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Getting Out : Seeking Justice
Taking Names And Kicking Ass | from Anthony - Tuesday, November 12, 2002
accessed 1817 times We need concrete information on COG abusers, past and present, the group in the following article, Survivors First, have done what I would like to see us be able to do.
Alb, I hope I’m not stealing your thunder by posting this article, see you later bro.
Regards,
Anthony
U.S. National - AP
Catholic Activists Compile Data Base
Mon Nov 11, 5:55 PM ET
By RICHARD N. OSTLING, AP Religion Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Roman Catholic activists have compiled an Internet database listing at least 600 U.S. priests who have faced public accusations of child sex abuse since 1996.
The list, assembled by 10 Boston-area Catholics operating as a group called Survivors First, is drawn from U.S. newspaper articles and, in some cases, court documents. The group planned to release the material on Tuesday.
Paul Baier, a software entrepreneur who led the project, said the effort has been "incredibly cautious" about choosing the priests it would name. Baier's group has allegations from victims against 2,100 clerics in its files, but is only naming those identified in public reports, he said.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meeting this week to approve a sex abuse policy for the American church, has not undertaken a complete count of molestation cases since victims began going public in 1985.
Baier said people often exaggerate the clerical sex abuse problem.
The total number of accused clerics in the Survivors First database should be compared with the 90,000 priests of the past generation, not the 46,000 currently serving, he said. Using the figure of 2,100 priests with claims against them, that means about 2.3 percent of priests have been accused of abuse, he said. The Web site will also have a listing of false charges made against clergy.
For accused priests, the list will provide information on each cleric's city and diocese, and the status or outcome of any criminal or civil cases, Baier said. There will be five categories: priests convicted of crimes, civil settlements in which criminal guilt was not admitted, pending criminal cases, pending civil cases and other situations.
In a few cases, priests' names will be deleted for legal reasons, Baier said, with a referral to a newspaper article or court docket number. But Survivors First has been advised by lawyers that compiling public information is perfectly legal.
"We are trying to put the right data out there — facts, not emotions," Baier said. He added that his group would be happy to provide information to the National Review Board, the church-appointed watchdog group examining the bishops' handling of the crisis.
"We'd love to work with the church on this database. They have the records," he said.
Survivors First consists of abuse victims, parents of victims and lay activists who have worked on the project for three months. Baier is a founder of Voice of the Faithful, a Boston-based lay group that seeks church reforms, but Voice has no connection to Survivors First, he said.
Tracking the abuse crisis just this year, The Associated Press has found at least 325 priests have been removed or resigned from their posts because of abuse allegations.
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Reader's comments on this article Add a new comment on this article |  from Albatross
Tuesday, November 26, 2002 - 16:42
 (Agree/Disagree?)
Oh,
And Anthony.....no worries about the thunder bit. Besides....thunder and lightning don't last long. I prefer to think of this effort as a slow mudslide.......time enough for those who are smart and innocent to get out of the way, and ruthlessly efficient in crushing those who deserve to be crushed.
Daniel
(reply to this comment)
|  From K
Thursday, February 27, 2003, 05:51
(Agree/Disagree?)
Daniel, your comment seems to indicate that intelligence somehow equates innocence. I for one have long been under the impression that it's the clever ones who have schemed, committed the crimes, and been "smart" enough to get away with it. It's the "dumb sheep" who are too often crushed by something they do not see coming.
How many times have Zerby and Peter (or any of the other guilty parties - usually shepherds of some sort) "given their lives for the sheep"? To the contrary, they have always been concerned with shifting the blame as quickly as possible onto the general population of the Family, the ones who "misunderstood" the "truth" and "took it too far". Indeed, we have all seen the "prophecies from Jesus" saying that if the Family didn't shape up, persecution would be certain.
Why would this time be any different? And how can you claim that only the guilty will suffer? (reply to this comment) |
| | From Eaglebleeds
Tuesday, June 24, 2003, 18:08
(Agree/Disagree?)
I agree with having a slower and longer process. If TF were shut down now I can think of alot of innocent people that would suffer. If done over time with all details taken then only those who deserve to be punished will be. Just my opinion. I'm new to this site and had never heard in detail of the abuse. Sure glad to know now.(reply to this comment) |
| | from Anthony
Tuesday, November 26, 2002 - 16:33
(Agree/Disagree?)
Hey, I wonder who Bob is!
(reply to this comment)
| from Bob
Monday, November 25, 2002 - 16:48
(Agree/Disagree?)
Just to say, that alot of these abusers are getting up in age. Say 50s & 60s Thay will be too old to prosecute soon.
(reply to this comment)
| From Albatross
Tuesday, November 26, 2002, 16:30
(Agree/Disagree?)
"They prosecute senior abusers don't they."
Well...as we have learned from the Catholic Church situation, they can still go after abusers way into their golden years. The oldest Family adults can't be much older than their very early sixties. Besides, the abusers will be hounded until they are in their graves. They though age was irrelevant when the used young children and teens to satisfy their sexual desires, now age IS really irrelevant as we go after them for those crimes.
Daniel(reply to this comment) |
| | | | | From Dan C.
Thursday, February 27, 2003, 01:41
(Agree/Disagree?)
As a list is compiled and possibly put in a time-location picture it could become evidence to go after the leaders who systematically encouraged the abuse and then coordinated efforts to lie about it and cover it up. A lot of new law says that knowing about child abuse and covering it up is a crime. Surely the names will be concentrated in some areas more than others. Seek (Kay Prible) let her girls run wild with older uncles and Mexico was notorious under her reign. Just keep sending in Names, locations, dates and patterns will appear. It is worth the fight to bring those ultimately responsible to justice. Write your parents about when you were abused and by whom and if anything was done about it and save their answers as this will back up your story.(reply to this comment) |
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