Easter Blessings... this is a time for new beginnings and reflection. Will Enablers in the past and today hear the message?
As an amateur writer, one of my articles, "Clergy Sex Abuse & Self-Serving Prophecies -- Are You An Enabler?" was published on the www.opednews.com website March 31, 2007. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the article does not appear in a routine www.google.com search, so I am posting it again with this commentary for reference purposes.
Tragically, clergy sex abuse crimes destroyed innocent children and families because the truths were never told, justice was denied and corrective actions were non-existent. Self-serving prophecies of the politically-connected dominated the laws of justice and innocent children and families were left to struggle with life-long issues relating to substance abuse, depression, suicide and crime.
John Chamberlain is a jail inmate that was recently murdered in the Orange County, California jail because prisoners were told he was a sexual predator. There is an ongoing investigation in California pending. However, it is hard to determine if the agency responsible for the investigation is free from conflicts of interest and enabling.
Yes, there is an urgent need to learn from past history especially as it relates to sex abuse crimes and the protections of children and vulnerable adults. However, one cannot possibly believe that all persons accused of sexual misconduct must be tragically murdered while awaiting due process of the law in a jail or prison.
Society ignored the rights of children to be safe from sexual predators. Enablers put self-serving prophecies before the protections of God's most precious gift to the world, our children. Society cannot ignore the rights of those accused of sex crimes because the clergy sex abuse crisis reveals the dangers that sexual predators pose to the world.
Will Society Learn From Past History? It all depends upon Enablers in the past and today. Without justice there will never be peace. Without peace, faith and our country's laws are empty.
******************************
March 31, 2007
Clergy Sex Abuse & Self-Serving Prophecies -- Are You an Enabler?
By Debby BodkinAs a Catholic wife, mother and advocate for clergy sex abuse victims, their families and those who seek to protect, reading U.S. Catholic Church in Need of Reform, by Nicholas V. Vakkur (published at www.dissidentvoice.org) provided valuable insight to the ongoing failures of our society to confront the clergy sex abuse crisis and take immediate corrective legislation efforts.
However, in the interests of justice and the protections of children, there is only one way to restore the mounting lack of public trust in religious, government, education, political, legal and law enforcement leaders, demand accountability from those who participated in the failures to protect children from heinous sex crimes and abuses of our country's judicial process. In other words, IT IS TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE - STOP SELF-SERVING PROPHECIES!Who are the ENABLERS of the past? Bishops, attorneys, Judges, legislators, government officials, teachers, administrators and law enforcement officials who knew better – and played dumb, using freedom of religion abuses to advance personal self-serving prophecies. Who are the ENABLERS today? You decide.
Five years after the sex abuse crisis erupted in 2002, religious, government, education and law enforcement leaders are still playing the ostrich. California’s 2003 Sex Abuse Law speaks for itself. Yet, Enablers in the past are slowly becoming Enablers of today. TO ALL ENABLERS past and today, it is time to confront the clergy sex abuse crisis with corrective legislation nationwide. Put an end to the horrific clergy sex abuse tragedies and stop the mounting lack of public trust in religion and government leadership. Without justice there will never be peace. Without peace, faith and our country's laws are empty.
