‘GOD WEEPS”  by Brian Mark Hennessey

1. On the last day of his visit to the United States yesterday, Pope Francis said “God weeps”. He was not referring to wars that ravaged parts of the world, nor hunger, poverty and physical deprivation. He was referring to child sexual abuse within the Church by clerics of the Church. Saying that he held the suffering of Continue reading →

Your Pope – the one you follow said: “God Weeps’ for Victims of Priest Sexual Abuse”

There was from the Pope:

• no mention of:  “all you want is money” ( Vice Superior of your Mother House in Verona.(
• no mention of: “they should move on”
• no mention of: “they should forget what happened to them”
• no mention of: “it all happened a long time ago”
• no mention of: “there is no point in meeting with you”
• no mention of: “you will be waiting in vain if you are waiting for an apology”  – Superior of your Mother House in Verona

There are many more….

Here is what the Pope did say:

Pope meets with sex-abuse victims, promises accountability

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pope Francis met with victims of child sexual abuse Sunday on the final day of his U.S. visit and promised to hold accountable those responsible for the scandal in the church, delivering a powerful warning to American bishops accused of covering up for pedophile priests instead of reporting them to police

The pontiff disclosed the gesture of reconciliation at the start of a meeting with American bishops gathered in Philadelphia for a big rally on Catholic families.

But in a move that signaled a new effort by the church to redirect the discussion, the Vatican said not all five of the victims were abused by members of the clergy; some of the three women and two men had been victimized by family members or educators.

Francis praised the victims as “true heralds of mercy” who deserve the church’s gratitude for their “essential contribution” toward establishing the truth. Saying sex abuse in the church can no longer be kept a secret, he promised to “zealously” protect young people and see that “all those responsible are held accountable.”

The pope has agreed to create a new Vatican tribunal to prosecute bishops who failed to protect their flock by covering up for pedophile priests.

It was his second such meeting: Last summer he met at the Vatican with a group of victims of child-molesting priests.

But Francis and U.S. bishops have also argued that child molestation is a serious problem beyond the church, especially within families and in schools. The pope’s meeting with victims abused by people other than priests underscored that point.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has been hit hard by the scandal and has been the subject of repeated grand jury investigations, including one that accused it keeping on assignment more than three dozen priests facing serious abuse accusations. A monsignor was found guilty of endangering children by not removing pedophile priests, becoming the first American church official convicted of such an offense.

Victims’ groups had complained earlier in the week that Francis had neglected to address their plight when he congratulated bishops for their “courageous” and generous response to the scandal. Sunday’s meeting took place a day after the pope celebrated Mass with Justin Rigali, the cardinal who was archbishop in Philadelphia when the archdiocese was accused of sheltering pedophiles.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope met with the survivors for a half-hour at the San Carlo Borromeo seminary. He said the pope prayed with them, listened to their stories and expressed his closeness in their suffering and his “pain and shame” in the case of those abused by priests.

“He renewed his commitment and that of the church so that victims are heard and treated with justice, that the guilty are punished and that the crimes of abuse are fought with efficient prevention efforts in the church and society,” Lombardi said in a statement. “The pope thanked the victims for their essential contribution to establish the truth and begin the path of healing.”

Meeting with clergy sex abuse survivors

Pope Francis will meet with victims of clergy sexual abuse Sunday, according to two American Catholic leaders.

The Vatican said it would not confirm such a meeting until after it happens.

What will he say

Comboni Missionaries General Chapter XVIII and General Council

The Comboni Missionaries top brass are assembled in Rome for their General Chapter XVIII. This is a vey important event for them. At the end of the Chapter the GeneralCouncilwill elect a new leader, the new Superior General.The current one, Father Enrico Sanchez will step down. Others who have held the role include the UK Province’s Father David Glenday. The General Chpater is taking place from Aigust 29th to October 4th.

Frs Martin Devenish, Provincial Superior and Tesfamichael are representing the UK Province in Rome at the General Chapter along with Comboni delegates from around the world.

Pope Francis and the Comboni Missionaries

The European Delegates put out the following statement: “We welcome the invitation of Pope Francis to become more and more a missionary Church, and for ourselves as Comboni Missionaries, to re-discover the joy of being missionary disciples in this Europe that is changing rapidly, and to overcome a certain pastoral tiredness and the temptation to withdraw into sterile pessimism.

“Aware that today missionary activity still represents the greatest challenge for the Church and that as Comboni Missionaries we are called – as was already said in the last Chapter of 2009 – to get out of our ‘comfort zone’ and have the courage to reach all the margins that need the light of the Gospel.

The Gospel According to Pope Francis

“We put ourselves in an attitude of searching to understand how to be missionary disciples in Europe today. In light of the call of Pope Francis, we wish to live the dream of God for the world, and be missionaries who go forth, ready to take on a new style beyond the soulless cliché of “We have always done it like that” (EG, No. 33), in order to open ourselves with confidence and courage to the challenges that come from the world of today, to read the Gospel starting from the margins, from the least and the excluded, and really have the “smell of sheep” (EG, No. 24).

“There is a people that awaits us and this requires a continuous ‘going out’ afresh on our part, and demands that we are bold and creative, and that we find new ways of proclamation, of closeness to the poor, of openness and of creativity in catechesis, in Missionary Animation and in the proclamation of the Gospel.”

Fr Martin Devenish, the General Counicl and General Chapter

IFr Martin Devenish, the UK Provincial Superior, wrote a letter to all the members of the London Province. It said: ‘The General Council earnestly invites all the Confreres to pray in a special way over the coming weeks for the forthcoming General Chapter so that the very important moment in the life of our Congregation may become an opportunity for each of us to live our missionary vocation more intensely.

“And the members of the Chapter may truly discern what the Lord wants of us today as his missionary disciples following in the footsteps of our Father and Founder, Daniel Comboni.

“During the deliberations in Rome a new General Council is elected. Our belated congratulations to the newly-elected team”.

Elect a Superior General Untainted By Sexual Abuse of Minors

Let’s hope that the new leader of the Comboni Missionaries, the new Superior General, will be untainted by the sexual abuse scandal of the past or the cover ups which have cointinue dto this day.

Let’s hope that he takes a new broom approach and acknowledges that the abuse took place, apologizes for it like Pope Francis has done, and will work with the abused to put in place processes which will both prevent this happening again and pursue those who took part in the abuse or covered it up.

Pope Francis on Wednesday told U.S. Roman Catholic bishops that crimes of sexual abuse of minors by clergy should never be repeated, acknowledging the damage caused by years of scandal in the U.S. Catholic Church.

In the remarks, delivered at Saint Matthews Cathedral in Washington on the first full day of his visit to the United States, the pope did not utter the words “sexual abuse” but referred to the scandal by talking about “difficult moments” and providing help for victims.

“I know how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you, and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims … and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated,” Francis told the bishops, who applauded.

Wounds from the scandal, which saw priests who abused children moved from parish to parish instead of being defrocked, are still festering and draining church finances.

The U.S. church has already been dealt a heavy financial blow by settlement payments and other costs totalling around US$3 billion, which has forced it to sell off assets and cut costs.

The pontiff has vowed to root out “the scourge” of sex abuse from the Roman Catholic Church, and last June created a Vatican tribunal to judge clergy accused of covering up or failing to prevent sexual abuse of minors.

Victims’ groups say the church has not done enough.

On Wednesday, David Clohessy, head of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who himself was sexually assaulted by a priest as a child, said he was unimpressed by Francis’ words.

“It’s dreadfully disappointing. Bishops have been cowardly, not courageous, and still are,” Clohessy said. “What grudging, belated steps they have taken have been forced on them by the most courageous people in this crisis, abuse victims and their families.”

Clohessy said Francis “refuses to even be honest about what this crisis is. These are not quote-unquote ‘difficult moments,’ this is a centuries-old, incredibly unhealthy and self-surviving pattern of secrecy and recklessness,” Clohessy said in a phone interview after the pope’s remarks.

During his six days in the United States, the pope may meet privately with victims of sexual abuse. The Vatican has said an eventual meeting would be announced after it takes place in order to protect the privacy of the victims.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Philip Pullella; additional reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Susan Heavey and Grant McCool)

– Reuters

It would have been a positive  opportunity if some of the men that suffered sexual abuse at Mirfield had been invited to talk and discuss their feelings, and the feelings of others, at the Comboni Missionaries Chapter taking place now in Rome.

That is what Pope Francis would have wanted, and that is what many priests and brothers of the Comboni Order want. It is what many of the abused want.

Chapter 2015

https://www.facebook.com/Laici-Missionari-Comboniani-189169117802667/timeline/

Time for discernment in the XVIII General Chapter in Rome. After the first phase dedicated to listening to what is happening on the ground in our institute, the Chapter begins the time of discernment in order to identify the priorities of our mission as combonis. Yesterday the “phase of seeing” has come to an end after listening to the reports which started on Thursday 10 September. The first report was that of the General council read by our superior general Father Enrique Sanchez, followed by the reports of the general secretariats and the Comboni Curia offices, and by those coming from the continents: Francophone Africa, America and Asia, Anglophone Africa and lastly Europe.

Mirfield…..it was the place I lost me, the person I was, the person I would have become. By Boy X

I must admit I haven’t given much thought to the Comboni missionaries failure to acknowledge what happened in Mirfield. I suppose I have been totally absorbed with my own attempts to come to terms with what happened, trying to find a place in my mind where I can find some way of moving forward. I think I have done that to some extent.

I suppose I’ve been caught up with the over-riding need that I know can never be satisfied. But knowing that, won’t make the need disappear. That need being a sincere apology from my abuser. It’s said that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. I’ve dreamed about it, seeing in my dreams the sincerity in his eyes just as clearly as I saw that look of desire in his eyes when he first put his hands on me. A look I saw in the eyes of many others after leaving Mirfield. I recognised it straight away.

But those eyes are now dead, so I wonder where that leaves me. At the moment, it leaves me where I have always been, Mirfield. I have been able after a lot of thinking and prompting to offset, to some extent, the bad things, by remembering that there were some good things too in Mirfield. I especially remember now those feelings that were special. They had nothing to do with people, not Fr. Pinkman nor Ceresoli not even my friends. Those feeling were about why I was there in Mirfield. I knew why I was there. Those feelings were only short lived but it does bring some solace remembering them. It’s good to remember that I was once in a place in my life that was so different to what the rest of my life became. Of course, it then just becomes a confusion of thoughts. If things had been different I may have ended up having a very comfortable life on the other side of the fence. Maybe a life that would have been too comfortable to give up. Maybe I would have become one of those who are willing to turn their backs on the abused, One of those who give refuge to evil. What an awful place that would have been to end up in.

I suppose finding some release from the things that destroyed my life might only be temporary, I don’t know. The bad things are eternal but maybe in a strange way, looking to Mirfield to gain some release may be fitting. It was the place I lost me, the person I was, the person I would have become. That’s all I will say about that.

When it comes to the question of the Comboni missionaries failure to acknowledge what happened at Mirfield, the answers come easier. Their failures make them apologists for child abuse. Their inaction makes them complicit in what took place and that inaction is ensuring that the horrors of the past will continue and that there will always be a refuge for the perpetrators of evil. There will always be a ‘safe house’ for them.

I feel quite helpless in a way. But I suppose that is only to be expected seeing as. like I said at the beginning, I haven’t given the whole thing much thought. Maybe it’s time for me think outside myself. I’ll see where it takes me. Maybe the Comboni missionaries can apologise to me vicariously on Fr. Pinkman behalf but maybe they have enough on their plates with their own evil deeds never mind anyone else’s. But of course it’s all part of the same thing. I know I could do a lot more myself if only I could overcome the hurdle of the need to still remain anonymous. I suppose the shame and guilt still has it’s grip on me. No amount of rational thought seems to diminish that.

Boy X