On Friday, June 22, 2012, the verdicts were announced in two important child molestation trials that had been going on simultaneously in Pennsylvania:
Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant football coach of Penn State University, was convicted of 45 of the 48 child molestation charges against him. And, Monsignor William J. Lynn was found guilty of essentially contributing to a cover-up of sexual predators among Catholic priests in the archdiocese of Philadelphia. The priests had been molesting children for years. Lynn was the first high-ranking church official to be prosecuted for failing to protect children.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported on both of these cases extensively. You can read more about them here:
Complete coverage: Scandal at Penn State
Complete coverage: Clergy abuse case
In both of these cases, sordid details of men using their positions of prestige and power to seduce and manipulate children were aired in public. The eight young men who testified in the Jerry Sandusky trial were incredibly brave, and prosecutors in the church trial were able to introduce into evidence decades worth of rape and molestation charges. For victims everywhere, many of whom probably thought they would never be believed or see any modicum of justice, the verdicts are great victories.
But here is the real change brought about by these trials: Big, powerful institutions are now on notice. They can no longer sacrifice the innocents in order to preserve their reputations and protect their treasuries. Whether it is the Holy Roman Catholic Church or Penn State Football, the hierarchies will be held responsible for the crimes of their representatives.
According to the Inquirer, since priest abuse allegations first started surfacing in the mid-1980s, more than 3,000 civil lawsuits have been filed, and the Catholic Church has paid out more than $3 billion in settlements. Dioceses have closed parishes and sold property to cover the costs. The Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, filed for bankruptcy.
Read Sex-abuse crisis is a watershed in the Roman Catholic Church’s history in America, on Philly.com.
Penn State University, with two officials already indicted for perjury related to the Sandusky case, anticipates more criminal proceedings and an onslaught of civil suits. The university has already embarked on damage control. As soon as Sandusky was declared guilty, the university announced a program to offer cash settlements to the victims.
Read: Bob Ford: In Sandusky case, Penn State tries to get ahead of civil actions, on Philly.com.
(By the way, more Sandusky victims, besides the 10 listed in the trial, have come forward. Read: Jerry Sandusky trial did not include all of his alleged victims, on ABCNews.go.com.)
So, for all of us at Lovefraud, all of us who have been manipulated, molested and abused, these verdicts are worth celebrating. Evil was exposed. Evildoers are going to prison. Enablers of evil are paying the price for averting their eyes, shutting their mouths and failing to act.
All of us who are fighting the good fight should feel encouraged. Perhaps the time is coming when we can go up against the rich and powerful—and win.
Oxy, the prosecutions are in the works. Those guys are already going to trial for perjury. Now these new charges will just add to it.
The next thing is the civil trials where huge awards are going to go to the victims. Enrollment will drop. The only thing that can save Penn state is if they use this as an opportunity to stand up for victims of abuse.
I hope that they start a new program. One on teaching about the hidden nature of abuse, generational abuse, love fraud, cluster b personalities etc…
This needs to be an entire field of study. It’s too big to study in small segments and it’s too important to let go. I love the fact that it’s going to cost them big bucks because MONEY is the only thing that gets their attention.
OxD, I imagine that heads will, indeed, roll.
Skylar, I agree that the only thing that will save Penn State is for the institution to acknowledge what happened under its banner and to develop a program, as well.
I would suggest that Penn State might be a good venue for Donna to lecture, but I don’t believe that the institution – Board Members – will be prepared to stand accountable for this monumental cock-up at any point in the immediate-to-near-future and allow anyone (Donna OR Dalai Lama) to speak on the topic of SOCIOPATHY.
Passing the buck. Sitting the fence. Enabling. Ignoring. Pretending…….look at how well all of THAT worked!!! I sure hope that Administrative heads roll like tumbleweed.
I hope these people are all prosecuted to set an example moving forward that it’s NOT okay to cover up child abuse for any reason, and that doing so is a felony punishable by prison. What a tragedy that so much of this abuse could have been prevented if someone had acted on what they had known.
There needs to be education about pedophiles in EVERY organization where there are children – schools, churches, daycare, etc. Classes should be taught; the word needs to get out that it will NOT be tolerated.
Paterno’s family is trying to do damage control about the emails.
http://news.yahoo.com/paternos-family-wants-everyone-slow-down-cover-allegations-141744674.html
They want everybody to slow down.
Don’t Do the Pew? Seriously? Initially dismissed complaint?
“In one e-mail, Strickland mocked a seminary course on sexual harassment.
“‘Formally [it’s] called ‘Preventing Ministerial Misconduct.’ Informally ‘Don’t Do the Pew.’ It was super awkward,’ she wrote him.
“She also jokingly cited a ‘theological justification’ for their unholy hookups, loosely quoting Martin Luther: ‘God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Sin boldly! Be a sinner and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger.'”
The church is weighing “possible discipline”? Oh boy! Let’s dismiss the complaint and then think about maybe doing something. That will generate confidence in the parishoners.
“The church has not yet acted. The case was initially dismissed, but Campano won a reversal on appeal. A panel including the US Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori the first woman elected to the top post is weighing possible discipline.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/urgy_clergy_YtM095881meXqCtJPbSMVM#ixzz202ohbHAA
Apparently, churches are still not getting the message.
A friend of mine in Colorado is struggling over the abuse of her 7-year-old son by the P father. She mentioned to me tonight about Sungate Kids, a program in Colorado.
I had never heard of them before so I looked them up. There should be groups like this in every state.
http://sungatekids.nationalchildrensalliance.org/index.php?s=2791
They should be expanded to include the abuse done by parents and the courts returning these kids to their abusers because of their parental rights to their children.
That website brought to me another, http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/ which had multiple articles posted about how Sandusky’s verdict and the verdict on the same day regarding the Philadelphia Catholic priest are making headway. Things are starting to change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/us/rate-of-child-sexual-abuse-on-the-decline.html?_r=2
Halleluja!
In case anybody hasn’t seen this, Penn State is posting the results of its internal investigation pertaining to Sandusky online at 9 AM this Thursday.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/10/12666402-report-on-penn-states-response-to-sandusky-accusation-due-thursday
I suspect that website will be crashing from the interest.
You have to wonder how unbiased that is going to be since the investigator was hired by Penn State to investigate itself.
G1S, an “internal investigation” is always suspect, in my book. Facts MAY be disclosed, but not ALL of the facts as they stand on there own. This action was a scramble for damage control, and nothing less.
So, Penn State conducts an investigation after LO these many years? Yippee. Will the findings explain why an investigation was never pursued at the first report of Sanspathsky’s secual abuses?!
Shame on them. And, I wonder how many alumni will empty their pockets to satisfy the Civil awards to victims and their families…..SHAME on them ALL.
As for the church’s problems with sexual abuse and cover ups, Jesus said that there would be wolves in sheep’s clothing, and that there would be wolves crawl over the walls of the sheep cott to attack the flock, and He was totally right there! These perverts Join the church in order to make the flock trust them,, so that they can pick off sheep without having to chase them…just saunter up to them and pounce.
Jesus also said that (speaking about men who hurt children) that they would be “better off if a mill stone were tied about their neck and they were tossed into the sea.”
I think that there is a “hot spot in hell” for these monsters and I have no doubt that sooner or later they will be confronted with that hot spot either here on earth or afterward. The damage that they do to children is without limits.
Paterno’s family are “protesting too much.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/penn-state-internal-investigation-slammed-joe-paternos-family/story?id=16743271
They’re issuing press releases claiming how unfair the investigation has been, but they haven’t read the report yet and are upset that they were not interviewed? They won’t get to read the report until tomorrow, when it is released to everyone.
Paterno himself said that Sandusky was a very deceptive man. That excuses Paterno? If you consider somebody to be very deceptive, don’t you not take them at their word and look further into the deceptive person’s behavior? Who walks away and acts like it’s all the other guy’s fault? Somebody who doesn’t want to take responsibility for he or she did, that’s who.
More people covering their butts and not caring what happened to the children.