Santorum also blames the victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse

Santorum Exposed

Monday, July 18. 2005


The controversy swirling around Rick in the past week has focused on his remarks blaming liberals and the city of Boston for the Catholic Church's clergy sexual abuse scandal. But Rick has had even more to say about this than what the Philadelphia Daily News unearthed from the Catholic Online website.

Two years ago, in 2003, an Associated Press reporter asked him to clarify his original remarks about Boston. Once again, Rick stood by them, then went on to say this:

"In this case, what we're talking about, basically, is priests who were having sexual relations with post-pubescent men. We're not talking about priests with 3-year-olds, or 5-year-olds. We're talking about a basic homosexual relationship. Which, again, according to the world view sense is a perfectly fine relationship as long as it's consensual between people. If you view the world that way, and you say that's fine, you would assume that you would see more of it.

"Post-pubescent men? Is Rick saying once a boy hits puberty he is an adult? Is he saying that 12, 13 and 14 year old boys who were molested by trusted authority figures were not actually raped but engaging in a "basic homosexual relationship"?

Wow. Does that mean that if a middle-aged man (or, for that matter, a 21 year old man) engaged in a sexual relationship with a 12, 13 or 14 year old girl, Rick would consider that a basic heterosexual relationship? Is he familiar with statutory rape laws, and why those exist?

Once again, in this interview, Rick takes the culpability for sexual abuse off the abuser-priests -- as if teenaged boys who were molested had some say in the matter, or possibly even consented (12, 13, 14 year olds!) to sexual relationships with the priests who were preying on their trust, vulnerability and innocence.

It is insensitive for Rick to blame liberals or Bostonians for priests who molest children. But, it is absolutely unconscionable to place any responsibility at all on the children that were victims of this horrifying abuse.

Sign this petition and tell Rick to apologize publicly for his appalling insensitivity.

http://www.santorumexposed.com/serendipity/archives/33-SANTORUM-ALSO-BLAMES-THE-VICTIMS-OF-CLERGY-SEXUAL-ABUSE.html