Bishop Lahey Affair and the Question of Catholic Priesthood and Celibacy -- 8

Some Observations (Contd.)

• Clergy sex abuses not only ruin the lives of the victims, but they also bring about irreparable damage to the Catholic community around them. It is so sad to see how the clergy sex abuses adversely affected the victims as well as the Catholic Church. The worst effects were on the children who were molested and raped by many priests. Many of these children, when grown up, cannot still cope with real life. The trauma is still haunting them. They are so much affected that they cannot maintain a decent relationship with others and lead normal sex life anymore. Another unpardonable effect was on the Church funds. Victims, especially in the USA, filed lawsuits against many priests and won financial compensations from various Catholic dioceses, because the rogue priests were in the employ of those dioceses. In 1998, the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Texas, was forced to pay US$31 million to the victims of Father Rudolph Kos. In 2002, the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, reaches a $10 million settlement with victims of Father John Geoghan. In 2003, this same archdiocese agrees to sell land and buildings, including some church buildings, to raise $100 million to fund legal settlements to more than 500 abuse victims of several dozen sex-abusing priests. In 2004, the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, files for bankruptcy because it is unable to pay millions of dollars in compensation to abuse victims. In 2004, the diocese of Orange County, California, settles $100 million lawsuits brought by 87 victims. In 2005, the Diocese of Sacramento, California, agrees to pay $35 million and the Diocese of Oakland, California, agrees to pay $56 million to 45 victims. In 2006, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California, agrees to pay $60 million to 45 victims. In 2007, the Diocese of Spokane, Washington, agrees to pay about $48 million. In the same year, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California, settles 508 cases of clergy sex abuse for $660 million! The Diocese of San Diego, California, in the same year, agrees to pay $198 million to 144 victims. Thus go the power, pomp, and pecunia (money in Latin) down the drain for unchristian, unpriestly, and unpardonable behaviour of some unsupervised priests! Who suffers? First, the victims. Second, other priests who want to remain loyal to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Third, the faithful (laity -- the common Catholics, who were duped by those perpetrators).
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• Every country and culture has its own version of clergy sex and sexual abuses. Clergy sexual abuse and sexual misconducts know no boundaries, know no cultures. These are present in every country -- more or less -- each country having its own version of clergy sex. In some countries, where society is more conservative and sensitive to illicit sex, examples of priestly sex are less in number.

• Papal apologies for clergy sex abuses. In the past decade, both late Pope John Paul II as well as present Pope Benedict XVI deplored the clergy sex abuses in different countries and apologized for these serious indiscretions: (1) Pope Sends First E-mail Apology (November 23, 2001), (2) Pope Laments Sexual Abuse by Priests (July 28, 2002), (3) The Pope Lands in the US, Apologizes for Priest Abuse (April 15, 2008), (4) Pope Apologizes to Australians for 'Betrayal' of Clergy Sex Abuse (July 19, 2008), (5) Pope Offers Sympathy for Residential School Victims (of Canada) (April 29, 2009).

• Blogs and websites dealing with clergy sex and sexual abuses. In these days of worldwide digital media, nothing can be kept a secret from others. The same is true of the clergy sex abuse cases. Now the digital media are in everybody's reach. Secrecy works only in a society where most of the people are illiterate or half-literate or under severe persecution. There are innumerable websites and blogs, devoted to dealing with this subject. Only a few are mentioned here:
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• Restoring Trust: Response to Clergy Sex Abuse (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)
• The Catholic Church and Sexual Abuse by Priests Archive
• Abuse in the Catholic Church: The Boston Globe Spotlight Investigation)
• BishopAccountability.org
• Abuse Tracker (of BishopAccountablity.org)
• Clergy Abuse Tracker (of Poynteronline)
• LifeSiteNews.com: Child Abuse Crisis
• Church in Turmoil (Growing abuse scandals and cover-ups within Catholic Church)
• The Voice of the Faithful (Keep the Faith, Change the Church)
• Joshua Children Foundation (Child Sexual Abuse by Priests and Clergy)
• Sexual Abuse of Males (Prevalence, Possible Lasting Effects & Resources)
• SNAP (Survivors' Network of Those Abuse by Priests)
• John McKiggan's Sexual Abuse Claims Blog
• Prime Time Crime: Catholic Church Abuses
• Clergy Sexual Abuse in Australia
• John McKiggan's Sexual Abuse Claims Blog
• Speak Truth To Power
• Jurist: Clergy Sex Abuse
• A Mother, a Sick Son and His Father, the Priest
• Sharon's Rose (The Voice from One Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivor to Another)
• Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders
• Excluding Homosexuals from Catholic Seminaries
• Homosexual Orientation Among Roman Catholic Priests

• Books on clergy sex and sexual abuses. There are a number of books on the subject of clergy sex abuse. These books, available for purchase over the Internet, provide an increased understanding of the issues and problems on this subject. Some of these books are:

1. The Changing Face of Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest's Crisis of Soul by Father Donald B. Cozzens.
2. Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church by Father Donald B. Cozzens.
3. Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption Into the Catholic Church by Michael S. Rose.
4. Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church by Leon J. Podles.
5. The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture by Philip F. Lawler
6. Nothing to Hide: Secrecy, Communication and Communion in the Catholic Church by Russell Shaw.
7. A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church by Frank Bruni and Elinor Burkett.
8. Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church by the Investigative Team of the Boston Globe.
9. Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism: How Priests and Nuns Become Perpetrators by Myra L. Hidalgo.
10. Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children by Jason Berry.
11. Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus by Bishop Geoffrey Robinson.
12. Understanding the Impact of Clergy Sexual Abuse: Betrayal and Recovery, edited by Robert A. McMackin, Terence M. Keane and Paul M. Kline.
13. Unfair Advantage: Sexual Abuse by Psychotherapists, Priests and Police by Terri Austin.
14. Our Father, Who Art in Bed: A Naive and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ by J. Paul Lennon.
15. An Irish Tragedy: How Sex Abuse by Irish Priests Helped Cripple the Catholic Church by Joe Riqert.
16. After Asceticism: Sex, Prayer and Deviant Priests by Patrick Guinan (Guynan).
17. Sex, Priests and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church's 2000 Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse by Thomas P. Doyle, A.W.Richard Sipe and Patrick J. Wall.

(The End)