Church Hierarchy Ignored Advice of Mental Health Experts

The steady drip of a water torture equivalent continues to dog the Roman Catholic Church as the sexual abuse scandal continues in the news daily. Yesterday, I wrote about correspondence demonstrating the Pope Benedict XVI clearly knew of problems with sexual predator priests despite denials to the contrary. Today, a story in the New York Times bursts the balloon of the Church's claims that decisions were made on expert advice that in retrospect was flawed with a story by a psychologist who unequivocally states that mental health expert advice was routinely ignored by Church officials who obviously put the interests of dangerous priest ahead of the safety of children and youths. Indeed, this expert states that "It was a surprise for me to see how many psychopaths I met in the priesthood” Personally, I have long believed that the celibacy requirement in the Roman Church and the culture of secrecy and no accountability on the part of the hierarchy created a uniquely attractive refuge for those who were psychologically damaged and who suffered from emotional issues. What is so amazing/disturbing is that with everything that is coming out why anyone continues to give any deference whatsoever to the bleating of the bishops, cardinals and/or Pope. Here are some story highlights:
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Leslie Lothstein has seen them all: priests sexually active with adult men, others with adult women, others with adolescents, others with children. By his own count, Dr. Lothstein, a psychologist at the Institute of Living, in Hartford, has treated about 300 Roman Catholic priests, not only those with sexual problems, but also those with alcoholism, depression and other mental illnesses.
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And, when interviewed in his office last month, he was not at all surprised by the continuing revelations about sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church. “I had predicted 15 years ago that this would go up to the pope,” Dr. Lothstein said.
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He unwittingly found himself in the news almost 10 years ago, when it was reported that the Catholic Church had sent priests to the Institute of Living for treatment without always telling the doctors the full details of the priests’ transgressions. (One of those priests was the superpredator John Geoghan, whom Dr. Lothstein treated.) What’s more, the Catholic hierarchy often ignored the institute’s recommendations about the priests’ fitness for service. “I found that they rarely followed our recommendations,” Dr. Lothstein told The Hartford Courant in 2002. “They would put them back into work where they still had access to vulnerable populations.”
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[G]iven his vast experience, as well as his independence from the church, his insights are disturbing, but also helpful. “It was a surprise for me to see how many psychopaths I met in the priesthood,” Dr. Lothstein said. “Glib, callous, could say anything to you and be charming.”
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And as the therapists continue to discover, no therapeutic technique can heal a church of all its pathology. “And I treated half a dozen priests who fathered children,” Dr. Lothstein said. “I treated priests who had two children. I treated priests who got women pregnant and got them abortions. “I said to one of them, ‘Why didn’t you just use a condom?’ And he said, ‘Because birth control is against the law of the church.’
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Until it recognizes that sexuality is NORMAL and a part of the human condition, the Church will continue to f*ck up minds and lives with sad consequences that might have been avoided. And yes, it will continue to pin all its moral bankruptcy on gays rather that admit the Church's enormous doctrinal flaws.