I'm Sorry But... They Made Us Do It

When Pope Benedict spoke to the cardinals gathered in Rome, he actually had a few good things to say about the Roman Catholic clergy sex crime scandal. He told the cardinals the church needed to examine what was wrong in its teachings that it had "allowed such a thing to occur" and spoke of the church's responsibility to help the victims. I experienced a brief and fleeting moment of hope. I really should have known better.

He undid any good he might have done by casting part of the blame on that ole' devil, Secular Society. Secular Society looks lightly on pedophilia, you see.

"There exists a market of pornography regarding children that seems to be increasingly accepted as normal by society,” he said.

Accepted as normal? We must travel in different social sets, the pope and I, because I can't think of a single friend, acquaintance or business associate who would say s/he thinks child porn is "normal" or anything less than appalling.

As Margaret Kennedy of the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors group, said, “He is trying to say that the modern world is corrupt and sexually rampant. It is blaming society for what is actually their responsibility,” she said. “No one in any age has ever thought that adults having sex with children is right.”


And he blames the '70s. Apparently there were some scholars in Secular Society who taught pedophilia was okay, and that's where it all started, this business of priests raping children and bishops covering up for them. Which tells me this pope is still not willing to tell the truth, because survivor blogger Kay Ebeling has printed many scanned documents that tell the story of Father Gerald Fitzgerald, who ran a center for pedophile priests in the '50s and '60s. Fitzgerald's center was, at one time, located on an island, Tortola, kind of a Guantanamo Bay for rapist priests. He wanted to keep them there indefinitely but was ordered to return them to a mainland treatment center in New Mexico. From there, they were funneled to more unsuspecting parishes located at great distances from where they had previously "served."

Fitzgerald's communications reached the highest echelons of the church hierarchy, so it's completely false to state this situation was caused by the wild and crazy '70s, or that they did not know it was going on. Heck, even Dante wrote about priests who raped youth, way back in the 1300s. In his classic work, "Inferno," there was a special circle of hell to which they (and the hierachy who enabled them)were consigned.

One can only hope.

Previous governor acted to assist child-raping priest in Wisconsin

Predator priest, whose strange case revealed how deep the reach of hierarchy in political world, scheduled for trial
WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director — CONTACT: 414.429.7259/

State of Wisconsin criminal justice officials are to be commended for their persistence in keeping behind bars Fr. Norbert Maday, whose strange case illustrates how deep the reach the catholic hierarchy has in the political world but also, fortunately, how civil and criminal law, when fully and aggressively used, are keeping children safe. ...

Mayday was convicted in the mid 1990s’ for bringing grade school children from his Chicago parish to Wisconsin for purposes of sexually assaulting them. At the time, he was also convicted for intimidating a witness, when he threatened to kill a victim’s older brother if he testified. Hardly, in other words, a model priest and citizen.

Yet, that did not stop, in a truly bizarre act of political favoritism, Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, in 1997, at the personal request of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, from ordering his legal counsel and state corrections officials to arrange to have the body of Maday’s mother transported from Chicago, across state lines, to the Fox Valley Correctional Institute so the priest could have a private viewing and service before her burial. State law prohibits imprisoned felons from attending funerals, which can be videotaped. So, Thompson brought the body to Mayday.

Blue Bloods off my Must-View List

I've gotten hooked on the new CBS show Blue Bloods. Normally I'm not into police dramas, but, like most women of a certain age, I've got a little crush on Tom Selleck, who's still just as compelling as years back when he played Magnum PI. The entire cast is very talented in their portrayal of an Irish-Catholic police family living in New York City. Their involvement in law enforcement goes back three or more generations. While I've really enjoyed the show up to this point, I'm not sure I'm going to continue watching it.

Last Friday the show involved kids in a Catholic high school selling drugs. The clergy staff members were reluctant to cooperate with the police, but Selleck's character, Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, told the priest, "You don't want to sweep another problem under the rug."

I had a little hope.

But later in the show, Reagan met with the bishop. He couldn't have been more nauseating, with the "your excellency" and the kowtowing. Selleck's character suggested the cardinal give a press conference to address the issue and said he would stand beside him, "just like he has stood with the Reagan family."

This hits too close to home, as I know of far too many cases where the linkage between abusive clergy and law enforcement has been, indeed, a fine blue/black line. Cases where law enforcement's reluctance to arrest clergy for the most egregious crimes makes me wonder what exactly is behind this unholy alliance.

The priest who assaulted me, Patrick McElliott, was well-known to law enforcement in Waterloo, Iowa. Several officers went to the bishop and insisted the bishop send him away after he assaulted one too many young girls in that city. Of course, he went on to the next parish after a short stop at rehab and continued committing crimes against children and young people throughout his career and into retirement.

My mother had a saying she used, usually when discussing situations I didn't understand when I was little. She would be talking about people who were supposedly upstanding members of the community, and she would shake her head and say, "They're thick as thieves." I didn't get it: weren't thieves bad guys whom the good guys (cops) put in jail?

Far too often, abusive clergy and corrupt law enforcement operated together to prevent justice from being served. I've suddenly lost a lot of respect for Commissioner Reagan, fictional character though he is. And Blue Bloods has lost a fan.

Anne Rice on Clergy Abuse Crisis

The following is a section of an article in Jezebel.com about author Anne Rice's decision to leave Christianity "for the sake of Christ." I am thankful that Rice states what so many survivors have felt: that far too many Catholics are still complicit in the sexual assault crisis.

In answer to whether she will miss Catholicism, Rice addresses that too:

I will probably miss the ritual, the liturgy, going to Mass, going to holy communion, but I really couldn't go anymore...I was too angry. I was too confused. That clergy abuse scandal, the defensiveness of Catholics about that scandal, their anger at not wanting to hear about it, not wanting to know what had happened with priests abusing people sexually and then being transferred to parish — from parish to parish, I mean all of that was too much. I was — I was sitting in church in a beautiful environment with beautiful music wanting to pray and I was too angry and too confused to be there. I had to leave. It was coming between me and God to be in that church. And the church should be the place that helps you get close to God.


Read more: http://jezebel.com/5610445/anne-rice-explains-why-she-left-the-church#ixzz0wOsdPXCw

Child Welfare Not a Priority for Catholic Church

The Vatican's Child Rights Report to the U.N. is 13 years overdue, according to this A.P. report:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iVXpIdqtwNCWrNHwSiMtY3LCMNxAD9GVEVMO0

While you might wonder how much value should be placed on a children's rights report from an organization known to have callously disregarded said rights, you might be heartened to hear "a paragraph will be dedicated to the problem of child abuse by Catholic clergy," according to Vatican spokesman Hubertus Matheus Van Megen. Gee, a whole paragraph. Knock yourselves out, will you.

And then Van Megen told the U.N. an out-and-out lie.

"While many speak of child abuse as pedophilia, it would be more correct to speak of ephebophilia, being a homosexual attraction to adolescent males," he told the rights council, claiming critics had misrepresented the situation. "Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80-90 percent belong to this sexual orientation minority, which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the age of 11 and 17 years old."

That is a blatant lie. In the United States, at least 30% of the victims have been female, which would mean the rest of the cases could not possibly be more than 70%. I do not know the numbers, but I do know a significant amount of abuse involved children younger than 11. If that number was only 10%, we would now be down to 60%, which is statistically quite different from "80-90%."

The Vatican continues to try to frame this as a gay issue. It's not. Even when the assaults involved young seminarians, men in their late teens and early twenties, the imbalance of power is such that the real issue is abuse, not sex. It's about men in power using their authority wrongly. It's about deceit, dishonesty and an unwillingness to own responsibility for wrong-doing, while at the same time trying to present themselves as a moral authority.

Catholic Professor Defends Church for Burning "Heretics" at the Stake

This man is quoted as an authority on the Catholic television network, EWTN. If he was just a low-level teacher somewhere, it would be one thing, but evidently he is viewed as legit by many powerful conservative Catholics. Scary stuff.

Re:Heretics
Question from Jared on 05-13-2002:

Dr. Carroll, in response to the post by Michael Edwards-Ronning on 5-11-02: I think that the popes during that time felt that the killing of heretics was just. To figure, wouldn't it be a lot better for the general population if a few mainstream heretics were killed, so that the whole population was not "infected" by the heresies of the few? What I am trying to say is that it wasn't a terrible idea. Kill a few heretics to save the eternal souls of the population. That may seem harsh, but that is the basis of my assumption. Thanks.

Answer by Warren H. Carroll, Ph.D on 05-15-2002:
Well stated. I agree with you. - Dr. CarrollCOPYRIGHT 2002 EWTN




Heresey and Burning
Question from David Betts on 05-14-2002:
Dr. Carroll,
The Papal Bull, 'Exsurge Domine,' of Jun 15, 1520, condemned the errors of Martin Luther and his followers. In the translation of this Bull that I have read, Pope Leo X repudiates the following Protestant teaching:

#33. That heretics be burned is against the will of the Spirit.

This proclamation by Pope Leo X proves the Catholic Church taught that the burning of heretics was acceptable to God. Responsibility for this practice cannot be shifted to the civil authorities, as has been suggested.

You have termed the Reformation a 'Revolt,' which it may have been, but I ask you, what sort of Christian would blindly obey such twisted doctrine ?

Respectfully,

David Betts



Answer by Dr. William Carroll on 05-18-2002:
Traditionally, burning at the stake had always been the penalty for heresy because, as previous posters have pointed out, heresy was believed to consign souls to hellfire. That is why this practice was followed. - Dr. Carroll

A Shout-out for Benita

A hearty congratulations goes out to Benita Kane, who with her friend Virginia Tranel wrote a book about the sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of serial predator Father Henry Dunkel. The book was just released and is available on Amazon. Benita will also be selling her book at the SNAP conference, which will be held in Chicago July 30-31.

The following is from Benita's website, http://benitapreyforhim.com/index.html

BENITA:Prey for Him is the true story of bright, vivacious Benita Kane and the Catholic priest who lured her from childhood into a disastrous twenty-year entanglement that changed the course of her life.

Benita spends her happy-go-lucky childhood in the shelter of the nearby church, parochial school and shared belief system of an entire town, Dubuque, Iowa. This idyll comes to an end when her father suddenly dies, WWII breaks out and her two older brothers enter the service. Into this vulnerable situation strolls young, charismatic Henry N. Dunkel who offers hope and friendship to Benita’s overwhelmed mother, Marcella. He drops in to chat with her in the kitchen, stands in for Benita’s dad at school events, offers to teach Benita to drive.

These secret lessons in his new Dodge lead to a country lane where he plies her with cigarettes, bourbon, and stargazing in his arms. One spring afternoon he entices her into a parish confessional room and forces himself upon her.Now she is his, body and soul. Despite her tormented conscience, she meets him for clandestine sex wherever and whenever he wishes. Meanwhile, Benita’s brothers have returned from the service; initially, they are grateful to Father for his help, but their trust slowly turns to suspicion. Throughout high school, college, graduate school, beyond, the surreptitious meetings between Benita and the priest go on, alienating her from her family and plunging her into deep distress. Still, she is helpless to change her course. Her anguished family turns to the church for guidance. The Archbishop pledges them to secrecy, blames Benita for ruining his priest and launches a series of creative maneuvers to stop her, including a six-week stay in a psychiatric hospital. How she extricates herself from this hell is a gripping story as well as an inspiring testimony to her strength of character.

As Benita’s friend and classmate from second-grade through college, Virginia Tranel writes from the unique stance of participant-observer. This story is not simply one more account of clerical sexual abuse, but rather an astounding, maddening, compelling look at what it was like to grow up in a family, community and culture so dominated by the Catholic church that no one could acknowledge the ominous events unfolding before them.

I recently wrote a letter to our local newspaper which was published last Monday, June 7th. I wrote to The Messenger because I was disgusted with the hypocricy the Catholic Church used in their decision to fire a teacher over allegedly being an atheist- not true- when they continue to support priests and at least one bishop who went against all the teachings of Jesus and sexually assaulted kids and young people in their parishes.

Since then, I've spoken with the teacher's mother, Karen Nurre. She has shared with me how harshly her family is being judged over this situation and the struggles they have had. But she also said, "We will weather this storm." I applaud her courage and the way her family is coming together to support each other. If only the "family" of the church would respond that way when the most vulnerable members are being hurt.

Here is my letter:

The Des Moines Register reported how a Fort Dodge math teacher was fired from her job at St. Edmond Catholic School for “making atheist statements in a public forum,” which referred to information posted on her Facebook page. The teacher, Abby Nurre, was called into the office of Monsignor Kevin McCoy, where he handed her a letter informing her that she was being fired and barred her from the school grounds. The school board and the Iowa Catholic Conference tried unsuccessfully to deny her unemployment benefits “for being a member of an atheist website,” according to testimony by St. Edmond business manager Tim Hancock. He also said she had violated the principles of the Catholic church.

I find it interesting how swiftly and harshly this teacher was punished for beliefs which she stated she no longer holds. I am wondering where is the punishment for retired Bishop Laurence Soens, who was found credibly accused of sexually assaulting more than 20 boys. Does he not live out his retirement years through the support of the Catholic church? One might think that sexually assaulting teens was also a violation of the principles of the Catholic church. The diocese also continues to list Father Gerald Hartz, former St. Edmond superintendent, who was arrested in Carroll for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl and sued for assaulting an adult woman. The lawsuit was dropped on a technicality, but in it, the diocese admitted Father Hartz had had this problem before. Yet it seems mercy is being extended in this instance, as he is still a priest in good standing.

Certainly a private school has the right to insist on specific standards for their employees. But obviously some employees merit more grace than others, regardless of the charge against them.

Here is a link to my guest editorial, published in the Des Moines Register on April 29th, reprinted below: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100429/OPINION01/4290331/1166/OPINION01/Guest-column-Church-hierarchy-should-come-clean/

Guest column: Church hierarchy should come clean

JANET CLARK of Fort Dodge is western Iowa SNAP leader and author of "Blind Faith." Contact: j_e_m_clark@hotmail.com. • April 29, 2010

At the heart of the Roman Catholic sexual abuse crisis, the real issue is the cover-up. It's not unreasonable to hold religious leaders to a higher standard than people in other professions, but we all know there are people from every walk of life who do really bad things. Sex crimes in the Catholic Church are big news not so much because of the clergy who abused parishioners, but because of the organized, systematic nature of the cover-up.

When I began to deal with the fact that I had been sexually assaulted by a priest, I was able through my attorney to speak with several of his other victims. Through our conversations, it became clear this priest was a serial offender, well known to hierarchy and law enforcement alike. It became apparent to me that the church in which I grew up had placed me in the hands of a known predator.



That realization brought an overwhelming sense of betrayal, almost worse than the initial attack. I was baptized and raised in the Catholic Church, attended Catholic schools, joined the Legion of Mary. Coming to terms with the fact that this church failed to protect me and so many others from priests who were known to be sexually abusive was excruciating.

Until recently, sexual abuse was shrouded in secrecy throughout all of society. With the abuse in the Catholic Church, however, that secrecy was clothed in sacred garments; "telling" was not only unacceptable, but a sin. Theologians argue about whether or not that secrecy was encoded in a Vatican edict entitled "Crimen Sollicitationis," a document then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) reissued in 2001 instructing bishops to follow certain protocol for dealing with sexual assaults by clergy. According to a BBC documentary, "Sex Crimes and the Vatican," this missive ordered victims, witnesses and perpetrators to keep quiet about the abuse under the penalty of excommunication. For a Catholic, excommunication means not only the loss of church membership, but the loss of salvation. The family of one of the other victims I spoke with was threatened by the bishop's office with excommunication if they told anybody else about the attack, and the resultant secrecy contributed to more people being victimized. Including me.

Victim advocate and canon lawyer the Rev. Thomas Doyle stated that, while he was a consultant for the documentary, he did not believe "Crimen Sollicitationis" is "proof of an executive conspiracy."

"I do not believe that the Vatican or any group of bishops needed a conspiracy," Doyle stated in an article in the National Catholic Reporter. "The secrecy and cover-up was very much a part of the Catholic institutional culture and was, in fact, a policy. I have studied the files of hundreds of clergy sex abuse cases throughout the U.S., in Canada, Ireland and the British Isles ... files produced by dioceses and religious orders ... and I can assure you that the common thread was an intentional cover-up enshrouded in secrecy. That is the way it was."

Regardless of which interpretation of the document is correct, the fact is that the cover-up was well-orchestrated and involved the upper echelon of the hierarchy. Pope Benedict is known as an intelligent micromanager. It stretches the imagination to think that the man who led the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith from 1981-2005 did not know a great deal about the sexual assaults occurring in his church. It is time for him to come clean, along with the rest of the hierarchy

To insist on accountability from this institution is not Catholic bashing. Those who use that term would be well-advised to remember that the victims were themselves faithful Catholics. I am thankful to the media for shining a light into this dark corner. There is a saying in 12-step circles: You are only as sick as your secrets. Or, in the words of Jesus, the founder of Christianity, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

The Vatican hates women

The following is a section from this article: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0502/Catholic-sexual-abuse-scandal-sharpens-church-rift-over-what-a-priest-should-be/

At the largest Benedictine school in the US, the education of new priests – which started 10 years ago under the influence of then-Cardinal Ratzinger – moved sharply toward the model of the priest educated in isolation, when Vatican directives began to forbid men and women educated together.

One member of the Benedictine order who is close to the university but was not authorized to speak to the media described the directives, which came out of Cardinal Ratzinger’s office, as part of a “purification of the church concept in which women should not be in the classes. A lot of us feel this creates instead a fortress church, a reclusive model…priests leave school and immediately go into communities and work with married people, and women, but have had little contact with either group in their priestly formation. This all originated in the Vatican.”


My friend and fellow activist Dee Miller has stated the split in the Baptist Church boils down to the "woman problem." (I hope I'm quoting you right, Dee!) The fundamentalist Baptists couldn't bear the thought of women in leadership positions, preferring them to "submit graciously" to their husbands, and presumably other male authority.

Will the Catholic church go the same route? Most educated women and their families are not going to tolerate being locked out of leadership roles indefinitely, and that is the direction this church is headed. We'll have to wait and see what will be the outcome of this Neanderthal-type of thinking. It doesn't bode will for the church's ability to deal with the abuse crisis, that's for sure.

God's Labrador

He was known in Vatican circles as “God’s Rottweiler,” for the sure and swift punishments he handed canonical lawbreakers. But when dealing with priests who were child molesters, he became “God’s Labrador.”

Quote from Donald Kaul, East Texas Review

Next LA Archbiship Lied about Criminal Priest

From the San Antonio Express, MY SA, April 9, 2010, by Abe Levy.

A Catholic priest from a rural parish west of San Antonio is accused in a lawsuit filed Thursday of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy at gunpoint and during private catechism sessions two years ago.

The suit, which names outgoing Archbishop José Gomez as a defendant and claims he sought to conceal the matter, comes three days after the Vatican named Gomez as the next archbishop in Los Angeles.

He is transferring to California next month. Gomez said recently through a spokesman that his five-year tenure involved no new sex-abuse allegations.

Italy in denial while Africa 'fesses up

From the April 9 Irish Times: According to Cardinal Severino Poletto of Turin, “It’s time to put a stop to this whole business . .

If you thought he meant, time to put a stop to the business of priests raping, sodomizing and sexually assaulting children and young people, think again. No, he meant it's time for people to quit picking on the pope. The cardinal, like most prelates, saves his vehemence for protecting the Pope against all that nasty "gossip", as the Vatican calls the claims that the Pope didn't act to end child sexual assaults under his watch.

Less sympathetic to the problems of the hierarchy is Archbishop of Johannesburg Buti Tlhagale, who said Africa also is effected by the abuse crisis. Honesty in the hierarchy is so rare that his statement made me do a double-take.

"The image of the Catholic church is virtually in ruins because of the bad behaviour of its priests, wolves wearing sheep's skin, preying on unsuspecting victims, inflicting irreparable harm, and continuing to do so with impunity," said Tlhalgale. Now there's the guy that ought to be the next pope.

My Wish List

A friend asked me what I wanted to see happen regarding the Catholic abuse crisis, what I thought it would take to resolve this complicated issue, and this is what I came up with:

I want the Pope to publicly repudiate two doctrines: crimen solicitations and mental reservation. Crimen solicitations has been referred to a lot in the news lately; at its core, it proscribes secrecy in dealing with SA. Mental reservation means, essentially, a cleric can hide part of the truth if he thinks it serves a greater good. This has been used to justify lying to civil authorities, victims, advocates. I'm sorry, but I know for a fact two bishops in Iowa lied under oath about abuse cases. I want the Pope to repudiate these doctrines and ask forgiveness for all the damange they have caused.

I want the leadership system to change. An all-male hierarchy is at the heart of the problem. I'm certainly not anti-men: I love my husband very much, he is my best friend. I love my son and am proud of how he treats women. I love my male friends. But an all-male system is intrinsically unbalanced. Don't you think if there had been a few mothers running the show this would have unfolded quite differently??? And yes, I know women can abuse and women can enable, but the balance is what's lacking.

I want an end to celibacy rules. Richard Sipe, a former priest, researched the issue and found, through self-reporting, at any one time only 50% of priests are celibate. Their relationships by necessity are furtive and deceitful. If priests were allowed to marry, as they were in the earlier days of the church, and women shared leadership as also was a part of the early church, it would be healthier.

I want the laity to share leadership in a real and meaningful way. As it is, they have to accept whatever comes their way, or leave. I want them, also, to step up to the plate. Too many are not willing to challenge the church authority.

I would like laity to consider witholding funds until the churh is more proactive on the abuse issue. There is a movement to do so, which you can find on the Web if you're interested.


I want people who leave not to be disrespected. I am, according to the church's teaching, an apostate or heretic, I'm not sure which, but both are viewed as people who are going to hell. I am viewed as having an invalid marriage, because I was baptized as a Catholic when I was a baby but married in a different church. What does that make my children, in their eyes? There was a move during the time of Vatican II to be more accepting of other faiths, but that has ended under this pope, who proclaims that Protestant churches are not churches in the true sense of the word. What does this have to do with the abuse situation? When you believe you are the only holders of sacred truth, it's a lot easier to do whatever it takes to prevent people from seeing the problems in your system.

I want the bishops who covered up for abusers to stand trial in criminal court, where that's appropriate. And, of course, I want the abusers to be held accountable.

That's my wish list.

Pope blames victims; NY archbishop compares pope to Jesus

Now that the Pope himself has been implicated in the growing sexual assault crisis, his kind facade is beginning to crumble. The March 29 edition of the Register carried a story, Abuse crisis casts shadow as Holy Week begins; the story contained misleading information. It stated, "Benedict made no direct mention of the scandal in his Palm Sunday homily." In fact, the Pope came out fighting, not for the victims but to hold on to his power. He said in his homily, "Faith prevents being intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion."

Wow. The truth is coming out, and it's not pretty. Benedict believes people who are reporting sexual abuse and the reporters who are connecting the dots about who knew what, when, are guilty of "petty gossip." Those of us who have worked with, and are, clergy sexual assault survivors, are familiar with the hierarchy's attitude, but it is a bit shocking to see it displayed so publicly. The Pope's apology to the Irish church and victims is rendered meaningless. He was willing to criticize Irish bishops for their part in passing predator priests from parish to parish, but when it was revealed he was playing the same game, he shoots the messenger.

The archbishop of New York's sermon was even more outrageous. The archbishop,Timothy Dolan, came from Milwaukee where more than 200 Deaf boys were molested by Father Lawrence Murphy, one of the cases which the Pope is accused of mishandling; Dolan referred to it as a "re-run of an old story out of Milwaukee." Dolan compared the fact that the Pope is being implicated in the cover-up with the suffering of Jesus, how the crowds turned against him and scourged (whipped) him.

Is this chutzpah or what? Hundreds of thousands of children and young people raped, sodomized, and sexually assaulted, in the US, in Canada, in Australia, in Ireland, in Europe, and God help the third world nations where the truth is still being covered up. People speak up, ask questions, get angry- and all of a sudden, the Pope is the victim.

Don't worry, though- he is refusing to be intimidated.

Well, Rats. I wish we had thought of that. I wonder if that would have worked for Barbara, who was raped at age six by her parish priest. He told her she was an evil little girl and she thought what he did was the punishment for sneaking out of the house in the wrong pair of shoes. I wonder if it would have worked for Mike, who was sexually assaulted by a notorious Eastern Iowa predator whose actions the bishop had pledged to keep secret, a written document available for all to see on the Bishop Accountability Website. I wonder if it would have worked for any of us who were raised to see the priest as "Alter Christi," another Christ, a necessary part of our salvation. And then I remember, no, intimidation is a tool of the powerful against the powerless, and that is what we were.

No more. WE refuse to be intimidated, shamed or stuffed back into the closet. We insist on being heard, and we hope the civil governments take just action to prevent others from suffering the pain of sexual assault by a trusted religious leader. We hope, too, the Catholic people will hold their leaders accountable and insist on sharing the power so this true scourge will end.

(Originally printed in the Des Moines Register, March 30, 2010.)

End Child Prostitution

SAVE A CHILD FROM PROSTITUTION— CHOOSE HOTELS THAT SIGN THE CODE
By Janet Clark
While slavery might strike most people as just an archaic relic from our less-than-stellar past, rotting on the scrapheap of history where it belongs, unfortunately that isn’t true. Recently ABC News aired a series detailing the reality of modern-day slavery, and in May of this year, speakers at the Iowa Preventing Abuse Conference spoke about the most tragic victims of this scourge, child prostitutes. While children in the United States are all too often victimized in this manner, the problem is even more widespread in other countries, especially those with high rates of poverty. Children in those countries are forced into prostitution either through physical violence or because they have no other means of making enough money to feed themselves. The non-profit organization End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and the Trafficking of Children (ECPAT) estimates that more than one million children worldwide are drawn into the sex trade each year. Each year! According to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice, Asia, Mexico and Central America are “prime destinations” for child-sex tourists. What’s worse, it’s estimated that 25% of these “tourists” come from the United States.
While this may seem like a problem both too horrible to contemplate and too huge to effect, there is a way for any concerned citizen to help end child prostitution. The child sex tourism industry is enabled by people in the legitimate tourism industry who turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to what is happening right in front of them, or in some cases actively assist the abusers of these children in order to receive paybacks. But the good news is that a significant sector of the tourist trade has decided to act on behalf of the children who have no power to liberate themselves. More than 500 companies around the world have signed the Code of Conduct for the Protection of the Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism. According to ECPAT, companies that sign the Code commit to implement the following six criteria:
• To establish an ethical policy regarding commercial sexual exploitation of children.
• To train the personnel in the country of origin and travel destinations.
• To introduce a clause in contracts with suppliers, stating a common repudiation of commercial sexual exploitation of children.
• To provide information to travelers by means of catalogues, brochures, in-flight films, ticket-slips, home pages, etc.
• To provide information to local “key persons” at the destinations.
• To report annually on the implementation of the previous five criteria.
The American Society of Travel Agents, with more than 20,000 members, has signed the Code of Conduct. So has one large American travel company, Carlson Companies, which includes Country Inn and Suites, Regent International, Cruise Holidays, Radisson Hotels, and Park Plaza. Several smaller American travel companies, Royal Regency International, Ela Brasil Tours, and Flamingo Travel, have also signed the Code of Conduct.
The conspicuous list is the one with the names of all the American companies who have not signed the Code. On that list, you’ll find Choice Hotels, whose holdings include Clarion Quality, Comfort Suites and Comfort Inns, Sleep Inn, and Suburban; Hyatt Hotels, parent company of AmeriSuites and Hawthorn Suites; Starwood Hotels, which includes Starwood, Four Points, Sheraton, St. Regis and Westin; and Hilton Hotels. Why are these companies dragging their feet when it comes to protecting children?
“Many European companies have demonstrated their commitment to practice a socially responsible, child-wise tourism by signing on to the Code of Conduct. However, there has yet to be significant commitment from U.S. companies,” according to ECPAT. If we work together, we can change that.
Are you planning a summer vacation? Reward the hotels that have signed the Code, and let the other hotel chains know why you are choosing their competition. Does your civic or religious organization hold meetings in hotels? Encourage them to only deal with companies that sign the Code. Especially for organizations that deal with children, such as teachers, school boards, and social workers, it’s important to give your business to those companies that protect children around the globe and withhold it from companies that refuse to be a part of the solution.
Pressuring companies to sign the Code of Conduct may seem like a small thing to do, but when all legitimate businesses in the travel industry live by the Code, we will be one step closer to ending child prostitution. Slavery in all its ugliness should not exist in our world today. Let’s get it out of the headlines and into the history books.

Previously published in the Des Moines Register

Reach for the barf bag

According to Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the pope who covered up for priests who raped kids is just like Jesus. Or something like that. "The leader of the nation's second-largest diocese urged his congregation to pray for the pope, saying he was suffering some of the same unjust accusations once faced by Jesus," according to an associated press article.

Well, Tim, there are just a few differences. Let me help you out here. Jesus was a humble carpenter who plaintively remarked once that while foxes had their dens and birds their nests, he had nowhere to lay his head. Had he been walking the earth today, he might have said, Pope Benedict sleeps in a multi-million dollar mansion while I wander around homeless.

Jesus said of the little children, let them come unto me, and if anyone causes harm to them, the offender would be better off to have a millstone tied around his neck and thrown into the sea. The pope, on the other hand, has demonstrated a shocking lack of concern the children who were raped, sodomized and sexually assaulted while supposedly under his care, while displaying tenderness for the offenders. He allowed Father Larry Murphy, who sexually abused 200 Deaf boys, to live out his life as a priest instead of being defrocked simply because Murphy asked him to.

Jesus mingle with the poor, the miserable, the lonely, the sick. He ate with women, which was a big no-no in his day. The pope hobnobs with the rich and famous, and if he has ever been photographed with a woman, I don't remember seeing it. He did, however, allow the mother of a nine-year-old rape victim to be excommunicated for taking her little girl to get an abortion instead of making her bear the rapist's twins. He did, however, make a ruling that a woman could not have her uterus removed to prevent a pregnancy that could kill or harm her. Not a champion of the powerless in my book.

The most pertinent difference: Jesus was persecuted UNJUSTLY. Jesus spoke out against the powerful and got killed for it. The pope IS a person in power. He is the equal of the Pharisees that Jesus condemned, concerned only that the religious institution look good, not that the people's needs be tended. He follows the letter of the law while blatantly ignoring its Spirit. To compare Jesus with the pope is nothing short of blasphemy.

Break the silence

“Cry out as if you had a million voices, it is silence that kills the world." St Catherine of Siena (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380)

Words to ponder

"The entrenchment of a theology of the body that honors a fetus but ignores the child who is raped and molested by spiritual authorities is reprehensible."

Anthea Butler, associate professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/2371/_training_god%E2%80%99s_rottweiler:_catholic_church_sexual_abuse_must_end

The pope and sexually abusive clergy

This is a copy of a letter posted on the CBS News blog. It's a report of the pope's previous handling of sexual abusive clergy. Note how he gets tough on abusers- just when the media gets a whiff of what's going on.

News reporting of the latest scandals in Ireland and Germany involving supervision of and inquiry into pedophile priests and others by the Vatican and several Papal administrations is missing a significant context. It would seem the press has largely forgotten or ignored some critical past history. It's compelling backdrop. It reveals that Pope Benedict XVI has, for at least a decade, had first hand knowledge of the dramatic pedophilia-sexual abuse involvement of one of the church's most powerful and influential former leaders, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado. He was the founder and superior general of the Legionaries of Christ. Marceil's incredible sexual assault history dated back decades, according to a plethora of news reports. In 2001, according to The Hartford Courant, the Rome-based Legion, specializing in education, had 480 priests and 2,500 seminarians, active in 20 countries on four continents. It operated schools in Latin America, Europe and the United States, including a minor seminary in Cheshire, Conn.

A former Hartford Courant investigative reporting colleague and good friend of mine, the late Gerald Renner, and Jason Berry, a National Catholic Register reporter, collected affidavits from those affiliated with the church, all alleged victims of Marcial Maciel's conduct. They implicated Maciel, the Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ, in molesting 9 former male students between the ages of 10 and 16 while they were attending church schools. The story and follow-on articles first appeared in The Courant in 1997 when Pope John Paul II reigned. Maciel, the former Pope and the church leadership essentially denied the overwhelming truth of the in depth articles for years. The Vatican hired two high priced lawyers to check into the stories, attorneys who offered the press little insight into the situation, Renner told me after the stories appeared.

But, eventually those horrifying allegations helped ignite an inquiry of Maciel supervised by Cardinal Joseph Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict. However, that so called investigation, despite overwhelming evidence of misconduct unearthed by Renner and Berry, did not lead to any discipline for Marciel. Years later, say past news reports, after he became Pope in April 2005, Benedict had several opportunities to take action against Maciel, but once again did nothing. It wasn't until after Renner and Berry wrote a book on the scandal, "Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II," that he did. The book detailed what Berry and Renner believed was a cover up of Maciel's alleged sex abuses. They wrote about the punishment of one priest who tried to expose the wrongdoing. Benedict's punitive action came in May 2006 when he approved restrictions on Maciel's ministry. Interestingly, the ruling arrived about the time when Renner's and Barry's book was to be translated into Spanish, the language of those who were long time potential witnesses to the Maciel scandal.

So Pope Benedict is certainly not virginal when it comes to knowledge of the cover ups of abusive sexual activity by priests or other higher level members of the Catholic Church.

Sincerely,

T. Dennie Williams
Freelance Writer
PO Box 511, 56 Brush Hill Road, Litchfield, Ct. 06759
Telephone 860-567-0280
email denniew@optonline.net

We need justice

When reports of priests sexually assaulting children and young people dominated national headlines back in 2002, the Vatican responded. They said priests were raping and sodomizing their young parishoners because the United States is too liberal and our sexual morals too lax, expecially in big bad Boston. (I don't remember hearing them issue a retraction when the news began reporting the same claims in the Midwest and the South- I guess we are just as much a bunch of libertines as the Boston crowd.)

When the crisis popped up in Australia, bishops decried bereaved parents as "cranky" when they complained their children committed suicide after being sexually assaulted by priests. Canada chimed in: thousands of Indian children were raped in the Catholic orphanages, according to published reports. And it was getting a little harder to blame the culture of the United States.

Last year, reports were released in Ireland detailing the massive amounts of abuse, including sexual assaults, that occurred at Catholic orphanages, churches and school; tens of thousands of people have come forth, and for every single person who finds the courage to speak out, many others suffer in silence. An Irish problem? The country was, for centuries, impoverished and backwards. That must be it.

But now, Europe is erupting with report after report after report of children being sexually abused in Bavaria, in Austria, in Switzerland, in Germany. (Although, as a Vatican insider helpfully pointed out, many who were raped or sodomized or groped were not really children, they were teenagers. Only someone who is not a parent would think that makes it all better.) Even the pope has been implicated in passing a predator on to another parish. The man, who had forced an 11-year-old boy to give him oral sex, received a month of therapy first, though, so naturally it was a big surprise when he reoffended. This priest was on active duty until last week.

The pope, the Register reported in the March 11 issue, "has taken a strong stand against abuse by clerics in the Roman Catholic Church." That month of therapy was rough, I'd imagine. Or maybe they are referring to the fact that, every so often, the pope pops out and says, "sexual abuse is bad." That's tellin' 'em!

No, they must be referring to the fact that the pope has written a letter of apology to Irish Catholics.

A letter of apology. For rape, for sodomy, for brutally stealing the childhoods of tens of thousands of the most vulnerable Irish citizens.

When are the governments of the many countries where this church has caused so much damage going to find their collective intestinal fortitude and DO SOMETHING? If this was some little podunk church in Arkansas, the feds would have it shut down faster than their creepy leader could proclaim puberty is consent. Is this another case of too big to fail, or even too big to be held accountable? I hope not; so many brave survivors have come out in the hopes that theirs will be the last generation to suffer at the hands of abusive clergy.

Danke!

I love the Germans, and not just because I'm married to a man of German descent. I love the Germans because they are the first nation on the face of the earth with the intestinal fortitude to speak the truth about the Roman Catholic clergy abuse crisis. "Germany says Vatican covered up priest child sex abuses," proclaims the headline in an article from today's World Bulletin. The justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, is the very first high-ranking public official to call the Vatican on their actions.

"In many schools there was a wall of silence allowing for abuse and violence," Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger told Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio, the article reported. "Even the most severe cases of abuse are subject only to papal secrecy and should not be disclosed outside the Church," she said, citing a 2001 Catholic congregation directive.

Danke, Ms. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger! While virtually all the other government leaders around the world pussy-foot around the fact that the Catholic church is operating the world's largest organized pedophile ring, you are calling them out on it. Finally, finally, someone with authority is saying what we lowly bloggers have been shouting at the top of our laptops for so long.

To read more, go to http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=55225

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

The case of the Delaware pediatrician accused of sexually abusing his patients bears striking similarities to the Roman Catholic abuse crisis. The doctor moved from one area to another, accusations of sexual abuse were brought before his governing medical board but dismissed, and because of the huge amount of complicity and denial in the community, Dr. Earl Bradley was able to rape and sexually assault more than 100 children.

The doctor photographed many of the children he molested, and authorities have asked the parents of Bradley's patients to provide family photos so they can identify the victims. Parents are understandably horrified and in shock. Less understandable is the apparent desire to be kept in the dark some parents are expressing.

"I don’t know what I’m going to gain from knowing that he had done something to one of my kids,” one mother told a reporter.

Well. It seems to me the more important question is not what the parent will gain by knowing, but what suffering the child will endure if the parent refuses to know. All too often parents refuse to see what is too painful to deal with, allowing their children to bear the burden alone. I've heard more than one story of Catholic abuse survivors who told their parents about being sexually assaulted and got punished for speaking out.

I'm glad at least one set of parents was willing to listen when their two-year-old girl told them the doctor had hurt her. Because they believed their child and came forward, Bradley won't have the chance to abuse any more kids.

When Irish Eyes aren't Smiling

"Tens of thousands of Irish children were sexually, physically and emotionally abused by nuns, priests and others over 60 years in a network of (Roman Catholic) church-run residential schools meant to care for the poor, the vulnerable and the unwanted, according to a report released in Dublin," read the New York Times report. The article went on to say many of these kids had committed no crime but to be born into a family with an alcoholic or mentally ill parent, or, gasp, an 'unwed mother.' Priests coerced families into placing their children into these facilities, where they were forced to work long hours and tormented during their down time.

The Church, of course, is sorry. Again, they are sorry for raping, sodomizing, and molesting, as well as beating and humiliating, the children and young people entrusted to their care.

Oh my God. How long are people going to allow this world-wide pedophile ring to operate without restriction, without answering to anybody unless they happen to feel like it? In what countries does the Roman Catholic Church operate orphanages and youth facilities today? Who is watching? Who is holding them accountable? How long will society allow them to hide behind the cloak of religious liberty and refuse to investigate them the way they would investigate any other organization?

The pope is planning to visit Irish bishops, no doubt planning strategy. If the Irish government and people lap up his forthcoming apology without demanding justice from the government, I hear there is some property for coming up for sale across the pond in Brooklyn they just might be interested in. Not that we've done any better over here. A number of known criminals who protected pedophiles, such as Roger Mahaney in California, are still out there, roaming free while victims continue to suffer because of their actions.

We need the collective governments of the world to quit kowtowing to these people and start holding them responsible for their actions.

Hail to the Chief!

This shouldn't be big news, but it is. In Wisconsin, Eau de Claire Police Chief Jerry Matysik contacted his state legislators to inform them Archbishop Jerome Listecki was not truthful with them when he testified about church procedure for dealing with sexual abuse. Listecki, now in Milwaukee but formerly in the La Crosse diocese, has had a policy in place stating sexual assault victims should contact the church instead of directing them to inform law enforcement.

How's that policy been working so far? Well, not too bad if the goal is to keep sexual assault hush-hush and protect perpetrators, but if you want to assist victims, bring perpetrators to justice, and prevent more young people from being victimized, it's not doing all that well.

It took a lot of courage for Chief Matysik to bring this out in the open the way he did. Far too many law enforcement agencies are still dragging their feet when it comes to dealing with clergy sexual abuse, and it really did my heart good to read about this man's actions. In any civil rights movement, nothing really changes until those not directly affected by injustice are willing to stand with those who are. Women did not get the vote until men voted to allow it. African-Americans' rights were denied until whites joined the cause. And victims alone will not be able to end the scourge of sexual abuse.

We need others who are willing to stand in solidarity with us, people who are in a position to effect real change. We need people like Chief Matsysik. Follow the first link to read the story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Then follow the second to find the chief's contact information, and call him up to say thank you, and let him know what this means to survivors.

http://www.jsonline.com/features/religion/83585862.html/

http://www.eauclairewi.gov/police-home/

Denial in the pews perpetuates abuse crisis

Awhile back the Des Moines Register published an article entitled "Americans switch religions early and often, survey finds." The article is based on interviews with 2,800 people from a Pew survey. According to the survey, the Catholic church has experienced the greatest net loss. Their reasons for leaving: six in 10 left because of disssatisfaction with Catholic teachings on abortion and homosexuality. Half left because of concerns over teachings on birth control, and 4 in 10 left because of Catholicism's treatment of women. Fewer than three in 10 left because of the clergy sexual assault crisis.

I really don't understand this mindset, but it's consistent with what I've seen. There are grumblings, there are jokes, there are a few nasty e-mails fired off to the bishops' offices now and then, but I've only met one person, other than survivors and our families, who have left because of the sexual abuse. And those who've stayed seem equally untouched by the abuse, if you'll pardon the terrible pun.

As one of the many survivors of sexual assault by Patrick McElliott of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, I received through litigation the right to speak at the place I was assaulted, The American Martyrs Retreat House by Cedar Falls. I chose to speak on a weekend they were holding a meeting of archdiocesan lay leaders. I wanted them to know the impact of the assault and how the complicity of the community directly led to my assault. My husband and I drove over there, a ninety minute drive, and met with Iowa SNAP leader, Steve Theissen. (SNAP is Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests: it's a support group for people who were abused by any religious leader.) We sat in a waiting room while the people were in Mass. Archbishop Jerome Hanus announced to the people a survivor was going to speak immediately following the service. People filed out and into the waiting room to get a cup of coffee. A few smiled at us, some glared, but most acted as if we were not there.

When I went into the chapel to speak, the six or seven nuns in attendance stayed to hear me, along with the Archbishop and Vicar General. One lay person stayed. One. The rest went off to their meetings, presumably some of which touched on social justice ministries. At the time I was focused on telling my story and reclaiming my voice, which I literally lost during and on occassion after the assault. But as time moved on, I was increasingly aware of how detached most Catholic people seem from the abuse crisis. This disconnect has been a factor in the clergy abuse crisis all along.

During my years in Catholic high school in the 70s, there was a priest whom other priests warned the girls to stay away from. He later moved to another town where he was charged with assaulting a 13-year-old girl. Her parents ended up dropping the charges because they didn't want her to have to go to court. A woman in this same town filed a civil suit against the priest for assaulting her; the suit was dropped on a technicality. My friend was assaulted by a priest at Dowling who was a well-known abuser of boys. The priest went on to serve in other communities, in spite of the fact that my friend was awarded a settlement and received a letter of apology. The priest is retired and living in Des Moines.

I could go on ad nauseum about case after case after case. My question is why? Why the disconnect, this apparent lack of compassion or even concern among the Catholic people? I'm reminded of a section in the Steven King novel Firestarter, where the main character has the ability to "push" people to believe whatever he wants them to believe. He's at a gas station where he had to kill rogue CIA agents who were trying to capture him and study his psychic power, and a group of people were looking on, horrified. He told them, "This doesn't concern you. Nothing happened," and gave a mental push, and the people all went back to what they were doing, oblivious to the dead bodies in their midst.

That is what the average Catholic's response to the clergy abuse crisis looks like. There are hundreds of thousands of victims in the United States alone, from virtually every diocese, children and young people who were raped, sodomized and sexually assaulted, whose lives were cruelly altered by the abuse, and yet the average Catholic doesn't seem to think it concerns them in the slightest. "Nothing happened." I am not expecting everybody to leave the Church, but I would have thought more of those who did, would have done so at least partially because of the organized pedophilia.

I'm Telling

Following a July 2008 telephone confrontation

The Roman Catholic Church insists it is committed to resolving the clergy abuse crisis, but their actions belie their words. Recently I called Monsignor John Hyland, the vicar general of the Diocese of Davenport, to express my concern about a priest who works in that diocese. The conversation ended fairly amicably, although with the usual denial and fact-shifting one comes to expect when dealing with the RCC.

The next conversation, however, did not have a happy ending. I had called on another matter- to ask why the people who ran the retreat for sexual assault survivors held at the American Martyrs Retreat House in Cedar Falls were not informed that at least one person had been sexually assaulted at the retreat house. I didn't feel my question was answered to my satisfaction, but I also didn't feel any animosity until Monsignor Hyland brought up our previous conversation.

He totally reversed the concept of confidentiality, which is supposed to protect victims, by telling me I had to keep the information about the priest quiet. He said the person who had told me about the priest in the first place was angry that I had reported him, and he said, in an intimidating tone, "You could get into alot of trouble."

At which point I fired back. I knew if I let him steamroller me, I would have a hell of a time recovering, so I didn't allow him to verbally beat me up. I told him I didn't give a crap about that, I cared about the boys that could get hurt. I said that is how I got raped, because of the Catholic church's secrecy and their tendency to protect the perp, not the young people.

I ended up hanging up on him, which felt pretty good. But I had a really rough week or so of triggers and flashbacks, brought on by Monsignor Hyland's intimidating tone.

That's why I'm writing this: to honor my inner 20-year-old, that dear young girl who was terrorized, intimidated and raped by a Roman Catholic priest, Father Patrick McElliot. To let her know I now have the ability to protect her. To use the one tool I have, the only one I need: my voice.

I'm not that frightened young girl anymore. I'm all grown up and I'm mad as hell. I'm telling.

Undo the Heavy Burdens

I gave this sermon at my church, St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Fort Dodge,Iowa, in July of 2007. I was very proud of our pastor, David Grindberg, for asking me to do this, and of the people in the church for their openness to receive it.

God, May the meditations of our hearts and the words of our mouths by pleasing to you.

Many of you know I had a book published a few months ago. Pastor Dave was nice enough to put that in the bulletin and mention it from the pulpit back in May, and inform people they can buy it in the office here, and when I was walking out of church, I shook his hand and thanked him, and then he said, “Do you want to preach?”

And I said, “What???”

But then I thought about it and realized it might be God calling, because when God works, it is through people.

One of the things I have always valued about St. Olaf is the way the people here truly treasure the children of the church and work to make each one know how God also treasures them. We also extend this care to children who are not a part of St. Olaf’s church family, as evidenced by our missions to Nicaragua and other outreach programs. Because of our love for children, I ask you to join with me in facing a serious problem that unfortunately affects so many children, so many families, and ultimately, all of us.

Unless something changes, one of every four girls born today in the United States will be sexually abused before her 18th birthday. Over the course of her lifetime, she is more than twice as likely to be sexually abused as she is to develop breast cancer. For boys, the numbers are not much better: it’s estimated that one in six boys will also be sexually abused by the time they’re 18. Because so few cases are reported to police or other authorities, accurate numbers are hard to come by, and many experts in the field believe the true number of sexual abuse victims is even higher. And, of course, it’s not only children who are sexually abused, but adults even up into their 80s and 90s are victimized. Sexual abuse is a problem that affects people of all classes, colors, and creeds. The old adage that parents taught their children, don’t talk to strangers, is of little help, because 80 to 90% of children who are sexually abused, are abused by someone they know and trust, and the number is similar for adult victims.

While we can’t be sure how many people have suffered from sexual abuse, we do know a great deal about the consequences. The cost is heavy for victims, families and society at large. Sexual abuse victims are more prone to drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, depression and other mental illnesses. I know, for I have experienced some of these consequences myself. As many of you know, I “came out” as a sexual abuse survivor after my book Blind Faith was published last spring.

Abuse causes people to believe that they are damaged, that they are less than others. Sexual abuse in particular strikes at a person’s soul, leaving deep wounds, which, just like a wound in the flesh, will fester until treated. When I began to deal with the fact that I had been sexually abused as a child and again at age 20, I felt so contaminated that I truly believed that my family would be better off if I were not here- that the morally correct choice would be for me to leave them- one way or the other. Such feelings of shame and pain are common to sexual abuse survivors in our culture. A dear friend’s prayers gave me the strength to look for help, and I took the first steps on my road to healing.

But you can’t get help unless you can talk about it, and you can’t talk about it when society still so often does not want to hear. According to children’s rights advocate, attorney Marci Hamilton, “The last true frontier in civil rights in the United States is that of children’s rights. It is our country’s ugly secret that massive numbers of children are abused. Yet the law has been excruciatingly slow both in stopping ongoing abuse, and in deterring abuse before it happens,” she concluded.

All the stories in Scripture that tell how Jesus interacted with children show His gentle spirit and his great love. While his love extends to everyone, we also remember His words warning those who bring harm to the innocent. In Luke 17: 1-2, Jesus said, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”

What is the Christian response, then, to the problem of sexual abuse? We can all ask the Holy Spirit and listen for that small still voice within to lead us into the action that God would have us take. We all lead busy lives and there are many important issues begging for our attention, but if you feel led to action in this area, here are a few ways to help end the scourge of sexual abuse.
In many states, all citizens are mandatory reporters of child abuse. It troubled me deeply when I read a story in Newsweek magazine a few months ago about a neighbor of the man in Missouri who kidnapped and sexually assaulted two young boys. The neighbor had heard cries, screams and pleading for the man to stop, yet had done nothing. I think all citizens should be mandatory reporters of child abuse. We could also eliminate the statute of limitations for sexual abuse of children, for it often takes years for a child to feel safe enough to tell someone, and by then it’s too late to hold the offender accountable. Parents need to talk to their children, and even more importantly, we need to listen and BELIEVE them.

We can press for more funding for alcohol and drug treatment. Alcohol is a major factor in many child sex abuse cases, so funding treatment programs could go a long ways toward reducing the number of victims. Also, many victims turn to alcohol and illegal drugs to deal with their pain, so treatment for them may be a first step in healing. We can, and must, provide better mental health services.

I was one of the fortunate ones. When I became severely depressed, I had good insurance coverage and a loving, supportive husband that enabled me to receive all the help I needed, but for many people, mental health treatment is totally unavailable. Most sexual abuse victims need mental health services in order to recover, and we can work to make that available for everyone.
We can also provide a listening ear for those people in our lives who have been victimized. And we all have people in our lives who have been- maybe the woman in the next cubicle at work, the man you work with in a service organization, or the child in your Sunday school class. In Isaiah 58:6, God calls us “to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free.” It is not easy to hear about another’s abuse. It is painful for the listener—but how much more for those who have experienced it, and how isolating when they have no one to share their pain with. When we can truly listen to another person’s pain and enter into their suffering, we can indeed undo their heavy burden. When we can listen and allow them to fully express their pain, without asking a lot of questions or judging them, we do indeed loose the bonds of wickedness and set the oppressed free.

As Christians, we know we are saved by grace and that no one is beyond the reach of God’s love. As Christians, we must ask ourselves what our response should be to the offender. When I was struggling to deal with the fact that my father had sexually abused me when I was a small child, I also struggled with how God could have allowed it. We believe that God is our father, and that a father protects his children. One day I was praying and I said to God, “If I had seen somebody molesting one of my children, I would have stopped them. Why didn’t you?” And I heard the small still voice within reply. He said, “You were both my children.” Even those who commit the most heinous actions are still, to God, his beloved children.

Although we are saved by grace, it is not, as Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoffer pointed out, a cheap grace. God is offended by sin, and so must we be. We can’t afford to let offenders off easy. We have to protect the children and provide justice to all who have been grievously wounded. But perhaps some in the church will be called to develop ways to effectively minister to those who are “least among us,” knowing that many people who sexually abuse others are, themselves, very damaged individuals, and knowing that they, too, have loved ones who need compassion. In Isaiah 42:3, we read that Jesus’ love is so tender and all encompassing that “a bruised reed He will not break.” We can ask God to help us emulate his love. I thank you for joining with me in reflecting on this difficult topic.

Every two minutes in the United States, someone is sexually abused. That means that in the time it took for me to deliver this sermon, five people were sexually abused. At least three of them were children. Would you please join me for a moment of silent prayer for all who suffer from abuse?

Dear Jesus, we ask that you change our hearts and minds so we can find solutions to the problem of sexual abuse. We ask your healing for all who have been wounded, in your mighty name. Amen.

Oprah for Pope!

Oprah models transparency, responsibility in her handling of the crisis at her school.

It must have seemed like a bad dream. For beloved talk show host Oprah Winfrey, starting a school for girls in poverty-stricken South Africa was her greatest achievement, a dream come true. But the dream morphed into a nightmare when she received the word that students had been sexually abused by a dorm matron at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
For Oprah, herself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, the news was devastating. But she made no attempt to hide the abuse nor her emotional reaction to the news: she tells of her response in the January issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

"Many years ago, Betty Rollin wrote a book about breast cancer called First, You Cry," Oprah wrote. "That rule must apply to other crises, too, because that's exactly what I did, pacing from room to room in heaving sobs. It felt like my heart was splitting."

Maybe that's the difference. Maybe that's why Oprah's handling of the sexual abuse crisis at her girls' school was so many light years away from the reactions of the Catholic hierarchy to the abuse of the children they were responsible for. Somehow I have a hard time picturing any of the prelates giving themselves over to grief the way Oprah did, the way any feeling person would. Oprah allowed herself to experience what the Bible refers to as "genuine sorrow that leads to repentance (change)." So instead of trying to cover it up, buy the victims off, blame them and then say, well, that's all over, time to move on, folks, Oprah allowed herself to feel her own disappointment, as well as entering into the pain of the victims, a pain she is intimately acquainted with.

But Oprah didn't stop there. First she cried, then she acted. She called in some of the country's best experts in child trauma and developed an action plan, then took off for South Africa. She headed an investigation into the charges, provided a psychological team to offer support for the girls, and is developing a new educational team.

Oh, I'm sure she has a legal team assembled, as well. You don't get to where Oprah has gotten without protecting your assets, and no doubt she had that base covered, too. But the Catholic Church could take a page from Oprah's script: it may have happened somewhere, sometime, but I have never heard of the Catholic Church bringing in trauma experts of their own volition, certainly not prior to their public humiliation in 2002. I have never heard of the Catholic Church hierarchy personally calling victims and their families to extend their concern. I have certainly never heard of any cardinals or bishops or popes entering into the suffering of their many, many victims the way Oprah did.

That's why, the next time the cardinals gather to choose a new leader, I say, think outside the box. Stedman may not go for it, but I think it's a great idea, one who's time had come: Oprah for Pope!

Church's sympathy for victims is "strained"

A letter I wrote to the Catholic Messenger, the newsletter of the Davenport, Iowa, diocese, in response to an article that was referenced in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, which indicated the church's sympathy for victims was becoming "strained."

I am writing regarding your editorial, Light at the End of the Tunnel, which was quoted in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. After I read the Gazette article, I fired off some angry e-mails to the Messenger, but later that evening Father David Hitch of Tipton sent me the entire editorial and I wanted to make a more thoughtful reply.

I am a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest. Therefore, when I read the quotation in the Gazette stating that your sympathy is “strained,” I was enraged. I have had time to process your entire editorial and would like to respond to two main points: the role the average Catholic played in creating this crisis (not scandal, please, but crisis), and the likelihood of its resolution.

While many Catholics were completely shocked by the revelations of priests sexually abusing children and young people, there is no way this could have happened without the complicity of a good number of ordinary Catholics. Patrick McElliott, the priest who assaulted me in 1979, had been sexually abusing females since at least 1946, we know through court documents. When he was in Waterloo in 1963, he sexually abused a girl, her family went to the bishop’s office, and they were threatened with excommunication if they talked about it. McElliott abused several other girls in Waterloo, and the archbishop sent him for treatment for alcoholism, then transferred him to another church in the archdiocese of Dubuque, where he abused more girls, and the cycle was repeated again and again.

How big of an area is the archdiocese of Dubuque? Do you honestly believe it is possible that, when a priest was transferred to a new church, nobody had friends or relatives that had heard of the priest’s habits? I know our culture didn’t like to talk about sexual abuse- and it sounds like you would like a return to that reticence- but I can’t believe that nobody knew. I think many people knew and warned the girls in their circle to keep away from him. I think, as long as it wasn’t happening to their own kids (and sometimes even when it did), people were perfectly willing to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear rather than rock the boat. I believe housekeepers, fellow clergy members, and others had to know about at least some of the abuse.

Regarding the light at the end of the tunnel: I sincerely wish that were true, that you were nearing that point. I wish you could just focus on the good things you want to do. (I wish that for myself, also, but unfortunately, I think I will probably struggle with some of the effects of this until the day I die.) But I don’t think you are anywhere near that point. Until ordinary Catholics look at the root causes of the crisis and decide to do something about it, not only will it not go away, but it will continue and more children and vulnerable adults will be the victims of sex crimes by priests.

When I began to deal with my abuse, I learned about two doctrines every Catholic should know, but I doubt most have ever heard of: Criminel Solicitations and Mental Reservation. Criminel Solicitations details how bishops are to handle it when priests sexually abuse children or adults. It centers around keeping everybody quiet, and tells the bishops they can threaten witnesses and victims with excommunication to enforce their silence. This is so evil I can hardly believe it, but it’s true. What victims need is the freedom to talk, to release their pain, not to make them choose between their faith and their healing. Mental Reservation, in essence, gives bishops and cardinals the right to lie in order to prevent the church from looking bad. I would urge you to learn more about these doctrines.

I will believe the Catholic church is sorry for the pain they have caused when I see the Pope publicly repudiate these damaging doctrines and ask forgiveness for all the harm they have caused.

I will believe that children and vulnerable adults are safe from the sexual abuse that I suffered when I see significant change in the Catholic church: an end to celibacy requirements, women accepted in the priesthood, and the sharing of power with laity. I quit the Catholic church years ago, but I wish I would see these changes because they would make sexual abuse less likely to flourish. Unfortunately, the culture of the church has only become more secretive since the 2002 revelations.

You may decry the release of the documents in LA, but I know as a survivor how very helpful it was to learn, through my attorney, the background of the priest who assaulted me. It helped my healing process to learn that there was nothing in particular about me that “caused” a holy priest to assault me, that it was, for him, pretty much a normal day.

I hope the Catholic church will heal so that more people won’t be sexually abused. But that will only happen if individual Catholics like yourself step up and hold the bishops, cardinals and pope responsible. Only then will you see that light at the end of the tunnel.

Sincerely,

Janet Clark

Because it's not over

Finally. A place to get it all together. Break the Silence is where I'm going to post all the various blogs and articles I've written about Roman Catholic clergy abuse and other sexual abuse issues and have them in one place. And, because it's not over, I'll be adding new material way more often than I'd like.

If you ask almost any member of the church hierarchy, they will tell you the same thing: the clergy abuse crisis is over. (Except they won't use the word crisis, they will say scandal, which is far too mild a word to describe the criminal behavior which they covered up and enabled for so many years.) If that were the case, I would not keep hearing from victims. New victims whose abuse occurred just a few years ago, older victims who know full well what the repurcussions will be if they come forward: blame, shame and disbelief from far too many of the people who should be embracing them and anointing their wounds with tears, as Christ would do.

If that were the case, diocese around the country would not keep fighting the release of documents. They would not spend thousands of dollars paying attorneys to keep their dirty little secrets from reaching the public. They would welcome the Holy Spirit cleansing fire instead of continuing their futile efforts to hold it back. We would not keep hearing the same old story breaking in Ireland, in Canada, around the globe: survivors find the strength to come forward and are met with cruelty and resistance time and time again.

Because it's not over.