Nabi Sayeth: The Sex Abuse Crisis is Impacting the Suicide Crisis

The double life of a predator cleric cries to
heaven for justice!

Nabi Sayeth: In Part I, I presented to you for your consideration the “thinking” that exists in the mind of the person who contemplates suicide. Suicide is a choice, an act of control when a man, woman or child thinks that life is overwhelmingly out of control. It’s their way of taking control of the pain and confusion.

But because they are so incredibly self-focused, they do not consider other options to remedy their confusion nor do they take into account the devastation they leave behind to the lives of the very people who love them the most.

In Part I, I was so bold as to write that the clergy sex abuse scandal is a contributing factor to the rise in the suicide rate. There are two ways that this is so:

1. Acts of sexual abuse by trusted clergymen are an affront to the dignity and value of human life. All people are created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed by the Blood of Jesus. Therefore, EVERY PERSON, those born and those waiting to be born, are cherished children of God and Temples of the Holy Spirit. All human life must be respected and protected. But this was not the case in EVERY act of sex abuse committed and/or covered-up by a clergyman.

Here are some examples from the horrific Pennsylvania Grand Jury report that was released to the public in August of this year….

During the course of the grand jury investigation, it uncovered a 'ring of predatory priests' within the Diocese of Pittsburgh who "shared intelligence" regarding victims, exchanged the victims amongst themselves and manufactured child pornography. The group included George Zirwas, Francis Pucci, Robert Wolk and Richard Zula, and they used whips, violence and sadism in raping their victims. 

One victim, who is identified as "George," was made to get up on a bed. As the priests watched, they asked George to remove his shirt. Drawing on the image of Christ on the cross, they asked George to remove his pants. The priests began taking Polaroid pictures of him.

George said the photos were added to a collection of similar photographs depicting other teenage boys.

The priests, George testified, had a group of favored boys who they would take on trips and give gifts.

"He (Zirwas) had told me they, the priests, would give their boys, their altar boys or their favorite boys these crosses," George testified. "So he gave me a big gold cross to wear."
In the report, the grand jury said, the crosses "were a designation that these children were victims of sexual abuse. They were a signal to other predators that the children had been desensitized to sexual abuse and were optimal targets for further victimization."

Nabi Sayeth: The boys were treated by their sick abusers like cattle, less than human. The clergymen acted in a similar manner to the way the nazis treated their Jewish and other captives, dehumanizing them at every turn. The sick goal, for both the nazis and the predator clergymen, was to break down their victim’s will and any desire the victim may have had to resist. In time, the victims saw themselves as nothing more that objects for the sick pleasure of their captors/predators.

The next example reveals more sinful, dehumanizing acts by a clergyman:

An allegation was made in 1991 that Father James Armstrong of the Diocese of Pittsburgh gave homeless boys from Pittsburgh drugs, alcohol and money in exchange for sex.

One victim reported he was abused by multiple priests in the course of his life.

The man said that his father was a heroin addict, and his mother a prostitute, and he ran away from home at about 14 or 15. In the winter of 1985-1986, the victim said Armstrong would drive him and a “hustler” to a back road and had them do “various violent sex acts like calling him degrading things while he gave them oral sex.” This lasted for a couple of years.

Nabi Asketh: How could a “man of God” do such things to vulnerable children of God? How could they use the same hands which had been anointed to Consecrate the Most Holy Eucharist to cause sin, pain and harm to the bodies, minds and souls  of children, teens and young adults? But they did, time and time again!

     2. Their perverted behavior rendered them uncredible and useless with regard to   

         the Church’s mandate to witness to the Gospel of Life. How could they stand at

         the altar and/or pulpit and dare call the laity to respect the Gift of Life?

Nabi Sayeth: Is it any wonder that so few clergymen talk about abortion, pornography, and the sinfulness of homosexual behavior? When’s the last time you heard any talk about the sinfulness of the LGBTQ movement and homosexual unions (called mistakenly “marriages”).

Why did predators such as FORMER bishop Michael Bransfield, and others, attempt to silence good priests by repeatedly transferring many who did witness to the Gospel of Life?

My Friends, There was a time when the Catholic clergy were an incredible source for good. Throughout the history of our beloved Catholic Church in the United States there were many great and heroic priests and bishops who by their witness to the faith made our country great, moral, decent and a place where Truth and goodness could easily be found. Because of their hard work people in large numbers had a clear sense of right and wrong, sin and virtue. People who experienced suicidal ideation often stopped doing so for religious reasons. They knew because of the clear message from the teachers of the,Church that life is a Gift from God and that no one has a right to destroy that Gift.

As the suicide rate increases IN ALL AGE GROUPS, where are the voices of the shepherds now? It appears that their sins of omission are leading to even more confusion and harm to the very people they were called to serve...