Contact: Mary Dispenza
Phone: 425-941-6001
Email: [email protected]
Contact: Marya Dantzer
Phone: 617-448-6039 (Voicemails only)
Email: [email protected]
Contact for Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Slovenia
Franka Miloloža
Contact for Peru:
María La Rosa Matuk
+51 941 695 920
[email protected] (María checks this account daily)
A virtual support group for those abused by nuns/women religious (Survivors of Abuse by Nuns/Women Religious) is led by Marya Dantzer and meets every Wednesday from 8-9:30 PM Eastern Time. These meetings are for those abused by nuns/women religious who are over the age of majority. Contact Marya for the login information.
Contact: Marya Dantzer
Phone: 617-448-6039 (Voicemails only)
Email: [email protected]
A second virtual support group for those abused by nuns (Nun-2) is led by Mary Dispenza and meets every other Monday from 5-6:30 PM Pacific Time. These meetings are for those abused by nuns/women religious who are over the age of majority. Please call or e-mail Mary if you are interested in participating.
Contact: Mary Dispenza
Phone: 425-941-6001
Email: [email protected]
Introduction
By Mary Dispenza
NUNS, NUNS, NUNS. I used to be one. I loved the nuns. It was a long time after I left my religious community that I remembered the day a superior took my 18-year-old face between her hands and kissed me all over. It was years before I finally named this incident as abuse, not just a “creepy” story. A small invasion, some may think – just kisses. Yet it left a lasting impact of confusion with me. In that moment spirituality and abuse came face to face trapped between the superior’s hands as her power loomed over me.
Unlike being abused by a priest who is “GOD,” men and women sexually violated by nuns must contend with the belief that women, especially nuns, would never, ever hurt a child. We hear expressions like “Women don’t do that,” “Women are caring and maternal”. While mostly this is true some women, rape, physically abuse, and irreparably ridicule and shame children, mostly because of their power - often as teachers, Mothers, and nuns. Nuns have the added benefit of the “halo” effect because of their Godly stature and reputation of kindness and love.
Men abused as boys by nuns carry deep shame, believing they were weak, a sissy, not boy or ‘man’ enough to stand up to Sister when week after week she either punched him, kissed him, bullied him, put him over her lap and beat him, or had sex with him. Young girls abused and used by nuns have the additional burden of unravelling the belief that they were in love with the nun, and that she was in love with them. As adults, women survivors often must face the fact that it wasn’t love, not even an affair – it was sexual abuse. They know what a ‘broken heart’ feels like and the betrayal that goes with it. Girls abused by nuns often speak of the psychological and spiritual damage done to them, stolen childhood and adolescent years of friendships, dates, dances, and often God.
Women Religious orders are very closed systems, more so than the priesthood. Religious communities often function like an incestuous family protecting each other at all costs from being exposed as sexual predators among them. Their culture is built on secrecy, power, and protecting the sisterhood. It has been nearly impossible to break through this wall of secrecy. Survivors abused by nuns are ignored by most religious orders and the Catholic Church. Justice is mostly an illusion. The Leadership Conference of Religious Woman (LCRW) has yet to show any desire to work with survivors in healing themselves, the past, present, and in shaping a safer future for children and adolescents. SNAP is working to change that. The timeline below shows the actions SNAP has taken to date.
Timeline
- 2002 - LCWR refuses to participate in USCCB’s “Policy for the Protection of Children”
- April 5, 2002 - LCWR issues statement on clerical abuse
- August 24, 2002 - LCWR National Board issues statement on sexual abuse
- June 12, 2004 - Nun survivors meet for the first time in Denver at SNAP Conference
- July 13, 2004 - Hand-delivered to LCWR and USCCB from nun survivors regarding Plan of Hope, Respect, and Open Healing. Also requested nun survivors be allowed to speak at LCWR-CMSM Joint Assembly in Ft. Worth. To date, we received no answer from USCCB.
- August 5, 2004 - Letter to LCWR from SNAP expressing dismay over their decision not to let us speak
- August 9, 2004 - E-mail to National Review Board to intervene on our behalf
- August 13, 2004 - LCWR Press Release: Response of LCWR President Sister Constance Phelps, SCL saying we can’t speak in Ft. Worth
- August 19 to 22, 2004 - Joint LCWR – CMSM Assembly in Ft. Worth, TX. Nun survivors attempt to attend event but are refused.
- October 3, 2004 - Meeting with LCWR Leadership in Chicago
- November 22, 2004 - LCWR letter to SNAP refusing to work with SNAP members who are survivors of sexual abuse committed by nuns and sisters
- August 2, 2005 - Not allowed to speak at LCWR National Conference in Anaheim, CA; we are present – we delivered letter
- August 17, 2006 - Not allowed to speak at LCWR National Conference in Atlanta, GA; we are present – we delivered letter
- August 24, 2007 - LCWR contacts us to meet to talk but LCWR does not provide an agenda after numerous requests; Not allowed to speak at LCWR National Conference in Kansas City
- September 19, 2007 - LCWR responds to SNAP, denying all five requests
- August, 2008 - LCWR rebuffs us via letter; SNAP holds night-time vigil
- October 9, 2008 - SNAP meets with Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious in St. Louis; requests are denied
- February 23, 2009 - SNAP asks to speak at the LCWR conference in New Orleans
- March 26, 2009 - LCWR denies all of SNAP's requests
- August 11, 2009 - Not allowed to speak at LCWR Conference in New Orleans; we deliver letter
- August 14, 2010 - Not allowed to speak at LCWR Conference in Dallas; we are present
- August 16, 2011 - LCWR National Conference in Garden Grove, California
- August 7, 2012 - LCWR National Conference in St Louis; SNAP members deliver letter and hold vigil
- August 8, 2012 – Letter sent to Bishops
- August 2018 – Designed a Power Point Presentation giving statistics/data about nuns in the United States as abusers (2019) Will be updated for 2023. (Dan McNiven and Mary Dispenza)
- April 3, 2019 -- SNAP forms first support group for those abused by nuns
- August 16, 2019 – First time ever and the last time since that any leader of the LCWR spoke openly and honestly about their role in abusing and harming children.
- February 21-24, 2019 – SNAP in Rome during the Papal summit on the Abuse of Minors. the first press conference on Nuns Abusers was held followed by a MARCH to the main headquarters – the UISG (International Union of Superiors General). A letter was delivered outlining concerns and demands of survivors abused by nuns. The letter was never acknowledged. SNAP representatives were Mary Dispenza, Tim Lennon, Esther Hatfield Miller, and Carol Midboe.
- February 23, 2019 – During the Papal Summit SNAP joined with ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse) in the Global “March for Zero” Tolerance through the streets of Rome.
- August 14, 2019 – Mary O’day, Mary Dispenza, Tim Lennon, and a small group from SNAP protested outside The Fairmont Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona in 115-degree heat. Snap was denied access to the Hotel property. SNAP’s demands of LCRW were to speak at conference, have religious orders mount an aggressive outreach drive to find and help others violated by nuns, Post names on its websites of credibly accused child molesting nuns, urge Attorney Generals investigating clergy sex crimes and cover ups to include nuns and their victims in these probes, and to beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered wrongdoing to come forward, start healing, protect others and call law enforcement. (David Clohessy). TV and media coverage of this event was excellent.
- February 19 -22, 2020 – Four SNAP representatives were sent once again to the Bishop’s summit in Rome: Tim Lennon, Sean Dougherty, Brenda Brunelle, Kevin Bourgeois, and Mary Dispenza. Their message to the Bishops and Pope Frances was “WE ARE NOT GOING AWAY.”
- On the second day of the 2020 summit another press conference was held on Abuse by Nuns/Religious women. Another march took place. This time the goal was to speak to Sister Pat head of LCRW at that time. The good news is that Mary Dispenza and Tim Lennon sat around the small table with Sister Pat. Concerns were share by Tim and Mary on behalf of survivors. Upon returning to US, Mary Dispenza wrote a follow up letter to Sister Pat. Several months later Mary received a very short thank you of no substance.
- February 25, 2021 – An article in the National Catholic reporter features four survivor’s stories, and a conversation with Mary Dispenza and Sister Carol Zinn of LCWR. In the article Carol Zinn said that Mary Dispenza was asked to speak to LCWR, and she declined. That was not the truth.
- April 24, 2021 – Breaking Free, Personal SNAP Stories by Those Abused by Nuns was aired.
- December 21, 2021 – Mary Dispenza, SNAP, speaker at Voices of Faith International 2021 Conference on Abuse of Power Inside the Church. (see Document 7)
- February, 2022 – Started second Support Group for Those Abused by Nuns
- July 22-24, 2022 – SNAP Denver 22 Conference. A breakout session called “What About Nuns? Was presented by Mary Dispenza and 2 survivors of Nun abuse, Gabrielle Longhi and Marya Danzer.
Documents:
Document 1: Letter sent to bishops (Aug. 8, 2012)
Dear Archbishop Sartain Bishop Blair, Bishop Paprocki
We write you with great sadness and reluctance. Each of you, like most of your colleagues, has done a poor job of dealing with child sex abuse and cover up. Still, each of you have a chance to prod US nuns to do a better job in this regard. For the sake of prevention, healing, openness and justice, we hope you seize this opportunity.
We have little faith in "internal" church "investigations" and reports on clergy sex crimes and cover ups. We have even less faith when they're conducted by bishops or “outside” firms hand-picked and hired by bishops.
Still, something is often better than nothing. That’s the case today with abuse and cover up by nuns. Right now, there's very little known about child sex crimes and cover ups by nuns. No one's apparently trying to learn more. And as best we can tell, no one inside or outside of the nuns’ community is trying to prod them to do a better job of protecting the vulnerable and healing the wounded.
So with considerable reluctance and distrust, we're asking you to expand your “oversight” of the LCWR into what the organization – and America’s religious orders of women- are doing and are not doing regarding child sex crimes and cover ups by nuns.
Why does this matter? Because we believe that
- many abusive nuns have never been exposed or disciplined.
- many who have seen, suspected or hidden their crimes have similarly never been exposed or disciplined
- many who were abused by nuns have coped by essentially denying and mischaracterized the crimes they suffered, and minimizing the impact of those crimes, so they suffer in confusion, denial, isolation, shame and self-blame.
We suspect that fewer nuns molest than priests. (Research suggests that more men are sexual predators.) At the same time, however, that’s just speculation. And regardless of the rates or percentages of abuse, two other facts are important. First, there are more nuns than priests. (55,944 nuns in the US versus 41,406 priests) Second, many more nuns had more access to more kids, largely because they worked and work in schools.
Ultimately, however, the numbers or percentages are not especially relevant. If there are 400 or 4,000 or 40,000 adults who were victimized by nuns in this country, every single one of them deserves help. And if there are 4 or 40 or 400 children who may be victimized in the future by nuns in this country, they need protection.
Again, we take this step with great sadness and reluctance. Everyone knows most nuns don’t commit or conceal child sex crimes. Everyone knows that most nuns do wonderful, selfless work, often to help society’s marginalized.
But we see little or no evidence that nuns – either in or through the LCWR or their individual orders – are in any way, shape or form “trailblazers” in making the church or our society safer from clergy child predators or making substantial contributions to the healing of those who suffer because of clergy child predators.
It’s a painful truth to acknowledge. It’s unusual and unsettling for us to seek your help in dealing with it. But our concern – for the vulnerable and the wounded – and our inability to get the LCWR to be more pro-active, leave us with few other options.
Click HERE to download a .zip archive of correspondence between SNAP and the LCWR, SNAP and LCWR press releases, and other coverage of the groups (4.76 mb
Document 2: Face facts, says LCWR president: Sisters have been part of Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal by Dan Stockman (August 6, 2019)
Document 3: Leadership groups condemn abuse by nuns but leave solutions to local congregations by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins. (Feb 25, 2021)
Document 4: Letter International Union of Superiors General (UISG) March 3, 2020
Dear Sister Pat and members of the Board,
Thank you for welcoming Tim Lennon and myself to the table to meet with you. We were very grateful to have time to share our concerns and listen to yours. This is the first time anyone from SNAP has been invited to sit and talk face to face with someone from the leadership team of UISG or LCRW. It was a welcomed moment especially for me.
For the past two years, I have had the honor and challenge of listening to survivors of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse by nuns in various orders. Some survivors are nuns within religious communities who were abused by nuns still living in community — others were abused as children, teens, and vulnerable adults. There is something new resounding in the stories I hear. Besides pain, anger, and loss, I hear a deep, burning desire and longing for justice from each survivor — justice for what was lost and taken from them by nuns they trusted. As I see it, this is where you, as religious women, come into the story.
Clearly, we can’t undo the past. We can face it. Work to understand it, so as to end it. Most importantly, we can transform the past by right and just actions now.
What follows are 3 areas of immediate concern to survivors that hopefully lead to a continued conversation between us:
Survivors who were or are nuns and experienced sexual, emotional, or psychological abuse within their communities want their perpetrators gone, reports filed and their names and reason for leaving the community posted. They also want the secrecy about it all to stop. They want their religious communities to engage in candid and open conversation about the problem.
Adult survivors of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse by nuns as children, teens, vulnerable adults who have registered a valid complaint want religious superiors to listen to their stories seriously, believe them and work with them for resolution and justice. They want right action when it is warranted such as filing a report with local authorities and removing the perpetrator from children or other potential victims. Some want and desperately need financial recompense for their pain and suffering. Some want reconciliation and an apology. All want to be believed. All want religious communities to acknowledge that they failed to protect them.
Survivors find some hope in Pope Frances, moto propio, which took effect last June 2019 and instituted for the first time a mechanism for reporting and investigating allegations of sexual abuse and offers protections to whistle-blowers yet falls short of any set consequences or reporting of crimes to law enforcement. The pope expanded his view of abuse to include children, people with mental disabilities, seminarians, nuns and women in religious orders, children in orphanages, indigenous people—all of whom have been victimized by leaders in Church and religious orders. The law also demanded that alleged victims must receive, support services and all they need for their healing journey. Survivors would like to know that the UISG and LCRW have in place policies and procedures for handling allegations of abuse, including reporting them to local law enforcement agencies.
I hope these ideas on our minds as survivors of nun abuse give us some starting points for discussion. It’s our desire that we continue to dialogue with the shared goal of finding ways to protect children from all types of abuse, especially by those they trust, and to give survivors of the past the justice they do desire and deserve. I have always held these lines from scripture as essential to my life, “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8.)
Thanks, Sister Pat, and members of the Board for this opportunity to work together.
Respectfully, Mary Dispenza,
SNAP Leader for those Abused by Nuns.
CC: SNAP Executive Director, Zach Hiner
SNAP President, Tim Lennon
Showing 230 comments
You are your own priest and priestess for this or any other life you become carnate. Please remember reincarnation was the bedrock of early Christianity until even teaching it became the very first anathema of this church under the direction of emperors and others seeking power and control they had not earned, and had no right to. What you do in this life becomes the planning stage of future lives where integrity, self realization and actions that were needed to be taken in past lives rear their lovely heads and make you deal with them anew. Why not deal with these issues when they’re presented in opur current lives, grow stronger as a result, and truly fear no one or anything that might deter you, or make you believe you have neither the right or the ability you already possess because you’ve possessed it since birth.
Rise up. You must be the light; your own and for anyone in the shadows looking for guidance themselves, and a better way to live and honor all we’ve been blessed with to be here in the first place.
Now shine! Shine until you burst from the exhilaration of being alive and truthful and strong, for simply being you.
John
Thank you. Few survivors have received any help by going to the diocese of religious order. I suggest, filing a report at the police Department and seeking an attorney to go through options with you and above all take care of yourself through therapy and doing things you love. you are brave Ed. Please can you send me an e-mail so I can have a way to contact you. I am setting up a support line very soon. Love.
Are you still giving money to this church, or worse yet, working for it? May I gently ask why? How do you cut off the head of the serpent? First, you stop feeding it, and then you chop. If not, you’re part of the problem, aren’t you? Adults don’t invite their childhood abusers and those who protect them over for dinner, Jews don’t cuddle neoNazis, and survivors of this church do not work for the church seeking answers they still don’t have, and will never get from this criminal organization, no matter how many supposedly good and decent men and women never hurt anyone, whether among the clergy or in a convent. By now, we know they all protected one another, which means they’re all complicit in the crimes.
Seek an attorney, instead, stay strong, remain active in your own spiritual life, be the best you can be, and remember to smell the roses (and the coffee) before it’s all too late, along the way.
My heart is with you all. With all of us; the ‘we’ in this prescription.
Be well.
I am so glad the truth is coming out.
Can you give me a call at 425-941-6001
Time to testify
Abuse of Sisters Minor of Mary Immaculate
I was part of this order called sisters minor of Maria Immaculate under Madre Maria Elisabetta Patrizi and Sr Therese Kovacs they and other sisters were abusive and neglectful. I was refused medical attention forced by patrizi to leave the hospital. I was physically mentally spiritually almost sexually abuse I witness abuse and neglect of other sisters in the order which gave me no choice but to leave in 2003 She even helped cover up priest abuse with bishop Eagan and tolerated and allowed sexual assault of her sisters by other sisters and benefactors in the order Alcoholism was tolerated and patrizi would put unfit superiors into authority torturing sisters and breaking thier spirits, souls, bodies and minds down, so as to make them submissive to do evil things. severe punishments were given, like beating, starving and imprisonment. Medical attention or going against doctor wishes was perpetrated by Patrizi and Kovacs and other sisters that were superiors. There was no charity and most of us sisters lived in fear not of God but of Patrizi and Kovacs. For some reason or other the church allowed this for years because of her family name Patrizi which is tied to the Vatican. I have reported the abuse I suffered at the hands of Patrizi and Kovacs to my diocese so they know. They said they can not do nothing They knew since 2004. There was racism in the order where an African American sister would be called a black dog frequently by her superior. She left. Other sisters were stuck in countries because thier visas ran out and one particular sister was stuck in Italy.
There was a death of an Italian sister who was imprisoned and not allowed to see her family she did not get medical attention and she had lung cancer. Another sister who was Polish was put in an institution against her will she called me for help. Another sister nearly died because she was bleeding internally she is American and if it was not for her doctor she would not be here today. October 4 2014 a document from the Vatican was addressing patrizi that the order she founded and other orders she started were abusive and she no longer allowed to find another order.
How it affected me I have auto immune disorder and PTSD and anxiety can’t attend a mass with out physical complications or panic attacks
Have I given up NO
my relationship with God is even stronger and want to help others who suffered abuse by SMMI as well as those who suffered clergy abuse at which I became a potential victim it’s time to stop the silence and speak the truth and let the healing begin.
Selves, allowed other children to prey on each other! She has a hard time speaking of the place. It was a terrible, traumatic memory and she is in her 70s now. She compared it to theMagdalene Sisters movie about the laundries in Ireland. These nuns need to be held accountable as welll! I’d like to help research the place and advocate for the girls/women/victims in any way I can. The home began accepting its in the 60s who were abused as well.
I plan on attending the conference with the Bishop at St Catherine Laboure in Harrisburg next week. The nuns need to be held accountable too because they were often abusers themselves and covering for priests!
St. Mary Star of the Sea School in Virginia was home to abusive nuns in the 1950’s. Chief among them was Sister Constantine who taught 5th grade in 1959.
Her favorite technique was to deny restroom visits in order to force the child to soil himself then the psychological abuse would start. Never the girls, always the boys. And that abuse was public and went on until the next victim was assaulted. Why would anyone, especially a “bride of Christ”, do that to a child?
Five decades later and I still feel rage when I think about it.
SNAP gives me release. Thank you.
I am sorry that you have suffered such pain. You are on the right page. Please contact me so we can talk. Thanks. Mary Dispenza.
Barbara, I am not stating that ONLY lesbian nuns are ephebophiles. Clearly some are attracted to male youth. I am speaking from my personal experience in Catholic girls’ high school, my own years of abuse, and my observations from being in the convent.
Unlike pedophiles, they can mature and are then usually attracted to their peers whether straight or gay.
My lived experience is all I share and it includes the serious denial of immature sexual activity among women religious particularly 50 yrs ago.
Quote — Lesbian ephebophile religious women abuse children. Studies are studies. Experience is experience. 14% of all nuns were themselves sexually abused. 33% of those abused repeat the abuse—in the convent or out, among youth in their care or young novices. Those are the facts learned by those abused by these women. Unquote
As I said in my earlier comments, Nuns/Sisters do sexually abuse children – there is no question about that.
Disagreement, however, is based in the idea that it is lesbian women who are the abusers.
It would be helpful if you would supply links to any studies which suggest otherwise.
I think the most helpful example is the Coach Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State where because the victims of the sexual abuse were males many presumed that Sandusky was a homosexual rather than an ephebophile —
Quote — The Penn State Scandal Isn’t About Homosexuality
This guy managed to turn an accused pedophile into the symbol of gay parents everywhere, even though the American Psychiatric Association makes a clear distinction between homosexuality and pedophilia. In fact, the National Institute of Mental Health says that heterosexual men are actually more likely to perpetuate sexual abuse on children than gays. And more and more agencies are recognizing that not only do gays and lesbians make good parents, but that allowing them to adopt could help thousands of kids across the country who need homes. Unquote
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/2011/11/15/penn-state-scandal-homosexuality/#tf7Z6Qeg3uQpJ2fb.99
When we are discussing youth at ages from 15 to 19 — we are also aware of other guidelines which can complicate our view of what is actually happening as there is concern about twenty year old+ adult male relationships with young girls who are just reaching the “age of consent.” Many of these relations can easily be seen as unhealthy for the young girl involved. Also, generally across the US you can be married at age 18.
In research environments, specific terms are used for chronophilias: for instance, ephebophilia to refer to the sexual preference for mid-to-late adolescents,12 hebephilia to refer to the sexual preference for earlier pubescent individuals, and pedophilia to refer to the sexual preference for prepubescent children.23 However, the term pedophilia is commonly used by the general public to refer to any sexual interest in minors below the legal age of consent, regardless of their level of physical or mental development.4
. . .
Ephebophilia is used only to describe the preference for mid-to-late adolescent sexual partners, not the mere presence of some level of sexual attraction. Generally, the preference is not regarded by psychologists as a pathology when it does not interfere with other major areas of one’s life, and is not listed by name as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), the ICD-10, or as a paraphilia. However, the preference can sometimes be diagnosed as a disorder if it results in dysfunction or exploitative behavior, under the DSM specification 309.2, “Paraphilia Not Otherwise Specified”.12
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephebophilia
Sexual abuse is based in assault on the victims who are vulnerable due to age or being overpowered by an adult — or the force of authority which we see with religious figures.
And it is also true that often those who are sexually abused will sexually abuse others.
Many do not.
Quote — Ephebophiles are either heterosexual or homosexual or lesbian. Different dynamics than pedophelia. Requires different approaches to the predators. Unquote
As I said, my concerns are that society can protect our children — and that requires a clearer understanding of these conditions.
Pedophiles are attracted to children younger than 11 years of age
Hebephiles to children 11 to 14 years of age
Ephebophiles to children 15 to 19 years of age
There are also cases I’m sure many are familiar with where infants are sexually abused.
From my readings of studies, it seems clear that homosexuality isn’t a factor in sexual abuse of children.
That they are MALE is acknowledged even by right wing women’s groups.
That does not mean that females have not abused children, but it seems to be females who are influenced or under the control of males.
That would certainly qualify nuns who have committed their lives to subservience to a male-supremacist church.
We are discussing organized patriarchal religion which underpins patriarchy and that pre-conditions thinking by those attached to the church
in lifelong commitment to that concept.
By the way
-and honored for their work in caring for orphaned children.Long before the “white” man arrived In Hawaii, homosexuals were esteemed in their communities -
and that they are heterosexual males. Heterosexual males are 100X less likely than Homosexual males to sexually abuse children.
I’ve noticed that the SPOTLIGHT movie and also articles written on sexual abuse rarely mention these studies.
I’ve read some of the legal concerns of SNAP in regard to demands for personal information on victims which Is quite threatening, not only
to those abused by priests but to any victim who needs the protection of privacy.
I’m a “recovering Catholic” myself — from an Irish Catholic family in NYC. I was never sexually abused but the experience from first to 8th grades
was frightening for the most part as there was very authoritarian rule by nuns — and after that time I was able to just ignore the church, except for
the brainwashing which remains. Children really don’t discuss these experiences — they really don’t have the world view — or even the language
to begin to discuss what is happening to them. And, if on top of all of that you are sexually abused by a priest (or nun) it would be shattering.
Again — the reason I visited this site was because of what seems to be the continuing suggestion by the RCC that it is homosexual priests who
have sexually abused children. If families are to be able to protect their children properly from any and all sexual abusers they need to be made aware that of the information from studies on pedophiles.
The history of sexual abuse of children in the church is confirmed by Italians who say it was happening from the very first days of the church.
Betty Friedan, the feminist made some comments about Freud which I thought were very interesting
-male friends of the family. And that Freud betrayed his young patients by suggesting in the “Oedipus Complex” that it was the child who was the sexual aggressor versus the parent and other adults. Of course, this is a ridiculous concept that has never really been challenged or attacked.She related that Freud’s patients were relating stories of sexual abuse by male members of their family – fathers, uncles, male cousins -
I’m sure there were, nonetheless, many instances of Nuns sexually abusing children in their care. They had the greatest access to these children
and control over them. There are many stories yet to be told.
The right wing coup on Pope John XXIII’s Vatican II has pretty much brought the RCC to collapse.
Vatican II sought to make the church a democracy by acknowledging that members had the right to free thought and personal conscience in
all issues — including contraception. It destroyed the concept of Papal “infallibility.”
Most of all it sought to give the church a compassionate and humane face.
That was 50 years ago. And the death of Pope John XXIII was followed by the suspicious deaths of two succeeding Popes.
I trust that Pope Francis is a sign that liberal control of the church has been regained and that this is an effort to save the church from itself.
Organized patriarchal religion underpins patriarchy.
Here is some information on the studies of pedophiles —
QUOTE
-and that they are heterosexual males. Heterosexual males are 100X more likely to sexually abuse a child than a homosexual male. A 1998 Study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 90% of pedophiles are men, and 95% of these individuals are heterosexual. Research has indicated that gay men and lesbians are less likely than heterosexual to sexually abuse children. Perhaps the most egregious and damaging claim promulgated by anti-gay groups is the claim that homosexuality is intrinsically linked to pedophilia and child sexual abuse. The social science research on sexual orientation and child sexual abuse clearly disproves the claim that homosexuals are more likely to molest children. A 1998 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 90% of pedophiles are men, and 95% of these individuals are heterosexual. One researcher explained this statistic by noting, "Gay men desire consensual sexual relations with other adult men. Pedophiles are usually adult men who are sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children. They are rarely sexually attracted to other adults. In fact, research has indicated that gay men and lesbians are LESS likely than heterosexuals to sexually abuse children. Two studies that examined the sexual orientation of convicted child molesters found that less than 1% in one study and 0% in the other were lesbian or gay. One psychologist reviewed the existing social science literature on the relationship between sexuality and child sexual abuse and found that “a gay man is no more likely than a straight man to perpetrate sexual activity with children.” Further, “cases of perpetration of sexual behavior with a pre-pubescent child by an adult lesbian are virtually nonexistent.” See: Focus on the Facts" — Sean Cahill, PH.D, 2004 Also : The right-wing “Family Research Council” notes/confirms findings that “almost all child sexual abuse is committed by men.”In order to protect young children from pedophiles and those who are attracted to
11 to 14 year olds, the public has to understand that our sexual abusers of children
are MALES -
UNQUOTE