Mn - Victims Blast Supreme Court Ruling on Secrecy

By David Clohessy
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
July 25, 2012

http://www.snapnetwork.org/mn_victims_blast_supreme_court_ruling_on_secrecy

Our hearts ache for Jim Keenan. He fought a six-year-long heroic battle to expose predators warn parents, and protect kids. But somehow, the privacy of wrongdoer seems to trump the safety of children.

The real losers here are the employers, families and youngsters of Minnesota. They will apparently never be able to learn the names of roughly 46 accused child molesting Catholic clerics, some of whom are credibly accused or have likely even admitted their crimes.

And the real winners here are corrupt Catholic officials who have protect and are still protecting child molesters and their complicit colleagues instead of protecting vulnerable boys and girls.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said "The arc of history is long but it bends toward justice." He's right of course. But at times, there's a terrible step backwards. This is one of those times.

Across the nation and the world, gradually, courts are ruling in favor of disclosure and against secrecy, especially in child sex cases. Judges are recognizing that some victims repress their memories and that the public needs to know more, not less, about potential child predators. Sadly Minnesota's top court is bucking these prudent trends. And kids will suffer as a result.

To the extent that "repressed memories" may be "controversial," it's largely because a small group of highly vocal and well-funded defense lawyers and child molesters insist on muddying the waters with wild claims and pseudo-science, overwhelming the vast majority of researchers, therapists, doctors and other professionals who see and deal with repressed memories day in and day out. It's a phony, waning and self-serving 'controversy' that only really benefits criminals and their allies.

We don't know what causes some diseases. That doesn't make those diseases less real or devastating. Because science can't fully and clearly explain why and how some trauma victims repress their memories doesn't mean that repressed memories aren't real.