Victims' group hits church audit

Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, January 6, 2004 | By Julia Duin

[JohnHuang2]

Clergy sex-abuse victims were not properly interviewed nor were Catholic dioceses forthcoming in an audit to be released today, a survivors group said yesterday.

"These so-called audits are fundamentally flawed," said Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). "Essentially, bishops have defined the rules of the game, decided who plays, paid the umpires and are now declaring themselves the winners."

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, January 6, 2004

Quote of the Day by John Jorsett

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[freebilly]

only three members of her 4,600-member group, the nation's largest organization of abuse victims, were interviewed.

Heck, we only heard of about three of the approximately 4,600 women that Bill Clinton abused....

[NYer]

Twenty-nine dioceses have released the number of perpetrators, she added and two (Tucson, Ariz., and Baltimore) have named the offending priests.     That is not satisfactory, SNAP representatives said.

And so the lamentations continue. Archbishop Dolan warned that there are some individuals whose agenda is to keep this topic front and center, with the expectation of tearing the church down.

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[Desdemona]

Moreover, she said, only three members of her 4,600-member group, the nation's largest organization of abuse victims, were interviewed. As far as SNAP can discern, auditors only talked to victims who reported their abuse after June 2002 and are not currently suing the church.

Only people with no ax to grind.

This woman needs to get a grip. The bishops themselves are split on this. Some dioceses are forthcoming, depending on who's in charge, and some aren't. The truth is either never going to come out or it will when the protoges of Bernardin, Mahoney, Maida, etc., have left the system. That's probably going to be about 20 years.

The big thing they are trying to do is protect those who are falsely accused. Once that stain is on a reputation, whether or not it really happened, it never goes away.

[sinkspur]

Archbishop Dolan warned that there are some individuals whose agenda is to keep this topic front and center, with the expectation of tearing the church down.

If the bishops are not going to come clean, then the sexual abuse issue will remain front and center.

Secrecy and cover-up were the cause of the problem, and some bishops seem not to have learned their lessson.

[rogator]

"Secrecy and cover-up were the cause of the problem, and some bishops seem not to have learned their lessson."

I agree but the plan does not appear to address the problem of pervert bishops. They apparently get a free pass. Bishops who protect perverts have apparently gotten a free pass also, even to some extent from outfits like the VOTF.

[AlguyA]

"If the bishops are not going to come clean, then the sexual abuse issue will remain front and center."

Seems to me 'coming clean' is precisely what the bishops are trying to do. Further, given Ms. Blaine's overwrought reaction to the release of these audits, its clear she has a particular ax to grind -an ax she appears to want to weild against the Church. The issue of these audits concerns the actions the bishops are currently taking with respect to child abuse. Given this, the audits found the bishops are making substantial progress. This seems to actually distress Ms. Blaine. Such distress calls into question just what her motivation might be.