CoverUp's

More German Roman Catholic sexual abuse scandals

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:31:57 +1100

This is a video from CNN in the USA about protesters against sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

From The Local, Germany’s news in English:

Commission: Bishops covered up priests' child abuse

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 10:31:27 +1100

DUBLIN (AP) - Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Dublin covered up decades of child abuse by priests in order to protect the church's reputation, an expert commission reported Thursday after a three-year investigation.

Abuse victims welcomed the commission's report on the Dublin Archdiocese's mishandling of child abuse cases - one of several government investigations into chronic child rape, beatings and other cruelty in Catholic-run schools, children's workhouses and orphanages in 1975-2004.

The government said the investigation "shows clearly that a systemic, calculated perversion of power and trust was visited on helpless and innocent children in the archdiocese."

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"The perpetrators must continue to be brought to justice, and the people of Ireland must know that this can never happen again," the government said, also apologizing for the state's failure to hold church authorities accountable to the law. This is the second major government-ordered report this year exploring how and why Irish authorities permitted widespread abuse of boys and girls at the hands of the Catholic Church throughout most of the 20th century, the gravest scandal in the history of independent Ireland.

The 720-page report - delivered to the government in July but released Thursday - analyzes the cases of 46 priests against whom 320 complaints were filed. The 46 were selected from more than 150 Dublin priests implicated in molesting or raping boys and girls since 1940. Eleven priests convicted of child abuse are named in the report, but 33 are referred to by aliases and two have their names blacked out because they have yet to face justice.

The report rejected past bishops' key claim that they were ignorant of both the scale and criminality of priests' abuse of children, showing that the Dublin Archdiocese negotiated a 1987 insurance policy for future legal costs of defending lawsuits and compensation claims. At the time, bishops knew of at least 17 priests linked to abuse cases, the report said, and "the taking out of insurance was an act proving knowledge of child sexual abuse as a potential major cost to the archdiocese." Investigators spent three years poring over 60,000 previously secret Dublin church files.

They were handed over by Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, a veteran Vatican diplomat appointed to Dublin in 2004 with a brief to confront the scandal. Among the files were more than 5,500 that Martin's predecessor, retired Cardinal Desmond Connell, had tried to keep locked in the archbishop's private vault. The investigators, led by a judge and two lawyers, said that while it was not their job to confirm the scale of abuse cases, they had no doubt the 46 priests abused many more than 320 children.

"One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children, while another accepted that he had abused on a fortnightly basis during the currency of his ministry which lasted for over 25 years," they wrote. Three Dublin archbishops - John Charles McQuaid (1940-72), Dermot Ryan (1972-84) and Kevin McNamara (1985-87) - did not tell police about clerical abuse cases, instead opting to avoid public scandals by shuttling offenders from parish to parish, the commission found. It was not until 1995 that then-Archbishop Connell allowed police to see church files on 17 clerical abuse cases kept in a secret, locked vault, though at the time Connell had records of complaints against at least 29 priests, the report says.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said the state would renew efforts to prosecute more of the 46 priests in the report, as well as police officers that the investigation found colluded with church authorities to suppress complaints. Ahern said, however, that the cover-ups reflected "a different era where there was deference by state agencies to the church. I don't think that would happen today."

The investigators lauded a handful of priests and mostly low-ranking police who pursued complaints and prosecutions, almost always unsuccessfully, from the 1960s to the 1980s. Senior police officers "clearly regarded priests as being outside their remit," handing "complaints to the archdiocese instead of investigating them."

"A few (priests) were courageous and brought complaints to the attention of their superiors. The vast majority simply chose to turn a blind eye," the report said. In May, the government published a report on decades of child abuse in Catholic-run schools, workhouses and orphanages. More than 12,000 victims of rape, beatings and metal abuse have received compensation payments from a government panel exceeding euro800 million

(DUBLIN (AP) - Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Dublin covered up decades of child abuse by priests in order to protect the church's reputation, an expert commission reported Thursday after a three-year investigation. Abuse victims welcomed the commission's report on the Dublin Archdiocese's mishandling of child abuse cases - one of several government investigations into chronic child rape, beatings and other cruelty in Catholic-run schools, children's workhouses and orphanages in 1975-2004.

The government said the investigation "shows clearly that a systemic, calculated perversion of power and trust was visited on helpless and innocent children in the archdiocese." "The perpetrators must continue to be brought to justice, and the people of Ireland must know that this can never happen again," the government said, also apologizing for the state's failure to hold church authorities accountable to the law.

This is the second major government-ordered report this year exploring how and why Irish authorities permitted widespread abuse of boys and girls at the hands of the Catholic Church throughout most of the 20th century, the gravest scandal in the history of independent Ireland. The 720-page report - delivered to the government in July but released Thursday - analyzes the cases of 46 priests against whom 320 complaints were filed. The 46 were selected from more than 150 Dublin priests implicated in molesting or raping boys and girls since 1940.

Eleven priests convicted of child abuse are named in the report, but 33 are referred to by aliases and two have their names blacked out because they have yet to face justice. The report rejected past bishops' key claim that they were ignorant of both the scale and criminality of priests' abuse of children, showing that the Dublin Archdiocese negotiated a 1987 insurance policy for future legal costs of defending lawsuits and compensation claims.

At the time, bishops knew of at least 17 priests linked to abuse cases, the report said, and "the taking out of insurance was an act proving knowledge of child sexual abuse as a potential major cost to the archdiocese." Investigators spent three years poring over 60,000 previously secret Dublin church files.

They were handed over by Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, a veteran Vatican diplomat appointed to Dublin in 2004 with a brief to confront the scandal. Among the files were more than 5,500 that Martin's predecessor, retired Cardinal Desmond Connell, had tried to keep locked in the archbishop's private vault.

The investigators, led by a judge and two lawyers, said that while it was not their job to confirm the scale of abuse cases, they had no doubt the 46 priests abused many more than 320 children. "One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children, while another accepted that he had abused on a fortnightly basis during the currency of his ministry which lasted for over 25 years," they wrote.

Three Dublin archbishops - John Charles McQuaid (1940-72), Dermot Ryan (1972-84) and Kevin McNamara (1985-87) - did not tell police about clerical abuse cases, instead opting to avoid public scandals by shuttling offenders from parish to parish, the commission found. It was not until 1995 that then-Archbishop Connell allowed police to see church files on 17 clerical abuse cases kept in a secret, locked vault, though at the time Connell had records of complaints against at least 29 priests, the report says.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said the state would renew efforts to prosecute more of the 46 priests in the report, as well as police officers that the investigation found colluded with church authorities to suppress complaints. Ahern said, however, that the cover-ups reflected "a different era where there was deference by state agencies to the church. I don't think that would happen today."

The investigators lauded a handful of priests and mostly low-ranking police who pursued complaints and prosecutions, almost always unsuccessfully, from the 1960s to the 1980s. Senior police officers "clearly regarded priests as being outside their remit," handing "complaints to the archdiocese instead of investigating them."

"A few (priests) were courageous and brought complaints to the attention of their superiors. The vast majority simply chose to turn a blind eye," the report said. In May, the government published a report on decades of child abuse in Catholic-run schools, workhouses and orphanages.

More than 12,000 victims of rape, beatings and metal abuse have received compensation payments from a government panel exceeding euro800 million ($1.2 billion). --- On the Net: Report, http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB09000504 (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) .2 billion). --- On the Net: Report, http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB09000504

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

http://www.necn.com/pages/landing?blo...agID=27575

The judgment of Benedict

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:52:19 +1100

Next week, 24 Irish bishops and cardinals meet Pope Benedict in Rome to discuss clerical sex abuse. But which Pope they enounter: the “filth”-hating hardliner, or the accommodating academic?

IN APRIL 2005, US Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, like every other elector Cardinal, travelled to Rome for the conclave that would shortly elect Pope Benedict XVI. When Cardinals come to Rome, they tend to have plenty of “business” on their minds.

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Thus it was that prior to the conclave, Cardinal George dropped in on Cardinal Ratzinger, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and, of course, the deacon of the College of Cardinals, who in that role ended up dominating the period between popes. Cardinal George was concerned about a set of US Church rules on sex abuse, then on a provisional two-year approval basis.

At the heart of George’s concerns was the so-called “one strike” policy which sees priests removed from the ministry for life for one act of sexual abuse on a minor. George wanted assurances that this policy would stand. He discussed the issue with Ratzinger who, in George’s words, showed “a good grasp of the situation”. Three days later, “Ratzinger” had become “Benedict”. As George kissed the ring of the newly elected pope in the Sistine Chapel, Benedict waited until the US Cardinal had got to his feet and then told him, in English, that he had not forgotten their conversation, adding that he would “attend to it”. The “one strike” or “zero tolerance” policy is still in place.

This story, recounted in John Allen’s book, The Rise of Benedict XVI , is worth recalling on the eve of the Pope’s meeting next Monday and Tuesday with the Irish bishops, a meeting that will largely (but not exclusively) deal with the fallout from the Murphy Commission report. It would seem to indicate that, despite appearances to the contrary, 82-year-old Pope Benedict not only has a “good grasp” of the full horrors of clerical child abuse but that he is willing to take an unremitting hard line on the matter.

Cardinal George’s version of Benedict ties in with the Pope’s numerous public expressions of “outrage, betrayal and shame” about child abuse by Catholic priests. A few days before his election as Pope, during the Via Crucis in the Coliseum, the then Cardinal Ratzinger had said in his meditation on the Ninth Station of the Cross: “Should we not also think of how much Christ suffers in his own Church? . . . How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him . . .”.

At the time, most Vatican commentators saw the “filth” remark as a reference to, among other things, clerical child sex abuse. When this man went on to be elected to the seat of Peter, it was only logical that we might expect him to take an uncompromising hard line on all issues related to clerical sex abuse.

After all, he had been dealing with the issue at first hand for at least four years, following a 2001 instruction, Sacramentorum Sanctitatis , from his predecessor John Paul II which had called for all allegations of child sexual abuse bearing “a semblance of truth” to be referred directly to the CDF, his congregation. Put another way, there is probably no one in today’s Rome Curia who has read more files on clerical child abuse than Pope Benedict.

So, he gets it then, does he? And there’s the rub. Turn the clock back to the autumn of 2006, the last time the Irish bishops met the Pope in Rome. The Pope offered forceful recommendations on how they should deal with clerical child abuse: “In your continuing efforts to deal effectively with this problem, it is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it occurring again, to ensure that the principles of justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes.”

This all sounds tough and sound, yet one month earlier Ratzinger’s old office, the CDF, had proved less than co-operative with the Murphy Commission’s request for information, complaining instead that the Commission had not “gone through the appropriate diplomatic channels”. Likewise, five months later, the Papal Nuncio in Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, failed to answer further requests for information from the Commission of Inquiry.

So, which Pope will turn up in the Apostolic Palace on Monday? The Pope who is intent on sweeping the “filth” out of the Church – or the one who, at a congress in the Catholic university of St John in Murcia, Spain in November 2002 said: “I am convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the US, is a planned campaign . . . the constant presence of these news items does not correspond to the objectivity of the information or to the statistical objectivity of the facts.”

NEXT WEEK’S MEETING with the Irish bishops is vital not only to the Irish Church but as a barometer of this pontificate. If, as his closest advisers say, Benedict has been on a steep learning curve since that Murcia meeting, what sort of action will he take? Clearly, the most delicate issue facing him and his senior Curia advisers, in dealing with the fallout of the Murphy Report, concerns the question of “Episcopal” responsibility. Zero tolerance for paedophile priests has already been accepted but there is no “universal” or canonical norm for the bishops who mishandled or covered for abusers.

When Benedict was elected, his supporters suggested he would prove especially attentive to the “nuts and bolts” of governance, in sharp contrast to John Paul II who for 27 years largely left internal Holy See administration to his advisers.

So, will he grasp this particular bull by the horns? If the experience of Boston Archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law is anything to go by, Benedict may well disappoint those looking for an Irish “sacrificial lamb”. Cardinal Law was the first “Prince of the Church” to be shown to have covered up clerical sex abuse. For 11 months in 2002 and 2003, he refused to step down when faced with allegations of an elaborate cover-up. Finally, under pressure of public opinion, he resigned, apologising to “all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and my mistakes”.

The Holy See offered Cardinal Law a distinctly soft landing, since he currently serves as the Archpriest in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The impression is one of sympathy for a respected elder Church figure who got caught up in the crossfire of a shoot-out that had little or nothing to do with him.

Given the confusing, not to say contradictory, signals, it comes as no surprise to hear from Vatican insiders that the Pope’s forthcoming pastoral letter to the Irish faithful is not yet written. It now seems, and this would only seem logical, that the Pope will wait until after next week’s meeting before he finalises it.

Benedict, too, is unlikely to have been much pleased with reports of rebellious priests and dissenting bishops in Ireland. If he really intends to clean up the “filth” in the Church, then does not the Murphy report look like an important starting point on the road to closure, for victims and for the Church? Will he forcefully make just that point, behind closed apostolic doors?

Part of the fallout from the Murphy Report concerns the need to reform the archaic diocesan organisation of the Irish Church. Here, too, the Irish question is also a universal one since there are many who would argue that under John Paul II, and to some extent under Benedict, there have been too many “safe” appointments, too many time-servers and not enough imaginative, creative bishops.

So then, which Pope will step up to the plate next week in the Vatican – the hardline “filth-cleaner” or the accommodating academic, keen to avoid squabbling among his “students”? Perhaps a bit of both, with the result that next week’s deliberations may do little to satisfy victims and faithful who seek some powerful, apostolic gesture that will help reach closure on a ghastly phase of Irish Church history.

Next week’s meeting takes place in the Apostolic Palace in St Peter’s. There will be two sessions on Monday and one on Tuesday. The Pope is expected to attend all three, although this has not yet been confirmed. The meeting, held in English, is expected to be attended by the Pope’s closest advisers, including the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Prefect for the Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada, the Prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes and the Prefect of the Congregation of Consecrated Life (Religious Orders) Franc Rodé. The Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Sean Brady and the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, are expected to attend with 22 Irish bishops.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/w...26892.html

94 members of the Catholic Church accused of sexual abuse in Germany

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:07:39 +1100

BERLIN -- The German news magazine Der Spiegel reports that the number of suspected sexual abuse cases in Germany by Roman Catholic clergy and laymen is much higher than was previously thought.

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According to a poll by Spiegel, answered by 27 Catholic dioceses in Germany, more than 94 clerics and laymen have been suspected of sexual abuse since 1995. Only 30 have been prosecuted, due to the statute of limitations.

Ten employees of the Catholic church are currently accused of sexual abuse in Germany.

Germany has been shocked by revelations of serial sex abuse by Catholic priests in recent weeks. More than 20 alumni of Berlin's prestigious Canisius Kolleg have reported abuse by their former Jesuit teachers. Other students have also reported cases in cities across Germany where the priests also taught.

http://www.timesanddemocrat.com/artic...330059.txt

Morning Star, Catholic Diocese: Is there a sex abuse claim enterprise?

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:27:35 +1100

As we gain more knowledge of the Morning Star and Spokane Diocese so-called sex abuse cases one must begin to wonder a massive fraud may be taking place and may have taken place. A fraud of the system of justice and a fraud of Morning Star and Spokane Diocese and perhaps other institutions.

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Today we read in the Spokesman-Review that an attorney for the Diocese is going to brought before the local bankruptcy court for contempt. S-R, Diocese lawyer faces court action. His alleged contempt is that he is, and has been, critical of the trustee in the Spokane Diocese bankruptcy. For what you may ask? For allowing new claims to be filed in the proceedings long after everyone had knowledge of the proceedings and for payments to which the trustee seeks to make regarding some of the claims. Id.

The Spokesman-Review, on November 3, 2009, did a story on the new claims. S-R, Diocese hit with 21 new claims. The paper reported that seven of the new claims had already been approved.

Mr. Arpin has been critical of this and has voiced his criticism to the bankruptcy trustee, Gloria Nagler, of Nagler Associates, Seattle.

I have the impression that certain people think the Spokane Diocese and Morning Star and perhaps other Catholic organizations are easy pickings. There is significant cause for concern the way things have been put together and how the claims so easily filed and approved in the bankruptcy proceedings and how the claims so easily get into court and before juries.

There is at the very need for some true light to be shown on what has been going on and is going on.

In the Morning Star cases many of the plaintiffs have spent time in prison. They have spent time in prison with other plaintiffs. Word gets around in prison. Plans get made. One prisoner does one thing, another prisoner joins in. The recent history of the attempts of prisoners to use the public disclosure act for fun, trouble and profit instead of true desire to see records is an example.

One must wonder whether Morning Star claimants have made claims, are making claims, in the Spokane Diocese bankruptcy. For example, one source told me that Kenneth Putnam has already received $300,000 from the Spokane Diocese bankruptcy.

In the Putnam case, Michael Clarke a former Morning Star resident and man who has spent significant portions of his life in various prisons in Washington came up, in the “final hour” of the Putnam proceedings with the claim that Father Weitensteiner has been paying him “hush money.”

Mr. Clarke also has a claim against Morning Star. One wonders whether he made a claim in the Spokane Diocese bankruptcy.

I do not think we know the truth about the Spokane Catholic Sex Abuse Claims. One has to wonder whether it is not an enterprise, an industry, a combination. See my previous post, Morning Star: Are the Clarke allegations a massive shakedown?

What is to be done? I think the Spokane attorney should consider at least some action to start. See this letter to Prosecuting Attorney Steve Tucker. . At the very least, the prosecutor has to engage the power of his office to determine whether Michael Clarke or Father Joe Weitensteiner is lying. The prosecutor must also find out whether others are conspiring regarding the lie and if so who they are. Prosecution should proceed under the criminal laws.

If Mr. Tucker does not act, he will not be fulfilling the responsibilities of his office.

http://www.washcourts.com/?p=405

Priest pleads not guilty in sex abuse case

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:25:23 +1100

SPENCER, W.Va. — A Catholic priest from a Fairfield religious society, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges he sexually abused a 10-year-old boy in West Virginia in 1991.

Roane County Circuit Judge David W. Nibert scheduled Robert F. Poandl’s trial for June 15.

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The 68-year-old priest was indicted last month after a 28-year-old Cincinnati man told police that Poandl molested him during a visit to the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in August 1991. State Police said Poandl came to Spencer with the boy to cover a Mass for the priest assigned to Holy Redeemer.

Poandl and his attorneys, Anita Ashley and Dennis Curry, declined comment after the hearing.

Poandl is charged with first-degree sexual assault, first-degree sexual abuse and sexual abuse by a custodian.

He is associated with the Glenmary Home Missioners in Fairfield. Glenmary has said Poandl was removed from his ministry assignment last year after it learned of the allegations but remains a resident at the headquarters.

“This is a very difficult, painful time for everyone associated with this case,” said the Rev. Dan Dorsey, Glenmary’s president.

Since Poandl became a priest in 1968, has served in various leadership roles at Glenmary and as pastor at churches in Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi.

Members of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests have criticized the church for not disclosing the allegations when they first learned of them last summer.

“Such secrecy is immoral and reckless, and may have led to other kids being abused, too,” Judy Jones, the group’s Midwest director, said in a prepared statement.

Poandl is free on a $15,000 bond.

http://www.thecatholiccoverup.com/adm...?mode=edit

Clergy sex abuse victims praise prosecutor & police

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:10:57 +1100

Church officials are charged with “failure to report” abuse

"Prosecution of such cases is rare," support group says

SNAP: “Going after selfish accomplices is best way to stop molesters soon”

A national support group for clergy sex abuse is praising New Hampshire law enforcement agencies for charging four officials of a Baptist church with failure to disclose suspected child sex crimes.

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Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing Conway Police Department chief Edward Wagner and prosecutor Jessica Hollenkamp about charges filed last week against leaders of Valley Christian Church in Redstone. Four officials there have been formally accused of one misdemeanor count of violating a state law requiring them to report child abuse to authorities.

“This pattern – church authorities keeping silent about suspected abuse – is terribly common but rarely punished,” SNAP said in a letter the group sent by fax and email today to Wagner and Hollenkamp. “But

going after selfish accomplices who do nothing to stop a predator from hurting kids is smart. It may be the best way to stop a child molester after his fourth victim, instead of his 44th victim.”

All too often, SNAP contends, police and prosecutors focus solely on alleged sex offenders, neglecting to file charges against others who knew of or strongly suspected the crimes but kept quiet.

“Deterring child molesters is hard. But deterring by-standers and witnesses is much easier,” said SNAP’s letter. “That’s what you’re doing and what few in law enforcement ever do.”

“It’s hard to imagine a sick, compulsively-driven sex offender being stopped by the threat of any penalty,” said SNAP’s national director David Clohessy of St. Louis. “But it’s easy to imagine congregants and

church workers seeing these charges against Valley Christian and deciding ‘Wow, if I see something unusual or troubling in my church, I’m going to call 911.’”

According to the Union Leader, the four were “church Pastor Timothy Dillmuth, 33, of Stowe, Maine, and elders Richard Eland, 61, of Brownfield, Maine; Michael Wedge, 32, of Conway; and Robert Gagnon, 69, of Brownfield."
http://www.unionleader.com/article.as...dd81322b8e

According to its website, Valley Christian Church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist Convention of New England. The church is on East Conway Road.

“In all faith groups, if more church officials across the country had faced similar charges years ago, we’re confident it could have spared hundreds, maybe even thousands of kids from devastating child sex crimes,” said Barbara Dorris, SNAP’s national outreach coordinator.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. It has been around since 1988 and has more than 9,000 members across the country. Despite the word “priest” in its title, SNAP has members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Its website is SNAPnetwork.org.

A copy of SNAP’s letter is below.

Contact David Clohessy (314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home), Barbara Dorris (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell)

Chief Edward Wagner
Prosecutor Jessica Hollenkamp
Conway NH Police Department
35 East Conway Road
PO Box 538
Center Conway NH 03813
Tel: 603-356-5715
Fax: 603-356-8837
police@conwaypd.com

Dear Chief Edward Wagner and Prosecutor Jessica Hollenkamp:

We are writing about charges filed last week against officials and members of Valley Christian Church in Redstone. As you know, the pastor and three elders were each charged with a single misdemeanor count of violating a state law requiring them to report child abuse to authorities.

We are grateful for your efforts and success in having these men charged for turning a blind eye to the abuse. We hope others in law enforcement will follow your example.

This pattern – church-goers keeping silent about suspected abuse – is terribly common but rarely punished. But going after selfish accomplices who do nothing to stop a predator from hurting kids is

smart. It may be the best way to stop a child molester after his fourth victim, instead of his 44th victim.

All too often, police and prosecutors focus solely on alleged sex offenders, neglecting to file charges against others who knew of or strongly suspected the crimes but kept quiet.

Deterring child molesters is hard. But deterring by-standers and witnesses from staying silent is much easier. That’s what you’re doing and what few in law enforcement ever do.

We hope that hundreds of church authorities and church-goers – in all denominations – learn of these charges and vow to never stay quiet if they see or suspect child sex crimes. We hope that a few of them will search their consciences and find the courage to report known or possible sex crimes right now.

We are very grateful and wish you well in your prosecution of these men.

David Clohessy
National Director, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
7234 Arsenal Street
St. Louis MO 63143
314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home

Barbara Dorris
Outreach Coordinator, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
6245 Westminster
St. Louis MO 63130
314 862 7688
SNAPnetwork.org

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org

http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_press...police.htm

Ireland: Catholic Church might have abused 150.000 children

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:22:02 +1100

A new Irish report claims that as many as 150.000 children since the 1930-ties have been abused by Catholic priests and nuns. The report carries stories from 3.000 people who have been sexually abused.

It has taken social workers in Ireland nine years to collect evidence from Irish children.

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«Sexual abuse have been rooted in Catholic institutions.The religious authorities in Ireland knew about such abuses, not able to deal with the internal problems of such Catholic organizations». states the report.

It was in the year 2000, that the Government of Ireland formed a commission, that was told ti investigate abuse of Children. The commission has spent 60 million US dollars to investigate, and have produced a report that has 2500 pages.

The report claims that priest and nones of Catholic organization like «Christian Brothers» and «Sisters of Mercy», who runs Catholic schools and youth ministries all over Ireland. 90 per cent of the involved institutions are owned by The Roman Catholic Church of Ireland, and in particular «Christian Brothers».

Many of the abused children have been admitted to such institution based on poverty, criminal past or lack of other house holds to live in.

Source: The Danish Christian Daily (Kristelig Dagblad).

My comment:

The Roman Catholics are idol worshipers, not Christians. The Bible does not permit idol worship, like the Papal worship of the Queen of Heaven.

Jeremiah 7:18

The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.

http://ivarfjeld.wordpress.com/2009/0...-children/

Vatican snubbed Irish police inquiry into Catholic priests sex abuse of children

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:18:23 +1100

The inquiry into sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland has disclosed that the Vatican ignored formal requests for information.

The inquiry asked for details of reports on abuse sent to the Vatican by the Dublin archdiocese in 2006. The Vatican did not reply but told the Irish Foreign Affairs department the request «had not gone through appropriate diplomatic channels». The inquiry condemned church leaders for covering-up abuse for decades.

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The Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, which was published on Thursday, covered a period from 1975 to 2004. The commission said it was independent of the government and therefore did not regard it as appropriate to use diplomatic channels when seeking information.

A request for information from the Papal Nuncio also was ignored. In February 2007, the commission wrote to the Dublin-based Papal Nuncio asking him to forward all relevant documents in his possession. It also requested that he confirm whether he had any such documents but the Papal Nuncio did not reply.

Earlier this year, the commission again failed to receive a reply after sending the Papal Nuncio extracts from its draft report which referred to him and his office, as it was required to do.

A senior Vatican spokesman said diplomatic practice required that outside requests made to the governance of the Vatican pass through diplomatic channels, in this case the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin and the Irish Embassy to the Holy See in Rome.

The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland has said he is deeply sorry and ashamed by the child abuse the report had revealed. Cardinal Sean Brady also apologized for the way the Church covered-up the crimes.

The report also found that on occasions senior police officers colluded in the cover-up. The commissioner of the Irish police, Fachtna Murphy, apologised for the police failure to protect victims.

Victims groups are now calling for a similar inquiry to take place in every diocese in Ireland. However, the Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Eamonn Walsh has said he does not believe that should happen. He said it would be better for the Church to use its «time, energy and money» to improve child protection measures.

Source: BBC.

My comment:

When the Pope denies the Roman Catholic priests to marry, he do not only go against the Word of God. He also creates a priesthood of men that behind closed doors will burn with passion for each other.

Many Catholic priest looks after children, in school and Catholic institutions. The list of child abuse and sexual crimes against minors are as long and wide as the road that leads to death and destruction. And the Pope and the Vatican always to their best to cover up the crimes of the priesthood.

In many Catholic parishes, there are priest who have secret lovers. Either men or women. The Roman Catholics knows this is the truth, but they are to ashamed to talk about the tragic affairs of a Church that has created a priesthood that serves Satan.

http://ivarfjeld.wordpress.com/2009/1...riesthood/

Irish Sex Abuse Victims Ask Church for $1 billion

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:18:32 +1100

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Irish victims of clerical sex abuse have asked Pope Benedict XVI for over $1.37 billion in compensation, in a letter that the head of Ireland's Catholic Church will hand-deliver to the pope next week.

Cardinal Sean Brady received the letter from representatives of sex abuse victims on Monday (Feb. 8), according to a report in the Irish Independent.

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The letter also requests a meeting with Benedict during his forthcoming visit to Britain, expected to take place in September.

Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore said the pope will receive the letter when he meets with Irish bishops next Monday and Tuesday, reportedly to discuss last November's Murphy Commission report.

That report traced a pattern of clerical physical and sexual abuse over three decades, from 1975-2004, which had been covered up by the Archdiocese of Dublin.

In December, Benedict expressed "outrage," "shame," and "profound regret" over the report's revelations, and the Vatican announced he would write a letter to Irish Catholics "in which he will clearly indicate the initiatives that are to be taken in response to the situation." The pope's letter is widely expected to be published shortly after next week's meeting.

Four Irish bishops have already resigned as a consequence of the Murphy Commission's revelations.

-- Francis X. Rocca

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