Some of us may wish to write to Lyn Cockburn about the Society's conduct and policies regarding molestation, as recently documented on Dateline. It would seem very timely given her statements in the following column.
http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/cockburn.html
June 5, 2002
No second chances for pedophiles
By LYN COCKBURN -- Winnipeg Sun
One is too many.
One is how many kids priests are allowed to molest in the past and still keep their robes. This according to the many recommendations in a report by the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse to be presented when bishops from around the U.S. meet June 13-15 in Dallas, Tex.
The report does recommend that in the future priests who abuse even once should be defrocked. About bloody time.
But past abusers may, under certain circumstances, remain in the priesthood. Ludicrous.
The "certain circumstances" include: treatment, examination to determine the priest was not a pedophile, public disclosure and the certainty that he was free of criminal or civil claims.
Now there's a clever little dance with a number of intricate steps which, should a priest be determined, he could learn to perform. Get some treatment, look chagrined, confess publicly and announce that you are "cured."
Just as pedophiles in other walks of life learn to do. For there is no need for the rest of us to be smug about pedophilia in the church -- it is an evil that permeates every area of society, particularly of course, those which involve children.
Teaching, volunteer work involving children, medicine, child care -- all have attracted their share of pedophiles. And still do. It's just that some professions, teaching for example, have been a little quicker, thankfully, than the church to institute a zero tolerance policy.
Yet society does not yet wish to grapple with the fact that pedophilia is not something that can be cured.
It is not a disease, it is not an addiction, it is not a passing phase. The Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary defines it as a "sexual perversion" while another says it is "deviant sexual behaviour."
There are no reputable sources which suggest it is a "curable" condition and all reputable sources are careful to state that there is a high rate of recidivism.
So if the docs at Harvard who are instrumental in compiling these medical tomes can't quite define it or suggest what to do about it (no disrespect intended to the docs because pedophilia is so horrible it may forever defy analysis), then the rest of us cannot be expected to understand it.
But all of us, doctors, laypeople, clergy, know this: pedophilia is wrong and it must be stopped.
We know that the sexual abuse of children is a crime.
And there are some crimes for which there can be no leniency. The sexual molestation of children is one of those crimes. Then or now.
There are some crimes for which there can be no statute of limitations. The rape and molestation of children is one of those crimes. It matters not how long it takes for an abused child to come forward and point a finger at the abuser precisely because those who are sexually abused often cannot deal with what happened to them until they are well into adulthood. And some are never able to deal with it. They drink, they do drugs, they go into a shell, they lead ruinous lives. And some commit suicide.
Perhaps if society in general and churches in particular were to publicly denounce and punish those who commit such crimes -- no matter when they were committed -- their tortured victims could begin the restorative process.
And there are some crimes so horrific that there can be no second chance.
Rob my corner store and I want you to do the time, but I do have some hope you've learned your lesson and won't do it again. Cheat your company out of buckets of money and I want you to go to jail too, but again, I suspect you'll smarten up.
Molest my child, once, and I want you locked up and then placed under surveillance for the rest of your life. And I want you barred forever from any occupation which puts you anywhere near children.
Because if you molest my child, chances are high you will do it again to some other child. And then you will do it again. And again.
I do not believe there are any one-time child molesters.
But just suppose I'm wrong and the Catholic church is right and there are some priests who have molested but one child.
The fact remains that one is too many.
Lyn Cockburn can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
Letters to the editor should be sent to [email protected].
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