Click here to read: “U.N. Faults U.S. for Failure to Prosecute Abusive Clerics,” by Caleb Bell, Religion News Service, Huffington Post, 2/20/2013
Excerpt: Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that the hierarchy does a “huge amount” in order to prevent sex abuse within the church — much of it learned after the abuse scandal came to light.
Editor’s note: Those “audits” were taking place before the release of the Philadelphia Grand Jury Report in 2011 and did absolutely nothing to expose the cover ups here or elsewhere in the US. Sister Mary Ann, please wake up. As their spokesperson, you are providing another example of the skirts hiding behind a skirt. This isn’t a problem of the past – it’s ongoing. We can and should educate our children, but if adults don’t do the right thing, it doesn’t matter.
STOP! To all of the Sr. Mary Anne Walsh’s out there– spokeswomen and spokesmen for the USCCB, archdioceses, dioceses, and Catholic organizations across the country– STOP! uttering words that have no truth to them. STOP! protecting clerics. STOP! acting as puppets to the clerical will. STOP! participating in the cover up of child sexual abuse!
Sr. Mary Ann Walsh should welcome an investigation. If “…the hierarchy does a “huge amount” in order to prevent sex abuse within the church…,”” why not make all that good work public?
Scripture tells us that when you light a lamp, you are not to put it under a basket, but rather place it on a lamp stand for the whole world to see.
Sister, you and USCCB have about the same approval and credibility rating as the US Congress. Very few people believe you, and the USCCB is rapidly falling into oblivion.
Kate, we are getting there. Please see my, “What If? New Pope But No Upfront Public Reform Pledge FUHGEDABUTIT “, accessible at:
http://wp.me/P2YEZ3-vN
Do you think Rigali and Chaput are getting much sleep worrying about the possibility of an honest new Pope? They need to worry. Look how suddenly the present Pope fed Mahony to the prosecutors. You live by the “dagger”, you die by it, Amen!
Kate, the forces of truth are marching and Sr. Walsh and her hierarchical bosses will not be able to spin away much longer.
For the recent helpful words of Fr. Hans Kung, the Pope’s oldest living colleague, and Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch, well regarded Oxford church historian, on the current crisis, please see the links in my remarks, “Last Chance to Fix Curch For Next Pope Or Let Judges Fix It for Him” accessible at:
http://wp.me/P2YEZ3-ww
This item of yours is a real gem. One for the archives, scrapbook and church history books.
“Will Chaput now offer his unused Red Dress on E-Bay?”
Your poignant reflection was good for a hearty laugh or two.
I am glad you enjoyed it, Mike. You have worked so hard for so long for your and everyone else’s kids, you deserve a good laugh occasionally. I am just getting warmed up!
“Every diocese is audited every year to see that every year that parishes have safe environment programs,” Walsh said, “which include educating children so that they are aware of inappropriate contact by an adult, and are encouraged to report anything that makes them uncomfortable to a trusted adult.”
So if a child in Bishop Finn’s Diocese reported that they were uncomfortable that their Bishop was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse,that child’s fear would be honored and acted upon?
The audits are a joke. I recently had a conversation with my pastor, expressing my concern over the safe environment training at our parish school. As a volunteer, I was never asked to attend a class or get a background check, I had to ask about these things myself and I received either no response from our principal or vague unsure answers from others. I had to pursue the correct guidelines, sending emails with links to the Phila Arch webpage. I asked my priest how are these guidelines supposed to help if nobody follows up to ensure they are being followed? He mentioned the audits and I told them they are not worth the paper they are printed on! Are they published, do they follow up if they audits reveal inadequate training? All I hear are the crickets…
Good going Kathy Kane, The logic in flawless!! Kathy (Hadit) is right on in her commentary. This is all so much like the Lawyers and PR people for BP when the oil spill occured in the Gulf of Mexico. Keep trying to spin the issue. Please just tell the truth. Admit the wrong. Work with the victims and “fire” the instigators and those who cover up this evil, is that really that hard???
“Sexual Abuse of Children: 10 Years of Hard-Earned Knowledge”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sister-mary-ann-walsh/sexual-abuse-of-children-_b_1162881.html
“Bishops Won’t Focus on Abuse Policies”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/us/15bishops.html?_r=0
“Christopher Jarvis, Catholic Church Sex Abuse Investigator, Jailed For Child Porn Possession ” – porn included child rape
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/christopher-jarvis-catholic-church-abuse-child-porn_n_1092622.html
How can parents be imformed if the RCC doesn’t inform us who the abusers are. Also, an investigator arrested for child porn – how can the RCC expect us to trust?
Dear Jesus… The people who belong to this Roman Catholic Institution, are some what DULL, to the workings of their own Institution.I would ask YOU to do something to wake, them up, open their eyes and their minds to YOU and not this Place of Iniquity…… So that they see YOU as being with them ALWAYS….(NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE) and that they may realize that it is a RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU THAT COUNTS and reside with YOU in HEAVEN, when their time comes. HE will not accept people into everlasting life,who do not turn from their wicked ways and continue to hurt HIM and HIS children,
Looks like pope changing rules dealing with conclave ……wish he would add no cardinals protecting predator priests can vote.
Article on phillycatholic.com
Correction catholicphilly.com
That would be a good sign for the March vigil God permitting i hope to be there.
Correction Beth! It should be Catholic – Philia.com!
If only, Beth. But where would the pope find cardinals who haven’t protected predictors. Protecting them, hiding all traces of them and then acting baffled about the public’s outrage, seem to be the job requirements of cardinals worldwide.
Beth, if he added this rule, who would be left to cast the first vote.
FUHGEDABOUTIT !!!!!!!1
Ahhhh, the audits. You can mop the floor with them and they’d serve a better purpose. Just like the Charter.
The “secret” meeting my husband and I were called to was to figure out what we wanted. (We didnt know that at the time though) We discussed all of these important details, the Charter, bishops, and the process of the audits.
They gave us this long winded response about the audits as if this would pacify us. I listened to the Ivy League schooled scholar wax on about how they report, who reads it,etc. When they were all done bleeting, me…this not Ivy League schooled person said, “Or what?? What happens if they don’t follow the suggestions of the audit?” They stammered, tripping on words and stumbling for an explanation to a victim’s wife who had the guts to ask the OBVIOUS! Red faced and done with their explanation, I said, “this entire process was made with the protection of bishops in mind. It keeps all of you employed, running around gathering information the diocese SELF-DISCLOSES, so you can write reports about what the bishops are doing. And what happens when you write a scathing audit? Or does that happen when you know they will fire you tomorrow if you do? None of the measures truly protect children, and we’re sitting here because your audit let our bishop do whatever the hell he wanted. What is your job exactly?”
You could see the veins bulging in their necks, nervous fidgeting.
And then everyone excused themselves from the table and the final person (in a hushed way they’d never admit to) gave us step by step directions on how to sue our diocese and get our bishop to comply.
Wouldn’t the Catholic Church love to know the name of that person working for them and selling them out at the same time?
We were so naive. It didn’t hit us until the ride home when we realized they had the meeting planned. It certainly wasn’t their first rodeo.
The mafia has nothing on the Catholic Church.
Wow, SW. What the memory of that encounter must do to you. These diocesan employees who sit around tables, being paid to ” handle” the rcc’s victims, running interference for the bishops, should also have to answer for their parts in the cover up.
Crystal,
I didn’t get the feeling these people liked the bishops…I think they hated them, but were conflicted by the loyalty to the Catholic Church. It was strange. They almost relished the fact that a victim was going to make a bishop dance…even though they weren’t courageous enough to do the hard things by “outing” these men. Instead, they too were loyal to the institution. Yet, I’m certain they felt they were doing what they could given the situation. A very crooked line. I can’t imagine the conflict of conscience they must have had.
Again, have had similar experiences. They won’t do it, but the encouragement is there for someone to. I have had priests,nuns and AD employees tell me to ‘keep going’, “good job” . There is a loyalty that exists but it is not blind loyalty ,it is more of a resentful loyalty.
SW, about those diocesan representatives… What kind of person walks a crooked moral line in exchange for money when it comes to child molestation?! This is criminal behavior.
Those employees were hired and trained and given a limitless budget to “manage” the fallout of criminal activity. They made the choice to do their jobs knowing full well that diocesan children were still at risk. They knew they were participating in a decades-long process which enabled the destruction of children.
They chose to do wrong in exchange for a paycheck…They literally were making that choice at the moment you observed their neck veins bulging and their nervous fidgeting.
I can give them no slack. These lay employees are all “Msgr Lynn’s”. They’re criminals.
Crystal,
Those representatives weren’t diocesan level, they were national and nunciature level.
I agree…they are corrupt. IF they werent willing to lose their jobs, then this is how they functioned within the system. They were not in the business of “managing victims.” That was reserved for diocesan level people. These people were in charge of audits of dioceses all over the United States as well as other roles and commitments. They were to keep bishops in line with toothless policies and self-disclosing audits. How well does that work when bishops answer to God and the pope?
I also give them no slack. Not sure if it was criminal behavior, but certainly unethical and immoral.
My suggestion to any victim is to bypass the diocesan level people and to involve other dioceses. Those boys talk.
Thank you, SW.
The Mafia doesn’t usually abuse young kids. In the early 1980’s, a now deceased Mafia relative of mine through marriage told me about regularly running into at a Brooklyn restaurant several bishops (when Bevilacqua was there). The wiseguy was with Joe “Bananas”, the prototype for the Godfather, who also ate there often. He also knew Al Capone as a youth.
While neither of us knew then about predatory priests, my wiseguy relative told me once years ago that his pals were better than bishops because the bishops were hypocrites, as well as thieves.
He was a batchelor and very kind to my children. He would never have tolerated what we all now know too well about the bishops.
The bishops are worse than the mob, as ex- FBI agent and Gov. Frank Keating said in quitting in 2003 in protest as first Chairperson of the US Bishops Review Board, that Mary Ann Walsh now shills for. Justice Anne Burke, Keating’s replacement, has concurred with Keating’s assesssment, again only recently.
Like I said to Beth, FUHGEDABOUTIT !!
P. S. I still have my can of spray paint ready to go, SW !
I don’t pass a can of red spray paint without thinking of the damage we could do.
We may have a new spin on, “they will know we are Christians by our love.” LOL
Great to hear from you, SW. You have a unique spirit that encourages so many! Your husband is lucky to have you. Please tell him for me. I am jealous! lol
“We were so naive. It didn’t hit us until the ride home when we realized they had the meeting planned. It certainly wasn’t their first rodeo.
SW if you only knew how those words are ringing in my ears right now I left a meeting recently thinking a more sane person would have simply stood up and walked out but instead I stayed and gave right back what was being dished out..it takes a few years under the belt to get it down, but when you do,they simply do not know what to do with you.
“… they simply do not know what to do with you.”
No, Kathy, they don’t know what to do with you because clerics have been trained to “communicate” specifically and precisely within the climate of communication called clericalism In it, lay people don’t give back what is being dished out. Such behaviors disrupt the ground rules and flow of clericalism. When the climate of clericalism is disrupted or gets skewed, clerics are clueless as to where to communicatively ascend to next. Typically, they become silent which is intended to make the “aggressor” feel as though he or she has been aggressive, disrespectful, hurtful… guilty! The guilt is intended to re-establish the climate of communication called clericalism.
One of the main reasons clericalism must dictate the climate of communication is because clerics are expected to be loyal to a host of secrets, injustices, biases, prejudices, illogical “truths,” fake appearances, poorly formed theologies, et al. The climate of communication called clericalism protects and maintains clerical loyalty to all of it.
So tell me, Kate, is it a fair inference that you disapprove of clericalism? lol Please keep it up!
Kate, yes I agree. Some cannot handle being treated “the same as everyone else” When a clergy member is respectful or helpful, I am the same in return. I do not go around treating someone poorly because they are a priest or nun, however if they treat me disrespectfully ,”slap my hand” or try to silence me, thenI absolutely will not stand for that, just as I would not stand for it with any other person.
Kudos to CNN! It has stayed on the story of priestly sexual abuse over the years.
On tonight’s news, an excellent and thorough story was done on Dolan’s hiding of diocesan funds in cemetery trusts, minimizing, by 55 million dollars, the diocese of Milwaukee’s resources for payouts to abuse victims.
For me, the most compelling part of the CNN story was Fr. James Connell, retired chancery of the diocese of Milwaukee who, on camera, after morning Mass at his parish Church, pleaded with the Church, hierarchs, and the Vatican to come clean, tell the truth, and tell the whole truth.
A priest of integrity! FR. JAMES CONNELL.
Let us not forget Rich’s early breakthrough interview on CNN with Susan Candiotti. C4C readers are all very proud of this and his many other brave efforts!
Crystal , gtslevin I was thinking the same thing when I was writing that those are the ones recently exposed……the rest will be exposed shortly….. hopefully very soon.
We hope there is someone within the college of cardinals who could be a pope with integrity, who will start to take immediate actions to stop these crimes against innocent children.
Yet with that in mind, since all of these cardinals were promoted by popes, we have our doubts. So we hope that outside law enforcement will get more involved and investigate these crimes against humanity.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511. snapjudy@gmail.com,
“SNAP (The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
Judy, I am encouraged by your, David Clohessy’s and Peter Isely’s bold call for more Federal, as well as state, law enforcement efforts. The pressure is building, and the petition to President Obama, as well. I think it is only a matter of time before he steps-up and backs his condemnation of institutional child sexual abuse with real actions. Meanwhile, the pressure must be maintained and even increased.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/cardinal-mahony-conclave-vote-controversy-reaches-vatican_n_2719669.html
In an interview with the daily La Repubblica, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the former head of the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs and the pope’s envoy charged with reforming the disgraced Legionaries of Christ, said that “it will be up to (Mahony’s) conscience to decide whether to take part or not.”
If it is his “conscience” that has carried the good Cardinal over these many, many years of clergy sexual abuse in the LA diocese, then we sure can bet the house he will be in Vatican City to vote for the next Pope.
These suckers have always done whatever THEY wanted, and they will do the same now (no exception, or conscience involved). He’ll be there! He’ll be there simply because he can.
Only a “Catholic Spring” will ever take these morally void prelates down. Never expect them to do the right thing without powerful outside pressure (the legal system). President Obama, please help us.
The Mahoney thing is too much….just too disordered and indecent even for the RCC. It lavishly demonstrates the state of affairs in the church for anybody who is still unclear.
My question is if mahoney murdered someone would he still be allowed to vote? A few articles alluded to the fact the pope could intervene here and he should otherwise the cycle will continue to be no crediblity no trust no accoutablity no hope .
Popes have murdered before to get elected; a historical fact.
It will be interesting to see how many US Cardinals will try in a few weeks to “cut a Bernie Law” deal while in Rome and stay to enjoy Vatican immunity forever, or at least until the mother now serving as International Criminal Court arrives in Rome with multiple sets of shiny handcuffs.
Will Seth Williams still call Rigali his Eminence with the cuffs on?
Will Chaput now offer his unused Red Dress on E-Bay?
The Spirit is on the move! Hold on to your mantillas, ladies! Your grandchildren will want to know what they were used for. Amen!!
Beth,
The pope could intervene, but he won’t!
If it involved murder he couldn’t; but only because his passport would be pulled, because if he got to the Vatican City he’d never be seen again.
The failure is not that Mahony will not exert his conscience. It’s that the Vatican, in not removing Mahony from the College of Cardinals, left the matter to be resolved by a flawed conscience. The buck has been passed from one flawed conscience to another.
Yes Kate.
And…
The Pope could intervene at any time. But, the Pope is elected by a collection of like-minded, similarly schooled men who would never elect a leader who would “reprimand” them or hold them accountable. Ever!
So the cycle continues.
Take it easy, SW, on men, please, I am watching. Oh now I see, all the hierarchs are men. No wonder they are unable to comprehend children; no wife to straighten them out. lol
That’s right…there’s no balance.
Lol.
YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
He’s on his way to the conclave!
The profanity of it is just incomprehensible!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/23/cardinal-keith-o-brien-accused-inappropriate
You know, Kate, if Lynn weren’t convicted, so much of the current media attention on “Cardinal Sins” would not have happened. It is really amazing how the ripple effects of C4C have now reached the Tiber. Even with all my provocative hype and my predictions for two years to Hans Kung that Ratzinger would “soon resign”, I am still amazed.
Jerry,
You might want to check on the status of Monsignor Lynn’s appeal (2171 EDA 2012).
Joe,
Have facts come up that make Lynn’s appeal something different than what would take place following any conviction?
Joe, Are you serious.? Will you never give up defending pedophile protectors? Regardless of the outcome of his appeal on legal technicalities, after his unquestioned admissions at trial, would you ask him to recommend a babysitter for your granchchildren?
Joe is incapable of of giving up his concept of what RC clerics are all about. To do so would cause him such angst I’m afraid he’d go over the edge.
SPECIAL MESSAGE TO JOE
This is Ground Control. Come in if you can hear me Joe!
The Mother ship you are on has lost contact with our Houston space tracking and control station. After taking several readings we must inform you that your navigation system has failed. Your craft is out of control, and you are heading into deep space. Institute protocol “Z” and may God be with you! We can no longer assist you from earth.
drwho – very clever – made me smile 🙂
Thanks for your concern, but I’m on the correct course.
Someday we’ll have to speak on the phone about all of this as there’s a lot I would like to share with you one-on-one.
Joe Burch, What continues to draw you to a site called Catholics For Change, when clearly, you reject the idea that there is a need for change?
Joe,
I believe you’re a good man, simply wrong (not evil). You so want the institution to somehow pull it out of the fire at the last moment by changing course and doing the right thing. That time is long gone; stop trying to hang on to what never was. You want it to be the Church we both thought it was at some point in our lives. It’s not so Joe. Our thinking was wrong.
David F. Pierre, Jr. is a journalist who operates “The Catholic World Report.”
He still perpetuates the false beliefs I once held; however unlike you Joe, I believe that Pierre is evil. One example is his ardent support of Fr Gordon MacRae, a convicted pedophile priest.
Anyone not familiar with Pierre may want to check out his twisted thinking at the site below.
http://www.themediareport.com/
JOE, YOUR A GOOD MAN. PLEASE GIVE-UP TRYING TO DEFEND EVIL CLERICS. You can be a better Catholic without them.
“The accusations come just days after the Cardinal (O’Brien) sent shockwaves through the Catholic community by saying he would welcome an end to the Church’s celibacy rule for the priesthood.”
No matter whether they’re true or false, doesn’t the TIMING seem a little suspicious for these 4 accusations to come forward about the UK’s top cardinal.
Crystal, you sceptism is well placed. Expect a lot more leaks in the next three weeks. Many Cardinals are apparently nervous there is a chance an honest man will get elected putting many of them at risk.
Crystal,the accusations came the week before the Pope resigned but seemed to have been leaked after this Cardinal spoke of married priests..I had the same thoughts you did.
If there is one thing we have learned about the corruption, dysfunction, crimes, and sins in the hierarchical Church it is that it is systemic. It is pervasive. It is the modus operandi of the hierarchy. It is ingrained. It is a culture.
There are obvious reasons why princes like Mahony, Dolan, Ragali, Brady, Danneels, O’Brien, and a host of Italian and German princes do not belong voting at the “sacred” conclave. Yet to think that the remaining members of the College of Cardinals don’t have their own indecent baggage is beyond naive. Indeed, they are members of the College of Cardinals because they were trusted to fit in, foster, and maintain the indecent culture. To think that their continents of origin– Africa, Asia, and Latin America, especially– have protected them from participation in the indecent culture is, again, beyond naive. Trust me. All of the princes, across the board, carry their own secrets and morally questionable, if not sinful, if not criminal, baggage. The entire College of Cardinals needs to go.
In a perfect world, American Catholics would rely on the USCCB to lead efforts to dismantle the College of Cardinals. But Dolan, with his own indecent baggage, leads the USCCB and its members consist of a pack of dogs, in-indecent-culture-training-and-practice, and salivating to become members of the College of Cardinals. The convoluted indecency of all of it in the name of religion is nothing short of sacrilegious.
Don’t tell me that the bishops and the princes thrive on protecting Mother Church. The reality is that they have a long history of abusing her.
Indeed, if you think about it, the one word that describes THE most pervasive element of the indecent hierarchical culture is abuse. These men have abused the Christ they represent, the children they were to protect, the faithful they were to shepherd, and the Church they were to bless by their participation it.
Abusive men, either directly or indirectly, every last one of them.
The Hague is watching.
Amen, Kate! Who is pope is irrelevant. If the coercive hierarchical structure is not replaced by a horizontal consensual one, the Cardinals are wasting their time and should leave it up to the prosecutors and judges. I was hard on Sarmina, but would take her as the one in charge of change any day over Rigali.
I think all of the education for children and volunteers and credit checks and background checks is necessary. Of course, common sense.
But let’s be real…there has never been an epidemic of Catholic-mother volunteers who are child abusers. You can fingerprint the moms all you want but it’s not going to solve the problem.
Amen Mary Kate!
You are so right, Mary Kate. The principal pressure for the background checks were the bishops’ insurance companies’ lawyers that demanded the bishops do it to help the lawyers’ defense posture.
The bishops, however, remained adamant about not subjecting themselves to rigorous and independent audits, as was revealed in the Lynn trial about Rigali, still in 2011 and even after the 2005 grand jury found over 60 predatory Philly priests.
Chaput is still sitting on suspended priest cases that Rigali suspended, reluctantly, 2 years ago. It doesn’t take that long to investigate a predator if you care, even if outside law enforcement is involved.
Will the new pope stop the nonsense? Possibly, but very unlikely. For the moment, Philly is at the mercy of Seth Williams, unless and until the Feds got actively involved.
Mary Kate, YES! The week the 2011GJ report was released I was chaperoning a dance and all of my background checks,clearances,you name it, had to be verified up to date..in order to sit at a table and collect permission forms and money from the kids..but of course when the 27 priests were removed the following week..a priest just a few hundred feet away in the rectory of where the dance took place was one of the removed. But God forbid that one of my clearances was not up to date, I would have been a danger to those kids that night.
Thanks, Kathy, for reminding us that the BS continues in the real world.
Why does everyone talk about the hierarachical church, when the evil that exists is not just in the hierarachy but at all levels..??? Of course it ALL had to start at theTOP and filter down to the bishops who hire the young priests to be their secretaries and they teach them what it is they want them to to do to them. I couldn’t believe it when it came to me, that this was their pattern of behavior .It all made sense to me, sadly not too long ago. Well yrs ago but still….the story goes…
Our old Bishop Rausch, in Phx. had a heart attack(and died) in the supermarket, taking a van full of boys up to his cabin.(20 yrs ago) They got lucky!!.We found out later he was a pedophile. Our pastor Fr. Jack Spaulding (who we thought was a great guy for 15 yrs. ) was his secretary before he came to our Parish of St. Maria Goretti in Scottsdale
.Fr Jack is NOW ( as I write) on the Lam with a former priest friend, Fr. Loren Riebe, from Mexico that HAD an orphanage in Chiapas, Mex. that we knew well ,( so we thought), that our parish supported with monthly pledges and pic’s of the kids, etc.
Fr. Loren, as we called him, got found out sexually abusing the children in his care and got kicked out of Mex. & Fr. Jack took him to his rectory in his new parish of St. Timothy’s, in Tempe , AZ. against the diosease objections. They started to invesigate , just a little and found out a lot…befor anything could happen(which it wouldn’t) They fled.
It is told that they both have fled the USA and are to be found SOMEWHERE in S. America, HAVING PURCHED THEIR OWN ORPHANAGE, with the parishioners money, as they would not have had the money on their own……Still priests tho’ .
So you can see, that this is not just a temporary thing that’s happend in the RCC these last few centuries, it’s a part of the whole picture of who they are. It’s an evil picture, when you put it all together and really look at it as a pattern,over the millenium(s).
Gloria,
I dont believe its all about the hierarchical structure. The people who have hurt our family the most have been Catholics sitting in the pews. They have denied the “least among them” faster than their parish priests.
From Pope to pews….from pews to Pope…they have failed.
GB ’29 & SW, I agree with both of you. One approach is to leave the RCC, which is a better option for some. For those that stay, the most likely way to effect pervasive and effective change is at the leadership level, which is why, in my case at least, I focus on the top guys. From where things were three years ago when I got into this struggle, there seems to be some progress here, but it remains to be seen if it will achieve acceptable results.
GS,
Your approach is needed. It is slow changing with that end. The approach requires a tremendous amount of patience that I simply do not have. I highly respect the people (yes, you too GS) who are able to work on that end to effect change. I would feel as though I was still “in” the Rcc having to fight these clerics at every turn.
The greatest changes I’ve seen have been on the parishioner level. The disgust level has grown exponentially among the people in the pews (many who have left or cut off donations or simply shifted their attitudes about what faith really means). My life’s work has been focused on person to person, group to group, and church to church.
I’m grateful that whichever gifts each of us has been given, we are using them to protect children and give victims a voice.
Thanks, SW, you will always be a Christian Catholic to me, regardless of whose envelope you put your donation in on any given week. Catholicism was never the hierarchy’s to take from you, even if they tried to by treating your husband and you so badly and unfairly.
How you treasure that irrevocable gift in dealing with these criminals, is up to your conscience, which you listen to very well, it appears.
Your tireless efforts on behalf of survivors is increasingly bearing fruit. Thank you for all your efforts and keep the spray paint handy!
Please also see my “Are Cardinals Merely the German Shepherd’s Obedient Pups”, at: http://wp.me/P2YEZ-y4
Sorry, SW, the correct link is: http://wp.me/P2YEZ3-Y4
One more time–the link is http://wp.me/P2YEZ3-y4
I agree SW. You are so right. Now if we can just get these people to open their eyes and ears .. to the crys of the poor innocents.
While I’ll focus on the top guys some of the time, I focus on the bottom guys most of the time. Ultimately, they all share the same affliction– membership in the fraternal, cultish, and corrupt “priesthood of Christ.” And, by the way, I do it as an exited member of the Church. I effect change in the Church from the outside. It is no less noble than to effect it from the inside. Nor is it less Catholic.
SW, I agree that from Pope to pews… from pews to Pope… the Church has failed.
UK Cardinal O’Brien has resigned!
Wow, the Brits are trying to catch up to the hypocrisy and deceit of the Catholic hierarchy and leadership (???) of their colleagues from “across the pond” in the good old USA. We have quite a long list of Catholic leaders who should also “choose to resign”. Let’s keep that exit door swinging.
Kate, I think O’Brien read your comments and thought he better “exit” before the noble “exited Catholic” nailed him first. Well done!
Secrecy!
The secrecy practiced by clerics over the long history if sexual abuse was evil. To have not informed the faithful so the faithful could protect the innocent was just evil.
Now we have the secrecy of the dossier. It is said the dossier includes information on sexual abuse, money laundering, inept management, sexual blackmail, and the like. Only the next pope will be privy to it.
How are we to protect ourselves, our money, and our organizational Church? How are we to know what clerics we can trust? How are we to know who our children can trust? What is happening to our money? Who is running our Church with competency? What is with the sexual blackmail… what happened to celibacy?
While the Vatican lives in the secrecy-based Dark Ages, we live in the dark. We are cornered, disempowered, disrespected, left out of the loop, treated like children.
God only knows what’s going on.
Kate, do you thinks the dossier covers all those sins? It is only 300 pages, not 3,000,000 pages. Maybe the “executive summary” is only 300 pages?
I hope when some conniving Cardinal leaks it next week, it is not in Latin. It is over half a century since I read Caeser’s de Bello Gallico. I can’t even remember all the different “genders”.
These Romans have strange ideas about “plural genders’, as the dossier will likely confirm. lol
Kate, you havent heard? Toga! The vatican frat boys are throwing a drunken, licentious, toga party, using our money, our kids and our faith…and we’re not invited.
Soliciting $$funds$$ to send Crystal, SW, and Kate to the conclave!
Trust us! We’ll get all 117 members of the College of Cardinals to resign. They won’t know what hit ’em!
Sorry, “holy” red boys, the party’s over!
Grounded for life!
Kate, SW and Crystal: Go get them! If you salvage any XL red dresses, please save me one in case I decide to become a cross-dressing, drug dealing porn peddler like Cardinal Egan’s ex-Bridgeport Msgr. secretary. Like Kate says, you cannot make this stuff up.
Also, please read my “Is the Roman Holy Empire Folding Faster Than the Soviet Empire Did” at: http://wp.me/P2YEZ3-yb
Smuggling my red spray paint through customs might be a little tricky, but I’m game!
Can you imagine that scene? Women at the Conclave?
“I BELIEVE THE VICTIMS” all over that historical square!
Jerry, I may need some help and some legal counsel.
Great article Gerry, . “… Less than four months ago, the Pope tried unsuccessfully to take down the world’s most powerful leader, Barack Obama, in his re-election bid. Now the Pope flees the Vatican a broken man. The shrewd effort of Pius XII, as papal diplomat and then Pope, to maintain a facade of Vatican nation-state as a world power for the remnant of a petty Italian papal kingdom is over. John Paul II was able to prop up and extend this geo-political overreach because Ronald Reagan thought he needed the Polish Pope to bring down the Soviets, but that brief political alliance ended with a thud with President Obama’s re-election. The Vatican must now focus on religion ..”
Imagine… focusing on religion. If nothing else, these are interesting times we are witnessing.
Love it, SW!! I will represent you. I am rusty, but still “crusty”, as Philly’s Dynamic Duo of Susan and Kathy can attest! lol
“The Wages of Celibacy” by Frank Bruni at the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/opinion/bruni-the-wages-of-celibacy.html?_r=0
Thanks for that link, Kate, to a perceptive commentary.
Please also see my latest, “Courts Must Now Apply Laws to Popes & All Cardinals”, at: http://wp.me/P2YEZ3-yB
From the article
“Many years ago, when I wrote a book about it, more than a few mental health professionals told me that men trying to vanquish a sexual attraction to kids might well drift toward the priesthood in the hope that extra prayer and an intention of chastity would make everything right. One Catholic archbishop, Daniel Sheehan, who has since died, told me: “It could well be that a person with this kind of a hidden psychosexual problem could escape to the seminary and the like, thinking in some way that this would be a way of sublimating this problem.” ”
Kate,this makes so much sense..it drives me crazy when people blame celibacy for abuse..can you picture the men in your life somehow being commanded to be celibate and that would turn them into sexual attraction to a child? This theory of men with sexual attraction to children being drawn to the idea that they could make it go away through prayer,chastity is very interesting. Of course then there are those who were drawn to it because of the access to children. Probably a mixture of both scenarios with abusive priests..those trying to avoid acting on their desires and those seeking out opportunity with children.
Kathy, I agree. The priesthood is a place where some men hope to use prayer and “the sacred” to sublimate their psychosexual, pedophilia urges (some also sublimate their gay gender as well); it’s also a place where children abound, utterly trusting Father.
But another factor is the prevalence of sexual activity in the seminary and in the general lives of clerics, including hierarchs. It’s rampant. It creates an extremely permissive environment. On top of the permissive environment, nobody tells, clerics look the other way, and everyone’s forgiven. Yikes. It all invites a whole lot of aberrant behaviors.
CNN Anderson Cooper 360…on the Vatican and resignation right now central time.
Wow.
They will soon be hearing from the public who are outraged about Mahoney and they do not believe he should be able to be a part of the conclave electing the new pope.
SW… plus the whole discussion centering on how the Church doesn’t get it, how they feel picked on, like, what’s the problem with everyone??? Why does the media dump on us??? We’re trying to conduct a sacred and holy papal passage and the world is clobbering us over the head with petty complaints having no merit! Poor us! WE ARE THE VICTIMS!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve repeatedly said it on C4C! CNN has stayed on it!
THANK YOU!
Not about the Catholic Church, but relevant because its about institutions and abuse of children.
OWN network. Our America with Lisa Ling. A Predator in the Clubhouse.
I believe it repeats over the course of several weeks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae0OjC7FbMs gtslevin, I have seen Jesus do amazing things…..many times working thru people if they allow him to do so…….just as on this site concerned catholics, survivors and their families as well others have reached out to protect children and help our survivors obtain the truth and justice they deserve……..
On CNN last evening a Latino man from the diocese of LA defended Mahony’s legacy and right to vote in the conclave. He cited Mohony’s justice work and especially what Mahony had done for undocumented Latino immigrants. My jaw dropped because many of the abuse victims in the LA diocese were the children of undocumented Latino immigrants (of course, many were the children of documented Latino immigrants as well). The life of a victim is not easy. But imagine being a victim in a culture that is willing to utterly ignore who or what was responsible for your abuse because he or it advances the single most important political agenda of your culture which is securing rights for undocumented Latino immigrants. Nothing like abused children caught in the crossfire of politics… neglected and ignored for some “greater good” while the evildoers getting off scott free. I hope and pray for a compassionate and fair resolution to the issue of undocumented Latino citizens in the U.S. (and pronto… this has taken way too long). But I also hope and pray that Latino abuse victims are not ignored and that the clerics and hierarchs who hurt and failed them are brought to justice. Just because the Catholic Church and its clerics have long been on the side of resolving the issue of undocumented Latino immigrants does not mean that Latinos should not hold them accountable for the crimes against their children and its cover up. In the political climate, today, Latinos can accomplish their goals for undocumented immigrants without Catholic clerics or the Catholic Church. Between the present “holy Catholic mess” and the Church’s extremely lame political clout over the last few years, Latinos might want to question the viability of their reliance on, and their political partnership with, the Catholic Church.
Kathy or Susan, the box normally in the right-hand column on C4C that lists the 5 or so most recent posts has not shown up on my computer for about the last two days. Am I the only one with this problem? Thank you.
no
I’ve also noticed that the list of recent posts is missing. Makes catching up difficult.
Tonight, Wed. Feb. 27 @ 8 and 10 p.m. EST, CNN and Anderson Cooper will go at Mahony AGAIN!
Thanks for the fyi
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20130227_N_J__authorities_arrest_25_in_child-porn_sweep.html
“”Anyone who views and distributes child pornography – particularly the type of child-rape videos targeted in this operation – puts himself in league with the predators who sexually assault children to create these videos,” Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said in a statement.
“The children they watch being tortured are violated again by their actions, and these offenders may pose a danger to other children because of their predilections,” Chiesa said.
”
“”Everyone sitting in the seclusion of their darkened homes viewing child-rape videos has victimized these innocents by creating the market for this disgusting material,” Col. Rick Fuentes, State Police superintendent, said in a statement. “There’s no room for them to say, ‘I haven’t hurt anyone.’ “”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/priest-child-pornography
and the list goes on, when will it stop?