Gerald T. Slevin: Mother Petitions President Obama to Combat Organizational Child Sexual Abuse

Another very important posting sent to me today by Jerry Slevin, which relates to his call for President Obama to establish a national commission to combat child sexual abuse.  This gives us something concrete we can do to make our voices heard–sign a petition and circulate it as widely as possible.  What follows is Jerry’s text:

As Christians prepare for the annual celebration of the birth of Jesus, a mother has just filed a White House.gov petition to have President Obama establish a commission to combat organizational child sexual abuse.

This petition is accessible by clicking here.

Please celebrate the upcoming holidays by acting now to protect defenseless children.

Please now click on the above link now and sign the petition.

Please also circulate this request now to everyone you know who may care about children, asking them also to click on and sign the petition.

Also, please post now this request and link on your social media sites via Facebook, Twitter and other outlets you may use.

Once a specified number of people sign the petition, President Obama under his own Petition Procedures will be mandated to act on the petition.

It is within your power now as a citizen to help protect children from organizational sexual abuse in the USA, so widely reported about so often relating to Penn State, the Catholic Church, Mormons/ Boy Scouts and too many other organizations.

Finally, please contact your Congressional Representatives and US Senators and tell them to support President Obama’s  establishment of a thorough, comprehensive and effective commission. The millions of innocent children still at serious risk of sexual assault in organizational settings are not Democrats or Republicans. They are just innocent kids that deserve protection from sexual predators and their complicit superiors that kids understandably trust,  too often misguidedly at the direction of their overly trusting parents.

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TEXT OF THE WHITE HOUSE PETITION

This petition reads:

We Petition the Obama Administration To Establish a National Commission To Investigate Organizational Child Sexual Abuse and Identify Federal Responses.

This petition adds in support the following:

 

Children are being sexually abused in religious, educational and youth organizations, Federally funded and/or tax exempt. All abuse victims suffer; some commit suicide. A few cases, Penn State, Philly/Boston/K. C. dioceses, Mormon /Boy Scouts, are publicized. Predatory priests, rabbis, ministers, nuns, teachers, coaches, and scout leaders, are secretly protected by unaccountable superiors and abuse again.  Local laws are inadequate. Local officials and media are unduly influenced.  Victims are denied justice. Prior responses have been inadequate. As with child porn, a Federal response is needed for survivor aid, mandatory reporting and auditing, superior criminal liability and loss of Federal funds/subsidies. Australia now investigates this under oath with subpoenas.

 

Significantly, President Obama reportedly said, in pertinent part,  recently about organizational child sexual abuse that ” …protecting children is more important than shielding institutions…” and added “…when people see something wrong. they have to ‘step up’…”. He is right and it is time for President Obama to step up now and deliver on his pre-election rhetoric, especially for the majority of Catholics who voted for him over many of their bishops’ objections.

President Obama will likely meet much resistance in establishing this national commission from powerful and well-funded organizational interests and their apologist political pawns and media shills. But as a person, a father, a lawyer and most of all as the head of government, President Obama’s first duty is to protect US citizens, especially defenseless ones, from violence, including sexual abuse.

President Obama must now follow the example of other bold national leaders, including the Prime Ministers of Australia and Ireland, and do all he can to protect innocent children. Our Federal government has badly failed children in this area for much too long.

Congressional leaders would be wise to support the President in establishing a commission promptly. There is another election in 2014.

For more information on the President’s commission and on the Australian and Irish precedents, as well as some links to my related articles, please read, “The Need for a National Commission …,” accessible here.

Cross-posted from Bilgrimage, 29 Nov. 2012.