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Possibly
a New Low: Philly Daily News Faults Church for Not Stalking
Abusive Former Priest from Thirty Years Ago
Themediareport February 5, 2014
http://www.themediareport.com/2014/02/05/william-bill-bender-philly-daily-news/
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Asleep at the keyboard: the
Philadelphia Daily News' Bill Bender
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Always available for a crazy
quote: David Clohessy from SNAP
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Is the Catholic Church now responsible for hunting down
and shadowing every past employee accused of abuse, and then
constantly publicizing their whereabouts, no matter how long ago
the alleged abuse occurred? A recent ex-priest_a
brutal_abuser
without_remorse.html?c=r">front page article for the
Philadelphia Daily News by William Bender
certainly appears to suggest so.
There can be no doubt that the alleged crimes committed
by former Philadelphia priest James Brzyski years ago were
abominable. But in an especially bad piece of journalism filled
with hype and sensationalism (see the image of
the front page
of the Daily News that day), Bender quite incredibly faults the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia for not issuing perpetual public
updates on the exact whereabouts of Brzyski, even though he last
functioned as a priest some 30 years ago.
Consider the following facts which Bender either ignored
or only summarily mentioned:
- Records
show that when the Archdiocese of Philadelphia first learned
of allegations of abuse concerning Brzyski in 1984, it immediately
removed him from his assignment;
- Bryzyski never again functioned publicly as a priest
once the Archdiocese removed him; and
- the Archdiocese has publicly posted Brzyski's
assignment record on
its web site for several years for anyone with an internet
connection to review.
A special standard for the Catholic
Church
Yet these facts appear to mean little to the Daily News'
Bender. Despite the fact that Byzyski was last employed by the
Catholic Church nearly three decades ago, Bender darkly warns:
"Brzyski is able to move from one community to another
in relative anonymity – at least until his behavior gives him
away – because the Archdiocese won't disclose
his whereabouts."
"Won't disclose his whereabouts"? Really? Exactly what
other organization tracks down and then publicizes the current
addresses and phone numbers of former employees merely accused of
abuse over a quarter of a century ago? Philadelphia Public Schools? The Boy Scouts? Some Hollywood studio? The Philly
Daily News? Bender doesn't say.
Neither does Bender mention that the Catholic Church has
now done more than any
institution on the planet in implementing measures to safeguard
children. No other group even comes close.
Instead, in his article Bender turns to the predictable
National Director of the anti-Catholic group SNAP, David Clohessy, who naturally agrees
with Bender's implication that the Catholic Church should risk
criminal and civil liability and track the exact whereabouts of
its former employees and then hold regular press conferences to
announce the results of its monitoring of former employees.
Ironically, the hysterical Clohessy never reported
to police back in the 1990s that his own brother Kevin, a
Catholic priest, was sexually molesting innocent young boys.
And to this day, neither Clohessy nor SNAP has ever
once publicly reported the current whereabouts of Kevin. Yet
that never stopped David from boldly claiming to Bender that
Catholic bishops somehow have the "the moral and civic duty" to
monitor and publicize the current whereabouts of its former
abusive priests.
The hypocrisy is staggering, yet Bender appears so
blinded by the dominant media narrative about sex abuse and the
Catholic Church that he is unable to make sense of the simple
facts in front of him.
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