An excerpt from an Associated Press report released this morning (5/20/09):
“High Court Justice Sean Ryan on Wednesday unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland’s Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse, which is based on testimony from thousands of former students and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions.
More than 30,000 children deemed to be petty thieves, truants or from dysfunctional families — a category that often included unmarried mothers — were sent to Ireland’s austere network of industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages and hostels from the 1930s until the last church-run facilities shut in the 1990s.
The report found that molestation and rape were “endemic” in boys’ facilities, chiefly run by the Christian Brothers order, and supervisors pursued policies that increased the danger. Girls supervised by orders of nuns, chiefly the Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse but frequent assaults and humiliation designed to make them feel worthless.”
It sickens me and has for many years!
I’ve been hearing about abusive “brothers”, “sisters”, priests and nuns from friends who attended Catholic schools since I was a very young boy (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth — LOL!). I’m sure we all have and I’m sure many of you suffered under the belt, hand or stick of some overzealous (My word for them is ‘sadistic’) priest or nun.
“Why are they like that?” I asked my young friends occasionally. Either “I don’t know!” or “They’re just mean!” was the usual reply.
As we got older, however, it became more clear. These people (Catholic clergy) who are supposed to be representatives of God, who are supposed to symbolize God’s teaching have been placed in a position (by men, not by God) that God’s creations were never meant to be in — they have chosen a chaste existence, denied any normal physical contact with the opposite sex and, in fact, convinced that they would be turning their backs on God for even considering it.
Many (if not most) can’t handle this lifestyle and the result of that is all too clear in reports of their physical and sexual abuse of the innocent. The innocent who they know will grow up and be able to enjoy the ‘pleasures of the flesh’ that they have chosen to deny — and the innocent are punished for this.
Notes to readers:
- The above is theory, based on a logical evaluation of fact, but theory nonetheless.
- I am not a religious person now but was brought up in a religious but other than Catholic environment.
- I have no intention of insulting Catholics, the Catholic laity or the clergy — but realize I probably have insulted quite a few. Sorry!
- My theory is NOT, however, based on religion — it is based on human nature.)
News Links:
Associated Press (at Yahoo): Thousands beaten, raped in Irish reform schools
UK Guardian: Irish Catholic church child abuse: ‘A cruel and wicked system’
Blog Links:
Honest Reporting: Ex-nun’s confessions set to rock Kerala Church
Business News Blog: Scarred for life
My other homes for my posts are: My View From the Center and Opinion Forum A Forum for Opinions on News, Politics, and Life.
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Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackFor immediate release: Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis Missouri (USA), director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home)
Harsh consequences, not mere publicity, deter crimes against children. Greater public awareness and carefully-crafted church apologies aren’t enough. Regardless of what does or doesn’t happen in the legal arena, no one should donate a nickel to the Christian Brothers, who used their legal clout to keep the names of serial criminals hidden from the public even now.
It’s important to remember that many of these crimes continued into the 1990s. While many perpetrators are deceased, there must be dozens, if not hundreds, who are not.
We are deeply grateful for the courage of the hundreds of deeply wounded victims who found the strength to report their suffering to this inquiry. They should be applauded by every Irish citizen and every Catholic worldwide for helping to shed light on such a horrific scandal. We desperately hope that this report will give them some comfort and solace and ease their devastating pain.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 20 years and have more than 9,000 members across the US & the globe. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Peter Isely (414-429-7259) Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747)
This is an interesting theory, though I think it’s a bit too simplistic to blame abusive behavior on celibacy. In many agrarian cultures, beating wives and children is common behavior even among those who are not celibate. It may be that many of these clergy and religious were remnants of that culture.
While I find it highly doubtful that the priests and nuns were consciously, or even subconsciously, “punishing” people for not being celibate, it is possible that celibacy leads to certain frustrations that can manifest themselves in violent or antisocial behavior. This is not an argument against celibacy as such, but means that only those who are capable of redirecting their sexual energies more positively should pursue that vocation.
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