Posted on 02/18/2005 2:22:32 PM PST by 68skylark
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Roman Catholic leaders said Friday they received 1,092 new abuse claims against American priests and deacons last year, even after they had already paid more than $800 million in settlements during the long-running crisis over predatory clergy.
Bishops said, however, that the flood of fresh allegations was not a sign abuse was rampant in parishes today. Most of the alleged incidents occurred decades ago and nearly three-quarters of the 756 accused clerics had died, been defrocked or been removed from public ministry before the claims were made in 2004, church leaders said.
Still, the financial fallout continues. Kathleen McChesney, head of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection, said the total payout to victims has now climbed to at least $840 million since 1950.
``The crisis of sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church is not over,'' McChesney said. ``What is over is the denial that this problem exists.''
The latest figures on molester priests came from a survey U.S. bishops commissioned to help restore trust in their leadership after the abuse crisis erupted in January 2002 in the Archdiocese of Boston and spread nationwide.
A companion audit found that nearly all the nation's 195 dioceses were fully complying with the child protection programs that prelates mandated nearly three years ago. Dioceses and religious orders said they spent more than $20 million on child protection last year.
The audit was conducted by teams comprised mainly of former FBI agents who visited dioceses across the country. One diocese, in Lincoln, Neb., refused to participate. Four other dioceses and three small Eastern-rite territories were deemed out of compliance.
The dioceses were Burlington, Vt., Fresno, Calif., Wheeling-Charleston, W. Va., and Youngstown, Ohio. Each was found to be partially, but not fully, following the sex abuse policy.
Victims' groups called the audits misleading, saying bishops had too much control over the review and victims had too little input.
They also argued that revelations about the large number of new claims in 2004 was evidence that abuse was much more widespread than church leaders had previously been willing to acknowledge.
Last year, the bishops released an unprecedented statistical review that found 4,392 priests had been accused of molesting minors in 10,667 cases between 1950 and 2002 alone. Like that report, the new survey found that most of the alleged victims were boys from the ages of 10 to 14.
McChesney said the true scope of abuse was still unknown since no figures had been tallied for 2003 and many of those who were abused ``haven't come forward and probably never will.''
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said it would be ``reckless'' to conclude that no children were at risk of abuse now in the church. The bishops said only 22 of the new claims came from people who are minors now. The others were from adults who said they had been victimized as young children.
``There always has been and always will be years, perhaps decades, until victims realize they've been hurt and find the strength and courage to speak out,'' Clohessy said. ``To suggest otherwise is at best premature and at worst reckless.''
Asked whether prelates had taken steps to hold each other accountable on abuse, Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said it was a ``complex issue.'' Only the pope can discipline bishops, who independently run their dioceses.
Victims groups say some bishops continue to keep guilty priests in ministry. At least 148 clergy were permanently barred from church work last year, McChesney said.
``I can't second-guess the individual decisions of bishops,'' said Skylstad, of Spokane, Wash.
The abuse issue has taken on added urgency as the bishops conduct a mandatory church review to see if revisions are needed to their toughened new discipline policy for guilty priests.
The auditors recommended the bishops do more, taking such steps as extending outreach to abuse victims and conducting a study of whether the reforms have been effective.
The bishops have already authorized a third national audit this coming year, however they voted to reduce the number of dioceses that will be required to receive full onsite reviews.
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On the Net:
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://www.usccb.org/
The article says they have "only" 22 new accusations from those who are minors right now.
I don't know any other organization in the world (other than the UN, of course) that would be pleased to have "only" 22 accusations of molestation in the last year or so.
I'm a Christian Orthodox and I am horribly saddened by the enormous damage this does to Christianity as a whole.
It's time for th RC's to change their leaders from top to bottom. It's long past time for the RC Church to return to its fundamentals...Christian precepts only.
I'm a Christian Orthodox and I am horribly saddened by the enormous damage this does to Christianity as a whole.
It's time for th RC's to change their leaders from top to bottom. It's long past time for the RC Church to return to its fundamentals...Christian precepts only.
Estimates say (we only say estimate because the government refuses to keep these statistics) that approximately 300-400 instances of sexual harassment, inappropriate sexual behavior, or sexual abuse are committed each year by teachers. Where's the outcry? IMHO, much of this attack is directed at the Church not at ending the abuse. If it was directed at ending the abuse, then we would hear of attempts in all areas of society where children are abused by people in authority positions over them and not just the Church. When we hear about some tramp female teacher having sex with a 15 year old student, we all hear the jokes about how we weren't so lucky when we were his age.
Elementary and Secondary Schools in American might serve as your organization that would love to have only 22 accusations per year. By the way, the Church has withstood 2,000 years of problems and attacks, both internal and external, I don't think we have to worry about how much it can stand.
Totus Tuus
Anyone care to hazard a guess what kind of man is interested in adolescent boys?
Notice a word beginning with "h" and ending with "l" that is conspicuously not used in the article?
Yeah, you make some good points. And I hope I didn't sound like I was attacking the church or anything like that.
I don't know how the prevalence of abuse among teachers compares to abuse from religious leaders -- that would be an interesting statistic.
The Spirit of Vatican II at work, emracing the Modern world.
The incidences of abuse go back into the 1940s, before Vatican II was a twinkle in John XXIII's eye.
The Church will survive homosexual perversion.
Exactly. The same enemies of the faith who invaded the Church in the early part of the last century and now are in the hierarchy laid the groundwork for both scandals. V2 was simply a victory for the Modernists, a short term, shallow victory that is passing away with the death of so many of the sodomites who stole the crozier and ring from our Holy Mother the Church.
teachers?
Corporate America?
THE ELEPHANT IN THE CHURCH
2/17/2005 10:21:00 PM
By Fr. Charles Dahlby
CatholicCitizens.org
http://catholiccitizens.org/press/pressview.asp?c=23002
As a Catholic priest I have an investment in issues that affect the Church and the people of God and as a Christian I have an obligation to speak out. So let me make the following points as clearly as I can:
1. Most of the scandals and evils we see in the Church today are brought about primarily by homosexuality. Homosexuality is an objective moral disorder and unacceptable in the priesthood! For nearly two thousand years the teaching of the scripture, the magisterium, and Tradition, the three sources of revelation which give us truth, have all agreed. on homosexuality as an “abomination”! Only recently have Phil and Oprah and a few TV sitcoms disagreed. But God doesn’t change and Phil and Oprah won’t be on the throne to judge us!
2. Even though Church documents forbid the acceptance of homosexuals into the seminary and their ordination to the priesthood, those in authority have for years looked the other way, (Don’t ask, don’t tell) and homosexuals have flocked into the Church. Now they have positions of authority! They use this authority to protect and promote one another creating a distinct sub-culture that is rapidly becoming dominant. This sub-culture is the ideal homosexual environment. As a priest no one questions why you aren’t married. You get respect that you never earned. You have a target-rich environment, especially if you have a school, and if you slip up and get caught the civil authorities will not want to prosecute you because you’re a priest and, as we have seen, the Church will cover you, defend you, and may set you up in another parish or even another diocese so you can continue to prey on God’s people. A homosexual predator could not hope to find a more friendly and supportive environment than priesthood in the American Catholic Church!
3. The phrase “An elephant in the room” is used in group dynamics to mean that there is an issue of great importance that is being carefully avoided. The fact that the leadership of the Church so obviously refuses to deal honestly with homosexuality in its midst is a proof of its very powerful presence and authority. The effort expended on avoiding the obvious truth is evidence that gross ignorance cannot explain this blindness, only a conscious and premeditated effort to avoid what is so clear! Because it is done with awareness, it crosses the line from human weakness to genuine malignant evil!
4. To those who try to avoid the truth and hide behind some phony facade such as “addiction” or claim the answer will be found in a
good workshop on chastity are either fools or liars. Get a few old diocesan directories and a magic marker and go through them: How many heterosexual priests died of Aids? How many heterosexual priests have been pedophiles? How many heterosexual priests have been a source of sex scandals? (Only a small percentage of these ever reach the newspapers!) How much money have heterosexual priests cost the Church in lawsuits, pay-offs and cover-ups?
5. Many priests are aware of homosexuals in the priesthood, but they do not have the spirituality or the courage to confront the issue, so they lapse into a false charity that is nothing more than an excuse for doing nothing. (A response that Jesus did not allow!) Or they try to wash their hands of anything outside their parish boundaries. Also not allowed!)
Worst of all are those priests who know what evil is occurring, do nothing, and actually console themselves with the absurd idea that they are serving the Church. They have been formed by a seminary system that is designed to produce “churchmen” not saints. These neo-pharisees have confused the “means” with the “end” and have made the Church an idol! They have been perfectly willing to sacrifice truth, innocence and even the souls of Gods children as long as they keep up the facade. It is a sick and perverted illusion of love that would allow a priest to stand by silently while his brother destroys his own soul and the souls of others! These people must surely tremble at the thought of God’s judgment!
6. Yes, we love homosexuals! No, they are not evil and if they can carry the cross they have been given they can be great saints. But they have no place in the priesthood! Weak and evil leaders have sat around patting themselves on the back at how “enlightened” and “charitable” they have been in that stirring “Cor ad cor” they had with Father regarding his problem. While “Father” has a whole new target rich environment in another parish or another diocese! (After a little counseling of course!) And while the warmth of false charity fills them, more children are destroyed!
The people are asking, “When will it end?” It won’t! As long as we ignore the “elephant in the room”, as long as we prefer the comfort of false charity and absolutely refuse to deal with the truth, the scandal and the destruction of faith will continue. It will, in fact, get much worse! The “vocation crisis” is due in large part to the rise of the homosexual subculture in the Church. They have such power that Fr. Andrew Greeley has labeled them the “Lavender Mafia”! (A very appropriate term since the RICO laws are now being used against the Bishops of the Church!) Many young men who have stood up against the homosexual agenda in the seminaries have been labeled “homophobes” and “rigid” and treated as though they are the sick ones. If they somehow manage to get ordained and then discover the truth, they experience terrible frustration. They realize that they have no place to go to get it “fixed”! It does no good to go to the bishop when the bishop is the problem! The chancery staff, the Monsignori, were appointed by him.
For example, right now there is a young man in the seminary in St. Louis who will be ordained a priest soon. His picture and his story were front page news in the “Illinois Times,” He was the president of a gay and lesbian organization in Springfield, Illinois. Current Church teaching is that he should not have been admitted to the seminary and should not be ordained. His religious superior and the appropriate bishops are well aware of his orientation yet in complete contradiction to Church directives from Rome he continues and those who objected were labeled by his superior as “whiners”! (The Rev. Charles Bouchard, president of the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis said: "I think straight priests and seminarians shouldn’t be whining. I just don’t think it’s a big deal.") The few priests foolish enough to speak openly about the scandal of homosexuality in the priesthood have soon learned that they will receive no help or support from anyone. The people don’t want to believe it. The newspapers won’t print it. The district attorney won’t prosecute. After all, his is an elected position, and the only thing more pointless than writing to the bishop is writing to “Rome”! Only in the area of pedophilia have we been able to enlist the aid of lawyers and multi-million dollar lawsuits to help keep some children a little safer. Only when they got hit in the purse did these bishops have a sudden attack of morality.
The bishop of Dallas took in a pervert from New England in the “pervert trades” and as a child was violated the pervert-priest was moved from one parish to another. The day after a multi-million dollar lawsuit was filed, the chancellor of the diocese began an investigation in all the parishes where this pervert had been assigned to “surface these poor damaged children”! Everyone, including a jury, were very aware that these men who supposedly stand “in persona Christi” didn’t give a damn about the “poor damaged children” until 180 million dollars got mentioned! The truth is, a few money-grubbing lawyers have done more to keep our children safe than the entire NCCB and all it’s committees! People simply don’t want to believe! I was once relating some information I had been given by two male prostitutes concerning their clergy clientele. The person I was speaking to said “How could you believe them if they are prostitutes?” I explained that people didn’t go to Douglas park late at night to pick up saints! I have always found more honesty in sinners than in false shepherds! Anyone who can read a newspaper knows the shame of the American Church is that legal liability has done more to save the “little ones” Jesus loves so much than the Christian morality of our bishops!
Now the priesthood has come to be considered the primary “gay profession.” We are the butt of jokes and presented as a pathetic caricature in the media. If the new document from Rome on homo- sexuality soon to be released leaves it up to the bishops or leaves loopholes in dealing with such a “complex issue,” then the floodgates
will swing wide. Heterosexual priests will not want to send fine young men from good families to the seminary. Priests will need to know with clarity their bishops policy on homosexuals in the seminary and the priesthood and be allowed to incardinate in a diocese where they can minister in obedience and good conscience. This could well be the issue that reveals the schism in the Church.
So, if anyone is interested.... The elephant in the room is - HOMOSEXUAL PRIESTS/BISHOPS The solution is - GET THEM OUT!
###
Fr. Charles Dahlby, Pastor of St. Rita Church, Kincaid, IL and
Pastor of St. Mary Church, Pawnee IL, Diocese of Springfield, IL
Born and raised a Mormon, became a Baptist, and then became a Catholic. Fr. Dahlby has been a priest for 27 years. e-mail - frdahlby@juno.com
I forget the exact numbers, but the summary figures in the MA AG's report showed about 18 reported total incidents for the 40s and 50s combined (the reported didn't break out those two decades separately). It was in the 60s and even more in the 70s that the numbers skyrocketed up to about 20 per year, then started to drop some after 1984.
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