donderdag, april 19, 2007

Blame '60s for sex-abuse scandal, McCarrick says - Nation/Politics - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Blame '60s for sex-abuse scandal, McCarrick says
By Julia DuinTHE WASHINGTON TIMESApril 17, 2007

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the recently retired archbishop of Washington, blamed the "loose morals" of the 1960s for the massive sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church.
Speaking at a conference in Auckland, New Zealand, last weekend, he said the priestly sex abusers had been caught up in the sexually lax climate of the 1960s -- an era that he said was "when anything goes."
"It was Woodstock," he said, according to the New Zealand Herald. "People were smoking marijuana, and the sexual mores went down as all mores went down." It was also true that the problem had always existed "and that we have become aware of it just recently," the newspaper reported him as saying.
"Now, having become aware of it, we have tried to do the very best we can to ensure that it doesn't happen."
Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, could not comment on the cardinal's quotes as she had not seen an original text. The cardinal's remarks were part of a longer interview about the priest sex-abuse crisis.
The Washington Archdiocese has spent $6 million on sex-abuse cases. About 130 people, mostly men, have made charges judged as credible against 28 priests in the archdiocese for incidents, most of which were before 1980.
In December, the Washington Archdiocese settled a lawsuit brought against it by 16 men for $1.3 million. Represented by the law firm Greenberg Traurig, the men said they had been abused by priests between 1962 and 1982.
Mark Serrano, a Leesburg, Va.-based advocate for people sexually abused by priests and a member of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), called the cardinal's comments "egregious and typical."
"This was about felony sex abusers in the priesthood and the bishops who protected them," he said. "That sex crimes against children can relate to a cultural period in American history is absurd.
"That's been the line out of the Vatican all along -- that the sex-abuse crisis is about the loose morals of the Americans."
Under the cardinal's leadership, the archdiocese revised its sex-abuse policy in 2003 and was commended the next year for its "exemplary" abuse-protection program by the Boston-based Gavin Group, which judged U.S. dioceses on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Sex scandal bishop tells of fleeing the media | Uk News | News | Telegraph

The former Bishop of Galway has spoken for the first time about his years on the run after he was at the centre of a sex scandal that shocked the Roman Catholic Church.
Eamonn Casey broke his silence about the Catholic network that smuggled him across two continents after the exposure of his affair with Annie Murphy, an Irish-American divorcee with whom he had a child.

In his first interview since returning to Ireland last year, Fr Casey revealed that Pope John Paul II did not want him to resign as bishop when told that he had fathered a child.
He also spoke of the great lengths he went to and the huge distances he travelled to evade the media as he paid his penance in a North American monastery and with a South American mission.

After years of eluding journalists, the 79-year-old clergyman chose to tell his story to Maurice O'Keefe, an Irish folklorist who recorded several hours of interviews with him at his house in Shangalish, Co Galway.

The interviews disclose the life Fr Casey led after fleeing Ireland as a result of the 1992 disclosure that he had siphoned funds from the Galway diocese to support his mistress and their son Peter, who was born in 1974.
The 70,000 Irish pounds has since been repaid to the diocese and Fr Casey has apologised for his conduct.

In conversation with Mr O'Keefe, Fr Casey described how he travelled to Rome to tender his resignation when he knew that his relationship was about to be made public.
Prior to the publication of his lover's kiss and tell memoirs Forbidden Fruit he was stuck in the Vatican for three days dealing with the Pope's representative.
"All I wanted was to submit my resignation and acknowledge my wrong-doing and leave it at that," said Fr Casey, who masterminded the Pope's visit to Ireland in 1979.

"But he (the Pope's representative) wouldn't accept it. He said the Holy Father doesn't want to accept it."
Fr Casey was coy about his relationship with Mrs Murphy and their son, saying that he "ignored" her book when it came out. Their relationship caused a sensation in Ireland and in the Catholic Church, which had yet to be hit by many of its more unsavoury scandals involving child abuse and predatory priests.
He was more forthcoming about the people who smuggled him from one safe house to another as he attempted to preserve his anonymity on the other side of the Atlantic.

Through his friends, he was sent to a North American monastery, where his fellow clergy had taken a vow of silence and were forbidden from smoking. Twice he set off the alarm by smoking in his room late at night, but he was able to answer the 750 letters he had received.
"That was a delightful six months," he said. "I tried to seek out what was God's will for me."

The answer was to escape to Ecuador, where he used an old Catholic connection to arrange work with the American missionary Society of St James the Apostle. For six and a half years he worked with parish priests building schools and churches.

While there he was sent on a six-month Spanish language course 100 miles outside Mexico City. But he was "betrayed" after three months when two cars drew up outside the gate and two people got out. One started taking photographs.
Fr Casey went to the headmaster and swiftly explained who he was and why the press arrived. He was smuggled out in a convoy of cars. He travelled hundreds of miles to link up with a leading Augustinian, who was also from Galway, while a friend travelled 1,000 miles to pick up his passport so he could go to Florida.

After moving to the south of England in 1998 to work as a hospital chaplain, he is now home in Galway and looking forward to taking Mass in public once more.
He cannot until a Church investigation into false accusations made against him is completed. In 2005, a woman made unfounded allegations of child abuse claiming the alleged incidents took place 30 years ago. The Irish police investigation was completed last August and no charges are to be brought.


500 Irish priests 'having regular sex with women'By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
22/01/2006

At least 500 women in Ireland are conducting clandestine affairs with Roman Catholic priests, according to the leader of a support group set up to look after those in forbidden relationships.
An indication of the extent of illicit sexual relationships within the church was given after it was disclosed that Fr Maurice "Mossy" Dillane, 73, had fathered a child with his 31-year-old girlfriend.


Bishop Pat Buckley said an extremely conservative estimate was that one in 10 of the 5,000 Catholic priests in Ireland enjoyed regular sex with women and some even referred to their clerical collar as the "bird catcher".

Studies had shown that 80 per cent of priests had broken their vows of celibacy on at least one occasion, he said.

Bishop Buckley runs the Bethany organisation in Larne, Co Antrim, which he set up to provide support to those in love affairs with the clergy.

Described as Ireland's rebel bishop, Bishop Buckley was sidelined by the Catholic church in the mid-1980s when he pursued his own ministry for those who felt alienated by the traditional church.

When the statistics were widened to take in practising homosexuals, Bishop Buckley said up to 40 per cent of the Catholic clergy in Ireland were sexually active.
Counselling sessions organised by Bethany have disclosed that several women were unwittingly having sex with the same priest.


He claimed the church's hierarchy was prepared to turn a blind eye to sexual indiscretion because it was so widespread. "Bishops are caught between Rome and the priests and, of course, some of the bishops are in the same position (i.e. having relationships)," he said.

"From the top down it is hypocritical. We are preaching compulsory celibacy, but very few are living it."

He said he had met 147 women who had joined Bethany in order to share their stories of adultery and priestly promiscuity.'

Romances between an understanding man of God and an unloved wife were commonplace, as were priests and their housekeepers secretly living together as man and wife while relationships between priests and nuns were unofficially known as the "third way" by the church.

Bishop Buckley said Fr Dillane and the mother of his child had nothing to be ashamed of and urged them to come out of the safe houses where they have been hiding since news of their relationship swept through Ireland.

]The case of Fr Dillane, a sociable and charismatic priest from Co Galway, has been greeted with a tolerance that was absent 14-years ago when Bishop Eamon Casey, the Bishop of Galway, was disclosed as the father of a teenage son by an American divorcee, Annie Murphy. He was forced to apologise when it emerged that he had siphoned £70,000 from the diocese for their upkeep.

Bishop Buckley has been a long-standing campaigner against compulsory celibacy and points to a recent Irish survey suggesting that 90 per cent of the population thought clergy should be allowed to marry. He also believes that enforced celibacy is an unnatural state that could be to blame for the sexual deviancy that led to the child abuse scandal that erupted in Ireland last year.

"Some priests are in the Jack the lad mould and have several relationships in various parishes. I have heard priests refer to their clerical collar as the bird catcher," Bishop Buckley said.
The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland declined to comment on Bishop Buckley's claims.

LA Times Slammed For Two Faulty Articles, 'Insulting To All Catholics' | NewsBusters.org

Een interssant logartikel en discussie nav Mahony, LA over het katholiek liegen, mental reservation.

maandag, april 16, 2007

Mahony's influence is dwindling in L.A. - Los Angeles Times

Het kerkelijk seksueel alleen maar slachtoffers! Veroorzaakt door daders en de houding van de Kerk. De schade niet beperkt tot de directe slachtoffers noch de betreffende parochie of het bisdom.


A recent political tiff underscores the toll the priest scandal has taken.
By Jim Newton and Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writers
April 14, 2007

There was a time when Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, leader of the largest Roman Catholic diocese in the United States, was a formidably influential political figure. A decade ago, he was a member of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's inner circle and the spiritual leader of a growing community with exponentially expanding power.

Today, Mahony remains one of the region's most recognized leaders and a sought-after voice on certain issues. But time, scandal and the shifting demographics of Los Angeles politics have diminished Mahony's might to the point that his recent remonstrations — in which he took to task Fabian Nuñez, the speaker of the California Assembly, for endorsing an assisted suicide bill — have served more to emphasize Mahony's weakness than to deter Nuñez.

Told that the cardinal had accused him of favoring a "culture of death," Nuñez expressed unhappiness but pressed ahead. "I have a lot of respect for the cardinal," Nuñez told Times columnist George Skelton, "but I'm deeply disappointed in his comments."

Unlike African American leaders, who have struggled to hold onto power in the face of their community's declining demographic significance, Mahony's limited political punch does not reflect his base: Catholics make up an increasing percentage of Los Angeles, and Latinos, who are primarily Catholic, are far and away the region's fastest-growing population group.

Instead, the cardinal's dwindling throw-weight reflects several intersecting trends as well as the damage done to the church — and to Mahony personally — by the long, painful scandal over pedophile priests. Those cases have eroded the church's authority generally and have specifically embroiled
Mahony in charges that he protected priests rather than taking steps to ensure the safety of children.

Moreover, Mahony's influence oddly may be waning in inverse proportion to the power of some of his flock. Over the last decade, the rise of Latino voters has propelled a growing number of Latino officials — notably Nuñez and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — and they now command much of the leadership that once was Mahony's.

"The rise of Latino elected officials has overshadowed the influence of the church," said Raphael Sonenshein, a political science professor at Cal State Fullerton and longtime student of Los Angeles ethnic politics. "The cardinal's influence is not what it once was."

That is not to say that he has become irrelevant. On certain issues, Mahony retains forceful authority. He was, for instance, a
powerful defender of immigration rights during last year's huge marches calling for immigration reform.

Mahony also retains
strong standing in the labor community. A longtime proponent of the so-called "living wage," Mahony has overcome reaction to his opposition to an effort by gravediggers in Catholic cemeteries to join a union in the late 1980s; he supports the labor movement and enjoys substantial support in return from its leading figures. Mahony has, for instance, made strong statements in support of immigrant workers and striking grocery workers.

"There are key moments where he has taken strong stands," said Madeline Janis, executive director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. "We can feel the boost when he does that."

But where the cardinal's positions as a prelate depart from those of some leading secular Latinos, his influence drops off precipitously, according to many Los Angeles political and religious leaders.

"It seems clear that a very significant number of Roman Catholic lay people reach their own decisions about values that cross over into their voting behavior," said the Rev. Peter Laarman, executive director of Progressive Christians Uniting, a mainly Protestant network of congregations and individuals in California. He said Mahony doesn't have the clout of Bishop John Keating of Arlington, Va., who decades ago helped define moral issues. These days, Laarman said, "a lot of lay Catholics simply dissent on what hierarchy says."

Some other interfaith leaders in Los Angeles declined to speak openly about Mahony out of fear that their comments would adversely affect their working relationships with the diocese. Their reluctance underscores that Mahony, though wounded, still has some clout.

"He is, without question, less powerful than he used to be," said one minister who spoke on the condition that his name not be used. "There was a time in the early part of his tenure when, if he called for a meeting on a subject of common concern — poverty, for example — everybody would come and take seriously what he was recommending. He doesn't even try to do that anymore.

"
The fact that Nuñez, a Catholic, isn't buckling under at all is interesting," the minister added. "The cardinal is making that an absolute litmus test on whether someone in public life is morally responsible. But even Roman Catholics are divided on this issue; the Nuñez dispute shows these bishops and cardinals can't deliver their own people."

It wasn't always so.

Amid economic recession and high unemployment in 1994, Mahony rallied his parishioners and mounted a spirited opposition to Proposition 187, which was designed to save the state $5 billion a year by reducing public services for illegal immigrants.

The measure was approved by voters, and its long-term political consequence was to help push many Latinos into the column of California's Democratic Party. The measure later was ruled unconstitutional in federal court.

Mahony's most visible achievement was the opening of the monumental Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels: a 12-story, $200-million edifice built to replace the downtown St. Vibiana's Cathedral, severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

In 1996, with his influence at its apex, Mahony helped arrange for the county Board of Supervisors to authorize the $10.85-million sale of what became the new cathedral's site, a county-owned parking lot next to the Hollywood Freeway. The buyer was the city of Los Angeles' Community Redevelopment Agency, which a month later sold the 5.8-acre parcel to the archdiocese for the same price.

During those years, Mahony's importance was enhanced by his close and public friendship with Riordan. In 1999, for instance, Mahony lent quiet but important support for Riordan during the mayor's effort to push aside Ruben Zacarias, then the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Mahony's support for that move was especially significant because Zacarias was backed by many in the city's Latino community, the heart of Mahony's parish.

For labor leaders, Mahony also offered a way to reach Riordan, whose background as a venture capitalist caused many union representatives to be wary of him. Riordan, for instance, vetoed the city's first living-wage proposal, only to be overridden by the City Council. When labor officials wanted to make their case to Riordan, they reached to Mahony to broker a conversation.

"He offered a way to get into the mayor's office," Janis recalled.

Some critics of Riordan and Mahony snickered about their mutual admiration — Riordan helped raise the money to buy Mahony a jet helicopter when Mahony, a licensed pilot, was still a bishop, and wags liked to summon the image of the flying priest astride the Riordan chopper — but their allegiance helped both men accomplish important objectives.

Mahony's support helped cement the mayor's ties to Latino Los Angeles, and Riordan carried that community in both his mayoral elections.

Still, Mahony's ability to influence even that mayor had its limits. Despite his religious convictions and admiration for the cardinal, Riordan remained ardently in favor of abortion rights.

Riordan, for one, was dismayed to see Mahony and Nuñez clash over the
suicide issue.

"Cardinal Mahony has been a great supporter of Latinos, and it's a shame to see him on the outs with one of the top Latino leaders," Riordan said last week. "It calls out for a Solomon to bring these two well-meaning leaders together."

Today, Los Angeles' leading political figures no longer need Mahony in order to cement ties to the Latino electorate. Villaraigosa, for example, hardly needs Mahony to appeal to Mexican Americans.

If changing politics have diminished Mahony's influence, so too have the dispiriting controversy regarding pedophile priests and charges that the molestation of children was covered up by church officials. Even admirers of the cardinal acknowledge that it is far more difficult for church leaders to issue moral proclamations in the face of the withering allegations against their own leadership.

One result is that Mahony's influence in the Legislature is considered minimal, although the church has an active lobbying division in Sacramento that closely monitors bills.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is Catholic, met privately with Mahony after he was elected in 2003. But "we don't have any official meetings on record in our database" since then, said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear.

Former Senate leader John Burton, a Democrat from San Francisco who was raised Catholic, dismissed Mahony's influence in Sacramento except possibly among lawmakers "from his diocese."

As for Mahony's rejoinder to Nuñez, Burton added that the cardinal "
ought to be worried about what the priests have done to little children rather than how elderly people choose to die."

donderdag, april 12, 2007

CHURCH SEX-ABUSE CLAIMS DROP

New York POST
By DAREH GREGORIAN

April 11, 2007 -- The country's Roman Catholic bishops received 714 clergy sex-abuse claims in 2006 - the second consecutive year the number of allegations has dropped, according to a new report.
Costs related to abuse cases also decreased - by 15 percent over the last year - due to a decline in what dioceses paid to settle molestation cases.

The findings are part of an annual review that the bishops first commissioned in 2002 as they implemented reforms to better safeguard children at the height of the clergy sex-abuse scandal.
Dioceses paid $399 million in 2006 for settlements with victims, lawyers' fees and support for accusers and offenders.

For 2005, that figure was $467 million - considered the highest ever for a single year.

The declining number of claims - there were 1,092 in 2004 and 783 the next year - could be taken as evidence that the church is gradually gaining control over the crisis.

Meanwhile, the New York Archdiocese cannot be held responsible for the actions of Monsignor John Woolsey, who allegedly poached thousands of dollars from a parishioner, a state appeals court ruled yesterday. The estate of Rose Cale had filed suit against Woolsey, the former pastor of the Church of St. John the Martyr on the Upper East Side, and the archdiocese.

dinsdag, april 10, 2007

Judge warns San Diego Diocese of contempt in bankruptcy case

The federal jurist says lawyers and priests apparently lied to parishes about the court's orders.
By Tony Perry Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times

April 10, 2007

SAN DIEGO — A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday ordered three lawyers and two priests from the local Catholic diocese to explain why they should not be held in contempt for allegedly moving to transfer money as well as other actions that were prohibited while the diocese's bankruptcy case is pending.

Judge Louise DeCarl Adler ordered the lawyers and priests to appear in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday to explain their actions. The Diocese of San Diego filed for bankruptcy protection in late February in the face of lawsuits by more than 150 individuals who allege that they were sexually abused by priests.

In a bluntly worded five-page order, Adler wrote that the lawyers appear to have lied to the court and that the priests have apparently lied to the parishes about the Bankruptcy Court's orders.

Diocese and parish lawyers could not be reached for comment. The diocese office is closed for Easter.

Among the material misrepresentations, Adler wrote, is a letter by Msgr. Michael Gallagher, pastor of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in El Cajon, saying the court ruled that contributions to the Annual Catholic Appeal, supporting Catholic schools and social services, are not part of the bankruptcy proceeding and cannot be used to pay judgments to the people accusing priests of misconduct.

Bishop Robert H. Brom asserted in a letter to parishioners months before the bankruptcy action was filed that individual contributions from parishioners would not be used in any court settlement. In other diocese bankruptcies, the complex question of whether bank accounts of individual parishes and social service programs are part of the diocese's bank account is one of the most hotly contested issues.

Adler also wrote that Father Bruce Orsborn, on behalf of the newly formed Organization of Parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, urged parishes to get new taxpayer identification numbers and immediately transfer funds to new accounts. The judge said that the lawyers for the Organization of Parishes have conspired with the diocese and its counsel to violate her ruling against transferring the diocese's assets while the bankruptcy case is in court.

"He represents that this action should be undertaken on advice of counsel for the parishes and with the concurrence of this court," Adler wrote.

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in Bankruptcy Court hours before the first of the abuse cases was to begin trial in San Diego County Superior Court. The bankruptcy filing puts those cases in abeyance.

With nearly 1 million Catholics and 99 parishes in San Diego and Imperial counties, the diocese is the largest in the nation to file for bankruptcy.

Three weeks after the filing, the diocese released the names of 38 priests against whom "credible allegations" had been made. None is currently active in the diocese.

In a filing in Bankruptcy Court, the diocese offered a settlement of about $95 million, but plaintiffs' lawyers have rejected it.

This is not the first time the diocese has been accused of shifting its assets to keep money away from abuse claimants. In 2004, a similar claim was made by lawyers for the plaintiffs but was rejected by a Superior Court judge on technical grounds.
**********


Judge Says Church Hid Money From Sex Lawsuits
Diocese, Lawyers Ordered To Explain New Bank Accounts


SAN DIEGO -- A federal judge threatened to cite attorneys and church officials for contempt for allegedly trying to shelter money from the Dioceses of San Diego's bankruptcy, according to a published report.

Judge Louise DeCarl Adler ordered Susan Boswell, the lead bankruptcy lawyer for the diocese, and diocese officials to appear in court Wednesday. She ordered them to explain why they should not be sanctioned for allegedly conspiring to illegally create new bank accounts separate from the diocese, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Adler said church officials sent a memo to 98 parishes in San Diego and Imperial counties, which falsely stated that she authorized them to move their funds to the new accounts, the paper reported.

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 27. The bankruptcy filing came after settlement talks broke down between the church and 27 people who are suing the diocese for alleged sexual abuse by priests. Bishop Robert Brom has said the diocese filed for bankruptcy in an effort to continue the church's ministry while fairly compensating abuse victims

maandag, april 09, 2007

SNAP Press Statement

SNAP Press Statement regarding Portland, OR Bankruptcy Plan

Monday, April 9, 2007
Statement by Mary Grant of Long Beach CA, SNAP Western Regional Director, (626) 419 2930
Clergy sex abuse victims blast gag order

Tomorrow, Catholic church officials will likely crow at moving one step forward in their bankruptcy protection scam. But tonight, sex abuse victims are mourning.

We are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). We applaud the dozens of Oregon men and women who have found the strength and courage to come forward and report horrific serial sex crimes and deceitful cover ups of those crimes.

But we mourn the fact that these brave individuals will never have the chance to expose corruption like some abuse victims have. We mourn the fact that church officials who deceived the police, public, press and parishioners about clergy sex crimes are essentially getting off ‘scott free.’ We mourn the fact that the same church officials who have operated and still operate above the law are basically getting by with it again.


Regarding pedophile priests and corrupt bishops, the truth surfaces only through litigation – discovery, depositions and testimony. Without litigation, Catholics never learn who knew what when about pedophile priests. And with the Chapter 11 process, cover ups remain covered up. That’s why five bishops have gone this route – to avoid having to testify under oath and in open court about how much they knew and how little they did about predators on their payrolls.

Adding insult to injury, and heaping more dangerous secrecy on top of dangerous secrecy, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan and Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure have imposed a gag order on everyone involved in the Chapter 11 process. This unprecedented, unwise and unfair move helps molesters and hurts kids. It helps keep the identities and whereabouts of predators secret. It helps keep the identities and methods of enablers secret. It’s also unhealthy, we feel, for adult victims, who often find it healing to discuss the crimes committed against them.

Historically, gag orders have sometimes been used to protect public safety. In this instance, gag orders are damaging public safety. These two judges are putting the convenience of complicit church officials above the needs of vulnerable kids and devout parishioners. Shame on them.

We understand that several abuse victims have filed a suit to void the gag order. We support them in this effort and wish them well. And we're sad that they even have to resort to legal action to secure their Constitutionally-guaranteed First Amendment rights.

Because Chapter 11 and the gag order both prevent truth-telling, today, we are urging potential “whistleblowers” - current or former church employees or members - to disclose what they know about pedophile priests and cover ups. Many times, when victims come forward, church workers who have information about clergy sex crimes breath signs of relief, stay silent, and assume that deception and corruption will be exposed through litigation. That’s obviously not happening here. So it’s crucial that those who have knowledge or suspicions about child molestation and cover ups speak up right away. Tell therapists, police, journalists, or support groups like ours. But tell someone. Staying silent perpetuates abuse and rewards wrongdoers. Please, find the courage and strength to do what we’ve done: come forward.

Finally, three weeks ago, Fr. Joseph Hoang was suspended from his Tillamook parish for sexual abuse allegations that are being investigated by the police. According to news accounts, church officials have not looked into the accusations against Hoang and will wait for the police investigation to finish before deciding what to do next. This is wrong and irresponsible. Sadly, however, it’s what bishops have done for decades and continues to do even now.

We implore Archbishop Vlazny to follow the example set by Jesus himself. Jesus taught us to leave the 99 and go out into the cold and rain and dark, to find and help the lost sheep. We urge the archbishop to go to the parish this weekend (and anywhere else Hoang may have worked) and urge victims and witnesses to contact law enforcement immediately.

We should not have to urge Portland church officials to personally visit parishes where Hoang worked and ask that any more victims or witnesses call police immediately. This is the instinctive, caring, responsible reaction any sensitive decision maker would have to credible abuse reports.

But sadly, despite his claims to have reformed, Vlazny still follows the same destructive ‘bare minimum’ approach he and his colleagues have used for ages.
We beg him to reconsider, and to put the safety of his flock ahead of his own comfort and convenience.


CONTACT:
Bill Crane of Portland, SNAP Oregon Director (503) 781 5245 cell
David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP National Director (314) 566 9790 cell

vrijdag, april 06, 2007

Valse priester riskeert zes maanden cel

Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans opvr 6 apr '07 om 00:39u

SEATTLE (RKnieuws.net) - Een 59-jarige Amerikaan die zich uitgaf voor militaire aalmoezenier en held van de Vietnamoorlog riskeert zes maanden cel en een boete van 5.000 dollar.
De "geestelijke" zegende huwelijken in, doopte kinderen en ging voor in uitvaarten. Hij droeg ook illegaal medailles en decoraties van het Amerikaanse leger.Op 21 juni zal een rechter zich over de zaak uitspreken. (tb)

donderdag, april 05, 2007

Virtueel bidden en biechten

Internetkerken vervangen traditionele kerken nog niet

Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans opwo 4 apr '07 om 08:11u (Bron: Het Nieuwsblad)
ANTWERPEN (RKnieuws.net) - De rozenkrans bidden, de Goede Week volgen of biechten. Voortaan moet je er je huis niet meer voor uit want het kan nu allemaal via internet. Ook in Vlaanderen bestaat er sinds 1999 een internetkerk (www.church-online.be).
Het aanbod aan religieuze en spirituele sites op het world wide web is overweldigend: 402 miljoen hits om precies te zijn, krijg je voorgeschoteld als je op de zoekmachine Google "God, als zoekterm ingeeft. Langs deze weg komt de religieuze surfer onder meer terecht bij een aantal internetkerken, waar hij vanuit zijn sofa kan deelnemen aan een gebedsdienst of waar hij zelfs te biecht kan gaan. Hans Geybels is theoloog aan de KUL en woordvoerder van kardinaal Danneels.

"Er is een algemene zoektocht naar spiritualiteit aan de gang en het internet is een van de kanalen die men daarvoor gebruikt. Mensen hebben het niet meer zo begrepen op instellingen die inspanningen vragen, zoals de wekelijkse eucharistie. Het engagement is veel losser geworden maar de zoektocht naar een houvast is daardoor niet verdwenen., "In de katholieke kerk staan samenkomst en ontmoeting centraal. Gebed via internet kan enkel een aanvulling zijn op die "traditionele, geloofsbeleving. Voor mensen die verhinderd zijn, kan een gebedsforum voor een stuk een oplossing betekenen. Bij biechten vind ik het internet verre van ideaal. Bij de biecht zijn persoonlijk contact en gesprek uiteraard essentieel. Wie psychische problemen heeft, gaat toch ook niet naar een internethuisarts?, "

Als informatieverschaffer zijn de mogelijkheden van het internet oneindig. Maar wat gebedsforums en internetkerken betreft, ga ik enkel uit van een aanvullende functie. Je kunt misschien een tijdje chatten met iemand die je lief is, maar uiteindelijk is het persoonlijk contact toch altijd essentieel., Het volledige artikel kan U lezen in Het Nieuwsblad
Klik hier om verder te lezen

En waarempel, bij de reacties alweer een rorate bekende: Priester Johny.
Die, op rorate.com kennelijk stage lopend onder digipauselijk toezicht , al 2 jaar geleden liep te pezen op seksueel misbruikte rouwen, geil,geil geil!


Nu flapdrol niet zelf,maar iemand die ervaring met hem lijkt te hebben opgedaan.

1 miljoen bezoekers...... ze vergeten te vermelden dat ze dat 800
duizend keer zelf zijn..En de hele dag emails beantwoorden en preken schrijven ,
daar spannen ze andere voor een kar voor Het zijn altijd anderen die reageren en
de rotklussen moeten doen dat is daar nooit anders geweest.

Lieve mensen pas op met de Belgische zwendel daar AUB.Fulltime bezig ja
dat zullen ze wel zijn maar daar moeten anderen kei en kei hard voor werken ,
want waar komen immers de inkomsten vandaan ? wie betaald dat allemaal , ze
hebben een gebouw waar volgens mij 500 man inpassen en de gemeente bestaat denk
ik met hun zelf meegerekend uit 10 a 15 man die moeten het geld opbrengen voor
hun levens onderhoud. En geloof me die is niet misselijk...

En Ton schreef het al de beschadigde mensen die daar vandaan komen en bij
wie de ogen zijn opeggegaan daar zou je bijna een tehuis en stichting voor
kunnen oprichten.Iedere keer maar weer die leugenachtige verhalen
in de publiciteit pfff verschrikkelijk allemaal.En wat hun een normale
evengelische kerk noemen is hun eigen gebouw met een zichzelf uitgeroepen
pastor (dominee) in de vorm van een Johny Noteboom.

Deze man is helemaal geen pastor of dominee , het zou werkelijk verboden moeten worden.....Lieve mensen pas AUB op
... Wees Waakzaam.... !!!!!!!! De zegen,Henk

Gepost door hvhol gisteren om 18:49u




Boeddhistische omroep introduceert Cybermonnik
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans opwo 4 apr '07 om 10:22u (Bron: IKON)

HILVERSUM (RKnieuws.net) - Wie worstelt met een levensvraag of met vragen over het boeddhisme, kan vanaf vandaag terecht bij de Cybermonnik van de Boeddhistische Omroep Stichting. Deze ’monnik’ geeft via de website van de BOS ( www.boeddhistischeomroep.nl) antwoord op uiteenlopende vragen. vervolg