Posted on 01/11/2006 6:03:22 AM PST by NYer
Breaking ranks with his peers, a Roman Catholic bishop called yesterday for state legislatures to temporarily remove the time limits that have prevented many victims of sex abuse from suing the church.
In making that extraordinary appeal, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit also unburdened himself of a secret. As a teenager 60 years ago, he said, he was "inappropriately touched" by a priest.
Gumbleton, 75, is the first U.S. bishop to disclose that he was a victim of clergy sexual abuse. He is also the first to endorse proposals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and other states to follow California's example and open a one-year window for victims to file lawsuits over sexual abuse, no matter how long ago it took place.
"I don't want to exaggerate that I was terribly damaged. It was not the kind of sexual abuse that many of the victims experience," Gumbleton said in a telephone interview. But, he said, he knows why sex abuse victims often cannot file lawsuits within the period allowed by the statute of limitations, which in many states is two to five years after the alleged crime.
"They are intimidated, embarrassed, and they just bury it. I understand that," he said. "I never told my parents. . . . I never told anybody."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
That ex priest who abused a child here on Long Island was abused when he was in High School. Do you recall the story I am talking about? I bet his is more common then we could imagine. I believe he was abused at Holy Trinity HS then later became a priest and an abuser himself. I believe the alleged elder priest was Ribuado who was defrocked as well.
This "bishop" would say anything to cause contraversy or get in the news. I don't believe anything he says.
Okay, how many millions does it take for a person to get over being "inappropriately touched" when he was a teenager ...?
Honestly, if I could collect from all the guys who groped me when I was a teenager, we could retire to a life of ease for the next 50 years.
Talk about a waste of chrism.
He turned 75 almost a year ago. He'll turn 76 in about 2 weeks.
He threatened last year not to send in his resignation letter as required.
What's going on with this guy? Why is he still there?
Hmmm.
Most gays were victims of sexual abuse. The problem is that researchers and the gays themselves are loathe to call such experiences abuse, instead talking about their "sexual self-discovery" that occurred when they were 7 years old in a public men's room.
However, I believe Bishop Gumbleton sees that Pope Benedict is finally retiring bishops, and is trying to make it look like he is being punished.
You are onto something there.
"Honestly, if I could collect from all the guys who groped me when I was a teenager"
Weren't they teenagers too?
"Most gays were victims of sexual abuse."
Most? Try "all."
Some were, some weren't. Why should that matter? According to the reasoning of the lawsuits, it's the fact of having been "inappropriately touched" that ruins one's life and requires millions of dollars to compensate.
If you think there's no bishop in the USA who would "attempt" to ordain a woman or start a schismatic hierarchy . . .
THINK AGAIN.
Did I say that? Au contraire ... our diocese has come as close as one can without going through the actual process.
Now you are bragging! ;-)
Explains a lot.
"Some were, some weren't. Why should that matter?"
Because if you can demonstrate that there is a significant number of SSAD sufferers who weren't, you can disprove the assertion that SSAD is caused by a molestation or seduction in the pre-adult years.
"Some were, some weren't. Why should that matter?"
Or were you replying to # 11, "Weren't they teenagers too?"
If so, I think it might matter. If one teenager gropes another in the context of a consensual making out situation, that seems to me different from an older man molesting a teenage girl, or even some teenage jerk just groping some girl with whom he has no romantic relationship.
It also piqued my curiosity, in that I cannot imagine my 54 year old self touching a teenage girl, and I wondered how often that sort of thing happened.
No, I was not talking about "consensual making out sessions." However, since you bring that up, a number of the cases involving priests seem to have been "consensual" except that the youth involved was not legally capable of consent.
If I was touched inappropriately when I was 16, and need millions to recover, whether the touch-er was 17 or 22 or 30 is not *practically* relevant, although it's legally relevant.
The bigger point is that the genuine cases of "abuse," as any reasonable person would understand it, by priests, are easily lost amid cases of "he tried a grope, now give me money," especially when the media wishes to exaggerate "abuse" and conceal "pretty ordinary behavior of homosexuals."
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