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TWI-minister gets 6 years for sexual assaults


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OMG JANE!!! You let him out???? You know, once the genie leaves the bottle, you can't get him back in! icon_eek.gif

I have been having trouble with my glasses...got new ones, still like old ones...don't see so well with old ones! I really didn't notice the mr.

Welcome MrImagine....long time no see! Welcome to Greasespot....hope to see more of you.

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Some more stats on this topic are here

compiled from the U.S. Dep't. of Health and Human Services.

They've got this interesting information:

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Men and women serving time in the nation's prisons and jails report a higher incidence of abuse as children than the general population.7

More than a third of women in the nation's prisons and jails reported abuse as children, compared with 12% to 17% for women in the general population. About 14% of male inmates reported abuse as children , compared with 5% to 8% of men in the general population.

For the data compiled from 2001, overall stats for the U.S. population included-

Types of maltreatment included:

Neglect (including medical neglect) 59%

Physical Abuse 19%

Sexual Abuse 10%

Psychological Maltreatment 7%

Other* 19.5%

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And this:

Based on approximately 3 million reports per year.

An estimated 903,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect in 2001 (cases substantiated by child protective service agencies.)

Nine in 10 Americans polled regard child abuse as a serious problem, yet only 1 in 3 reported abuse when confronted with an actual situation.

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I don't have any kind of grasp on what's going on with this topic, but it looks like a much more complex and widespread problem than it appears on the surface. The site quotes that out of approx. 3 million reported incidents per year, nearly a million cases were substantiated by "child protective service agencies". If 10 per cent of those were sexual abuses that's about 100,000 per year.

There's a lot of stats that apply to that number - "Among rape victims less than 12 years of age, 90% of the children knew the offender, according to police-recorded incident data. Frequently, the person who sexually molests a child is also a child."

I guess that could mean it's a family member or friend. I've only done a little reading but it doesn't sound like situations like the one posted in this thread are "rare". In fact, if I just counted off the top of my head the number of 6:00 News stories on child care, priest, church related, etc. abuses cases that make the news, the number is pretty high and those are just the "big" stories that make the news.

It's really sad. The one thing a parent has to do when they have a child is make every effort to protect them and raise them as best they can. There's a lot of pressures and risks in even the best of lives. Parents need all the help they can get, whether it's family, community, school, church. It's really hard when the risk comes from the support systems they try to trust but it seems to happen more than I'd ever expect.

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To clarify my previous post, it is rarely the case where the perpetrator of child abuse does not know the victim. Those cases rarely make headline news unless there is also homicide involved.

I don't know of any other reason why this case made headline news except for the fact Mark N. was a minister with TWI at one time. If he wasn't affiliated with TWI it is very doubtful the case would have been considered newsworthy by the media. I believe the only reason this case became newsworthy is because of the previous child abuse cases people have reported that were committed by priests in the Roman Catholic church.

Exterminating a child abuser to stop the cycle of child abuse would be extreme and unusual punishment. It's not likely to happen unless the case also involves homicide. I'm not sure what ever became of that woman from Texas who murdered her children in the bathtub about a year or so ago, but I doubt that she was ever "french-fried" for her crimes. She likely got off on some "insanity" plea due to the stress that some women supposedly endure shortly after giving birth to a child.

Since females are the largest number and also in the highest percentage of child abuse perpetrators, are you advocating that society should "french-fry" these female parents? Most people are of the persuasion that treatment or counseling of the perpetrator is what is needed to end the cycle of child abuse. Ionically, society wishes to place the majority of that responsibility on the church. Whenever the church fails to maintain it's responsibility to society it now becomes headline news. It still seems pretty cyclic to me.

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quote:
She likely got off on some "insanity" plea due to the stress that some women supposedly endure shortly after giving birth to a child.
what ?????

i think i'll go tell that to my sister in law who tried to commit suicide after giving birth

and of course i can't tell the women i know who did....

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Hmmm, I dunno What the Hay. I may have missed something in the thread then - is there something that says this guy didn't know the children and that this was a spontaneous crime of "opportunity" rather than consistent access?

I think the media reports the stories and they're sensational because - fortunately - these events still elicit an extreme reaction. Any parent, adult, human being, who hears about children being abused by an adult is going to be revolted by that. Granted a child always needs protection and supervision but if the public wasn't informed about a risk and it remained unknown they wouldn't be able to prepare for it as well.

The TWI connection puts that part of it in perspective, I think. Ministers, pastors, priests, etc. have a unique connection to people, one that carries a certain amount of trust. Many people would expect that a person in that station would be there because they have something to offer, not take.

One of the sad side effects is that it's becoming harder and harder for a person who wants to do good to do good in certain situations because trust as a whole is so decimated. Look at someone wrong and they're liable to shoot you or Taz you or call 911.

Sure, a church may not know what one of their people is doing. We can assume that it isn't the intent of a church to hire and give opportunity to people that are going to hurt the congregation. But it seems to have become like alcoholics getting jobs in liquor stores.

Frankly I can't think of anyone I know, me included, that places the majority of responsibility for treating or counselling abusers on "the church". In fact we seem to be finally waking up to the fact that a church isn't above the law of the land and that simply because a person tries to aspire to a higher calling and fails that doesn't give him or her some kind of special dispensation to do as they please and hope for the best. Criminal behavior is so because it threatens the good of individuals in society. Society should have a part in determining how to remedy that.

One of the worst crimes I can think of is one that takes advantage of children because children always have less capability to protect themselves. They rely on adults to care for them.

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exactly

--

quote:
Most people are of the persuasion that treatment or counseling of the perpetrator is what is needed to end the cycle of child abuse. Ionically, society wishes to place the majority of that responsibility on the church.
not ironic at all, a large majority of the child molesters are men of the friggin cloth
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"Most people are of the persuasion that treatment or counseling of the perpetrator is what is needed to end the cycle of child abuse."

With respect to SEXUALLY abusing a child (which is the specific abuse this thread was about) I am not at all of the persuasion that treatment or counselling of the perpatrator is what is needed. Statistically speaking, treatment and counselling rarely helps a pedophile overcome their sickness and when set loose upon society, they will likely repeat their crime. I am of the opinion they should be executed.

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quote:
Originally posted by ex10:

uh, what the hay, I'm having the same trouble gettin what you're saying that socks and sisex are.

Having been very involved in the counseling field in the church, I'm going....."huh?"


What he’s doing (and frequently does) is called obfuscation, with a bit of blame shifting thrown in for good measure.

He’s spouting off about child abuse and neglect, in general, in order to cloud the clear topic of the thread, which is a TWI minister being convicted of sexual assault of a child. He does similar things on almost every thread that deals with ministerial sexual abuse, and many that deal with other ministerial misconduct.

He’s concentrating on females (purportedly) committing more acts of child abuse and neglect, most of which are not sexual, in order to shift the discussion (and therefore blame) from sexual assault of a child by a TWI minister.

He’s carrying on about many perpetrators of abuse having been victims themselves, which may be true, but is no excuse for an adult claiming to be a minister of Christ and using people’s trust in that office in order to sexually assault children.

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What The Hay:

________________________________________________

t seems one is supposed to feel sympathy for the victim of child abuse but never the abuser - no, they are to be condemned. That may be the natural response to child abuse, but without this recognition I don't believe the cycle of child abuse can be effectively broken. Sympathy for victim is no more effective treatment for child abuse than condemnation for the abuser.

________________________________________________

Please be very specific and describe the treatment you propose for the abuser. For this discussion let's assume the abuser will receive the needed amount of sympathy and/or condemnation.

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Well, we could also consider the warning of Jesus in regards to harming the "little ones", those more vulnerable, weaker, who are like little children:

6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

7 ¶ Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Hmmm. Jesus recognizes that there will be offences - snares or "traps", the temptations and weakness that will cause a person to act in offense but His verdict in regards to hurting the weak and vulnerable who believe is: a long walk off a short pier.

I'd like to see rehabilitation. I'd want to sort through the causes and effects and treatments and counselling. Jesus doesn't take that stance.

In fact He sounds a little pi$$ed at the idea. In fact you could say He points out the consequences would be so severe it would be better if your a$$ would be fried.

Numbers, statistics, media coverage are all secondary to the fact that the actions themselves are unacceptable. To paraphrase Jesus - "$hit like this happens and sometimes life sucks but WOE to you if you're the one giving the $hit".

.........this guy needs to continue his ministerial duties? I think he may need to buy a waterproof vest. Jesus's words are a warning if nothing else.

I believe in a God who is merciful and forgiving. But I am of the mind that the bible teaches this is something a person can't do and expect it to be ignored - hurt His people - specifically those who are weak, younger, less able to defend themselves, "little ones".

This thread is in regards to sexual abuse. All a person has to do is break it down into what that's really talking about to realize it's wrong, bad, and individually worthy of serious consequence. It has nothing to do with spin, everything to do with reality.

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it stays with you a lifetime

but you absolutely positively don't have to be destined to repeat it

i'm so glad about the public attention these days. when my little brothers were sexually assaulted by the parish priest, he had already been transferred here for doing the same thing in another parish. this only came out years and years later

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This deserves to be on the front page a little longer.

To those still in. Do you think this pervert is unique? Do you think there have never been any others in TWI, or ever will be?

Tell me, has TWI done a teaching on physical fornication yet? Have they done one on sexual abuse yet? How about one on sexual abuse of minors?

How about a teaching on how to spot these perverts?

I spent years in TWI and never heard any teaching on the subject, but heard plenty on tedious topics.

Consider the possibility that TWI is a haven for sexual predators...

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Perhaps, TWI is waiting to see what the Catholics will do, or perhaps Rev. Baker, or you name it. Point is, there are aberrant personalities in every walk of life, every organization.

I don’t dispute postings from you who have had a bad experience in TWI. I am sorry your experience did not turn out differently, and, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, I feel personally betrayed by the actions of the abuser in this case. My heart goes out to the abused, her family, and I also pray for the abuser and his family. What must have gone wrong in this person’s life that he acted in this manner? The question is rhetorical at this point, but, real in my mind, nonetheless. What must his family be thinking, feeling right now? And, yes, of course, how devastated, frustrated, and angry must the victims in this case be right about now? When something like this happens, it is truly sad for everyone involved – and, although Mark received the earthly justice he deserved (perhaps not harsh enough, who knows?), it will do little to assuage the hurt that he caused to his family and the family of the abused.

Twi is no more the haven for sexual predators than any other organization – all the more reason that one should trust God to keep one on guard, no matter what vehicle is the means by which one seeks his or her walk. That this happened in TWI is no better (but no worse) than having it happen at school (I know of several cases involving teachers/students), at church (personally aware of a couple of ministers abusing children), in Amish country, you name it.

It is not my place to condemn the church, the schools, the Amish, or TWI. In God’s eye, a sin is a sin – neither man nor his organizations (sanctioned by God or not) consist of perfect individuals. If it makes you feel better to blame this shameless act on TWI, go right ahead. In my house, we shall view this aberration through a lense of much wider angle. The man obviously has a problem that caused him to commit a crime. First order of business is that he needs to get straight with the law – do the time for his crime. I agree that he should be “warehoused” for the rest of his days on this earth. Then, he needs to get help to overcome this problem of his – that help needs to come from all available sources – lay, spiritual, ministerial, and professional – he should not leave a rock unturned in this regard.

He also should not ever expect to be trusted alone in the presence of a child, and, unless he wants to use this crime as a springboard from which to launch a renewed career as a minister, I doubt he could ever be effective again. People have recovered from worse crimes to lead meaningful lives, but only by constantly admitting their frailties and working up from there.

I continue to grieve for all involved in this matter, and will pray and believe for God to craft the most positive outcome.

Respectfully,

LLP

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quote:
Perhaps, TWI is waiting to see what the Catholics will do, or perhaps Rev. Baker, or you name it. Point is, there are aberrant personalities in every walk of life, every organization.


Agreed, BUT if the organization (or it's representatives) KNOWINGLY allow an abuser or criminal to exist without turning them over to the authorities, they are condoning it. Religious organizations should NEVER allow themselves to refrain from turning over abusers or criminals of any kind.

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abuse is not unique to twi by any means

we just happened to be ex-twi here

and some organizations actually take precautions to prevent this kind of thing from happening if at all possible; i don't really see twi having done that -- just the opppose, in fact -- at least when i was "in"

and i don't think it's any different today

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Excie I walked in on an act between a priest and an altarboy once and was privy to some inside information about several priests. The efforts made by the church to keep it (and other things) quiet would today be cause to shut the school and church down and perhaps pay millions of dollars in damages to their victims Yet to this day not one student has come forward because, I think, for the most part, it would upset their applecart, much like what is going on in twi.

I walked away from it as it was obvious no one cared enough, that what happened can be easily pushed under the rug or some such thing as that.

What bugs me about the most is the last time I attended mass as the place, there were all these happy smiley people wandering around congratulating themselves on their 150th anniversary, I though to myself, this celebration was paid for by the students who suffered under their sick mentality and if they only knew what lay beneath the surface, they would not be celebrating but covering themselves in sackcloth and ashes...

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