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Posted on 06/12/2002 6:20:56 AM PDT by ibme
Catholic bishops and sex abuse database
Catholic bishops and sex abuse
Roughly two-thirds of top U.S. Catholic leaders have protected priests accused of sexual abuse in a systematic practice that spans decades and continues today, a three-month Dallas Morning News review shows. The study - the first of its kind - looked at the records of the top leaders of the nation’s 178 mainstream Roman Catholic dioceses, including acting administrators in cases where the top job is vacant.
Excluded from the study were auxiliary bishops who, in larger dioceses, serve in subordinate roles but still can vote on many matters before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the 17 bishops who lead eparchies, which are diocese-like entities that worship according to the Eastern rite.
In checking whether a bishop had protected priests or other church representatives accused of sexual abuse, reporters Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin relied on published reports, court records, interviews and church records obtained in civil litigation. Most protected priests were accused of sexually abusing minors - primarily adolescent boys, but also younger ones, and a sizable number of girls of various ages. The newspaper’s study also covered behavior that indicated a sexual attraction to minors, such as viewing child pornography or, in one case, trading sexually charged e-mails with someone a priest believed was a minor.
Public prosecution of criminals clothed as priests and their enablers is critical to this process. Protecting communities from criminals is the primary function of government, and we have every right to demand it meet its' duty.
It is all too clear God has grown tired of waiting for the 'select' to do what needs to be done. Without doubt, The Dallas Morning News is doing His work, and for this I am grateful.
Key Findings Included In The Article:
111 of 178 leaders of dioceses kept accused priests working
Eight of the 111 are cardinals in U.S. archdioceses
The bishops come from at least 40 states
They ignored warnings of suspicious behavior
They kept priests on the job after admissions of wrongdoing, sexual disorder diagnoses, legal settlements and criminal convictions
The Dallas Morning News has compiled a database from which information is available related to some of the allegations, settlements, and criminal convictions, by dioceses. I intentionally use the word "....some....", as a recent public admission of guilt in a court of law in my own diocese is not included in the database. At least the database is a good reference point from which one might begin to do research of local county court civil and criminal records.
Siobhan's current state = exhausted beyond belief
Siobhan's mood about the bishops = BANSHEE
The bishops will be drafting a resolution on the sex abuse issue but, IMHO, unless it includes a plan to PREVENT future incidents, any proposal is worthless.
This happens with a funeral. May history_matters rest in peace.
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for you.
How did I miss that?
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem,
requiem sempiternam.
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine,
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.
Requiem aeternam, dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
For the Latin impaired:
Lamb of God,
who taketh away the sins of the world,
Grant them rest,
rest everlasting.
Let light eternal shine on them, O Lord,
with thy saints forever,
for thou are merciful.
Rest eternal grant them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.
Posted on 6/11/02 11:29 PM Eastern by Lady In Blue
She says he gave her counseling -- and that led to sex.
When she complained to his bishop, he told her she was to blame.
Now as plaintiff Jane Doe, she has a sexual misconduct civil lawsuit that last month the state Supreme Court said her denomination -- the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida -- must answer.
While headlines are breaking almost daily about Catholic priests, other religions are facing the same problem : What to do when their clergy are accused of sexual misconduct? From coast to coast, Protestant and Jewish leaders have been charged with sexual abuse -- some in high-profile cases.
In the last three months, local police have arrested two ministers -- both non-Catholic -- for sex crimes.
It's a false impression to think only Roman Catholic priests are involved with sexual abuse, says Dr. Gary Schoener, a Minnesota clinical psychologist and national expert on sex abuse by clergy members. In fact, he estimates two-thirds of the 2,000 cases he worked on during the past three decades involved Protestant ministers. Most involved religious leaders abusing women or teenage girls. The same is true for Catholics, except for the high-profile cases in the Boston Archdiocese and other dioceses where a few priests molested scores of boys.
''But Protestant cases are tougher to bring,'' says Schoener, who runs the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis. ``With the exception of the United Methodists, you can't charge a diocese, synod or bishop with failure to supervise or negligent retention of an offending minister because they don't employ the pastor -- the congregation does.''
Nonetheless, many religious organizations are requiring background checks and setting up procedures on how to handle abuse cases.
''This is something that all churches are having to deal with -- and we haven't in the past,'' says Mary Cox, communications director for Southeast Florida's Episcopal Diocese.
While she says she can't comment on the ongoing case -- church leaders haven't decided yet whether to appeal the state Supreme Court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court -- Cox notes the alleged incidents happened before the Episcopal church installed new policies.
''We were once very blind that this could all happen,'' she says.
That changed when a jury awarded a Colorado woman $1.2 million in a sexual misconduct judgment against the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado.
Now, Episcopal Life, the denomination's monthly newspaper, reports that background checks are encouraged for all clergy and church volunteers, and that dioceses adopt sexual misconduct policies and follow procedure manuals, which the Diocese of Southeast Florida now has in place.
All religious groups have certain responsibilities -- and can be held accountable in civil courts, says Yale law professor Peter Schuck. ''They do have an obligation to hire and supervise people with care,'' he says.
In the 1980s, the New Jersey Supreme Court found a house of worship could be held liable for negligent hiring or retention, noting the danger of ``exposing members of the public to a potentially dangerous individual.''
''I think the time has come when society needs to recognize that simply to be ordained is not a license to prey,'' says West Palm Beach attorney Gary Roberts, who represents Jane Doe in Lake Worth.
He added that he is handling another case involving an Episcopal priest in Central Florida accused of molesting a boy at a party.
Religious groups are beginning to conduct their own investigations when sexual allegations surface.
An internal investigation by the Orthodox Union of rabbis, for example, found ''profound errors of judgment'' in its handling of allegations against New Jersey Rabbi Baruch Lanner, who is scheduled to go on trial Monday on charges of criminal sexual contact with two teenage girls.
And many religious groups have installed safeguards -- even without allegations arising in their own congregations.
Since the mid-1990s, Kendall United Methodist Church has required two teachers to be in each Sunday school class for children, said Mary Susan Ward, the congregation's minister of Christian education.
Background screenings are conducted for all paid staff and many volunteers, she said.
Despite measures like this, clergy abuse cases continue to surface.
A Southern Baptist minister, Fernando Garcia, made 26 videotapes of himself abusing numerous children before an 8-year-old boy came forward in Greenwood, S.C., two years ago. He recently began a 60-year prison sentence for sexually abusing 23 children.
Closer to home, Boca Raton Rabbi Jerrold Levy was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison for having sex with a 14-year-old boy he met over the Internet.
The United Methodists have a case before the Florida Supreme Court to resolve whether the denomination can be held accountable for a volunteer at a Pensacola church who allegedly sexually harassed a female staffer.
And just recently, police in South Florida accused two non-Catholic Christian leaders of sexual misconduct.
Last month, Miami police arrested the Rev. Misael Castillo, 41, the pastor of Iglesia Bautista Jerusalen in Allapattah, after officers said they found him naked inside a parked van having sex with a 17-year-old boy. He was charged with having unlawful sexual acts with a minor and released on a $15,000 bond. Castillo will be arraigned May 6.
Castillo has resigned from the church, said the Rev. David Cleeland, executive director of the Miami Baptist Association, a 280-church organization to which Iglesia Bautista Jerusalen belongs.
In January, youth pastor Monte Vaughn Benjamin of the nondenominational A Place Called Hope was charged with molesting two boys, 17 and 14. He has pleaded not guilty and a trial date is set for May 13.
Benjamin has told church leaders he is innocent. He has been relieved of duties until court proceedings and the police investigation are final, according to a church statement.
For their own protection, religious leaders must institute rules -- for example, not meet alone with children or adults -- to avoid any appearance of wrongdoing, said Fort Lauderdale attorney J. David Bogenschultz, who has represented some pastors.
''It's a shame,'' he said. ``It's the cost of doing business. You are in harm's way -- you have to protect yourself.''
The Herald wire services also contributed to this report.
In other words: ACCOUNTABILITY
Siobhan
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