Aug 6, 2019
Institutional failings on display
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A postcard from Theodore McCarrick to one of his victims. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
At the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts of America, headlines from Tuesday alone show the scope of challenges at organizations meant to safely shepherd children to adulthood.
Why it matters: The collective result of such failings is parents who won't trust others with their kids.
The headlines:
- "Ex-cardinal’s letters to victims show signs of grooming" (AP)
- "Boy Scouts failed to stop hundreds of previously unreported sexual predators, a lawsuit alleges" (WashPost)
On the Catholic Church, via the AP:
- Disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick sent postcards and letters from "Uncle Ted" to his victims as part of correspondence with their parents.
- In an interview with AP, one victim said McCarrick’s status with the family created pressure on him to spend time with his abuser.
- “If I didn’t go to see Theodore I was always going to be asked by my brothers and sisters or my dad, ‘Why didn’t you go see him?’”
- Links to the letters, via AP
And on the Boy Scouts, via WashPost:
- "The plaintiff in the case ... is alleging that he was assaulted 'hundreds' of times by a scout leader in Pennsylvania over the course of about four years in the 1970s."
- The lawsuit alleges negligence by the "Boy Scouts, that the organization conspired to keep incidents of sexual assault a secret, and that the organization and other defendants engaged in 'reckless misconduct.'"
- "For decades, the Boy Scouts organization has kept detailed files, known as the ineligible volunteer files, that documented pedophiles known to it."
- "In the past decade, a large tranche of the documents became public through lawsuits and investigative reporting. But those records may be incomplete."
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