Category Archives: Sexual Abuse

July 23, 2012 · 5:38 pm

Sanctions

The NCAA has sanctioned Penn State re:  the Sandusky abuse scandal.  The school has been fined the equivalent of annual gross revenue from the football program, has had its wins vacated from ’98-’11 and its football scholarship quota reduced (making the program less competitive).

Students seemed stunned by the penalties, an indication they have little comprehension of the lifelong problems Sandusky’s victims now confront.

The statue of coach Joe Paterno – around which his supporters rallied, despite Paterno’s involvement in the years long cover-up – has been removed.

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July 12, 2012 · 5:21 pm

Tarnished

An internal investigation on Penn State’s reaction to abuse by Jerry Sandusky has reaffirmed that Joe Paterno and other officials chose to shield the school’s reputation, rather than the children abused there for over a decade.

Officials failed to comply with mandatory reporting requirements; their inaction facilitated the abuse.

Loyal fans have been hostile toward victims, as if their sole purpose in coming forward was to malign Paterno’s reputation.  Handwritten notes and emails confirm that Paterno was aware of the abuse, and actively involved in the decision to cover it up.

That should tarnish his reputation.

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June 28, 2012 · 5:17 pm

Public Awareness

Recent Pennsylvania verdicts re: the cover-up by Catholic Church officials of pedophile priests, and repeated betrayals of trust by a former Penn State assistant coach have put abuse in the headlines.

Raising public awareness is vital to the prevention of child abuse.  So is public involvement.

Even as I write this, abuse continues.  Locally, news reports indicate a 6 year old boy in the advanced stages of starvation when first hospitalized, was twice returned to the custody of the very parents who had neglected him.

As a community, we are responsible for the welfare of our children.  However welcome guilty verdicts against predators may be, the criminal justice system can only seek to remedy past injury. Prevention is the ideal.  No child should bear these scars.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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June 22, 2012 · 5:13 pm

Guilty

Former Penn State assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky has been found guilty of 45 of the 48 counts brought against him for having abused 10 boys over a period of 15 years, using his charity The Second Mile to trawl for victims.

One of Sandusky’s adopted children came forward to say he, too, was abused.

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June 22, 2012 · 4:58 pm

Held Accountable

Msgr. William Lynn has been found guilty in Philadelphia of a single count of endangerment for the systematic cover-up by Catholic Church officials of pedophile priests.

Offending priests were deliberately transferred from one unknowing parish to another at the direction of now deceased Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

The testimony by adult abuse survivors was wrenching. The verdict does not begin to offset their suffering, which continues to this day.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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May 23, 2012 · 4:50 pm

Nuremberg…Again

Philadelphia’s trial of Msgr. William Lynn for the systematic cover up by Catholic Church officials of pedophilia by priests continues.

The defense rests on two grounds: the advice of legal counsel that reporting to law enforcement was unnecessary, since the statute of limitations had run; and the orders of now deceased Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

Of course, the Statute of Limitations had not yet run when many claims were initially made. Often, it was the delayed handling by church officials which caused the statute to run. Nor was there a re-examination of the issue, when the Statute of Limitations was extended by the legislature.

In fact, had the Catholic Church acted in the best interests of the victims, it could easily have waived the Statute of Limitations at any time.

As to the second ground, it was previously raised by Adolf Eichmann at the Nuremberg war crimes trials.  He was “only following orders,” too.

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March 30, 2012 · 4:36 pm

Landmark

A landmark case is being tried in Philadelphia with the purpose of holding accountable in the US for the first time a Roman Catholic Church official for his handling of the sex abuse complaints made against more than 60 priests.

The testimony being elicited after 8 years of investigation and 2 grand juries is as appalling as expected. Grammar school children raped, reports of abuse ignored for decades, the transfer of known offenders from one parish to the next.

Child molesters returned to work with children, monsters provided fresh hunting grounds.

The church abandoned the most vulnerable of its charges. What justice may come out of this is long, long overdue.

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February 16, 2012 · 1:00 am

Crimes Against Children

There are multiple stories of child abuse in the news, almost too painful to address.

Three children testified their grandfather denied them food and water, choked, and kicked them during a 19-mile hike in the Grand Canyon with temperatures over 100 degrees.

A two year old Wisconsin boy died after being thrown to the ground by his adult sitter. Another Wisconsin couple starved their daughter, allowing her to be molested from the age of ten by her brother. Child protective services were several times alerted, for all the good that did.

Here in Pennsylvania, Msgr. William Lynn is being charged with clerical abuse for his failure to turn multiple pedophile priests over to police.

We cannot alter these crimes, but we can bear witness to them and seek whatever redress is still possible. Our children deserve no less.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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November 28, 2011 · 1:00 am

Collusion

Sex scandals involving the Catholic Church, Penn State, and Syracuse University are all in the news.

Amid the chaos of allegations extending back decades, protestations of innocence, vociferous statements of support, incomplete earlier investigations, and now a secretly taped conversation, abuse victims and non-victims alike seek explanations.

The approach institutions all too often take in dealing with scandal serves as a reminder that favoring the supposed “good” of a group, over the good of the individual, is a dangerous business. That bargain can amount to outright collusion with evil, whatever the rationale may have been at the outset.

How then can we prevent future crimes against our children from taking place? Though we can strengthen reporting requirements and put other restrictions in place, there may not be a hard and fast answer to that question.

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November 24, 2011 · 1:00 am

Laws Without Morals

Like the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, the Penn State abuse scandal has drawn national attention.

​Personal loyalties aside, most of us are outraged that those charged with the care of children chose to abandon the most vulnerable of such children in the face of evil.

​We teach our children to report abuse to a trustworthy adult…and report it to the next adult and the next, until someone responds. Here, apparently, no trustworthy adult could be found.

​Instead, the facts suggest the overriding concern by Penn State was not child welfare, but the reputation of the university, its coaches, and sports program.

​Those who facilitated child abuse by their silence and inaction would do well to review the university’s motto: “Laws without morals are in vain.”

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