Second, it’s striking that legal and logistical support for Reynolds as he fought the RTE charges came not from his own bishop, or the official structures of the church, but rather from the independent Association of Catholic Priests.
The association has charged that Martin and some other Irish bishops have actually been “complicit in the denigration of priests,” demonstrating “a serious lack of care for priests” and a willingness “to effectively demonize them in church and society.” They called upon the Irish bishops to balance “systems and structures put in place to safeguard children” with a “duty of care” for their own priests.
That seems a point that some bishops around the world are ready to acknowledge.
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Jim, I was giving lessons at a popular music store in Shawnee KS during the late 80’s when the day care scandals was making the news. One of my students had to quit lessons because he and his wife had to go east and help her mother pack up and move back: she ran a daycare and fell victim to false accusations. After she had successfully defended herself, she had nothing left.Allegations of child sexual abuse are easy to make, and once made, cause a media and a prosecutorial frenzy.
After reading this book–No Crueller Tyrannies, by Dorothy Rabinowitz, I will never again take child sex abuse allegations at face value.
Her book concerns false allegations against day care workers some decades ago. People went to prison for crimes that never occurred.
That was before the child sex abuse crisis in the Church erupted, yet the hysteria is similar to that earlier time. At the height of the child sex abuse crisis in the Church, lawyers who were visiting clients in prison about unrelated matters would invariably ask, “Hey, were you ever an altar boy? If you were, and you lived in X diocese at X time, I can have $3,000 in your bank account in a week. That diocese is making blanket settelements.” When the clients said that they had never been abused, the lawyers would say, “Right now, that doesn’t even matter.”
I’ll have to read that book. As a young mother in the 1980s I remember listening to the news about the daycare teachers accused of hideous abuse and found out years later that the children had been given ‘false memories’ by the therapists involved. . .those people falsely accused NEVER (from what I read then) had an apology, never got their ‘lives’ back. . .and the ‘therapists’ never faced any sanctions whatsoever. . .Allegations of child sexual abuse are easy to make, and once made, cause a media and a prosecutorial frenzy.
After reading this book–No Crueller Tyrannies, by Dorothy Rabinowitz, I will never again take child sex abuse allegations at face value.
Her book concerns false allegations against day care workers some decades ago. People went to prison for crimes that never occurred.
That was before the child sex abuse crisis in the Church erupted, yet the hysteria is similar to that earlier time. At the height of the child sex abuse crisis in the Church, lawyers who were visiting clients in prison about unrelated matters would invariably ask, “Hey, were you ever an altar boy? If you were, and you lived in X diocese at X time, I can have $3,000 in your bank account in a week. That diocese is making blanket settelements.” When the clients said that they had never been abused, the lawyers would say, “Right now, that doesn’t even matter.”
Yes, and I’m afraid the same thing will be true of some falsely accused priests; when there is money involved and a prosecutorial frenzy going on, settlement is cheaper than offering to defend the innocent, who end up being thrown under the bus. I’m not saying that child abuse is not a serious crime, just that we shouldn’t lump the innocent in with the guilty.I’ll have to read that book. As a young mother in the 1980s I remember listening to the news about the daycare teachers accused of hideous abuse and found out years later that the children had been given ‘false memories’ by the therapists involved. . .those people falsely accused NEVER (from what I read then) had an apology, never got their ‘lives’ back. . .and the ‘therapists’ never faced any sanctions whatsoever. . .
What I have discovered since I 1st stated that God is calling me to be Catholic a year and a half ago, is that for me to even raise the question as to substantiating any allegation, I will myself be vilified as “defending pedophiles”. It is a tactic, practice and a mindset that is used by news sources and by SNAP that is deceptive, dishonest, and flat out disgusting, yet it is so commonly accepted, even by Catholics.Yes, and I’m afraid the same thing will be true of some falsely accused priests; when there is money involved and a prosecutorial frenzy going on, settlement is cheaper than offering to defend the innocent, who end up being thrown under the bus. I’m not saying that child abuse is not a serious crime, just that we shouldn’t lump the innocent in with the guilty.
Here is a Catholic League commentary about this case in the KC Star–you are right, it’s entirely uncorroborated. The Star seems simply to be intent on trashing the Catholic Church regardless of accuracy.What I have discovered since I 1st stated that God is calling me to be Catholic a year and a half ago, is that for me to even raise the question as to substantiating any allegation, I will myself be vilified as “defending pedophiles”. It is a tactic, practice and a mindset that is used by news sources and by SNAP that is deceptive, dishonest, and flat out disgusting, yet it is so commonly accepted, even by Catholics.
I have asked SNAP in their blogs how exactly do they substantiate any story that they may receive, and I was censored. The truth is, they don’t. Anyone of us can make a story up, call the SNAP hotline, and in a matter of days, they will hang a placard around your neck, park you in front of a diocese with a childhood picture that may or may not even be you, and call a news conference. And then hook you up with one of their trial lawyers. There is a story running in the KC Star that is based on the account of one of four boys. 2 of the 4 are dead. The 3rd states that he has no memory of ever being involved in abuse. That leaves one, giving his story WITHOUT corroboration, his story being denied by one of the 4 boys, the priest himself stating his innocence, and yet the Star runs the story. Not only do they run the story, they lock the comments section. To even raise an eyebrow as to the veracity of the story will get one branded in the court of public opinion as a “defender of pedophiles”.
The Baptist cases are more relevant to our time, yet unreported. I have Baptist friends who are minutes away from Greenwood Baptist Church and knew nothing of what happened there. I keep telling my Baptist friends that the only reason that SNAP and the press is not all over them with the same intensity is because the headlines are just not sensational enough, and the potential lawsuit money is non-existent.
All I can say, is…Wow!! I knew it was very bad, but…Wow!Here is a special report written by Bill Donohue of The Catholic League analyzing SNAP.
catholicleague.org/snap-exposed-unmasking-the-survivors-network-of-those-abused-by-priests/
Yes, I am familiar with the case of Fr. Gordon MacRae. The same author who wrote about the fake child abuse allegations in the 1980’s daycare cases, Dorothy Rabinowitz, wrote about him in the Wall Street Journal. Those articles about the MacRae case can be found here:All I can say, is…Wow!! I knew it was very bad, but…Wow!
I suppose you’re familiar with Fr. Gordon Macrae, and his case? If not, look here: thesestonewalls.com/