Restructured notes on the readings from Lytton, Keenan, van der Kolk, and Rossetti.
Date; 6/6/2019
“Holding Bishops Accountable, chapter1-2” by Lytton
Technical terms and proper names
Litigation is the conduct of lawsuit.
Sexual abuse is an unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent.
Notes summarizing the content of the reading(s)
The author emphasis on clergy sexual abuse litigation, which is a complex phenomenon and includes thousands of lawsuits across the country, spanning more than twenty years from the mid-1980s to the present. The issue of the dispute has raised a host of thorny legal issues such as the statutory duties of religious organizations to supervise clergy, the role of statutes of limitation in child sexual abuse cases, and the scope of protection against civil litigation provided by the free exercise clause of the first amendment. Clergy sexual abuse litigation is examined from three different perspectives. Chapter 1 entails the sketches of the history of the lawsuit, from the Gauthe case in 1984 to the present. The Gauthe case is predated by litigation against the Catholic Church for clergy sexual abuse. His case was termed as the first case of clergy sexual abuse to attract national attention. The history is divided into three primary waves. The first wave of litigation, from 19845-1991, begins with Gauthe case. The second wave, from 1992-2001, starts with the case of father James Porter in Fall River, Massachusetts. The third wave, from 2002 to the present, was sparked by the example of Father John Geoghan in Boston. Chapter 2 presents a statistical portrait of the litigation, examining available data on clergy sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and lawsuit against the Church. This involves the estimation of the number of priests accused of child sexual abuse, the number of victims, and the number of incidents of violence within the Catholic Church which are based on allegations recorded in church personnel files, court filings, and media reports.
Summary of the core idea (s)
The first part presents the overview of clergy sexual abuse litigation. Chapter 1 presents a brief history of clergy sexual abuse litigation from 1984 to 2007. This chapter examines different reactions to the cases among church officials, victims, and lawyers on both sides, and it highlights a growing difference in perspective that has fueled the litigation for more than twenty years. Chapter 2 offers a statistical portrait of clergy sexual abuse litigation. It reviews existing data on the nature and scope of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church from 1950-2006, and it presents new data on the rate of legal claims between 1984 and 2006.
“Holding Bishops Accountable, chapter4-5” by Lytton.
Technical terms and proper names
Policymaking is the act of creating laws or setting standards for a government. Also, it can be explained as the act of setting and directing the course of action to be pursued by a government.
Notes summarizing the content of the reading(s)
The first step in understanding how litigation ultimately shaped the policies designed to address it is by appreciating the influence of litigation on the framing of clergy sexual abuse. Chapter 4 explains why plaintiffs’ framing of clergy sexual abuse as an institutional failure by church officials became the dominant news frame. Lytton’s analysis reveals a correlation between specific features of litigation and news production that accounts for the influence of clergy sexual abuse lawsuits on press coverage. The concept of framing is central to both law and journalism and his account of the relationship between litigations and news production. In chapter 5, the author examines the essential role played in making clergy sexual abuse a top priority and government policymakers. Litigation and news coverage played a significant role in mobilizing victims, lawyers, and activists who collaborated to advocate for policy reforms.
Summary of the core idea (s)
This section involves part II of the book, which analyzes distinct mechanisms by which clergy sexual abuse litigation influenced policymaking. Chapter 4 examines how litigation framed the problem of clergy sexual abuse as one of institutional failure and how this frame dominated media coverage of the issue. Chapter 5 explores how lawsuits raised a concern about clergy sexual abuse among the general public and Catholic laity and placed clergy sexual abuse on the policy agendas of the church officials, law enforcement, and state legislatures.
“Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church, chapter1” by Keenan
Technical terms and proper names
The Catholic Church is one of the largest religious organizations in the world, representing approximately twenty per cent of the six billion individuals on the planet.
Notes summarizing the content of the reading(s)
The estimates of sexual offenders in the community are derived from forensic sources, and some studies acknowledge that those arrested represent only a fraction of all men, and a smaller number of women, who commit these abuses. The extent of sexual offending in a community is deduced from the names of victims, but again, this is difficult to estimate because sexual abuse of children is believed to be significantly underreported. Differences in values, customs, definitions, and methodologies make it difficult to compare international and comparative studies. Studies show that sexual abuse of the minors is more often reported against Catholic clergy than against other caring frontline professionals or leaders and ministers of other churches and religions.
Summary of the core idea (s)
This chapter analyzes the available data on what is known about the problem of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. It also considers how the open data compare with data from other churches and religious groups, as well as with what we know about child sexual abuse by other “caring” professionals. While these issues are explored on a comparative basis, Ireland and the United States are used as the primary contexts, since most of the available quantitative data on sexual abuse by Catholic clergy emanate from these two countries. Other jurisdictions, such as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and several in Europe, are referred to for comparative purposes.
“Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church, chapter8” by Keenan
Technical terms and proper names
Emotional distress is a non-physical injury often asserted in civil lawsuits. It is a state of mental suffering triggered by an extremely traumatizing experience, usually of a physical nature.
Notes summarizing the content of the reading(s)
Men’s understanding of obedience in entering into priestly and religious life is essential as compliance is taken as one of the central features of governance for the Roman Catholic Church in exercising authority. Participants in the study described their period in the seminary as a time when they focused on rules and regulations, conformity to the system, obedience to the superiors, and what was and was not an acceptable way to be a priest or religious. Male emotions and sensitiveness are subject to active surveillance and curtailment. It was a taboo among men to communicate psychological distress or conflict. Nondisclosure of emotional distress among men to their families led to abuse of the minors. Increased in emotional loneliness led to an increase in aggression. Receiving confession played a role in easing the men’s conscience in coping with the moral dilemmas following episodes of abuse, and it provided a site 0f respite from guilt. Questions of morality among men were left in the hands of the bishops and popes, and the attendance solved the moral lapses at confession. Men were able to sexually abuse the minors due to the power position they occupied and the lack of support, supervision and accountability for lower-ranking clergy within the structures of the Roman Catholic church.
Summary of the core idea (s)
In this chapter, Keenan explains the significance of factors relating to nonsexual motivation, power, opportunity, and social context in which the offences occur. He addresses how such factors were presented in the men’s account.
“Body Keeps the Score, chapter 11-12” by Kolk
Technical terms and proper names
Trauma is defined as the emotional response someone has to an extremely catastrophic event.
Notes summarizing the content of the reading(s)
Chapter 11 deals with the examination of a young man who claimed to have been sexually abused while he was growing up by Paul, a Catholic priest. His experience illustrates the complexities of traumatic memory. The author states that it is a common thing for traumatized people to lose all memories of the event in question only to regain access to them in bits and pieces at a much later date. To remember a specific memory, it depends on how personally meaningful the message was and how emotional one felt about it at the time. The difference between traumatic and ordinary memories is that specific triggers precipitate traumatic memories, and it is not condensed while the ordinary mind is fundamentally social. Standard memory integrates the elements of each experience into a continuous flow of self-experience by a complex process of association. In chapter twelve, the author explains how the denial of the consequences of Trauma can wreak havoc with the social fabric of society. According to studies, memories that are retrieved tends to return to memory bank with modification. The mind cannot change distant memories. To understand Trauma, one has to overcome their natural reluctance to comfort that reality and cultivate the courage to listen to the testimonies from the traumatized survivors.
Summary of the core idea (s
In chapter 11, Kolk explores different styles in which Trauma rewires the brain of individuals and changes the way they approach different situations in their lives. Trauma has a significant effect on the mind and body where it restricts those affected to live in the present. Chapter 12 elaborates more on memory and forgetting and about how the debate over repressed memory continues to be prayed out in the current times.
“Learning from Our Mistakes” by Rossetti
Technical terms and proper names
Offenders are defined as any person who is guilty of a crime.
Notes summarizing the content of the reading(s)
Rossetti outlines six kinds of mistakes that church leaders make when working with priest-offenders and suggests some remedies that can be used to solve different cases. The first case involves not listening to victims where the offenders manipulate them. He suggests that listening to victims should be made the priority as offenders might be their priests or bishops. The second case involves underestimating the prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse in one’s diocese. The perpetrators should be prosecuted to prevent polluting the Church from within. The third case consists in believing that perpetrators could be cured and risk-free. The fourth case entails misunderstanding forgiveness for perpetrators. The other cases are the insufficient human formation of priests, including human sexuality, and the case of missing the red flag. The author recommends that church leaders should be educated on the “red flag” that someone might become a perpetrator of child sexual abuse.
Summary of the core idea (s)
The author states that Catholic leaders on several continents have been going through the same decades-long, painful learning process. He argues that If the Catholic Church were proactively to implement and actively enforce such a comprehensive child-safe program, it would become what it is called to be: an international leader in promoting the safety and welfare of children. Therefore, Rossetti outline six kinds of mistakes that Church leaders have sometimes made when working with priest-offenders and finally comes up with some remedies that can be effective if they are implemented.
Elaboration of one selected detail
“Learning from Our Mistakes” by Rossetti
According to Rossetti, mistakes that church leaders make are; not listening to victims, he recommends that every investigation should begin with looking at the victim. The victim, not the perpetrator, ought to be the first focus of the Church’s attention. The second problem is underestimating the prevalence of child sexual abuse in one’s diocese. He recommends that there should be Proactive to determine the truth about child sexual abuse in each country. The third issue is believing that perpetrators could be cured and risk-free. He recommends that for the safety of children and the welfare of the offender, the heinous nature of child sexual abuse ought to be widely known, but the offender ought not to be demonized. The other issues are misunderstanding forgiveness for perpetrators, the insufficient human formation of priests, including human sexuality, and missing the red flags. He suggests that Church leaders should be educated on the “Red Flags” that someone might become, or already is, a perpetrator of child sexual abuse. When significant “Red Flags” or boundary violations surface, interventions should restore proper boundaries and assess and intervene as appropriate.
One question or unclear point from the reading(s)
“Holding Bishops Accountable, chapter1-2” by Lytton
What is the impact of clergy sexual abuse litigation on policymaking?
“Learning from Our Mistakes” by Rossetti
Which are the best measures to solve the issue of insufficient human formation of priests?