Wie naait wie? Gecodeerd!

By Kevin G. HallMcClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - A Mexican cardinal who's been accused in a U.S. civil lawsuit of covering up child rape in Mexico and Southern California has said that Roman Catholic Church officials used coded language to communicate with one another about problem priests. (klik voor artikel hierover van Richard Sipe)

In a March 26 court filing that McClatchy Newspapers obtained, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who oversees the Archdiocese of Mexico City, says he told Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony that a priest who's now wanted on criminal charges of child rape was moving from Mexico to Los Angeles for "family and health reasons."

"The phrase `family and health reasons' was used within the Church to warn that a priest suffers from some sort of problem," Rivera says in his written declaration.
Rivera says he expected the phrase to trigger questions about the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar, who'd been forced to leave a parish in Mexico over suspected homosexual behavior.

"I anticipated that Cardinal Mahony would request a more detailed account of Fr. Aguilar's history and problems if he decided to consider Fr. Aguilar as an employee of the Los Angeles Archdiocese," Rivera says.

The reported communication between the clergymen about Aguilar took place two decades ago, but it's now at the heart of a civil lawsuit that accuses two of the world's most prominent Roman Catholic clergymen of conspiring to cover up sex crimes.

Advocates for victims of abuse said Rivera's statement that the phrase was code confirmed what they'd long suspected: that church leaders used a special code when discussing sensitive matters.
"This is the first evidence I have seen that there truly is such a code," said Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

Rivera made the statement in a declaration filed in California Superior Court in which he argues that the court lacks jurisdiction to include him as a defendant. The declaration, while part of the court file, hadn't previously been made public.
Rivera implies that the court should focus on Mahony, who heads the largest Catholic diocese in the United States.

"It points the finger at another cardinal. It's the first time I have ever seen that in this kind of litigation," said Jeff Anderson, a lawyer based in St. Paul, Minn., who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Joaquin Aguilar Mendez, 26, a former altar boy and Mexico City resident. Anderson has represented accusers in church sex-abuse cases for 24 years.

Aguilar Mendez, 26, who isn't related to the Rev. Aguilar, alleges that Aguilar raped him in 1994 in a church in Mexico City. He charges that the abuse would never have happened had Rivera and Mahony not conspired to protect the priest.
Aguilar is wanted on rape charges in the United States that were filed in 1988. His whereabouts are unknown, but he's thought to be in Mexico.

The complicated story begins in 1986 in the village of Cuacnopalan in Mexico's southern state of Puebla, where Aguilar was bludgeoned inside his parish residence. Rivera, then the bishop of Puebla, removed Aguilar from his parish duties in January 1987 amid rumors that men routinely spent the night at his residence.

Nevertheless, Rivera wrote a letter of introduction for Aguilar to Mahony, who was then the archbishop of Los Angeles.

It was in that letter, dated March 23, 1987, that Rivera told Mahony that Aguilar's move to Los Angeles was prompted by "family and health reasons."
A spokesman for the Los Angeles Archdiocese denied that Mahony had received the letter.

Tod Tamberg said Mahony first learned that Rivera had written to him in 1988, when he asked Rivera to help with a Los Angeles police investigation into Aguilar.

Aguilar subsequently was charged with 19 counts of child molestation that involved at least eight boys.

Tamberg said that since Mahony hadn't received the letter from Rivera, the two couldn't have conspired to protect Aguilar. "An average person would not see any evidence of conspiracy here. It's a ridiculous charge," Tamberg said.
He declined to comment on Rivera's statement that church leaders used code to discuss such issues."I'm not going to speculate on what cardinal has declared," Tamberg said.
After returning to Mexico on Jan. 9, 1988, Aguilar continued to carry out church duties even after he was charged with similar offenses there in 1997.
The Catholic News Service reported in January that a group of Mexican bishops has asked the Vatican to investigate because Aguilar, who was convicted in 2003 but freed on a technicality, allegedly still conducts priestly activities.

Rivera's attorney denied that his client is blaming Mahony.

"I think he's just simply pointing out to the court how little he has to do with Aguilar's decision to come to California," said Steven Selsberg, who's based in Houston. "It's more about his lack of involvement in the decisions than blaming anyone else for that decision."

But Rivera's statement is powerful in part because it goes beyond simply arguing that California lacks jurisdiction to include him in the suit. Instead, Rivera says he suspects that "homosexuality problems" provoked the assault on Aguilar, that he asked Aguilar "to seek rest and psychiatric help" and that he warned Mahony about the priest.
He adds that he had no reason to believe that Aguilar had assaulted minors.

Rivera's attorney said the cardinal would give a deposition to U.S. lawyers in Mexico City in the next few months. The deposition, which will be limited to the question of jurisdiction, is expected to occur at the U.S. Embassy, according to lawyers involved in the suit.

* Zie ook: Richard Sipe: The traffic of priests



MEXICO CITY Immigration authorities on Wednesday briefly detained two U.S. lawyers and an activist who represent a 25-year-old Mexican man in a lawsuit alleging that Cardinal Norberto Rivera protected a priest who raped him.
The lawyers representing Joaquin Aguilar Mendez had just finished telling a news conference that the accused priest, the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar, had been located in the central Mexican state of Puebla and celebrated a Mass there last Sunday.
......

Gezwartepiet: Los Angeles chancery on sale to fund abuse payments

Los Angeles, May. 16, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Los Angeles archdiocese, which has already paid out $40 million in sex-abuse damages, faces more than 500 remaining claims. The archdiocese has fought a protracted legal battle in the abuse cases, which could eventually produce settlements amounting to over $500 million.

Cardinal Mahony announced his plan to sell the archdiocesan chancery on the same day that a separate report showed a Mexican prelate questioning why Cardinal Mahony allowed an accused priest to serve in Los Angeles.

The McClatchy Newspapers reported that in a March 26 court filing, Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City said that he had implicity warned his American colleague about Father Nicolas Aguilar, who had sought an assignment in Los Angeles after charges of sexual misconduct drove him out of Mexico. In a report on the priest, Cardinal Rivera said that "family and health reasons" had caused Aguilar's departure. That deliberately vague language was intended to provoke questions, he said.

"I anticipated that Cardinal Mahony would request a more detailed account of Father Aguilar's history and problems," the Mexican prelate testified. The Los Angeles archdiocese maintains that Cardinal Mahony never received the letter from Cardinal Rivera.

Aguilar, who is now wanted by American prosecutors on rape charges, has fled the country; his current whereabouts are unknown. Cardinals Mahony and Rivera are both named as defendants in a California lawsuit brought by plaintiffs who say that the prelates engaged in an international conspiracy to shield the fugitive priest from the law.


LA church sale to fund sex claims BBC news:

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles has said his archdiocese will sell its main office to raise money to settle lawsuits for sexual abuse.

Cardinal Roger Mahony also said some 50 other buildings could be sold to settle hundreds of lawsuits brought by people who had been abused by priests.
In December, the archdiocese - America's largest - paid some $40m (£20m) to settle 46 cases.
But it still faces more than 500 claims that have been in litigation for years.

'Quick settlement'

"Though it has always been the position of the archdiocese that the insurance companies must honour their responsibility to fund a major share of future settlements, the archdiocese must be prepared to fund its share," Cardinal Mahony said in a statement on Tuesday.
He said the archdiocese's main administrative office - a 12-storey building in Los Angeles - would be sold to fund the settlements.
Cardinal Mahony also said that a working group had already identified some 50 other non-essential church properties for sale.
"No parishes or parish schools will be closed to fund these settlements, nor will their essential ministries be affected by these sales," the cardinal said.
He did not specify any timetable for those settlements, but expressed hopes that the matter would be resolved in "the near future".
The archdiocese last year settled 46 civil cases, paying some $40m (£20m) of the total amount of $60m (£30m). The rest was paid by insurers.

The cases related to two periods when it had limited or no insurance against sexual abuse claims - before the 1950s and after 1987.

But the archdiocese still faces more than 500 claims, with some experts saying that it could cost the church as much as $1bn (£500m) to settle all of them.
The archdiocese says it has more than 4.3m Catholics in nearly 300 parishes.

The Roman Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of child sex abuse scandals in recent years, particularly in North America and also in Ireland.
In the US, a Boston-based scandal in 2002 led to the prosecutions of a number of priests, large payouts to dozens of victims and allegations of a cover-up by senior clergy.


SNAP Press Statement
Sex abuse victims respond to Cardinal Mahony'sannounced property sale

For immediate release:Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home)

We strongly suspect this is more public relations than fundraising. The overwhelming majority of bishops have more than enough insurance coverage to adequately deal with child sex abuse and cover up cases. Yet as trials loom and talks progress, they almost always feign poverty and take small, symbolic steps to foster that misconception.

We believe this is motivated by the first trials that are finally scheduled to begin next month.

If Mahony wants to better manage his archdiocesan wealth, we suggest he insist that he stop his high-priced lawyers' hardball legal maneuvers and far-fetched legal theories that are designed protect the Cardinal's secrets and reputation, to wear down already wounded abuse victims and to delay justice, healing, and truth-telling for everyone involved.

Contact:Mary Grant (626-419-2930), Joelle Castiex (949 322 7434), Steve Sanchez (818 262 6540), David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688), Mark Serrano (703-727-4940)

Aangifteplicht en beroepsgeheim kindermishandeling

‘Beroepsgeheim niet heilig bij kindermishandeling‘
DEN HAAG (ANP) - Hulpverleners moeten zich niet verschuilen achter hun beroepsgeheim of privacywetgeving als het gaat om het melden van kindermishandeling.

Het College bescherming persoonsgegevens (CBP) wil dat minister André Rouvoet voor Jeugd en Gezin de beroepsgroep erop wijst dat ze het recht hebben mishandeling te melden.

Dat is de conclusie van een rondetafelgesprek dat het CBP hield met artsen, politie, jeugdzorg en onderwijs. De betrokkenen vinden dat hulpverleners die stuiten op kindermishandeling of risico‘s voor mishandeling zien, hun beroepsgeheim niet als excuus mogen gebruiken om hun mond te houden.

Terugdeinzen

Het college constateert dat hulpverleners er nogal eens voor terugdeinzen hun mond open te doen en dan al te snel een beroep doen op privacyregels. Maar artsen hebben juist ook de plicht patiënten de hulp te bieden die ze nodig hebben. Ook hebben ze het recht daarover te spreken.

Rouvoet zou dit nog eens op een rijtje moeten zetten in een handreiking voor alle professionals die met kinderen te maken hebben. De minister zei eind april in de Tweede Kamer dat hij niets voelt voor een meldplicht voor artsen bij de Advies- en Meldpunten Kindermishandeling. Volgens Rouvoet kan een meldplicht ertoe leiden dat ouders hun kinderen niet meer naar de dokter sturen.
15.05.07 17:53 ANP



Wat een typisch christelijke rotsmoes om een kind rechtsbescherming te onthouden!
Vanaf welke leeftijd wordt een kind dan geacht wel beschermd te worden door de samenleving en niet door slechts de eigen omgeving, zijnde die "o zo veilige liefst christelijke gezin"somgeving, met haar eigen belangen?

kindermishandeling is een misdaad, eerwaarde eikel!
You'd better believe it!

Als er nu toch iets is wat het kerkelijk seksueel misbruik duidelijk heeft gemaakt is het dat!
Want lieffie, daar stonden die dokter, die kinderbescherming, die kardinaal tot aan de paus aan toe gewoon bij en maakten het mogelijk!!!

En da's niet toevallig. Uiteindelijk zelfs geen katholieke afwijking!

Wake-up!


Monument voor slachtoffers seksueel misbruik door geestelijken
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans, wo 9 mei '07 om 13:30u

IOWA (RKnieuws.net) - In een parochie in Iowa, waar verschillende kinderen in het verleden slachtoffer werden van misbruik, werd in stilte een granieten monumentje ingehuldigd voor de minderjarige slachtoffertjes van seksueel misbruik door katholieke geestelijken. Dat meldt The Morgen News.
Het monument stelt een engel en een kleine jongen die een Bijbel draagt, voor. Daaronder staat de tekst

“Voor onze kinderen die misbruikt werden door diegenen die we vertrouwden”.

Zo kan het dus ook Priesters in verkleedkisten 9

Naakt de val van het fundamentalisme?

Forum: Traditie indebat. Geplaatst op 13/5 '07 0:33u. Onderwerp: FSSPX is
geenszins in schisma
Voorlopig alleen dit:Laurentius weet heel goed dat de FSSPX een schismatiek genootschap is. Het gekonkel en gekronkel om die waarheid te verdoezelen, is een vorm van bedrog, waardoor onnozele zielen die dat niet of maar bij benadering weten, bedrogen worden.

Zij horen een vorm van geloof en moraal prediken, waarvan ze zouden
kunnen denken dat die Rooms-Katholiek is, maar die dat niet is. Zelfs de Consumentenbond zou hier terecht bezwaar tegen kunnen aantekenen.

Gaat daar de bel voor een nieuwe ronde in het schermgevecht aan de borreltafel?

Van misbruik betichte priester pleegt zelfmoord Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op zo 13 mei '07

BORDEAUX (RKnieuws.net) - Een Franse priester die er eind april van
beticht werd zich vergrepen te hebben aan een 12-jarig kind, heeft zelfmoord gepleegd. Dat heeft de politie zondag bekend gemaakt.
Het lichaam van de 74-jarige priester werd zaterdag in zijn woning gevonden maar de feiten dateren vermoedelijk al van vrijdag.

De priester werd op 19 april gearresteerd na de klacht van een jongen dat hij door de geestelijke werd lastiggevallen na de catecheseles. Hij werd in voorlopige vrijheid gesteld maar kreeg verbod in de parochies te komen die hij bedient. (tb)

Weer een leven naar de kl.., door RKK minachting van Leven, waardoor er geen grenzen bestonden


Forum: Traditie in debat. Geplaatst op 12/5 '07 23:22u. Onderwerp: FSSPX is
geenszins in schisma (posts: 99, views: 0)
Zijn geleerde disputaties tussen godgeleerden in theologen-chinees niet héérlijk om te lezen... ?

Waarbij ze voor het gemak ( of zou het zijn dat men met leken geen
rekening houdt of wenst te houden in het vuur van de discussie ? ) blijven
vergeten om het Latijn , en nu ook het Frans, voor ons , meelezers, te vertalen
, hoewel ik het hen wél beleefd gevraagd heb . Het is echter een
duidelijk punt in de forumregels . Het even vertalen ter
verduidelijking voor ons zou voor de geleerde heren een peulenschil moeten zijn, lijkt mij .Ik wacht af.....

Jij bent ongetwijfeld heel geleerd, Laurentius, maar dat betekent nog niet dat wij helemaal zónder intelligentie zijn!

Tja, die forum regels hu. Stond daar niet ook iets in over die RKK identiteit?








Give the boys the toys.

Met een buiging naar Kierkegaards uithangbordenfabriek.

B en C. , meissies moge jullie een geweldige

dag moederdag dag hebben!

Never Again; bishop admitted that the Catholic Church did not have adequate systems

Never again
By Andrew Greaves , 3-05-07

One of Lancashire's most senior clergymen has assured parents that mistakes made in the past will not be repeated.
Patrick O'Donoghue, the Bishop of Lancaster, was speaking just days after former Preston priest Father Edmund Cotter, 60, pleaded guilty to three specimen charges of indecent assault at Preston Crown Court.

The bishop admitted that the Catholic Church did not have adequate systems in place when dealing with priests accused of sexual abuse in the past.

...
Bishop Patrick said in the past the Church had a tendency to accept that any misdemeanours were isolated incidents and would often just move the priest to another parish.

He said: "In the past the priest who has committed the offence has usually apologised and we have frowned upon their actions but found them another position in a different parish. This is where we have been guilty in the past.

"We are very distraught when this kind of thing happens because not only does it call all priests into question, it also shatters a trust that parents put in Catholic Church and its workers in the community, the school yard, the youth club or wherever."
......

complete artikel

Ex-MacLaren residents are plaintiffs in the first Oregon case to be tried

Accused priest's lawyer argues mistaken identity

Sex abuse - Ex-MacLaren residents are plaintiffs in the first Oregon case to be tried
Thursday, May 03, 2007
ASHBEL S. GREEN

Attorney Dan Gatti's voice cracked as he told the jury a story Wednesday about a Catholic priest who drove a teenage boy from a state reform school to a funeral in 1975.

On the way, the priest pulled the car onto a gravel road, stopped and threatened to put the boy in an isolation cell if he didn't provide oral sex, Gatti said.
"We're going to finish what I asked you to do," Gatti accused the priest of saying.
The lawyer for the priest agreed that a Catholic priest drove the boy to the funeral -- a different Catholic priest.

Tom Cooney Sr. said the Rev. Michael Sprauer stands falsely accused of sexually abusing more than 15 boys at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in the 1970s. Cooney told a Multnomah County court jury that a witness will testify that one of the accusers tried to get him to go along with a scam to falsely accuse the priest.
"All you have to do is say the priest is a 'rapo,' " Cooney said the witness will say.
The jury heard opening statements Wednesday in the first Catholic priest sex-abuse case ever to go to trial in Oregon.
Randy Sloan, Norman Klettke and Robert Paul are the first of 15 former MacLaren inmates to bring to trial their accusations against Sprauer, a well-respected Salem-area priest who served 30 years as a state prison chaplain.

The 15 plaintiffs have settled their cases against the Portland Archdiocese, which recently won approval of a $75 million plan to emerge from bankruptcy. The Archdiocese settled with about 175 people who said they were abused by clergy or other church officials.

But the settlement with the Archdiocese didn't prevent the plaintiffs from pursuing their accusations against Sprauer and the state of Oregon, which employed the priest at MacLaren.

Gatti told the jurors that conditions at MacLaren were terrible in the 1970s.
He said his clients were being held in isolation when Sprauer came into their cells. But what appeared to be attempts to console the young offenders quickly turned to abuse.
"It was teenagers who were vulnerable," Gatti said. "It happened over and over and over again."

Gatti acknowledged a basic conflict: his clients remember being abused before Sprauer arrived at MacLaren in the fall of 1972 or after he left in the winter of 1975. But Gatti said that experts will testify that memories of childhood sexual abuse are often murky.
In the end, Gatti said, "this is a story about who is telling the truth."
Bill Tharp, who presents the state, said Sprauer is telling the truth.
"The abuse did not happen," Tharp said.
Tharp picked away at the claims of each plaintiff, where they said they were when and other inconsistencies.
"There gets to be a time when it's just not feasible," Tharp said. "It is our position that the plaintiffs are not telling the truth."

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.

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."

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.

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

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

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)

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

RK-kind ontevreden met protestantse pleegouders.

Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans opwo 28 mrt '07 (Bron: RD)

EDINBURGH (RKnieuws.net) - Een rooms-katholieke tiener heeft haar gemeente in Schotland aangeklaagd wegens de beslissing haar bij protestantse pleegouders te huisvesten. De unieke rechtszaak kan een precedent scheppen voor meer mensenrechtenkwesties.
De aanklaagster is een 18-jarig meisje uit de gemeente Highlands (Schotland) dat alleen bekend is onder de initialen ”AR”. In mei 1997 werd zij, op 8-jarige leeftijd, door de gemeente in bescherming genomen. Sindsdien heeft ze achtereenvolgens bij twee protestantse gastfamilies gewoond. Deze beslissing getuigt van weinig respect voor de geloofsovertuiging van het meisje, zo menen haar advocaten. De gemeente zag er niet op toe dat „haar geloof gedurende de periode bij haar gastouders in acht werd genomen en voldoende werd gefaciliteerd.” De zitting zal plaatsvinden in het hoogste gerechtshof van Schotland, de ”Court of Session” in de hoofdstad Edinburgh. In een korte reactie geeft rechter Lord Uist al aan dat de zaak geen precedent heeft en dat daarin „nieuwe en moeilijke thema’s” worden aangekaart. De gemeente Highland is vooralsnog vast van plan haar handelwijze „krachtig” te zullen verdedigen

Mahony accounts of abuse case tape differ - Los Angeles Times

Nou, Mahony ...... na Deliver US from Evil, en zijn betrokkenheid bij de smerige cover-ups voor zijn kardinale-maatje over de grens met Mexico alweer een stinkend zaakje rond Mahony.

Nu zelfs een tot aan Ratzinger aan toe!
De liegende kardinaal heeft 5 jaar lang geprobeerd tot aan hetHoogste Gerechtshof aan toe zijn documenten -waaruit de bewijzen zouden blijken -niet openbaar te hoeven maken.
Hij verloor.
En langszaam maar heel zeker wordt niet alleen de bekende cover-up duidelijk maar ook de kardinaals leugens

Maar ook blijkt nu dat Ratzinger op de hoogte was - van van de misdaden van in ieder geval deze priester, waarover tegenover het publiek gelogen werd, rechtspraak geboycot kon worden. Zoals daarvoor de man jaren zijn gang had kunnen gaan. Lijkt weinig nieuws dus.

Maar uit deze zaak blijkt ook dat Ratzinger niet alleen geinformeerd was, al vanuit zijn positie voordat hij Paus, werd, maar als Paus, geinformeerd en wel kennelijk akkoord is gegaan met een juridisch gevecht van deze liegende enmisbruik mogelijkheden verschaffende kardinaal om de documenten niet te hoeven openbaren. Die geen aangifte deed,pas nadat de therapeut an de priester zich aande wet en de noodzaak ankinderbescherming hield!

EenPaus die opdehoogtewas engoedkeurde dat zijn kardinaal geen duidelijkheid probeerde te verschaffen over Mahnony's leugens ten koste van slachtoffers, hun leven en hun recht.

Zou het werkelijk zo'n toeval zijn, of alleen een gevecht over de bevrijdingstheologie gaan dat BXVI als nieuwe pauselijke nuntius de VN- voorganger benoemd van de man die in Ierland de vuile was op heeft mogen knappen?

Laat ik daar nu toch geen meter van geloven!!
Niet met de van zijn hoofd glibberende kardinaalsmijters van Mahony en Norberto Riviera, precies in dat gebied van de volgende grote publicitaire uitbarstingen rond de smerigheid van kerkelijke functionarissen en de betrokkenheid van de HH kardinalen, niet na de veroordeling die geen veroordeling was van de Mexicaan M.M. Delgollado en diens rol in Mexico's upper crust. En ookniet na de onderzoeken door de vn gefinancieerd naar het misbruik vanuit de kerk van vrouwen en kinderen! Niet met de uispraken van een Mexicaans parlement dat de RKK niet moet denken boven de wet te staan nu duidelijk wordt dat er tegen meer dan 500 pedofiele priesters lopen.

Want als ik dat kan bedenken dan kunnen die jongens in dat vaticaan dat ook. Daar hoef je geen theologisch debat voor te voeren.

Die leidt,net als al het gerampetamp over die oorzaak zijnde homo's alleen maar af van die Kassa!

Plaintiffs say he gave the Vatican a graver version of priest's role than he gave the public.
By John Spano, Times Staff WriterMarch 20, 2007


At least six months after Cardinal Roger M. Mahony told his superiors at the Vatican that a videotape provided proof of a priest's criminal misconduct with high school boys, the head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese told the public that the tape showed no sexual activity between Father Lynn Caffoe and the boys, according to court records.

Documents newly filed in the Caffoe civil case provide the first glimpse into confidential priest files that Mahony sought for four years to keep sealed in the midst of a sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the archdiocese. He eventually took the secrecy fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before Ratzinger became pope in April 2005, Mahony said Caffoe had videotaped "partially naked" boys in a state of sexual arousal. The tape was "objective verification that criminal behavior did occur," Mahony wrote, according to papers filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court in a lawsuit by four plaintiffs who allege that Caffoe abused them.

In October 2005, in what Mahony told parishioners was the "fullest possible disclosure" about the scandal, he reported that a videotape had been discovered in 1992 in Caffoe's bedroom, depicting "improper behavior" with high school boys. But the cardinal said the boys were "fully clothed" and there was no sexual activity.

Since that report, an appellate court ordered Mahony to turn over confidential files to prosecutors, and a Superior Court judge ruled that the files must be given to plaintiffs suing the church for damages for allegedly failing to protect them from pedophile priests.

J. Michael Hennigan, Mahony's lawyer, said he sees no contradiction between Mahony's public statements and the file contents because at the time the cardinal spoke out, the archdiocese was under court order not to reveal the contents of the personnel files. Hennigan said two judges had reviewed the material and considered the summary to be adequate. The statements "were not intended to be a description of the contents of the files, which we were not allowed to do," Hennigan said. They merely served as "an index, a chronology.

"He said he does not think Mahony ever saw the videotape, which is not in the church files and may never have been there, Hennigan said.

Mahony's letter to the Vatican, though still not fully public, was quoted in a court filing by four people who say they were victimized by Caffoe. Their lawyers argue that the letter and other documents, newly released to the plaintiffs, show that Mahony and other officials of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles misrepresented the breadth and seriousness of the priest abuse reports that they received in the years before they moved to fully address the molestation problem.

"Let me be very clear on this: The cardinal did not turn over this information willingly," said Irvine attorney Katherine K. Freberg, who represents plaintiffs in the Caffoe case. "He was forced to by the courts. It is only because of this civil lawsuit filed by these brave victims that we uncovered all the salacious details about what the archdiocese knew about Father Caffoe molesting children."

Caffoe, 61, has been accused of molesting multiple minors between 1975 and 1994. He left the area in 1994 after his therapist reported an abuse allegation to child-protection authorities, and he has not been charged with a crime. Freberg said she has been unable to locate him, but his lawyer, Donald Steier, said he is alive and actively fought to keep his files confidential.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, said Mahony had not reported Caffoe's alleged crime to prosecutors."

Not to the knowledge of the people in this office who have been involved in the clergy abuse cases for several years," she said.

Whether the videotape could serve as the basis for prosecution depends on when it was made, who is in it, and whether they would testify, Gibbons added.

The suit by the four Caffoe accusers, which is set for trial in August, is one of more than 500 claims filed against the archdiocese over the decades-long clergy abuse scandal. The archdiocese paid $60 million to settle with 45 victims in December.

The church long has kept confidential files on sensitive issues involving priests, including sexual abuse accusations and reports of drinking or mental health problems, as well as records of referrals for treatment, reassignments and other personnel matters.

Caffoe's accusers cited portions of his file as support for a motion to seek punitive damages against the church, alleging that it engaged in "oppression, fraud and malice" in disregarding multiple allegations about the priest's misconduct with children.

Mahony called a 2004 report to parishioners "the best information we can glean at this time." In an addendum a year later, Mahony said three families had reported Caffoe to their parish in 1991 for being "overly familiar" with their teenage sons.

Mahony sent Caffoe to a residential treatment center for sexual offender priests, then placed him on "inactive leave" with no priestly assignment. The cardinal filed an amendment to the report in 2005, which he said summarized the contents of the church's confidential files. In the amendment, Mahony revealed that complaints had been lodged against Caffoe as far back as 1975, when parents of altar boys at St. Callistus Parish in Garden Grove reported a "boundary violation" to a pastor.

The church has defined "boundary violation" as an indiscretion "without any evidence of actual molestation."

In a sworn statement taken last month as part of the Caffoe civil suit, however, one of the altar boys' parents said she told the parish priest that Caffoe had molested her third-grader:

Q: "Did (your son) mention to you any fondling of his private parts?"
A: "Yes. He said, 'He stuck his tongue in my mouth and touched my private parts — tried to touch my private parts.' "

The chancellor of the diocese, identified in court papers as Msgr. John Rawden, who served under Archbishop Timothy Manning, Mahony's predecessor, left a note in Caffoe's personnel file stating the priest had been accused of being "overly affectionate" with altar boys.

Hennigan said that Rawden may have used "euphemisms" 30 years ago, but insisted that Mahony had accurately reported what was in the files he inherited when he became archbishop of Los Angeles in 1985.

"It sounds like an accurate description of what's in the file," Hennigan said. "It did not purport to be an accurate description of what happened."

According to the church report in 2005, a nun complained of another "boundary violation" in 1986. Caffoe's accusers, in their court filing, say the complaint they recently obtained actually stated: "Strictly confidential: don't like his association with boys. Think he should not have boys in his room."

A further note from a monsignor concluded that Caffoe had been engaging in "a few things that are clearly against policy, e.g. minors in his room," the court filing said.

In 1989, Caffoe was named associate pastor of St. James Parish in Redondo Beach. That same year, an anonymous woman complained that she had seen Caffoe on separate occasions engaged in what Mahony described in his 2005 public report as "inappropriate behavior" with two boys.

The church's files show the complaint accused Caffoe of hugging and fondling the boys, the plaintiffs argue in their court papers.
Msgr. Thomas Curry, then vicar for clergy for Mahony, informed Caffoe of the complaint but asked for no explanation, made no accusations and took no further action, according to allegations contained in court papers. Church spokesmen have said that was because the complainant insisted on being anonymous.

Mahony's 2005 report said the next complaint came in 1991, when "the pastor and the school principal (a nun) at St. James report to vicar for clergy various boundary violations by Fr. Caffoe."

According to the plaintiffs, newly filed court documents, the complaint was that Caffoe "seems to spend an inordinate amount of time with the boys hired to work in the rectory part-time…. The principal recalled that she once found Fr. Caffoe alone with an eighth-grader in a dark area of the parish hall, an event which the archbishop deemed 'strongly suggestive of improper behavior.' "

Less than a week later in 1991, parents of three boys also complained about Caffoe, according to the church report. A month after that, the church restricted Caffoe's ministry — after the priest's therapist reported the suspected abuse to law enforcement.

Bill Would End Time Limits for Abuse Suits - washingtonpost.com

By Nikita StewartWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, March 21, 2007;

The D.C. Council would abolish the statute of limitations for filing criminal and civil cases that involve sexual abuse against children under a bill proposed yesterday by council member Marion Barry.
The legislation would allow the indictment of abusers in decades-old crimes and would give victims the ability to sue all parties involved in the abuse.

The proposed change in D.C. law is similar to legislation enacted in California that led to prominent cases involving abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

In the District, the measure would not only extend the time limits for criminal and civil cases but also "provide a two-year period for people whose claims were barred by a previous statute of limitations to bring those claims," according to the bill's text.

Barry (D-Ward 8) said the intent is to prosecute cases in which victims of child sexual abuse do not come forward until they are adults. "Childhood sexual abuse, by its very nature, is secretive," he said.
There are 15- and 10-year time limits for criminal child sex abuse cases in the District, depending on the type of abuse. The city applies a three-year statute of limitations on all civil claims, although a child sex abuse victim has until his or her 21st birthday to file a claim.

The legislation could have significant monetary consequences. When California lifted its statute of limitations on sex crimes against children in 2003, more than 1,000 lawsuits were filed. The dioceses of Los Angeles and Orange counties later settled lawsuits totaling $160 million.

In contrast, the Archdiocese of Washington has spent $6 million on sex abuse cases, including a $1.3 million settlement to 16 victims in December. The archdiocese covers the District and Montgomery, Prince George's, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties, and includes 140 parishes and about 580,000 members. Since 1947, the archdiocese has documented credible allegations from 132 people against 28 priests, according to Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman.

A majority of the council joined Barry's cause yesterday.

Advocates for victims and attorneys have been lobbying in various jurisdictions to implement similar legislation. Last week, a measure on opening a two-year window for civil cases died in the Maryland state Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee in an 8 to 2 vote.

Although Maryland has no statute of limitations on criminal complaints and Virginia has no time limit on felony criminal cases, both states have restrictions on civil claims brought by victims.

In Virginia, a special law allows adults to file a claim within two years of recognizing the abuse they suffered as children through a licensed professional, such as a psychiatrist.

In Maryland, a victim has until his or her 25th birthday to file a claim stemming from abuse suffered as a child.

Gibbs said the archdiocese supports Barry's plan to eliminate time limits on criminal cases. However, the archdiocese does not believe in extending the time limits for civil cases because of false claims and the complications of retroactive claims. "There's the ability for people to come forward and the ability to respond," Gibbs said. "The bar is not as high [in a civil case]. If you are going back 50 years, you don't know what happened, the person may be dead."

Paus benoemt nieuwe nuntius in Mexico

Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans, do 22 mrt '07

VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - Paus Benedictus XVI benoemde vandaag/donderdag Mgr. Christophe Pierre tot nieuwe pauselijke nuntius in Mexico. Mgr. Christophe Pierre is 61 en was sinds 1999 pauselijke nuntius in Oeganda. Hij is één van de zes Franse nuntiussen, die momenteel in diplomatieke dienst zijn bij het Vaticaan.
Christophe Pierre werd op 30 januari 1946 geboren te Rennes. Als kind leefde hij enkele jaren in Madagascar en later in Marokko. Daarna keerde hij terug naar Saint-Malô, waar hij zijn middelbare studies beëindigde. In 1963 ging hij op zijn zeventiende naar het seminarie van Rennes. Op 5 april 1970 werd hij priester gewijd.

In 1973 begon hij studies aan de ‘diplomatenschool’ van het Vaticaan. Na opdrachten in onder meer Nieuw-Zeeland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cuba en Brazilië werd hij in 1991 aangesteld als raadgever voor de permanente vertegenwoordiging van de H.Stoel bij de Verenigde Naties en de internationale instellingen in Genève. In 1995 werd hij pauselijk nuntius in Haïti en op 10 mei 1999 nuntius in Oeganda.

Mgr. Christophe Pierre werd ook meermaals genoemd als een belangrijk kandidaat om secretaris voor de relaties met de andere staten te worden. Uiteindelijk viel de keuze op zijn landgenoot Mgr. Dominique Mamberti. (tb)

Reactie op notificatie tegen Sobrino

’Buiten de armen geen heil!’
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op wo 21 mrt '07

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - Christenen voor het Socialisme, de Werkplaats voor Theologie en Maatschappij en het Netwerk van Kritische Christenen en Basisgroepen hebben onder de titel ’Buiten de armen’ een verklaring gepubliceerd naar aanleiding van de notificatie tegen Bevrijdingstheoloog Sobrino.

"Sinds het oude ’Heilig Officie’ in 1965 zijn naam veranderde in ’Congregatie van de Geloofsleer’ kregen 12 theologen een ’notificatie’. Sommige van hun geschriften worden daarin veroordeeld als niet in overeenstemming met de leer van de Kerk. Op basis daarvan kunnen sancties genomen worden".

"Buiten een eerste notificatie aan Hans Küng in 1975, hadden alle veroordelingen plaats tijdens het pontificaat van Johannes-Paulus II. En bijna alle werden ze ondertekend door kardinaal Ratzinger. Op 14 maart jl. werd de notificatie over de geschriften van de Spaans-Salvadoreense bevrijdingstheoloog Jon Sobrino bekendgemaakt. En Mgr. Fernando Saenz Lacelle, aartsbisschop van San Salvador en lid van Opus Dei, heeft hem ondertussen al onderwijs- en publicatieverbod opgelegd".

"Het is de eerste notificatie sinds Ratzinger Benedictus XVI is geworden. Het dossier van Sobrino had hij jaren geleden als prefect van de Congregatie van de Geloofsleer ingeleid. Is het toeval dat deze veroordeling twee maanden valt vóór de Vijfde Algemene Vergadering van de Latijns-Amerikaanse Bisschoppenconferentie (CELAM) in het Braziliaanse Mariaoord Aparecida (13-21 mei)? Het lijkt erop dat Benedictus XVI, die in Aparecida aanwezig zal zijn, hiermee het signaal wil geven dat de ’optie voor de armen’ die op de Bisschoppenconferentie van Medellin (1968) geproclameerd werd en de bevrijdingstheologie begraven zijn".

"Jon Sobrino wordt vervolgd omwille van zijn christologie. Zijn visie op Christus zou al te ’menselijk’ zijn, zijn godheid wordt niet in het licht gesteld, vinden de Congregatie van de Geloofsleer en haar huidige prefect, kardinaal Levada. Het meningsverschil is te verklaren vanuit de verschillende plaats waarop enerzijds Levada, Ratzinger en Co en anderzijds Sobrino en de bevrijdingstheologen theologie bedrijven. Sobrino wisselde van plaats toen hij vanuit het relatief rijke Spanje naar El Salvador ging en daar in contact kwam met het arme en lijdende volk. Hij werd sterk geïnspireerd door Mgr. Oscar Arnulfo Romero die zich tot de armen bekeerd had, nadat hij vanuit zijn paleis de weg gevonden had naar de sloppenwijken. Om de christologie van Sobrino echt te verstaan, volstaat het niet zijn teksten te lezen en zijn woorden te aanhoren. Men moet een gelijkaardige weg naar de armen afleggen en van daaruit oprecht de profeten en het Evangelie van Jezus lezen".

"Welke theoloog kan immers beter het gelaat van Christus herkennen en er een woord over spreken: hij of zij die dagelijks de miserie, het lijden en het martelaarschap meemaakt tot en met het afslachten van eigen huisgenoten en van zijn inspirator Romero, of hij die in een wereldvreemd paleis vanuit een onaantastbaar dogma spreekt? Wie als ’bezitter van de waarheid’ vanuit een wereldvreemde plek over God spreekt, spreekt veelal over een wereldvreemde God. Met het laatste pauselijk document Sacramentum Caritatis is dat opnieuw gebleken. De celibaatsverplichting voor priesters wordt gehandhaafd en hertrouwde uit de echt gescheiden lieden mogen de communie niet ontvangen, tenzij ze geen seks hebben".

"Jon Sobrino werd reeds lang gezocht. Met deze ’notificatie’ wordt een nieuwe slag toegebracht aan de bevrijdingstheologie en de armen. Nochtans beweert de Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer om deze laatsten zeer bekommerd te zijn. Het eerste deel van de verklarende nota bij de notificatie is aan die ’bekommernis’ gewijd onder de titel "De bekommernis van de Kerk voor de armen". Daarin wordt een uitspraak van de paus geciteerd: "De eerste armoede onder de volkeren bestaat er in Christus niet te kennen". En even verder lezen we: "De voorkeursoptie voor de armen, verre van een teken van particularisme of sectarisme te zijn, manifesteert de universaliteit van het wezen en van de zending van de Kerk. Die optie sluit niemand uit. Dat is de reden waarom de Kerk deze optie niet kan uitdrukken door middel van reducerende sociologische en ideologische categorieën die van deze voorkeur een partijdige keuze zouden maken en een bron van conflict". Geen partijdige keuze dus, en geen conflict.

Maar het conflict bestaat!
De keuze is niet ’conflict of geen conflict’, maar wél ’welke kant te kiezen in het conflict’.

Als het Vaticaan, met universalisme als argument, weigert die keuze te maken, kiest ze in feite voor de rijken, voor degenen die nu, in déze wereld, de wet stellen. Dan maakt het Vaticaan gemene zaak met politieke en economische machten die de armen bestrijden. Niet toevallig kwam het offensief tegen de bevrijdingstheologie in de jaren ’80 quasi gelijktijdig vanuit twee kanten tot stand: vanuit het Vaticaan en de VS-politiek met in het bijzonder het Institute on Religion and Democracy. In het Daensjaar is het goed daarover na te denken. Als geen ander immers heeft priester Adolf Daens, die 100 jaar geleden stierf, gebotst op het bondgenootschap tussen de Katholieke Kerk en de rijken".

"Op 27.10.06 schreef Jon Sobrino een aantal bedenkingen neer over de komende bisschoppenconferentie in Aparecida. Hij deed dat in de vorm van een brief aan zijn collega bevrijdingstheoloog, vriend en huisgenoot Ignacio Ellacuría, één van de zes jezuïeten die door een doodseskader werden vermoord omdat zij voor het arme en verdrukte volk opkwamen. In die brief citeert hij uit Ellacuría’s laatste toespraak: "Alleen met alle armen en verdrukten van de wereld kunnen we geloven en de moed opbrengen om te proberen de geschiedenis om te keren". "Je zegt ons dus", schrijft Sobrino dan verder "dat de armen bron zijn van een geloof en een moed die ons van nergens anders toekomt. Zoals ik je vorig jaar schreef ’buiten de armen is er geen heil’.

" Mogen we met Sobrino hopen dat Aparecida opnieuw de weg naar de armen en Medellin zou beginnen vinden?", aldus de verklaring. (tb)


Europese vereniging voor katholieke theologie reageert op notificatie tegen Sobrino
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans do 22 mrt '07

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - “Met droefheid en grote bezorgdheid heeft het presidium van de Europese Vereniging voor Katholieke Theologie kennis genomen van de notificatie over de werken van onze Salvadoraanse collega, Jon Sobrino”.
Dat schrijven de Europese theologen in een reactie op de notificatie van de Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer, die vorige week gepubliceerd werd.

De vereniging vraagt zich af of deze notificatie nodig of wenselijk was, “omdat die niet enkel de internationaal befaamde theoloog treft maar tevens de theologische discipline zelf”. Volgens de vereniging is de tekst op het eerste zicht erg voorzichtig opgesteld en tracht die een veroordeling van de persoon te vermijden.

“Maar een tweede lezing maakt enkele problematische aspecten duidelijk, waarvan de veronachtzaming van theologische ontwikkelingen van de laatste vijftig jaar de belangrijkste en meest verontrustende is”. De Europese theologen wijzen er tevens op dat de notificatie enkele citaten uit de Schrift, conciliedocumenten en pauselijke verklaringen zonder onderscheid plaatst naast theologische concepten en argumenten, die een heel andere oorsprong hebben. Bovendien wordt op geen enkele manier rekening gehouden met het zelfbewustzijn van Jezus of de manier waarop die de heilswaarde van zijn eigen dood gezien heeft.
“Daardoor dreigt een verwarring te ontstaan tussen het historische en theologische discours”.

CIN - Rose-Virginie Pelletier founded her faith on Jesus Christ as on a rock - Pope John Paul II

CIN - Rose-Virginie Pelletier founded her faith on Jesus Christ as on a rock - Pope John Paul II


Rose-Virginie Pelletier founded her faith on Jesus Christ as on a rock - Pope John Paul II July 9, 1996
To Reverend Mother Liliane Tauvette Superior General of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd
1. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Rose-Virginie Pelletier, in religion Mother Maria of St Euphrasia, on 31 July 1796 on Noirmoutier Island, the Vendee, France, I willingly join in the prayer and thanksgiving of the religious of your Congregation, which she founded.
Her childhood in an Atlantic port looking out towards the other continents predisposed Rose-Virginie to openness to the world, the desire to save souls and to pursue a missionary activity developed in her heart little by little. The beauty of her native island also gave her the taste for contemplation: marvelling, she discovered her Creator and Saviour and learned to love him above all else. However, from her childhood, in an age when the Church was exposed to many difficulties and persecution, she experienced suffering and separation from her family; she was thus spurred to put her one hope in God who revealed himself to her in his infinite love and immense mercy. Having seen how the rocks on the beach firmly withstood the pounding breakers which gradually shaped and polished them, she would found her faith on Christ as on a rock, a faith so firm that nothing could shake it. This would lead her often to give her sisters this instruction: "stand firm in God like rocks in the sea". Throughout her youth she let herself be guided by the Lord, who formed her heart and mind for the service of the Church for which he destined her. She strove to deepen her spiritual life with total availability to the Holy Spirit's action. Like the saints of Carmel, she was to let herself be purified by the living flame of love, in order to reach the "transforming union" (St John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love, II, 5). Lady of Charity of the Refuge, Sr Maria Euphrasia was only 29 years old when she became superior of the Refuge at Tours. Six months later, aware that Christ's love cannot be known and spread in the world except through simultaneously experienced action and contemplation, she founded the Sisters Magdalens. Still today, all the religious of the institute are invited, after the example of their foundress, to make prayer the heart of their personal life. Prayer is a relationship of intimacy with God by whom one feels loved, and a conversation through which one is led towards the Lord in an impulse of filial trust. Thus "in this way they offer the ecclesial community a singular testimony of the Church's love for her Lord and they contribute, with hidden apostolic fruitfulness, to the growth of the People of God", (Vita consecrata, n. 8). Contemplation which sustains love and the desire for perfection, is also accompanied by meditation on Scripture, recourse to the sacraments, the liturgical office and community life in the spirit of St John Eudes. The Eucharist has a special place in Christian and especially in religious life, for it shows the greatness of the love of Christ who saved the world by his sacrifice on the Cross. "the Cross of Christ ... is also a radical revelation of mercy, or rather of the love that goes against what constitutes the very root of evil in the history of man: against sin and death" (Dives in misericordia, n. 8). As Mother Maria of St Euphrasia would say, it is from the Eucharist "that we draw the light, the strength and the life of our souls. This sacrament is the Church's true treasure. It is a treasure for us all" (Entretiens et Instructions, c. Xl, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, 1842). A person is already a missionary through life hidden in God.
3. Every baptized person who receives abundance of life, born from Christ's side, is called to walk in his footsteps, to witness to his purifying and effective presence, for God comes to work all new things in us and to "be at the service of all men by giving himself yet more to the Holy Spirit" (Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer for Masses of Reconciliation I). Each one is called to experience the Good Shepherd's mercy and to become a sign of this mercy among his brothers and sisters, wounded either by trials or by a seriously disordered life. To proclaim merciful love is the principal message which guided your foundress throughout her mission to young girls, women and families, who were experiencing spiritual, moral or material distress. Through relationships based on love and respect, those wounded in heart and body gradually regain their self-confidence and discover the healing power of Christ the Saviour, for nothing is impossible to God.
4. I encourage you to pursue and extend your charitable works, destined to persons who need a loving presence in order to develop psychologically and spiritually. This demands of you patience and strength drawn from Christ. It is your task to have the same regard for those to whom you are sent as Jesus had for his contemporaries. Every person is infinitely lovable, not because of his possessions or capacity to achieve but because he is in the image of his Creator and Saviour, in the likeness of "God [who] constitutes the immutable basis of all Christian anthropology" (Mulieris dignitatem, n. 6). Nothing, not even the offence, can totally or definitively efface this divine imprint in the human being (Cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II, a. 4 a.1, ad 2). The Apostle Peter himself aware of the weight of his sin, fell down at the Lord's feet, saying: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Lk 5:8). The Lord raised him up, sent him on a mission and made him a fisher of men, thereby showing that weakness is never an excuse for refusing to change or to walk on the way with Christ. When one is loved the past can be overcome, for no one is definitively lost to God and "there is no offence, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive" in the name of the Lord (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 982). The Lord requires that his disciples, when they have received forgiveness, become signs and witnesses of his mercy and hope in the heart of the world.
5. In rich and poor countries situations of distress are increasing. Young people are sometimes reduced to servitude, they are reduced to objects of exchange for economic reasons and their most fundamental dignity is held up to ridicule by unscrupulous adults. Following in the footsteps of your foundress, invent ever new and daring ways to express God's tenderness and mercy and the Church's motherly concern for those who are most in need of it! In particular, young people rejected by society need the greatest care. By providing for their human and spiritual training, for their physical and emotional health, guiding them with affection and care enables the young to gain confidence in themselves and leads them to realize that they are loved and valued in God's eyes. Only authentic love, a gift of God, lived with great patience and "an exquisite sensitivity" (St Maria Euphrasia, Entretiens, c. 59), respectful of each one's deepest being, can heal wounds, give peace of heart, and provide the means to build a personal future and find a place in society.
6. The Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd always have the specific vocation to form a family which can welcome persons in difficulty or who desire to live, an upright and beautiful life after sinning, by offering them a place to live where peace and love prevail. During a talk she gave in April 1840, Maria Euphrasia urged her sisters: "You are destined to become good shepherds", imitating Jesus Christ. The Lord makes use of a fraternal community, enlivened by great goodness and great charity, to set right what has been damaged, to treat the injured and to show that even the lost sheep has a share in the banquet when the person is disposed to respond to love. Every person is called to holiness by way of conversion and spiritual progress. We have a remarkable example of it in the Gospel. Mary Magdalen, the sinner who showed such love for Jesus, was also the first to meet Christ on Easter morning and was to announce his Resurrection to the Apostles.
As I entrust you to the intercession of Mary, refuge of sinners, of St Mary Magdalen, St John Eudes and St Maria Euphrasia, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to you, as well as to the religious of your institute, those who are associated with your missions and those who benefit from your aid in the different institutions for which you are responsible.
From the Vatican, 9 July 1996.
John Paul II
Courtesy of Catholic Information Network (CIN) - http://www.cin.org