I’ve been sending my husband into brothels for the past year now. Into girly bars and strip clubs and “massage” parlors, too.
And when we got married thirteen years ago, when I wore white and pledged purity, I never expected to find myself at home praying for my spouse’s protection while he texted me about the prostitute on his arm. I never dreamed I’d watch video footage of him asking for sex from a minor, in the same day he played baseball with my son and kissed me in the kitchen. And I never envisioned the greatest tool God would use teach me about his Light would be a world of covert cameras and mafia circles, a world of pushy pimps and dancing bar girls.
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When we moved overseas to Asia several years ago, we were burdened by two things– the plight of impoverished women and children and the injustices of human trafficking. And after a year of managing a Girls’ Home, we began to delve more specifically into the issues surrounding the underage sex industry which are so rampant in that part of the world. My husband sat in meetings, we went to conferences, we networked, we got on-the-ground experience. And we began learning of a glaring hole in the fight to rescue girls and boys out of brothels. While the legal system is in place to prosecute traffickers in the country we were living, there were very few tips and credible evidence handed over to the authorities. With small police budgets and a culture of acceptance for the sex industry itself, it was very difficult for victims to be found, raids to be undertaken, and criminals to be prosecuted.
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It is a good thing to recognize the fallibility of man. The culture of our times is morality abstractly contrived, so we must champion the eradication of evil, of which pedophilia ranks right up there with a rejection of “Good” and a selfish defense of evil.
Visit “Synonyms” by Shannon Ivey and the associated exposé of the four part series on the Paraclete letters. The secular world is now exposed in its own massive failing of the children with that national secular scandal of teachers, the Miramonte (Los Angeles School Scandal) poster issue, the Penn State atrocity and the pervasive influence of misguided fallible men and women who would kill legislation, as in California, that would hold pedophile teachers and administrators responsible and accountable. This should bring this issue home, up close and personal.
And we look to religion to lead but we are learning that any religion that does not serve the needs of the people is no religion. Why is the global culture so course? The Catholic Church, the best example of spirituality corrupted, which now should be fully informed, is still on track to canonized good popes whose major flaw, undeniable failing was that they “knew and did nothing.” And the spiritual shepherds of our times are miserably deficient in acknowledging the truth and protecting the children.
We know that on his U.S. visit in April 2008, Benedict XVI expressed his sorrow to the victims of clergy abuse and made some vague promises regarding punishing the guilty. But, so far, we still have not seen any concrete follow-up to those lamentations. And few are following the hypocrisy of the extreme complacency of the Vatican in dealing with the pedophilia crisis in the U.S. It has always covered for the priests and blamed the critics, as if they were trying to destroy the Church. This “omerta” continues with the unbelievable priestly pedophilia in Italy and is well worth mentioning. It is the “book-ends” to “On Sending My Husband Into Brothels”.
One has to be stunned “Indeed, on March 21, 2002, the secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), Bishop Giuseppe Betori, affirmed that the phenomenon of pedophilia in the Italian clergy ‘is so small that it does not deserve any special attention.’ This is why, the Bishop continued, ‘the permanent council of the Bishops’ Conference had never spoken about pedophilia. It has no list of names on this topic. We aren’t looking at a single case and don’t [even] have a control process.’” This is absolutely understandable and equally condemnable. Here is what the ignorant Bishop Giuseppe Betori is missing.
In January 10, 2000 – Fr. Giorgio Mazzoccatto was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison for sexual violence against minors.
January 17, 2000 – Another priest, age 62, living in the province of Ferrara, was sentenced to one year and 9 months in prison. This is clearly an indifferent attitude of the Italian Episcopate.
January 23, 2000 – Fr. Giuseppe Rassello, 49, was sentenced in 1991 to serve 3 years and 3 months in prison after being found guilty of sexual abuse against a 14-year-old adolescent.
February 1, 2000 – Fr. Marco Gamba, pastor of San Michele Church in the province of Turin, was found guilty of sexual abuses of pre-pubescent altar boys and was sentenced to a 4-½ year prison term.
May 20, 2000 – Fr. Giorgio Govoni, 59, pastor of Staggia di San Prospero was accused of being a member of a group of pedophiles who engaged in sexually violent and harmful acts with minors. After a legal investigation brought to light the testimony of around 300 witnesses and 5,000 pages of reports in 57 sessions, the court issued 14 sentences condemning the criminals to penalties of 2 to 19 years in prison.
November 2000 – A priest from Milan was found guilty of sexual violence against children in his parish community and was condemned to 4 years and 2 months in prison.
January 29, 2001 – Fr. Pino Carpi was condemned by the court of Chiavari to pay $24,000 for molesting a 14-year-old girl when he was pastor of Santa Margherita Ligure Church.
June 26, 2001 – Fr. Renato Mariani was found guilty of sexual violence against minors and condemned to 4 years in prison.
September 14, 2002 – Fr. Gaudencio Hidalgo, was arrested in Mexico. After an Italian judge gave him a prison sentence, he fled the country to Mexico, his homeland.
December 30, 2002 – A pastor of the Milan province was arrested for the crime of disseminating pornographic pedophile material.
May 6, 2003 – Fr. D.B. pastor of a church in Genoa, was arrested along with four other pedophiles who lured boys age 11 to 17 to commit sexual acts.
May 27, 2003 – A monk belonging to a religious institute of Milan was found guilty of sexual molestation and harm to five primary school children. He was condemned to 4 years and 8 months in prison.
July 25 – Fr. Bruno Tancredi was found guilty of sexual violence and harm to two minors, ages 14 and 16, one of them handicapped. He was condemned to 6 years in prison.
September 17, 2003 – Fr. Paolo Turturro was accused of sexual abuse against two 10-year-old boys.
October 1, 2003 – Fr. Luciano Micchelotti was condemned for having pornographic pedophile material in his possession.
November 2003 – A pastor of Oristano Church was arrested in Sardinia on an accusation of pedophilia.
January – A priest (name concealed) of Romiti di Forli parish was condemned to 2 years of prison after he confessed he was guilty of pedophilia.
February 2 – Fr. Roberto Volaterra was given a 1 year and 8 month prison term and sentenced to pay $71,000 for sexual violence against a 13-year-old girl. In an effort to prevent his arrest, parishioners, the “good” doing “wrong”, defended the priest with physical force. However, the defendant pleaded guilty, acknowledging the truth of the accusations.
February 25 – Fr. Paolo Pellegrini was arrested for sexual violence against a minor. On June 11, Fr. Pellegrini was sentenced to 6 years in prison and ordered to pay $95,000 for both sexual violence and instigating a minor to use drugs.
March 3 – Fr. Giancarlo Locatelli was placed under police scrutiny for possessing a collection of pornographic pedophile material.
April 20 – Fr. Pietro Sabatini was condemned to pay $7,250 for purchasing pornographic pedophile material through the Internet.
July 1, 2004 – Fr. Felice Cini was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison.
July 7, 2004 – Fr. Bruno Puelo was found guilty of sexual abuses against seven boys in the Agrigento seminary school, and was given a 2 year and 7 month prison term.
July 14, 2004 – Fr. Domenico Marcanti, was found guilty of pedophilia and sentenced to 3 years in prison.
October 15, 2004 – Fr. Gorgio Barbacini was sentenced to 3-½ years in prison for sexually abusing a minor under his custody.
October 2004- Fr. Roberto Mornat was found guilty of acts of pedophilia with 12 boys and sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison, as well as to pay $442,000 to the victims.
May 20, 2005 – Fr. Mauro Stefanoni was arrested for sexual violence against a 14-year-old retarded boy and for possessing pornographic pedophile material.
June/July 2005 – Fr. Renato Giaccardi was arrested and accused of leading minors, 30 minors, into prostitution and exploiting them.
July 11, 2005 – Fr. Pierangelo Bertagna was arrested and confessed his guilt in committing sexual violence against boys (no number disclosed) in his parish.
November 15, 2005 – A lawsuit was filed against the Archdiocese of Naples by the attorney of a youth who was 14-years-old when the alleged pedophile acts occurred.
April 5, 2006 – Fr. Marco Agostini was arrested and 17 persons filed a lawsuit against him. He was accused of sexual abuse and harm committed against 10 minors of the asylum he administrated. The case of Fr. Marco Agostini brought to light the involvement of two other priests in pedophile crimes – Fr. Ennio di Giampasquale, ex-parish priest of San Benedetto in Pomezia and Fr. Germano Agostini, pastor of San Michele Arcangelo Church.
May 3, 2006 – Fr. Donato Bono was under house arrest for having been found practicing obscene acts with a minor in his automobile.
At the end of this exposé, we should take into account that this is just the result of the research of a single journalist. How many other cases were there to which he had no access? How many others have there been before and after he published his, Emilio Carnevali, “Pedophile priest in Italy”, report on May 13, 2006?
The only difference between the policies of the Episcopates of the U.S., the subjects of “On Sending My Husband Into Brothels” and Italy seems to be that the latter, including the Vatican, has much more influence in pressuring the courts and the police to remain silent and keep things comfortable for the Bishops.
At the end of this exposé, we should take into account that this is just the result of the research of a single journalist. How many other cases were there to which he had no access? How many others have there been after he published his report on May 13, 2006? If our “religious” cultures cannot get it “straight” then it is but a short step to radical immoral secular jihadism.
On August 9, 2007 Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, addressed, among other topics, the pedophilia crisis in the U.S. and the attitude of the Catholic Church regarding it. He spoke of the “dignity” that the Church in the U.S. showed during the crisis. He attacked an unnamed “business” that profited from the pedophile crisis in the clergy, supposedly lawyers and victims. Bertone emphatically stated: “We must keep in mind that of the 44,000 priests here in the United States, the percentage of those who have been involved in these scandals is very small. He is so wrong, ignorant or complicit on all accounts. Research http://www.bishop-accountability.org/
In conclusion, a few comments on Clerical pedophilia, substantially under exposed, in America. Archbishop Robert Sanchez of Santa Fe, New Mexico, resigned in March 1993 following accusations that he had abused five teenage girls. Bishop J. Keith Symons of Palm Beach, Florida, resigned in 1998 after having admitted he had molested five altar boys decades earlier. Bishop Patrick Ziemann of Santa Rosa, California, resigned in 1999 after he was sued for abusing an altar boy for over 20 years and a priest for two years. Bishop Anthony O’Connell of Palm Beach, Florida, resigned in March 2002, after he confessed to having abused a boy. Bishop J. Kendrick Williams of Lexington, Kentucky, resigned in June 2002, facing allegations he had abused minors and an 18-year-old man. Bishop Daniel Ryan of Springfield, Illinois, resigned in October 1999 as a consequence of revelations of two male prostitutes, of whom he was a client. Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, resigned in May 2002 after indisputable public evidence was released to the media by his homosexual partner. In June 2002 it was disclosed that Benedictine Abbot John Eindenschink of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, had abused a monk for a period of eight years. In August 2002, it came to light that late Bishop James Rausch of Phoenix, Arizona, had abused a minor.
How can someone pretend that Card. Bernard Law acted with dignity when he covered up for the sexual abuse of monsters like Fr. John Geoghan and Fr. Paul Shanley – the first with more than 100 charges of abuse (pp. 77, 185-187), the second, besides his countless children molestations, a speaker who publicly defended pedophilia, bestiality and incest as normal. Where is the dignity in the recent attitude of Cardinal Roger Mahony who paid $660 million to more than 500 victims to settle their complaints out of court in order to prevent his conduct as Archbishop of Los Angeles from becoming public? Isn’t this exorbitant price for silence a tacit confession of guilt?
JPII blesses Fr. Marcial Maciel, Legionaries of Christ founder, despite numerous credible pedophile allegations.
Recent studies published in Los Angeles raised the estimate of pedophile victims, considering that only 6% of abused children report the crimes. If this is true, as I believe it is, the number of victims would far surpass the 100,000 cases reported, and the number of guilty priests that today oscillates from 2,000 to 4,000 would skyrocket. That the authority, any authority, must punish the guilty is an elementary principle regarding the common good of any society that wants to maintain its social health?
The “fish rots at the head”. When the spiritual leadership of a culture fails we have “On Sending My Husband Into Brothels”. And these police and religious are the guardians of the children? It would be well for us to embrace the belief that “we must be the change we seek” for those currently entrusted with that sacred duty are unacceptably corrupt and inadequate.