Foley: “If I were one of these sickos…”

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Well guess what? You are!

Here, via Fark, is some beautifully ironic video of America’s Premier Pedo, former (resigned in disgrace) Representative Mark Foley, talking about tracking down online pervs who are after America’s children.

Just like he is.

“If I were, uh, one of these sickos, I’d be, uh, nervous with America’s Most Wanted on my trail.”

12 thoughts on “Foley: “If I were one of these sickos…””

  2. Pingback: Representative Mark (Pederast) Foley’s IM transcripts « raincoaster

  5. The Catholics and Anglicans have had about the same level of pederasty and sex scandals. However, the structure of Protestant churches, including the Anglican, is a lot looser, and of course there are far more American protestants, many of whom regard Catholicism as some sort of cabal anyway. Additionally, what goes on between a clergyman and his community seems far more a community matter in Protestant churches.

    The heirachy of Catholicism makes it an easy target. Scandals are simpler to track and explain. But let’s make sure we tar and feather our religions fairly.

    Buddhist monks get caught diddling kids too.

  6. I’m going to make you get the figures for that one. Anglican ministers are allowed to marry, some are even allowed to marry their same-sex partners, or even live in sin with them. Pederasty is, as far as I know, not particularly Catholic, but those who are of such inclinations seek out positions where they’ll be A) under no pressure to marry and B) able to freely access and influence young boys. Hence what my elderly brain recalls as a much higher rate of offence in the Catholic priesthood than in the Protestant ones. Can you back up your hunch with numbers?

  7. You know full well that it’s tough to back this sort of thing up with numbers, for precisely the reasons cited above.

    Nonetheless: We can start by addressing what I think is the current fashionable perception, analysed here at religioustolerance.org. Apart from citing Ann Coulter as though she were serious, it’s a sound piece.

    There’s a short article here on abuse of women in the Anglican church. Reports abound of Anglican abuse in Australia–Melbourne and Adelaide are prominent. Canada? Looky here–the United Church is also under fire, as mentioned in the same article.

    The Catholic Church has attracked an unusual amount of attention because of its top-down administration, and because when a priest gets busted for buggery, people have their prejudices about the “unnatural” lifestyle, mysterious rites, and “bizzarre” mysticism confirmed. So the canard gets repeated.

    Citing celibacy as a reason people commit sexual offences? C’mon–we both know there’s no relationship in and of itself. It’s as sensible as accusing the dietary restrictions of Jews for obesity in the community. If you want to sugget that the choice of celibacy makes a man more likley to molest, then it seems you’re joining the club of gay-haters who say kids shouldn’t be camping with queers, who cannot resist their natural impulse to assault them.

    People who want to molest kids get close to them: coaching amateur sports is a big draw. Any confidential leadership or counselling position is good, too. So naturally the Catholic church is a good place for a kiddie diddler to work–without discussing the difference between paedophilia and hebephilia (doesn’t that sound like an attraction to Jewish girls?).

    But so is any place that suggests that the welfare of your kid’s body, soul, and mind should be looked after by a guy in a fancy dress or track pants.

    Cases in the Catholic church were worsened by the outright denial of the heirarchy. But to quote the political/sociological text that causes all this fuss in the first place:
    “Before you remove the mote from your neighbour’s eye will you first remove the beam from thine own?”–or something along that line.

    Quit distracting me–I gotta work to put beer on the table, y’know. Add to that the fact that we’re slowly recovering our wine costs from the summer.

  8. I think that, if one really did the research, one might find that Baptist ministers are probably no less likely than their more Roman and Canterburian counterparts to engage in such behavior. I agree with Metro – the core problem is that of intercepting pederasts/pedophiles before they enter any sort of environment suitable for their ‘interest.” The Catholic Church’s long-term handling of that situation is merely that of any large, hierarchical organization – conceal the bad PR. Iin that case, the Vatican’s behavior is no different and no more surprising than that of Congress.
    And that alone is one off the best arguments against organized religion that I can present.

  9. Metro, you are profoundly misunderstanding me. I am NOT claiming that celibacy makes a man more likely to molest; I am claiming that pederasts seek out positions where they won’t be expected to maintain heterosexual relationships, as you’ll see if you re-read the comment I posted. Statistics about heterosexual abuse are, as you agree, quite irrelevant. I suggest you buy more vegetables and less beer.

  10. Well, I’ve got some numbers for you. In terms of clergy abusing children, the Catholic Church is way ahead of any other denomination, with more than 700 priests removed for this reason since January, 2002. My reference for that is the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, here:
    http://www.usccb.org/nrb/

    The Christian Science Monitor reports that Protestant faiths report slightly higher absolute figures, reflecting the 70/30 ratio of Protestants to Catholics in the US as well as the greater willingness of Protestants to report such abuse, as they do not regard their ministers as anything close to the authority figures that Catholics view their priests.
    http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0405/p01s01-ussc.html

    The problem, Cobble says, is that churches are the perfect environment for sexual predators, because they have large numbers of children’s’ programs, a shortage of workers to lead them, and a culture of trust that is the essence of the organization.

    Churches have been active since the early 1990s in addressing the problem, Cobble reports. More than 100,000 copies of a book he co-authored, “Reducing the risk of Child Sexual Abuse in Your Church” were sold.

    And the CSM also reports that a disproportional number of convictions among Catholic priests relative to other clergy:
    http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0321/p01s04-ussc.html

    BOSTON – Despite the common perception that clergy who sexually assault children are almost never punished, more than 70 priests and ministers have been sent to prison for child molestation since 1985.
    While this still represents a small percentage of the overall cases, the number of clergy put behind bars in recent years has been growing – as has the severity of the sentences.

    A review of publicly reported convictions going back 17 years reveals that:

    • At least 75 clergymen have been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, criminal child-sexual-abuse charges since the landmark Gilbert Gauthe case in Louisiana in 1985.

    • About half of those – 38 – were Roman Catholic priests. The rest included Baptist ministers, Methodists, Pentecostals, Episcopal priests, and others.

    • Many sentences were for 10 years or more, ranging from 30 days to life in prison.

    “There’s been a definite effort to keep these convictions quiet and minimize them,” says Richard Sipe, author of “Sex, Priests, and Power” and a former Catholic priest.

  11. Thanks for the figures. I’d respond but Mme an I just got back from a very pleasant wine tasting, and I have to be up at oh-dark-stoopid.

    Peace, baby.

  12. Talk, talk. You might as well just fold; Catholic priests are responsible for more convictions for child molestation than ALL other Christian clergy combined.

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