Defrocked, 30 years later
New York City, New York --
It took the Catholic Church that long to get rid of Francis Stinner, a priest who molested young boys.
On Sunday, Record staffer Steve Israel brought one of the area's more appalling stories to a close. His column detailed the anguish and courage of a local man who, at age 11, had been sexually abused by his parish priest and who had decided, 20 years later, that he could no longer be a partner to the Catholic Church's coverup of his and dozens of other cases of abuse by its priests. The man called Israel in 1996 and, with the promise of confidentiality, told him his story.
Israel's column Sunday emphasized the importance of that pledge of anonymity in allowing this newspaper to bring the tale of sexual abuse and coverup to the public's attention. There is no underestimating the significance of that pledge, for this newspaper and others that published similar stories of abuse of boys by priests in their areas. When social institutions that are supposed to protect and defend the innocent not only fail in that responsibility but also enlist the innocents, through cash and coercion, in a conspiracy of denial, there must be a place of trust for the victims to go to unburden themselves. Newspapers can be that place.
But reading Israel's column also brought back feelings of anger and resentment at the church for its hypocrisy in dealing with the issue and the lengths to which it went to deny or delay dealing with the abusers.
The column was prompted by the fact that the Archdiocese of New York had just released a list of priests it had defrocked. Among them was Francis Stinner, who had served as a parish priest at St. Mary's Church in Port Jervis and taught at John S. Burke Catholic High School in Goshen. Stinner was the man Israel's caller said had sexually abused him and at least a dozen other boys while serving as their priest.
So Francis Stinner is no longer Father Stinner. This is good news. But really, this is an old story and the sad truth is it took the church nearly 30 years from the first time he abused Israel's caller to take Stinner's collar of invincibility away from him. For much of those 30 years, Stinner was free to molest other boys as the church merely moved him to other unsuspecting parishes and paid his accusers to keep quiet.
This was the church's policy for years. Cash, cars, college tuition, counseling, there was no limit to its generosity when it came to protecting priests accused of sexual abuse. Even a promise that Stinner would no longer be stationed where he would come into contact with children was not kept.
Read the article at recordonline.com Dated July 20, 2005
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It took the Catholic Church that long to get rid of Francis Stinner, a priest who molested young boys.
On Sunday, Record staffer Steve Israel brought one of the area's more appalling stories to a close. His column detailed the anguish and courage of a local man who, at age 11, had been sexually abused by his parish priest and who had decided, 20 years later, that he could no longer be a partner to the Catholic Church's coverup of his and dozens of other cases of abuse by its priests. The man called Israel in 1996 and, with the promise of confidentiality, told him his story.
Israel's column Sunday emphasized the importance of that pledge of anonymity in allowing this newspaper to bring the tale of sexual abuse and coverup to the public's attention. There is no underestimating the significance of that pledge, for this newspaper and others that published similar stories of abuse of boys by priests in their areas. When social institutions that are supposed to protect and defend the innocent not only fail in that responsibility but also enlist the innocents, through cash and coercion, in a conspiracy of denial, there must be a place of trust for the victims to go to unburden themselves. Newspapers can be that place.
But reading Israel's column also brought back feelings of anger and resentment at the church for its hypocrisy in dealing with the issue and the lengths to which it went to deny or delay dealing with the abusers.
The column was prompted by the fact that the Archdiocese of New York had just released a list of priests it had defrocked. Among them was Francis Stinner, who had served as a parish priest at St. Mary's Church in Port Jervis and taught at John S. Burke Catholic High School in Goshen. Stinner was the man Israel's caller said had sexually abused him and at least a dozen other boys while serving as their priest.
So Francis Stinner is no longer Father Stinner. This is good news. But really, this is an old story and the sad truth is it took the church nearly 30 years from the first time he abused Israel's caller to take Stinner's collar of invincibility away from him. For much of those 30 years, Stinner was free to molest other boys as the church merely moved him to other unsuspecting parishes and paid his accusers to keep quiet.
This was the church's policy for years. Cash, cars, college tuition, counseling, there was no limit to its generosity when it came to protecting priests accused of sexual abuse. Even a promise that Stinner would no longer be stationed where he would come into contact with children was not kept.
Read the article at recordonline.com Dated July 20, 2005
posted by God Almighty Himself at 6:20 PM
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