Updated December 12, 2012.
TwoMadison nuns and two lay women are “banned” and "silenced" by Vatican
Vatican
Beware! Benedict XVI-Cardinal Ratzinger and his allies can be violent http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/03/benedict-xvi-cardinal-ratzinger-and-his.html
See news updates for December 12, 2012 by scrolling down below
Two
The VCC Vatican Catholic Church is no longer RCC Roman Catholic Church because Rome Vatican and Rome are not one and the same and all journalists must be aware when they write about Catholics to stop referring to them as Roman Catholics because the Vatican and Rome Vatican is the smallest theocratic, autocracy, ‘it is not a democracy’ country while Rome is the secular city of the democratic state of Italy Vatican jail worldwide: " They are not to be invited or allowed to preach, catechize, lead spiritual or prayer instructions or exercises, or to provide spiritual direction or guidance at churches, oratories or chapels within the Diocese of Madison." No publicity materials from Wisdom's Well are to be allowed inside parishes… read full article below with highlights. It is important to note that the Sacrament of Confession is the Vatican’s most corrupt system of injustice because it protects criminals and persecutes their victims, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/11/sacrament-of-confession-protects.html The recent Vatileaks is a sham and the small Vatican country’s jail is a farce read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/06/vatileaks-compilation-secrets-of.html
What is the Vatican’s problem with these faithful Catholic nuns and their lay collaborators by accusing them of their New Ageism? Has the Vatican forgotten -- when Pope John Paul II worshipped ALL GODS - with ALL religious leaders as his equal in Assisi - read our related article and watch the video in “John Paul II's many Gods in Assisi” http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2008/01/john-paul-iis-many-gods-in-assissi.html
The CPJ Committee to Protect Journalists recently released the number of jailed journalists in the world http://www.cpj.org/. The Vatican also jails Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople who are similar to secular journalists who speak up against the injustices of the Vatican and the fallacies of the Popes and medieval doctrines of the Vatican Catholic Church and they are also punished by being imprisoned in their silence, prohibited to speak and forbidden to appear in all Catholic venues like the lists below. The prison of the Vatican
CPJ should add the jailed priests, nuns and laity
Liberation Theology priests and nuns30 plus http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/03/benedict-xvi-cardinal-ratzinger-and-his.html
Maryknoll Father Beourgeois - read articles below
American nuns in Madison
There are 232 jailed journalists for 2012 -- but the Vatican is the worst among all the countries that “jails” nuns, priests and laypeople by prohibiting them to speak in all Catholic venues, churches, schools, retreat center, etc..
Click on a country name to see summaries of individual cases.
December 12, 2012, Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, read our related article --
Opus Dei Pope John Paul II insult Our Lady of Guadalupe causes St. Josemaria Escriva's heart attack http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2008/07/opus-dei-pope-john-paul-ii-insult-our.html
http://youtu.be/r5glYmmLPzY Wichasha, Winyan - Chincá are in harm's way! Children's are in harm's way
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The Nazis of Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church of Benedict XVI are similar: They both burn human beings in Auschwitz and in Hell http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2011/02/nazis-of-hitler-and-roman -
Benedict XVI is an old God’s Rottweiler with old tricks http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2009/12/benedict-xvi-is-old-gods-rottweiler.html
Beware! Benedict XVI-Cardinal Ratzinger and his allies can be violent http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/03/benedict-xvi-cardinal-ratzinger-and-his.html
December 5, 2012
Forbes magazine yesterday listed Benedict XVI as the 5th most powerful man on earth after Bill Gates of Microsoft as the 4th (Obama 1st, Germany’s Merkel 2nd, Russia’s Putin 3rd, Ben Bernake 6th , US chair of Federal Reserve, Abdullah, King of Saudi, 7th , Mario Draghi, President European Central Bank, 8th, Xi Jinping, Gen. Sec. Chinese Communist Party, 9th, David Cameron, Prime Minister of UK, 10th) Forbes measures everything in monetary value and so it must know something about the Vatican Bank which we don’t, because the secret Vatican Billions http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/03/vatican-billions-holy-mass-tourism-for.html is the only power Benedict XVI has left and is the wealthiest institution; but the reality is, Last Tsar Benedict and his Vatican Titanic are sinking in moral bankruptcy and drowning with the heavy weight of the John Paul II Millstone http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/. It’s been proven that NCAA & Penn State are more moral than Vatican. Sports is more moral than John Paul II, Benedict XVI and the Vatican combined, read about it here
http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/ncaa-penn-state-more-moral-than-vatican.html . Countries one after another are hitting the Vatican Titanic with moral icebergs, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/07/vatican-titanic-ship-hits-icebergs-in.html and Australia is now the next country to challenge and get rid of the Vatican’s almighty power in the “sacred seal” of Confession, read more here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/11/sacrament-of-confession-protects.html The Catholic Kingdom of the John Paul II the Great with his JP2 Army and Benedict XVI the Vatican Last Tsar is sinking in moral bankruptcy from east to west, from north to south as far as way down under Australia, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/why-vatican-must-end-as-country-vatican.html.
But what has Benedict XVI eradicated?
While he sits in his gilded papal Throne and Papal Midas Touch - the secret Vatican Billions that’s richer than Microsoft … all Benedict XVI is trying to eradicate are GAYS and the use of condoms and contraceptives and abortion, and he is trying to eradicate a few vocal Irish priests and American nuns, and today he has eradicated an American Maryknoll priest, read links and news below. But Benedict XVI refused to eradicate those thousands of Catholic criminals of the JP2 Army- John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army http://jp2army.blogspot.ca/ and those criminal Cardinals and Bishops who covered-them-up like criminal Cardinal Bernard Law, and the most recent convicted criminal Opus Dei Bishop Finn, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/11/bishop-finn-makes-devils-bowels-smell.html
Forbes is obviously in denial about Benedict XVI’s moral bankruptcy because the most historical monetary event of the New Year is about to happen in Italy, starting in January 2013, when the Holy See/Vatican must pay property taxes on all its properties in Rome and across the country, that will rake in more than €600m to €2.2bn Euros, read news article below. The Vatican Vatican pals can no longer toot the naked Emperor’s Clothes of the Vatican Last Tsar Benedict XVI. Benedict XVI is hanging on the last waltz of the Vatican Titanic as he magically canonizes dead persons in ancient Latin, read more here http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/10/latin-is-not-mother-tongue-and.html and soon he will canonize his beloved John Paul II who covered up the most heinous crimes against children for the half of the 20th century committed by the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, named aptly after him, read more here http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html
Benedict XVI and the Vatican
Benedict XVI as the Vatican Last Tsar is wielding the only papal dictatorial authority he has left -- by silencing a specific few good priests and nuns because he knows -- that these two quotations have been proven right in history: “It doesn’t take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause”, and “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for (enough) good men - and good women - to do (and say) nothing”. Therefore, by clamping on the voices of the few determined priests and nuns, Benedict XVI is trying prevent a rebellion against Vatican Evils and he’s trying to preserve the petrified obsolete doctrines of the only-male hierarchy of the VCC Vatican Catholic Church that’s “200 years outdated” and out-of-touch-with-reality, http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/why-vatican-must-end-as-country-vatican.html
So what “world power” of Benedict XVI is Forbes talking about when Cardinal Dolan and those vocal Catholic Bishops could not even affect the recent USA elections? Does Forbes mean Benedict XVI’s papal power over the sex life of the 1.2 billion Vatican Catholics in their no- masturbation and no-condom during sex-for-procreation-only? Or does Forbes mean the Hollywood magical powers of Benedict XVI like wearing red shoes and appointing new Cardinals who’ll wear red robes and red hats and use their diplomatic immunity to hoard despots’ ill-gotten wealth into secret Vatican Swiss Banks? Forbes obviously is blind to the fact that Benedict XVI is void of power because even in his own neighborhood in Italy, he no longer has any power left, starting early in his papacy when Italian university students of La Sapienza University rejected his papal visit, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/hypocrite-benedict-silenced-outspoken.html.
There used to be a time when the Pope and being a “Catholic” commanded an instant clout of respect, but not anymore, not in the 21st century, because today, being a “good Catholic” is to be cunning like the Vatican Pied Pipers who deceive the world, read Benedict Master manipulator http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/11/benedict-xvi-master-manipulator-of.html, and to be brutal like Goliath-bully Bill Donohue, who ruthlessly attacks SNAP and victims of the JP2 Army-John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, and the New York Times who are trying to seek justice for victims. Bill Donohue and his Vatican Pied Pipers pals in The Media Report continue to defend convicted criminal Opus Dei Bishop Finn, read his articles below, and our related article : Bishop Finn must resign http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/11/bishop-finn-makes-devils-bowels-smell.html .
The VCC Vatican Catholic Church is led by the Vatican Titanic sinking in moral bankruptcy and helmed by the Last Tsar of the Vatican
Ten years later after JP2 priest pedophilia erupted in Boston, in 2012, the Vatican Titanic is sinking in moral bankruptcy as it is hit by so many icebergs from Ireland to New York to Australia . Benedict XVI, the Last Vatican Tsar, is desperately gasping for air by calling on ancient dead persons for help, like the 332 years dead Indian girl, Kateri, he canonized to heal the hundreds of thousands of victims of the JP2 Army . Desperate for papal power, he is persecuting a few righteous priests and nuns with his last autocratic voice left, read links below. And as the Vatican Titanic is sinking, he is hanging on old wineskin of old black priestly robes to restore respect for the Vatican Priesthood that has been forever mottled by the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army.
We pray The Hague will bring Benedict XVI to trial before he dies because it is the only justice left for the hundreds of thousands of children sexually abused by the JP2 Army, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/09/amnesty-international-report-vatican.html
We pray that the UN United Nations will soon remove the status of the Vatican as a “country” because it promotes injustice worldwide via its Vatican’s Sacrament of Confession. The Vatican has the most corrupt justice system in the world - because its Sacrament of Confession protects criminals and persecutes their victims. The VCC Vatican Catholic Church can no longer boast of its “faith martyrs” because priests in Confession persecute countless millions of innocent victims - of criminals they pardon – be they pedophiles, murderers, rapists, thieves, etc. Name all crimes and priests in the Sacrament of Confession seek neither justice nor compensation for victims – because in the holy “sanctity of the seal” of Confession, they happily pardon and set scot-free all criminals without asking their names and without asking them to compensate the suffering and pay the consequences their crimes have caused, read more here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/11/sacrament-of-confession-protects.html
We pray that the UN United Nations will soon remove the status of the Vatican as a “country” because it promotes injustice worldwide via its Vatican’s Sacrament of Confession. The Vatican has the most corrupt justice system in the world - because its Sacrament of Confession protects criminals and persecutes their victims. The VCC Vatican Catholic Church can no longer boast of its “faith martyrs” because priests in Confession persecute countless millions of innocent victims - of criminals they pardon – be they pedophiles, murderers, rapists, thieves, etc. Name all crimes and priests in the Sacrament of Confession seek neither justice nor compensation for victims – because in the holy “sanctity of the seal” of Confession, they happily pardon and set scot-free all criminals without asking their names and without asking them to compensate the suffering and pay the consequences their crimes have caused, read more here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/11/sacrament-of-confession-protects.html
The Devil’s Bowels smell like roses in the Vatican and the Vatican wants to cover-up the Devil’s Bowel’s stains in the color black - in priestly black robes, read more http://jp2army.blogspot.ca/2010/12/devils-bowels-smell-like-roses-in.html The Pope will wear a white robe in the Vatican Titanic Palace (wolf in sheep’s clothing) while his army of JP2 priests will wear black robes to disguise their most heinous crimes against children in the 20th century. Did Christ wear white robes and red shoes and lived in the Vatican Billions Palace http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2007/08/benedict-xvi-vicar-of-christ-and-jon.html
News have come out that -- The Vatican is urging Catholic religious leaders to wear black cassocks when visiting Rome
With his dying papal autocratic pen, Benedict XVI the Vatican Last Tsar
1) silences a group of Irish priests, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/hypocrite-benedict-silenced-outspoken.html
2) attacks American nuns, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/vatican-attacks-american-nuns.html
2) attacks American nuns, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/vatican-attacks-american-nuns.html
3) forces American Maryknoll to expel Fr. Roy Bourgeois from the society because of his public advocacy of women priests, see news below.
4) revokes Austria’s Mgr. Helmut Schueller’s title “monsignor”, read news below, while he keeps Opus Dei “Bishop” Finn, a convicted criminal of Kansas, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/11/bishop-finn-makes-devils-bowels-smell.html and he keeps criminal Opus Dei “Monsignor” Lynn’s title as Monsignor while he is in jail read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/trial-of-willaim-lynn-compilation.html
5) tightens control on Catholic charities, see news below
6) silenced Liberation Theology priests http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2007/08/benedict-xvi-vicar-of-christ-and-jon.html
So the Last Vatican Tsar Benedict XVI wants to tighten church control over Catholic charities, see news below. Does he realize that there won’t be enough lay workers for a “pure Catholic” hospitals who are willing to follow all his absurd and out-of-touch-with-reality Vatican laws and Vatican Church
NEWS for December 7, 2012
Vatican told to pay taxes as Italy tackles budget crisis
End of controversial property tax breaks leaves the Pope facing €600m-a-year bill
Friday 17 February 2012
After several years of scandal in which the Catholic Church has faced allegations of financial impropriety, paedophile priests and rumours of plots to kill the Pope, the Vatican is now facing a new €600m-a-year tax bill as Rome seeks to head off European Commission censure over controversial property tax breaks enjoyed by the Church.
As the EC heads closer to officially condemning the fiscal perks enjoyed by the Catholic Church and introduced by the Berlusconi administration, Prime Minister Mario Monti has written to the Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, saying that the Vatican will resume property tax, or Ici, payments.
Mr Almunia said in 2010 that the exemption amounted to state aid that might breach EU competition law. A parliamentary proposal by the Italian Radicals party last August to repeal the exemption, with a successful petition on Facebook, upped the pressure. A spokesman for Mr Almunia appeared to give the thumbs-up yesterday: "It is a proposal that constitutes a significant progress on the issue and I hope will be implemented," he said.
"This is a victory for public pressure," said Mario Staderini, the leader of the Italian Radicals party. "We've managed to break down – a little bit – the wall protecting the Church."
The Vatican avoids Ici tax on about 100,000 properties, classed as non-commercial, including 8,779 schools, 26,300 ecclesiastical structures and 4,714 hospitals and clinics.
Estimates of its annual saving from avoiding the levy range widely from €600m to €2.2bn. The Church, however, says the tax exemption is worth only €100m a year. Neither is it clear from Mr Monti's comments how much Ici tax the Church will now have to pay.
Since 2005 church-run organisations have not been considered ordinary commercial structures and have been exempt. According to Corriere della Sera newspaper, tax authorities will judge how much of a property is used purely for religious purposes and tax it accordingly. Thus a church will remain exempt. But a hostel with a chapel would have to make contributions. In addition, Mr Monti said in his letter that by changing the law, and removing some of the church's exemption from Ici, he expected the EC to relent on demands that tax payments be backdated.
"We think the Church should have to pay the arrears," said Mr Staderini. "It should make the payment back to 2005. Given how much the Vatican stood to pay with arrears, I think they will not be that unhappy with the result."
Monsignor Domenico Pompili, a spokesman for the Italian Bishops Conference said the Church hoped the "social value" of their establishments would be taken into account.
Meanwhile, as the Vatican financial authorities do their sums and continue to lobby, the Holy See has announced an official investigation into a series of embarrassing leaks. After the child abuse and financial scandals of recent years, the prospects for another annus horribilis were underlined last week when a document emerged suggesting there was a plot to kill Pope Benedict XVI this year.
"It's now complete war inside the Vatican ," said Robert Mickens, The Tablet's Rome correspondent, who has20 years' experience of reporting on the Vatican
The rancour has been blamed on manoeuvring surrounding the succession of Pope Benedict and the exceptional unpopularity of the current leadership.
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Wineke: Wardrobe change for Catholic bishops
UNITED STATESChannel 3000
I’ve read a couple of strange reports recently that lead me to an idea for how the Catholic Church might redeem itself.
The first came out of Rome. The Vatican is urging Catholic religious leaders to wear black cassocks when visiting Rome. A cassock is an ankle-length robe that buttons down the front.
“The very example of those who, sealed with the episcopal dignity are faithful to the daily use of the cassock proper to them during daily office hours becomes an explicit encouragement to all,” the Vatican said.
OK, that was one story: The pope apparently wants to class up the clergy in
The second report came from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting held recently in Baltimore. Well, actually, it wasn’t a report. What happened is Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City attended the meeting, participated in its legislation – and no one said a word about the fact that he was recently convicted of criminally endangering children by knowingly covering up evidence that one of his priests was molesting kids.
There are those who thought Finn’s fellow bishops might have noticed. There are even those who think that, once a bishop is convicted of a major crime, he might consider retiring.
What do these stories have in common? Each of them suggests a mindset within the church that clergy are not bound to the same rules of the road as are lesser folk.
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Goliath-bully Bill Donohue defends convicted criminal Opus Dei Bishop Finn
BISHOP FINN AND THE CATHOLIC LEFT
MISSOURICatholic League
Bill Donohue released the following comments today:
The Catholic Left has been trying to unseat Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn for well over a year. Their effort received another boost today from the New York Times. It deserves a response.
The Times says that Finn’s conviction of a misdemeanor “stemmed from his failure to report the Rev. Shawn Ratigan to the authorities after hundreds of pornographic pictures that Father Ratigan had taken of young girls were discovered on his laptop in December 2010.”
That statement is factually wrong. On October 15, 2011 the Times mentioned there was “a single photo of a young girl, nude from the waist down,” and “hundreds of photographs of children” showing “upskirt images and images focused on the crotch.”
Now anyone who takes such pictures is clearly disturbed. But it also needs to be said that crotch shots are not pornographic. Moreover, the diocese described the “single photo” of a naked girl to a police officer who served on the diocesan sexual review board, and he said it did not constitute pornography. So why would the Times say that “hundreds of pornographic pictures” were found two years ago this month? The record shows that it was not until after the diocese called the cops in May 2011 that porn pictures were found on Ratigan’s computer.
Donohue repeats his “no porn” exoneration of Finn
MISSOURISpiritual Politics
Mark Silk
Dec 4, 2012
"I know it when I see it," Justice Potter Stewart famously wrote in a 1964 pornography case. Evidently, Bill Donohue doesn't.
Bill's got his knickers in a twist because the New York Times has stated that Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn's criminal conviction “stemmed from his failure to report the Rev. Shawn Ratigan to the authorities after hundreds of pornographic pictures that Father Ratigan had taken of young girls were discovered on his laptop in December 2010.” Asserteth Donohue: "That statement is factually wrong."
He then goes on to argue, as he has before, that what was discovered on Ratigan's computer was not pornography. So what was Finn convicted of? He doesn't say.
Factually speaking, Ratigan did have child porn. Here's a passage from the Graves Report, commissioned by the diocese of K.C. itself, describing a series of the priest's photos as described by diocesan information systems manager Julie Creech:
The first showed a little girl, face visible, standing and holding a blanket. In a “staged sequence,” the photos depicted a girl lying in a bed, from the waist down, and focused on the crotch. The girl was wearing a diaper, but with each photo, the diaper was moved gradually to expose her genitals. By the last photo, her genitals were fully exposed. According to Ms. Creech, there were approximately six to eight pictures in this sequence of photos; two displayed fully exposed genitals and one displayed her fully exposed buttocks. The little girl’s face was not visible in the staged sequence, but due to her apparent physical size and the fact that the photos were in the same folder, Ms. Creech assumed the photos were of the same little girl whose face appeared in the initial picture.
D as in distortion.
UNITED STATESdotCommonweal
December 5, 2012
Posted by Grant Gallicho
Last Friday, Mollie did a superb job cataloging Bill Donohue’s shortcomings both as a crusader against anti-Catholicism (which obviously includes using the occasion of World AIDS Day to call people with HIV promiscuous) and as a surrogate for the conservative movement (giving Dick Morris a run for his money). Her conclusion was pointed: “Seriously, your excellencies and eminences: what will it take to make you rethink the wisdom of encouraging Bill Donohue to act as your public interpreter?” Wish I knew. Donohue has said lots of offensive things on a variety of topics, but his record on one subject in particular ought to give Catholic bishops considerable pause before lending him support: the sexual-abuse scandal.
Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that the clergy of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are divided on the question of whether their bishop should resign after being found guilty of one count of failing to report suspected child abuse. (A diocesan school principal warned the diocese about about Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s “inappropriate behavior with children” in May 2010; seven months later disturbing photos of little girls were found on Ratigan’s laptop; Finn didn’t restrict Ratigan until February 2011; and the police weren’t notified until May 2011.) The Times story is ugly: One priest goes on the record recommending the bishop step down. Another says his liberal colleagues are using Finn’s travails to push for a new, less conservative bishop. More than one hundred thousand people have signed an online petition urging Finn to step aside. The diocese has spent $1.4 million on legal fees. And the Times spoke with two priests who say that at a recent meeting of diocesan clergy Finn denied any wrongdoing. Yet he agreed to a set of stipulated facts that led a judge to render a guilty verdict. “I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt these events caused,” Finn told the judge at the time. And now he’s privately telling priests that he did nothing wrong?
UNITED STATES
Catholic League
Catholic League
Bill Donohue comments on the HBO produced film, “Mea Maxima Culpa,” which completes its New York City run tomorrow:
Director Alex Gibney wants us to believe he has proven a “direct connection of the Vatican” to the homosexual scandal, though his effort fails miserably (the horror-film music is laughable).
As one review of the movie said, “All the reports of sex abuse in the church since the 1960s went directly to the current pope, Benedict XVI, to the time when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.” Wrong. There was no central command center until 2001 when Ratzinger took over. And that’s when things really began to change—just the opposite of what Gibney would have us believe.
Director Alex Gibney wants us to believe he has proven a “direct connection of the Vatican” to the homosexual scandal, though his effort fails miserably (the horror-film music is laughable).
As one review of the movie said, “All the reports of sex abuse in the church since the 1960s went directly to the current pope, Benedict XVI, to the time when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.” Wrong. There was no central command center until 2001 when Ratzinger took over. And that’s when things really began to change—just the opposite of what Gibney would have us believe.
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KC: Somebody, Do Something
MISSOURINational Catholic Reporter
by Michael Sean Winters | Dec. 3, 2012
Today is December 3. On September 6, Bishop Robert Finn was convicted in civil court of failing to report an instance of child sexual abuse. Not only is Finn now serving a suspended sentence, he is in violation of the Dallas Charter the bishops adopted ten years ago to confront the sex abuse crisis. Three months. Bishop Finn is still the Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The Vatican is said to want the American bishops to exert fraternal correction and get Finn to step down. The US bishops are said to be waiting for the Vatican to move. Enough already. Someone do something. As long as Bishop Finn remains in office, the entire body of bishops lacks any credibility on the issue of child sex abuse. All the ten years of effort, the repeated promises to never let this happen again, all the apologies, all the settlements, none of that matters. And, as long as the US hierarchy lacks credibility on this issue, a sizable proportion of the flock, somewhat understandably, declines to listen to them on anything else.
If you doubt it, check out this story from the Times.
Missouri Bishop’s Conviction Leaves Clergy Divided
The New York Times
By JOHN ELIGON and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: December 2, 2012
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In the three months since Bishop Robert W. Finn became the first American prelate convicted for failing to report a pedophile priest, lay people and victims’ advocates have repeatedly called for his resignation.
Now, recent interviews and a private survey by a company working for the Roman Catholic diocese here show for the first time that a significant number of the bishop’s own priests have lost confidence in him.
Bishop Finn, who oversees the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, is serving two ears of court supervised probation after his conviction in September on a single misdemeanor count. The survey by Church Development, a consulting firm the diocese hired to run a capital campaign, was of 40 priests. In the 32 responses obtained by The New York Times, half of them seriously doubted whether the bishop should continue as their leader, and several suggested that he resign.
“I think it would be easier for us to move forward without Bishop Finn as our bishop,” the Rev. Michael Clary, the pastor at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Lee’s Summit, Mo., which is part of Bishop Finn’s diocese, said in an interview. He added, however, that the bishop’s resignation may not be the only way forward.
Such sentiments raise the question of whether Bishop Finn can successfully continue to oversee a diocese of nearly 87 parishes and more than 130,000 people, or whether he will go the way of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, who gave up his post in Boston a decade ago after an outcry over his practice of reassigning priests accused of abuse to new parishes. An online petition calling for Bishop Finn’s resignation has collected 110,000 signatures to date.
But the bishop also has a strong base of supporters who contend that the critical priests do not appreciate Bishop Finn’s doctrinally conservative approach. He belongs to Opus Dei, a conservative Roman Catholic organization.
“Yes, there is a divide in the presbyterate, but in my opinion it’s the same old tired divide that has existed from the day he arrived,” the Rev. Vince Rogers, the pastor at St. Andrew the Apostle in Gladstone, Mo., and a 20-year veteran of the diocese, wrote in an e-mail. “In a word, some of the priests wish that we had a more liberal bishop, and they are willing to use any means to achieve that end.”
MO - SNAP presses for further action from outspoken KC priests
MISSOURISurvivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by Barbara Dorris on December 03, 2012
The New York Times reports that roughly half of the Kansas City diocese's priests have no confidence in Bishop Robert Finn. Sadly those sentiments, unless backed by action, won't change a thing.
Kansas City priests must find courage and take action if ever their diocese is to become safer and healthier. Privately expressing disapproval of a criminal behavior won't get the job done.
A decade ago, some 50+ Boston priests publicly rebuked Cardinal Bernard Law seeking his resignation. They won.
The church is a feudal hierarchy. Bishops hold virtually all of the power. Priests, like lay people, are essentially serfs, so they are understandably reluctant to challenge bishops, even one who is a proven lawbreaker. (Bishops have clearly retaliated against brave whistleblowers, basically shunning them and transferring them to small, remote parishes for decades.)
More people calling for Bishop Finn to step down
MISSOURIKMBZ
A child protection group says it still wants Bishop Robert Finn to go. SNAP weighed in on a report showing as many 16 of the 70 active priests in the Kansas City/St. Joseph Diocese have doubts as to whether Finn should continue to serve.
In September, he became the first sitting U.S. bishop convicted of failing to report a pedophile priest. SNAP has issued a call for all priests opposing Bishop Finn step forward, but it's spokesperson Barbara Dorris doesn't expect a big push.
"The feeling can be out there that if I say anything I'm going to end up in some God-forsaken perish out in the middle of nowhere, where no one will speak to me, but when it comes to the safety of kids, we have to make that sacrifice," says Dorris.
Fair or Foul: Catholic priests speak truth to power in Finn survey
MISSOURISt. Louis Post-Dispatch
FAIR: To the priests in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese who were courageous enough in a private survey commissioned by the diocese itself to say they have lost confidence in their leader, Bishop Robert W. Finn. The survey of 40 priests was conducted by Church Development. The New York Times reported Monday that it had obtained 32 of the responses and that the priests in half of those expressed serious doubt about whether Bishop Finn should continue as their leader. Several of those priests suggested that he resign. The priests were identified by name and by the churches they lead.
UNITED STATES
Slate
Slate
By L.V. Anderson|Posted Monday, Dec. 3, 2012
Survey of 40 Catholic priests in the Kansas City, Mo., area indicates that Bishop Robert Finn has lost the support of his priests since he was convicted earlier this year of failing to report child abuse by a priest in his diocese. Many priests and other critics have suggested that Finn resign. If he does not, the only way for him to be removed from office is for the pope to fire him. How common is it for a bishop to be fired?
Quite uncommon. As a rule, the Vatican avoids firing bishops outright, since doing so reflects poorly on the church and implies that it was a mistake for the pope to have appointed the fired bishop in the first place. In cases of conflict between the Vatican and a bishop, the Vatican usually pressures a problematic bishop to resign before resorting to actively dismissing him.
In recent years, the most famous cases of bishops being fired by the Vatican have been cases of liberal bishops who question church doctrine. In 1995, Pope John Paul II fired Jacques Gaillot, the Bishop of Evreux in France, after Gaillot offered to bless gay couples, endorsed condom use and the abortion pill, and expressed support for the ordination of married priests. In a similar case in Australia last year, the bishop of Toowoomba, William Morris, was fired by Pope Benedict XVI five years after writing a letter to his parish suggesting that the church should consider ordaining women and married men. Pope Benedict XVI appears to have a more liberal attitude toward firing than his predecessor; he has also fired three other bishops (in Slovakia, Congo, and Italy) for financial mismanagement.
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50 Reasons to Boycott the Catholic Church
AlterNetBy Adam Lee
November 26, 2012
Last month in Ireland, Savita Halappanavar died, and she shouldn't have. Savita was a 31-year-old married woman, four months pregnant, who went to the hospital with a miscarriage in progress that developed into a blood infection. She could easily have been saved if the already doomed fetus was aborted. Instead, her doctors did nothing, explaining that "this is a Catholic country," and left her to suffer in agony for days, only intervening once it was too late.
Savita's death is just the latest in a long line of tragedies directly attributable to the doctrines and beliefs of the Roman Catholic church. I acknowledge that there are many good, progressive Catholics, but the problem is that the church isn't a democracy, and those progressives have no voice or vote in its governance. The church is a petrified oligarchy, a dictatorship like the medieval monarchies it once existed alongside, and it's run by a small circle of conservative, rigidly ideological old men who make all the decisions and choose their own successors.
This means that, whatever individual Catholics may do, the resources of the church as an institution are bent toward opposing social progress and positive change all over the world. Every dollar you put into the church collection plate, every Sunday service you attend, every hour of time and effort you put into volunteering or working for church organizations, is inevitably a show of support for the institutional church and its abhorrent mission. When you have no voice, there's only one thing left to do: boycott. Stop supporting the church with your money and your time. For lifelong Catholics, it's a drastic step, but it's more than justified by the wealth of reasons showing that the church as an institution is beyond reform, and the only meaningful response is to part ways with it. Here are just a few of those reasons:
1. Throughout the world, Catholic bishops have engaged in a systematic, organized effort going back decades to cover up for priests who molest children, pressuring the victims to sign confidentiality agreements and quietly assigning the predators to new parishes where they could go on molesting. Tens of thousands of children have been raped and tortured as a result of this conspiracy of silence.
2. Strike one: " What did the pope know and when did he know it? " The current pope, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was personally implicated in a case from the 1970s in which at least three sets of parents reported that a priest in his diocese had sexually abused their children. In response, Ratzinger assigned the priest to therapy, without notifying law enforcement, and washed his hands of the matter. That priest was back on duty in just a few short days and went on to molest more children.
3. Strike two: In 1981, again when the current pope was Cardinal Ratzinger, he got a letter from the diocese of Oakland asking him to defrock a priest who had acknowledged molesting two children. Ratzinger ignored this letter, and several followup letters, for four years. Finally, in 1985, he wrote back saying that more time was needed, and that they had to proceed very slowly to safeguard " the good of the Universal Church " in light of "the young age of the petitioner" -- by which he meant not the victimized children, but the pedophile priest. (By contrast, when a rogue archbishop ordained married men as priests, he was laicized six days later. )
4. Strike three: In 2001, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a letter, De Delictis Gravioribus , to all Catholic bishops advising them how to handle accusations of sex crimes by priests. There was no recommendation to contact the police, but rather an instruction for them to report such cases only to the
===============================================
Austria: “Cold war” between rebel priests and the Vatican
AUSTRIAVatican Insider
The decision to revoke Mgr. Helmut Schueller’s title comes just as the Austrian rebel priest movement prepares for a big international event
Alessandro Speciale
Rome
This punishment, which is more symbolic that anything, is nevertheless the sign of a certain cooling towards the activity of Austria’s rebel priests, just as they prepare for a big international event in 2013, which is aimed at creating links between priests across the world who are becoming restless with the Vatican’s ultra-conservatism and are seeking deep reforms in the Catholic Church.
Yesterday, the Vatican announced it was stripping Helmut Schueller, former vicar general of the Archdiocese of Vienna who has led the Pfarrer Initiative for some years now, of title “monsignor”. The Pharrer Initiative is a movement of Austrian priests that is asking for ecclesiastical reforms in areas such as obligatory celibacy and the administration of communion to divorcees and same-sex couples. Scheuller remains a priest to all effects and purposes but is not longer the “Chaplain of His Holiness”, an honorary title he received when he was president of Caritas Austria.
The Diocese of Vienna informed Schueller about Rome’s decision, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn’s spokesman, Michael Prueller told the Austrian press. Schueller is the parish priest of St. Stephan in the village of Probstdorf near Vienna.
The news comes just days after Schueller’s interview with Austrian news agency APA, in which he announced an international meeting of movements that have sprung up across the world in recent years, either following in the footsteps of the Austrian rebel priests or presenting their own requests.
Austrian dissident priest stripped of 'monsignor'
VATICAN CITYBoston Globe
VATICAN CITY (AP) — An Austrian Roman Catholic dissident priest says the Vatican has stripped him of the right to use the title ‘‘monsignor’’ in an apparent act of censure for his campaign challenging church teachings that priests must be celibate and excluding woman from the priesthood.
The Rev. Helmut Schueller said Friday that he had been informed the title had been revoked, but that ‘‘the title for me was not so important. I can live with it.’’ He remains a priest.
The Vatican declined to comment.
Schueller earlier this month told the Austrian News Agency that he was working on making his Pfarrer-Initiative more international in 2013, with interest from Germany, Ireland, France, Australia and the United States.
Rome clamps down on rebel priest
The Tablet
29 November 2012
The Vatican has stripped a prominent Austrian priest who has spear-heading calls for church reform of his right to use the title monsignor.
Rome also said today that Helmut Schüller was no longer a "Chaplain of His Holiness", Reuters reported. However he remains a priest.
Fr Schüller, a former vicar-general to Vienna's archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, had been given the honorary title in his capacity as head of the
Austrian branch of the Catholic charity Caritas.
UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
National Catholic Reporter
by Eugene Cullen Kennedy | Nov. 29, 2012
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has forced Maryknoll to expel Fr. Roy Bourgeois from the society because of his public advocacy of women priests.
You may not be surprised to learn that it was only after Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that the doctrinal congregation's title of "Sacred" was removed from its coat of arms. That grandiose term was really a misprint for "Scared," the word that captures its centuries-old dynamic of acting out of fear, or generalized ambition-anxiety, rather than out of the love that supposedly motivates the church's actions at all levels.
It is what they are scared of that they condemn, and it is those persons they condemn that give us a reading of what triggers their fearful reactions. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith may be the only organization that suffers from a pre-stress anxiety syndrome.
Its officials get all worked up about the possibility of something or someone who may expand scientific (Galileo) or theological (a list too long to print) knowledge, or about someone who may plea for a better understanding of the human condition, like Sr. Jeannine Gramick and her pastoral work with homosexuals.
You may not be surprised to learn that it was only after Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that the doctrinal congregation's title of "Sacred" was removed from its coat of arms. That grandiose term was really a misprint for "Scared," the word that captures its centuries-old dynamic of acting out of fear, or generalized ambition-anxiety, rather than out of the love that supposedly motivates the church's actions at all levels.
It is what they are scared of that they condemn, and it is those persons they condemn that give us a reading of what triggers their fearful reactions. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith may be the only organization that suffers from a pre-stress anxiety syndrome.
Its officials get all worked up about the possibility of something or someone who may expand scientific (Galileo) or theological (a list too long to print) knowledge, or about someone who may plea for a better understanding of the human condition, like Sr. Jeannine Gramick and her pastoral work with homosexuals.
UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
National Catholic Reporter
by Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 29, 2012
Roy Bourgeois' canon lawyer has written to the leadership of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, asking for "honest answers" about the order's involvement in the Vatican's dismissal of the longtime peace activist and priest.
Dominican Fr. Tom Doyle's questions include what knowledge the religious order had of the move by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and why it hasn't shared the official document from the papal office.
Bourgeois, widely known for his work calling attention to injustices in Latin America, had come under scrutiny for his support of women's ordination. The Vatican congregation dismissed him from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, of which he had been a member for 45 years, on Oct. 4, the order announced in a press release Nov. 19.
The dismissal drew criticism from a former head of the U.S. missionary order, who said in an interview it represented interference "with the integrity of the society."
Dominican Fr. Tom Doyle's questions include what knowledge the religious order had of the move by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and why it hasn't shared the official document from the papal office.
Bourgeois, widely known for his work calling attention to injustices in Latin America, had come under scrutiny for his support of women's ordination. The Vatican congregation dismissed him from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, of which he had been a member for 45 years, on Oct. 4, the order announced in a press release Nov. 19.
The dismissal drew criticism from a former head of the U.S. missionary order, who said in an interview it represented interference "with the integrity of the society."
Editorial: Ordination of women would correct an injustice
by NCR Editorial Staff | Dec. 3, 2012Editorial
The call to the priesthood is a gift from God. It is rooted in baptism and is called forth and affirmed by the community because it is authentic and evident in the person as a charism. Catholic women who have discerned a call to the priesthood and have had that call affirmed by the community should be ordained in the Roman Catholic church. Barring women from ordination to the priesthood is an injustice that cannot be allowed to stand.
The most egregious statement in the Nov. 19 press release announcing Roy Bourgeois' "excommunication, dismissal and laicization" is the assertion that Bourgeois' "disobedience" and "campaign against the teachings of the Catholic church" was "ignoring the sensitivities of the faithful." Nothing could be further from the truth. Bourgeois, attuned by a lifetime of listening to the marginalized, has heard the voice of the faithful and he has responded to that voice.
Bourgeois brings this issue to the real heart of the matter. He has said that no one can say who God can and cannot call to the priesthood, and to say that anatomy is somehow a barrier to God's ability to call one of God's own children forward places absurd limits on God's power. The majority of the faithful believe this.
UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by Barbara Dorris on November 29, 2012
A tiny handful of priests are "dissidents." But the Vatican seems to discipline them often and harshly.
Tens of thousands of Catholic officials however, - bishops, priests, nuns, seminarians and brothers - have concealed or are concealing child sex crimes. But the Vatican rarely disciplines them.
In 24 years, we've never heard of a single church official - whether child molesting cleric or corrupt colleague - be excommunicated for committing or concealing heinous child sex crimes.
Yet more than two years ago, Pope Benedict promised he would "do everything possible" to address the crisis.
His words ring hollow. He has yet to take any significant, effective steps to better safeguard kids anywhere on the planet.
In 24 years, we've never heard of a single church official - whether child molesting cleric or corrupt colleague - be excommunicated for committing or concealing heinous child sex crimes.
Yet more than two years ago, Pope Benedict promised he would "do everything possible" to address the crisis.
His words ring hollow. He has yet to take any significant, effective steps to better safeguard kids anywhere on the planet.
The ACP supports Fr. Roy Bourgeois
IRELAND/UNITED STATES
The Association of Catholic Priests
Statement of Support for Fr. Roy Bourgeois
The Association of Catholic Priests (Ireland) is saddened and disappointed by the dismissal of Maryknoll priest Fr. Roy Bourgeois from the priesthood and from his religious congregation, and his excommunication from the Church that he has served for almost half a century. We believe that this type of action, ordered by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and implemented by the Maryknoll Order, is unjust, and ultimately counter-productive. Dismissing people because they have sincerely held views that are contrary to those of the Vatican, but which are widely shared by the Catholic faithful, will not end discussion and debate on these topics. In fact it will only serve to highlight the urgent need to face the problems around ministry in the Church. Participants in a year long ‘listening process’ in the diocese of Killaloe, a mainly rural diocese in Ireland, expressed the opinion that the ordination of women should be openly discussed, particularly in view of the projected shortage of priests in the next few years. Surely this is yet another of many examples of the sensus fidelium calling for change so that, in future, the Eucharist can be available to the Church community.
The Association of Catholic Priests
Statement of Support for Fr. Roy Bourgeois
The Association of Catholic Priests (Ireland) is saddened and disappointed by the dismissal of Maryknoll priest Fr. Roy Bourgeois from the priesthood and from his religious congregation, and his excommunication from the Church that he has served for almost half a century. We believe that this type of action, ordered by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and implemented by the Maryknoll Order, is unjust, and ultimately counter-productive. Dismissing people because they have sincerely held views that are contrary to those of the Vatican, but which are widely shared by the Catholic faithful, will not end discussion and debate on these topics. In fact it will only serve to highlight the urgent need to face the problems around ministry in the Church. Participants in a year long ‘listening process’ in the diocese of Killaloe, a mainly rural diocese in Ireland, expressed the opinion that the ordination of women should be openly discussed, particularly in view of the projected shortage of priests in the next few years. Surely this is yet another of many examples of the sensus fidelium calling for change so that, in future, the Eucharist can be available to the Church community.
Irish priest association supports Bourgeois
IRELAND/UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
by Dennis Coday | Dec. 7, 2012
The church reform group that represents about a quarter of Ireland’s Catholic priests issued a statement of support Friday for Roy Bourgeois, the U.S. Maryknoll priest that the Vatican laicization and dismissed from his order because of his support of women’s ordination.
The Association of Catholic Priests (Ireland) called on the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “to cease this type of abuse, to restore Fr. Bourgeois to the full exercise of his ministry and to allow for open and honest discussion on issues that are of crucial importance for the future of the Church.”
“We believe that this type of action, ordered by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and implemented by the Maryknoll Order, is unjust, and ultimately counter-productive,” reads the statement from the association.
National Catholic Reporter
by Dennis Coday | Dec. 7, 2012
The church reform group that represents about a quarter of Ireland’s Catholic priests issued a statement of support Friday for Roy Bourgeois, the U.S. Maryknoll priest that the Vatican laicization and dismissed from his order because of his support of women’s ordination.
The Association of Catholic Priests (Ireland) called on the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “to cease this type of abuse, to restore Fr. Bourgeois to the full exercise of his ministry and to allow for open and honest discussion on issues that are of crucial importance for the future of the Church.”
“We believe that this type of action, ordered by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and implemented by the Maryknoll Order, is unjust, and ultimately counter-productive,” reads the statement from the association.
Vatican disciplines Austrian dissident priest
VATICAN CITYReuters
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY | Thu Nov 29, 2012
(Reuters) - The Vatican has cracked down on a prominent Austrian Roman Catholic priest who has been leading a disobedience campaign to openly challenge Roman Catholic teachings on celibacy and women priests.
The Vatican said on Thursday it had stripped Father Helmut Schueller of the right to use title monsignor and said he also was no longer a "Chaplain of His Holiness". Schueller remains a priest.
Schueller, a former deputy to Vienna's archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, had been given the honorary title in his capacity as head of the Austrian branch of the Catholic charity group Caritas.
Schueller is head of the group "Call to Disobedience", which has broad public backing in opinion polls and says it represents about 10 percent of the Austrian clergy.
Nearly 150,000 Austrians left the Church in 2011-2012, many in reaction to sexual abuse scandals.
===========================
First regional hearings into child sex abuse
The Courier
By TOM MCILROY @TomMcIlroy
Dec. 7, 2012
MORE than seven months after it was established, Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse by members of religious organisations will hold its first regional hearings in Ballarat today.
Witnesses will tell the inquiry of the tragic legacy of abuse by Catholic priests and brothers in the Ballarat region as well instances of mishandled allegations which saw one priest offend against further victims in the United States.
Calls for an official inquiry grew too loud to be ignored after an internal Victoria Police report was leaked in April, linking as many as 40 suicides in Ballarat to abuse by Catholic clergy.
Witness Helen Watson will tell the inquiry that a Catholic priest who abused her son Peter in the early 1990s was moved around the Diocese of Ballarat before he abused children in the United States.
The case for an end to religious privilege
On Line Opinion
By Moira Clarke - posted Monday, 26 November 2012
It would be difficult, at this stage, for anyone to deny that the perpetuation and cover-ups of the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults is entrenched and systemic in certain religious institutions within Australia. It would be equally difficult to deny that the Catholic Church, ostensibly one of Australia's leading 'charities', is disproportionately involved. Evidence for this has existed for years, but only now have our political leaders agreed to a Royal Commission, and only under the pressure of overwhelming public outrage.
Almost as recently, the Australian Parliament has passed a piece of legislation that has received much less fanfare. The Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC) was established on 1st November of this year. Its purpose is to simplify and regulate the charities and not-for-profit sector at the national level. Since religious institutions fall under this umbrella they, too, are affected by this legislation.
At this point in time, a charity is defined at common law and largely based on the preamble to the Statute of Elizabeth, passed by the English Parliament in 1601. One of the first tasks of the ACNC will be to introduce a statutory definition of charity; however, the Australian Tax Office, being a de facto regulator of charities, has already delivered its definition in October of last year, and there is little likelihood that the ACNC will take a different approach or that this will change in subsequent reviews.
Holy Hell launched at Cathedral
AUSTRALIAABC News
Victims of sexual abuse by the clergy and the Catholic Church hierarchy have gathered in Newcastle's cathedral complex to acknowledge a family's suffering after their son was raped by a priest.
Daniel Feenan, who was abused by a Hunter Valley priest, was there for the launch of his mother Pat's book, Holy Hell.
The book documents the Feenan family's rejection by fellow Catholics when they went to the police and how the priest was "tipped off" that he was under investigation.
Pat Feenan says she chose the cathedral complex for Thursday evening's launch for maximum impact.
"I thought this is an appropriate place to launch it it's the centre of the Catholic Church," she said.
Ms Feenan received a standing ovation from around 200 supporters.
Former Montreal Institute for the Deaf students want justice for alleged abuse
CANADACTV
[with video]
CTV Montreal
Published Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012
Former students of the Montreal Institute for the Deaf say they want justice after alleged abuse at the hands of priests.
About 200 people gathered outside the former Institute for the Deaf at
In what could turn out to be one of the largest cases of sexual abuse against deaf children, 60 former students are now pursuing a class action lawsuit against the religious order, which includes 28 priests and six other employees.
Each victim is seeking $100,000 in damages for abuse they say dates back as far as the 1940s.
Pope Benedict XVI Tightens Church Control Over Catholic Charities
VATICAN CITYHuffington Post
Religion News Service | By Alessandro Speciale Posted: 12/03/2012
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Bishops must exercise closer supervision over Catholic charities and ensure that their activities do not contradict church doctrine, according to new rules issued by Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday (Dec. 1).
The new guidelines state that charities with links to the church must "follow Catholic principles in their activity" and may not "accept commitments" that could undermine those principles in any way.
They also bar charities from accepting funding "from groups or institutions that pursue ends contrary to the church's teaching" or for initiatives that are "not in conformity with the Church's teaching."
AUSTRALIA
SNAP Australia
SNAP Australia
WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a footpath news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will;
- Demand answers as to why the papal nuncio toAustralia has suddenly been reassigned to Israel
- Question whether or not it has to do with the current abuse inquiries, and
- Will urge anyone who may have seen or suspected clergy sex crimes in Canberra to come forward now to police and prosecutors
Holding signs and childhood photos at a footpath news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will;
- Demand answers as to why the papal nuncio to
- Question whether or not it has to do with the current abuse inquiries, and
- Will urge anyone who may have seen or suspected clergy sex crimes in Canberra to come forward now to police and prosecutors
WHEN
Friday, November 30 at 10:15 a.m.
Friday, November 30 at 10:15 a.m.
WHERE
Outside the Papal Nuncio’s consulate in Canberra, 2 Vancouver Street, Red Hill ACT 2603 (corner of Monaco Cres)
Outside the Papal Nuncio’s consulate in Canberra, 2 Vancouver Street, Red Hill ACT 2603 (corner of Monaco Cres)
WHO
Three to four members of an international support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest) including an American woman who is the organisation’s president and founder.
WHY
A prominent Australian Archbishop has recently leftAustralia to take up the post of Papal Nuncio in Israel
Three to four members of an international support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest) including an American woman who is the organisation’s president and founder.
WHY
A prominent Australian Archbishop has recently left
Archbishop Giuseppe Lazarotto had, while he was stationed in Ireland in 2005, repeatedly refused to provide information to the Murphy Commission, a group that was created to investigate child sex crimes by clergy in Ireland. In the time since, Archbishop Lazarotto has since been accused of “doing everything in his power to protect suspected Irish clerics.” Since Lazarotto left Australia for Israel, no replacement has been named.
Church has 'medieval mindset' to sexual abuse
AUSTRALIA7 News
ABC
December 7, 2012
The Catholic Church has been described as having a medieval mindset at the Victorian inquiry into sexual abuse by religious and other organisations.
The first hearing of the inquiry outside Melbourne was held today in Ballarat.
Local Catholic Carmel Moloney told the committee she was part of a support group for victims and their family members.
She described the parents and siblings of victims as secondary victims who had their sacrifice, loving care and nurturing trashed by perpetrators of abuse, and victims have to be protected throughout their lives.
IRELAND
Irish Central
Irish Central
By
JAMES O'SHEA,
IrishCentral Staff Writer
JAMES O'SHEA,
IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Friday, November 30, 2012
Over one in five Irish who say they are Catholics do not believe in the resurrection, or that God created the universe, an Irish Times poll has shown.
It also showed that seven per cent of Irish Catholics do not even believe in God. 84 per cent believe priests should marry, while 80 per cent believe women should be priests.
The survey reveals ala carte Catholicism is very much in fashion in Ireland, with 78 per cent saying they do not follow church teaching but their own individual conscience on issues.
Meanwhile 45 per cent do not believe in hell and 18 per cent do not believe that God created man.
On some issues however they are traditional. 92 per cent believe in God, 82 per cent believe in heaven and 84 per cent believe Jesus was the son of God.
It also showed that seven per cent of Irish Catholics do not even believe in God. 84 per cent believe priests should marry, while 80 per cent believe women should be priests.
The survey reveals ala carte Catholicism is very much in fashion in Ireland, with 78 per cent saying they do not follow church teaching but their own individual conscience on issues.
Meanwhile 45 per cent do not believe in hell and 18 per cent do not believe that God created man.
On some issues however they are traditional. 92 per cent believe in God, 82 per cent believe in heaven and 84 per cent believe Jesus was the son of God.
UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall
Patrick J. Wall
[video]
A fabulous video that puts it all in a nutshell …
The Australian
EXCLUSIVE: DAN BOX
From:The Australian
December 01, 201212:00AM
From:The Australian
December 01, 201212:00AM
THE AMERICAN Catholic church paid tens of thousands of dollars to the US victims of an Australian pedophile priest after they agreed not to pursue legal action against the Australian bishop who sent him there.
Evidence of this international agreement is contained in documents, seen by The Weekend Australian, which show the former Bishop of Ballarat, Ronald Mulkearns, sent the priest overseas despite receiving repeated warnings of his crimes against children.
The documents include a 1992 letter from Emeritus Bishop Mulkearns to an American cleric, detailing two such allegations against the priest, Father Paul David Ryan, and asking "what options there might be for him to minister . . . in the US".
As a result of the allegations against Father Ryan, "he feels that it is now impossible for him to work in the diocese . . . I agreed with this assessment", the unsigned letter said..
In another, signed, letter written to Father Ryan a year before, the bishop said he had received an allegation the priest had abused a young boy and "obviously there is the potential for some scandal".
Father Ryan, who could not be contacted last night, was also moved between parishes within Victoria, where he also abused children, one of whom later committed suicide.
In 2006, he pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting two teenage boys.
Bishop Mulkearns, who did not respond to calls yesterday, has previously told The Weekend Australian he had "no recollection" of being told Father Ryan abused children.
"I'm not saying it didn't happen. I suffered a stroke and I'm an old man," the 82-year-old said.
The earliest evidence of Father Ryan's sexual activities is contained in a 1977 letter sent from the seminary where he studied to become a priest, detailing "the harm he may have done to some of the younger students here . . . naive, innocent boys".
He was subsequently sent to the US for what Bishop Mulkearns described as "treatment" for his homosexuality, and later worked as a parish priest in Virginia.
The priest went on to make visits to the US over three decades, where he allegedly abused at least three young boys.
One of these victims yesterday said he had since discussed pursuing a criminal prosecution against the priest with US authorities.
"I hope there's still a chance he'll see justice in this world," the man said.
During the 1990s, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, made confidential financial payments to a number of Father Ryan's victims.
These were agreed on the condition the recipients did not pursue legal action against several named church officials in both countries, including Father Ryan and Bishop Mulkearns.
Father Ryan left the church in 1993, although the diocese continued to provide him with money and did not report the allegations against him to police.
Pope elevates 6 cardinals for a less-European college
VATICAN CITYColumbus Dispatch
By Nicole Winfield
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunday November 25, 2012
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI responded to criticism that the club of churchmen who will choose his successor is too Eurocentric, elevating six new cardinals from the United States, Colombia, India, Lebanon, Nigeria and the Philippines during a ceremony yesterday.
Benedict welcomed the prelates into the College of Cardinals during an hourlong ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, telling them that their presence among the other red-robed prelates was a sign of the “unique, universal and all-inclusive identity” of the Catholic Church.
The ceremony was both joyful and emotional: Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, seen by many to be a rising star in the church, visibly choked up as he knelt before Benedict to receive his three-pointed red hat, or biretta, and gold ring. He wiped tears from his eyes as he returned to his place.
Sacrament of Confession protects criminals and persecutes their victims
UNITED STATESPope Crimes & Vatican Evils...
Paris Arrow
The Sacrament of Confession is the VCC Vatican (not Roman) Catholic Church justice system that’s totally contrary to The Hague, to our American justice system and to all democratic countries’ of the United Nations justice system. The Vatican’s Sacrament of Confession is a system of injustice -- because it deletes the sins of criminals and sets them free instantly and it does absolutely NOTHING for their victims. The Sacrament of Confession protects criminals and persecutes their victims...for centuries. The Sacrament of Confession -- neither seeks justice nor compensation for victims of -- criminals it pardons.
Two major recommendations in Facing the Truth
AUSTRALIARoman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne
[with video]
Friday 23 November 2012
THE Catholic Church in Victoria supports the extension of the current requirements relating to Mandatory Reporting under the Children Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic) to ministers of religion and other religious personnel with an exemption for imformation received during the Sacrament of Confession.
In its submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non Government Organisations, the Catholic Church in Victoria also supports the reporting of all allegations of serious crimes to the Police in a way that does not infringe the confidentiality and privacy of victims who have come forward on that basis, or does not infringe on the sanctity of the confessional.
You can listen to Father Shane Mackinlay, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in
WISCONSIN
National Catholic Reporter
National Catholic Reporter
by Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 3, 2012
A Catholic priest who participated in a eucharistic liturgy with a woman priest last month has been ordered to no longer celebrate the Mass or perform any other priestly duties.
Jesuit Fr. Bill Brennan, a 92-year-old Milwaukee-area priest, said the superior of his religious community told him of the restrictions Nov. 29, saying they came at the request of Archbishop Jerome Listecki.
Brennan, a retired parish priest and former missionary to Belize, participated in a liturgy Nov. 17 with Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a woman ordained in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement.
Jesuit Fr. Bill Brennan, a 92-year-old Milwaukee-area priest, said the superior of his religious community told him of the restrictions Nov. 29, saying they came at the request of Archbishop Jerome Listecki.
Brennan, a retired parish priest and former missionary to Belize, participated in a liturgy Nov. 17 with Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a woman ordained in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement.
UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage
Bilgrimage
William D. Lindsey
As I offer my ten notes about the problem of child abuse and Jerry Slevin's valuable proposal for a U.S. national commission to address this problem, I want to offer as well a reprise of some notes from the powerful and prophetic book of Australian bishop Geoffrey Robinson, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus (Dublin: Columba, 2007). I've blogged about Bishop Robinson's book in the past.
But it strikes me that, with the recent establishment of a royal commission to investigate child abuse (and its cover-up) in Australia, Bishop Robinson's book is timely all over again--and it deserves recognition as a ground-breaking resource that led Australian Catholics and Catholics in many parts of the world to begin looking with new eyes at child abuse in the Catholic church and other institutions.
Here are some valuable lessons Bishop Robinson's book taught me when I read it, which I think are worth remembering all over again as Australia investigates child abuse:
1. Why should Catholics who have ourselves not experienced sexual abuse by clergy care about the experiences of those who have had such experiences?
Bishop Robinson's answer to this question: abuse by a religious authority figure disrupts the entire "ecosystem" of love and meaning in the life of a person who experiences such abuse as a minor. This disruption of love and meaning in one's life can perdure throughout one's entire life.
Bishop Robinson writes,
The systems of meaning that people build up are always fragile, for they are made up of the many tiny fragments of their lived experience, the many loves, small and great, of their lives. Sexual abuse is a bulldozer gouging a road through this fragile ecosystem of love and meaning that a person has been painfully constructing (p. 217).
Changing names and places to avoid justice
Survivors Network of Those Abused by PriestsPosted by David Clohessy38pc on December 03, 2012
Could there be a more shrewd way for child molesting clerics to avoid getting caught than this: legally changing their names?
The Catholic clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis is exploding in Australia. A few months back, a newspaper there noted the case of Fr. Peter Chalk.
In a story that seems ripped from Hollywood, Peter Murphy, a sex abuse victim, went into a meeting with senior church officials wearing a wire, with police listening in on their conversation. During the meeting, Fr. Brian Gallagher – the head of Chalk’s order, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart –revealed that at least eight allegations had been levied at Fr. Chalk. Yet somehow, Gallagher did not believe it was his responsibility to report Chalk to police.
Instead of being in jail where he belonged, Chalk was able to leave Australia. He moved to Japan where he changed his name and became a teacher, giving him numerous opportunities to abuse more kids. Instead of doing the right thing and reporting this predator to police, the MSC allowed him to escape justice and public scrutiny, and likely allowed him to hurt more kids.
Sadly, this is not unique. Right here in Missouri, two such cases leap to mind:
--In 1983, Fr. Carmine Sita was convicted of abusing a New Jersey boy. He was sentenced to five years on probation. Less than a year later, however, Catholic officials urged him to legally change his name – to Fr. Jerry Howard - and quietly sent him to Boonville MO, without warning parishioners. There, he sexually assaulted several boys from 1983-1988. (He’s in jail now, but may soon be freed if a judge deems that the statute of limitations on his crimes has run out).
--In 2003, Fr. James Beine was sentenced to 12 years behind bars for exposing himself to three elementary school students in 2000-2001. However, the decision was overturned on a technicality in 2005, at which point Fr. Beine was released from prison and began to call himself “Mar James.” Although he was defrocked in 2005 and had his teaching certificate revoked in Missouri in 2007, he was last known to be living in the Las Vegas area where he applied for a teaching license that same year. While that license was denied, Fr. Beine remains free from jail and using his assumed name.
Asian bishops' meeting's media lockout hides vision
ASIANational Catholic Reporter
by Thomas C. Fox | Nov. 27, 2012
Commentary
The Asian bishops will make history in December as they meet for the first time in communist-controlled Vietnam. Some 100 prelates are expected to gather for a week of planning 50 miles east of Ho Chi Minh City, an event unimaginable even a few years back.
The Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, as part of its gathering, will celebrate 40 years of innovative pastoral ministries among the local churches of Asia.
Unfortunately, for Asian Catholics and the wider universal church, this potentially rich meeting will go unreported. The FABC leadership has decided to lock out the media.
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NEWS UPDATES DECEMBER 12, 2012
Bishop Robert Morlino cracks down on Madison
December 11, 2012 8:00 am •Doug Erickson. Wisconsin State
Bishop Robert Morlino is seen in a March 2007 file photo.
Two longtime Sisters Maureen McDonnell and Lynn Lisbeth, both Sinsinawa Dominicans, have diverged too far from Catholic teaching, according to a confidential memo sent Nov. 27 to priests on behalf of Morlino. A copy of the memo was leaked to the State Journal.
Two other women connected to the interfaith center, called Wisdom's Well, also have been banned as part of the same action.
The memo says Morlino has "grave concerns" about the women's teachings, specifically that they "espouse certain views" flowing from such movements as "New Ageism" and "indifferentism." The latter, according to the memo, is "the belief that no one religion or philosophy is superior to another."
The women "may not share an authentic view of the Catholic Church's approach to interreligious dialogue," the memo said.
Brent King, a spokesman for the diocese, said three other potential parish guest speakers, all male, have been banned "in recent years." The women are not prohibited from attending Mass or, if Catholic, from receiving communion, King said. Asked whether they could contribute to parish life in other ways, such as reading Bible passages from the pulpit or chairing a church committee, King said that would be up to individual priests.
The action comes amid a papal crackdown on nuns. Earlier this year, the
Interfaith approach
Wisdom's Well was founded in
The center's website says it "serves to support those who desire to grow spiritually, seek inner wisdom, and yearn for a transformative spirituality." Its mission statement says the center is "grounded in the Christian tradition, while embracing the wisdom found in other religious traditions."
Along with the sisters, the third staff member is Beth O'Brien, a married mother of two and a religious layperson affiliated with the Benedictine community. She also is banned, as is Paula Hirschboeck, a philosophy professor at Edgewood College in Madison who helped found Wisdom's Well but is no longer on its staff.
The women declined comment, referring questions to the Dominicans of Sinsinawa Congregation, based in southwestern
'Valued members'
The order's spokeswoman, Tricia Buxton, released a statement saying McDonnell and Lisbeth are "respected and valued members" of the order, and that both women "have been dedicated to religious life and preaching and teaching Gospel values for nearly 50 years." The Sinsinawa Dominicans "wholeheartedly support our sisters and hold them in prayer as we continue our mission of participating in the building of a holy and just church and society," the statement said.
Buxton said Sinsinawa Dominicans have never before faced a prohibition like this in the diocese. The order has 521 sisters.
Both McDonnell and Lisbeth are well-known in
At the time the memo went out, McDonnell was co-facilitating a series of weekly classes with 12 students at St. James Catholic Church in Madison titled, "Just Peace Initiative: The Challenge and Promise of Nonviolence for Our Time." The class has been moved, according to an organizer, who did not want the new site published.
Diocese's 'duty'
The memo sent to priests says the four women "are not to be invited or allowed to preach, catechize, lead spiritual or prayer instructions or exercises, or to provide spiritual direction or guidance at churches, oratories or chapels within the Diocese of Madison." No publicity materials from Wisdom's Well are to be allowed inside parishes.
The memo does not give specific examples of things the women may have said that violate church teaching. Rather, the memo references problematic statements on the center's website, including that the sisters embrace "the wisdom found in other religious traditions."
King said it is both the diocese's duty and right to ensure parish speakers transmit true church teaching. "A proposed speaker's association with a group whose philosophy is inconsistent with the Catholic faith disqualifies a proposed speaker," he said.
The prohibition against the sisters came only after the diocese "patiently and prudently" investigated the matter, King said. The memo says the diocese "sought clarification" from the sisters, but "the responses from these individuals proved insufficient and inconclusive to resolve grave concerns."
Holy Wisdom Monastery provides church services for disaffected local Catholics
The Holy Wisdom Monastery offers ecumenical services that retain many elements of a traditional Mass and attracts many discontented parishioners… Read moreWisconsin bishop bans materials, speakers from interfaith center
WISCONSIN
National Catholic Reporter
[Statement Directing Pastors and Rectors to Prohibit Individuals Associated with Wisdom’s Well Interfaith Spirituality Center from Undertaking Activity at Parishes - Diocese of Madison]
by Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 11, 2012
Madison, Wis., Bishop Robert Morlino has forbidden his diocese's parishes and schools from using materials from an area interfaith spirituality center and banned the center's staff members, including two Catholic sisters, from speaking at all diocesan events, according to a letter from the diocesan vicar general.
The blanket ban, first reported Tuesday by the Wisconsin State Journal, concerns Wisdom's Well Interfaith Spirituality Center, which provides workshops and overnight retreats for people seeking spiritual direction.
Msgr. James Bartylla, Madison's vicar general, states in a Nov. 27 letter to the diocese's priests that even the center's advertisements for centering prayer are no longer to be distributed on parish property. ...
The letter specifically names four women in the ban, including Dominican Srs. Maureen McDonnell and Lynn Lisbeth, both members of the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation, which is headquartered in Sinsinawa, Mich., about 90 miles southwest of Madison.
National Catholic Reporter
[Statement Directing Pastors and Rectors to Prohibit Individuals Associated with Wisdom’s Well Interfaith Spirituality Center from Undertaking Activity at Parishes - Diocese of Madison]
by Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 11, 2012
Madison, Wis., Bishop Robert Morlino has forbidden his diocese's parishes and schools from using materials from an area interfaith spirituality center and banned the center's staff members, including two Catholic sisters, from speaking at all diocesan events, according to a letter from the diocesan vicar general.
The blanket ban, first reported Tuesday by the Wisconsin State Journal, concerns Wisdom's Well Interfaith Spirituality Center, which provides workshops and overnight retreats for people seeking spiritual direction.
Msgr. James Bartylla, Madison's vicar general, states in a Nov. 27 letter to the diocese's priests that even the center's advertisements for centering prayer are no longer to be distributed on parish property. ...
The letter specifically names four women in the ban, including Dominican Srs. Maureen McDonnell and Lynn Lisbeth, both members of the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation, which is headquartered in Sinsinawa, Mich., about 90 miles southwest of Madison.
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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on December 12, 2012
Ten years ago tomorrow, Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as head of the Boston Archdiocese after mountains of evidence proved that he repeatedly protected predators, deceived parishes and endangered kids.
Law has been called “the first US
Sadly, he’s also the only one.
Recently, two high ranking church officials – Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn and Philadelphia Msgr. William Lynn – have been found criminally guilty of refusing to report known or suspected child sex crimes to law enforcement.
But that’s the secular justice system, not the church hierarchy, imposing a penalty on wrongdoers. Despite their convictions, both men have retained their positions within the church. In the case of Bishop Finn, he has steadfastly refused to step down from his post, despite the calls from parishioners and priests within his own diocese to do so.
Sadly, he’s also the only one.
Recently, two high ranking church officials – Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn and Philadelphia Msgr. William Lynn – have been found criminally guilty of refusing to report known or suspected child sex crimes to law enforcement.
But that’s the secular justice system, not the church hierarchy, imposing a penalty on wrongdoers. Despite their convictions, both men have retained their positions within the church. In the case of Bishop Finn, he has steadfastly refused to step down from his post, despite the calls from parishioners and priests within his own diocese to do so.
UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics
Spiritual Politics
Mark Silk
Dec 12, 2012
Dec 12, 2012
From one religious body to another, there's a horrible sameness about the sexual abuse of children by those charged with their moral and spiritual development. The differences come in the institutions and communities, and how they deal with the abusers and their victims.
The trial and conviction of a leader of the Satmar Hasidim inBrooklyn for the sexual abuse of a young girl has laid bare how the sect has protected abusers by ostracizing and threatening those who would call them to account. As the Daily News reported, "Many in the Satmar world were angered to see such a highly-regarded man in the community forced to defend himself in the 'unreliable' secular court system, instead of secret rabbinical court proceedings." That a rabbi active in the effort to bring abusers to justice had bleach thrown in his face on a Brooklyn street yesterday is testimony that the struggle for child protection is just beginning.
Then you've got the situation of a Southern Baptist pastor in Missouri indicted for abuse of a girl but still presiding over his congregation without so much as a proposal to remove him from his position. In a fine piece of reporting, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Tim Townsend uses the case to explore the challenges of addressing abuse when it comes to self-governing congregations that belong to umbrella denominations like the Southern Baptist Convention.
Meanwhile, out inLos Angeles
The trial and conviction of a leader of the Satmar Hasidim in
Then you've got the situation of a Southern Baptist pastor in Missouri indicted for abuse of a girl but still presiding over his congregation without so much as a proposal to remove him from his position. In a fine piece of reporting, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Tim Townsend uses the case to explore the challenges of addressing abuse when it comes to self-governing congregations that belong to umbrella denominations like the Southern Baptist Convention.
Meanwhile, out in
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