by AK - Jeff 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I did a search of the publications - perhaps I used the wrong words, though I thought I used the correct combinations. I can find plenty of condemnation of Catholic church, but nothing that specifically condemns the Catholic church for the pedophilia issues within. I was sure that they had done so over the years - but was I just reading my JW taught judgementalism into articles that weren't specific?
Jeff
RomanCatholicChurchThe
The Catholic Church is blunt in its disapproval of homosexuality, branding it a gross sin. But in practice the church conducts a cover-up for guilty priests and even makes it possible for them to continue their sexual perversions. Certainly, Pope John Paul II had warm words for homosexuals when he declared: "They are in the heart of the church."
An independent Catholic newspaper, the NationalCatholicReporter, of February 27, 1987, said that homosexual clergy estimated that 50 percent of the U.S. Catholic priesthood is homosexual. This figure is contested. One psychologist, basing his statement on 1,500 interviews, says that 20 percent of the 57,000 U.S. Catholic priests are homosexual, whereas more recent reports make "other therapists think the true figure today may be closer to 40 percent."
Just over a year ago, newspapers across the country were flooded with reports of sexual assaults on children by Catholic priests. The following report from the San Jose, California, MercuryNews, December 30, 1987, is typical:
"At a time of heightened national awareness of the problems of child abuse, the Catholic Church in the United States continues to ignore and cover up cases of priests who sexually molest children, according to court records, internal church documents, civil authorities and the victims themselves.
"Church officials insist that a notorious 1985 Louisiana case in which a priest molested at least 35 boys has taught them to deal firmly with the problem. But a three-month Mercury News investigation reveals that in more than 25 dioceses across the country, church officials have failed to notify authorities, transferred molesting priests to other parishes, ignored parental complaints and disregarded the potential damage to child victims. . . . Millions of dollars in damages already have been paid to victims and their families, and one 1986 church report estimated that the church’s liability could reach $1 billion over the next decade."
The "notorious 1985 Louisiana case" mentioned in the MercuryNews report concerned a priest named Gilbert Gauthe. There has been a "payment of $12 million to his victims." The homosexual activities of Gauthe were known for many years, but ‘the diocese handled the problem by transferring him from parish to parish at least three times.’ In one instance "parents testified that Gauthe sodomized their 7-year-old son on his first day as an altar boy and for a year afterward, until the priest was transferred."
The "damage to child victims" was also mentioned in that report. Sometimes the damage is final. One 12-year-old boy took his life, leaving a note saying that "it wasn’t worth living" after having been "made a virtual sex slave of a Franciscan brother." Another, molested by a priest, hanged himself after telling his brother, "Contact Father S.— and tell him I forgive him."
Most sexual assault cases involve boys, but many girls are also victimized. As reported by the Cleveland PlainDealer of December 19, 1987, a 16-year-old girl and her parents filed a civil suit in 1986 against seven priests for sexual molestation. She had become pregnant, and the priests urged her to get an abortion. When she refused, they arranged to send her to the Philippines to cover up her pregnancy. The church is against homosexuality and abortion but apparently not when it involves their own priests.
The newspaper reports go on and on listing many specific cases of Catholic youths sodomized by Catholic priests, of millions of dollars being paid out to settle lawsuits, of many settlements made out of court, and of insurance companies that "will no longer cover diocesan personnel against molestation charges."
Thomas Fox, editor of the NationalCatholicReporter, says: "There has been a national cover-up of the problem for years by the bishops." Eugene Kennedy, a former priest and now psychology professor at Loyola University, says: "What you see in the courts is just the tip of the iceberg." Thomas Doyle, Dominican priest and canon lawyer, declares: "The sexual molesting of little boys by priests is the single most serious problem we’ve had to face in centuries."
Awake 22nd January 1989 'Christendom Walks In The Way Of Canaan'
ofPedophilePriestsSpeakOutVictims
"DURING the past decade, some 400 Roman Catholic priests have been reported to church or civil authorities for sexual abuse of children," according to U.S.News&WorldReport. Recently, a national gathering of survivors of such abuse was held near Chicago, Illinois. Many spoke openly of how they had been victimized by pedophile priests.
But NCR (NationalCatholicReporter) notes that speakers sounded another theme repeatedly throughout the conference: "The first abuse is sexual; the second and more painful, is psychological." This second abuse occurs when the church refuses to listen to victims of abuse, fails to take their accusations seriously, and moves only to protect the offending priests. "Fairly or unfairly," NCR reports, "they portrayed Catholic clergy as belonging to an unhealthy and misguided group more bent on preserving privilege and power than in serving lay needs." Several speakers made ominous comparisons to the Reformation, which split the church wide open in the 16th century.
According to Richard Sipe, a former priest turned psychotherapist and expert on sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, all this institutional denial reveals "a deep, desperate and knowing personal involvement in the problem." He added: "The church knows and has known for a long time a great deal about the sexual activity of its priests. It has looked the other way, tolerated, covered up and simply lied about the broad spectrum of sexual activity of its priests."
Not surprisingly, then, many abuse survivors are suing the church. NCR quotes one attorney who specializes in such cases as saying that there are pedophile-priest cases in each of the church’s 188 dioceses in the United States. He says that out-of-court settlements have run as high as $300,000 per case. U.S.News&WorldReport says that such suits have already cost the church $400,000,000, a figure that could surge to $1 billion by the year 2000. And the Canadian Press reported recently that some 2,000 survivors of childhood sexual abuse in 22 church-run orphanages and mental institutions in Quebec are suing six religious orders for $1.4 billion in damages.
Interestingly, though, the aforementioned U.S. attorney, who represents 150 victims of pedophile priests in 23 states, says that he has never yet had a client who was eager to go to court. Each one first tried to seek justice "within the pastoral context of the church." NCR concludes: "Survivors go to the courts, it appears, not as a first resort, but as a last resort."
8th April 1993 Awake 'Victims Of Pedophile Priests Speak Out'
Thanks for posting that Brinjen. I haven't seen that for ages.
At a time of heightened national awareness of the problems of child abuse, the Catholic Church in the United States continues to ignore and cover up cases of priests who sexually molest children, according to court records, internal church documents, civil authorities and the victims themselves.
Priceless isn't it.
Clam
Hmmm, it's that last paragraph in particular...
Interestingly, though, the aforementioned U.S. attorney, who represents 150 victims of pedophile priests in 23 states, says that he has never yet had a client who was eager to go to court. Each one first tried to seek justice "within the pastoral context of the church." NCR concludes: "Survivors go to the courts, it appears, not as a first resort, but as a last resort."
I wonder do they still feel that way? Or have they received new light?
Some suggestions that may work:
1) don't use too many or too confining of a construction
a) abus* rather than abus* Catholic* (sentence search--then paragraph)(can be more work_
b) abus* rather than abuse
2) Use the WT index with words such as
a) abus*
b) Catholic church
c) abus* priest*
d) pedophil*
e) clergy abus*
3) Keep a folder (real or electronic) with your finds. Be sure to do period backups to protect your research. No need to re
invent the wheel which I have had to do when I don't follow my own suggestions.
Love, Blondie
There's an article in the Dec 1st 1994 WT that goes one better. They are talking about atheism and make the usual assumptions about athiests. Then they go so far as to cite pedophelia in "other churches" (they don't say Roman Catholic specifically) as a reason for atheism (???) because these churches deny God's moral standards. They accuse churches that have these problems of being atheistic because they deny God's authority. (Actually, we atheists are simply unconvinced that God exists, but that's another discussion) That's a pretty good quote to have handy since they are basically denouncing themselves. You can find it in the WT CD.
IsaacJ
Dont forget last years special tract.
AWAKE January22,1989 page 9-11 "Catholic Church is blunt in it's disapproval of Homosexuality but the Church conducts a cover up for guilty Priests and even make it possible for them to continue their sexual perversions. Church officials have failed to notify authorities." Now notice what the February 15, 2002 page 4 of the Watchtower says. "As directed in July1,1989 letter to all bodies of elders, you should immediately call the legal department for direction if you learn of a case of child abuse. Never suggest to anyone that you should call the Police or Authorities." What HYPOCRITES !!
Thanx for the articles and suggestions. I may need some 'ammunition' on this matter, and wanted to have my 'ducks in a row' so to speak.
Jeff
