Vatican II’s sex abuse scandal

[Mornac]

Mornac you brought all this on yourself..

--Brought all what?

[SufferedMoreThanJesus]

--Brought all what?

Their "anger," obviously.

[Mornac]

They can be angry if they wish. What's that got to do with me?

[SufferedMoreThanJesus]

They can be angry if they wish. What's that got to do with me?

Hell if I know.  I guess they need someone to blame for their "anger" other than themselves?  *shrugs*

You're here now.

[Mornac]

Probe: 6 Irish dioceses no longer hide child abuse

By Shawn Pogatchnik
November 30, 2011


DUBLIN—Six Catholic dioceses in Ireland that shielded child-molesting priests from the law in the past are protecting children from sexual abuse today, the Irish church's own investigatory arm reported Wednesday.

The findings of the National Board for Safeguarding Children represented the start of a project to test whether the Irish church -- long responsible for harboring pedophiles in the priesthood -- is keeping sex predators away from children now.

Bishops expressed remorse for past concealment of crimes.

"We are truly sorry for the terrible deeds that have been inflicted on so many by a small minority of priests," said Bishop Philip Boyce of the northwest diocese of Raphoe. He conceded that he and other bishops had placed the needs of victims below "the misguided attempt to protect the reputation of the church."

But a former police investigator and some victims accused the bishops of whitewashing their own records and turning a blind eye to unresolved cases.

Wednesday's reports found that 85 parish priests in the six dioceses had been accused of sexually abusing children since 1975, but only eight were convicted. Forty-one are alive today, 30 of whom have been defrocked or quit the priesthood.

Retired Detective Sgt. Martin Ridge, who investigated Raphoe's biggest known pedophile-priest case, accused the diocese of hiding or destroying its most damning documents.

Ridge gathered evidence from rape victims, mostly former altar boys, against priest Eugene Greene, who in 2000 was convicted of raping 26 boys and served eight years in prison. Police learned of Greene's abuse only because the priest sought to have one of his victims imprisoned for blackmail. He had demanded euro5,000 ($6,600) compensation.

Boyce, Raphoe's bishop since 1995, insisted the diocese was doing everything it could to help victims, including payouts totaling euro1.65 million ($2.25 million).

But Boyce said he has never had records of any sex-abuse complaint against Greene. He rejected accusations that either he or his predecessors destroyed them.

Ridge said it was "pathetic and not credible" for Boyce to claim this. He said a priest had warned the diocese in writing of Green's child abuse as far back as 1971, while the diocese itself sent Greene for counseling -- officially for alcohol abuse -- to a clinic that specialized in treating sex offenders.

Ridge said the Raphoe diocese under Boyce's leadership in the late 1990s gave him "no cooperation whatsoever" in solving what he called "the most horrific case I ever handled."

But Ian Elliott, chief executive of the board that produced Wednesday's broadly positive reports, said past abuses had been well documented by four government-ordered investigations and scores of criminal cases.

Elliott said the mission of his 4-year-old board was to ensure that the church in Ireland develops effective systems for identifying child abusers to police and health authorities. He said all six dioceses today were doing this "promptly and comprehensively."

An Irish support group for victims of sexual abuse, One in Four, welcomed the findings.

One in Four director Maeve Lewis said she understood that many victims wanted all investigations to explore the church's past cover-ups of crimes but that it was just as important to protect children now.

"The audits show that real progress has been made in putting in place child protection measures in the six dioceses," Lewis said. "In each case there has been a huge improvement in cooperation between the Catholic Church and the statutory agencies, and all allegations are now reported to the civil authorities."

But Colm O'Gorman, director of Amnesty International in Ireland, said the board's findings should be viewed with skepticism.

O'Gorman, who was sexually abused by a priest when he was an altar boy, said reports from the church-funded board are "published with the approval of the bishops concerned."

Elliott conceded that the church had given him no power to compel cooperation and the handover of records, only to publicize "details of any noncooperation."

Those subject to Wednesday's reports -- the Archdiocese of Tuam and the dioceses of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Derry, Dromore, Kilmore and Raphoe -- volunteered for scrutiny.

Elliott said he does expect his investigators to examine the child-protection policies of all 188 dioceses, religious orders and other Catholic institutions in Ireland over the next two years. Some of Ireland's worst abuse cases involved members of orders or staff of residential schools.

The board's first investigation in 2008 forced a former papal aide, John Magee, to resign as bishop of the County Cork diocese of Cloyne. It found he was ignoring the church's crime-reporting policies.

Irish bishops in 1996 pledged to begin reporting all suspected cases of child abuse to police. A senior Vatican official in 1997 warned the bishops that their policy undermined the church's own canon law, which sought to handle child-abuse complaints internally. The Vatican since has downplayed the significance of that letter.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2011/11/30/irish_to_publish_6_reports_on_catholic_child_abuse/

[Mornac]

December 5, 2011

The diocese reported him
Sacramento priest surrenders to police a day after bishop learns of child molestation allegations

A Sacramento diocesan priest remains jailed under $5 million bail on seven counts of child molestation following his Nov. 30 surrender to police.
 
Fr. Uriel Ojeda, 32, has been charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a minor stemming from an alleged sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl between 2007 and 2009. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges tomorrow in Sacramento County Superior Court.
 
At the time of his arrest, Fr. Ojeda was serving as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Redding.
 
Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto said at a Dec. 1 press conference held at the Diocesan Pastoral Center that Fr. Ojeda has been placed on administrative leave, “meaning that he may perform none of the duties of an ordained Catholic priest.”
 
The diocese played a central role in Fr. Ojeda’s arrest. “The charges stem from a complaint received by the diocese on Tuesday, Nov. 29, which the diocese subsequently reported to Sacramento County Child Protective Services and the Sacramento Police Department,” the diocese announced in a statement. “The diocese also cooperated closely with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.”
 
“I have personally spoken to the family involved,” Bishop Soto said at the press conference. “They are in great pain. They have been very brave in bringing this forward. We will do everything we can to make sure they get the help they need. I admire the courage with which they have come forward to bring this to my attention so that we can bring this to the attention of authorities.”
 
“Protecting young people remains our number one priority,” the bishop continued. “I am very grateful for the rapid and timely help and support we received from the Sacramento Police and the District Attorney’s Office."
 
On orders from Bishop Soto, announcements were made over the weekend of Dec. 3-4 at parishes where Fr. Ojeda had previously served “in an effort to encourage other possible victims to step forward,” according to the diocesan statement.
 
According to the diocese, Fr. Ojeda served as parochial vicar at Holy Rosary Parish in Woodland from August 2007 to July 2009, and as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Redding since July 2009.
 
“Bishop Soto said that anyone who believes they were a victim of Father Ojeda or has information about possible abuse needs to contact the Sacramento Police Department at (916) 264-5471,” said the diocesan announcement.
 
Fr. Ojeda attended Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Ore., from 1998 to 2007, and was ordained to the priesthood in June 2007.
 
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=7a351b9b-8702-4f3c-b192-6b84de2782ce

[JC3.0]

Another news flash with the words "catholic", "priest" and "molestation". Why is this news? We see this crap every day.The Catholic Church needs to be shut down. Completely.

[Mornac]

Lahey will be test of church's new rules
Faces defrocking over child porn
 
By Chris Cobb And Dan Neutel, Ottawa Citizen
January 4, 2012
 
Disgraced Catholic Bishop Raymond Lahey will be the first test of new church rules dealing with clerics involved with child pornography.
 
It is possible that Lahey, who is expected to be sentenced today after pleading guilty to possessing violent child pornography, will be defrocked by the Catholic Church.
 
"It is extremely rare for a bishop to be removed from the clerical state because typically bishops haven't committed these types of crimes," said Chad Glendinning, a canon law professor at Ottawa's Saint Paul University. "But he has admitted his guilt so it makes it a little easier for the Holy See. They need not hold a full hearing to determine his guilt so could send the matter directly to the Pope and he could make the decision to dismiss him. But this isn't automatic. It's a possibility but not an inevitability."
 
In May 2010, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith approved new rules to deal with clerics who use child pornography and made it a crime under canon law to possess child pornography. The Lahey case is the first to be dealt with under those new rules, so the Catholic Church will enter new ground in when it decides his fate.
 
There are other options besides defrocking, Glendinning said. Other sanctions open to the Pope include prohibiting Lahey from publicly celebrating the liturgy or assigning him to a life of prayer and penance.
 
"It all has a similar effect as dismissing him from the clerical state (defrocking)," he said.
 
Michael Swan, associate editor of The Catholic Register, described Lahey as being in canon law limbo.
 
"In terms of the application of canon law to bishops on this, it is sort of unprecedented" Swan said. "So, like any legal system, it is going to create precedents."
 
Lahey was arrested at Ottawa Airport in September 2009 after authorities found nearly 600 pornographic images on his laptop computer. Some showed young boys engaged in bondage and torture. In some images, the boys were wearing crucifixes and rosary beads.
 
Lahey pleaded guilty in May 2011 and voluntarily entered jail to begin serving his sentence.
 
Shortly after his arrest, Lahey resigned his post, becoming officially known as "The Former Bishop of Antigonish."
 
Within the Catholic Church, he is and always will remain a bishop.


http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Lahey+will+test+church+rules/5942800/story.html#ixzz1iVsTWcUo

[Mornac]

Bishop Loverde, Where is Fr. James Haley?
January 16, 2012
News on Fr. Haley and it's sad indeed!

Well, the word coming down from on high is that Fr. Haley has been excommunicated and defrocked. This has been personally confirmed to me by someone who should know, but don't expect to hear about it anywhere official. There's something about this case that makes authorities skittish. After all, we can't acknowledge the elephant in the sanctuary, the homosexual priest problem. Every new homosexual scandal is met by the three monkeys with ears, eyes, and mouth covered. ("Psst...ignore the elephant until he goes away.") So Fr. Haley will continue to be the invisible man.

Strange, isn't it?

The Vatican released a notification over the excommunication of heretic priest Tissa Balasuriya, but Fr. Haley who is guilty of no more than making his bishop upset for revealing too much about the homosexual subculture in Arlington, simply disappeared without a trace. I have the feeling that if he had experienced an open trial we would have heard testimony by at least one chancery official that was perjury from start to finish. In secular court one has the right to be faced with one's accusers, but in Fr. Haley's case, I understand the accusation used to secure his conviction was summarized by the chancery and the "accuser" never appeared. Isn't that hearsay evidence which would not be allowed in a real trial grounded in justice?

But the story gets worse. Fr. Haley was cut off financially by the diocese last summer and now has no income. His situation has deteriorated from living a nomad's existence in a motor home with a small income to living with no income at all except what he can pick up from odd jobs. He needs work.

Before he entered the priesthood, Fr. Haley was an engineer. He is technologically oriented and I understand he's interested in finding a technical type job. If anybody has leads to suggest or a job to offer, please post them in the comments section.  And please continue your prayers. Consider how the heretics go on and on. They write books, speak at diocesan functions, thumb their noses at the Church, with nary a cluck to upset their scandal. Fr. Gerard Sloyan, the architect of the disastrous feeling-based catechetics that destroyed the faith of a generation and a promoter of the "fundamental option" heresy, gives courses in Arlington regularly.

Fr. Haley, on the other hand, was crucified for "being a snoop" as one priest said to me. In view of the devastation the homosexual cabal is inflicting on the Church (Check out the war in in Minnesota  where the homosexual/pro-homosexual priests are currently fighting their bishop over an amendment on the ballot to protect traditional marriage.), we could use more "snoops" like Fr. Haley.

Pray for Bishop Loverde. He has a lot to answer for. Our God is a God of mercy, but justice is the flip side of the coin. He used his authority to draw and quarter a good priest. A day of accounting is on the calendar.

http://whereisfrhaley.blogspot.com/2012/01/news-on-fr-haley-and-its-sad-indeed.html

[Mornac]

Belgian police raid 3 dioceses, take documents on abuse complaints

January 16, 2012

Belgian police raided the offices of three Catholic dioceses on January 16, as they continued their aggressive investigation of sex-abuse complaints.

Officials in the dioceses of Brussels, Hasselt, and Antwerp said that they cooperated with police demands for documents. Prosecutors are reportedly near the end of a 2-year investigation into the way bishops responded to complaints of clerical abuse.

In June 2010, police raided the offices of the Belgian bishops’ conference and the home of retired Cardinal Godfried Danneels. That raid drew sharp complaints from the Belgian bishops, who said that investigators had exceeded their authority, and a long legal battle that eventually resulted in the return of the files that police had seized.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=12986

[Mornac]

Vatican prosecutor condemns Church’s ‘deadly culture of silence’ over clergy child abuse

 By Philip Pullella
 
ROME – Hiding behind a culture of “omerta” — the Italian word for the Mafia’s code of silence — would be deadly for the Catholic Church, the Vatican’s top official for dealing with child sex abuse by clergy said Wednesday.
 
Monsignor Charles Scicluna made the unusually forthright comment in his speech to a landmark symposium in Rome on the sexual abuse crisis that has rocked the Church in the past decade.
 
“The teaching … that truth is at the basis of justice explains why a deadly culture of silence, or ’omerta,’ is in itself wrong and unjust,” Scicluna said in his address to the four-day symposium which brings together some 200 people including bishops, leaders of religious orders, victims of abuse and psychologists.
 
Rarely, if ever, has a Vatican official used the word “omerta” – a serious accusation in Italian — to compare the reluctance of some in the Church to come clean on the abuse scandal with the Mafia’s code of silence.
 
“Other enemies of the truth are the deliberate denial of known facts and the misplaced concern that the good name of the institution should somehow enjoy absolute priority to the detriment of disclosure,” Scicluna said.
 
Victims groups have for years accused some bishops in the Church of preferring silence and cover-up to coming clean on the scandal, which has sullied the image of the Church around the world, particularly in the United States.
 
“No strategy for the prevention of child abuse will ever work without commitment and accountability,” Scicluna told the symposium at the Jesuit Pontifical Gregorian University, called “Towards Healing and Renewal”.
 
Scicluna, a Maltese whose formal title is “justice promoter” in the Vatican’s doctrinal department, is the Vatican’s point man for dealing with cases of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.
 
The symposium’s participants are discussing how the Church can become more aware of the problem, make a commitment to listen to victims and prevent future cases of abuse.
 
Groups representing abuse victims say the Church must do much more to own up to the past, when known paedophile priests were shuttled from parish to parish instead of being defrocked or turned over to authorities.
 
It must also make greater efforts to prevent future cases, they say, accusing the Church and the Vatican of a cover-up.
 
COOPERATE WITH AUTHORITIES, BISHOPS TOLD
 
The message from Scicluna and other Vatican officials who have addressed the symposium is that local Church officials must cooperate with civil authorities according to local law in cases of suspected paedophilia.
 
The scandals have led to costly legal action, are blamed for an exodus of believers in some European nations, including the pope’s native Germany, and have damaged the Church’s moral standing in hitherto staunchly Catholic states, such as Ireland.
 
An association for victims of abuse dismissed the conference as “window dressing” and said the Vatican should hand over documentation of abuse to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
 
“After years of promises, meetings and empty apologies, the Vatican cannot do the simplest, cheapest and most child-friendly action possible: make public decades of secret files on clergy sex offenders and enablers,” said Joelle Casteix from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
 
On Tuesday, an Irish victim of clerical abuse bluntly told the symposium that guidelines on how to root out paedophile priests and protect children needed to be backed up by penalties for bishops who fail to implement them.
 
Marie Collins said rules without sanctions were too easily ignored and cases were often swept under the carpet, allowing paedophiles to carry on molesting children.
 
The Church in her native Ireland was one of the hardest hit by the sexual abuse scandal.
 
Last July, the Vatican took the highly unusual step of recalling its ambassador to Ireland after Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused the Holy See of obstructing investigations into sexual abuse by priests.
 
The Irish parliament passed a motion deploring the Vatican’s role in “undermining child protection frameworks” following publication of a damning report on the diocese of Cloyne.
 
The Cloyne report said Irish clerics concealed from the authorities the sexual abuse of children by priests as recently as 2009.
 
In November, Ireland closed its embassy to the Vatican, ostensibly for economic reasons.

http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/02/08/vatican-prosecutor-condemns-churchs-deadly-culture-of-silence-over-clergy-child-abuse/

[Mornac]

February 09, 2012
Asia Next for Catholic Sex-Abuse Disclosures?

VOA News

Roman Catholic leaders meeting at the Vatican are being advised to expect further disclosure of incidents of child abuse by priests in Asia.

The archbishop of Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle, is one of many senior Catholic clerics from around the world attending a meeting this week on the child-abuse issue. Their discussions centered on how the church should move forward from the many embarrassing revelations of clerical abuse of children that have become known in recent years. Tagle spoke at the final session of the symposium, called "Toward Healing and Renewal."

The Philippine archbishop told fellow prelates that a growing number of victims of such abuse have come forward in recent years in his country, and he predicted there are likely many more cases that have not yet been disclosed.

Tagle said many Asians are reluctant to report such incidents, fearing that by making details public they and their families will be shamed.

The archbishop's comments follow a similar warning issued in November by the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, which called for "drastic and immediate measures" to contain the problem of abuse of minors and other vulnerable people. Pope Benedict has expressed shame and sorrow over the allegations that have rocked the church during the past decade, and he has directed bishops to agree on guidelines to prevent pedophilia by May of this year.

The Vatican's top official for dealing with sexual abuse of minors spoke frankly Wednesday to those attending the symposium -- about 200 people including bishops, leaders of priestly orders, victims of abuse and psychologists.

Monsignor Charles Scicluna denounced "a deadly culture of silence, or 'omerta,'" that has shrouded in secrecy many previous church investigations of abuse by clergy. He said the church's effort to prevent child abuse must have "commitment and accountability" from the entire Catholic hierarchy, and he warned bishops they can and should be removed from office if they fail to follow church guidelines on reporting abuse allegations.

Veteran observers of Vatican policy say rarely, if ever, has a senior cleric in Rome used the word "omerta" - a serious accusation in Italian, referring to the unbreakable code of silence observed by Mafia criminal gangs -- to describe some church officials' reluctance to admit full details of abuse scandals.

Scicluna, a priest from Malta assigned to the Vatican department that upholds and enforces church doctrine, has been dubbed a "sex-abuse prosecutor" in some media accounts from Rome this week. His formal title is "justice promoter" in the Vatican's doctrinal department, and he is known as the principal official responsible for dealing with cases of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

Many victims' groups have long been critical of the Catholic Church and its bishops for shielding priests accused of sexually abusing children, often by moving pedophile priests from parish to parish instead of turning them over to civil authorities. Those same groups have also been critical of the symposium, dismissing it as a public relations maneuver.

During the four-day symposium at Rome's Gregorian University this week, church authorities disclosed they have been notified of more than 4,000 child sex abuse cases involving clergy over the past decade.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Asia-Next-for-Catholic-Sex-Abuse-Disclosures-139032819.html

[Mornac]

2 May 2012
Cardinal Brady revelations: reaction
As the BBC's This World documentary offers fresh revelations about the failure of the Irish Catholic primate Cardinal Sean Brady to protect children from abuse, Church representatives, politicians and victims of clerical abuse respond.

Senior Vatican prosecutor, Monsignor Charles Scicluna
"My first point is that Fr Brady was a note taker in 1975, he did what he should have done. He forwarded all the information to the people that had the power to act.

My second point is that in the interest of the Church in Ireland, they need to have Cardinal Brady as the archbishop of Armagh because he has shown determination in promoting child protection policies. You need to have leaders who have learned the hard way and are determined to protect children.

They have learned because they have realised that you have to act immediately.

Maeve Lewis, One in Four
"It will be heartbreaking for survivors to realise that their suffering could have been avoided if only action had been taken.

While on paper the Church now has good child protection practices, this documentary casts a shadow on the credibility of Cardinal Brady as a leader of the new policy. Although the times were very different then, it is unimaginable that any adult had such knowledge and failed to act"

This devastating situation highlights how important it is that legislation is in place to keep children safe. The new Children First Bill and the Withholding Information Bill (in the Republic of Ireland) will, when enacted, prevent such catastrophic failures to keep children safe."

Enda Kenny, Taoiseach
"I cannot eradicate the tragedies and the horrendous activities that have been done in the past but what I do need, as head of government, is to ensure that these things never happen again.

"That's why a senior minister for children has been appointed and that's why, last week, we published the legislation dealing with information about sexual abuse and abuse of children.

"That's why we published the legislation for child guidelines to be put in law. That's why we make preparations for a referendum in respect of the protection and rights of children.

"It's also important that every organisation dealing with children, including religious organisations, play their full part in co-operating with government."

Peter Robinson, NI First Minister
"Today, my thoughts are with the many victims who have never received justice and who still live with the mental and physical scars. I assure them of my continued support as they seek answers and justice.

In September 2011 the Executive established an inquiry into historical institutional child abuse. The framework of this inquiry was developed through consultation with victims. It is designed to meet their needs and will have the power to compel witnesses and documents.

Whilst many are understandably asking serious questions about the Catholic Church leadership, the position of Cardinal Brady is a matter which the Catholic Church hierarchy and its individual members should determine."

Alan Shatter, Irish Justice Minister
Mr Shatter said the cases outlined in the programme were "tragic and disturbing" .

The minister added that if a report had been made to the civil authorities at the time, some of those who were victims of abuse may never have become such victims, while others would have had an intervention that would have ended their abuse earlier.

Bishop Gerard Clifford, Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh
"I don't see any reason why he should resign. He did what he was asked to do as a young priest.

Sean Brady would not have been expected to report to the parents. He passed it onto his bishop. That is the line of responsibility. Acting as notary he was not in a position and could not be seen in a position to contact parents. That was a position that lay with his superiors."

Martin Ridge, former Garda detective
(He investigated abuse allegations against Father Eugene Green, a priest in the diocese of Raphoe, jailed for 12 years for child sexual abuse.)

"There is so much confusion here, basically where everybody runs when a child is in trouble.

It has taken almost 30 years. Still there is nobody in management held accountable for what happened.

Those files had to be there somewhere. It takes forever it seems for the Church to stand up and say 'Yes, that happened'."

John McCourt, abuse victim
"One of the things that was actually said was that there were no Church guidelines back then in child protection, neither were there any civil guidelines.

There is a moral imperative on a priest or any adult who knows that abuse is taking place to report it and, at the very least, to go and inform the families of those concerned that they have suspicions... that the child is being abused.

Cardinal Brady in 2010 said if any of his actions or his failures caused a child to be abused then he would resign. It's time to stand over that now."

Seamus Close, former Alliance Party MLA
"Following Cardinal Brady's silence, following his lack of action, he was elevated to cardinal and regarded as a Prince of the Church… was this a reward for silence?

It's unbelievable. It is totally and absolutely unacceptable. It's like a little clique. A little clique protecting each other's back."

Aodhan O'Riordan, Labour TD
"If the Church is going to renew itself and have a proper respectable place in Irish society and to accept the damage it has caused to generations of Irish children, then I believe it has to be led by somebody who doesn't have to look over his shoulder.

"Cardinal Brady has to make his statement if he feels he is that person."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17921671