Evidence has emerged implicating the Catholic Church in the Netherlands of routinely castrating boys who were gay in the 1950s— especially, it seems, if those boys were involved in accusing priests of sexual abuse.
The Netherlands’ NRC Handelsbad reported over the weekend that it had discovered testimony surrounding the case of Henk Heithuis, who was castrated in 1956 at the age of 18. After making reports to police about sexual abuse by priests at his Catholic boarding house, Helthuis was transferred to a Catholic psychiatric hospital, where the castration took place. (Helthuis was killed in an auto accident in 1958.)
The story was uncovered as part of the research surrounding last December’s Deetman Commission Report, which investigated the systematic abuse of children at the hands of the Catholic Church from 1945 to 2010. NRC Handelsbad discovered evidence of at least ten other instances of youth castration besides Helthuis’s—though those cases all involved anonymous victims. None, including the Helthuis case, made it into the final Deetman report.
The surgical removal of testicles was considered not only a treatment for homosexuality, but also a punishment for those who had accused clergy of sexual abuse, sources told the investigating reporter. On Monday, it was revealed that government inspectors knew of the castration going on in Dutch Catholic psychiatric hospitals, but did nothing to stop it.
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The UK’s Telegraph reports that Dutch MPs will today call for an independent investigation into the castration allegations.
“We must find out how many cases there were, who knew about it, and why the government did not act,” said Labour MP Khadija Arib.
QJ201
Honey, there is so much buried in the Vatican Closet….
the other Greg
Wow – every time you think it can’t get any worse…
Robert in NYC
Proof enough the roman cult is morally bankrupt!
JAW
Very sad… The Netherlands is not a religious country… It is sad that the government turned their back and allowed it to happen… I wonder how many non Catholic places the government allowed this to happen. I bet that it happened to any gay youth in a group home… very sad
Jim Hlavac
Somehow I think there will now be a whole new spate of stories to come up about this sort of horrific abuse of young men by Catholic Clergy. Though sometimes I think the clergy is where all the evil gay men (yes, Virginia, there are evil gay men,) went. Of course, too, the church will now blame gay marriage in the Netherlands today for what happened all those years ago.
As for the “accident” that killed poor Henk — was it self-inflicted? Or was it really just an “accident.”
Jacob
The Dutch government should have acted once knowledge of such despicable acts came to light. I do not think it is accurate to accuse the Dutch government of systematic castration of alleged gay men. The Deetman report certainly does not imply an allegation of execution of policy to castrate gay men.
Whilst, it is deplorable and lamentable that Dutch government official did not act, this does not make our Government an accomplish per se in such revolting acts.
J
Rooney
Santorum would probably import that practice to the U.S., and call it “more humane” than killing gay boys. It’s not so different from how they performed hysterectomies on girls who acted out. How could people trust these pedophile monsters with their children, how many people still do, I’ll never know.
Rooney
@Jim Hlavac:
I would just like you, and every other ridiculous asshole to remember: being gay is not the same as being a pedophile.
In fact, most pedophiles are straight men, and the monsters from the catholic church who rape children and call gays evil in the same breath? They aren’t “gay men”. They’re twisted, sick fucks, who prey on the defenseless. Evil yes, gay no,
Danny
The Law of Retribution in the Book of Leviticus (the book the Vatican loves to quote to persecute gay people) says “An Eye for Eye, Tooth for a Tooth, Life for a Life, an injury for an injury” so all Vatican employees starting with the Pope down to Priests must be castrated.
mm1
I do have friends, who are protestants, so I do try to stand up for some Christians.
But, regardless of whether people are: protestant, catholic, non-christian, atheist, or whatever beliefs you have, I will say, almost without without exceptions, CASTRATING or STERILIZING females, or boys or men, against their will is just wrong!
I hope that the police + Dutch Government try + punish these monsters and fools, with as much punishment and prison time as possible.
These are monstrous and shameful attacks on innocent people.
If you find crimes like these, being done in the U.S., I’ll do my best to join you, to have these criminal people uncovered + arrested.
dave
Time for Italy to annex that cult compound for good. Wouldn’t take much to rill through with a couple of tanks, and arrest all the pedophiles hiding out there.
B
No. 10 · mm1 “I hope that the police + Dutch Government try + punish these monsters and fools, with as much punishment and prison time as possible.”
The Dutch Government? Let’s go international since the perpetrators (if any are still alive) may have since moved to another country. We need an international investigation for crimes against humanity – if they were doing that in the Netherlands, where else were they doing it?
B
No. 9 · Danny wrote, “… the Book of Leviticus (the book the Vatican loves to quote to persecute gay people) …”
Just a comment about what the Vatican loves to quote. While Fundamentalist Christians like to use Leviticus for that purpose, the Vatican apparently does not – they base their opinions more on misinterpreting other parts of the Bible. See http://www.catholic.com/tracts/homosexuality for details – it cites various parts of the Bible, and only mentions Leviticus once, simply calling it an “explicit condemnation” and quoting one sentence from it but without further comment.
This diatribe was signed off by Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004 so I guess it is a document somehow “blessed” by the Roman Catholic Church.
Alan
Wow, if the catholic cult had any more skeletons in its closet, it wouldn’t be a closet, it would be a warehouse.
mm1
No. 12. “The Dutch Government? Let’s go international since the perpetrators (if any are still alive) may have since moved to another country. We need an international investigation for crimes against humanity – if they were doing that in the Netherlands, where else were they doing it?”
Yeah, I agree with that. That sounds like a good strategy, to me.
Snownova
All the horridness aside, this is once again anoter nail in the coffin of Catholic moral authority. Very soon the general public will have no choice but to declare the institution morally bankrupt and abandon them.
Robert in NYC
The same could be said for mandatory circumcision of males in Judaism and Islam and could also be construed as sexual mutilation, even though there is medical evidence to support it aside from some in the medical community who disagree.
Snownova
@Robert in NYC: while mandatory circumcision is a bad thing I agree, it is a lesser crime by an order of magnitude compared to forced castration. At least circumcised men can still procreate. (not to mention maintain proper hormone levels)
Geri
@Rooney: If you ask me, neither “gay” or “straight” are suitable words to describe the sexuality of people who sexually abuse children. It may not have been your intention, but what you wrote could quite justifiably be considered heterophobic.
Eric
@dave: The holy Sea is a sovereign nation. Italy would have to declare war before invading. And seeing how most of Italy is brainwashed by the RC church, I don’t they will be rolling in with tanks anytime soon.
Alexi3
@Jacob: If not acting to stop the castrations once the Dutch Government knew about them doesn’t make them accomplices; what would?