tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post2969136901657562389..comments2024-03-12T19:57:41.861+00:00Comments on THINKING CATHOLICISM: THE CHRISTIAN / RATIONAL APPROACH TO PAEDOPHILESThinking Catholicismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16589713565062075036noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-46618070632410914342014-06-03T20:26:59.429+01:002014-06-03T20:26:59.429+01:00I work with folk some who may have been in prison ...I work with folk some who may have been in prison and some who may have been abusers. I am not paid (pennies) to be judgemental or moralistic. I am not a counsillor or a therapist. I work with the person in the here and now. I address issues such as housing, benefits, debt & pathways to work. I leave specific issues of rehabilitation to those who are competent to lead and guide in such areas. Obviously if I note a concern I will report it. My underlying aproach to everything is christian ethos. I believe Jesus deals with people in the present moment. This is my key to keeping sane-if I ever was sane in the first place. Jesus went about dealing with and healing what was broken. Some rejected his word and some always will. It takes courage to keep running the race especially when I ask myself whats the point! Seanroscommonmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08748800697962234196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-35419906553177015752014-06-03T15:54:56.606+01:002014-06-03T15:54:56.606+01:00Agree with much of your diagnosis Pat. A big probl...Agree with much of your diagnosis Pat. A big problem for child protection practitioners and law enforcement agencies lies in making judgements of where, in many continuums,(one-off "mild" abuse through to gravest abuse:, offenders full acknowledgement of personal culpability through to offender self delusional minimisation of culpability, and/or conscious manipulation) the offender lies. And maybe that last word is indeed an appropriate pun, for lies are commonplace in every aspect of offenders accounts/explanations.<br />The AA anology is very appropriate. However while the alcoholic hurts him/herself most, the abuser injures the child most, and for that reason I believe courts and professionals must always aim for extreme caution in dealing with abusers.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02301279219630682835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-69445640529359559692014-06-03T11:09:49.504+01:002014-06-03T11:09:49.504+01:00Friend,
Thank you for your comment. I am hoping t...Friend,<br /><br />Thank you for your comment. I am hoping there will be other comments. This topic really needs airing and discussion.<br /><br />I have often said that Father Brendan Smyth was once a beautiful baby in a pram that everyone admired.<br /><br />What happened to him on his journey that made him become what he seemed to become?????<br /><br />As a young priest in Wales I used to visit the superior of the Servants of the Paraclete in their house for "offenders" at Stroud. I was very impressed with the work I saw there. It was not the Nevada desert and abusing priests did live in community and many of them went on to experience healing. I am a supporter of this approach.<br /><br />I do understand your need not to put your name on this public site. But you could email me privately? Maybe the Lord has something for you and I to do in this area? bishoppatbuckley@hotmail.com<br /><br />PatThinking Catholicismhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16589713565062075036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-40142885522067010652014-06-03T08:56:44.434+01:002014-06-03T08:56:44.434+01:00This is one of the most challenging and enlighteni...This is one of the most challenging and enlightening of posts Pat and thank you for having the courage to post it. I note that there have been no comments thus far, perhaps an indication of the raw pain that surrounds this topic. As I said recently those who sexually offend against children and vulnerable adults are not monsters or aliens that have come to earth from another world, they are human beings. Human persons. Human persons who inflict terrible pain and suffering on their victims, but more often than not, and I repeat this, have had pain inflicted upon themselves and often as youngsters. This is not to excuse, but to help to try to understand. No child comes into this world evil, sick, weird, despicable...all words used of "paedo's" in the gutter press. Every human being comes into this world a blank canvas upon which life and experience, for good or for ill, paints the picture. I welcome you division of those who can be "redeemed" and though careful and close monitoring can be helped to face up to their crimes and not re-offend and indeed, where judged appropriate, make amends, and those who are so lost in their pyschopathy (and it is a pyschopathy to plan to abduct, rape and murder a child, even if that is not actualised) that they have to be removed from society and permanently. With priest / bishop offenders it is all the more complex and distressing as the psychopathy is hemmed in by religion and perverted theology. I recall that the founder of the Servants of the Paraclete, Fr Gerald Fitzgerald, way back in the 1950's petitioned the Vatican to allow him to set up a penitentiary for offender priests in the Navada desert. He viewed these men as so dangerous that he believed the only option was for them to be incarcerated for life, in comfort, yes, where they would be able to say mass, and have fraternity, but where they would stay until they died. I need not tell you that the project never saw the light of day. Thank you Pat for shining light on this most painful, yet sadly prevalent behaving. Forgive my need not to put my name to this. I know you understand.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com