Yes, nearly all anonymous accusations are bogus
To be clear: The media didn't make up the Catholic sex abuse story. Many decades ago now, a small minority of but still too many priests abused their authority and abused minors. Decades ago, however, the Church rectified her past mistakes and put reforms in place to ensure it didn't happen again.
But the story didn't end there. Fueled by hatred of the Church, it was only the beginning of the media's frenzy of obsessive and endless coverage of the issue.
Abetted by sleazy trial lawyers looking for a quick buck, a whole panoply of kooks and frauds emerged to bring claims against often long-dead priests to cash in on the media-driven frenzy. Central to it all was one thing: They could bring their claim wholly anonymously and suffer no public embarrassment while defaming often innocent priests. And if a case went to trial, which was extremely rare, and the plaintiff had to disclose their identity in court, every media outlet nonetheless agreed to protect their identity from public disclosure.
A ray of common sense
It was all upside with no downside from the plaintiff's perspective. And as we have emphasized many times in past posts, the whole scheme was built upon the plaintiff's ability to bring their claims anonymously. So the following story came as a great irony to us.
A year after the progressive news outlet Pro Publica published a shocking investigation into the rampancy of false abuse accusations made by anonymous callers to New York's Child Protective Services (CPS), New York is now on the verge of passing a new law that would require CPS screeners to ask all callers for their contact information when they make an abuse claim.
According to Pro Publica:
"According to federal statistics, 96% of anonymous calls to child abuse hotlines are deemed baseless after an investigation. Among all allegations of child abuse or neglect, including non-anonymous calls, 83% are ultimately deemed unfounded."
Ninety-six percent. Completely bogus. Unreal.
Pro Publica's investigation also highlighted how parents' lives were completely upended by completely unnecessary home searches and investigations. "I was beyond scared. I literally started shaking," ProPublica quoted one falsely accused woman after police busted into her house at 5:30 in the morning looking for evidence of abuse.
Nothing new for Catholic priests
This is nothing new to the tens of thousands of Catholic priests who have endured the ordeal of a false accusation by an accuser looking for easy money while hiding behind anonymity. So many falsely accused priests have had their good reputations obliterated and their livelihoods shattered as accusers enjoy the shield of complete anonymity.
We hope the media and others think about this story in New York the next time some anonymous bloke comes forward to accuse a priest of abuse from many decades ago.
————————————
Want to learn about the rampancy of false accusations against priests?:
- "The Great Shakedown Keeps A-Rollin': Phony Claims Continue at Epic Pace, Here Are The Facts" (January 2024)
- The Greatest Fraud Never Told: False Accusations, Phony Grand Jury Reports, and the Assault on the Catholic Church (Amazon.com)
