Strange Bedfellows

By Fr. Wilson ( articles ) | May 12, 2003

Those who wonder at, or even dismiss, the concerns of parents and others over sex-education and related programs for youth offered under secular auspices or even (especially?) under the auspices of the Church but "guided" by expert advisors, might check out Paul Likoudis' latest on the questions raised by the associations some of the bishops' experts retain with controversial figures.

"This past February, Dr. Judith Reisman, an internationally acknowledged expert on Alfred Kinsey and the links between sex education, sex abuse, and pornography, challenged Dr. Paul McHugh, Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on sexual issues for the U.S. Bishops National Review Board, for evidence that he has "repudiated" the work of Dr. John Money and Dr. Fred Berlin. Money and Berlin were founders of the Sexual Disorders Clinic at Johns Hopkins, which he, McHugh, headed. This correspondence raises some troubling questions, not only about McHugh and his colleague Fred Berlin, but also about the real intentions of the U.S. bishops and the high-profile personalities they recruited to lead their National Review Board.

"After several letters, in which Dr. Reisman cited numerous examples of McHughs written support for the work of both Money and Berlin, McHugh declined to provide any substantive evidence that he disagreed with the controversial and ethically problematic methods of treating sex offenders. "I would especially have liked to have heard Dr. McHugh repudiate the clinics stated policy of not reporting ongoing sex abuse of children by sex offenders in treatment at Johns Hopkins," Dr. Reisman told The Wanderer in a May 7 telephone interview."

http://thewandererpress.com/a5-15-03.htm