Speaking about his experiences publicly for the first time, Keith Rennar Brennan, of Bayonne, recalled four years of sexual abuse by church staff at St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in the Greenville section of Jersey City, starting with Keith Pecklers, the church’s young music director. Brennan said he was 14 at the time and that Pecklers was about three-and-a-half years his senior.....Pecklers, who became a priest, is now a prominent Jesuit scholar. A professor of liturgy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he has written, contributed to or edited nine books, according to his Facebook page, and is a frequent commentator on Vatican affairs for American media outlets — including the s@x abuse scandals.
Link (here) to read the full story at NJ.com
Blogger Note: Two Internet sources claim a financial settlement between the local diocese, Fr. Pecklers and Keith Brennan in 2008. The first (here) at NJ.com and (here) in the comments section by Keith Brennan.
The story is making its way to Italian media (here)
Statement by SNAP (here)
15 comments:
Why aren't these abusers ever sent to jail? How can the Society of Jesus specifically and the Church as a whole continue to pay settlements instead of sending their bad fruit to rot in jail where they belong?!? In an earlier blog post on December 6, Fr. Reese is quoted as saying the Church's membership is dwindling because the Church and liturgy are boring, and the Church is too clerical, etc. When will people like Fr. Reese come out and say what many of us Catholics are saying and thinking: we have left the Church because the Church continues to provide a safe haven for rapists and abusers of children.
Sweetie, saying that the church is "too clerical" is the same as saying that the church puts the good of the clergy above that of the laity, which is exactly what you complain about.
Fr. Reese said it not me. -- Sweetie
If you are the anon of 6:13 AM, my point is that Fr. Reese is saying exactly that which you criticize him for *not* saying.
Anon 821
Got it.
This cannot be much of a "Bomb Shell" for anyone who knows Fr. Pecklers...
Jesuit officials in Rome have to be held accountable.
Write to:
(Superior) Father Joseph Daoust:
dir-del@sjcuria.org
(Gregorian University Rector) Father François-Xavier Dumortier:
dumortier@unigre.it
The Jesuits will do nothing unless we force them to remove Father Pecklers from his professorship in Rome. SHAME SHAME SHAME on the Society of Jesus
@Anonymous 2.16: do you really believe a letter-writing campaign is going to stop these guys from raping young children? You are not dealing with the school board. The SJ and the Church are hierarchies, not democracies. They are not interested in what the laity say or think about their behavior. Their only goal is to protect themselves and their a$$et$. The reason they cover for each other to the extremes that they do is because they are all somehow implicated in these scandals. Any bishop or Jesuit superior who blows the whistle on a fellow priest does so knowing he, too, can certainly be implicated to either a lesser or greater degree. Hell must certainly be crowded with Catholic bishops and priests.
Sadly, I agree with anonymous 3:03. The Church is a hierarchy, not a democracy. And the ability of the laity to influence that hierarchy is limited by the values of the hierarchy itself, and its willingness to hear and respond to the values of others.
While a hierarchical structure is appropriate, even the leaders of a hierarchy have spiritual lessons to learn. And the consequences to them far exceed the consequences they cause. It is a trite saying, but "with power comes responsibility". (And those who participate in the wrong choice of Church leadership also bear responsibility.)
I do wish that the Church would be a better organizational role model – both for itself and for non-Church governments. At this point in time, a “tiered” model that has a first level (laity) that nominates volunteers to specify general issues to address, a second level (clerical) that figures out who should address those issues and constructs a rough “board” structure to address those issues, and finally a board to create a “business plan" and measurement plan that is approved by all levels.
While we do not have God’s judgment, we can still use some of His measurement techniques – establish baseline measurement, construct a measurement scale, and collect feedback to assure that the boards and their organizations meet goals approved by all tiers.
Letter writing campaigns do not work.
I know of several abuse victims, including myself, who had faith that Jesuit superiors would act to end the abuse once it was made know to them.
In my case, the Jesuit was not merely transferred, but promoted, after the first incident.
If you write the provincial, you will get a letter stating "thank you for your concerns ... your letter will be placed in Fr. _____'s file."
No further action, not even an apology, will be forthcoming.
"No further action, not even an apology, will be forthcoming." Knowing them, they'll put your address on their fundraising mailing list.
Different Provinces seem to have different policies. This has to be the responsibility of the Jesuit Superior General Adolfo Nicolas.
I know from personal experience that the Jesuit Curia will be even more stiff-necked in its response.
The Society should take notice that Social Justice begins by responding to the cry of those abused by Jesuits and taking action.
THERE SHOULD BE A NOTIFICATION SENT TO THE CONGREGATIONSFOR CLERGY,CATHOLIC EDUCATION AND RELIGIOUS IN ROMA PIAZZA PIUS XII ROMA, ITALIA..00193 ...ABC? I THINK SHOULD BE NOTIFIED TOO..IF I RECALL THATS THE NETWORK HE WAS ASKED TO BE PART OF WHEN THE ELECTION OF BEN XVI. WAS TAKING PLACE.THE SOCIETY OF JESUS SHOULD BE REQUESTED THAT MAN. OF CONSICENCE BE DONE AWAY WITH...THEY SHOULD OPEN THERE BOOKS LIKE EVERY ONE ELSE
It is strange that the London Tablet that Pecklers has written articles for has not reported this.
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