Irish Independant
Saturday August 25 2007
BROTHER Edmund Garvey, in this week's press statement about Artane, claims that the Department of Education inspection -- following Fr Moore's Report -- made by two senior inspectors together with Dr Anna McCabe, the Medical Inspector, was not notified in advance.
He says: "The Brothers in Artane at the time did not have prior notice of the inspection, contrary to reports in recent media commentary."
It was the regular practice, in all industrial schools, for prior notification to be given by the Department of coming inspections.
As a result, special food was served, clean clothing issued and everything was smartened up.
It was a charade, but it allowed everyone to go on as before and reform nothing. Countless inmates have testified to this factual situation.
It is not sufficient to challenge what Brother Garvey has said about the inaccuracy on this point in Irish Independent coverage, which he criticises.
There is more evidence, however. The boy who served meals to Fr Moore -- who generally fed on his own -- knew of the inspection in advance and knew also that Fr Moore expected it.
As soon as they arrived he drove out of Artane and back to his house. There was no doubt, in Fr Moore's and the boy's minds, as well as in gossip among the Brothers, that there was prior knowledge of the visit.
Conflict of evidence goes deeper. Reading the sustained and unrelentingly negative judgments made by Fr Moore in his Report, it is inconceivable that a two-day visit by inspectors could in any way whatever refute the testimony.
And it is a disgrace that the two approaches were treated to cancel each other out.
The Moore Report, presented to the Archbishop, was concerned with every aspect of Artane witnessed over almost two years (Fr Moore remained at Artane as chaplain for seven years).
The other, done more or less on the orders of the chairman of the inter-departmental committee, Peter Berry, was done with Charles Haughey's backing. He as minister was the instigator of the response.
Department of Education alarm -- expressed very strongly by its representatives at meetings of the committee -- sought to refute everything the priest had said. To do so would have needed a stay at Artane of months, rather than two-days.
It was done as a 'response' to Fr Moore, according to Bridget McManus, present secretary general, in her testimony to the Commission on June 12, 2006.
She said the inspectors, whose brief was "to state the facts reasonably and with discretion, good and bad to be included", had, in their two-day inspection and according to department records, managed to look "at virtually every aspect of life in Artane ... including food the children were eating and the clothes they were wearing ... the relationship between boys and teachers ... virtually every heading ... [and] the Department's report was satisfied that there was no substance to the allegations of Fr Moore."
According to Bridget McManus, "there was some criticism subsequently in the Interdepartmental Committee minutes and discussions that perhaps they hadn't dealt with all headings". Hardly surprising if their assessment was confined to two days.
Later, the Medical Inspector, Dr Anna McCabe, agreed with part of Fr Moore's report but rejected its findings over food.
This was later to have a humourous postscript. When Dr McCabe, a formidable lady, retired in 1965 she visited Artane for a farewell lunch, dressed for the occasion in a tweed suit and wearing a smart tweed hat. She was accompanied by the senior brothers.
Informed in advance, the boys were given the usual 'special day' food of boiled pork chops in gravy.
When Dr McCabe came into the dining hall the boys were picking up the unusual food and inspecting the chops. Deciding that they were in her honour, those near the entrance threw them at her.
Both she and the senior brothers beat a hasty retreat. A large detachment of brothers later entered the dining hall and anyone without a chop on his plate was flogged. The event became known as giving Dr McCabe 'the chop'.
Compared with the reprehensible handling of Fr Moore's report, the treatment of Dr McCabe was light relief.
Brother Reynolds, who appeared at the Commission for the Christian Brothers, said, in talking about Fr Moore, he found himself "in difficulties". These difficulties were the 1994 conviction against Fr Moore for sexual abuse, 30 years after his report.
Brother Reynolds started his testimony saying: "I am so sorry, I need some direction ... I meant to do this before... a name was mentioned and it has caught up with me... I am not too sure how to put this without saying what I want to say. I am not too sure how to deal with this."
Instead of stopping him, Commission chairman Sean Ryan directed him to continue on the grounds of vital public interest. He allowed the references to a conviction of Fr Moore for sexual abuse to be made, and for a general debate about what might be done with this extraneous and -- to Fr Moore and his report -- damaging testimony.
This is just one of the many loopholes of error in the whole industrial school saga.
We still have a long way to go.
The Archbishop of Dublin should give us more help of the kind he gave in releasing Fr Moore's Report.
maandag, augustus 27, 2007
Dishonesty on Artane Abuse Probe Exposed...Eventually.
Irish Independent
August 18, 2007
Diarmuid Martin has released 'The Private Report on Artane Industrial School' which was furnished to his predecessor, Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, on July 7, 1962.
In so doing he has honoured his pledge, that the only possible resolution of the child sexual abuse scandal would be when everything came out.
The Archbishop should be congratulated for that. He has also said: "There are no short cuts. Over the past five years there has been a change in the Church's handling of the issue with a policy of openness and of rapidly addressing problems."
Some would dispute this, pointing to the disparity between what has happened in other countries and what has happened here. But the Archbishop is still a new broom and should be encouraged in what appears to be the beginnings of a new policy here.
He has put himself at odds with the Government and with the more reactionary elements in the Church, in respect of the abuse issue, and this is where the release of the Father Moore Report is an important action.
It throws into doubt the whole method and direction of what should have been a scrupulous investigation but has turned out to be a flawed one.
The Archbishop has drawn our attention, perhaps unwittingly, to the dishonest and biased handling of the Moore Report and its content in the hearings before the Commission on Child Abuse.
That Commission has concluded its public hearings and its chairman, Judge Sean Ryan, now has to prepare his own Report.
Father Henry Moore's Report shines a clear light of judgement upon the iniquities of Artane and upon the wider iniquities of the Industrial School System for letting what happened at Artane and elsewhere continue unchecked for decades.
The annual reports on industrial schools, year after year, told the same lies, that "the physical and educational needs of the children were adequately catered for", that "those fitted for post-primary education were enrolled in secondary or vocational classes", and that "where it was considered that pupils would benefit from secondary or vocational classes, they were enrolled in such classes".
These regular mantras were simply not true.
Moore's Report was the result of a confidential charge given him by Archbishop McQuaid. It was factual and complete. It was also, it must be said, written intelligently and with style. It followed a careful reading of the Cussen Report of 1936, itself a damning indictment of Artane, and Father Moore found -- 26 years later -- that nothing had changed.
Moore endorses Cussen's finding, that "in Artane only the minimum standard of literate education required by the regulations is provided" and that trades taught were obsolescent and "useful to the schools rather than providing a groundwork for future employment. The boys are regarded as juvenile labourers".
Moore said Artane "is in need of drastic revision". Management methods employed "are obsolete, proper training is neglected, and there is no attempt at rehabilitation". Artane is "dilapidated, colourless and uninspiring, and reflects the interior spirit".
Admission is "indiscriminate" with "no regard for background, medical history, antecedents or suitability for the training". Medical history would not have mattered anyway because the Department of Education inspectors were entirely indifferent to "the seriously inadequate medical facilities in the school" -- no matron or nurse, but run by an unqualified brother "transferred from care of the poultry farm".
Food was sufficient, but plain and unappetising. Methods of serving were crude and unhealthy. Clothing was inadequate, uncomfortable, unhygienic and dirty, as were the boys. The winter during which Moore surveyed conditions was cold, and the one that followed his report was one of the coldest of the last century.
"It is pathetic to observe hundreds of boys walking the roads even in deep winter without overcoats," Moore wrote. "All the clothing was indiscriminately shared. Handkerchiefs are not used."
A trifle, in the broader spectrum of a place run like a prison, but Moore comments: "This fundamental disregard for personal attention inevitably generates insecurity, instability and an amoral concern for the private property of others. This I consider to be a causative factor in the habits of stealing frequently encountered among ex-pupils."
Discipline he found outrageously severe -- "regimentation"; "without proportion"; "boy severely beaten on the face for an insignificant misdemeanour", are phrases used. The result was "undue fear and anxiety", loss of self-esteem and an inability to establish relationships.
He condemned the chapel as dirty and damaged, with mouse-droppings on the Chasuble.
Severest judgements were against the levels of education, with widespread illiteracy in boys up to 14. Technical training was completely out of date, vocational guidance non-existent, choice of trade training bore no relation to wishes or capacities of the boys. This was all contrary to the Children's Act of 1908.
A counter move by the department, made aware of the report, was to send inspectors on a two-day visit, the Brothers knowing of it in advance. A whitewash followed. An inter-departmental inquiry heard Moore's evidence and accepted a good deal of it but he was given a punishing time, causing his mentor, Archbishop McQuaid, to respond to the department and to the Government.However, any public confrontation would bring shame on the Church, so the matter was dropped.
As to the charges on education, clothing, care, food, recreation and all the other matters dealt with by Moore, the Commission did not discuss, debate or raise them in a direct and open way, putting each of Moore's criticisms into the public arena for debate and cross-examination.
August 18, 2007
Diarmuid Martin has released 'The Private Report on Artane Industrial School' which was furnished to his predecessor, Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, on July 7, 1962.
In so doing he has honoured his pledge, that the only possible resolution of the child sexual abuse scandal would be when everything came out.
The Archbishop should be congratulated for that. He has also said: "There are no short cuts. Over the past five years there has been a change in the Church's handling of the issue with a policy of openness and of rapidly addressing problems."
Some would dispute this, pointing to the disparity between what has happened in other countries and what has happened here. But the Archbishop is still a new broom and should be encouraged in what appears to be the beginnings of a new policy here.
He has put himself at odds with the Government and with the more reactionary elements in the Church, in respect of the abuse issue, and this is where the release of the Father Moore Report is an important action.
It throws into doubt the whole method and direction of what should have been a scrupulous investigation but has turned out to be a flawed one.
The Archbishop has drawn our attention, perhaps unwittingly, to the dishonest and biased handling of the Moore Report and its content in the hearings before the Commission on Child Abuse.
That Commission has concluded its public hearings and its chairman, Judge Sean Ryan, now has to prepare his own Report.
Father Henry Moore's Report shines a clear light of judgement upon the iniquities of Artane and upon the wider iniquities of the Industrial School System for letting what happened at Artane and elsewhere continue unchecked for decades.
The annual reports on industrial schools, year after year, told the same lies, that "the physical and educational needs of the children were adequately catered for", that "those fitted for post-primary education were enrolled in secondary or vocational classes", and that "where it was considered that pupils would benefit from secondary or vocational classes, they were enrolled in such classes".
These regular mantras were simply not true.
Moore's Report was the result of a confidential charge given him by Archbishop McQuaid. It was factual and complete. It was also, it must be said, written intelligently and with style. It followed a careful reading of the Cussen Report of 1936, itself a damning indictment of Artane, and Father Moore found -- 26 years later -- that nothing had changed.
Moore endorses Cussen's finding, that "in Artane only the minimum standard of literate education required by the regulations is provided" and that trades taught were obsolescent and "useful to the schools rather than providing a groundwork for future employment. The boys are regarded as juvenile labourers".
Moore said Artane "is in need of drastic revision". Management methods employed "are obsolete, proper training is neglected, and there is no attempt at rehabilitation". Artane is "dilapidated, colourless and uninspiring, and reflects the interior spirit".
Admission is "indiscriminate" with "no regard for background, medical history, antecedents or suitability for the training". Medical history would not have mattered anyway because the Department of Education inspectors were entirely indifferent to "the seriously inadequate medical facilities in the school" -- no matron or nurse, but run by an unqualified brother "transferred from care of the poultry farm".
Food was sufficient, but plain and unappetising. Methods of serving were crude and unhealthy. Clothing was inadequate, uncomfortable, unhygienic and dirty, as were the boys. The winter during which Moore surveyed conditions was cold, and the one that followed his report was one of the coldest of the last century.
"It is pathetic to observe hundreds of boys walking the roads even in deep winter without overcoats," Moore wrote. "All the clothing was indiscriminately shared. Handkerchiefs are not used."
A trifle, in the broader spectrum of a place run like a prison, but Moore comments: "This fundamental disregard for personal attention inevitably generates insecurity, instability and an amoral concern for the private property of others. This I consider to be a causative factor in the habits of stealing frequently encountered among ex-pupils."
Discipline he found outrageously severe -- "regimentation"; "without proportion"; "boy severely beaten on the face for an insignificant misdemeanour", are phrases used. The result was "undue fear and anxiety", loss of self-esteem and an inability to establish relationships.
He condemned the chapel as dirty and damaged, with mouse-droppings on the Chasuble.
Severest judgements were against the levels of education, with widespread illiteracy in boys up to 14. Technical training was completely out of date, vocational guidance non-existent, choice of trade training bore no relation to wishes or capacities of the boys. This was all contrary to the Children's Act of 1908.
A counter move by the department, made aware of the report, was to send inspectors on a two-day visit, the Brothers knowing of it in advance. A whitewash followed. An inter-departmental inquiry heard Moore's evidence and accepted a good deal of it but he was given a punishing time, causing his mentor, Archbishop McQuaid, to respond to the department and to the Government.However, any public confrontation would bring shame on the Church, so the matter was dropped.
As to the charges on education, clothing, care, food, recreation and all the other matters dealt with by Moore, the Commission did not discuss, debate or raise them in a direct and open way, putting each of Moore's criticisms into the public arena for debate and cross-examination.
Doodscertificaat van Patsy Flannigan, een van the boys of Artane, 1951 
en hier staan de openbare verhoren.
Dank je wel, voor jullie gecontinueerde moed!
"...My worry is that many victims won't adequately appreciate the huge achievements they've made - in their own healing, in protecting others, in prodding law enforcement and in alerting citizens...."
Bruno's simple request
Last week saw a flurry of Irish diplomatic activity in the Vatican, where Government secretary general Dermot McCarthy spoke publicly of formalising church/state dialogue, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern, met the Pope and invited him again to these shores.
Mary Raftery reports.
As we contemplate the possibility of another papal visit, it is worth considering the extraordinary case of Bruno Hrela. Bruno has a remarkable file of correspondence with the Vatican, from which the following information has been taken.
Bruno was born in Croatia in 1938 into a devout Catholic family. His father was killed during the second World War when their house was bombed from the air and destroyed. He, his two sisters and his mother, Maria, became refugees and fled to Italy.
There they met a fellow Croatian, a priest who suggested to Bruno's mother that she go to Ireland where she could start a new life in that most Catholic of countries.
With this priest's help, Maria Hrela and her family eventually arrived in Dublin in 1951. However, she received little assistance here and was unable to find work.
Within months, Maria's children were taken from her and placed in industrial schools. Bruno, then 12 years old, ended up in Artane, which at that time housed up to 800 other boys, and was of course run by the Christian Brothers. As Bruno tells the Pope in his letters, it was here that his personal tragedy began.
These letters describe the abuse Bruno suffered as a child at Artane. At the time, he managed to tell his mother what was happening not just to him but to many other boys as well.
She was distraught by the accounts of daily beatings and humiliations endured by her son, and embarked on a most unusual course of action. She decided to write to then Pope, Pius XII.
Bruno had fluent Italian from his time spent in that country, and so his mother dictated to him and he translated and physically wrote the two-page letter to the Pontiff.
It outlined the abuse suffered (physical and sexual, says Bruno) by the boys at Artane, and spoke of the fear and anguish in which they lived. Bruno describes it as a desperate cry for help.
Surprisingly, the Vatican appears to have acted on the letter. Bruno describes a bishop arriving at Artane, with the children all lined up for his inspection.
The bishop - Bruno cannot remember his name - was brought over and introduced to Bruno. In front of the Christian Brothers in charge, the bishop asked the boy if he had any complaints about the school.
Bruno froze in terror, and did not confirm the accusations of abuse made in the letter to the Pope. The bishop departed, and Bruno was left alone with the Brothers. As he explained in the letters to the current Pope, they beat him into unconsciousness and left him bleeding on the floor.
Bruno now wants that original letter, written in the early 1950s, alerting Pope Pius XII to the abuse of children in Artane.
He first made the request in 2001. He was curtly informed that the Vatican archives were available for inspection only up until 1922, the end of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV.
Everything since 1922 remains sealed. He has tried again and again, humbly pleading with Pope John Paul, but the response every time is brief and blunt - his request is refused.
All Bruno wants from the Vatican is a copy of what after all is his own letter, written over 50 years ago by his own hand and containing his mother's words.
It is, he says, a part of his own story, his own experience.
It is almost literally breaking his heart that the Pope won't listen to him.
From time to time, Bruno phones me from London, where he has lived for many years.
When he talks about Artane and his letter and the current Pope, there often comes a point where he can't continue, where he breaks down and cries. The sadness never leaves you, he says.
Of course, were it from the Irish State that Bruno had requested any material relating to himself, he would be given it without argument. His right to any documentation relating to himself is now enshrined in our freedom of information legislation.
Perhaps the formalisation of church/state dialogue in this country might be of some value if it avoided abstractions and addressed itself instead to issues such as Bruno Hrela's very simple request from the Vatican.
It is one area where the Irish State could teach the Vatican a thing or two about basic duties and obligations, and in the process ease the burden on one man who has suffered much at the hands of both church and state.
Twenty-five years ago, when the Pope last visited Ireland, we did not know Bruno's story or those of thousands like him whose lives have been tortured by their experiences as children in Catholic Church-run institutions.
Today, in the context of a possible second visit by the Pontiff, we no longer have that excuse.
Mary Raftery - Email
18th November 2004
© The Irish Times
Brothers vent anger at Archbishop over Artane
Friday August 24 2007
THE Christian Brothers have launched an extraordinary attack on the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, over his decision to publish a report on conditions at the Artane industrial school, compiled 45 years ago.
In an unprecedented public attack on an Archbishop by a religious order, the Brothers said they were "shocked and dismayed" at the decision of Dr Martin to release rea 1962 Church report into the conditions at the school which is the subject of an inquiry by the Ryan Commission on Child Abuse.
The report, compiled by Artane's then chaplain, Fr Henry Moore, followed a request from his Archbishop, John Charles McQuaid, to conduct a "confidential survey" on the management of the Artane school.
His report dealt with a number of issues including general care, diet, clothing, discipline and education of the 450 boys who were resident at the school at the time. On the controversial issue of discipline, he wrote that while the boys were reasonably well fed, discipline was rigid and severe and "frequently approaches pure regimentation".
"Constant recourse to physical punishment breeds undue fear and anxiety. The personality of the boy is inevi-tably repressed, maladjusted and in some cases abnormal," he said in his report.
A follow-up special inspection to the chaplain's survey was made by two inspectors of the Department of Education and the medical inspector. But it was Archbishop Martin's decision to make Fr Moore's report public following repeated requests from SOCA, the Survivors of Child Abuse organisation, that has raised the ire of the Christian Brothers.
In a lengthy statement, the Brothers said Dr Martin's decision to release the controversial 1962 survey was "unconscionable."
THE Christian Brothers have launched an extraordinary attack on the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, over his decision to publish a report on conditions at the Artane industrial school, compiled 45 years ago.
In an unprecedented public attack on an Archbishop by a religious order, the Brothers said they were "shocked and dismayed" at the decision of Dr Martin to release rea 1962 Church report into the conditions at the school which is the subject of an inquiry by the Ryan Commission on Child Abuse.
The report, compiled by Artane's then chaplain, Fr Henry Moore, followed a request from his Archbishop, John Charles McQuaid, to conduct a "confidential survey" on the management of the Artane school.
His report dealt with a number of issues including general care, diet, clothing, discipline and education of the 450 boys who were resident at the school at the time. On the controversial issue of discipline, he wrote that while the boys were reasonably well fed, discipline was rigid and severe and "frequently approaches pure regimentation".
"Constant recourse to physical punishment breeds undue fear and anxiety. The personality of the boy is inevi-tably repressed, maladjusted and in some cases abnormal," he said in his report.
A follow-up special inspection to the chaplain's survey was made by two inspectors of the Department of Education and the medical inspector. But it was Archbishop Martin's decision to make Fr Moore's report public following repeated requests from SOCA, the Survivors of Child Abuse organisation, that has raised the ire of the Christian Brothers.
In a lengthy statement, the Brothers said Dr Martin's decision to release the controversial 1962 survey was "unconscionable."
Bishop calls for Catholic reform
Barney Zwartz August 25, 2007
THE Catholic Church is still not serious about confronting sexual abuse, only "managing" it, according to the Sydney bishop who headed Australian efforts to tackle abuse.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson says the Catholic Church needs to reverse 2000 years of teaching on sex and power as part of radical reforms from the Pope down.
While it refuses to look at some fundamental teachings — including sex outside marriage, women priests, homosexuality and papal power — the culture that produced and protected abusers will continue, he says.
These explosive claims — unprecedented for a bishop — are in a book to be launched tomorrow: Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church.
......
A Sydney bishop who became an advocate for church sex abuse victims has revealed his own abuse by a stranger.
Linda Morris reports.August 25, 2007
During the darkest days of the priesthood, when the Australian church was wrestling with the scandal of sexual abuse, Sydney's Catholic auxiliary bishop, Geoffrey Robinson, was coming to terms with his own demons.
Only now, three years after his retirement, has Robinson has gone public with an extraordinary and personal disclosure: he was the victim of an abusive stranger. He had kept the secret hidden "in the attic of my mind" for 50 years until hearing the stories of victims began to stir "strong echoes within my own heart and mind".
But the church leader who could have become archbishop of Sydney did not reveal the abuse, and the indelible mark it left, to anyone outside a small circle of friends.
But this week Robinson, shy and guarded, broke his lifelong silence in an explosive critique of the church's use and misuse of power which outlines a radical vision for the church that questions the very nature of its power and sexual ethics and slays the sacred cow of papal infallibility.
Robinson, 70, was a teenager at the time of the abuse, the nature of which he does not fully disclose. The offender was neither a family member nor a priest.
Even now he finds it hard to tackle the topic and prefers his book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church, to speak for him. "Neither in my age at the time it happened nor in the duration of the abuse was it as serious as much of the abuse I have encountered in others, and yet, if the man had been caught in any one of his acts against me, he would have been sent to prison," he writes in the book's introduction.
"It was never a repressed memory but for most of my life it was, as it were, placed in the attic of my mind. That is, I always knew it was there but I never took it down to look at it."
When he was appointed in 1994 to the church's national professional standards committee to help develop procedures to respond to sex abuse complaints he made a vow to himself to "never defend the indefensible". He strove to act as a "decent human being, a good Christian and caring priest" and listened to the complaints of as many victims as possible so he could to learn from their experiences.
"It was talking with victims and some of the things they said aroused feelings and memories in my own mind. With the help of counsellors, I became conscious of some of the effects it had had on me." The memories not only inform his compassionate response to fellow victims but have fed his growing disenchantment with church authorities.
Robinson has written two other books but neither is as close to his soul as the latest.
His book sets out fearlessly and with faith what others have thought for a long time: that instituting legal and pastoral procedures is not enough to beat the crisis of sexual abuse in the church. More fundamental changes are needed to make the church relevant and credible today and to re-establish the message of Jesus Christ at it core.
Robinson says his writing was in development for almost 50 years, from the age of 12, when he entered the rarefied atmosphere of a seminary.
In his description of seminaries and novitiates as unhealthy places to grow into maturity, there is a sense of the wounded boy. He laments the absence of parents and other nurturing figures, the lack of intimacy and the perception of women as threats to vocation rather than as a positive and essential influence.
"At the time I wouldn't have found seminary life impossibly difficult but looking back I observe absences," he says now.
"I never wish to see any boy taken into the seminary at that age again."
Even in retirement Robinson is a leading church figure, which is why his open questioning of papal authority, compulsory celibacy for priests and the Vatican's "extreme" position on sexual ethics is so startling and explosive. This is usually lonely territory trod by the likes of progressives such as the assistant Bishop of Canberra, Pat Power.
Papal power has gone too far and there are inadequate limits on that power, Robinson says, and bishops and the faithful have been marginalised. He calls for a new parliament, a new hierarchical system for the local church, even new attire for priests and bishops, and raises for discussion the church's prescriptive attitude towards committed couples having sex before marriage.
He was studying in Rome when the winds of change blew from the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and he believes it has been unfairly blamed for all the church's ills; the hierarchy should look beyond St Peter's Square for explanations for the massive changes and upheavals which have marked the modern world, he says.
The mobile phone, television and car had robbed Catholic parishes of their role as a powerful social centre.
"This is a very unusual book," says the church historian Ed Campion. "Bishops normally keep dissident thoughts to themselves but Bishop Robinson has gone public with his disquiet about how church authorities responded to sexual abuse scandals. He calls for change at the highest levels of the church, including the papacy. His compassion for abused victims is remarkable and welcomed.
"This grew out of his hard years of caring for injured people. Beyond this, the book is a fresh look at the fundamentals of Christian faith. When a Catholic bishop does this he surprises many people. Others will be grateful that Bishop Robinson has now joined in an ongoing conversation about what it means to be a Christian today."
Father Michael Whelan, of the church reform group Catalyst for Renewal, says Robinson's lifetime of service in the Catholic Church, including 20 years as auxiliary bishop of Sydney, has been one of intelligence, fidelity and generous commitment.
"He is a man beyond reproach. He is also a man of considerable intellect and substantial scholarship. No one who knows him could doubt his love for the church. Indeed, those of us who knew something of his personal struggles with the Vatican in the late '90s will be always grateful for the faith-filled and humble manner in which he continued with his duties as a pastor during that time.
"This, above all else, has shown him to be a leader of the Catholic Church in Australia."
Robinson probably raises more questions than he answers, but he turns his searching gaze and reforming zeal to every corner of the church. His message of love to the church is that it must take its role to tackle sexual abuse more seriously, not simply manage the scandals.
Whelan says Robinson is urging all Catholics to dare to imagine a new way of being a church, a way that is more obviously rooted in the gospels and less obviously beholden to the Roman Empire and the historical circumstances of the fourth and fifth centuries. "Geoffrey Robinson has written a gracious book about a graced institution that too often forgets grace," he says.
"In its forgetfulness, that institution becomes prey to the 'absolutising instinct' and means become ends. Relative rules and relative teachings and relative roles and relative customs mysteriously become absolutes.
"Robinson asks us to remember the gospel and the reality of Jesus and common sense and humility.
If this book has one message for us Catholics - and it is addressed primarily to us - it is simply this: Remember who you are. Remember why you are church. Remember Him."
A fellow member of the national committee for professional standards, Sister Angela Ryan, remembers Robinson for being dogged in his pursuit of a just church response to abuse claims.
In Australia, a country of 5 million Catholics, a nationally binding response to sexual abuse required the unanimous consent of more than 160 people, including bishops and religious superiors. When Robinson had finished cajoling and crafting the document only two refused their consent.
As a result of Robinson's persistence, the Towards Healing protocols is a "standout document" that has no peer in any other Australian religious denomination, says Patrick Parkinson, a professor of law at the University of Sydney.
"The first version of Towards Healing was a victim-centric document. He was adamant that victims of abuse should hear the church cared for them, wanted to help the victims and that they would not tolerate the abuse in future, and Towards Healing was, and is, still full of that," he says.
Robinson concedes the document will never satisfy everyone but says it succeeds in encouraging priests to confess their misdeeds, sparing the victims more pain and adversarial criminal proceedings where convictions are rare.
But the Vatican has at times been far from impressed with Robinson's championing of victims' rights.
Robinson discloses that he was reprimanded by the Vatican bureaucracy after he told an abuse victim he was unhappy with Rome's response. The comment, a response to a question from the victim, was made at a public meeting, in front of several journalists.
He received an official letter expressing the "ongoing concern of the Congregation for Bishops" that his public position was "seriously critical of the magisterial teaching and discipline of the church".
Two months later he received a further letter, informing him that his case had been forwarded to the church's doctrinal watchdog, implying he was suspected of some form of heresy.
Robinson was hurt by the criticism. The church was not perfect, but sometimes there was "only a fine line between accepting that I must work within an imperfect church and becoming complicit in the harm that those imperfections are causing to people", he later wrote.
He felt let down: "Here was the perfect opportunity for the papacy to fulfil its most basic role of being the rock that holds the church together but this did not happen, and the church fractured. I found it impossible to accept that I must give submission of mind and will to most words written by a pope but a failure to give leadership in a crisis seemed to count for little."
Like every bishop, Robinson takes seriously his oath of fidelity to the Pope. Rebellion is like breaking an oath to God. He eventually resigned, and Pope John Paul II accepted his retirement in July 2004, due to ill health. It was true that Robinson was battling a coronary condition that brought on bouts of pneumonia.
Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church by Geoffrey Robinson (John Garratt Publishing, $34.95).
SERVING GOD
Career:
P Auxiliary Roman Catholic bishop of Sydney (retired) 1984-2004
P President, Canon Law Society Australia and New Zealand 1976-83 (secretary 1969-76)
P Director, Regional Tribunal Catholic Church NSW and ACT 1972-84
P Lecturer, Canon Law Catholic Institute Sydney 1967-83
P Assistant priest 1965-84
P Ordained priest 1960
EDUCATION
P Marist Bros School (NSW), St Columba's College (NSW), Pontifical Urban Uni (Rome)
PUBLICATIONS
P Marriage Divorce and Nullity 1984;
A Change of Mind and Heart 1994;
Travels in Sacred Places 1997
Barney Zwartz August 25, 2007
THE Catholic Church is still not serious about confronting sexual abuse, only "managing" it, according to the Sydney bishop who headed Australian efforts to tackle abuse.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson says the Catholic Church needs to reverse 2000 years of teaching on sex and power as part of radical reforms from the Pope down.
While it refuses to look at some fundamental teachings — including sex outside marriage, women priests, homosexuality and papal power — the culture that produced and protected abusers will continue, he says.
These explosive claims — unprecedented for a bishop — are in a book to be launched tomorrow: Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church.
......
A Sydney bishop who became an advocate for church sex abuse victims has revealed his own abuse by a stranger.
Linda Morris reports.August 25, 2007
During the darkest days of the priesthood, when the Australian church was wrestling with the scandal of sexual abuse, Sydney's Catholic auxiliary bishop, Geoffrey Robinson, was coming to terms with his own demons.
Only now, three years after his retirement, has Robinson has gone public with an extraordinary and personal disclosure: he was the victim of an abusive stranger. He had kept the secret hidden "in the attic of my mind" for 50 years until hearing the stories of victims began to stir "strong echoes within my own heart and mind".
But the church leader who could have become archbishop of Sydney did not reveal the abuse, and the indelible mark it left, to anyone outside a small circle of friends.
But this week Robinson, shy and guarded, broke his lifelong silence in an explosive critique of the church's use and misuse of power which outlines a radical vision for the church that questions the very nature of its power and sexual ethics and slays the sacred cow of papal infallibility.
Robinson, 70, was a teenager at the time of the abuse, the nature of which he does not fully disclose. The offender was neither a family member nor a priest.
Even now he finds it hard to tackle the topic and prefers his book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church, to speak for him. "Neither in my age at the time it happened nor in the duration of the abuse was it as serious as much of the abuse I have encountered in others, and yet, if the man had been caught in any one of his acts against me, he would have been sent to prison," he writes in the book's introduction.
"It was never a repressed memory but for most of my life it was, as it were, placed in the attic of my mind. That is, I always knew it was there but I never took it down to look at it."
When he was appointed in 1994 to the church's national professional standards committee to help develop procedures to respond to sex abuse complaints he made a vow to himself to "never defend the indefensible". He strove to act as a "decent human being, a good Christian and caring priest" and listened to the complaints of as many victims as possible so he could to learn from their experiences.
"It was talking with victims and some of the things they said aroused feelings and memories in my own mind. With the help of counsellors, I became conscious of some of the effects it had had on me." The memories not only inform his compassionate response to fellow victims but have fed his growing disenchantment with church authorities.
Robinson has written two other books but neither is as close to his soul as the latest.
His book sets out fearlessly and with faith what others have thought for a long time: that instituting legal and pastoral procedures is not enough to beat the crisis of sexual abuse in the church. More fundamental changes are needed to make the church relevant and credible today and to re-establish the message of Jesus Christ at it core.
Robinson says his writing was in development for almost 50 years, from the age of 12, when he entered the rarefied atmosphere of a seminary.
In his description of seminaries and novitiates as unhealthy places to grow into maturity, there is a sense of the wounded boy. He laments the absence of parents and other nurturing figures, the lack of intimacy and the perception of women as threats to vocation rather than as a positive and essential influence.
"At the time I wouldn't have found seminary life impossibly difficult but looking back I observe absences," he says now.
"I never wish to see any boy taken into the seminary at that age again."
Even in retirement Robinson is a leading church figure, which is why his open questioning of papal authority, compulsory celibacy for priests and the Vatican's "extreme" position on sexual ethics is so startling and explosive. This is usually lonely territory trod by the likes of progressives such as the assistant Bishop of Canberra, Pat Power.
Papal power has gone too far and there are inadequate limits on that power, Robinson says, and bishops and the faithful have been marginalised. He calls for a new parliament, a new hierarchical system for the local church, even new attire for priests and bishops, and raises for discussion the church's prescriptive attitude towards committed couples having sex before marriage.
He was studying in Rome when the winds of change blew from the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and he believes it has been unfairly blamed for all the church's ills; the hierarchy should look beyond St Peter's Square for explanations for the massive changes and upheavals which have marked the modern world, he says.
The mobile phone, television and car had robbed Catholic parishes of their role as a powerful social centre.
"This is a very unusual book," says the church historian Ed Campion. "Bishops normally keep dissident thoughts to themselves but Bishop Robinson has gone public with his disquiet about how church authorities responded to sexual abuse scandals. He calls for change at the highest levels of the church, including the papacy. His compassion for abused victims is remarkable and welcomed.
"This grew out of his hard years of caring for injured people. Beyond this, the book is a fresh look at the fundamentals of Christian faith. When a Catholic bishop does this he surprises many people. Others will be grateful that Bishop Robinson has now joined in an ongoing conversation about what it means to be a Christian today."
Father Michael Whelan, of the church reform group Catalyst for Renewal, says Robinson's lifetime of service in the Catholic Church, including 20 years as auxiliary bishop of Sydney, has been one of intelligence, fidelity and generous commitment.
"He is a man beyond reproach. He is also a man of considerable intellect and substantial scholarship. No one who knows him could doubt his love for the church. Indeed, those of us who knew something of his personal struggles with the Vatican in the late '90s will be always grateful for the faith-filled and humble manner in which he continued with his duties as a pastor during that time.
"This, above all else, has shown him to be a leader of the Catholic Church in Australia."
Robinson probably raises more questions than he answers, but he turns his searching gaze and reforming zeal to every corner of the church. His message of love to the church is that it must take its role to tackle sexual abuse more seriously, not simply manage the scandals.
Whelan says Robinson is urging all Catholics to dare to imagine a new way of being a church, a way that is more obviously rooted in the gospels and less obviously beholden to the Roman Empire and the historical circumstances of the fourth and fifth centuries. "Geoffrey Robinson has written a gracious book about a graced institution that too often forgets grace," he says.
"In its forgetfulness, that institution becomes prey to the 'absolutising instinct' and means become ends. Relative rules and relative teachings and relative roles and relative customs mysteriously become absolutes.
"Robinson asks us to remember the gospel and the reality of Jesus and common sense and humility.
If this book has one message for us Catholics - and it is addressed primarily to us - it is simply this: Remember who you are. Remember why you are church. Remember Him."
A fellow member of the national committee for professional standards, Sister Angela Ryan, remembers Robinson for being dogged in his pursuit of a just church response to abuse claims.
In Australia, a country of 5 million Catholics, a nationally binding response to sexual abuse required the unanimous consent of more than 160 people, including bishops and religious superiors. When Robinson had finished cajoling and crafting the document only two refused their consent.
As a result of Robinson's persistence, the Towards Healing protocols is a "standout document" that has no peer in any other Australian religious denomination, says Patrick Parkinson, a professor of law at the University of Sydney.
"The first version of Towards Healing was a victim-centric document. He was adamant that victims of abuse should hear the church cared for them, wanted to help the victims and that they would not tolerate the abuse in future, and Towards Healing was, and is, still full of that," he says.
Robinson concedes the document will never satisfy everyone but says it succeeds in encouraging priests to confess their misdeeds, sparing the victims more pain and adversarial criminal proceedings where convictions are rare.
But the Vatican has at times been far from impressed with Robinson's championing of victims' rights.
Robinson discloses that he was reprimanded by the Vatican bureaucracy after he told an abuse victim he was unhappy with Rome's response. The comment, a response to a question from the victim, was made at a public meeting, in front of several journalists.
He received an official letter expressing the "ongoing concern of the Congregation for Bishops" that his public position was "seriously critical of the magisterial teaching and discipline of the church".
Two months later he received a further letter, informing him that his case had been forwarded to the church's doctrinal watchdog, implying he was suspected of some form of heresy.
Robinson was hurt by the criticism. The church was not perfect, but sometimes there was "only a fine line between accepting that I must work within an imperfect church and becoming complicit in the harm that those imperfections are causing to people", he later wrote.
He felt let down: "Here was the perfect opportunity for the papacy to fulfil its most basic role of being the rock that holds the church together but this did not happen, and the church fractured. I found it impossible to accept that I must give submission of mind and will to most words written by a pope but a failure to give leadership in a crisis seemed to count for little."
Like every bishop, Robinson takes seriously his oath of fidelity to the Pope. Rebellion is like breaking an oath to God. He eventually resigned, and Pope John Paul II accepted his retirement in July 2004, due to ill health. It was true that Robinson was battling a coronary condition that brought on bouts of pneumonia.
Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church by Geoffrey Robinson (John Garratt Publishing, $34.95).
SERVING GOD
Career:
P Auxiliary Roman Catholic bishop of Sydney (retired) 1984-2004
P President, Canon Law Society Australia and New Zealand 1976-83 (secretary 1969-76)
P Director, Regional Tribunal Catholic Church NSW and ACT 1972-84
P Lecturer, Canon Law Catholic Institute Sydney 1967-83
P Assistant priest 1965-84
P Ordained priest 1960
EDUCATION
P Marist Bros School (NSW), St Columba's College (NSW), Pontifical Urban Uni (Rome)
PUBLICATIONS
P Marriage Divorce and Nullity 1984;
A Change of Mind and Heart 1994;
Travels in Sacred Places 1997
Priest accuses Colombian archdiocese of sexual, financial misconduct - Catholic Online
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) – The former head of the Archdiocese of Cali's ecclesiastical tribunal has made charges of widespread sexual and financial misconduct in the archdiocese.
Father German Robledo, a 67-year-old priest and head of the tribunal until 2004, went public Aug. 21 with accusations against priests and other church officials in Cali. He said he was doing so because he had not been satisfied with reaction from archdiocesan officials.
Father Robledo said that before first making the allegations last December he met with other Cali priests to discuss the problems. Father Robledo said he was acting as their spokesman when he went public.
"We have criticized and have denounced all of these things without success," he said.
In late August, Archbishop Juan Sarasti Jaramillo of Cali acknowledged that some priests had violated their oaths of celibacy but said that it was unfair to make general accusations. He said Father Robledo's accusations would be investigated.
"Many things are said, but it is necessary to wait until they are proven legally," he said.
Father Robledo said several priests have ongoing sexual relationships, including one with a woman who pretends to be his secretary and another with young boys. Father Robledo said several priests secretly have children and that two of them have been sued by the mothers for child support.
He said parishioners' contributions are used to pay people who obtain children for sexual relationships, as well as being used to pay the youths themselves. Father Robledo said there has been financial and other corruption within the archdiocese. He said he has videos of people who allegedly had sexual relations with priests or knew about them, local news media reported Aug. 23.
Father Robledo also said priests who had been accused of sexual abuse in the United States had been sent to Cali to work.
The priest said that he had presented his accusations in a letter to Archbishop Sarasti in April. The daily newspaper El Pais quoted the April letter as warning about "chronic and shameful homosexual conducts of friends and close collaborators" of the archdiocese.
Father Robledo also asked in the letter: "How is it possible that conducts such as requesting alms from the faithful for deceptively noble ends are tolerated when they are really for paying debts, even extortions for old and recent homosexual services by degenerates from the street and youths who come to request economic assistance?"
The priest said that dozens of youths came to the cathedral in Cali to demand blackmail payments from priests with whom they had had sexual relationships.
Father Robledo charged that on the same day that one priest was ordained a woman gave birth to the new priest's baby. In his letter, he asked the archbishop what he had done about that case.
In a radio interview, Father Robledo said that Archbishop Sarasti responded to the charges by saying that such acts belong to the priests' private lives.
Father Robledo served on the ecclesiastical tribunal for 23 years. He said he resigned from the tribunal in 2004 because the church did not take action in response to complaints against it. He added that in 2000 he was offered the title of bishop, but he declined the title.
Father Robledo resigned from public priestly duties in February, because he said he was disappointed with the archbishop's response and wanted to speak more freely.
Mario Fernando Prado, the El Pais reporter who first broke the story, said that when Father Robledo first came to him with the information it struck him as "absurd." But then he interviewed other priests and said he verified "that it was true."
Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Fiscalía investigó al padre Fred Potes
Cali on line; El Pais
Entidad abrió, en el 2004, una investigación preliminar contra el sacerdote por el delito de inducción a la prostitución.
Tras las denuncias realizadas por el padre Germán Robledo contra monseñor Fred Potes Venegas, El Pais conoció que en el 2004 la Fiscalía abrió una investigación preliminar contra el sacerdote por el delito de inducción a la prostitución a un menor de edad.
.....
In opdracht paus
Staatssecretaris Bertone naar Peru vertrokken
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans 24 aug '07
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - De Vaticaanse staatssecretaris, kardinaal Tarcisio Bertone, is donderdag in opdracht van paus Benedictus XVI vanuit Rome naar Peru vertrokken. Hij zal er de paus vertegenwoordigen bij de slachtoffers van de recente aardbeving en het eucharistisch congres van de Peruaanse Kerk bijwonen.
De nummer twee van het Vaticaan zal persoonlijk de streken bezoeken die op 15 augustus door de aardbeving werden geteisterd. Het Vaticaan maakte eerder al 200.000 dollar vrij voor noodhulp in het getroffen gebied.
Paus Benedictus XVI heeft al twee keer openlijk opgeroepen tot solidariteit met Peru en concrete hulpacties voor de geteisterden te steunen.
Kardinaal Bertone wordt vandaag ontvangen door kardinaal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, de aartsbisschop van Lima, en door de Peruaanse president Alan Garcia Perez.
Daarna bezoekt hij de steden Ica en Pisco die het ergst getroffen werden door de aardbeving.
Morgen opent hij in Chimbote het eucharistisch congres in aanwezigheid van alle Peruaanse bisschoppen. De aanwezigheid van kardinaal op dit congres was gepland voor de aardbeving. Het eucharistisch congres wordt op 30 augustus beëindigd met een eucharistieviering in de kathedraal van Chimbote. (tb)
’Kerk is Gods meesterwerk’
Staatssecretaris Bertone hekelt berichtgeving seksueel misbruik
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans 22 aug '07 (Bron: Christian Today)
Father German Robledo, a 67-year-old priest and head of the tribunal until 2004, went public Aug. 21 with accusations against priests and other church officials in Cali. He said he was doing so because he had not been satisfied with reaction from archdiocesan officials.
Father Robledo said that before first making the allegations last December he met with other Cali priests to discuss the problems. Father Robledo said he was acting as their spokesman when he went public.
"We have criticized and have denounced all of these things without success," he said.
In late August, Archbishop Juan Sarasti Jaramillo of Cali acknowledged that some priests had violated their oaths of celibacy but said that it was unfair to make general accusations. He said Father Robledo's accusations would be investigated.
"Many things are said, but it is necessary to wait until they are proven legally," he said.
Father Robledo said several priests have ongoing sexual relationships, including one with a woman who pretends to be his secretary and another with young boys. Father Robledo said several priests secretly have children and that two of them have been sued by the mothers for child support.
He said parishioners' contributions are used to pay people who obtain children for sexual relationships, as well as being used to pay the youths themselves. Father Robledo said there has been financial and other corruption within the archdiocese. He said he has videos of people who allegedly had sexual relations with priests or knew about them, local news media reported Aug. 23.
Father Robledo also said priests who had been accused of sexual abuse in the United States had been sent to Cali to work.
The priest said that he had presented his accusations in a letter to Archbishop Sarasti in April. The daily newspaper El Pais quoted the April letter as warning about "chronic and shameful homosexual conducts of friends and close collaborators" of the archdiocese.
Father Robledo also asked in the letter: "How is it possible that conducts such as requesting alms from the faithful for deceptively noble ends are tolerated when they are really for paying debts, even extortions for old and recent homosexual services by degenerates from the street and youths who come to request economic assistance?"
The priest said that dozens of youths came to the cathedral in Cali to demand blackmail payments from priests with whom they had had sexual relationships.
Father Robledo charged that on the same day that one priest was ordained a woman gave birth to the new priest's baby. In his letter, he asked the archbishop what he had done about that case.
In a radio interview, Father Robledo said that Archbishop Sarasti responded to the charges by saying that such acts belong to the priests' private lives.
Father Robledo served on the ecclesiastical tribunal for 23 years. He said he resigned from the tribunal in 2004 because the church did not take action in response to complaints against it. He added that in 2000 he was offered the title of bishop, but he declined the title.
Father Robledo resigned from public priestly duties in February, because he said he was disappointed with the archbishop's response and wanted to speak more freely.
Mario Fernando Prado, the El Pais reporter who first broke the story, said that when Father Robledo first came to him with the information it struck him as "absurd." But then he interviewed other priests and said he verified "that it was true."
Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Fiscalía investigó al padre Fred Potes
Cali on line; El Pais
Entidad abrió, en el 2004, una investigación preliminar contra el sacerdote por el delito de inducción a la prostitución.
Tras las denuncias realizadas por el padre Germán Robledo contra monseñor Fred Potes Venegas, El Pais conoció que en el 2004 la Fiscalía abrió una investigación preliminar contra el sacerdote por el delito de inducción a la prostitución a un menor de edad.
.....
In opdracht paus
Staatssecretaris Bertone naar Peru vertrokken
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans 24 aug '07
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - De Vaticaanse staatssecretaris, kardinaal Tarcisio Bertone, is donderdag in opdracht van paus Benedictus XVI vanuit Rome naar Peru vertrokken. Hij zal er de paus vertegenwoordigen bij de slachtoffers van de recente aardbeving en het eucharistisch congres van de Peruaanse Kerk bijwonen.
De nummer twee van het Vaticaan zal persoonlijk de streken bezoeken die op 15 augustus door de aardbeving werden geteisterd. Het Vaticaan maakte eerder al 200.000 dollar vrij voor noodhulp in het getroffen gebied.
Paus Benedictus XVI heeft al twee keer openlijk opgeroepen tot solidariteit met Peru en concrete hulpacties voor de geteisterden te steunen.
Kardinaal Bertone wordt vandaag ontvangen door kardinaal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, de aartsbisschop van Lima, en door de Peruaanse president Alan Garcia Perez.
Daarna bezoekt hij de steden Ica en Pisco die het ergst getroffen werden door de aardbeving.
Morgen opent hij in Chimbote het eucharistisch congres in aanwezigheid van alle Peruaanse bisschoppen. De aanwezigheid van kardinaal op dit congres was gepland voor de aardbeving. Het eucharistisch congres wordt op 30 augustus beëindigd met een eucharistieviering in de kathedraal van Chimbote. (tb)
’Kerk is Gods meesterwerk’
Staatssecretaris Bertone hekelt berichtgeving seksueel misbruik
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans 22 aug '07 (Bron: Christian Today)
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - Kardinaal Tarcisio Bertone, staatssecretaris van de H. Stoel, valt uit naar berichtgeving in de Italiaanse media over seksueel misbruik in de katholieke Kerk.
De staatssecretaris hekelde de ’overdreven aandacht’ de voorbije weken voor bepaalde gevallen van seksueel misbruik door Italiaanse geestelijken.
“Ook in de katholieke Kerk zijn er enkele vervallen en donkere plaatsen, zoals dat ook in de Sixtijnse kapel het geval is. Media belichten enkel deze duistere plekjes”, klaagt de kardinaal.
Zelf omschrijft hij de Kerk als een meesterwerk van God. “Als staatssecretaris heb ik – ook in de landen waar christenen de minderheid vormen – ervaren dat staatsmannen uit de hele wereld de positieve rol van de Kerk en haar bijdrage op caritatief vlak loven. Daarom klaag ik deze valse voorstelling van de Kerk aan.”
.......
zondag, augustus 26, 2007
Canada: INDEPTH REPORT: Males surviving abuse; the 'overlooked' victims
Stefania Moretti, Special to LondonTopic.ca
08/20/2007
It's hard for our society to accept boys as powerless. They are expected to "watch their own backs" and be able to defend themselves whenever their safety is threatened. And yet, according to the Canadian Department of Justice, 31 percent of all substantiated child sexual abuse and exploitation victims are male. Worse still, over 90 percent of all male victims of sexual abuse will never tell anyone.
John Field, a London Interfaith Counselling Centre therapist, believes that London is no exception to these troubling national averages and is frustrated with the double standards that plague society.
"For some reason a man's sexuality is challenged if he has been abused," said Field. "Men will often say to me: 'I wish I was hit, I wish I was cut,' because the bruises heal but the injuries are psychological."
It is easier for society to perceive women as victims than it is for them to see men in the same light. And as a result, the types and number of services available to men are scarce. "The services in London just aren't enough," said Field.
In June of this year the Ontario's Victim Services Secretariat approved $80,000 for services in support of the 47 female victims of Charles Sylvestre (a priest in London's Roman Catholic Church diocese convicted of sexually abusing young girls). The diocese is also providing an additional $44,000 to the women. In comparison, male victims of childhood sexual abuse in Windsor Chatham-Kent and London are getting $30,000 from the diocese. This is despite estimates that 75 percent of all victims of sexual abuse by clergy are male.
Another challenge for men is that they are more often isolated. "As a man you don't talk about your weaknesses or about your victimization," said Field. This only allows abuse to flourish in the silence.
When asked if he thought male survivors were overlooked, Field said, "In a word? Yes." And added, "But it shouldn't be that way." He believes men and women need to work together to provide support for one another while protecting all children from sexual predators in the future.
But as of late male victims in the London area have finally begun to unify in ways that women have been for decades.
Many survivors have vowed to be silent no longer and several London-area men have chosen to forge their own paths, filling the systemic gaps in service as they go. Some have even sought alternative methods of both healing and public advocacy.
Take for example, Chris LeMesurier. At the recommendation of his wife, LeMesurier started publishing his experiences on two separate online blogs. His blog entries are at times vivid with graphic description of abuse, at times muddled with emotional confusion. When asked if blogging provided a secure outlet for him, LeMesurier shrugged and said, "It worked for me at the time."
You would be mistaken to interpret LeMesurier's shrug as a sign of ambivalence. In fact, he is one of several men actively pursuing new and more effective channels for male survivors of abuse to access help and raise public awareness.
Field and LeMesurier are just two members of a public advocacy group called Male Abuse Survivor Support Initiative (M.A.S.S.I). The group aims to help men access care and help fund new and existing services while increasing local awareness.
LeMesurier is also a founding member of the Male Survivors Group (MSG). The group holds meetings on a regular basis exclusively for male survivors. Field says groups like this are necessary since government sponsored services such as those at London Interfaith and Thames Valley Family Services offer only short-term counselling. "The injuries caused by abuse don't heal in six weeks, they require long-term care. Oftentimes men who seek community services are left abandoned and feeling betrayed," said Field.
Londoners Robert Bérubé and Donald D'Haene have opted for creative outlets to help cope with their abuses and in turn help other men.
Bérubé's play, "The Highbury Hilton" was recently staged at the local Fringe Festival. A survivor of abuse by clergy himself, Bérubé stages the quest for emotional resolve of one abused psyche through the voices of three female characters in residence at a psychiatric hospital. The piece is a blunt and critical portrayal of his experiences with the available government services and the church.
He is frustrated by the long waits male survivors experience accessing care in London and fears that it discourages other men from seeking help. "You go through a 12-week course and that's it, you're on the street. There is no place like a men's center for men who have been abused. And that is very sad. It's lacking in our city and lacking in our country," said Bérubé.
Another local author has earned critical acclaim with this book "Father's Touch." Donald D'Haene penned a novel several years ago detailing his own childhood in which he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his father. The book even has foreword by a leading therapist in the field, Mike Lew. "We may not be comfortable with what Donald D'Haene has to say, but we need to hear his words. Father's Touch is an important book, and Donald D'Haene is someone we need to know," writes Lew.
Simply throwing money at the problem will not rectify the crisis of adequate assistance to male survivors of sexual abuse, here in London, or anywhere for that matter. Instead, the solution will be much harder earned. It is about changing our backward and hurtful perceptions about men who have experienced the misfortune of being taken advantage of as boys. An innocent child is vulnerable regardless of gender.
The Department of Justice reports that boys between the ages of four and seven are most at risk of being sexually abused.
Why then should such terrible crimes be the burden of these young children as they grow into adult men? Bérubé struck the nail on the head when he said, "Society thinks that if you are a male then you should be able to take care of yourself, and that outlook needs to change."
08/20/2007
It's hard for our society to accept boys as powerless. They are expected to "watch their own backs" and be able to defend themselves whenever their safety is threatened. And yet, according to the Canadian Department of Justice, 31 percent of all substantiated child sexual abuse and exploitation victims are male. Worse still, over 90 percent of all male victims of sexual abuse will never tell anyone.
John Field, a London Interfaith Counselling Centre therapist, believes that London is no exception to these troubling national averages and is frustrated with the double standards that plague society.
"For some reason a man's sexuality is challenged if he has been abused," said Field. "Men will often say to me: 'I wish I was hit, I wish I was cut,' because the bruises heal but the injuries are psychological."
It is easier for society to perceive women as victims than it is for them to see men in the same light. And as a result, the types and number of services available to men are scarce. "The services in London just aren't enough," said Field.
In June of this year the Ontario's Victim Services Secretariat approved $80,000 for services in support of the 47 female victims of Charles Sylvestre (a priest in London's Roman Catholic Church diocese convicted of sexually abusing young girls). The diocese is also providing an additional $44,000 to the women. In comparison, male victims of childhood sexual abuse in Windsor Chatham-Kent and London are getting $30,000 from the diocese. This is despite estimates that 75 percent of all victims of sexual abuse by clergy are male.
Another challenge for men is that they are more often isolated. "As a man you don't talk about your weaknesses or about your victimization," said Field. This only allows abuse to flourish in the silence.
When asked if he thought male survivors were overlooked, Field said, "In a word? Yes." And added, "But it shouldn't be that way." He believes men and women need to work together to provide support for one another while protecting all children from sexual predators in the future.
But as of late male victims in the London area have finally begun to unify in ways that women have been for decades.
Many survivors have vowed to be silent no longer and several London-area men have chosen to forge their own paths, filling the systemic gaps in service as they go. Some have even sought alternative methods of both healing and public advocacy.
Take for example, Chris LeMesurier. At the recommendation of his wife, LeMesurier started publishing his experiences on two separate online blogs. His blog entries are at times vivid with graphic description of abuse, at times muddled with emotional confusion. When asked if blogging provided a secure outlet for him, LeMesurier shrugged and said, "It worked for me at the time."
You would be mistaken to interpret LeMesurier's shrug as a sign of ambivalence. In fact, he is one of several men actively pursuing new and more effective channels for male survivors of abuse to access help and raise public awareness.
Field and LeMesurier are just two members of a public advocacy group called Male Abuse Survivor Support Initiative (M.A.S.S.I). The group aims to help men access care and help fund new and existing services while increasing local awareness.
LeMesurier is also a founding member of the Male Survivors Group (MSG). The group holds meetings on a regular basis exclusively for male survivors. Field says groups like this are necessary since government sponsored services such as those at London Interfaith and Thames Valley Family Services offer only short-term counselling. "The injuries caused by abuse don't heal in six weeks, they require long-term care. Oftentimes men who seek community services are left abandoned and feeling betrayed," said Field.
Londoners Robert Bérubé and Donald D'Haene have opted for creative outlets to help cope with their abuses and in turn help other men.
Bérubé's play, "The Highbury Hilton" was recently staged at the local Fringe Festival. A survivor of abuse by clergy himself, Bérubé stages the quest for emotional resolve of one abused psyche through the voices of three female characters in residence at a psychiatric hospital. The piece is a blunt and critical portrayal of his experiences with the available government services and the church.
He is frustrated by the long waits male survivors experience accessing care in London and fears that it discourages other men from seeking help. "You go through a 12-week course and that's it, you're on the street. There is no place like a men's center for men who have been abused. And that is very sad. It's lacking in our city and lacking in our country," said Bérubé.
Another local author has earned critical acclaim with this book "Father's Touch." Donald D'Haene penned a novel several years ago detailing his own childhood in which he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his father. The book even has foreword by a leading therapist in the field, Mike Lew. "We may not be comfortable with what Donald D'Haene has to say, but we need to hear his words. Father's Touch is an important book, and Donald D'Haene is someone we need to know," writes Lew.
Simply throwing money at the problem will not rectify the crisis of adequate assistance to male survivors of sexual abuse, here in London, or anywhere for that matter. Instead, the solution will be much harder earned. It is about changing our backward and hurtful perceptions about men who have experienced the misfortune of being taken advantage of as boys. An innocent child is vulnerable regardless of gender.
The Department of Justice reports that boys between the ages of four and seven are most at risk of being sexually abused.
Why then should such terrible crimes be the burden of these young children as they grow into adult men? Bérubé struck the nail on the head when he said, "Society thinks that if you are a male then you should be able to take care of yourself, and that outlook needs to change."
donderdag, augustus 09, 2007
Gaat een rechter uitmaken welke kardinaal, LA Mahony of Rivera, Mexico liegt?
Mexican cardinal deposed in case involving alleged sexual abuse by Mexican priest
International Herald Tribune/The Associated Press
Published: August 8, 2007
MEXICO CITY: Mexico's most prominent cardinal was deposed Wednesday in a U.S. lawsuit accusing him of complicity in the alleged rape of a child by a Mexican priest.
Cardinal Norberto Rivera and his lawyers rushed past reporters and photographers waiting outside offices of the Archdiocese of Mexico without giving comment.
Later in the afternoon, archdiocese spokesman Rev. Hugo Valdemar Romero said Rivera gave his statement voluntarily and argued that a Los Angeles court should not be handling a case involving Mexican clergy and an alleged victim in Mexico
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in September, Joaquin Aguilar Mendez alleges he was raped by priest Nicolas Aguilar in Mexico City in 1994 when he was 12 years old.
According to the suit, Aguilar Mendez had gone to the priest's room at the rectory to use a restroom when he was grabbed and sodomized.
The alleged rape came after the priest already had been charged with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child in California.
The suit alleges that Rivera conspired with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony to protect Rev. Aguilar. It accuses Rivera and Mahony of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy and sexual battery, and charges Aguilar with sexual battery.
The victim's attorney, Jeffrey Anderson, said Mahony settled with Aguilar Mendez privately last month around the same time the archdiocese reached its record-breaking US$660 million (€478 million) settlement with alleged abuse victims.
He said Aguilar Mendez's case, however, was handled separately and the amount was "modest" compared to the average US$1.3 million (€940,000) promised to other victims.
Anderson said Rivera's attorneys in Los Angeles had sought to limit the scope of the deposition and prevent the plaintiff from videotaping it and filing a transcript with the Los Angeles Superior Court. Judge Elijuh Berle denied their motions.
Attorneys from both sides, a court representative, and a translator were at the deposition. Mexican Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez from Puebla state was scheduled to be deposed Thursday, said Eric Barragan of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, which had backed Aguilar Mendez.
Rivera's attorney, Bernardo Fernandez, has said only a Mexican court has the authority to rule on the lawsuit. Proponents of the suit argue it involves church officials from both countries.
The lawsuit alleges Rivera, who was a bishop in Puebla state, transferred Aguilar to Los Angeles in 1988 for nine months despite knowing of allegations of abuse against the priest.
In a declaration filed in February, Rivera said he sent a letter to Mahony in 1987 suggesting Rev. Aguilar had problems. Tod Tamberg, spokesman for Mahony, has said the U.S. cardinal never received the letter.
A Los Angeles court gave Mexico extradition orders for Rev. Aguilar in 1988 and 1993, but he continued to work as a priest in Mexico. Since the filing of the lawsuit, his whereabouts have been unknown.
Barragan said the Los Angeles court is expected to decide whether to proceed with the case in September.
___
US Lawyers Grill Top Mexico Cardinal in Abuse Case
Cardinal Norberto Rivera, was questioned by U.S. lawyers who accuse him of protecting a priest wanted for child sex abuse.
Mexico's top clergyman, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, was questioned by U.S. lawyers on Wednesday in a child sex abuse case that is a new blow to the Roman Catholic Church in its second-largest stronghold.
The lawyers met with Rivera at the capital's archdiocese building to ask about charges in a U.S. civil case that he colluded with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony to protect a Mexican priest wanted for multiple child rapes.
Abuse scandals have rocked the Catholic Church around the world recently and the Los Angeles diocese this year agreed to pay $660 million settlement.
In Mexico, sexual abuse cases against the church have rarely come to trial but last year the cardinal was accused of covering up abuse in a civil suit lodged in Los Angeles.
"Justice cannot be had in Mexico, that's why we have to take this to foreign courts," said Eric Barragan, spokesman for SNAP, a U.S.-based group for victims of sex abuse by priests.
The attorneys argue that former altar boy Joaquin Aguilar Mendez was raped aged 13 in Mexico in 1994 by a priest named Nicolas Aguilar, who the church shunted between Mexico and the United States to avoid abuse charges.
Rivera, a vocal figure in Mexican public life, was set to be questioned for at least six hours.
"Cardinal Rivera has voluntarily received the lawyers," said a Catholic Church official.
LOSING INFLUENCE
The church is one of Mexico's most important institutions but has been losing influence as lawmakers in the capital legalized abortion and gay civil unions. Evangelical churches also are gaining ground in Mexico while legislators are studying liberalizing laws against euthanasia and prostitution, despite objections from the church.
Rivera, once seen as an outside candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II, says the Los Angeles court does not have jurisdiction over him because the incidents in the altar boy's allegations all took place in Mexico.
Rivera, whose Mexico City diocese is one of the world's largest, is accused of sending the priest to Los Angeles briefly, knowing that he was a pedophile who later raped the altar boy in Mexico's Puebla state in 1994.
The priest is believed to be on the run in Mexico and is wanted on multiple charges of sexually abusing boys in California. He has not been excommunicated.
The two cardinals have contradicted each other's version of events. Mahony says the Mexican church did not warn him of Aguilar's record when the priest arrived in Los Angeles.
Mahony publicly apologized after Mass one Sunday last month to more than 500 plaintiffs in priest abuse cases in Los Angeles who received the record $660 million settlement.
Published: August 08, 2007 19:18h
International Herald Tribune/The Associated Press
Published: August 8, 2007
MEXICO CITY: Mexico's most prominent cardinal was deposed Wednesday in a U.S. lawsuit accusing him of complicity in the alleged rape of a child by a Mexican priest.
Cardinal Norberto Rivera and his lawyers rushed past reporters and photographers waiting outside offices of the Archdiocese of Mexico without giving comment.
Later in the afternoon, archdiocese spokesman Rev. Hugo Valdemar Romero said Rivera gave his statement voluntarily and argued that a Los Angeles court should not be handling a case involving Mexican clergy and an alleged victim in Mexico
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in September, Joaquin Aguilar Mendez alleges he was raped by priest Nicolas Aguilar in Mexico City in 1994 when he was 12 years old.
According to the suit, Aguilar Mendez had gone to the priest's room at the rectory to use a restroom when he was grabbed and sodomized.
The alleged rape came after the priest already had been charged with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child in California.
The suit alleges that Rivera conspired with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony to protect Rev. Aguilar. It accuses Rivera and Mahony of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy and sexual battery, and charges Aguilar with sexual battery.
The victim's attorney, Jeffrey Anderson, said Mahony settled with Aguilar Mendez privately last month around the same time the archdiocese reached its record-breaking US$660 million (€478 million) settlement with alleged abuse victims.
He said Aguilar Mendez's case, however, was handled separately and the amount was "modest" compared to the average US$1.3 million (€940,000) promised to other victims.
Anderson said Rivera's attorneys in Los Angeles had sought to limit the scope of the deposition and prevent the plaintiff from videotaping it and filing a transcript with the Los Angeles Superior Court. Judge Elijuh Berle denied their motions.
Attorneys from both sides, a court representative, and a translator were at the deposition. Mexican Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez from Puebla state was scheduled to be deposed Thursday, said Eric Barragan of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, which had backed Aguilar Mendez.
Rivera's attorney, Bernardo Fernandez, has said only a Mexican court has the authority to rule on the lawsuit. Proponents of the suit argue it involves church officials from both countries.
The lawsuit alleges Rivera, who was a bishop in Puebla state, transferred Aguilar to Los Angeles in 1988 for nine months despite knowing of allegations of abuse against the priest.
In a declaration filed in February, Rivera said he sent a letter to Mahony in 1987 suggesting Rev. Aguilar had problems. Tod Tamberg, spokesman for Mahony, has said the U.S. cardinal never received the letter.
A Los Angeles court gave Mexico extradition orders for Rev. Aguilar in 1988 and 1993, but he continued to work as a priest in Mexico. Since the filing of the lawsuit, his whereabouts have been unknown.
Barragan said the Los Angeles court is expected to decide whether to proceed with the case in September.
___
US Lawyers Grill Top Mexico Cardinal in Abuse Case
Cardinal Norberto Rivera, was questioned by U.S. lawyers who accuse him of protecting a priest wanted for child sex abuse.
Mexico's top clergyman, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, was questioned by U.S. lawyers on Wednesday in a child sex abuse case that is a new blow to the Roman Catholic Church in its second-largest stronghold.
The lawyers met with Rivera at the capital's archdiocese building to ask about charges in a U.S. civil case that he colluded with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony to protect a Mexican priest wanted for multiple child rapes.
Abuse scandals have rocked the Catholic Church around the world recently and the Los Angeles diocese this year agreed to pay $660 million settlement.
In Mexico, sexual abuse cases against the church have rarely come to trial but last year the cardinal was accused of covering up abuse in a civil suit lodged in Los Angeles.
"Justice cannot be had in Mexico, that's why we have to take this to foreign courts," said Eric Barragan, spokesman for SNAP, a U.S.-based group for victims of sex abuse by priests.
The attorneys argue that former altar boy Joaquin Aguilar Mendez was raped aged 13 in Mexico in 1994 by a priest named Nicolas Aguilar, who the church shunted between Mexico and the United States to avoid abuse charges.
Rivera, a vocal figure in Mexican public life, was set to be questioned for at least six hours.
"Cardinal Rivera has voluntarily received the lawyers," said a Catholic Church official.
LOSING INFLUENCE
The church is one of Mexico's most important institutions but has been losing influence as lawmakers in the capital legalized abortion and gay civil unions. Evangelical churches also are gaining ground in Mexico while legislators are studying liberalizing laws against euthanasia and prostitution, despite objections from the church.
Rivera, once seen as an outside candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II, says the Los Angeles court does not have jurisdiction over him because the incidents in the altar boy's allegations all took place in Mexico.
Rivera, whose Mexico City diocese is one of the world's largest, is accused of sending the priest to Los Angeles briefly, knowing that he was a pedophile who later raped the altar boy in Mexico's Puebla state in 1994.
The priest is believed to be on the run in Mexico and is wanted on multiple charges of sexually abusing boys in California. He has not been excommunicated.
The two cardinals have contradicted each other's version of events. Mahony says the Mexican church did not warn him of Aguilar's record when the priest arrived in Los Angeles.
Mahony publicly apologized after Mass one Sunday last month to more than 500 plaintiffs in priest abuse cases in Los Angeles who received the record $660 million settlement.
Published: August 08, 2007 19:18h
woensdag, augustus 08, 2007
Pastor Arrested for Defilement
The Monitor (Kampala)
NEWS5 August 2007
Posted to the web 6 August 2007 Kampala
POLICE have arrested a pastor for allegedly defiling a 16-year-old girl in Rukungiri District. Pastor Grace Okello preaches at Revival Mission Church in Rukungiri Town Council. Rukungiri CID Officer Henry Mbabazi said the case had been registered at the police. "We arrested him and investigations are still going on," he said.
It is alleged that on Friday, Pastor Okello took the girl (name withheld) to his office on Karegesa Road where he defiled her. The girl said at the police station that Pastor Okello had forcibly pulled her into his office and in the ensuing scuffle she hit him on the head with an unknown object. Sunday Monitor saw a fresh wound on Mr Okello's face at the police station.
The neighbours to the Pastor's office said they heard the girl screaming for help as the pastor shouted, "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ". They thought he was possibly praying for the girl.
A neighbour only identified as Irene, said that after the scuffle, the girl came out of the pastor's office holding torn underwear, which she went with to Rukungiri Police Station.
Pastor Okello followed the girl to the police station from where he was arrested. Mr Mbabazi declined to comment on the case, saying he would need to examine the file before making any statement on the matter.
Security sources said that police have been investigating Pastor Okello for arson which he allegedly committed in Rwenkuba Cell in the town council in February this year.
It is alleged that when Pastor Okello failed to win over Mr Peter Wako to his Revival Church, he burnt his Bahai religious books worth Shs20 million. Pastor Okello is a popular gospel preacher on Radio Rukungiri on Sundays. One of his co-pastors, Mr Emmanuel Guma, said that Pastor Okello's arrest was plotted to destroy his gospel ministry.
Knowledgeable sources said that Pastor Okello, who has lived in Rukungiri for about 20 years, recently entered into partnership with Compassion International and has been getting donor support to help more than 200 orphans under his ministry.
Defilement is a capital offence and a guilty person is liable to a maximum death sentence. That punishment, however, has never been handed down. Recent police and human rights research findings show that defilement is top on the national crime list.
Several pastors of the Pentecostal born-again churches have of late been reported in the press on various accusations of extortion, sexual enslavement, defilement, sodomy and outright fraud against their faithful.
Several pastors are now under police investigations for the alleged crimes.
NEWS5 August 2007
Posted to the web 6 August 2007 Kampala
POLICE have arrested a pastor for allegedly defiling a 16-year-old girl in Rukungiri District. Pastor Grace Okello preaches at Revival Mission Church in Rukungiri Town Council. Rukungiri CID Officer Henry Mbabazi said the case had been registered at the police. "We arrested him and investigations are still going on," he said.
It is alleged that on Friday, Pastor Okello took the girl (name withheld) to his office on Karegesa Road where he defiled her. The girl said at the police station that Pastor Okello had forcibly pulled her into his office and in the ensuing scuffle she hit him on the head with an unknown object. Sunday Monitor saw a fresh wound on Mr Okello's face at the police station.
The neighbours to the Pastor's office said they heard the girl screaming for help as the pastor shouted, "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ". They thought he was possibly praying for the girl.
A neighbour only identified as Irene, said that after the scuffle, the girl came out of the pastor's office holding torn underwear, which she went with to Rukungiri Police Station.
Pastor Okello followed the girl to the police station from where he was arrested. Mr Mbabazi declined to comment on the case, saying he would need to examine the file before making any statement on the matter.
Security sources said that police have been investigating Pastor Okello for arson which he allegedly committed in Rwenkuba Cell in the town council in February this year.
It is alleged that when Pastor Okello failed to win over Mr Peter Wako to his Revival Church, he burnt his Bahai religious books worth Shs20 million. Pastor Okello is a popular gospel preacher on Radio Rukungiri on Sundays. One of his co-pastors, Mr Emmanuel Guma, said that Pastor Okello's arrest was plotted to destroy his gospel ministry.
Knowledgeable sources said that Pastor Okello, who has lived in Rukungiri for about 20 years, recently entered into partnership with Compassion International and has been getting donor support to help more than 200 orphans under his ministry.
Defilement is a capital offence and a guilty person is liable to a maximum death sentence. That punishment, however, has never been handed down. Recent police and human rights research findings show that defilement is top on the national crime list.
Several pastors of the Pentecostal born-again churches have of late been reported in the press on various accusations of extortion, sexual enslavement, defilement, sodomy and outright fraud against their faithful.
Several pastors are now under police investigations for the alleged crimes.
Belfast Information sought into church sex abuse
By PHILIP BRADFIELD
The Public Prosecution Service has asked the PSNI for further information on a Northern Ireland-wide probe into alleged clerical sexual abuse dating back decades.
The police investigation – sparked by the Ferns Inquiry in Co Wexford – had previously come under fire because the PSNI agreed not to inspect Catholic Church archives first hand, instead accepting summaries of allegations.
In 2005, the Ferns Inquiry found 21 priests had sexually abused children in Co Wexford over 40 years. The PSNI and Social Services later met with Catholic Church representatives to explore the implications for Northern Ireland.
In March last year, Archbishop Sean Brady said everything in the Church's knowledge about Northern Ireland from 1965 to 2005 – proven or unproven – had been reported to the relevant authorities.
But a senior source in the Church later confirmed to the News Letter that only "summaries" of allegations against 81 employees on file were passed to the police.
Two charities which support sex abuse survivors, Nexus and One-In-Four, called on the PSNI to press for full access to the original records.
The PPS has now confirmed it had been passed a file by the police on April 5 which covered PSNI investigations into the period concerned. It said the latest position was that the PPS had asked the police for further information in relation to the file.
Upper Bann DUP MP David Simpson said he was worried that the PPS now required more information after concerns had been raised that not all information may have been handed to police.
"It is certainly a matter of concern that the PPS now require further information on these allegations. "I have been unable to get confirmation that the police did not settle for only summaries of church archives dating back to the 1960s.
"This would be a worrying development as it would create a greater possibility that not all of the evidence would be set before the PPS and would give a greater possibility that
some people guilty of serious criminal activity could get off," he said.
"In a parliamentary answer to me on July 12, Security Minister Paul Goggins failed to clarify whether or not only summaries of abuse allegations were handed to police."
What is needed is full disclosure that would allow for a thorough investigation – not just of those who may have been guilty of abuse – but also of anyone who may have been implicated after the event by failing to take proper action or by simply moving criminals on to new areas."
He said he was heartened that his long-standing call for full disclosure was supported recently in the Assembly by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey.MEP Jim Allister discovered the PSNI had passed their file to the PPS after writing to the Chief Constable.
"I will await the outcome of the PPS deliberations on the file with interest," he said.
The Public Prosecution Service has asked the PSNI for further information on a Northern Ireland-wide probe into alleged clerical sexual abuse dating back decades.
The police investigation – sparked by the Ferns Inquiry in Co Wexford – had previously come under fire because the PSNI agreed not to inspect Catholic Church archives first hand, instead accepting summaries of allegations.
In 2005, the Ferns Inquiry found 21 priests had sexually abused children in Co Wexford over 40 years. The PSNI and Social Services later met with Catholic Church representatives to explore the implications for Northern Ireland.
In March last year, Archbishop Sean Brady said everything in the Church's knowledge about Northern Ireland from 1965 to 2005 – proven or unproven – had been reported to the relevant authorities.
But a senior source in the Church later confirmed to the News Letter that only "summaries" of allegations against 81 employees on file were passed to the police.
Two charities which support sex abuse survivors, Nexus and One-In-Four, called on the PSNI to press for full access to the original records.
The PPS has now confirmed it had been passed a file by the police on April 5 which covered PSNI investigations into the period concerned. It said the latest position was that the PPS had asked the police for further information in relation to the file.
Upper Bann DUP MP David Simpson said he was worried that the PPS now required more information after concerns had been raised that not all information may have been handed to police.
"It is certainly a matter of concern that the PPS now require further information on these allegations. "I have been unable to get confirmation that the police did not settle for only summaries of church archives dating back to the 1960s.
"This would be a worrying development as it would create a greater possibility that not all of the evidence would be set before the PPS and would give a greater possibility that
some people guilty of serious criminal activity could get off," he said.
"In a parliamentary answer to me on July 12, Security Minister Paul Goggins failed to clarify whether or not only summaries of abuse allegations were handed to police."
What is needed is full disclosure that would allow for a thorough investigation – not just of those who may have been guilty of abuse – but also of anyone who may have been implicated after the event by failing to take proper action or by simply moving criminals on to new areas."
He said he was heartened that his long-standing call for full disclosure was supported recently in the Assembly by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey.MEP Jim Allister discovered the PSNI had passed their file to the PPS after writing to the Chief Constable.
"I will await the outcome of the PPS deliberations on the file with interest," he said.
vrijdag, augustus 03, 2007
De noodzaak van het waarom antwoord
The way forward to reconciliation
Natinal Catholic Reporter
EDITORIAL
Issue Date: August 3, 2007
When people cry out for justice, no one can maintain the suppression of information at the expense of human rights -- whether it’s in Guatemala or the Los Angeles archdiocese.
But is truth enough? We say it’s not. The next step is reconciliation.
In No Future Without Forgiveness, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu tells us that negotiations, peace talks, forgiveness and reconciliation happen most frequently not between those who like one another. They happen precisely because people are at loggerheads and detest one another as only enemies can.
In Guatemala, researchers are now uncovering secret police archives that document the torture and killing of the country’s citizens for more than a century. In Los Angeles, the release of confidential priest personnel files is an important part of the recent settlement agreement.
These files document pain and unimaginable suffering, but simply releasing their contents to a judge is not by itself a comforting action.
For many victims and their loved ones, the future has become unimaginable because the present is held captive by past grievances and offenses. They struggle with feelings of guilt, anger and resentment. And while anger and hurt are fitting and proper, unlike fine wine, they do not improve with age.
Lewis Smedes once said that one of God’s better jokes was to give us the power to remember the past without the power to undo it.
For the latter part of the 20th century, many countries worldwide used truth commissions to address human rights abuses over a certain period of time or in relation to a particular conflict in that nation. These commissions have fact-finding as their core, but they are also known for their focus on healing situations that have little hope for resolution.
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established in 1995, is one of the better known applications of this process.
In general, the goal is to resolve conflict leftover from the past.
Less well known is Guatemala’s truth commission, the Historical Clarification Commission, established in 1994 by the Oslo Accords. Its mandate was to clarify with objectivity, equity and impartiality the human rights violations and acts of violence connected with the armed confrontation that caused suffering among the Guatemalan people during the nation’s 36-year civil war.
It was not established to judge, but rather to provide an answer to the questions: Why did part of a society resort to armed violence in order to achieve political power? Why did these acts of brutality take place?
Recent events in the Los Angeles archdiocese suggest that the Catholic church, as an institution, is now facing the consequences of choosing legalistic methods to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis rather than using a process of truth and reconciliation. The release of the Los Angeles priest documents, though helpful in getting to the truth, will neither remove the scars of the church’s wounds nor alleviate the suffering of the victims of clergy sexual abuse. As in Guatemala, the wounds within the Catholic church have no remedy.
Cardinal Roger Mahony’s recent statement reiterates this reality: “So many of the victims told me in various ways that even though the cases are resolved, even though they’re receiving some compensation, there really is no way to go back and give them that innocence that was taken from them. It is the one part of the settlement process that I find the most frustrating, because the one thing I wish I could give the victims, I cannot. And that is a restoration of where they were [as children].”
The cardinal also said: “Sometimes I honestly had reached the bottom. I didn’t know what to do next. It seemed like everything I tried to do was wrong, somebody thought it was wrong. I think spiritually ... when you are totally empty, the only way up -- without your resources -- is God. Spiritually, it’s been an enormous time, times of frustration but also times of great spiritual strength, knowing that I don’t have all the answers and relying on God to show us the way forward.”
Cardinal Mahony, it’s OK not to know what to do next, but it’s not OK to ignore those who can show you the way. The Catholic church has always taught that the Holy Spirit moves through the community and reveals itself through those around us. The victims of Guatemala and South Africa can show you the way. They know what it’s like to be empty, but they also know what it’s like to build a future once thought unimaginable.
The Catholic church must take upon itself the challenge to accept a commission of reconciliation that learns from the best of what this process has taught the world about addressing irreparable harm. A process for truth and reconciliation is not about forgetting the past or denying it. It’s about finding a way to create a future that otherwise cannot exist.
National Catholic Reporter, August 3, 2007
Natinal Catholic Reporter
EDITORIAL
Issue Date: August 3, 2007
When people cry out for justice, no one can maintain the suppression of information at the expense of human rights -- whether it’s in Guatemala or the Los Angeles archdiocese.
But is truth enough? We say it’s not. The next step is reconciliation.
In No Future Without Forgiveness, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu tells us that negotiations, peace talks, forgiveness and reconciliation happen most frequently not between those who like one another. They happen precisely because people are at loggerheads and detest one another as only enemies can.
In Guatemala, researchers are now uncovering secret police archives that document the torture and killing of the country’s citizens for more than a century. In Los Angeles, the release of confidential priest personnel files is an important part of the recent settlement agreement.
These files document pain and unimaginable suffering, but simply releasing their contents to a judge is not by itself a comforting action.
For many victims and their loved ones, the future has become unimaginable because the present is held captive by past grievances and offenses. They struggle with feelings of guilt, anger and resentment. And while anger and hurt are fitting and proper, unlike fine wine, they do not improve with age.
Lewis Smedes once said that one of God’s better jokes was to give us the power to remember the past without the power to undo it.
For the latter part of the 20th century, many countries worldwide used truth commissions to address human rights abuses over a certain period of time or in relation to a particular conflict in that nation. These commissions have fact-finding as their core, but they are also known for their focus on healing situations that have little hope for resolution.
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established in 1995, is one of the better known applications of this process.
In general, the goal is to resolve conflict leftover from the past.
Less well known is Guatemala’s truth commission, the Historical Clarification Commission, established in 1994 by the Oslo Accords. Its mandate was to clarify with objectivity, equity and impartiality the human rights violations and acts of violence connected with the armed confrontation that caused suffering among the Guatemalan people during the nation’s 36-year civil war.
It was not established to judge, but rather to provide an answer to the questions: Why did part of a society resort to armed violence in order to achieve political power? Why did these acts of brutality take place?
Recent events in the Los Angeles archdiocese suggest that the Catholic church, as an institution, is now facing the consequences of choosing legalistic methods to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis rather than using a process of truth and reconciliation. The release of the Los Angeles priest documents, though helpful in getting to the truth, will neither remove the scars of the church’s wounds nor alleviate the suffering of the victims of clergy sexual abuse. As in Guatemala, the wounds within the Catholic church have no remedy.
Cardinal Roger Mahony’s recent statement reiterates this reality: “So many of the victims told me in various ways that even though the cases are resolved, even though they’re receiving some compensation, there really is no way to go back and give them that innocence that was taken from them. It is the one part of the settlement process that I find the most frustrating, because the one thing I wish I could give the victims, I cannot. And that is a restoration of where they were [as children].”
The cardinal also said: “Sometimes I honestly had reached the bottom. I didn’t know what to do next. It seemed like everything I tried to do was wrong, somebody thought it was wrong. I think spiritually ... when you are totally empty, the only way up -- without your resources -- is God. Spiritually, it’s been an enormous time, times of frustration but also times of great spiritual strength, knowing that I don’t have all the answers and relying on God to show us the way forward.”
Cardinal Mahony, it’s OK not to know what to do next, but it’s not OK to ignore those who can show you the way. The Catholic church has always taught that the Holy Spirit moves through the community and reveals itself through those around us. The victims of Guatemala and South Africa can show you the way. They know what it’s like to be empty, but they also know what it’s like to build a future once thought unimaginable.
The Catholic church must take upon itself the challenge to accept a commission of reconciliation that learns from the best of what this process has taught the world about addressing irreparable harm. A process for truth and reconciliation is not about forgetting the past or denying it. It’s about finding a way to create a future that otherwise cannot exist.
National Catholic Reporter, August 3, 2007
en dan nu naar bed en geen bidprentje, verhaaltje voor het slapen
Lang verhaal met kort verhaal mogelijkheden:
vuile was oud-deken binnensmonds onberoerd laten .
Maar geen bidprentje in Gulpen.
150 aanwezigen Oud-deken Haffmans begraven
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op vr 3 aug '07 om 14:09u (Bron: ANP)
SITTARD (RKnieuws.net) - Ongeveer 150 mensen woonden vrijdag de uitvaart bij van oud-deken Joep Haffmans van Gulpen. Onder hen waren veel priesters en nieuwsgierigen uit Gulpen.
Deken Wilbert van Rens van Sittard droeg de mis op in de 14e eeuwse St. Petruskerk in Sittard, waar Haffmans ongeveer 33 jaar geleden als kapelaan begon.
Haffmans overleed zaterdag. Hij werd verdacht van het plunderen van de armenkas van zijn parochie, reden waarom hij een jaar geleden zijn actieve priesterambt beëindigde. Justitie heeft het strafrechtelijk onderzoek naar zijn vermeende verduistering van gelden na zijn dood stopgezet.
In zijn preek tijdens de uitvaartdienst vrijdag zei Jan Liessen, priester van Rolduc, dat Haffmans het afgelopen jaar naar bekering zocht. Tot teleurstelling van veel kerkgangers was bisschop Frans Wiertz niet bij de dienst aanwezig. Ook werden na afloop niet de gebruikelijke bidprentjes uitgereikt.
vuile was oud-deken binnensmonds onberoerd laten .
Maar geen bidprentje in Gulpen.
150 aanwezigen Oud-deken Haffmans begraven
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op vr 3 aug '07 om 14:09u (Bron: ANP)
SITTARD (RKnieuws.net) - Ongeveer 150 mensen woonden vrijdag de uitvaart bij van oud-deken Joep Haffmans van Gulpen. Onder hen waren veel priesters en nieuwsgierigen uit Gulpen.
Deken Wilbert van Rens van Sittard droeg de mis op in de 14e eeuwse St. Petruskerk in Sittard, waar Haffmans ongeveer 33 jaar geleden als kapelaan begon.
Haffmans overleed zaterdag. Hij werd verdacht van het plunderen van de armenkas van zijn parochie, reden waarom hij een jaar geleden zijn actieve priesterambt beëindigde. Justitie heeft het strafrechtelijk onderzoek naar zijn vermeende verduistering van gelden na zijn dood stopgezet.
In zijn preek tijdens de uitvaartdienst vrijdag zei Jan Liessen, priester van Rolduc, dat Haffmans het afgelopen jaar naar bekering zocht. Tot teleurstelling van veel kerkgangers was bisschop Frans Wiertz niet bij de dienst aanwezig. Ook werden na afloop niet de gebruikelijke bidprentjes uitgereikt.
maandag, juli 30, 2007
Hij wordt steeds leuker! Over net inquisitie en digipausjes
Limburg bevrijdt zich:
kisten, en andere al dan niet schismatieke goede herders hopen wij uit de dwalen te kunnen doen wie tijdens de schermgevechtscholing aan de borreltafel der ware gelovigen naar voren is gekomen als gebedsleider in de kathedraal.
Over deze site
Op deze site vindt u alle artikelen zoals deze zijn verschenen in Dagblad De Limburger / Limburgs Dagblad over het onderwerp 'Tussen Kerk en Geloof'. U kunt deze site doorzoeken door in het linker frame in het betreffende veld een zoekwoord in te vullen. Ook kunt u reageren op alle artikelen.
Zoek!
En die Borgermans wordt toch wel steeds leuker!
ma 30 jul '07 om 15:48u
In de volgende aflevering van onze soap van glibberende digi-pausjes, verkleedSITTARD (RKnieuws.net) - Dagblad De Limburger en het Limburgs Dagblad
hebben maandag op internet een discussieplatform geopend over de rol van de
Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in de Limburgse samenleving. Dat heeft het ANO
gemeld.Lezers en niet-lezers van beide kranten kunnen permanent met elkaar in discussie gaan over de positie van de kerk. Dat hebben beide kranten maandag
laten weten.
Het platform biedt bijvoorbeeld ruimte voor reacties op de manier waarop het bisdom Roermond met de affaire van oud-deken Joep Haffmans van Gulpen is
omgegaan. De zaterdag overleden geestelijke werd van verduistering van kerkgeld en belastingontduiking beschuldigd en zat enkele dagen gevangen.
StimulansDe affaire-Haffmans heeft volgens Johan van de Beek, lid van de
hoofdreactie van beide kranten, de discussie sterk gestimuleerd. Veel Limburgers
bleken in het reine te willen komen met hun ervaringen in de tijd dat de zeer
behoudende bisschop Jo Gijsen (1972-1993) het bisdom Roermond bestuurde. De
krant bundelde in april de reacties in een bijlage.Een eyeopener was de
discussie die de kranten in diezelfde maand organiseerden, zegt Van de Beek.
Veel gelovigen verhaalden toen over hun pijn, teleurstellingen en ook
traumatische ervaringen met priesters en de kerk.Sommigen noemden pastoors "net inquisiteurs’’.
De algemene stemming was: "Wij zijn de kerk. De kerk is niet het probleem, de leiding is het probleem’’.
Bisschop Frans Wiertz van Roermond had geweigerd aan het debat deel te
nemen. Volgens zijn woordvoerder zag hij het belang ervan niet in.Reacties:
Zoals ik al eerder schreef: katholieken zeg het abonnement op het Limburgs Dagblad of de Limburger op. Dat is de enige taal die ze verstaan!
Gepost door R.K.Priester vandaag om 17:20u
kisten, en andere al dan niet schismatieke goede herders hopen wij uit de dwalen te kunnen doen wie tijdens de schermgevechtscholing aan de borreltafel der ware gelovigen naar voren is gekomen als gebedsleider in de kathedraal. Zal hij het nihil obstat verkrijgen van de Limburgse pastoor?
Of wordt met bischoppelijke steun en het populariteits-metertje in de Mazen van het net hij toch een amicaal-confronterende zij? Zullen de aartsbisschoppelijk ingewijdde digitale kaarsen hier tegen opgewassen zijn?
Naar verluid is inmiddels ook Mokum-tv al druk bezig met een nieuw Staats-testbeeld.
Naar verluid is inmiddels ook Mokum-tv al druk bezig met een nieuw Staats-testbeeld.
Dezer zijds vooral mijn medeleven met slachtoffers -en in het bijzonder nu een aantal vrouwen die "zelf zouden hebben ingestemd" - van dit soort RK smeerkezerij
En dat zullen er ook in Nederland heel wat zijn.
Moge de Limburger nu eens niet regionaal blijven!
Uganda: Clergymen Wired for Scandal
The Monitor (Kampala)
COLUMN28 July 2007
Posted to the web 28 July 2007 ; By Justice Malebbe
allafrica.com
These days, a day hardly passes before another scandal involving clergymen hits the pages of a newspaper. The frequency with which it happens suggests that either the media is now ever more vigilant in scouring for news about an otherwise existing problem, or that the clergymen we have today are degenerating so badly, so fast, that very soon they will not have the moral pedestal to stand on and preach to their congregations because of ethical deficiencies.
These scandals are so diverse in nature to include alleged practicing of witchcraft, breaking of the celibacy vows, adultery, polygamy, polyandry, bigamy, wife and husband snatching, extortion, murder, obtaining money, goods and services by false pretence, sodomy, murder e.t.c.
Matters are not helped by the extremely flamboyant and opulent lifestyles they lead, in deep contrast to the majority of the poor, tithe-abiding congregations they lead. Apart from the flashy cars, clothes and mansions, many a clergyman is alleged to have extensive loads of cash stashed away in accounts in banks abroad, courtesy of their perennial begging sprees from unsuspecting and only too willing foreign donors under the guise of using funds to look after Aids orphans, spreading the good word of the Lord through radio and television, building schools, hospitals, churches e.t.c.
Our countrymen are certainly God-fearing and will not hesitate to contribute their hard earned cash to Godly causes
This seems to be the Achilles heel that some of these clergymen have discovered and are now on rampage to fleece their unsuspecting flock, under the guise of using the Lord's name.
Honestly, it is only a shameless manipulator who will stand in front of a church and suggest that for people to get God's blessings for either prosperity or good health, they should put specific sums of cash in the church basket. As a matter of fact, with tongue in cheek, the manipulators will even advise on the lowest accepted amounts one should put in the basket! Where does this leave the very poor that Jesus so much loved in his ministry?
As if this is not bad enough, some of these fellows are lecherous and have broken many homes. This they have done by invoking the Lord's name to suggest that unhappy couples were mismatched from the word go. To circumvent this situation, the wives need to free themselves from the yoke of a loveless marriage.
They should then come to the church, where the clergymen will "pray" for them to obtain truly ordained husbands from God. Fast forward and you will find that these clergymen are maintaining harems of unsuspecting victims, each one thinking that she alone has an illicit affair with the clergyman, which secret she should jealously guard! Now comes the story of the times, in which a clergyman has been found with an electric gadget to use in shocking his flock, in a simulation of exorcising demons.
To my amazement and shock, I read early last week, a story in the newspapers about an incident in which it was alleged that a clergyman had locked the body of his just deceased estranged wife in his house to prevent her relatives from giving her a decent send off and burial.
Not until they first surrendered the land title to the house that the deceased owned, which he now forcefully wanted to inherit! It took some tough persuasion from the police before he could relent and release the body. It will not take long before another story pops up, because it seems Ugandan clergymen are truly wired for scandal!
http:/allafrica.com
COLUMN28 July 2007
Posted to the web 28 July 2007 ; By Justice Malebbe
allafrica.com
These days, a day hardly passes before another scandal involving clergymen hits the pages of a newspaper. The frequency with which it happens suggests that either the media is now ever more vigilant in scouring for news about an otherwise existing problem, or that the clergymen we have today are degenerating so badly, so fast, that very soon they will not have the moral pedestal to stand on and preach to their congregations because of ethical deficiencies.
These scandals are so diverse in nature to include alleged practicing of witchcraft, breaking of the celibacy vows, adultery, polygamy, polyandry, bigamy, wife and husband snatching, extortion, murder, obtaining money, goods and services by false pretence, sodomy, murder e.t.c.
Matters are not helped by the extremely flamboyant and opulent lifestyles they lead, in deep contrast to the majority of the poor, tithe-abiding congregations they lead. Apart from the flashy cars, clothes and mansions, many a clergyman is alleged to have extensive loads of cash stashed away in accounts in banks abroad, courtesy of their perennial begging sprees from unsuspecting and only too willing foreign donors under the guise of using funds to look after Aids orphans, spreading the good word of the Lord through radio and television, building schools, hospitals, churches e.t.c.
Our countrymen are certainly God-fearing and will not hesitate to contribute their hard earned cash to Godly causes
This seems to be the Achilles heel that some of these clergymen have discovered and are now on rampage to fleece their unsuspecting flock, under the guise of using the Lord's name.
Honestly, it is only a shameless manipulator who will stand in front of a church and suggest that for people to get God's blessings for either prosperity or good health, they should put specific sums of cash in the church basket. As a matter of fact, with tongue in cheek, the manipulators will even advise on the lowest accepted amounts one should put in the basket! Where does this leave the very poor that Jesus so much loved in his ministry?
As if this is not bad enough, some of these fellows are lecherous and have broken many homes. This they have done by invoking the Lord's name to suggest that unhappy couples were mismatched from the word go. To circumvent this situation, the wives need to free themselves from the yoke of a loveless marriage.
They should then come to the church, where the clergymen will "pray" for them to obtain truly ordained husbands from God. Fast forward and you will find that these clergymen are maintaining harems of unsuspecting victims, each one thinking that she alone has an illicit affair with the clergyman, which secret she should jealously guard! Now comes the story of the times, in which a clergyman has been found with an electric gadget to use in shocking his flock, in a simulation of exorcising demons.
To my amazement and shock, I read early last week, a story in the newspapers about an incident in which it was alleged that a clergyman had locked the body of his just deceased estranged wife in his house to prevent her relatives from giving her a decent send off and burial.
Not until they first surrendered the land title to the house that the deceased owned, which he now forcefully wanted to inherit! It took some tough persuasion from the police before he could relent and release the body. It will not take long before another story pops up, because it seems Ugandan clergymen are truly wired for scandal!
http:/allafrica.com
Uganda: Police Open File On Fake Pastors
New Vision (Kampala) NEWS 28 July 2007
Posted to the web 29 July 2007
By Herbert Ssempogo Kampala
THE Police have opened a general inquiry file on fake pastors countrywide.
Announcing the move, Police spokesman Asan Kasingye on Friday called on people to use the opportunity to report dubious pastors.
"Every person with a complaint against a particular pastor can come to us and give us information," he appealed, while addressing a news conference at the Police headquarters in Kampala.
The Police open a general inquiry file when there are several complaints about an issue from members of the public. "We open the file in absence of a particular complainant so that we can confirm the allegations and also find a way forward," Kasingye explained.
The Acting Commissioner (crime), Elly Womanya, who is stationed at the CID headquarters at Kibuli in Kampala, will receive all complaints.
The media has lately been awash with reports about the activities of pastors, many of which border on crime.
The Sunday Vision over three weeks this month serialised the activities of pastors who coerce their flock into "sowing" their valuables in exchange for blessings from God.
Several people have alleged that pastors take their vehicles and land titles with promises that they will cure them of HIV/AIDS, among other miracles.
"If someone reports to us that they have been threatened or intimidated, we shall take action," Kasingye warned.
He cited embattled Pastor Obiri Yeboah Kojo, who last week asked Pastor Samuel Kakande of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations to apologise to him or "face God's power within 60 days".
The Police are investigating Kojo over allegations of importing a device designed to give electric shocks, but Kojo accuses Kakande of framing him.
Kasingye also said Pastor Grace Kitaka, who is accused of sodomising Julius Lukyamuzi, had been interrogated.
Meanwhile, it emerged that Kojo is not wanted by the police in Ghana. The Police had early in the week warned that Kojo would be extradited over allegedly defrauding a woman of the equivalent of sh17m. Kasigye said the man Ghanian police seek is Alex Yeboah.
Posted to the web 29 July 2007
By Herbert Ssempogo Kampala
THE Police have opened a general inquiry file on fake pastors countrywide.
Announcing the move, Police spokesman Asan Kasingye on Friday called on people to use the opportunity to report dubious pastors.
"Every person with a complaint against a particular pastor can come to us and give us information," he appealed, while addressing a news conference at the Police headquarters in Kampala.
The Police open a general inquiry file when there are several complaints about an issue from members of the public. "We open the file in absence of a particular complainant so that we can confirm the allegations and also find a way forward," Kasingye explained.
The Acting Commissioner (crime), Elly Womanya, who is stationed at the CID headquarters at Kibuli in Kampala, will receive all complaints.
The media has lately been awash with reports about the activities of pastors, many of which border on crime.
The Sunday Vision over three weeks this month serialised the activities of pastors who coerce their flock into "sowing" their valuables in exchange for blessings from God.
Several people have alleged that pastors take their vehicles and land titles with promises that they will cure them of HIV/AIDS, among other miracles.
"If someone reports to us that they have been threatened or intimidated, we shall take action," Kasingye warned.
He cited embattled Pastor Obiri Yeboah Kojo, who last week asked Pastor Samuel Kakande of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations to apologise to him or "face God's power within 60 days".
The Police are investigating Kojo over allegations of importing a device designed to give electric shocks, but Kojo accuses Kakande of framing him.
Kasingye also said Pastor Grace Kitaka, who is accused of sodomising Julius Lukyamuzi, had been interrogated.
Meanwhile, it emerged that Kojo is not wanted by the police in Ghana. The Police had early in the week warned that Kojo would be extradited over allegedly defrauding a woman of the equivalent of sh17m. Kasigye said the man Ghanian police seek is Alex Yeboah.
zaterdag, juli 28, 2007
Heft het bisdom Roermond zich op?
Oud-deken Joep Haffmans plotseling overleden
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op za 28 jul '07 om 17:13u (Bron: Bisdom Roermond)
ROERMOND (RKnieuws.net) - De bisschop van Roermond bereikte zojuist het bericht dat heden, in zijn woning te Sittard, ten gevolge van een hartinfarct, oud-deken Joep Haffmans plotseling is overleden. De bisschop is door dit bericht diep geraakt en geschokt. Hij hecht eraan om zijn gevoelens van medeleven kenbaar te maken aan de familie Haffmans en aan diegenen die zich met de oud-deken verbonden voelden. Hij zal de overledene insluiten in zijn gebed.
"Wij weten allen, dat in het afgelopen jaar een justitieel onderzoek tegen de oud-deken liep, dat in de komende maanden tot een afronding zou komen. Het ontvangen van het bericht van zijn plotseling overlijden maakt ons er pijnlijk van bewust, hoe kwetsbaar het menselijke leven is.
Wij treden terug in ons oordeel, nu oud-deken Haffmans is aangekomen bij de hemelse Vader, de God van barmhartigheid. Alleen aan Hem komt het oordeel toe," aldus de bisschop. "Wij begeleiden de overledene met onze gebeden. Moge hij rusten in vrede."
Wat verschrikkelijk voor de man en de zijnen.
Misschien kan er dan nu eindelijk gesproken worden over datgene waar het nu eigenlijk over ging:
wie er binnen die kerk , dat bisdom, nu eigenlijk hoe verantwoordelijk was voor misbruik van vertrouwen, dat het leven en de gezondheid van anderen beinvloedde!
Inplaats van gebruik te maken van de dood van de man met argumenten als "wij treden terug in ons oordeel" en God als rechter.
Een rk kerkelijke hierarchie bestaat omdat niet slechts personen individueel verantwoordelijk zijn binnen, maar de kerk als institutie !
Om dan nu het bisdom Roermond meteen maar helemaal op te heffen, of communaal over te stappen naar de PKN ten gevolge van deze man en diens dood, lijkt mij wat overdreven!
Ze schijnen daar in Roermond mbt. hun eigen leer in ieder geval wel heel erg hardleers te zijn
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op za 28 jul '07 om 17:13u (Bron: Bisdom Roermond)
ROERMOND (RKnieuws.net) - De bisschop van Roermond bereikte zojuist het bericht dat heden, in zijn woning te Sittard, ten gevolge van een hartinfarct, oud-deken Joep Haffmans plotseling is overleden. De bisschop is door dit bericht diep geraakt en geschokt. Hij hecht eraan om zijn gevoelens van medeleven kenbaar te maken aan de familie Haffmans en aan diegenen die zich met de oud-deken verbonden voelden. Hij zal de overledene insluiten in zijn gebed.
"Wij weten allen, dat in het afgelopen jaar een justitieel onderzoek tegen de oud-deken liep, dat in de komende maanden tot een afronding zou komen. Het ontvangen van het bericht van zijn plotseling overlijden maakt ons er pijnlijk van bewust, hoe kwetsbaar het menselijke leven is.
Wij treden terug in ons oordeel, nu oud-deken Haffmans is aangekomen bij de hemelse Vader, de God van barmhartigheid. Alleen aan Hem komt het oordeel toe," aldus de bisschop. "Wij begeleiden de overledene met onze gebeden. Moge hij rusten in vrede."
Wat verschrikkelijk voor de man en de zijnen.
Misschien kan er dan nu eindelijk gesproken worden over datgene waar het nu eigenlijk over ging:
wie er binnen die kerk , dat bisdom, nu eigenlijk hoe verantwoordelijk was voor misbruik van vertrouwen, dat het leven en de gezondheid van anderen beinvloedde!
Inplaats van gebruik te maken van de dood van de man met argumenten als "wij treden terug in ons oordeel" en God als rechter.
Een rk kerkelijke hierarchie bestaat omdat niet slechts personen individueel verantwoordelijk zijn binnen, maar de kerk als institutie !
Om dan nu het bisdom Roermond meteen maar helemaal op te heffen, of communaal over te stappen naar de PKN ten gevolge van deze man en diens dood, lijkt mij wat overdreven!
Ze schijnen daar in Roermond mbt. hun eigen leer in ieder geval wel heel erg hardleers te zijn
en er een knap cynisch minachtende uitleg van
de een zijn dood is de ander zijn brood
op na te houden
Disgraced B.C. bishop dead of heart attack
TOM HAWTHORN
Globe and Mail Update
July 27, 2007 at 3:13 PM EDT
His death was announced by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
He resigned as bishop of the British Columbia diocese of Prince George after being charged with sex crimes in 1991.
He was convicted in 1996 of committing rape and indecent assault on two young aboriginal women during the 1960s when he was a priest. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison by Mr. Justice Wally Oppal, who is now British Columbia's attorney general. After serving six months, the disgraced clergyman was released on $1,000 bail.
The B.C. Court of Appeal later acquitted him of sexually assaulting a student at a Williams Lake residential school, where he was principal.
The appeal court also set aside his conviction for rape of a school secretary, ordering a new trial.
The appeal court also set aside his conviction for rape of a school secretary, ordering a new trial.
Instead, authorities agreed to drop the rape charge after the former bishop apologized to his accuser in 1998 at a traditional native healing circle held at Alkali Lake, a small native village near Williams Lake in the B.C. Interior.
Earlier, he had told court during a bail hearing that "if I had not broken my vow of chastity (klik)I would not be here today. I have paid a very heavy price." (klik)
Court heard lurid details about a predatory priest who used his position to attain sex, which he would later insist was consensual (klik)
A former student testified he had ordered her to clean his bathroom, then pulled her onto his bed and said: "Let's have some fun."
The former secretary testified he had once presented her with a Christmas gift of a statue of the Virgin Mary before feeling her breasts and trying to kiss her.
He maintained his innocence throughout the long court battle, arguing his accusers had
consented to sex. He admitted to fathering a child who was placed for adoption.
The case attracted widespread attention, as it became a symbol for debate about the role of the justice system in handling cases of aboriginals abused at church-run residential schools.
The original charges were suspended when the defence successfully argued the Crown failed to provide the records of the therapists and psychologists who treated the accusers. A defendant's right to such access was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada, a decision bitterly denounced by women's groups and advocates for sexual assault victims.
Parliament later passed Bill C-46, which offered some privacy protection (klik)regarding a complainant's counselling records in such cases.
....
Wat er ook gebeurd is, ik weet daar niets van, maar zó ga je niet met
mensen om. Ik denk dat het heel jammer is dat men zo’n priester in de media bij
voorbaat vermoord heeft. Men heeft mét hem vele anderen, óók de huidige
bisschop, op deze wijze scheef voorgesteld en beschuldigd. Ik vind dat eigenlijk
een van de grootste schandalen van de laatste jaren."Tja....
..... Gijsen wijdde Haffmans in 1974 tot priester. Dat besluit is omstreden, sinds emeritus hoogleraar Ad Blijlevens, van 1988 tot 1992 rector van de Hogeschool voor Theologie en Pastoraat (HTP) in Heerlen, vorig jaar in deze krant onthulde dat Gijsen in weerwil van waarschuwingen over een dubieuze levensstijl Haffmans tóch tot priester wijdde.
Vanuit de HTP, waaraan Haffmans begin jaren zeventig studeerde, kwam het advies dat Haffmans " vanwege zijn levensstijl en geaardheid" niet geschikt was priester te worden. Blijlevens zei dat de HTP concrete signalen kreeg die te maken hadden met Haffmans’ "homoseksuele geaardheid en vooral hoe hij in de richting van medestudenten daarmee omging". De HTP-leiding informeerde het bisdom, maar vond daar geen luisterend oor.
"Haffmans moest en zou tot priester worden gewijd. Gijsen hanteerde blijkbaar andere criteria dan wij."
Klinkt dat (klik) even heel erg bekend!
Ik lieg alleen wanneer dat nodig is! vrije vertaling van Mahony, met dank aan Richard Sipe!
NPR : Priests' Files to Shed Light on Abuse Scandal in L.A.
July 27, 2007
Now that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has reached a record settlement with alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, the next legal battle is heating up.
Under the settlement, the archdiocese is preparing to release personnel files of the accused priests. Plaintiffs' lawyers say these files could implicate Cardinal Roger Mahony in a widespread cover-up.
For Lee Bashforth, last week's settlement was a small price to pay for a cardinal he accuses of covering up years of sexual abuse. Immediately following the settlement, Bashforth held up an old photo of his first communion. Father Michael Wempe has his arm around Bashforth, who wears a proud smile.
"There's a picture of him here, with me as a 7-year-old boy, which is when my abuse began and lasted a decade," Bashforth says.
Bashforth says Cardinal Roger Mahony's public apology to the hundreds of victims of sexual abuse wasn't enough.
"Roger Mahony offered a very disingenuous and hollow apology," he says. "And he is sorry. I believe he's sorry. But he's sorry he was caught covering up these crimes."
Mahony has withstood strong criticism for the way he's handled this scandal. He chose to fight the release of priests' files all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also challenged the California law that gave people a one-year window to file sex abuse claims no matter when they occurred.
Both of these tactics failed. But they did succeed in delaying a settlement for four years. Now, as part of that settlement, Mahony agreed to release all of the church's personnel files. Some of those files may be held up if individual priests raise objections to a judge. Still, it's hoped many will be released in the coming months.
Plaintiffs' attorney John Manly is one of a handful of lawyers who has seen all of these files. He says they show the cardinal routinely covered up sexual abuse in the archdiocese and shuffled abusing priests from parish to parish. Manly believes the release of these files will force Mahony to resign.
"There will be a volcanic reaction by the public and the media," Manly predicts. "And onne of two things will happen: Either he'll be indicted, or he will be effectively promoted to the Vatican, by Rome, because his position here is untenable."
That's precisely what happened to former Boston Archdiocese Cardinal Bernard Law in 2002, when he had to disclose personnel files. Law was forced to resign and now presides over one of the five basilicas in Rome where the pope oftentimes celebrates mass.
However, L.A. Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg says this case is completely different. He says the personnel files of clergy here will show that it was the accused priests, not Cardinal Mahony, who concealed the abuse.
"I think the record will show that these men ... didn't tell the truth to the cardinal, that they went to great lengths to hide what kinds of awful things they were doing to people," Tamberg says.
Plaintiffs' lawyers have called on L.A. District Attorney Steve Cooley to investigate Mahony's role in the church-abuse scandal. Many point to Mahony's admission five years ago in a letter to his priests that he transferred one priest, Father Michael Baker, to a number of different parishes after Baker admitted he molested children. District Attorney Cooley says he hasn't ruled out prosecuting Mahony.
"We have to have a plausible legal theory of criminal liability, and we are not at that stage yet," he says. "But I will tell you this. We have not ruled out at some point in time, using the grand jury to probe the outer reaches of criminal culpability or liability in this matter, we are still working on this."
In the meantime, the fallout of the LA Archdiocese scandal isn't garnering as much attention as other large settlements like the one in Boston five years ago.
Phil Lawler, editor of the online magazine Catholic World News, says that's because the public is tired of it all.
"At the time when things were exploding in Boston, everyone was shocked and outraged," he says. "Now, more than five years later, people have seen so many headlines, I think a lot of people just want it to go away."
Lawler adds that Mahony is much more popular among parishioners than Cardinal Law ever was.
In a diocese that is 70 percent Latino, Mahony has created a name for himself by standing up for immigrant rights.
This, combined with his tough stance during settlement negotiations, has spurred many church observers to guess that Mahony will survive this scandal relatively unscathed ... a prediction that, at least in some circles, has already earned Mahony the nickname "The Teflon Cardinal."
Now that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has reached a record settlement with alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, the next legal battle is heating up.
Under the settlement, the archdiocese is preparing to release personnel files of the accused priests. Plaintiffs' lawyers say these files could implicate Cardinal Roger Mahony in a widespread cover-up.
For Lee Bashforth, last week's settlement was a small price to pay for a cardinal he accuses of covering up years of sexual abuse. Immediately following the settlement, Bashforth held up an old photo of his first communion. Father Michael Wempe has his arm around Bashforth, who wears a proud smile.
"There's a picture of him here, with me as a 7-year-old boy, which is when my abuse began and lasted a decade," Bashforth says.
Bashforth says Cardinal Roger Mahony's public apology to the hundreds of victims of sexual abuse wasn't enough.
"Roger Mahony offered a very disingenuous and hollow apology," he says. "And he is sorry. I believe he's sorry. But he's sorry he was caught covering up these crimes."
Mahony has withstood strong criticism for the way he's handled this scandal. He chose to fight the release of priests' files all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also challenged the California law that gave people a one-year window to file sex abuse claims no matter when they occurred.
Both of these tactics failed. But they did succeed in delaying a settlement for four years. Now, as part of that settlement, Mahony agreed to release all of the church's personnel files. Some of those files may be held up if individual priests raise objections to a judge. Still, it's hoped many will be released in the coming months.
Plaintiffs' attorney John Manly is one of a handful of lawyers who has seen all of these files. He says they show the cardinal routinely covered up sexual abuse in the archdiocese and shuffled abusing priests from parish to parish. Manly believes the release of these files will force Mahony to resign.
"There will be a volcanic reaction by the public and the media," Manly predicts. "And onne of two things will happen: Either he'll be indicted, or he will be effectively promoted to the Vatican, by Rome, because his position here is untenable."
That's precisely what happened to former Boston Archdiocese Cardinal Bernard Law in 2002, when he had to disclose personnel files. Law was forced to resign and now presides over one of the five basilicas in Rome where the pope oftentimes celebrates mass.
However, L.A. Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg says this case is completely different. He says the personnel files of clergy here will show that it was the accused priests, not Cardinal Mahony, who concealed the abuse.
"I think the record will show that these men ... didn't tell the truth to the cardinal, that they went to great lengths to hide what kinds of awful things they were doing to people," Tamberg says.
Plaintiffs' lawyers have called on L.A. District Attorney Steve Cooley to investigate Mahony's role in the church-abuse scandal. Many point to Mahony's admission five years ago in a letter to his priests that he transferred one priest, Father Michael Baker, to a number of different parishes after Baker admitted he molested children. District Attorney Cooley says he hasn't ruled out prosecuting Mahony.
"We have to have a plausible legal theory of criminal liability, and we are not at that stage yet," he says. "But I will tell you this. We have not ruled out at some point in time, using the grand jury to probe the outer reaches of criminal culpability or liability in this matter, we are still working on this."
In the meantime, the fallout of the LA Archdiocese scandal isn't garnering as much attention as other large settlements like the one in Boston five years ago.
Phil Lawler, editor of the online magazine Catholic World News, says that's because the public is tired of it all.
"At the time when things were exploding in Boston, everyone was shocked and outraged," he says. "Now, more than five years later, people have seen so many headlines, I think a lot of people just want it to go away."
Lawler adds that Mahony is much more popular among parishioners than Cardinal Law ever was.
In a diocese that is 70 percent Latino, Mahony has created a name for himself by standing up for immigrant rights.
This, combined with his tough stance during settlement negotiations, has spurred many church observers to guess that Mahony will survive this scandal relatively unscathed ... a prediction that, at least in some circles, has already earned Mahony the nickname "The Teflon Cardinal."
woensdag, juli 25, 2007
ex-priester gepakt. Dank U wel, slachtoffers, zei de kardinaal. Mahony's antwoord en nog wat verklaringen.
Wat een timing!!!
Na de informatie over Manning, Mahony's voorganger in LA, de afgelopen dagen alweer, nu ook over de al al zo lang bestaande centra voor seksueel gevaarlijke priesters,
een week na de LA deal met 508 slachtoffers: ligt de volgende consequentie van het het kerkelijk misbruik, alweer voor Mahony LA onomstotelijk op tafel met de arrestatie van een ex-priester.
De vraag is natuurlijk inderdaad: wat doe je met ze?
Ze zijn tenslotte jarenlang hun gang kunnen gaan!
Als't U blieft, kardinaal.
Wie misbruikers kweekt krijgt misbruikers!
Wie zolang met zijn fikken aan kinderen kon en mocht zitten, zit met vingers aan kinderen! Of je ze er nu wel of niet die kerk uitschopt.
Dank u wel, kardinaal!
En dat geheugen van Mahony? Op zijn minst fascinerend te noemen.
Misschien is de correcte vertaling van mental reservation dan ook wel niet: ik lieg alleen als het nodig is, maar die gouden borden uit de hemelse eeuwigheid hier op aarde een eeuwigheid voor je kop hebben.
Ex-L.A. priest charged with sexually abusing boy
Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:11PM EDT
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Just over a week after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached a record $660 million deal to settle clergy abuse cases, a former priest was arrested on Tuesday on charges of molesting a young boy.
George Miller, who served in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacoima, is the first current or former Catholic priest to be charged with sex abuse in the city since the nation's largest Roman Catholic diocese finalized the settlement with 508 plaintiffs on July 16.
That settlement covered only civil cases pending against the church and does not affect criminal cases.
Miller, who is 69 and left active ministry in 1996, was taken into custody at his home in California on a felony complaint charging him with three counts of committing lewd acts on a child and three counts of sodomy on a minor.
He is accused of sexually abusing a young boy from 1988 to 1991, starting when the alleged victim was 5 years old. Miller was being held on $600,000 bail and was due in court as early as Wednesday for an arraignment on the charges. The victim was not named.
"As promised, investigations are ongoing into alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests," Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said. "As evidence is developed to sustain criminal filings, we will do so."
Miller had been assigned to the Guardian Angel Church in Pacoima when he met the 5-year-old boy, befriended his mother and became a frequent guest in the family's home. He is accused of molesting the boy while taking him on overnight trips.
In 2002, Miller was charged with 24 counts of sex crimes against minors, including the boy's older brother.
That case was dismissed the following year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an extension of California's statute of limitations on sex crimes against children was unconstitutional.
The current case is within the statue of limitations.
The settlement reached last week after 4-1/2 years of negotiations came on the eve of the first trial involving sex abuse cases was due to begin. Victims' attorneys would have called Cardinal Roger Mahony to testify about the church hierarchy's alleged protection of abusive priests.
The church, in which priests take a vow of celibacy, has faced abuse allegations worldwide over the past decade. Victims have charged that church leaders often knew of the abuse but did not do enough to stop it.
The Los Angeles settlement dwarfs other landmark payouts. The Archdiocese of Boston, where the U.S. scandal erupted in 2002, reached a 2003 deal for 550 people worth $85 million.
Published: Friday, July 20, 2007
Pastoral Letter to Catholic Faithful in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
July 18, 2007
As you have heard, this past week our Archdiocese settled 508 civil cases involving clergy and ay persons accused of sexual abuse. The emotional pain of the victims of this abuse remains intense, and I invite each of you to join with me in praying for them on their difficult journey toward healing.
I again apologize personally, and on behalf of those who led the church in past decades, to all those who were abused, regardless of how long ago the abuse took place.
As much as we might wish that the past could be reversed and the harm undone, it cannot be. But we can work to ensure that our parish ministries are as safe as we can humanly make them for all of our parishioners, especially our children and young people.
Throughout our Archdiocese, in our parishes and schools, our priests and lay people have worked hard over the past several years to create safe environments for our children. At this important moment in our Local Church's history, as we remember our past failings, it is also appropriate to reflect on what has been accomplished so far:
---There is no priest or lay person currently in ministry in the Archdiocese who has been found to have abused a young person.
---Complaints of abuse are promptly reported to civil authorities.
---A Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board receives complaints of inappropriate conduct and makes recommendations about the disposition of individual cases.
---More than 40,000 priests, teachers, lay employees, coaches and volunteers have been trained in abuse prevention techniques under the Archdiocese's Safeguard the Children program.
---Before being allowed to work alone with children, church employees and volunteers are being fingerprinted and will clear a criminal background check.
---More than 350,000 of our children and youth already have been trained in age-appropriate programs that teach them to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate behavior and how to report inappropriate behavior to a parent or guardian.
For more information on these and other child protection efforts of our Local Church, please visit the various websites of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Again, I invite you to join me in fervent prayer for the healing of all victims of sexual abuse, and for reconciliation across the Archdiocese.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Cardinal Roger Mahony
Archbishop of Los Angeles
Posted on Tuesday July 24, 2007
Statement Of The Archdiocese Of Los Angeles Regarding The Arrest Of George Miller
In 2005, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles released a summary of information related to priests who had been accused of sexual abuse in civil lawsuits.
The information regarding George Miller indicates that despite written allegations of abuse in 1977, a firm denial of misconduct by Father Miller resulted in the decision of Cardinal Timothy Manning to retain Father Miller in ministry.
There were no further reports of problems to the Archdiocese regarding Father Miller for 12 years. In September of 1989, a priest reported that he felt uncomfortable with Father Miller’s friendliness toward boys. But no abuse was reported. Father Miller again denied any wrongdoing.
On May 16, 1996, a complaint of sexual abuse against Father Miller was made to the Archdiocese’s Vicar for Clergy. The Vicar for Clergy interviewed Father Miller, and on May 20, 1996, Cardinal Roger Mahony placed Father Miller on sick leave and sent him for psychiatric evaluation.
Father Miller was never returned to ministry. He continued in therapy, and was placed on inactive leave in 1997. At the request of Cardinal Mahony, Miller was laicized in May 2005. In 1977, Cardinal Manning allowed Miller to remain in ministry based on Miller’s denial of an accusation of abuse. Such a thing would not happen today.
According to Archdiocesan sexual abuse policies and procedures enacted by Cardinal Roger Mahony, an allegation of sexual abuse against a minor is immediately reported to the police.
The priest is removed from ministry and placed on administrative leave. Pending the results of a police investigation, the Archdiocese’s Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board, comprised mostly of professional lay experts, reviews the case against the priest and makes a recommendation directly to Cardinal Mahony.
The Archdiocese will continue to cooperate with the authorities as they investigate claims of sexual abuse against individual priests.
July 24, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Former Priest Arrested,Charged with Sexual Molestation
LOS ANGELES – A former priest with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was arrested today on a felony complaint charging him with multiple counts of sexual molestation of a child under the age of 14, the District Attorney’s office announced.
George Miller, 69 (dob 3-12-38), was arrested at his residence in Oxnard by investigators with the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation. He is charged in case No. PA059590 with three counts of lewd act on a child and three counts of sodomy of a person under 14 – all felonies. He is being held on $600,000 bail.
“As promised, investigations are ongoing into alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests,” Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said today. “As evidence is developed to sustain criminal filings, we will do so.”
Miller allegedly met the victim when he was 5 years old while Miller was assigned to the Guardian Angel Church in Pacoima. Miller allegedly befriended the victim’s mother and became a frequent guest in her home. He allegedly first formed a close relationship with the victim’s older brother. Miller began taking the victim on overnight trips and allegedly began sexually molesting him. He’s charged with sexually molesting the victim between March 1988 to March 1991.
In 2002, Miller was originally charged with 24 counts of sex crimes against minors involving John Doe’s older brother and two other male minors, who were brothers. That case was dismissed in 2003 pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Stogner decision that ruled California’s statute of limitations extension was unconstitutional. Deputy District Attorney Sam Dordulian with the Target Crimes Division will prosecute the case.
Miller is scheduled to be arraigned after 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 25, in San Fernando Superior Court. If convicted, he is facing up to 18 years in state prison.
LOS ANGELES – District Attorney Steve Cooley issued the following statement today on the archdiocese settlement:
dan ook wel niet: Ik lieg alleen wanneer het nodig is, zoals Sipe eerder zei over Mahony (en Manning), maar die gouden borden uit die hemelse eeuwigheid gewoon hier op aarde een eeuwigheid voor je kop hebben!
Na de informatie over Manning, Mahony's voorganger in LA, de afgelopen dagen alweer, nu ook over de al al zo lang bestaande centra voor seksueel gevaarlijke priesters,
een week na de LA deal met 508 slachtoffers: ligt de volgende consequentie van het het kerkelijk misbruik, alweer voor Mahony LA onomstotelijk op tafel met de arrestatie van een ex-priester.
De vraag is natuurlijk inderdaad: wat doe je met ze?
Ze zijn tenslotte jarenlang hun gang kunnen gaan!
Als't U blieft, kardinaal.
Wie misbruikers kweekt krijgt misbruikers!
Wie zolang met zijn fikken aan kinderen kon en mocht zitten, zit met vingers aan kinderen! Of je ze er nu wel of niet die kerk uitschopt.
Dank u wel, kardinaal!
En dat geheugen van Mahony? Op zijn minst fascinerend te noemen.
Misschien is de correcte vertaling van mental reservation dan ook wel niet: ik lieg alleen als het nodig is, maar die gouden borden uit de hemelse eeuwigheid hier op aarde een eeuwigheid voor je kop hebben.
Ex-L.A. priest charged with sexually abusing boy
Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:11PM EDT
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Just over a week after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached a record $660 million deal to settle clergy abuse cases, a former priest was arrested on Tuesday on charges of molesting a young boy.
George Miller, who served in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacoima, is the first current or former Catholic priest to be charged with sex abuse in the city since the nation's largest Roman Catholic diocese finalized the settlement with 508 plaintiffs on July 16.
That settlement covered only civil cases pending against the church and does not affect criminal cases.
Miller, who is 69 and left active ministry in 1996, was taken into custody at his home in California on a felony complaint charging him with three counts of committing lewd acts on a child and three counts of sodomy on a minor.
He is accused of sexually abusing a young boy from 1988 to 1991, starting when the alleged victim was 5 years old. Miller was being held on $600,000 bail and was due in court as early as Wednesday for an arraignment on the charges. The victim was not named.
"As promised, investigations are ongoing into alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests," Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said. "As evidence is developed to sustain criminal filings, we will do so."
Miller had been assigned to the Guardian Angel Church in Pacoima when he met the 5-year-old boy, befriended his mother and became a frequent guest in the family's home. He is accused of molesting the boy while taking him on overnight trips.
In 2002, Miller was charged with 24 counts of sex crimes against minors, including the boy's older brother.
That case was dismissed the following year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an extension of California's statute of limitations on sex crimes against children was unconstitutional.
The current case is within the statue of limitations.
The settlement reached last week after 4-1/2 years of negotiations came on the eve of the first trial involving sex abuse cases was due to begin. Victims' attorneys would have called Cardinal Roger Mahony to testify about the church hierarchy's alleged protection of abusive priests.
The church, in which priests take a vow of celibacy, has faced abuse allegations worldwide over the past decade. Victims have charged that church leaders often knew of the abuse but did not do enough to stop it.
The Los Angeles settlement dwarfs other landmark payouts. The Archdiocese of Boston, where the U.S. scandal erupted in 2002, reached a 2003 deal for 550 people worth $85 million.
Published: Friday, July 20, 2007
Pastoral Letter to Catholic Faithful in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
July 18, 2007
As you have heard, this past week our Archdiocese settled 508 civil cases involving clergy and ay persons accused of sexual abuse. The emotional pain of the victims of this abuse remains intense, and I invite each of you to join with me in praying for them on their difficult journey toward healing.
I again apologize personally, and on behalf of those who led the church in past decades, to all those who were abused, regardless of how long ago the abuse took place.
As much as we might wish that the past could be reversed and the harm undone, it cannot be. But we can work to ensure that our parish ministries are as safe as we can humanly make them for all of our parishioners, especially our children and young people.
Throughout our Archdiocese, in our parishes and schools, our priests and lay people have worked hard over the past several years to create safe environments for our children. At this important moment in our Local Church's history, as we remember our past failings, it is also appropriate to reflect on what has been accomplished so far:
---There is no priest or lay person currently in ministry in the Archdiocese who has been found to have abused a young person.
---Complaints of abuse are promptly reported to civil authorities.
---A Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board receives complaints of inappropriate conduct and makes recommendations about the disposition of individual cases.
---More than 40,000 priests, teachers, lay employees, coaches and volunteers have been trained in abuse prevention techniques under the Archdiocese's Safeguard the Children program.
---Before being allowed to work alone with children, church employees and volunteers are being fingerprinted and will clear a criminal background check.
---More than 350,000 of our children and youth already have been trained in age-appropriate programs that teach them to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate behavior and how to report inappropriate behavior to a parent or guardian.
For more information on these and other child protection efforts of our Local Church, please visit the various websites of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Again, I invite you to join me in fervent prayer for the healing of all victims of sexual abuse, and for reconciliation across the Archdiocese.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Cardinal Roger Mahony
Archbishop of Los Angeles
Posted on Tuesday July 24, 2007
Statement Of The Archdiocese Of Los Angeles Regarding The Arrest Of George Miller
In 2005, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles released a summary of information related to priests who had been accused of sexual abuse in civil lawsuits.
The information regarding George Miller indicates that despite written allegations of abuse in 1977, a firm denial of misconduct by Father Miller resulted in the decision of Cardinal Timothy Manning to retain Father Miller in ministry.
There were no further reports of problems to the Archdiocese regarding Father Miller for 12 years. In September of 1989, a priest reported that he felt uncomfortable with Father Miller’s friendliness toward boys. But no abuse was reported. Father Miller again denied any wrongdoing.
On May 16, 1996, a complaint of sexual abuse against Father Miller was made to the Archdiocese’s Vicar for Clergy. The Vicar for Clergy interviewed Father Miller, and on May 20, 1996, Cardinal Roger Mahony placed Father Miller on sick leave and sent him for psychiatric evaluation.
Father Miller was never returned to ministry. He continued in therapy, and was placed on inactive leave in 1997. At the request of Cardinal Mahony, Miller was laicized in May 2005. In 1977, Cardinal Manning allowed Miller to remain in ministry based on Miller’s denial of an accusation of abuse. Such a thing would not happen today.
According to Archdiocesan sexual abuse policies and procedures enacted by Cardinal Roger Mahony, an allegation of sexual abuse against a minor is immediately reported to the police.
The priest is removed from ministry and placed on administrative leave. Pending the results of a police investigation, the Archdiocese’s Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board, comprised mostly of professional lay experts, reviews the case against the priest and makes a recommendation directly to Cardinal Mahony.
The Archdiocese will continue to cooperate with the authorities as they investigate claims of sexual abuse against individual priests.
July 24, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Former Priest Arrested,Charged with Sexual Molestation
LOS ANGELES – A former priest with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was arrested today on a felony complaint charging him with multiple counts of sexual molestation of a child under the age of 14, the District Attorney’s office announced.
George Miller, 69 (dob 3-12-38), was arrested at his residence in Oxnard by investigators with the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation. He is charged in case No. PA059590 with three counts of lewd act on a child and three counts of sodomy of a person under 14 – all felonies. He is being held on $600,000 bail.
“As promised, investigations are ongoing into alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests,” Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said today. “As evidence is developed to sustain criminal filings, we will do so.”
Miller allegedly met the victim when he was 5 years old while Miller was assigned to the Guardian Angel Church in Pacoima. Miller allegedly befriended the victim’s mother and became a frequent guest in her home. He allegedly first formed a close relationship with the victim’s older brother. Miller began taking the victim on overnight trips and allegedly began sexually molesting him. He’s charged with sexually molesting the victim between March 1988 to March 1991.
In 2002, Miller was originally charged with 24 counts of sex crimes against minors involving John Doe’s older brother and two other male minors, who were brothers. That case was dismissed in 2003 pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Stogner decision that ruled California’s statute of limitations extension was unconstitutional. Deputy District Attorney Sam Dordulian with the Target Crimes Division will prosecute the case.
Miller is scheduled to be arraigned after 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 25, in San Fernando Superior Court. If convicted, he is facing up to 18 years in state prison.
LOS ANGELES – District Attorney Steve Cooley issued the following statement today on the archdiocese settlement:
“Today’s massive civil settlement highlights the institutional moral failure
of the archdiocese to supervise predatory priests who operated for years
under its jurisdiction.
“Our office worked for five years to obtain archdiocese records regarding the alleged criminal acts committed by these priests. The archdiocese resisted our efforts. We successfully obtained these records through the California Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in our favor last year.
“While we were attempting to obtain records from the archdiocese, the U.S. Supreme Court in another case – Stogner – significantly limited statutes of
limitation allowing prosecution of molestation cases. This poses a continuing
legal problem to us.
“We are aware there could be records that may become available to us as
a result of today’s settlement. If these documents reveal evidence of criminal
activity on behalf of individual priests or anyone else, we will pursue them.
“The book is not closed on our investigation.”
sg
Misschien is de correct uitleg van mental reservation (zie Tomas Doyle, Sipe en Wall)Als'tu blieft, kardinaal.
dank u wel, kardinaal.
dank U wel, slachtoffers, wees verzekerd van mijn medeleven en mijn excuses, zei de kardinaal.
dan ook wel niet: Ik lieg alleen wanneer het nodig is, zoals Sipe eerder zei over Mahony (en Manning), maar die gouden borden uit die hemelse eeuwigheid gewoon hier op aarde een eeuwigheid voor je kop hebben!
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