By Bill Donohue
www.catholicleague.org
On May 3-4, activists will descend on Albany pressing to lift the statute of limitations on the sexual abuse of minors. Their motives are not pure: their real goal is to stick it to Catholics.
If the lawmakers and activists behind this effort were sincere, they wouldn’t devote an entire day, May 4, to the Catholic Church. Had they chosen to address sexual abuse among Orthodox Jews—and no one else— it would properly be labeled anti-Semitic. That is why this stunt smacks of anti-Catholicism.
Because of sovereign immunity, the public schools are exempt from proposed revisions in the law. To wit: Unless a proposed law explicitly states that the revisions apply equally to the public and private sectors, it means public school victims have only 90 days to bring suit. For private school victims [read: Catholic], they could sue for offenses that occurred decades ago. Get the point?
Even if the playing field were equal in law, there is no organized effort to target the public schools the way Catholic schools are. Consider, for example, the groups invited to speak on May 4. Here are some fast facts:
• One of them is known for advising its supporters how to manipulate the media with “holy childhood photos,” using “feeling” words. It is also known for lying to the media (its leader admitted this under oath). Another official even said that accused priests should not have equal rights.
• An official from a second group has made unsubstantiated charges against the leaders of the Church. How do I know? Because I have repeatedly asked for proof, yet none has ever been provided. This same outfit goes public with the names of accused priests, yet it makes no attempt to confirm the veracity of allegations. Innocent priests are therefore smeared.
• Another group is so extremist that one bishop excommunicated its members. After they appealed to Rome, the Vatican confirmed their excommunication. This is not exactly an everyday occurrence.
These persons are not reasoned critics: they are professional victims’ activists who trot around the nation to promote their hate-filled agenda. That some are funded by Church-suing lawyers is incontestable. Even worse is the invidious stereotype inviting the public to think that the Church owns this problem, and that no reforms have been made.
On May 4, there will be a showing of the movie “Spotlight”; it accurately portrays the misdeeds of the Boston Archdiocese. But it is being used for propaganda purposes to convince the public that nothing has changed, when, in fact, much has: dramatic, and successful, reforms have been implemented in all Catholic institutions. In fact, almost all the abuse took place between 1965 and 1985.
When this story broke in 2002, I was quoted in the New York Times saying, “I will not defend the indefensible.” But I hasten to add that I will also not defend those who seek to exploit this issue to serve their agenda.
According to Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, “Nobody is doing more to address the tragedy of sexual abuse of minors than the Catholic Church.”
In the past ten years, the average number of credible accusations made against 40,000 priests is 8.4. Which means that in any given year, less than 1 percent of priests nationwide have had a credible accusation made against him. Who can beat that record?
It is in the public schools where this problem is most acute today.
• “NYC Public Schools See Record Number of Complaints Against Staffers.” That was the headline in a
Daily News story on January 6, 2016.
• In 2013, it was reported that school officials in New York City tried to fire 128 employees for
molestation, yet only 33 were terminated.
• In 2012, a report covering the previous five years found that 97 tenured teachers or school employees were charged with sexual abuse of students.
What accounts for this condition? Here is a Daily News headline from 2015: “UFT to Blame for Keeping Perverts in City Schools: Chancellor Walcott.” They may not call them “rubber rooms” any more, but nothing has fundamentally changed.
The Catholic Church is not opposed to legal revisions that would allow more time for victims to come forward in the future, but it is opposed to changes allowing for an expanded “look-back” period. We know what this is all about, and it has nothing to do with justice for all.
If lawmakers want to make real changes, let them demand that the clergy and all counselors be added to the list of mandatory reporters. The Church supports such a change. Working against this is the New York Civil Liberties Union and Family Planning Advocates, the lobbying arm of Planned Parenthood. Why? Because that would require Planned Parenthood counselors to report cases of statutory rape that come to their attention, and that is not something they can stomach.
The sexual abuse of minors is a serious problem in our society—it even led to jail time last week for a former Speaker of the House. It demands a serious response, free from politics. Those who harbor an agenda against the Catholic Church have no legitimate role to play in such matters.
Catholic Priests Are Not More Likely To Commit Sexual Abuse
The Media Overstates The Clergy Sexual Abuse Problem
https://thecatholicstate.com/catholic-priests-are-not-more-likely-to-commit-sexual-abuse/
The media loves to report on catholic preists sexually abusing children because catholicsm is not talmudism. Although that is a problem, they don’t mention how rabbi’s including those associated with Chabad. Seuxally grooming children is very semitic and abrahamic and foreign to white gentiles who had abrahamism imposed on them, though I prefer christians over other followers of abrahamism although I certainly am skeptical of all religions. I am a Russian who grew up in Eastern Orthodoxy since 1990, the most original version of Christianity there is and I left the church after realizing it is all a fraud.
The majority of people who have been sexually abused make the mistake of indulging in sexual hedonism because they believe that it will solve their trauma, but long term avoidance of anything sexual is the best way to cope with trauma after sexual violation.
Jew York city, Jew planned Parenthood, the Jew media and with many Americans being anti theists or belonging to Protestant religions based on hatred and lies about the Catholic Church, of course the masses gobble this stuff up.
Many people hate the Catholic Church and the Vatican 2 sect and they will believe anything that confirms their hatred of the Catholic Church, I saw a protestant preacher ( Steven Anderso) claim the Spanish Inquisition killed millions of people. It lasted for 356 years and no historian puts the number at more than 5000, generally between 3 to 5 thousand. All of the people tried were people who claimed to be Catholic. Protestants insert themselves in their as victims somehow but it was mainly Jews pretending to be Catholic, subverting the nation, doing what Jews do, It had nothing to do with Protestants, Aside from the fact that Jews control the banks, media and government of the US, America’s Masonic and Protestant foundation and the way Americans worship their so called nation is the reason Americans on average are such ignorant and unpleasant people. Proud Americans are laughable and dangerous. Americans have nothing to be proud of. I do not mean the the individual American but to be proud of America is stupid and these partiotards are stupid dangerous people.
Did you hear about the mass grave hoax in Canada? It was all bullshit. I assume you probably heard the natives claim to have found mass graves at former residential schools. The pope did not defend the church against these false allegations because the Jews own him.
Most so called Catholics believe it because the tv is a God to them.
Yes, I am sure we haven’t heard the last of the mass graves hoax. I think there is much more to come from that narrative. You’re right, the Pope caved without addressing the facts.
People will believe anything they are told about the church, anything. It never ceases to amaze me how many Protestants think the Catholic Church runs the world. I do not know why Protestants bother saying anything about anything. If they are saved by faith alone that means that they could kill themselves and go straight to heaven and make the world a better place.
Most Catholics in Canada believe the mass graves hoax. I have talked to someone who told me he knew it was bullshit right away but he is not a practicing Catholic. I never thought of this until right now, why wouldn’t most church goers believe it, the priests are not saying otherwise. One priest said something to the effect of the residential schools not being all bad, not denying the graves hoax though and he got fired. The only video I saw from debunking the whole thing starred the controlled opposition Jewess Lauren Southern.
People just never stop and think that just because something in the media confirms their hatred against an organization that does nor mean it is true, even if it tickles their ears. I do not believe that every president of the United States was secretly Jewish or similar statements, even though I find some of them appealing. I want evidence.
One notable thing about the mass graves hoax, it was pushed really hard by the media and suddenly stopped. When the Jews do this, the topic they are reporting about is pure bullshit. I do not expect everyone to be onto stuff as much as me but most people do not even notice unusual things like this. It is like when the Covid restrictions started, most people did not even think it was a bit weird.
Lastly, the word conspiracy has been marginalized to the point where people use in a way that suggests conspiracies do not really exist, “it really happened, it is not a conspiracy”. They do not say “not a conspiracy theory@ but not a conspiracy. This socially engineered deconstruction of language is dangerous.