Accused Priests? Many Are Not Guilty!

I've been reflecting for the past few days on the accusations against the rector of the diocesan cathedral, Fr. Patrick Posey. An accuser has come forth claiming abuse over thirty years ago. I don't know Fr. Posey personally, but his reputation from friends who do know him is praiseworthy. So here we have someone come forth with thirty-year-old accusations. No matter how this resolves, Fr. Posey will always be under a cloud. How do you disprove something that supposedly happened thirty years ago, especially in an era of the lie?  And what's the quote about a lie traveling around the world before the truth gets out of bed?

I don't know whether these allegations are true or not, but many have already concluded they are claiming that no one would ever lie about these things. Remember the assumption that women never lie about rape...only they do. Just ask the three players on the 2006 Duke lacrosse team. It was a hoax. The accuser "wanted validation." 

There are plenty of motives for lying. One of the most powerful is money. Think of all the scams. In Virginia there is no statute of limitations for felony child sex abuse. The Catholic Church has paid out billions in compensation, sometimes with almost no evidence and no trial. It's easier (and sometimes cheaper) than going to court and upholding the rights of the accused to a fair trial. And consider the witch hunts of the past, for example the day care horror stories about animal sacrifice, etc. where little ones, who don't distinguish between make-believe and real, were led by therapists to make the most bizarre accusations. False memory is a very real psychological issue:

False memory is a psychological phenomenon whereby an individual recalls an actual occurrence substantially differently from how it transpired or an event that never even happened.

Interference, leading questions, obsessive-compulsive disorder, false memory syndrome, and sleep deprivation can cause false memories. 

There are also cases of unethical lawyers who go looking for priests to accuse. The church is an easy target and many bishops abandon accused priests and totally ignore their legal rights. I know a few. How often is the presumption of innocence deep-sixed when the accused wears a Roman collar? That certainly happened in the case of Fr. Gordon MacRae. In fact, what got me thinking about Fr. Posey this morning was an article at Fr. MacRae's blog, Beyond These Stone Walls. Fr. MacRae has been falsely imprisoned for almost forty years over allegations of child sex abuse. He could have been out in two years if he pled guilty. He refused. If you aren't familiar with his case visit the blog and see how God uses the innocent to accomplish good.

What will happen in Fr. Posey's case? From my perspective, it seems unlikely that a sexual deviant commits these kinds of crimes against children and then goes on to lead a blameless life. Child predators generally continue to be child predators. And false accusations against priests are common. In 2024 Media Reports wrote in The Great Shakedow Keeps A-Rollin'n:

Simply put: Fraudsters, flimflammers, and mental cases now score big cash settlements by making claims of past abuse. And the more the Church pays out on these bogus claims, the more claims it gets. This is not complicated, but simple human nature and motivation. There is no downside to filing suit, which you get to do anonymously. So why not give it a try?

The website links to a book by David Pierre, Jr., The Greatest Fraud Never Told: Phony Grand Jury Reports, and the Assault on the Catholic Church. I'm ordering it as a resource.

I've been doing a lot of research on estrangement which seems relevant to this issue. My study has resulted in seeing the deep divide in the mental health industry where some therapists working with adult children label parents as toxic and abusive for essentially not being perfect. Often there is no effort to look at both sides of the situation, just leap to a conclusion. Clients who don't identify their parents as the problem have been led by unethical therapists to embrace no contact. One therapist, Lindsay Gibson, admitted it on Oprah's show on estrangement. 

An accusation is not evidence, but both priests and parents are often declared guilty without trial and with only the "victim's" story receiving attention. I'm praying daily for Fr. Posey and I urge you to as well. And pray for all the poor innocent priests and parents who've suffered and continue to suffer because of false accusations. For priests it can mean a jail sentence, for parents it means the jail of alienation and no contact.

Child abuse is a horrendous crime and anyone who commits it should be brought to trial and hopefully imprisoned so they can't repeat it on other innocent little ones. But lying and false accusations are also wrong and they serve to undermine the real cases of abuse. We all need the gifts of the Holy Spirit to know and defend the truth. Pray for Fr. Posey and his accuser. One is telling the truth and one is not. Let us pray the truth conquers. In this world, governed by the liar and deceiver, that is often, sad to say, not the case.

May Jesus Christ be praised.