What is the link between these abusers and conservatism? (Main Forum)

by Brian Coyne , LINDEN, NSW, Saturday, April 14, 2012, 10:56 (406 days ago) @ Oh Yet We Trust

The report in the SMH [LINK] about Judy Courtin's evidence concerning the victims of Fr Ronald Pickering led me to going and re-reading the Broken Rites report on Pickering [LINK]. The following paragraphs stood out to me. What is the link between these abherent behaviours and ultra-conservatism or fundamentalism? Is it that the "straightjacket" of their beliefs triggers the abherent private behaviour? Or is it that the public moral conservatism is taken on as a way of trying to put others "off the smell" of the abherent private behaviour?

Victims say that Father Ron Pickering hovered around altar boys, choir boys and parish-school boys. He lured victims to his bedroom with promises of watching television or videos or receiving pocket money for altar-serving or doing odd jobs. He continually talked about sex.

He would often encourage boys to consume alcohol in an attempt to get them drunk before abusing them. He would often have a boy staying with him overnight, even sharing his bed. He also took boys away with him on weekend trips, where he abused them. In a typical scenario, Pickering would wrestle with a boy on the bed, tickle the boy's stomach and then engage in sexual activity.

Pickering prospered financially while in the priesthood. He acquired a number of residential investment properties in various parts of Australia, which brought him rental income as well as capital growth. He was a heavy smoker and drinker and was a big spender on cars and clothes and on gifts for boys. It is believed that some of Pickering's fortune resulted from him prompting elderly parishioners to remember him in their will.

Pickering presented himself as a conservative. He supported advocates of the Latin Mass. He sprouted much in public about "spirituality".

Despite his own sexual activities, Pickering would preach against promiscuity in the community. He supported the Catholic conservative "Right to Life" organisation. He was also believed to be sympathetic towards the Catholic ultra-conservative Opus Dei movement.

Pickering claimed to have a Master of Arts degree from Oxford University, although Broken Rites has been unable to find proof of this claim. In Australia, he took an interest in Catholic teachers' colleges. He mixed socially with some of Australia's most prominent clerics. These clerics knew about Pickering's sex-abuse but Pickering, in turn, knew secrets about certain colleagues. So everyone remained silent.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/suicides-linked-to-clergys-sex-abuse-20120413-1wzcy.html

http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page118-pickering.html

Brian Coyne
[Editor & Publisher]