DELIVER US FROM EVIL
By Beni Bevly
“I made up my mind. There is no God. I do not believe in God. These rules, they were made up by men,”
said a father of the victim of pedophile priest in Deliver Us from Evil (2006), the unsettling Oscar-nominated documentary from filmmaker Amy Berg that investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O’Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children.
When I was watching this film several days ago, I was touched by what the victim’s father said. That’s why I dare myself to write this issue even though this film was produced last year. While watching this film, I questioned my self, why did pedophile and clergy sexual abuse take place at the sacred institutions such as Catholic churches that supposed to protect its children and deliver them from evil? One of the elements, is that because the Catholic priests practice the mandatory celibacy? Will marriage solve the problem?
Prior discussing the above questions, let’s see what Amy Berg presented in her “Delivering Us from Evil.” She revealed the following data:
First, over 100,000 victims of clergy sexually abuses have come forward in the United States alone. Experts say more than 80% of sexual victims never report their abuse.
Second, since 1950, sexual abuse has cost the church over one billion dollars in legal settlements and expenses. More than that, this documentary film also shows how these priests also destroyed people’s faiths and beliefs painfully.
Third, Cardinal Roger Mahony who is currently serves as the fourth Archbishop of Los Angeles is still fighting sexual abuse allegations against 556 priests in his diocese (The John Jay Report found accusations against 4,392 priests in the USA, about 4% of all priests).
Fourth, Pope Benedict XVI was accused of conspiracy to cover up sexual abuse in the United States. At the Vatican’s request, President Bush granted the Pope immunity from prosecution.
Recalling and answering the above questions, there are some speculations collected as follow:
One, a report submitted to the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1971, called The Role of the Church in the Causation, Treatment and Prevention of the Crisis in the Priesthood by Dr. Conrad Baars, a Dutch-born Catholic psychiatrist from Minnesota, and based on a study of 1500 priests, suggested that some clergy had “psychosexual” problems. It is a matter of speculation as to how much of the Catholic Church’s mishandling of sex abuse cases was influenced by such problems.
Two, Catholic doctrines outlined below (Other Catholic Teachings, Practices) and this understaffing combine, it has been claimed, to make Catholic clergy extraordinarily valuable. It is alleged that the Catholic hierarchy acted to preserve the number of clergy and ensure that they were still available to supply priestly services, in the face of serious allegations that these priests were unfit for duty.
Three, it has been suggested that the discipline of celibacy in the Catholic priesthood offers a means by which priests with sexual urges that are aimed towards children rather than adults can hide those tendencies, their lack of sexual feelings towards adults being unnoticeable in a completely unmarried clergy. It is believed that those with a predisposition toward child molestation would be drawn to the celibate lifestyle due to confusion about their sexual identity or orientation. There have also been suggestions that those who are already child molesters, either already acting or on the verge of acting on their disposition, deliberately enter the Catholic clergy due to the “cover” its celibacy provides, and since clergy may have frequent access to children.
Four, The Center for the Study of Religious Issues (CSRI), the research division of CITI Ministries (an anti-celibacy advocacy organization), published a book about quantitative studies 1999-2004, which argues that a connection exists between mandatory celibacy and sexual abuse. Based on her research, the author states:
“The evidence is so strong that we can predict a continuation of the crime as long as mandatory celibacy exists in the priesthood.”
According to the CSRI, it is true that the mandatory celibacy also causes the Catholic priests become pedophile and sexually abusive. In this case, it seems marriage will solve the problem. What do you think?
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*Beni Bevly holds BA in Political Science, MBA in Marketing, and is a DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) candidate. He is the founder of Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia.
As a registered Catholic, I feel so ashamed for what they (those priests) did to children (and all sexually abused victims/survivors). I have been pondering upon the importance of adopting a religion for quite some time, eventhough I’m not an atheist at this point nor an agnostic. At heart, I’m still a monotheist, perhaps borrowing Karen Armstrong’s term “freelance monotheist.”
In various philosophical schools, it is believed that human beings possess the so-called “longing for ultimate comfort from the Greater Power.” It may be the result of the so-called “The God gene” as well, which requires more in-depth debates and discussions.
In my subjective opinion, whatever the trigger(s) is/are for such longing, religions are filled with dogmas (aqidah in Islam or doctrine in Christianty). And such things being absolute, they may not serve the best for the people (ummat), but to serve the institution of religion.
At this point, I believe in values more than in dogmas. Such unfortunate events with sexual abuses are proofs of being dogmatic (absolute), which can be corrupted in an absolute manner.
I have more than empathy for those abused survivors. I can feel their pains, because after all, I am a part of them and they are a part of me.
Jennie
6 Jul 07 at 6:01 pm
very horrible. As long as the mandatory celibacy is exist, sex abuse would be immanent? perhaps. marriage will solve problem? maybe.
the important thing is we can’t generate that all priests have sex abuse orientation.
AdhiRock
7 Jul 07 at 12:00 am
Jennie, thank you for pointing out and elaborating more on dogma or doctrine point of view that causes absolute power. And we know “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Adhi, nice to hear from you again. I agree with you that not all priests got involved in this embarrassing matter. As I mentioned above, there were 4% of all the priests in the United Stated who did it. But still, it is not acceptable.
Beni Bevly
7 Jul 07 at 8:45 pm
If the Church had followed Christs teaching from the bible and not church dogma there would have been many less victims, One thing that puzzles me Catholics claim to be against child abuse, But they back the cover up, When you point this out you are classed as a bigot or your evil, This documentary proves my point
Michael McManus
8 Jul 07 at 1:31 am
My prayer for the victims, I hope they will find true comfort from the true God, not men!
Rusdy
8 Jul 07 at 5:17 pm
I don’t really buy that mandatory celibacy is a main cause of this disgusting act. I do think it’s, again, blown out-of-proportion, just because these people ’should be’ religious. An online source refers to 2-20% of overall population is somewhat pedophilic. So 4% is below average.
To Jennie’s point, I think the number of agnostic, or agnostic-like, people out there is growing.
bleu
9 Jul 07 at 6:30 am
I wonder why there are so many priests have committed such sin. I mean they could’ve chosen older women, right? But, I think never blame the religion for people’s stupidity.
guebukanmonyet
9 Jul 07 at 12:14 pm
Micheal, Rusdy, Bleu and Guebukanmonyet, thank you for the comments.
In the Deliver Us from Evil documentary, it obvious that the Pope did not accept the victims at the Basilica, Vatican and he requested immunity prosecution from President Bush. This is not a solution because he still kept the secrecy.
Sometime, especially for many Catholic practitioners, it is hard to see those priests as ordinary human beings just like us. That’s why, many of them think they will not make mistakes. Once it happens, even though the percentage is still below average, it’s seemed already way too much and beyond their tolerable lines.
If somebody is interested in older women, it tends to show the normal symptom. Because it is normal, so it is easy to control. But not with the pedophilia symptom.
Beni Bevly
9 Jul 07 at 1:59 pm
pedophile and sexually abusive mostly did by people in society very nice attitude like teacher, priest and loving father.
Celebacy is main cause of this?I don’t think this is not true enough, if i can analysis the pedophilia is man/woman that really want having sex badly, they won’t doing this with a mature person but with young person.Hmmm…maybe there is true that celebacy one of the reason why they love child. Married did by two of adult.So desire about sex they express to child or someone don’t have power to say no .
But I’m still confuse with father that have patner (wife) can do like this and in society he have good manner
Hehehehe…I’m confuse now
yeny
9 Jul 07 at 10:07 pm
Yeah.. that pedophile priest are bad if they are proven guilty. They are iresponsible with his commitment to enter the celibacy. I don’t know why they stay as a priest. I think married will not solve the problem too. They will make more mistakes with corruption, because wife need to go on cruise and kids want bimer. Or wife want week end times with the family instead of letting the priest to give church service.Catholic institution gives people choices; if you would like to become a priest then you have to take a celibacy vows. If not then get married. I think Catholic priest also have to take several vows to leave in proverty, celibacy and.. serve , not sure about other vow.
Oh… well, we just need to be carefull.
lyl
16 Sep 07 at 12:37 am
Sexual abuse takes place in situations of inequality. It ranges from trafficking and exploitation of girls and women who live in desperate economic conditions, by pimps disguised as businessmen, via rape of women by a gang of men, to children molested by their parents or wives raped by husbands in marriages of inequality.
Institutions like prisons, military compounds even combine two dangerous conditions: strict hierarchy ( inequality) and isolation. This is – to a certain, milder, degree- the case also in institutions like boarding schools, scouting, sports clubs etc. In these institutions adults have got responsibility to take care of children. Unfortunately the RC clergy often operates in conditions that are similar.
So the phenomena reported above are a shame, but not a surprise. The same kind of terrible incidents happen in the other institutions. And may even outnumber ( relatively) the cases of pedophilia in the RC Church. But nevertheless in this case these crimes are extremely disgusting because
a) priests claim to act as men of God and b) the Vatican, RC church hierarchy at large, which claims to stand for the truth by definition, did and does in fact its utmost to lie, deny and cover up.
colson
3 Oct 07 at 2:05 am
[...] other good news is that one of the OTTI’s articles, Deliver Us from Evil was archived by http://www.bishop-accountability.org, a non-profit corporation based in Massachusetts, [...]
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