Friday, March 16, 2007
The Diocese of Ferns is reportedly facing a cash crisis as a result of sexual abuse compensation claims.
Reports this morning say the diocese has already agreed settlements worth €4.7m with 30 victims and could eventually face a final bill of around €10m.
On top of this, the State has yet to pay a legal bill totalling €2.7m incurred by the diocese during official inquiries into sex abuse, despite being ordered to do so by the courts.
The diocese says it has yet to pay its lawyers because of this delay and also has borrowings of €2m to meet the compensation pay-outs.
vrijdag, maart 16, 2007
Fraud charge priest feels that anything he took was owed to him
A KILKENNY priest who is facing massive fraud charges in the US told investigators that anything he took, he had coming to him, it emerged this week as prosecution documents were released in Florida.
Rev John Skehan who was born in Johnstown and who still has close family there is facing the charges along with another priest, Rev Francis Guinan.
Skehan, 79, and Guinan, 64, were arrested last autumn on charges of grand theft over $100,000, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Both Irish-born priests have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.
The documents also reveal that Skehan gave his opinion that he had never been properly paid by the diocese, that he was running a big business and getting nothing for it.
It also emerged that Skehan had a bedroom closet that was padlocked with documents allegedly dealing with past paedophiles within the church, according to the records.
“It was maybe some blackmail and stuff so he didn't want anybody ever to be able to get into there," one church employee said, according to the documents released last Thursday.
When the criminal investigation got under way, Skehan told the employee to give his apartment keys to a relative to "offload some documents from his home," the employee said.
It also emerged that Rev Guinan was outraged at the prospect of two parish audits by the Diocese of Palm Beach — one at St Patrick in Palm Beach Gardens, the other at St Vincent Ferrer in Delray Beach.
He professed disbelief to his bishop that his integrity would be questioned. He wrote to his bishop that priests pledge to live, if not a life of poverty, one of modesty rewarded by serving the faithful.
But diocese policy calls for a parish audit whenever there is a change in pastors, and Guinan had just left St Patricks after 16 years to take over St Vincent from his close friend, the Rev. Skehan, who was retiring after 40 years. Diocese auditors were eager to open the books.
Guinan called on Bishop Gerald Barbarito, new to his post, to abolish the diocese's audit policy.
"My reasons for this request are as follows: It is demeaning, embarrassing and humiliating. It accomplishes nothing that could not be accomplished in a more dignified fashion," Guinan wrote to Barbarito in October 2003. "The money spent on an audit is a waste and should be spent more wisely."
He wrote that the sacrifices and commitment of priests are "without parallel."
"They devote their lives to the church with little thought for personal gain. They are generous, charitable and compassionate. They have earned and deserve trust, at least until proven otherwise," Guinan wrote. "May I be so crude as to ask you to call off the dogs.'"
But Barbarito was not persuaded, and an independent audit of St Vincent eventually uncovered an alleged $8.6 million theft going back decades.
Guinan's letter to the bishop was among hundreds of documents released Thursday by Palm Beach County prosecutors, offering more details into the secret lives of the two priests who are accused of spending lavishly on themselves and their girlfriends.
Skehan, 79, and Guinan, 64, were arrested last fall on charges of grand theft over $100,000, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Both Irish-born priests have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.
When he was arrested after returning from Ireland, Skehan admitted to investigators he established "slush" funds, bank accounts that were kept off St. Vincent's books. One of the slush funds was dubbed "Holy Name."
The cash was skimmed weekly from the collection plates at St. Vincent, money that bookkeepers helped Skehan and Guinan hide, according to the court records. Those bookkeepers were given immunity for their co-operation. When it became clear auditors were going to pore through the books, financial documents were shredded.
"Skehan told investigators that he felt that anything that he took ... he had coming to him, as the diocese was cheap and never paid for his education," a Delray Beach police detective wrote in one report released Thursday. "Skehan gave his opinion that he had never been properly paid by the diocese; he was running a big business and getting nothing for it."
The elderly priest told investigators that it was a "mountain of money" he had misappropriated, but he said he didn't recall where all the money went.
He expressed surprise the figure was so high. He said he had no regrets about giving unauthorised payments and bonuses to church employees.
He also told investigators he stashed some of the cash in bank accounts in Ireland under a different name, but he would tell them no more about that, according to records.
Guinan jetted off to Las Vegas and the Bahamas with a woman witnesses told investigators was his girlfriend. Skehan bought himself a $300,000 gold coin collection. Both men collected real estate and upscale homes.
They created a complex maze for accountants to sort out, including multiple bank and stock investment accounts that were kept secret from the diocese.
A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Palm Beach said she would not comment on the documents because the criminal case is pending.
A bookkeeper interviewed by investigators portrayed an atmosphere of paranoia that she saw as normal in the St. Vincent offices. Money was hidden in ceiling tiles. Employees searched the room of a priest who they thought the diocese had planted as a spy. Books were falsified to cover up the missing money.
There was a limo trip to Joe's Stone Crab restaurant on Miami Beach with Guinan and Skehan and their close church employees and their spouses. They continued the outing at another bar.
Skehan had a bedroom closet that was padlocked with documents allegedly dealing with past paedophiles within the church, according to the records. It was "maybe some blackmail and stuff so he didn't want anybody ever to be able to get into there," one church employee said. When the criminal investigation got under way, Skehan told the employee to give his apartment keys to a relative to "offload some documents from his home," the employee said.
At St. Vincent, one of Palm Beach County's largest and oldest parishes, Skehan was well liked and even revered by parishioners. Guinan didn't enjoy the same reputation.
"He was never there," one church employee told investigators. "He didn't really care about St. Vincent's. He was gone most of the time."
The two priests are expected to face trial in the autumn and an exact date for this will be set in the next five weeks.
De grenzenloze gekte van geprivilegieerde prinsjes die dit soort waanzin :
en jattende Dekens in Roermond en Den Bosch mogelijk maakt.
en het seksueel misbruik!
Rev John Skehan who was born in Johnstown and who still has close family there is facing the charges along with another priest, Rev Francis Guinan.
Skehan, 79, and Guinan, 64, were arrested last autumn on charges of grand theft over $100,000, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Both Irish-born priests have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.
The documents also reveal that Skehan gave his opinion that he had never been properly paid by the diocese, that he was running a big business and getting nothing for it.
It also emerged that Skehan had a bedroom closet that was padlocked with documents allegedly dealing with past paedophiles within the church, according to the records.
“It was maybe some blackmail and stuff so he didn't want anybody ever to be able to get into there," one church employee said, according to the documents released last Thursday.
When the criminal investigation got under way, Skehan told the employee to give his apartment keys to a relative to "offload some documents from his home," the employee said.
It also emerged that Rev Guinan was outraged at the prospect of two parish audits by the Diocese of Palm Beach — one at St Patrick in Palm Beach Gardens, the other at St Vincent Ferrer in Delray Beach.
He professed disbelief to his bishop that his integrity would be questioned. He wrote to his bishop that priests pledge to live, if not a life of poverty, one of modesty rewarded by serving the faithful.
But diocese policy calls for a parish audit whenever there is a change in pastors, and Guinan had just left St Patricks after 16 years to take over St Vincent from his close friend, the Rev. Skehan, who was retiring after 40 years. Diocese auditors were eager to open the books.
Guinan called on Bishop Gerald Barbarito, new to his post, to abolish the diocese's audit policy.
"My reasons for this request are as follows: It is demeaning, embarrassing and humiliating. It accomplishes nothing that could not be accomplished in a more dignified fashion," Guinan wrote to Barbarito in October 2003. "The money spent on an audit is a waste and should be spent more wisely."
He wrote that the sacrifices and commitment of priests are "without parallel."
"They devote their lives to the church with little thought for personal gain. They are generous, charitable and compassionate. They have earned and deserve trust, at least until proven otherwise," Guinan wrote. "May I be so crude as to ask you to call off the dogs.'"
But Barbarito was not persuaded, and an independent audit of St Vincent eventually uncovered an alleged $8.6 million theft going back decades.
Guinan's letter to the bishop was among hundreds of documents released Thursday by Palm Beach County prosecutors, offering more details into the secret lives of the two priests who are accused of spending lavishly on themselves and their girlfriends.
Skehan, 79, and Guinan, 64, were arrested last fall on charges of grand theft over $100,000, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Both Irish-born priests have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.
When he was arrested after returning from Ireland, Skehan admitted to investigators he established "slush" funds, bank accounts that were kept off St. Vincent's books. One of the slush funds was dubbed "Holy Name."
The cash was skimmed weekly from the collection plates at St. Vincent, money that bookkeepers helped Skehan and Guinan hide, according to the court records. Those bookkeepers were given immunity for their co-operation. When it became clear auditors were going to pore through the books, financial documents were shredded.
"Skehan told investigators that he felt that anything that he took ... he had coming to him, as the diocese was cheap and never paid for his education," a Delray Beach police detective wrote in one report released Thursday. "Skehan gave his opinion that he had never been properly paid by the diocese; he was running a big business and getting nothing for it."
The elderly priest told investigators that it was a "mountain of money" he had misappropriated, but he said he didn't recall where all the money went.
He expressed surprise the figure was so high. He said he had no regrets about giving unauthorised payments and bonuses to church employees.
He also told investigators he stashed some of the cash in bank accounts in Ireland under a different name, but he would tell them no more about that, according to records.
Guinan jetted off to Las Vegas and the Bahamas with a woman witnesses told investigators was his girlfriend. Skehan bought himself a $300,000 gold coin collection. Both men collected real estate and upscale homes.
They created a complex maze for accountants to sort out, including multiple bank and stock investment accounts that were kept secret from the diocese.
A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Palm Beach said she would not comment on the documents because the criminal case is pending.
A bookkeeper interviewed by investigators portrayed an atmosphere of paranoia that she saw as normal in the St. Vincent offices. Money was hidden in ceiling tiles. Employees searched the room of a priest who they thought the diocese had planted as a spy. Books were falsified to cover up the missing money.
There was a limo trip to Joe's Stone Crab restaurant on Miami Beach with Guinan and Skehan and their close church employees and their spouses. They continued the outing at another bar.
Skehan had a bedroom closet that was padlocked with documents allegedly dealing with past paedophiles within the church, according to the records. It was "maybe some blackmail and stuff so he didn't want anybody ever to be able to get into there," one church employee said. When the criminal investigation got under way, Skehan told the employee to give his apartment keys to a relative to "offload some documents from his home," the employee said.
At St. Vincent, one of Palm Beach County's largest and oldest parishes, Skehan was well liked and even revered by parishioners. Guinan didn't enjoy the same reputation.
"He was never there," one church employee told investigators. "He didn't really care about St. Vincent's. He was gone most of the time."
The two priests are expected to face trial in the autumn and an exact date for this will be set in the next five weeks.
De grenzenloze gekte van geprivilegieerde prinsjes die dit soort waanzin :
Trouwens de pastoor die "verdreven" is, een monseigneur, is op het priesterkoor begraven. Deze heeft zijn kerk aan de priesterbroederschap nagelaten!
en jattende Dekens in Roermond en Den Bosch mogelijk maakt.
en het seksueel misbruik!
Zimbabwe: Pastor Allegedly Rapes Daughter
Harare
A CHURCH of Christ pastor based at Sadza Growth Point in Chikomba District has left members of his local community and parishioners dumbfounded after he allegedly raped his 19-year-old daughter on the pretext of testing her virginity.
The pastor was arrested on February 17 this year after the rape was reported to the police.
Allegations are that the pastor accused his 19-year-old daughter of promiscuity and demanded to know whether she was still a virgin.
He ordered her to undress in his presence while everyone else at his residence was away. When the teenager took off her clothes, he allegedly raped her. He also physically molested her by touching her breasts and buttocks.
He repeated the act before the daughter ran away to stay with her aunt at Mpatsi, several kilometres from the growth point.
After following her at the aunt's home, the pastor asked the daughter to escort him out of the homestead. He once again accused the girl of seeing other men in Mpatsi.
He then tripped the girl before raping her again. She made a report to her aunt but the aunt could not believe her story.
The father came back and while leaving the homestead he asked the daughter to escort him. She alerted her aunt whom she asked to follow at a distance.
The father repeated his usual antics and raped his daughter. The aunt caught him red-handed leading to the police report and subsequent arrest.
The pastor, who has since appeared at the Chivhu Magistrates' Court, has pleaded guilty to some of the charges and is out of custody on $50 000 bail. His case was referred to the Chitungwiza Magistrates' Courts and a trial date has not yet been set.
The pastor's 17-year-old son is also facing attempted rape charges after he tried to force himself on a 15-year-old girl from the same area.
A CHURCH of Christ pastor based at Sadza Growth Point in Chikomba District has left members of his local community and parishioners dumbfounded after he allegedly raped his 19-year-old daughter on the pretext of testing her virginity.
The pastor was arrested on February 17 this year after the rape was reported to the police.
Allegations are that the pastor accused his 19-year-old daughter of promiscuity and demanded to know whether she was still a virgin.
He ordered her to undress in his presence while everyone else at his residence was away. When the teenager took off her clothes, he allegedly raped her. He also physically molested her by touching her breasts and buttocks.
He repeated the act before the daughter ran away to stay with her aunt at Mpatsi, several kilometres from the growth point.
After following her at the aunt's home, the pastor asked the daughter to escort him out of the homestead. He once again accused the girl of seeing other men in Mpatsi.
He then tripped the girl before raping her again. She made a report to her aunt but the aunt could not believe her story.
The father came back and while leaving the homestead he asked the daughter to escort him. She alerted her aunt whom she asked to follow at a distance.
The father repeated his usual antics and raped his daughter. The aunt caught him red-handed leading to the police report and subsequent arrest.
The pastor, who has since appeared at the Chivhu Magistrates' Court, has pleaded guilty to some of the charges and is out of custody on $50 000 bail. His case was referred to the Chitungwiza Magistrates' Courts and a trial date has not yet been set.
The pastor's 17-year-old son is also facing attempted rape charges after he tried to force himself on a 15-year-old girl from the same area.
zuid afrika: Mom turns in pastor accused of child's rape
"A 47-year-old pastor was arrested for allegedly raping his 16-year-old daughter near Thohoyandou, Limpopo police said on Wednesday.
Superintendent Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said it was alleged that the pastor had repeatedly raped the teenager since 1999.
'Is it alleged that her mother had been informed about the abuse but she refused to report the matter.'
On Saturday, the pastor allegedly again assaulted and raped his daughter. The girl's mother finally reported this and the pastor was arrested on Tuesday.
Mushavhanamadi said the pastor would appear in court soon. - Sapa"
Superintendent Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said it was alleged that the pastor had repeatedly raped the teenager since 1999.
'Is it alleged that her mother had been informed about the abuse but she refused to report the matter.'
On Saturday, the pastor allegedly again assaulted and raped his daughter. The girl's mother finally reported this and the pastor was arrested on Tuesday.
Mushavhanamadi said the pastor would appear in court soon. - Sapa"
’Vaticaan wil snel komaf maken met zwarte bladzijde uit geschiedenis Poolse Kerk’
Nuntius dreigt prijs te betalen voor affaire Wielgus
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op vr 16 mrt '07 om 00:01u (Bron: Apic)
WARSCHAU (RKnieuws.net)- Mgr. Jozef Kowalczyk, de pauselijke nuntius in Polen, dreigt de prijs te betalen voor de affaire Mgr. Wielgus. Mgr. Wielgus was de Poolse bisschop die te elfder ure verstek diende te geven voor de functie van aartsbisschop van Warschau, omwille van zijn samenwerking met de communistische machthebbers.
Volgens Polskie Radiò wordt de pauselijke nuntius weldra vervangen. Mgr. Santos Abril y Castelló, de huidige nuntius in Slovenië en Macedonië, wordt getipt als belangrijkste kanshebber om Kowalczyk op te volgen.
Jozef Kowalczyk werd in Polen geboren en in 1989 aangesteld tot apostolische nuntius van de Heilige Stoel in Warschau. Volgens Polskie Radiò wordt hem verweten dat hij Rome niet correct heeft ingelicht dat Mgr. Wielgus informant was van de communistische inlichtingendienst SB. Hij zou ook verzuimd hebben bij het Instituut voor de Nationale Herinnering de nodige documenten daarover op te vragen.
Volgens Polskie Radiò geeft het Vaticaan met de benoeming van de nieuwe nuntius aan dat het zo snel mogelijk komaf wil maken met deze zwarte bladzijde uit de geschiedenis van de katholieke Kerk in Polen.
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op vr 16 mrt '07 om 00:01u (Bron: Apic)
WARSCHAU (RKnieuws.net)- Mgr. Jozef Kowalczyk, de pauselijke nuntius in Polen, dreigt de prijs te betalen voor de affaire Mgr. Wielgus. Mgr. Wielgus was de Poolse bisschop die te elfder ure verstek diende te geven voor de functie van aartsbisschop van Warschau, omwille van zijn samenwerking met de communistische machthebbers.
Volgens Polskie Radiò wordt de pauselijke nuntius weldra vervangen. Mgr. Santos Abril y Castelló, de huidige nuntius in Slovenië en Macedonië, wordt getipt als belangrijkste kanshebber om Kowalczyk op te volgen.
Jozef Kowalczyk werd in Polen geboren en in 1989 aangesteld tot apostolische nuntius van de Heilige Stoel in Warschau. Volgens Polskie Radiò wordt hem verweten dat hij Rome niet correct heeft ingelicht dat Mgr. Wielgus informant was van de communistische inlichtingendienst SB. Hij zou ook verzuimd hebben bij het Instituut voor de Nationale Herinnering de nodige documenten daarover op te vragen.
Volgens Polskie Radiò geeft het Vaticaan met de benoeming van de nieuwe nuntius aan dat het zo snel mogelijk komaf wil maken met deze zwarte bladzijde uit de geschiedenis van de katholieke Kerk in Polen.
Mexicaanse gelovigen laten Kerk massaal links liggen
Grote volksvroomheid is geen garantie voor kerkbezoek
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op do 15 mrt '07
MEXICO (RKnieuws.net) - Volgens een pas gepubliceerd rapport van het aartsbisdom Mexico Stad is het maar slecht gesteld met het kerkbezoek. Slechts 6 tot 9 procent van de Mexicaanse katholieken zou regelmatig de zondagsdienst bijwonen, zo meldt CNS.
Informatiedirecteur Carlos Villa Roiz zegt dat de kerken in Mexico wel volzitten met Kerstmis, Aswoensdag en andere populaire feestdagen van heiligen.
Een kleine 90 procent van de Mexicaanse bevolking noemt zich katholiek. Als die ook allemaal op zondag naar de mis zouden gaan, dan zou het aanbod van kerken ruimschoots ontoereikend zijn en zouden vele priesters openluchtvieringen moeten houden.
en de wijze woorden:
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op do 15 mrt '07
MEXICO (RKnieuws.net) - Volgens een pas gepubliceerd rapport van het aartsbisdom Mexico Stad is het maar slecht gesteld met het kerkbezoek. Slechts 6 tot 9 procent van de Mexicaanse katholieken zou regelmatig de zondagsdienst bijwonen, zo meldt CNS.
Informatiedirecteur Carlos Villa Roiz zegt dat de kerken in Mexico wel volzitten met Kerstmis, Aswoensdag en andere populaire feestdagen van heiligen.
Een kleine 90 procent van de Mexicaanse bevolking noemt zich katholiek. Als die ook allemaal op zondag naar de mis zouden gaan, dan zou het aanbod van kerken ruimschoots ontoereikend zijn en zouden vele priesters openluchtvieringen moeten houden.
en de wijze woorden:
Het christelijke geloof beleefd binnen de kerkgemeenschap zit dus duidelijk niet diep.
Gepost ...om 20:10u
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Wat wil men daar nu weer mee zeggen? Zou de invloed van een aantal linksgerichte bisschoppen hier ook geen rol spelen? In Guadalupe kon je anders wel over de koppen lopen.
Gepost ...om 21:56u
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Zou de invloed van een aantal linksgerichte bisschoppen hier ook geen rol spelen?
Dat is natuurlijk net zo lang als het breed is, ... Je kunt je net zo goed afvragen of de invloed van een aantal rechtsgerichte bisschoppen hier mede debet aan is.
Gepost ....om 22:07u
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.., in Lourdes kun je ook over de koppen lopen, maar in vele parochies in Frankrijk is dat ook heeeeeeel veel minder. Een klein beetje nadenken doet niemand kwaad, zelfs niet een katholiek.
Gepost ...om 2:03u
Reageer op dit artikel of geef het een cijfer
dinsdag, maart 13, 2007
New calls for sculpture to mark Magdalen women - Irish Independent
FRESH calls have been made for a permanent sculpture to be put up in Galway city in memory of the women of the Magdalen Laundry.
The calls mark International Women's Day today.
The Magdalen Laundry in Galway was one of 10 in Ireland set up to chastise and correct women who bore a child outside marriage, or who left abusive husbands or home situations.
Galway City Cllr Billy Cameron wants to fasttrack the project to set up a memorial to the women held in the Magdalen Laundry from the 1800s to 1996.
"Like the Famine or the Troubles, the episode of the Magdalen Laundries will be remembered in the history of the State," said Mr Cameron. "They have left a communal knot in the stomachs of Irish women.
A Galway group has designed a sculpture. It is an abstract design depicting a woman with her hands moulded in the shape of a cross to remember the women of the Magdalen Laundry in the city and left a sour feeling in the wider community.
In all 30,000 women worked in Magdalen laundries across the country.
AVRIL HORAN
The calls mark International Women's Day today.
The Magdalen Laundry in Galway was one of 10 in Ireland set up to chastise and correct women who bore a child outside marriage, or who left abusive husbands or home situations.
Galway City Cllr Billy Cameron wants to fasttrack the project to set up a memorial to the women held in the Magdalen Laundry from the 1800s to 1996.
"Like the Famine or the Troubles, the episode of the Magdalen Laundries will be remembered in the history of the State," said Mr Cameron. "They have left a communal knot in the stomachs of Irish women.
A Galway group has designed a sculpture. It is an abstract design depicting a woman with her hands moulded in the shape of a cross to remember the women of the Magdalen Laundry in the city and left a sour feeling in the wider community.
In all 30,000 women worked in Magdalen laundries across the country.
AVRIL HORAN
maandag, maart 12, 2007
Victims of paedophile priests seeking justice Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Victims of paedophile priests seeking justice
by Marta Durán de Huerta in Mexico*
09-03-2007
Journalist Sanjuana Martínez has broken a taboo with revelations about sexual abuse in the Mexican Catholic Church. Her book Purple Cloak is about Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, a priest known to be responsible for 90 cases of child sexual abuse.
by Marta Durán de Huerta in Mexico*
09-03-2007
Journalist Sanjuana Martínez has broken a taboo with revelations about sexual abuse in the Mexican Catholic Church. Her book Purple Cloak is about Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, a priest known to be responsible for 90 cases of child sexual abuse.
It's also about the people who against their better judgement have always protected him.
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City paid little attention to the flood of allegations by the victims of Father Nicolas Aguilar Rivera. He simply sent the priest to the United States. There Aguilar went on to abuse another 26 children.
Their families filed suits in US courts and in contrast to the usual practice in Mexico, this time the files did not get lost, the victims were taken seriously and they were not threatened. Justice was allowed to take its course.
Father Aguilar returned to Mexico, where he received protection from both church and government. But in the US, the case is continuing, and not just against Aguilar, but also against cardinals Norberto Rivera and Roger Mahony, who covered up his crimes.
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City paid little attention to the flood of allegations by the victims of Father Nicolas Aguilar Rivera. He simply sent the priest to the United States. There Aguilar went on to abuse another 26 children.
Their families filed suits in US courts and in contrast to the usual practice in Mexico, this time the files did not get lost, the victims were taken seriously and they were not threatened. Justice was allowed to take its course.
Father Aguilar returned to Mexico, where he received protection from both church and government. But in the US, the case is continuing, and not just against Aguilar, but also against cardinals Norberto Rivera and Roger Mahony, who covered up his crimes.
Mexico has been a secular state since the revolution at the beginning of the last century, but the Catholic Church still exerts a strong influence on politics and daily life.
Priests are often able to go unpunished.
Pope fails to act
In her book, Sanjuana Martínez describes the triple tragedy of the victims of religious paedophiles. Apart from the physical and emotional suffering they were subjected to, they were derided by members of the church, humiliated by the police and not taken seriously by the public prosecutor, who made no attempt to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The Aguilar case is symptomatic.
Pope fails to act
In her book, Sanjuana Martínez describes the triple tragedy of the victims of religious paedophiles. Apart from the physical and emotional suffering they were subjected to, they were derided by members of the church, humiliated by the police and not taken seriously by the public prosecutor, who made no attempt to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The Aguilar case is symptomatic.
For many years there have been floods of rape allegations against priests. An infamous case was that of the founder of the Legionarios de Cristo or Legion of Christ, priest Marcial Maciel Degollado, against whom a complaint was even lodged with Pope John Paul II.
Nothing happened.
In 2004, journalist Carlos Fazio published In the name of the Father, Sexual predators in the Church. The book was the product of extensive research, but yet again nothing happened.
Seeking justice across the border
One of Aguilar's victims, now an adult, persevered and filed a suit against the priest to a US court. The victim believes it is a disgrace to the country that Mexicans have to cross the Rio Grande not only to find work, but also to seek justice.
Victims of sexual abuse by priests have organised themselves into the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, SNAP. The network gives psychological support and tries to have perpetrators brought to trial.
Jeff Anderson, SNAP's attorney, has filed more than 1200 suits relating to allegations of rape by priests. He has already won dozens of cases, forcing the church to pay large sums in compensation. The biggest problem is that there are not just a few cases, but hundreds of priests who have abused their position as God's representative on earth.
Death threats
Seeking justice across the border
One of Aguilar's victims, now an adult, persevered and filed a suit against the priest to a US court. The victim believes it is a disgrace to the country that Mexicans have to cross the Rio Grande not only to find work, but also to seek justice.
Victims of sexual abuse by priests have organised themselves into the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, SNAP. The network gives psychological support and tries to have perpetrators brought to trial.
Jeff Anderson, SNAP's attorney, has filed more than 1200 suits relating to allegations of rape by priests. He has already won dozens of cases, forcing the church to pay large sums in compensation. The biggest problem is that there are not just a few cases, but hundreds of priests who have abused their position as God's representative on earth.
Death threats
Purple Cloak contains a list of 514 paedophile priests and a summary of their crimes. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera has gone into hiding in Puebla, but according to journalist Sanjuana Martínez, speaking in the city at the launch of her book, the region's public prosecutor "denies any knowledge of the criminal's whereabouts".
The writer says that she constantly receives death threats and is the target of a continuing smear campaign.
The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York has taken up her case.*
Translated and Edited by RNW Internet Desk (mb)
The writer says that she constantly receives death threats and is the target of a continuing smear campaign.
The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York has taken up her case.*
Translated and Edited by RNW Internet Desk (mb)
Vaticaan veroordeelt bevrijdingstheoloog Jon Sobrino
Vaticaan
Bericht in Duitse krant
’Vaticaan veroordeelt Bevrijdingstheoloog Jon Sobrino’
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans opma 12 mrt '07 om 15:15u
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - De Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer wil de ideeeën van de populaire Bevrijdingstheoloog en jezuïet Jon Sobrino veroordelen en hem verbieden ze uit te dragen. Dat heeft de Süddeutsche Zeitung gemeld.
Volgens het Vaticaan zijn de stellingen van Sobrino "uiterst gevaarlijk" en zou de theoloog "verwarring onder de gelovigen" zaaien.
Volgens de Süddeutsche Zeitung oordeelt het Vaticaan dat de 68-jarige Bevrijdingstheoloog teveel de nadruk legt op de solidariteit met de armen en te weinig op de verlossing die bewerkstelligd wordt door Jezus Christus. De theoloog wordt ook verweten te veel het menselijk karakter van Jezus te beklemtonen en onvoldoende aandacht te hebben voor diens goddelijk karakter.
Sobrino is één van de populairste Bevrijdingstheologen.
Vandaar dat het volgens insiders niet onmogelijk is dat men precies hem wil treffen.
De veroordeling van Sobrino’s theologie zou er komen kort voor de bijeenkomst van de Latijns-Amerikaanse bisschoppenconferentie die in mei wordt gehouden.
Het is niet de eerste keer dat het Vaticaan optreedt tegen de Bevrijdingstheologie. Het Vaticaan stelt dat deze theologie de heilsboodschap verwaarloost en teveel het sociaal engagement van de Kerk vooropstelt.
De huidige paus had destijds een belangrijk aandeel in de veroordeling van Bevrijdingstheoloog Leonardo Boff. (tb)
Vatikan verurteilt Theologen
"Gefährliche Thesen"
Es ist, als würden die Konflikte der achtziger Jahre wiederauferstehen: Der Papst maßregelt einen Befreiungstheologen aus El Salvador. Weil er Jesus zu sehr als solidarischen Begleiter der Menschen und zu wenig als göttlichen Erlöser beschreibt
Von Matthias Drobinski
Jon Sobrino aus El Salvador ist ein drahtiger Mann mit asketischem Gesicht, er spricht ganz gut Deutsch, weil er, der Jesuit, mal in Frankfurt an der Jesuitenhochschule studierte.
Vor allem aber gehört der 68-Jährige zu einer klein gewordenen Gruppe in der katholischen Kirche: Er ist Befreiungstheologe.
Sobrino war ein Berater von Erzbischof Oscar Romero, den 1980 in San Salvador eine Todesschwadron ermordete, weil er gepredigt hatte, dass die Kirche an der Seite der Armen, nicht der Großgrundbesitzer stehen müsse.
Auch Sobrino entkam nur knapp dem Tod: Am 16. November 1989 überfiel ein Kommando der salvadorianischen Armee die Jesuitengemeinschaft, erschoss die Patres, die Köchin, deren Tochter, neun Menschen insgesamt. Der Theologe war zu dieser Zeit auf einem Seminar in Thailand - sein Glück.
Mit Romeros Einsatz für die Armen schmückt sich nun die katholische Kirche: Für den Märtyrerbischof läuft ein Seligsprechungsverfahren. Dem Berater und geistigen Erben Sobrino, der in Lateinamerika viel gelesen wird, steht dagegen Ärger bevor: Am 15. März, dem kommenden Donnerstag, wird die Glaubenskongregation unter ihrem neuen Präfekten Kardinal William Levada eine "Notifikation" veröffentlichen, die eine Reihe der Werke Sobrinos verurteilt. Erstmals im fast zwei Jahre währenden Pontifikat Benedikts XVI. trifft einen Theologen eine Lehrverurteilung.
Und es ist, als würden die Konflikte aus den achtziger Jahren wiederauferstehen, als Joseph Ratzinger, damals Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation, gegen populäre Befreiungstheologen wie Leonardo Boff stritt, weil sie nach seiner Meinung die Botschaft Jesu unzulässig politisierten. Eingeleitet wurde das Verfahren gegen Sobrino im Jahr 2001 - unter dem Präfekten Ratzinger.
"Verwirrung der Gläubigen"
Die "erklärende Note", die der Verurteilung vorausgeht und die der SZ vorliegt, betont, dass "die Option für die Armen und Unterdrückten" von "der gesamten Kirche geteilt‘‘ werde. Andererseits stellt der Text auch klar, dass der Fall des Paters Sobrino einer dringenden Untersuchung bedurft hätte, wegen der "großen Gefährlichkeit" seiner Thesen und der möglichen "Verwirrung der Gläubigen".
Die Glaubenskongregation wirft dem Theologen vor, er rede - vor allem in seinem Buch "Jesus, der Befreier" - nicht klar genug von der Göttlichkeit Jesu, sondern beschreibe sie als Produkt späterer theologischer Reflexion; er unterscheide zu stark zwischen der göttlichen und menschlichen Natur Jesu, vermenschliche zu sehr den Gottessohn. Insgesamt laufen die Vorwürfe darauf hinaus, dass Sobrino Jesus zu sehr als solidarischen Begleiter der Menschen und zu wenig als göttlichen Erlöser beschreibt.
Gerade Joseph Ratzinger aber hat, zum Beispiel in der von ihm verfassten Erklärung "Dominus Jesus", die "Heilsuniversalität Jesu Christi und der Kirche" herausgestellt. Noch in diesem Monat soll des Papstes Buch "Jesus von Nazareth" erscheinen - die Verurteilung von Sobrinos Christologie wirkt fast wie ein Vorspiel dazu.
Was Sobrino (von dem auch Freunde sagen, er sei kein Meister der Differenzierung) nun droht, ist schwer zu sagen. Die Notifikation kündigt keine Sanktionenan; sie wolle klarstellen, "dass theologische Reflexion kein anderes Fundament haben kann als den Glauben der Kirche". Sobrino selber schweigt derzeit; er sei sehr gelassen, heißt es.
Vor einem Jahr war er in München, das Verfahren mache ihm keinen großen Kummer, sagte er damals: "Theologen sollen fröhliche Leute sein."
SZ vom 12.3.2007
Bericht in Duitse krant
’Vaticaan veroordeelt Bevrijdingstheoloog Jon Sobrino’
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans opma 12 mrt '07 om 15:15u
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - De Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer wil de ideeeën van de populaire Bevrijdingstheoloog en jezuïet Jon Sobrino veroordelen en hem verbieden ze uit te dragen. Dat heeft de Süddeutsche Zeitung gemeld.
Volgens het Vaticaan zijn de stellingen van Sobrino "uiterst gevaarlijk" en zou de theoloog "verwarring onder de gelovigen" zaaien.
Volgens de Süddeutsche Zeitung oordeelt het Vaticaan dat de 68-jarige Bevrijdingstheoloog teveel de nadruk legt op de solidariteit met de armen en te weinig op de verlossing die bewerkstelligd wordt door Jezus Christus. De theoloog wordt ook verweten te veel het menselijk karakter van Jezus te beklemtonen en onvoldoende aandacht te hebben voor diens goddelijk karakter.
Sobrino is één van de populairste Bevrijdingstheologen.
Vandaar dat het volgens insiders niet onmogelijk is dat men precies hem wil treffen.
De veroordeling van Sobrino’s theologie zou er komen kort voor de bijeenkomst van de Latijns-Amerikaanse bisschoppenconferentie die in mei wordt gehouden.
Het is niet de eerste keer dat het Vaticaan optreedt tegen de Bevrijdingstheologie. Het Vaticaan stelt dat deze theologie de heilsboodschap verwaarloost en teveel het sociaal engagement van de Kerk vooropstelt.
De huidige paus had destijds een belangrijk aandeel in de veroordeling van Bevrijdingstheoloog Leonardo Boff. (tb)
Vatikan verurteilt Theologen
"Gefährliche Thesen"
Es ist, als würden die Konflikte der achtziger Jahre wiederauferstehen: Der Papst maßregelt einen Befreiungstheologen aus El Salvador. Weil er Jesus zu sehr als solidarischen Begleiter der Menschen und zu wenig als göttlichen Erlöser beschreibt
Von Matthias Drobinski
Jon Sobrino aus El Salvador ist ein drahtiger Mann mit asketischem Gesicht, er spricht ganz gut Deutsch, weil er, der Jesuit, mal in Frankfurt an der Jesuitenhochschule studierte.
Vor allem aber gehört der 68-Jährige zu einer klein gewordenen Gruppe in der katholischen Kirche: Er ist Befreiungstheologe.
Sobrino war ein Berater von Erzbischof Oscar Romero, den 1980 in San Salvador eine Todesschwadron ermordete, weil er gepredigt hatte, dass die Kirche an der Seite der Armen, nicht der Großgrundbesitzer stehen müsse.
Auch Sobrino entkam nur knapp dem Tod: Am 16. November 1989 überfiel ein Kommando der salvadorianischen Armee die Jesuitengemeinschaft, erschoss die Patres, die Köchin, deren Tochter, neun Menschen insgesamt. Der Theologe war zu dieser Zeit auf einem Seminar in Thailand - sein Glück.
Mit Romeros Einsatz für die Armen schmückt sich nun die katholische Kirche: Für den Märtyrerbischof läuft ein Seligsprechungsverfahren. Dem Berater und geistigen Erben Sobrino, der in Lateinamerika viel gelesen wird, steht dagegen Ärger bevor: Am 15. März, dem kommenden Donnerstag, wird die Glaubenskongregation unter ihrem neuen Präfekten Kardinal William Levada eine "Notifikation" veröffentlichen, die eine Reihe der Werke Sobrinos verurteilt. Erstmals im fast zwei Jahre währenden Pontifikat Benedikts XVI. trifft einen Theologen eine Lehrverurteilung.
Und es ist, als würden die Konflikte aus den achtziger Jahren wiederauferstehen, als Joseph Ratzinger, damals Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation, gegen populäre Befreiungstheologen wie Leonardo Boff stritt, weil sie nach seiner Meinung die Botschaft Jesu unzulässig politisierten. Eingeleitet wurde das Verfahren gegen Sobrino im Jahr 2001 - unter dem Präfekten Ratzinger.
"Verwirrung der Gläubigen"
Die "erklärende Note", die der Verurteilung vorausgeht und die der SZ vorliegt, betont, dass "die Option für die Armen und Unterdrückten" von "der gesamten Kirche geteilt‘‘ werde. Andererseits stellt der Text auch klar, dass der Fall des Paters Sobrino einer dringenden Untersuchung bedurft hätte, wegen der "großen Gefährlichkeit" seiner Thesen und der möglichen "Verwirrung der Gläubigen".
Die Glaubenskongregation wirft dem Theologen vor, er rede - vor allem in seinem Buch "Jesus, der Befreier" - nicht klar genug von der Göttlichkeit Jesu, sondern beschreibe sie als Produkt späterer theologischer Reflexion; er unterscheide zu stark zwischen der göttlichen und menschlichen Natur Jesu, vermenschliche zu sehr den Gottessohn. Insgesamt laufen die Vorwürfe darauf hinaus, dass Sobrino Jesus zu sehr als solidarischen Begleiter der Menschen und zu wenig als göttlichen Erlöser beschreibt.
Gerade Joseph Ratzinger aber hat, zum Beispiel in der von ihm verfassten Erklärung "Dominus Jesus", die "Heilsuniversalität Jesu Christi und der Kirche" herausgestellt. Noch in diesem Monat soll des Papstes Buch "Jesus von Nazareth" erscheinen - die Verurteilung von Sobrinos Christologie wirkt fast wie ein Vorspiel dazu.
Was Sobrino (von dem auch Freunde sagen, er sei kein Meister der Differenzierung) nun droht, ist schwer zu sagen. Die Notifikation kündigt keine Sanktionenan; sie wolle klarstellen, "dass theologische Reflexion kein anderes Fundament haben kann als den Glauben der Kirche". Sobrino selber schweigt derzeit; er sei sehr gelassen, heißt es.
Vor einem Jahr war er in München, das Verfahren mache ihm keinen großen Kummer, sagte er damals: "Theologen sollen fröhliche Leute sein."
SZ vom 12.3.2007
vrijdag, maart 09, 2007
Nieuwe salesiaanse bisschop in Mexico.
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op vr 9 mrt '07
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - Paus Benedictus XVI heeft don Hector Guerrero Cordova, oud provinciaal van Noord Mexico, benoemd tot bisschop van Mixes (Mexico).
Hij werd geboren in Mexico op 14 september 1941 en legde zijn geloften af als salesiaan van Don Bosco op 16 augustus 1959. Na zijn studies van filosofie en theologie in Coalcalco werd hij priester gewijd op 28 december 1968.
Als jonge priester verrichte hij apostolaat bij de jongeren in verschillende huizen van Mexico. Later werd hij achtereenvolgens directeur van Sahuayo, León, San Luis Potosi en Guadalajara. Na zijn benoeming tot raadslid van de provincie van Guadalajara, werd hij vicaris en tenslotte
provinciaal. Na zijn mandaat volgde hij lessen van actualisatie aan de UPS in
Rome, waar hij onlangs zijn benoeming tot bisschop ontving.
De prelatuur van Mixes, toevertrouwd aan de nieuwe bisschop, bestrijkt een oppervlakte van
10.000 km² in de mexicaanse staat Coaxaca.
Desde México: Arremeten PAN, PRI y PRD contra la CEM por criticar ley contra pederastas
Desde México: el blog de Ricardo Próspero -
Fuente: La jornada
El presidente del Senado, el priísta Manlio Fabio Beltrones, advirtió que la Iglesia católica "debería estar más preocupada por los intereses de la sociedad en su conjunto, que es la decisión de atacar a fondo un delito como es la pederastia, y no en defender sus intereses particulares".
Al responder las críticas que la víspera formuló la Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano (CEM) a las reformas legales en materia de explotación sexual infantil, Beltrones señaló que la jerarquía religiosa debería "congratularse" por las sanciones que se impondrán a sacerdotes, maestros y todos quienes abusen de menores. Por su parte, el coordinador de los senadores del Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), Santiago Creel, sostuvo que no se dará marcha atrás en las reformas recién aprobadas para endurecer las sanciones contra la explotación sexual y trata de niños, "porque lo hicimos con la convicción de que debe castigarse a todo aquel que atente contra la dignidad de los menores del país".
....
Se pretende que "efectivamente sea una separación del Estado, la parte que corresponde al castigo quede muy firme y la parte correspondiente a las autoridades eclesiales o a las autoridades de asociaciones religiosas también se respete su autonomía".
Trascendió en el Senado que la molestia de la CEM no sólo se debe al punto de la inhabilitación de los sacerdotes pederastas, sino que las penas se les hayan duplicado de 15 a 30 años de cárcel, y de 2 mil 500 días de salario mínimo de multa, a 5 mil días.
......
Cuestionado respecto a la posición de la CEM, que no acepta que sea la autoridad judicial la que inhabilite a los sacerdotes pederastas, el perredista subrayó: "desde luego que no daremos marcha atrás. No, porque si la Iglesia hubiera dado muestras de ser sensible a este tema ya tuviéramos un conjunto de sacerdotes inhabilitados, y no habría necesidad de que los citaran en Estados Unidos para fincarles responsabilidades a sacerdotes que están cometiendo estos graves delitos en el país".
El clero responde
La respuesta del clero a la iniciativa del Senado contra la pederastia fue un llamado a la clase política para que "no se entrometa en la vida interna de la Iglesia" y a recomendar que se pongan a legislar en asuntos civiles, ya que sólo han hecho "leyes absurdas". Esto lo señaló ayer el arzobispo de Durango, Héctor González Martínez, quien pidió a los políticos que dejen a la Iglesia resolver sus problemas.
Por su parte, el gobernador del estado de México, Enrique Peña Nieto, dijo que "no hay sector que tenga fuero en el país" y que las leyes son de carácter general, obligatorias y no hacen "excepciones para nadie", incluida la Iglesia. Aseveró que "tenemos que estar en el ánimo de penalizar y castigar prácticas nocivas para la sociedad misma, donde no cabe que haya grupos de privilegio ni de exclusión".
Con información de Saúl Maldonado y Silvia Chávez, corresponsales
· (Victor Ballinas y Adrea Becerril) La Jornada, Política. Viernes 23 de febrero de 2007
Desde México: Las reformas al Código Penal Federal, ¿choque contra la jerarquía eclesiástica?
Desde Mexico: el blog de Ricardo Prospero:
Las reformas al Código Penal Federal, ¿choque contra la jerarquía eclesiástica?
.....
No falta razón al Congreso de la Unión al impulsar
estas reformas. Según algunas opiniones recientes, México se ha convertido en un lugar seguro para la actividad de los depredadores sexuales y los recientes escándalos provocados por malos ministros de la Iglesia católica que han abusado sexualmente de menores ha levantado un reclamo público que debe ser atendido de forma urgente. No obstante, la bondad de la reforma podría estar viciada de inconstitucionalidad en relación a la “inhabilitación”.
No falta razón a los Obispos al decir que los órganos del Estado han vulnerado el principio de separación iglesias-Estado, principio rector del derecho eclesiástico mexicano y uno de los ejes que apuntalan el espíritu del artículo 130 de la Constitución Política, ya que el concepto de “inhabilitación” vendría a ser la aplicación de una sanción relativa al incumplimiento de un servidor público en el sentido que establece el artículo 108 constitucional y las Leyes Sobre Responsabilidades de los Servidores Públicos y los ministros de culto no tienen esta categoría.
Evidentemente, cualquier sujeto que es condenado por la comisión de delito, es suspendido de sus derechos políticos, pero en relación a una “inhabilitación sacerdotal” se considera que sólo las iglesias tienen esta capacidad de hacerlo, particularmente en la Iglesia católica, reduciendo a diáconos y presbíteros al estado laical o en el caso de los obispos, al ser suspendidos de sus funciones ministeriales.
En conclusión, se puede decir que el Senado ha aprobado una reforma necesaria pero hay que revisar este vicio. Y he aquí un mensaje importante de los representantes del pueblo de México: Nadie está por encima de la Ley, ninguno goza de fueros especiales, cualquier depredador sexual será sancionado gravemente sin importar su condición, ojalá…
Guillermo Gazanini Espinosa
Licenciado en Derecho por la Universidad Autónoma de México
Maestría en Historia del Pensamiento por la Universidad Panamericana
Especialidad: Libertad religiosa, garantías individuales y derechos humanos. Asesor Parlamentario de la H. Cámara de Diputados.
Las reformas al Código Penal Federal, ¿choque contra la jerarquía eclesiástica?
.....
No falta razón al Congreso de la Unión al impulsar
estas reformas. Según algunas opiniones recientes, México se ha convertido en un lugar seguro para la actividad de los depredadores sexuales y los recientes escándalos provocados por malos ministros de la Iglesia católica que han abusado sexualmente de menores ha levantado un reclamo público que debe ser atendido de forma urgente. No obstante, la bondad de la reforma podría estar viciada de inconstitucionalidad en relación a la “inhabilitación”.No falta razón a los Obispos al decir que los órganos del Estado han vulnerado el principio de separación iglesias-Estado, principio rector del derecho eclesiástico mexicano y uno de los ejes que apuntalan el espíritu del artículo 130 de la Constitución Política, ya que el concepto de “inhabilitación” vendría a ser la aplicación de una sanción relativa al incumplimiento de un servidor público en el sentido que establece el artículo 108 constitucional y las Leyes Sobre Responsabilidades de los Servidores Públicos y los ministros de culto no tienen esta categoría.
Evidentemente, cualquier sujeto que es condenado por la comisión de delito, es suspendido de sus derechos políticos, pero en relación a una “inhabilitación sacerdotal” se considera que sólo las iglesias tienen esta capacidad de hacerlo, particularmente en la Iglesia católica, reduciendo a diáconos y presbíteros al estado laical o en el caso de los obispos, al ser suspendidos de sus funciones ministeriales.En conclusión, se puede decir que el Senado ha aprobado una reforma necesaria pero hay que revisar este vicio. Y he aquí un mensaje importante de los representantes del pueblo de México: Nadie está por encima de la Ley, ninguno goza de fueros especiales, cualquier depredador sexual será sancionado gravemente sin importar su condición, ojalá…
Guillermo Gazanini Espinosa
Licenciado en Derecho por la Universidad Autónoma de México
Maestría en Historia del Pensamiento por la Universidad Panamericana
Especialidad: Libertad religiosa, garantías individuales y derechos humanos. Asesor Parlamentario de la H. Cámara de Diputados.
woensdag, maart 07, 2007
Hearings in het onderzoek misbruik Dublin beginnen volgende week
Formal hearings on Dublin clerical sexual abuse begins next month
Formal hearings in the Commission of Investigation into Clerical Sexual Abuse in the Dublin archdiocese are expected to begin next month. They will not be in public.
To date the commission has had informal interviews with those who responded to its advertisements last May asking people to make contact with it if they had complained about clerical sexual abuse, to either church authorities or any public authorities, between 1975 and 2004, or may have known of such complaints.
The commission has employed statisticians to help it ensure the sample chosen from among the people who responded to its advertisements is as representative as possible. A spokeswoman said the commission was "satisfied absolutely" with the level of co-operation it has been receiving from the Dublin archdiocese.
The commission is chaired by Circuit Court Judge Yvonne Murphy. Its other members include barrister Ita Mangan and solicitor Hugh O'Neill.
It was established last March and was expected to report within 18 months.
Figures released by the Dublin archdiocese last March showed that 102 priests had been accused of child sex abuse in the 66-year period between 1940 and 2006.
Meanwhile, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse is preparing its final report which is expected to be published later this year.
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Thu, Mar 01, 2007
Formal hearings in the Commission of Investigation into Clerical Sexual Abuse in the Dublin archdiocese are expected to begin next month. They will not be in public.
To date the commission has had informal interviews with those who responded to its advertisements last May asking people to make contact with it if they had complained about clerical sexual abuse, to either church authorities or any public authorities, between 1975 and 2004, or may have known of such complaints.
The commission has employed statisticians to help it ensure the sample chosen from among the people who responded to its advertisements is as representative as possible. A spokeswoman said the commission was "satisfied absolutely" with the level of co-operation it has been receiving from the Dublin archdiocese.
The commission is chaired by Circuit Court Judge Yvonne Murphy. Its other members include barrister Ita Mangan and solicitor Hugh O'Neill.
It was established last March and was expected to report within 18 months.
Figures released by the Dublin archdiocese last March showed that 102 priests had been accused of child sex abuse in the 66-year period between 1940 and 2006.
Meanwhile, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse is preparing its final report which is expected to be published later this year.
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Thu, Mar 01, 2007
vrijdag, maart 02, 2007
Mexico
Cardinals' Accusers Fail to Appear in Court
Mexico Archdiocese Calls Claims a Mere Media Campaign
MEXICO CITY, FEB. 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Accusers' failure to appear in court in the case against Cardinals Norberto Rivera and Roger Mahony is another sign of the falsehood of the accusations, says the Mexican archdiocesan paper.
Mexican Cardinal Rivera has been accused by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) of concealing an alleged pederast priest who worked both in Mexico and in California. Los Angeles Cardinal Mahony was also implicated in the case, filed in September.
Last week a hearing was scheduled as part of the private prosecution initiated by SNAP against Cardinals Rivera and Mahony. The accusers did not attend the hearing.
Their absence "shows only one thing: They have no proof, their interest is not juridical but a media event and their intention is to wait for the primatial Archdiocese of Mexico to fall into their net of blackmail and extortion, something which will not happen," the archdiocesan paper said.
In an editorial in the weekly Desde la Fe, the Archdiocese of Mexico asserted that SNAP is trying to blackmail the Catholic Church.
According to the archdiocesan paper, Bernardo Fernández del Castillo, a lawyer working in the case, said that Church officials will shortly present documentary proof that the accusations are slander. He reiterated that the cardinal never concealed the priest, Nicolás Aguilar, whose current whereabouts are unknown.
"Cardinal Norberto Rivera has never hidden Father Aguilar from justice; neither has he concealed his whereabouts from the authorities or officials of the Church in Mexico or in California, and does not know his whereabouts," said the lawyer.
The archdiocesan paper stated that SNAP has no proof of its accusations, and spent six months organizing "a media campaign against Cardinal Rivera based on lies, contradictions and downright slander."
Mexico Archdiocese Calls Claims a Mere Media Campaign
MEXICO CITY, FEB. 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Accusers' failure to appear in court in the case against Cardinals Norberto Rivera and Roger Mahony is another sign of the falsehood of the accusations, says the Mexican archdiocesan paper.
Mexican Cardinal Rivera has been accused by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) of concealing an alleged pederast priest who worked both in Mexico and in California. Los Angeles Cardinal Mahony was also implicated in the case, filed in September.
Last week a hearing was scheduled as part of the private prosecution initiated by SNAP against Cardinals Rivera and Mahony. The accusers did not attend the hearing.
Their absence "shows only one thing: They have no proof, their interest is not juridical but a media event and their intention is to wait for the primatial Archdiocese of Mexico to fall into their net of blackmail and extortion, something which will not happen," the archdiocesan paper said.
In an editorial in the weekly Desde la Fe, the Archdiocese of Mexico asserted that SNAP is trying to blackmail the Catholic Church.
According to the archdiocesan paper, Bernardo Fernández del Castillo, a lawyer working in the case, said that Church officials will shortly present documentary proof that the accusations are slander. He reiterated that the cardinal never concealed the priest, Nicolás Aguilar, whose current whereabouts are unknown.
"Cardinal Norberto Rivera has never hidden Father Aguilar from justice; neither has he concealed his whereabouts from the authorities or officials of the Church in Mexico or in California, and does not know his whereabouts," said the lawyer.
The archdiocesan paper stated that SNAP has no proof of its accusations, and spent six months organizing "a media campaign against Cardinal Rivera based on lies, contradictions and downright slander."
maandag, februari 26, 2007
kardinaal Mahony onvermoeibaar op zoek naar Oscar
Hoewel de Oscargenomineerde documentaire van Amy Berg Deliver Us From Evil, het bij de prijzen af legde bij een andere Inconvenient Truth, waarmee Kardinaal Roger Mahony zijn glansrol ingeperkt ziet met een aantal bioscoopoptredens, is de man alweer ijverig bezig een volgende kans mogelijk te maken.
Ditmaal in een duo-rol met collega kardinaal Norberto Rivera van Mexico.
Ditmaal in een duo-rol met collega kardinaal Norberto Rivera van Mexico.
MEXICO-US:
Bishops Contradict Each Other in Priest Sex Abuse Scandal
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, Feb 23 (IPS) - The Catholic Church's call for its bishops to be "teachers of the truth" seems to be wobbling in the case of cardinals Norberto Rivera of Mexico and Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, California.
Defending themselves from legal charges that they covered up for a priest accused of molesting boys, the two bishops have provided contradictory versions.
"One of them is lying, or at least isn't telling everything he knows," Bernardo Barranco, a columnist with several media outlets in Mexico and a sociologist of religion, told IPS. "This is an interecclesiatic dispute, which is unusual," he added.
The mutually contradictory statements by cardinals Rivera and Mahony refer to the transfer to the United States of a priest, Nicolás Aguilar, a fugitive from justice who is charged with sexually abusing dozens of boys in the United States and Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s.
Rivera, the primate of Mexico, says that in 1987 he sent a letter to Mahony warning him that Aguilar might have "homosexual problems", although he said he used a euphemism: "the motivation for Aguilar's trip to Los Angeles was ‘family and health reasons'."
However, Mahony's spokesman Tom Tamberg said the cardinal never received a letter from Rivera.
Mahony said he employed Aguilar without being aware of the allegations he was facing in Mexico, and that he fired the priest when he was accused of sexually abusing young members of his congregation in Los Angeles.
Aguilar returned to Mexico, where he remained active as a priest.
Joaquín Aguilar (no relation), a 25-year-old former Mexican altar boy, says he was raped by the priest in 1994. In September, he filed a civil suit in Los Angeles, accusing Rivera and Mahony of conspiring to protect Father Aguilar.
The lawsuit charges the cardinals with negligence, concealing evidence and conspiring to cover up the priest's conduct.
At the time, Father Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the archdiocese of Mexico, told IPS that "The motivation underlying this whole scandal is the aim of a radical group to commercialise justice and squeeze money out of the Church. Mr. Aguilar is being used to that end."
Rivera and his spokesman argued that Aguilar and his attorneys in the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) are only seeking to hurt the Church.
However, the bishop has now taken a different stance. On Wednesday, lawyers in the United States delivered to the California high court a written statement in which Rivera rejected the charges and challenged the court's jurisdiction over a Mexican bishop.
In the document, Rivera claims that he did not at any time protect Father Aguilar and that he had even informed Mahony of the suspicions hanging over the priest.
"The leadership in the Vatican could step in to clarify the contradictions between the bishops of Mexico and Los Angeles, and to investigate what happened in the case of Aguilar," said Alberto Athié, who left the priesthood in 2003.
Either of the two bishops could face a canonical trial for lying," said Athié, who as a Mexican priest represented the Church in the Catholic charity Cáritas International for Central America and Mexico in the late 1990s.
According to Barranco, "the Mexican cardinal has found himself in a huge problem in the Aguilar case."
After initially playing down its significance, "he is now recognising its importance, and in the process he has entered a terrain of statements, counterstatements and contradictions with his colleague from Los Angeles, which is just incredible," said the analyst.
"This could give rise to an enormous scandal, and the Vatican may have to intervene," added Barranco.
Testimony, evidence and confessions from bishops have clearly demonstrated that Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing minors have been transferred from parish to parish, sent to rehabilitation centres, or simply removed from the scene by their superiors to protect the Church from scandal and avoid court action. However, many simply continue their activities elsewhere.
The Church sex abuse scandal erupted in the United States in 2002, with former victims speaking out and filing around 1,200 lawsuits, and evidence emerging that bishops knowingly reassigned priests despite allegations against them.
The Vatican organised symposiums and carried out a study on the matter, and urged bishops around the world to take vigorous measures against priests implicated in the scandal, and to report the cases directly to the pope.
Cardinal Rivera said the Church in Mexico completely shares these instructions, and urged the faithful to report pedophile priests who, he assured, do not enjoy any kind of immunity. (END/2007)
donderdag, februari 22, 2007
IOL: Mexico tightens jail terms for child abuse
Mexico City - Mexico, one of many developing countries tarnished by a clandestine but thriving child sex industry, moved on Tuesday to tighten jail sentences for abusers of minors to up to 30 years.
The law, approved by the Senate on Tuesday after passing through the lower house last year, will lengthen prison terms and end the classing of sexual exploitation of children as a minor offence where convicts often get early release.
Priests, offenders charged with abusing underage family members and public sector employees like teachers or doctors who used their position to access children will automatically be given a double sentence, meaning up to 30 years.
Clergy convicted of abuse of minors will be defrocked.
'Sex trafficking of minors and child pornography will now be classified as organized crime'
"In almost every case, the punishment is increased and every kind of offence that has to do with child pornography or exploitation of minors will be considered serious," said Senator Alejandro Gonzalez, head of the justice commission.
Some 20 000 children in Mexico, aged mainly from 12 to 17, are believed to be victims of some kind of exploitation, from pornography to physical abuse, according to a Congress report.
The once-glamorous Pacific coast resort of Acapulco is now sullied by foreign sex tourists who lurk behind beaches to pick up skinny boys or prey on underage girls in strip clubs.
The new law means sex trafficking of minors and child pornography will now be classified as organised crime. Promoting sex tourism could earn a 12-year jail sentence.
In one of Mexico's most notorious abuse cases, the Vatican last year ordered Father Marcial Maciel, the elderly founder of the Legionaries of Christ, to retire to a life of prayer after former trainee priests accused him of sexual abuses dating back to the 1940s.
Mexican lawmakers cited UN children'a fund UNICEF as saying that human trafficking for the sex trade is the third most lucrative activity after drug smuggling and arms trading. - Reuters
The law, approved by the Senate on Tuesday after passing through the lower house last year, will lengthen prison terms and end the classing of sexual exploitation of children as a minor offence where convicts often get early release.
Priests, offenders charged with abusing underage family members and public sector employees like teachers or doctors who used their position to access children will automatically be given a double sentence, meaning up to 30 years.
Clergy convicted of abuse of minors will be defrocked.
'Sex trafficking of minors and child pornography will now be classified as organized crime'
"In almost every case, the punishment is increased and every kind of offence that has to do with child pornography or exploitation of minors will be considered serious," said Senator Alejandro Gonzalez, head of the justice commission.
Some 20 000 children in Mexico, aged mainly from 12 to 17, are believed to be victims of some kind of exploitation, from pornography to physical abuse, according to a Congress report.
The once-glamorous Pacific coast resort of Acapulco is now sullied by foreign sex tourists who lurk behind beaches to pick up skinny boys or prey on underage girls in strip clubs.
The new law means sex trafficking of minors and child pornography will now be classified as organised crime. Promoting sex tourism could earn a 12-year jail sentence.
In one of Mexico's most notorious abuse cases, the Vatican last year ordered Father Marcial Maciel, the elderly founder of the Legionaries of Christ, to retire to a life of prayer after former trainee priests accused him of sexual abuses dating back to the 1940s.
Mexican lawmakers cited UN children'a fund UNICEF as saying that human trafficking for the sex trade is the third most lucrative activity after drug smuggling and arms trading. - Reuters
donderdag, februari 15, 2007
Anglican Journal: 'You see the world in a different light'
General Synod archives
Unidentified children from All Saints Indian Residential School in Lac La Ronge, Sask. Banff, Alta.
Unidentified children from All Saints Indian Residential School in Lac La Ronge, Sask. Banff, Alta.
Marites N Sison, staff writer, Feb 14, 2007
“This has been the most difficult piece of work that God has called me to do.” The church volunteer was speaking to a room full of sympathetic colleagues, all representatives of the Anglican Church of Canada at the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) hearings on Indian residential schools.
At the very first hearing that she attended, the claimant had lashed out at her while telling a painful story of abuse at an Anglican-run school. “It was devastating to be seen as the face of evil. I was shaking and tears were streaming down my face,” she said. “I remember thinking, ‘why are you angry at me? I didn’t do it.’”
At the end of the hearing, she recalled taking a long walk to regain her composure. “I had no one to talk to and no one asked how it went,” she said. After much reflection, she felt that having been at the receiving end of the rage had a purpose. “I guess the claimant needed to do that for the poison to leave her soul. For most of them, this is the first opportunity to talk about something they’ve held for 35 to 40 years. So this is a release for them.”
The volunteer shared her story during a two-day gathering organized by the church to honor the work and to hear the experiences and concerns of its representatives at the ADR hearings, which are administered by the federal government and have been held across the country since 2003. Aside from providing an opportunity for debriefing, the meeting was also intended to form a network for mutual support and learning models for caregiving. ADR chief adjudicator Ted Hughes was also in attendance to listen to concerns and to provide an update on the ADR. (The Anglican Journal attended the gathering, but agreed to withhold the identity of some participants for purposes of confidentiality.)
“It’s hard work. It’s emotionally draining and these people can’t really talk about it, so they need this,” said Ellie Johnson, director of partnerships, who represented the national church in the revised Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. At ADR hearings, which involve claims of physical and sexual abuse by former students at native residential schools, representatives must sign a confidentiality clause.
The most common concern raised by the representatives was the issue of whether claimants and adjudicators understand the role of the church in the hearings. Representatives also questioned whether claimants are informed that their lawyers or case workers need to notify the adjudicator at least two weeks prior if they want the church represented at the hearings.
“Each visit, I was not expected and I was asked what I’m doing there,” said one representative. “We try to be sensitive enough that we don’t stay when we feel we’re not wanted.”
Since 2003, the church has been represented in only about 20 per cent of these hearings, according to national church figures. Of 229 hearings in 2006, only 66 had church representation; in 128 others, claimants did not want the church present, while the remaining 13 said yes, but no representatives were available to attend. There is no data on how many have been turned away at the hearing day.
Mr. Hughes said that since the church is party to the agreement, it is “entitled” to be at the hearings. “But the church has been gracious in that if its representation is not wanted, they (representatives) don’t go,” he added.
Representatives agreed that lawyers bear the responsibility for informing the claimants about the presence of the church at these hearings. “The problem is we don’t know how the question is being asked by the lawyer or if the question is even being asked,” said one.
Just what is the church expected to do at these hearings? “The expectation is that a person will be there to hear the story and receive it on behalf of the church and then to speak,” said Ms. Johnson. What to say depends greatly on the moment, she added. “Some people are really happy to see a church person there and want a prayer. Other people are really angry and what they want is a chance to tell this church how badly treated they were and how rotten the church is. So in that case, you’re not going to say, ‘shall we have a prayer?’ You’re going to say, ‘I’m so sorry on behalf of the church that you had this awful experience.’”
What they cannot do is cross-examine claimants, she said, adding, “They’re not there to dispute whatever the person is saying. They’re not even allowed to speak when the claimant is telling the story. They’re not there to argue about the award and all that. The role is a pastoral role or a listener’s role. That’s it.”
Early on, the church made a decision that it would not send legal people to these hearings “because we’re not disputing this,” said Ms. Johnson. “The church has long ago acknowledged its complicity in this assimilation project that Canada had undergone. We acknowledged that we ran the schools and the system was bad and many people were damaged. So this is part of our attempt to apologize, to atone for our part.”
It is a role that church representatives take seriously. ”It’s incredibly important that the church is present. Healing is a very important part of work that needs to be done with our First Nations brothers and sisters,” said Rev. David Pritchard, who has attended 14 hearings in the diocese of Yukon; he makes it a point not to wear a clerical collar to make his presence less intimidating. “I’m aware that the (former) primate (Michael Peers) has apologized on behalf of the church, but I will venture to guess that very few people know that. It’s also incredibly important to do that face to face.”
Being present and listening to the stories has not been easy, most participants agreed. “These were six, seven-year-olds (when the abuse happened) and it’s horrific and unthinkable what they went through,” said Archdeacon Helena-Rose Houldcroft, who represents the church in the diocese of Qu’Appelle.
“The hardest ADRs are the ones where you know the claimant or you know their relatives. You had no knowledge that they were carrying this burden,” said Mr. Pritchard. “It’s a sad experience and I kept thinking that I wish I had known because it was a missed opportunity to do ministry.”
But at the same time, he said, “it made the applicant more comfortable; they saw me as someone they knew.” Mr. Pritchard added that as he listened to the stories, “I became much more concerned about what the abuse did to their lives, of how it robbed them of their potential. So many have lived horrendously dysfunctional lives as a result of that abuse.”
But while the role of listener can be difficult, most church representatives hasten to add that it is nothing compared to the experience of the former students who not only must relive the sad experience but who must share their stories with total strangers.
Questions were raised about what happens to the claimants after they are awarded their compensation, which often includes money for a treatment plan. Mr. Hughes acknowledged that no one monitors these plans. “It won’t be easy to monitor anyway, a lot of it is in remote areas,” he said. Some representatives noted that this was one of the weakest areas of the ADR process. Others said that they have offered pastoral care for claimants they meet at these hearings.
The experience of attending the hearings have been transformative, most representatives said. “It changes you. You see the world in a different light after that,” said Ms. Houldcroft. Another representative agreed, saying that after a particularly emotional hearing, she could not even go out for a cup of coffee with her friends. “I couldn’t stand the silliness of their lives.”
For Mr. Pritchard, “the most amazing thing has been to see such incredible inner strength in these people in spite of what they’ve been through.” He added: “Being able to articulate (their experience) and having so much self-awareness is an incredible source of hope for their continued healing.” He said that he makes it a point to “accentuate this positive.”
After a presentation on how to care for caregivers by Lt. Col. (Canon) Baxter Park, a chaplain for the Canadian Armed Forces, the representatives agreed that there should be better diocesan support for those who attend these hearings. Attendees from the diocese of Rupert’s Land said they would try to have a gathering and a chaplain for their own group of representatives. “It would be good to have someone we can call if things get to be a bit too much,” they said.
Ms. Johnson said the gathering was helpful since the church might need to recruit more representatives because the ADR is likely to receive two to three times more cases until the new settlement agreement, which has yet to be collectively approved by nine courts, is finalized. The agreement provides for a better and more streamlined Independent Assessment Process, said Ms. Johnson. Mr. Hughes said all sexual assault cases filed with the ADR would be automatically transferred to the assessment process, where the awards are higher, unless the claimant asks for an ADR hearing.
de rkk kardinale vraag: wie naait wie? Law 's erfenis over het misbruik en Boston
Als je goed luistert kun je het misschien wel horen knetteren in Rome, over een kardinaal met een erebaantje. Die het niet alleen mogelijk maakte dat priesters door konden gaan met het misbruiken van kinderen.
Maar zoals het er nu uit ziet ook nog gelden, naja..kapitaal : 70 miljoen$ bijeengebracht tbv en onder het mom van pensioenen en oude dags voorzieningen voor gepensioneerde priesters, heeft misbruikt.
Voor noodzakelijke kosten . voor slachtoffers van misbruik.
Wat doe je dan met een kardinaal die naar Rome uitweek om niet in de gevangenis te belanden...wanneer die eerwaarde vader zijn "beminde zonen" bejaard en wel heeft misbruikt?
Je kunt hem vanuit Rome moeilijk nog een erebaantje geven om hem te dekken.
De combinatie zou wel eens een zeer explosief mengesel kunnen worden over de inmiddels wel erg kardinale vraag in de RKK: wie naait wie?
Priests’ trust shaken: Clergy say mismanagement left pension funds in pinchBostonHerald.com
By Laura Crimaldi/ Special Report
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Hundreds of distraught Boston-area priests are facing stark cuts in their retirement benefits as the Archdiocese of Boston scrambles to shore up its teetering pension system after decades of poor fiscal management.
“I see all of this as unjust and a failure to observe our canon law,” said the Rev. Richard Craig, 71, who retired four years ago as pastor of St. John the Evangelist in North Chelmsford. “It leads me to wonder, are we, the senior priests, becoming objects of elderly discrimination?”
Church documents show that as of April 2006, the pension plan - the Clergy Retirement/Disability Trust - faced an $85.4 million gap between the money on hand and what it is expected to have to spend for hundreds of priests, active and retired.
Frightened senior priests have seen monthly stipends frozen to amounts as low as $1,889, with other benefits such as health and housing also diminishing.
In multiple interviews, retired priests described the following pinches on their already meager finances, which consist of the $1,889 monthly allowance, $600 of which is for housing:
No cost-of-living increase for the monthly stipend since 2005 and none expected soon;
A $200 cut to the housing allowance;
The end of Medicare reimbursements for eligible priests - a cash burden of almost $1,000 a year.
Archdiocese officials insist senior priests are better paid than their active counterparts.
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley “is completely committed to ensuring that we provide for the medical, retirement and financial needs of our priests, which is why he has sought the professional advice of outside experts who can assist us with strengthening the Clergy Benefit Trust,” Terrence C. Donilon, archdiocese spokesman, said in a statement.
But some priests see it differently. “I don’t have peace of mind. I won’t have peace of mind until I know that they are not going to take anything away,” said one disabled priest, who did not want to be identified out of fear the church would strip his financial support. “The priests’ morale is horrible.”
The funding gap and cost-cutting measures would not be in place if pension management had been better, according to a January financial analysis by the Council of Parishes, an advocacy group for closed churches that has been critical of the archdiocese.
The group says at least $70 million in donations collected between 1986 to 2002 from parishioners -who were often told the money would fund priests’ retirements - went instead to other purposes, notably a fund drawn on extensively by former Cardinal Bernard Law before he left Boston.
That fund - the Clergy Benefit Trust - was used to pay millions of dollars for legal bills, psychological treatment and other expenses associated with dozens of priests accused of sexual abuse, according to church documents, interviews, letters and memos signed by Law.
“The archdiocese has never explained what was done with this money,” said Peter Borre, co-chairman of the Council of Parishes, which has been documenting pension fund troubles and demanding the release of audited financial statements of the two trusts set up to pay for the priests’ retirement.
“The net result,” he added, “is that many, many retired priests who have served honorably and faithfully are suffering economically because monies donated for their retirement went instead to fund priests accused of sexual abuse who had been placed on leave.”
The Rev. Mark O’Connell, who supervises the Clergy Retirement/Disability Trust, vigorously defended the diversion of millions in holiday collections. He saidthatduring that 16-year period, archdiocesan actuaries said the retirement fund was fully funded and even overfunded, and did not require a transfer from the Clergy Benefit Trust, the account that takes in the Christmas and Easter donations.
The retirement fund faltered, he said, after nursing-home costs, previously taken from a medical fund, were reassigned to the pension account and new actuaries started accounting for the likelihood that retired priests would live longer than expected.
“To think that something bad happened to that money or that it was used for something else that the good people of the archdiocese gave it for is simply false,” he said.
In recent months, the archdiocese has taken steps to catch up on the underfunding. It cites a $10 million reduction in the shortfall between planned assets and liabilities, and another $5 million infusion from the Clergy Benefit Trust. The church has named former Boston Red Sox [team stats] executive John S. Buckley and former interim archdiocesean finance director James K. Hunt as advisers, according to a January letter signed by O’Connell.
O’Connell said the cost-cutting measures, especially the shift from making cost-of-living increases annually to doing so on an as-needed basis, will save millions. “The recent letter was designed to say to the senior priests, ‘Don’t worry,’ ” said O’Connell. “We are going to rethink it, we are going to have new financial help from experts.”
Maar zoals het er nu uit ziet ook nog gelden, naja..kapitaal : 70 miljoen$ bijeengebracht tbv en onder het mom van pensioenen en oude dags voorzieningen voor gepensioneerde priesters, heeft misbruikt.
Voor noodzakelijke kosten . voor slachtoffers van misbruik.
Wat doe je dan met een kardinaal die naar Rome uitweek om niet in de gevangenis te belanden...wanneer die eerwaarde vader zijn "beminde zonen" bejaard en wel heeft misbruikt?
Je kunt hem vanuit Rome moeilijk nog een erebaantje geven om hem te dekken.
De combinatie zou wel eens een zeer explosief mengesel kunnen worden over de inmiddels wel erg kardinale vraag in de RKK: wie naait wie?
Priests’ trust shaken: Clergy say mismanagement left pension funds in pinchBostonHerald.com
By Laura Crimaldi/ Special Report
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Hundreds of distraught Boston-area priests are facing stark cuts in their retirement benefits as the Archdiocese of Boston scrambles to shore up its teetering pension system after decades of poor fiscal management.
“I see all of this as unjust and a failure to observe our canon law,” said the Rev. Richard Craig, 71, who retired four years ago as pastor of St. John the Evangelist in North Chelmsford. “It leads me to wonder, are we, the senior priests, becoming objects of elderly discrimination?”
Church documents show that as of April 2006, the pension plan - the Clergy Retirement/Disability Trust - faced an $85.4 million gap between the money on hand and what it is expected to have to spend for hundreds of priests, active and retired.
Frightened senior priests have seen monthly stipends frozen to amounts as low as $1,889, with other benefits such as health and housing also diminishing.
In multiple interviews, retired priests described the following pinches on their already meager finances, which consist of the $1,889 monthly allowance, $600 of which is for housing:
No cost-of-living increase for the monthly stipend since 2005 and none expected soon;
A $200 cut to the housing allowance;
The end of Medicare reimbursements for eligible priests - a cash burden of almost $1,000 a year.
Archdiocese officials insist senior priests are better paid than their active counterparts.
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley “is completely committed to ensuring that we provide for the medical, retirement and financial needs of our priests, which is why he has sought the professional advice of outside experts who can assist us with strengthening the Clergy Benefit Trust,” Terrence C. Donilon, archdiocese spokesman, said in a statement.
But some priests see it differently. “I don’t have peace of mind. I won’t have peace of mind until I know that they are not going to take anything away,” said one disabled priest, who did not want to be identified out of fear the church would strip his financial support. “The priests’ morale is horrible.”
The funding gap and cost-cutting measures would not be in place if pension management had been better, according to a January financial analysis by the Council of Parishes, an advocacy group for closed churches that has been critical of the archdiocese.
The group says at least $70 million in donations collected between 1986 to 2002 from parishioners -who were often told the money would fund priests’ retirements - went instead to other purposes, notably a fund drawn on extensively by former Cardinal Bernard Law before he left Boston.
That fund - the Clergy Benefit Trust - was used to pay millions of dollars for legal bills, psychological treatment and other expenses associated with dozens of priests accused of sexual abuse, according to church documents, interviews, letters and memos signed by Law.
“The archdiocese has never explained what was done with this money,” said Peter Borre, co-chairman of the Council of Parishes, which has been documenting pension fund troubles and demanding the release of audited financial statements of the two trusts set up to pay for the priests’ retirement.
“The net result,” he added, “is that many, many retired priests who have served honorably and faithfully are suffering economically because monies donated for their retirement went instead to fund priests accused of sexual abuse who had been placed on leave.”
The Rev. Mark O’Connell, who supervises the Clergy Retirement/Disability Trust, vigorously defended the diversion of millions in holiday collections. He saidthatduring that 16-year period, archdiocesan actuaries said the retirement fund was fully funded and even overfunded, and did not require a transfer from the Clergy Benefit Trust, the account that takes in the Christmas and Easter donations.
The retirement fund faltered, he said, after nursing-home costs, previously taken from a medical fund, were reassigned to the pension account and new actuaries started accounting for the likelihood that retired priests would live longer than expected.
“To think that something bad happened to that money or that it was used for something else that the good people of the archdiocese gave it for is simply false,” he said.
In recent months, the archdiocese has taken steps to catch up on the underfunding. It cites a $10 million reduction in the shortfall between planned assets and liabilities, and another $5 million infusion from the Clergy Benefit Trust. The church has named former Boston Red Sox [team stats] executive John S. Buckley and former interim archdiocesean finance director James K. Hunt as advisers, according to a January letter signed by O’Connell.
O’Connell said the cost-cutting measures, especially the shift from making cost-of-living increases annually to doing so on an as-needed basis, will save millions. “The recent letter was designed to say to the senior priests, ‘Don’t worry,’ ” said O’Connell. “We are going to rethink it, we are going to have new financial help from experts.”
zondag, februari 11, 2007
Serbian priest sentenced to jail for sexual abuse of boys - International Herald Tribune
The Herald tribune
The Associated Press
Friday, February 9, 2007
BELGRADE, Serbia
A Serbian Orthodox Church priest has been jailed for a year after being convicted of sexually abusing boys in 2001, a court announced Friday.
Jovan Misic, also known by his church name Ilarion and the former abbot of the Hopovo monastery in the northern Vojvodina province, was found guilty of "lewd behavior and sexual abuse" of several underage boys in monastery grounds, the court said.
The boys were aged between seven and eleven years old.
No furthers details were revealed because of the need to protect the victims and their families.
There was no immediate comment from Misic or his lawyer.
The District Court in Novi Sad, 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Belgrade, first ruled in the case in October last year, finding Misic guilty and sentencing him to 10 months in prison.
The court confirmed the verdict on appeal and increased the prison term to 12 months.
The Associated Press
Friday, February 9, 2007
BELGRADE, Serbia
A Serbian Orthodox Church priest has been jailed for a year after being convicted of sexually abusing boys in 2001, a court announced Friday.
Jovan Misic, also known by his church name Ilarion and the former abbot of the Hopovo monastery in the northern Vojvodina province, was found guilty of "lewd behavior and sexual abuse" of several underage boys in monastery grounds, the court said.
The boys were aged between seven and eleven years old.
No furthers details were revealed because of the need to protect the victims and their families.
There was no immediate comment from Misic or his lawyer.
The District Court in Novi Sad, 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Belgrade, first ruled in the case in October last year, finding Misic guilty and sentencing him to 10 months in prison.
The court confirmed the verdict on appeal and increased the prison term to 12 months.
vrijdag, februari 09, 2007
Whitbourne abuse cases can't be tried together: court
Last Updated: Friday, February 9, 2007 9:36 AM NT
CBC News
The Newfoundland Supreme Court has ruled that a string of civil lawsuits involving physical and sexual abuse at a boys' correctional facility cannot be tried together.
Twenty-two former residents of the former Whitbourne Boys Home are suing over abuse they said happened decades ago.
The suits name various parties. The Newfoundland and Labrador government is named in all of them. Most suits name now-deceased Roman Catholic priest Ronald Bromley and the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of Grand Falls, which supervised Bromley.
One suit is against the Salvation Army, while two actions name two former employees at the Whitbourne Boys Home.
In a recent decision Justice James Adams rejected an application to have all of the cases heard at one time, noting that the actions are in various states of readiness for trial, and not all of the suits have common issues.
Adams ruled that the suits can be handled relatively expeditiously on an individual basis.
"The issues are not particularly complex," he wrote.
"They relate to allegations of sexual and/or physical assaults occurring decades ago, in addition to allegations of vicarious liability, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. While serious in nature, they are matters which have come before the court quite often in the past and the law is fairly well settled in respect of the issues raised."
A key figure in many of the suits was Bromley, who provided pastoral care at Whitbourne Boys Home.
Bromley was killed in a September 2004 car accident. He had been convicted in 1998 on 31 counts of sexual assault, but subsequently was found not guilty after a second trial was ordered.
The Whitbourne Boys Home was replaced by a Newfoundland and Labrador Youth Centre, a correctional facility in Whitbourne for young offenders.
CBC News
The Newfoundland Supreme Court has ruled that a string of civil lawsuits involving physical and sexual abuse at a boys' correctional facility cannot be tried together.
Twenty-two former residents of the former Whitbourne Boys Home are suing over abuse they said happened decades ago.
The suits name various parties. The Newfoundland and Labrador government is named in all of them. Most suits name now-deceased Roman Catholic priest Ronald Bromley and the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of Grand Falls, which supervised Bromley.
One suit is against the Salvation Army, while two actions name two former employees at the Whitbourne Boys Home.
In a recent decision Justice James Adams rejected an application to have all of the cases heard at one time, noting that the actions are in various states of readiness for trial, and not all of the suits have common issues.
Adams ruled that the suits can be handled relatively expeditiously on an individual basis.
"The issues are not particularly complex," he wrote.
"They relate to allegations of sexual and/or physical assaults occurring decades ago, in addition to allegations of vicarious liability, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. While serious in nature, they are matters which have come before the court quite often in the past and the law is fairly well settled in respect of the issues raised."
A key figure in many of the suits was Bromley, who provided pastoral care at Whitbourne Boys Home.
Bromley was killed in a September 2004 car accident. He had been convicted in 1998 on 31 counts of sexual assault, but subsequently was found not guilty after a second trial was ordered.
The Whitbourne Boys Home was replaced by a Newfoundland and Labrador Youth Centre, a correctional facility in Whitbourne for young offenders.
Priest killed in highway
accident
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 CBC News
One of the people killed in a traffic accident near Badger Tuesday was a Roman Catholic priest.
Ronald Bromley, 68, was travelling east on the Trans-Canada Highway when his vehicle was struck in a head-on collision.
From Sept. 21, 2004: Two dead in highway accident
The 31-year-old driver of the second car, Craig Jacobs of Lumsden, also died. His wife was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
In the late 1990s, Bromley was charged and initially convicted on 31 counts of sexual
assault. He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
After winning an appeal, Bromley had another trial and was acquitted on all charges.
The Bishop of the Diocese of Grand Falls, Martin Currie, says Bromley was just
settling back into his ministry when he died.
"It was a terrible ordeal for him and a terrible suffering you know after all those years and finally the courts — the appeals — said he was not guilty which was a great relief to him, " he says.
"He was just starting now to, you know, to get back into active ministry again which was a great delight to him."
Currie says a special ceremony will be held in Bromley's memory this week.info zaak 2001:
Oorzaken van het misbruik
New Study Will Look At Homosexuality, Dissent
BY WAYNE LAUGESEN
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
February 11-17, 2007 Issue
NEW YORK — The U.S. bishops are undertaking a second study of the priest abuse scandal. Those conducting the research say hot button issues such as homosexuality and dissent will be part of the study.
The first phase of the study, conducted in 2004 by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, was considered a landmark in its field.
John Jay’s first report called for a more searching examination of the effects of homosexuality on the priesthood. It stated, “For those who choose to ordain homosexuals, there appears to be a need for additional scrutiny and perhaps additional or specialized formation to help them with the challenge of priestly celibacy.”
The bishops in November allocated funding for a follow-up on causes and context. It’s expected to be similarly groundbreaking.
Teresa Kettelkamp, executive director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pointed out that in the first phase of the study John Jay proved its “open, objective, thorough, impeccable and professional.”
She said the follow-up wouldn’t pull any punches when it comes to tough issues like homosexuality.
“Their reputation is on the line at a very high level, and they are not willing to risk their reputation by getting steered by external forces of political correctness,” Kettelkamp said. “I’m convinced they are seeking truth, and know how to find it.”
Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist and the author of the book Homosexuality and Hope, said that, after the first study, “the facts speak for themselves: Seventy-five percent to 80% of victims in the sex abuse crisis were adolescent males, so the cause is primarily the homosexual predation of adolescent males.”
He said John Jay researchers “were a good choice for that study of statistical data, and those findings are what confirmed for us that this is a homosexual crisis.”
The first report by John Jay, which is part of the City University of New York, found that at least 10,667 boys and girls were abused by Catholic clergymen in the United States between 1950 and 2002, and between 75% and 80% of the abuse involved adolescent male victims.
Margaret Smith, data analyst for John Jay on the causes and contexts study, said John Jay would look at every factor.
“I’m a researcher,” she said. “I have no interest in being politically correct.”
It was Smith’s analysis of Church personnel files and complaint files by parents and grown victims of prior sexual abuse that established the statistics regarding adolescent male victims.
Yet Smith takes issue with Fitzgibbons’ assertion that homosexuality is a cause for major concern. Smith said sexual preference or inclination may be largely “irrelevant” to the causes and contexts of sexual abuse of children.
“In secular society, the majority of men treated for sexual abuse of adolescent boys consider themselves heterosexual, so you cannot make this problem go away by saying the problem is homosexual priests,” Smith said. “That’s overly simplistic. Very many heterosexual men engage occasionally in homosexual behavior.”
Smith said while some psychologists and psychiatrists see a distinction between adults having sex with children and adults having sex with adolescents, the law sees it all as child abuse.
“If the victim is under the age of consent, it’s child abuse. That simple,” Smith said. “When someone abuses a child, it usually has little to do with sexual preference. It’s about abusing a child.”
In the study, however, Smith and other researchers will try to determine how many priests who have abused children identify themselves as homosexual.
Karen Terry, the principal investigator on the causes and contexts study, responded that there is “nothing in our data to indicate that this is or is not a crisis of homosexuality.”
“Although 81% of the victims in our study were male, it is not clear whether this is due to a sexual attraction to the male victims or whether the priests primarily abused males because this is the population to whom they had access,” she said.
“For instance, in prison,” she said, “many individuals of the same gender have sexual relationships even though most would identify themselves as heterosexual.”
.....
The “historical context and influences” portion of the study will look at the Church and society “to frame our analysis of sexual abuse by priests.” One hypothesis researchers plan to explore is whether social changes of the 1960s and ’70s increased sexual attraction by adults to children.
Among four hypotheses researchers will explore while examining the response by Church leadership is that a “higher tolerance for non-traditional sexual behavior (adult heterosexual and homosexual relationships) will have a higher tolerance (and slower response) to abuse of children.”
Researchers also want to know if beliefs opposed to Church doctrine played a role in sexual abuse.
....
BY WAYNE LAUGESEN
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
February 11-17, 2007 Issue
NEW YORK — The U.S. bishops are undertaking a second study of the priest abuse scandal. Those conducting the research say hot button issues such as homosexuality and dissent will be part of the study.
The first phase of the study, conducted in 2004 by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, was considered a landmark in its field.
John Jay’s first report called for a more searching examination of the effects of homosexuality on the priesthood. It stated, “For those who choose to ordain homosexuals, there appears to be a need for additional scrutiny and perhaps additional or specialized formation to help them with the challenge of priestly celibacy.”
The bishops in November allocated funding for a follow-up on causes and context. It’s expected to be similarly groundbreaking.
Teresa Kettelkamp, executive director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pointed out that in the first phase of the study John Jay proved its “open, objective, thorough, impeccable and professional.”
She said the follow-up wouldn’t pull any punches when it comes to tough issues like homosexuality.
“Their reputation is on the line at a very high level, and they are not willing to risk their reputation by getting steered by external forces of political correctness,” Kettelkamp said. “I’m convinced they are seeking truth, and know how to find it.”
Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist and the author of the book Homosexuality and Hope, said that, after the first study, “the facts speak for themselves: Seventy-five percent to 80% of victims in the sex abuse crisis were adolescent males, so the cause is primarily the homosexual predation of adolescent males.”
He said John Jay researchers “were a good choice for that study of statistical data, and those findings are what confirmed for us that this is a homosexual crisis.”
The first report by John Jay, which is part of the City University of New York, found that at least 10,667 boys and girls were abused by Catholic clergymen in the United States between 1950 and 2002, and between 75% and 80% of the abuse involved adolescent male victims.
Margaret Smith, data analyst for John Jay on the causes and contexts study, said John Jay would look at every factor.
“I’m a researcher,” she said. “I have no interest in being politically correct.”
It was Smith’s analysis of Church personnel files and complaint files by parents and grown victims of prior sexual abuse that established the statistics regarding adolescent male victims.
Yet Smith takes issue with Fitzgibbons’ assertion that homosexuality is a cause for major concern. Smith said sexual preference or inclination may be largely “irrelevant” to the causes and contexts of sexual abuse of children.
“In secular society, the majority of men treated for sexual abuse of adolescent boys consider themselves heterosexual, so you cannot make this problem go away by saying the problem is homosexual priests,” Smith said. “That’s overly simplistic. Very many heterosexual men engage occasionally in homosexual behavior.”
Smith said while some psychologists and psychiatrists see a distinction between adults having sex with children and adults having sex with adolescents, the law sees it all as child abuse.
“If the victim is under the age of consent, it’s child abuse. That simple,” Smith said. “When someone abuses a child, it usually has little to do with sexual preference. It’s about abusing a child.”
In the study, however, Smith and other researchers will try to determine how many priests who have abused children identify themselves as homosexual.
Karen Terry, the principal investigator on the causes and contexts study, responded that there is “nothing in our data to indicate that this is or is not a crisis of homosexuality.”
“Although 81% of the victims in our study were male, it is not clear whether this is due to a sexual attraction to the male victims or whether the priests primarily abused males because this is the population to whom they had access,” she said.
“For instance, in prison,” she said, “many individuals of the same gender have sexual relationships even though most would identify themselves as heterosexual.”
.....
The “historical context and influences” portion of the study will look at the Church and society “to frame our analysis of sexual abuse by priests.” One hypothesis researchers plan to explore is whether social changes of the 1960s and ’70s increased sexual attraction by adults to children.
Among four hypotheses researchers will explore while examining the response by Church leadership is that a “higher tolerance for non-traditional sexual behavior (adult heterosexual and homosexual relationships) will have a higher tolerance (and slower response) to abuse of children.”
Researchers also want to know if beliefs opposed to Church doctrine played a role in sexual abuse.
....
donderdag, februari 08, 2007
A priest has been charged with sexual abuse
By m.p.Thu, 08 Feb 2007, 22:01
The Archbishopric of Granada has temporarily removed public duties from a semi-retired priest in La Zubia who is accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy.
They added in the press release informing of their decision that the accusations have not been proved, and ask for respect for the presumption of innocence.
The 72 year old priest, who has not been named, was arrested on Monday following an official complaint by the 14 year old boy’s parents. He has now been released with charges, and must report back to the courts when called to do so.
© typicallyspanish.com
The Archbishopric of Granada has temporarily removed public duties from a semi-retired priest in La Zubia who is accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy.
They added in the press release informing of their decision that the accusations have not been proved, and ask for respect for the presumption of innocence.
The 72 year old priest, who has not been named, was arrested on Monday following an official complaint by the 14 year old boy’s parents. He has now been released with charges, and must report back to the courts when called to do so.
© typicallyspanish.com
zaterdag, februari 03, 2007
En opnieuw: wat wist die Paus?
Opnieuw die vraag: wat wist die Paus?
Nu niet over Muriel Maciel Dellgolado, die niet van zijn seminaristen af kon blijven, door JP II als zijn vriend en trouwe medewerker betiteld, over wie B XVI nooit het schuldig uitsprak maar de man dringend verzocht zich terug te trekken in een leven van penitentie.
Nu opnieuw die vraag over uitgerekend, inderdaad: Polen.
Pederastia en la Iglesia católica(Delitos sexuales del clero contra menores, un drama silenciado y encubierto por los obispos)
¡¡¡Un libro que la cúpula de la Iglesia católica teme tanto que ordenó a los medios de comunicación que controla que lo silencien absolutamente!!!
© Pepe Rodríguez © Ediciones B., Barcelona, 2002.
Polish prelate who resigned in 2002 meets with Pope Benedict
Rome, Feb. 2, 2007 (CWNews.com) -
Nu niet over Muriel Maciel Dellgolado, die niet van zijn seminaristen af kon blijven, door JP II als zijn vriend en trouwe medewerker betiteld, over wie B XVI nooit het schuldig uitsprak maar de man dringend verzocht zich terug te trekken in een leven van penitentie.
Nu opnieuw die vraag over uitgerekend, inderdaad: Polen.
Pederastia en la Iglesia católica(Delitos sexuales del clero contra menores, un drama silenciado y encubierto por los obispos)¡¡¡Un libro que la cúpula de la Iglesia católica teme tanto que ordenó a los medios de comunicación que controla que lo silencien absolutamente!!!
© Pepe Rodríguez © Ediciones B., Barcelona, 2002.
Polish prelate who resigned in 2002 meets with Pope Benedict
Rome, Feb. 2, 2007 (CWNews.com) -
Archbishop Julius Paetz, the Polish prelate who resigned in March 2002 amid sexual-abuse allegations, met quietly with Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) after the Pope’s weekly
audience on January 31, observers report.
Archbishop Paetz relinquished his leadership of the Poznan archdiocese after he was accused of making sexual overtures toward seminarians. After insisting that the charges were false, Archbishop Paetz submitted a letter of resignation to Pope John Paul II (bio - news) on March 28, 2002.
The Pope immediately accepted the resignation, thereby fueling speculation that Archbishop Paetz had stepped down on orders from the Vatican.
Accusations against the archbishop had reportedly surfaced as early as 1999, and the rector of the archdiocesan seminary instituted a policy requiring supervision of the prelate during all
visits. Yet Catholics in Poznan complained that the Vatican had failed to take
action until the scandal burst into public view.
Shortly after the archbishop’s resignation, several priests and laymen from Poznan said that they had delivered a warning to the Vatican in 1999, to no avail.
At that time, the Poznan Catholics did not identify the Vatican officials with whom they had conferred. But in January of this year, during the unrest that followed the forced resignation of Warsaw’s Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, the Polish newspaper Glos Wielkopolski reported that the warning had been delivered to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz-- who was then
the personal secretary to Pope John Paul II, and is now Archbishop of
Krakow.According to the Glos Wielkopolski, Msgr. Dziwisz did not pass the information along to Pope John Paul.
Zaak Paetz onder toezicht Vaticaan (bron: Katholiek Nederland) februari 2002De Poolse kerkprovincie heeft bevestigd dat het Vaticaan de zaak ‘Paetz’ in behandeling heeft.
Julius Paetz, aartsbisschop van Poznan, wordt beschuldigd van seksueel misbruik van zijn priesters en seminaristen.
"Nu de onderhavige zaak onder toezicht is van het Vaticaan, zal ze ongetwijfeld worden opgehelderd en opgelost," meldde de persdienst van de Poolse kerk. Verder commentaar werd niet gegeven.
Mgr. Julius Paetz ontkent alle beschuldigingen en zegt dat zij deel uitmaken van een campagne tegen zijn persoon. "Ik heb nooit geestelijken of priesters aangerand", zei hij in een verklaring. "Ik kan niet de namen noemen van hen die mij beschuldigen, omdat ik verplicht ben hun goede naam te respecteren."
Paetz werkte in de periode 1967-1976 in het Vaticaan voor het secretariaat van de bisschoppensynodes. In 1982 werd hij bisschop gewijd en in 1996 werd hij door zijn landgenoot Johannes Paulus II benoemd tot aartsbisschop.
Volgens het dagblad Trouw weet de paus al langer dat Paetz van ontucht wordt beschuldigd. De paus zou in Krakau door een vertrouweling op de hoogte zijn gebracht. "Naar verluidt reageerde de paus geschokt", schrijft Trouw. "Op 29 november vorig jaar stuurde hij een speciale onderzoekscommissie naar Poznan. De bevindingen van de commissie zijn geheim, maar volgens bronnen binnen de kerk bevestigen ze de aantijgingen." Aldus Trouw op 25 februari.
vrijdag, februari 02, 2007
Mexico
Extradition red tape stalls hunt for fugitive priest Ochoa
By MARTIN ESPINOZA THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
By MARTIN ESPINOZA THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
It has been nine months since the Rev. Francisco Xavier Ochoa slipped across the U.S.-Mexico border after admitting he had sexual contact with three boys, an admission that led to 10 felony charges.
........
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a national support group known as SNAP, said a lengthy extradition process is not unusual.
But he said the Catholic Church should be doing more to locate him.
"California bishops and Mexican bishops could and should put notices in every parish bulletin, diocesan newspaper, diocesan Web site immediately, begging church members and staff to speak up if they know anything about his possible whereabouts," Clohessy said.
Bishop Daniel Walsh could not be reached for comment through Santa Rosa Diocese spokeswoman Deirdre Frontczak. Walsh is participating in a court-ordered diversion program, undergoing counseling for failing to report Ochoa's activities in a timely manner to law enforcement authorities.
..........
Eric Barragan, director of SNAP's operations in Mexico, said he traveled to Mexico in early November to ask that Mexico's highest-ranking church official, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, do more to locate Ochoa and other fugitive priests.
Barragan said he reached out to members of Mexico's congress for help in finding not only Ochoa, but such fugitive priests as the Rev. Nicolás Aguilar, who has been accused of molesting and brutally raping dozens of children in Los Angeles.Members of the Mexican congress, said Barragan, "are aware and they said they're waiting for action from the United States."
dinsdag, januari 30, 2007
Wat doet BXVI? Het eind van New York's Egan
As the Cardinal walked into the front parlor of his St. Patrick’s residence, girding for a tense meeting with about 40 leading New York priests, he was painfully aware of the circle that seemed ready to close around him. For nearly seven years, Edward Egan had reigned as cardinal-archbishop of New York—“the archbishop of the capital of the world,” as Pope John Paul II once called the job. Yet throughout his time here Egan had never really felt at home, had never become a “real” New Yorker in the identity morph that so many transplanted prelates and politicians manage just by donning a baseball cap. Instead, by choice and by nature, Egan had remained an outsider, a Chicagoan by birth and a Roman cleric by training, who had both an exalted view of a bishop’s authority and an anxious sense of how perilous the modern world can be for anything that smacks of monarchy.
As Egan, 74, prepared to retire from the pulpit that he rarely used to great effect, Egan’s long-standing fears seemed to be coming true, his history repeating itself with uncanny timing. He’d called the meeting of the Presbyteral Council in response to an anonymous letter, containing a series of blistering attacks on the cardinal, that surfaced on a clerical-gossip blog and subsequently made it into the papers.
The disloyalty he read in the priests’ faces this Monday in October reminded Egan of the ugly finale of his own mentor, Chicago’s cardinal John Cody. Cody, who died in 1982 under a cloud of scandal and recrimination, was one of those old-school churchmen whose long tenure was marked by a brittle and autocratic style. But then-father Edward Egan, who in the sixties served as personal secretary to Cody, stood by the cardinal to the end. Egan saw Cody as a role model and regularly championed his legacy, a past that was never as present as it was now for Egan as he approached the twilight of his own career.
The letter, signed by an anonymous “Committee of Concerned Clergy,” said that the relationship between the priests and a New York archbishop—the mortar that binds the hierarchy—had never “been so fractured and seemingly hopeless as it is now.”
The authors, who claimed they had to remain nameless because of “the severely vindictive nature of Cardinal Egan,” collated every criticism ever circulated about him—he was “arrogant and cavalier,” and especially “cruel and ruthless” toward priests, whom he treated with “dishonesty, deception, disinterest and disregard.” Egan had “an unnatural fear of the media” and had abdicated his role as a public figure and leader of the Catholic Church. And it called on the priests to act so that the Vatican would find a better man for the job.
Egan opened the session by reading, in full, an abject apology written to him by Monsignor Howard Calkins, a popular Westchester priest who, the previous day, had given an interview to the Daily News, in which he said that the letter reflected real anger at Egan. That was tantamount to betrayal in Egan’s mind, and Calkins, realizing he’d made a mistake, quickly wrote a personal letter to Egan offering to resign as head of the local vicariate, or region, and apologizing again for his “careless and ill-considered comments.” After reading Calkins’s letter, Egan called over his spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, and ordered him to release it to the media.
According to several accounts from those who were present, Egan went on to claim that his enemies were priests accused of sexual abuse who thought that Egan hadn’t adequately defended them. “When I hear stories about what those priests do, I have to do No. 2,” he spat in disgust. Then Egan widened his target to the entire priest corps: Of the 2,000 priests and bishops in the archdiocese, he lamented, not one stood up to defend him. “I was loyal to Cardinal Cody to the end,” he insisted in the stentorian affect he uses to complement his imposing height and girth. “Let me tell you, that is manliness! That is priestliness! That is Edward M. Egan!”
The room went silent. Egan announced that he needed to go upstairs for physical therapy on his knee, which still hurt after joint-replacement surgery in September, and then retired to his private quarters while the priests waited. For their part, they just wanted to get through the meeting and get back to their parishes unscathed, and the way Egan had handled Calkins convinced them that any hint of insurrection would be tantamount to clerical suicide. As the meeting stretched on for two hours, the priests agreed to a statement of support for Egan, saying they were “appalled” by the anonymous letter and “upset and dismayed that our Archbishop has been personally vilified in this manner.”
AFPGetty Images)
Yet Egan was still not ready to let the incident go. Four days later, on Friday, October 20, the cardinal followed up with a letter to all the priests of the archdiocese declaring that those behind the anonymous letter were obviously sexual abusers. “We cannot be left open to all manner of lies, leading to all manner of scandal and damage to the Archdiocese and the Archbishop from people who refuse to take responsibility for their actions,” Egan wrote.
Then he followed up a week later with a lengthy column in the archdiocesan paper, calling the anonymous letter “a secret, a secret of cowards.” (Egan suggested that the author was a layperson, because in his view the letter-writer used the word disinterested incorrectly, a mistake he hoped no priest would commit.) And again, Egan went after Calkins—naming him seven more times and dismissing his apology as “a partial correction” and “a curious protest of loyalty.” And he complained that the newspapers used a picture of Calkins “in priestly vestments, kneeling and embracing an African-American girl of six or seven years of age,” while he, Egan, was shown “with a twisted expression on my face.”
Whatever comity the earlier meeting had achieved quickly ended. On his influential blog, Father Richard John Neuhaus, a prominent conservative and editor of the religio-political journal First Things, wrote that Egan’s follow-up letter was “ill-advised and that the approach he has outlined is more likely to exacerbate than to resolve current discontents.” Even while criticizing the writers’ anonymity, Neuhaus added that their claim of widespread dissatisfaction with Egan contained “a strong measure of truth.”
Even after nearly seven years as archbishop, Egan remains a distant figure in Catholic life. In mid-January, he concluded the biggest public project of his tenure when he announced the closing of 21 parishes—a centerpiece of his nearly completed goal of restoring the battered finances of the archdiocese, a plan that also included the closing of nine schools. While Egan managed to spare a third of the institutions initially targeted for closure, mercy will not be what he’s remembered for.
Historically, the city’s top priest has been a tribal chieftain as much as a spiritual leader—a man who represents the pride of a blue-collar immigrant community that overcame prejudice and hardship to become the most prominent and powerful religious force in the city. Every bishop has a threefold mandate, “to teach, to sanctify, and to govern,” and New York churchmen have made full use of those powers, from “Dagger John” Hughes, the fearsome prelate who laid the cornerstone of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1858, to Francis Spellman, whose influence earned his residence the nickname of “the Powerhouse,” to Egan’s immediate predecessor, the mediagenic and immensely popular John O’Connor, who clashed with Catholic pols like Mario Cuomo, co-authored a book, His Eminence and Hizzoner, with Ed Koch, and brought the pope to Central Park. Even Cardinal Terence Cooke, who reigned between Spellman and O’Connor, was a man to be reckoned with despite a quiet demeanor.
Not so Egan. From the start, he approached the job more as a private administrator than as a civic leader. He eschewed partisan politics and shunned the media. For many years, O’Connor would talk to reporters after Sunday Mass at St. Patrick’s, guaranteeing Monday-morning headlines and helping to make him a player in the life of the city. Egan, a gifted homilist, preferred to preach to the folks in the pews, and generally restricted his media appearances to twice-annual TV interviews, at Christmas and Easter. Even as pastor to a flock of 3 million Catholics who worship in more than 400 parishes from Staten Island to Sullivan County, he tended to be the classic “office priest,” operating from behind a desk and making periodic Sunday visits to local parishes.
In fact, from the time he arrived for his first New York stint in 1985, as an auxiliary to O’Connor, Egan has seemed temperamentally ill-suited to the city, a mismatch that in retrospect makes the ragged end of his career almost foreordained. O’Connor had been only recently transferred from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to take over the New York Archdiocese when Pope John Paul II asked him to take on Egan as a bishop. O’Connor had spent 27 years in the U.S. Navy as a chaplain, rising to the rank of rear admiral, and he would never refuse his higher-ups. But that’s not to say he liked the decision, or Egan himself.
The two men could not have been more different: O’Connor, an outgoing, outspoken pastor who was born in a Philadelphia rowhouse to working-class parents, the fourth of five children; and Egan, the opera-loving, piano-playing aesthete from the Roman Curia by way of an upper-middle-class Chicago upbringing. O’Connor would don a Yankees cap and sport a goofy grin; Egan would savor a performance of Otello at the Met and invite Renée Fleming to sing at his installation. “It was a very difficult relationship,” says a former Church official who knew both men.
Egan came to the job with a long résumé of academic honors but little experience in parish life. Even as a teenager in a minor seminary in Chicago, he had struck his classmates as unusually formal, with an almost patrician bearing. “It seemed like from the first day of high school he was wearing French cuffs,” even if only figuratively, says Robert McClory, a former Chicago priest who spent eight years in the seminary with Ed Egan from the time they were 13 or 14 years old, as was the custom in those days.
Egan didn’t pal around or play sports—a bout of childhood polio may have taken its toll on his physical confidence, acquaintances say—but he had plenty of friends. Unlike the rest, he rarely if ever earned a demerit on the card every seminarian had to carry with him, and over the five years of high school he garnered the highest average, winning the title of class prefect. He was also elected class president. As McClory says, “He was the perfect seminarian.”
Few were surprised when Egan was tapped to finish his studies in Rome at the Pontifical North American College, the elite seminary for would-be priests on the fast track. Egan eventually, and perhaps inevitably, earned the nickname of “Alpine Ed”—a climber who seemed destined to ascend the hierarchy. And so he did. In 1964, he received a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, often called “the pope’s Harvard.” He graduated summa cum laude—effectively he was a Church attorney—and returned to Chicago to serve as secretary to the city’s newly installed archbishop, the now-notorious Cardinal Cody.
In 1971, Egan went back to Rome to serve as a judge on the Roman Rota, the Church’s top court of appeals, and to teach canon law. His big break came in the early eighties as the Vatican was revising the Church’s entire Code of Canon Law, the dense compilation of strictures and procedures covering every possible sin or circumstance in Catholic life. Egan was one of six canonists assigned to finish the task, and he sat for many hours with Pope John Paul parsing the complex texts. “That really launched him,” says a priest who knows Egan well. The code was finally promulgated in 1983, and as often happened, John Paul wanted to reward Egan by making him an auxiliary, or assistant bishop, to a cardinal in a large diocese. (An archbishop will often have several auxiliaries to help carry the workload.)
Auxiliary bishops are normally among a cardinal’s most trusted advisers, yet O’Connor’s first assistant bishop was this outsider, and he let everyone know it. At a fête for the new bishop, in front of Egan’s family, O’Connor made edgy jokes about Egan and his grand piano and toasted him as “Chicago’s revenge.” Eventually O’Connor shunted him aside by making him vicar for education, in charge of the archdiocesan school system. By all accounts Egan did the job well enough, and in 1988, he was promoted to a diocese of his own, in Bridgeport.
For more than a decade, Egan ran the show, often in the imperious manner he seemed to perfect in Rome. If Egan didn’t have a warm and fuzzy public persona, he at least had a knack for administration. His fund-raising prowess enriched Catholic Charities, which became the largest private social-services agency in Fairfield County, and his reorganization of the schools bolstered enrollment. He cultivated contacts in “Fairchester,” the deep-pocketed Catholic crowd of Fairfield and Westchester counties, which included the likes of then General Electric CEO Jack Welch, then PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico, and Bob Wright, chairman of NBC.
In 1999, as O’Connor began to succumb to brain cancer, Egan’s name surfaced as a possible replacement. O’Connor was a favorite of John Paul’s, and as a sign of his affection, the pope had kept O’Connor on well past his 75th birthday. But now O’Connor was nearing 80, and his cancer was so advanced that the Vatican had to start thinking about making a move.
Although the process for naming bishops was once quasi democratic, or at least consultative, with local clergy having a say, in the past century the process had become increasingly secretive and byzantine. Even the terna, the list of three candidates traditionally compiled by Church officials for the pope to choose from, is not sacrosanct, and John Paul often picked someone else entirely. The names on the New York terna in early 2000 were reportedly Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, longtime head of Catholic chaplains for the armed forces in the United States; St. Louis archbishop Justin Rigali, a former Vatican diplomat who has since become cardinal in Philadelphia; and Buffalo bishop Henry Mansell, a former auxiliary to O’Connor, who remained close to him.
The infighting became fierce, especially when O’Connor heard that Egan was in the mix as well. Egan fit the profile of appointments during the last fifteen years of John Paul’s reign, when the pope overwhelmingly favored company men with a degree from Rome, experience in a Vatican office, and the powerful patrons that such a résumé brings. Egan knew the school system in New York, which needed reforming, and he was a prodigious fund-raiser, which New York needed after O’Connor’s profligate generosity. By those standards, Egan, a clerical lifer, was ideal.
But O’Connor thought he’d more than done his duty by taking Egan as an auxiliary years earlier, and he wasn’t about to see Egan warm his throne at St. Patrick’s. O’Connor wanted to see his friend Henry Mansell take over, to the point that O’Connor halted his chem-otherapy and went to see the pope, ostensibly to plead for Mansell. O’Brien didn’t have much pull in the Roman Curia (the pope’s mini-government), but Rigali did, and the pope faced an ecclesiastical impasse. Eight days after O’Connor died, the pope appointed Egan.
Following a week’s worth of tributes to O’Connor, Egan was introduced to the public. From his first words at the news conference introducing him at the Catholic chancery on First Avenue, his orotund speechifying, in a voice that sounded like Orson Welles (of the Gallo-wine-hawking vintage), made him seem a churchman from another century. There was none of the avuncular warmth that O’Connor broadcast so easily to the public.
Egan was given an impossible task. The landscape of the archdiocese was shifting under the Church’s once-solid foundations. For nearly two centuries, New York Catholicism was practically an Irish-run Establishment overseeing a mosaic of stable ethnic enclaves. But now those old-time Catholic communities were spreading out to the suburbs while new, poorer immigrants back-filled city parishes that had fewer priests to staff them and little money to support them. Churches and schools would have to close, creating a sense that after 200 years of surging numbers and clout, New York Catholicism had become a mature industry, religiously speaking, and was facing a discouraging phase of downsizing.
What’s more, part of O’Connor’s popularity was owed to the fact that he never denied anyone who came begging for a new program or for him to halt the closing of an old parish—and he left the archdiocese with a $20 million-a-year operating deficit and an infrastructure that needed a serious overhaul. During his tenure O’Connor reportedly blew through tens of millions in reserves—“O’Connor spent like a drunken sailor,” as one priest said. O’Connor left bureaucracy on top of bureaucracy, with overlapping offices and three or four different accounting programs that made it difficult to figure out exactly how much money there was, and where it was going.
Egan’s mandate was clear: Make tough decisions and then retire gracefully. In 2000, John Paul was ailing and knew his time was short, and he was consistently appointing bishops in their late sixties and early seventies who would retire within a few years, thus freeing John Paul’s eventual successor—now Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected in April 2005—to remake the hierarchy as he liked.
Egan got right to work, early on displaying the distinct management style that led priests to dub him “Edward Scissorhands.” During a March 2001 visit to the archdiocesan seminary in Yonkers, he began the meeting with the assembled faculty of St. Joseph’s Seminary by announcing, according to a witness, “Gentlemen, hard decisions have to be made.” He told those gathered that he wanted to restore the intellectual luster of the faculty, then snapped his fingers—“Literally, snapped his fingers,” recalls one witness—for an aide to hand him a sheet of paper. The cardinal then proceeded to read, with great formality, a list of faculty names and their titles. When he was done, he paused and announced, “If your name is not on this list, your services will no longer be needed in September. Questions?”
Those left off the list had been fired in public, and by default. It left several of them devastated emotionally and financially, and many are still angry. “It was done with such duplicity, such a lack of Christian charity,” says one professor who was in the room that day. Surely, much needed to be done to bring the archdiocese out of the red, and the cardinal closed or consolidated many chancery offices. Staffers who have worked with Egan say he seemed to want to stay as far removed from the emotional messiness of the budget cuts as possible. He formed few relationships with co-workers and answered those who inquired about the difficulty in cutting back with a simple rejoinder: “Economics 101.”
New York’s clergy found themselves at arm’s length from their new leader in other ways as well. In theological terms, the bishop and priest have a father-son relationship, and priests look to their bishop as their chief protector. But Egan was peremptory when engaged at close quarters and worryingly disconnected from their travails. As opposed to O’Connor, who stayed home every Wednesday to meet with any priest without an appointment, Egan made priests call a secretary. Where O’Connor would meet with his priests several times a year, Egan met with his regional vicars just once in six years.
Several other priests recalled how, early in his tenure, Egan went around to the nineteen regional vicariates to meet with the priests in groups of a few dozen at a time. At many of them, he began the session by announcing, “This is a dialogue. But it is a dialogue in the Roman sense—I talk, you listen.”
It’s not so much that the priests loved O’Connor—a highly controversial figure with enemies inside and outside of the Church. But priests, at least, felt that they could talk to him. They were proud that he was such a public presence and that he was one of them, a priest first and foremost, who would be there when they needed him.
Egan, in contrast, was always something of a loner, and he became more isolated as time passed and the pressures of the job grew. He would call priests late at night to complain about some petty slight, and he tried to have one priest’s authority to say Mass in the archdiocese revoked—a stunning maneuver that is tantamount to sacramental castration—because the priest spoke to a grassroots reform group Egan opposed. (“Egan will go after you until he gets you,” said one priest who, like most of the dozens of clerics and Church officials interviewed for this article, would speak only on condition that his name not be used.)
Egan managed to anger both sexual-abuse victims and clergy with his response to the nationwide scandal that erupted in 2002, by far the biggest issue for the Catholic Church on Egan’s watch. Though he has never been publicly accused of wrongdoing in New York, Connecticut newspapers reported in 2002 that as head of the Bridgeport diocese, he’d shifted pedophile clerics around to different parishes and that he repeatedly cast doubt on the allegations of victims. At first, Egan repeatedly insisted he had done nothing wrong. As the criticism mounted, he responded by issuing a carefully worded statement allowing that “if in hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made as regards prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry.”
As similar cases around the country prompted the Church to reform its procedures—or lack thereof—for adjudicating abuse claims, Egan was an obdurate opponent of those early efforts. In 2002, about 290 fellow bishops from around the country designated a blue-ribbon panel of Catholic laypersons, called the National Review Board, to oversee a new system of prevention and transparency. To Egan the board was tantamount to laypersons’ holding authority over a bishop, something he considered to be against Church doctrine. In January 2003, when the board visited New York, Egan refused to say Mass for the group—as other bishops did when the board visited their cities—and made no other bishop available to them.
A year later, a January 2004 audit by the board’s new Office of Child and Youth Protection gave New York a failing grade on implementing the Church’s new policies. A month later, in the review board’s first comprehensive report on the scandal, the lay group singled out for public rebuke four of the 195 archbishops who head dioceses; Egan was one of them.
Since then, he has brought the archdiocese into compliance—and then some. The chief worry now among New York’s priests is that, lacking an ally in the archbishop’s chair, they’ll have nowhere to turn if falsely accused.
Among the many criticisms of Egan, the most potent is that his tenure has been a lost opportunity. In New York, public presence translates into political power, and many Catholics believe that Egan’s invisibility has shortchanged any number of items on their agenda, from school vouchers to abortion to anti-poverty programs. At his best, an archbishop can offer comfort in the face of unfathomable loss, restore faith to an institution that has turned its back on children, and defend the rights of believers in a critical world. At a time when Catholic identity is more fractured than ever, Egan has done little to inspire the masses.
And yet, to Egan’s credit, he stands to leave the archdiocese in a much better position than it’s been in a generation—a Church with enough resources to face its third century in New York. While Egan has never issued a financial statement or balance sheet for the archdiocese, his associates say he intends to have the outstanding debt paid off by the time he leaves. If he succeeds, that would be a monumental accomplishment.
The hardest part has been the “reorganization” of parishes and schools—a euphemism for the inevitable job of closing churches and parochial schools that are draining scarce resources. Many bishops in old-line northeastern and midwestern dioceses have had to downsize to some degree, and most have done it badly—making cuts too quickly and deeply, without sufficient consultation. There’s almost no good way to shutter churches and schools—Catholics can retain deep emotional attachments long after they move away from the old neighborhood, and even a rumored closing is enough to bring out protesters.
But Egan took his time with the process, spending three years on a plan and responding to appeals to spare several parishes and schools. “I think fair justice has to be done to him,” says Father John McLoughlin, pastor of St. Ursula’s in Mount Vernon. “He might not be the most popular archbishop of New York, but from what he has said and what he has presented at the Presbyteral Council, he has done a good job assuring our survivability … I give him a kudo on that one.”
Even Egan’s harshest critics admit that he’s not solely to blame for his shortcomings. In many ways, the system that nurtured Egan also betrayed him. From the age of 14, he had been immured in an ecclesiastical Xanadu, a largely Roman world where bishops are still deferred to like royalty and indulged like dauphins. The problem, say many officials, is that the Vatican pulled him up by the roots and thrust him into a strange land and under a harsh spotlight for which he was unprepared. “It’s a problem—and it’s not Egan’s fault—but this system drops someone in from the outside, and they’re lost,” says the former Church official.
Several years ago, a small group of priests attended a luncheon hosted by Egan at his St. Patrick’s residence for a priest who had turned 75. It was a pleasant afternoon, but what one priest remembers most vividly was that Egan, then about 70, was able to tick off, with apparent anticipation, how many years, months, weeks, and days would pass until he himself would turn 75 and be eligible for retirement.
That day will finally come on April 2, at which point Egan is required by canon law to submit his resignation. Pope Benedict’s predecessor, John Paul, tended to keep cardinals in situ well after that threshold—every bishop of the city so far has died with his miter on, so to speak. Until the recent blowup with his priests, Egan was considered a safe bet to remain in place for at least another year, until the conclusion of a yearlong series of events marking the 200th birthday of the New York Archdiocese. If Benedict accepts his resignation anytime before that, Church observers say, it would be viewed as a sign that the pope was no happier with Egan than were the priests of New York. It’s hard to predict exactly what Benedict will do—he likes to keep his own counsel rather than consult widely like John Paul did.
Then, of course, comes the question of Egan’s successor. Up to 25 American bishops, including five cardinals, are up for retirement this year, and judging from the pontiff’s handful of appointments so far, he is looking for pragmatists rather than crusaders, bishops with the willingness and intellectual chops to promote the faith in the public square, but not publicity hounds—in other words, someone with Egan’s restraint and O’Connor’s pastoral instincts. Whoever he is, the New York appointment could well determine Benedict’s legacy with American Catholics, just as John Paul made his mark with O’Connor in 1984.
As for Egan himself, whenever he leaves, he’s likely to return to what he does best, presiding at confirmations and baptisms, with the kind of low-key presence he had before becoming cardinal-archbishop. Rome, of course, is his favorite city. But with Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law biding his time in a luxe Roman sinecure in the city’s glossiest basilica, St. Mary Major, there aren’t many spots left for retired American cardinals with little to do and no place to do it.
Egan recently hinted that he might spend time in France. Maybe that’s where he would finally be at home—far from New York and the shadow of his own history.
As Egan, 74, prepared to retire from the pulpit that he rarely used to great effect, Egan’s long-standing fears seemed to be coming true, his history repeating itself with uncanny timing. He’d called the meeting of the Presbyteral Council in response to an anonymous letter, containing a series of blistering attacks on the cardinal, that surfaced on a clerical-gossip blog and subsequently made it into the papers.
The disloyalty he read in the priests’ faces this Monday in October reminded Egan of the ugly finale of his own mentor, Chicago’s cardinal John Cody. Cody, who died in 1982 under a cloud of scandal and recrimination, was one of those old-school churchmen whose long tenure was marked by a brittle and autocratic style. But then-father Edward Egan, who in the sixties served as personal secretary to Cody, stood by the cardinal to the end. Egan saw Cody as a role model and regularly championed his legacy, a past that was never as present as it was now for Egan as he approached the twilight of his own career.
The letter, signed by an anonymous “Committee of Concerned Clergy,” said that the relationship between the priests and a New York archbishop—the mortar that binds the hierarchy—had never “been so fractured and seemingly hopeless as it is now.”
The authors, who claimed they had to remain nameless because of “the severely vindictive nature of Cardinal Egan,” collated every criticism ever circulated about him—he was “arrogant and cavalier,” and especially “cruel and ruthless” toward priests, whom he treated with “dishonesty, deception, disinterest and disregard.” Egan had “an unnatural fear of the media” and had abdicated his role as a public figure and leader of the Catholic Church. And it called on the priests to act so that the Vatican would find a better man for the job.
Egan opened the session by reading, in full, an abject apology written to him by Monsignor Howard Calkins, a popular Westchester priest who, the previous day, had given an interview to the Daily News, in which he said that the letter reflected real anger at Egan. That was tantamount to betrayal in Egan’s mind, and Calkins, realizing he’d made a mistake, quickly wrote a personal letter to Egan offering to resign as head of the local vicariate, or region, and apologizing again for his “careless and ill-considered comments.” After reading Calkins’s letter, Egan called over his spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, and ordered him to release it to the media.
According to several accounts from those who were present, Egan went on to claim that his enemies were priests accused of sexual abuse who thought that Egan hadn’t adequately defended them. “When I hear stories about what those priests do, I have to do No. 2,” he spat in disgust. Then Egan widened his target to the entire priest corps: Of the 2,000 priests and bishops in the archdiocese, he lamented, not one stood up to defend him. “I was loyal to Cardinal Cody to the end,” he insisted in the stentorian affect he uses to complement his imposing height and girth. “Let me tell you, that is manliness! That is priestliness! That is Edward M. Egan!”
The room went silent. Egan announced that he needed to go upstairs for physical therapy on his knee, which still hurt after joint-replacement surgery in September, and then retired to his private quarters while the priests waited. For their part, they just wanted to get through the meeting and get back to their parishes unscathed, and the way Egan had handled Calkins convinced them that any hint of insurrection would be tantamount to clerical suicide. As the meeting stretched on for two hours, the priests agreed to a statement of support for Egan, saying they were “appalled” by the anonymous letter and “upset and dismayed that our Archbishop has been personally vilified in this manner.”
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Yet Egan was still not ready to let the incident go. Four days later, on Friday, October 20, the cardinal followed up with a letter to all the priests of the archdiocese declaring that those behind the anonymous letter were obviously sexual abusers. “We cannot be left open to all manner of lies, leading to all manner of scandal and damage to the Archdiocese and the Archbishop from people who refuse to take responsibility for their actions,” Egan wrote.
Then he followed up a week later with a lengthy column in the archdiocesan paper, calling the anonymous letter “a secret, a secret of cowards.” (Egan suggested that the author was a layperson, because in his view the letter-writer used the word disinterested incorrectly, a mistake he hoped no priest would commit.) And again, Egan went after Calkins—naming him seven more times and dismissing his apology as “a partial correction” and “a curious protest of loyalty.” And he complained that the newspapers used a picture of Calkins “in priestly vestments, kneeling and embracing an African-American girl of six or seven years of age,” while he, Egan, was shown “with a twisted expression on my face.”
Whatever comity the earlier meeting had achieved quickly ended. On his influential blog, Father Richard John Neuhaus, a prominent conservative and editor of the religio-political journal First Things, wrote that Egan’s follow-up letter was “ill-advised and that the approach he has outlined is more likely to exacerbate than to resolve current discontents.” Even while criticizing the writers’ anonymity, Neuhaus added that their claim of widespread dissatisfaction with Egan contained “a strong measure of truth.”
Even after nearly seven years as archbishop, Egan remains a distant figure in Catholic life. In mid-January, he concluded the biggest public project of his tenure when he announced the closing of 21 parishes—a centerpiece of his nearly completed goal of restoring the battered finances of the archdiocese, a plan that also included the closing of nine schools. While Egan managed to spare a third of the institutions initially targeted for closure, mercy will not be what he’s remembered for.
Historically, the city’s top priest has been a tribal chieftain as much as a spiritual leader—a man who represents the pride of a blue-collar immigrant community that overcame prejudice and hardship to become the most prominent and powerful religious force in the city. Every bishop has a threefold mandate, “to teach, to sanctify, and to govern,” and New York churchmen have made full use of those powers, from “Dagger John” Hughes, the fearsome prelate who laid the cornerstone of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1858, to Francis Spellman, whose influence earned his residence the nickname of “the Powerhouse,” to Egan’s immediate predecessor, the mediagenic and immensely popular John O’Connor, who clashed with Catholic pols like Mario Cuomo, co-authored a book, His Eminence and Hizzoner, with Ed Koch, and brought the pope to Central Park. Even Cardinal Terence Cooke, who reigned between Spellman and O’Connor, was a man to be reckoned with despite a quiet demeanor.
Not so Egan. From the start, he approached the job more as a private administrator than as a civic leader. He eschewed partisan politics and shunned the media. For many years, O’Connor would talk to reporters after Sunday Mass at St. Patrick’s, guaranteeing Monday-morning headlines and helping to make him a player in the life of the city. Egan, a gifted homilist, preferred to preach to the folks in the pews, and generally restricted his media appearances to twice-annual TV interviews, at Christmas and Easter. Even as pastor to a flock of 3 million Catholics who worship in more than 400 parishes from Staten Island to Sullivan County, he tended to be the classic “office priest,” operating from behind a desk and making periodic Sunday visits to local parishes.
In fact, from the time he arrived for his first New York stint in 1985, as an auxiliary to O’Connor, Egan has seemed temperamentally ill-suited to the city, a mismatch that in retrospect makes the ragged end of his career almost foreordained. O’Connor had been only recently transferred from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to take over the New York Archdiocese when Pope John Paul II asked him to take on Egan as a bishop. O’Connor had spent 27 years in the U.S. Navy as a chaplain, rising to the rank of rear admiral, and he would never refuse his higher-ups. But that’s not to say he liked the decision, or Egan himself.
The two men could not have been more different: O’Connor, an outgoing, outspoken pastor who was born in a Philadelphia rowhouse to working-class parents, the fourth of five children; and Egan, the opera-loving, piano-playing aesthete from the Roman Curia by way of an upper-middle-class Chicago upbringing. O’Connor would don a Yankees cap and sport a goofy grin; Egan would savor a performance of Otello at the Met and invite Renée Fleming to sing at his installation. “It was a very difficult relationship,” says a former Church official who knew both men.
Egan came to the job with a long résumé of academic honors but little experience in parish life. Even as a teenager in a minor seminary in Chicago, he had struck his classmates as unusually formal, with an almost patrician bearing. “It seemed like from the first day of high school he was wearing French cuffs,” even if only figuratively, says Robert McClory, a former Chicago priest who spent eight years in the seminary with Ed Egan from the time they were 13 or 14 years old, as was the custom in those days.
Egan didn’t pal around or play sports—a bout of childhood polio may have taken its toll on his physical confidence, acquaintances say—but he had plenty of friends. Unlike the rest, he rarely if ever earned a demerit on the card every seminarian had to carry with him, and over the five years of high school he garnered the highest average, winning the title of class prefect. He was also elected class president. As McClory says, “He was the perfect seminarian.”
Few were surprised when Egan was tapped to finish his studies in Rome at the Pontifical North American College, the elite seminary for would-be priests on the fast track. Egan eventually, and perhaps inevitably, earned the nickname of “Alpine Ed”—a climber who seemed destined to ascend the hierarchy. And so he did. In 1964, he received a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, often called “the pope’s Harvard.” He graduated summa cum laude—effectively he was a Church attorney—and returned to Chicago to serve as secretary to the city’s newly installed archbishop, the now-notorious Cardinal Cody.
In 1971, Egan went back to Rome to serve as a judge on the Roman Rota, the Church’s top court of appeals, and to teach canon law. His big break came in the early eighties as the Vatican was revising the Church’s entire Code of Canon Law, the dense compilation of strictures and procedures covering every possible sin or circumstance in Catholic life. Egan was one of six canonists assigned to finish the task, and he sat for many hours with Pope John Paul parsing the complex texts. “That really launched him,” says a priest who knows Egan well. The code was finally promulgated in 1983, and as often happened, John Paul wanted to reward Egan by making him an auxiliary, or assistant bishop, to a cardinal in a large diocese. (An archbishop will often have several auxiliaries to help carry the workload.)
Auxiliary bishops are normally among a cardinal’s most trusted advisers, yet O’Connor’s first assistant bishop was this outsider, and he let everyone know it. At a fête for the new bishop, in front of Egan’s family, O’Connor made edgy jokes about Egan and his grand piano and toasted him as “Chicago’s revenge.” Eventually O’Connor shunted him aside by making him vicar for education, in charge of the archdiocesan school system. By all accounts Egan did the job well enough, and in 1988, he was promoted to a diocese of his own, in Bridgeport.
For more than a decade, Egan ran the show, often in the imperious manner he seemed to perfect in Rome. If Egan didn’t have a warm and fuzzy public persona, he at least had a knack for administration. His fund-raising prowess enriched Catholic Charities, which became the largest private social-services agency in Fairfield County, and his reorganization of the schools bolstered enrollment. He cultivated contacts in “Fairchester,” the deep-pocketed Catholic crowd of Fairfield and Westchester counties, which included the likes of then General Electric CEO Jack Welch, then PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico, and Bob Wright, chairman of NBC.
In 1999, as O’Connor began to succumb to brain cancer, Egan’s name surfaced as a possible replacement. O’Connor was a favorite of John Paul’s, and as a sign of his affection, the pope had kept O’Connor on well past his 75th birthday. But now O’Connor was nearing 80, and his cancer was so advanced that the Vatican had to start thinking about making a move.
Although the process for naming bishops was once quasi democratic, or at least consultative, with local clergy having a say, in the past century the process had become increasingly secretive and byzantine. Even the terna, the list of three candidates traditionally compiled by Church officials for the pope to choose from, is not sacrosanct, and John Paul often picked someone else entirely. The names on the New York terna in early 2000 were reportedly Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, longtime head of Catholic chaplains for the armed forces in the United States; St. Louis archbishop Justin Rigali, a former Vatican diplomat who has since become cardinal in Philadelphia; and Buffalo bishop Henry Mansell, a former auxiliary to O’Connor, who remained close to him.
The infighting became fierce, especially when O’Connor heard that Egan was in the mix as well. Egan fit the profile of appointments during the last fifteen years of John Paul’s reign, when the pope overwhelmingly favored company men with a degree from Rome, experience in a Vatican office, and the powerful patrons that such a résumé brings. Egan knew the school system in New York, which needed reforming, and he was a prodigious fund-raiser, which New York needed after O’Connor’s profligate generosity. By those standards, Egan, a clerical lifer, was ideal.
But O’Connor thought he’d more than done his duty by taking Egan as an auxiliary years earlier, and he wasn’t about to see Egan warm his throne at St. Patrick’s. O’Connor wanted to see his friend Henry Mansell take over, to the point that O’Connor halted his chem-otherapy and went to see the pope, ostensibly to plead for Mansell. O’Brien didn’t have much pull in the Roman Curia (the pope’s mini-government), but Rigali did, and the pope faced an ecclesiastical impasse. Eight days after O’Connor died, the pope appointed Egan.
Following a week’s worth of tributes to O’Connor, Egan was introduced to the public. From his first words at the news conference introducing him at the Catholic chancery on First Avenue, his orotund speechifying, in a voice that sounded like Orson Welles (of the Gallo-wine-hawking vintage), made him seem a churchman from another century. There was none of the avuncular warmth that O’Connor broadcast so easily to the public.
Egan was given an impossible task. The landscape of the archdiocese was shifting under the Church’s once-solid foundations. For nearly two centuries, New York Catholicism was practically an Irish-run Establishment overseeing a mosaic of stable ethnic enclaves. But now those old-time Catholic communities were spreading out to the suburbs while new, poorer immigrants back-filled city parishes that had fewer priests to staff them and little money to support them. Churches and schools would have to close, creating a sense that after 200 years of surging numbers and clout, New York Catholicism had become a mature industry, religiously speaking, and was facing a discouraging phase of downsizing.
What’s more, part of O’Connor’s popularity was owed to the fact that he never denied anyone who came begging for a new program or for him to halt the closing of an old parish—and he left the archdiocese with a $20 million-a-year operating deficit and an infrastructure that needed a serious overhaul. During his tenure O’Connor reportedly blew through tens of millions in reserves—“O’Connor spent like a drunken sailor,” as one priest said. O’Connor left bureaucracy on top of bureaucracy, with overlapping offices and three or four different accounting programs that made it difficult to figure out exactly how much money there was, and where it was going.
Egan’s mandate was clear: Make tough decisions and then retire gracefully. In 2000, John Paul was ailing and knew his time was short, and he was consistently appointing bishops in their late sixties and early seventies who would retire within a few years, thus freeing John Paul’s eventual successor—now Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected in April 2005—to remake the hierarchy as he liked.
Egan got right to work, early on displaying the distinct management style that led priests to dub him “Edward Scissorhands.” During a March 2001 visit to the archdiocesan seminary in Yonkers, he began the meeting with the assembled faculty of St. Joseph’s Seminary by announcing, according to a witness, “Gentlemen, hard decisions have to be made.” He told those gathered that he wanted to restore the intellectual luster of the faculty, then snapped his fingers—“Literally, snapped his fingers,” recalls one witness—for an aide to hand him a sheet of paper. The cardinal then proceeded to read, with great formality, a list of faculty names and their titles. When he was done, he paused and announced, “If your name is not on this list, your services will no longer be needed in September. Questions?”
Those left off the list had been fired in public, and by default. It left several of them devastated emotionally and financially, and many are still angry. “It was done with such duplicity, such a lack of Christian charity,” says one professor who was in the room that day. Surely, much needed to be done to bring the archdiocese out of the red, and the cardinal closed or consolidated many chancery offices. Staffers who have worked with Egan say he seemed to want to stay as far removed from the emotional messiness of the budget cuts as possible. He formed few relationships with co-workers and answered those who inquired about the difficulty in cutting back with a simple rejoinder: “Economics 101.”
New York’s clergy found themselves at arm’s length from their new leader in other ways as well. In theological terms, the bishop and priest have a father-son relationship, and priests look to their bishop as their chief protector. But Egan was peremptory when engaged at close quarters and worryingly disconnected from their travails. As opposed to O’Connor, who stayed home every Wednesday to meet with any priest without an appointment, Egan made priests call a secretary. Where O’Connor would meet with his priests several times a year, Egan met with his regional vicars just once in six years.
Several other priests recalled how, early in his tenure, Egan went around to the nineteen regional vicariates to meet with the priests in groups of a few dozen at a time. At many of them, he began the session by announcing, “This is a dialogue. But it is a dialogue in the Roman sense—I talk, you listen.”
It’s not so much that the priests loved O’Connor—a highly controversial figure with enemies inside and outside of the Church. But priests, at least, felt that they could talk to him. They were proud that he was such a public presence and that he was one of them, a priest first and foremost, who would be there when they needed him.
Egan, in contrast, was always something of a loner, and he became more isolated as time passed and the pressures of the job grew. He would call priests late at night to complain about some petty slight, and he tried to have one priest’s authority to say Mass in the archdiocese revoked—a stunning maneuver that is tantamount to sacramental castration—because the priest spoke to a grassroots reform group Egan opposed. (“Egan will go after you until he gets you,” said one priest who, like most of the dozens of clerics and Church officials interviewed for this article, would speak only on condition that his name not be used.)
Egan managed to anger both sexual-abuse victims and clergy with his response to the nationwide scandal that erupted in 2002, by far the biggest issue for the Catholic Church on Egan’s watch. Though he has never been publicly accused of wrongdoing in New York, Connecticut newspapers reported in 2002 that as head of the Bridgeport diocese, he’d shifted pedophile clerics around to different parishes and that he repeatedly cast doubt on the allegations of victims. At first, Egan repeatedly insisted he had done nothing wrong. As the criticism mounted, he responded by issuing a carefully worded statement allowing that “if in hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made as regards prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry.”
As similar cases around the country prompted the Church to reform its procedures—or lack thereof—for adjudicating abuse claims, Egan was an obdurate opponent of those early efforts. In 2002, about 290 fellow bishops from around the country designated a blue-ribbon panel of Catholic laypersons, called the National Review Board, to oversee a new system of prevention and transparency. To Egan the board was tantamount to laypersons’ holding authority over a bishop, something he considered to be against Church doctrine. In January 2003, when the board visited New York, Egan refused to say Mass for the group—as other bishops did when the board visited their cities—and made no other bishop available to them.
A year later, a January 2004 audit by the board’s new Office of Child and Youth Protection gave New York a failing grade on implementing the Church’s new policies. A month later, in the review board’s first comprehensive report on the scandal, the lay group singled out for public rebuke four of the 195 archbishops who head dioceses; Egan was one of them.
Since then, he has brought the archdiocese into compliance—and then some. The chief worry now among New York’s priests is that, lacking an ally in the archbishop’s chair, they’ll have nowhere to turn if falsely accused.
Among the many criticisms of Egan, the most potent is that his tenure has been a lost opportunity. In New York, public presence translates into political power, and many Catholics believe that Egan’s invisibility has shortchanged any number of items on their agenda, from school vouchers to abortion to anti-poverty programs. At his best, an archbishop can offer comfort in the face of unfathomable loss, restore faith to an institution that has turned its back on children, and defend the rights of believers in a critical world. At a time when Catholic identity is more fractured than ever, Egan has done little to inspire the masses.
And yet, to Egan’s credit, he stands to leave the archdiocese in a much better position than it’s been in a generation—a Church with enough resources to face its third century in New York. While Egan has never issued a financial statement or balance sheet for the archdiocese, his associates say he intends to have the outstanding debt paid off by the time he leaves. If he succeeds, that would be a monumental accomplishment.
The hardest part has been the “reorganization” of parishes and schools—a euphemism for the inevitable job of closing churches and parochial schools that are draining scarce resources. Many bishops in old-line northeastern and midwestern dioceses have had to downsize to some degree, and most have done it badly—making cuts too quickly and deeply, without sufficient consultation. There’s almost no good way to shutter churches and schools—Catholics can retain deep emotional attachments long after they move away from the old neighborhood, and even a rumored closing is enough to bring out protesters.
But Egan took his time with the process, spending three years on a plan and responding to appeals to spare several parishes and schools. “I think fair justice has to be done to him,” says Father John McLoughlin, pastor of St. Ursula’s in Mount Vernon. “He might not be the most popular archbishop of New York, but from what he has said and what he has presented at the Presbyteral Council, he has done a good job assuring our survivability … I give him a kudo on that one.”
Even Egan’s harshest critics admit that he’s not solely to blame for his shortcomings. In many ways, the system that nurtured Egan also betrayed him. From the age of 14, he had been immured in an ecclesiastical Xanadu, a largely Roman world where bishops are still deferred to like royalty and indulged like dauphins. The problem, say many officials, is that the Vatican pulled him up by the roots and thrust him into a strange land and under a harsh spotlight for which he was unprepared. “It’s a problem—and it’s not Egan’s fault—but this system drops someone in from the outside, and they’re lost,” says the former Church official.
Several years ago, a small group of priests attended a luncheon hosted by Egan at his St. Patrick’s residence for a priest who had turned 75. It was a pleasant afternoon, but what one priest remembers most vividly was that Egan, then about 70, was able to tick off, with apparent anticipation, how many years, months, weeks, and days would pass until he himself would turn 75 and be eligible for retirement.
That day will finally come on April 2, at which point Egan is required by canon law to submit his resignation. Pope Benedict’s predecessor, John Paul, tended to keep cardinals in situ well after that threshold—every bishop of the city so far has died with his miter on, so to speak. Until the recent blowup with his priests, Egan was considered a safe bet to remain in place for at least another year, until the conclusion of a yearlong series of events marking the 200th birthday of the New York Archdiocese. If Benedict accepts his resignation anytime before that, Church observers say, it would be viewed as a sign that the pope was no happier with Egan than were the priests of New York. It’s hard to predict exactly what Benedict will do—he likes to keep his own counsel rather than consult widely like John Paul did.
Then, of course, comes the question of Egan’s successor. Up to 25 American bishops, including five cardinals, are up for retirement this year, and judging from the pontiff’s handful of appointments so far, he is looking for pragmatists rather than crusaders, bishops with the willingness and intellectual chops to promote the faith in the public square, but not publicity hounds—in other words, someone with Egan’s restraint and O’Connor’s pastoral instincts. Whoever he is, the New York appointment could well determine Benedict’s legacy with American Catholics, just as John Paul made his mark with O’Connor in 1984.
As for Egan himself, whenever he leaves, he’s likely to return to what he does best, presiding at confirmations and baptisms, with the kind of low-key presence he had before becoming cardinal-archbishop. Rome, of course, is his favorite city. But with Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law biding his time in a luxe Roman sinecure in the city’s glossiest basilica, St. Mary Major, there aren’t many spots left for retired American cardinals with little to do and no place to do it.
Egan recently hinted that he might spend time in France. Maybe that’s where he would finally be at home—far from New York and the shadow of his own history.
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