Clerical abuse!

[orangeman]

Does this story really surprise you



Pope Benedict's former diocese rehoused abuser priest   



Pope Benedict once unwittingly approved housing for a priest accused of child sex abuse, his former diocese has said.

The episode dates back to 1980 when he was archbishop of Germany's Munich and Freising diocese and known as Joseph Ratzinger.

However, a former deputy said he - not the future pope - made the decision to rehouse the priest, who later abused other children and was convicted.

Roman Catholic clergy have recently been linked to paedophilia scandals.

German Bishop Robert Zollitsch has apologised to victims of abuse. At a meeting with the German-born Pope on Friday he discussed accusations made in some 170 cases.

The Pope himself has defended celibacy among priests, saying it is a sign of "full devotion" to the Catholic Church.

'A bad mistake'

Following a report in the Munich-based newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the diocese of Munich and Freising confirmed that Archbishop Ratzinger had let the priest, known only as H, stay at a vicarage in Munich for "therapy".

  The repeated employment of H in priestly spiritual duties was a bad mistake

Gerhard Gruber, former vicar-general in Munich and Freising
H had been suspected of forcing an 11-year-old boy to perform a sex act upon him in the northern city of Essen.

While he was in Munich, between February 1980 and August 1982, no wrongdoing was reported.

He was then transferred to the town of Grafing, where he was relieved of his duties in 1985 after allegations of child sex abuse, the diocese said.

In 1986, he was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and a fine for sexually abusing minors, details of which were not given by the diocese.

Archbishop Ratzinger's former deputy, Gerhard Gruber, stressed that the man who now heads the Catholic Church was not made aware of H's alleged abuse history.

"The repeated employment of H in priestly spiritual duties was a bad mistake," Gerhard Gruber said in a statement.

"I assume all responsibility."

Speaking to the Associated Press, he added: "You have to know that we had some 1,000 priests in the diocese at the time.

"The cardinal [Joseph Ratzinger] could not deal with everything, he had to rely on his vicar-general [deputy]."

Vatican conference

Pope Benedict made his remarks about celibacy at a theological conference in the Vatican before meeting Bishop Zollitsch.


  I felt I was in a dark place, in solitary confinement

Norbert Denef


A childhood of abuse 
He defended "the value of sacred celibacy, which in the Latin Church is... required for ordination and is held in great regard by Eastern Churches".

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn had called for an examination of priestly training, saying that the issue of celibacy needed to be looked at with "a great deal of honesty, both on the part of the Church and of society as a whole".

He later clarified his comments saying it would be wrong to say that celibacy was a prime cause of sexual abuse.

"If celibacy is the problem, then without celibacy there should be no sexual abuse but unfortunately this is not the case," he said.

"It has to be seen as a question of personal maturity, how someone relates to his personal development."

[mylestheslasher]

Yes, we can rely on the pope to do the right thing. Isn't it funny how in all the countries that have exposed abuse the perpetrators were always moved to a different parish or place. Its like there was some central organising body telling the church in the different countries that that is the way to handle an abuser. But sure that couldn't be true could it?

[ardmhachaabu]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8565986.stm

Myles, you know how I feel about the church.  That's not going to change.  The church is a big part of my family's life and will continue to be.  I will make sure my son(s) are brought up as Catholics

[Main Street]

Looks like the argument given is that there were so many priests involved in sexual abuse that it was not possible for the then Cardinal to be aware of every abuser, that a priest accused of forcing an 11 year old boy to have oral sex would not merit the slightest bit of attention from his Cardinal.

It might well be that the then Cardinal was not made aware of such a (small) detail.

The then Cardinal's deputy has stepped forward and offered a full mea culpa.
However this is not good enough
Either
a. The deputy would gladly take the bullet meant for the Pope.
or
b. the then Cardinal  was not directly involved but on his patch, according to Hierarchy, he was directly responsible for the low priority and the gross irresponsible manner in the way that a serious sex abuser operating as a priest was handled by the parish.

[mylestheslasher]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8565986.stm

Myles, you know how I feel about the church.  That's not going to change.  The church is a big part of my family's life and will continue to be.  I will make sure my son(s) are brought up as Catholics

Your not a bad lad and I don't want to be having slagging matches but I have to differ with you on this strongly. Assuming we take the bible as the word of God as a starting point, I believe the catholic church is rotten at the core and puts its power and prestige above the welfare of little kids, just like your sons. I believe that many within this church at high levels are corrupting the word of God by there deeds. I also believe that you can pray to God without having to deal with the above corrupt influences. I believe there are many good people both lay and clergy within the catholic church that could still live by the word of God and indeed still spread the word of God without the need to belong to this now disgraced organisation.

[orangeman]

Does this come as a major surprise ?.

Brady at meetings over Smyth abuse

Cardinal Sean Brady has confirmed that he represented the Church at meetings when two teenage victims of Fr Brendan Smyth signed an oath of silence about their complaints.

The complaints were being investigated by Cardinal Brady in his capacity as secretary to the Bishop of Kilmore in 1975.

Cardinal Daly said tonight he had been following his Bishop's orders and there were no guidelines for dealing with such investigations at that time.

In a statement, Cardinal Brady said he had believed the complaints he received and had provided the information he received to his then Bishop, Dr Francis McKiernan.

Brendan Smyth was one of the country's most notorious child abusers and delays in processing an extradition warrant for him from Northern Ireland in 1994 caused the collapse of the Fianna Fáil/Labour coalition government.

He is believed to have abused at least 20 children over a 40 year period.

Statement from Cardinal's office

'In 1975, Fr Sean Brady, as he then was, was the part-time secretary to the then Bishop of Kilmore, the late Bishop Francis McKiernan.

At the direction of Bishop McKiernan, Fr Brady attended two meetings: in the Dundalk meeting Fr Brady acted as recording secretary for the process involved and in the Ballyjamesduff meeting he asked the questions and recorded the answers given.

At those meetings the complainants signed undertakings, on oath, to respect the confidentiality of the information gathering process. As instructed, and as a matter of urgency, Fr Brady passed both reports to Bishop McKiernan for his immediate action.'

[mylestheslasher]

Does this come as a major surprise ?.

Brady at meetings over Smyth abuse

Cardinal Sean Brady has confirmed that he represented the Church at meetings when two teenage victims of Fr Brendan Smyth signed an oath of silence about their complaints.

The complaints were being investigated by Cardinal Brady in his capacity as secretary to the Bishop of Kilmore in 1975.

Cardinal Daly said tonight he had been following his Bishop's orders and there were no guidelines for dealing with such investigations at that time.

In a statement, Cardinal Brady said he had believed the complaints he received and had provided the information he received to his then Bishop, Dr Francis McKiernan.

Brendan Smyth was one of the country's most notorious child abusers and delays in processing an extradition warrant for him from Northern Ireland in 1994 caused the collapse of the Fianna Fáil/Labour coalition government.

He is believed to have abused at least 20 children over a 40 year period.

Statement from Cardinal's office

'In 1975, Fr Sean Brady, as he then was, was the part-time secretary to the then Bishop of Kilmore, the late Bishop Francis McKiernan.

At the direction of Bishop McKiernan, Fr Brady attended two meetings: in the Dundalk meeting Fr Brady acted as recording secretary for the process involved and in the Ballyjamesduff meeting he asked the questions and recorded the answers given.

At those meetings the complainants signed undertakings, on oath, to respect the confidentiality of the information gathering process. As instructed, and as a matter of urgency, Fr Brady passed both reports to Bishop McKiernan for his immediate action.'

McKiernan was "my" bishop when I was a lad and he was a righ p***k. Always thought he got of lightly with regard to his dealings with Smyth. Sean Brady is no better than him either.

[orangeman]

Whether it was his demeanour or his apparent resistance to distance himself from Dermot Martin, I've always held the view that Brady had something to hide and was never very comfortable talking about the abuses that went on in the church.



The question you have to ask yourself now is this : why issue this statement now about signing 2 abused teenagers up to an oath of silence ? It's not good enough to say that in 1975 nobody knew how to deal with the issue of abuse.


It turns out that Brady wasn't a hair better than the rest of them.

And now he's the gaffer !! Crazy stuff altogether.

[orangeman]

It seems that it's a world wide issue but has been met with the same silence from the boss in Rome :


German Catholics upset by Pope's 'silence'
Monday, 15 March 2010 13:03
German Catholic groups hit out today at what they see as the German-born Pope's silence over the paedophilia scandal rocking the country's Church.


The scandal 'affects people, whether they are religious or not,' said Dirk Taenzler, head of the Federation of German Catholic Youth, in the Berliner Zeitung daily. 'The Holy Father should make a statement about this.'


He added that the German Catholic Church, which has been hit by allegations of child sex abuse dating back decades on an almost daily basis in recent weeks, was in the midst of one of its 'biggest identity crises since 1945'.


AdvertisementChristian Weisner from the German chapter of reform movement We Are Church said meanwhile that Pope Benedict XVI 'has not yet realised the full extent of the insecurity' caused by the scandal.


'Many Catholics who are faithful to the Church regret the fact that Benedict XVI has failed to express a single word of sympathy,' Mr Weisner added.


The Catholic Church has been engulfed in a scandal since January when a Jesuit-run school in Berlin admitted systematic sexual abuse of pupils by two priests in the 1970s and 1980s.


Since then, there have been allegations at some two-thirds of the country's 27 dioceses as more victims come forward.


With the Catholic Church hit by similar scandals in other countries, Benedict has spoken out several times since the start of his papacy in 2005 on the issue, calling in February child abuse a 'heinous crime' and a 'grave sin'.

But he has yet to comment directly on the scandal rocking his home country, critics say.

One of those implicated is a boarding school attached to Regensburg cathedral's choir. The pope's elder brother, Georg Ratzinger, who ran the choir for 30 years, has denied all knowledge of sexual abuse.

On Friday the dioceses of Munich and Freising said that the Pope, when he was archbishop there, had approved in 1980 giving a suspected paedophilia priest Church housing in the diocese for 'therapy'.


Two years later, by which time the Pope had been transferred to the Vatican, the priest was given pastoral duties in the town of Graefing where he committed sexual abuses. He was given a suspended jail sentence in 1986.

The vicar-general at the time has assumed 'all responsibility' for the 'bad mistake'. The priest concerned is reportedly still employed by the Church.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi went on the offensive on Saturday.

'It is clearly evident that in the past few days there are some who have sought - with a dogged focus on Regensburg and Munich -elements to personally implicate the Holy Father in questions of abuse,' he said.

'It is clear that these efforts have failed,' he said on Radio Vatican.

'The Church's credibility has been badly shaken,' said Wolfgang Thierse, deputy speaker of the German parliament and a board member of the Central Committee of German Catholics.

'The Church should be more honest and more severe with itself, and that goes for the Pope too,' he said on public television.

More priests suspended in Austria on abuse charges

Meanwhile, a monastery in Upper Austria hit by accusations of sexual abuse announced today it had suspended two more of its clergy after further complaints, taking to five the suspensions in one week.


One of the padres accused of sexual abuse at the Kremsmuenster monastery apologised for his behaviour and said he 'never meant to be a sadist'.


'Father Alfons has been relieved of his duties ... and Father Petrus will also be suspended from his duties until the allegations have been fully investigated,' Abbot Ambros Ebhart said in a statement on the monastery's website.


A third padre, Father Benedikt, was suspended last week on the same charges while two other padres were suspended after allegations of physical abuse. The abuse is alleged to have been largely in the 1980s.


Father Petrus reports to the authorities today and the other two have agreed to work with the authorities and a special diocese committee on abuse, the statement said.

The number of complaints of sexual abuse by priests has been growing in Austria since cases came to light earlier this month.
In the wake of the snowballing scandal, the archbishop of Salzburg, Alois Kothgasser, called for a rethink of the Catholic Church's rule of priest celibacy.

[Main Street]

'Cardinal Brady said he had believed the complaints he received and had provided the information he received to his then Bishop, Dr Francis McKiernan'.

'Archbishop Ratzinger's former deputy, Gerhard Gruber, stressed that the man who now heads the Catholic Church was not made aware of H's alleged abuse history'.

[Doogie Browser]

I see that Jim Allister cnut has called for his head now 
I think he should walk, in fact I can see no reason why he should remain.

Best Cardinal we never had was Eddie Daly.

[orangeman]

'Cardinal Brady said he had believed the complaints he received and had provided the information he received to his then Bishop, Dr Francis McKiernan'.

'Archbishop Ratzinger's former deputy, Gerhard Gruber, stressed that the man who now heads the Catholic Church was not made aware of H's alleged abuse history'.

Same shite, different country.

[Main Street]

No quite o
re the cleric in the dock
in one country the buck was passed on, in the other they are saying the buck stopped short.

   

[muppet]

'Cardinal Brady said he had believed the complaints he received and had provided the information he received to his then Bishop, Dr Francis McKiernan'.

'Archbishop Ratzinger's former deputy, Gerhard Gruber, stressed that the man who now heads the Catholic Church was not made aware of H's alleged abuse history'.

Absolutely hits the nail on the head.

One current Cardinal refuses to accept responsibility because he was an underling to the Bishop while the current Pope, who was a Bishop at the time, blames the underling. Similar circumstances, conflicting excuses, identical refusal to take responsibility.

[muppet]

Letter sent to midwest Radio:

http://www.midwestradio.ie/MWR/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=6485&cntnt01origid=15&cntnt01returnid=85


Whats new this week

18/03/2010
HUGE REACTION TO LETTER OF PHYSICAL ABUSE ON TOMMY MARREN SHOW
I was listening to your programme recently when you were discussing the bishops requests for the laity to pay for the sins of the clergy. During the programme some said that the nuns were just as bad and the memories of 72 years past came flooding back.

I came from a large, happy family who played and roamed the green fields of our farm. Sadly, my parents split up and parted and I found myself and my brother being sent to a home for destitute children run by nuns in the West of Ireland. The year was 1937. I would have been 12 years old on my next birthday and my younger brother was 6.

What a contrast to the green fields of home with the nuns marching up and down the corridor wearing long rosary beads, virtually down to the ground and on the righ hand side, clipped to the waist, was a leather strap. The strap was three feet long, three inches wide and about a quarter of an inch thick. I was so naïve. I thought it part of their uniform but to my horror a few short weeks in the home soon made me realise what it was for.

After school all the senior boys (including me) were made wax and polish the recreation hall which was about 60 feet by 20 feet. There were 6 boys in front on waxing duties and 6 following on to polish the wax floor. There was a nun standing over you in case you would raise your head. If you did raise your head you got a smash of the belt across the back and after two nights polishing my knees were in terrible pain.

I told one of the nuns and she said that by the time we had the job finished I would be "good and hard". That was the sympathy I got. The younger generation were on their knees polishing the corridors including my 6-year old brother and when the work would be over we were made wash our hands in cold water.

Then all the children were assembled in the recreation hall. There was a row of wooden chairs – I would say about 50 in all – where some of the children would just sit and gaze into space more than likely thinking of the homes they had left behind. I remember my brother and I were just four weeks in the home but to us it seemed like four years.

There is one vivid memory that I will bring to the grave of this awful time. One evening at about 7 pm we were all in little groups. I remember I and about 5 other boys were at one end of the hall and I remember they wanted to know why I was put in the home. There were other boys at the other end of the room just chatting. Seemingly a scuffle broke out amongst two of the younger boys and the remainder of the boys stood around the two fighting boys in a circle cheering on their favourite.

Suddenly, a nun appeared and began to viciously wave her leather strap. She started swinging out from over her shoulder right down on one of the boys involved in the fight. You could hear the screams of the boy 50 metres away. The nun kept screaming "I'll teach you a lesson. Our little group were the last to arrive. By now the circle was five children wide and I found it difficult to get near the child. When I did I saw a young terrified little child curled up like a baby in its mothers womb with his two little hands covering his face from the shower of belts being administered by the out-of-control nun.

His little back was facing towards me and I edged towards the front. To my horror I saw a mop of curly red hair and realised it was my brother. He was wearing a little vest and short trousers and as the nun rained the leather belt on his little arms and legs you could see the welts it was leaving.

As the nun swung the belt over her shoulder I made for it. Sadly, I only caught the tip and was not able to hold on. The nun had the belt wrapped around her wrist to apply maximum force. She made a grab for me but I ran to the side door and escaped a beating. As I ran outside I can vividly remember looking through the window and seeing the nun continue to beat my brother.

By this time is was about 7.10 pm. We were lost souls. We had no father to take our part and no mother to protect us. In shock I started to wander down the drive of the home with tears streaming down my face. I didn't know what to do or where to go. The only time I was away from home was to go to mass with my mother. That was 2 miles away so you can see how lost I really felt.

I kept walking until I came to a bridge with a big flow of water down below. Looking down I saw a ledge – about 9 inches wide – and I worked my way onto the ledge and leaned my back against the bridge wall and was facing towards the river. I thought no one would see me and I intended to stay there for the night. Suddenly, I heard a lady's voice saying "What are you doing down there? Come up right now or you'll get dizzy and get drowned". The kind lady waited until I was safe. She patted me on the head and told me to run home immediately to "your mother and father". Little did the kind lady know I had no home, no mammy or daddy and no future.

It was getting dark and I was getting nervous. I had no option but to return to the home. As I walked up the drive I could see the lights were still on in the hall. Peering through the window I could still see my little brother. All the other children were sitting on the wooden chairs around the perimeter of the hall in complete silence and my brother was being paraded around the hall with a cardboard sign around his neck with big capital letters on it saying "BITCH – FEMALE DOG".

The nun was standing in the middle of the room roaring at my brother to keep walking and waving her leather belt if he slowed down. During the time I watch my brother he fell at least 6 times and each time the nun would scream at him to get up and keep walking. Eventually a senior nun walked in and said to the nun that it was time for wash and bed. I thanked the Lord that my young brothers suffering was over. By now he had been flogged and marched for over two-and-a-half hours.

I entered the hall in shock and as he passed by me his little body was trembling. Although we came from a large family I never say any member of my family being beaten. If we did something wrong we were sat down and told never to do it again so this experience was a terrible shock for my brother.

I went straight to my dormitory. I was in the section that was assigned to the 10-14 year olds. There were 24 single beds – 12 on each side – and immediately inside the dormitory there was a room that was made up of 80% glass where the nun-in-charge slept. Just down the corridor there was a second dormitory where all the 6-9 year olds slept and this included my brother.

That night I could not sleep wondering whether my little brother would be alive the following morning. There was a clock directly over the entrance of the dormitory. There was always a light on in the corridor which shone on the clock. I watched every second waiting for morning to come. It was 3.00 am when I heard the sound of footsteps in the corridor and rattle of keys and beads which was unusual. As the nun past the entrance to the dormitory I saw a small middle-aged man wearing a hat and carrying a small suitcase. I realised I had seen him once before and I remember hearing on of the boys remark that he was a doctor who always came to see the "sick boys". My heart sank. Was my little brother dying I wondered.

Just after 3.30 am the nun and doctor past down to the main door. I heard the doctor wish the nun a good morning and mutter something about coming back again later in the morning. I was numb with fear and worry. I watched the clock tick slowly and eventually couldn't bear it any longer. Just before 5.00 am the only sound to be heard was the snoring of the nun in charge. I slid out of my bed and crawled along the passage way between the two rows of beds and headed for the corridor. Thanks God I got past the nun.

Then I crawled down the corridor to the dormitory where my little brother slept. Sadly, the nun in charge there never snored so I didn't know whither she was awake or not. I had to see my brother and was willing to take any punishment if I were caught. I got down on my tummy and dragged myself along the passageway between the two rows of beds. Finally, I got to my brothers bed and quickly slid under his blanket. I will never ever forget the heat from his body – it would have lit a cigarette. I gently put my hand on him and he jumped about six inches in the bed but did not wake. The welts on his arms were three inches high.

I suddenly noticed a little boy, about three beds down from where my brother lay, raise his head. I was afraid he might start to scream so I crawled down to his bed and whispered that I had come to see my little brother. Even though he was only nine he was better up on how things were in the home and he whispered to me that the doctor had come and put a needle in my brothers arm and that he immediately "went very quite". The boy told me that before the doctor came my brother was finding it hard to breath.

I noted that my brother had a plaster of paris on his wrist and the 9 year-old boy told me that when the nun was dragging him down the stairway he had held on to the railing with one hand and that the nun snapped the other hand and broke his wrist. I thanked the boy for telling me all that he had and I then crawled back up to my brothers bed. I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead with tears streaming down my face and with a heavy heart crawled back to my own bed again.

I remember wishing it was 7.00 am so that I could get out of bed. Eventually the bells sounded and when I went to the dining area I waited anxiously for my brother to arrive. How naïve I was. I was not to see my brother for 2 whole weeks and when I did see him the only thing I could recognise was his mop of red hair. That beating had scarred him both physically and mentally for the rest of his life.

I asked some of the boys why the nun had placed the placard around his neck and it seems that during the beating my brother said "Stop it you Bitch". When this happened the nun immediately left the hall and returned with the sign "BITCH – FEMALE DOG" and placed it around my brothers neck before making him walk around the dormitory for over 2 hours.

I often wonder how many young boys who hadn't even reached the age of 7 were dealt such beatings. I'm finding it very difficult to write this letter. I am being treated for Parkinson's disease and I also have a heart condition and cancer. I will be 84 years old shortly . My young brother never recovered from that cruel beating and died a young man of heartbreak and mental illness.

I would like you to read this letter on your programme as I think I owe it to my later brother to let people know what went on behind the closed doors of institutions in so called Holy Ireland. I have suffered enough and I am still suffering.