The other day On the Media had a segment talking to a Catholic nun, Sally Butler, who is part of a group who founded Whistleblowers. Guess what that’s about.
It was interesting, what she said. The three priests she and the other nuns worked with, in housing projects in Brooklyn, all molested the children. She thought Bishop Daly would take care of it, but no; to this day she has never met him. They got to see an underling of the bishop’s, Otto Garcia.
Butler: And we discovered that he and his lawyers were not at all alarmed, or surprised.
Brooke Gladstone: They asked about the statute of limitations.
Butler: [with emphasis] All they cared about: the dates. And that was a shock to us; we couldn’t believe it.
They went back, with the mother of two boys who were molested. One of them, in an attempt to stop the abuse, set a fire – and the priest sent them both to reform school and she never got her kids back. You can hear Gladstone gasp at that point.
The bishops would like to dismiss the whole thing because they provided therapy.
The new policy on child welfare – they pay attention to it according to their own whim. They don’t answer to anyone but the pope.
Addendum: I left a comment on the onthemedia.com site. The NY Times article, which was published May 20, apparently closed comments on May 22, with only 79 published comments. Liberal media my ass.
Not sure if my previous comment is in moderation, but I’ll try again since I left an addendum:
It’s very nice to see people finally policing their own! I must say I was struck by this paragraph (emphases mine):
One person in three, just on this committee, were sexually abused as children. Now, they’re taking a stand against their own religious organization — one not known for tolerance in the face of such challenge. These are priests and nuns whose livelihoods and belief systems are inextricably tied with the Church that has enabled abuse. As an atheist, I don’t agree with their belief in god; but, as an atheist, I find their courage inspiring.
These are brave people. I salute them.
When I read things like this, I try to think myself back to when I was inside the RCC. I put it like this because don’t think I ever actually believed all the rubbish. From the inside it seems that the RCC has much more power than it actually has. It’s true that it does have some political power – quite a lot in some parts of the world. But most of the “felt power” is to do with the psychological manipulation the church subjects children to. I have never knowingly met any priest or nun who sexually abused children, but I can’t help feeling that the religious indoctrination they employed did amount to child abuse. It must be quite difficult to be a whistleblower and at the same time hold on to the magical thinking.
Any brotherhood: Catholic Church, Mafia, you name it, sets upits own code of silence pretty quickly.
That is what those outside ae up against.