The objective of the symposium was to move from juridical norms to widespread practice, ensuring the implementation throughout the world of measures to bring about healing and renewal, even where the scandal has not yet exploded.
An Irish victim, Marie Collins (pictured above), recalls the abuse she experienced at age 13 and how it affected her life, and her faith in the Church in the light of the covering up of the abuse she reported.
Those fingers that would abuse my gody were the next morning offering me the Sacred Host.Marie's testimony can be read here. It's not pleasant!
Catholic World Report on the symposium
ReplyDeletehttp://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/1108/a_sign_of_a_new_attitude.aspx
Psychiatrist Dr Rick Fitzgibbons' comment:
Based on our 35 years of experience working with priests, Msgr. Rossetti’s comments are seriously inaccurate when he alleges that the vast majority of allegations, over 95 percent, are founded.
In the Los Angelos accusations Veteran attorney David Steier played a role in over 100 investigations of claims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He stated in his deposition to the Superior Court in November 2010 that, “One retired FBI agent who worked with me to investigate many claims in the clergy cases told me, in his opinion, about one-half of the claims made in the clergy cases were either entirely false or so greatly exaggerated that the truth would not have supported prosecutable claim for childhood sexual abuse.”
Many priests and Catholic laity knew that the 21 priests removed from ministry in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia last winter were cleared previously of charges and were deemed victims of false accusations.
It is important to understand that false accusations occur regularly against employers, co-workers, spouses in divorce cases, parents, educators, and members of the clergy. Such accusations have led often to reputations and careers being ruined, family relationships destroyed, and both professional and religious lives shattered.
False accusations are made for a number of reasons, including a desire for financial gain, excessive and misdirected anger, jealously, mental instability, prejudice, a sociopathic personality disorder and, in regard to priests, a hatred of the Church. http://www.mercatornet.com/art...
Finally, we recommend that in the evaluation process of sexual accusations against priests the accusers should be evaluated first by members of the criminal justice system and then by mental health professionals skilled in the ability to distinguish between true and false accusation.
Richard P. Fitzgibbons, M.D., is a psychiatrist outside Philadlephia and is a consultant to the Congregation for the Clergy at the Vatican.