PA--Victims blast new comments by Penn State prez
For immediate release: Wednesday, Jan. 28
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314-503-0003, [email protected])
It’s very sad to see Penn State’s president posture for his donor base by dismissing most of the Freeh report. And it’s’ an ultimately counterproductive move.
Nothing is gained, except perhaps mollifying some misguided alums, by Eric Barron’s comments to the Associated Press. Barron joins a long line of self-centered football-obsessed Penn State students and staff who somehow can’t let go of their unhealthy Paterno-worship and remember the shattered lives of Sandusky victims.
The AP reports that Barron’s office says he’s committed to “procedural changes and funding child abuse prevention efforts.” But instead of vague promises like this, we challenge Barron to give a detailed accounting of what he’s done about each of the more than 100 recommendations in the Freeh report.
Barron claims "the alumni base” is “split apart." If he’s concerned about that, he should show real leadership and prod alums – and staff and students – to stop whining and start focusing on productive work to safeguard kids and build a more healthy school.
We urge football fanatics at Penn State to stop their unseemly ‘pity party’ and finger-pointing and hair-splitting and blame-shifting.
Kids were sexually assaulted by a Penn State staffers. Top officials knew or should have known. And they did little or nothing to stop the assaults. The school was punished. It’s time for university officials to man up and move on.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We were founded in 1988 and have more than 20,000 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, [email protected], Barbara Dorris 314-503-0003, [email protected], Barbara Blaine 312-399-4747, [email protected]
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King James Bible Online Timothy 1 Chapter 4
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1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
11 These things command and teach.
12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
© 2015 Kin
As shown at http://restorepsu.blogspot.com/2014/04/snap-anti-semitic-and-anti-catholic.html (my blog, citing external sources), SNAP also has a record of hate speech against the Catholic and Jewish religions, as opposed to individual abusive priests and rabbis. Noting SNAP’s most recent attack on the honor of Penn State, and its previous attack on Sue Paterno (!) for defending her husband’s reputation, SNAP’s track record needs to be examined in close detail.
The phrase “Paterno worship,” by the way, makes SNAP the enemy of every Penn Stater who has pride in his or her University’s track record of academic success side by side with athletic success.
I speak for myself, but my position on the Sandusky matter is shared by many.
While none of my fellow alumni have any sympathy or support for what Jerry Sandusky was convicted of doing, to say that “kids were sexually assaulted by a Penn State staffers” is patently unfounded. In fact, the one incident which garnered most attention (the “shower” scene in 2001) was the one for which the jury found Sandusky “not guilty.”
Please do not confuse our crusade to clean up the administration and board with some insensitivity toward child sexual abuse. We are disappointed that the University chose to settle with alleged victims (trying to buy ‘good will’) instead of defending itself. President Barron is the first administrator to speak up against the fabrications and allegations of the Freeh report. His courage has the potential to start the healing process.
The NCAA chose to punish the innocent bystanders (current students) and the one person (Joe Paterno) who did more to mold character at Penn State than any other person in the last half century. We have absolutely no respect for the NCAA any more.
It is n fluke that Tom Corbett was defeated in his bid for reelection as governor, either, after he bungled the Sandusky affair both as Attorney General and then Governor. His vendetta against Graham Spanier and Joe Paterno backfired.