WICHITA (KS)
Wichita Eagle
September 8, 2018
By David P. Rundle
Father Richard Jaclin, a Catholic priest now removed from ministry, allegedly molested a man with intellectual disabilities in an Illinois institution last November. If true, the case involves the ongoing sex abuse scandal which has rocked my church for nearly 20 years and shows no signs of ending. It also points out the vulnerability of people with disabilities to such abuse. As a Catholic with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, I not only have a unique perspective to address both issues but a moral obligation to.
First, the disability matter. NPR reported in January that the Justice Department concluded that people with intellectual disabilities are seven times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general population. I myself was never abused, but I have known several women who said they were, and not one went to court.
The case of a woman I’ll call Peg shows how this abuse happens and shows the stupid unwillingness of others to believe it does. Peg has since died, but others who knew her might object if I used her real name — and she night have as well. God knows she was betrayed enough while alive.
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