Catholic Church downplays child abuse
As was expected, the Catholic Church is largely in denial about the revelations contained in the Ryan Report of widespread child abuse perpetrated in Irish Catholic institutions, over a period of many decades. The Ryan Report itself is under attack for providing a smokescreen for the Catholic church.
The Irish government has bent over backwards to shield the Church. In this video Michael O Brien, a victim of this abuse, lays into minister Noel Dempsy who signed a deal limiting the Church’s liability.
The South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference really tackled the issue head-on. They lead with a highly gripping story of Abbot Francois Pfanner’s centenary. Yeah, whatever. They did have the energy to comment on Angels and Demons, though.
The Archbishop of Westminster, the new Catholic leader in England and Wales, used his installation ceremony to attack atheists, but of course said nothing about child abuse.
At least we have one senior cleric condemning the outrages listed in the Report. Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has criticised the Irish Catholic orders for concealing the abuse, and called for much more money to come from these orders to compensate the victims – 90% of which are being paid by the Irish taxpayer, thanks to slime-balls like Noel Demsey.
True to form, the orders refuse to do so. These human puss-bags, probably too busy piously fingering their rosaries made by child slave labour, have a better idea:
Sensing the rapidly growing public mood of anger, senior members of the clergy
have been urging the religious orders to do more. Those appeals appeared to
have fallen on deaf ears last night, when the congregations issued a
statement saying that while they “accepted the gravity” of the Ryan report
they would not do what Cardinal Brady and others have urged.A statement from the orders said: “Rather than reopening the terms of the
agreement reached with Government in 2002, we reiterate our commitment to
working with those who suffered enormously while in our care. We must find
the best and most appropriate ways of directly assisting them.”
That’s right – they want to find the “most appropriate ways” to assist their victims. Aren’t they exactly the right people to judge what is best for their countless victims. Of course, it would not include compensating their victims for the lifelong suffering they’ve endured. As Mary Raferty says, “At the rate they are going, not even the pope himself could separate them from their cash.”
But the most depraved, disgustingly immoral and arrogant response came from Bill Donohue, president of the US-based Catholic League.
Reuters is reporting that “Irish Priests Beat, Raped Children,” yet the report does not justify this wild and irresponsible claim. Four types of abuse are noted: physical, sexual, neglect and emotional. Physical abuse includes “being kicked”; neglect includes “inadequate heating”; and emotional abuse includes “lack of attachment and affection.” Not nice, to be sure, but hardly draconian, especially given the time line: fully 82 percent of the incidents took place before 1970. As the New York Times noted, “many of them [are] now more than 70 years old.” And quite frankly, corporal punishment was not exactly unknown in many homes during these times, and this is doubly true when dealing with miscreants.
Regarding sexual abuse, “kissing,” and “non-contact including voyeurism” (e.g., what it labels as “inappropriate sexual talk”) make the grade as constituting sexual abuse. Moreover, one-third of the cases involved “inappropriate fondling and contact.” None of this is defensible, but none of it qualifies as rape. Rape, on the other hand, constituted 12 percent of the cases. As for the charge that “Irish Priests” were responsible, some of the abuse was carried out by lay persons, much of it was done by Brothers, and about 12 percent of the abusers were priests (most of whom were not rapists).
The Irish report suffers from conflating minor instances of abuse with serious ones, thus demeaning the latter. When most people hear of the term abuse, they do not think about being slapped, being chilly, being ignored or, for that matter, having someone stare at you in the shower. They think about rape.
This revolting creep thinks there’s nothing wrong with a bit of rape, beating and emotional isolation, particularly since many of the children were “miscreants”. Yes, they got (slightly less than) what they deserved. Could anyone in the Catholic laity read this depraved defence and then still send their children into the care of these utterly morally bankrupt and corrupt church officials?
I repeat, Shut them down!
Comments
One Comment on Catholic Church downplays child abuse
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john smith on
Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 2:53 am
AMEN, ahem, and A-WOMEN!
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
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