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[Child victims partly to blame in priest sex-abuse cases, Syracuse bishop testified – Syracuse.com]
Syracuse
Bishop Robert Cunningham is clarifying his views on victims who were abused as children by catholic priests.
The bishop released a long statement on Sunday, responding to an article on the front page of the Post-Standard with the headline: Bishop: Priests’ Victims Share Blame.
“Allow me to be clear: I in no way believe a child is responsible for being abused by any person,” Cunningham stated. “I also believe and have clearly stated that a priest who abuses a child is wrong as is any adult who takes advantage and harms a child.”
The defense comes in response to reporter John O’Brien’s review of a 2011 deposition, filed as part of a federal lawsuit accusing a priest in the Syracuse diocese of sexually abusing a man when he was a child.
Initially, it appears that the questioning was general, not in reference to a specific case.
Cunningham is quoted as saying “The boy is culpable”, in response to a question about whether the church feels a child has committed sin if they have been molested by a priest. He’s then quoted asking if the child did “go along with (it) in any way”.
“The plain and simple fact is that depositions are difficult by their very nature. The line of questioning varied between specific and generic scenarios concerning the Sacrament of Confession,” Cunningham explained in his statement this weekend. “I was trying to explain that in general I do not know what is on the minds and hearts of individuals and failed to state clearly what I believe, particularly as it pertained to the case at hand.”
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