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	National Survivor Advocates Coalition (nsac) Calls for Honoring the Courage of Today’s Innocents National Survivors Advocates Coalition December 28, 2010 http://www.nsacoalition.org/ Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents which has been celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church since 485AD. For 15 centuries we have paused within the Christmas season to reverence the children upon whom evil unto death was inflicted. From the Gospel of Matthew we know both the perpetrator, King Herod the Great of Judea, and the victims, male Jewish children with two years of the estimated date of Jesus’ birth. To honor the victims, we put them in a place of honor within the Church’s keeping of the rhythm of the year. Simply put, they are on the liturgical calendar to get our attention. We didn’t know these innocents, we never saw the gut churning terror of their parents held at bay while their children were sliced by soldiers’ swords, we never looked upon their bloodied cribs or saw the spray of their blood drip from their snatched toys. But still we know in our very beings the burning injustice of their fate and the righteous within the purposeful attention that is called to them in the season that we celebrate the anniversary of the Christ Child’s birth. For 15 centuries we have carried them within the heart of the Church. Now it is time for those who remain in the pews in the Roman Catholic Church to stand for the innocents who were and are raped, sodomized and brutalized in soul and spirit by priests and nuns and who are re-victimized by the cover-up by bishops, religious superiors, pope and members of the Roman Curia. While we did not know the innocents of first century Palestine, we do know the innocents of sexual abuse by priests and nuns. We know them by their courage. We know them in the pools of emptiness that are the eyes of the parents and spouses and siblings of those who were murdered and those who committed suicide. It is because of their courage that we ask you to take action regarding recent statements by Pope Benedict and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington. Neither of the statements can be allowed to stand unchallenged. Pope Benedict spoke about the scandal most recently on December 20 in an address to the Roman Curia. He said: · We were all the more dismayed, then, when in this year of all years (Year of the Priest) and to a degree we could not have imagined, we came to know of abuse of minors committed by priests who twist the sacrament into its antithesis, and under the mantle of the sacred profoundly wound human persons in their childhood, damaging them for a whole lifetime · We must accept this humiliation as an exhortation to truth and a call to renewal. Only the truth saves. We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the injustice that has occurred. We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life, to allow such a thing to happen. We must discover a new resoluteness in faith and in doing good. We must be capable of doing penance. We must be determined to make every possible effort in priestly formation to prevent anything of the kind from happening again. But it is to this statement of Pope Benedict’s a few sentences later in his address that we most particularly call your attention: · In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children. It was followed by: * This, however, was part of a fundamental perversion of the concept of ethos. It was maintained – even within the realm of Catholic theology – that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a “better than” and a “worse than”. Nothing is good or bad in itself. Everything depends on the circumstances and on the end in view. Anything can be good or also bad, depending upon purposes and circumstances. We repeat this sentence: In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children (emphasis added). We must ask with increased fervour: On what day, in what hour, in what year was it ever right to rape or sodomize a child? If you do not believe that “In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children” please write to PopeBenedict through his email address:benedictxvi@vatican.va AFTER you send a Letter to the Editor to both your local newspaper and your diocesan paper. In commenting on Pope Benedict’s recent remarks, Father Thomas Doyle, (whose writing appears in NSAC News and also in the National Catholic Reporter), said the aide who wrote this sentence should be fired. Indeed that aide should be fired. But that does not go nearly far enough. It is not the aide upon whom ultimate responsibility rests, it is the leader who allowed these words to remain in his address and who spoke these words – and who intends these worlds to sway the opinion of in the pew Catholics, as well as judges before whom sexual abuse cases are heard and legislators who vote on bills to extend the statute of limitations for sexual abuse. Cardinal Wuerl appeared on Fox News Sunday December 26 and he was interviewed by Chris Wallace. He said this (excerpted from the transcript): WALLACE: I want to ask about a specific problem, though. Because clearly, you would agree that the church priest abuse sex scandal was very damaging to the church, and hurt a lot of Catholics’ views about the church. You helped write the guidelines for the U.S. bishops. Are you confident that today that a priest who is accused of sexual abuse is not just transferred to another parish and is promptly reported to civil authorities? WUERL: I think that is one of the great accomplishments of the Catholic Church. When we look back and we talk about sexual abuse, we’re talking about something that happened 10, 20, even 30 years ago. We have succeeded in terms of the church and her response. We have succeeded in guaranteeing that if a priest is accused and there is a credible allegation, he is simply removed from the ministry, that is reported to the authorities and we begin to try to heal whatever was damaged in that abuse. I think it’s one of the great accomplishments of the church. It recognized there was a serious problem. It dealt with it forthright and then moved on to see that we’re in a much, much better place, a much safer place today. Cardinal Wuerl tries to set the scandal as something that happened long ago in a galaxy far, far away. If one knows nothing else about this scandal, one needs look no further than the Archdiocese of Chicago and the cases brought against Daniel McCormack to know that the scandal is not wispy memory of times gone by. It is only through the courage of the survivors, their families, and the massive news coverage on three continents that we are aware of the depravity that innocents have suffered. It is not known if we can or ever will know the full dimension of the scandal. No religious leader dedicated to the truth should ever seek to tramp down the seeking of the truth or attempt to box it away into a decades ago event as slickly as Cardinal Wuerl seeks to do. We do know that most victims never publicly tell their stories – a fact that could be easily know to bishops and popes – we do know that any numbers we have are not the full numbers, -and every number is not just one life but the lives of all of those with whom that life is lived: parents, spouses, children, extended family, friends, co-workers, teammates. We ask you to write to Chris Wallace through the email address of Fox News Sunday at fns@foxnews.com AFTER you send a Letter to the Editor at the Washington Post at letters@washpost.com. We ask you to ask Mr. Wallace to look further than what his guest had to say on Sunday and to seek the truth – fair and balanced. We ask you to keep the survivors in your Christmas conversations with family and friends. We know that for the survivors re-dedicating this feast to them as innocents does not change their lives, heal them, or drive away the demons that lurk at the next turn. If calling for this feast — as some individuals and groups, most notably Bridgeport (CT) Voice of the Faithful have done — to be changed to mark the suffering of the victims of sexual abuse by priests and nuns would give a spine to the Catholics who remain in the pews and they would rise to stand for these innocents, then the call to mark this day within the Church, to change this feast, to have the Mass of this day marked with recognition of the survivors of sexual abuse, and those who committed suicide, and those who were murdered, it would have worth. But more’s the pity that this is what it needed for those to whom God sent his only begotten Son to stand with the innocents. We ask you to act upon what you believe. —-Kristine Ward, Chair, NSAC Feast of the Innocents, 2010 AN OPPORTUNE TIME FOR THE ROCKAWAY PENINSULA TO BE EDUCATED, NOT AGITATED by Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D. (the writer is Co-Founder and President, Road to Recovery, Inc.) Note: The writer is also a founder of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) It is clear that the clergy sexual abuse scandal has disappointed, disillusioned, and disengaged many Catholic faithful, especially the young. It has also energized many faithful Catholics to action, among them the Rockaway chapter of Voice of the Faithful which has as its first goal the support of victims of clergy sexual abuse. This small but committed group has ensured that victims of clergy abuse will not be abandoned and that any and all victims who wish to tell their stories will be guaranteed a compassionate and listening ear. They continue to assist victims and their advocates through what appears to be a lull in widespread media coverage and reports of cases of abuse. I urge the Rockaway Peninsula not to be deceived by such developments, since cases of abuse in Rockaway continue to emerge despite the seeming dearth of news reports of such. Recently, Thomas Trager, a Marianist religious brother and director of St. John’s Home in Rockaway Park, was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a teenage boy who was in his care. His arrest has resurfaced more dramatically the issue of sexual abuse by religious figures in the Rockaways, in particular. The Rockaways has had its share of sexual abuse by clergy and religious persons, and it behooves all residents to resist being agitated by these reports of what they sometimes perceive as anti-Catholic bias or Church-bashing. Instead of being agitated by these reports, Rockaway residents should commit themselves to being educated about clergy sexual abuse in their backyard and beyond. The Brother Thomas Trager arrest provides an opportunity for all on the Peninsula to learn more about sexual abuse of minors, its causes and effects, and its prevention and elimination. There is a tendency for citizens of a community such as The Rockaways to “circle the wagons” when a trusted and respected member of that community is arrested for a heinous crime such as child sexual abuse. The temptation is to deny the crime, defend the perpetrator, and blame the victim. It is also tempting to distract others from being educated about the seriousness of the act of child sexual abuse. It is my hope that the good people of The Rockaways will resist these temptations in the matter of Br. Thomas Trager. While there has been no determination of guilt or innocence in the case, it is incumbent upon all to remain open to the possibility that, indeed, sexual abuse did occur at or near Saint John’s Home and that the perpetrator was a respected religious authority. In order to be educated about the issue of clergy sexual abuse, and in order to resist the cynical conclusion that another money-grubbing liar has charged a Church leader with sexual abuse, I urge those in The Rockaways to understand what happens when sexual abuse by a religious figure occurs and how difficult it is for someone to come forward to tell a story of abuse. I also urge all of you to remain open to the possibility that we have not yet begun to scratch the surface of sexual abuse at Saint John’s Home or elsewhere, for that matter. Research indicates that up to ninety percent of children who have been sexually abused will never tell their stories. This is a time for education so that victims might be better served and the children of the Rockaways might live in a safer environment. Approximately twelve years ago, a group of more than one hundred Rockaway residents protested outside Saint John’s Home about assaults on senior residents and high school students by some young men assigned to Saint John’s Home. During that protest, three residents of Saint John’s Home approached leaders of the protest to report that they had experienced sexual abuse at the home. Leaders of the protest have reported these matters recently, and, to their credit, they admit to not believing the young men at that time. However, in light of recent events at St. John’s, there is reason to be concerned that there may be other victims. More than likely, the young men who reported abuse in 1998 are in their twenties or older, so there could be victims out there who have been living with the horrendous effects of sexual abuse. Perhaps those men have heard about Br. Tom’s arrest, will realize they are not alone, and make the decision to report whatever abuse occurred twelve years ago or more. They should know that all of us will be there to assist in their recoveries. Approximately two years ago, a courageous man from Rockaway Park decided to go public about his abuse. That man was featured on the front page of this newspaper and told his story of horrific abuse as a child at a local Catholic school. This victim knew he was taking a big risk in terms of his reputation and comfort. As soon as his photograph and story appeared in “The Wave,” he received a host of responses. Some felt he should have kept silent; too few congratulated him for his courage. Some of his so-called “friends” stopped talking to him, and others crossed to the other side of the street when they saw him coming. Today, he has mixed feelings about what he did because he found that many neighbors and friends didn’t like that he went public and embarrassed the church. What he did was courageous, plain and simple, and he deserves to be treated as the hero he is. The most profound effect of this man’s public revelation, however, was the fact that at least a dozen more cases of clergy sexual abuse came to light. His poignant story prompted many men and women to report their abuse and begin their healing. The reason why the Rockaway community doesn’t know about these people is because they do not yet have the ability to go public with their stories. It takes years for survivors to even begin to deal with their abuse. Hopefully, they will come forward and inspire other survivors to begin their healing. One victim who came forward as a result of the “Wave” story of two years ago was abused in a Catholic high school. He made that important phone call and began his healing process. Three of those new victims were abused at three different Rockaway parishes. A city of New York worker saw the Wave story and admitted that he was abused by a priest, and a brother and sister who live in Rockaway were moved to reveal that they had been sexually abused in Ireland. Another victim has successfully held a religious order member responsible for serious abuse. These are but a few of the many victims who came forward as a result of the heroic public action of one survivor. This is how recovery from clergy sexual abuse (and all sexual abuse) works. One victim tells his story and other victims read about it. Then, they realize they are not alone and garner the courage to tell their stories. And the process continues. Healing becomes a reality. Why is going public so important and in many ways the only option for victims? In New York State, the answer rests in antiquated laws. In most sexual abuse cases in New York State, the statute of limitations has expired criminally and civilly, and victims cannot hold their abusers accountable. Abuse victims have a very narrow time limit for coming forward and reporting their stories, but the research is very clear. It takes decades very often before abuse victims are able to begin to deal with the effects of the abuse. They are left with two alternatives in New York State; namely, remain silent and continue to wallow in the living hell they experience on a daily basis, or tell their stories to the public so they and others might heal. The survivor of abuse whose photo and story were featured in “The Wave” was responsible for more than a dozen victims of clergy sexual abuse coming forward to begin their healing. We will perhaps be hearing from some or all of these victims in due time. One thing is sure: the New York State legislature must revise the laws of the State to allow victims of sexual abuse to report their abuse and hold their abusers accountable “whenever” they are ready. By going public, victims attempt to educate, not agitate. They are breaking a silence that has lasted, in many cases, for decades. The last thing victims need to hear is that they should stay silent. Remaining silent about sexual abuse is a death sentence. Victims need their voices and they need them to be heard. That is why we want the young man from Saint John’s Home to know that we affirm him, support him, and consider him a hero. What we also hope will happen now is that anyone who was sexually abused as a child or minor will come forward, break the deadly silence, and begin to heal. Anyone reading this who was sexually abused at Saint John’s Home, a local Rockaway parish or school, day care center, family home, the beach or any other location is urged to come forward and get the help you need. You can be sure there will be some who will listen and believe you. Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D. 46 Morris Road West Orange, NJ 07052 Contact: roberthoatson@gmail.com 862-368-2800 Father Robert Hoatson is Co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey. He is currently working with several clergy sexual abuse victims in the Rockaways. Father Hoatson is also one of the founders of NSAC.
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