Thursday, July 15, 2010

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.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

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

Saturday, July 3, 2010

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.