An open letter from young Catholics

[Peeps]

I think that many of the people who were victimized are only beginning to recognize what happened to them and how negatively it affected their lives.

I don’t believe in being a victim forever, but the fact is that sexual abuse, especially by a man who was supposed to be Jesus’ Christ’s servant, has multiple adverse psychological effects on a person, male or female, and these don’t always show up until many years later. And a few visits to a counselor is not usually adequate to help a person get over it all.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I will point out that we have been making the argument, this all happened 20-40 years ago for 20 years now.

Well, I’m aware of a case in my neighborhood that happened 3 years ago. The priest was jailed (and laicized) pretty quick and nobody has been talking about it or writing articles or letters about it. I’m aware of another case that hit the newspapers last year involving a priest who I received some sacraments from the year before. He was from a foreign country and I suspect in the US on some kind of visa, because he was promptly put back on a plane to his country within a month after allegations were made. Again, no articles or letters about it since.
I can only go by what I see.

If somebody comes up with a charge that McCarrick committed a crime or an abuse within the last few years, I’ll be all ears, and I’m certainly in favor of cleaning up seminaries if they need cleaned up, but I’m simply not seeing a lot of very recent allegations that weren’t dealt with very swiftly. Do you have some ongoing abuses to point out? Other than the seminary clean-up in Boston that someone has already started a thread about.

 

[tafan2]

I am not claiming he did this in the last few years. Just my frustration, and anger, that 10, 15, 20 year old cases still keep popping up. Our diocese got hit with a large settlement in the mid 90s, iirc, New Orleans did in the early 90s. In 2002, the Bishops promised to clean it all up. 15 years later, the scandal has not gone away. Transparency and objective efforts of reform by the Bishops has not occurred IMO. People knew about McCarrick, nothing was done. Despite, we were told, of a zero tolerance policy.
I am cynical. For decades, I have been using all the same defense I’ve statements we hear now: eg, the cases all happened 10, 15, 20 years ago or more, back in the 70s and 80s the bishops were just doing what the “experts” told them to do, the rate of abuse is no higher than other parts of society, etc. All of which is starting to sound quite lame.
I am not claiming great improvements have not been made. But I am skeptical the Church has been reformed to the extent needed. Hence the letter is spot on IMO. I understand the Church is not a democracy, but it’s time lay people and good clergy unite and say “that’s it guys”, fix it, once and for all. And don’t just tell us you did, we want transparency. If there were prelates who knew about McCarrick and kept silent, we want to know who they were.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I don’t mind that the young Catholics wrote a letter. (They might as well since every other group is writing one.) I hope they will also send some of their number off to seminary who can handle their vows and are not predators.

But I’m afraid you’re not going to see an end to these 20-, 30, 40-year-old cases coming out of the woodwork until all of the generations involved during the years when this wasn’t being adequately addressed have died off.

 

[tafan2]

I don’t nt think you understand my point. 20 years ago, we said they were 20 year old cases. Now, we are saying they are 20 year old cases, which means they were happening 20 years ago. At this rate, in 20 years, we will be saying they are 20 year old cases (ie happening now). And we will be wainiting for another generation to die off.

Cynical? Yes. But I am not buying, nor making, the excuse that they are 20 year old cases any longer

 

[goout]

The abuse of a human being is not primarily a matter of sexuality, it is an abuse of power. A priest has a position of authority and is abusing the power he has over the person he is abusing. The priest might have physical power, emotional power, or spiritual power over the person he is abusing.
Just like anyone else who abuses power…teachers, scout leaders, politicians etc…

You are not going to eliminate clerical abuse by trying to eliminate homosexuality. This ongoing problem is rooted in the co-opting of these individuals by “worldly” values.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

At this rate, in 20 years, we will be saying they are 20 year old cases (ie happening now). And we will be wainiting for another generation to die off.

I would hope that in this day and age when we have a lot of laws on mandated reporting by persons who may not be the victims, the churches taking quick action because the bishops do not want to be held liable by the Court or accountable by their superiors, a heightened awareness that such cases need to be taken seriously by the Church/ society/ the legal system, and a huge amount of encouragement for victims to report sooner, that we will not have more 20-year-old cases in 20 years. A major reason victims did not report 20 years ago or 30 or 40 was that they often were not believed and their allegations were not taken seriously. I don’t see that occurring now. As I said, I see violations being punished right now. It did not take them 20 years to take action in either of the 2 cases I mentioned in my post that have both been reported on and action taken (jail or deported) for the priest in question.

Feel free to be cynical, but I don’t see how that helps when the parishes and dioceses seem to be putting measures in place. You just sound like you’re going to have a chip on your shoulder no matter what, and that’s hardly productive.

 

[tafan2]

I have no chip on my shoulder. I know that parishes have put programs in place. I said above, I realize there have been improvements. But when the very Bishop who told us in 2002 of the reforms, and he had a background of problems, and other bishops knew; when the pipe literally has to ask an entire country’s episcopate to resign (for more recent problems), I am skeptical. Very. Like the people writing the letter, I am fed up with it. The old excuses no longer work.
I do not read that the letter’s authors had any chip on their shoulder, I do not say “fine, let them write a letter, everyone does” and brush them off. I say, good for them, look at their titles, professional, faithful, well educated young Catholics. I applaud them.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I don’t see how you think saying “fine, let them write a letter” is a brush-off. The thing about these letters is we all agree and are all saying the same thing: we want the church to fix this, we want it to stop. Being a young Catholic or a middle-aged Catholic or an old Catholic or whatever Catholic doesn’t matter - nobody is disagreeing. It’s not dismissive to express that. I think you’re looking for negatives in this thread, so I will take my leave of it now.

 

[joeybaggz]

Okay, so what was the final adjudication in Msgr. Capozzi’s case? (if there has been one) Has it been proved that he was directly involved? Or did the police take him into custody as a matter of standard procedure in such instances according to civil law? See, this is exactly what I am talking about; inferring scandalous behavior simply because someone was in the proximity of the event. How about a little, innocent until proven guilty? Unless of course your desire is to throw mud (or something more vile) at the church because that is one’s favored position?

 

[joeybaggz]

I will point out that we have been making the argument, this all happened 20-40 years ago for 20 years now.

One has to separate the problems of the more distant past from the more recent events. TisBearself’s post #22 (I think) is accurate about the way things are handled now. Provable accusations are now speedily handled. And I imagine that would happen with a bishop or cardinal too. Gone in 60 seconds today. (figuratively)
Will we be hearing about clergymen trampling on their vows in 20 years. Yes we will. As long as people have a sex drive and Satan roams, there will be those who fall into sexual sin. That’s never going to stop. But the delight of the Catholic bashing crowd (included many of its members) will always blow individual incidents into an indictment of the entire Catholic Church.
When I think of Mary Kay Letourneau or the blonde beauty seducing high school boys in their schools, or male public school gym teachers molesting their female students, I don’t think about condemning the entire public school system as a fertile farm for fondlers anonymous, but rather a tragic incident that stands apart from the institution. It should be the same for the RCC when a report of molestation occurs. Unfortunately, the "haters’ will continue to have their “field day.”

 

[joeybaggz]

You know, there is a lesson in this tragedy for all of us. (sad though it may be). I am sure all these clergymen who have perpetrated these deeds thought that it was something that was done in secret, in private, unseen by the public, so no real harm done. Well, they were wrong. It shows us that sin has a much wider reach that we, at the time we fall, can see. Like the pebble thrown into a pond. The ripples just keep going and going and going. Not that I think any of this is good because it shows us a lesson, but it is one that we should take to heart. We might think our sin is private, unseen, not affecting anyone but ourselves. But is it really true. And how many are often hurt by one’s “private” indiscretions?

 

[joeybaggz]

Okay, I was not aware of all the particulars in this case. But my statement to which this is your reply was intended as a more general point. There are far too many people out of, and in, the church, who at the first whiff of scandal, light the torches and throw the noose over the tree limb.