Report Findings: Thousands Abused in Dutch Catholic Institutions

In a report that echos what has been seen over and over again literally all around the world a new report released in The Netherlands indicates that thousands of children and youths were sexually abused in Catholic institutions in that nation. Indeed, abuse and cover ups again were the official policy of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy. The Church's latest lame excuse is to claim that it is being singled out and that abuse occurs in other institutions. True, but these other institutions don't claim infallibility, condemn others as "inherently disordered," oppose modern knowledge and engage in the rank hypocrisy that is the norm for the Vatican and its corrupt (and general porcine) hierarchy. The Dutch report confirms that no regard was given to victims and that "avoiding scandals" was all that mattered to the morally bankrupt hierarchy. Again, I ask, why on earth does anyone listen to these horrible individuals much less contribute to their financial support? Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot on the crimes and cover ups in The Netherlands:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Thousands of children suffered sexual abuse in Dutch Catholic institutions, and church officials failed to adequately address the abuse or help the victims, according to a long-awaited investigation released Friday.

The report by the an independent commission said Catholic officials failed to tackle the widespread abuse in an attempt to prevent scandals. The suspected number of abuse victims who spent some of their youth in church institutions likely lies somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000, according to a summary of the report investigating allegations of abuse dating back to 1945.

Based on a survey among more than 34,000 people, the commission estimated that one in 10 Dutch children suffered some form of abuse broadly in society. The number doubled to 20 percent of children who spent part of their youth in an institution - whether Catholic or not.

"What was happening was sexual abuse, violence, spiritual terror, and that should have been investigated," Smeets told The Associated Press. "It remains vague. All sorts of things happened but nobody knows exactly what or by whom. This way they avoid responsibility."

The commission identified about 800 priests, brothers, pastors or lay people working for the church who had been named in the complaints. About 105 of them were still alive, although it was not known if they remained in church positions, the report said.

Deetman said the inquiry could not establish a "scientific link" between priests' celibacy and abuse, but he added, "we don't consider it impossible ... maybe if there was voluntary celibacy a number of problems would not have happened."

The Dutch branch of the Catholic church agreed last month to launch a compensation system that clears the way for victims of abuse by priests and other church workers to receive payments. The new compensation system has a scale starting at euro5,000 ($6,500) and rising to a maximum of euro100,000 ($130,000) depending on the nature of the abuse.