"No one can touch me", Paul Shanley, a founding member of Nambla (North American Man/Boy Love Association) once said.
But today this fallen priest lost his appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Court. I imagine his good friend Paul Shannon, Richard Pillard and the Reform Sex Offender Laws Campaign will go into deep mourning and further lashing out at victims of child sexual abuse.
Regardless of the fact that there were documented accusations of abuse against Shanley in his file going back to 1967, and another documented complaint from as early as 1961 - and the Catholic Church subsequent cover-up at the hands of Bernard Law - the same Cardinal Bernard Law who first referred to the attempt to stop baby-raping pedophile priests as
"This is the closest thing I've seen to a lynch mob since my days in Mississippi."
Of course that was before it was revealed that Law had covered up for those same baby-raping pedophile priests for years and years. And years. Paul Shannon and RSOL/Nambla associates still refer to it as a witch hunt. In denial of things like this:
"The documents released by court order revealed both the horrifying details of abuse and the church's cavalier response to victims and others concerned about the ongoing abuse. The revelations were dramatically at odds with years of protestations by church leaders, including Law, blaming the media for exaggerating the scandal's extent."
Shanley's defense was that the victim should not be believed because of the "junk science'' of "repressed memory".
The prosecution maintained that "the emotional trauma [the victim] suffered created a 'disassociative amnesia,' which is recognized by the mental health profession as a legitimate psychiatric disorder."
Paul Shanley's own 'expert' witness whose purpose was to prove that Shanley's victim could not have repressed a memory of abuse and later remembered it (Abuse that occured over a 7 year period) also admitted during testimony:
"Oh yeah, people can forget traumatic experiences that happened to them, and they can later remember them."
"And if something happens to you over and over again, you remember it even better."
Especially interesting to me that Shanley would have the nerve to appeal his sentence when you consider the notes of his own psychiatrist in which Shanley admitted to molesting children.....TEN years before he ever made it into a courtroom. Raped and molested children that Paul Shannon of the RSOL refers to as "LIARS".
Paul Shanley was just one of the reasons for the existence of the Reform Sex Offender Laws Campaign as we've discussed before. But let us keep a few comments in mind as the discussion of Paul Shanley, Paul Shannon, Nambla, RSOL and other pedophile supporters continue:
Dr. Richard Pillard: Organizer - Reform Sex Offender Law Campaign and Nambla said at the founding meeting of Nambla
"Men and boys who love each other are engaging in a social experiment."
Paul Shanley: Defrocked priest and convicted child molester:
"People shouldn't put such hope in a mere man, any man. It's almost sacrilegious. If they knew the madness in me, festering below the surface, they would join the ranks of my accusers."
Paul Shannon - Organizer - Reform Sex Offender Law Campaign
"All I know is that Paul Shanley did not rape these four boys"
I'm guessing that Shanley forgot to tell his good friend about his confessions.....and the TWENTY SIX known victims.
Paul Shanley:
"We have our convictions upside down if we are truly concerned with boys...the 'cure' does far more damage."
Dr. Richard Pillard and Tom Reeves - Nambla Steering Committee member, were both original founding members of Nambla along with Father Paul Shanley. Years later when Shanley was under investigation for multiple child rapes, the RSOL was formed by Dr. Richard Pillard and Tom Reeves. Along with other Nambla members like Bill Andriette. Recently when sex offender activists have questioned the RSOL about their affiliation with Nambla "Alex Marbury" stated that they should not let "Petty Differences" interfere with their attempt to abolish sex offender laws. In other words - their drive to make the world a safer place for predators.
The good news is however, that today the world is a safer place from THAT child predator: Paul Shanley. May he serve every second of his sentence and die of old age in prison.
Michael Melsheimer aka Lek is a sex offender and a pedophile activist member of BoyChat. He runs the website B4U-Act along with his pedophile activist BoyChat friend Richard Kramer. At one point Jon Schillaci aka Dylan Thomas acted as Michael's webmaster. Richard Kramer runs the website MHAMic ("Male Homosexual Attraction to Minors Information Center") which is an attempt to "educate" people that child sexual abuse isn't harmful. B4U-Act has partnered up with Reformsexoffenderlaws.org
Some of you have probably heard of the "Call to Safeguard our Children and our Liberties," a 1999 effort in Boston to fight against the demonization of sex offenders and the curtailment of civil liberties for people accused of sex crimes. The original group included some important peace activists, journalists, and academics.
On July 10, 2007 Paul Shannon had his article published on CounterPunch - An Urgent Call to Support the Well-being of Children and the Rights of Us All
In 1999, a group of us in Boston -- prominent political activists, civil libertarians, and workers in the mental health and legal systems, as well as teachers and others who work with children -- tried to draw public attention to this threat with a "Call to Safeguard our Children and Our Liberties."
The lives of many thousands of people have been unfairly ruined. And we have created a despised under-class labeled "sex offenders". All of these developments are justified under the high-sounding rhetoric of "protecting our children from sexual predators" despite the fact that most registered sex offenders have never committed sexual offenses against minors.
In 1999, a group of us in Boston.........
On August 13, 2007 Paul Shannon was interviewed by Daniel Tsang (we spoke of Here)
Last year, the brutal rape and murder of a young boy in Cambridge triggered a wave of indignation which targeted all 'pedophiles.' Supporters of the death penalty in Massachusetts used this case and almost prevailed. There were calls in public meetings to "find and kill all the pedophiles." Cardinal Bernard Law was quoted a saying, "This is the closest thing I've seen to a lynch mob since my days in Mississippi."
December 13, 2002
Cardinal Bernard Law was forced to resign in shame after it was revealed that he had covered up for child molesting priests and in fact had enabled their continued abuse of children by simply shuffling them from parish to parish for decades. Paul Shanley and John Geoghan are two of the priests who molested kids while the Church and Cardinal Law simply looked away.
June 29, 1998
A discussion group of about twenty people formed, hosted unofficially by a non-governmental organization. Participants included women who are incest and sex abuse survivors, boy-lovers, anti-censorship and civil liberties activists, feminists, gay and lesbian people, health-care workers, church activists, peace and social justice activists, academics, and those who work with prisoners.
We have met regularly for six months, sometimes almost as a kind of group therapy or consciousness-raising session, dealing with deep and justified angers and emotions. We continue to hold a wide range of views about children's sexuality and certainly about intergenerational sex.
Sincerely: Dr. Richard Pillard, Cathy Hoffman, Paul Shannon, Chris Tilly and others....
A discussion group of about twenty people formed, hosted unofficially by a non-governmental organization. Participants included women who are incest and sex abuse survivors, NAMBLA members, anti-censorship and civil liberties activists, feminists, gay and lesbian people, health-care workers, church activists, peace and social justice activists, academics, and those who work with prisoners.
We have met regularly for six months, sometimes almost as a kind of group therapy or consciousness-raising session, dealing with deep and justified angers and emotions. We continue to hold a wide range of views about children's sexuality and certainly about intergenerational sex
SIGNED: Dr. Richard Pillard, psychiatrist; Paul Shannon, educator; Cathy Hoffman, peace activist; Chris Tilly, economics professor; Marie Kennedy, community planning professor; Eric Entemann, mathematics professor; Tom Reeves, social science professor; Bob Chatelle, writer & anti-censorship activist; Jim D'Entremont, playwright and anti-censorship activist; Ann Kotell, health worker; Carol Thomas, social justice and religious activist; French Wall and Bill Andriette, gay writers and editors; Nancy Ryan, feminist activist; Dianne McLaughlin, community & criminal justice activist; Reebee Garofalo, popular culture professor; John Miller, economics professor; Molly Mead, urban social planning professor; John MacDougall, sociology professor; Laurie Dougherty, social science researcher & editor; and others...
June 1998:
The real challenge is to support and expand programs for children and youth which develop caring, loving, thoughtful, whole human beings. Among these are day care, after-school care, sex positive sex education, and better training and pay for those who work with children.
The aim of all these programs should be to empower young people to learn to make their own decisions about their lives. Children and youth need to view themselves not as potential victims, but as part of a community which supports and nurtures them, encouraging them to speak up and act responsibly on their own beliefs.
July 10, 2007
* Children should be defined as persons under the age of puberty.
* Support broad sex education for children, and empower them to make their own decisions and stand up for their rights
July 10, 2007
Focusing on "saving" children from sexual molestation by strangers distracts us from far more serious forms of violence against children and young people. Most child abuse has nothing to do with sex. It is important to speak out against sexual harm, which has often remained hidden and denied within families and communities. However, non-sexual violence against children is at least as pervasive as sexual violence.
Sexual abuse has long remained hidden and denied within families and communities and churches. Define "far more serious abuse"? No one can define someone elses victimization for them. No one should imply that "While sexual abuse is despicable there are indeed things that are much worse in life. Most children do not die or become permanently disfigured as a result" as some people have. For any event we can usually find something somewhere that is worse. To deny the significance of abuse and attempt to minimize the effects on the victim by pointing elsewhere is wrong. It is always wrong.
"Focusing on "saving" children from sexual molestation by strangers distracts us". Focusing on denial and rationalization and minimization and helping child molesters get away with it, seems to be distracting some people from doing anything for anybody except feeding into the cognitive distortions of people who don't feel what they do is wrong nor should they be punished or restricted. The vast majority of sexual abuse is committed by someone known to the victim. This can be anyone from a family member to a teacher or a Boy Scout leader or a Little League coach, a neighbor or a priest.
Perhaps the key to this panic about sex offenders is that they are often assumed to have raped children. That is, "sex offender" is often equated with a violent "pedophile." The term pedophile itself has become a stereotype of a person who violently rapes young children. In fact, the vast majority of persons attracted to children are not violent
The vast majority of pedophiles are rarely physically violent. The destruction is far deeper and longer lasting than physical wounds. It's one of the things that sets sexual abuse apart from other crimes. The fact that they aren't usually violent is how they continue to fly under the radar, through manipulation and grooming of their victims and the victims family but also those in authority who cover up for them.
The offender is a priest. He is friendly, reassuring, comforting, respectful, respectable, professional, knowledgeable, compassionate, caring – a good man. He is in a position of trust, leadership, authority. He targets one or two or 20 victims – male or female, pre or post pubescent or adult. He cultivates the target, preparing her or him: he invites confidences, offers friendship, creates or joins social opportunities. He offers camping trips, dinners, picnics, family visits. When he feels trusted enough he commits the abuses, assaults, violations. He gains silence through smooth talk, explanations, persuasion, threats, promises of harm. He continues the abuse until the victim is no longer accessible or until exposure is threatened or imminent.
His bishop hears of the abuse – in a letter, in whispers, in person, clearly, emphatically, repeatedly. The bishop ignores it. He knows a scandal will erupt if the abuse is revealed. He blames the victim, is in denial, treats it as an aberration, believes treatment is the answer, is blinded by his friendship with the offender, is an offender himself.
The bishop leaves the priest right where he is. Or he moves the priest to a new parish, church, hospital, school, nursing home. And warns no one.
Weeks, months, years later – continuously – the same priest abuses again. And a victim speaks up, asks for help, tells his story. The priest is surprised and wounded that anyone would suspect or accuse him. The bishop says, "He said he never did that." "He promised not to do it again." "He got treatment." The latest victims are stunned to learn that the priest had a known history of abuse and was allowed to harm them. The previous victims are stunned to learn that the priest was given more opportunities to victimize. Weren’t they promised he would be removed from his priestly duties?
Then comes doubt, denial, recrimination, victim blaming. All heads swivel toward the victim. And the questions begin: Why believe his story? Her story? Their stories? After all, the victim was pre-pubescent at the time and has an unreliable memory. The victim was post-pubescent and probably wanted, enjoyed, sought out, provoked the abuse. The victim is male; this must be a homosexual encounter. The victim is female; she seduced him, she wanted it. The victims must want money; they make up these stories to get a piece of the pie. And always: Why did she wait? Why didn’t he tell when it happened? Why now? The victim knows the subtext: "You are a liar. Priests tell the truth."
Diocese after diocese writes check after check for settlements, church spokespeople say the victim was seductive, compliant, unreliable, negligent, complicit, greedy, a liar. Lest we forget: the wrongdoers pay to buy silence or to comply with court orders – not to acknowledge, compensate, apologize or make whole.
And the beat goes on. The institution makes gestures toward new policy, new procedures, new personnel. The victims become exhausted, and finally are silent, in agony over the public dissection of their private torment. After following the story for days, weeks, months, the media loses interest and moves on to something new. All is still. And in that silence, rape and sexual abuse continues.
Anywhere people seek help, sanctuary, direction, advice – anywhere someone with authority, status or resources is in a position to guide, direct, or aid – that is a place of vulnerability and access. That is a place where the young, aged, female, disabled, incarcerated, infirm, disenfranchised are targeted by a predator. And the predator who is lauded, promoted, hidden and protected by the institution he represents is the most dangerous among us. He can prey with impunity.
Because we do not believe victims, because we do not believe such a nice man could have done that, because we do not sustain long-term interest in the story, we turn away, tune out, move on. We do not demand exposure and accountability; we do not stop the sexual abuse and rape of women and children.
We have cooperated, collaborated and compromised with those in positions of power. We have waited, patiently and furiously for change. We have reached across chasms of doubt, mutual suspicion, anger and angst to create allies in every institution in this country. We have tolerated continued abuse and continuous denial of its prevalence and impact.
We have cajoled, pleaded, persuaded, argued and worked tirelessly to move every institution toward an understanding of rape. What it is. How it harms the victim. How it harms all of us. We are tired of being patient. We are tired of ignorance. We are tired of denial. We are tired of excuses and lip service. We are tired of defense of the indefensible. We are tired of stonewalling, victim-blaming, confidentiality agreements that protect institutions and silence victims. We are tired of institutions protecting themselves instead of the people they are there to serve. We are even tired of apologies.
We want action. Meaningful action. Action to end sexual violence.
How to safeguard children? Reformsexoffenderlaws.org calls for abolishing every single law imaginable and then somehow believe they can disguise that as "safeguarding children". They call for the abolition of age of consent laws and just like the pedophile activists groups they try to disguise it in "liberation of children". What they are calling for is the very things that helped to create the decades-long sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church. We have to move forward not back in time. Hysteria and panic did not create this problem. People who have no respect for children created it.
"If you tell, no one will believe you", whispered Father Paul Shanley into the 6 year old boy's ear as he proceeded to sodomize the child. An act he would continue to inflict on this child for the next 6 years.
The child did exactly what the hippie priest expected him to do. He kept silent. For 20 years.
One day he did tell. In a court of law. Despite what the priest had told him, a jury of 12 men and women believed him.
Rumors had circulated about Paul Shanley for decades. Multiple complaints had been made about him molesting young boys and promoting pedophilia,bestiality and incest as normal - complaints which were made to church officials who responded the way they always did when they discovered a pedophile priest in their midst - A brief apology to the family along with a statement that God wanted us to forgive. Then they transferred Paul to another unsuspecting Parish. The first incident dates back to the 1960's. He's had at least 40 victims.
As a young priest Paul was known as the "hippie priest" or "The Pied Piper". He belonged to the streets and alleys of Boston, walking the night looking for young boys he could "help". He had style, he had carisma and people adored him even as they suspected that there was something not quite right about this man who was willing to take on all the troubled youths who didn't fit in. And yet, that's how it usually is with sexual predators. The vulnerable make the easiest targets....and they are the least likely to tell - from a 6 year old boy to a 15 year old runaway. THAT is the number one requirement to prey on children, being able to recognize which ones are susceptible to manipulation.
Paul's crimes finally caught up with him in a Boston court room where his lawyers argued that he was a victim of a false recovered memory. A jury of 12 men and women didn't believe him. I read the transcripts - I don't believe him either. Amazingly enough there are those who do support Shanley.
Among them are Bob Chatelle, an original signatory on the RSOL campaign, a long time Nambla apologist, pedophile defender and activist for legalized possession of child pornography under the guise of free speech....... and nonexistence. He claims child pornography laws are unconstitutional.
There's Yasmin Nair, a gay rights activist and pedophile apologist.
It’s true that sexual assault can have shattering effects on people, but not always. And it’s not impossible to learn to live with the memories of trauma.
How can we live with ourselves, with our betrayal of Paul Shanley?
Then there's Bill Andriette, Nambla Steering Committee member, editor of The Nambla Bulletin, and Gayme magazine, recently removed from distribution at Amazon.com. As editor of The Guide he's published pro bestiality articles and descriptions of the eroticism of eating feces. Oh and of course pro Paul Shanley articles of course. He described in an interview the horrors of Megan's Law.
Before the Massachusetts version of the law took effect, a NAMBLA member drafted an "open letter" to the state's high court, likening the measure to rights abuses in the McCarthy era and asking for a postponement of its enforcement. In addition to John Reinstein, legal director of ACLUM, those who agreed to sign the letter included Paul Shannon of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Cathy Hoffman, peace commissioner for the city of Cambridge.
Tom Reeves, Nambla Steering Committee member and original signatory on the RSOL. Tom drafted a resolution which Nambla adopted
"(1) The North American Man/Boy Love Association calls for the abolition of age-of-consent and all other laws which prevent men and boys from freely enjoying their bodies. (2) We call for the release of all men and boys imprisoned by such laws."
On December 2, 1978, Tom Reeves of the Boston-Boise Committee convened a meeting called "Man/Boy Love and the Age of Consent." Approximately 150 people attended. At the meeting's conclusion, about thirty men and youths decided to form an organization which they called the North American Man/Boy Love Association, or NAMBLA for short.
And then of course there is Paul Shannon. The coordinator for the RSOL and long time friend of Paul Shanley. Despite the multitude of victims and despite the 1600 pages of Church documentation, despite the proven knowledge that for four decades Paul Shanley was abusing children....and the Church was complicit with their failure to act. Despite the victims heart rending stories, despite one of Paul's victims who committed suicide. Despite all that Mr. Shannon defends him blindly. Here
"How a jury in any objective sense based on that evidence could convict a person of those charges is beyond me"
Paul Shannon, a longtime friend, said he felt "complete devastation" over the verdict. He called the accusations a "preposterous story" that he said was "mathematically impossible for Shanley to have done."
"The fact is," says Paul Shannon, one of Shanley's key supporters, "Coakley is a very dishonest person who has done tremendous grandstanding on this case. As a DA, she's been despicable."
When people who were sexually violated by priests began coming forward, the opportunity existed for a thoughtful public discussion on matters that routinely elude reason. Instead the media decided that the priests crisis would be viewed within the framework of an inquisition.
To paraphrase the past president of the Brooklyn Sisters of Mercy (Camille D'Arienzo), is it really just to judge another human being by the worst thing he has done in his life, as if it were the only thing he has done? How would any of us fare were someone to broadcast the worst thing we have done - as if it were the solitary expression of our life on earth? Isn't what's required for healing repentance, a sincere apology, appropriate restitution and rebirth - not demonization?
Now Paul Shannon is actively supporting protecting children from sexual abuse by removing virtually all restrictions and penalties on abusers. Ex-Father Paul Shanley must be so proud.
We'll be talking more soon about the history of the RSOL and the people involved with it. For now know that Paul Shanley is taking his case before the Massachusetts Supreme Court, because it's a witch hunt you see. Yes, poor defenseless Paul Shanley was "railroaded" and it's just not FAIR. And yet this question remains - what possible motive could someone have to witch hunt a 71 year old defrocked priest? What could be the motive to lie and somehow manufacture 1600 incriminating church documents?
If, as Paul Shanley claims, his victim had a false recovered memory, how did they ALL have similar memories of him? Reported long before they were repressed and then remembered? Paul Shanley wrote:
"People shouldn't put such hope in a mere man, any man. It's almost sacrilegious. If they knew the madness in me, festering below the surface, they would join the ranks of my accusers.''
Some people said they were afraid of Shanley, but others confronted him on some of his behaviors to which he replied
"No one can touch me"
But they could. Unfortunately it took 40 years.
The Church settled with multiple Shanley victims prior to him ever stepping into a court of law. What possible motive could his victim have for lying? Certainly not money. He already had that. Perhaps the better way to put the question would be "Who had more at stake?"
"No one will believe you if you tell." But a jury of 12 did.
"No one can touch me" And yet someone did. Paul Shanley made a tragic error. He forgot that scared little 6 year old boys grow up to be men.
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