Nun Pleads No Contest in Sex Abuse

Breeze54

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Tue Nov-13-07 08:18 AM
Original message

Nun Pleads No Contest in Sex Abuse

Edited on Tue Nov-13-07 08:19 AM by Breeze54

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/us/13nun.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

By CATRIN EINHORN
Published: November 13, 2007

A Roman Catholic nun pleaded no contest yesterday to two counts of indecent behavior with a child in connection with accusations from the 1960s when she was a principal and teacher at a Catholic school in Milwaukee.

The nun, Norma Giannini, 79, faces up to 20 years in prison for what prosecutors say was sexual abuse of two male students.

Although dozens of nuns have been accused of sexual abuse, often in civil lawsuits, Sister Giannini is one of the first to face criminal charges, said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of http://bishopaccountability.org/">BishopAccountability.org, a group that compiles reports about abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

Mary Pat Fox, president of http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/v/voice_of_the_faithful/index.html?inline=nyt-org">Voice of the Faithful, a lay group formed in response to the Catholic sexual abuse scandal, said she hoped the case would encourage more victims of nuns to come forward. “I think this is the tip of the iceberg,” Ms. Fox said.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office, Sister Giannini repeatedly assaulted the two boys while they were in middle school at St. Patrick School. The complaint said the assaults included intercourse and occurred in numerous locations, including a convent and a classroom.

The men who say they were abused, Gerald Kobs and James St. Patrick, now in their 50s, attended Monday’s hearing in Milwaukee.

More....

This is chilling and I have been wondering why there has been no news about abusive nuns!!

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Ian David

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Tue Nov-13-07 08:23 AM
Response to Original message

1. Black Collar Crime knows no gender. n/t

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Breeze54

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Tue Nov-13-07 08:25 AM
Response to Reply #1

2. What about physical abuse by nuns?

Do they even consider that? :shrug:

And why does the NYT make the link to "Voice of the Faithful'
seem like a 'group' but it leads to another section in the NYT's?

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Ian David

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Tue Nov-13-07 08:29 AM
Response to Reply #2

3. I always thought that abuse by nuns was WHY kids get sent to Catholic School.

Parents who find it distasteful to abuse their kids themselves outsource it to someone else, hoping to un-do all the years of neglect the kids had at home.

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Breeze54

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Tue Nov-13-07 08:34 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. lmao! I think you're right!!

When I was in parochial school and got in trouble, my Mom always sided with the nuns. :grr:
Regardless of what we told her, she thought the nuns could do no wrong. Period! But in
9th grade I had a particularly abusive nun and my Dad was pissed off and told me' basically'
that I had permission to defend myself from the freak. I was finally taken out of that school
at the end of the year but it was a very long time to wait and I was a very angry kid!

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undeterred

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Tue Nov-13-07 08:41 AM
Response to Original message

5. I have a friend who is a nun

She is a feminist, has a PhD, teaches at a Catholic college. For ten years (1970-1980) she was in charge of recruiting young women to be nuns for her order (I don't know the name of it but I don't think it matters). She found lots of young women who wanted to be nuns but all had some kind of sexual hangup or desire to escape society.

I know some people may think thats how all nuns are, but there was a time when women chose being a nun as a way of serving God and really spent their lives doing that.

So anyway, in 10 years she recruited zero. And they realize that they are dying out. The motivations people have for being nuns and priests in todays society are very often unhealthy.

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Breeze54

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Tue Nov-13-07 08:46 AM
Response to Reply #5

6. Nuns back when I was in school were forced to be nuns!

Edited on Tue Nov-13-07 08:48 AM by Breeze54

And I suspect that's what drove them insane or they were already crazy
and the nunnery was a better alternative then the nuthouse. I'm sure not
all were forced but there was thinking back then that at least one child
in a family should serve god, either as a priest or a nun.

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undeterred

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Tue Nov-13-07 09:13 AM
Response to Reply #6

8. Yeah, I'm not Catholic but I've heard that in large families

there was a kind of pressure for at least one of the children to become a priest or a nun. So if you were one of the youngest and your older siblings had all married, you were stuck. I met a priest who had 18 older brothers and sisters who was in that position, although he didn't seem resentful.

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malaise

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Tue Nov-13-07 09:16 AM
Response to Reply #6

9. Well in my day the standard joke was

"Why do two nuns always walk together
So none could get 'none'". :D

I guess Sister Giannini always walked alone!

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DCKit

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Tue Nov-13-07 09:12 AM
Response to Original message

7. Is there no statute of limitations on child sex abuse????

I'm not defending the practice, but DAMN!!!!

Until now, the only crime I was aware had no statute of limitations was murder. Pretty soon they're going to be digging up corpses for trials (a vaunted Catholic tradition, BTW).

I would almost think this woman had to agree to be charged with this.

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