Some fortunately do ‘dodge the bullet’

Two court dates today:

(1) Our disgraced Canadian Bishop Raymond Lahey who pled guilty to possession of child pornography, is due in Ottawa court this morning (Monday 19 December) and Tuesday (20 December).  The two days are booked for cross-examination of Dr. John Bradford, the psychiatrist who examined and wrote and report on Lahey, and for sentencing submissions.

I don’t have the start time for today but it will probably be around 09:30 am. I will probably go for 9 am just to be sure I am on time.  I will blog tomorrow evening.

(2) Ex priest Gabriele Del Bianco had a court date to set the next court date:  09:30 am, court room # 3, Sarnia, Ontario court house.  This is supposed to be to set another court date, but there are still those new charges – there is a good chance the new charges will be addressed tomorrow.  Whether or not he will be there I don’t know. I had hoped to get more info on that but time has passed me by this week.

Please, as always, if anyone has any news on the outcome of tomorrow’s court date, pass it along.  And, as always, keep the complainants in your prayers.

*****

Another chilling report on clerical sexual abuse – this one from Holland. Thousands of children have been sexually abused in the past 65 years.  The children were molested by clergy, members of religious orders and/or lay workers.  There were “several thousand” instances of rape.

17 December 2011: Catholic Church involved in abuse of Dutch children, report says

All in all, it’s the same old story of cover-up and recycling.

Note that 800 perpetrators were identified; 100 perps are still alive.

Does anyone know what the statute of limitations is in Holland?

I think that there’s a good chance that, as in many European countries,  there is a statute of limitations and hence these molesters are and will remain  foot-loose and fancy free.

If that’s the case there should be a definitive drive to remove the statute of limitations.  Justice should be done.

I believe it goes without saying that any of these molesters who are clergy should and must be laicized/defrocked.

*****

And here in our own back yard, Vancouver’s Father Horrigan thinks he had “lapses in judgment.

18 December 2011: Father Horgan’s ‘lapses of judgment’: Leader of Shaughnessy congregation allowed a U.S. priest under investigation into the church

I commented briefly on the article earlier.  As I said, I am very familiar, sadly all too familiar, with the allegations of both sex abuse regarding Ensey.  I am also very familiar with the financial fiasco which surrounded the Society of St. John.

I have many files and notes on both the sex abuse and financial issues – no time right now to dig them out, but check some of the links on the website which was operated by Dr. Jeff Bond.  Dr. Bond fought tooth and nail to expose the scandals within the Society of St. John – much of that battle is still well- documented on the site. I have also posted a few articles to give a little background on this very convoluted tale:

Background articles on the Society of St. John

And, for a small idea of how the society responded when allegations first arose that its priests were sleeping with boys, look at this Affidavit sworn by Diane Toler in 2002:

AFFIDAVIT

I, Diane Toler, of [redacted] , affirm the following:

On January 12, 2002, I wrote a letter to Father Dominic Carey of the Society of St. John. A copy of this letter is attached. [See below.] At the time, my husband and I were continuing to receive requests for donations from the Society. My knowledge of the allegations of sexual misconduct prompted me to write the letter.

On February 12, 2002, I received a phone call from Father Dominic Carey. He expressed concern about the allegations and said he wanted to respond. He said the rumors about the  society were very damaging to their work and that he wished people would speak to the Society about these rumors instead of just assuming they were true.

Father Carey gave his explanation about the first two points in the letter regarding the misapplication of funds for the College of St. Justin Martyr and the inflated price of the Shohola property.

Father Carey then answered the third allegation. He stated that some Society priests did, indeed, sleep with young boys. He said that this was no secret and that they had no reason to hide this or deny this. Father said that this was Father Urrutigoity’s method of having the Society priests bond with boys. Father Carey said that there was nothing sexual about this.
He said that in many societies in other times and places, including Ireland, it was common for men to share beds. He said that there is nothing wrong with this and we in America at this time are upset about it only because we are seeing it through the eyes of a sexually promiscuous society. I told Father Carey that, given the problems in the Church today with molestation
of teenage boys by homosexual priests, this practice of sleeping with boys was not very prudent. He restated that nothing sexual was happening. When I told him that teenage boys were easily aroused sexually and that this sleeping with the priests was an occasion of sin, he replied that it would only be an occasion of sin if the boys were sleeping with women, since men
are naturally attracted to women. For two men to sleep together is not an occasion of sin, since there is no natural attraction between men. Father Carey also told me that if I would go to St. Gregory’s Academy on any given night, I would probably find boys sharing beds. He said he couldn’t swear to it, but that it was just natural for the boys to do this: that two boys may be studying together and just naturally fall asleep with each other. He said that it was all very innocent.

These are my recollections of my conversation with Father Carey.

Signed by Diane L. Toler
Dated May 6, 2002

Subscribed and sworn before me this 6th day of May, 2002, in Cherry Hill,
New Jersey.

Signed by Cesar Lorenzana
Notary Public, Camden County, New Jersey

————————————————

Letter from Mrs. Toler to Father Carey

January 12, 2002

Rev. Dominic Carey
Society of St. John
702 Route 434
Shohola, PA 18458

Dear Father Carey:

My husband and I are the recipients of mailings from your society. We have considered making a donation and even visited your chapel for Mass several times last summer.

However, there are currently rumors circulating about the Society, and we are concerned that they may be true, though we certainly hope that they are not. The first has to do with the misapplication of funds intended for the college. The second rumor is that, despite advice to the contrary, you purchased your property at an inflated price and that it will cost a small
fortune to make it usable for your purposes. The last rumor is the worst. It is alleged that men and/or boys are sleeping together in the same beds. All of these, particularly the last, if found to be true and made public, would be a terrible blow to our holy Church, as well as to all Catholics with an affection for the Ancient Rite.

Please assure us that there is no truth to these matters.

Sincerely,

Diane L. Toler

Believe it or not, I have heard from numerous sources much the same rationalization for the Society priests sleeping with boys.

And Bishop  Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay thinks these men are fit to be priests?   And Father Horrigan fund raises for them and subjects them upon his unsuspecting flock?

What are we doing with Bishops like Plano providing safe harbour for the likes of Ensey?  And what are we doing with the likes of Horrigan fund-raising and giving him credence?

It really and truly is sickening.

*****

Three days ago I added some information on convicted molester Father Raymond Lebel.  I received an email from a man who knew Lebel well.  I will call him Jack.

From age 8 to 14 Jack attended a church where Lebel was pastor.  Lebel used to invite Jack to sit on his porch as the boy passed by the priest’s house.  According to Jack:

He would sit me on his lap, he would tickle me incessantly, and he would give me uncomfortably long hugs for no apparent reason. But it’s the way he stared at me that gives me a chill to this day.

Lebel frequently asked Jack to go fishig with him.  The boy never did.

The thing of interest here is that when Jack’s mother learned of the priest’s odd behaviour around her son she told the boy he was not to visit Father Lebel anymore.

Now, many years years later, Jack read on the site that Lebel had been convicted.  He felt he, as he put it, had “dodged a bullet.”  He called his mother to thank her!

I was struck by the fact that Lebel was so patient for so long, time and again asking the boy to go fishing, and time and again inviting the boy to sit with him on the porch.   Was Lebel grooming Jack?  Jack thinks so.  I do too.  In this instance, however, it was to no avail   Whatever it was Jack related to his mother, she recognized that something was amiss.  Perhaps it was a sixth sense?  Perhaps she had heard rumours?  Whatever the reason, the boy was told he was no longer to visit Father Lebel.  That was the end of it.   Lucky for Jack, there never was a fishing trip.

Yes, I know, and sad to say, many cases do not end so well.  But, this is a reminder that some do.  Let us never cease to be thankful that some who have probably been singled out for abuse did indeed ‘dodge the bullet’ and escape relatively unscathed. ( I say relatively because it strikes me that even after all of these Jack still thinks about and recalls that as an “uneasy” period of his life. )

*****

When will our bishops stop saying ‘everyone else does it’?

17 December 2011: Prayer, comfort needed in wake of sex charges: Bishop

No more excuses please.

Enough for now,

Sylvia