Recent institutional sex abuse coverups within the Philadelphia Catholic Church and Penn State University mobilized a group of professionals, parents and advocates to form CSA: Let’s Face It. Through its Web site and events, the new nonprofit offers support to adult survivors and hopes to raise awareness of the public health crisis created by child sex abuse.
The statistics are staggering. One in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. One in five has received a sexual approach or solicitation from an adult via the Internet in the past year. Medical expenses related to rape and sexual abuse of children tops $1.5 billion and indirect costs exceed an estimated $69 billion (CDC 2001). There is so much more to know.
“This is information we have to get into the community,” said president Maureen Martinez. “We think one of the most effective ways to do that is by offering an online resource hub.” Their Web site, www.csaletsfaceit.org, extends beyond well beyond numbers and facts. The home page shares a public service announcement featuring a former Philadelphia Eagle and other survivors from all walks of life. Others can share their own stories by submitting video blogs. A resource page provides links to other non-profits that focus on specific needs related to child sex abuse.
“It’s our hope that parents, community leaders and survivors take advantage of the information we’ve gathered,” said vice-president Kathy Kane. “With knowledge and appropriate action, many cases of child sex abuse can be prevented.”
Susan’s Note: I’m honored to be on the board of this important organization. Maureen, Kathy, Irene, Margaret and so many others have poured their hearts and souls into it. Please take some time to visit the Web site: C.S.A.: Let’s Face It.
This is the greatest idea! You all are really accomplishing what’s been. the goal of c4c for so long….”.To help the survivors of sexual abuse.” Answered prayer, I’d. say.. God Bless your tireless work.and bless the survivors we’ve met here & on line..They are, as you are, in my daily prayers, for great success and God’s healing touch on our new found (hurting) friends. Keep us posted on all your progress! The heck- with the evil hierarchy. let them see God at work in all of you and beware what fate awaits them.
All the best to you Susan in your continuing efforts to confront this evil and to help those who have been assaulted and tortured. As a retired social worker Ican attest that one half of all women admitted to state mental hospitals during the period 1960-1990 had a history of being sexually abused. We don’t know, we just don’t know what tortured desperation befalls our fellow human beings.
Reid
Wonderful work, Susan, Kathy, Maureen, Margaret, et al. I hope all C4C readers visit the new site often and support it fully.
And you too, Irene!!
Just want to also mention Irene who is our treasurer. We are an all volunteer organization. We were blessed to receive and initial donation from a C4C follower, and along the way met wonderful people who donated their time and talent in many ways.
There are a few ways you can help us. Link the site to any social media sites such as your FB or Twitter page. Send a copy of this post to any friends or supporters to help get our message out. Spread the word among the CSA survivor community that you may be associated in some way. Donations are accepted and there is a paypal link on the home page of the site. Although we are all volunteers,we need funds to simply exist for insurance, filing paperwork, website upkeep. Our dream is to produce many videos as a part of a public awareness campaign,right now we are just getting started and have the busy work and financial end to take care of before we can get to the next place.
Is Paypal the only means for contributing donations? Is there an address where contributions can be sent? To whom or what would a check be made out to?
Congratulations to everyone involved in this important new venture, and thank you for your ongoing and relentless dedication, time, and talent.
Kate that info is on the right hand side of the home page. It is:
Please make checks payable to:
CSA: Let’s Face It, Inc.
P. O. Box 1306
Malvern, PA 19355
I just added Irene. So sorry!!!
Does the FB link for the site work? Can use the link from the above article from C4C, but not getting anything from the CSA site on FB
Ed, I will check it out. Here is the direct youtube link to the PSA if people would like to share that on their FB or twitter accounts
Excellent work!
Great resources tab too!
What a wonderful accomplishment. Kathy, Susan, I wish you all the best with it.
I had not heard of this particular group (from “Resources”). Maybe they need to pay a visit to the AD offices.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/bikers-against-child-abuse_n_1681351.html
Thank you for continuing the fight against child sexual abuse, and the support of the victims. Kathy and Susan.
Crystal, BACA just had a ride in PA a few weeks ago and they continue to fight to pass laws to protect children. My brother occasionally sends info that pertains to clergy sexual abuse to me. He is a member of BACA and they were in Harrisburg supporting the victims.I don’t think the nuns and priests understand the pain they caused and I am glad to hear of my brothers fighting this epidemic – makes their parents proud.
Ed, BACA is awesome in their peaceful advocacy for children.
Seems like a pretty cool website and I hope it continues to grow. I’ve been thinking about contributing with a youtube video of my own story, but me telling it on camera is much different than writing it. I think that might take some kind of courage I don’t know if I have, but we’ll see.
Has anyone seen the story about the guy who accused the voice of Elmo as having abused him when he was a teenager, but now recants his story and says it was a consensual adult relationship?
I was talking with a friend about this topic last night and I think it may have been the angriest moment anyone has every seen in me. The problem is that I have a really difficult time getting over a situation in which someone falsely accuses another person of abusing them when they were a child. First, it makes it that much more difficult for legitimate cases like my own and other victims’ to be believed and it makes it more difficult for us to seek accountability. I’d put my life on the line for so many victims and their journey toward seeking justice, but then a phony comes along and destroys the integrity of the truth and what has happened to so many of us and will continue to happen. It makes me angry that instead of putting himself on the line to stop child sexual abuse, he instead puts his life on the line for a lie and proves to me that abusers are not the only screwed up people within this entire worldwide epidemic of childhood sexual abuse. Out of all the crimes you could falsely accuse someone of, why this? Who, in the hell would want to be like us? If somebody wants my life that badly, I might be more than willing to trade it for theirs.
I have to admit to having absolute intolerable hatred for anyone who claims to have gone through childhood sexual abuse and it turns out they didn’t. It’s the worst experience that I know of, but out of some strange perverse way somebody out there wants to know what it’s like to be sexually abused and then get passed the abuse only to abuse and torture yourself every day with memories, and feelings, and nightmares, and all the shit that I have dealt with and continue to deal with on a day-to-day basis. The filthy grime that covers my body because I can’t shake his sensation off of me. The layers of distrust, anger, deceit, humilation, fear, and sadness that cover the exterior of my body. The darkness, emptiness, hallow, depression and despair that occupy my heart and my mind. Someone else wants this life? Someone who grew up innocent and healthy and loved wants to be broken like me?
My answer to that person is – Seek help immediately because you are very sick!
Rich I agree and have had this conversation many times. A false accusation ( not unsubstantiated) but false,ruins another person’s life and is a set back to the victim community in many ways.
Congratulations you guys! Think it’s interesting that a blog (with a catholic focus) that is specifically aimed at protecting children has gone, essentially national, with an even wider focus!
VictemofDarkness I am sorry for what has happened to you. I am writing a paper for school and would like to ask you what, if anything, you would like the person who molested you, or the church, to do to help you heal your scars??
Jose,
I’d like the church to stop circulating pedophile priests around the world to abuse more children. I’d like the church to stand up and admit to it’s own wrongdoing. I have admitted that the abuse occurred, why can’t they admit that they facilitated the abuse by transferring known child predators to different parishes and schools where they could abuse more children?!
I’d prefer it if the Catholic Church would stop fighting our proposed bills in the Legislature and Senate. I would like for every known pedophile priest to be incarcerated. I want the Pope to take center stage in front of the media and admit to what he knew, when he knew it, and how he dealt with it, because they did know!
I want the Catholic Church to stop denying victims help and spend as much money and time on us victims as they do lawyers who defend pedophile priests; or priests who covered-up the abuse of their brethren.
I want better laws that protect defensless, innocent, and harmless children inside and outside the walls of the Catholic Church.
I want transparency and accountability from church leaders.
I want the Catholic Church to stop brainwashing parishioners.
I want the Catholic Church out of business!
WELL STATED RICH! I COULDN’T HAVE SAID IT BETTER.
Thanks, Vicky.
Thanks also to what you wrote to my earlier post. I know the abuse wasn’t my fault. I mean I really know it now more than I ever have at any other point in my life. However, when the darkest of my depression kicks in and takes hold of me for an hour, or a day, or a week, it’s just more difficult for me to believe that somehow I didn’t play a part in “allowing” the abuse to happen. Why on earth did I keep going back, is usually the question I ask myself over and over. It’s just not easy to stop blaming myself or that stupid little kid who didn’t have the balls to say, “NO. STOP.” I often wish I could go back to a time before any man ever laid one finger on me and I had the good sense to call 911 when those men did that to me.
When I get into these certain moods, and when I start asking myself the million dollar questions, I know that it only seems to further facilitate my depression and after that it’s tough to climb out of the hole I’ve dug for myself. My grandfather used to always say, “One rule about holes: When you’re in one, stop digging!” I guess there comes a point when I do stop digging, but it’s not until I need a lot of help getting out of that hole. Depression just sucks.
My psychiatrist recently prescribed me Adderall to take with my antidepressant. I can’t begin to explain how much better I feel about myself after taking just one pill. So many things are starting to seem very clear to me now, and whereas I have had many days lately when I didn’t want to get out of bed, the past few days have been exceptionally different. I don’t feel a lot of depression or anxiety right now. I haven’t had a panic attack in 4 days, which I think might be a record. If only I could get the pain in my back and leg to settle down, I would be back out on the street bothering the Catholic Church and exposing scumbag abusers hiding in neighborhoods until they fessed up to who the abusers are, where they are, and when they’re going to expose them to law enforcement, the community, and parishioners.
…to be continued on next post, because I know if I make this one too long it will be held up in moderation. 🙂 I amaze myself sometimes. I’m always thinking. 🙂
The downside of Adderall is that it frequently can cause low back pain in people who are very healthy. My injury was sustained to my lower back, below L-5, and down into my left leg. I haven’t felt any more significant back pain than what I’m accustomed to since being injured over 17 months ago, but maybe time will tell. However, even if the Adderall does cause more back pain, it might just be an acceptable tradeoff to not feeling miserable and depressed every day.
I did a ton of research on Adderall before I decided it would be a viable option to take along with an antidepressant. Adderall has become a “controlled substance” mostly due to the fact that many college students abuse the drug for focusing on studies before an exam or term paper. I just wonder what these kids will do when they get out into the real world and finally figure out that school was a cakewalk to paying bills, a mortgage, working until late at night and having to be back to work early in the morning, or taking care of crying babies. Then they’ll probably fail the biggest test of all – LIFE. Adderall has also gotten a bad wrap because of whackos like Tom Cruise and his Scientologist buddies who purport people like me (or Brooke Shields) don’t need any medications to feel better about life. Something tells me that Mr. Cruise was never raped by a grown man at 10 years-old.
I am also aware that Adderall is a highly addictive medication, if taken for longer than about a year. I have been prescribed just about every pain medication known to man for my back injury; from percocet to morphine, vicoden to fentynal patches and I haven’t yet developed any type of addiction, nor have I had any type of withdrawl when I’m not taking these medications. I lived on Klonopin and Ambien, antidepressants and at least 500mg of Seroquel per day for over 3 years, and when I stopped taking all of those medications cold turkey, which was the 3rd day of taking care of my late mother after she was diagnosed with brain cancer and I found that couldn’t take the meds and take care of her at the same time, I felt no signs of withdrawl. Sure, I missed Klonopin during a panic attack and flashbacks, and I missed Ambien to help me sleep at night and not be awakened by nightmares and night terrors, but I didn’t have any signs of what doctors would classify as “withdrawl.” My doctor says I’m 1 in 20. I said, “I thought I was 1 in 6?” He said, “No. You’re 1 in 20, because 19 other people would experience at least moderate withdrawl, and most patients being on the medications you’ve taken would experience severe withdrawl.” So all of this also came into play before I was prescribed the Adderall, along with having good blood pressure.
So I’m beginning to think these last few days might become the start of something really good for the future. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt as good as I do right now and I really hope it lasts.
Peace out!
Rich
I don’t know if this should be added to this great site… but we already have some youtube victims stories posted on this site..http://www.steubenvilletruth.org/
tks Judy
I watched some of Beths what a brave articulate lady.
beth,
I apologize for asking you this, and I’ve tried for weeks to resolve it on my own but I’m unable to… are you, the yellow-icon beth, the same person as the green-icon beth?
Thanks ok. Sorry about the confusion. Yes same person. One is my home computer and one my iphone.
Thanks, beth!
In one word, the USCCB meeting in Baltimore was an obedient, applause-laden exercise in DENIAL. The grave condition of the inept, ineffectual, immoral, dysfunctional, and irrelevant USCCB went over the heads of its members, or members obediently permitted it to go over their heads, because the rich, uber-Catholic 1% has a choke-hold on the Catholic Church, including them. There is no word that sufficiently expresses the magnitude of the choke-hold… or the magnitude of the money. The entire global Church is tainted, skewed, and affected by it. Indeed, the global Church IS, for all practical purposes, the 1%.
If anyone is wondering what we are in for in terms of the Catholic Church and the issues of childhood sexual abuse, justice for victims, and the protection of children, we are in for more of exactly same: denial, no accountability or transparency, lies, a profound waste of the faithful’s money, strong-arming, arrogance, a clerical climate of fear, the obstruction of SOL reform… a horrifying and endless list of atrocities seemingly impossible in the 21st century yet made possible wholly by the sentiments and monies of the 1%
Into the mix of the Catholic Church’s horrendous yet ongoing history regarding childhood sexual abuse and the epidemic of childhood sexual abuse in the U.S., appears C.S.A.: Let’s Face It.
I want C.S.A. to face it, to face the 1%. Get the 1% to face it. When they face it, get their money. Use them and their money to get the rest of the world to face it.
Kate, From Timothy Dolan’s presidential address at the usccb meeting:
“..I remember during the celebration of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Ireland last June, when Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Papal Legate, expressed this so forcefully as he spoke on behalf of the Holy Father at the penitential shrine of St. Patrick’s Purgatory: “I come here with the specific intention of seeking forgiveness, from God and from the victims, for the grave sin of sexual abuse of children by clerics. . . In the name of the Church, I apologize once again to the victims, some of which I have met here in Lough Derg.”
And so it turns to us, my brothers. How will we make the Year of Faith a time to renew the Sacrament of Penance, in our own lives and in the lives of our beloved people whom we serve? …”
________
Who in that country cares about this Legate’s “forceful” apology?? What part of “get out and stay out” does the Vatican not understand?
(aprox.11:20) http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/video-of-irish-leaders-speech-attacking-the-vatican/
I wonder whether these repeated lame Vatican apologies and references to past apologies, have any effect on survivors. Personally, I can’t stand hearing them. There can be no forgiveness…only compensation and punishment.
Well said, Crystal. The repeated empty and lame apologies have the effect of re-victimizing victims which is cruel and immoral. The cruelty and moral depravity emanating from the Vatican, demanded and supported by the 1%, and obediently practiced by the members of the USCCB, is nothing short of a network of power and evil.
We are not without a means to address the corruption.
“Gerald T. Slevin: Why President Obama Must Now Act to End Organized Child Abuse”
http://www.bilgrimage.blogspot.com/
Kate, I liked Jerry’s piece and was just about to cite it…but you just did.
My question is ….what exactly can the Obama Administration do, at the federal level to protect kids?
Jerry mentions a Commission…and that’s fine, but I am interested in specifics. Could federal funds for education and , social services have some kind of a ‘hook’ relative to ‘child endangerment’ , and how the receiving entity ‘supervises’ kids? I am remembering, admittedly vaguely, that Penn State had ‘exposure’ because of its ‘status’…in terms of funding?
Just a few questions, always questions!
I really liked Jerry’s point about women voters and senators…
Many many months ago, I said I thought it would be ‘ soccer moms’ in the ‘swing states’….actually it was Wallmart moms too and who could have expected the rape comments?
Very much in the spirit of Jerry’s piece and the injunction for fast action to protect kids, Marcy Hamilton in a very recent Verdict article looks at the insurance industry fom a federal ( legal reform) perspective:
“The Business Angle for Washington to Consider
There is a business angle to this issue as well. Congress would do well to investigate the machinations of the insurance industry on these issues. The industry has been insuring institutions for liability for child sex abuse for decades, and until recently did not have to pay out much, because of our socially contrived secrecy.
Now the industry is lobbying against legislative reform to protect children, including statutes of limitations. This is an industry that can force institutions to adopt safe-environment policies, to turn in perpetrators, and to take every conceivable measure to stop abuse.
They should be our partners in child protection, and Congress should expose their child-endangering policies and turn their attention to the need to protect children. As they do so, they can reduce their liability and increase transparency and accountability.”
A topic C4C folks might want to discuss with their House Reps and Senators.
Joan, if a commission were established (politicians like commissions), that would be the first step. If it got into the “Sins of the Fathers”, it would automatically lead to discussions and proposals, etc, to respond to the commissions investigatory findings.
First things first,please.
I hope C4C readers write to Obama and to their US Senators and Representatives now calling for a commission as I discuss in the piece Kate just linked.
I have done what I can and now am moving on to write my book.
Best wishes to all!
Actually Jerry….you have done a lot!
Good luck with the book and Cheers!
What about a Clery act for any institution receiving governmental funds…this act put Penn State into the spotlight relative to the Sanduskty/Paterno debacle…how about the concept applied to all educational or social services monies granted to ANY institution…
And that means any church entity receiving funds…think this could help protect innocent children from abuse
“About the act: The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act or Clery Act is a federal statute codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), with implementing regulations in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations at 34 C.F.R. 668.46.
The Clery Act requires all colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs to keep and disclose information about crime on and near their respective campuses. Compliance is monitored by the United States Department of Education, which can impose civil penalties,”
Strongly suggest that C4C folks ask their house reps and senators about broadening this existing legislation to cover ANY church recipient…ie educational, social services or healthcare entities…think this just might halo protect kids, it caused Penn State to be liable!
What we need is a broadened Clery act that applies to all govt funds directed to all educational institutions (and others) that requires reporting of abuse and REMOVES federal funding if such reporting does not occur.
Joan, this really is my last comment. Your proposal just adds confusion. I did what I could. Ask for the moon. That is specific. I hope you are not getting input from any plaintiff”s lawyers. If a national commission is established and expands Federal laws, that could adversely affect the plaintiffs’ lawyers business. I have given my best advice in my latest piece. I make no money on it. If you know better, fine. I did my best and have now surely moved on. I can use my time more productively elsewhere.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/als-morning-meeting/180740/would-open-records-have-stopped-abuse-sooner-at-penn-state/
“Despite being supported by tax dollars, Penn State University is not subject to the state’s open records laws. Penn State’s records, including police records, e-mail, phone records, calendars and memos, are closed. Other schools and state agencies must comply with Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law, but not Penn State and three other large state schools.”
The clergy abuse crisis of the past decade has been a terrible tragedy. It’s caused great suffering. It’s wounded many innocent victims. It’s turned thousands of good people away from the Church. As a bishop, I regret these things bitterly, and I apologize for them, especially to the victims, but also to our people and priests. God will hold all of us who are bishops to a hard accounting for the pain that has resulted. And I accept that as a right judgment. (Archbishop Chaput at the Catholic Life Congress in Philadelphia on November 17, 2012)
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/archbishop-chaput-renewing-the-church-and-her-mission-in-year-of-faith#ixzz2CtLtmV5K
Accordingly, we do not need criminal and civil laws and statutes since God will be holding the abusers to a “hard accounting” for the pain that has resulted from childhood sexual abuse within the church. Has anyone notified archdiocesan attorneys throughout the United States about this revelation?
So it was God that put the butler and embezzler in jail …….that clears everything up……I am confused I thougth it was the court systems……
I think before your god holds you accountable, you need to be held accountable on this earth. Why should you enjoy this life more than me? You should occupy physical prison and the same type of psychological prison I live in every day.
The bishops and the majority of ordinary priests don’t and “won’t” understand the hell we’ve been through as kids and obstacles they keep throwing in our way as adults. They refuse to even try understanding that what I’ve got in my head NEVER goes away. I feel good some days, and then other days I choose to change my username to “darkness,” because I just feel really bad inside. I am told the abuse wasn’t my fault, and I suppose I really know that deep down inside, but when the anxiety and depression takes over, I blame myself over and over. There isn’t any particular way I feel about myself or what happened to me. I have too many emotions and thoughts about myself and the abuse to determine that I’m good, or I have strength, that there’s a valid reason why I’m on this earth besides being a unwilling candidate for abusers to control. I don’t respect the man I see in the mirror. I wish he had some kind of control back then so his life didn’t turn out so different from the adult he dreamed of being.
The bishops are too busy hiding behind their god and how he will punish them in the afterlife, but I thought it was your god who gave you this life and told you to do good things while you’re on this earth. I think the bishops are redefining their religion as they go, probably even rewriting the bible to what they think it should read.
The Catholic Church will never understand. They can’t see that they have destroyed so many lives, because they continue destroying lives. As far as they’re concerned, once you walk into that confessional and confess your sins, you are free and clear from the past and you can go right back out and commit the same sins tomorrow, because “forgiveness” is right at home. They will never be forgiven by me.
Maybe god will forgive you when you die. I don’t know about that and I don’t really care. But, here on earth we need laws changed to hold abusers accountable. My life should be just as important as the pope’s!
Hey Rich, I usually agree with much of what you write however, what you wrote about blaming yourself over and over. We were Children! Their is a song that you can find, google it,I think it is called the child is a hero. I have learned in therapy to embrace my child inside of me. She was NOt at fault and she looked to me for years for comfort, validation and love. Finally, I could give all that to her. I was determined that this evil institution would not take away that beautiful part of me, who I am. It takes years of great courage to face yourself, that very innocent, handsome little boy and tell him it was never your fault. This, is where our pain lives. Anger covers over the pain and in the process we never get to a place of loving this child inside of us. We distance, we run, we look the other way. This is what this church has done can we dare as survivors do this to our own child?We have and continue to walk through hell, some days are better other days not so much. Through no fault of ours, we have to axcept that this will be our life, can we do something to give us some sense of peace within? YES! Except and embrace the wounded child inside. We cannot protect and serve other children from harm if we are incapable of protecting our own child. We need to grieve what this small child endured, grieve, let go, be the loving parent to this child who needs you so very much. After all, he made it, he survived as a child, we can make it as adults.
The pain in your eyes, dear friend as I look at your picture strikes at my heart. So much pain, so much hurt under all our rage. It is all a process, it will take time but I can tell you it is worth all the agony I have been through to finally love, this child. You are always in my thoughts.
Michael,Thanks for the article
What does this mean?
“But if we’re honest — and there can be no real reform, no real renewal, without honesty — we need to admit that the problems in American Catholic life today are much wider and much deeper than any clergy scandal”
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/archbishop-chaput-renewing-the-church-and-her-mission-in-year-of-faith#ixzz2D62oWADI
Silver tongue ?” And they’ve been growing in our own hearts for decades. If young people are morally and religiously ignorant by the millions, they didn’t get that way on their own. We taught them. They learned from our indifference, our complacency, our moral compromises, our self-absorption, our eagerness to succeed, our vanity, our greed, our lack of Catholic conviction and zeal.”
Who is WE? The families that trusted their children to your care? Or the Church who didn’t understand the struggles so many have sending their kids to the RCC schools and supporting their church.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/archbishop-chaput-renewing-the-church-and-her-mission-in-year-of-faith#ixzz2D63E2DFK
“The clergy abuse crisis of the past decade”
– just the past decade – what grand jury report did he read? Let us be honest and support you and your ministers? Sorry, know too many who have been ministering to priests – now they are betrayed.
Sorry, my life is not a movie – it runs in real time and the victims suffer real pain. Don’t quote a movie or do a photo op – look into your soul and minister to your church. Would Thomas More survive in your church ?
Unbelievable!!!
So it was God that put the butler and embezzler in jail …….that clears everything up……I am confused I thougth it was the court systems……
Doesnt God work thru people to make this a better world…….doesnt that sometimes include law changes like ending slavery etc.
beth,
Sometimes God works thru people to make this a better world. Sometimes people only claim that God is working through them.
Case in point, Canon law is WHATEVER the Pope says it is. People are free to believe that, BUT I’m NOT one of those people!
That’s some Catholic Life speech!…Just a lot of polarizing, unintelligent generalizations about his “pastoral terrain”, demonstrating just how out of touch he is with real people, living real lives, in a real world.
“…You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church for your mother.” (What an incorrect and low-down thing for a Christian leader to say..Who could sit through this? )
“…the Creed. Devout Muslims reject nearly every line of it….”
(LOL..great! An idiotic, gratuitous jab at Islam.. sounds more like Fox News than responsible spiritual leadership)
Here’s hoping that Chaput’s “hard accounting” for the abuse scandal is still far from over here on Earth.
“…You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church for your mother.”
Talk about a statement that will enslave you!
What a disrespect to my mother, who would protect, nurture, guide, and lead. Thank God, our Father, that the Catholic Church is not our (family’s) mother!
God help those who call the rcc Mother.
Crystal, I agree- Chaput’s speech was below contempt; for a lot of reasons. My intent is to work to help more see that chaput’s ugly attempts to point “a bony finger” at everyone else for the CSA , and brow-beat Catholics for not beig religious enough for him is just peripheral symptoms of the real problem which is:
The mission he describes for the Church is false theologically because it conflicts with proper understanding of scripture. An organization that is wrong in its most basic foundation is capable of further harm in inumable ways. Chaput has no idea of what a “saint” is before God.
survivor’s wife,
Exactly, what kind of mother is it that would sexually abuse her children?
The RCC has even corrupted the concept of motherhood, and they hope to be successful in their new efforts to evangelize, fat chance!!!!
drwho13 and SW, The “My Mother the Church” sales pitch won’t take the bishops very far into the future…Chaput’s frustrated by the lack of interest in his “product” for good reason… This younger generation of Catholic American kids who are “on deck”, are NOTHING like what Chaput describes in his speech. They were carefully brought up to think independently and to trust their own senses.. They’re educated and motivated by a sense of decency and concern for others, and respect for the truth….They simply don’t believe in things like religious “dictators” or magic spells…they know they don’t need to access God through an institution which is run by a city- state filled with domineering, creepy, celibate men in robes. They laugh at the RCC’s brainwashing techniques as they would a loud, crass TV commercial… The very wording sounds ludicrous to them. They’re having none of it.
Drwho13 exactly where is the nuturing and support efforts of the church concerning survivors……..where is the zealous protection measures of the young? Everything is lukewarm if even that…..would you want to come to a church like that? Even if you believed in their teachings?
I am not a counselor and never pretended to be one but if priests dont need a couseling degree to talk to a dying person, an addict, married people etc why is it that everyone(lay people priests etc\) is so fast to direct any questions you have about supporting survivors to victims assistance? Yes survivors should seek counseling when they are ready but what about basic compassion for another person? Is that to difficult to give?
3 simple words: “I’m done Lying!”
Why were you lying in the first place, Gerard?
http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/church-sex-abuse-expose-creates-oscar-buzz-212225.html
“…The movie (Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God) was banned by the Venice and Rome film festivals this year.
According to the New York Post, Gibney said of its rejection: “I was disappointed. The Vatican exerts a very strong influence in Italy. There is a palpable sense of fear there. This film takes on the Vatican’s complicity [in covering it up].”
The film won the best documentary prize at the London Film Festival last week….”
Crystal wrote: “Here’s hoping that Chaput’s “hard accounting” for the abuse scandal is still far from over here on Earth.”
Crystal, I agree- Chaput’s speech was below contempt; for a lot of reasons. My intent is to work to help more see that chaput’s ugly attempts to point “a bony finger” at everyone else for the CSA , and brow-beat Catholics for not beig religious enough for him is just peripheral symptoms of the real problem which is:
The mission he describes for the Church is false theologically because it conflicts with proper understanding of scripture. An organization that is wrong in its most basic foundation is capable of further harm in inumable ways. Chaput has no idea of what a “saint” is before God.
Now look what I started…………what was that phrase again????
“H – A – R – D A – C – C – O – U – N – T – I – N – G”
I say let’s get some t-shirts with that logo emblazoned on the front and start wearing them to archdiocesan gatherings, meetings and functions.
Those shirts should be worn at the trial for Rigali, Cistone, and Cullen.
Also at all supportive measures to change laws too.
SW,
Only the “Second Coming” would top seeing Rigali, Cistone, and Cullen on trial.
Michael, C4AHardAccounting?
Nichols, Much dysfunction comes through in the archbishop’s words. I’m not sure he knows what “heroic” means either. Having spent much of his career opposing the only heroes of the abused children of the RCC, it seems he has lost the meaning of the word.
“……..Nothing is more heroic as a way of life than a priesthood lived with purity and zeal. …”
Priesthood as “heroism” ? Real life heroes stand alone in the tougher moments of their ordinary lives and represent the truth in the face of injustice.
Men and women who risk their jobs, marriages. friendships, community and even religion, for the welfare and dignity of a child … That’s heroism.
I’ve forgotten where I came across this quote but is said: “What is a hero without love for mankind?”
Considering all of the priestly silence, it would appear they are devoid of the ingredient central to acting heroically.
Who would have ever thought…
“Ninety-six percent of people who offend on children are people that the child knows. We all have been so trained in the stranger-danger aspect, which certainly does happen, but I think the reality is that’s about 4 percent,”
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/28/15517715-neighbor-charged-with-murder-rape-of-jersey-bridgeman-6?lite
http://wnep.com/2012/11/28/woman-sentenced-in-child-sex-abuse-case/
Who can we trust? What are the red flags? How do we communicate with a six year old or a three year old about this danger?
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dr-carol-francis/2012/11/19/child-sexual-abuse-by-priests-coaches-teachers-neighbors
Great podcast with James Dunlap the author of the new book Millstone, and investigator Tom Townsend.
It’s a little over 90 minutes.
This is the proper link.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/11/prweb10168626.htm
SW, I just listened to the interview. I’d like to read this book. One thing continually coming through as James Dunlap speaks, is his parental anguish. What a terrible cross to carry forever. I don’t think I could be as dignified and civil as he is.
One more damning interview, one more book, one more movie, one more protest, blog or article… The Information Age is so close on the heels of the RCC. Why does its leadership feel it can run indefinitely?
Crystal,
“The Information Age is so close on the heels of the RCC. Why does its leadership feel it can run indefinitely?”
They know they can’t run, and the Vatican would (as did Syria), if they could, shut down the internet.
Archbishop Chaput…………”hard accounting” for US religious leaders in the next life.
And in this life on earth, we have “soft accounting” for our US religious leaders ?
I say let’s flatten the prelates in this life, using a type of ‘scorched earth policy’ focused upon corrupt US religious leaders.
In the next life, God can take care of whatever we missed.
OK you “Thumbs Downers” let the worthless prelates sacrifice your children and grandchildren on their altars.
You have no stomach for a fight. I’m glad that you don’t have the responsibility of having to defend our nation. I’ll be fighting for those kids that you won’t stand-up for. I’ll continue to disrespect the prelates that you bow and pay homage to. Go back to sleep.
Dr. Who,
I’m know a believer, because of what Kathy Kane told me, “The thumbs down people are probably the people who would rather sleep with the kids than in their own beds.”
I don’t even like the thumb buttons and I wish they would be removed, but this isn’t my site and it’s not my decision. I’m sure Kathy and Susan see it differently than I do.
Peace out!
Rich, Of course you already received a thumbs down hmmmmm….
I didn’t mean what you stated in relation to all who use the thumbs icon to voice an opinion because I will be honest I have pressed that button a few times when people get so off topic about subjects that have nothing to do with clergy abuse or child abuse. My pet peeve if people haven’t noticed by now.
There have been some absolutely beautiful,heartfelt and informative comments posted by you and other victims or family members, that always seem to attract a certain amount of thumbs downers..they are the people on my radar.