Officials and clergy of the diocese of Knoxville must be smiling! The cafeteria catholics of Knoxville have dished up a plateful of mercy and forgiveness without even so much as asking them for a side dish of truth and transparency.
Our children and youth are all the more in danger for it.
Whoever made this casserole of forgiveness that masquerades as sufficient nutrition for an ailing church, surely made it tasty. After all, it is easier to the palate if you don't add the really healthy foods that would make us stronger. Foods like the full truth about the abuse by Anthony O'Connell and the cover-up and corruption that surrounds it. Foods like asking for the other victims of Anthony O'Connell to come forward and get help.
Watch your diet, Knoxville catholics, You are seriously undernourished . . . and don't even know it.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Re-Oconnellizing Knoxville
Whenever one calls for truth and transparency about Anthony J.O'Connell, first Bishop of Knoxville, the cries of forgiveness and mercy begin.
Why can we not have a discussion about Anthony O'Connell that is full and complete before the door is closed on the discussion by those who want nothing of the truth but want only blind mercy and unsolicited forgiveness?
Pope John Paul II forgave his attacker, but the attacker remained in jail to complete his just sentence for the crime. Could Pope John Paul
have interceded to put his attacker back on the street? Many believe so, but he taught us the lesson that even with forgiveness comes justice.
Proponents of forgiveness for O'Connell want no justice. They want to "cafeteria style" forgiveness. Give me a plateful of forgiveness and
mercy but no side dish of truth and transparency. And definitely no justice -- Yuck!
Sadly, Catholics who read this are probably all too willing to just shut the door on discussions of truth by invoking the forgiveness card. I have forgiven O'Connell for being a total disappointment to me as one of the faithful in the diocese who was devastated by his admission of abuse. However, it would be a different story if he had molested MY son, said "I'm sorry" from the podium at a press conference and then left for a life of relative ease -- not in jail but in an abbey.
If O'Connell were the neighbor next door, would the paltry "I'm sorry" be enough for molesting your child? If he were the maintenance an, the mail man, the local fireman, the uncle, the stranger in the mall, would we say, "No jail for this crime. It's okay because he said he was sorry at a press conference."
Take away the title "Bishop" or "Father" from in front of someone's name, and things change. All of the sudden, ordinary man is subject to
justice, accountability, and restitution. But add the name "Bishop" or "Father" and we drown in a sea of mercy and forgiveness.
Go ahead and forgive, people of the diocese. But why not demand the truth and transparency that was promised by the church? They are not mutually exclusive. Our children deserve better from us, but we won't be giving the best, honest response. We are too satisfied with the easy way out of saying "forgiveness" over and over.
Truth and transparency is a much more difficult path and one the diocese of Knoxville won't be walking down any time soon.
Why can we not have a discussion about Anthony O'Connell that is full and complete before the door is closed on the discussion by those who want nothing of the truth but want only blind mercy and unsolicited forgiveness?
Pope John Paul II forgave his attacker, but the attacker remained in jail to complete his just sentence for the crime. Could Pope John Paul
have interceded to put his attacker back on the street? Many believe so, but he taught us the lesson that even with forgiveness comes justice.
Proponents of forgiveness for O'Connell want no justice. They want to "cafeteria style" forgiveness. Give me a plateful of forgiveness and
mercy but no side dish of truth and transparency. And definitely no justice -- Yuck!
Sadly, Catholics who read this are probably all too willing to just shut the door on discussions of truth by invoking the forgiveness card. I have forgiven O'Connell for being a total disappointment to me as one of the faithful in the diocese who was devastated by his admission of abuse. However, it would be a different story if he had molested MY son, said "I'm sorry" from the podium at a press conference and then left for a life of relative ease -- not in jail but in an abbey.
If O'Connell were the neighbor next door, would the paltry "I'm sorry" be enough for molesting your child? If he were the maintenance an, the mail man, the local fireman, the uncle, the stranger in the mall, would we say, "No jail for this crime. It's okay because he said he was sorry at a press conference."
Take away the title "Bishop" or "Father" from in front of someone's name, and things change. All of the sudden, ordinary man is subject to
justice, accountability, and restitution. But add the name "Bishop" or "Father" and we drown in a sea of mercy and forgiveness.
Go ahead and forgive, people of the diocese. But why not demand the truth and transparency that was promised by the church? They are not mutually exclusive. Our children deserve better from us, but we won't be giving the best, honest response. We are too satisfied with the easy way out of saying "forgiveness" over and over.
Truth and transparency is a much more difficult path and one the diocese of Knoxville won't be walking down any time soon.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Abuse by Clergy Never Goes Away
by David Brown
Printed October 22, 2008 in The Memphis News, www.theMemphisNews.com at the following link:
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/WeeklyPdf/10222008-Vol1-No19.pdf
In 1961 I was entrusted with a sacred secret. It was a secret I neither wanted nor deserved – yet there it was.
What was I to do with it? Who in the world would believe me if I spoke about my secret and how I obtained it? I feared no one would believe me, so I did what so many other holders of the sacred secret did. I tucked it away until I felt I could share it. Sadly, so many holders of that sacred secret have taken it to their graves, never saying one word about how they obtained theirs.
When did I finally share the sacred secret? 1996! It took me more than 35 years to have the courage to share it. And it was not until 2005 that I revealed the whole wretched story.
My sacred secret was created in 1961 when my mentor, one of the priests I looked up to, took my innocence in the worst of ways. He forced me to commit perverted sexual acts.
He took my trust and transparency and used them for his benefit. That is how pedophile ministers work. They groom their young victims. They are not in a rush. Time is on their side.
Why, the perpetrators are not the monsters or evil people that our parents and teachers have warned us to stay away from – besides, where can you be safer than to be under the protection of your minister? I often tell people that in 1961 I became a victim, in 1996 I became a survivor, and in 2005 I became an advocate.
Please don’t pity me. I don’t need it, but I do need your prayers. I work with so many victims who have been abused by a trusted clergy member and have lost their faith. Don’t pity those victims; lift them up in prayer.
Why does this road to recovery have to be so hard? Way too many religious leaders and administrators are not willing to admit one of their own could do something as evil as sexually abuse a minor. They are slow to respond.
They use phrases such as “under the blood,” “These are uncharted waters,” or “I have never encountered something like this before.”
Well-meaning faithful are to blame, too, when they fail to report suspected abuse. They err on the side of the pedophile instead of helping the victim. That is wrong.
I just completed a video project with Andrea Conte, the wife of Gov. Phil Bredsen. It is titled “Sacred Secret.” Watch it.
It truly is a must-see for the faith community. I should know.
David Brown is director of SNAP of Tennessee (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).
Related link:
Question - did Paul St. Charles abuse at SHC?
Printed October 22, 2008 in The Memphis News, www.theMemphisNews.com at the following link:
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/WeeklyPdf/10222008-Vol1-No19.pdf
In 1961 I was entrusted with a sacred secret. It was a secret I neither wanted nor deserved – yet there it was.
What was I to do with it? Who in the world would believe me if I spoke about my secret and how I obtained it? I feared no one would believe me, so I did what so many other holders of the sacred secret did. I tucked it away until I felt I could share it. Sadly, so many holders of that sacred secret have taken it to their graves, never saying one word about how they obtained theirs.
When did I finally share the sacred secret? 1996! It took me more than 35 years to have the courage to share it. And it was not until 2005 that I revealed the whole wretched story.
My sacred secret was created in 1961 when my mentor, one of the priests I looked up to, took my innocence in the worst of ways. He forced me to commit perverted sexual acts.
He took my trust and transparency and used them for his benefit. That is how pedophile ministers work. They groom their young victims. They are not in a rush. Time is on their side.
Why, the perpetrators are not the monsters or evil people that our parents and teachers have warned us to stay away from – besides, where can you be safer than to be under the protection of your minister? I often tell people that in 1961 I became a victim, in 1996 I became a survivor, and in 2005 I became an advocate.
Please don’t pity me. I don’t need it, but I do need your prayers. I work with so many victims who have been abused by a trusted clergy member and have lost their faith. Don’t pity those victims; lift them up in prayer.
Why does this road to recovery have to be so hard? Way too many religious leaders and administrators are not willing to admit one of their own could do something as evil as sexually abuse a minor. They are slow to respond.
They use phrases such as “under the blood,” “These are uncharted waters,” or “I have never encountered something like this before.”
Well-meaning faithful are to blame, too, when they fail to report suspected abuse. They err on the side of the pedophile instead of helping the victim. That is wrong.
I just completed a video project with Andrea Conte, the wife of Gov. Phil Bredsen. It is titled “Sacred Secret.” Watch it.
It truly is a must-see for the faith community. I should know.
David Brown is director of SNAP of Tennessee (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).
Related link:
Question - did Paul St. Charles abuse at SHC?
Mantle of charisma
The article by Bill Dries has the following quote:
"St. Charles is the most prominent and in some ways the most polarizing figure in a child sexual abuse scandal that simmered for years before going public in July 2004 with two civil lawsuits filed in Shelby County Circuit Court against two other priests."
I can account for the polarizing concept of Paul St. Charles. I have heard so many people defend him as the "best pastor" we ever had. This praise was from some parishioners at Church of the Ascension in Memphis.
Paul St. Charles has ties to the entire state of Tennessee from east to west.
Did they know that their children were in danger from the man? Did they know that he was scouting for boys to molest? Read the entire article in the Memphis Daily News magazine. It will sicken you.
The mantle of charisma is now torn and shredded.
Link to magazine article (go to page 16):
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/WeeklyPdf/10222008-Vol1-No19.pdf
"St. Charles is the most prominent and in some ways the most polarizing figure in a child sexual abuse scandal that simmered for years before going public in July 2004 with two civil lawsuits filed in Shelby County Circuit Court against two other priests."
I can account for the polarizing concept of Paul St. Charles. I have heard so many people defend him as the "best pastor" we ever had. This praise was from some parishioners at Church of the Ascension in Memphis.
Paul St. Charles has ties to the entire state of Tennessee from east to west.
Did they know that their children were in danger from the man? Did they know that he was scouting for boys to molest? Read the entire article in the Memphis Daily News magazine. It will sicken you.
The mantle of charisma is now torn and shredded.
Link to magazine article (go to page 16):
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/WeeklyPdf/10222008-Vol1-No19.pdf
Article in the Memphis Daily Magazine - 10/22/08
If you have not seen this article, it is a must-read for everyone.
Here is the link to "Nothing Sacred."
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/WeeklyPdf/10222008-Vol1-No19.pdf
Go to page 16 after the article opens in your Adobe PDF reader.
Also check out David Brown's article on page 30 as well as the editor's
opinion and the article by Shirley McGowan, licensed counselor.
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