MA- Vatican official makes “silly” new abuse claim

For immediate release: Friday, May 23, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003, [email protected])

In a new interview, a top Vatican official (Fr. Robert Oliver from the Boston archdiocese) claims “procedures” must be “developed” to deal with bishops who enable or hide clergy sex crimes. That's patently ridiculous.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21499

Catholic officials quickly bring the hammer down on Catholic writers who write something they consider wrong or Catholic teacher who says something they consider wrong. Like most monarchs, Catholic officials don't quibble over 'procedures,' they just exercise their nearly limitless power.  

So to claim that now somehow there's some suddenly uncovered and unspecified “procedure” deficit that prevents popes and bishops from quickly demoting or disciplining the proven wrongdoers (like Cardinal Bernard Law or Bishop Finn or Monsignor William Lynn) or credibly accused wrongdoers (like Archbishop Josef Wesolowski who accused of molesting several kids in Poland and the Caribbean or Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, who is accused of repeated sexual misconduct but is second-in-command of a diocese in Paraguay) is absurd at best or deceitful at worst.

Often, when Vatican wrongdoing is exposed (like the UN's Committee Against Torture did today), church officials immediately ratchet up their promises to give the impression that they're taking action. Fr. Oliver's remarks are just the latest example of this old public relations trick.

But it often ends up showing that most Catholic officials are fixated much more on their reputations than on real reform.

Finally, Fr. Oliver conveniently calls Catholic officials who help predators and hurt kids “negligent.” That is deceptive too. Clergy sexual violence is covered by many or most priests and bishops willfully, not negligently. You're negligent when harm happens because you're careless. But you deliberately cause harm when you knowingly destroy evidence, shuffle molesters, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, fabricate alibis, stonewall prosecutors, and deceive police, as church officials have done for decades and still do today.

For more on this Vatican official:

http://www.snapnetwork.org/rome_abuse_victims_blast_pope_over_new_appointment

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have more than 18,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])  


Showing 6 comments

  • George and Jean Barilla
    commented 2014-05-25 18:54:09 -0500
    Dear Lani, you’re welcome. The purpose of my blog is to educate people and pass on good ideas. Good works should have wide distribution and my blog goes to Google, Google+, my Amazon author page, and to readers globally. I promote SNAP because of the good it does.
  • Lani Halter
    commented 2014-05-25 15:23:25 -0500
    Dear Mr. Barilla,
    Thank you for your compliment on the comment I posted here. Also, I want to tell you that I am glad you asked me to consent to you quoting me, (copying my comments here on SNAP) on your blog; I am grateful that you did ask me, rather than just doing it, because in fact, I’ve decided to respond, No. Thank you, but I’d rather you didn’t.
  • George and Jean Barilla
    commented 2014-05-25 12:51:02 -0500
    Lani, your comment: “I don’t think any of them are brave enough to endure even the thought of being prevented from engaging in their pedophile crimes while being provided what they have come to see and find as a “wonderful” provider of food, shelter and “employment” as the catholic church has and is providing them” is the fundamental basis of what these criminals do — they want to keep on raping and abusing children. Until everyone understands their perverted mission, we won’t be rid of them. I would like to quote you on my blog: http://catholicchurchabusebynunsandpriests.blogspot.com/
    if that is OK with you. Great writing!
    George Barilla
  • Timothy Egan
    commented 2014-05-24 19:10:34 -0500
    Excellent article. Also notice the American media’s complicity in the cover-up. All that was discussed today by fawning reporters was the pope’s visiting of the Holy land. Absolutely not a word mentioned concerning this U.N. committee. People have been conditioned to fear the word “conspiracy” even though the bible itself uses the term quite often.
  • Lani Halter
    commented 2014-05-24 12:18:26 -0500
    To me, this is the most important part of your statement, Mrs. Dorris:
    “But you deliberately cause harm when you knowingly destroy evidence, shuffle molesters, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, fabricate alibis, stonewall prosecutors, and deceive police, as church officials have done for decades and still do today.”
    There are so many actual crimes involved in this whole catholic scourge, and catholic church scandal, that it’s nearly impossible to remember to list all of them. And yet, it seems we are still afraid and have been too intimidated, to honestly state and include some of the most egregious crimes that these same men who are catholic priests at all and varying levels of the catholic heirarchy, actually commit. It isn’t just “harm”, sometimes, it is literally, murder by physical sexual rape and torture. Sometimes, it is contributing to and enlarging a global, pedophile internet pornography site that re-victimizes children and adolescents and vulnerable adults, endlessly.
    So, I guess I think I take umbridge at your comments about fr. oliver, employing an old public relations trick, and as well as you reinforcing the claim that these criminals and their enablers are just worried about their reputations. I think both of those beliefs about them really tend to so simplify the situation that we all start to think of these abettors and enablers and predators, as really just some “well-intentioned, ‘nice, little old, fumbling men’” rather than the truly MEAN, horrible knowing men that they are. I think and believe that they are actually, terrified of being arrested, found guilty, and being sent to prison. I think that about both the predators and the enablers, and I believe that they “feed off” of each other’s fear of discovery. I don’t think any of them are brave enough to endure even the thought of being prevented from engaging in their pedophile crimes while being provided what they have come to see and find as a “wonderful” provider of food, shelter and “employment” as the catholic church has and is providing them. Cowards, and criminals, all.
  • Lani Halter
    commented 2014-05-23 19:04:19 -0500
    I commented 5 mins ago on a different SNAP posting and will comment the same, here:
    I finally was able to see the re-broadcast of your webcast today. And, was very grateful to have been able to see it and to notice that you, Mrs. Blaine tried to answer my question that involves a request to you to try to effect the tv reporting on national TV stations of the release of this new UN report.
    I was happy to learn that it has already been reported by the NY Times and The Guardian, and Reuters, but saddened to learn that apparently you haven’t seen the only reporting I’ve seen in any way on the TELEVISION today regarding catholics and the pope: and that is, that thus far, on several major TV news stations, I have only seen two or three different reports of the pope going on a trip to Jordan and Israel today —that was on the Today Show, and CNN and MSNBC, So far today, I have heard and seen nothing on the release of this Report by the UN Committee on TELEVISION. I truly hope that ALL the three TV networks that broadcast news, nationally every day here (CBS, NBC and ABC) broadcast the news of this report and its contents TODAY.

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