More fundamentalist religious child abuse.

Some readers incorrectly accused Dr Dawg of promoting the view that the Catholic Church holds the patent on child abuse by its clergy. This article from Haaretz should disabuse them of that notion.

Inside the grand ballroom of the Midtown Hilton in Manhattan, Agudath Israel of America's annual dinner was unfolding according to plan. Men and women dressed in traditional yet elegant clothes dined on salmon and listened to Senator Charles Schumer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledge their fealty.

Outside, a storm was brewing. A dozen protesters stood in front of the Hilton's parking garage and waved signs that said "Agudah: Stop protecting pedophiles." Most attendees waved off the protesters or ignored them with a look of distaste.

But Agudath board of trustees member Israel Lefkowitz rolled down his car window to chastise the protesters. "I am against sexual harassment for all the children," Lefkowitz said. "But you don't do this in public."

The angry exchange outside the annual dinner May 15 for Agudath Israel, a national ultra-Orthodox umbrella group, encapsulates the escalating battle within the Orthodox community over sexual abuse of children by rabbis, yeshiva teachers and other religious authority figures.

On one side, a band of loosely organized victims of sexual abuse and their supporters are crying out for community leaders to take a tougher stand against pedophilia. On the other side, many powerful leaders regard any public airing of sexual abuse allegations in the Orthodox community as hillul Hashem, a desecration of God's name.

One of the protesters, Mark Appel, yelled at Lefkowitz in his car: "Your children are being molested, and you know that [names of officials from Agudath] are not doing anything about it."

Why such explosive, public display of anger expressed by the members of a community that traditionally avoids drawing attention to itself?

The protesters' ire was aimed at Agudah's opposition to a bill now before the state Legislature that would extend the statute of limitations for civil and criminal claims of child sexual abuse and create a one-time, one-year "window" during which victims of crimes committed beyond the statute of limitations could file civil claims against their alleged abusers and the institutions that harbored them. ...

Agudah's official position is that it supports lengthening the statute of limitations, but opposes the one-year window because it could allow plaintiffs to file decades-old claims.

"Reasonable people can disagree on this," Agudah spokesman Rabbi Avi Shafran said inside the dinner hall. "We have no problem with extending the statute of limitations, we have no problem with anything preventative, we only have problems with the so-called 'window' provision."

Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe and Rosh Agudath Israel of America, took a harsher tone in his dinner address, chiding "the bloggers and the picketers, presumptuous promoters" for the notion that "they know better [than Agudah's Council of Torah Sages] what is good for the Jews." Perlow called child sexual abuse "a serious issue." He acknowledged a need "for correcting the past - and for addressing the future, creating means to guide against wrongdoing to children."

The protesters find Agudah's statements short on specifics. They accused Agudah of a conflict of interest. The organization is named as a defendant in sex-abuse lawsuits involving Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, accused of molesting dozens of students, including boys at an Agudah-run summer camp, and would likely face more lawsuits if the window legislation passes.

Different fundamentalist, ultra-orthodox religious institution. Same hypocrisy? Same impunity? Discuss. As always, your comments are welcome.

The photograph was found at this blogsite.

Expediency trumps accountability and compassion.

There was a demonstration outside Saint-Paul University today. Theology, canon law, pastoral studies and other related academic disciplines are taught there. Saint-Paul is part of the University of Ottawa.

Placards carried by the protesters claimed that the respected learning institution had become a sanctioned refuge for a Roman Catholic priest who was charged, and found guilty of sexual assault on an eight year old girl and making inappropriate gestures towards another.

Montreal Simon blogged about this here. This priest, who was awarded a scholarship by the Montreal diocese has become a lightning rod for the unresolved and contentious relationship the Roman Catholic Church has with adult survivors who suffered sexual abuse as children at the hands of priests. The attitude and actions of clergy who hold high positions in the Church does much to trivialize the harm, injury and trauma done to families whose trust in the justice system was often betrayed (and their children re-victimized), and little to advance healing.

With their characteristic arrogance, the Fathers of the Church persevere in believing that they have the power to forgive the criminal transgressions of priests (in the rare cases where they are forced to acknowledge the facts before them) and to chose the form of rehabilitation that they deem suitable. And so they continue to evade responsibility for the systemic sexual violence that the Church tolerates.

These members of the higher clergy - bishops, arch-bishops, cardinals, theological scholars, even the Pope - are wrong. Only the victims - girls and boys then, adults now - have the the moral and spiritual authority to forgive their abusers.

Note: Saint-Paul is affiliated to the University of Ottawa and thus retains some autonomy, such as its Catholic ascendancy.