Broken marriages, addictions, Geoghan's murderer, a whole new breed of criminals created by church and its pedophiles

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By Kay Ebeling

It’s easy to see why the Salesians want to distance themselves from the Catholic Church in the Nov. 5 jury trial in LA. When the whole story comes out about how pedophile priests affected American society it’s going to be embarrassing for anyone to associate with the Catholic Church. We haven’t even started to gauge the collateral damage done to this country by the pedophile priest epidemic, what advocate Dennis McKeown in Pittsburgh calls the “vicious cycle.” Or what Joseph Druce, who murdered John Geoghan last year, describes as "tortuous memories of shame embedded in the soul." Druce's poem is at the end of this post.

The Salesians don’t want to “inflame” jurors by mentioning the LA Archdiocese, the Pope, any settlements paid to victims of Catholic priest sex crimes so far, the name Cardinal Roger Mahony, all of which is understandable considering the LA archdiocese and the Catholic Church’s reputation. Salesian attorneys write: “Evidence concerning ADLA and/or Mahony serves no purpose other than to unfairly prejudice defendants by inflaming the jury and creating bias in favor of plaintiffs.”

Problem is the Salesians are just as guilty as the Catholic Church and Mahony and they all are a long way from justice. Consider this: a budding pedophile sees a Catholic priest being a pedophile so he becomes a priest. After decades of watching priests get away with pedophilia, predators become more bold. Look at the increase in violence against children in the United States in the last 50 years, with police finding mutilated bodies of young boys and girls. While priests got more bold with their altar boys, pedophiles graduated from sex crimes against children to violence.

Consider that the Catholic Church was first to let this vicious cycle go unfetterred. Catholic bishops set the example and directly or indirectly turned thousands of pedophiles out into the world to seek the ruin of souls and destruction of children.

Like the altar boy who became addicted to pornography that destroyed his family life, like the young girl whose compulsions caused damage to other people’s marriages,

like Joseph Druce who murdered John Geogan in prison last year.

Consider this conversation I had with former priest who was molested but thinks he’s gotten over it last week:

HIM: So maybe you made some bad choices.

ME: MMPH.

HIM; A lot of people get into drugs and promiscuous sex and blah-blah-blah but was it really because something happened to you at age five --

ME: YEAH IT WAS. A SEXUAL COMPULSION WAS PLACED IN ME AT AN EARLY AGE AND IT IMPACTED EVERYTHING I DID.

And why is that bad?

WHY IS THAT BAD? [LAUGHS]

Lots of people would make it a joyous event.

ME: MAYBE IT WAS “JOYOUS” FOR THE FIRST 15 YEARS OR SO BUT I WOULD SAY THE WEIRD DISEASES I ENDED UP WITH, THE MARRIAGES I BROKE UP, THE RELATIONSHIPS I DEMOLISHED, THE PEOPLE I HURT, THE CAREERS I DESTROYED, THOSE ARE THE THINGS THAT DON’T GO AWAY. THOSE ARE THE THINGS THAT POP UP. MY CHILDREN WHO WON’T SEE ME, THE CHLAMYDIA AND ALL THOSE PEOPLE I GAVE IT TO -- THESE ARE NOT JUST BAD CHOICES.

JOSEPH DRUCE’S POEMS AFTER THIS

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From boys turning tricks in the city’s gay district to a prison inmate who murderers a pedophile priest inmate, the church has to face its responsibility for the ancillary damages and residual results from decades of creating an environment where pedophiles and other sex criminals could proliferate.

Joseph Druce, prison inmate who murdered Father John Geoghan in his prison cell, sat in an isolated cell in Massachusetts last summer reading news about the LA Archdiocese settlements and was moved to write these poems, forwarded to me through a woman with whom he is corresponding.

Emotionally seeking relief
By Joseph Lee Druce

Mentally victims suffer still, deep from inside

Damages from clergy abuse surely brings satisfaction
Ease the burdens of financial worries, for awhile that is relief
How can one release those feelings of being damaged
Sexual abuse by those entrusted priests rips us apart
Anguish is within us, harassing us mentally each day
Many have abandoned the belief and faith, not me, I still pray
Tortuous memories of shame embedded in the soul
Abnormal acts forced on us, now we feel guilty and dirty
Coercion was easy years ago, because reporting it was taboo

You kept it in the closet like the cardinals did knowing of the abuses
Society was part of the problem as well
Told if they revealed or spoke of it they would go to hell

"We'll handle it, they were told"
Don't disgrace your family saying such things
Fooled we were, because the pedophile priests were simply put in a new parish

And said the priest with a smirk, knowing he had new children to rob
The catholic church claims they no longer cover for these monsters
No longer bounce these pedophile priests from hunting ground to hunting ground

They've made some progress, but what about the victims of the past
The crisis in the church has received tons of media attention
This poem is seeking to raise awareness for the victims in pain
Pain that effects society more than anyone wants to admit
Suicides, mental breakdowns, prostitution, drug abuse, overdoses,
alcohol addiction, mental disorders, psychologically damaged
seeking to understand, to be understood to feel forgiven
our lives and behavior affect everybody, yes you too
subconscious feelings and conflicts of shame can tear us up inside

9/18/07

In my own case, I broke up marriages and disappointed and shocked a lot of people with my behavior, and from the phone calls I get a lot of people who survived this crime live lives way below the normal radar for American middle class life.

So yeah it’s shocking but in a lot of ways I identified with Joseph Druce’s anger as he murdered John Geoghan. Thank God I make it to anger management every week.

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I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
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When Druce testified at his trial for murdering Geoghan he was heavily medicated. He tried to testify about his abuse by clergy but only ended up saying:

“Also I don't want to sit here and cry either and look like a sissy, you know what I mean. And have to say that, you know, hey I had some guy, uh, I had some guy [BLEEP] I mean it’s got to be said, it’s got to be said. I’m just -- and I got her looking at me, I’m like, you know, here’s a girl looking at me and I’m talking about some guy [BLEEP] I mean it’s kinda it’s just a -- It doesn't matter what kind of medication I’m on it’s just”

They took him off the stand. The following week he returned and finished his testimony where he claimed he’d been raped by a priests at a seminary when he was a teenager. The jury didn't seem to give it much credence. `

More to come. .