Good News is No News
Apart from going unreported, good news is also a relative term in the world of the mainstream media; that's why we must turn to alternative media like the Media Report for coverage on Catholic clergy abuse reports when the drive-bys go silent.
In a newly released annual audit of abuse by independent experts, it was reported that there were only ten contemporaneous abuse allegations made against priests even deemed "credible" in all of 2013 (out of some 40,000 active priests) and that the "fewest allegations and victims" ever were tabulated since annual reports were first compiled in 2004.
This is obviously good news. But predictably, the mainstream media is notably silent about this very positive report, even though in years past when the numbers were less encouraging, the media fell over themselves to breathlessly report any unflattering statistics which they could dig up.
A search of news coverage about the Church's new annual report found that not a single secular news outlet (e.g., the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune etc.) reported on the study.
Someone recently told me I should feature more links to alternative media where we could get the facts not reported anywhere else. So this article couldn't be more timely. The Media Report is an excellent source for coverage of what is really going on vis-à-vis the soon to be defunct scandal industry. You can sign up for their newsletter near the bottom right of the site page, and I suggest that all EQE readers do so.
Here are some good bullets points listed in the piece to fire at those who still clutch at the abuse scandal like Linus with his security blanket.
• 40% of all identified priests who were accused in 2013 were already long deceased;
• 78% of all identified priests who were accused in 2013 are either already deceased, already removed from ministry, already laicized, or simply missing; and
• 90% of all abuse accusations last year allege incidents from at least 25 years ago.
It is obvious that the abuse narrative is now merely a media obsession as the article states. Unfortunately, too often obsessing leads to lying, and the lies continue to do harm:
The facts are the facts: Bogus accusations abound
And a closer look at the study further uncovers another issue that the mainstream media adamantly refuses to report: that bogus accusations against Catholic priests are rampant, and the vast bulk of accusations are either demonstrably untrue or simply unprovable.
According to this year's numbers, a staggering 80% of the 2013 cases in which an investigation had been completed fell into the categories of either "unable to be proven" or "unsubstantiated." Only a mere 14.6% of all 2013 cases were even deemed "substantiated" by the liberal standards of review boards.
Indeed, we have long reported on the pervasiveness of false accusations against priests, but no one in the mainstream media has the courage to pursue a counter-narrative story. The time is long overdue.
Check out the Falsely Accused Priest tag link. It's a gold mine for truth-seekers on this topic. It references the link to the WSJ article by Dorothy Rabinowitz The Trials of Father MacRae, a must read to provide balance and to unmask the predators who pretend to care about actual victims of real crimes. If these criminals and ambulance chasers really cared about the victims of abuse, they would move their operation to a place in which there was evidence that abuse was actually occurring.
But then, as Paul Harvey would say, here is the rest of the story.
ReplyDelete"The yearly audit of U.S. Catholic dioceses' compliance with national measures to report and prevent clergy sexual abuse found a decline in the number of reported cases of abuse from July 2012 to June 2013 but also cited concerns about the limited scope of the auditors' abilities.
"Of particular concern are four dioceses that would not allow any audits to take place and the fact that "most" dioceses do not allow or conduct audits of parishes or schools, where most reporting of abuse is thought to occur, the auditors write."
And as far as the thoroughness of this audit goes...
"The bishops' conference is mandated to conduct the audit under their "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," adopted in 2002 following explosive press coverage of clergy sexual abuse cases. Bishops, while strongly encouraged to participate, cannot be required to do so as national conferences are not granted oversight authority of individual bishops by the Vatican or the church's canon law."
And then the auditors tell us...
"In their report, the auditors cite four "major" limitations to the scope of their audits: lack of auditing at the parish level, "inconsistent" methods for collecting statistics across dioceses nationwide; turnover in positions at diocesan offices; and the refusal of the four dioceses and eparchies to participate."
Regarding the first area, StoneBridge said "most dioceses and all eparchies" did not allow its staff to conduct audits at the parish level.
"Parishes and schools represent the front lines in any diocese's or eparchy's Charter compliance efforts," StoneBridge wrote in its report. "If a diocese or eparchy does not conduct some form of audit of its parishes and schools ... the bishop or eparch cannot be sure that Charter-related policies and procedures are clearly communicated and effectively carried out."
"At the chancery or pastoral center, our auditors may review certain Charter implementation policies ... but without observing the same procedures at the parish/school level, we are unable to verify that parishes and schools are complying with the Charter," it states."
It sounds to me like even the Catholic press knows a whitewash job when it sees one. This is indeed worthy of the kind of whitewashing done by the Southern Baptists and other Protestant groups (who you correctly point out are no better than the Catholics in their protection of monsters). But to offer this report as a "see how good we are doing" banner is simply damning the Church with faint praise.
It sounds to me like the auditors have pointed out the problem...the lack of transparency and the lack of a mandate binding Bishops to allow audits at all levels. Why is that happening? Why isn't the Vatican mandating participation?
The desperation to find new cases is palpable.
DeleteIf there is nothing to hide, why not just be open and let them audit? This was the agreement that the Bishops themselves made, and it is the same firm that has audited them from 2010 onwards.
DeleteAgain...what are they hiding from their own auditors?
I don't think they are going to find many new cases. I think priests who in past years would have abused post-pubescents have wised up and targeted young men over the age of consent. They know that if no one is going to come after them for saying "Joseph and Mary were friends with benefits", then definitely no one is going to come after them for until-recently-boys on the side. Tacit agreements abound, nothing to see here, move along, we're grrrreat!
DeleteBut in the meantime, let's definitely excoriate anyone who dares to question the brilliant competence of the Catholic hierarchy, by for instance calling them "obsessed" -- a tactic you must have learned at the feet of Rod Dreher himself.
Deletehttp://callmejorgebergoglio.blogspot.com/2014/04/compassionate-francis.html
DeleteHere's a recent blog post that makes for some interesting reading. nothing early 70s about this nonsense...I do enjoy the look on the faces of the women in that first photo. Vatican brilliance at work. again.
money quote: "‘A homosexual priest should be free to express his or her identity and her sexuality, otherwise it represses and becomes pedophilia."
DeleteThank you, Pauli!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I am sedulously ignoring Our Obsessed Baptist Friend, who seems to have endless time on his hands, but I do wonder why he won't reveal the name of his Baptist conference. Is he afraid that we might google it and uncover some dirt? ;-) "People in glass houses...." etc. etc. etc.
LOL...our conference is the North American Baptist Conference, Diane.
Deletehttp://www.nabconference.org/
And our seminary is in Sioux Falls, SD.
http://sfseminary.edu/
I have no doubt you will find stories of abusive priests out there. We have them, just like other churches. But most of our churches have learned that cooperating with law enforcement is the best way to protect the victims, the congregation, and the ministry of the Gospel.
Our leadership did not always see things this way, but thankfully those leaders were voted out in the 90s and most of the leaders we have now support cooperating with authorities, full background checks, and an ever increasing level of transparency regarding this issue.
So, off you go. Grab your shovel and start digging. There's dirt out there, and I am sure you will find it. I know of two or three ministers who were caught with young women (mid-teens), turned over to the local authorities, and had their credentials pulled. I'll even give you a hint...check out Rochester, MN, Edmonton, ON, and Rockford, IL.
Enjoy! But while you do, make sure you get your own spin-master operation running. Looks like you'll be needing it later today.
"ST. PAUL, Minn. - Archbishop John Nienstedt will testify under oath today about his handling of clergy sexual abuse allegations in St. Paul and Minneapolis, marking the first time that the leader of the Twin Cities archdiocese has been forced to answer questions about his role in the scandal."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Deletehttp://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/catholic-church/2013/10/04/church-hid-priests-pornography-from-police-parishioners/
Deleteno big deal, Pauli?
It is a big deal, and this Shelley should be prosecuted. That Father Laird should have been forced to resign, and he did. I think it's horrible that child abuse happens anywhere and that people are too cowardly to report it.
DeleteBTW...I am wondering whether Our Obsessed Baptist friend is the same guy as Billy the Baptist Bully in this news story. He seems to exhibit the same, um, reluctance to examine the beam in his own church's eye. (Hat tip: StuffFundiesLike.com)
ReplyDeletehttp://fbcjaxwatchdog.blogspot.com/2011/08/peeping-pastor-jacksonville-baptist.html
Hah!! From the combox at that story: One Seneca Griggs objected that, since the perp was IFB, that means other Baptist conferences / groups / whatever were off the hook. (Sound familiar?) Here is one response:
Delete"SO? Baptist is Baptist Senaca - FBC may not "get their money" as their "sponsor" but they push the same people, belief, and run with the same crowds........"
Yep.
BTW...the reason this 2011 story came up at StuffFundiesLike is that they (Darrell at SFL) were featuring a tweet by this Baptist Peeping-Tome Perp, who apparently is still going strong -- no repercussions whatsoever for his pervy behavior.
Delete"When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will find it." -- Hayley Mills in Polyanna
ReplyDeletePauli, hope you don't mind my jumping the gun, but thanks so much for sending me the link to the article about Billy Graham's grandson, founder of GRACE -- covering the speech in which he said that he considers evangelicals worse than Catholics when it comes to sex abuse and coverups. I mentioned this incident (the speech in question) several times in That Other Thread, but it whooshed right past certain people.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link you sent me, which I agree deserves a thread of its own: :)
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/09/26/billy-grahams-grandson-evangelicals-worse-catholic-church-sex-abuse/
And here is a very insightful comment from the combox:
"I am a survivor of 10 years of sexual abuse at the hands of my preacher father. I have now become an advocate for victims of abuse. For years I have been saying that when the full scope of the abuse within the evangelical church comes to light, the Catholics will pale in comparison. I have talked to thousands of abuse victims and it would shock you how many are preacher’s kids, missionary kids and kids who have grown up in evangelical homes. The problem with tracking these numbers is because the evangelicals don’t have the hierarchical system that the Catholics do. Abuse victims can’t take it “up the chain of commend” because so many of these churches have no accountability. I seriously warn evangelicals about gloating over the Catholic scandals because our day is coming and it ain’t going to be pretty when we see what has been swept under the rug for decades. God is cleaning his church and this is a day that I have long prayed for. May every pedophile and predator preacher be exposed and may our churches become safe havens for the brokenhearted."
Money quote: I seriously warn evangelicals about gloating over the Catholic scandals because our day is coming and it ain’t going to be pretty when we see what has been swept under the rug for decades.
Deleteyep. Swept under the rug. Example: My friend who was repeatedly molested by a minister at the Methodist orphanage where she grew up. Although she was not his only victim, he never suffered the slightest consequences. In fact, he went on to become a prominent, respected, prosperous pastor of a large and prestigious church. Multiply this case by the thousands or even tens of thousands....
Anotheer great quote from the combox. I remember reading about this several years ago but hadcompletely forgotten about it:
Delete"Look up the statistics from American insurance angencies number of cases. Secular organizations come in first for abuse, with nearly 5 times both Protestant and Catholic. Prot. churches comes in second for around 1.5-2 percent more than Catholic abuse cases."
But I don't know if their "day is coming". It all depends on whether lawyers detect deep pockets. That is what drives the whole scandal market.
DeleteWe've been noticing this for years, how the bashers don't care about any child abuse unless a priest was the abuser. They may as well be mind-controlled by strategizing lawyers. I think this whole dog-and-pony show around Bp. Nienstedt is just that. The chance to say "60,000 files, 60,000 files...." over and over again in the press.
The Pope recently pointed this out -- i.e., that there is more abuse outside the church -- and got blasted for it. Merely because he cares about all victims of sexual violence.
Maybe I should post something on that. Pope Francis also called Benedict XVI courageous on the abuse scandal which didn't earn him media brownie points either. The vain hope is that Pope Francis will say something definitive on homosexuals becoming priests, so praising B16 is sort of scary to the "progressives".
We've been noticing this for years, how the bashers don't care about any child abuse unless a priest was the abuser.
DeleteAbsolutely! Victims don't matter unless you can use them to score points against the Catholic Church. The whole "we-care-about-victims" canard is a bunch of bunk.
Great points, Pauli.
As Bill Donohue says, the Catholic Church today has (by far) the cleanest record of any institution. I can attest from my own experience here in the Charlotte Diocese that we go all-out to ensure the safety of children and teens. But no matter what we do, it's never good enough for the bashers. I guess if they keep attacking us relentlessly, they can avoid having to actually investigate their own communions, beyond their own congregational doors.
I've been noticing THIS for years: how the vast majority of catholics don't care about any abuse on the part of clergy enough to call them or their leaders out on it, unless the abuse was sexual and the victim was a child.
Delete