"I Thought We Were All Done With That" another painful chapter

In August one of our priests was taken off of active ministry, and placed into "administrative leave," while accusations of sexual abuse against him are investigated.  We have no word on the progress or lack thereof in that investigation, as nothing more has been given to us by our bishop.

But in the news there are many examples of sexual abuse, use and possession of child pornography, by clergy of various religions and denominations as well as leaders of professions.  As I wrote in my previous post on August 6, sexual abuse is real, even if the various entities in the Catholic Church in our country and around the world are getting more serious about preventing it among professionals and volunteers working in the name of the church.

A few examples...

• In July 2013 19 former students of prestigious Yeshiva University in New York City filed a $380 million lawsuit against Rabbi Norman Lamm, chancellor, for failing to protect them from the abuse by Rabbis George Finkelstein and Macy Gordon.  The former students alleged that the rabbis abused them in the 1970s and 1980s.  Rabbi Finkelstein left Yeshiva University high school for boys in 1985; Rabbi Gordon left in 1984.

• However, The Forward, a Jewish newspaper, reported that Finkelstein had "allegations that he behaved inappropriately with boys...for at least 30 years."  These were at his subsequent posts in the Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School in North Miami Beach, between 1995 and 1999.  And more recently one student filed a complaint against Finkelstein with the Jerusalem police, which he alleged took place at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue over a 30 month period ending in 2009.

• In May 2014 71 people were taken into custody by the federal Department of Homeland Security for producing or distributing child pornography.  These included two registered nurses, a New York City police officer, a paramedic, a rabbi, and a Boy Scout leader.  Another one taken in was a police chief who was teaching classes about sexual abuse at a Catholic Church in Shrub Oak, New York.  The district attorney of Staten Island said the images and videos implicated in the arrests showed children raped and sexually assaulted by adults.  70 of the arrested were men; the sole woman was accused of having produced a sex video with her young son.

• Last week Rabbi Barry Freundel, of Kesher Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C., was arrested on charges of voyeurism.  He was accused of secretly using a camera inside a clock radio to film women undressing and naked in mikvah (a ritual bath).  Police found over 100 deleted files of photographs on his computer.  Freundel, 62, is nationally known for his work in supporting women in leadership positions within synagogues, and reaching out to women to convert to Judaism.  Yesterday the D.C. Rabbinic Council admitted that it had received allegations against Rabbi Freundel at least two years ago of inappropriate behavior with adult women, but failed to act.

• Justice Seamus McCaffrey of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was temporarily relieved of duty by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts for using office computers to send and receive pornographic files.  This is part of a larger investigation by the state Attorney General's office of many high level executive and judicial employees using state computers to send and receive porn.  

• A volunteer youth worker at Living Waters Family Worship Center in Irwin was arrested a week ago on possession and distribution of child pornography.  Andrew Mark Patterson, 45, is alleged to have had over 1,000 images and videos of children engaged in sexual acts, some as young as age 4.  Patterson was also charged with child endangerment.  He is married with a daughter.  When police showed up to arrest him at his Monroeville home, the house was found to be in "deplorable condition," with strong odors of urine and ammonia, and feces from ten dogs.  

• LOCAL UPDATE:  Today (October 23) a New Castle man pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography.  Donald Miller, 43, videotaped himself while abusing an 8-year-old girl in December.  He sold the computer at an Ohio flea market, but left the video on the computer.  The buyer saw it and notified police.  He was indicted in April.  He will be sentenced in U.S. District Court in January.

I take no pleasure from reporting just what I have come across in casual news-surfing over the past few months.  But it does show that the lessons of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church have not been learned by school officials, religious centers or other professional organizations.