RHODE ISLAND: WJAR reporter Katie Davis peddles bogus accusation as if true

From MediaReport:

Rhode Island TV Outlet Touts Story of Old Abuse Claims Against Priests, Ignores All of the Bogus Claims

WJAR, an NBC television affiliate in Providence, recently trumpeted a trove of documents it obtained from Rhode Island’s state police. They contain letters alleging old sex abuse claims against priests which the Diocese of Providence sent to the police over the past several years.

And while WJAR reporter Katie Davis proudly proclaimed the papers as “detailing sexual abuse by Rhode Island Roman Catholic priests,” what is most noteworthy about the documents is the large number of bogus accusations and outright attempts of fraud against the Church, none of which was mentioned by Davis.

Media credence and mental illness

The documents contain a number of claims which are clearly untrue and even preposterous:

[… EXAMPLES …]

Davis apparently embraced all of the allegations she read without expressing even an ounce of skepticism.

[…]

The ultimate counter-narrative story

The prevalence of false accusations against Catholic priests are much, much more common than the public has been led to believe. As we have recorded in the past, some abuse claims against priests are so blatantly bogus that one wonders what rational person would ever believe them.

But don’t expect anytime soon a media story on false accusations against priests, as few in the journalistic community are ever brave enough to buck the trend and pursue a counter-narrative story.

Do you know that scummy slime and those leaches that you can pick up when wading into a pond?

That’s what reading about reporters like the aforementioned calls to mind.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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7 Comments

  1. Stephen McMullen says:

    The media has gotten way too strong in this country. It’s to the point where THEY determine who is going to be the president. I can ALMOST understand why some tin horn dictators suppress and prosecute the media when they assume power.

  2. RJHighland says:

    I pray for all those priests that have been falsely accused what a nightmare that must be. To be doing your best to serve the Lord and His flock and be grouped with the vipers and charlatans. This all goes back to the bishops though, the gutless swine that most of them are. It is their job to know the shepherds they have sent into their flock. These bishops need to be held accountable for their priests and few of them have. If there are several pedophile priests or homosexual priests that were brought in and trained by a specific bishop that bishop must be held accountable as well. If we don’t start whacking these prelates off their little thrones the problems will never be solved. Obey, obey, obey, my arse. Give me a man of the cloth that is a real man and leader and I will follow him to the ends of the earth. Put a little effeminate in clericals and his floral vestments and elevate him to bishop you expect me to kiss his ring, get out of here. When I see fishermen, brick layers, carpenters, lumberjacks, and soldiers in cassocks devoting theirs lives to God those are the guys I’m going to follow. As a dude I want to be led by dudes. How did a Church founded on rugged individuals end up being lead by such a bunch of petty woosies. I am truly sick of it. Stop feeding the heretics, send your money to authentic Catholic organizations, Fr. Z’s a good one or your local FSSP or SSPX chapel. They develop solid priests, most dioceses do not. Or select private funding for a specific seminarian with potential. Until people stand up and say “I am not going to take this anymore” this circus will continue. If enough people get up and walk out on these charlatans things will change. These frauds need to be left to whither on the vine, they are wolves albeit lavander wolves and must be treated as such. If you can’t get the wolf out of the sheepfold you got to save as many sheep as you can and get out and find a shepherd that will protect you from the wolves. As a good friend often tells me, “If you go to bed with an andeconda your probably not going to wake up in the morning.” Most of these guys have sold their souls to the devil so get away from them, shake your sandels at the doorway. I don’t know about you but I would hope that I would have walked out on Arias or Luther if they were the bishop of my dioceses or priest at my local parish and I don’t think our Lord would require me to be there or expected me to stay. I surely am not going to hang out at Fr. Happy/Clappy’s parish no matter if the Church says he is in communion or not. Look at the emperor’s new clothes, no dude he is just naked. Call it like you see it. So many people keep hang out waiting for good fruit to come from a dead tree, it’s not going to happen.

  3. JonPatrick says:

    My impression is that the Rhode Island diocese is one of the more orthodox ones here in New England. Perhaps part of the reason for this attack by the media is in retaliation for the outspokenness of Bp. Tobin and the Diocese on issues such as same sex “marriage” and abortion. Unfortunately there are dioceses that fit RJHighland’s description (see the recent Vortex from Michael Voris on the gay priest party) but I don’t believe RI is one of them.

  4. OrthodoxChick says:

    I was born and raised in RI and lived there up until about 8 years ago. My husband’s uncle was a priest in the D. of Providence until his death 3 years ago. We were extremely close to him. That’s all I can say right now because I’m fuming over this and once I start running my mouth, there’ll be no shutting me up. Maybe I’ll take another stab at it later in the day if I calm down.

    However, if any of you with more self-control than me might like to drop Ms. Davis a friendly email, here’s a link to her bio page at channel 10 (WJAR). There’s a link to her email at the end of her bio.

    http://www.turnto10.com/story/20904033/katie-davis

  5. mrshopey says:

    I can only imagine the difficulty in determining what is fact/fiction in these accusations especially since a person could have developed mental illness/drug abuse because of it.
    What I think is a good idea for the Church, and what I thought was taking place, was helping the victim – meaning they would pay for therapy etc. For me, that would seem to weed out some who were looking for money and the real victims.
    I don’t think people understand how/why victims repress memories (part of coping – albeit maladaptive – could have served purpose for survival).

  6. RJHighland says:

    Went off on a bit on my last post, these sex abuse scandal stories have a tendency to enrage me a bit. I would like to clarify this was not directed at Bishop Tobin, I very much admired him for standing up to the Kennedy family, and for Church teaching that is huge in New England. My focus was about the Bishops being held responsible though for their shepherds. A Bishop should know all of his priests as the Pope is to know all of his Bishops. I will know them and they will know me. It will be interesting to see how the Vatican handles the UN investigation. Our Lord has used secular powers in the past to reprimand his children, the Persians and the Romans (destruction of temple), maybe this is what the Church needs to get the evil out of it, because it can’t seem to do it itself. In alot of ways the modern Church resembles the Jews at the time of Christ in there practice of the Faith given to them by God and denial of our Lord and what He taught. So much of this scandal is still hidden and must be brought to light no matter how painful it will be. It is ugly and nasty but until it is brought to light it can not be removed. I believe more souls are lost by the cover-up and ambiguities than will be lost if is truly brought to light. Cleansing the Church of the pedophiles will begin the purge of the Lavender Mafia, then you need to clear out the homosexuals in the priesthood and hierarchy, that should clear out many of the modernists. After that clear out or convert the remaining modernists. Once that is complete I think we found the small but devoted Church that Pope Benedict XVI was talking about. Then we build from a solid foundation. But those of like faith must gather under the good shepherds and practice and teach orthodoxy. Just like there were Arian and Orthodox bishops in the Church in the 4th and 5th century there are moderist and traditionalist bishops in our century and just like with the Arians there can be no compromise they must be sent packing. It is what it is.

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