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Elizabeth Sullivan
EmpowerSurvivors.net |
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Catholics: "Where have all our pastors gone?"
by Elizabeth Sullivan - founder, EmpowerSurvivors.net
NAASCA family member and volunteer - (please also see VIDEO below)
As a Catholic and survivor of childhood sexual abuse this continued cover up of molestation in our church deeply, deeply saddens me. What saddens me even more is the attitudes of my fellow parishioners who say "Why do these people keep bringing this up? Why don't these people leave it in the past? Why don't they just get over it?."
This is what my fellow parishioners (not all) ask. Where is the concern for the children? Concern for those children that are now adults. Why do we continue, as a church, to not be truly transparent and protect the children and not the priests that abused these children? Why are we not actively supporting survivors?
Are we not to live out the gospel? Is this what Jesus Christ taught? To sodomize, rape and molest children, cover it up, then blame the victim and not support them in recovery? I think not. I have no doubt the He will be truly pissed off at what was done to His children. |
These children were told that the abuse they were enduring was their fault, and a lot of times told God wanted them to do this. How does a child possibly take this all in? This priest who they looked up to as God like. How does a child that was so excited to receive first communion and serve on the alter pick themselves up after a priest pulled down there pants, sodomized them, and told them they would go to hell if they ever told. Some of these children went on to commit suicide.
Why? Because they were destroyed by the nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, constant memories, not supported by people they thought would care about them. This all done by a servant of God? These kids that have these things done to them have no capability to even understand what is being done. They suffer greatly in their lives. Many going on to have drug and alcohol addictions, marital issues, problems with authority, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, PTSD among a whole host of other issues.
I ask my fellow Catholics what they want to do about this? Do they want to truly learn and grow? If so, then it will mean truly looking at the evil that was done. Not just trying to "get over it." It will mean demanding answers and asking tough questions among a whole host of other things.
We have a heck of a lot to learn and we achieve nothing by keeping all of this in the dark.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Here's a video Elizabeth recommends be viewed:
Fugitive Fathers: How the Vatican's alleged sex abusers hide and preach in South America (VIDEO)
by Will Carless, Jimmy Chalk and Rob Harris
Catholic priests sexually prey on boys and girls — the scale of rape, abuse and cover-up is well known.
But now, GlobalPost has investigated a disturbing new chapter to the story.
The Catholic Church has allowed priests accused of sexually abusing children in the United States and Europe to escape their pasts by moving to parishes in the poor, remote corners of the developing world. This despite ongoing pledges from a new pope to clean up the church's record on abuse.
We spent the last year tracking down some of these fugitive fathers across South America — not far from the pope's homeland. All but one of the men we found continue to work as priests, enjoying the privilege, respect and unfettered access to young people that comes with being a member of the clergy.
One of the priests admitted to GlobalPost that he had molested a 13-year-old boy, and acknowledged that he can never work again in the US. He continues to preach in a small Peruvian fishing village. Another is currently under investigation by authorities in Brazil for a string of alleged molestations, including accusations in the poor neighborhoods where for two decades he ran a home for street children — with the support of the Catholic Church.
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