Updated July 25, 2011
The King’s Speech may have won the Oscars and other awards but it is only a movie that entertains and it does nothing to help and protect victims of the JP2 Army of pedophile priests http://jp2army.blogspot.com/. There is a more important speech than the King's Speech and it is the Prime Minsiter of Ireland's Speech on July 20, 2011 attacking the narcissism of the Vatican -- that will protect and affect the lives of children worldwide. The Irish Prime Minister Speech is coming from Ireland, the once arch enemy of England and perhaps it can teach the Queen on how to rightfully deal with the Vatican. While the Queen embraced the partner of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, in his visit to England last year, this time Ireland is even considering closing its 2.4 euro embassy at the Holy See.
Read our related articles
Ireland condemns Vatican secrecy on Cloyne Diocese pedophile priests. Ireland vis-à-vis USA: the way they deal with crimes by the Vatican http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/07/ireland-government-condemns-vatican.html
the John Paul II Millstone :http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html
Amnesty International names Vatican in 2011 report on human rights violations - it's time the UN end the Vatican status as a "secular" state http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2011/05/amnesty-international-names-vatican-in.html
JP2 Army John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army http://jp2army.blogspot.com/
John Paul II Galaxy size ego usurps Mary statues. ‘The Holy Father’ John Paul II ousts Baby Jesus from the arms of His ‘Holy Mother’ Mary! http://stella0maris.blogspot.com/
Vatican guidelines on sex abuse are hogwash as long as Cardinal Bernard Law sits as High Priest in Rome - apply first to him &his 80 pedophile priests http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/save.html
==========================
Enda Kenny speech
in the Dáil Éireann on the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne (our bold emphasis added) Listen to the Full VIDEO below
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Statement by the Taoiseach on the Dáil Motion on the report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne
"The revelations of the Cloyne report have brought the Government, Irish Catholics and the Vatican to an unprecedented juncture.
It's fair to say that after the Ryan and Murphy Reports Ireland is, perhaps, unshockable when it comes to the abuse of children.
But Cloyne has proved to be of a different order.
Because for the first time in Ireland, a report into child sexual-abuse exposes an attempt by the Holy See, to frustrate an Inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic.as little as three years ago, not three decades ago.
And in doing so, the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism....the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.
The rape and torture of children were downplayed or 'managed' to uphold instead, the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and 'reputation'.
Far from listening to evidence of humiliation and betrayal with St Benedict's 'ear of the heart'......the Vatican's reaction was to parse and analyse it with the gimlet eye of a canon lawyer.
This calculated, withering position being the polar opposite of the radicalism, humility and compassion upon which the Roman Church was founded.
The radicalism, humility and compassion which are the very essence of its foundation and purpose.
The behaviour being a case of Roma locuta est: causa finita est.
Except in this instance, nothing could be further from the truth.
Victims
Cloyne's revelations are heart-breaking. It describes how many victims continued to live in the small towns and parishes in which they were reared and in which they were abused. their abuser often still in the area and still held in high regard by their families and the community.
The abusers continued to officiate at family weddings and funerals. In one case, the abuser even officiated at the victim's own wedding.
There is little I or anyone else in this House can say to comfort that victim or others, however much we want to. But we can and do recognise the bravery of all of the victims who told their stories to the Commission.
While it will take a long time for Cloyne to recover from the horrors uncovered, it could take the victims and their families a lifetime to pick up the pieces of their shattered existence.
Papal Nuncio
A day post-publication, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade met with the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza.
The Tánaiste left the Archbishop clear on two things: The gravity of the actions and attitude of the Holy See.
And Ireland's complete rejection and abhorrence of same.
The Papal Nuncio undertook to present the Cloyne Report to the Vatican. The Government awaits the considered response of the Holy See.
I believe that the Irish people, including the very many faithful Catholics who - like me - have been shocked and dismayed by the repeated failings of Church authorities to face up to what is required, deserve and require confirmation from the Vatican that they do accept, endorse and require compliance by all Church authorities here with, the obligations to report all cases of suspected abuse, whether current or historical, to the State's authorities in line with the Children First National Guidance which will have the force of law.
Clericalism
Clericalism has rendered some of Ireland's brightest, most privileged and powerful men, either unwilling or unable to address the horrors cited in the Ryan and Murphy Reports.
This Roman Clericalism must be devastating for good priests.... some of them old... others struggling to keep their humanity....even their sanity........as they work so hard.....to be the keepers of the Church's light and goodness within their parishes...... communities... the human heart.
Church & State
But thankfully for them, and for us, this is not Rome.
Nor is it industrial-school or Magdalene Ireland, where the swish of a soutane smothered conscience and humanity and the swing of a thurible ruled the Irish-Catholic world.
This is the 'Republic' of Ireland 2011.
A Republic of laws.....of rights and responsibilities....of proper civic order..... where the delinquency and arrogance of a particular version..... of a particular kind of 'morality'..... will no longer be tolerated or ignored.
As a practising Catholic, I don't say any of this easily. Growing up, many of us in here learned we were part of a pilgrim Church.
Today, that Church needs to be a penitent Church. A church, truly and deeply penitent for the horrors it perpetrated, hid and denied.
In the name of God. But for the good of the institution.
When I say that through our legislation, through our Government's action to put Children First., those who have been abused can take some small comfort in knowing that they belong to a nation, to a democracy where humanity, power, rights, responsibility are enshrined and enacted, always....always.... for their good.
Where the law - their law - as citizens of this country, will always supercede canon laws that have neither legitimacy nor place in the affairs of this country.
State/Society
This report tells us a tale of a frankly brazen disregard for protecting children. If we do not respond swiftly and appropriately as a State, we will have to prepare ourselves for more reports like this.
I agree with Archbishop Martin that the Church needs to publish any other and all other reports like this as soon as possible.
I must note the Commission is very positive about the work of the National Board for Safeguarding Children, established by the Church to oversee the operation by Dioceses and religious orders. The Commission notes that all Church authorities were required to sign a contract with the National Board agreeing to implement the relevant standards and that those refusing to sign would be named in the Board's Annual Report. Progress has been in no small measure to the commitment of Ian Elliott and others.
There is some small comfort to be drawn by the people of Cloyne from the fact that the Commission is complimentary of the efforts made by the Diocese since 2008, in training, in vetting personnel and in the risk management of Priests against whom allegations have been made.
Nevertheless, the behaviour of Bishop Magee and Monsignor O'Callaghan show how fragile even good standards and policies are to the weakness and wilful disregard of those who fail to give the right priority to safeguarding our children.
But if the Vatican needs to get its house in order, so does this State.
The Report of the Commission is rightly critical of the entirely unsatisfactory position which the last Government allowed to persist over many years.
The unseemly bickering between the Minister for Children and the HSE over the statutory powers to deal with extra-familial abuse, the failure to produce legislation to enable the exchange of soft information as promised after the Ferns Enquiry, and the long period of confusion and disjointed responsibility for child protection within the HSE, as reported by the Commission, are simply not acceptable in a society which values children and their safety.
For too long Ireland has neglected its children.
Just last week we saw a case of the torture of children, within the family, come before the courts. Just two days ago, we were repulsed by the case of a Donegal registered sex offender.and school caretaker.
Children and young adults reduced to human wreckage, raising questions and issues of serious import for State agencies.
We are set to embark on a course of action to ensure the State is doing all it can to safeguard our children.
Minister Shatter is bringing forward two pieces of legislation - firstly, to make it an offence to withhold information relating to crimes against children and vulnerable adults; and secondly, at long last, to allow for the exchange of 'soft information' on abusers.
As Taoiseach, I want to do all I can to protect the sacred space of childhood and to restore its innocence.
Especially our young teenagers, whom I believe to be children. Because regardless of our current economic crisis, the children of this country are, and always will be, our most precious possession of all.
Safeguarding their integrity and innocence must be a national priority. This is why I undertook to create a Cabinet ministry for Children and Youth Affairs.
The legislation 'Children First' proposes to give our children maximum protection and security without intruding on the hectic, magical business of being a child.
Conclusion
Cardinal Josef Ratzinger said: 'Standards of conduct appropriate to civil society or the workings of a democracy cannot be purely and simply applied to the Church.'
As the Holy See prepares its considered response to the Cloyne Report, as Taoiseach, I am making it absolutely clear, that when it comes to the protection of the children of this State, the standards of conduct which the Church deems appropriate to itself, cannot and will not, be applied to the workings of democracy and civil society in this republic.
Not purely, or simply or otherwise.
CHILDREN.... FIRST.
Video 12 minutes full speech of Prime Minister
http://youtu.be/mo5MXrqbDeA
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mo5MXrqbDeA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Cloyne Report; Perhaps now Home Rule- not Rome Rule?
Turn the Vatican and churches into museums!
Irish parliament condeming the Vatican in you Tube 8 minutes http://youtu.be/XSlcmHME1tE
Cloyne - Dáil motion on report into clerical abuse
=====================
Irish PM Blasts Catholic Church For Cover Up Of Child Abuse Cases
IRELAND
RTT News
(RTTNews) - Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny on Wednesday took the Catholic Church to task for trying to cover up cases of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy, and warned that relations between the Church and the Irish State would not be the same after the recent revelations.
Kenny made the remarks during a parliamentary debate on a recent report which highlighted the inappropriate response of the Church to complaints of sexual abuse against clerics in the diocese of Cloyne, southern Ireland. The report, which focused on the area around the southern city of Cork, was released last week.
Kenny told the Lower House of the Irish Parliament, or the Dail, that it was for the first time in the history of Ireland that a report into "child sexual abuse exposes an attempt by the Holy See to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago."
Kenny said the Cloyne report highlighted the "dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day." He also noted that the Church's failure to take appropriate action on the complaints contradicted the principles of "radicalism, the humility and the compassion that the Church had been founded on."
The report had concluded that response of the Church authorities to abuse complaints made in the diocese of Cloyne between 1996 and 2009 was "inadequate and inappropriate."
The report singled out former Cloyne bishop John Magee for the Church's inadequate response to the abuse complaints, saying Magee had "to a certain extent detached himself from the day to day management of child abuse cases."
Magee had resigned in March 2010 after an independent inquiry commissioned by the Church into allegations of child abuse in the diocese found him and his senior diocesan aides guilty of failing to report the abuse allegations to the police.
His resignation came two years ahead of the normal retirement age for a bishop. He had previously served as personal secretary to three Popes -- Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II.
Prior to his quitting, an Irish government-ordered investigation into the alleged cover-up of child-abuse cases in the Dublin archdiocese had alleged that the Catholic Church in Ireland had "obsessively" hidden "widespread" child abuse by several priests from 1975 to 2004.
The damning report submitted in November 2009 by the Dublin archdiocese commission of investigation also criticized the way in which the archdiocese handled priests suspected of involvement in such child abuse cases, adding that it operated on a policy of "don't ask, don't tell" regarding the reported abuse cases.
The developments came amid damages caused to reputation of the Catholic Church in several countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and the United States, by sexual abuse scandals involving the clergy.
Many of these nations have initiated independent probes into sex-abuse allegations. The scandals have already forced several bishops in many countries to step down. In the wake of the scandals, the Vatican has issued new guidelines to bishops across the world for handling all suspected abuse cases involving members of the clergy, including the reporting of all such cases to the police.
=============
Irish political classes lose their fear of the Catholic church
IRELAND/UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Henry McDonald
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 July 2011
There are two parallel revolutions taking place on either side of the Irish Sea that will radically alter the relationship between government and non-state institutions that exercise major temporal power.
In Britain the ongoing revelations of wrongdoing within the Murdoch empire and the public humiliation of a media baron and his son may result in re-alignment in the relationship between politicians and the press, with the former becoming less supplicant to the latter.
One of the most important by-products of the last few incredible weeks has been the end of fear. Specifically, fear of media tycoons who used to boast that some of their newspapers had "won" elections and had left the prime ministerial ambitions of party leaders in ruins. The humbling of Murdoch Senior and Junior this week marked the end of that fear.
Meanwhile, here in Ireland the political classes have also lost their fear, namely of the once almighty Roman Catholic church. The news reports both in the Republic and the UK were not exaggerating on Wednesday.
=============
Rift grows between Vatican and Ireland over child sex abuse - video
21/07 15:43 CET
Ireland - Protection of children - Religion - Sex crime - Vaticangate scandal Catholic Church
http://www.euronews.net/2011/07/21/rift-grows-between-vatican-and-ireland-over-child-sex-abuse/
An Irish Senator has called on the entire hierarchy of the country’s Catholic Church to resign, as a rift appears between the state and the Vatican over child sex abuse by priests.
The move by Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway follows a report last week that found church authorities in the diocese of Cloyne in County Cork had failed to report many abuse cases.
It said the Vatican had disparaged Irish child protection guidelines in a letter to Irish bishops.
On Wednesday Ireland’s parliament rebuked the Vatican for undermining child protection frameworks.
Prime Minister Enda Kenny launched an attack on the Church that was unprecedented from an Irish Taoiseach.
“The Cloyne report excavates the dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism that dominate the culture of the Vatican today. The rape and torture of children were downplayed, and managed to uphold instead the primacy of the institution, its power, its standing and its reputation,” he said.
The report accused Bishop John Magee, one responsible for the Cloyne diocese, and who had previously been private secretary to three popes, of falsely telling the authorities he was reporting all abuse allegations to police…
=========
Taoiseach's Dail speech grabs the headlines globally
IRELAND
Irish Independent
By Stephen O'Leary
Friday July 22 2011
THE image of Ireland, and in particular of our politicians, has taken a battering in the international media over the past 24 months.
Sporting and cultural successes have gone a long way towards improving this image, but our economic and political woes have remained the subject of headlines around the globe.
Talk of bailouts and bankers has dominated the news across the world.
When Enda Kenny stood up in the Dail on Wednesday to deliver a speech on the Cloyne Report, nobody anticipated either its content or the reaction to it -- both in Ireland and internationally.
In less than 48 hours, more than 1,000 articles had been published in over 800 publications in 64 countries around the world, referencing the Taoiseach's speech.
To put these figures in some context, the coverage is more than double that in the wake of Brian Cowen's infamous interview on 'Morning Ireland' last September.
In addition to news agencies such as Reuters and AP -- who by covering the story ensured its global spread -- many international agenda-setting publications wrote about the speech.
These included the BBC, CNN, 'The New York Times', 'San Francisco Chronicle', the 'Financial Times', 'The Wall Street Journal' and 'The Sydney Morning Herald'.
Impact
The online editions of several Irish and international titles published full transcripts.
Mr Kenny's speech also sparked a strong reaction from the public -- as reflected in tweets and blogs on the internet -- as well as a high volume of readers' comments.
In a week where Mr Kenny's ratings reached their highest level since he took over as leader of Fine Gael in 2002, it is clear from the coverage of his speech that his popularity is not confined to Ireland.
In addressing such a sensitive topic in such a decisive manner, the Taoiseach ensured Ireland made global headlines for the right reasons.
=========
Eoghan Harris: Kenny speaks truth to papal power on behalf of people
(excerpts with bold emphasis added)
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Sunday July 24 2011
But, hark! a voice like thunder spake,
The West's awake! the West's awake!
True, Enda Kenny did not speak with Thomas Davis's voice like thunder. But his words fell like a thunderbolt, followed by a forked lightning of illumination that lit up the Irish historical landscape, past and present, and showed us a far better future.
Like Bach's great Lutheran hymn Wachet Auf! (Sleepers Awake!), Kenny's speech called on the Roman Catholic officer class to wake from their sleep of the spirit. But it went on to warn them that if they cannot reform their religion, they must still live by the laws of the Irish Republic. Accordingly, its implications went far beyond the issue of child abuse which it formally addressed
Kenny's revolutionary speech was not simply a rebuke to the Vatican. It called for reform of the Roman Catholic Church, confirmed that Home Rule did not mean Rome rule, and returned the word "republic" to the Northern Protestants to whom it originally belonged. Like all great speeches it had good authority, slew a sacred cow, and spoke the truths that set us free.
By good authority I mean that only someone like Kenny, himself a practising Roman Catholic, could have taken on his own side and survived. By speaking from inside the fold he gave the rest of the Irish Roman Catholic flock the courage to show the door to the bad shepherds. But he was not the only Catholic layman to give a lead last week...
Kenny's speech also slew a sacred cow, more precisely a Papal bull, more precisely still a Papal bully, namely the Vatican's praetorian guard and its pretension to a global remit. By rejecting that remit in the Irish Republic, Kenny rescued the word "republican" from any taint of Rome, and freed it up for future use by Northern Protestants.
The speech should also encourage southern Protestants to follow Bishop Paul Colton's lead in putting their heads firmly above the parapet of public life. This must go beyond engaging in empty ecumenical gestures. Southern Protestants should seek an accounting for the sectarian actions of southern Catholic nationalism between 1908-1922....
Faced with the Old IRA's sectarian actions in the Bandon Valley, at Coolacrease and at Clifden Orphanage (to name only a few), some academic historians have reacted exactly as Catholic apologists did to the charge of clerical sex abuse. To borrow the words of Kenny's scathing summary, instead of hearing the sufferings of southern Protestants with St Benedict's "ear of the heart' they preferred 'to parse and analyse it with the gimlet eye of a canon lawyer".
Real republicans should be in the front ranks in publicising the sufferings of Irish Protestants in the period 1919-22. Because what happened frightened them into a forced amnesia about the actions of the IRA, and to politically keep their heads down. And that timidity, in turn, confirmed the fears of Northern Protestants that some subjects were taboo in the Irish Republic.
Even as committed an apologist for Irish republicanism as the Portadown Presbyterian George Gilmore found he had a breaking point. In a 1951 essay entitled 'The Republic and the Protestants' published in Sean O Faolain's The Bell, Gilmore listed public incidents which grated on his Protestant sensibilities:
"Presidential pledges of loyalty of 'the Irish people' to the Pope, lord mayoral pledges of the loyalty of the 'people of Dublin' to the Pope, of 'the people of County Dublin' to the Pope. Even the Congress of Trade Unions has pledged the loyalty of 'its' members to the Pope. When is a Portadown man an Irishman?"
Gilmore called on southern Protestants to object to their loyalty being pledged to a foreign power and concluded with these prophetic words: "If the influential leaders of Irish Protestantism did make such a protest, I have no doubt that a formula would readily be found whereby Irish Roman Catholics could emphasise their own religious loyalties consistently with recognition of the fact that something like one quarter of the Irish people have no such loyalty."
An old cliche claims all political careers end in failure. Political failure maybe, but not historical failure. Churchill, Gorbachev and Mandela are proof of that.
So even if Enda Kenny's government finally ends in economic tears, last week's courageous and cathartic speech will ensure him an enduring and honoured place in the history of Ireland.
=========
State will not longer tolerate 'delinquency and arrogance' of church, says Kenny
http://www.examiner.ie/breakingnews/ireland/state-will-not-longer-tolerate-delinquency-and-arrogance-of-church-says-kenny-513526.html#ixzz1T9XUnS3h
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - 07:13 PM
Taoiseach Enda Kenny today launched an unprecedented attack on the Vatican, accusing Catholic hierarchy of putting the preservation of the church's reputation ahead of child rape victims.
In a damning assessment of Rome's attitude to paedophile priests, Mr Kenny claimed the latest inquiry into clerical abuse cover-ups has exposed a dysfunctional, elite hierarchy determined to frustrate investigations.
The Holy See was also warned that religion does not rule Ireland.
"For the first time in Ireland, a report into child sexual abuse exposes an attempt by the Holy See to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago," he said.
"And in doing so, the Cloyne report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.
"The rape and torture of children were downplayed or 'managed' to uphold instead, the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and 'reputation'."
The Taoiseach's attack, which opened a special Dáil debate, followed the publication last week of the fourth major report in six years into the Church's cover-ups of clerical abuse.
Cloyne Diocese in Co Cork is the latest part of the Church to be exposed with former bishop John Magee - a Vatican aide to three Popes - singled out for misleading investigators and "dangerous" failures on child protection. His resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict last year.
On one occasion he was found to have written two different reports on an abuse allegation - one for Rome and one for diocesan records.
The Taoiseach went on to describe the Vatican of having a "calculated withering position" on clerical abuse, which he said was "the polar opposite of the radicalism, the humility and the compassion upon which the Roman Church was founded".
Mr Kenny said the Vatican's reaction to evidence from victims of abuse was to have it parsed and analysed by a canon lawyer.
"This is not Rome," he said. "Nor is it industrial school or Magdalene Ireland, where the swish of a soutane-smothered conscience and humanity and the swing of a thurible ruled the Irish Catholic world.
"This is the Republic of Ireland 2011.
"A republic of laws, of rights and responsibilities, of proper civic order, where the delinquency and arrogance of a particular version of a particular kind of morality will no longer be tolerated or ignored."
The Taoiseach's condemnation came on the back of the first official comment from a Holy See spokesman to the Cloyne report.
On Vatican radio, Fr Federico Lombardi dismissed criticism and denied that Irish bishops were encouraged or advised to cover up clerical abuse or evade laws designed to protect children.
Fr Lombardi said he was not speaking on behalf of Pope Benedict and claimed the severity of criticisms against the Holy See was curious.
The Cloyne scandal goes as high as the Vatican after the inquiry criticised a 1997 letter from the Papal Nuncio, Rome's ambassador to Ireland, to Irish bishops.
The Cloyne report described the response to the clerics' plans to improve child protection policy as "entirely unhelpful".
"There is no reason to interpret that letter as being intended to cover up cases of abuse," Fr Lombardi said.
"Moreover, there is absolutely nothing in the letter that is an invitation to disregard the laws of the country."
The Government is awaiting an official response to the Cloyne scandal from the current Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza.
The Catholic Church has been left reeling from four reports into clerical child abuse in the last six years - the Dublin Archdiocese and the Ryan inquiry into industrial schools and homes in 2009, the Ferns Diocese in 2005 and just last week, Cloyne, which relates to abuse complaints and investigations as recent as 2008.
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has called for internal reports on all Irish dioceses by the Church's own watchdog, the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church, to be published as soon as possible. Mr Kenny backed his call.
Mr Kenny said clericalism had rendered some of Ireland's brightest and most privileged and powerful men either unwilling or unable to address the horrors in the Ryan and Murphy reports. He said this Roman clericalism must be devastating for "good priests".
The Government has committed to tough new child protection in the wake of Cloyne, including making it an offence to withhold information about crimes against children and introduce new vetting to allow "soft information" transfers.
Mr Kenny said: "As the Holy See prepares its considered response to the Cloyne report, as Taoiseach I am making it absolutely clear that when it comes to the protection of the children of this state, the standards of conduct which the church deems appropriate to itself cannot and will not be applied to the workings of democracy and civil society in this republic."
=================
No comments:
Post a Comment