Asking For It

So, this Franciscan dude in a dress friar accuses young sex-abuse victims of seducing the poor hapless priests.

"Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster -- 14, 16, 18 -- is the seducer," said Groeschel, the host of a weekly show called Sunday Night Prime.

"Well, it's not so hard to see -- a kid looking for a father and didn't have his own -- and they won't be planning to get into heavy-duty sex, but almost romantic, embracing, kissing, perhaps sleeping but not having intercourse or anything like that."

The New York-based clergyman with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal went on to say he doesn't think child sex abusers should be tried on their first offence.

"...I'm inclined to think, on their first offence, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime."

Groeschel sympathized with former Penn State University assistant football coach and serial child molester Jerry Sandusky.

"Here's this poor guy -- Sandusky -- it went on for years ... Why didn't anyone say anything?"

After the predictable shitstorm hit, everybody concerned walked it back and apologized. No, no, no, that's not what he/I meant. And besides he's an old fart who has medical issues.

Riiight. But this is no obscure loony Todd Akin in a frock.

He's quite a big noise in the Vatican Taliban.

Father Benedict Joseph Groeschel, C.F.R., (born July 23, 1933) is a Catholic priest, retreat master, author, psychologist, activist and host of the television talk program Sunday Night Prime with Father Benedict Groeschel, which is broadcast on the Eternal Word Television Network. He has also hosted several serial religious specials in addition to Sunday Night Prime. He is the director of the Office for Spiritual Development for the Catholic Archdiocese of New York as well as associate director of Trinity Retreat[1] and the executive director of The St. Francis House.[2] He is professor of pastoral psychology at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York and an adjunct professor at the Institute for Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia. He is one of the founders of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.

These little 'off-leash' comments are entirely in keeping with his history and beliefs.

Groeschel has also been a highly visible Catholic activist, first in the civil rights movement. He publicly criticizes insulting depictions of the church in popular culture and the media. In September 1998, he led protests outside of an Off-Broadway theater in New York City against the production of Terrence McNally’s play Corpus Christi.[17] In his 2002 book, From Scandal to Hope, he accused The Boston Globe, The New York Times and The San Francisco Chronicle of revealing anti-Catholic prejudice in their respective coverage of the sexual abuse scandal that disrupted the church. “Seldom in the history of journalism have I seen such virulent attacks on any institution that is supposed to receive fair treatment in the press,” he wrote.

His Wiki page desperately needs updating.

CONservative family values: the Republican *Christian* way.

The MASSIVE cognitive dissonance in US right-wing neo-CON politics lumbers on, like a huge prehistoric creature whose dysfunctional actions signal the ongoing extinction of its species.

First, this:

The son of Arizona's Senate president confessed that he and another counselor shoved broomsticks and flashlights into the rectums of 18 boys in at least 40 incidents at a youth camp in June.

Now Yavapai County prosecutors say they will drop all but one assault charge and likely recommend little or no jail time if 18-year-old Clifton Bennett agrees to plead guilty.

A similar agreement has been offered to co-defendant Kyle Wheeler, 19, who faces an additional assault charge for choking three of the boys until they passed out.

The plea agreements were first presented in court last week and could be completed at a hearing Monday.

Prosecuting attorney James Landis explained the plea agreement in court, saying the "broomsticking" was a hazing ritual and a punishment, not sexual assault.

But legal experts, sex-crimes prosecutors and victims'-rights lawyers say the acts clearly fit the definition of sexual assault.

The pleas, which describe the assault charge as "a non-dangerous, non-repetitive offense," have outraged parents who say their sons were victims of violent sexual attacks. The boys, who were 11 to 14 years old at the time, have had trouble going to the bathroom, sleep with clothes on, are afraid at night, and have undergone sexual-assault counseling. [...]

Lawyers for [Clifton] Bennett [...] described Bennett as an honor student and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, planning to go on a mission in September. "A felony conviction for assault will make his desire to complete his mission impossible," they wrote.

The outcome:

A judge on Friday sentenced the son of Arizona Senate President Ken Bennett to 30 days in jail and his fellow counselor to 45 days for a series of hazings at a youth camp near Prescott last June.

Clifton Bennett, 18, and fellow counselor Kyle Wheeler, 19, admitted to abusing 18 boys ages 11 to 14 — who had been hand-picked for a weeklong leadership camp — by poking them in the rear end with broomsticks, a flashlight and a cane as a punishment or just because they were in a bad mood. [...]

More than a dozen victims' parents spoke, calling the hazing sexual assault and molestation despite findings by state experts that there was no sexual intent behind the "broomings."

Both sides of the case expressed disappointment with the sentence. Family members and victims called it too lenient and said Bennett got a deal because of his father's position, while Bennett's family said he was treated with more scrutiny because of his father.

Bennett and Wheeler had each been charged with 18 counts of kidnapping and 18 counts of aggravated assault. Bennett was allowed to plead guilty to one assault charge while Wheeler pleaded guilty to two charges. Prosecutors dropped the other charges.

Notice the change in language from one media report to the other. Actions that were violent, forced upon children, invasive of their bodies and caused them damage and harm, are now described as "a poke in the rear end".

Did Jerry Sandusky use similar innocuous words to defend his behaviour when (or more likely if) Penn State football coach Paterno questioned him?

Afterward, Bennett and his father left the courthouse from the back to avoid media attention.

When reporters caught up with them, the elder Bennett said his son had made an unfortunate decision.

When asked how he felt about the sentence, Bennett said: "How would you feel if your son were going to jail?"

The families will probably launch civil suits. Clearly none of them gravitate in the exalted, privileged circles of political and oligarchal power that the Bennetts do.

The above is a photograph of serial sexual abuser Clifton Bennett.

I fear this man will re-offend, and he'll use the considerable resources at his disposal to avoid any form of accountability. This experience has probably also taught him how not to get caught, next time. Leave no witnesses.

ADDED: The Daily KOS nails it.

[...] when your son brutally traumatizes a bunch of 11 to 14 year-olds, you don’t whine about the sentence. You are down on your hands and knees begging forgiveness from the victims, for maybe having failed to meet your obligations as a parent.

But the overlords of Happy Valley – whether it’s a college campus or the state of Arizona - never teach this kind of accountability to their children because they don’t face it themselves. Their money, their connections, their fame, their manipulation of the system mean never, ever having to say they’re sorry and actually mean it, let alone pay an appropriate price for what they do.

I don’t want these people anywhere in or near the White House. Because they are the kind of people who will steal your children’s clean water for their fracking profits. They will let your children go to bed hungry and come to school hungry, so they can get another $150,000 off their taxes. And they will send your children to die in Iraq, or Iran, or wherever the next trumped-up conflict is, so they can continue to profit from war.

Amen.

It's a predator's world, not a *man's world*.

"If you're asked if you're sexually attracted to young boys and "No" isn't the first word out of your mouth, you have a problem." This was a succinct response to the Jerry Sandusky interview on NBC.

As the fatuous Ottawa Citizen dinosaur contributor David Warren observed, what's the big deal about men (priests, coaches, men in authority, etc. etc.) sexually abusing children? Happens all the time. Don't make a fuss about it, it only causes harm - to the institutions complicit in allowing those violations.

So. There's a minority of men who are serial sexual predators. Their actions are sanctioned by a second minority of men who don't want to rock the boat nor challenge the status quo. Their silence is complicity.

Then there's a third group of honourable and respectful men who will speak up and take a stand. Such as this guy did:

Meet John Matko. John Matko is a 34-year-old Penn State class of 2000 alumnus, distraught by the recent revelations that Coach Joe Paterno and those in charge at his alma mater allegedly shielded a serial child rapist, assistant Jerry Sandusky. He was livid that students chose to riot on campus this week in defense of their legendary coach. He was disgusted that the Board of Trustees decided to go ahead as planned with Saturday’s Nebraska game just days after the revelations became public. John Matko felt angry and was compelled to act. He stood outside Saturday’s Penn State–Nebraska game in Happy Valley and held up two signs. One read, “Put abused kids first.” The other said, “Don’t be fooled, they all knew.[...]

Matko stood with his signs behind a pair of sunglasses. He wasn’t soapboxing, or preaching: just bearing silent witness. It was an admirable act, but no one bought him a beer. Instead, beer was poured on his head. His midsection was slapped with an open hand. Expletives were rained upon him. His signs were also kicked to the ground and stomped.

As the Washington Times wrote, “Abuse flew at Matko from young and old, students and alumni, men and women. No one intervened. No one spoke out against the abuse.”

One disapproving student said, “Not now, man. This is about the football players.”

And with those nine words, we see the truth about Saturday’s enterprise. It was about the football program, not the children. It was morbid theater where people were mourning the death of a jock culture that somewhere along the line, mutated into malignancy. It’s a malignancy that deprioritized rape victims in the name of big-time football.

It's a malignancy that deprioritizes victims of abuse in the name of ... the Catholic Church ... heterosexual marriage ... the war in Iraq ... the credibility of the IMF ....

Add your own big-time sacrosanct institution to the list.

UPDATE: Must-have link to Heather Mallick's piece. This is vintage Mallick, thank the goddess. For a while there, I suspected that she had been declawed, defanged and neutered by Toronto Star publisher John Cruikshank and kept around as a warning to other feminist writers.

Grand merci to fellow Prog blogger DrDawg for one of the references.

Was this last year the annus horribilis

or maledictus? Happy Birthday Joe, Benny - whatever. The Devil knows your real name.

Bonus present: Catholic Church members who benevolently say stuff like: “If there is a body of people around an offender who monitor their day-to-day activities and help manage them adopt a ‘good life’ model, this is more effective than brandishing them on the wider community, which evidence suggests could lead to more offending.” when defending the practice of not defrocking priests who have sexually abused children or not turning them over to civil authorities for prosecution.

Indeed. And that worked so well, did it?

What's the saying about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions?

Candidate for Offensive Analogy of the Century

. . . hell, maybe the millennium.

So, there I was at the Google News main page and saw this headline from the Globe (it's an AP story):

Pope’s preacher likens sex-abuse allegations to violence against Jews

I sat there blinking for a few minutes and decided that I don't even know where to begin with that.

Oh, and if you read the story, you'll see that it's OK, because this insane counter-attack was suggested by an actual Jew.

MORE: From the New York Times:

Rabbi Riccardo di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome, who hosted Benedict at the Rome synagogue in January on a visit that helped calm waters after a year of tensions, laughed in seeming disbelief when asked about Father Cantalamessa’s remarks.

“With a minimum of irony, I will say that today is Good Friday, when they pray that the Lord illuminate our hearts so we recognize Jesus,” Rabbi Di Segni said, referring to a prayer in a traditional Catholic liturgy calling for the conversion of the Jews. “We also pray that the Lord illuminate theirs.”

See? This is what happens when you let your priesthood marry and have normal lives and everything. Not only can they keep it in their pants way better, they're relaxed enough to say pretty funny stuff under pressure.