|
HOME
HUMOUR
CANCER
ARCHIVE
E-MAIL |
THE
CATHOLIC SEX CRISIS
One of the most evil and vile crimes is the
sexual abuse of children for they are innocent and defenceless.
Sexual abuse scars victims for life and destroys any respect
they may have had for the perpetrators. It is particularly galling
when such disgusting deeds are committed by those who portray
themselves as leaders in morality.
Sex scandals have plunged the Roman Catholic
Church into its biggest crisis since it sold forgiveness of sins
through indulgences in the 16th century that led to the Reformation.
Since last January at least 250 priests have resigned or have
been suspended over sexual misconduct claims in the US alone.
More than 2,000 priests are being investigated to establish their
guilt or innocence in other sexual misconduct cases. Some convicted
priests had sex with children as young as seven and court evidence
shows that they re-offended sometimes in excess of 200 times
over the years. Although most of the victims were young boys,
girls have been abused as well.
Court records further show that these child-predators
used their position of authority to intimidate their victims
and often threatened them with dire consequences if they would
ever tell anyone. Threats included harm to them or members of
their family or as one young woman told Ed Bradley on CBS 60
Minutes June 12, her priest raped her and threatened her that
she would "burn in hell" if she ever mentioned it to
anyone. "Besides added the priest, "no one would believe
you." It must be understood that especially young Catholic
children see their priest as the representative of God who therefore
can do no wrong or at least have the power to get away with it.
Statements by the Church give the impression
the Catholic hierarchy is more interested in protecting the clergy
than the victims. Bishops and cardinals have protected offending
clergy by transferring them to other parishes where the predators
often re-offend.ed.
Sexual transgressions in the Catholic Church are not a new development,
but may be as old as the Church itself.
History
The church's policy of celibacy is an invitation
for sexual abuse. Anyone with a basic knowledge of human biology
knows that the sex drive, particularly in young men, is very
strong and second only to the survival instinct. Without normal
outlets for their sexual urges, priests commonly turn to each
other or to children and women, using their position of authority
as a powerful means to get their way with their victims. As any
psychologist can tell you, suppressing one's sexuality often
causes serious problems ranging from depression to violence.
The sex drive demands outlets for the libido and when no natural
outlets are available, immoral and illegal means are often pursued.
The rule on celibacy was first imposed in 1139
during the Second Lateran Council and took a century to phase
in against strong opposition from those affected by it. It must
be understood that the Church's rule on celibacy has nothing
to do with sexual morality, but was imposed to ensure that the
estates of its clergy would go to the Church rather than to their
offspring. It is a policy that has paid off handsomely: the Catholic
Church now owns more real estate than any other institution or
corporation in the world.
In the meantime the rule of celibacy has been
and continues to be widely violated. Some overdid it, like the
Bishop of Liege who was finally deposed in 1274 after he had
fathered 65 illegitimate children. (See Sex in History by Reay
Tannahill) Many popes similarly enjoyed the forbidden joys of
the flesh. Pope Sergius III (904-911) lived openly with the notorious
harlot Marozia. They had a son who became Pope John XI who was
later imprisoned by Marozia. Her grandson became Pope John XII
(955-963) who was killed in the very act of adultery by the woman's
enraged husband.
Sex and religion have never mixed well. To
this day contraception remains a sin for Roman Catholics, even
though surveys have shown that most Catholics in the Western
world practice it. The only form of birth control the Church
allows is the so-called rhythm method, also known as Vatican
roulette, where sex is limited to the non-fertile days of a woman's
monthly cycle.
Money
Money is a language everybody understands
and few understand it better than those who run the Catholic
global network from the Vatican. The sex scandals in the US have
significantly reduced the cash flow on the one hand, while on
the other hand legal costs and out-of-court settlements in the
US have reached the one billion dollar mark. Some parishes are
on the verge of bankruptcy and it will take a lot more than bingo
games to make up for the shortfall.
The reason for the mushrooming expenditures
is the size of the payments being made to victims, either in
jury awards or out-of-court settlements. The Archdiocese of Boston
alone is facing costs estimated at $100 million, and new cases
are emerging almost on a daily basis across the US. Two American
men who say they were abused as teenagers by priests have begun
legal action against the Vatican.
The amounts of settlements are usually kept
secret at the insistence of insurance companies which prefer
to settle out of court, because legal fees for trials can amount
to $500,000 per case. The Catholic magazine America says that
following a large jury award in 1985, practically all insurance
companies excluded coverage for sexual abuse from their liability
policies. In an editorial it warns that if church assets have
to be liquidated to settle claims, it could mean less money for
scholarships, parish schools, soup kitchens and shelters for
the homeless. However, most of the Church's real estate holdings
are protected from seizure since they are incorporated as separate
entities. The Church has many multi-million-dollar estates with
large and luxurious mansions one of which is the home of Boston
Cardinal Bernard Law who covered up some of the sex crimes by
his underlings.
Cardinal Law was once predicted to become the
first American pope. Now he is under fierce pressure by his parishioners
to resign. He admits that the church knew that a Boston priest
sent to prison earlier this year was suspected of being a serial
child molester, but did little to protect children in his care.
Father John Geoghan is thought to have sexually abused more than
130 children over a 30-year period. In the Boston Archdiocese
alone up to 100 priests now face similar allegations. The scandal
has been given a passionate new intensity by the most recent
revelations. For example, even after the church had paid financial
compensation to several of another priest's victims, Father Shanley
was allowed to remain as a priest.
Without question there is a crisis of confidence
in the Catholic Church right now with the priesthood and laity
questioning age-old articles of faith. Should priests remain
celibate? Should they be allowed to marry? Could there even be
a break with Rome if the Vatican fails to come up with an adequate
response to concerns in the US? Sexual misconduct by Catholic
clergy is a worldwide phenomenon. Allegations, trials and convictions
of sex crimes by Catholic clergy are reported in many countries,
including South Africa, Poland, Hong Kong and Australia.
Several high-profile Catholic lawyers have
quit defending the Church once they found out bishops covered
up crimes, documents were often hidden, secret agreements were
made, civil authorities were not told about sex crimes committed
by members of the clergy and pedophilia is far more widespread
in the Church than the lawyers had first believed. One of those
lawyers is Ray Mouton of Louisiana who not only quit as defense
attorney, but quit the church as well and is no longer a Catholic.
He said sexual abuse is a cult in the Church. Said another lawyer
appearing on the aforementioned Ed Bradley documentary: "Once
you take away the collar, the churches, the cathedrals: this
is organized crime." According to former priest Richard
Sipe, US author of The Secret World, there are some 46,000 priests
in the US of which 26 per cent admit homosexuality, 13 per cent
heterosexual activities and 6 per cent pedophilia.
The Bishops of America conference held in Dallas June 13 and
14 decided that a one-time offender would not necessarily be
defrocked. That is like saying your first bank robbery doesn't
count! Many Americans erroneously believe that by proposing and
then voting in favour of remedial action, such an outcome will
also be acceptable to the Pope and the Roman Curia, the small
group of cardinals who run the central administration of the
Church in Rome. This is simply not true. The role of The National
Bishops' conferences in deciding Church policies is purely advisory.
The bishops have no binding authority and all their decisions
have to be submitted for approval by the Vatican where the Pope
has the final say. The reality is that the Catholic Church is
not a democratic institution but a very conservative autocratic
one.
A leading Italian Canon lawyer at the Gregorian
Papal University in Rome, Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, writing
in the influential Jesuit-run Italian magazine La Civilta Cattolica
(Catholic Civilisation) has argued in a recent article that the
rights of the alleged victim must also be balanced against those
of the accused cleric. Fr. Ghirlanda's point is that American
bishops who have been releasing confidential information to the
media or to the police about the priests in their dioceses may
be in breach of canon law, the ecclesiastical code of conduct
governing relations between clergy and laity. Countless records
in possession of the Church are sealed, including many regarding
sexual transgressions by its clergy. The bottom line is that
all the 300 or so American bishops attending the Dallas meeting
are ultimately answerable to Rome, so the Vatican will- -as always--
have the last word on the sexual abuse crisis.
Irish case
Sexual abuse by Catholic clergy is a worldwide
phenomenon. This case from Ireland provides an in-depth look
at how these crimes are committed and are then commonly ignored
by the Catholic hierarchy:
Fr. Sean Fortune, a newly ordained priest,
appeared dashing and energetic when he first arrived in the small
Irish village of Fethard-on-Sea in County Wexford, but what the
locals did not know was that Fr. Fortune already faced mounting
allegations of child sexual abuse. The Catholic Church kept this
knowledge to itself. Fr. Fortune soon ensnared young boys of
the village, relentlessly abusing and blackmailing many of them
into silence. Throughout the 80s, those allegations increased.
On at least two occasions, Bishop Comiskey investigated, but
did nothing to stop Fr. Fortune.
When he was not controlling children in a myriad
of carefully set up "youth groups," he was pressuring
their parents for money, stripping the elderly of their savings
and extorting millions of pounds from government employment schemes.
In desperation his parishioners organized a delegation to two
bishops and, after getting no real response, wrote to the Papal
Nuncio, the Pope's ambassador to Ireland. Still nothing was done
to stop this bullying, predatory pedophile.
Patrick Jackman was 11 years old when he witnessed
Fr. Sean Fortune sexually abusing a young boy scout in a tent.
Four years later, the priest appeared at Pat's home and asked
if he could take the young boy to stay at his house for the weekend.
Pat had a premonition of what was about to happen, but was powerless
to stop it.
Unlike many of the boys abused by Fr. Fortune,
Pat had the courage to tell his parents. His father was --and
still is-- close to the Catholic Church. He complained personally
to Bishop Herlihey. The Bishop said he thought it was ludicrous
that a man of the cloth would act like that. After the Bishop
died, Pat's father complained to his replacement Bishop Comiskey.
To this day no one from the church has asked Pat Jackman about
Fr. Fortune or the events of that night.
Dr. Brendan Comiskey, the Bishop of Ferns,
was informed of allegations of abuse against not just Fr. Fortune
but a number of priests, when he was first appointed. Fr. Sean
Fortune was left in Fethard-on-Sea for six years before Bishop
Comiskey finally removed him. He then sent Fortune to London
to study media and communications and to seek therapy with a
number of psychiatrists. Two years later, Fr. Fortune was brought
back to Ireland, and given not only another parish, but he was
also made the director of a Catholic media organization, the
National Association of Community Broadcasting.
Fr. Fortune quickly turned his new role to
his financial and sexual advantage. He raped a 15 year old boy
in a studio booth where he recorded religious programs. Colm
O'Gorman, another victim, finally brought Fr. Fortune's reign
to an end in 1995. Aged 29, he decided to tell the Irish police
about his experiences as a young boy. Colm feared Fr. Fortune
was still abusing. But instead of reaching out to Fr. Fortune's
many victims, Bishop Comiskey disappeared from his palace without
explanation. It was discovered he had fled to an alcohol treatment
clinic in the US. He returned to his diocese six months later.
Bishop Comiskey claims that the ongoing litigation prevents him
answering the many questions about his and the Church's knowledge
of Fr. Fortune's child sexual abuse. The Catholic Church has
never reached out in any way to the victims. Fr.. Fortune killed
himself in 1999. Colm O'Gorman, still hoping for some answers,
is suing Bishop Brendan Comiskey, the Papal Nuncio and the Pope.
Not all victims of sexual transgressions by
clergy are children. Many are women, some of them nuns. When
that leads to pregnancy, serious problems arise. For example,
Irish Bishop Eamonn Casey was dethroned after $100,000 apparently
wasn't enough to silence the mother of his teenage son....
Conclusion
A massive public relations campaign is now underway to
do damage control. The Church is confessing its sins publicly,
i.e. the way it has mishandled sexual abuse within its jurisdictions.
Moreover, it has apologized to the victims for the pain and suffering
that has been inflicted on them.
The trouble is the Church hierarchy knew about
the widespread sexual abuse for decades and did nothing. So why
do the prelates express regret and offer apologies now when they
should have done so years ago? Are they genuinely inspired by
sudden sorrow or are they motivated by the deepening financial
cisis they got themselves into? The answer is painfully obvious.
HOME |
