They are NOT "bunglers"
Don’t believe it for a second.
Brisbane’s Catholic bishop claims he and his colleagues were “caught like rabbits in a headlight" regarding clergy sex crimes.
He also claims one case is a "dramatic failure of oversight" that showed a "spectacular bungling."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-11/royal-commission-into-child-sex-abuse-continues/5149698
Don’t believe it for a second. Remember, bishops are smart, well-educated men.
They have smart, well-educated staffs.
They hire smart, well-educated lawyers.
They can – if they like – hire other smart, well-educated consultants and experts.
And they – and their colleagues and predecessors and supervisors – have been dealing with (and hiding and enabling) clergy sex crimes for decades.
So we simply don’t believe them when they claim to have been are “bungling.” or “caught like rabbits in a headlight.”
Or, if they have been, it’s because they have deliberately chosen, time and time and time again, to focus on secondary matters instead of primary matters, like ensuring the safety of the most vulnerable members of their flock: children.’
Bishops also have smart, well-educated public relations advisors. I believe that deep down, those advisors know that bishops having repeatedly and deliberately and selfishly protected predators over children and their own reputations over the safety of parishioners.
But those PR advisors also know that many want to believe the best about religious figures. So they tell bishops: “Act like you ‘goofed’ or ‘failed.’ Then people will forgive you.”
So that’s what bishops say. And many people fall for it. But it’s deeply deceptive.
We rarely let political figures get by with dubious claims like this. We shouldn’t let church officials do either.
Winter Appeal 2023
To our friends,
2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
At SNAP we are proud to have hosted a very well-attended conference in August 2023. This event allowed us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We were so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and are already looking forward to the next conference.
To strengthen our movement for justice, healing, and prevention, SNAP will be expanding our peer support and providing more volunteer opportunities in the coming year. Through this great work, we are ensuring survivor voices are represented as we work for significant change that will benefit children and survivors.
Right now, survivors worldwide are getting the help they need from SNAP, and more and more reach out to us daily, but we need your help to keep those programs going and get our volunteers the training they need to thrive.
Your tax-deductible gift to SNAP can help offset the cost of our important mission. If you are not in a position to contribute, you can still support us by sharing this letter with those who can. As we continue to fight for survivors across the globe, your donation or sharing the great work SNAP does will help us continue our work to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, and prevent abuse.
Your donation ensures SNAP will be there for those who need us more than ever!
Warmly,
Michael W. McDonnell, C.P.S.
Interim Executive Director
Showing 2 comments
Having been a member of SNAP for one year now, and having viewed, read and followed everything that I could about this specific “scandal” in the catholic church, I have decided that my personal current course of action now, is to encourage and “call for” the leaders of SNAP in the United States and those attorneys willingly affliated with SNAP, to please write legal petitions for U.S. members to sign and for them to get signed, that call for a referendum to vote for the abolishment of all SOL laws applied to and regarding crimes committed by pedophiles against children and disabled adults; including but not limited to crimes committed by catholic pedophile priests, heirarchy and laity in the United States and its territories. Please let us do a “grass roots campaign”, via the internet if necessary, as our current president did to get elected; to achieve this very obviously important and necessary change to both our criminal and civil laws. The scourge must be STOPPED! Surely, it must be clear to all of us now, that they, (the pope and all the other leaders of the catholic church), will not do it for us. The scourge must be STOPPED! I believe that the United States of America is a uniquely qualified place to be able to achieve at least this portion of the battle against enabled pedophiles in the catholic church. WE CAN DO IT! WE CAN DO IT HERE!!!
just who are the hurt ones here…. clergy, senior church officionati in their robes ,
in secret discussion, ad infinitum…. caught in the spotlight…. and many have been running… and this is centuries of running… not only decades….