Thoughts on Catholic Church Abuse Reports
If anyone had the impression that the Catholic clergy abuse scandal, which erupted in Boston in 2002 and spread quickly throughout the United States, was limited only to this country, they were mistaken. There was clergy abuse elsewhere, of course, and scandals at other times, including here in Boston a decade earlier, in Ireland last year, and in Germany and other parts of Europe right now.
I admit I have not ever paid close attention to clergy abuse news. It has been just too personally triggering for me. I do not search out news on the clergy abuse websites (e.g., The SNAP Network and Bishop Accountability). In fact, I avoid them as best I can because it does not help me to know everything. I also am well aware that I was completely destabilized in 2002. The constant stream of news at the time triggered my second round of collapse and then recovery. As I have written before, my first round was in the early 1990s. While it was known then that there was institutional cover-up and deflection, its scale was not known. I felt a certain sense of peace that came from all of this not being too publicly prominent.
However, I now know that public awareness of child abuse leads to accountability and makes children more safe. The Catholic Church thrived on secrecy. Left to their own devices, I am convinced there would be no pressure to change. For an institution with Jesus Christ at the center and guiding influence, I find their behavior unconscionable. But I can understand it. All institutions—and governments—want to avoid scandals, many even at the cost of innocent lives.
It really is not the abuses that bother me the most. Data shows that there are more offenders, by percentage, in schools. And, percentage of abuse of children by males in the general population is also higher. What is most hurtful to me personally was the cover-up, lack of empathy, and treatment of child abuse victims, and their families, as "disposable." I told I was being abused in the 1980s as a high school student, and though I greatly minimized what happened, the situation was resolved by our family moving to another church and not talking about it. The place we called our spiritual home for four generations was taken away in the bat of an eye, and the pedophile priest who had only been there for a decade, and who was attacking children, remained.
Obviously, I did not know much about justice back then or how to find it.
In Boston, the church did make efforts in the early 1990s to "reach out" to victims through internal investigations. But that was a case of "too little, too late." For me, a decade of silence had gone by, and I was in the midst of a complete psychological collapse. I simply could not trust the church. And I had good reason not to. Even through these investigations, they did not move to isolate pedophile priests and protect children. The only recourse for victims was to come forward and press criminal charges or file a civil lawsuit.
The focus of the church was always about its image. And since the church was "above the law," at least in practical terms, they had the upper hand. In many cases, there are voluminous records (see Bishop Accountability) clearly documenting abuse and acknowledgement by church officials that abuse occurred. However, this information was never disclosed to victims who came forward. The message from the church, through their lawyers, was never about validation and support, but about making the barriers to justice higher and higher.
Now, in 2010, the collective voice of survivors from all over the world is exposing the truth. We seek justice. We seek healing. But we also seek to stop abuse against children wherever it exists.
Printable PDF23 Comments
Leave a new comment
Great article on abuse and the clergy. I agree that the most discouraging is the fact that children and their families were ignored and tossed aside. The church had/has absolutely NO idea the effects of such abuse on children!!!!
I have so many issues with organized religion, but most of them are about the power. For too long religious leaders have demanded the respect and power that, in my opinion, should be left to God.
I'm glad to "read" you again, Paul. I've missed you. Hope you are well. Great post.
I have so much trouble with mainstream churches. Living in Bavaria/Germany, the state in which the Pope originates form and was Cardinal and Bishop, I am shocked to the bone about the amount of abuse which happened mostly in catholic run boarding schools as well as youth centers. This Pope, who I always had a dislike of, did appoint a clergy man with abuser history into a youth center. And now NO word from this leader of the Catholic Church worldwide. This morning I listened to a journalist based in Vatican city that the silence once again might be based in the fear of having to pay compensation. I feel nauseous right now. I hurts me to the bone. Actions taken within the church, apologies, empathy and payment for the best PTSD treatment available should be the minimum. Not sure if I can express myself so well, not only are my emotions are running high but these topics are hard to express in my limited English.
It makes me so mad reading stories like this. I just cannot believe the actions of those involved - how can they possibly ignore and let continue this behaviour? What really made me mad was hearing that the RC guy who moved a family around here (just like you describe) to protect his priest is still defending his actions. Beyond belief.
"It is really not the abuse that bothers me." I can't understand this statement. The abuse should be the main thing that bothers you. A child has experienced trauma, suffering and pain, yet this does not bother you? Please.
J. Sutton: Of course the abuse bothers me. It's what I have been spending 20 years healing from. So, I didn't say that so well. I was talking about the abuse in the context of the scandal, or the larger picture. I would say the same with any kind of abuse. Child sex abuse by a sick individual (i.e., pedophile) is reprehensible. But what makes it much much worse for child victims is the culture around the abuser, whether it be in families or churches, aimed at silencing what happened and allowing it to continue. My point is that people will abuse children, but we can only have the hope of stopping it, if members of society see it as their responsibility to speak up. Sorry you misunderstood my larger point, and sorry I didn't write it as well as I could have. Of course, enabling abuse is also abuse. So, I can understand why you found my statement misleading. Thanks for calling it to my attention.
It's good that the victims are finally being heard.
The difficult one is going to be incest - the great majority of sexual abuse occurs in families (along witht the majority of violence). Disclosure of abuse in institutions is a huge step forward. It is very good that it is happening.
I think part of the cover up by society, family and organizations is embarrassment and shame. Just like it affects all of us learning to cope with it, it affects our families and others and they react to their own shame over it by sweeping it under the rug and by forcing the abused to keep quiet... or by moving. I don't know what the answer is other than education, as you suggested. I think it odd that the very thing we all need to heal and cope (family and society support), is the first thing to fail us. While they all deal with their pain, they forget about how those of us who were abused are doing.
Thanks Ivory. This is very true. It's also true that when abuse is found out for survivors when they are young, for many they are just not ready to deal with it. And it plays into the typical societal response of keeping things quiet.
I agree and understand what you have written Paul. For me, the cover-up, the lack of empathy and the treatment of child abuse victims is just as bad as the abuse itself. Some victims were forced to sign and bind themselves by contract to keep silence about the abuse. Only with signing such a contract they received some financial help from the church. The bishops, their inaction and ignorance is beyond imagination. In my eyes the bishops and the pope are abusers too, because of her actions. They KNEW and haven't done anything to stop this abuse. They haven't protected the children, they protected the abusers. I'm not a member in the catholic church anymore and I'm glad about it. This topic really triggers me :(
Thanks LostShadowChild! I'm sorry this topic is triggering for you. I agree with everything you wrote.
I'm the first to admit that I don't know much about abuse by the clergy. I've seen a couple of documentaries (Holy Watergate and Deliver us from Evil) which gave an insight into the cover ups and some of the reasoning behind it. Abuse of power, ignorance as to the effects the abuse was having and naivete that the abuser priests could be rehabilitated with simple courses or removal from the immediate victims seem to be common themes or ideas. This, despite very early documentation stating that the Church had to act immediately on any incident of abuse. So they did know the dangers, but failed to act according to the advice given.
You're right when you say that all institutions want to avoid scandals, but I wonder what would have been the response from the public if the Church had been up front about the abuse, put it into the context of the institution of the time, and been open about remedying the damage done. I read recently that in many countries, the Church is feeling the effect of a lack of trust from the people. I wonder if they had handled the scandal in an open and conciliatory way, whether that trust would have wavered so much?
I hope you can find peace again within the Church and heal the wounds Paul, not only from the abuse; but also from having your traditional place of worship so quickly and unfairly removed from you.
Take care,
CG
CG, Yes, the sad part about all of this is that it could have all been handled very differently and with different outcomes. But we are talking about an institution that had immense power (look at how they handled Galileo) and what it was about, for them, I think, was about thinking they still had that power and needed to protect it. Historically, the church has had the stance, despite the rhetoric, that the institution was what needed to be protected from "attack". When, in fact, they didn't realize that the institution is the people in it, including the children who were hurt. That fact is still not appreciated and that is why so many people are turning their backs.
All my therapist has to do is say "Catholicism" and I'm in a full blown panic. I seem to lose it with an unexplainable terror. It goes way beyond fear or dread, it's a morbid terror I feel when the subject comes up. I truly don't know why.
fma
Austin, I'm very sorry you have that reaction.
I have no idea what it is. I try to read your entries about the church and my mind all but spasms. I will say this, it's not that I think you're "speaking against them" or something. I know some people fear that big time. I don't think that at all. It's simply the name that nearly makes me crumble. I just don't know... I really don't.
Austin, It's okay. I knew when I started posting more on the church, that this was a bit of a departure, but I'll go back to some of what the blog has really been about. I can't speak exactly to why you have this reaction. For some, talking about the church is triggering for things that are similar, but not church related. Again, I don't know for you what it is. Write me offline if this is bothersome to you and you feel like you want to process it more.
I think you should write about it as long as you need to. I'm just shocked at my own response to it. I'm just sort of like, "WOW". Just wow. Write what you need to write when you need to write it. Heck, I do and with no holds barred sometimes. :-)
I'll take your advice Austin. For me, personally, I sometimes find all this focus on the news about the church a distraction to my healing. I don't want to give them that much power. Same reason I don't focus too much on trauma (like memories and things like that). So, that's why I focus the blog here more on healing. But, yes, I will use this place to say what I feel I need to say...
Hi. I was wondering how the latest news was affecting you. I agree with you when you said, it was not so much the abuse as it was the cover up. I understood what you meant and I feel the same way. Abuse happens in all of society. What hurts in the church is that people covered it up and then made excuses for doing so. I just wish they would put the victims first and stop making excuses. A commenter wrote that the church needs to own this - in public, out loud. I would love to see that happen someday.
Peace.
Thanks Colleen. What I find most unfortunate is how many of us have had our relationship to God distorted or shattered. I know many have found God in their healing, like you have. For me, this is a struggle.
I know. And I understand. My relationship with God was distorted as well, not in the same way of course. Since my abuser was my father and many of us relate to God the same way we relate to our fathers, I was not able to see God as a loving father, for years. I saw God as authoritarian, strict, impersonal. It took grace and years for that to change. I hope and pray the same for you, and for all survivors.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. It is good for us who can, to talk about this.
Yes, Colleen. Thanks for reminding me about Child Abuse Prevention Month. I will make a post about it soon. I just try to space my posts here a bit.