The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay more than $1 million each to each of several hundred people who claim to have been abused by Catholic clergy.
An anonymous source with knowledge of the deal placed its value at $660 million, by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal.
Hmmm... I wonder if all of those Catholics who graciously donated their money to their church expected it to be used this way?
Monday, July 16, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
27 comments:
Although this is the largest payment so far, it is not the only one... I grabbed the following details from a post on nogodblog:
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, 2007, $600 million to 500 people.
Diocese of Orange, California, 2004, $100 million for 90 abuse claims.
Diocese of Covington, Kentucky, 2006, $84 million for more than 350 abuse claims.
Archdiocese of Boston, 2003, $84 million for 552 claims.
Diocese of Oakland, California, 2005, $56 million to 56 people.
Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, 2007, $52 million to 175 victims in order to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
Diocese of Spokane, Washington, 2007, agrees to pay $48 million for about 150 claims to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
Diocese of Sacramento, California, 2005, pays $35 million to 33 people.
Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, 2003, $25.7 million to 243 people.
Well, the RC church seems to have established the value of a pre-pubescent virgin ass-hole. I'm sure that that Western culture is indebted... mightily.
Among other concerns of mine:
People who sexually abuse children have been sexually abused as children.
So, now there are thousands and thousands of Catholic children who were convinced during the last few decades that having sex with an adult is something God wants them to do.
My prediction is that we are going to be dealing with Catholics sexually abusing children for another generation.
And we are not working to break the cycle. We are, instead, considering adding sexual abuse to our list of capital crimes.
Why anyone would ever be a Catholic after this, I just can't imagine. Does it get any more damaging and hypocritical from a bunch of religious leaders than this?
I wonder if those who were abused actually think that their god approved of the "abuse"? I had never considered that. Also, I note that several of the payees in LA are families of people who have committed suicide - another grim and sad effect of this sickening catholic debacle.
I really doubt that they believe it is divinely sanctioned. Rather I suspect it is rationalized as not truly counting as sex, and therefore not a violation of the oath of celibacy. I believe allegations and rumors of this kind of thing go back at least to the middle ages, so it's hardly something new. Doesn't make it acceptable, just all the more sad.
I don't mean to imply that consciously any abused adult thinks sex with children is divinely sanctioned.
But there was some convincing of these children. Psychologically, the younger you are convinced of something, the harder it is to really ever overcome it.
Mark Foley comes to mind as the perfect example. Mark Foley was on the committee to protect exploited children.
HOW, you ask? How hypocritical!
After being exposed as a middle-aged man who is sexually attracted to young boys, he said he was abused by a catholic priest.
People on both sides of the aisle had various things to say about mark foley.
But the fact of the matter is, EVERYTHING Mark Foley did is completely consistent with the idea that a catholic priest was his first sexual encounter.
And, children don't EVER choose to have sex with an adult so the priest was the one who chose to talk Foley into believing it was okay to have sex.
btw, I know it's hard to have much sympathy for these people, but the exact pattern of abuse goes for those who physical abuse children -- they were physically abused as children. Someone once taught them that they were only abusing them because they loved them. Guaranteed.
btw, I also mean to say that the priests themselves were also abused. And this goes back to Bob's comment that this has probabaly gone on for centuries. In my lifetime, I have known catholics who sent the first boy off to the priesthood at 16. If, in 1960, he had an encounter with a "mentor" at seminary, who had an encounter with a "mentor"...
you get my drift. Yes, I think it has gone on for centuries.
Jan, here's an odd thought that just occurred to me that might lend something of a biological origin to some of this. Consider this thought: A fair amount of the subconscious level of sexual attraction is based on pheremones. When you have a man who has been absolutely denied the usual biological connections, there might come the subconscious urge to find the closest analog. And when you have at hand a young boy, that is a person with no male pheremones to be a signal of inappropriateness as a 'mate', then perhaps these things can begin. This is not by way of excusing the behavior, simply a thought about the possible origins of it all.
Well, Bob, you're talking about unusual sexual behavior, with some religion thrown in, so there's a lot of stuff going on there.
But if you are talking about adults who prefer to have sex with children, chances are they had sex as children with an adult. And chances are that THAT adult also had sex as a child with an adult. And probably so on and so on.
I think maybe you might be referring to times when it might not actually be "abuse."
Children do not want to "have sex." Therefore, if an adult convinces them... with various schemes -- threat, love, fear, attention -- to have sex with them, it is abuse.
I hope none of us are having this this discussion to "excuse" or "not excuse" another person's behavior.
I just always want to point out the heartbreaking reality of a cycle that is very difficult for an abused human being to break.
With the news that catholic priests have been allowed to sexually abuse thousands and thousands of children, I'm just saying that we should expect thousands and thousands of cathoilc boys to be caught sexually abusing children. And those "boys" are about mark foley's age now.
Hating pedaphiles doesn't help, and it actually probably hurts in terms solving the problem. (Bob, you don't strike me as much of a hater, btw)
Adults who prefer to have sex with children are not normal, and I will never condone that.
But people who prefer to have sex with children have been damaged by an adult themselves at some point.
When I hear stories like Mark foley's, I just wait to hear the follow-up claim of abuse.
Because p.s. no one publicly claims to have been sexually abused to get out of being publicly humiliated.
So, bottom line, bob, your thoughts are right on. Especially if we are talking about sexually abnormal behavior caused by a chemical imbalance.
However, you're also more apt to be talking about adults who are AFRAID to have sex with adults because of their own stunted emotional growth as children, and that's a different problem... perpetuated by a childhood that is emotionally stunted for some reason. (jail, seminary, boarding school, whatever)
I don't really believe in "good" and "evil" so I'm always trying to understand people who want to hurt other people.
In years of study, I've most often found out that they themselves have been hurt, especially as children, almost without exception.
In other words, what you see is what they GOT themselves, somewhere along the line.
The younger when the abuse came, the more bizarre form the lashing back can take. Or it can take the form of Mark foley sincerely being on the committee for exploited children because he sincerely cares about exploited children, having been one himself.
Or, obviously, it can come out (no pun intended) both ways (again, no pun intended.)
Well, enough babbling about sex... :) Nite-nite!
Jan, I agree completely. There are a number of psychological conditions and situations that can give rise to the tendencies which can develop into a predeliction for such behavior. I was just speculating about possible biochemical cues that could help feed into the situation. Hmm..did I qualify that statement enough? lol. I agree also about good and evil. Anyway, goodnight.
In the case if the RC Church, what you have is a social institution founded on a flawed premise, re-enforced by the support of captive subscribers, and perpetuating the disempowerment of individuals through generation after generation of covert action.
And yet, the RC Church remains one of the richest, most broadly respected and supported of Western cultural institutions.
When chinks in this ‘holy armor’ become visible, it is a disservice to all of us to ignore the lessons the offered. Not acting when enlightened threatens us all.
The issue here is not the long, long train of victims; it is the institution that promotes and protects such abuse. This is true whether the acts are the sexual abuse of children or the physical abuse of any one else. There is no legitimate justification; not sex, not inclination, not age, not even political opinion.
You guys really miss the point here. Child rape outside the RC church what do you get?
Victim - nothings, thanks for testifying as in Vermont Alabama and Minnesota.
Child Rapist - Rehabilitation and then back to the street. Maybe a 2-3 year sentence but doubtful
In the RC Chruch the victim gets a cool 1 million dollar check and all you must do is be RC and make the claim you were abused 20 years ago by a priest dead for the last 20 years. That is one sweet deal!
All industry, businesses and government agencies should follow this model for all victims of child rape. Now where do I sign up.
tf,
You can sign up once you have gotten fucked in the ass or have had to suck dick. Once you have that task accomplished, then we can start talking about the cool million.
I think you miss the point TF... the catholics should be forced to pay thru the ass as much for covering up and protecting ass plundering child rapists as for producing an atmosphere that attracts child rapists.
Fuck the Catholic church!
Heathen
I agree BUT So should the prick judges that send them to rehab so they can get out and rape kids again. The RC is at least compensating. Who is compensating the families who are not RC? Why do rapist who rape women get 15-20 years and child rapist get rehab?
My point is that priest are just a small percentage of pedophiles on the lose.
While we are at it, when will school districts start compensating families for teachers who like to suck dick and ream corn holes?
I'm all for compensation where and when it can be done. And I'm all for sending convicted child rapists to prison for life. Let's stop prosecuting and convicting people for victimless crimes like drug "abuse" and then we can ensure we have enough prison space to hold the shitheads that should be jailed.
"The RC is at least compensating."
What? I don't think there is any justifiable compensation for coerced rape! IMHO it is statements like this that diminish the sheer horror of people who hold themselves above others as more moral doing what these sick bastards did. Justifiable? Plagues unleashed by their supposed god to wipe out the "holy" catholic church would come close to approaching a just compensation.
Heathen, I agree. We fill our jails with drug users so we can fill the streets with child rapist. Its absolute stupidity
CSM, a few priest rape, the RC is in the business of money. I don't think the RC encourages child rape since that would cut into their revenues. Would you be better with them not paying the victims anything?
Go to RC hell, you excremental boil, and take those pederast priests and their RC protectors with you.
Looks like I am going to have to work on my insults. Mental midget doesn't even come close to "excremental boil".
bawdy's right, derf, that was a classic!
Watch out, TFPOMA will change his handle to Excremental Boil if we're not careful!
"Go to RC hell, you excremental boil"
Where is RC Hell? That sounds like something the near-sighted nerds in the basement call one another when they hog the bandwidth.
So derf, You aspire to be a demented dweeby dead carp who is jealous of the mildew gulping spaz and the abysmal hairy-assed?
Go drool on somebody else, you Capitalist racist bottom feeder who smells like the stringy dillberry and the mangled cabbage.
Bang your head against the wall, with the other hideous sewer dwelling idiots who are pimping out the disease ridden whores and the two bit clansman.
Ohh... now I see. You're already in RC hell!!! Probably you're only kissing the pope's ass in hopes for future dispensation.
You'll probably be much happier visiting the green turtles with the other 12 step neo-con whores. Bye-bye you corporatist twit.
derf the Pope called while you were out. He wants his 1 million dollar check back.
May you soak in the puss of my boil with the other near-sighted basement nerds fighting over 56K bandwidth to post your sensless tripe.
Good Night
fat ass(contraction, of course),
What the hell is wrong with Capitalism? You got a better idea?
tfpoma said "CSM, a few priest rape, the RC is in the business of money. I don't think the RC encourages child rape since that would cut into their revenues. Would you be better with them not paying the victims anything?"
As I said earlier, I'd be happy with a plague that totally destroyed the catholic church. I know that is not realistic, but IMHO nothing else comes even remotely close to being a reasonable reparation for non-consensual sodomy and rape... and the systematic covering up of the same.
Post a Comment