They Are The True Victims
Bishop Raymond Lahey who so shocked Nova Scotia and the wider country when he was discovered to be in possession of child pornography after a routine stop by customs agents at Ottawa's Pearson airport on his return from a trip abroad, has confessed and apologized and he has stated that he feels his having been caught represented to him a "blessing in disguise".
The unspoken rest of the story was that he would simply have spiralled deeper into his sick obsession had he not been apprehended.
Now that he has been so widely disgraced, and brought in the process, a wider disgrace to the Catholic Church that he so long represented, he has had the opportunity to look into himself, to engage in a deep-seated introspection that has brought him to the opinion - never too late to repent, obviously - that what he was engaged in was harmful to the lives of children and youth.
Graphic images of sex bondage and torture involving children is about as low as one can sink.
But this realization was evidently not quite top-of-mind, given his statement at his court appearance. "During the past 26 months, I've had a chance to reflect on what I have done. I can say I have come to recognize that I became addicted to Internet pornography on a very indiscriminate basis This was an addiction powerful enough that despite my own distaste for it and my own internal convulsions I could not break it.
"I will take this opportunity to speak out to others who may find themselves in a similar position to my own and urge them to look at what they are doing, cease it and to seize the help that they need. Not just because this is something [1] illegal, but because ultimately it is [2] unhealthy, because it destroys relationships, and above all, where it involves pictures and stories of children, because it [3] causes genuine harm to them", Bishop Lahey expounded.
In that order of importance: 1: illegal - 2: unhealthy - 3: genuinely harmful to the child victims.
He was in the grip of an unforgivably immoral obsession that impacted horribly on the lives of the victims of the story. That he, as a man of the cloth, one who had risen within the Church hierarchy, someone whom other human beings looked up to for moral guidance and comfort, could succumb to the sick allure of watching and taking enjoyment out of children being abused and tortured is beyond belief.
He is an old man, and he has been disgraced beyond redemption. There are those who might find it in themselves to forgive him. He has lived his life and he is now excused from responsibility if he is offered comfort, yet to forgive is considered a moral obligation to many. In this instance, the old stricture: "Judge not lest ye be judged", simply does not apply, for there are few among us who would stoop as low as this man did.
It should not be overlooked that this man's sick obsession with his sexuality as one who consecrated his sexuality to the Church, yet found it in himself to find enjoyment in the degradation of children represents a betrayal of the most profound kind. He was given the trust of many, among them children - and he betrayed his oath and the belief that was entrusted to him.
The harm he and others like him, do is incalculable. "He is and was an individual in a position of trust over many years hiding his shameful sexual depravity and predilection in taking joy in the torture and rape of children." This is the condemnation expressed by Crown prosecutor David Elhadad. And it's as well put a judgement as any.
And his opinion expressed on response to Biship Lahey's lawyer looking for clemency for his client, reminding the court that the man now wears an indelible scarlet letter was clarity itself:
The unspoken rest of the story was that he would simply have spiralled deeper into his sick obsession had he not been apprehended.
Now that he has been so widely disgraced, and brought in the process, a wider disgrace to the Catholic Church that he so long represented, he has had the opportunity to look into himself, to engage in a deep-seated introspection that has brought him to the opinion - never too late to repent, obviously - that what he was engaged in was harmful to the lives of children and youth.
Graphic images of sex bondage and torture involving children is about as low as one can sink.
But this realization was evidently not quite top-of-mind, given his statement at his court appearance. "During the past 26 months, I've had a chance to reflect on what I have done. I can say I have come to recognize that I became addicted to Internet pornography on a very indiscriminate basis This was an addiction powerful enough that despite my own distaste for it and my own internal convulsions I could not break it.
"I will take this opportunity to speak out to others who may find themselves in a similar position to my own and urge them to look at what they are doing, cease it and to seize the help that they need. Not just because this is something [1] illegal, but because ultimately it is [2] unhealthy, because it destroys relationships, and above all, where it involves pictures and stories of children, because it [3] causes genuine harm to them", Bishop Lahey expounded.
In that order of importance: 1: illegal - 2: unhealthy - 3: genuinely harmful to the child victims.
He was in the grip of an unforgivably immoral obsession that impacted horribly on the lives of the victims of the story. That he, as a man of the cloth, one who had risen within the Church hierarchy, someone whom other human beings looked up to for moral guidance and comfort, could succumb to the sick allure of watching and taking enjoyment out of children being abused and tortured is beyond belief.
He is an old man, and he has been disgraced beyond redemption. There are those who might find it in themselves to forgive him. He has lived his life and he is now excused from responsibility if he is offered comfort, yet to forgive is considered a moral obligation to many. In this instance, the old stricture: "Judge not lest ye be judged", simply does not apply, for there are few among us who would stoop as low as this man did.
It should not be overlooked that this man's sick obsession with his sexuality as one who consecrated his sexuality to the Church, yet found it in himself to find enjoyment in the degradation of children represents a betrayal of the most profound kind. He was given the trust of many, among them children - and he betrayed his oath and the belief that was entrusted to him.
The harm he and others like him, do is incalculable. "He is and was an individual in a position of trust over many years hiding his shameful sexual depravity and predilection in taking joy in the torture and rape of children." This is the condemnation expressed by Crown prosecutor David Elhadad. And it's as well put a judgement as any.
And his opinion expressed on response to Biship Lahey's lawyer looking for clemency for his client, reminding the court that the man now wears an indelible scarlet letter was clarity itself:
"Mr. Lahey may have to bear the scarlet letter of child pornography on his chest, but the victims of child pornography have endured unspeakable acts and they too must bear a permanent mark, marks that are invisible to the naked eye but are of psychological harm, knowing that their photographed and videotaped sexual encounters are out there for eternity. They are the true victims."
Labels: Canada, Justice, Psychopathy
posted by Pieface | 7:33 PM
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