Double Damnation
Who might possibly have credited an elderly man - all the more so when that man is a Bishop to an entire community - of representing the epitome of degraded sexual dysfunction. A mockery of the Catholic Church's chastity vows for its priests, through Bishop Raymond Lahey's surrender of his soul to child pornography, to a horrible fascination and gratification with the repulsively nauseating spectacle of a child being horrendously sexually molested.
It is more than likely that this man - venerated by generations of Nova Scotians who trusted him implicitly as the shepherd of their moral and ethical values, bringing them closer to the spirit of goodness in their worship of god - was always devoted to his abhorrent fascination for children as sex objects. The wry symbolism of his having been the principle figure in Nova Scotia's child-abuse settlement claims cannot be lost on anyone.
The man's conscience, assuming he was possessed of one, was tucked safely out of the way; obviously not interfering with his preoccupation with pornography and with his own record of molesting young boys. It is not yet clear how actively engaged he was in actual physical molestation beyond satisfying his twisted yearnings through pornography, but there is an active accusation against him by a former parishioner.
This grandfatherly-appearing man with his highly respected position in the Church alongside the high regard in which he was held by those who thought they knew him so very well, visited notorious child-exploitation countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. He searched the Internet for materials that would supply him with the degraded gratification that he obviously craved.
He was discovered to be in possession of hundreds of child pornography images and videos featuring young boys being humiliated, degraded, tortured and held in sex-slave conditions that could not conceivably have any final impact but to destroy their childhoods and leave them as dysfunctional adults.
The man presents as a pitiful figure, an expression of mankind's capacity to indulge itself in the grimmest, most odious grovelling in filth. But it is not the destruction of his own psyche that is the outstanding feature so disturbing to contemplate; rather it is the outcome impacting on the lives of children used and horribly abused to ensure that men like Lahey, now 70 years of age, have satisfied libidos.
His personal humiliation at the discovery of his illicit material so carefully gathered and prized by him, might seem to some a living death in the short time this man has left to live. He may be facing a sentence of a year in prison, but the children who were robbed of their childhoods for his favour, have a lifetime sentence of misery and psychological illness.
He chose to sacrifice children's well-being to his criminal addiction, and chose also to sacrifice his reputation and his legacy as a man of the Church to his sick cravings. The Vatican, more than sufficiently embarrassed over the years by similar such incidents by priests is prepared to take "appropriate disciplinary or penal" action against Mr. Lahey; who yet retains the rank of a bishop emeritus in the Church.
This man's degraded status as a fallen bishop speaks to the lowest possible fall from grace conceivable; an expression of the utter failure of a human being far more than the simple failure of a man of the Church. But that failure is a double damnation.
It is more than likely that this man - venerated by generations of Nova Scotians who trusted him implicitly as the shepherd of their moral and ethical values, bringing them closer to the spirit of goodness in their worship of god - was always devoted to his abhorrent fascination for children as sex objects. The wry symbolism of his having been the principle figure in Nova Scotia's child-abuse settlement claims cannot be lost on anyone.
The man's conscience, assuming he was possessed of one, was tucked safely out of the way; obviously not interfering with his preoccupation with pornography and with his own record of molesting young boys. It is not yet clear how actively engaged he was in actual physical molestation beyond satisfying his twisted yearnings through pornography, but there is an active accusation against him by a former parishioner.
This grandfatherly-appearing man with his highly respected position in the Church alongside the high regard in which he was held by those who thought they knew him so very well, visited notorious child-exploitation countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. He searched the Internet for materials that would supply him with the degraded gratification that he obviously craved.
He was discovered to be in possession of hundreds of child pornography images and videos featuring young boys being humiliated, degraded, tortured and held in sex-slave conditions that could not conceivably have any final impact but to destroy their childhoods and leave them as dysfunctional adults.
The man presents as a pitiful figure, an expression of mankind's capacity to indulge itself in the grimmest, most odious grovelling in filth. But it is not the destruction of his own psyche that is the outstanding feature so disturbing to contemplate; rather it is the outcome impacting on the lives of children used and horribly abused to ensure that men like Lahey, now 70 years of age, have satisfied libidos.
His personal humiliation at the discovery of his illicit material so carefully gathered and prized by him, might seem to some a living death in the short time this man has left to live. He may be facing a sentence of a year in prison, but the children who were robbed of their childhoods for his favour, have a lifetime sentence of misery and psychological illness.
He chose to sacrifice children's well-being to his criminal addiction, and chose also to sacrifice his reputation and his legacy as a man of the Church to his sick cravings. The Vatican, more than sufficiently embarrassed over the years by similar such incidents by priests is prepared to take "appropriate disciplinary or penal" action against Mr. Lahey; who yet retains the rank of a bishop emeritus in the Church.
This man's degraded status as a fallen bishop speaks to the lowest possible fall from grace conceivable; an expression of the utter failure of a human being far more than the simple failure of a man of the Church. But that failure is a double damnation.
Labels: Human Relations, Realities, religion
posted by Pieface @ 6:47 PM
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