Vatican: no decision yet on discipline for founder of Peru-based lay movement

Abuse scandal rocks Peru’s upper-class Catholic sodality

The Vatican has indicated that no disciplinary action will be taken against the founder of the Society of Christian Life until an apostolic visitation of the lay movement has been concluded.

Luis Fernando Figari, who founded the movement in Peru in 1971, has been accused of multiple charges of sexual abuse of members. Figari stepped down as leader of the movement in 2011, but has continued to live in a house of the Society in Rome.

Last week Alessandro Morono Llabres, the group’s new leader, demanded Figari’s “immediate separation from our community,” saying that an internal investigation had concluded that the founder was “guilty of the abuses of which he is accused.”

However the Crux news site reports that the Vatican is awaiting a report from Bishop Fortunato Pablo Urcey, who was appointed last year to conduct an apostolic visitation of the movement. That report is believed to be imminent. Until the Vatican investigation is concluded, however, Figari will remain at the Society’s house in Rome, at the Vatican’s request.

In Peru, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani of Lima told Crux that the “really rotten leadership” of the Society has made it necessary to undertake a thorough reform of the lay movement—especially since the current leaders of the group were formed under the corrupt regime that allowed Figari to exercise his authority despite evidence of misconduct. The reform will have to be guided from outside the movement, the cardinal said, suggesting the sort of process that has been undergone by the Legionaries of Christ. But Cardinal Cipriani said that the Society should not be suppressed. “They’ve done wrong, and they have to be corrected,” he said; “but not destroyed.”

References:

• Abuse scandal rocks Peru’s upper-class Catholic sodality (Crux)
• Peruvian lay movement denounces founder, citing abuse (CWN, 4/7)

"it happened therefore it can happen again"

Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana – SCV Peru: Comisión de ética para la justicia y la reconciliación Informe Final A la Opinión Pública HET STINKT

Las autoridades del Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana confirmaron la creación de una comisión que se dedicará a investigar las denuncias de abusos sexuales en contra del fundador de esta organización, Luis Fernando Figari, y demás miembros. El objetivo de este grupo de trabajo será "ofrecer la máxima asistencia posible a las víctimas" y evaluar los casos específicos para luego determinar si proceden a la justicia civil o canónica.

A través de un comunicado publicado en su página web, el Sodalicio confirmó que esta Comisión de Ética para la Justicia y Reconciliación estará conformada por "profesionales de reconocida calidad e independencia".

26 - 11 - 2015 

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La “comisión de ética para la justicia y la reconciliación”, en cumplimiento del encargo efectuado en noviembre del año 2015 por el superior general del Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana – SCV, hace de conocimiento público el informe final elaborado sobre la base de los testimonios y denuncias recibidas hasta el mes de abril del presente año.

[...]


Medidas Recomendadas

1 
Repudio publico a la conducta de Luis Fernando Figari, respecto de quien las
autoridades correspondientes deberian adoptar la mayor sancion moral e
institutional.

2

Las victimas de los abusos deben ser resarcidas. Sus testemonios revelan la

necesidad urgente de ser atendidas mëdica, psicolögica y espiritualemente,
además de la compesaciön a la que tienen justo derecho y que debe
ser considerado por el SCV con cada victima en un autebntico processo de
reconciliación y justicia. Ello debe comprender un solicitud de perdón y
desagravio, de manera personal y escrita, por parte del Superior General a cada
una de las victimas. 

3
Compensación por los danos personales sufridos por quienes fueron privados de
un adecuado discernimiento vocacional, y en esa medida, obligados a prestar
servicios no remunerados, incluso en condición de ''servidumbre''.

4 

El SCV deberá proceder a la devolución inmediata de toda la documentación
correspondiente a cada una de las personas que forma o formó parte de la
institución, que así lo solicite.

5

Reconocimiento de la condición de victimas por parte de la Comisión a través de
los respectivos informes individuales. 

6

La Santa Sede con la premura del caso, debiera adoptar drásticas medidas para la
pronta intervencíon del Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, disponiendo que su
conducción esté a cargo de personas ajenas a su actual estructura orgasnizacional.

7
Las personas que ejercieron algun cargo en la organizazión del SCV, durante los
anos en que se permitieron los abuses denunciados, deben ser impedidas de
ejercer algún cargo represestativo al interior de la organización.

8 
Con ese propósito, y a efectos de cumplir el objetivo de este trabajo, la Comisión
remitirá el presente informe y otros que lo acompanen, a la Congregación para
los Institutos de Vida Consagrada y las Sociedades de Vida Apostólica de la
Santa Sede.

9

Despuës de haber recebido los testimonios de las victimas, esta Comision cree en
conciencia, que la Sante Sede debiera disponer con urgencia las medidas
necesarias para que Luis Fernando Figari sea efectivamente sancionado por los
actos denunciados, dentro de las competencias, correspondientes a la justicia
eclesiästica.

10
Publicacion del presente informe en la pagina de la Comisión:
www.comisionetica.org

11
La entrega del presente informe al SCV, a la Congregación para los Institutos de
Vida Consegrada y las Sociedades de Vida Apostólica de la Santa Sede a través
de la via diplomática de la Nunciatura Apostólica y al Sr. Cardenal Juan Luis
Ciprinai Thorne, Arzobispo de Lima y Primado del Perú.

BRON PDF

Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo

KLIK

kochać grzesznika

In 1989, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's commissioned an inquiry into the sexual abuse of boys by members of the clergy and Christian Brothers. Headed by former Lieutenant-Governor Gordon Winter, an Anglican, the commission strongly criticized the Archdiocesan administration for its handling of child abuse allegations, writing that it adopted a "minimal response policy" (138) which often amounted to no more than sending the offenders out of the province.

BRON

"Church officials aligned themselves with the accused;" the commission wrote, "their response to victims was thus inappropriate and un-Christian and this compounded the victims' initial sense of betrayal by the Church" (139). Archbishop Alphonsus Penney resigned as a result of the commission's findings.

bron

A TALE OF TWO BISHOPS

and 

the saga of Raymond Lahey

by

Richard Sipe  2012

CBC KLIK

5-10-2009 
The Telegram

The Canadian Press

Former archbishop Alphonsus Penney had been made aware
of child porn allegations 20 years ago: Archdiocese says

...

During a public inquiry into abuse at Mount Cashel in October 1989, Shane Earle - a former resident of the orphanage - testified he saw something in Lahey's home as a teenager that disturbed him and caused his hospitalization for depression.

The inquiry heard that the incident happened in 1985 at Lahey's home. Earle said he lost control after spotting something in the house, but at that point inquiry lawyer Clayton Powell quickly warned him not to mention what he had seen.
Police in Newfoundland and Labrador are reviewing the allegation including audio and video records of interviews with "victims and offenders" from the investigation of sex abuse allegations at the Mount Cashel orphanage.


Today the Archdiocese of St. John's said last Thursday it became aware of Earle's testimony.

According to a news release, it states that since hearing the media reports, Archbishop Martin Currie asked for a review of what officials in the Archdiocese might have known at the time.

In the Hughes Inquiry Report, it is written: "He (Shane Earle) went to Portugal Cove and spoke to Father Kevin Molloy, telling him stories of Mount Cashel that upset the priest who promised to make inquiries."

Based on this information, Currie contacted Molloy and was informed by Molloy that he had met with Earle and that the conversation between them included reference to Lahey. 
Molloy said he passed on the information he learned from Earle to then Archbishop Penney.

klik

The latest scandal has hit the Catholic Church hard.

Lahey's laptop and other media devices were seized by border guards when he was returning to Canada at the Ottawa airport on Sept. 15. Ottawa police charged him with possession and importing child pornography on Sept. 25 after a forensic investigation found images that police say were of "concern."

In his testimony to the public inquiry, Earle said senior officials of the Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel - including Lahey while he was still a priest - were told about sex involving boys and brothers at the orphanage.

Earle said he told Lahey that he had seen a brother having sex with several boys and the priest told him he had recommended to a member of the order's executive council in Toronto that the brother be removed from the orphanage, which was run by the Roman Catholic lay order for decades.

Weeks after his conversation with Lahey, the brother left the orphanage, said Earle, whose allegations sparked the inquiry into Mount Cashel by retired Ontario judge Samuel Hughes.

Kop-vellen

tussen jou en my

hoe verskriklik

hoe wanhopig

hoe vernietig breek dit tussen jou en my

soveel verwonding vir waarheid

soveel verwoesting

so min het oorgebly vir oorlewing

.....

maar as die oue nie skuldig is nie

nie skuld bely nie

kan die nuwe natuurlik ook nie skuldig wees nie

en nooit voor stok gekry word

as hy die oue herhaal nie

alles begin dus van voor af aan

dié slag anders ingekleur

Antjie Krog, deel 10 uit: Land van genade en verdriet

Down to my last skin.

'Kyrie eleison'

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[...]
church and party, like the rest of Australia, have changed in many ways since then. 

And the late Archbishop Sir Frank Little, whose funeral Mass was celebrated in St Patrick's Cathedral yesterday 

[...]was one of a generation of community leaders whose lives were marked by those changes.

The Age,
16-4-2008

House passes bill to change statute of limitations

The bill would remove limitations in criminal case, amend the age in civil cases Harrisburg, 

12-4-2016

Dauphin County, Pa.

A bill to change the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of child sex crimes is now headed to the Senate, but it didn't pass without some challenges. 

Some lawmakers said they thought it would be an easy vote.  Instead, a motion to postpone the vote was brought before the House.  That's where tensions began to rise. 

Representative after representative stood to support or oppose the motion.

"The reason I rise in support of this motion is that I'm getting some messages back home as to the constitutionality question on this amendment," said representative Cris Dush, (R), of Indiana and Jefferson counties.

 think it's clear," said representative Bryan Barbin, (D), of Cambria and Somerset counties. "I ask for a 'no' vote on the motion to postpone."

  

Representative Mark Rozzi, (D), of Berks county - a victim himself of child sexual abuse - has been pushing for this bill to pass the House.  When the motion to postpone was brought, Rozzi made a plea to fellow lawmakers. 

"I have struggled every day of my life," Rozzi said. "All I want is justice. I want justice for all of my friends who have been sexually abused."

The bill raises the statute of limitations age from 30 to 50 years old in civil cases.  The House approved Rozzi's amendment to make the bill retroactive Monday afternoon.  He and other lawmakers said it would finally allow for justice for victims of past abuse, like those in the Altoona-Johsntown Catholic Diocese. 

"If it can be a defensive coordinator at Penn State, it can be the pitch man at Subway, it can be the person who baptized your son or daughter," said representative Frank Burns, (D), of Cambria county. "It's everywhere and we have to address the problem, and this is a great first step."

"From all the victims of Pennsylvania, we say thank you," Rozzi said, concluding comments before the vote. 

The bill passed 180 to 15.  It will now move on to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  

Wehenstorm und Drang en de bishopscore

KLIK

This week I met up with Baroness Sheila Hollins from the UK.
She is a member of the House of Lords and has been appointed to Pope Francis' Commission for the Protection of Minors. She is a very accomplished and eminent person, former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and part of the Vatican team sent to Ireland to inquire into the Diocese of Armagh.

Baroness Hollins speaks gently and frankly about the enormous task facing the global Catholic Church to address child abuse and to prevent it happening again. She acknowledges that some, like Pope Francis "get it ", and others don't.

Ever the realist she knows that real change takes shifts in culture as well as practice. For the Church, that means understanding the impacts of clericalism and the abuse of power. It means having a deep appreciation of how entrenched, defensive institutional attitudes pervade across the life of the Church. It means being explicit about how victims and survivors are placed first in every consideration.

Practical steps are required to bring compliance with safe guarding up to best practice. This is at the heart of the Royal Commission's agenda. It is also deeply sought after by victims who repeatedly ask that every measure is taken to prevent the abuse ever happening again.

Our Council has recommended a new oversight regime be instigated in the Church to such an end. Ideally governments would set up structures for all institutions that provide services for children. But governments are slow to move. Just look at how long they are taking to get their collective act together on national redress!

The Church needs to move now and hopefully governments will catch up.

Just as Baroness Hollins, and our Australian appointee to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Kath McCormack, toil with great purpose to provide the value-added advice the Holy Father desperately needs, our Council continues to prepare for a comprehensive analysis of the cultural and other factors that led to the emergence and management of the sex abuse scandal.
This is essential and urgent work.

Our Church must look at itself and honestly appraise where change is needed. To do otherwise will let everyone down.

Hughes Inquiry tapes at issue in Mount Cashel civil trial; church opposes playing Mount Cashel inquiry tapes in court

The Telegram
12-4-2016

It was uncertain Tuesday whether the Mount Cashel civil trial will include evidence entered from videotapes of some witnesses who testified at the Hughes Inquiry nearly 30 years ago.


Lawyer Mark Frederick, who represents the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s, on Tuesday argued against an application made by lawyer Geoff Budden, who represents former orphanage residents.

Newfoundland Supreme Court Justice Alphonsus Faour did not rule on the matter as of the end of the court day Tuesday.

Related 

L'Église veut ouvrir les anciens dossiers de pédophilie

Le Figaro
12-4-2016

Selon une association de victimes, une trentaine de diocèses seraient concernés.

La vraie nouveauté des mesures annoncées, mardi à Paris, par la Conférence des évêques de France, pour renforcer «la vigilance» et la lutte contre les prêtres pédophiles, ne réside pas dans la création de «cellules d'accueil, d'écoute et d'accompagnement» pour les victimes dans tous les diocèses assortie d'un site Internet d'accueil et d'une adresse mail paroledevictimes@cef.fr. Plusieurs diocèses en disposent déjà, à commencer par celui de Lyon, mais «elles n'ont pas fait preuve d'efficacité», observe Bertrand Virieux, secrétaire de l'association de victimes La parole libérée. Il se souvient d'une «confrontation agressé-agresseur» dans le cadre de cette cellule «qui n'avait rien donné essentiellement par manque de compétence des personnes en charge».

Ce qui fut d'ailleurs l'une des raisons profondes des scandales qui secouent le diocèse de Lyon car les victimes du père Bernard Preynat - il y en a 64 recensées à ce jour par La parole libérée - ont finalement constaté qu'elles n'avaient pas réussi à se faire entendre en voyant ce prêtre toujours potentiellement au contact d'enfants en 2015.

Un engagement public

La vraie nouveauté est plutôt dans l'engagement public pris par le président de la Conférence épiscopale, Mgr Georges Pontier, au nom du «Conseil permanent» (composé de dix évêques élus), de «faire la lumière» sur «les cas particuliers», «mêmes anciens» qui «demeurent» dans «l'histoire des diocèses»: «Nous nous engageons à faire ce travail comme nous le faisons sur les cas portés à notre connaissance par les victimes.»

Ce qui veut dire - à la suite de l'affaire lyonnaise qui a vu effectivement resurgir, sous l'épiscopat du cardinal Barbarin des affaires gérées par trois de ses prédécesseurs -, que l'Église de France est décidée à ne plus seulement réagir à des plaintes courantes mais à mener une sorte d'inventaire de tous ses prêtres. Ceux dont la mémoire du diocèse murmure qu'ils ont été impliqués dans des affaires de pédophilie, mais sans jamais être inculpés, faute de plaintes. Ceux qui furent inculpés, jugés, qui ont accompli une peine judiciaire, puis ont été réintégrés dans une fonction pastorale. L'idée, a expliqué Mgr Pontier, une fois ces cas repérés, sera de «prendre des mesures conservatoires nécessaires» afin «de tout mettre en œuvre pour protéger les enfants et les jeunes». Par exemple, une «suspension immédiate» du sacerdoce quitte «à aménager» ensuite la décision.

Mais l'archevêque de Marseille n'a pas caché «la difficulté» pour les évêques qui ne sont pas des «employeurs» de prendre de telles décisions en raison de «la proximité» avec leurs prêtres et de la «relation de confiance» qu'ils entretiennent avec eux. Ému, le président des évêques a même eu du mal à réprimer son indignation face à «la violence» d'une société qui «jugerait quelqu'un, impardonnable, jusqu'à sa mort» parce qu'«il n'aurait plus aucune chance de redémarrer!», rappelant haut et fort la prégnance de la culture chrétienne du «pardon».

Il a alors dit ne pas pouvoir oublier «le visage» de ces «prêtres» qui ont effectivement très gravement fauté mais tout autant les visages des «victimes et de leurs familles». Expliquant alors indispensable pour les évêques, l'assistance d'un conseil «extérieur» au diocèse pour les aider à retirer «par précaution» un prêtre du service même pour des affaires très anciennes et non instruites.

D'où l'annonce de la seconde mesure phare: la création, avant l'été, d'une «commission nationale d'expertise indépendante» présidée par une «personnalité laïque qualifiée» assistée d'experts (anciens magistrats, médecins, psychologues, parents). En cas de doute l'évêque pourra la saisir afin de trancher.

Bertrand Virieux dont l'association La parole libérée a actuellement reçu des plaintes «d'affaires anciennes dans une trentaine de diocèses en France» refuse de «dénigrer» ce train de mesures épiscopales. Mais il se demande: «Pourquoi ne pas interdire immédiatement de tout contact pastoral tout prêtre, impliqué dans des violences sexuelles ou des actes pédophiles?»

# 28 / # 35

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Bishop Ron Mulkearns | Another Side of the Story

My cousin: the bishop of Ballarat...

by Michael Morwood
05 Apr 2016

This has also been published simultaneously on the website of Catholics for Renewal [LINK].

Ron Mulkearns was my cousin. I was the deacon at his episcopal consecration in late 1968 and his first ordinant to priesthood in May, 1969.

In the regrettable situation in which my cousin found himself as he neared death I have wanted to stand with him and honour him while also wanting to stand compassionately, sorrowfully and respectfully with people who have been hurt by his decisions and actions in the Ballarat sexual abuse scandal.

My cousin was a thoroughly decent man. There was not an ounce of evil intent in him. I do not wish to excuse any of his decisions and actions that have caused immense pain to so many people, but I do want to expose the great injustice and hypocrisy that is being cloaked over as this and other cases of bishops handling sexual abuse are investigated.

Formed by the Institution...

Behind Ron Mulkearns looms the Institution to which he gave his life. That Institution groomed him in loyalty to its cause from his earliest years, educated him in the 40s and 50s en route to priesthood, further educated him in Rome to be a Canon Lawyer, and appointed him at a young age, with virtually no parish pastoral experience to be Co-Adjutor Bishop in Ballarat, a diocese to which he did not belong. He eventually succeeded an elderly bishop and found himself immersed in a typical clerical old boys' club. I know he found this difficult. And I know he did look to older minds for advice, especially with regard to appointment of clergy.

Ron, to my mind, was somewhat diffident, shy, and not especially adept at socializing. But he was a Canon Lawyer with great loyalty to and trust in the Institution — why would the Institution look for any other requirements to be a bishop?

I recall a conversation I had with Ron sometime in the 90s when he was on a Vatican commission for Priestly Life and he would travel to Rome and elsewhere for meetings. I asked him whether priestly celibacy was ever on the agenda. He said that members of the group regularly put it on the agenda. Then what happened, I asked. Vatican officials always removed it from the agenda, he said. I was flabbergasted. Why don't you object, I asked. And his reply was, "Well, they're the boss."
Rome must not be questioned. You do what Rome wants you to do — that's the role of a bishop.

Ron knew the drill. He accepted that Rome was "the boss" and not to be questioned. And there can be no doubt that when he found himself out of his depth both personally and episcopally with the reality of clerical sexual abuse that he turned to Rome for advice. And he also trusted the expertise of psychologists. He had to; he was out of his depth in this.

Secrecy and protection of the Institution at all costs...

I'd love to see the correspondence with Rome. Wouldn't we all! But two features of Rome's dealing with sensitive issues are secrecy and protection of the Institution at all costs. Rome would cover its tracks — and still does so — while the bishop would be left high and dry in damage control when the dam walls broke open. I believe that the Catholic Church in its governing processes is as totalitarian as any system of governance can be. Its control over thought and behavior is exceptional. I'm also well aware that every person is responsible for his or her actions. And while it's no excuse to say, "they made me do it," there is at times and in some situations reason to pause, to consider another side of the story and not to dump harsh judgment on someone who is basically decent and make him the scapegoat for everything that went wrong.

The fact is that you do not become a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church without, in many cases, leaving your intellectual integrity at the door when you sign on for the task. You have to be on record that you will not support the ordination of women priests or contraceptive practices. You have to sign on to absolute surrender of intellect to what the Church believes and teaches — and that includes such questionable issues as humanity emerging into a state of Paradise, the literalness of the infancy and resurrection accounts in the gospels, the physical resurrection of Jesus, and that Jesus actually ordained and set up a male clerical Church before he died, to name just a few.

The intellectual dishonesty, the hypocrisy, the violence and the moral bankruptcy of Institutional Roman Catholicism...

So now, let's look at the real issue underpinning the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. And that is the intellectual dishonesty, the hypocrisy, the violence and the moral bankruptcy of Institutional Roman Catholicism held together by secrecy, by bullying and by silencing — and until recent years, rewarding those who engaged in these tactics to safeguard the Church's reputation.

Ron Mulkearns stands guilty of acting in accord with what the Institutional powers asked of him. I believe he so trusted the sacredness of that Institution that he was blinded and acted misguidedly. And I have no doubt he acted, relying on advice he trusted, according to what he thought was right. He now stands condemned for his decisions. Some people are suggesting he does not deserve to have a Cathedral funeral service. I suggest there is scapegoating here: let's put everything at the feet and in the hands of Ron Mulkearns because he was the responsible face of the Catholic Church. And I suggest that everyone look further, look beyondRon Mulkearns, and see the dysfunctional Roman Catholic Institution that expressed itself in his thinking and in his decisions that hurt so many people.

The dysfunction and the hypocrisy of this Institution is breathtaking.

For a start, let's consider every bishop who knowingly and willingly signs on to be a bishop knowing full well he is in disagreement with some Church teachings but is prepared to keep quiet about it.

Then, let us consider every Roman Catholic priest who privately disagrees with aspects of Church teaching but will not say so publicly for fear of being silenced — or in the case of older priests, for fear of having their pension stopped by a mean-minded and mean-spirited bishop.

And way up near the top of the list for consideration, let's put all the academic Roman Catholic theologians and moral theology professors who dare not say publicly what they really believe on some doctrinal and moral issues for fear they will lose their teaching position in a Catholic university.

I mentioned violence. Bullying and silencing and intimidation are all violent — and this goes on in diocese after diocese where "yes-men" bishops seek to protect the Institution's power and authority by ensuring no informed, scholarly voices are raised on their watch that would question what Rome wants everyone to believe. Whatever happened to the gospel words, "The truth will set you free"?

And I certainly want to consider the cardinal who condemned Ron in no uncertain terms at the Royal Commission into clergy sexual abuse — a cardinal known for protecting the institution and reaping his reward from Rome with bullying and silencing tactics. The hypocrisy was awesome to behold and it pinpoints something that needs attention in this sad story: the institution gets off scot-free. It is not brought to trial, to examination, and ultimately to rightful condemnation. Not only that, it can, in the words of this cardinal at the Royal Commission, pompously condemn Ron Mulkearns from the high moral ground, see itself as pure and innocent as Snow White, and not look in the mirror and see the harm it wreaks with the intellectual dishonesty and hypocrisy at every level of Church life.

Betrayal...

And let's talk of betrayal. Ron Mulkearns would never think of betraying the Institution to which he devoted his life. The Ron I know would not think of publicly condemning its thinking, its advice or its actions. The Institution, however, hides behind its secrecy, and its tactics of self-protection. If it had any moral integrity or decency it would let the world know what advice it gave to bishops around the world in the 70s, 80s and 90s for handling clerical sexual abuse. It would face the world and proclaim: this is the advice we gave; if you want to condemn this man, then condemn us at well. We know that has not happened — and we know why. What does that say about the Institution's moral integrity?

The Institutional Roman Catholic Church will wash its hands of Bishop Ron Mulkearns, and deem him to be an embarrassment, and doubtless want to bury him accordingly. He will remain a person of dismay and even intense dislike for the victims of sexual abuse in the Ballarat Diocese. Some people will certainy raise their voices and call for the Catholic Church not to give him a funeral befitting a bishop. But in the face of all this, let us not lose sight of the other relevant issue: the hypocrisy, and the intellectual dishonesty rampant in the Roman Catholic Church.

Who or what is also to blame in this shameful time for the Ballarat Diocese and other Dioceses? And when the time comes for accountability, let not the Institution escape blame for betrayal of one of its own. The damage of its totalitarian control over thought and behaviour, its paranoid secrecy, its silencing of critics — and victims of sexual abuse — its obsession with protecting its own reputation, and above all its extraordinary lack of compassion and its failure to act as Jesus would act — these are the issues that also should be headlined, scrutinized, and condemned. I long for the day when this will happen in Australia.

some tragic mistakes en "the keeper of secrets"

There was a small police presence at the funeral but no disruption occurred.

Bishop Mulkearns was considered “the keeper of secrets” with many survivors believing he could have put a
stop to much of the abuse that occurred throughout the region. 

In a statement Ballarat Bishop Paul Bird said Bishop Mulkearns would be remembered as a man dedicated to his service who, in later years, expressed sorrow “for some tragic mistakes he had made during his time as bishop”. Bishop Bird said Bishop Mulkearns’ family would remember him as a quiet, shy and gentle man 

Ronald Mulkearns,85, a priest for 60 years, died from cancer in his Ballarat nursing home on Monday,

Bishop Mulkearns would not be be interred in the crypt of St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat where all former Ballarat bishops have been laid to rest.

A private funeral mass for family and close friends will be held on Monday morning in the Nazareth House Nursing Home chapel in Ballarat 

The former Victorian bishop died before completing his evidence  to the child abuse Royal Commission about the Catholic Church's handling of pedophile priests during his 1971-1997 years in charge of the Ballarat diocese.

Directions Hearing: 13 April 2016

The Royal Commission has called a directions hearing in relation to Case Study 28 (Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat) and Case Study 35 (Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne) to be held in Sydney on Wednesday 13 April 2016.

The purpose of the directions hearing in relation to Case Study 28 is to address a number of outstanding matters including in relation to Bishop Mulkearns’ evidence and to set a timetable for written submissions. 

The directions hearing will be held in Hearing Room 1, Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney, starting at 9.15am AEST.

The directions hearing will be streamed live via webcast on the Royal Commission’s website.

Update: Diocesi non sicure Mappa italiana dei preti molestatori, altri 30 casi

Redazione Web 

Diocesi non sicure

Poche settimane fa avevamo pubblicato il primo rilascio della mappa degli abusi sessuali commessi in Italia da membri del clero nei confronti di minorenni e adolescenti. La mappa contava 117 sacerdoti condannati in via definitiva e circa 60 attualmente sotto indagine o resi irreperibili a seguito delle denunce.

Avevamo ancora una riserva di circa 60 nominativi dei quali però non riuscivamo a trovare alcun riscontro, almeno sul web. Avevamo quindi pensato di chiedere alle vittime sparse sul territorio italiano di attivarsi e controllare nelle rispettive zone, presso gli archivi delle Regioni e dei giornali, pezze giustificative che permettessero di ricostruire i casi mancanti.

Grazie al lavoro delle vittime e di alcuni giornalisti che si sono cortesemente attivati, siamo riusciti ad implementare altri 30 nominativi circa, dei 60 ce avevamo in archivio.

Oggi la mappa aggiornata conta 223 casi di cui 127 con condanne in via definitiva e 93 indagati o resi irreperibili dopo le denunce. Si aggiunge anche una nostra vecchia conoscenza di cui ci eravamo dimenticati, padre James Tully, sacerdote accusato di molestie negli Stati Uniti e nascosto dalla chiesa a Vicenza.

Francesco Zanardi