Priests, Child Abuse and Worker's Compensation

[Boyo_Jim]

As I learn about how the catholic church has dealt with pedophile priests (some articles are cited in this thread, I’ve formed an opinion of how it all got to this point.

The Church views child abuse as a common occupational hazard for priests. Something like carpal tunnel syndrome, or alcoholism, or even combat fatigue. The solution: remove the priest from the stimulous, let his nerves settle, and reassign him after a cool down period. The Church’s “HR” department (remember, recruiting is tough) has institutionalized the process.

Somewhere along the line, it became more or less part of the benefits package offered to retain priests.

Am I overstating this?

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Um, yes, I think so. It presupposes a callousness on the part of the Catholic Church hierarchy that even I, as a Fightin’ Fundie, have difficulty accepting.

I think rather than considering it an occupational hazard, the Church prefers to consider it a “besetting temptation”, the same way a priest can be tempted to use his access to, say, seduce another man’s wife, or pilfer money from the Poor Box, or tipple the Communion wine. And I think they cover it up not out of a sort of self-imposed worker’s comp regulation, but out of simple loyalty to their flock, out of a long-standing tradition of closing ranks, and a reluctance to wash their dirty linen in public.

Your link only goes to another SDMB thread with links to a few articles, and I don’t feel like reading all the links. Is there a specific article that you want us to read that refers to the church’s HR department “institutionalizing the process” of dealing with pedophile priests?

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

In other words, “Cite?”

[Boyo_Jim]

*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose *
**…Is there a specific article that you want us to read that refers to the church’s HR department “institutionalizing the process” of dealing with pedophile priests? **

This is a Washington Post opinion piece that I find persuasive.

[Violet]

Interesting theory, yojimboguy. I’m just starting to read/hear the news.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Well, I read the piece, and I don’t see where it says that the RCC’s HR department is “institutionalizing the process” of dealing with pedophile priests with an eye to easier handling of the problem. I see an opinion piece by a columnist saying “Bad RCC, no biscuit” for keeping quiet about the existence of known pedophile priests. That’s not quite the same thing as “institutionalizing the process”.

In order for the process of handling pedophile priests to be “institutionalized” by the HR department, there would have to be proof of a paper trail, of what kind of paperwork would be involved in something like that, like a binder full of procedures all laid out, “what we do in case of pedophile priest exposure”, the way Wal-Mart has those flip charts detailing what to do in case of armed robbery, tornado, fire, etc. That would be what I would call “institutionalizing the process”. But merely doing the same thing over and over again in response to the news of another pedophile priest–hushing it up, paying off families if necessary–isn’t quite the same thing as writing up a flow chart to outline procedures for “next time”.

[Boyo_Jim]

*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose *
**Well, I read the piece, and I don’t see where it says that the RCC’s HR department is “institutionalizing the process” of dealing with pedophile priests with an eye to easier handling of the problem. I see an opinion piece by a columnist saying “Bad RCC, no biscuit” for keeping quiet about the existence of known pedophile priests. That’s not quite the same thing as “institutionalizing the process”.

In order for the process of handling pedophile priests to be “institutionalized” by the HR department, there would have to be proof of a paper trail, of what kind of paperwork would be involved in something like that, like a binder full of procedures all laid out, “what we do in case of pedophile priest exposure”, the way Wal-Mart has those flip charts detailing what to do in case of armed robbery, tornado, fire, etc. That would be what I would call “institutionalizing the process”. But merely doing the same thing over and over again in response to the news of another pedophile priest–hushing it up, paying off families if necessary–isn’t quite the same thing as writing up a flow chart to outline procedures for “next time”. **

My original post should have said that this pattern of abuse, coverup and reassignment is akin to an HR policy in a normal organization. The article lends credence to the theory that it was widespread “policy” – written or not. Of course no one in the church added a bulleted line to a benefits list about assistance on covering up sex crimes. Policies don’t need to be written down to be real, or to be enforced. Ask any Mafia don. And the link I posted originally notes application of civil provisions of the RICO (anti-racketeering) laws by lawyers of some of the victims.

My opinion is about the thinking that leads to a policy like this. I should have put it in more metaphorical terms.

[LH75]

good morning friends
[rant]
although not on the scale of the scandals on the east coast, we have had our share here in omaha. a few years ago a housekeeper turned a video tape she found in to the archbishop’s office. on this tape was a voiceover of the parish priest directing homosexual acts by nude altarboys on the altar of the church.

after a two week period without hearing anything more, the housekeeper called the authorities wondering why nothing was being done. as it turns out, the offending prelate had been sent out of town to a treatment center, and nothing had been said to the authorities at all!

the lead conspirator in this case was the chancellor of the archdiocese, who happened to be the priest at my church. it was his duty to sweep the crime under the carpet and keep the authorities from finding out the truth in the matter.

at a meeting covered by the local television stations, this man denied that there had ever been complaints about this pedophile before, in the face of at least one woman with copies of the letters she had sent. it took almost a year to force the return of the priest to stand trial, and then he was handed a very light sentence.

during this time, i made an appointment to talk to my priest about this matter. the discussion ended in an argument. IMHO, his actions were obstruction of justice, and aiding a felon, making him an accessory to the crime. he suggested i worship elsewhere, which i took as an informal excommunication.

skip ahead a few years: our current scandal is a priest who taught at a catholic high school, found with a habit of downloading child pornography from the web. this was discovered about 10 months ago. the archbishop decided that he was no danger to children, so he re-asigned him to another parish as a religion teacher for an elementary school.

again, the details came out. again, the guy was smuggled out of town by the chancellor. same song, same tune.

a fun new twist to the story: two people wrote letters to the editor of the news paper criticsizing the archbishop’s handling of these matters. the archbishop responded to them an letters. one was a woman, mother of 11 and an 80 year old retired catholic school teacher. the archbishop told her she should be ashamed of herself and assigned her penance, apparantly for the sin of disagreeing with him.

and the church wonders why there is so much negative publicity…
[/rant]

thanks for listening,
longhair, the non-catholic

[Guinastasia]

longhair, you’d better have a site for that.

[LH75]

dfriend guinistasia,

as outrageous as it may seem, here you go:
omaha world herald

this link is to an article in the omaha world herald, tuesday, march 19th. if the link doesn’t work properly, the title of the article is “Archbishop Rebukes Two Who Questioned His Conduct”

Archbishop’s letter to Jeanne Bast
Dear Ms. Bast,

I am surprised that a woman your age and with your background would write such a negative letter in the secular press against me without any previous dialogue. You should be ashamed of yourself! At least you should have reviewed my statement regarding Father Allgaier and checked the facts before making such a statement.

The Church has enough trouble defending herself against non-Catholic attacks without having to contend with disloyal Catholics.

For your penance you say one Hail Mary for me.

I am sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Elden Francis Curtiss
Archbishop of Omaha

[Boyo_Jim]

Wow, longhair75, the link works!

I hope this story is widely told outside of Omaha.

I think the Archbishop has a God Complex!

[Guinastasia]

Thanks.

For the record, it’s not that I didn’t believe you, only that around here, when one states something like that, they’d better be prepared to back it up.
My god, this whole mess is just sickening.

We need more priests like Fr. Greeley and less like Cardinal Law.

[Guinastasia]

Holy shit!

That Curtiss is a piece of work!

The letter to Bast read, in part, “I am surprised that a woman your age and with your background would write such a negative letter in the secular press against me without any previous dialogue. You should be ashamed of yourself!”

Curtiss went on to say, “The Church has enough trouble defending herself against non-Catholic attacks without having to contend with disloyal Catholics.”

Disloyal? Should I be loyal to bishops? Or loyal to God? :rolleyes:

BTW, if anyone is wondering why so many are still Catholic, here is a good essay by Father Andrew Greeley. (I’ve been reading his essays a lot lately-we need more priests like him!)

(One good thing about the Diocese of Pittsburgh is that while Wuerl is a conservative, and I’d prefer someone much more liberal, he’s always taken a ZERO TOLERANCE policy towards pedophilia among priests-even going so far, that I heard, to argue against an ordered reassignment at the Vatican. -I’ll try and look this up!)
Ah, here we go:
http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/comm/20020324edbish0324p2.asp

Nonetheless we know today that the risk is too great. We cannot reassign to parish ministry a priest against whom there is a credible accusation of abuse of a minor. We cannot risk harm to even one child.

While he seems to spend too much time using the phrase “homosexual activity with a teenager”, (does it really matter what sex the teen was when abused by a priest?), at least he doesn’t just quietly reassign priests who molest anyone.

That’s probably why I’ve never heard of any problems with this in Pittsburgh-although, to be fair, he’s only been here since, oh, the early-mid 80s.

[Boyo_Jim]

Here’s a post concerning whether the scandal is really about pedophilia and homosexuality.

Beware, this cite seems fishy to me. I don’t trust the “facts” in it, but I’m sure the debate is real enough.

[Guinastasia]

Well, it’s World Net Daily, so I wouldn’t really trust it.

[LH75]

friend guinastasia,

*Originally posted by Guinastasia *
**Thanks.

For the record, it’s not that I didn’t believe you, only that around here, when one states something like that, they’d better be prepared to back it up.
My god, this whole mess is just sickening.

We need more priests like Fr. Greeley and less like Cardinal Law. **

i did not think you were calling me a liar. the whole curtiss thing is very hard to believe. omaha is reportedly 62% catholic. i wonder how this will affect the statistics.

[Boyo_Jim]

*Originally posted by Guinastasia *
**Well, it’s World Net Daily, so I wouldn’t really trust it. **

I haven’t run across these people before. But the writing style, particularly the deference displayed for the interview subject, made me leery. Rather slick appearance, though.