Has anyone gotten any responses from the families?

Naw?? Didn't think so. It's better when these things are kept on the DL when they're finally discovered. No wait, that was the original problem. Never mind, we already had a thread about how we don't deserve disclosure. It's all regurgitated bs if ya ask me. I should have the right to watch the Seaworld video(if Seaworld permitted it), and I should also be able to hear the families side in these cases if they so choose. If not, I want disclosure on how much money they got to shut up. Now THAT sounds like the American way. Sad that one side can "release a statement", while the other side has to keep silent.

I doubt the families want publicity. Would you, in that situation?

If they did, there would be plenty of ears to hear.

If there were hush money, so to speak, the FBI would have been all over it long ago. Assumptions without evidence are almost always entirely inaccurate.

_________________
Miles to go before I sleep

‎"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
-Khalil Gibran

That's where the problem lies. Shame(or money) wins, and they(the victim) are not heard. There's a stigma here, and that's what needs to be overcome. It's like the victims don't have a voice.

I pray (so to speak) I'm misunderstanding you, but are you denying that such events took place?

One incident garners benefit of the doubt, but after hundreds of accusations its safe to say its fact

_________________
When I was a boy I spoke as a boy, I understood as a boy, and I thought as a boy; when I became a man I took that boy outside and shot him.

I agree with you there (except for the money thing that kind of thing on that big a scale would have been noticed; I really don't think that happened, except for the few cases where it was reported during the original scandal several years back). I don't really think, though, that removing the stigma would cause people to talk about it publicly, to the media or something. They don't typically do that in situations that cause just as much pain. Processing all of that is a deeply personal thing, and I couldn't imagine ever wanting to talk about it more than is necessary (for a trial or something).

And, hey, if one of these priests or whatever ever has multiple victims that come forward before the statute of limitations is up and there's a trial, the transcripts will be available online when it's all done; you can satisfy all curiosity you have then. I wish that would happen, really... I like reading transcripts of cases in general because it really shows how inaccurately some are portrayed, and to know all the ins and outs of these cases in particular would satisfy some of my own morbid curiosity.

_________________
Miles to go before I sleep

‎"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
-Khalil Gibran

I was referring to money given to families specifically in this instance to prevent them from talking, not the fact that these kids were abused. (I'm with you that it's got to be fact with hundreds of accusations. I've read enough to know not to trust one accusation, maybe two, until/unless a guilty verdict is read in criminal court and even then I'll look up the transcripts and read up a whole lot to decide for myself thanks, but hundreds? Oh, there's no way things didn't go down.) In previous cases money was given to families for that purpose (to keep them from outing the priests), if I remember correctly... Those stories broke several years ago and I didn't look too much into them beyond media reports which could easily have been erroneous, so I could be wrong in that. In this case, though, it looks like the motivation was to acknowledge that wrongs had been committed, an apology of sorts, I guess.

I'm certainly not trying to white knight the Catholic church or anyone involved in covering things up in this. I do think, though, that distinctions should be made.

_________________
Miles to go before I sleep

‎"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
-Khalil Gibran

I think no imagination is necessary. Mix the fear of God with the fear of authority, and you've got your equation right there. Many of these crimes happened in a time before us, we have to remember this. Presentism should be a required H.S. course. What was happening 50 years ago is almost foreign to most.

I'm 32. I've been hearing media reports on families getting paid off not to go after a diddling priest as far back as I can remember.

The phenomena of priests diddling alter boys is nothing new, nor is it something exclusive to the past.

Same goes for the practice of 'hush money'. As long as there have been people with money, there has been hush money paid. While it may be of questionable legality, it's damn near impossible to prove.