Grand Juries in Pennsylvania Active over Sexual Abuse of Children in Far More Than Penn State
Nov 10th, 2011 | 5 responses
Penn State and their sexual abuse intrusion cases are not alone is being peered at by a Grand Jury in Pennsylvania.
See excerpt from EWTN news Feb 15 of this year 2011 below detailing Grand Jury findings on abject neglect of credible complaints of sexual intrusion of children in Catholic Diocese…
one wonders what the h.e. double hockeysticks is in the water in Pennsylvania. But, then, it must be in the water in Ireland, Denver, all of Canada, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, New Orleans, Africa, backwater parishes, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and and and…
see also Kathy Gill’s article on letting go several men at Penn State– allegedly involved in a cover up of known and well reported [to them] sexual intrusion of a minor, one in which the details of anal rape of a ten year old boy are– as Kathy noted and I agree– just horrifying.
Too many people across the spectrum this year appear to be potential nominees for the “Cardinal Bernard Law CYA rather than protect the children… “What the He– Were You Thinking??!!” Dis-award.”
Some of the hierarchy at Penn State seem o have fallen into the same slag that the Catholic hierarchy has too often set the example for… for far too many men in the Catholic hierarchy have purposely ignoring the cries of the innocent.
Words are hard to come by to convey response enough to that. I just keep thinking of “suffer the little children to come to Me” meant to protect not to predate. And many portray Jesus as saying that reprimand oh so gently.
I dont agree. I think Jesu Cristo retorted to those who tried to trivialize and denigrate the children. I think He snapped “suffer the little children to come to Me” with blood in His voice and flames shooting from His eyes. As warning, as DONT you dare make a move on these innocents.
Here is excert from EWTN News…
The Feb. 10 grand jury report charged that Msgr. William Lynn, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s secretary of clergy under previous Philadelphia archbishop Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, endangered the welfare of children by allowing “dangerous” priests to remain in positions with access to children, the New York Times reported.
Priests accused of rape were “well known” to Msgr. Lynn, but he allegedly “cloaked their conduct and put them in place to do it again,” the grand jury report said.
The monsignor was responsible for investigating abuse allegations from 1992 to 2004. He faces a maximum of 14 years in prison if convicted on all the charges.
Besides the allegations against Msgr. Lynn, the report charged Fr. Edward Avery, 68, and Fr. Charles Engelhardt, 64, with rape and indecent assault upon a 10-year-old boy in St. Jerome Parish in 1998 and 1999. A teacher, 48-year-old Bernard Shero, was accused of assaulting the same boy in 2000.
Fr. James Brennan, 47, was accused of assaulting a 14-year-old boy in 1996.
All three priests were under arrest on Feb. 10.
Read more: http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=2645#ixzz1dIGoqb4i
5 Responses to “Grand Juries in Pennsylvania Active over Sexual Abuse of Children in Far More Than Penn State”
If anything good comes of the Penn State monstrous coverup, it may be that people will recognize that this is a systemic problem in all institutions where adults are in positions to abuse children.
For some reason, the authorities in those institutions believe it would reflect badly on them if they took immediate and harsh action against a perpetrator- or more correctly, I should say, to avoid protecting and turn such individuals in to police immediately so that due process can be served. It’s odd when you think about it…why would they believe that their public reputation would suffer more from exposing these incidents to the light of day, immediately- thus showing that they’re doing their duty to protect children- instead of believing that they can prevent it from reaching public knowledge?
I think the reasons for that distortion involve a few factors, including the mistaken belief that a pedophile can change his ways as well as the feeling that the judgment of the institution’s leaders will be called into question for putting that person in the position to perpetrate the act to begin with. But hopefully leaders in all institutions charged with care of children will begin to see that they’re far more likely to be found guilty in the court of public opinion from the coverups than from letting someone slip through the initial vetting process but then handling it swiftly and properly if one of these terrible predatory acts is reported with any possible credibility.
Well said, CS.
All I would add is that a person who witnesses such a heinous act and just slinks away to “tell someone” without taking immediate action to stop the act and the perpetrator is pure and simply a lousy coward.
Agreed, Dorian. It may not rise to the same level of evil as perpetrating the act, but it’s a clear example of Burke’s adage about what is required for evil to flourish.
The fact that child sexual abuse happens around the world is quite overshadowed by the fact that it happens massively more often in certain locations, situations, and, within certain organizations. It is also very apparent that it happens by men perpetrated against boys most often, though any of it is most disgusting. IMO crimes against the innocent and vulnerable are the worst and should be punished with physical pain, not just a restriction of freedom.
Allen, if by ‘certain institutions’ you mean, ‘institutions where adults have contact with children’, then I completely agree. For example, public schools.
If instead you’re trying to qualify this as something that happens in isolated institutional cultures, I don’t see any evidence of that. The rot is permeated throughout society, sadly.