Spiritual incest is what one of the plaintiff's lawyers called the abuse suffered by the 470 survivors of sexual abuse at boarding schools for American Indian and Native Alaskan children who just won a huge case against a Jesuit order in the Pacific Northwest.
This is another step in coming to terms with the shameful history of this country forcing Native American children to attend boarding schools for 100 years, under the colonialist ideology "kill the Indian, save the man."
The schools were often run by religious orders, this time the Jesuits. In fact, in this case, they dumped all their problem priests at these boarding schools. Yes, on the most vulnerable and already-abused population in the country. I hope they never get over the shame.
When I heard this story on NPR this morning, I thought to myself "even the Jesuits..." They did so much good in Central America by promoting liberation theology, and yet....
This is the largest settlement of this kind in U.S. history. I hope it also serves to raise awareness about the extent of the abuse that Native American children suffered at these places, because this kind of physical, emotional and cultural trauma is one of the root causes of the social problems we see on reservations today.
From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:
The plaintiffs contended -- and the order apparently has agreed to admit -- that Jesuit leaders shifted priests known to attack children into the mission schools. In all, the attorneys contended more than 50 priests, nuns and lay workers abused the children.
Each plaintiff will get about $300,000
Here's a comment from one of them:
Katherine Mendez, a Yakama tribal member abused as a child at St. Mary's Mission boarding school in Omak, said she was relieved on hearing of the settlement, according to the statement issued by Tamaki. Mendez was 11 when she was sent to St. Mary's Mission by a state foster worker, and was abused during the year that followed.
"I kept the sexual molestation hidden in the dark, in my soul, for years and years," Mendez said in the statement. "Finally, when I came forward and saw that others did too, it was as if the blanket that had hidden our secret was pulled off and we could move into the light again."
The Jesuits' policy was to move around offending priests and nuns to these schools. However, sometimes they were moved to college campuses:
One former president of Gozaga University has been accused of abusing students there. Another, Pfau said, was moved to Seattle University, where he continued to abuse young men
Moved from one vulnerable population to another....
The church is STILL not punishing these offenders, despite these kinds of settlements:
None of the offending priests, nuns or lay workers have gone to prison. Most of those who held power in the province while the abuse was taking place -- including Seattle University President Stephen Sundborg -- have retained positions of authority.
This is an outrage.
For more information on this issue, go to the Boarding School Healing Project, which is an organization created to address childhood sexual abuse issues.
Reparations have just begun.....
Updated by betson08 at Sat Mar 26, 2011 at 03:47 PM EDT
White Bison Inc. just released a documentary on boarding school abuse and their "Journey to Forgiveness." It's an hour long. They put it on YouTube with an invitation for wide, free distribution, so feel free to use it in community and classroom discussions.