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  1. TopTop #1
    geomancer's Avatar
    geomancer
     

    Psychologist For Priests: I Saw Abusers Reinstated

    More on the subject of the psychological/sexual immaturity of many Catholic priests.

    Andrew Sullivan's take on this issue is here: https://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/04/our-screwed-up-priests.html

    https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126024849&sc=17&f=1001

    April 15, 2010

    For years, the Catholic Church has quietly sent priests accused of sexual transgressions to psychiatric centers for treatment, many of them affiliated with the church.

    Dr. Leslie Lothstein has treated more than 300 Catholic priests at one of those centers, the Institute of Living in Hartford, Conn. (The institute no longer has an official relationship with the church.)

    Lothstein, who is not Catholic himself, says many of his patients have sexual problems. And he says the church does not always follow psychologists' directives about patients who are treated.

    "My experience was that if it was said to one of the clergy who was in charge ... that this person needs to have much more supervision, they would say, 'Oh yes, yes, it'll be there, they'll have supervision,' " Lothstein tells NPR's Michele Norris. "But then what happened was they went back to their normal, everyday work. And in going back to it, we learned much later that they didn't have the supervision."

    Lothstein says there's a "universal feeling" that if a priest has had sexual activity with a child, he should not be around children. But, he says, it didn't always work out that way.

    "In my experience, there were some people who were sent right back to working in youth ministries, and they often offended," he says. "There was also a subgroup of people that I saw in my private practice where they were sent back by their religious order to a foreign country, and within that country continued to molest children. And it was just horrible."

    One of the biggest challenges in treating priests, Lothstein says, is that they don't have the same kind of sexual experiences -- or history of talking about such experiences -- that an ordinary adult may have.

    "Many of the priests tend to be psychosexually immature," he says. "They've never taken a course in healthy sexuality."

    He says some of them have gone into minor seminary at age 14 and developed "a sense of self without having appropriate lines of dating, meeting other people, experimenting with touch, kissing, ordinary sexuality."

    And Lothstein says the Catholic Church has a real challenge ahead: To heal, it must be transparent, honest and sincere.

    "And I think that's what the public wants in every situation, whether it's local or international."
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  2. TopTop #2
    LenInSebastopol
     

    Re: Psychologist For Priests: I Saw Abusers Reinstated

    I am surprised a psych would put that out there, but then I suppose it is a sign for the day & age and good for biz. The "pink clerics" within the Catholic church were known for preying on 14/15 year old boys in their seminaries and turning them out; been a problem for years and now it has spread throughout the body as a cancer. One of those self fulfilling actions. That church has survived for more than a while against horrible attacks, both true and fancied, so this one? Well, the money t'aint flowing in at the moment but as some Catholic once wrote, and why that church will survive is that "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried".
    And like the O.G. once said: millstone, neck: cliff.
    Thanks for the post.
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  3. TopTop #3
    lynn
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    Re: Psychologist For Priests: I Saw Abusers Reinstated

    Psychologists are suppose to report these kinds of crimes like molesting an underage child to law enforcement...So, I don't get how this Psychologist didn't call the law on every single offender he came across...If he didn't do that - He should have his license revoked...
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  4. TopTop #4
    LenInSebastopol
     

    Re: Psychologist For Priests: I Saw Abusers Reinstated

    Agreed.
    The psychs could have been Catholic priests also.
    The law states the CLERGY must report such!
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