Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans opwo 28 mrt '07 (Bron: RD)
EDINBURGH (RKnieuws.net) - Een rooms-katholieke tiener heeft haar gemeente in Schotland aangeklaagd wegens de beslissing haar bij protestantse pleegouders te huisvesten. De unieke rechtszaak kan een precedent scheppen voor meer mensenrechtenkwesties.
De aanklaagster is een 18-jarig meisje uit de gemeente Highlands (Schotland) dat alleen bekend is onder de initialen ”AR”. In mei 1997 werd zij, op 8-jarige leeftijd, door de gemeente in bescherming genomen. Sindsdien heeft ze achtereenvolgens bij twee protestantse gastfamilies gewoond. Deze beslissing getuigt van weinig respect voor de geloofsovertuiging van het meisje, zo menen haar advocaten. De gemeente zag er niet op toe dat „haar geloof gedurende de periode bij haar gastouders in acht werd genomen en voldoende werd gefaciliteerd.” De zitting zal plaatsvinden in het hoogste gerechtshof van Schotland, de ”Court of Session” in de hoofdstad Edinburgh. In een korte reactie geeft rechter Lord Uist al aan dat de zaak geen precedent heeft en dat daarin „nieuwe en moeilijke thema’s” worden aangekaart. De gemeente Highland is vooralsnog vast van plan haar handelwijze „krachtig” te zullen verdedigen
woensdag, maart 28, 2007
vrijdag, maart 23, 2007
Mahony accounts of abuse case tape differ - Los Angeles Times
Nou, Mahony ...... na Deli
ver US from Evil, en zijn betrokkenheid bij de smerige cover-ups voor zijn kardinale-maatje over de grens met Mexico alweer een stinkend zaakje rond Mahony.
Nu zelfs een tot aan Ratzinger aan toe!
De liegende kardinaal heeft 5 jaar lang geprobeerd tot aan hetHoogste Gerechtshof aan toe zijn documenten -waaruit de bewijzen zouden blijken -niet openbaar te hoeven maken.
Hij verloor.
En langszaam maar heel zeker wordt niet alleen de bekende cover-up duidelijk maar ook de kardinaals leugens
Maar ook blijkt nu dat Ratzinger op de hoogte was - van van de misdaden van in ieder geval deze priester, waarover tegenover het publiek gelogen werd, rechtspraak geboycot kon worden. Zoals daarvoor de man jaren zijn gang had kunnen gaan. Lijkt weinig nieuws dus.
Maar uit deze zaak blijkt ook dat Ratzinger niet alleen geinformeerd was, al vanuit zijn positie voordat hij Paus, werd, maar als Paus, geinformeerd en wel kennelijk akkoord is gegaan met een juridisch gevecht van deze liegende enmisbruik mogelijkheden verschaffende kardinaal om de documenten niet te hoeven openbaren. Die geen aangifte deed,pas nadat de therapeut an de priester zich aande wet en de noodzaak ankinderbescherming hield!
EenPaus die opdehoogtewas engoedkeurde dat zijn kardinaal geen duidelijkheid probeerde te verschaffen over Mahnony's leugens ten koste van slachtoffers, hun leven en hun recht.
Zou het werkelijk zo'n toeval zijn, of alleen een gevecht over de bevrijdingstheologie gaan dat BXVI als nieuwe pauselijke nuntius de VN- voorganger benoemd van de man die in Ierland de vuile was op heeft mogen knappen?
Laat ik daar nu toch geen meter van geloven!!
Niet met de van zijn hoofd glibberende kardinaalsmijters van Mahony en Norberto Riviera, precies in dat gebied van de volgende grote publicitaire uitbarstingen rond de smerigheid van kerkelijke functionarissen en de betrokkenheid van de HH kardinalen, niet na de veroordeling die geen veroordeling was van de Mexicaan M.M. Delgollado en diens rol in Mexico's upper crust. En ookniet na de onderzoeken door de vn gefinancieerd naar het misbruik vanuit de kerk van vrouwen en kinderen! Niet met de uispraken van een Mexicaans parlement dat de RKK niet moet denken boven de wet te staan nu duidelijk wordt dat er tegen meer dan 500 pedofiele priesters lopen.
Want als ik dat kan bedenken dan kunnen die jongens in dat vaticaan dat ook. Daar hoef je geen theologisch debat voor te voeren.
Die leidt,net als al het gerampetamp over die oorzaak zijnde homo's alleen maar af van die Kassa!
Plaintiffs say he gave the Vatican a graver version of priest's role than he gave the public.
By John Spano, Times Staff WriterMarch 20, 2007
At least six months after Cardinal Roger M. Mahony told his superiors at the Vatican that a videotape provided proof of a priest's criminal misconduct with high school boys, the head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese told the public that the tape showed no sexual activity between Father Lynn Caffoe and the boys, according to court records.
Documents newly filed in the Caffoe civil case provide the first glimpse into confidential priest files that Mahony sought for four years to keep sealed in the midst of a sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the archdiocese. He eventually took the secrecy fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before Ratzinger became pope in April 2005, Mahony said Caffoe had videotaped "partially naked" boys in a state of sexual arousal. The tape was "objective verification that criminal behavior did occur," Mahony wrote, according to papers filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court in a lawsuit by four plaintiffs who allege that Caffoe abused them.
In October 2005, in what Mahony told parishioners was the "fullest possible disclosure" about the scandal, he reported that a videotape had been discovered in 1992 in Caffoe's bedroom, depicting "improper behavior" with high school boys. But the cardinal said the boys were "fully clothed" and there was no sexual activity.
Since that report, an appellate court ordered Mahony to turn over confidential files to prosecutors, and a Superior Court judge ruled that the files must be given to plaintiffs suing the church for damages for allegedly failing to protect them from pedophile priests.
J. Michael Hennigan, Mahony's lawyer, said he sees no contradiction between Mahony's public statements and the file contents because at the time the cardinal spoke out, the archdiocese was under court order not to reveal the contents of the personnel files. Hennigan said two judges had reviewed the material and considered the summary to be adequate. The statements "were not intended to be a description of the contents of the files, which we were not allowed to do," Hennigan said. They merely served as "an index, a chronology.
"He said he does not think Mahony ever saw the videotape, which is not in the church files and may never have been there, Hennigan said.
Mahony's letter to the Vatican, though still not fully public, was quoted in a court filing by four people who say they were victimized by Caffoe. Their lawyers argue that the letter and other documents, newly released to the plaintiffs, show that Mahony and other officials of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles misrepresented the breadth and seriousness of the priest abuse reports that they received in the years before they moved to fully address the molestation problem.
"Let me be very clear on this: The cardinal did not turn over this information willingly," said Irvine attorney Katherine K. Freberg, who represents plaintiffs in the Caffoe case. "He was forced to by the courts. It is only because of this civil lawsuit filed by these brave victims that we uncovered all the salacious details about what the archdiocese knew about Father Caffoe molesting children."
Caffoe, 61, has been accused of molesting multiple minors between 1975 and 1994. He left the area in 1994 after his therapist reported an abuse allegation to child-protection authorities, and he has not been charged with a crime. Freberg said she has been unable to locate him, but his lawyer, Donald Steier, said he is alive and actively fought to keep his files confidential.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, said Mahony had not reported Caffoe's alleged crime to prosecutors."
Not to the knowledge of the people in this office who have been involved in the clergy abuse cases for several years," she said.
Whether the videotape could serve as the basis for prosecution depends on when it was made, who is in it, and whether they would testify, Gibbons added.
The suit by the four Caffoe accusers, which is set for trial in August, is one of more than 500 claims filed against the archdiocese over the decades-long clergy abuse scandal. The archdiocese paid $60 million to settle with 45 victims in December.
The church long has kept confidential files on sensitive issues involving priests, including sexual abuse accusations and reports of drinking or mental health problems, as well as records of referrals for treatment, reassignments and other personnel matters.
Caffoe's accusers cited portions of his file as support for a motion to seek punitive damages against the church, alleging that it engaged in "oppression, fraud and malice" in disregarding multiple allegations about the priest's misconduct with children.
Mahony called a 2004 report to parishioners "the best information we can glean at this time." In an addendum a year later, Mahony said three families had reported Caffoe to their parish in 1991 for being "overly familiar" with their teenage sons.
Mahony sent Caffoe to a residential treatment center for sexual offender priests, then placed him on "inactive leave" with no priestly assignment. The cardinal filed an amendment to the report in 2005, which he said summarized the contents of the church's confidential files. In the amendment, Mahony revealed that complaints had been lodged against Caffoe as far back as 1975, when parents of altar boys at St. Callistus Parish in Garden Grove reported a "boundary violation" to a pastor.
The church has defined "boundary violation" as an indiscretion "without any evidence of actual molestation."
In a sworn statement taken last month as part of the Caffoe civil suit, however, one of the altar boys' parents said she told the parish priest that Caffoe had molested her third-grader:
Q: "Did (your son) mention to you any fondling of his private parts?"
A: "Yes. He said, 'He stuck his tongue in my mouth and touched my private parts — tried to touch my private parts.' "
The chancellor of the diocese, identified in court papers as Msgr. John Rawden, who served under Archbishop Timothy Manning, Mahony's predecessor, left a note in Caffoe's personnel file stating the priest had been accused of being "overly affectionate" with altar boys.
Hennigan said that Rawden may have used "euphemisms" 30 years ago, but insisted that Mahony had accurately reported what was in the files he inherited when he became archbishop of Los Angeles in 1985.
"It sounds like an accurate description of what's in the file," Hennigan said. "It did not purport to be an accurate description of what happened."
According to the church report in 2005, a nun complained of another "boundary violation" in 1986. Caffoe's accusers, in their court filing, say the complaint they recently obtained actually stated: "Strictly confidential: don't like his association with boys. Think he should not have boys in his room."
A further note from a monsignor concluded that Caffoe had been engaging in "a few things that are clearly against policy, e.g. minors in his room," the court filing said.
In 1989, Caffoe was named associate pastor of St. James Parish in Redondo Beach. That same year, an anonymous woman complained that she had seen Caffoe on separate occasions engaged in what Mahony described in his 2005 public report as "inappropriate behavior" with two boys.
The church's files show the complaint accused Caffoe of hugging and fondling the boys, the plaintiffs argue in their court papers.
Msgr. Thomas Curry, then vicar for clergy for Mahony, informed Caffoe of the complaint but asked for no explanation, made no accusations and took no further action, according to allegations contained in court papers. Church spokesmen have said that was because the complainant insisted on being anonymous.
Mahony's 2005 report said the next complaint came in 1991, when "the pastor and the school principal (a nun) at St. James report to vicar for clergy various boundary violations by Fr. Caffoe."
According to the plaintiffs, newly filed court documents, the complaint was that Caffoe "seems to spend an inordinate amount of time with the boys hired to work in the rectory part-time…. The principal recalled that she once found Fr. Caffoe alone with an eighth-grader in a dark area of the parish hall, an event which the archbishop deemed 'strongly suggestive of improper behavior.' "
Less than a week later in 1991, parents of three boys also complained about Caffoe, according to the church report. A month after that, the church restricted Caffoe's ministry — after the priest's therapist reported the suspected abuse to law enforcement.
ver US from Evil, en zijn betrokkenheid bij de smerige cover-ups voor zijn kardinale-maatje over de grens met Mexico alweer een stinkend zaakje rond Mahony.Nu zelfs een tot aan Ratzinger aan toe!
De liegende kardinaal heeft 5 jaar lang geprobeerd tot aan hetHoogste Gerechtshof aan toe zijn documenten -waaruit de bewijzen zouden blijken -niet openbaar te hoeven maken.
Hij verloor.
En langszaam maar heel zeker wordt niet alleen de bekende cover-up duidelijk maar ook de kardinaals leugens
Maar ook blijkt nu dat Ratzinger op de hoogte was - van van de misdaden van in ieder geval deze priester, waarover tegenover het publiek gelogen werd, rechtspraak geboycot kon worden. Zoals daarvoor de man jaren zijn gang had kunnen gaan. Lijkt weinig nieuws dus.
Maar uit deze zaak blijkt ook dat Ratzinger niet alleen geinformeerd was, al vanuit zijn positie voordat hij Paus, werd, maar als Paus, geinformeerd en wel kennelijk akkoord is gegaan met een juridisch gevecht van deze liegende enmisbruik mogelijkheden verschaffende kardinaal om de documenten niet te hoeven openbaren. Die geen aangifte deed,pas nadat de therapeut an de priester zich aande wet en de noodzaak ankinderbescherming hield!
EenPaus die opdehoogtewas engoedkeurde dat zijn kardinaal geen duidelijkheid probeerde te verschaffen over Mahnony's leugens ten koste van slachtoffers, hun leven en hun recht.
Zou het werkelijk zo'n toeval zijn, of alleen een gevecht over de bevrijdingstheologie gaan dat BXVI als nieuwe pauselijke nuntius de VN- voorganger benoemd van de man die in Ierland de vuile was op heeft mogen knappen?
Laat ik daar nu toch geen meter van geloven!!
Niet met de van zijn hoofd glibberende kardinaalsmijters van Mahony en Norberto Riviera, precies in dat gebied van de volgende grote publicitaire uitbarstingen rond de smerigheid van kerkelijke functionarissen en de betrokkenheid van de HH kardinalen, niet na de veroordeling die geen veroordeling was van de Mexicaan M.M. Delgollado en diens rol in Mexico's upper crust. En ookniet na de onderzoeken door de vn gefinancieerd naar het misbruik vanuit de kerk van vrouwen en kinderen! Niet met de uispraken van een Mexicaans parlement dat de RKK niet moet denken boven de wet te staan nu duidelijk wordt dat er tegen meer dan 500 pedofiele priesters lopen.
Want als ik dat kan bedenken dan kunnen die jongens in dat vaticaan dat ook. Daar hoef je geen theologisch debat voor te voeren.
Die leidt,net als al het gerampetamp over die oorzaak zijnde homo's alleen maar af van die Kassa!
Plaintiffs say he gave the Vatican a graver version of priest's role than he gave the public.
By John Spano, Times Staff WriterMarch 20, 2007
At least six months after Cardinal Roger M. Mahony told his superiors at the Vatican that a videotape provided proof of a priest's criminal misconduct with high school boys, the head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese told the public that the tape showed no sexual activity between Father Lynn Caffoe and the boys, according to court records.
Documents newly filed in the Caffoe civil case provide the first glimpse into confidential priest files that Mahony sought for four years to keep sealed in the midst of a sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the archdiocese. He eventually took the secrecy fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before Ratzinger became pope in April 2005, Mahony said Caffoe had videotaped "partially naked" boys in a state of sexual arousal. The tape was "objective verification that criminal behavior did occur," Mahony wrote, according to papers filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court in a lawsuit by four plaintiffs who allege that Caffoe abused them.In October 2005, in what Mahony told parishioners was the "fullest possible disclosure" about the scandal, he reported that a videotape had been discovered in 1992 in Caffoe's bedroom, depicting "improper behavior" with high school boys. But the cardinal said the boys were "fully clothed" and there was no sexual activity.
Since that report, an appellate court ordered Mahony to turn over confidential files to prosecutors, and a Superior Court judge ruled that the files must be given to plaintiffs suing the church for damages for allegedly failing to protect them from pedophile priests.
J. Michael Hennigan, Mahony's lawyer, said he sees no contradiction between Mahony's public statements and the file contents because at the time the cardinal spoke out, the archdiocese was under court order not to reveal the contents of the personnel files. Hennigan said two judges had reviewed the material and considered the summary to be adequate. The statements "were not intended to be a description of the contents of the files, which we were not allowed to do," Hennigan said. They merely served as "an index, a chronology.
"He said he does not think Mahony ever saw the videotape, which is not in the church files and may never have been there, Hennigan said.
Mahony's letter to the Vatican, though still not fully public, was quoted in a court filing by four people who say they were victimized by Caffoe. Their lawyers argue that the letter and other documents, newly released to the plaintiffs, show that Mahony and other officials of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles misrepresented the breadth and seriousness of the priest abuse reports that they received in the years before they moved to fully address the molestation problem.
"Let me be very clear on this: The cardinal did not turn over this information willingly," said Irvine attorney Katherine K. Freberg, who represents plaintiffs in the Caffoe case. "He was forced to by the courts. It is only because of this civil lawsuit filed by these brave victims that we uncovered all the salacious details about what the archdiocese knew about Father Caffoe molesting children."
Caffoe, 61, has been accused of molesting multiple minors between 1975 and 1994. He left the area in 1994 after his therapist reported an abuse allegation to child-protection authorities, and he has not been charged with a crime. Freberg said she has been unable to locate him, but his lawyer, Donald Steier, said he is alive and actively fought to keep his files confidential.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, said Mahony had not reported Caffoe's alleged crime to prosecutors."
Not to the knowledge of the people in this office who have been involved in the clergy abuse cases for several years," she said.
Whether the videotape could serve as the basis for prosecution depends on when it was made, who is in it, and whether they would testify, Gibbons added.
The suit by the four Caffoe accusers, which is set for trial in August, is one of more than 500 claims filed against the archdiocese over the decades-long clergy abuse scandal. The archdiocese paid $60 million to settle with 45 victims in December.
The church long has kept confidential files on sensitive issues involving priests, including sexual abuse accusations and reports of drinking or mental health problems, as well as records of referrals for treatment, reassignments and other personnel matters.
Caffoe's accusers cited portions of his file as support for a motion to seek punitive damages against the church, alleging that it engaged in "oppression, fraud and malice" in disregarding multiple allegations about the priest's misconduct with children.
Mahony called a 2004 report to parishioners "the best information we can glean at this time." In an addendum a year later, Mahony said three families had reported Caffoe to their parish in 1991 for being "overly familiar" with their teenage sons.
Mahony sent Caffoe to a residential treatment center for sexual offender priests, then placed him on "inactive leave" with no priestly assignment. The cardinal filed an amendment to the report in 2005, which he said summarized the contents of the church's confidential files. In the amendment, Mahony revealed that complaints had been lodged against Caffoe as far back as 1975, when parents of altar boys at St. Callistus Parish in Garden Grove reported a "boundary violation" to a pastor.
The church has defined "boundary violation" as an indiscretion "without any evidence of actual molestation."
In a sworn statement taken last month as part of the Caffoe civil suit, however, one of the altar boys' parents said she told the parish priest that Caffoe had molested her third-grader:
Q: "Did (your son) mention to you any fondling of his private parts?"
A: "Yes. He said, 'He stuck his tongue in my mouth and touched my private parts — tried to touch my private parts.' "
The chancellor of the diocese, identified in court papers as Msgr. John Rawden, who served under Archbishop Timothy Manning, Mahony's predecessor, left a note in Caffoe's personnel file stating the priest had been accused of being "overly affectionate" with altar boys.
Hennigan said that Rawden may have used "euphemisms" 30 years ago, but insisted that Mahony had accurately reported what was in the files he inherited when he became archbishop of Los Angeles in 1985.
"It sounds like an accurate description of what's in the file," Hennigan said. "It did not purport to be an accurate description of what happened."
According to the church report in 2005, a nun complained of another "boundary violation" in 1986. Caffoe's accusers, in their court filing, say the complaint they recently obtained actually stated: "Strictly confidential: don't like his association with boys. Think he should not have boys in his room."
A further note from a monsignor concluded that Caffoe had been engaging in "a few things that are clearly against policy, e.g. minors in his room," the court filing said.
In 1989, Caffoe was named associate pastor of St. James Parish in Redondo Beach. That same year, an anonymous woman complained that she had seen Caffoe on separate occasions engaged in what Mahony described in his 2005 public report as "inappropriate behavior" with two boys.
The church's files show the complaint accused Caffoe of hugging and fondling the boys, the plaintiffs argue in their court papers.
Msgr. Thomas Curry, then vicar for clergy for Mahony, informed Caffoe of the complaint but asked for no explanation, made no accusations and took no further action, according to allegations contained in court papers. Church spokesmen have said that was because the complainant insisted on being anonymous.
Mahony's 2005 report said the next complaint came in 1991, when "the pastor and the school principal (a nun) at St. James report to vicar for clergy various boundary violations by Fr. Caffoe."
According to the plaintiffs, newly filed court documents, the complaint was that Caffoe "seems to spend an inordinate amount of time with the boys hired to work in the rectory part-time…. The principal recalled that she once found Fr. Caffoe alone with an eighth-grader in a dark area of the parish hall, an event which the archbishop deemed 'strongly suggestive of improper behavior.' "
Less than a week later in 1991, parents of three boys also complained about Caffoe, according to the church report. A month after that, the church restricted Caffoe's ministry — after the priest's therapist reported the suspected abuse to law enforcement.
Bill Would End Time Limits for Abuse Suits - washingtonpost.com
By Nikita StewartWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, March 21, 2007;
The D.C. Council would abolish the statute of limitations for filing criminal and civil cases that involve sexual abuse against children under a bill proposed yesterday by council member Marion Barry.
The legislation would allow the indictment of abusers in decades-old crimes and would give victims the ability to sue all parties involved in the abuse.
The proposed change in D.C. law is similar to legislation enacted in California that led to prominent cases involving abuse by Roman Catholic priests.
In the District, the measure would not only extend the time limits for criminal and civil cases but also "provide a two-year period for people whose claims were barred by a previous statute of limitations to bring those claims," according to the bill's text.
Barry (D-Ward 8) said the intent is to prosecute cases in which victims of child sexual abuse do not come forward until they are adults. "Childhood sexual abuse, by its very nature, is secretive," he said.
There are 15- and 10-year time limits for criminal child sex abuse cases in the District, depending on the type of abuse. The city applies a three-year statute of limitations on all civil claims, although a child sex abuse victim has until his or her 21st birthday to file a claim.
The legislation could have significant monetary consequences. When California lifted its statute of limitations on sex crimes against children in 2003, more than 1,000 lawsuits were filed. The dioceses of Los Angeles and Orange counties later settled lawsuits totaling $160 million.
In contrast, the Archdiocese of Washington has spent $6 million on sex abuse cases, including a $1.3 million settlement to 16 victims in December. The archdiocese covers the District and Montgomery, Prince George's, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties, and includes 140 parishes and about 580,000 members. Since 1947, the archdiocese has documented credible allegations from 132 people against 28 priests, according to Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman.
A majority of the council joined Barry's cause yesterday.
Advocates for victims and attorneys have been lobbying in various jurisdictions to implement similar legislation. Last week, a measure on opening a two-year window for civil cases died in the Maryland state Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee in an 8 to 2 vote.
Although Maryland has no statute of limitations on criminal complaints and Virginia has no time limit on felony criminal cases, both states have restrictions on civil claims brought by victims.
In Virginia, a special law allows adults to file a claim within two years of recognizing the abuse they suffered as children through a licensed professional, such as a psychiatrist.
In Maryland, a victim has until his or her 25th birthday to file a claim stemming from abuse suffered as a child.
Gibbs said the archdiocese supports Barry's plan to eliminate time limits on criminal cases. However, the archdiocese does not believe in extending the time limits for civil cases because of false claims and the complications of retroactive claims. "There's the ability for people to come forward and the ability to respond," Gibbs said. "The bar is not as high [in a civil case]. If you are going back 50 years, you don't know what happened, the person may be dead."
The D.C. Council would abolish the statute of limitations for filing criminal and civil cases that involve sexual abuse against children under a bill proposed yesterday by council member Marion Barry.
The legislation would allow the indictment of abusers in decades-old crimes and would give victims the ability to sue all parties involved in the abuse.
The proposed change in D.C. law is similar to legislation enacted in California that led to prominent cases involving abuse by Roman Catholic priests.
In the District, the measure would not only extend the time limits for criminal and civil cases but also "provide a two-year period for people whose claims were barred by a previous statute of limitations to bring those claims," according to the bill's text.
Barry (D-Ward 8) said the intent is to prosecute cases in which victims of child sexual abuse do not come forward until they are adults. "Childhood sexual abuse, by its very nature, is secretive," he said.
There are 15- and 10-year time limits for criminal child sex abuse cases in the District, depending on the type of abuse. The city applies a three-year statute of limitations on all civil claims, although a child sex abuse victim has until his or her 21st birthday to file a claim.
The legislation could have significant monetary consequences. When California lifted its statute of limitations on sex crimes against children in 2003, more than 1,000 lawsuits were filed. The dioceses of Los Angeles and Orange counties later settled lawsuits totaling $160 million.
In contrast, the Archdiocese of Washington has spent $6 million on sex abuse cases, including a $1.3 million settlement to 16 victims in December. The archdiocese covers the District and Montgomery, Prince George's, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties, and includes 140 parishes and about 580,000 members. Since 1947, the archdiocese has documented credible allegations from 132 people against 28 priests, according to Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman.
A majority of the council joined Barry's cause yesterday.
Advocates for victims and attorneys have been lobbying in various jurisdictions to implement similar legislation. Last week, a measure on opening a two-year window for civil cases died in the Maryland state Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee in an 8 to 2 vote.
Although Maryland has no statute of limitations on criminal complaints and Virginia has no time limit on felony criminal cases, both states have restrictions on civil claims brought by victims.
In Virginia, a special law allows adults to file a claim within two years of recognizing the abuse they suffered as children through a licensed professional, such as a psychiatrist.
In Maryland, a victim has until his or her 25th birthday to file a claim stemming from abuse suffered as a child.
Gibbs said the archdiocese supports Barry's plan to eliminate time limits on criminal cases. However, the archdiocese does not believe in extending the time limits for civil cases because of false claims and the complications of retroactive claims. "There's the ability for people to come forward and the ability to respond," Gibbs said. "The bar is not as high [in a civil case]. If you are going back 50 years, you don't know what happened, the person may be dead."
donderdag, maart 22, 2007
Paus benoemt nieuwe nuntius in Mexico
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans, do 22 mrt '07
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - Paus Benedictus XVI benoemde vandaag/donderdag Mgr. Christophe Pierre tot nieuwe pauselijke nuntius in Mexico. Mgr. Christophe Pierre is 61 en was sinds 1999 pauselijke nuntius in Oeganda. Hij is één van de zes Franse nuntiussen, die momenteel in diplomatieke dienst zijn bij het Vaticaan.
Christophe Pierre werd op 30 januari 1946 geboren te Rennes. Als kind leefde hij enkele jaren in Madagascar en later in Marokko. Daarna keerde hij terug naar Saint-Malô, waar hij zijn middelbare studies beëindigde. In 1963 ging hij op zijn zeventiende naar het seminarie van Rennes. Op 5 april 1970 werd hij priester gewijd.
In 1973 begon hij studies aan de ‘diplomatenschool’ van het Vaticaan. Na opdrachten in onder meer Nieuw-Zeeland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cuba en Brazilië werd hij in 1991 aangesteld als raadgever voor de permanente vertegenwoordiging van de H.Stoel bij de Verenigde Naties en de internationale instellingen in Genève. In 1995 werd hij pauselijk nuntius in Haïti en op 10 mei 1999 nuntius in Oeganda.
Mgr. Christophe Pierre werd ook meermaals genoemd als een belangrijk kandidaat om secretaris voor de relaties met de andere staten te worden. Uiteindelijk viel de keuze op zijn landgenoot Mgr. Dominique Mamberti. (tb)
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - Paus Benedictus XVI benoemde vandaag/donderdag Mgr. Christophe Pierre tot nieuwe pauselijke nuntius in Mexico. Mgr. Christophe Pierre is 61 en was sinds 1999 pauselijke nuntius in Oeganda. Hij is één van de zes Franse nuntiussen, die momenteel in diplomatieke dienst zijn bij het Vaticaan.
Christophe Pierre werd op 30 januari 1946 geboren te Rennes. Als kind leefde hij enkele jaren in Madagascar en later in Marokko. Daarna keerde hij terug naar Saint-Malô, waar hij zijn middelbare studies beëindigde. In 1963 ging hij op zijn zeventiende naar het seminarie van Rennes. Op 5 april 1970 werd hij priester gewijd.
In 1973 begon hij studies aan de ‘diplomatenschool’ van het Vaticaan. Na opdrachten in onder meer Nieuw-Zeeland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cuba en Brazilië werd hij in 1991 aangesteld als raadgever voor de permanente vertegenwoordiging van de H.Stoel bij de Verenigde Naties en de internationale instellingen in Genève. In 1995 werd hij pauselijk nuntius in Haïti en op 10 mei 1999 nuntius in Oeganda.
Mgr. Christophe Pierre werd ook meermaals genoemd als een belangrijk kandidaat om secretaris voor de relaties met de andere staten te worden. Uiteindelijk viel de keuze op zijn landgenoot Mgr. Dominique Mamberti. (tb)
Reactie op notificatie tegen Sobrino
’Buiten de armen geen heil!’
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op wo 21 mrt '07
BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - Christenen voor het Socialisme, de Werkplaats voor Theologie en Maatschappij en het Netwerk van Kritische Christenen en Basisgroepen hebben onder de titel ’Buiten de armen’ een verklaring gepubliceerd naar aanleiding van de notificatie tegen Bevrijdingstheoloog Sobrino.
"Sinds het oude ’Heilig Officie’ in 1965 zijn naam veranderde in ’Congregatie van de Geloofsleer’ kregen 12 theologen een ’notificatie’. Sommige van hun geschriften worden daarin veroordeeld als niet in overeenstemming met de leer van de Kerk. Op basis daarvan kunnen sancties genomen worden".
"Buiten een eerste notificatie aan Hans Küng in 1975, hadden alle veroordelingen plaats tijdens het pontificaat van Johannes-Paulus II. En bijna alle werden ze ondertekend door kardinaal Ratzinger. Op 14 maart jl. werd de notificatie over de geschriften van de Spaans-Salvadoreense bevrijdingstheoloog Jon Sobrino bekendgemaakt. En Mgr. Fernando Saenz Lacelle, aartsbisschop van San Salvador en lid van Opus Dei, heeft hem ondertussen al onderwijs- en publicatieverbod opgelegd".
"Het is de eerste notificatie sinds Ratzinger Benedictus XVI is geworden. Het dossier van Sobrino had hij jaren geleden als prefect van de Congregatie van de Geloofsleer ingeleid. Is het toeval dat deze veroordeling twee maanden valt vóór de Vijfde Algemene Vergadering van de Latijns-Amerikaanse Bisschoppenconferentie (CELAM) in het Braziliaanse Mariaoord Aparecida (13-21 mei)? Het lijkt erop dat Benedictus XVI, die in Aparecida aanwezig zal zijn, hiermee het signaal wil geven dat de ’optie voor de armen’ die op de Bisschoppenconferentie van Medellin (1968) geproclameerd werd en de bevrijdingstheologie begraven zijn".
"Jon Sobrino wordt vervolgd omwille van zijn christologie. Zijn visie op Christus zou al te ’menselijk’ zijn, zijn godheid wordt niet in het licht gesteld, vinden de Congregatie van de Geloofsleer en haar huidige prefect, kardinaal Levada. Het meningsverschil is te verklaren vanuit de verschillende plaats waarop enerzijds Levada, Ratzinger en Co en anderzijds Sobrino en de bevrijdingstheologen theologie bedrijven. Sobrino wisselde van plaats toen hij vanuit het relatief rijke Spanje naar El Salvador ging en daar in contact kwam met het arme en lijdende volk. Hij werd sterk geïnspireerd door Mgr. Oscar Arnulfo Romero die zich tot de armen bekeerd had, nadat hij vanuit zijn paleis de weg gevonden had naar de sloppenwijken. Om de christologie van Sobrino echt te verstaan, volstaat het niet zijn teksten te lezen en zijn woorden te aanhoren. Men moet een gelijkaardige weg naar de armen afleggen en van daaruit oprecht de profeten en het Evangelie van Jezus lezen".
"Welke theoloog kan immers beter het gelaat van Christus herkennen en er een woord over spreken: hij of zij die dagelijks de miserie, het lijden en het martelaarschap meemaakt tot en met het afslachten van eigen huisgenoten en van zijn inspirator Romero, of hij die in een wereldvreemd paleis vanuit een onaantastbaar dogma spreekt? Wie als ’bezitter van de waarheid’ vanuit een wereldvreemde plek over God spreekt, spreekt veelal over een wereldvreemde God. Met het laatste pauselijk document Sacramentum Caritatis is dat opnieuw gebleken. De celibaatsverplichting voor priesters wordt gehandhaafd en hertrouwde uit de echt gescheiden lieden mogen de communie niet ontvangen, tenzij ze geen seks hebben".
"Jon Sobrino werd reeds lang gezocht. Met deze ’notificatie’ wordt een nieuwe slag toegebracht aan de bevrijdingstheologie en de armen. Nochtans beweert de Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer om deze laatsten zeer bekommerd te zijn. Het eerste deel van de verklarende nota bij de notificatie is aan die ’bekommernis’ gewijd onder de titel "De bekommernis van de Kerk voor de armen". Daarin wordt een uitspraak van de paus geciteerd: "De eerste armoede onder de volkeren bestaat er in Christus niet te kennen". En even verder lezen we: "De voorkeursoptie voor de armen, verre van een teken van particularisme of sectarisme te zijn, manifesteert de universaliteit van het wezen en van de zending van de Kerk. Die optie sluit niemand uit. Dat is de reden waarom de Kerk deze optie niet kan uitdrukken door middel van reducerende sociologische en ideologische categorieën die van deze voorkeur een partijdige keuze zouden maken en een bron van conflict". Geen partijdige keuze dus, en geen conflict.
Maar het conflict bestaat!
De keuze is niet ’conflict of geen conflict’, maar wél ’welke kant te kiezen in het conflict’.
Als het Vaticaan, met universalisme als argument, weigert die keuze te maken, kiest ze in feite voor de rijken, voor degenen die nu, in déze wereld, de wet stellen. Dan maakt het Vaticaan gemene zaak met politieke en economische machten die de armen bestrijden. Niet toevallig kwam het offensief tegen de bevrijdingstheologie in de jaren ’80 quasi gelijktijdig vanuit twee kanten tot stand: vanuit het Vaticaan en de VS-politiek met in het bijzonder het Institute on Religion and Democracy. In het Daensjaar is het goed daarover na te denken. Als geen ander immers heeft priester Adolf Daens, die 100 jaar geleden stierf, gebotst op het bondgenootschap tussen de Katholieke Kerk en de rijken".
"Op 27.10.06 schreef Jon Sobrino een aantal bedenkingen neer over de komende bisschoppenconferentie in Aparecida. Hij deed dat in de vorm van een brief aan zijn collega bevrijdingstheoloog, vriend en huisgenoot Ignacio Ellacuría, één van de zes jezuïeten die door een doodseskader werden vermoord omdat zij voor het arme en verdrukte volk opkwamen. In die brief citeert hij uit Ellacuría’s laatste toespraak: "Alleen met alle armen en verdrukten van de wereld kunnen we geloven en de moed opbrengen om te proberen de geschiedenis om te keren". "Je zegt ons dus", schrijft Sobrino dan verder "dat de armen bron zijn van een geloof en een moed die ons van nergens anders toekomt. Zoals ik je vorig jaar schreef ’buiten de armen is er geen heil’.
" Mogen we met Sobrino hopen dat Aparecida opnieuw de weg naar de armen en Medellin zou beginnen vinden?", aldus de verklaring. (tb)
Europese vereniging voor katholieke theologie reageert op notificatie tegen Sobrino
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans do 22 mrt '07
BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - “Met droefheid en grote bezorgdheid heeft het presidium van de Europese Vereniging voor Katholieke Theologie kennis genomen van de notificatie over de werken van onze Salvadoraanse collega, Jon Sobrino”.
Dat schrijven de Europese theologen in een reactie op de notificatie van de Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer, die vorige week gepubliceerd werd.
De vereniging vraagt zich af of deze notificatie nodig of wenselijk was, “omdat die niet enkel de internationaal befaamde theoloog treft maar tevens de theologische discipline zelf”. Volgens de vereniging is de tekst op het eerste zicht erg voorzichtig opgesteld en tracht die een veroordeling van de persoon te vermijden.
“Maar een tweede lezing maakt enkele problematische aspecten duidelijk, waarvan de veronachtzaming van theologische ontwikkelingen van de laatste vijftig jaar de belangrijkste en meest verontrustende is”. De Europese theologen wijzen er tevens op dat de notificatie enkele citaten uit de Schrift, conciliedocumenten en pauselijke verklaringen zonder onderscheid plaatst naast theologische concepten en argumenten, die een heel andere oorsprong hebben. Bovendien wordt op geen enkele manier rekening gehouden met het zelfbewustzijn van Jezus of de manier waarop die de heilswaarde van zijn eigen dood gezien heeft.
“Daardoor dreigt een verwarring te ontstaan tussen het historische en theologische discours”.
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op wo 21 mrt '07
BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - Christenen voor het Socialisme, de Werkplaats voor Theologie en Maatschappij en het Netwerk van Kritische Christenen en Basisgroepen hebben onder de titel ’Buiten de armen’ een verklaring gepubliceerd naar aanleiding van de notificatie tegen Bevrijdingstheoloog Sobrino.
"Sinds het oude ’Heilig Officie’ in 1965 zijn naam veranderde in ’Congregatie van de Geloofsleer’ kregen 12 theologen een ’notificatie’. Sommige van hun geschriften worden daarin veroordeeld als niet in overeenstemming met de leer van de Kerk. Op basis daarvan kunnen sancties genomen worden".
"Buiten een eerste notificatie aan Hans Küng in 1975, hadden alle veroordelingen plaats tijdens het pontificaat van Johannes-Paulus II. En bijna alle werden ze ondertekend door kardinaal Ratzinger. Op 14 maart jl. werd de notificatie over de geschriften van de Spaans-Salvadoreense bevrijdingstheoloog Jon Sobrino bekendgemaakt. En Mgr. Fernando Saenz Lacelle, aartsbisschop van San Salvador en lid van Opus Dei, heeft hem ondertussen al onderwijs- en publicatieverbod opgelegd".
"Het is de eerste notificatie sinds Ratzinger Benedictus XVI is geworden. Het dossier van Sobrino had hij jaren geleden als prefect van de Congregatie van de Geloofsleer ingeleid. Is het toeval dat deze veroordeling twee maanden valt vóór de Vijfde Algemene Vergadering van de Latijns-Amerikaanse Bisschoppenconferentie (CELAM) in het Braziliaanse Mariaoord Aparecida (13-21 mei)? Het lijkt erop dat Benedictus XVI, die in Aparecida aanwezig zal zijn, hiermee het signaal wil geven dat de ’optie voor de armen’ die op de Bisschoppenconferentie van Medellin (1968) geproclameerd werd en de bevrijdingstheologie begraven zijn".
"Jon Sobrino wordt vervolgd omwille van zijn christologie. Zijn visie op Christus zou al te ’menselijk’ zijn, zijn godheid wordt niet in het licht gesteld, vinden de Congregatie van de Geloofsleer en haar huidige prefect, kardinaal Levada. Het meningsverschil is te verklaren vanuit de verschillende plaats waarop enerzijds Levada, Ratzinger en Co en anderzijds Sobrino en de bevrijdingstheologen theologie bedrijven. Sobrino wisselde van plaats toen hij vanuit het relatief rijke Spanje naar El Salvador ging en daar in contact kwam met het arme en lijdende volk. Hij werd sterk geïnspireerd door Mgr. Oscar Arnulfo Romero die zich tot de armen bekeerd had, nadat hij vanuit zijn paleis de weg gevonden had naar de sloppenwijken. Om de christologie van Sobrino echt te verstaan, volstaat het niet zijn teksten te lezen en zijn woorden te aanhoren. Men moet een gelijkaardige weg naar de armen afleggen en van daaruit oprecht de profeten en het Evangelie van Jezus lezen".
"Welke theoloog kan immers beter het gelaat van Christus herkennen en er een woord over spreken: hij of zij die dagelijks de miserie, het lijden en het martelaarschap meemaakt tot en met het afslachten van eigen huisgenoten en van zijn inspirator Romero, of hij die in een wereldvreemd paleis vanuit een onaantastbaar dogma spreekt? Wie als ’bezitter van de waarheid’ vanuit een wereldvreemde plek over God spreekt, spreekt veelal over een wereldvreemde God. Met het laatste pauselijk document Sacramentum Caritatis is dat opnieuw gebleken. De celibaatsverplichting voor priesters wordt gehandhaafd en hertrouwde uit de echt gescheiden lieden mogen de communie niet ontvangen, tenzij ze geen seks hebben".
"Jon Sobrino werd reeds lang gezocht. Met deze ’notificatie’ wordt een nieuwe slag toegebracht aan de bevrijdingstheologie en de armen. Nochtans beweert de Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer om deze laatsten zeer bekommerd te zijn. Het eerste deel van de verklarende nota bij de notificatie is aan die ’bekommernis’ gewijd onder de titel "De bekommernis van de Kerk voor de armen". Daarin wordt een uitspraak van de paus geciteerd: "De eerste armoede onder de volkeren bestaat er in Christus niet te kennen". En even verder lezen we: "De voorkeursoptie voor de armen, verre van een teken van particularisme of sectarisme te zijn, manifesteert de universaliteit van het wezen en van de zending van de Kerk. Die optie sluit niemand uit. Dat is de reden waarom de Kerk deze optie niet kan uitdrukken door middel van reducerende sociologische en ideologische categorieën die van deze voorkeur een partijdige keuze zouden maken en een bron van conflict". Geen partijdige keuze dus, en geen conflict.
Maar het conflict bestaat!
De keuze is niet ’conflict of geen conflict’, maar wél ’welke kant te kiezen in het conflict’.
Als het Vaticaan, met universalisme als argument, weigert die keuze te maken, kiest ze in feite voor de rijken, voor degenen die nu, in déze wereld, de wet stellen. Dan maakt het Vaticaan gemene zaak met politieke en economische machten die de armen bestrijden. Niet toevallig kwam het offensief tegen de bevrijdingstheologie in de jaren ’80 quasi gelijktijdig vanuit twee kanten tot stand: vanuit het Vaticaan en de VS-politiek met in het bijzonder het Institute on Religion and Democracy. In het Daensjaar is het goed daarover na te denken. Als geen ander immers heeft priester Adolf Daens, die 100 jaar geleden stierf, gebotst op het bondgenootschap tussen de Katholieke Kerk en de rijken".
"Op 27.10.06 schreef Jon Sobrino een aantal bedenkingen neer over de komende bisschoppenconferentie in Aparecida. Hij deed dat in de vorm van een brief aan zijn collega bevrijdingstheoloog, vriend en huisgenoot Ignacio Ellacuría, één van de zes jezuïeten die door een doodseskader werden vermoord omdat zij voor het arme en verdrukte volk opkwamen. In die brief citeert hij uit Ellacuría’s laatste toespraak: "Alleen met alle armen en verdrukten van de wereld kunnen we geloven en de moed opbrengen om te proberen de geschiedenis om te keren". "Je zegt ons dus", schrijft Sobrino dan verder "dat de armen bron zijn van een geloof en een moed die ons van nergens anders toekomt. Zoals ik je vorig jaar schreef ’buiten de armen is er geen heil’.
" Mogen we met Sobrino hopen dat Aparecida opnieuw de weg naar de armen en Medellin zou beginnen vinden?", aldus de verklaring. (tb)
Europese vereniging voor katholieke theologie reageert op notificatie tegen Sobrino
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans do 22 mrt '07
BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - “Met droefheid en grote bezorgdheid heeft het presidium van de Europese Vereniging voor Katholieke Theologie kennis genomen van de notificatie over de werken van onze Salvadoraanse collega, Jon Sobrino”.
Dat schrijven de Europese theologen in een reactie op de notificatie van de Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer, die vorige week gepubliceerd werd.
De vereniging vraagt zich af of deze notificatie nodig of wenselijk was, “omdat die niet enkel de internationaal befaamde theoloog treft maar tevens de theologische discipline zelf”. Volgens de vereniging is de tekst op het eerste zicht erg voorzichtig opgesteld en tracht die een veroordeling van de persoon te vermijden.
“Maar een tweede lezing maakt enkele problematische aspecten duidelijk, waarvan de veronachtzaming van theologische ontwikkelingen van de laatste vijftig jaar de belangrijkste en meest verontrustende is”. De Europese theologen wijzen er tevens op dat de notificatie enkele citaten uit de Schrift, conciliedocumenten en pauselijke verklaringen zonder onderscheid plaatst naast theologische concepten en argumenten, die een heel andere oorsprong hebben. Bovendien wordt op geen enkele manier rekening gehouden met het zelfbewustzijn van Jezus of de manier waarop die de heilswaarde van zijn eigen dood gezien heeft.
“Daardoor dreigt een verwarring te ontstaan tussen het historische en theologische discours”.
maandag, maart 19, 2007
CIN - Rose-Virginie Pelletier founded her faith on Jesus Christ as on a rock - Pope John Paul II
CIN - Rose-Virginie Pelletier founded her faith on Jesus Christ as on a rock - Pope John Paul II
Rose-Virginie Pelletier founded her faith on Jesus Christ as on a rock - Pope John Paul II July 9, 1996
To Reverend Mother Liliane Tauvette Superior General of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd
1. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Rose-Virginie Pelletier, in religion Mother Maria of St Euphrasia, on 31 July 1796 on Noirmoutier Island, the Vendee, France, I willingly join in the prayer and thanksgiving of the religious of your Congregation, which she founded.
Her childhood in an Atlantic port looking out towards the other continents predisposed Rose-Virginie to openness to the world, the desire to save souls and to pursue a missionary activity developed in her heart little by little. The beauty of her native island also gave her the taste for contemplation: marvelling, she discovered her Creator and Saviour and learned to love him above all else. However, from her childhood, in an age when the Church was exposed to many difficulties and persecution, she experienced suffering and separation from her family; she was thus spurred to put her one hope in God who revealed himself to her in his infinite love and immense mercy. Having seen how the rocks on the beach firmly withstood the pounding breakers which gradually shaped and polished them, she would found her faith on Christ as on a rock, a faith so firm that nothing could shake it. This would lead her often to give her sisters this instruction: "stand firm in God like rocks in the sea". Throughout her youth she let herself be guided by the Lord, who formed her heart and mind for the service of the Church for which he destined her. She strove to deepen her spiritual life with total availability to the Holy Spirit's action. Like the saints of Carmel, she was to let herself be purified by the living flame of love, in order to reach the "transforming union" (St John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love, II, 5). Lady of Charity of the Refuge, Sr Maria Euphrasia was only 29 years old when she became superior of the Refuge at Tours. Six months later, aware that Christ's love cannot be known and spread in the world except through simultaneously experienced action and contemplation, she founded the Sisters Magdalens. Still today, all the religious of the institute are invited, after the example of their foundress, to make prayer the heart of their personal life. Prayer is a relationship of intimacy with God by whom one feels loved, and a conversation through which one is led towards the Lord in an impulse of filial trust. Thus "in this way they offer the ecclesial community a singular testimony of the Church's love for her Lord and they contribute, with hidden apostolic fruitfulness, to the growth of the People of God", (Vita consecrata, n. 8). Contemplation which sustains love and the desire for perfection, is also accompanied by meditation on Scripture, recourse to the sacraments, the liturgical office and community life in the spirit of St John Eudes. The Eucharist has a special place in Christian and especially in religious life, for it shows the greatness of the love of Christ who saved the world by his sacrifice on the Cross. "the Cross of Christ ... is also a radical revelation of mercy, or rather of the love that goes against what constitutes the very root of evil in the history of man: against sin and death" (Dives in misericordia, n. 8). As Mother Maria of St Euphrasia would say, it is from the Eucharist "that we draw the light, the strength and the life of our souls. This sacrament is the Church's true treasure. It is a treasure for us all" (Entretiens et Instructions, c. Xl, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, 1842). A person is already a missionary through life hidden in God.
3. Every baptized person who receives abundance of life, born from Christ's side, is called to walk in his footsteps, to witness to his purifying and effective presence, for God comes to work all new things in us and to "be at the service of all men by giving himself yet more to the Holy Spirit" (Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer for Masses of Reconciliation I). Each one is called to experience the Good Shepherd's mercy and to become a sign of this mercy among his brothers and sisters, wounded either by trials or by a seriously disordered life. To proclaim merciful love is the principal message which guided your foundress throughout her mission to young girls, women and families, who were experiencing spiritual, moral or material distress. Through relationships based on love and respect, those wounded in heart and body gradually regain their self-confidence and discover the healing power of Christ the Saviour, for nothing is impossible to God.
4. I encourage you to pursue and extend your charitable works, destined to persons who need a loving presence in order to develop psychologically and spiritually. This demands of you patience and strength drawn from Christ. It is your task to have the same regard for those to whom you are sent as Jesus had for his contemporaries. Every person is infinitely lovable, not because of his possessions or capacity to achieve but because he is in the image of his Creator and Saviour, in the likeness of "God [who] constitutes the immutable basis of all Christian anthropology" (Mulieris dignitatem, n. 6). Nothing, not even the offence, can totally or definitively efface this divine imprint in the human being (Cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II, a. 4 a.1, ad 2). The Apostle Peter himself aware of the weight of his sin, fell down at the Lord's feet, saying: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Lk 5:8). The Lord raised him up, sent him on a mission and made him a fisher of men, thereby showing that weakness is never an excuse for refusing to change or to walk on the way with Christ. When one is loved the past can be overcome, for no one is definitively lost to God and "there is no offence, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive" in the name of the Lord (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 982). The Lord requires that his disciples, when they have received forgiveness, become signs and witnesses of his mercy and hope in the heart of the world.
5. In rich and poor countries situations of distress are increasing. Young people are sometimes reduced to servitude, they are reduced to objects of exchange for economic reasons and their most fundamental dignity is held up to ridicule by unscrupulous adults. Following in the footsteps of your foundress, invent ever new and daring ways to express God's tenderness and mercy and the Church's motherly concern for those who are most in need of it! In particular, young people rejected by society need the greatest care. By providing for their human and spiritual training, for their physical and emotional health, guiding them with affection and care enables the young to gain confidence in themselves and leads them to realize that they are loved and valued in God's eyes. Only authentic love, a gift of God, lived with great patience and "an exquisite sensitivity" (St Maria Euphrasia, Entretiens, c. 59), respectful of each one's deepest being, can heal wounds, give peace of heart, and provide the means to build a personal future and find a place in society.
6. The Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd always have the specific vocation to form a family which can welcome persons in difficulty or who desire to live, an upright and beautiful life after sinning, by offering them a place to live where peace and love prevail. During a talk she gave in April 1840, Maria Euphrasia urged her sisters: "You are destined to become good shepherds", imitating Jesus Christ. The Lord makes use of a fraternal community, enlivened by great goodness and great charity, to set right what has been damaged, to treat the injured and to show that even the lost sheep has a share in the banquet when the person is disposed to respond to love. Every person is called to holiness by way of conversion and spiritual progress. We have a remarkable example of it in the Gospel. Mary Magdalen, the sinner who showed such love for Jesus, was also the first to meet Christ on Easter morning and was to announce his Resurrection to the Apostles.
As I entrust you to the intercession of Mary, refuge of sinners, of St Mary Magdalen, St John Eudes and St Maria Euphrasia, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to you, as well as to the religious of your institute, those who are associated with your missions and those who benefit from your aid in the different institutions for which you are responsible.
From the Vatican, 9 July 1996.
John Paul II
Courtesy of Catholic Information Network (CIN) - http://www.cin.org
Rose-Virginie Pelletier founded her faith on Jesus Christ as on a rock - Pope John Paul II July 9, 1996
To Reverend Mother Liliane Tauvette Superior General of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd
1. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Rose-Virginie Pelletier, in religion Mother Maria of St Euphrasia, on 31 July 1796 on Noirmoutier Island, the Vendee, France, I willingly join in the prayer and thanksgiving of the religious of your Congregation, which she founded.
Her childhood in an Atlantic port looking out towards the other continents predisposed Rose-Virginie to openness to the world, the desire to save souls and to pursue a missionary activity developed in her heart little by little. The beauty of her native island also gave her the taste for contemplation: marvelling, she discovered her Creator and Saviour and learned to love him above all else. However, from her childhood, in an age when the Church was exposed to many difficulties and persecution, she experienced suffering and separation from her family; she was thus spurred to put her one hope in God who revealed himself to her in his infinite love and immense mercy. Having seen how the rocks on the beach firmly withstood the pounding breakers which gradually shaped and polished them, she would found her faith on Christ as on a rock, a faith so firm that nothing could shake it. This would lead her often to give her sisters this instruction: "stand firm in God like rocks in the sea". Throughout her youth she let herself be guided by the Lord, who formed her heart and mind for the service of the Church for which he destined her. She strove to deepen her spiritual life with total availability to the Holy Spirit's action. Like the saints of Carmel, she was to let herself be purified by the living flame of love, in order to reach the "transforming union" (St John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love, II, 5). Lady of Charity of the Refuge, Sr Maria Euphrasia was only 29 years old when she became superior of the Refuge at Tours. Six months later, aware that Christ's love cannot be known and spread in the world except through simultaneously experienced action and contemplation, she founded the Sisters Magdalens. Still today, all the religious of the institute are invited, after the example of their foundress, to make prayer the heart of their personal life. Prayer is a relationship of intimacy with God by whom one feels loved, and a conversation through which one is led towards the Lord in an impulse of filial trust. Thus "in this way they offer the ecclesial community a singular testimony of the Church's love for her Lord and they contribute, with hidden apostolic fruitfulness, to the growth of the People of God", (Vita consecrata, n. 8). Contemplation which sustains love and the desire for perfection, is also accompanied by meditation on Scripture, recourse to the sacraments, the liturgical office and community life in the spirit of St John Eudes. The Eucharist has a special place in Christian and especially in religious life, for it shows the greatness of the love of Christ who saved the world by his sacrifice on the Cross. "the Cross of Christ ... is also a radical revelation of mercy, or rather of the love that goes against what constitutes the very root of evil in the history of man: against sin and death" (Dives in misericordia, n. 8). As Mother Maria of St Euphrasia would say, it is from the Eucharist "that we draw the light, the strength and the life of our souls. This sacrament is the Church's true treasure. It is a treasure for us all" (Entretiens et Instructions, c. Xl, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, 1842). A person is already a missionary through life hidden in God.
3. Every baptized person who receives abundance of life, born from Christ's side, is called to walk in his footsteps, to witness to his purifying and effective presence, for God comes to work all new things in us and to "be at the service of all men by giving himself yet more to the Holy Spirit" (Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer for Masses of Reconciliation I). Each one is called to experience the Good Shepherd's mercy and to become a sign of this mercy among his brothers and sisters, wounded either by trials or by a seriously disordered life. To proclaim merciful love is the principal message which guided your foundress throughout her mission to young girls, women and families, who were experiencing spiritual, moral or material distress. Through relationships based on love and respect, those wounded in heart and body gradually regain their self-confidence and discover the healing power of Christ the Saviour, for nothing is impossible to God.
4. I encourage you to pursue and extend your charitable works, destined to persons who need a loving presence in order to develop psychologically and spiritually. This demands of you patience and strength drawn from Christ. It is your task to have the same regard for those to whom you are sent as Jesus had for his contemporaries. Every person is infinitely lovable, not because of his possessions or capacity to achieve but because he is in the image of his Creator and Saviour, in the likeness of "God [who] constitutes the immutable basis of all Christian anthropology" (Mulieris dignitatem, n. 6). Nothing, not even the offence, can totally or definitively efface this divine imprint in the human being (Cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II, a. 4 a.1, ad 2). The Apostle Peter himself aware of the weight of his sin, fell down at the Lord's feet, saying: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Lk 5:8). The Lord raised him up, sent him on a mission and made him a fisher of men, thereby showing that weakness is never an excuse for refusing to change or to walk on the way with Christ. When one is loved the past can be overcome, for no one is definitively lost to God and "there is no offence, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive" in the name of the Lord (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 982). The Lord requires that his disciples, when they have received forgiveness, become signs and witnesses of his mercy and hope in the heart of the world.
5. In rich and poor countries situations of distress are increasing. Young people are sometimes reduced to servitude, they are reduced to objects of exchange for economic reasons and their most fundamental dignity is held up to ridicule by unscrupulous adults. Following in the footsteps of your foundress, invent ever new and daring ways to express God's tenderness and mercy and the Church's motherly concern for those who are most in need of it! In particular, young people rejected by society need the greatest care. By providing for their human and spiritual training, for their physical and emotional health, guiding them with affection and care enables the young to gain confidence in themselves and leads them to realize that they are loved and valued in God's eyes. Only authentic love, a gift of God, lived with great patience and "an exquisite sensitivity" (St Maria Euphrasia, Entretiens, c. 59), respectful of each one's deepest being, can heal wounds, give peace of heart, and provide the means to build a personal future and find a place in society.
6. The Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd always have the specific vocation to form a family which can welcome persons in difficulty or who desire to live, an upright and beautiful life after sinning, by offering them a place to live where peace and love prevail. During a talk she gave in April 1840, Maria Euphrasia urged her sisters: "You are destined to become good shepherds", imitating Jesus Christ. The Lord makes use of a fraternal community, enlivened by great goodness and great charity, to set right what has been damaged, to treat the injured and to show that even the lost sheep has a share in the banquet when the person is disposed to respond to love. Every person is called to holiness by way of conversion and spiritual progress. We have a remarkable example of it in the Gospel. Mary Magdalen, the sinner who showed such love for Jesus, was also the first to meet Christ on Easter morning and was to announce his Resurrection to the Apostles.
As I entrust you to the intercession of Mary, refuge of sinners, of St Mary Magdalen, St John Eudes and St Maria Euphrasia, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to you, as well as to the religious of your institute, those who are associated with your missions and those who benefit from your aid in the different institutions for which you are responsible.
From the Vatican, 9 July 1996.
John Paul II
Courtesy of Catholic Information Network (CIN) - http://www.cin.org
vrijdag, maart 16, 2007
Ferns Diocese facing cash crisis due to abuse payouts - Ireland - Breaking News - Belfast Telegraph
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.
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.
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."
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