Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - [Homestead] ...there are predators -

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>
  • To: "Homestead mailing list" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] ...there are predators -
  • Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 09:24:36 -0700

and bottom line, there are victims. And the victims
decide if, like Truman said, "The buck stops here" -
or like idealists ask "why are good men silent (while
evil triumphs) ..." ? The "good men" of course
including "good" *women* or the whole thing is moot.
Or may be anyway ?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6077046/



'Code of silence' among priests shields abusers

By MICHELLE NICOLOSI

The Seattle Post Intelligencer September 23, 2004

USA - When the Rev. Lawrence Minder told his congregation last month that he
had been abused by a priest 30 years ago, the Bothell priest became one of a
handful of Roman Catholic priests nationwide to break an unspoken vow: Thou
Shalt Not Accuse Fellow Clergy.

Though parishioners at St. Brendan Catholic Church were startled to hear that
their pastor had been abused by a fellow priest, many experts believe Minder
is one of hundreds of Catholic clergy who were sexually abused by priests
when they were children.

Afraid of the personal and professional consequences of reporting their
abuse, many keep their allegations to themselves -- even though the men who
abused them are often still practicing priests dealing with children on a
daily basis.

"There's this code of silence -- you don't criticize another priest. You
don't tarnish the image of the church," said the Rev. Gary Hayes, a priest in
Kentucky who says he was abused by a priest when he was 15.

Hayes, 52, was one of the first priests to go public with allegations that
he'd been abused by a priest. He said he has met or heard of about 50 priests
who say they have been abused by priests, and he suspects there may be
"hundreds" more.

Priests who point fingers at other clergy "don't make any friends in the
church, I'll tell you that much," said the Rev. John Bambrick, a New Jersey
priest who said he was also abused by a priest when he was 15.

"I know guys who came forward, and it was disastrous. Priests shun you. It
gets to be very, very messy -- I think a lot of guys don't want to get caught
up in that mess."

Bambrick said he knows of about 20 priests who have been abused by priests.
He and Hayes have started a support group for priests abused by priests
called Jordan's Crossing.

Seattle's most notorious priest accused of sexual abuse -- the Rev. James
McGreal -- allegedly said he was abused by a priest. Snohomish psychiatric
nurse Maryalyce Stamatiou said McGreal made the admission in a 1987 meeting
with her about his alleged abuse of her brother.

The Seattle Archdiocese has received allegations of abuse against McGreal
from 40 accusers -- more than any other priest in the archdiocese, said
spokesman Greg Magnoni. The archdiocese settled with 16 of McGreal's accusers
last year and this year for $8.6 million, Magnoni said.

McGreal -- who is now living in the Midwest in a facility for priests accused
of sexual abuse -- could not be reached for comment. Magnoni said he had not
heard about McGreal's alleged admission; he said personnel information of
this nature is confidential.

Peter Cimbolic, a psychologist who specializes in treating priests, said he
has treated 15 to 20 priests who have been abused by priests. He said most
have not come forward because they don't want to cause trouble for
themselves, for the church and for the priests who abused them.

Often, they believe their abuse was unique -- and that their abuser is not
victimizing others, he said.

Cimbolic echoed Hayes' perspective.

"There has been a code of silence, an unspoken code not to ruin the
reputation of men in the priesthood, not to cause problems within the society
of priests. I think that's a real phenomenon," said Cimbolic, who was
previously vice provost at The Catholic University of America in Washington,
D.C., and is now provost of Bellarmine University in Kentucky.

Richard Sipe, a therapist and author who said he has reviewed more than 2,000
clergy abuse cases as a consultant, expert witness or as a therapist, agrees
"this is not rare."

Sipe said priest abuse of boys who then go on to become priests creates a
cycle that is partly to blame for the high incidence of sexual abuse of
children by clergy.

"There is a clerical genealogy in some of these cases: A priest abuses and he
was abused and the priest who abused him was abused and etcetera, etcetera,"
said Sipe.

Studies show that most victims of child abuse do not go on to become abusers
themselves. But research suggests that most abusers were abused when they
were children.

There are no studies looking at how many of the 44,212 active Catholic
priests nationwide have been abused by fellow clergy, but Sipe says he's seen
it in many of the cases he has reviewed. "I would say that's a common
experience," he said.

Many experts believe 10 to 16 percent of men were sexually abused as boys.
Priests likely are abused as boys at rates similar to the general population,
said the Rev. Stephen Rossetti, president of the St. Luke Institute in
Maryland, a residential treatment programs for priests and other church
figures.

While some believe clergy abuse of priests is fairly common, Rossetti does
not.

"It happens, but I don't think it's very common in terms of numbers," said
Rossetti. "I don't see a lot of it."

A recent review of the personnel records of 4,392 clergy accused of abuse,
commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Bishops, found that 47 said they had
been abused by priests. Researchers warned that number may be low because
"unless a priest self-disclosed his own prior abuse or it had been
specifically raised as an issue, there might not have been an indication of
abuse in Church files."

One Midwestern priest who asked not to be named said two priests abused him
when he was a boy in the 1950s. Both priests took him on trips and spent the
night in the same motel bed with him, snuggling up to him and touching him.

He said he hasn't come forward because his abusers are dead. "I don't see
what good would come of that," he said. If his abusers were still working as
priests, he'd likely report the abuse, he said.

He said he has informally surveyed fellow priests to see how common his
experience is. Of the 10 or 15 priests he asked, most said priests abused
them when they were younger, he said.

"I thought my case was very unique," he said. But then "I have said to
different guys I know, 'Were you ever abused?' And quite a few said yes. I
was surprised. I think it's very widespread."

Of the 187 priests in the Seattle Archdiocese, Minder is the only one the
archdiocese knows of who has allegedly been abused by a priest, said Magnoni.

Minder wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to parishioners, "Despite what public
perception may be, there are many priests who have suffered ... bishops seem
to have ignored the needs of clergy in their own ranks who suffer the same
needs as other victims of clergy sexual abuse."

The Seattle Archdiocese -- and most dioceses around the country -- has not
specifically called on priests sexually abused by clergy to come forward with
their allegations and to name their abusers. Magnoni said the archdiocese has
no special outreach for abused priests; he said clergy are aware that the
archdiocese has a hot line that abuse victims can call if they have an
allegation to report.

Minder told parishioners at three Masses over one weekend in August that he
was sexually abused about 30 years ago by a priest, and that his alleged
abuser had been allowed to continue working as a priest.

Bambrick and a number of other priests who said they were abused by priests
said the same thing happened to them: Instead of firing the priests they
named as abusers, church officials allowed them to transfer to other
dioceses.

Minder told parishioners he planned to resign because the Seattle Archdiocese
asked him to undergo a psychological evaluation and to give officials access
to his medical records.

"I could not tolerate a level of disclosure to the archbishop as an employer
which violates standards laid down by federal law protecting the
confidentiality of medical records," he wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to
parishioners. Minder has not returned calls for comment.

Archdiocese officials later said they do not need to see Minder's medical
records -- but they do want to be kept aware of Minder's condition and
progress. Ultimately, Minder agreed not to resign, and to take a leave of
absence instead.

Minder did not name the person who allegedly abused him nor the diocese that
handled the claim, but according to two people at the Yakima Diocese, Minder
lodged an abuse claim against a priest there.

Minder alleged he was abused by the Rev. Richard Scully as a teen, said
attorney Russell Mazzola, chairman of the Yakima Diocese's lay advisory
board. Minder wrote to the diocese about the matter in 2003, and it was
referred to the lay advisory board, Mazzola said.

It is unclear when Minder originally made his allegation.

The Amarillo Diocese in Texas hired Scully in 1989 after the Yakima Diocese
sent him to a facility in Jemez Springs, N.M., that treats sexual offenders.
According to The Dallas Morning News, the Yakima Diocese settled two claims
filed against Scully. The Amarillo Diocese stripped Scully of his ministerial
powers in the spring of 2002, after receiving some non-abuse-related
complaints about him, according to Harold Waldow, a vicar in the diocese.

Minder left for the Mayo Clinic last week for a physical and psychological
evaluation. He is struggling with painkiller and alcohol-use issues, and is
receiving ongoing care for those issues, said Magnoni.

The Seattle Archdiocese has not received any allegations of abuse against
Minder, who wrote in his Sept. 8 letter to his congregation that many abused
priests "have not gone on to abuse children but have served faithfully and
well and are good and reliable priests."

Minder wrote that his decision to share the details of his abuse "was a
necessary risk. I believe a great deal of good can come when priests who were
abused by other clergy can feel free to step forward, disclose and get help."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P-I reporter Michelle Nicolosi can be reached at 206-448-8217 or
michellenicolosi AT seattlepi.com





  • [Homestead] ...there are predators -, Toni Hawryluk, 09/23/2004

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page