TRUTH AND HUMILITY ARE THE CORNERSTONES OF THE MORAL EDIFACE

(Brian Mark Hennessy reports on an exemplary case of facing the truth with brave humility and compassion for victims of sexual abuse. Brian Hennessy has written a “Forward” in italics below and also the ultimate “Notes”. The central article is a paraphrase of a report by the Catholic News Agency dated 26^th January 2017 which was reported in “CRUX”)

“FORWARD”

You need to be brave to be humble and, very often, telling the truth is both the bravest and most humble act that we, as human beings, commit to. Such a combination of self-effacing morality dignifies the spiritual essence of our humanity. In a world when all men, women and children are equal, there is an accompaniment to “truth” and that is “justice”. You cannot have one without the other. Nevertheless, in this human world, understanding truth is complex and often difficult to discern – and never more so when two seemingly honest and respectable individuals have different versions of the facts of a truth that requires determination. The wise King Solomon managed to discern the truth in a dispute over who was the mother of a child by his human understanding of motherhood, but most disputes are more complicated than that. It is uniquely refreshing, therefore, when an individual or institution embraces a totally moral route, searches for the truth of alleged wrongdoings and humbly admits that truth when it has been established.

PARAPHRASE OF REPORT BY THE CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY FEATURED IN “CRUX”

The determination of the allegations against Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo (born July 8, 1947 in Lima, Peru), a Peruvian Catholic layman, who was the founder and former superior general of the Society Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) is a case in point. Figari, who had been accused of “sexual abuse, mistreatment, and abuse of power” was exposed in 2015 in a book, “Mitad Monjes, Mitad Soldados”, (Half Monks, Half Soldiers), by the author, Salinas. Figari denied all the allegations in the book, but Alessandro Moroni Llabres, elected as the Superior General of SCV in 2012, embarked on a journey of moral determination to seek the truth. Indeed, he set up an Ethics Commission for Justice and Reconciliation in November 2015, after the original allegations had been made, so that the victims “could be welcomed and served in the first instance by highly respected and objective persons.” In doing so, he set aside any fears of damage to the reputation of the Institute and he openly embraced the Victims of the alleged abuses. In April 2016, that Ethics Commission’s report detailed an internal culture of extreme “discipline and obedience by the founder, Figari, which was forged by extreme physical demands, as well as physical punishments, constituting abuses which violated the fundamental rights of individuals.”

Sodalitium Christianae Vitae is a society of apostolic life which was founded in 1971 in Peru, and granted pontifical recognition in 1997. In addition to Peru, the community operates in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, the United States, and Italy. In the past few days, the Catholic News Agency has reported that the Institute has announced that 66 persons were victims of abuse and mistreatment by members of their Peruvian Sodalitium Christianae Vitae community. The still current superior general of the community, Alessandro Moroni Llabres, said, on January 21, that the society has set aside more than $2.8 million in reparations and assistance for victims. Moroni further said that “besides the norms proper to the judicial and canonical spheres, there is a necessary moral sphere.” In that respect, he reiterated the community’s pronouncements recognizing “all the harm done by Figari” – and in his condemnation of Figari’s actions, declared him a “persona non grata”. He added that, “We have also asked for Figari’s removal from our community and we have sent all the information on his case to the Holy See where Figari’s trial is proceeding in Rome. We are waiting for the final pronouncement by the Vatican authorities”. Moroni continued, “We have also recognized that some members of our community have done much harm and we have taken very concrete measures to clarify the truth about all these cases –  and this is most important thing – we are maintaining our commitment to making redress to those who suffered because of this. Those persons continue to be our priority.”

Moroni said the Ethics Commission had presented 32 cases to the Sodalits, and that another team of international experts in abuse investigations and the care of victims had discovered another 71 cases, “and so we have attended to a total of 103 persons. Of this total, sufficient elements have been found to consider 66 persons as victims of abuse or mistreatment of various natures. To determine if a person can be considered a victim,” he said, “we did not require any technical or scientific means of proof, such as would be required in any juridical investigation. Rather, we made a moral evaluation, considering the verisimilitude of the testimonies that were received. In case of doubt, we have opted to trust the persons who have given us their testimony. Among monetary compensations, medical or psychological assistance, help to return to the workforce, and support for some persons whose cases did not correspond to this process (but who had urgent needs) we have approved for this purpose an amount that so far totals more than $2,842,000,”

In a brave, humble and unique statement, Moroni concluded, “For us, the principal responsibility does not fall upon the Vatican or the Peruvian Church. Nor does the principal responsibility fall on the Attorney General’s Office; the principal responsibility of seeking the truth and repairing the damage is ours. Beyond the lofty complexity of the judicial and canonical processes, today we want to reaffirm that we are determined to fulfil our moral responsibility, with all its consequences. The community asks forgiveness from “everyone who has suffered any kind of abuse or mistreatment on the part of a member or ex-member of the Sodality. Welcoming the truth, however painful it may be, and making reparation to those who have suffered enables us to go forward on the path of service to which God calls us.”

“NOTES”

The brave response of Alessandro Moroni Llabres to the allegations made against Figari, the former Founder and Superior General of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, could not be further removed from the response of the Comboni Missionary Order of Verona, Italy to allegations of criminal sexual abuse of child seminarians at their Mirfield Seminary in England. The Combonis, also known as the Verona Fathers, have ignored the Victims of the childhood abuse consistently, failed to investigate the allegations against clerics of their Order and refused to have any dialogue with the Victims. Indeed, the Combonis have gone to extreme lengths of publicly denying that the abuse, which was reported to them and has been known to them for almost five decades was true. Moreover, this denial flies in the face of assertions by living members of their Order that the allegations were factual. Their denial is a symptom of their cowardly arrogance – the very opposite of “Truth” and “Humility”. Indeed, rather than embracing the truth with brave humility and embracing the victims, the Order, even went to the length of falsely accusing one Victim of crimes in the Criminal Tribunal of Verona in Italy in a macabre attempt to conceal the ‘Truth” that they have a cowardly fear of embracing.

REPORT ON THE INQUIRY INTO HISTORICAL ABUSE

IN NORTHERN IRELAND.

(Paraphrased by Brian Mark Hennessy from an article published by BBC News on 20^th January 2017).

Sir Anthony Hart, the Chairman of the Northern Ireland Inquiry into Historical Abuse released his report this week. The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) studied allegations of abuse in 22 homes and other residential institutions between 1922 to 1995. He declared that children’s homes run by some churches, charities and state institutions in Northern Ireland were the scene of widespread abuse and mistreatment of young residents.

These were facilities run by the state, local authorities, the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland and the children’s charity Barnardo’s. However, the largest number of complaints related to four Catholic-run homes. There was also sexual abuse carried out by priests and lay people, he reported.

Sir Anthony Hart, recommended a tax-free Government-funded compensation award ranging from 7,500 up to 100,000 pounds Sterling should be paid to the Victims. In addition, he recommended a permanent memorial at Stormont and a public apology to abuse survivors. He added that 12 people who had given evidence had since died and it was only “just and humane” that their spouses or children should receive a payment of 75% of the total lump sum. Other recommendations made were the establishment of a commissioner for survivors of institutional abuse and specialist care and assistance tailored to the needs of the victims.

The HIA heard evidence from hundreds of people who spent their childhood in residential homes and institutions. A total of 493 applicants engaged with the inquiry, in one form or another, and while the majority were seen in Belfast, others were seen in the Republic of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Australia.

Setting out the findings of his report, the retired judge said the largest number of complaints received related to four Sisters of Nazareth homes. ‘Children were raised in bleak lovelessness’ in Sisters of Nazareth homes, one commentator has remarked. It found nuns had physically and emotionally abused children in their care. Sir Anthony said it was not uncommon for children to have Jeyes Fluid, a brand of disinfectant, put in their baths. Many of the incidents relating to sexual abuse were known by members of the clergy who did nothing to stop them. In a statement, the Sisters of Nazareth apologized, stating the ‘Deepest regret’ to anyone who had suffered abuse while in their care. “It was always the desire of the order to provide a safe place for children and when we failed on any occasion, we want to express our deepest regret,” the Order said. “This has been a traumatic time for those survivors and victims who have come forward, however, we sincerely hope it has also been an opportunity to find some relief.”

Sir Anthony said the inquiry had “stripped away decades of half-truths masquerading as facts, in relation to Kincora and what state agencies did or did not do regarding the abuse there. “Thirty-nine boys were abused at some point during their time at Kincora,” he said. Three men, William McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains, who were senior “Care Staff” at Kincora, were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys. Sir Anthony said when the police became aware in 1974 of complaints against McGrath, the investigation was “inept and inadequate”. He said a proper investigation into McGrath may have meant the children who were abused after 1974 could have been spared. Nevertheless, Sir Anthony also found no evidence that security agencies were complicit in the abuse that took place at Kincora. Sir Anthony said that the boys were let down by those three individuals, who committed sexual abuse “of the gravest kind” to teenage boys in their care. He added that the majority of the young boys at Kincora between 1958 and 1980, who gave evidence, said they were not sexually abused during their time there.

The HIA inquiry found that the Norbertine Order failed to take steps to expel Fr Brendan Smyth, from the priesthood despite being aware that the Northern Ireland-born cleric had committed dozens of offences against children over a 40-year period. The Irish Norbertines said in a statement that they recognised the “tragic harm and hurt” caused to innocent children by Fr Brendan Smyth. A spokesperson for the Norbertines said they “again unreservedly apologise most sincerely for the hurt and harm caused to so many young people, while also accepting that our management of the man concerned (Smyth) and the accusations presented to us was grossly inadequate.”

The inquiry also heard from adults, who as children, were sent from Northern Ireland to live in Australia. Sir Anthony said the HIA inquiry was the first in the UK to look at the child migrant scheme and said some of those who were sent away had been abused before they (left) and others believed the scheme itself was abusive. Sir Anthony said they had been unable to establish exactly how many children were sent to Australia, but at least 138, under the age of 13, were sent and, possibly as many as 144.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, “apologised unreservedly” to all those who had suffered in church-run institutions. “I am ashamed and I am truly sorry that such abuse occurred, and that in many cases children and young people felt deprived of love and were left with a deep and lasting suffering,” he said.

Margaret McGuckin, who has been the public face of the campaign for survivors of historical institutional child sex abuse, said that the report was what they had “waited for for a lifetime. Today we are believed. As young children we tried to complain about our abuse and no one would listen,” she said.

Jon McCourt, from the Northwest Survivors group in Londonderry, said that Sir Anthony Hart had listened and that political representatives now had to listen. He stated, “In particular, the religious orders and these holy devout Christian people disbelieved us and even bullied us more for daring to complain, today we have been vindicated. We want the rest of the delivery of what the HIA report entails. Don’t let us down now.”

(Comment by Brian Mark Hennessy: Survivors of clerical abuse at the Mirfield Seminary in Yorkshire, England – (to whom this blog is dedicated) – which was an institution run by the Comboni Missionary Order of Verona, Italy, will recognize chilling similarities with the contents of the above report. “Children raised in bleak lovelessness” at the Nazareth homes is one comment that struck me, an ex-Mirfield boy, for I have heard similar comments from other members of the “Comboni Survivor Group”.

Then more familiar too, was“the tragic harm and hurt” suffered by the boys in the Norbertine’s homes. It has a clear parallel with the Mirfield seminary where all forms of alleged abuse, ranging from inappropriate touching to rape, have been alleged – and whose victims have been dealing with the complex psychological effects ever since.

Moreover, there is also a striking parallel in the action taken by the Comboni Missionary Order to the response of the Norbertines, who were aware of the abuse being perpetrated against children in their care, but they did not respond in any way to the abuse that they were aware of. Similarly, following reports of sexual abuse that took place within their institutions at the Mirfield seminary, the Comboni Missionary Order of Verona, Italy, (from the local Rector, to the London Province Provincial Superior and, indeed the Superior General of the Order at the time) did nothing at all regarding making mandatory reports to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as required by Canon law. Nor did the inform the West Yorkshire Police, which they were bound to do under the Law of Misprision that was effective at the time. Nor did they offer assistance to the Victims and nor did they report the abuse to the Welfare Authorities. Indeed, in the case of the Comboni Missionary Order, three of the priests whose abuse of seminarians were known to them from reports – were simply moved on to other locations where they would also have unfettered access to children – and where, theoretically, at least, they would have been able to continue their abuse of children unchecked).

CLERICAL ABUSE ISSUES – ROUND UP

(PARAPHRASED FROM PRESS STORIES BY BRIAN MARK HENNESSY)

NETWORK ABUSE – THE ITALY BASED INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION REPORTING ON CLERICAL PAEDOPHILES PUBLISHED THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE ON 11TH JANUARY 2017

(Translated and paraphrased by Brian Mark Hennessy. Whilst having no cause to doubt the facts presented in this article, this Blog is unable to guarantee the veracity of its content. Readers must make their own conclusions.)

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 17, 1936, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis on March 13, 2013, when he was named the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Bergoglio, the first pope from the Americas, took his papal title after St. Francis of Assisi of Italy. It is alleged that documents have been delivered into the hands of Pope Francis denouncing Don Nicola Corradi and 14 other priests. There has been no response from the Vatican. Consequently, dozens of documents clearly demonstrating that the church authorities knew of priests accused of molestation by members of the Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf in Verona have been filed a few days ago with the public prosecutor of Verona Criminal Court.

The first precedent in Italy for this case was created in 2012 in Savona when the judge for preliminary investigations, Fiorenza Giorgi, deduced that there was a clear case of omission by the bishop, Dante Lafranconi, who, despite knowing of the pedophile tendencies of one of his priests, did nothing to prevent the continuation of abuse against other children. The legal principle that convicted the Italian Bishop was found in the second paragraph of Article 40 of the Criminal Code which reads “failing to prevent a crime for which it is a legal duty to prevent, is equivalent to causing the crime”. This legal principle, in a different formula, is also found in article 108 of the Argentine Penal Code, according to the lawyer Carlos Lombardi, and that situation could also prove legal responsibility against the Argentinian Provolo Institute for the Deaf in the diocese of Mendoza and La Plata. This has raised a number of questions as to whether Pope Francis, when Archbishop of Buenos Aires, was also informed on the scandal relating to the Provolo Institute in Verona and whether he knew of the dangers to children associated with the priest, Don Corradi. The children in the Argentinian Institute have stated that “They wailed as the two Roman Catholic priests repeatedly raped them inside the small school chapel in remote northwestern Argentina”. Sadly, only their tormenters would have heard their cries since the other children at the school were all deaf.

According to a report by Network Abuse, Pope Francis was informed three times of abuse by Don Corradi and also of at least 14 other priests accused of abuse by former students of the Institution, but the then Archbishop Bergoglio wanted to maintain the pretence that nothing had happened. Now, we are told that the Holy See has sunk into a “shameful and deafening silence typical of the Church that talks the talk, but does not walk the walk”. On May 9, 2014, the leading Italian News outlet, “TGcom 24 Mediaset ” released a video produced by “Network ABUSE” and it was taken up by all the Italian national newspapers and many others around the world – and was aimed directly at Pope Francis. A copy was delivered to the Vatican Secretariat of State. It included the names of 17 victims – former students of the Provolo Institute – and a list of names of the abusing clerics – including that of Don Nicola Corradi. However, no response to those victims was received –  and so on 20th October 2014, the Association of the Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf at Verona sent registered letters to the Bishop of Verona Giuseppe Zenti, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Pope Francis. In that letter were the names of Don Corradi and the 14 other priests accused of abuse (four of them hidden in Argentina). No response was received. Thus, letters with the same content repeating the allegations were delivered once again to the Vatican on 28th October 2015. On this occasion, however, they were placed directly into the hands of Pope Francis by one of the victims of the Institution named Joseph. It so happened that, in very recent days, Pope Francis has again declared that, “The church is crying for the pain brought about by priests!”.  To the victims of abuse – and to all those who still trust the Church, such cries are “outrageous”, said Francesco Zanardi, the President of  “Network ABUSE Onlus”.

Francesco Zanardi continued, “It is sad to see that, despite the severe indictment that the UN Commission on the Human Rights of the Child made against the Vatican in 2014, the church continues to protect its image and to give scant regard to the care of victims and of associations that protect them. They continue to refuse dialogue. The management of pedophile clerics can no longer remain in the hands of the Catholic Church Hierarchy. If Pope Francis really wants to seriously address the problem, there is only one avenue open to him – which is to insist on the requirement that Bishops (and Religious Hierarchs) refer all allegations against clerics to the law authorities and the courts of the civil states in which the offences were committed”.

THE PRICE PAID BY FATHER JOHN GALLAGHER FOR REPORTING ABUSE

Terry Spencer of the Associated Press has reported in the News Outlet “CRUX” that a priest from West Palm Beach is suing his former diocese. Father John Gallagher, a Catholic priest filed a suit on Wednesday against his former diocese, saying that the bishop pushed him aside and lied about him because he made a call to a law enforcement agency after another priest showed child pornography to a teenage boy and cooperated with the investigation. He said that Bishop Gerald Barbarito of the Palm Beach Diocese forced him from the church where he worked and publicly called him a liar after he refused to cover up for the other priest, Joseph Palimattom, who was convicted of showing obscene material to a minor, spent six months in jail and was deported home to India.

Gallagher told The Associated Press that his case shows the church has not reformed as promised after it became public knowledge that church leaders had covered up sexual abuse by priests for decades around the world. “Any priest could be in this situation,” Gallagher said. “Any priest in this situation should know that if it happened to them, they will not get the support of the church. You will be ostracized.”

The diocese declined specific comment on the lawsuit, but pointed to Barbarito’s previous denials of Gallagher’s allegations. In those statements, made last year after Gallagher went public with his accusation, Barbarito says that he and other church officials acted appropriately when Gallagher informed them of Palimattom’s crime. “We not only immediately reported the incident to the police and state attorney, but cooperated as fully in the investigation as we could,” Barbarito said in one statement that was read in churches throughout the diocese. “Father Gallagher’s harmful assertions are an embarrassment to my brother priests as well as to me.”

Gallagher, 49 and a priest since 1992, came to the United States from his native Northern Ireland in 2000 and became the head priest at Holy Name of Jesus in West Palm Beach in April 2014. That following December, Palimattom arrived from India and was assigned to be Gallagher’s assistant. According to the lawsuit, church officials in India did not tell Gallagher that Palimattom had been previously accused of sexually abusing children.

Gallagher says in the lawsuit that on Jan. 5, 2015, three weeks after Palimattom’s arrival, a 14-year-old boy complained that Palimattom had shown him sexually explicit photographs of naked boys who were approximately 6 years old. Gallagher says he immediately confronted Palimattom, who admitted showing the photographs to the teen. The conversation was witnessed by a retired Palm Beach County sheriff’s detective and his wife, the church’s office manager. “His (Palimattom’s) answer was, ‘I’ve done this before, I have gone to confession, been told to say my prayers and everything will be OK,’” Gallagher said Wednesday.

Gallagher says he and the retired detective contacted the state attorney’s office and were told that the teen’s father had already reported Palimattom, who was arrested the next day. He said he then called the diocese and was told that the normal procedure would be to send Palimattom home to India. He says he was also told not to offer too much information to investigators, but he says he recounted his entire conversation with Palimattom to detectives. He also turned over a security video showing the conversation.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office issued two commendation letters to Gallagher thanking him for his assistance. Chief Deputy Michael Gauger and Detective Debi Phillips each wrote that in previous investigations of sexual abuse the local church had not cooperated, so they were pleased by how helpful Gallagher had been. (Two previous bishops of the diocese resigned after admitting to sexually abusing boys before arriving in Florida).

Gallagher said he then wrote letters to high-ranking Catholic officials, saying Palm Beach Diocese officials had tried to cover up the Palimattom case. He said Barbarito retaliated by driving him from Holy Name of Jesus by turning the Spanish-speaking portion of the parish against him. He said that in May 2015 when he was hospitalized for a possible heart attack, Barbarito showed up in his room and berated him, accusing him of faking. He said that when he was released, he found that he had been locked out of the parish.

After some Holy Name of Jesus parishioners publicly protested his dismissal, Barbarito had diocesesan priests read a statement in January 2016 at all Masses saying Gallagher was spreading falsehoods. On a Facebook page, one diocese official wrote Gallagher “is blatantly lying and in need of professional help as well as our prayers and mercy.” Similar statements were made to local news media.

Gallagher said Wednesday that he is unsure if he wants to remain a priest. “Why would I ever trust them again?” he asked.

GOODNEWS FOR SURVIVORS IN SWITZERLAND

Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, the Austrian correspondent for the London-based weekly Catholic magazine “The Tablet”, has written the following article for the US National Catholic Reporter concerning the Swiss Bishops’ Conference positive act of setting up of a fund for abuse cases outside statute of limitations.

The Swiss Bishops’ Conference has set up a special compensation fund for victims of clergy sexual abuse whose cases are barred by statute of limitations. Victims who were abused years ago and whose cases, according to both state and church law, fall under the statute of limitations were particularly distressing for the Swiss bishops, Lausanne Bishop Charles Morerod told the press in Sion, Switzerland. “For far too long, the church turned a blind eye on these victims who are in a particularly difficult situation and have not been provided with any reparation,” Morerod, president of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, said, “The conference decided to create a fund for those victims who no longer had the right to seek redress in court”.

The bishops put aside an initial sum of 500,000 Swiss francs (US$493,500) for the special fund. All Swiss dioceses, the Union of Religious Major Superiors of Switzerland, and other church organizations in the country are contributing to the fund. An independent commission has been set up to decide on the amount of compensation each victim should receive, Morerod said. Many of the recorded cases dated back to the 1950s but the Swiss bishops and religious superiors said they continue to be grateful for every report of sexual abuse by clergy or church employees. They called on victims to keep coming forward, deserving justice even if the abuse occurred long ago.

Before the press conference, all 11 members of the bishops’ conference, representatives of the religious superiors group, and a delegation of victims gathered at Valère Basilica in Sion for a penitential service. The 12th-century basilica, which is situated on a hill, has been a place of pilgrimage “to which people have brought their burdens and troubles for centuries,” Morerod said. He added that “zero tolerance” and “complete transparency” were called for as far as clergy sexual abuse was concerned. He thanked the public for pressuring the church regarding the abuse. One of the victims at the service, a woman in her 50s, came forward and related her life story in a broken voice. Her father had been a priest and she had four half-siblings who all had different mothers. The bishops and religious superiors joined her in saying, “We pray that clergy sexual abuse may never again be swept under the carpet, belittled or relativized.”

The bishops then knelt and, led by Morerod, prayed, “A grievous sin committed by individual members of the church but facilitated by certain patterns of behavior and thinking in the church has come to light. The sin has several levels: the abusive act, the complicit silence and the failure to render assistance to the victims. We feel responsible and thank the victims for opening our eyes.”

The Swiss bishops’ conference updated its sexual abuse guidelines for the third time in 2014. They now include religious groups and activities not previously under the responsibility of the dioceses. New church employees have to undergo a check of their criminal record. The new guidelines also aim to ensure better transparency when priests are moved from one diocese to another.

SHARING STORIES OF SEXUAL ABUSE “HELPS TO HEAL THE HURT”

(Augustinian Fr. Paul F. Morrissey (author of “The Black Wall of Silence) wrote the following article for the National Catholic Reporter. Sharing stories of sexual abuse ‘helps to heal the hurt’).

Having the horror heard helps to heal the hurt.” My stepmother, Dot, shared her wonderfully alliterative mantra with me years ago as we pondered the benefits of a person going to a counselor when stuck in pain. In her wise and eye-twinkling way, Dot, whose husband had been struck by a car and killed many years before, leaving her with 12 children to raise, was telling me how she had survived.

After my mother died suddenly from brain cancer at 64, my father, Tom, was traumatized with grief and seemed to be on his way “out of the picture,” as he used to say of others who had died. One of my nine sisters, Kate, challenged him to get up and start living again. “Because at least you had a life before Mama, but we never did,” she reminded him. My father not only started to live again, five years later he married Dot. Between the two of them, Dot with her 12 kids, and Tom with his 14, they had 26 mostly grown children. Talk about having the horror heard!

Dot’s mantra shows how she understands people getting over the pains of life. They need to be heard. If someone is willing to listen to the horrors that befall us, it feels like we are not alone. We can bear it and even find meaning in it. As St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Bear one another’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.” I believe this is one of the keys to understanding and healing the sexual abuse wounds in the church. It isn’t that people are just looking to bash the church, or that they want to wallow in victimhood. They desperately need to be heard so that the hurt can be healed in God’s way. When I experienced this phenomenon recently, Dot’s almost hokey way of describing our primal human need came back to me.

At first I had resisted the invitation. The “Circle of Healing” would be dealing with the clergy sexual abuse crisis and cover-up in the Catholic church. Even though this gathering would take place in a beautiful, sunny, comfortable living room of someone’s Victorian home in Philadelphia, I wondered what the real agenda was. I knew the facilitator who had invited me, a former member of my religious order’s novitiate class over 50 years ago, and I trusted him. But as one of perhaps only a few priests participating, would I be a target for the anger of any survivors of abuse there? Could I really listen to all of their grief on a Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.? I phoned my friend and shared my fears. As a former director of the Voice of the Faithful organization, he assured me that it would be a safe process, one where all 12 participants could get in touch with the feelings we have about the crisis. This would be an opportunity for me to share my own feelings as well, but only what I felt comfortable sharing, and listen to other Catholics who have been struggling to be faithful to the church.

A few survivors of sexual abuse by priests would be present. The goal was to provide an opportunity to begin healing, not necessarily forgiveness, to whatever extent this grace came to each participant. It would even help the church as a whole, he said, in this small step of faith taken by some of its members. Yet, who heals the priests, I thought? Even though still wondering about what I would feel safe sharing or hearing, I decided to attend. It turns out that I was helped in my own healing process. First by being welcomed as a person, not so much as a priest who represents the organization in which the abuse occurred. Like everyone, I was invited to be present and speak as one who has his own unique history with the church.

As the “talking stick” was passed around, I began to feel my two-sided experience of the abuse and cover-up crisis. First, I have my own personal spiritual-sexual journey with its joys and wounds, including experiences long before I became a priest on up to the present. Second, as a priest I am in a position of authority in the church, even one of “them.” I realized that I needed to express and receive forgiveness on both of these levels, if I felt safe doing so. Surprisingly, I felt this safety, almost like I had “come home”, as each participant spoke so honestly about themselves. There was no “cross talk” after each person took a turn speaking, but I could sense in their listening the love and respect they had for each other and for me. Most of all, I discovered that I needed to hear the stories of the group’s three survivors of sexual abuse. I wanted to see their faces and to hear their pain, their sense of betrayal and anger at their church leaders, even if this was in a way that included me. Each of their faith journeys was astounding, even more their continued involvement in the church. I came away with more hope for the church. Our people are stronger in their faith than we may think.

Yet, more than my own experience of this Circle of Healing, it seems important to recount the words of one of the survivors. Jim had wept at times when he spoke, and I reconstruct what follows from conversing with him afterward. He has graciously granted me permission to publish this so it might help others. As a victim of clergy abuse, one often wonders why you were picked. Why did Father pick me? He was the assistant pastor in charge of the altar boys. Sadly, he had access to many boys. I know there were others. How many I have no idea.

One of the participants mentioned choosing vulnerable kids and I was certainly one of those. Growing up in an alcoholic family was extremely difficult. When I was 8, 9 and 10, I was often awakened by my parents arguing one floor below. It was so loud and frightening that I would hide in the bedroom closet with a pillow held over my head. I prayed to God for the fighting to stop. It never did. After a while I stopped praying. When I was 11, a group of boys were playing in a wooded area near our homes. One of the boys decided he needed to relieve himself and peed against a tree. Another boy followed. One of the boys who was there lived across the street from me. He was an only child. I don’t know what he told his mother but when I got home, I was sent to my room. When my father got home, I was beaten for almost an hour on my bare backside with a belt. I refused to admit I had peed in the woods because I had not. At one point, I remember my father saying he was going to beat the queerness out of me. I was an 11-year-old Catholic kid. I had no idea what he was talking about. It took me years to realize that the beating had nothing to do with me. My father was beating his own demons.

Less than a year later, I was molested by a Catholic priest. How did he molest me? By trumping up a false charge and spanking me on my bare backside. Coincidence? I think not. When I was in seventh grade, the priest who molested me gave a class on the birds and the bees to the boys in my class. Someone was writing four letter words on the blackboard between classes. So, they decided to have a sex talk. Father didn’t talk about pedophilia or how some people get a kick out of spanking little boys.

What can you say to this man? During the day of sharing I felt myself avoiding his glance. And yet I wanted to reach out to him, but how? A hug could be dangerous I thought, given his history. So, I sidled up at a coffee break and thanked him, yet didn’t shake his hand. This mix of feelings, a paralysis even, is what stymies the church from offering any system-wide approach to healing for our people. Anything the clergy does will be suspect. So, we hire lawyers to keep ourselves safe and it all winds up being tried in courts. But has anything really been reconciled by this? I believe that a way for the church to move forward and build trust again, possibly discover forgiveness in God’s time, is through these Circles of Healing. But this model by itself is too small, with too few able to be helped. Somehow, we’ve got to magnify this experience of healing for the church as a whole. Some brave bishops need to participate in this process. What would be crucial to be determined ahead of time is confidentiality. For example, would anything the bishops heard or said be grounds for legal claims and issues? It is daunting to even think of these issues and potential complications. But if we do nothing, we remain in the present model, most of it reduced to court cases and settlements, jail sentences, no real reconciliation, and the church locked in a “no trust” path. Surely something can be done differently. A Circle of Healing could be a start. If we are willing to listen to each other’s pain and sense of betrayal, we may begin to heal and discover our awesome ability to set each other free. Having the horror heard helps to heal the hurt.

ENDS

Pope declares ‘zero tolerance’ for sexual abuse in Catholic church —  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/03/pope-declares-zero-tolerance-for-sexual-abuse-in-catholic-church

Pope Francis to World’s Bishops: Have Courage to Protect the Innocent

‘Forward’- by Brian Mark Hennessy

A number of news outlets have published a letter written to the Bishops of the World on 28^th December 2016, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, but which has only just been released to the public by the Vatican. Pope Francis has said the Church “weeps bitterly” over minors sexually abused by priests and how such cases have been mishandled, saying it is a “sin that shames us”. It is another of the landmark homilies of Pope Francis on a range of world issues affecting children and it deserves to be repeated in full in this blog – which is dedicated to the long list of Victims of Child Sexual Abuse at the Comboni Missionary Order’s Mirfield Seminary in Yorkshire, England. In his letter, Pope Francis says that the clerical sexual abuse of minors – “is a sin that shames us. Persons responsible for the protection of those children destroyed their dignity. We regret this deeply and we beg forgiveness. We join in the pain of the victims and weep for this sin. The sin of what happened, the sin of failing to help, the sin of covering up and denial, the sin of the abuse of power”. Regrettably, it is imperative that I comment that the Hierarchy of the Comboni Missionary Order of Verona, Italy, has not heeded the words of Pope Francis on the subject of child sexual abuse in the past and continually fails to acknowledge events of sexual abuse that have been known to them for some five decades.  I anticipate that they would do so only grudgingly even if Pope Francis, through his Curia and on pain of sanctions determinedly endeavoured to coerce them to comply.

 The letter of Pope Francis sent to the Bishops of the world on

December 28, 2016, Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs.

Dear Brother,

Today, on the feast of the Holy Innocents, as the words of the angel to the shepherds still resound in our hearts – “I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour” (Lk 2: 10-11) – I feel the need to write to you. We do well to listen to that proclamation again and again; to hear over and over again that God is present in the midst of our people. This certainty, which we renew each year, is the source of our joy and hope. In these days we experience how the liturgy leads us to the heart of Christmas, into the Mystery which gradually draws us to the source of Christian joy.

As pastors, we are called to help foster this joy among the faithful. We are charged with protecting this joy. I ask you once again that we not let ourselves be robbed of this joy, for we can be disillusioned at times, not unreasonably, with the world around us, with the Church, or even with ourselves, and feel tempted to indulge in a certain melancholy, lacking in hope, which can lay hold of our hearts (cf. Evangelii Gaudium 83).

Christmas is also accompanied, whether we like it or not, by tears. The Evangelists did not disguise reality to make it more credible or attractive. They did not indulge in words that were comforting but unrelated to reality. For them, Christmas was not a flight to fantasy, a way of hiding from the challenges and injustices of their day. On the contrary, they relate the birth of the Son of God as an event fraught with tragedy and grief. Quoting the prophet Jeremiah, Matthew presents it in the bluntest of terms: “A voice is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children” (2:18). It is the sobbing of mothers bewailing the death of their children in the face of Herod’s tyranny and unbridled thirst for power.

Today too, we hear this heart-rending cry of pain, which we neither desire nor are able to ignore or to silence. In our world – I write this with a heavy heart – we continue to hear the lamentation of so many mothers, of so many families, for the death of their children, their innocent children.

To contemplate the manger also means to contemplate this cry of pain, to open our eyes and ears to what is going on around us, and to let our hearts be attentive and open to the pain of our neighbours, especially where children are involved. It also means realizing that that sad chapter in history is still being written today. To contemplate the manger in isolation from the world around us would make Christmas into a lovely story that inspires warm feelings but robs us of the creative power of the Good News that the Incarnate Word wants to give us. The temptation is real.

Can we truly experience Christian joy if we turn our backs on these realities? Can Christian joy even exist if we ignore the cry of our brothers and sisters, the cry of the children?

Saint Joseph was the first to be charged with protecting the joy of salvation. Faced with the atrocious crimes that were taking place, Saint Joseph – the model of an obedient and loyal man – was capable of recognizing God’s voice and the mission entrusted to him by the Father. Because he was able to hear God’s voice, and was docile to his will, Joseph became more conscious of what was going on around him and was able to interpret these events realistically.

The same thing is asked of us pastors today: to be men attentive, and not deaf, to the voice of God, and hence more sensitive to what is happening all around us. Today, with Saint Joseph as our model, we are asked not to let ourselves be robbed of joy. We are asked to protect this joy from the Herods of our own time. Like Joseph, we need the courage to respond to this reality, to arise and take it firmly in hand (cf. Mt 2:20). The courage to guard this joy from the new Herods of our time, who devour the innocence of our children. An innocence robbed from them by the oppression of illegal slave labour, prostitution and exploitation. An innocence shattered by wars and forced immigration, with the great loss that this entails. Thousands of our children have fallen into the hands of gangs, criminal organizations and merchants of death, who only devour and exploit their neediness.

To illustrate this point, there are at present 75 million children who, due to prolonged situations of emergency and crisis, have had to interrupt their education. In 2015, 68% of all persons who were victims of sexual exploitation were children. At the same time, a third of all children who have to live outside their homelands do so because forcibly displaced. We live in a world where almost half of the children who die under the age of five do so because of malnutrition. It is estimated that in 2016 there were 150 million child labourers, many of whom live in conditions of slavery. According to the most recent report presented by UNICEF, unless the world situation changes, in 2030 there will be 167 million children living in extreme poverty, 69 million children under the age of five will die between 2016 and 2030, and 16 million children will not receive basic schooling.

We hear these children and their cries of pain; we also hear the cry of the Church our Mother, who weeps not only for the pain caused to her youngest sons and daughters, but also because she recognizes the sins of some of her members: the sufferings, the experiences and the pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests. It is a sin that shames us. Persons responsible for the protection of those children destroyed their dignity. We regret this deeply and we beg forgiveness. We join in the pain of the victims and weep for this sin. The sin of what happened, the sin of failing to help, the sin of covering up and denial, the sin of the abuse of power. The Church also weeps bitterly over this sin of her sons and she asks forgiveness. Today, as we commemorate the feast of the Holy Innocents, I would like us to renew our complete commitment to ensuring that these atrocities will no longer take place in our midst. Let us find the courage needed to take all necessary measures and to protect in every way the lives of our children, so that such crimes may never be repeated. In this area, let us adhere, clearly and faithfully, to “zero tolerance”. 

Christian joy does not arise on the fringes of reality, by ignoring it or acting as if it did not exist. Christian joy is born from a call – the same call that Saint Joseph received – to embrace and protect human life, especially that of the holy innocents of our own day. Christmas is a time that challenges us to protect life, to help it be born and grow. It is a time that challenges us as bishops to find new courage. The courage that generates processes capable of acknowledging the reality that many of our children are experiencing today, and working to ensure them the bare minimum needed so that their dignity as God’s children will not only be respected but, above all, defended.

Let us not allow them to be robbed of joy. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of joy, but guard it and nourish its growth.  May we do this with the paternal fidelity of Saint Joseph and guided by Mary, Mother of tender love, so that our own hearts may never grow hard.

With fraternal affection,

FRANCIS

From the Vatican, 28 December 2016

Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs

Link to the Alan Corbett interview.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwi_uPSvoozRAhUZdVAKHTzvC2QQFggfMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fprogrammes%2Fb082vys4&usg=AFQjCNF7RDZOvkpcth_L7jcJ07yhiDUAKA&sig2=hF5QtW-9HXWoGERQGKd4tg

Psychotherapist Alan Corbett has written a book about what he calls ‘the invisible men’, men who have experienced sexual trauma, either in childhood or in adult life. 
He talks to Jane about why so few men are able to reveal the awful experiences they’ve endured, the toxic effects of sexual abuse not only on male survivors but on partners and children as well, and the difference long term therapy can make for some men.

Radio 4 link below – click on it

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08558s3

This radio 4,  Women’s Hour programme,   may be of interest to viewers of the blog.

It highlites the relationship difficulties that adults very often  have with male partners who were sexually abused as children.

Mark

NEWS IN BRIEF

(By Brian Mark Hennessy)

• The “Self Serving” Nature of the Catholic Church

“News.com.au”, an Australian news outlet, carried a short article on 1^st December 2016 (by Rebekah Ison of the Australian Associated Press) of a submission by Francis Sullivan, the Chief Executive of the “Truth, Justice and Healing Council” to the “Royal Commission Into Responses to Child Sexual Abuse”.  It was nothing less than a tirade against the Catholic Church. A justified tirade, nevertheless, in my opinion. Indeed, it was a broadside so full of censure that I could have written it myself – and probably have done so in similar vein quite often about one of the Church’s Religious Orders, the Comboni Missionary Order of Verona, Italy. Francis Sullivan, however, was addressing the attitude of the prelates and clerics of the diocesan Catholic Church “down under” in Australia.

He lambasted the Church’s “clericalist culture”, characterized by “power, privilege” and “self-promotion”. He said during a hearing into criminal justice issues in Sydney, “It is a culture that has lost sight of its ethos and, in a sense, lost the capacity for self-reflection”. He continued, “That can be any institution, but the Catholic Church’s history here is shameful and confronting”.

Mr Sullivan also made a point that we have raised here in our Blog – and that is that forgiveness for child abuse in confession must, in essence, be conditional on true sorrow – and that the profession of that sorrow and the process of forgiveness must be conditional also on reporting the facts of the abuse to the civil authorities. Absolution does not come free of charge.

This is an interesting, but contentious, point because the Catholic Church has taught the doctrine of “true sorrow” since Saints Paul and Timothy each made declarations on the matter of forgiveness (See: Acts of the Apostles). Indeed, the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 and the Council of Trent in 1515 both addressed the nature of the sacrament of confession – and pronounced that all the faithful should individually confess to their priests. The Council of Trent, however, stated quite specifically that sins should be confessed “in a faithful manner”. It could not be more clear! The Catholic Church needs to insist that such contrite “faithfulness” in confession is conditional also on the reporting of the most grave of sins (when injury is done to another) to both canonical and civil jurisdictions by either the confessor or the priest offering God’s forgiveness – or more appropriately, to ensure compliance, by both individuals.

I can see the clerics of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith throwing up their hands in horror right now – but it is the logic nevertheless. The Vatican “dogma termites” should read back over the “Summa Theologiae” of St Thomas Aquinas – whom they often quote to their advantage – as I do now – for he categorically stated that “due obedience is to be given to the civilian power when there is no moral issue that precludes so doing.” In the case of Child Sexual Abuse there is not only no moral issue that precludes so doing – but there is a clear and absolute moral imperative to report instances of child sexual abuse to the civil authorities so as to prevent the penitent paedophile (whether cleric or civilian) from proliferating such abuse further. It is the solemn duty of all adults to protect innocent children – including priests. Christ said it himself: “suffer not little children to come unto me”. There is an imperative for action there and that is that the innocence of children is an exceptional human state of grace that must never be violated. Those that do violate it must answer to both those endowed with authority to protect children here on earth and to Christ Himself. Confession is not an exception to that rule and crimes against children (call them “sins” insipidly if you wish) should never be reduced to a “rubber stamp” and three “Hail Marys”.

On the same day, the Royal Commission heard submissions regarding an obligation on the reporting of allegations of child sexual abuse. The Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) submitted that the reporting obligation should relate to all citizens – with discretion in the case of Victims who may have taken decades to report the abuse. Controversially, perhaps, one ALA Barrister, Dr Andrew Morrison, said that the obligation of such reporting should extend to all victims, regardless of their wishes: “Whilst it is stressful and traumatic for Victims, the damage done to other potential Victims is far more serious”.

No doubt that “seemingly” logical statement will be hotly debated! However, Dr Andrew Morrison does have a point that needs consideration – if even to be dis-regarded by further enlightenment. From my own experience I can only add that it was not for many years and far into adulthood that I even realized that I had been duped into thinking that a series of medical inspections were, in fact, acts of extreme sexual abuse. (Call me stupid if you wish – for I think that myself at times). Moreover, the only truly motivating factor for me in reporting the abuse at the late stage that I did was due to the fact that I had come to realise that once the abusing clerics had been detected, they were rapidly moved out of the UK legal jurisdiction by the hierarchy of the Comboni Missionary Order. To where exactly you may ask? Why, for the most part to far off “Third World” mission territories where those habitual paedophiles could continue to abuse untold generations of children for years to come without discovery, blame or censure.

The “knowing complicity” of Catholic hierarchies, both Diocesan and Religious, in the proliferation of sexual abuse in the Third World by ridding advanced legal jurisdictions of their “dirty linen” is a hideous story that has depths yet untold. That story is one which must be revealed and the hierarchical clerical perpetrators of that unscrupulous proliferation of assaults on innocents must answer for their crimes of indifference to the physical and mental suffering of children that they have inflicted. “Out of sight – out of mind” was their motto. However, such a motto of convenience has been used in living history both in Europe and beyond by the most evil of regimes the world has ever known in order to set themselves apart from any blame. Discovery followed by justice must eventually reverse that unsustainable and hideous “no blame” game.

• The United Kingdom Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse: Informal Seminars

Mr Peter Skelton QC, a “Lead Counsel” to IICSA (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse), is addressing a series of informal seminars in Fleet Street, London, (which are open to the public) for legal and insurance professionals on a range of matters relating to the processes of bringing a case of child abuse to Court or to a Settlement. The purpose is for the Inquiry to learn from the experiences of those professionals whose work specialises in the various aspects of child sexual abuse cases. The first sessions were dedicated to compensation levels in child abuse cases, the costs to the legal teams preparing such cases, the levels of public funding that are available and other issues relating to the nature of the adversarial system, limitation, consent and vicarious liability.  Further seminars are scheduled for discussions on compensation, accountability, reparations and reforms to the existing system.

Whilst much, if not all, of the context is legal, the discussions of the difficulties that legal advocates face when judging whether or not to take a case on and go to Court or try to reach a settlement are of significant interest to Victims of abuse – who may not necessarily understand why legal teams representing them appear to suddenly change direction. Moreover, Victims themselves may, very often, not pursue cases, because of the financial jeopardy involved. Often, the balance of “whether or not” there will be a successful outcome for the Victim, based on the evidence at hand, is crucial to the further conduct of a case. Such a judgement and the financial constraints of proceedings can become too onerous for both the legal team, which is a business, and the Victim, who each out of necessity, must, in the long term, remain solvent.

The Inquiry wants to highlight such issues publicly so that measures to reform the legal system, which depends on adequate funding of the costs involved, does not militate against a case being taken to a successful conclusion. All too often under current legislation and practice, funding availability, onerous court costs, high specialists’ fees, time delays in obtaining (sometimes multiple) Police Jurisdiction District records and Local Authority social worker reports – may combine to lessen the likelihood of a case ever getting the legal outcome that Victims deserve.

The Transcripts of the Seminar Sessions are available on the IICSA Official Website (reference: iicsa291116) and are of interest to both professionals working in the field of child abuse and Victims of child abuse alike. I advise non-legal minded readers that they need to be doggedly tenacious, if not stubbornly mulish to get through it (and there is not much difference between the two) – but the transcript yields up new perspectives on how the legal and insurance professionals themselves are often at the mercy of factors outside of their immediate control.

1. The Archbishop of Guam – A Canonical Trial is ‘Underway’

In a recent post on this blog I mentioned that the now ex-Archbishop Apurna of Guam, accused of historic sexual abuse of five altar boys, was awaiting either a Canonical Trial or Dismissal by a Papal Decree for his alleged crimes. His replacement, the Co-Adjutor Archbishop Michael Burns (a previous Auxilary Bishop of Detroit) stated recently (as was reported by Joshua McElwee of the National Catholic Reporter) that the Trial has been initiated, the arguments have been exchanged and a period of examination and investigation has commenced.

This will be the first (known) trial of a prelate accused of abuse to get fully underway. A similar Trial was set up in 2015 to try allegations of abuse by a Polish Archbishop, but the prelate died in “prison” in the Vatican before the trial commenced. Archbishop Wesolowski, 67, the former Vatican nuncio to the Dominican Republic, was confined to a “Vatican property” while awaiting trial. His body was found at about 5 a.m. by a priest who lived in the same building, which houses the Franciscans who hear confessions in St. Peter’s Basilica, as well as offices of the Vatican police force. Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who was awaiting trial in the Vatican on charges of child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography, died late on August 27^th 2015 of a “cardiac incident,” the Vatican said.

Despite the assurances of Bishop Burns that a trial has commenced and is proceeding in the case of Apuron, Vatican watchers are holding their breath. Since the death of Wesolowski, a number of senior prelates throughout the world have been accused of sexual abuse crimes of children. In each case the Vatican has adopted the less rigorously legal route of departure from office by resignation. Whether or not in those instances the resignation was offered to the Pope or ordered by him is unsure. What makes the case of Archbishop Apuron different from that of his contemporaries is neither known and nor has been explained. Civil organisations that follow every word the Vatican utters on its confusing child abuse strategy await the outcome with much interest.

• Cardinal Pell – Again!

Cardinal Pell, who is under investigation for child sexual abuse cases in Australia was the subject of a previous article on this blog which wondered why the Pope had stripped him of some of his very recently acquired new duties as Chief Executive of the Vatican Bank. (He is not called that – but you understand what I mean). The latest news is that in addition to the loss of those duties, he has been sidelined once more by being dropped from the star line-up of another Vatican Office that manages the Catholic Churches Liturgical practices within the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

The Vatican has posted the new membership of the sixteen Congregation Members and the representatives from Church’s throughout the Catholic World. It seems that the Pope’s has deselected a number of very senior prelates from positions of authority – and who knows – he may be preparing the ground for their retirement from all of their distinguished top jobs.

Apart from George Pell, another of the Cardinals who has lost his job is Cardinal Raymond Burke of the United States, a rigid dogmatist who has opposed the Pope publicly over the encyclical “Amoris Laetitia” – the “Joy of Love”. Some Vatican Watchers suggest that Cardinal Burke is about to have his Cardinal’s Cap rescinded by Pope Francis. (That would upset Cardinal Burke no end! For those interested in Vatican “Fashion”, you may wish to search the web for photographs of Cardinal Burke – the only Catholic Cardinal Prelate in the contemporary Church to wear extravagant and costly mediaeval “princely regalia” and to have a cloak that would compete in the length of it’s train with the wedding dress of Princess Diana).

The third is Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada who is considered to be a “traditionalist” who has opposed dialogue with other faiths and religions. He is reported to consider that Vatican II, upon which Pope Francis has built his platform for inter-collegial dialogue amongst the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the pressing contemporary moral issues of the age, was far too liberal.

Advent is upon us. It is Autumn – and it seems that Pope Francis is pruning the Vatican tree of its dead and dying wood before the frosts of Winter arrive – so that the Tree bears fresh and vigorous shoots in the Spring. Of course, Pope Francis will not put it quite like that. He is both more generous in spirit and benevolent in deed than am I – and fortunately more “merciful” in his understanding of the little people who have to contend with the battle of survival from day to day rather than with the intricasies of Vatican dogma. Long may he rein.

• Cardinal Wuerl Apologises to a Victim of Clerical Sexual Abuse.

The Catholic News Agency, “CRUX”, once associated with the Boston Globe, has recorded today, 2^nd December 2016, that Cardinal Wuerl has apologized for initially voicing doubts about a seminarian’s claims in 1988 that as a young boy he had been sexually abused by a priest named Anthony Cipolla. The Victim, Tim Bendig, was gracious and responded, “I am humbled that Cardinal Wuerl went above and beyond not only to speak out for the many victims, but specifically apologizing to me.”

In his 1988 lawsuit, Bendig named the Reverend Anthony Cipolla as his abuser. Despite Wuerl’s initial skepticism, Cipolla was removed from the ministry – “defrocked” by the Vatican in clerical parlance. However, Cardinal Wuerl went to the extraordinary length of successfully fighting against that Vatican court order in order to have Cipolla re-instated. Now Wuerl has stated that Bendig “had told the truth about a priest who was a terrible danger to children”. I just wonder when he had first realized that – for Cardinal Wuerl has not so far said. Crux has reported that Cipolla was never charged with a crime and denied wrongdoing. He died this year,

In apologizing, Wuerl said he was among those who were not immediately persuaded by Bendig’s claims, but now says, “I have since learned to be less hesitant in taking at face value such allegations. Innocent people who gain public attention for coming forward should not be slandered because they did the right thing by seeking action against an abuser.”

“Telling that truth helped all of us to become a better church,” Wuerl said in an interview on November 23 in the church newspaper in Washington, the Catholic Standard. Actually, in my view, the reverse is true, for not telling the Truth for decades has made the Church a very much worse place – and Wuerl’s scrambling to deflect the further damage that is in store for him and his fellow bishops has all the hallmarks of being nothing other than a crude gesture to salvage what they can from the shipwreck of an impending storm of justified criticism.

It is no coincidence, in the view of many observers, that Cardinal Wuerl’s apology has been served up as state prosecutors are investigating how the Pittsburgh Diocese and others across Pennsylvania have handled abuse claims going back for decades. Wuerl, amongst others may well be in the frame for criticism. I stand with David Clohessy, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who has said in a statement Wednesday that the group is glad Bendig is pleased with the apology. However, David Clohessy has further remarked that, “SNAP believes Wuerl is using Bendig to do ‘damage control’ ahead of the grand jury disclosures on how Pennsylvania dioceses dealt with abuse claims, including when Wuerl was bishop from 1988 to 2006”.

I note that Cardinal Wuerl is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was Bishop for a full 18 years until his appointment to Washington. He was made a Cardinal Priest and received his Cardinal’s cap in 2010. His titular church in Rome is “San Pietro in Vincoli”. That is a surprisingly apt titular seat for Cardinal Wuerl – for it translates as “Saint Peter in Chains”. I suggest that it is now an opportune moment for serious reflection and meditation by Cardinal Wuerl upon how Mr Bendig, the Victim of clerical abuse that he dismissed, but whom he now seeks to vindicate to save his own neck, has spent a quarter of a century in the metaphorical chains of being branded by him as a liar.

This photograph was sent to me. It was suggested that it was put on the blog. I hope there are no objections – if there are, email the blog,  and it will be taken down.

It was before my time at Mirfileld …. any names.

ABUSE ROUND-UP FROM THE RECENT PRESS

       “SNAP WRITES A LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF YAKIMA: ‘WITHDRAW!’”

(From an original Report by Dan Morris-Young is NCR – Paraphrase and additions by Brian Mark Hennessy)

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) have asked, in a letter to Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson, to remove himself from “his race for chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.” (The SNAP letter to Tyson is signed by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, and by Robert Fontana of Seattle, founder of the central Washington chapter of “Voice of the Faithful”).

SNAP charged that Tyson had “done virtually nothing to undo the damage” done by past clerical sex abusers in the Yakima diocese and those who shielded them. A diocesan official on November 11th responded that “almost without exception, our people express gratitude for the increased awareness they have gained – information that most are not receiving anywhere else” on sex abuse. In an email to NCR, Msgr. Robert Siler, Yakima chancellor and moderator of the curia, wrote: “We have beefed up our training program this past year, introducing live ‘Virtus’ abuse prevention training sessions in English and Spanish that take 2.5 to 3 hours. We have trained more than 1,000 employees and volunteers. I have personally conducted 80 percent of those training sessions.”

To some, such comments are nothing less than a smoke screen to divert attention from the matter of Bishop Tyson’s suitability for the post he seeks to gain. In a news release, SNAP says that when Tyson “publicly expressed hopes that he would ‘take immediate steps to warn Mexican families and officials about the Deacon, named Ramirez, and tell the full truth about allegations against Fr. Darrel Mitchell.” SNAP claims Tyson, in fact, did neither.

In a 2003 public letter, Tyson’s predecessor Bishop Carlos Sevilla, wrote, “Deacon Aaron Ramirez avoided prosecution by fleeing to Mexico in August 1999 and was, in July 2000, subsequently laicized (which means that, by a decree of the Pope, Aaron Ramirez is no longer in any way to be identified or function as an ordained minister of the Church).” Ramirez was accused of abuse of a 17-year-old boy in 1999. It has been reported that Ramirez became an Episcopal priest and that he was released from Episcopal ministry in 2006.

Mitchell was accused of having nude pictures of boys on his computer in 2003. In 2014, SNAP criticized Tyson “for quietly putting Mitchell, who had been suspended twice, back into parish work,”. However, according to Siler, Mitchell “was returned to ministry by Bishop Carlos Sevilla, S.J., prior to Bishop Tyson coming to the Diocese, after a recommendation to do so by the Diocesan Lay Advisory Board. Fr. Mitchell voluntarily requested an assignment outside of parish ministry, and has done stellar work as director of Calvary Cemetery in Yakima. He has been given permission to do weekend sacramental ministry by both Bishop Sevilla and Bishop Tyson, following review and approval by the Lay Advisory Board. He has served the Church well in that capacity.”

In a statement forwarded to the National Catholic Reporter, Tyson said: “I was asked by the USCCB leadership if I would be willing to be nominated for the chairmanship of the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, along with Bishop (Timothy) Doherty. I agreed. I do not view Bishop Doherty (bishop of Lafayette) as an ‘opponent,’ as SNAP characterizes it, but as a fellow bishop who is deeply committed to the protection of children and youth, as am I, and I am honored to be nominated.”

In other words, Bishop Tyson did not see that his previous inaction on the issues surrounding Ramirez and Mitchell as being “wanting” in a more robust response. This is somewhat out of kilter with the ‘Key Mission Responsibilities’ of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People, which states that the role to which Bishop Tyson aspires includes: “Advising the bishops on all matters related to child and youth protection and the restoring of “trust” between the bishops and the Church including a sensitivity to the impact on culturally diverse communities”.

In the event, the election did not favour Tyson and a press briefing was issued stating: “Bishop Timothy L. Doherty of Lafayette, Indiana, chairman-elect of the Committee on Protection of Children and Young People in a 128-86 vote over Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of Yakima, Washington”.

Well done SNAP!

“CONFUSING VATICAN ACTION IN THE CASE OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF GUAM”

(By Joshua J. McElwee National Catholic Reporter – Paraphrase and additions by Brian Mark Hennessy)

Archbishop Apuron of the Pacific Island of Guam, has been accused of having inappropriate physical contact with at least five young altar boys in the 1960s and ’70s. The allegations emerged in May when one of the boys, now 52, came forward, prompting others to do the same. The Archbishop has denied the allegations and Guam civil authorities have not charged him with any crimes. Guam’s Catholics, however, were led to expect that Apuron would undergo a canonical trial. This had been expressed to them in a letter in September that was sent to each of the island’s 26 churches. However, a new “universal law” was signed by Pope Francis last June in which it was specified that a bishop’s negligence in response to clergy sexual abuse could lead to his “removal from office” – and all mention of a canonical trial appeared to have been dropped by the Vatican. That move is now the subject of criticism from some survivors’ advocates, who said that the change did not live up to an earlier promise to create a new Vatican tribunal to judge bishops who do not act appropriately when told of allegations of abuse.

Public reaction in Guam to the Vatican’s new approach, however, suggests that the Pope will need to deliver prompt and credible enforcement from Rome if the church is to regain the laity’s confidence. Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston lawyer who played a key role in uncovering the scandal that was featured in the film “Spotlight,” told the National Catholic Reporter that “History has shown us that the Catholic Church is incapable of objectively investigating itself in clergy sexual abuse cases.”

The fact is, as most Vatican watchers will know, that the Vatican has long had the power to remove an offending diocesan prelate, but has rarely used it. A papal spokesman says that Francis’ new order is designed to broaden that power by making it easier to fire a bishop, particularly “when there is negligence in cases of sexual abuse.” The order stresses that any accused bishop will be entitled to defend himself, but that the Pope will exercise the ultimate judgment in investigations. Some say that it is encouraging that Pope Francis is using his authority to push the Vatican machinery to act. Nevertheless, the church faithful will be watching to see whether diocesan leaders will ever be made answerable for their part in sexual abuse itself or in allowing the sexual abuse of children to continue when much of it could have been stopped.

The parishioners of the Dioceses of Guam, meanwhile, have been watching and waiting anxiously and the Guam civil authorities have taken the precaution to revoke the statute of limitations on hearing such allegations. The latest news at the beginning of November is somewhat of a surprise to many for it now appears that Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, whom Pope Francis appointed in June to step-in over Archbishop Anthony Apuron, has informed reporters that all the conditions for a “trial” have now been put in place. “I’m going to receive some news, some updates later,” said Hon, who has been serving as the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator while also remaining the second-in-command of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The Archbishop also reported that the “Holy Father has expressly granted His Excellency Msgr. Byrnes all the faculties, rights and obligations of the Archbishop of Agana, civilly and ecclesiastically without any exception. In other words, as coadjutor archbishop, Msgr. Byrnes has the complete right of responsibility over everything concerning the archdiocese,” said Hon.

One way or another, it seems that Archbishop Apuron is on his way out – but will it be in the form of a “dishonorable discharge” or by sentence of a Canonical Court ratified by the Commander in Chief, Pope Francis? We wait with baited breath! Nevertheless, the fate of Apuron may not end the controversy in the Island of Guam, for other members of the Guam clergy have also been publicly accused of molesting altar boys and boy scouts, including the Rev. Louis Brouillard and the late Rev. Antonio Cruz. The alleged abuses happened in the 1950s and 1970s and are yet to be resolved by the Vatican. When you turn over a stone, you never know what lies beneath!

One thing that is certain to survive in the memory of onlookers if Apuron is found guilty of sexually abusing boys, however he is sidelined in the future, will be his abject hypocrisy. This was demonstrated by his stark and controversial comment: “Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. That is why they repress such behavior by death. Their culture is anything but one of self-absorption. It may be brutal at times, but any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers (women as well as men) is a culture that at least knows how to value self-sacrifice”.

Quite what the World’s LGBT communities will make of that from out of the mouth of one credibly accused of seriously abusing young boys I cannot imagine!

“EXACTLY WHAT IS CARDINAL PELL ACCUSED OF?”

(Credits are due to the “National Catholic Reporter”, “Crux”, “Australian Broadcasting Corporation” and the “L’Osservatore Romano” as paraphrased by Brian Mark Hennessy)

Cardinal George Pell, the de facto treasurer of the Vatican and Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, is being investigated, as most readers will know, in connection with multiple allegations of child sexual assault that date back four decades. A top Australian police official, Graham Ashton, chief police commissioner of the Australian state of Victoria, has confirmed a report by the government-run Australian Broadcasting Corporation which stated that detectives were investigating and had submitted an account of the allegations against Cardinal Pell to Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions. “We investigated and are still investigating,” Mr. Ashton said in an interview with the radio station 3AW in Melbourne, when asked about the inquiry. Earlier, the police had refused to indicate whether the Cardinal was the subject of the investigation, which the ABC had reported. However, in an email, the police said, “Detectives are investigating allegations of historical sexual assaults committed in Ballarat East between 1976 and 1980 and East Melbourne between 1996 and 2001.” The email added: “A brief of evidence has been prepared and presented to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice. Once the advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions is received it will be reviewed. However, as with any investigation, it remains a decision for the Victoria police as to whether charges will be laid.”

Cardinal Pell, now aged 75, was elevated to his current rank of Cardinal in 2003 by Pope John Paul II. Following his summons to the Vatican, he became the Catholic Church’s Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy. His financial acumen on behalf of the Australian Catholic Church was spotted by Pope Francis following his accession and Cardinal Pell was later entrusted by Pope Francis with improving the Holy See’s financial planning, auditing and reporting. In the process, financial functions, previously conducted by other arms of the Holy See, were ceded to Cardinal Pell.

In 2013, Australia established a Royal Commission to conduct an investigation into matters of “great national importance” ie: sexual abuse of children within institutions. As archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, Cardinal Pell co-ordinated the response by the church in the city to allegations of child sexual abuse. Later in 2012, he complained that the news media had begun a campaign against the Catholic Church and since then he has had to answer questions continually about abuse allegations before both the Royal Commission and a Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry. In 2014, he apologized to a former altar boy who was abused by a priest, and he has also said that victims of abuse have the right to sue the church. When questioned in Rome recently in a live television interview regarding his actions in relation to his management of Child Sexual Abuse as a bishop and archbishop he appeared to demonstrate historical, naïve unconcern and disregard of matters relating to child abuse. The result was that the international press poured scorn upon his faltering submissions and responses to the Inquiry.

It is of note that having been appointed as the “Vatican’s Banker”, Cardinal Pell took over many responsibilities for financial affairs from other Departments of the Vatican – notably from the Vatican Secretary of State. Following accusations against Cardinal Pell of a failure to deal adequately with reports of child abuse, that situation has been reversed by Pope Francis who has issued a legal edict, delineating new divisions of responsibility between the Vatican’s Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (under the control of the Vatican Secretary of State) and the Secretariat of the Economy run by Cardinal Pell. According to John L Allen Jnr, a “Vatican Watcher” writing for “Crux”, “There are many ways of analyzing the fault lines in the Vatican, but perhaps the most time-honored is the tension between an Italian old guard and pretty much everybody else. By conventional political logic, the Pope’s new legal edict saw the Italians notch a fairly big win over the New World Cardinal Pell”.

No meaningful explanation, however, has been given by the Vatican for this reversal in the portfolio of Cardinal Pell, but the timing of it shortly after Cardinal Pell was publicly questioned by the Australian Inquiry into allegations of child abuse in the Catholic Church is curious. If the Vatican wanted to be protective of Cardinal Pell they would surely have left things at the level of the “status quo” until the Inquiry had concluded its investigations. Pulling the rug out from under the feet of Cardinal Pell at such a sensitive moment in the proceedings does nothing to suggest that they have confidence in any positive outcome for Cardinal Pell in the Commission’s eventual findings. We will have to wait and see before we can judge, but we cannot help wondering if the Vatican has seen already what is written in the writings on the proverbial wall.

So, what is it that Cardinal Pell himself has actually been accused of – apart from the mismanagement of allegation of child sexual abuse by subordinate clergy in Australia? Well, Cardinal Pell was born and grew up in Ballarat, a Victorian country town. After being ordained as a priest, he began work in his hometown area, best known as a center for gold mining in the 1850s. The “ABC” network reported that two men have said that Cardinal Pell sexually abused them at a swimming pool in Ballarat in the 1970s. “Ballarat”, if you recall from the text above, is where the current investigations by the Australian Police are concentrated. Moreover, one of the accusers Lyndon Monument, has mention Cardinal Pell by name. He told the ABC broadcaster. “I didn’t like it, but because it was the church (and) he was George Pell, we just weren’t game ever to say anything.”

In a statement to the ABC, the cardinal’s office denied the allegations. “Claims he has sexually abused anyone, in any place, at any time in his life are totally untrue and completely wrong,” the statement said. The details of the evidence have not been fully published, but one thing is certain in the world of today that was less than certain historically – is that evidence put forward by Victims alleging historical child sexual abuse is more likely to be given the most serious and grave of considerations today – and believed – than it was in the past. Gone are the days when a white collar around a cleric’s neck would be considered to be the emblem of sacrosanct and impeccable Godly righteousness that it once was. If Cardinal Pell does have anything to hide, he needs to start concocting his letter of resignation now. It may be, of course, that the Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – or indeed the Vatican Secretary of State, on behalf of Pope Francis, has already sent him, just in case he needs it, a draft for consideration!

Father Patrick Wilkinson and Father Rinaldo  Ronzani — does anybody know which missions they are working in.

Are they still Comboni Missionaries.

Mark Murray