Warning: It's Everywhere, not just the Catholics: The Midwest Child Exploitation Pipeline
It's Everywhere, not just the Catholics: The Midwest Child Exploitation Pipeline
The Catholic Church gets a lot of attention when it comes to institutional child sexual assault and scandals. A lot, even here on the pages of my own blog, published by a once devout little Catholic schoolgirl who holds the Church still close in my heart, even though I may not be in the pew praying anymore. To say it pained me these last couple of weeks to watch this series play out would be an understatement.
The Catholic Church gets a lot of attention when it comes to institutional child sexual assault and scandals. A lot, even here on the pages of my own blog, published by a once devout little Catholic schoolgirl who holds the Church still close in my heart, even though I may not be in the pew praying anymore. To say it pained me these last couple of weeks to watch this series play out would be an understatement.
However, we have to remember that Catholicism is a wide-reaching umbrella as the largest religion on this Earth, encompassing a reported 1.406 billion Catholics worldwide, just under 18 percent of the population. When the Pope stands, that is how many kneel and why the attention focuses on them.
One of the other reasons they have received so much attention, especially when discussing the child exploitation rings of the 60s and 70s in the Midwest is because that area surrounding Lake Michigan just happened to provide the perfect cover, at the time which included some of their institutions smack dab in the middle of a larger pedo ring - put that together with coming out of the hippy generation, the tension and gloom over the country because of our part in the Vietnam War. A generation after two other major wars, WWII and the Korean War. Our young people got the shit kicked out of them, nonstop. We created a perfect storm -society did. We didn't stand still long enough to make sure the kids were okay - that they were being fed - or that they were carrying fears and secrets.
That kind of atmosphere then creates a hierarchy out of the need for survival. Credit was available for larger amounts, and the wars following the Great Depression it brought rapid job growth, tying a leash around their necks and keeping them chained to the conveyor belt. We wore ourselves out.
It has been reported that the accusation rate among clergy is, on average, across the board 4% of clergy accused in Protestant, Anglican, and Jehovah's Witnesses denominations. Numbers statistically similar to Catholic rates (3–5% based on John Jay studies).
When you read the reports and look at the numbers, the one thing that stands out, at least to me, is no matter where we look at on the map of so-called civilized societies, our children are being sexually assaulted at high rates - Walk into any classroom, church, scout troop, or sports club today and look around. On average, 1 in 7 of those kids, well-actually it is sometimes closer to 1 in 5, is carrying the secret of sexual assault. That’s before you count what happens inside their own homes.
As for institutions, the rates of offense actually increase when it is. a youth club, civic organization or school - all of which have a focus on children. Predators hunt prey and they do it in their territory.
Those institutions also run for cover behind backdoor meetings and deals. There is a lot of shame and stigma attached to CSA - ask victims.
So - as I close out this series with maybe a straggler post here and there - as shocking as what you've been reading has been for your eyes, it's worse. Far worse.
And for this reason it is CRITICAL, in my opinion, that the largest religious institution on the face of this planet, who does get ALL the attention when they walk in, NEEDS to be a leader in truly addressing this is for its raw truth -children were ripped of their innocence, the very thing they preached to keep until "I do" - a battlefield of martyrs at our feet, our children.
We also must demand accountability from the alphabet agencies out there fully knowing what is happening. - agents embedded, and every day, children are sold as a commodity and bartered for intel, power, and greed. It's vile - a true abomination.
So yes, the Catholic Church must keep cleaning its own house as it has the size, the resources, and the moral platform that many others do not have within their house. It owes the world and its own children transparency and leadership. But let’s never again pretend this evil belongs to one institution, one religion, or one era. It belongs to all of us until we decide, together, that our children are not for sale.
Thank you for reading .
I am a collateral victim of John David Norman - we are healing together.
I do hope this helps others realize they were not ever alone.
If any information is incorrect pls contact me or leave a comment. These are complex cases and a lot of bad information is already out there.
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