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“How can the courts draw new district maps
when they don't have any party lines to follow?"
Visual beauty evident here at home
It was about 5:30 p.m. on
Monday and I was heading
north on Highway 9 at Mary
Alice Park Road. For those
who do not recognize this
intersection it is right around
the Movie 400 Theater. The
sun was sinking and the lights
of the city were coming on.
1 glanced around the hori
zon and noticed the court
house and the City Hall spires
that reached skyward. I saw
all the beauty that surrounds
our community. In the dis
tance I could see Sawnee
Mountain and the Methodist
Church glowed in the near
darkness. The lights of neigh
borhoods could be seen in all
directions.
Last summer as the “man
of the house" and I traveled in
some of the northern states
and Canada, I often found
myself visually enriched by
Ethics & Reli
Studies of sexual abuse by priests
reveal harsh statistics for Catholics
Two new studies commis
sioned by America’s Catholic
Bishops document the scale of
the sexual abuse of minors by
priests that has been front page
news for two years and its
causes and proposed remedies.
From 1950-2002 some
4.392 priests 4 percent of
those who served in those years
sexually abused 10,667 chil
dren whose average age was
only 12.
More than 80 percent of that
abuse was of a homosexual
nature.
Those numbers are undoubt
edly low. Half of the priests
were accused of a single
offense. Studies reveal that
child molesters violate 60 chil
dren before an incident
becomes public.
Many victims never report
the abuse. For example, a fifth
of victims say their siblings
were also abused.
The church paid $572 mil
lion to support victims and set
tle lawsuits, not counting the
SBS million recently paid in
Boston nor the amounts of 14
non-reporting dioceses.
What caused the abuse? A
National Review Board of dis
tinguished Catholic lay people
appointed by the bishops came
to two conclusions.
First, “Some men became
priests over the last 50 years
who never should have been
admitted into the seminary 0r...
allowed to continue to ordina
tion.” For decades, boys aged
13-14 entered the seminary
so young their sexuality was
immature. Most “minor semi
naries” are now closed, but even
major seminaries “yielded to a
culture of sexual permissive
ness” in the 1970 s and 1980 s,
and were often so dominated by
a gay subculture that heterosex
uals fled.
The seminaries actually
taught little about sexuality, and
that was in Latin, rather than
English. Curiously, future
priests were not taught how to
be celibate, though it was
f J u l iann e
, - Boling
the small towns with church
spires reaching above the tree
tops. I often remarked of the
beauty of our country as com
pared with other countries and
landscapes.
As I headed home on
Wednesday I was made aware
of the grow ing beauty of our
county and our city. As 1
talked to myself, I remarked
about how I always notice the
heavy traffic, the rude drivers,
and the mass exodus of people
through the center of town
each day. I told myself that I
had failed to remember what it
was about Cumming that I
ion
Mike
expected
More importantly, when
instances of child sexual abuse
by priests became known to
bishops, “too many failed to
respond to this problem forth
rightly. Their responses were
characterized by moral laxity,
excessive leniency, insensitivity,
secrecy and neglect." said the
National Review Board, made
up of distinguished lawyers,
psychologists, a judge, a news
paper publisher and Leon
Panetta, former White House
chief of staff.
The Board said the bishops
"all too often treated victims of
clerical sexual abuse as adver
saries and threats to the well
being of the Church, not as
injured parishioners in need of
healing."
Offending priests were con
sidered "misdirected individuals
in need of psychological treat
ment or a simple change of
environment rather than as
criminal offenders to be
removed from ministry and
reported to civil authorities."
These approaches exacerbated
the problems.
Why did bishops rationalize
or ignore misconduct, and
transfer priests from one parish
to another where more children
were victimized?
Initially, church leaders
viewed sexual abuse as an iso
lated moral lapse. Later they
saw it as a pattern that could be
cured by therapy.
The threat of litigation
caused bishops to “disregard
their pastoral role and adopt an
adversarial stance not worthy of
the church.” Many bishops did
not meet victims, which would
have prompted a more pastoral
response.
Few understood the
really love.
You probably do not talk to
yourself like I do. You may
think 1 am a person who is
crazy riding in the car next to
you or that 1 am singing along
with some song playing on the
radio. You might be partially
right; however, if I listen to
my thoughts, sometimes I am
amazed at what I begin to
notice.
1 love the new and renovat
ed buildings in downtown
Cumming. 1 like to see the old
buildings being repaired
instead of torn down. I begin
to notice how the new stores
have made the downtown area
more attractive. I remark to
myself that the additional
stoplights are beginning to
help the traffic nightmare on
Highway 20.
I have always found that
Cumming has so many won-
decades-long impact of the
abuse that led to depression,
drug dependency, sexual dys
function and even suicide.
“Unless you listen to victims,
survivors, you don’t really have
that sense of horror." one bishop
told the panel.
It must be added that child
sexual abuse is far more preva
lent outside the church than
within it. Studies indicate that
up to a fifth of men and a quar
ter of women were molested as
children often by steppar
ents, teachers or others with
access to children.
The Board recommended
enhanced screening and training
of seminarians, increased sensi
tivity to victims by bishops,
more active lay advisory boards
and better selection of bishops.
However, these remedies
seem thin. One poll reveals that
80 percent of Americans favor
criminal charges for offending
priests and for bishops who
covered up the crimes. Yet only
220 of the 4,392 offending
priests have been charged with
crimes and none of the bishops.
In the last two years 700
priests have been forced to
resign along with several bish
ops who were also abusers. But
only Cardinal Bernard Law has
been removed due to transfer
ring molesters from parish to
parish.
Many more bishops should
resign, such as the bishops of
New Hampshire and Cincinnati
who filed guilty pleas with
prosecutors. Cardinal Roger
Mahoney of Los Angeles is
allowing 10 priests facing abuse
charges to remain in parish min
istry. The Bishop of Lincoln,
Neb. refused to cooperate with
the National Review Board.
No one is holding such bish
ops accountable.
Finally, the celibacy issue
itself needs to be reconsidered. I
will explore that issue in next
week’s column.
Michael McManus is a
nationally syndicated colum
nist.
derful and unique people and
places to enjoy. I can hear the
echoes of past years and see
the faces of people who ran
the stores, walked the streets,
and made life interesting.
I love to recall the sights
and sounds of festivities
enjoyed in the summer and the
sounds of carols on the square
at Christmas. I remember our
heritage as a community and
know we continue to strive to
enrich the lives of citizens and
provide the necessities for an
ever-increasing population.
We do not need to travel to
other states and other coun
tries to see the beauty of the
sun going down or coming up
over a beautiful town. Just
head north or south out of
Cumming and enjoy the view'.
Cumming resident Julianne
Boling 's column appears each
Sunday.
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, March 7,2004 -1
LETTERS from 12A
This, of course, is what Adam
Smith in “The Wealth of
Nations” proved in the 1700 s.
The congressman gave as an
example that Chinese workers
making 20 cents an hour could
produce goods more economi
cally than U.S. workers making
20 dollars an hour and that, with
time, wages in China would go
up. He did not mention that
wages in the U.S. would go
down. But that is what is hap
pening, especially in our manu
facturing and farm industries.
Now.
Additionally, the House
Committee on Education and
the Workforce cited a study stat
ing that NAFTA in the last 10
years had been responsible for
the loss of almost 900,000
American jobs.
Congressman Isakson
recently voted in favor of trade
agreements with Chile and
Singapore. President Bush is
pressing for the Free Trade Area
of the Americas, which will
draw an additional 34 nations
into fair trade agreements.
Congressman Isakson. now run
ning for the Senate, presumably
would also vote for FTAA.
Perhaps in a thousand years
Chinese workers wages will rise
to $2 an hour and U.S. wages
will fall $2 an hour and China
and the U.S. will produce and
Letter policy
The Forsyth County News welcomes your opinions
on issues of public concern. Letters must be .ra
signed and include full address and a daytime
and evening phone number for verification. tv F* I
Names and hometowns of letter writers will be w /
included for publication without exception.
Telephone numbers will not be published. (fjWk''
Letters should be limited to 350 words and may
be edited or condensed. The same writer or group
may only submit one letter per month for consider- >
ation. >■._
Letters must be submitted by noon
Wednesday for .Sunday publication. We do not
publish poetry or blanket letters and generally do not publish letters
concerning consumer complaints. Unsigned or incorrectly identi
fied letters will be withheld.
Mail letters to the Forsyth County News. P.O. Box 210.
Cumming. GA 30028, hand deliver to 302 Veterans Memorial
Blvd., fax to (770) 889-6017 or email to editor@forsythnews.com.
consume on parity. However, I
have a shorter time frame -4
like 10 years. And I don’t want
to start learning to speak either
Chinese or Spanish.
Lamar Davik
Cumming
l
I
County soon willl
look like Roswell]
Recently the commissioners,
with the exception of A.J.
Pritchett, voted to rezone prop
erty allowing up to four units
per acre.
At the rate this board is
going, Forsyth County will look
like Roswell in less than 10
years. There is a direct correla
tion between density and quality
of life. This board should be
punished by having to live in
Roswell. But, if we wait long
enough, they won’t have to
move. Roswell is coming to us.
1
Mark Tanner
Cumming
t
Editor's note: The county
allows different densities of
housing in different zoning cate
gories. Four units per acre are
allowed in some categories, hut
not in others. There is not a sin
gle housing density that applies
to the entire county.
PAGE 13A