger and of fear. I think it is naïve to assume that a child is going to get the intended message without experiencing a measure of distress or doubt.

Dr. Newberger, who has studied sexual abuse prevention and treatment efforts for decades, added: “Research on these prevention initiatives is incomplete and not wholly convincing. What these various initiatives frequently do, however, is enable children to talk about and disclose that have been worrying them, things that have happened to them. Parents and others have to be prepared for these unanticipated conversations, which inevitably follow.”

Told about Dr. Newberger’s comments, Mr. Mechmann said that the coloring and comic books are integrated as part of a larger curriculum, that the materials are taken home and that parents and guardians should discuss the materials with their children.

Mr. Mechmann emphasized that the curriculum is only one part of the archdiocese’s child protection efforts. He said the archdiocese had separate codes of conduct for clergy members and for lay people, which make it clear that adults should never be alone with a child in an unsupervised setting. The code includes narrow exceptions in settings like confession and pastoral counseling.