BishopAccountability.org
	Coverup Sets Church Apart By Bill Lonergan The Japan Times April 10, 2010 http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/rc20100411a5.html While rightfully horrified that anyone, especially a Catholic priest, would sexually abuse a youngster, I feel Jennifer Kim's arguments fail completely in two aspects. First, she mentions that most abuse happened decades ago and that recent credible accusations are extremely rare. Most research says that 70 percent or more of sexual abuse victims never speak of their abuse; those who speak out often take many years to develop such courage. That we're just now hearing from victims in their 30s to 60s of systematic rape that occurred 20 to 50 years ago is not an anomaly; it is statistically unsurprising. In fact, evidence points to centuries of rape and molestation by Catholic priests; it is only recently that people have had the courage (and technology) to make their stories widespread. That we have not heard so many accusations of recent rape does not mean it doesn't continue, it simply means that young victims haven't yet come out. Second, Kim asks why the media focuses on "such old news while largely ignoring the much more frequent acts of pedophilia by teachers and coaches and kids' own relatives?" The extremely important thing here is, when teachers or coaches or relatives rape children, there is not normally a systematic coverup, reaching to the upper echelons of the organization. If a coach is abusing his players, the school district doesn't quietly move him to another district. If a teacher is raping his students, the school doesn't attempt to keep it under wraps and move him to another school. The plain truth is, the Catholic Church has not only a proven history of rampant pedophilia, pederasty and child rape; it also has a proven history of trying to cover up the abuse, of moving pederast priests from parish to parish with no punishment, only so they can rape again. All in an attempt to avoid making the church look bad. In short, the Catholic Church has for centuries known of the widespread abuse and rape of children and it has done all in its power to protect the abusers and not protect the children. This is the reason for the media attention, despite how many other segments of society such treachery might occur in. The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.
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