De ontkennende Kerk: Conference examines how clergy abuse is handled by dioceses worldwide

Wat een gebrek aan geloof, zo'n zooitje in een ontkennende kerk

By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS)

-- Father Joe Mathias sat and listened, scribbling notes at times, paying careful attention to Teresa Kettelkamp, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection.
Kettelkamp was talking about the latest efforts by dioceses across the country to protect children from abuse. For the Jesuit priest from India, it was an education.

As the Indian Catholic Church's lone representative at Anglophone Conference 2008 May 27-30, Father Mathias took in all he could during the gathering of 40 church representatives from English-speaking countries who handle allegations of child sexual abuse and oversee child protection programs in their home dioceses.

Afterward, Father Mathias, secretary of the Commission for Clergy and Religious for the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, didn't hesitate when asked where the Indian church stood in responding to abuse. "Stage zero," he told CNS.
Father Mathias knows that when he returns to New Delhi he will be the go-to man as the Indian bishops put together their own system to report abuse and to protect children."

One thing that has impressed me is the commitment and seriousness of the participants," Father Mathias said. "They have done their homework well."

He said what he learned at the conference will help as the bishops also prepare a plan to educate the broader community about child sexual abuse. A recent survey of 12,000 children between 5 and 12 years old by the Indian Ministry of Child and Women Welfare found that nearly half had reported being abused, he said.

Those who joined the Anglophone Conference at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' headquarters came from countries with vast experience in dealing with abuse issues -- the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia -- and developing countries where the topic of sexual abuse is taboo, such as India, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Papua New Guinea.

In his report to the conference, Jesuit Father Michael Lewis, coordinator of the Professional Conduct Committee of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, said cultural traditions that prevent people from discussing sexual abuse lead to the underreporting of abuse cases, even when clergy is involved.

Later he told CNS that sexual abuse by clergy is rare in Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa, the countries that make up the Southern African conference, saying there were about 60 reported cases during the last 14 years. In most cases, he said, abuse has occurred between adults with very few cases involving children.

Even when abuse comes to light, incidents are more likely to be handled by a tribal chief or local community leaders rather than by the courts, he explained. In such cases, it's the accused and his family who must deal with shame and the loss of respect within the community.

"This has never been challenged in a South African court of law and it is very unlikely to be challenged," he said.

Overall, the conference gave all the participants a chance to compare notes, to see what has worked and what has not, and to learn about new ways to protect children, not just from sexual abuse, but also from the violence of pornography, exploitation, physical abuse and human trafficking.

Bishop Gregory M. Aymond of Austin, Texas, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People, said the annual gathering helps even those countries where sophisticated abuse programs are in place.

"We are able to share best practices, able to communicate with one another the unanswered questions," Bishop Aymond told CNS."

This conference is very important because for those of us who are moving forward and sometimes on the cutting edge of asking these questions and because we have been very wounded by the questions, we can be of support to one another.

We can begin to look speculatively at the questions that really have no answers yet," he explained.Archbishop Philip E. Wilson of Adelaide, Australia, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, called the gathering a time of renewal.

"Dealing with the realities of these sorts of things are really quite deadening and worrying," he said in an interview.

The six-member delegation from Scotland, which sent along a 70-page report detailing its activities during the last year, left knowing the church is moving forward in minimizing abuse incidents."

We feel comfortable and confident about what we're doing," said Jack McCaig, national coordinator for the protection of children and vulnerable adults for the Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland. "We certainly feel we have a tremendous amount to contribute, and we're not really finished. We've got a lot more work to go."

The conference included presentations by:
-- Conventual Franciscan Father Paul Lininger, executive director of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, on how the organization developed an accreditation program related to standards to prevent sexual abuse.
-- Michelle Collins, executive director of Exploited Children Services at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va., who explained how investigators track down abusers who peddle Internet violence against children.
-- Monica Applewhite, a Texas-based researcher who assists organizations in developing best-practice standards, examined ways of monitoring accused clergy.
-- Msgr. Stephen Rossetti, president and CEO of St. Luke Institute, an assessment and treatment program in Silver Spring, Md.
-- Margaret Leland Smith, quantitative criminologist and senior researcher at the Institute for Criminal Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York who was the data analyst for a study commissioned by the U.S. bishops on the causes and context of clergy sex abuse in this country.



The study is set for completion in 2009.

Childhood sexual abuse survivors need more time to begin recovery

Maggie Watson, guest essayist
May 22, 2008

New Yorkers have an opportunity to make our state safer for children.
S.4614 is a bill currently before the state Senate that if passed would extend the statute of limitations for the prosecution of sexual offenses against a child until that victim reaches age 28.

Currently the statute of limitations runs out at age 23. However, because victims are often traumatized by someone known to them, an estimated 80 percent to 90 percent of abused children are unwilling or unable to disclose their victimization until well after they reach adulthood.

Since childhood sexual abuse survivors are more likely to do poorly in school, more likely to suffer from mental and physical illness and more likely to experience financial failure and physical injury, they need more time to begin to recover and to distance themselves from the offender.

As the law stands, we unrealistically expect survivors of sexual abuse to face their abusers in grueling court proceedings before they turn 23. In addition, children stay silent because predators use any number of trauma-inducing tactics to keep them that way. And the current law tells abusers that their methods need only be effective until their victim's 23rd birthday. Hence, not extending the law to (at least) age 28 leaves most child predators free from punishment and free to reoffend.

Furthermore, the option to file civil action, generally pursued after the lengthy criminal matters, will be denied because time has run out.

The last few years have seen laws increasing the punishments for those convicted of sexually abusing a child. But how much good can these laws do when only 10 percent to 20 percent of child victims are able to stand up under the devastating lifelong consequences of their suffering long enough to speak out?

Why hasn't this common-sense bill been passed?
Sadly, because it awaits more support.

Consider calling or writing a letter to your state senator.
For more information, call (800) 244-5373 or go to www.preventchildabuseny.org.

Watson, of Rochester, is a volunteer with Prevent Child Abuse New York.

Yukon leaders miffed by Fontaine's residential school comment

Friday, May 23, 2008 10:13 AM ET
Comments81
CBC News

Some Yukon First Nations leaders are upset after Phil Fontaine dismissed their concerns about a rise in the number of deaths of residential school survivors after receiving compensation from Ottawa.

As many as two dozen funerals for former students have taken place across the territory in recent months after the survivors collected thousands of dollars from the federal government.
Some leaders are linking the two, saying compensation compounded with recollection of their painful experiences in residential schools has caused some survivors to turn to drugs and alcohol.
But the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, who helped pen the settlement agreement that resulted in more than $27 million in compensation cheques to survivors in the Yukon since September, disagreed.

"It would be, in my view, wrong to suggest that the residential school settlement agreement [is] somehow directly responsible for the number of deaths in the Yukon," he said in an earlier interview with the CBC.
Fontaine commented that he didn't believe the deaths were directly linked to compensation payouts, but rather part of a larger tragedy of addiction and suicides among aboriginal Canadians.

Those comments have since come under fire from Yukon aboriginal leaders who accuse the assembly's national chief of not being in touch with the community.
"Maybe the national chief should put his finger a little closer to the pulse of the people that he represents," said Darius Elias, a Liberal MLA for the most remote and northern community of Vuntut Gwitchin.
"When self-governing First Nations chiefs in the Yukon say that there's a link and a problem there's a problem and we should get together and do something about it."

Elias added that he's not seeking to lay blame, but to start a discussion about the problems in hopes of solving the issue.
Fontaine's message has since shifted, with the promise to visit the Yukon and listen to the concerns of the First Nations communities.
He added, however, that the "legal and a moral obligation" to provide support for survivors lies with Health Canada.

uit de reacties:
Disappointed wrote:
Posted 2008/05/23
at 2:50 PM ET

It is sad that we are in the 21st century and the ignorance around Aboriginal issues still exists. am an Aboriginal woman who has a job, pays taxes, lives on a reserve, owns a house – that we paid for – we do understand what a mortgage is. I was raised by my grandparents, one who spent 12 years in a residential school. I became angered when reading the comments, more than the article. We are not crying for compensation for the compensation, we are calling out the continuous ignorance and disregard for the effects of the Residential school. and our entire history I guess those that make their racist comments could heal years of abuse with a cash settlement….too bad us “whining Indians” are deeper than that. You want to know what happened and why people are hurt and why the Aboriginal community is sick with addiction and poverty. Our land was taken, our children were taken, our resources were taken, and we were placed on reserves where we were only permitted to leave if an Indian agent gave us a day past. It was law to take the children and if parents resisted they were taken to jail. Children were kept from age 6 – 18 some for 12 months of the year. They were mentally, physically and sexually abused, used as slave labour, not permitted to talk their language, not permitted to talk to the opposite sex or older or younger siblings. Some had 12 years in the system and could only read at a grade three level. You want to know why the Aboriginals are in the state they are today? Look at the history of this land and its original people and educate us “whining Indians” how our societies can instantly recover from the devastation our people faced throughout history. Tell us how the effects of sexual, mental and physical abuse can be ignored and healed instantly. Tell us how we are to care for our children when no one cared for us in residential schools. You highly educated people that had such brilliant things to say in your comments…share your wisdom with us.

LA: deal gesloten met die geen deal wilden sluiten, alweer die Salesianen

Na een spijkerharde knokwedstrijd met slachtoffers, maar ook met LA Mahony, hebben ze dan toch een schikking getroffen, die Salesianen.
Maandenlange voorbereiding, bakzeil moeten halen in de voorbereiding, de jury-procedures al achter de rug, eindelijk alles klaar voor de openheid van de rechtszaak en dan alsnog: de schikking. De grenzenloosheid van de Salesianen

On eve of trial, 17 clergy sex abuse victims settle with Salesians for $19.4 million

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP,
the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell)

We are grateful for the courage and persistence of these caring victims. We appreciate their bravery in exposing their predators and their wisdom in taking legal action. All victims and Catholics should be especially grateful that these victims were strong enough to take on the most intransigent, callous and reckless Catholic institution – the Salesians.

This settlement changes nothing, however, about the Salesians’ horrific and continuing pattern of protecting and shuffling predator priests. A lengthy investigation by the Dallas Morning News found that more than 200 Salesian clerics who’ve been credibly accused of child sex crimes yet have been transferred from country to country.

In 2004, 30 of these predators faced criminal action (either convictions or pending charges) in one nation but had fled to another nation and were living freely.

And even now, a Salesian parish in San Francisco (Sts. Peter & Paul) holds the disturbing distinction of housing the highest umber of predators of any Catholic parish in the US.

This is a recalcitrant, almost spiteful Catholic institution with a shameful record of shunning victims, playing legal hardball

Every time an institution resolves a sex abuse case, it helps protect kids and heal victims. Every settlement also puts more pressure on others who oversee kids to do a better job of preventing abuse and responding to allegations of abuse.

When church officials are forced to set aside their spurious legal theories, scorched earth tactics and delaying maneuvers, and finally settle cases, deeply wounded victims finally get some long-overdue justice and healing.
(Note: The announcement was made in LA County Superior Court this morning. LA attorney Ray Boucher represents the victims.)

Contact: David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Joelle Casteix (949-322-97434), Barbara Dorris (314 862 7688)

More info on these cases
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/05_06/2008_05_09_Winton_SalesianOrder.htm

Who are the Salesians?
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news/2004_06_20_DMN_WhoAre.htm

Memory on Trial. Janus, Janus, pak me nog een keer. Where discoveries begin.

The U.S. legal system has long assumed that all testimony is not equally credible, that some witnesses are more reliable than others. In tough cases with child witnesses, it assumes adult witnesses to be more reliable. But what if the legal system had it wrong?

Researchers Valerie Reyna, human development professor, and Chuck Brainerd, human development and law school professor -- both from Cornell University -- argue that like the two-headed Roman god Janus, memory is of two minds -- that is, memories are captured and recorded separately and differently in two distinct parts of the mind.

They say children depend more heavily on a part of the mind that records, "what actually happened," while adults depend more on another part of the mind that records, "the meaning of what happened." As a result, they say, adults are more susceptible to false memories, which can be extremely problematic in court cases.

Reyna's and Brainerd's research, funded by the National Science Foundation, Arlington, Va., sparked more than 30 follow-up memory studies, many of them also funded by NSF. The researchers review the follow-on studies in an upcoming issue of Psychological Bulletin.
Tis research shows that meaning-based memories are largely responsible for false memories, especially in adult witnesses. Because the ability to extract meaning from experience develops slowly, children are less likely to produce these false memories than adults, and are more likely to give accurate testimony when properly questioned.

The finding is counterintuitive; it doesn't square with current legal tenets, and may have important implications for legal proceedings.

"Because children have fewer meaning-based experience records, they are less likely to form false memories," says Reyna. "But the law assumes children are more susceptible to false memories than adults."

The court's reliance on adult testimony has a long history. Before the early 1970s, children younger than eight years old rarely testified, because they failed the court's competency requirements.

Then in the 1970s, when statistics showed an increase in the number of child abuse cases, courts were forced to allow the testimony of young victims, only to reemphasize adult testimony in the 1990s, when some children's testimony was proven to be unreliable.

"Courts give witness instructions to tell the truth and nothing but the truth," says Brainerd. "This assumes witnesses will either be truthful or lie, but there is a third possibility now being recognized -- false memories."
According to Brainerd, "Things are about to change radically."

Fuzzy Trace Theory
Traditional theories of memory assume a person's memories are based on event reconstruction, especially after delays of a few days, weeks, or months. However, Reyna and Brainerd's Fuzzy Trace Theory hypothesizes that people store two types of experience records or memories: verbatim traces and gist traces.
Verbatim traces are memories of what actually happened. Gist traces are based on a person's understanding of what happened, or what the event meant to him or her. Gist traces stimulate false memories because they store impressions of what an event meant, which can be inconsistent with what actually happened.

False memories can be identified when witnesses accurately describe what they remember but those memories are proven false based on other unimpeachable facts.
"When gist traces are especially strong, they can produce phantom recollections -- that is, illusory, vivid recollections of things that did not happen, such as remembering a robber brandished a weapon and made threatening statements," says Reyna.

Brainerd argues that because witness testimony is the primary evidence in criminal prosecutions, false memories are a dominant reason for convictions of innocent people.
Recently, in Cook County, Ill., more than 200 murder confessions were identified as being based on adult's false memory reports because they conflicted with unimpeachable facts.For example, a person may have falsely remembered being in one location, but a sales receipt showed that he was in another location at the same time a crime was committed.

In child abuse cases where the law gives the benefit of the doubt to adult testimony, the results can be even more disconcerting. "Failure to recognize differences in how adults and children produce memory unfairly tilts the U.S. legal system against child witnesses," says Reyna.
"Children do not have the same fullness of emotional and intellectual experience as do adults when it comes to deriving meaning from situations," says Reyna. "So, meaning-based memory is less likely to influence a child's testimony."

The researchers say their transformative "two-mind" memory approach can reduce the number of false memories in court cases and give more validity to children's testimony.

Memory Science
Reyna and Brainerd developed several mathematical models associated with Fuzzy Trace Theory that can be used to predict memory outcomes in both adults and children.
The models, which test memory, have been used to determine ways in which attorneys, investigators, law enforcement officials and others can ask questions to help people access verbatim memories while suppressing false memories. The researchers say using neutral prompts to cue witnesses can help them remember what actually happened.
Reyna and Brainerd also say returning a witness to the scene of an event in a highly neutral way can cue verbatim memories and help the legal process.

The models provide the most accurate information to date on the causes of false memories. Using them, researchers can determine with surprising accuracy when a person accesses both verbatim and gist memory.

Reyna and Brainerd's findings are summarized in a new book, The Science of False Memory, published by Oxford University Press.

Sexueel misbruik in het weeshuis ontkend

Orphanage sex claims denied
MILES KEMP
May 19, 2008
Adelaide Australie

TWO veteran campaigners against abuse at the Goodwood Orphanage have accused alleged rape victims from the institution of giving fake testimony to the Mullighan Inquiry to get compensation.

Both women told The Advertiser that after reading the Mullighan Inquiry report tabled in State Parliament last month, they felt compelled to defend the "cruel" nuns – who beat and mentally tortured them – against false claims of sex abuse.

Pat Carlson and Barbara Read have led the charge against the Catholic Church's management of the former orphanage, but now accuse up to 13 of their fellow-witnesses at the inquiry of faking claims of sex abuse by nuns and church workers.

The two women are principals in a class action against the church and maintain the nuns physically, mentally and spiritually abused the children.

"No, no, I won't have it – this (sex abuse) did not happen," an emotional Mrs Read told The Advertiser today.
"I am disgusted, it makes what we have been trying to do (the campaign against the church) all these years wrong."
The women's claims have cast a shadow over the report by retired judge Ted Mullighan, QC, which is to form the basis of the Government's compensation and response to children abused in state care.

Inquiry witnesses, whose names have been kept secret by the inquiry, cited five instances of sex abuse or rape outside the orphanage grounds, and on the grounds four instances by nuns, three by priests and six by girls or church workers.
Mrs Read has told the office of Minister for Families Jay Weatherill that she wants the inquiry, set up in 2004 to investigate allegations of sex abuse and deaths in all state care, to be re-opened to question the allegations.

The lawyer for 33 victims of the Goodwood Orphanage – including Mrs Read and Mrs Carlson – who sued the Catholic Church, Peter Humphries, said none of his clients alleges sex abuse by nuns at the institution.
Mr Humphries, of Duncan Basheer Hannon, said he had never heard such allegations since joining the campaign for compensation in 2003.
Justice Mullighan, who is retired, was unavailable for comment today.
Mr Weatherill is on leave and a spokeswoman for acting Minister for Families Paul Caica said he had confidence in the "inquiry process".
Mrs Carlson, who is co-ordinator of the Former British Child Migrants group, has been a respected advocate for child migrants for two decades, her life since being brought to Adelaide in 1949 at the age of 15 has been the subject of novels, non-fiction books and television shows.

Mrs Carlson said since the campaign against Goodwood Orphanage abuse began in the late 1980s there had been no evidence of rape or sexual abuse by nuns.
Nor have allegations been raised despite the orphanage's being examined by a House of Commons inquiry in the United Kingdom, a Senate inquiry in Australia in 2001, numerous oral histories held in the State Library of South Australia, and a best-selling book's being written about it.

Mrs Carlson was at the orphanage from 1949 until 1951 and Mrs Read from 1953 until 1958, during which time many of the alleged rapes happened. "The basis of this is that we have all told the truth (to the inquiry) and these women are not – during the time we were there for about 10 years none of us saw or heard about any sexual abuse by nuns," she said.

Mrs Read is also now defending her former abusers, saying while they beat "without mercy" and emotionally abused the children in their care, allegations of sex abuse are "lies" made up to get compensation from the church.
"I have been so angry all my life with the nuns for what they did to us, for the brutality, psychological abuse and spiritual abuse, now I find I am defending them," she said. "I know one of the women and everything that has come out of her mouth is a lie." Mrs Read, who began her campaign 11 years ago, said most unbelievable were allegations that girls were assaulted in the dormitory by nuns in front of other girls.
"There were 48 girls on that dormitory, how did 47 others not see it," she said.
"The Church has brought up the dollar signs and suddenly there was all this sex abuse at the orphanage."

She said the only long-term workers at the orphanage at the time some of women alleged they were assaulted by workers were a handyman, gardener and a priest who were very sympathetic to the plight of the girls.
Mrs Read also said evidence given to the inquiry that men were allowed to wander through the orphanage seeking sex was false and this would never have been allowed by the strict nuns. Mrs Carlson has given evidence over 18 years to three inquiries that she was stripped naked by nuns and belted in front of other girls.
Mrs Read has given evidence at two inquiries over eight years of incessant beatings inflicted by two nuns, a food shortage and freezing conditions.

Nederland RKK

Artikel 2
Seksueel misbruik

2.1 Seksueel misbruik is iedere gedraging waarbij een ander onder dwang of in een afhankelijkheidssituatie seksuele handelingen moet uitvoeren of ondergaan, dan wel seksueel getinte toenaderingen of uitlatingen in welke vorm dan ook moet dulden, waardoor de geestelijke en/of lichamelijke integriteit wordt geschonden. Onder dwang kan onder meer begrepen worden: fysiek geweld of de dreiging daarmee, psychische druk, intimidatie en/of chantage.
Bisschop Gozewijn

2.2 In afwijking van het Algemeen Reglement voor het bestuur van een parochie van de Rooms Katholieke Kerk in Nederland is in alle gevallen van vermeend seksueel misbruik de bisschop bevoegd handelend op te treden.

1983 Begrafenis Mgr Zwartkruis, kerkhof Bosbeek, Heemstede.
foto Oscar van Alphen

India: nonnenmoord. Abhaya killers identified?

Posted on May 16th, 2008 by Joe

Here comes an important development in Sr. Abhaya murder case after 12 years. CBI has submitted a report on the case before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Ernakulam.

The CBI inquiry team led by SP R M Krishna subjected Fr Thomas M Kottoor and Fr Jose Puthrukayil for the narcoanalysis in September, 2007. Both the priests had associated closely with the St Pius X Convent where the body of Sister Abhaya was found on March 27, 1992. The test result was submitted before the CJM Court on January 21 this year following directive of the High Court on January 11. [Abhaya killers identified? - The Indian Express]

The local news papers report that the Narco Analysis Test results hints at Fr. Thomas Kottoor as the culprit. News has it that the CBI will submit the final report at the Court on June 4th so we will know the culprits soon.

One of the main speculations about the reason behind 21-yrs old Sr. Abhaya’s murder is that she came to know that some of her colleague nuns had sexual relationships with two Catholic priests - Fr Jose Putrukayal and Fr Thomas Kattoor. Now consider this point too - that Sr. Abhaya came from a poor family. I have heard stories (from reliable sources) of how poor nuns are being treated in the convents by their superiors. The nuns from wealthy and known families have special consideration inside the convent and the poor ones are treated badly.

On the other hand, some priests have indulged in sodomy and sexual abuse and affairs. There was a lady staying near my house and a young assistant Vicar used to frequent her house at late evenings. A couple of altar boys (an association of boys who help the priests with services in the church) had found out that the priest was having an affair with this woman. When the matter became public, the woman herself claimed that the priest is their distant relative (nobody has seen this distant relative in the place before he came to serve in our parish, but now we see him regularly even after he left our parish).

There were reports of sexual abuse of minor girls too. This has been happening in many parishes but in many cases the victims do not go public to avoid media attention and such pervert priests escape. In some cases, the local parish community has man-handled such priests. But such reaction from the community happens mostly in the village areas and urban areas tend to ignore such parish/religion related issues (as they are busy with their life).

The Church administration should not hold any sympathy for these pervert priests and should terminate their priesthood when they are found guilty. But the Church is not being ready to do so and these perverts keep on doing it again and again. This is also affecting the reputation and good work of other good priests and results in a bad reputation of the Catholic church.

I hope, at least this time, justice will be done to Sr. Abhaya’s family and the guilty will be prosecuted as per law.

PS: For Hindutva brigade’s attention - I know that priesthood in any religion has always been corrupted and it happens in all religions. I haven’t forgotten the pedophile Babas, sexually-abusing Swamis and murderous Mutt-heads.

Zie de reacties over "priesters"

Abhaya killers identified?

Friday May 16 2008

The Indian Express

Express News Service

T'PURAM: THE CBI has identified the killer of Sister Abhaya, reported television news channels. The reports aired by news channels on Thursday were based on the narcoanalysis test report submitted by the CBI before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Ernakulam.

The CBI inquiry team led by SP R M Krishna subjected Fr Thomas M Kottoor and Fr Jose Puthrukayil for the narcoanalysis in September, 2007.

Both the priests had associated closely with the St Pius X Convent where the body of Sister Abhaya was found on March 27, 1992. The test result was submitted before the CJM Court on January 21 this year following directive of the High Court on January 11.

The High Court order was in response to a petition filed by human rights activist Jomon Puthenpurackal seeking the submission of narcoanalysis report. Sources said the report clearly indicated about the murder and the method. There were enough hints about the killers too.

But, top sources in the CBI dismissed the news as rumours.

On June 4, the CBI has to file an interim report about the progress of inquiry before the CJM Court, Ernakulam. The CBI is planning to wind up the case by filing a final report before that date.

Nuntius: Pope feels the 'pain' caused by abusive priests in Ireland

Blijkbaar na Ferns de eerste uitspraak van het Vaticaan nav het Ferns onderzoek en de dramatische werkelijkheid die daar in een paar dagen eindelijk geopenbaard werd.
Da's dan niet slecht voor dat land, waar nog maar 3 maanden geleden 1/4 van de priesters vond dat kardinaal O'Conell best alle juridische trucjes mocht

By John Cooney
Monday May 12 2008

Pope Benedict XVI realises that Irish society has been "deeply pained" by the sexual abuse of children by paedophile priests, the new Papal Nuncio revealed yesterday.

In his first public statement since arriving in Ireland last month Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza (65) said he regretted "the injury inflicted on innocent people and their families, by churchmen whose conduct has been in stark contrast to their priestly calling and religious obligations".

Blessings
Recalling a private audience with the Pope on April 11, the Sicilian-born archbishop said that the Pontiff asked him to convey his apostolic blessing as well his concern that Ireland should remain ever faithful to the Catholic faith.
Archbishop Leanza was delivering an homily at a liturgical reception in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin on Saturday, during which he quoted the instructions given by Pope Benedict to the Irish bishops two years ago.

At that time, Pope Benedict had said: "It is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles of justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes."


Da's niet slecht dus voor een land waar nog geen 3 maanden geleden 1/4 van de priesters meende achter kardinaal Desmond Connell te moeten staan in diens pogen de burgerlijke overheid en de rechtspraak te kunnen gebruiken om nóg steeds te kunnen blijven zwijgen.

Nadat eerst slachtoffers de Ierse revolutie al mogelijk maakten, het Vaticaan Diarmuid Martin moest inzetten, ziet een schop onder een kardinaal zitvlak er kennelijk zo uit.Het kon, ná de uitspraken van de B XVI in de VS natuurlijk nauwelijks anders.
Naar de rest van het artikel.

Maar, hernieuwd, geen woord over het residentieel misbruik, dat kan de kassa kennelijk niet aan.
Dus draaien door die schok van het ongeloof, en de uitermate domme deals die daardoor de Ierse overheid met de Congregaties sloot, de slachtoffers en de belastingbetaler op.
Een hele hoop klinklare munt voor de Kerk om daarover nog steeds liever te willen zwijgen.Op de uitspraken daarover wordt dus nog even gewacht op Australie met de wereld-jongeren dagen, het recente Sorry, en het komende pauselijk bezoek aan Ierland.

Er zijn tenslotte nog wat vragen en parlementaire onderzoeken over dat verleden, die inmiddels steeds meer gesteld worden.
Ook over kinderen die verdwenen uit Ierland en Engeland, en verscheept werden naar Australie, en de betrokkenheid van de RKK hierbij.
Niet alleen priesters blijken grenzenloos.
Die Kerk had haar wereldwijde net al.
Slachtoffers inmiddels ook. Iedere week meer.

Het grootste probleem van die Kerk uit haar verleden dat is, stapje voor stapje, boven water aan het komen.
Maar, zo is inmiddels wereldwijd gebleken, dat is niet afhankelijk van de (h)erkenning van de Kerk of wie dan ook in die kerkelijke hierarchie.
Zelfs niet (meer) van de bereidheid kerkelijke archieven te openen!

Dat was en is -naast tijd - en wetgeving in parlementaire democratien slechts afhankelijk van slachtoffers en hun moed hun mond open te doen.
Over (vroegere) kinderen.
Daar staat die Ierse revolutie voor.

Dankzij dat wereldwijde netwerk - niet meer alleen van die Kerk - is het zelfs niet meer afhankelijk van nationale parlementaire democratien.
En dat is, zélfs al stelt die RKK hier in Nederland nog maar erg weinig voor, heel goed nieuws voor Nederlanders.

Dáár staat de Ierse revolutie óók voor. Net als sex in an other climat.

Top archbishop suggests ways to deal with abusive priests

By Jeff Diamant Religion News Service
Published: May 9, 2008

NEWARK, N.J. -- A top U.S. archbishop, recently named to the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, said the panel of cardinals and bishops could help resolve a key issue in the clergy sex abuse scandal: how to remove priests from ministry who abused children decades ago.

Under the church's Code of Canon Law, the statute of limitation for clergy sex abuse of minors expires 10 years after the victim's 18th birthday.

In older cases, a bishop can ask the Vatican to bypass that rule, but Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, N.J., said he wants to explore ways for bishops to act in such matters without asking Rome.

One possibility for these older cases, Myers said, would be a canon law change that treats molestation and sexual abuse of minors more as an illness than as a violation requiring a penalty. That would allow a bishop to more easily deem these priests unfit for ministry, he said.

"We used to think of alcoholism as a moral failure, and now it's pretty much considered an illness," said Myers, 66. "I'm not saying that's what will happen [with clergy sex abuse of minors], but it wouldn't be impossible for us to move in that direction.

"If we can find a way to work it so we don't have to apply [for removal] in each instance, but we can make the judgment locally, that would be better," he said of bishops acting without making requests to the Vatican.

Last month, during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, The New York Times reported that Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Vatican's powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, suggested that church authorities are considering changing canon law on the statute of limitations regarding clergy sex abuse of minors.

David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said he favored "anything that speeds up removing a predator from ministry," but he cautioned that such a reliance on church procedures puts undeserved faith in bishops' discretion.

What are needed, he said, are stronger civil and criminal statutes of limitation, which now vary from state to state.