From the Headlines:
Catholic coloring book warns US kids of pedophile priests
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New York's Roman Catholic Church is trying a novel approach to alert children to the danger of being sexually assaulted by a priest, with an abuse-themed coloring book, officials said Tuesday.
"Being Friends, Being Safe, Being Catholic," was distributed earlier this year to several hundred schools in the New York area as part of the church's Safe Environment Program, a spokeswoman from the city's Archdiocese said.
One image in the book features a guardian angel hovering over an altar boy with a priest lurking in the background.
"For safety's sake, a child and an adult shouldn't be alone in a closed room together," the angel counsels. In another, the angel warns of a sexual predator attempting to chat with a child over the Internet.
David Clohessy, head of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, cautiously welcomed the initiative, but said it did not go far enough.
"We applaud the intent but worry a bit about the approach... it does still feel like almost every step taken by the hierarchy is one that's been prompted by external pressure," he told AFP.
The scale of child abuse by priests remained hidden in the United States for years until the Archbishop of Boston confessed in 2002 to protecting a priest he knew had sexually abused young members of his church.
According to the group "Bishop Accountability," some 3,000 priests out of the 42,000 across the country have since been denounced, some of whom have been investigated and convicted.
Since the scandal broke, US Catholic authorities have paid out close to 2.8 billion dollars in damages, forcing many dioceses to sell off their assets.
Comments (1)
RE: Catholic Coloring Book & Pedophiles...
David Clohessy was unnecessarily kind and perhaps just “reaching” in trying to find a silver lining by applauding the "intent" behind the Catholic coloring book initiative for many reasons.
To address a few in no order:
1. The picture of the priest lurking, casts aspersions on all the 'good' priests unnecessarily, promotes paranoia and attempts to shift responsibility and blame.
2. The coloring book fails to address the only reason the clergy sexual abuse crisis grew and continues even now.
Why/How?
Bishops who have and continue to drive the "get-away" vehicle by quietly moving sexually abusive clerics from one community to another after learning of their abusive clergy (whether the cleric is female, male, secular or religious, paid or volunteer...) prey upon kids.
This is the single reason the clergy sexual abuse crisis was created and continues. If the Bishops stopped covering up for these clerics, they would not be able to abuse dozens and dozens and dozens of kids.
While child predators naturally gravitate towards positions where they have unfettered access to kids, it is Catholic Bishops and other church leaders who enable these horrible sex crimes to continue by lying, denying, minimizing and silently moving rogue clerics to unsuspecting communities and failing to warn parents or notify the police and prosecutors.
Imagine a different outcome if the first time the bishop learned of an abusive cleric, he called the police instead of his lawyer and PR dept? What is the message ZERO tolerance would send? What is the message that kind of response would send to kids? What is the message that would send to other abusive clerics?
The coloring book advocating to NEVER be alone with an adult is unrealistic and unattainable. Isn't it true that most kids will be "alone" with an adult at sometime? Teaching or instilling however unintentional, fear or paranoia does not protect kids. Instead, the coloring book promotes shame, doubt, confusion, paranoia and good old fashioned Catholic guilt.
More dangerous still, is that the coloring book subtly assigns an onus to a child that he or she bears some responsibility for their fate should they become a sexual crime victim,”” as they should have “known” not to be “alone' with an 'adult.”
Kids are not in a position to just "run-away" from an authority figure which most successful sexual predators double as in an unsuspecting child's life.
Child predators secular or not, enmesh themselves into the lives of kids and create opportunity where none exists. But, it's the cover-up that allows these abusive clerics to sexually assault kid after kid after kid netting dozens and dozens of victims over the decades going virtually undetected.
What might be a better approach is for our Catholic Bishops to:
a) stop quietly moving abusive and troubled clerics from community to community telling no one and
b) stop spinning it when they finally get caught doing so and
c) call 9-1-1 instead of their lawyer and PR team.
Where are those coloring book pages?
Kids need to be taught to tell and keep telling. Kids need to be taught that it is “safe” for them to speak up and that they will be believed not marginalized.
This coloring book is another stellar example, creatively disguised of smoke and mirrors.
-Claudia Vercellotti.
ps - The coloring book's angel counseling kids that for "safety sake" they shouldn't be alone with an adult is as ridiculous as it is creepy.
Posted by Claudia Vercellotti, SNAP Toledo | December 13, 2007 6:41 AM
Posted on December 13, 2007 06:41