Preventing Sexual Abuse in Churches

Robert Hoatson, Ph.D, President & Co-Founder, Road to Recovery and Steve Adubato speak about the unethical actions taking place in the churches, including sexual abuse, and what needs to be done to prevent this from continuing. Hoatson also shares his thoughts on how these incidents may impact the churches and people’s beliefs.

10/27/18 #227

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"We are pleased to be joined, once again, by Doctor Robert Hoatson, President and Founder of Road to Recovery. Good to see about you Bob. You too, Steve. Thanks. I think it's four or five times you've been with us? Yep. Your expertise... you're a former priest? Yes. You understand the sex abuse scandal and the priesthood better than anyone else in the Catholic Church. We just had Senator Joseph Vitale, check out that interview, who is calling for a grand jury investigation... the Attorney General in the state of New Jersey doing the same thing... into this case. Pennsylvania did, as you called it, what? I called sem... Philadelph... Pennsylvania, rather, a seminal study. Seminal grand jury investigation. Because? Well, it left no stone unturned. It really looked into the depths of the crisis there. And found? And found a thousand victims and three hundred priests. And since the report was issued, hundreds have come forward to that same hotline. What do we need to do in New Jersey? By the way, New Jersey has a hotline. Check out our site, and Jacqui, let's make sure we get that website up, because people... dozens and hundreds of people are calling the Attorney General's website hotline on this. Yes. Yeah. I applaud the Attorney General Grewal for doing this. It has to be done. I've called for it for decades as an insider for over 40 years in the church, I kind of knew what was going on there, and I know, you know, I was kind of like a voice in the wilderness for a while, but now people are listening. And that's... it's what has to be done. You know, it's interesting. I've never said this on the air before, but Ted McCarrick, the Archbishop of the Archdiocese I grew up in, elevated since then in the Catholic Church in Metuchen, Archbishop there as well, he was an important figure in my life, my family's life, he was a spiritual adviser in my family. Yeah. Tell folks what he did. Well, Ted McCarrick ordained me... Allegedly did. Well, he ordained me to the priesthood in 1997, but in 1994... Well, he did do that. Yeah. What was the word for a long time according to many in the church? Well, before we knew about his pedophilic behavior, we knew that he was sleeping with seminarians. And he would invite seminarians on mas to his Jersey Shore house in Sea Girt and he would always be one bed short and someone would have to sleep with him. I'm currently working with a priest in Metuchen who is..."