The Catholic Church in the Netherlands castrated at least 10 boys in the 1950s to cure them of their homosexuality, or to punish them for accusing clergy members of sexual abuse. A report states that “surgical removal of testicles was regarded as a treatment for homosexuality and also as a punishment for those who accused clergy of sexual abuse.” No records were kept of which reason the boys were castrated. Dutch authorities, including the Dutch Parliament, are investigating.
A Google translation from the Dutch news site Omroep Brabant reads:
Rogge: “We once asked Henk [Heithuis] to his pants to drop when the women were gone. He did that. He was totally maimed. That was a huge shock for us of course.” Heit House has to Rogge told how he was beaten was in Veghel, “He was strapped to a bed. In one stroke, his scrotum cut out. Then he was taken to an infirmary put to rest. Then, when other boys did the same. That he could hear screaming.”
“At least 10 teenage boys or young men under the age of 21 were surgically castrated ‘to get rid of homosexuality’ while in the care of the Dutch Roman Catholic Church in the 1950s,” according to a report today in The Telegraph:
Evidence of the castrations has emerged amid controversy that it was not included in the findings of an official investigation into sexual abuse within the church last year.
The NRC Handelsblad newspaper identified Henk Heithuis who was castrated in 1956, while a minor, after reporting priests to the police for abusing him in a Catholic boarding home.
Joep Dohmen, the investigative journalist who uncovered the Heithuis case, also found evidence of at least nine other castrations. “These cases are anonymous and can no longer be traced,” he said. “There will be many more. But the question is whether those boys, now old men, will want to tell their story.”
Mr Heithuis died in a car crash in 1958, two years after being castrated at the age of 20, while under the age of majority, which was then 21.
In 1956 he had accused Catholic clergy of sexually abusing him in his Church run care home.
Two clergymen were convicted of abuse but Mr Heithuis, a victim, was nonetheless transferred by police to a Catholic psychiatric hospital before being admitted to the St. Joseph Hospital in Veghel later that year.
There, court papers confirm, he was castrated “at his own request”, despite no submission of his written consent. Sources told Mr Dohmen that the surgical removal of testicles was regarded as a treatment for homosexuality and also as a punishment for those who accused clergy of sexual abuse.
Cornelius Rogge, 79, a well-known Dutch sculptor whose family knew Mr Heithuis in the 1950s, reported the castration to an official inquiry into abuse within the Catholic Church. But his evidence was ignored.
…
Last December, an official investigation by Wim Deetman, a former Dutch minister, received 1,800 reports of sexual abuse by clergy or volunteers within Dutch Catholic dioceses in the period since 1945.
The Deetman inquiry received a report of the Heithuis case from Mr Rogge but it was not followed up because “there were few leads for further research”.
Evidence emerged on Monday that government inspectors were aware that minors were being castrated while in Catholic-run psychiatric institutions.
Minutes of meetings held in the 1950s show that inspectors were present when castrations were discussed. The documents also reveal that the Catholic staff did not think parents needed to be involved.
The New York Times adds:
Mr. Dohmen, the investigative journalist who broke the news in the daily NRC Handelsblad, said … he uncovered another case of a homosexual man, who had not suffered abuse, who was also castrated. That victim has asked that his identity not be made public.
Mr. Dohmen said he did not know whether Mr. Heithuis was castrated as a punishment for whistle-blowing and could not provide further evidence of the other possible victims.
In an e-mailed comment, Mr. Rogge said he believed that the castration was a punishment.
Mr. Dohmen said that the man accused of abusing Mr. Heituis was investigated but not prosecuted. He was transferred to Nova Scotia, where he started a home for boys.
In January, Pope Benedict called homosexuality and same-sex marriage a threat to “the future of humanity itself.†Less than two weeks ago, the Pope addressed U.S. Bishops and demanded their commitment in fighting same-sex marriage in America. By comparison, today’s church may be kinder and gentler, but at its heart it remains a hypocritical bastion of hate, bigotry, and, as we now learn, not too long ago, a castrating monster.
Image:Â Henk Heithuis who was castrated as a minor.
Hat tip: Truth Wins Out