Posted on 07/23/2002 11:53:09 AM PDT by NYer
Catholic parishioners in Fort Edward are rallying behind their former priest, helping him move into a new apartment and even hoping he may someday return to the pulpit less than a month after he was removed for child sexual abuse.
Members of St. Joseph's Church in this small Washington County town are planning a "kitchen shower" Aug. 2 to help the Rev. James Rosch furnish the four-room apartment he rented after he had leave the rectory. Rosch has been sitting in the pews during Sunday services since his removal as head priest last month.
"I was just in tears because he has nothing and I said, 'Jeez, maybe we should have a kitchen shower for Father,' " said Francis Bowen, a church trustee who is organizing the shower. "I have a list of things: mops, brooms, Saran Wrap, Ragu sauce. You know, the things that you need to put in the cabinet."
Rosch, 55, was one of six priests from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany who were named publicly and removed from active ministry last month because they had sexually abused minors in the past. The priests are barred from wearing their collar or celebrating Mass in public.
Rosch will be replaced this week by the Rev. Joseph Dworak, who has been a chaplain at St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam.
Church officials said Rosch still is considering whether to formally remove himself from the priesthood entirely, by a process known as laicization, or to seek a life or "prayer and penance," in accordance with the church's new policy for priests who sexually abused minors.
The scene in Fort Edward of widespread support for a priest with a history of child sex abuse is an increasingly common one at churches nationwide, as parishes directly affected by the "zero-tolerance" policy adopted by U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Dallas last month question its sweeping impact.
"It's happening all over the county. It's an interesting phenomenon that most people in the pews feel they support the idea of zero tolerance -- except when its their pastor, except when they know the priest personally," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, publisher of the Catholic magazine, America.
Some St. Joseph's parishioners said they believed that the Rosch's sexual misconduct involved a single incident with an older teenager that occurred 24 years ago.
"One of the things we are trying to do is find out from the diocese what he can do and can't do, and try to keep him involved in the parish," said Anthony Montello, who has a 14-year-old son and sits on the parish council. "We are hoping that everything may work out so that he can come back and be a priest."
Rosch has remained a prominent figure in the community at St. Joseph's. Last week, he played the guitar at an outdoor concert to help raise money for a local food bank. Rosch could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
As in other dioceses nationwide, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard and other church leaders in the Albany diocese have not issued a strict definition of "prayer and penance." The Rev. John Bertolucci, who was among the six removed, said he is living at his home in Catskill, celebrating Mass alone and ministering to friends.
"I think all over the country, the bishops are trying to figure out how to implement this policy," Reese said. "The priority of the bishops was, correctly, focused on prevention, to make sure that these priests would not be able to abuse others as a priest in the future."
"They are going to have to figure out the details of where do they send them, what do they do with them," Reese said.
The scene in Fort Edward of widespread support for a priest with a history of child sex abuse is an increasingly common one at churches nationwide
Has this been happening in your part of the country, as well?
"It's happening all over the county. It's an interesting phenomenon that most people in the pews feel they support the idea of zero tolerance -- except when its their pastor, except when they know the priest personally," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, publisher of the Catholic magazine, America.I sincerely doubt that the victims are having second thoughts about zero tolerance.
Rosch has been sitting in the pews during Sunday services since his removal as head priest last month.... Last week, he played the guitar at an outdoor concert to help raise money for a local food bank.Oh, Lord, Kumbaya.
Something in me makes me angry with those people being so forgiving. Are they helping the victim(s) with counselling and housing? No, most of these victims have proven themselves pretty strong and have made new lives on their own, except for the ones who have committed suicide, are on drugs, booze, unable to function, and are obsessively posting on the internet :-(
I will chalk it up to misplaced compassion and people (myself included at times) being too idolatrous towards their priests.
The collective psyche is unpredictable. The public is ready to lynch the guy in California, but then he tortured and killed his victim.
Now scratch all the above. I don't understand it at all. I just don't understand how people can be that forgiving. I don't know what I would do.
Yes! I knew you would come up with a rational explanation.
I just loved the concept of a kitchen shower. Once again, this priest is "preying" on his (now former) parishioners. Why is he dawdling at this parish, instead of moving on with his life. Seems he desperately seeks their sympathy when he should be giving them his repentance.
Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins is held hostage in his home by this "misunderstood" misfit. ( I won't spoil the fitting ending, if anyone surfing hasn't seen this yarn). There is a whole gnostic undercurrent in modern culture to romanticize villains bizarrely as "heroes" (beyond good and evil in the puerile Nietzschean sense) who seemingly rise "above" bourgeois conformity and staid conventions. The whole counter-cultural avant-garde nihilist "anti-hero" mythos is part of this. A variation of "Sympathy for the Devil." Highly weird.
THE SNAKE
On her way to work one morning down the path ' longside the lake A tender hearted woman saw a poor half-frozen snake His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew " Poor thing " she cried " I' ll take you in and I' ll take care of you" " Take me in, tender woman " Take me in for heaven' s sake " Take me in, tender woman Sighed the snake She wrapped hi up all cozy in a comforter of silk And she laid him by her fireside with some honey and some milk She hurried home from work that night and soon as she arrived She found that pretty snake she' d taken in had been revived " Take me in, tender woman " Take me in for heaven' s sake " Take me in tender woman" Sighed the snake She clutched him to her bosom, " You' re so beautiful" she cried " But if I hadn' t have brought you in, m you might have died She stroked his pretty skin again and kissed and held him tight Instead of saying " thanks" the snake gave her a vicious bite " Take me in, tender woman " Take me in for heaven' s sake " Take me in tender woman" Sighed the snake " I saved you!" cried the woman " and you' ve bitten me, but why? " You know your bite is poisonous" and now I' m going to die" " Aw shut up, silly woman" said the reptile with a grin " You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in
Your mission, should you choose to accept it ...
AB
Subsequent research found that such a reaction had occurred in all the "hostage" groups studied, including cult members, battered women, incest victims and physically or emotionally abused children. Researchers have concluded that this seems to be a universal phenomenon which may be instinctive and thus play a survival function for hostages who are victims of abuse.
There is no universally accepted definition of the Stockholm Syndrome but it has been suggested that it is present if one or more of the following is observed:
- positive feelings by the captive towards his/her captor.
- negative feelings by the captive toward the police or authorities trying to win his/her release.
- positive feelings by the captor towards his/her captive.
- It has been found to occur in circumstances where there is:
-a perceived threat to survival and a belief that the captor is willing to carry out that threat.
- a perception by the captive of some small kindness from the captor within the context of terror.
- isolation from perspectives other than those of the captor. - perceived inability to escape.
The following explanation has been put forward for the phenomenon.
The abuser (or captor) terrifies the victim, who cannot escape, by threatening his or her physical or psychological survival. As a result of being terrified the victim needs nurturance and protection. Being isolated from others, the victim must turn to the abuser for this if s/he turns to anyone. If the abuser shows the victim some small kindness this creates hope in the victim, who then ignores her rage at the terror-creating side of the abuser (because this rage would be experienced as overwhelming) and bonds to the positive side of the abuser. With the hope that the abuser will let him or her live, the victim works to keep the abuser happy. In trying to determine what will keep the abuser happy, the victim's own needs, feelings and perspectives must take second place and s/he unconsciously takes on the world view of the abuser. The victim sees the abuser as the "good guy" and those trying to win his/her release (e.g. police or therapists) as the "bad guys", as this is the way the abuser sees things. Over a period of months or years, the victim's entire sense of self may come to be experienced through the eyes of the abuser. The victim may have extreme difficulty leaving the abuser, if the opportunity arises, because s/he no longer sees a reason to do so.
For victims of sexual abuse, their families and therapists, the Stockholm Syndrome is useful in explaining the victim's experiences, current "symptoms" and the relationship between victim and abuser. It can help remove the tendency of the victim to blame him or herself for "allowing" the abuse to continue or for "causing" the abuse. It can also help to make sense of the ways in which the victim's perceptions of themselves and the abuser can be distorted, by explaining those distortions in terms of the Syndrome and making clear their origins as an instinctive survival function.
The following are some common ways in which the victim's view of their situation can become distorted, with the corresponding explanations in terms of the Stockholm Syndrome:
The victim denies the abuser's violence against him/her...
He apparently is still a priest, and where he goes should be a locked cell in a remote monastery somewhere. IMO.
AB
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.