It took a lot of thought about whether or not to post this. What is about to be discussed isn’t exactly political, although it ties into something that is. It’s not an easy topic. Coming right on the heels of a couple of other cases, this is beyond repulsive. If it’s not one thing, it’s another, and it involves more underage girls. Here we were, so pleased to have Pope Leo and the bishops speaking out for immigrants, and this little organized religion gem shows up. How did they live with themselves after this? From Raw Story:
The girl pleaded not to go. She fought with her father on the drive over, screaming and crying in his truck until they arrived at the office building for Bruckelmyer Brothers, a home construction company on the outskirts of Duluth, Minnesota. She was just entering her first years of grade school. In the office, two men were waiting. One of them was Clint Massie, who the girl had recently told her parents had touched her genitals and groped her under her shirt. The other was Daryl Bruckelmyer, a preacher and leader of the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church down the road, where the girl’s family worshipped. Massie was a respected member of the congregation. Bruckelmyer had asked them all to the meeting, according to the girl’s account to police years later.
Just. Starting. Grade. School. A *child*. How can someone do something like that? It’s beyond comprehension. First Epstein and now this shows up??!! She was forced into seeing the man who had abused her. No wonder she was screaming, crying, and begging not to go! There’s really no way to even imagine what she went through, to be forced into seeing him. There’s no way to empathize, and no way, really, to understand, and that’s worse.
The girl’s dad and preacher allowed the man who had been sexually abusing her since kindergarten to hug her after begging for forgiveness. “It was one of the worst things ever,” she told police some 15 years later. The matter was resolved. It was forgiven. It should now be forgotten. But she could never forget. And neither could the other children. Over the course of about 20 years in two states, Massie had, according to court documents and by his own admission, sexually abused children within the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church, or OALC, community. He touched girls under blankets when their parents were present, in the backseat of a car with other passengers — even in the pews at church. His abuse was such an open secret among the tight-knit congregation that mothers warned their daughters to stay away from him.
An open secret, but no one would turn him in. Not until later, and that must have been damn hard to do. But they did. Finally, something was accomplished by their bravery. The need to speak out was far greater than the “forgive and forget” attitude of the church. When they were shunned by their families because they stopped going to church, they still spoke out. There’s still no way to comprehend what they went through.
After St. Louis County announced charges against Massie, Kleffman began receiving calls from alleged victims all over the country. Court filings listed nine alleged victims, but only three of the cases resulted in charges of felony sexual conduct with a victim under the age of 13. The statute of limitations under South Dakota law had run out for some of them. And the girl who’d been pressured to forgive Massie in Bruckelmyer’s office hadn’t had her case charged either; under Minnesota law, too much time had passed between her initial report in 2017 and the prosecution. The judge sentenced Massie to 7 1/2 years in prison. One of the girls said she hoped to have a role encouraging other victims to come forward before the secrecy consumes their lives the way it had consumed hers. “There’s a lot more to be done,” she said. “There’s a lot of Clints out there.”
Indeed, there are. This isn’t limited to the cliché of the Catholic church. It happens in others, too. The situations seem to encourage it, and *that* is beyond comprehension. But only 7 ½ years. That’s not nearly long enough. It needs to be forever. Why it wasn’t, well, there’s no telling. And when this asshole gets let out, there’s nothing that won’t let him start it all again. There’s nothing to stop him. Then the whole circus will start over. How many more girls will go through this because they can’t keep him locked away? How many didn’t come forward? What the hell? What the hell. [The full article is above and here. Please take some time to read it.]
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In my opinion, there should be no statute of limitations on child abuse, particularly sexual abuse. The victims have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives. Proportionately, the perpetrators should always be subject to accountability.
One of the worst aspects of many of these cases of child sexual abuse is that parents don’t believe their children when they tell them of it or they remain silent for fear of alienating the community concerned. On a more visceral level, as a father & grandfather, I don’t understand how a known pedophile can continue his abuse without a father/brother/uncle of the child stepping in and delivering some physical abuse in return.
“Remember – It’s not just a sin, it’s a felony!” (Robin Williams)