All I know is if someone sodomized me when I was 14 I wouldn’t have forgotten about it. How can you repress that? I might of repressed the moment I grabbed daddy’s rifle and went priest hunting…
Its because people like you that instead of seeing him as the victim you make fun of whatever happened to him.If this was your son and that had happened to him you would you still be saying the same?.I’m just glad that finaly he came open and find the courage to tell.
I was raped by 2 men at the age of 12. My memory is though I am looking down watching what they are doing but I don’t feel anything. My mother took me to the doctor to have my hymen re-attached surgically so I could feel like a virgin. There was no police involvement but my mother told the 2 older teenagers that if they ever saw me they better leave the building immediately. They are now both deceased, not by any action or involvement of myself but by accidents. I’m now 50. I didn’t tell anyone about the rapes (other than my mother and doctor) until I was 40 years old. It wasn’t repressed…it wasn’t that I didn’t know it happened…it was simply that it happened and there was nothing I could do about it. As best it could be fixed (to satisfy me), it was. I have trouble believing someone could go through that experience and not remember it. I could relive each and every moment of fear that I felt if I chose to do so. I don’t…even for this commentary. Nothing will change when it’s over so it’s best to leave it in that past and move forward.
Did any of you actually read the article?? He was awarded a “default judgment” by the court after Smith failed to respond to the lawsuit. He got a judgment against a former priest with no assets!!
The victim asked a federal appeals court to overturn a judge’s earlier ruling dismissing Archmere, the diocese and Saltarelli as defendants. That means his judgment had not validity against anyone with any assets.
The victim has only spent his own money and received nothing in return.
The suit against the diocese in state court will be his only opportunity to obtain any money damage.
The perception of many people does not track with reality. Forget about the money and lawsuits. The reality is that some children were victimized. That the abusers were in a position of trust and authority. That those in authority over them often did not handle it correctly when they found out about it. That is a terrible sin and scandal.
The reality also is that the vast majority of priests are good men who have given their lives to the service of God and others. That statistically the number of sexual predators is no higher in the Catholic clergy than it is among protestant clergy, youth sports coaches, schoolteachers, or other groups. It is terrible whenever and wherever it happens. It must be prevented. But forget about any links to priestly celibacy or other “Catholic” variables. It has been researched and disproven.
The Catholic Church has instituted, among other things, a program to train everybody, lay or ordained, who have any contact with youth to know, recognize and report suspicious activity that is consistent with predatory behavior. Other groups such as the Boy Scouts of America have programs in place to protect youth as well. The problem is pervasive in every corner of our society and education of volunteers, parents and children is vital.
One last thing, the Catholic Church gets more press because of another reality. The press loves to attack Catholics. Catholic bashing is accepted and/or encouraged by the media elite. If a schoolteacher commits the same crime he will get a fraction of the coverage. Yet he is also in a position of trust and authority over children. I don’t think there should be less coverage of the Catholic scandal. I think there should be more coverage of this scandal wherever it becomes clear that a child was victimized. Maybe then, we will start to look at real causes of the problem and make progress towards real solutions.
repressed memories is whack and has no valid or scientific use. It’s all junk science and laughed upon in the psych community. This guy seems to be a bit of money grubbing, gold digger. Dude, you were molested as a kid 30 some years ago, GET OVER IT, especially since you have $41M to get over it. You look and sound greedy.
And Lorena it is people like you that contribute to the enabling, me first, entitlement, jackpot justice mentality that people have in america. You are as pathetic as the molesting priest. BTW – I consider this guy a survivor and not a victim, it makes a big difference but it appears that you love and wallow in the victimhood mentality as well. Sad for you.
Steve…you need to get at least a 2nd grade education and buy some class from someone because you don’t seem to have any hope of getting any on your own.
Actually Creed, protestant denominations have this problem also, as reported recently on (I believe) http://www.christianpost.com. Insurers have responded with draconian requirements that in some cases are obvious attempts to write-in claim deniability.
For instance, we dropped our carrier because of requirements like forbidding an adult and a child to be in the same room together ever. We needed to have all kinds of training for all staff from Sunday school to the pastor about how to prevent child molestation. It might sound like I am complaining about having to do anything to mitigate risk, but the more we poured over these requirements the more we felt like the door was being opened for the carrier to say, “A ha! You didn’t have a report from the abuse prevention committee in your vestry records last month, so we are denying this claim.”
As for the RCC, dioceses are being bakrupted, or at least threatened with insolvency, because they are in some instance not fully covered by their insurers, so they are selling buildings etc to pay claims.
Back in the 1980’s Fr. Enrique Rueda wrote a book called The Homosexual Network that exposed the conspiracy to promote sodomists into the ranks of the RC priesthood. He was either ignored or derided. Had the bishops paid as much attention to his book as they did to covering up the problem and shifting offenders from parish to parish, all of this unpleasantness might have been avoided.
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All I know is if someone sodomized me when I was 14 I wouldn’t have forgotten about it. How can you repress that? I might of repressed the moment I grabbed daddy’s rifle and went priest hunting…
Its because people like you that instead of seeing him as the victim you make fun of whatever happened to him.If this was your son and that had happened to him you would you still be saying the same?.I’m just glad that finaly he came open and find the courage to tell.
I was raped by 2 men at the age of 12. My memory is though I am looking down watching what they are doing but I don’t feel anything. My mother took me to the doctor to have my hymen re-attached surgically so I could feel like a virgin. There was no police involvement but my mother told the 2 older teenagers that if they ever saw me they better leave the building immediately. They are now both deceased, not by any action or involvement of myself but by accidents. I’m now 50. I didn’t tell anyone about the rapes (other than my mother and doctor) until I was 40 years old. It wasn’t repressed…it wasn’t that I didn’t know it happened…it was simply that it happened and there was nothing I could do about it. As best it could be fixed (to satisfy me), it was. I have trouble believing someone could go through that experience and not remember it. I could relive each and every moment of fear that I felt if I chose to do so. I don’t…even for this commentary. Nothing will change when it’s over so it’s best to leave it in that past and move forward.
Did any of you actually read the article?? He was awarded a “default judgment” by the court after Smith failed to respond to the lawsuit. He got a judgment against a former priest with no assets!!
The victim asked a federal appeals court to overturn a judge’s earlier ruling dismissing Archmere, the diocese and Saltarelli as defendants. That means his judgment had not validity against anyone with any assets.
The victim has only spent his own money and received nothing in return.
The suit against the diocese in state court will be his only opportunity to obtain any money damage.
The perception of many people does not track with reality. Forget about the money and lawsuits. The reality is that some children were victimized. That the abusers were in a position of trust and authority. That those in authority over them often did not handle it correctly when they found out about it. That is a terrible sin and scandal.
The reality also is that the vast majority of priests are good men who have given their lives to the service of God and others. That statistically the number of sexual predators is no higher in the Catholic clergy than it is among protestant clergy, youth sports coaches, schoolteachers, or other groups. It is terrible whenever and wherever it happens. It must be prevented. But forget about any links to priestly celibacy or other “Catholic” variables. It has been researched and disproven.
The Catholic Church has instituted, among other things, a program to train everybody, lay or ordained, who have any contact with youth to know, recognize and report suspicious activity that is consistent with predatory behavior. Other groups such as the Boy Scouts of America have programs in place to protect youth as well. The problem is pervasive in every corner of our society and education of volunteers, parents and children is vital.
One last thing, the Catholic Church gets more press because of another reality. The press loves to attack Catholics. Catholic bashing is accepted and/or encouraged by the media elite. If a schoolteacher commits the same crime he will get a fraction of the coverage. Yet he is also in a position of trust and authority over children. I don’t think there should be less coverage of the Catholic scandal. I think there should be more coverage of this scandal wherever it becomes clear that a child was victimized. Maybe then, we will start to look at real causes of the problem and make progress towards real solutions.
Just curious, Matt…what religion are you?
repressed memories is whack and has no valid or scientific use. It’s all junk science and laughed upon in the psych community. This guy seems to be a bit of money grubbing, gold digger. Dude, you were molested as a kid 30 some years ago, GET OVER IT, especially since you have $41M to get over it. You look and sound greedy.
And Lorena it is people like you that contribute to the enabling, me first, entitlement, jackpot justice mentality that people have in america. You are as pathetic as the molesting priest. BTW – I consider this guy a survivor and not a victim, it makes a big difference but it appears that you love and wallow in the victimhood mentality as well. Sad for you.
Steve…you need to get at least a 2nd grade education and buy some class from someone because you don’t seem to have any hope of getting any on your own.
Actually Creed, protestant denominations have this problem also, as reported recently on (I believe) http://www.christianpost.com. Insurers have responded with draconian requirements that in some cases are obvious attempts to write-in claim deniability.
For instance, we dropped our carrier because of requirements like forbidding an adult and a child to be in the same room together ever. We needed to have all kinds of training for all staff from Sunday school to the pastor about how to prevent child molestation. It might sound like I am complaining about having to do anything to mitigate risk, but the more we poured over these requirements the more we felt like the door was being opened for the carrier to say, “A ha! You didn’t have a report from the abuse prevention committee in your vestry records last month, so we are denying this claim.”
As for the RCC, dioceses are being bakrupted, or at least threatened with insolvency, because they are in some instance not fully covered by their insurers, so they are selling buildings etc to pay claims.
Back in the 1980’s Fr. Enrique Rueda wrote a book called The Homosexual Network that exposed the conspiracy to promote sodomists into the ranks of the RC priesthood. He was either ignored or derided. Had the bishops paid as much attention to his book as they did to covering up the problem and shifting offenders from parish to parish, all of this unpleasantness might have been avoided.