Clerical abuse!

[orangeman]

84 years of age and having to write that.

Sad, sad story.

[fearbrags]

How  can people be  so  cruel.That  put  me  in tears  and  i  rearly  ever cry

[orangeman]

How  can people be  so  cruel.That  put  me  in tears  and  i  rearly  ever cry

I've just read that again.

Unbelievable.  Would bring a tear to the eye.

[JimStynes]

How  can people be  so  cruel.That  put  me  in tears  and  i  rearly  ever cry

I've just read that again.

Unbelievable.  Would bring a tear to the eye.

f**k sake man up lads.

Ive lost total faith in the catholic church, its just one big lie.

[red hander]

I actually think if that nun was in front of me now I could strangle her with my bare hands without feeling a thing ... I'm glad I rejected all this bullshit when I was about 12 or 13.  Even at that age I seen enough of those b**tards in school and in church situations to do me a lifetime

[mylestheslasher]

If you read the report on the clerical abuse in the industrial schools, the report that this thread was opened about, you will read many many more stories like that and they would sicken any decent person to the pit of their stomach. Thankfully the church will never have that power in this country again.

[muppet]

Technically we (Roman Catholics) should be subjects of the Eastern Orthodox Church but for a forgery which gave power to what was then known as the Bishop of Rome.

[longrunsthefox]

It is heart breaking what happened to so many children in this country and the devastation left in its wake. I'm sure many suicides and suicide attempts resulted in later years as well as alcoholism for people who were so brutalised and had no voice. 

[Main Street]

By now I think everybody has heard this shambolic character called Msgr. Dooley, as it appears he can't keep his mouth shut. His purpose imo these last few days, has been to make us all aware of the extent and absurdity of the evil darkness under which all this abuse has been allowed to carry on over the past decades.
If the Vatican did have a hit squad they would have surely been sent on a mission to dispatch him to his everlasting extra hot resting place.

It is not going to end here. The Pope as Cardinal is next for ruthless scrutiny over his role as head of the Inquisition.
From what I can gather, the code of conduct for the clergy is pretty much taken from the credible American Bishops charter in 2001/ 2002. The Ratzinger/Vatican inspired code of conduct model is highly suspect.

[Jen Cui]

priests riding kids, thats wrong

[Hardy]

By now I think everybody has heard this shambolic character called Msgr. Dooley, as it appears he can't keep his mouth shut. His purpose imo these last few days, has been to make us all aware of the extent and absurdity of the evil darkness under which all this abuse has been allowed to carry on over the past decades.
If the Vatican did have a hit squad they would have surely been sent on a mission to dispatch him to his everlasting extra hot resting place.

They've done the less colourful equivalent and silenced him. Bishop Clifford was on Spotlight or Hearts and Minds the other night and said Dooley has been forbidden to comment to the media.

He provided a chilling insight into the thinking of "canon lawyers" - very bad PR.

[longrunsthefox]

priests riding kids, thats wrong

Fairly crude contribution.

[Main Street]

That pastoral letter has come.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0320/abuse.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0320/popeletter.pdf

Imo the standard should be
a. inadequate response to sexual abuse allegations,
b. inadequate sanctions placed on abusive priests,
c. The cover up allowing priests to continue abuse, is a crime of omission, in this case omission is just as
objectionable as a crime of commission.


A and B are addressed  and once accepted it should lead  to  C.
The Pope is waffling around the crime of omission, but I will read it more closely.

[Hardy]

The cover up culture is only obliquely referred to and only once, in the section addressed to the bishops:

It cannot be denied that some of you and your predecessors failed, at
times grievously, to apply the long-established norms of canon law to the
crime of child abuse. Serious mistakes were made in responding to
allegations. I recognize how difficult it was to grasp the extent and
complexity of the problem, to obtain reliable information and to make the
right decisions in the light of conflicting expert advice. Nevertheless, it must
be admitted that grave errors of judgement were made and failures of
leadership occurred. All this has seriously undermined your credibility and
effectiveness.

The process of shifting peadophiles around to facilitate continued rape and abuse is not mentioned at all.

Throughout, he refers to the requirements of canon law, with only one single reference to the civil law, again in the section addressed to bishops:

Besides fully implementing the norms of canon law in addressing cases of child abuse,
continue to cooperate with the civil authorities in their area of competence. Clearly,
religious superiors should do likewise.

Nowhere does he come out clearly and instruct priests, bishops and lay people that the primary requirement is to report child abuse to the police promptly and to ensure, above all, that abusers should be deprived, at all costs, of the opportunity to re-offend.

[Main Street]

Hardy wrote

Nowhere does he come out clearly and instruct priests, bishops and lay people that the primary requirement is to report child abuse to the police promptly and to ensure, above all, that abusers should be deprived, at all costs, of the opportunity to re-offend.

The procedures to address a present day sex abuse cases are already outlined elsewhere and assumed as understood.

I am proceeding very slowly with this document.

Read paragraph 4 carefully

Basically the Pope is repeating that lack of faith not only in the sex abusers but amongst the congregation was part of the  context for sex abuse 
4. 'Fast-paced social
change has occurred, often adversely affecting people's traditional
adherence to Catholic teaching and values. All too often, the sacramental
and devotional practices that sustain faith and enable it to grow, such as
frequent confession, daily prayer and annual retreats, were neglected'.

and most bizzarly

'In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid
penal approaches to canonically irregular situations.'

'It is in this overall
context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of child
sexual abuse, which has contributed in no small measure to the weakening
of faith and the loss of respect for the Church and her teachings'.

In the Pope's eyes the overall context is the weakening faith of the congregation combined with the misplaced good intentions of the Bishops etc,  contributed to the sex abuse phenonomen.

I am open to receive other interpretations of chapter 4