Posted on 03/22/2010 6:21:30 AM PDT by Gamecock
Pope Benedict's weekend apology to Ireland went further than any other papal statement on child-sex abuse by priests, but still fell too short for many victims of the scandals shaking the Catholic Church across Europe.
Following are details of some of the major abuse scandals in various countries:
SWITZERLAND: The Swiss Catholic Church is investigating allegations of abuse by clergy. The Diocese of Chur, in eastern Switzerland, said Saturday it was investigating about 10 complaints. The abbot of a monastery in the diocese said at least three of the 77 monks at Einsiedeln had committed acts of abuse since he took up office in December 2001, but no legal action had been taken.
NETHERLANDS: More than 200 Catholics have reported abuse after Radio Netherlands Worldwide and newspaper NRC Handelsblad revealed that three priests from the Salesian order abused pupils decades ago at a boarding school. The church there has set up an independent inquiry headed by a Protestant politician.
GERMANY: A Jesuit high school in Berlin reported cases of sexual abuse there in January, starting a series of revelations at other Catholic boarding schools and non-religious schools.
- The Regensburg diocese admitted physical and sexual abuse cases at a boarding school for its famous Domspatzen (cathedral sparrows) boys choir. Its director, Pope Benedict's brother, Rev. Georg Ratzinger, admitted to slapping boys to discipline them but denied knowledge of sexual abuse. The ensuing wave of abuse charges from previously silent victims has since reached about 250.
IRELAND: In April 2002, Bishop Brendan Comiskey of Ferns resigned over his handling of charges against a priest who committed suicide in 1999 while facing 66 charges of abuse.
- May 2009 - The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse issued a five-volume report that took nine years to compile. It said priests beat and raped children during decades of abuse in Catholic-run institutions.
- Nov. 2009 - The Murphy report, a government-commissioned inquiry into abuse in Dublin from 1975 to 2004 said church authorities covered up widespread cases of child sexual abuse until the mid-1990s.
- Dec. 2009 - After meeting two Irish church leaders, Pope Benedict said he shared the "outrage, betrayal and shame" over the scandal in Ireland.
- Feb. 2010 - Benedict held crisis talks with 24 Irish bishops at the Vatican. The bishops promised him they were committed to cooperating with authorities. Four bishops have offered their resignations and the pope has so far accepted one.
UNITED STATES: June 2002 - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops agreed on a new policy that would forbid pedophile priests from ever again acting as clerics - but not necessarily expel them from the priesthood.
BRITAIN: July 2000 - London Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor acknowledged making a mistake in a previous post in the 1980s by allowing a pedophile priest to continue working. The priest was jailed in 1997 for abusing nine boys over a 20-year period.
AUSTRIA: July 2004 - Austrian News magazine Profil ran pictures of priests kissing and groping seminarians at a Catholic seminary in the St. Poelten diocese.
AUSTRALIA: July 2008 - On a visit to Australia, Pope Benedict apologized for sexual abuse by clergy. At that time there had been 107 convictions for sexual abuse in the church there.
MEXICO: March 2009 - Pope Benedict ordered an inquiry into the Legionaries of Christ priestly order whose founder was discovered to be a sexual molester. In 2006, the pope told the founder, Father Marcial Maciel, to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence". Maciel died in 2008. His order acknowledged in 2009 that he had fathered at least one child with a mistress.
CANADA: Oct. 2009 - Bishop Raymond Lahey of Antigonish, N.S., was charged with possession and importation of child pornography. Earlier that year, he had overseen a $13-million settlement with clerical abuse victims in the Antigonish diocese in a case dating back to 1950.
That’s a hi-tech form of scapegoating an entire group of dedicated men because of the evil deeds of a small percentage of their number. It’s like branding the parents of a large family as “bad parents” if one of their children were to go wrong, even though the rest of the children did not.
Clearly, that does seem like an agenda.
Could be an agenda...But the agenda is not ours, it appears to be yours...
There's very strong evidence that the 'parents', as you call them are the ones with the agenda...
The 'parents' (popes, cardinals, bishops, priests) didn't get unlucky and have a handful of perverts join your religion as young men...
Most homosexual men are recruited as young boys and young teenagers...
The question is, how many of your priests, bishops, cardinals and popes are and have been the teachers; parents??? And what about their teachers, and their teachers???
And we are the ones with the agenda??? By exposing this sick perversion???
Can any of you be certain your kids have never been molested by a priest??? Would the kids tell you if they had been???
what was the name of the organization?
I fully agree with you. The vast majority of those that choose a celibate life as priests do so for the glory of God. Please do not take my comments earlier to indicate otherwise.
There are many freaks who use the RCC to hide in; however, the vast majority of priests are wonderful people who would never do harm to a child in any fashion.
There is a lot of wisdom and truth of what you wrote there,dear friend.
Anti Catholicism is an addiction and a "golden calf" in the lives of a group of FR posters around here in the same fashion as all other evil addictions that people get snared into by the devil
I understood what you posted and I didn’t take anything the wrong way. I thank you for your post.
My references were to what other posters have written-—which have been smearing all priests, writ large.
I agree with you that the “vast majority of priests are wonderful people who would never do harm to a child in any fashion”.
This is much more in the service of truth than are the posts that, by inference, put tags on the sleeves of all priests.
96% are not child abusers. Only 4%! May God have mercy on your souls with making it look more. While the Devil looks for the ruination of souls.
lolol. Apparently they're "screening" for exactly what they get.
Given that that document that you linked to is in English, and not in Latin, I have a sneaking suspicion that it's a fabrication.
Your suspicion may be sneaking, but it's also incorrect.
Even if it were not a fabrication, are you certain that it is still in force under the 1983 Code of Canon Law?
Ratzginer's letter in 2001 which was sent to every bishop in the world reminded the clergy that Crimen Sollicitationis was still in effect. Do some homework. This has all been posted for months, if not years, on Free Republic.
It asserted the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood. The letter was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected as John Paul II's successor last week...Pope Benedict XVI faced claims last night he had 'obstructed justice' after it emerged he issued an order ensuring the church's investigations into child sex abuse claims be carried out in secret. The order was made in a confidential letter, obtained by The Observer, which was sent to every Catholic bishop in May 2001.
Now now . . .
surely you don’t think that
the . . . other side . . .
has added
ruber encyclicals
to their
—rubber Bibles,
—rubber dictionaries,
—rubber histories,
—rubber logic texts . . .
do you?
Any good journalist can see that the title you've typed here is misleading, since you've neglected to include the quotes from the original article which show that that the word 'obstructed' is an allegation by lawyers, thus the quoted word in the title; which, while a rather biased presentation in the Guardian, is still better than what you did here.
Let's clarify the Church document, since some people have such a hard time seeing through their bias-tinted spectacles:
ROME, JULY 21, 2007 (Zenit) - Here is the text of a pamphlet on "Pedophilia and the Priesthood" written by Monsignor Raffaello Martinelli, an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and member of the editorial commission of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.The Holy See has put out two documents that deal with the crimes of pedophilia:
1. The instruction of March 16, 1962, "Crimen Sollicitationis," approved by Blessed Pope John XXIII and published by the Holy Office which later became the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was an important document to "instruct" canonical cases and laicize the presbyters involved in the vileness of pedophilia. In particular, it dealt with violations of the sacrament of confession.
2. The "Epistula de Delictis Gravioribus" (on most grave crimes), signed May 18, 2001, by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as prefect of the congregation. That letter's objective is to give practical execution of the norms ("Normae de Gravioribus Delictis") promulgated with the apostolic letter "Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela," published on April 30, 2001, and signed by Pope John Paul II.
These documents deal with the Church's internal judicial acts, at the canonical level. Therefore they do not deal with the accusations and the provisions of the civil courts of states, which must be carried out according to their own laws. Whoever has addressed or addresses the ecclesiastical court can also address the civil court, to denounce similar crimes. Therefore the action of the Church is not aimed at retracting these crimes from the jurisdiction of the state and keeping them hidden.
There exist two paths to ascertain and condemn priests responsible for acts of pedophilia: that of the Church, with canon law, and that of the state with penal law. Each of these two paths is autonomous and independent of the other: the civil forum and the canonical forum must not be confused. This means that, whether or not a civil trial has taken place, the Church must necessarily carry out the canonical process. At the moment of the application of canonical punishment, if it is deemed that the guilty priest has been sufficiently punished in the civil forum, in that case the canonical punishment can be withheld.
In Italian law, a private citizen (this includes the bishop and anyone invested with ecclesial authority) is required to accuse [before the state] only crimes for which the penalty is life in prison. Yet, in Church law established in 1962, it was obligatory, under penalty of excommunication, to accuse [before the state] crimes of pedophilia if they happened in conjunction with the sacrament of confession. Therefore, from this point of view, the Church's legislation was more severe than that of the Italian state in punishing the crimes of pedophilia. Q: What is the procedure followed by the Church to prosecute crimes of pedophilia committed by priests?
This is the prescribed procedure: Faced with the accusation of an act of pedophilia by a priest, the bishop (or ordinary) must first of all carry out an investigation to ascertain the certainty of the accusation. Having obtained proof, the bishop (or ordinary) must give the documentation of the case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to follow the procedural path already contained in the Code of Canon Law. In the meantime, in some cases, the canonical judicial procedure to apply punishment can be followed -- as, for example, demission from the clerical state -- or, in other cases where, for example, the evidence is very clear, the administrative procedure can be carried out.
The seriousness with which the Church evaluates and judges acts of pedophilia is shown by the fact that with a new law passed in 2001, the Holy See (and not the local bishops) decided to reserve the right to judge those crimes. The new law says that judgments concerning "the crime against the sixth commandment committed by a cleric against a minor, under the age of 18, art. 4, are reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which acts in these cases as the 'apostolic tribunal' -- as is prescribed in 'Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela.'" Q: Why does the Church reserve judgment to the Holy See? The fact that the Pope wanted to reserve to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- a dicastery of the Holy See -- with the apostolic letter "Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela" judgment of the acts of pedophilia committed by priests, shows that the Church considers those acts to be very serious, serious crimes on the same level of the other two serious crimes -- reserved to the Holy See -- that can be committed against two sacraments: the Eucharist and the holiness of confession. Therefore the Holy See's decision has nothing to do with wanting to hide potential scandals or to diminish the seriousness of these wicked deeds, but serves to help us understand that they are very serious crimes, to which they give the maximum attention, and for this reason they reserve judgment to one of the most important offices of the Holy See, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith and not "local" entities which could possibly be influenced.
Q: Why secrecy under penalty of excommunication?
In the first place, the two documents cited by the Holy See were not secret, given the fact that they were sent to all bishops -- some 5,000 -- to indicate what to do in cases of pedophilia.
The 1962 instruction calls for the excommunication of whoever reveals details about the canonical penal procedure. For this reason the Instruction dealt with the way in which to proceed in cases. Therefore we speak of the need for secrecy about the legal proceedings, equal to that called for, in civil proceedings, by the judge while an investigation is in progress. Nothing more, nothing less. As is the case with every legal procedure, even the canonical ones have steps that must be secret to allow the ascertainment of the truth and to protect the innocent.
The main reason why the instruction calls for secrecy in canonical procedures was to permit any future witnesses to come forth freely, with the guarantee that their statements would be confidential and not exposed to publicity. And as a consequence, the name of the accused was kept hidden before a sentence was given in the case.
Another reason the Holy See did not want to cover up these crimes is described in a paragraph of the 1962 document, that obligated anyone, victim or witness, that was aware of any sexual abuses occurring in the confessional to come forth with that information; if not, they would incur the penalty of excommunication.
In the new legislation of 2001, the secrecy of the legal proceedings was not only applicable to cases of sexual abuse, but also for crimes against the Eucharist and those against the sacrament of of penance. The letter establishes the pontifical secrecy without establishing any punishment for the violation of that secrecy, even though it is a secret that binds the conscience in a stronger way than that of a normal secret. In this case, the reason for the secret is to protect and safeguard:
-- the good name of the accused, who is considered innocent until proven otherwise
-- the right to privacy of the victims and witnesses
-- the freedom of the superior who must freely made judgments, without being under pressure
Despite "the right to the freedom of information, it must not allow moral evil to become an occasion for sensationalism" (John Paul II, Discourse to American Bishops).
We must not forget that secrecy is needed to safeguard the dignity of the people involved: Many times those who are accused are shown to be innocent in the preliminary investigation.
Our country is going to hell in a handbasket, turning a harder left than I ever thought I'd see in my lifetime; humanistic atheist paganism is metastasizing in exponential leaps, and you're still bouncing rubber balls. Some day I hope you'll see this tactic as a lot of wasted energy, wasted time that you and I cannot have back. I am so moving on from the rubber room. Please have the last word.
Thanks, Lorica
Pax Christi
ROE
Thanks, Lorica
I’m indebted to you for this.
Pax Christi
ROE
Look... I'm a seminarian. This is my world. You can laugh all you want, but I know that you don't know what you're talking about - because you never went through the screenings and you don't see what goes on in the day to day in the seminary. Perhaps if you did, you would believe it when I say that the screenings have been taking place, and the seminaries (at least the ones for the US) that haven't been reformed are in the process of being reformed.
Your suspicion may be sneaking, but it's also incorrect.
The authoritative text for a Church document, especially one in Canon Law from 1962, is nearly always Latin. Full Stop. That was the main reason for my suspicion. I still have my doubts that this is the authoritative text (even if it is a translation of the real text).
Ratzginer's letter in 2001 which was sent to every bishop in the world reminded the clergy that Crimen Sollicitationis was still in effect. Do some homework. This has all been posted for months, if not years, on Free Republic.
I don't have time to search all over the internet for something. If you want to show me something, link it.
As for the contents... I think Lorica covered it just fine.
I didn't know that. Thanks be to God! May He bless you abundantly and fill you with His Spirit!
You can laugh all you want, but I know that you don't know what you're talking about - because you never went through the screenings and you don't see what goes on in the day to day in the seminary. Perhaps if you did, you would believe it when I say that the screenings have been taking place, and the seminaries (at least the ones for the US) that haven't been reformed are in the process of being reformed.
Amen.
The peace of Christ be with you also.
Like I said.
Crimen Sollicitations was never abrogated. Ratzinger's letter was to alert all bishops that it was still operative and that victims who took their complaints to anyone but a priest would be excommunicated.
You can toss out all the verbage you want. Just like with Ratzinger's "global authority" encyclical which is filled with platitudes and pleasantries. But at the heart of it is socialism and tyranny. No surprise.
NOW NOW . . .
Don’t ya know . . .
blasphemy, idolatry et al
are not a waste of time
but the truth is. /sar
I've never been a postman, either, but I know when my mail is delivered on time
The "screenings" obviously aren't very rigorous or there wouldn't be this world-wide, decades-old (centuries) pedophilia scandal within the Roman Catholic church.
If you're a seminarian, then "good luck." You'll need it.
And nothing changes. The same superstition and tyranny that resulted in the Reformation exist today.
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." -- Isaiah 5:20
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