WE ARE BACK!
JUST AS WE PROMISED…

2nd Annual Survivors of catholic clergy abuse day

In just about a month, survivors of catholic clergy abuse will be meeting in
Rome, once again, for their second annual celebration of the survival of
catholic clergy abuse.

When we arrive we will be filled with joy to be with each other again, we will
know the strength of being together in our numbers, and will be renewed. We
will cry with each other and laugh too, even dance in the Piazza Castel Sant’
Angelo, directly in front of vatican square! We hope to be joined by as many of
you that can make it.

Last year when we met for the first time, was the weekend when the Chilean
miners were rescued from under the ground. The whole world celebrated, including
us, we were delighted that they had survived.
But as I looked around my fellow survivors, with their bravery and dignity and
humour, I wondered who was celebrating their lives? My life?

It was then that we decided that WE would celebrate! WE would celebrate each
life saved, each person brought back to life after suffering the worst betrayal
of body and trust by catholic clergy.

Many of us had been isolated for years. Some of us from isolated communities,
others isolated because of their inability to hear or speak. That isolation has
always been a gift to the pedophiles and the church that hides them, they rarely
had to worry about us finding each other and sharing our stories.
Our connections are putting an end to that!
That day was life changing for us, and this year will be again, for many the
start of their lives anew.

Last year at our meeting, The world’s press were there, they came out to talk to
us, to photograph us and to ask many questions, We hope to see them all again,
and we will welcome their highlighting this appalling cover up by the vatican.

But inevitably there will be, I am afraid, the same old questions asked by some
who don’t quite know the reality of our occasion. So I want to answer a few of
them here before we get there! Then you can ask us about our future plans and
our empowerment! You can celebrate with us and show the World that we have
survived DESPITE the church, rather than in any way because of them.

QUESTION:
“Why are you meeting in Rome? Do you want to be near the Vatican?”

We are meeting in Rome because we want to be right in the vatican’s back yard.
Not out of any desire to be near to them, but to make sure that we are seen.
Every time the pope slithers out from under his rock to visit other countries,
he spends a vast amount of time(and other peoples money) on spin, empty
promises, vacuous public declarations of regret, all PR stunts .Then he
scuttles back to the vatican, back to the hole he crawled out of ,congratulating
himself on a job well done, and then carrying on as before.
They don’t get chance to run away when we are right there.This is our way of
sticking two fingers up at them.

QUESTION:
“What do you want from the Church ?”

We simply want them to do the “right thing”!!!

Throw out their criminals, both the perpetrators of the crimes, and those who
covered them up. To co-operate with a SECULAR INDEPENDENT enquiry, open up ALL
of their files and be open to scrutiny.
They should be BEGGING for forgiveness, not paying lip service to it, and they
should be MAKING AMENDS to ALL the people who they have harmed, with NO statute
of limitation, NONE of their crimes should go unpunished, regardless of how long
ago they were committed.

They should stop using every legal loophole or delaying tactic they can find,
and begin by doing as MUCH as they possibly can for survivors, rather than as
little as they can get away with.
They need to hear what it is that is needed, FROM SURVIVORS, not carefully
selected, and not from their own ranks.
What “Doing the right thing” means is not rocket science, it is what most
decent compassionate human beings are trying to do all the time, perhaps they
should start there!

QUESTION:
“Do you think the celibacy rule causes the pedophillia of the priests?”

No, This is just a deflection. Celibacy does not create pedophilia. Pedophiles
would be pedophiles wether they had a celibate rule or not, even if they were
married, they would still be pedophiles, it is their sexual orientation.
Of course celibacy is unnatural for human beings, and Celibacy certainly may
create a huge amount of problems, dishonesty being the obvious one! (most of us
know priests who aren’t celibate! ) But celibacy does not cause pedophilia. It
may very well create a situation where the predators can hide. Maybe the fact
that priests are supposedly celibate may mean that they are somehow perceived as
“safe” That in itself may contribute to the churches appeal to them, coupled
with the fact that they are seen as “demi-gods” and have a ready supply of
“prey”
It certainly also means that adults can be abused by them , and their need for
gratification. Sometimes the acts aren’t even sexually orientated, they are
about “power abuse” the subjugation of another more vulnerable human being.
So concentrating on celibacy as the only answer is a dangerous red herring,
one the church will manipulate to cover up it’s narcissism.

QUESTION:
“Aren’t there pedophiles everywhere? Why single out the catholic church?”

Yes indeed there are, pedophiles are everywhere. Everywhere and anywhere where
they can be camouflaged. And there is nowhere on Earth where they are so well
hidden, covered up, protected than within the catholic church, which will do
anything to save face and sees the victims as collateral damage. It is like a
gigantic Petrie dish with agar jelly in it = put the bacteria in and watch it
fester! When something is so resistant to all antibiotics, sometimes the only
way is to destroy the Petrie dish!

QUESTION:
“Do you want an apology?”

Absolutely NOT ! We are sick and tired of meaningless apologies. It is insulting
to presume that a quick” sorry!” can possibly be of any use. Saying sorry is
what you do if you bump into someone on the train, or kick their cat
accidentally! Destroying someone’s life needs something a lot more valid.
MAKE AMENDS! = it is simple. DO THE RIGHT THING! = easy
Making amends does NOT mean saying “sorry” It means trying to do as MUCH as they
can to put that person’s life back as near as possible to where it might have
been had they not destroyed so much of it. Stop bloody apologising it is
offensive!

QUESTION:
“Do you want to meet the Pope?”

Certainly not! Whatever for? He is a criminal, and there is a clear paper trail
right back to him regarding the cover up of pedophile priests.
He uses these meetings as PR stunts. The vatican spin machine is fond of
announcing that the pope has “met with” victims, and “prayed” with them. WHAT!
These poor people are singled out and carefully selected, and are duped into
being part of the vatican’s PR stunts. In this way they not only let other
survivors down, but are further abused themselves. They are further disempowered
by the organisation that cruelly took their power away in the first place.
Last year we met Frederico Lombardi, the papal spokesperson, who didn’t hear a
word we said, or indeed ask us anything! He sat with cotton wool in his ears and
mouth, and then put a press release out the next day saying we had met to
discuss future cooperation. LIAR! We no longer want to be used by them.
Rather than the pope arrogantly deigning to give an “audience” to people who
have been abused, he should be on his knees begging THEM to see him!
Like any other criminal.

QUESTION:
“What more can they do?”

Well, So far they have done NOTHING! So anything would be an improvement on
that. But they should not be the ones to decide what is to be done.
They should be complying with what others TELL them to do! It is ludicrous for
any criminal to decide his own punishment! The whole issue should be taken out
of their hands.They have demonstrated time after time their inability to deal
with it, and they should not be given any more chances. They need to be made to
comply with the criminal laws of the countries where they have committed the
crimes, instead of hiding behind their self appointed :canon law”. They need
to be made to answer to the UN regarding their crimes against humanity!
The “child protection” groups they set up within their own ranks are
unskilled and have the church’s interests as their main focus They need to be
scrutinised by a secular independent body which will take them apart. The
sooner the better.Putting the fate of survivors in the hands of the perpetrators
is like putting Dracula in charge of the blood-bank!

Our stance regarding the vatican and it’s hierarchy is quite clear:
WE SURVIVORS OF CATHOLIC CLERGY ABUSE
DO NOT TRUST THEM! SIMPLE!

So while we wait in vain for this appalling regime to do the right thing we will
CELEBRATE! Our lives, our survival and the joy of finding each other. Come and
join us and be inspired!

Sue Cox – co-founder – Survivors Voice Europe
For more information visit: http://survivorsvoice-europe.org/?page_id=846