[sitetest]

Dear PFKEY,

When I was in grad school in the early '80s, folks were just coming to the conclusion that child molestors could not be readily cured.

It was a RECENT innovation at the time that therapists would have to report self-confessed child abusers to the authorities. I remember arguments in class where some folks argued AGAINST these new provisions of law.

There were folks who still argued that exposing the victim to the formal process of the law would further injure the victim, and that the best thing was to minimize the abuse, and move past it as quietly as possible.

A lot has happened since then. All the verities once known with assurance have been overturned, replaced by a whole new set of verities known with assurance.

Prelates like Cardinal Law, who saw the theories of the psychotherapists overthrown in reality time after time after time certainly must bear significant culpability. But most dioceses saw, typically, one case a year or so of abuser-priests, or even less. Detroit reported 60 in 50 years. For bishops who saw these things only occasionally, it's inappropriate to hold them to the standards we hold to today.


sitetest

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

For bishops who saw these things only occasionally, it's inappropriate to hold them to the standards we hold to today.

This is sad.

Becky