Archbishop Timothy Dolan to Sexual Abuse Victim: "What was the Name of Your Guy Again?"
Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 385
The Survivor's Network of Those Abused By Priests (SNAP) feel that Archbishop Timothy Dolan hasn't done enough to address the issues of pedophilia and sexual abuse during his tenor in Milwaukee.
The organization says that over the last three decades, 60 to 70 clergy members have sexually assaulted children in Milwaukee, according to New York City news outlet NY1. The group is also certain that Mr. Dolan knows who these criminals are and that he has basically "pushed it off" for the next Archbishop the deal with.
"He sort of pushed it off to leave it to the next person. He has done some things around [sic] this issue that are disconcerting. He has not reported to police priests who have sexually assaulted children who were subsequently arrested andconvicted," said Peter Isely, who as a child was raped by a Catholic priest in Milwaukee.
John Pilmaier agrees with Mr. Isely. He states that Mr. Dolan has not been comforting to victims.
"When I did meet with him as a victim coming forward for the first time, his questions to me immediately was 'What was the name of your guy again?' Which made me realize that he had taken five minutes to read my file," said Mr. Pilmaier.
This display of indifference is not uncommon to Archdiocese leaders. Cardinal Roger Mahony has also proved to be uncooperative in sexual abuse matters, as he has suppressed vital information (preventing victims any catharsis), moved priests accused of sexual abuse to other parishes with children, and holds the stance that the days of sexual abuse within the Catholic church are over. The latter belief or denial may be the most troubling: It shows a religious leader, with a lot of power, not dealing with the problem and assuming that his priests will cease pedophilia urges, even though the sexual abuse of children within the Catholic church has been occurring for well over a thousand years.
Unfortunately, Mr. Dolan and The Cardinal are not the most logical people society has to deal with (even though they do hold enormous power and influence). Just look at the confusion taking place at their corporate headquarters:
[. . .] One does not have to venture as far as Nigeria to see the hypocrisies of reinvention at work. Rome will do, where the latest eternal verity being abandoned is the doctrine of limbo -- the place for the souls of unbaptised babies -- and where some cardinals are floating the idea that condoms are acceptable, within marital relationships only of course, in countries with high incidences of HIV infection. This latter, which to anyone but an observant Catholic is not merely a plain piece of common sense but a humanitarian imperative, is an amazing development in its context. Sensible Catholics have for generations been ignoring the views on contraception held by reactionary old men in the Vatican [. . .]
-A.C. Grayling, 2007
With that in mind, I think it'd be reasonable to ignore Mr. Dolan's and The Cardinal's recent statements that the days of sexual abuse within the Catholic church are over.
All empirical evidence on the subject matter shows that Mr. Dolan and Mr. Mahony are dead wrong: Future generations of unsuspecting children, who could be kept from the wickedness of some celibate clerics, particularly if this widespread sexual abuse problem was dealt with appropriately, will continue to be preyed upon by certain malevolent priests who believe that their transgressions -- all of them -- are justified due to their moral superiority, based on anachronistic life choices.