I will comment on the John Jay Report more after I get back from a therapeutic river trip down the San Juan.
The report in correct that the cases of reported abuse following a bell curve. The unknown questions is whether there are unreported cases, especially form the 1950s. Victims may have died and files should have been purged. See the graphs at Catholic Sensibility.
However, it seems there was a real increase in the 1960s. It is perhaps understandable that priests may have experimented sexually, but why were so many priests sexually involved with children? 60% of the reported victims were 13 and under. And why were 83% of the victims boys? The report said that priests had more access to boys. But priests have a lot of access to young women – the congregations are mostly women, 2/3 or more of penitents are women, and solicitation in the confessional has been a centuries-old problem in the Church. If priests wanted to experiment sexually, there were plenty of women available.
So why did they prefer children? I think that not so much sexual pleasure as the pleasure of violation and sacrilege was the goal of the abusive priests. The Marquis de Sade has explained the attraction.
And why boys? Perhaps because were available and don’t get pregnant. Perhaps because they were the same sex as Jesus. But I think that the report had decided it would not blame homosexuality in any way, homosexuals, especially in the Church, being a protected class.
From reading hundreds of cases I think that many abusive priests were immature homosexuals who were themselves frozen in adolescence, and that is why they were attracted to pubescent and pre-pubescent boys. Also, there are few young men available in church, and those might well react violently to sexual overtures.
The priesthood is becoming a gay profession, and abuse of minors is declining. I think that the few men, including homosexual men, who are entering the priesthood are doing it at a later age and are more mature. They have decided ( I hope) to accept being celibate and chaste, whatever their sexual orientation.. However, a largely and obviously gay clergy (even if chaste) will be a further obstacle in reconnecting men to the Church.
The numbers are all skewed by the bishops and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice! As a general rule psychologists use age 13 as the beginning of puberty — the report says it is 10 years of age. Naturally a LOT of the victims fell in the 10-13 years old category — so using the 10 year the numbers are all showing a lower percentage of pedophile priests.
Who can trust the bishops to give ACCURATE and HONEST figures? Case in point, Philadelphia! For years we were told there are no priests with accusations against them in active ministry – and then suddenly last February the grand jury discovers thirty-seven!!! Bishops also try to tell us that 4% of priests were abusers — the actual numbers counted at http://www.bishopaccountability.org is closer to 10%!!!
As for blaming society and “the 60’s!” I was raped in 1970 by a priest who was ordained in the early 1950’s — certainly his moral ethics were well established by the time the 60’s rolled around. His history of abuse runs from the 1950’s until just 2 months before his death in 2006 at the age of 82! After my rape I reported to my deacon supervisor — another priest in the same parish. Remember, this was 1970. Nothing happened because he was diagnosed in 1957 s having a psycho-pathological personality and was STILL playing with mentally ill teen aged girls. He, too, was ordained in the early 1950’s. By the time the 1960’s rolled around these two priests were WELL into their 40’s — and at that time would be considered “old” and not part of the “current age.”
As for the bishops’ honesty in numbers — when I brought my case back to Boston I was informed that “I was the only one” — that there were no other accusations against my perp. I managed to get hold of the investigation and found THREE letters dating back to the 1990’s accusing him of sexual abuse. If the bishop (cardinal) can nget away with lying to me as a priest — how much easier is it to lie to a lay person?
The Hierarchy of the church (all the way to Rome) needs to come clean, be honest, transparent etc. LIST THE NAMES of all perpetrators who have been credibly accused. They cannot be taken to court because of the statutes of limitations. They are still just as dangerous and society in general needs to know about them. Our society is is so migrant! A priest who abuses in Boston can also abuse in Minnesota, or Nevada or anywhere. The names need to be public and accessible.
The question is when (or if) the Church will discipline those bishops (Rigali, Mahony, Law, Weakland, et al) who made this situation worse. One blogger at the National Catholic Register said that the Church needs to retain and encourage its “Catholic” identity (whatever that means these days). I’ve always found such calls to be merely reinforcing the sense of institutional arrogance and condescention toward non-Catholic Christians that has marked too many people among the laity.
Such reasssertion of “identity” is not needed. Repentence is. But repentence can only begin in humility and dependence on God…and much of modern Catholicism has not yet reached that point.
This scandal will not end, I believe, until God physically destroys the institution that enables the medieval re-enactors on Vatican Hill. God is patient and merciful because He was all to come to repentence. But God also will allow the stubborn — like those in Church leadership — to harden their hearts in preparation for their destruction.
I know lots of people abused in the fifties and forties, and lots of priests who were abusive then. Few reported, in at least some cases because the perp died before the victim grew up. the statistic are skewed simply by reason of social acceptability of reporting. If you have a 60 year old perp in 1955, what’s to say that’s his first victim? the whole study is a study in cya and political correctness. The Church’s blessing on this will be the final blasphemy.
clergy victim, I agree, And I am sorry for what happened to you.
I like the way you don’t discount the influence of homosexual politics in the priesthood when you analyze and identify motivational etiologies of clergy sexual abuse.
why is anyone even bothering with this report that appears to be just a smokescreen to cover the truth.
it is well documented that the majority of sex abuse victims never tell.. this fact alone makes this report a farce as the statistics used are useless and do not include the majority of victims.
i met 70 and 80 year old men and women who were abused by priests in various states.. these people did not file reports about their abuse nor did most..
please stop giving so much attention to these bishops and church.. its a waste of time
thank you
The Paracletes had so many gay pedophile
guest priests that we had to have a special site and residence for them. I was attacked by one of them while changing my clothes. I was the life guard at the swimming pool for the pedophile priests at Via Coeli in Jemez Springs in 1965 while serving as a Paraclete Novice and Father Gerald Fitzgerald’s private secretary. Before entering the Paracletes, I attended a minor seminary in Belleville, Illinois run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the faculty was full of pedophile and phebophile gay priests. There was such a gay culture there that some of the boys even started fixing their hair in a feminine style and dressing like girls. All pictures of girls and women were removed from all books and magazines in our library. Several times I was sexually attacked at night by gays while in bed. They said it was just part of hazing and being an underclassman.
This was in 1958-1962 and not a single one of my classmates ever became a priest.
God Bless you Oso Pious… I had a cousin who was a Notre Dame, Holy Cross Brother, who said the very same things. He left the order and I never believed him…I thoiught it was just rotten eggs on his part. Not so MySister in Law, a Dominican Nun who was at the time, the Superintendant of all the Dominicn Schools through out the world , told us the same stories and we wouldn’t believe her either. It’s all true and we left the RCC on our 50th wedding anniv. (2001)as thats the time when all the shyt was hitting the fan. We are still believer in Jesus Christ but not in this evil Indtitution. Old but smarter.
I didn’t edit my comment. sorry!gms
Archbishop Robert Sanchez Emeritus,who is now living in Albuquerque with the Franciscans of Our Lady of Guadalupe Province, sent several gay pedophile priests to my village in Torreon, New Mexico. Father Ed Donelan , who molested so many kids, he even started his own school for them. One of my cousins froze to death in the mountains while running away from him. then there was Father Barney Bisonette who had a special club for boys at his rectory in Estancia, New Mexico. He molested so many kids here that he was transfered to another parish …was the Love Generation of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll and “rectory boys” and “love everyone”. .
Here’s a crazy theory, which I toss out there for better minds to consider (or reject).
You ask why there might have been an increase in the 60s, and why it was directed at children.
The Vatican II reforms (by which I mean what actually happened, not necessarily what was intended by the council) wore away at the authority of the priest.
They quit addressing people as “my son.” Laymen were added to the mass in various places. It was all about community and involvement and whatnot.
The priest just didn’t seem so special any more.
So let’s assume (this is a crazy theory after all) that some portion of priests were drawn to the priesthood because it was a way for otherwise un-powerful men to be powerful.
When Vatican II took that power away, they lashed out. Since they were essentially weak men who were on a power trip, they lashed out at those who were even weaker, but under their control. Children.
Of course I realize that this is just a crazy theory. I don’t propose it as an explanation — just as a crazy theory that might turn out to have some merit.
The good news about my theory is that it would predict that the abuse crisis was a response to a particular sociological change that we’re pretty much through with now, and that things should improve.
“This scandal will not end, I believe, until God physically destroys the institution that enables the medieval re-enactors on Vatican Hill.”
That is too much drama!
“but not in this evil Indtitution” Wow u really r bitter!
We need to see bishops and cardinals in JAIL.
The AUTHORITIES have to do the job that the church is REFUSING to do.
Tony, you’re absolutely right about bishops and cardinals being in jail. But I’d also like to suggest that my idea about God physically destroying the Vatican might not be so far-fetched as you think. Study the OT and look at what happened to the Israelites between 800 and 700 B.C. God took away their independence and allowed the Assyrians and Babylonians to conquer them and send them into exile as punishment for idolatry and the resulting social and moral chaos.
If one thing is certain, it’s that God does not allow His reputation to be toyed with. The longer that Church authorities (including Pope Benedict) refuse to engage in full-bore repentence and continue in these half-measures, the more divine wrath they store up for themselves. If they repent, great! If they don’t, you won’t want to see the results.
Why isn’t Peter “the rock” Pope Benedict aka Ratzinger doing anything positive by way of this mess.Too little too late?
Jose Barba ,one of Marcial’s original victims was told by his Canon lawyer from the Vatican that Cardinal Ratzinger felt it better to have ten hurt men rather than scandalize all the Legion and Regnum Christi adherents.Now he and Athie have in their possession documents from the Vatican dating back to the forties as to just what the Heirarchy knew all these years about Marcial.They were copied and smuggled out to them by prelates who are disgusted themselves with the hypocrisy. When published we will all know.
Pope Benedict is encouraging the Tridentine Mass now. So I presume all the Latin only crowd feel this will save the Church. Here we have the Tridentine y in one parish but, it has been noted that the very effeminate priests here have gravitated to it.
ClergyVictim, you missed Cardinal Bevaloqua in that lineup.
For you and my many friends whose children were injured ,along with my own emotional devastation, I cry and pray every day.
Joseph, you are correct! In the Apocalypse we read an angel ties a millstone and throws the city as if it were into a sea, The city is Rome and there is only one other time we read about a millstone in Scripture that I recall and that is when Jesus referes to those for whom it would have been better if they were never born.In God’s time and He has been Merciful for a very long time already!
This is really going to fan the flames……..
http://www.richardsipe.com/reports/2011-05-18-johnj.htm
Crowhill, I think your idea has merit with regards to some of the cases. You describe it as a “crazy idea”. To quote Don Quixote “When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies.”
Child molestation like rape is an agressive sexual act that is perpetrated to re-enforce or recapture a sense of power and control through a sexual act. In that aspect I agree with Crowhill.
However, it also makes the statement that all sense of morality and Godliness and True Faith is absent in the clerical abuser. Attacking the innocent is anti Christian.For the Bishops to hide behind the theory that the lay culture made them do it, tells me that they have no real Faith in their own vocations and in doing so, have eroded what was left of the perception of moral authority for the public.
It is not about having faith in the institution as so many Catholics believe, it is about having Faith in Christ and His teachings which are the foundations that established the Church through the power of the Holy Ghost. Sadly, these clerics have apostized.There is NO defense for a sin that cries out to heaven for God’s vengeance.Only Penance and repentace.
In Jay Nelson’s book “Sons of Perdition” there is a list of the worst pedophile priests who had the most victims. Father Jason Siegler easily tops the list of number of victims molested. Jason Siegler married a woman from Albuquerque and was up for parole last year. The Albuquerque paper ran a front page article about how Siegler had received Jesus and wanted a chance for a new start. One of my friends in Moriarty, NM was a victim of Siegler’s abuse and he wanted to tell his story but the media was not interested. The name “Sons of Perdition” came from a secret list that the Paracletes circulated every so often detailing the worst pedophile priests and the number of their victims. The top 10 pedophile priests had the title of Sons of Perdition. The Servants of the Paraclete had the honor and privilege to care for all the Sons of Perdition and I suggested to Jay Nelson that he name his book Sons of Perdition. It also has the same letters as Servants of Paraclete. I got to meet several of the Sons of Perdition first hand and they were indeed very sick , twisted and depraved creatures. They belonged in prison or in a mental hospital, but the Catholic Church had a special order called the Servants of the Paraclete pander to their needs. As their number grew, the need to recycle them became apparent. We couldn’t send them back to their original home parishes because of the scandal and they would probably be killed by their former victims. Instead we decided to send them into the poor, naive and trusting Hispanic and Indian communities without any warning. If one of them acted out, we simply transfered them to another parish. It is interesting to note that none of the Sons of Perdition were ever sent to wealthy and upscale parishes but only to the remote and obscure native villages and pueblos in New Mexico.
Correction it was Joseph to whom I should have addressed the linup to include Cardinal Bevaloqua..”The question is when (or if) the Church will discipline those bishops (Rigali, Mahony, Law, Weakland, et al) who made this situation worse.”
I do not think we will be around to see it Joseph IF the Church ever disciplines those bishops, because the enablers include Cardinals and even the Pope when he was a Cardinal. How does one discipline himself as the visible head of the Catholic Church when his own letters are used in the courts as evidence for the Defense to demonstrate Church policy congratulating Cardinals and Bishops for not reporting pederasts to legal authorities?
Father Michael Koening, There is also a certain truth to the song “American Pie”by Don McLean
“Don McLean was a practicing Catholic, and believed in the depravity of ’60s music, hence the closing lyric: “The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, they caught the last train for the coast, the day the music died.”
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1193
Vatican II 1962-1965 and the wonderful documents therein.
“Penance and repentence.” Didn’t those go away sometime in the 60s?
The JJ report is a farce. The coverup is in place.
Welcome to the Sinai peninsula. If the Book of Exodus is a guide, we only have another three decades or so to go in this moral wilderness.
Crowhill
Perhaps Vatican II had an influence but I dont think as you conjectured. VII was 1963-4, whereas the John Jay report shows a straight line increase in abuse from 1950 thruogh 1975. It could have an impact, but in the later years only.
On the other hand what JJ says about it being part of the social upheaval of the period is false as well. The pill became mainstream around 1960. Drug use started to grow in the mid 60s. Homosexuality was birthed by the Stonewall riots of 1969. Divorsce rates in US did not take off till 1968.
The vatican issued its crimen doc in 1960, so abuse was an established pattern by then and was linearly growing until 1975 at least.
On the other hand the post war era was a period of very rigid moral catholicism. It is possible that the abuse reflected mens inability to deal with that framework, a challenge made even more difficulty with the rigors of priestly celebacy as opposed to secular chastity, which was challenging itself.
In the autobiography of C.S. Lewis, “Surprised By Joy,” he states that pederasty was rampant when he was an intern at a very high-class preparatory school in England. He affirms that almost no intern escaped being sexually abused by older students. This made me reflect: Why is this horrendous sin being given more attention in our times than it was fifty years ago?
Have you seen this?
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2011/the-church-paid-1-8-million-and-all-i-got-was-this-lousy-report
Do you think it’s accurate?
Fr Michael, I thought the Jews wandered for forty years in the desert? Please God not another three decades!
You are correct self sacrifice ceased being taught in the catholic schools in the sixties. Our Lady of Fatima told the children that our daily lives and duties would become a sacrifice ,and indeed today we can attest to the fact that everything has become more difficult. Even finding a good parish has become an insurmountable chore for many.
Lee is correct concerning “Outrage”. The lack of outrage over the attacks on the innocent ,so evident to all, has been lost on the Vatican. In one sense they condemn abortion, but on the other they have closed their collective eyes towards the perverted abuse of children. We have lived through this schyphrenic response or non response in Liturgical abuses , catechetical approbations for heretical texts and sex ed in catholic schools etc.
Case in point .Marcial. He should have been met with outrage rather than the continued welcoming arms of the late Beata JPII. And that outrage should have been displayed decades ago not by the weak penalty imposed on him by Pope Benedict that was too long overdue.Perhaps this speaks of the “diabolical disorientation” that Lucia allegedly mentioned.Money ,power and image apparently trumps Truth.
Truth Lover, Because we now have access to instant communication and we live in the “tell all” society.Adultery, fornication, incest and perversion has existed for thousands of years ,but today we talk about it.Back then certain topics were off limits in “polite society”.
Welcome to the paganism of the New World Order.You are now free to choose.
Crowhill, Accurate or not I know we have no more money to give .I have to wonder if the Bishops will be eating hot dogs and beans and growing their backyard vegetables?
Maybe in thirty years or so, eh?
Truth Lover and Mary, I think that more attention is being given to the sexual abuse in schools and churches now because some people decided to do something about it. You cannot begin to cure a problem if people are too embarrassed to talk about it, and the problem is not recognized by the innocent and naive. Such secrecy leads to more abuse.
From what I have read about boarding schools, I would not send a child to such a place because the safety of the home and parents is not available to that child. Children belong with their parents.
I have to say it again. The brave victims who formed SNAP did us all a great service by exposing what had happened to them. Now that we are forewarned, we are much less likely to be victimized.
Mary, I’ve come to believe that the only reason the Catholic Church condemns abortion is to preserve its views of natural law, not to protect the innocent. After all, it’s so much more fun for theologians and clergymen to dabble in esoteric, arcane questions that have no answers than to do something.
The Catholic Church has always talked a great game. Sadly for the Church, God doesn’t want just talk.
Catholic leaders are more pharisaical than they care to admit.
St. John Bosco, who was priviledged to receive any number of extraordinary revelations from God, remarked that a time was coming (he lived in the later half of the 19th century) when the ordinary Catholic would have to be a “giant” to stand fast. I believe that day has come.
I take comfort in the truth that any human society is more than its leaders or government. It consist of all the values and principals it holds and upon which it is based. As well, it consist of the “bricks”, that is to say, the ordinary members that keep it going. That’s true of Canada, the USA, and it’s true of the Church. So often when I celebrate the funeral of an average practising lay person, I’m struck by the many testimonies of their virtue, self sacrifice and faith. At those times I think to myself “This is the Catholic church!” Not the pope and bishops, or priests. We’re the government officials if you will, and are a necessary part of the picture. But we’re only one small part. As Blessed Cardinal Newman said “The hierarchy would look pretty silly without the laity.”
More on how this ” Report” is being reported on.
I am embarrassed although I am certainly not a Bishop.
http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Challenging-the-John-Jay-Report-Marci-Hamilton-05-27-2011.html
http://cityofangels11.blogspot.com/2011/05/video-colbert-illuminates-john-jay.html
Janice , I agree with you and after reading what is going on at the Legion schools now , I am even more convinced that perverts like Marcial create their own kind of progeny .
Joseph, I know they were never serious about the abortion issue. I have read the Mchugh Chronicles
by Randy Engel . The late Bishop James Machugh was the Vatican Pro Life appointed Leader. Also friends with Mary Calderone of Planned Parenthood! years ago I spoke with Mary Kay Smith who attended a meeting with him in which it was pointed out to him that by supporting the March of Dimes he was supporting an industry that used aborted fetuses from the abortion clinics. She told me they were aghast when he replied,”What are you against progress”?
So much for being really Pro Life ! Mrs. Smith said she thought one lady was going to climb over the table and strangle him. Perhaps that would have brought the false Pro Life stand to the public’s attention.
Mary (@ 5/29 comment)
On my three decade Exodus comment– I was giving us credit for the past ten years of this saga! God help us if we don’t get that break…