Posted on 12/16/2011 7:08:45 AM PST by Alex Murphy
Roman Catholic bishops in the Netherlands protected sexual abusers and covered up their crimes, according to a major new report released today. The church-installed Deetman Commission says there were up to 20,000 victims of abuse between the end of World War II and 1981.
Radio Netherlands Worldwide journalist Robert Chesal brought to light the abuse that led to a national scandal. He looks back at how the story unfolded.
You could say that 2010 was the year when the Roman Catholic sex abuse scandal went viral. Until February of that year, abuse of youngsters by Catholic clergy was primarily seen as a problem in Ireland and the United States.
German scandal
But that month, as northern Europe lay buried in snow, a simmering problem began to reach boiling point. Reports from a Catholic boarding school run by Jesuits in the German capital Berlin spoke first of a few, then of a dozen, and then of over a hundred victims of abuse by priests.
One of those reports reached me at the RNW newsroom in mid-February. That same day I read that Pope Benedict XVI had ordered the entire Irish bishops' conference to appear at the Vatican, where they would receive a dressing down for failing to tackle abuse in their dioceses. I decided to investigate what, if anything, had happened in the Netherlands.
Salesians
On the internet I quickly found a testimony by a man named Janne Geraets, now in his late 50s, who claimed to have been abused at a boarding school in the early 1960s. I arranged to meet him the following day and heard his story of the painful and deeply damaging abuse he suffered at the hands of a Salesian father.
As I walked to the bus stop after that interview, my head still filled with the disturbing images Geraets had described, I started thinking about where to look next.
Disturbing signs
I discovered that there were some worrying trends in the Netherlands which were as yet unreported in the mainstream media. For instance, a prominent Dutch jurist told me why he had stepped down as chairman of the assessment board of the Roman Catholic abuse hotline.
In fact, he said, the entire board had resigned because their recommendations on how to deal with known abusers in the church were repeatedly being ignored by the Dutch bishops.
I was confronted with another ominous sign when I rang up the Protestant counterpart to the Catholic hotline and was told that all cooperation between the Protestant and Catholic centres for abuse notification had ceased years earlier.
The representative I spoke to suspected the reason the partnership had broken down was that the Catholic side “had something to hide”. Another hotline employee lamented the fact that the Catholics showed no interest in a new protocol established by the Protestant abuse notification centre which the Protestants were more than willing to share.
Hotbed of abuse
Spurred on by Janne Geraets' insistence that he was just one of many children abused at his school, I enlisted the help of experienced investigative journalist Joep Dohmen at the NRC Handelsblad newspaper. Together, Dohmen and I pieced together a story that revealed the abuse of three minors by Salesians from the same boarding school.
We also brought to light the fact that one of the most respected bishops in the Netherlands, monsignor Ad van Luyn, had taught at that same school, in close proximity to what later appeared to be a hotbed of sexual abuse.
Our first publication on 26 February 2010, sparked an avalanche of abuse reports from former boarding school pupils throughout the Netherlands. The Catholic hotline was completely unable to handle the workload and within weeks the first steps were taken to create a commission of inquiry led by former government minister Wim Deetman.
Pope angers Europe
Meanwhile, it was rapidly becoming clear that the Catholic Church had a scandal of epidemic proportions on its hands in Europe. From Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, shocking testimonies of abuse and allegations of church cover-ups were making headlines.
There was an angry reaction when Pope Benedict apologised to churchgoers in Ireland for decades of abuse that went unpunished. Why, the Germans and Dutch asked, should we be treated any differently from Irish victims?
The Vatican never gave a satisfactory answer to that question. On the contrary. A cardinal close to the pope called the scandal “petty gossip” and even some bishops who acknowledged wide-scale abuse blamed it on the freemasons, on homosexuality and on the loosening of society's sexual morals following the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s (a particularly odd fallacy, since so many cases of abuse stem from the 1950s and earlier).
On Good Friday, Pope Benedict's own preacher compared the incrimination of priests in the sex abuse scandal to past examples of persecution of Europe's Jews. Public relations are not exactly a strong point in Rome.
Simonis gaffe
The church in the Netherlands hardly made a better impression. The top Catholic figure here, Cardinal Simonis, left mouths agape when he denied that Dutch church leaders were aware of the wide-scale abuse by priests in their midst.
He chose a historically loaded phrase the Dutch normally use to mock feigned German ignorance of the Nazi concentration camps, saying “Wir haben es nicht gewusst”.
But Simonis' words sounded decidedly hollow when we reported, months later, that he had helped move a pedophile priest from one parish to another, allowing abuse of minors to continue.
Long-term damage
Incidents like these are among the many disconcerting facts that the Deetman Commission had to grapple with in its inquiry. Of the estimated 10,000 to 20,000 victims in institutional care between 1945 and the early 1980s, approximately half were repeatedly subjected to sexual abuse for longer than a year, the commission says.
Personal accounts reveal that the physical and psychological damage caused by such extended periods of victimisation is immense and long-lasting.
The commission singled out Roman Catholic boarding schools, orphanages, seminaries and other institutions, reporting that children there ran a greater risk of being abused. The inquiry blasted the institutions' failure to monitor the well-being of minors in their care.
In a first reaction to the 1,200-page Deetman report, Bishop Gerard de Korte said the church leadership had made wrong choices by protecting abusive priests and putting the reputation of the church before the well-being of victims. It's unlikely to be the last word we hear from the bishops on that sensitive point.
Justice a step closer
Along with many other journalists, I crowded into a meeting room in the Dutch political capital The Hague this morning for the official presentation of the report. Afterwards, colleagues asked me if this was a crowning moment in my career. I had to think about that. And my answer was no. Because I did not become a journalist to hold the Roman Catholic Church accountable for sexual abuse.
I did, however, become a journalist out of some kind of desire for justice and truth. And in that sense, I would have to conclude that with the Deetman Commission report, we've gotten one step closer to that goal.
Maybe so, but I would like to think that the immediate response to discovering such grave transgressions against God would be to do everything to stop those sins and prevent them in the future while shepherding both the victim and the abuser. The victim to see they are given the remedy they deserve under the law (Canon, Civil and Criminal) and supporting them spiritually. The abuser by calling them to repentence and restitution and reconcilation. That such restitution rightly includes facing the penalaties under criminal law for their crimes should not go unmentioned. This is one reason why cooperation with law enforcement is so necessary. How can a Bishop ignore the very real risk to a soul caused by lack of true repentence for such a horrible sin? Paying the temporal costs for a crime is a matter of Godly justice as well as temporal justice.
And you still are not following the rules of the Religion Forum when it comes to making it personal...
Well, I’d say it’s a bit different. You’re not likely to find co-workers or cops covering for their buddy who they caught raping a kid.
Of course, I wouldn’t have expected university football coaches to cover for that either, so I could be wrong!
Re-read my comments. I addressed no one in particular. I did NOt say “YOU” need....
Sometimes shoes fit when they are tried on....
Grow up
The answer is simple: far too many Catholics now act like Protestants. Thus, what used to be viewed as evil - and had to be stamped out - is now far more likely to be “tolerated”. Eventually this will change, but it will take some time.
Well, the on and off efforts at reformation hasn’t changed the toleration of this evil over the last thousand years.
In fact with the percentage of homosexuals in the seminaries being anywhere from 20 to 50 per cent, depending on who is making the estimate, the problem is likely to remain entrenched far into the future.
Actually this problem is relatively recent. There is no “toleration of this evil over the last thousand years.” A few cases here and there over centuries - until a modern host of cases - in no signifies that there was a toleration of this evil over a 1000 years. I am sure a number pf Protestants here at FR are intellectually dishonest to claim otherwise, however.
Which gets stamped out - the Catholics who act like Protestants, or the Protestants?
Protestant sentiment among Catholics.
How did it start? What does it look like? How should it be stamped out? Who does the stamping?
Not so. Said Richard Sipe:
“The history of the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent (1545-1563) record the rampant corruption of bishops and priests. It is not hyperbole to speculate that sexually and financially the Church is equally corrupt today.”
Sipe was a Benedictine monk for 18 years and a priest. He made this statement in the book, “Sin Against the Innocents”, page 67.
Or you could go to Schaff’s History of The Christian Church.
Or Peter Damian's Book of Gomorrah from about 1049, (I have a copy).
Suffice it to say these are NOT intellectually dishonest people and I'm certain they don't post here on FR!
But if you're unaware of these sources it would behoove you to learn and if you are aware why would they be ignored?
So ignorance and inexperience is to blame? Even if the problem were recent, the Bible isn't. You'd think, if they had any trust in it, the bishops would have gone to God's Word for help and advice. Rather, the bishops were ignorant and inexperienced with the Bible.
And I think it quite proper that those who claim a higher calling and status be held to a higher standard as in ‘to those given much, much will be demanded’.
Some people are ignorant of history. Or so I’ve seen posted on this forum, a time or two...
You wrote:
“Not so. Said Richard Sipe:”
Where EXACTLY does Sipe offer any evidence of a 1000 year problem of “tolerance” as you claimed. Please don’t pull the usual FR Protestant bait and switch. Either post evidence for what you claimed or don’t post false claims.
“Sipe was a Benedictine monk for 18 years and a priest. He made this statement in the book, “Sin Against the Innocents”, page 67.”
And his claim has NOTHING to do with what you claimed. Here is your claim again since you seem to be getting forgetful: “Well, the on and off efforts at reformation hasn’t changed the toleration of this evil [homosexual sexual abuse of boys] over the last thousand years.” If you actually even read his article in the book - and it isn’t a very good article to begin with because you get the impression that Sipe is just phoning it in - it is clear on page 66 that there was no 1000 years of toleration of sexual abuse but in fact punishments were harsh. So, your own source contradicts your claim!
Now, are you actually going to post conclusive evidence for your claim or will we get more of the usual Protestant lying?
“Or you could go to Schaff’s History of The Christian Church.”
Again, does Schaff back this up: “Well, the on and off efforts at reformation hasn’t changed the toleration of this evil [homosexual sexual abuse of boys] over the last thousand years.” If Schaff doesn’t have any evidence to back your bizarre claim up, then why even mention him?
“Or Peter Damian’s Book of Gomorrah from about 1049, (I have a copy).”
I have no idea if you have a copy of the book or not, but considering that it is mentioned at the bottom of page 66 in the article you just cited from Sipe I think it just as likely that you just decided to mention it whether you have it or not. And even his book makes it that your statement was false: “Well, the on and off efforts at reformation hasn’t changed the toleration of this evil [homosexual sexual abuse of boys] over the last thousand years.” After all, if you were right, then Peter’s book would never have been written. Logic, ever learn it? Apparently not. Again, your own source contradicts you.
“Suffice it to say these are NOT intellectually dishonest people and I’m certain they don’t post here on FR!”
No, they don’t post here, but if they did, they would all tell you you were wrong.
“But if you’re unaware of these sources it would behoove you to learn and if you are aware why would they be ignored?”
They should all be ignored because not a single one of them actually backs up your baseless assertion. Quite frankly, like other Protestant anti-Catholics at FR, you say something and then completely fail - and I mean utterly fail - to back it up with even one reputable source. Two of the sources you cite actually show you are wrong!!! At this point I can’t even take seriously the idea that you read the sources you cited since they actually contradict you. The complete failure of Protestants to back up what they claim, however, never seems to make any of you actually think, “Gee, I wonder if I am wrong since I can’t find a single reputable source that actually backs up what I posted?” Why is that? Is it that easy for Protestant to lie to themselves?
I recommend this short article by Thomas Doyle, Catholic priest and canon lawyer.
“A VERY SHORT HISTORY OF CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Rev. Thomas Doyle, J.C.D., C.A.D.C.”
Simply google the title and his name, it should take you right to the site.
You wrote:
“So ignorance and inexperience is to blame? Even if the problem were recent, the Bible isn’t. You’d think, if they had any trust in it, the bishops would have gone to God’s Word for help and advice. Rather, the bishops were ignorant and inexperienced with the Bible.”
No, I think the Bishops often narrowly focused on the Bible’s call for forgiveness rather than focusing on their needs to protect their flock. When Protestants abuse children does it mean that they are sinners or ignorant of scripture? Basically that is the false dichotomy you are pushing. It’s stupid. It’s illogical. But you’ll push it anyway, right? Again, when a Protestant beats his wife, rapes someone, abuses a child, steals someone - whatever the violation of God’s law - it is your understanding that he must be ignorant of scripture rather than a fallen, sinful human being, right? That’s what you’re claiming?
Yes, indeed. Odd is it not, that such crimes occur in the most “liberal”Catholic precincts. And the liberalism did not start with Vatican II.
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