Gozo Bishop threatens UK blogger with legal action; je zou het er van aan je gal krijgen; convicted of molesting 17 children permitted by Maltese church to say mass “on special occasions”

August 23, 2018

TRUTH BE TOLD 

It’s about power and its abuse

Bishop Grech strongly denies allegations that he is guilty of “lack of action” about child abuse.

I have received the following communication from lawyers engaged by the Bishop of Gozo following this post.

Mr. Lambert,

I have been briefed by His Excellency Bishop Mario Grech to rebut the false allegations that you have made in his regard in your blog entitled “Worrying abuse allegations in Scicluna’s backyard”.

Bishop Grech formally denies that he has ever “shielded” any member of the clergy falling under his jurisdiction from accusations of child molestation, or, as you put it in your blog “predation on pubescent boys”. Nor has he ever ignored any call from his superiors to take action against any member of the clergy and hence your assertion that he has is guilty of “lack of action” in this respect is also absolutely unfounded.

The Bishop of Gozo, Mario Grech, has engaged lawyers to threaten a UK Catholic blogger who commented on allegations already reported by Malta Today in 2015 with criminal and civil action.

The report concerns the case of Gozitan cleric Joseph Bezzina and the allegation Bishop Mario Grech shielded him from any consequence after allegations of abuse of pubescent boys. The blog by Catholic writer Mark Lambert, says the dossier about Joseph Bezzina’s case has “disappeared”.

Mark Lambert’s report also refers to the case of Dominic Camilleri that was convicted by a Malta church tribunal in 2003 but had still not been defrocked by 2015. This was covered in a Malta Today report by Jurgen Balzan from the time.

The blogger says these cases, and a claim by members of the Gozitan clergy that accuse Bishop Mario Grech of “professional misconduct”, raise uncomfortable questions about the Gozitan curia’s commitment to take action on child abuse.

In a letter to Mark Lambert, Mario Grech’s lawyer denies the allegations and threatens “civil and criminal procedures” against the author.

Mark Lambert contrasts the Gozo Curia with Malta’s, headed by Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who is rumoured in Catholic circles to be dispatched to Philadelphia to look into the situation there after a damning report by the state authorities revealed rampant child abuse by more than 300 priests on at least 1,000 victims over the past 70 years. 

“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible not only did nothing: They hid it all,” reported the grand jury in Philadelphia.

The massive revelations in Philadelphia, that follow similar civil investigations in Ireland into child abuse by priests, raise the question on the need of a similar widespread civil investigation in Malta as well. 

And, judging by the denied reports on Gozo’s diocese, the smaller island might be the right place to start.

TRUTH BE TOLD

Priest convicted of molesting 17 children permitted by Maltese church to say mass “on special occasions”

August 27, 2018 

 this year’s Pentecost where Felix Cini and other priests led children who had participated for the first time in the communion ritual. 

In 2010 Felix Cini was chased out of another Italian parish when parishioners learnt of his conviction six years earlier. Protests by parents of young children in the parish of Cercemaggiore in the Molise region forced the Vatican to order Felix Cini away from the parish to work without any contact with children and young people.

The Italian commissioner for children (Tutore Pubblico dei Minori) in 2010 made sure the Vatican was fully briefed of Felix Cini’s history and his conviction in a letter to Cardinals Claudio Hummes and William Joseph Levada. In spite of this intervention by the Italian civil authorities, Felix Cini has not been defrocked by the Vatican.

.....
....

The Curia added that “the parish priest of Cospicua is informed about the situation and of the limited ministry exercised by Fr Cini, who can only concelebrate Mass if he is granted permission. The Archbishop authorised Fr Cini to concelebrate Mass in exceptional circumstances such as funerals of relatives and neighbours, and other special occasions of the parish.”

Sources inform this website that from the perspective of the Bormla congregation Felix Cini is in practice a full-time priest in the parish.

compleet

Lenny Harper tells Jersey Care enquiry corrupt police were not charged vs Jersey former chief minister says 'no abuse cover up'

BBC 
15-1-2016

There was no conspiracy to hide abuse allegations in Jersey, according to a former chief minister.

Frank Walker, who led the government during the police investigation into historical abuse allegations, has been giving evidence at the care inquiry.

Previous witnesses accused Mr Walker of trying to influence the original investigation.

He flatly denied the claims, saying he gave his full support to the police investigating the accusations.

The chief of police at the time of the investigation, Graham Power, was suspended and his deputy, Lenny Harper, retired amid criticism of his handling of the investigation.

The Health Minister at the time, Stuart Syvret, was also ejected from his government post after raising his concerns publicly.

While giving evidence, Mr Walker rounded on Mr Syvret, saying the former Senator's public outbursts did not help children because they undermined potential prosecutions.

He said: "If Stuart Syvret had approached me it would have set alarm bells ringing. It never happened.

"It was a totally inappropriate way to bring this into the public domain. He could and should have come to me in the first instance, probably with his Chief Officer.

"Why, after eight years of being in charge of this department, didn't he use this arena to bring forward these amazingly sensitive issues."

Mr Walker said Lenny Harper had falsely led the media to believe murders had taken place at Haut de la Garenne. And he said Mr Harper's superior officer, the Police Chief Graham Power, had allowed him to get out of control.

Mr Walker said when abuse allegations came to light, the States publicly announced it would support the police in making sure no stone was unturned and he told the panel that is exactly what it did.

12-1-2016
BBC
Police officers sold prescription drugs to prostitutes for sex and put pornographic films on computers bought with police budgets, but were not charged, it has been claimed.

Former police chief Lenny Harper told the Jersey Care inquiry he submitted files against officers in 2007, but the attorney general did not charge them.

He said one officer pointed a gun at another's head but was not sacked.

The States of Jersey Police declined to comment on the claims.

Lenny Harper, who was appointed deputy chief officer of the force in 2003, told the inquiry there were approaching a dozen suspects who had been arrested and files were presented to the Law Officers Department but they were not charged by the attorney general.

Children were 'loaned out'

He said the police took possession of computers senior members of the IT Department "had bought on the police budgets with pornographic films on the computers and no charges were ever brought against them".

He told the inquiry he could also remember at least four cases in which officers who had been suspended by the States of Jersey Police (SOJP) were reinstated by the States of Jersey.

He said he did not recall making a complaint himself to the attorney generals officer about the alleged failure to charge corrupt officers because it was the job of the head of operations to oversee daily police work, though he said lawyers working in the attorney general's office were approached by other police officers.

Mr Harper, who led a two-year long police investigation starting in 2006 into historic child abuse in Jersey, also gave evidence about "a culture emerging in Jersey of systematic child abuse" which was "far worse" than a single paedophile ring.

He said: "Children were in effect being loaned out to people taken on yachting trips" and there were allegations of abuse taking place outside of territorial waters which were not dealt with properly by the police.

Catholics for a free choice : The vaticans agenda in the European Union; de kruisbestuiving en de fu*cking cockatoo; George Pells 20 000 dollar per dag advocaat

PDF

update 22-12

"zo waarlijk helpe mij God almachtig " aan 20.000 dollar per dag  

In 2012, the victim, John Roach, received an apology and $75,000 compensation after the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne accepted he had been sexually abused by Father John Walshe, a parish priest based at Mentone in Melbourne's south east.

Father Walshe denies he abused Mr Roach

....

Mr Roach left the seminary in 1983, but two years later decided to return and had a meeting with the new rector, Cardinal Pell.

"In the course of the interview, he asked me why did I leave in the first place and I told him one of the principal reasons I left in the first place was that I had been abused by a priest," Mr Roach said

.PHOTO: "At the end of the day..the Church agrees with me": John Roach. (ABC News)

"He said, 'I have got to ask you this, can you name the priest?' and I said 'sure, he is Father John Walshe', and he went, 'OK'."

'No doubt sexual abuse occurred': Peter O'Callaghan QC

In 2012, the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, apologised to Mr Roach for the "wrongs and hurt" he suffered at the hands of Father Walshe.

Mr Roach was offered the maximum compensation payment allowed under the church's complaints process, the Melbourne Response.

Father Walshe was allowed to continue running the Mentone-Parkdale parish.

In his final report on the complaint, the lawyer appointed by the church to investigate the case, Peter O'Callaghan QC, was satisfied Mr Roach had been sexually abused.

He defined sexual abuse as: "conduct of a sexual nature that is inconsistent with the public vows, integrity of the ministerial relationship, duties or professional responsibilities of church personnel."

Although Mr O'Callaghan made no finding on which man's version of events should be believed, the final report said, "there is no doubt that sexual abuse occurred" because "a reasonable inference to be drawn is that J [the priest] had a degree of influence and control over the Seminarian".

The finding was not based on any legal interpretation of sexual abuse.

"It can be denied by Walshe till hell freezes over, but the Church accepted my case," Mr Roach said.

The ABC has sought comment from Archbishop Hart and Cardinal Pell.

Wij, rechters, willen een wet die verplichte anticonceptie mogelijk maakt

NRC 4-3-2015

22 reacties

klik

6 February 2009 Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - after declaring
 that Eluana looked pretty well and "could even give birth to a son"
issued a decree that would have forced the continuation of the treatment of Eluana

 Kopvellen, knikkertje lik

19-2-2015

Switzerland's shame: The children used as cheap farm labour BBC

By Kavita Puri Switzerland
BBC  

Thousands of people in Switzerland who were forced into child labour are demanding compensation for their stolen childhoods. Since the 1850s hundreds of thousands of Swiss children were taken from their parents and sent to farms to work - a practice that continued well into the 20th Century.

David Gogniat heard a loud knock on the door. There were two policemen.
"I heard them shouting and realised something was wrong. I looked out and saw that my mother had pushed the policemen down the stairs," he says.
"She then came back in and slammed the door. The next day three policemen came. One held my mother and the other took me with them."
At the age of eight, he was in effect kidnapped and taken away to a farm. To this day he has no idea why.
For the first years of his life, he and his older brother and sisters lived alone with their mother. They were poor, but his childhood was happy until one day in 1946, when he came home from school to find his siblings had disappeared.

A year later it was his turn.

28-10-2014 

Keywords

(Art. 6) Right to a fair trial

(Art. 6-2) Presumption of innocence

(Art. 41) Just satisfaction-{general}

Bebes Robados Woman “stolen” 48 years ago reunited with mother

A women stolen from a hospital in Valencia almost half a century ago — just one of many alleged abductions of newborn babies during the Franco era — has been reunited with her biological mother, say police in the Mediterranean port city.

The woman, now aged 48, has asked for her identity and that of her mother to be kept private, saying that her adopted mother is seriously ill and close to death.

In the wake of several stories that appeared in the media in 2011 — revealing that during the Franco years a network of nuns and doctors at certain hospitals had taken babies from poor families or single mothers and given them to wealthy parents unable to conceive — the woman in question decided to try and trace her biological mother. The abductions are believed to have continued for several years after the death of Franco, in 1975.

The woman, who strongly suspected she was a stolen baby, lodged a judicial request to find her mother, the National Police said in a statement.

She filed a request with the relevant authorities, and the Valencia force began investigating.

Campaign groups say thousands of newborns were stolen during the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco

"It has been a very complex and difficult investigation given the time that has passed since the theft, in 1964, as well as the problems associated with locating the records from that time," said the statement.

Police officers eventually found hospital records dating back to when the woman's mother was admitted.
They then cross-checked those records, making a list of 200 women who could have been her biological mother, eventually contacting each of them. When they found a woman who had been told that her child had died during birth, they carried out DNA tests, which confirmed that she was the woman's relative.
"She was very surprised and happy to hear the news," the police statement said.

 All these years the biological mother had lived believing that the baby, whose gender she had never even been told, had died in childbirth," it added.
Campaign groups for suspected victims of the practice, such as SOS Bebes Robados and Añadir, say thousands of newborns were stolen during the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
They say that around 1,500 court cases have been filed with prosecutors but that judges have shelved many on the grounds that the deeds were committed so long ago.

"Police are continuing investigations to locate those responsible for the abduction," the police said.

In April last year, Sister María Gómez Valbuena, 87, was the first person to go before a judge over the scandal. She was questioned over the kidnapping of a baby girl from a Madrid hospital three decades ago.
Last month, 47-year-old Quique Olivert, from the southern town of Huelva, said he tracked down his birth parents with the help of SOS Bebes Robados after his adoptive parents died.

Schietgebed Kerk 2013

Heer, laat die campagnekaarten niet verloren gaan tussen de pastoor en de kapelaan maar uitlekken

opdat ook zij voor de nageslachten bewaard zullen blijven

"Are you the lunatic who cut down the cherry trees?" Vatican's gag on Fr D'Arcy breaks BBC's guidelines

 



Censorship began after 'anonymous' complaint

JEROME REILLY
 April 29 2012
Irish Independent


The BBC has become embroiled in the controversy over the Vatican's gagging of Father Brian D'Arcy.
The censuring of the 64-year-old, Fermanagh-born cleric by the Vatican led to a direct order from Rome 14 months ago that he submit his writings to a religious superior for clearance.
Fr D'Arcy has been a regular contributor to BBC radio's Pause for Thought for more than 20 years, sharing a studio with presenters including Terry Wogan, Derek Jameson

and Chris Evans.
However, the revelation that he has submitted his writings to higher authorities for vetting for more than a year appears to breach BBC editorial rules though Fr D'Arcy said yesterday he had told both the BBC and the Sunday World of his problems with the Vatican 14 months ago.

In a statement to the Sunday Independent, the BBC said: "As with all our contributors, editorial control of Radio 2's Pause for Thought is the sole responsibility of the BBC."

Yesterday, Fr D'Arcy spoke of his hurt about being censured, which he said "came out of the blue".

He said he received a morning call from his superior in March of last year, who told him he had something very serious to discuss and wanted to talk to him in person.
"The first thought that comes into your mind is, 'Holy God, has someone made an accusation against me?' I really was shaking. I knew there was no possibility of an accusation but that doesn't mean there won't be one," Fr D'Arcy told the Marian Finucane Show on RTE radio.

Fr D'Arcy said when they met in a car park, his superior told him that he had been censured by the Vatican on foot of an anonymous complaint about his writings.

"He told me the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were very displeased with me. He said that they didn't like my attitude about the Vatican's way of dealing with child-sexual abuse and they didn't like my attitude with regard to what they called my liberal view on contraception. This was news to me because I haven't mentioned contraception in the last 20 years because in my view people have made up their mind about it anyway."

He said that in the letter censuring him there were cuttings from the Sunday World, and some headlines, which he hadn't even written.

"I am only going on what was said to me. I have never spoken to the Vatican," he said.
He said his first thought was that this was "the end of me. I would have to leave the order and the priesthood."

He described the way the Vatican had worked as " pretty brutal" and stressed that he has never questioned the defined doctrine of the Catholic Church.
 
Fr Pat Duffy, Provincial Superior of the Congregation of the Passion, confirmed that Fr D'Arcy had been censured but insisted he remained a priest in "good standing".

"Last year, concerns were expressed to Fr Ottaviano D'Egidio CP -- the Passionist Superior General -- by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about some aspects of Fr Brian D'Arcy's writings," said Fr Duffy.

"Since then, Fr Brian has been co-operating to ensure he can make a contribution to journalism in Ireland."
Fr D'Arcy is the fifth Irish priest to be reprimanded and censured by Rome.

Meanwhile, a key member of the Catholic hierarchy has admitted a gulf now exists between conservative and liberal elements in the Irish church.

Bishop Donal McKeown, the auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor, acknowledges the division in an article which ostensibly deals with the issue of vocations.

Bishop McKeown appears to be at pains to even-handedly address misconceptions and caricatures about both sides in the church divide.

"Even within the Catholic Church there is a gulf. On the one hand there are those who champion the assumed optimism, creativity and relational vision of the Second Vatican Council. These look askance at the smaller number of very active and more conservative young members who, for their part, blame that very lack of clarity for the current problems that afflict most churches," Bishop McKeown writes in an examination of the chasm between perceived liberals and conservatives.

"Truth and love risk being depicted as alternatives rather than as two complementary principles dedicated to journey in an inseparable covenant, whatever the tensions. But caricatures are rarely the fruit of either truth or love," he says.

"Some legal changes -- such as those on the granting of marital status to those in same-sex relationships, the legalisation of abortion for those in difficult situations or assisted suicide -- are promoted as self-evident.

"In the absence of any agreed idea of truth, the call to love or compassion is seen as one of the highest criteria for the good. As long as people believe they are acting lovingly, they should be entitled to act as they wish. The same can apply in intra-church relationships. Those who oppose some 'progressive' legislative or ecclesiastical changes are seen as hard-hearted and blinkered."

The other censured priests are Redemptorists Fr Tony Flannery and Fr Gerald Moloney, Marist priest Fr Sean Fagan and Capuchin priest Fr Owen O'Sullivan.

Responding to the BBC ‘This World’ programme entitled ‘The Shame of the Catholic Church’,
Cardinal Brady said: