Miscellanea Agnostica

It appears the government of Ireland is unruffled by the Vatican’s recent rejection of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s condemnation of the Vatican over its attempts to prevent secular governments from prosecuting child-abusing clergy. Almost immediately after the Vatican’s fierce denial, CNN reports that Justice Minister Alan Shatter proposed a new law that would hit the Church particularly hard (WebCite cached article):

Ireland stepped up its battle with the Roman Catholic Church over child abuse Sunday, with Justice Minister Alan Shatter vowing to pass a law requiring priests to report suspicions of child abuse, even if they learn about them in confession.

The Catholic Church regards information learned in confession as completely confidential.

But under the law proposed by Shatter, priests could be prosecuted for failing to tell the police about crimes disclosed in the confession box.

Shatter said in a statement through a spokesman last week that priests’ failure to report what they learn in confession “that has led sexual predators into believing that they have impunity and facilitated pedophiles preying on children and destroying their lives.”

The R.C. Church considers the confessional to be more sacred than almost anything else, so it’s sure to resist this law. Furthermore, even outside the confessional, the Church is vehemently opposed to any kind of mandatory-reporting requirement. This was a key sticking point in the Vatican’s rejection of changes in procedure which had been contemplated by Irish bishops in the mid-90s, and specifically and explicitly condemned in the (now famous but then secret) letter to Ireland’s bishops in January of 1997 (available at the NY Times and on this server):

In particular, the situation of ‘mandatory reporting’ gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and a canonical nature.

Shatter’s proposal, then, is especially provocative, and it strikes at the very heart of how the Vatican wishes to operate. Good for him … and good for the Irish government.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: alan shatter, catholic child abuse scandal, catholic church, catholic clerical abuse scandal, christian, Christianity, christians, clerical child abuse scandal, confession, confessional, holy see, ireland, mandatory reporting, priestly pedophilia, priestly pedophilia scandal, roman catholic, roman catholic church, vatican, vatican city

The aftermath of the Cloyne Report, about which I’ve blogged already, continues to play out, in Ireland and in Vatican City. The Vatican threw a fit, recalling their nuncio to Ireland because Taoiseach Enda Kenny dared call the Vatican out for its conduct in the clerical child-abuse scandal. This nuncial recall was, all by itself, a childish reaction to criticism, and showed how out-of-touch the Holy See is. But as is normal with the Holy See, it has not changed. The BBC reports that the Holy See once again has dug its heels in and remains firmly in denial that it could have done anything wrong (WebCite cached article):

The Vatican has rejected claims by Irish PM Enda Kenny that it sabotaged efforts by Irish bishops to report child-molesting priests to police. …

In a speech to parliament in July, Mr Kenny accused the Church of putting its reputation ahead of abuse victims.

The Vatican said it was “sorry and ashamed” over the scandal but said his claims were “unfounded”.

“The Holy See is deeply concerned at the findings of the commission of inquiry concerning grave failures in the ecclesiastical governance of the diocese of Cloyne,” said the Vatican, in a detailed response to the allegations [cached].

“The Holy See… in no way hampered or sought to interfere in any inquiry into cases of child sex abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne.”

“Furthermore, at no stage did the Holy See seek to interfere with Irish civil law or impede the civil authority in the exercise of its duties.”

The Vatican continues to claim innocence in spite of the discovery of a “smoking gun” document … a (then) secret letter to Ireland’s bishops in 1997 … which showed the Holy See had derailed efforts by those same bishops to cooperate more fully with secular authorities (cached). As the BBC article relates, the Vatican insists any such conclusion about the letter is a “misinterpretation”:

But the Holy See’s response, published on Saturday, said Mr Kenny’s blistering accusations were based on a misinterpretation of a 1997 Vatican letter expressing “serious reservations” about the Irish bishops’ 1996 policy requiring bishops to report abusers to police.

I challenge anyone to read this letter (available at the NY Times and on this server) and not conclude — rather than “interpret” — that it was intended to do anything other than prevent the sort of cooperation with local authorities that the Irish bishops had been contemplating in the mid-90s. It clearly and explicitly states that, for example, mandatory reporting requirements are, in papal eyes, canonically and morally problematic:

In particular, the situation of ‘mandatory reporting’ gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and a canonical nature.

What Irish bishop, reading this Vatican instruction, would fail to conclude that he should not follow mandatory reporting guidelines? Seriously?

Once again the Vatican demonstrates its proclivity to act in denialistic and juvenile fashion, continually refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing, even in light of demonstrable evidence of its own wrongdoing. The robed denizens of the Holy See — nearly all of them middle-aged or elderly — are far too old to be acting as childishly as this. It’s time for them to act their ages.

Tags: 1997, 1997 nunciature letter, catholic church, catholic clerical abuse, catholic clerical abuse scandal, clerical abuse scandal, clerical child abuse scandal, cloyne report, enda kenny, holy see, ireland, papal nuncio, priesly pedophilia, roman catholic, roman catholic church, taoiseach enda kenny, vatican, vatican city

Not too long ago, a report commissioned by America’s Catholic bishops claimed — among other things — that priestly pedophilia was a “historical” problem, meaning it’s “history” and is no longer happening. Apparently this isn’t true, though; a month ago I blogged about a priest here in Connecticut who was arrested for abusing children; and now, WFSB-TV reports on yet another Nutmeg State priest who’s been arrested (WebCite cached article):

A St. Bernard Catholic Church priest in Simsbury appeared before a judge on Friday to answer to charges of sexual assault.

Simsbury police said Rev. Edward Warnakulasuriya was arrested on Wednesday, and was charged with three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault.

WFSB offers this video report (unfortunately not visible in all browsers; you may have to click the link to see it):

Unlike the case of the priest in Berlin, CT, there’s no mention of cooperation by the archdiocese of Hartford, which suggests there’s been none (aside from Warnakulasuriya being suspended).

Really, I have to wonder when the Roman Catholic Church will finally admit that the clerical abuse scandal is an actual, real problem, not a figment of others’ imaginations, not the product of a global conspiracy by the Church’s enemies (or worse, by the Jews), not a “spiritual attack” by the Forces of Darkness on God’s holy church, not a money-grab by people who want to cash in by suing the Church, and not a thing of the past. It’s time for the Roman Catholic hierarchy to grow up, “man up,” accept responsibility for their own clergy, admit what has happened, and conclude the problem once and for all.

But we all know they won’t. They’re much too cowardly and selfish even to consider such a thing.

Photo credit: St Bernard’s Church, Tariffville (Simsbury), CT.

Tags: archdiocese of hartford, catholic church, catholic clerical abuse scandal, edward warnakulasuriya, rev edward warnakulasuriya, roman catholic, roman catholic church, simsbury, simsbury CT, st bernard's church, tariffville, tariffville CT

I’ve already blogged about the damning Cloyne Report, and the justifiable anger of the Irish government over what it revealed about the Catholic hierarchy’s behavior.

A key element of the report, and which sparked so much ire, is this: In the midst of several Irish investigations into the abuse of children by Catholic clergy, it turns out that, as late as 2009, Ireland’s Catholic bishops were still actively protecting abusers, in spite of promises made as long ago as the 1990s that things had changed. The Vatican itself had, in a 1997 letter to Ireland’s bishops, intervened and specifically ordered them not to turn reported abuses over to secular authorities.

In other words, the cover-up went all the way to the very top echelons of the Catholic hierarchy.

One would think that the Roman Catholic Church — which ostensibly teaches the humility and contrition that Jesus demanded of his followers — would respond humbly and show some contrition over this. However, that’s precisely what they are not doing. In the wake of the documentary evidence of wrongdoing provided in the Cloyne Report, the Vatican continues to lie … insisting it never did anything wrong and never ordered bishops not to cooperate with secular authorities.

After Taoiseach (prime minister) Enda Kenny ripped the Vatican a new one the other day, the Holy See responded … by recalling their nuncio (ambassador) to Ireland. The BBC reports on this latest event in the history of Catholicism in the Emerald Isle (WebCite cached article):

The Vatican has recalled its special envoy in Ireland after a damning report on the Catholic Church’s handling of child abuse by priests.

Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Leanza has been called back to Rome to discuss the impact of the recent Cloyne Report. …

Vice-director of the Vatican press office Father Ciro Benedettini said the nuncio’s recall “should be interpreted as an expression of the desire of the Holy See for serious and effective collaboration with the (Irish) government”.

He added that it “denotes the seriousness of the situation and the Holy See’s desire to face it objectively and determinately.

“Nor does it exclude some degree of surprise and disappointment at certain excessive reactions.”

That last sentence is the real cause of this ambassadorial recall. Yes, folks, it’s true … the Vatican is so angry that the Irish government and people are (understandably) angry at the Church for what it did, that they’ve brought their nuncio home in protest! How dare the Taoiseach publicly condemn the Vatican for what it was shown to have done wrong! Why, that kind of insolent response just can’t be tolerated!

Fucking childish is what it is. And a fucking disgrace.

Photo credit: BBC.

Tags: ambassador, catholic abuse scandal, catholic child abuse, catholic church, catholic clerical abuse scandal, child abuse, clerical child abuse scandal, cloyne report, enda kenny, giuseppe leanza, ireland, nuncio, papal nuncio, priestly pedophilia, priestly pedophilia scandal, roman catholic, roman catholic church, vatican, vatican city

The title of this post sounds like the tagline from some sort of anti-Catholic horror movie. But while what happened in Australia is indeed a horror — and although it sounds quite unbelievable — it’s not fiction at all, and it truly happened. The Catholic Church in that country even plans to apologize for it … so that it occurred is not even in question. ABC News (Australia) reports on the revolting practice of forced adoptions that happened in the mid-20th century (WebCite cached article):

The Catholic Church in Australia will today issue a national apology over past adoption practices that have been described as a “national disgrace”.

The apology has been prompted by an ABC investigation into claims of abuse and trauma in Newcastle.

What happened was not isolated or localized:

It is believed at least 150,000 Australian women had their babies taken against their will by some churches and adoption agencies between the 1950s and 1970s.

From the stories related in the article, it seems unwed teenage mothers were the targets of Catholic adoption agencies all around Australia, who were either coerced or manipulated into giving up their babies, so they’d be given to couples the Catholic Church there deemed “appropriate.” Sometimes this forced “giving up” occurred while they were still on the delivery table recovering from childbirth.

This revelation is not, apparently, all that shocking, as irregularities in Catholic adoptions were known to have happened as long as 11 years ago:

The Catholic Church’s adoption agency has previously apologised for misguided, unethical or unlawful practices, after an inquiry by a New South Wales Parliamentary committee in 2000.

Honestly, I hardly know what to say any more. Really. I shudder to think what other countries this same thing happened in. Ireland, after all, had the phenomenon of the Magdalene laundries … Catholic Church-run asylums where unwed mothers were essentially imprisoned, some for decades even after they’d been forced to give birth and forfeit their children. And that, too, occurred in the 20th century.

When is this going to end? How many more of these scandals are we going to hear about? What depths of depravity and illegality did the Catholic Church not stoop to in its unending quest to control people?

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: adoption, adoptions, australia, catholic church, catholic health australia, christian, Christianity, christians, forced adoption, forced adoptions, magdalene asylums, magdalene laundries, roman catholic, roman catholic church

Just under a week ago, I blogged about the release of the Cloyne Report into Catholic clerical abuse of children in that diocese. There’s been no small amount of furor over it in Ireland. Taoiseach (prime minister) Enda Kenny recently addressed the Dáil (or lower house of parliament) over it, as reported by RTÉ, and he minced few words in his condemnation of the Vatican (WebCite cached article):

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has strongly criticised the Vatican for what he said was an attempt to frustrate the Cloyne inquiry, accusing it of downplaying the rape of children to protect its power and reputation. …

Never before has a Taoiseach used such language in criticising the Catholic Church.

Mr Kenny told the Dáil that the Cloyne Report highlighted the ‘dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.’

The rape and torture of children had been downplayed or ‘managed’ to uphold, instead, the primacy of the institution, which are its power, standing and ‘reputation’.

The hierarchy had proved either unwilling or unable to address what he called the horrors uncovered in successive reports, a failure which he said must be devastating for so many good priests.

Mr Kenny said that the Catholic Church needed to be truly and deeply penitent for the wrongdoing it perpetrated, hid and denied.

Kenny all but accused the Vatican of being a criminal enterprise. Virtually every news outlet which has reported on the Taoiseach’s condemnation of the Vatican, has noted its vehement and unprecedented nature.

Another Irish official had similarly harsh words of a papal spokesman, based on the latter’s denials of Vatican wrongdoing:

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, speaking in a personal capacity, has said that there was nothing in the advice given by the Papal Nuncio in 1997 to encourage bishops to break Irish laws.

He said that the Vatican’s advice to Irish bishops on child protection policies could not be interpreted as an invitation to cover up abuse cases.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said the comments were disingenuous and he said he expected a more considered, formal response from the Vatican.

The minister called Lombardi a liar. He had very good reason to. The Vatican’s 1997 order to Ireland’s bishops was most assuredly an instruction to cover up abuse.

Hat tip: Mark at Skeptics & Heretics Forum on Delphi Forums.

Photo credit: Irish Times.

Tags: alan shatter, catholic child abuse, catholic church, catholic clerical abuse, catholic clerical abuse scandal, catholic clerical child abuse, child abuse, clerical child abuse scandal, cloyne report, dail, enda kenny, federico lombardi, fr federico lombardi, holy see, ireland, priestly pedophilia, priestly pedophilia scandal, roman catholic, roman catholic church, vatican, vatican city

I’ve already blogged about the slow response of the Philadelphia archdiocese to a grand jury report covering cases of abuse by its clergy. It took an entire month for them to finally get around to suspending some — but not all — those accused in the report of abusing children. This is staggering, since most companies or government agencies will usually suspend employees accused of crimes almost immediately, as a protective measure.

Since the report was issued, and especially after the suspension of some — but not all — the accused, folks have been asking if and when Cardinal Justin Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia, would resign. Until now he and his archdiocese have resisted discussing his own fate, and it looked as though he’d remain in place, even though just a short time before the grand jury report was issued, he stated that he knew of no abuse cases in his see. (He must have known about the grand jury’s investigation, which endured for two years, at the time he made that statement … so he had no viable excuse for having made it.)

At long last, the Vatican finally decided to let him resign, as the Voice of America reports (WebCite cached article):

Pope Benedict has accepted the resignation of the leader of the Roman Catholic archdiocese in the U.S. city of Philadelphia — which has faced accusations of covering up sexual abuse by priests.

The Vatican said Tuesday that Cardinal Justin Rigali’s departure was on the grounds of age. The 76-year-old Rigali submitted his resignation when he reached the traditional retirement age of 75, but the pope did not immediately act on it.

As for why the Vatican would hold out for so many months, for Rigali’s benefit, the VoA story offers a clue:

Rigali, a former bishop in St. Louis , spent decades as an official at the Vatican.

Hmm. Yes, it turns out Rigali is a Vatican insider!

I honestly must ask the question posed in the title of this blog post: Was it really so fucking hard to just get rid of Rigali? Seriously?

It seems the Catholic clerical child-abuse scandal just won’t die … because the Roman Catholic hierarchs steadfastly refuse to meet it head-on, like grown men, and continue to try to sneak their way out of it, hoping each revelation is the last and that the world will somehow forget the horrors it has inflicted on so many children around the world. But, as everyone knows, scandals like this never die on their own. They need to be dealt with substantively … and until they do, they just linger on forever. Yes, it takes courage to do so, courage which is rare if not non-existent these days. The Catholic Church is run by cowards … and every minute of every day that they allow this scandal to keep going on, they prove it.

Photo credit: elPadawan.

Tags: archdiocese of philadelphia, cardinal justin rigali, cardinal rigali, catholic abuse scandal, catholic church, catholic clerical abuse, catholic clerical abuse scandal, catholic clerical child abuse, catholic clerical child abuse scandal, child abuse, clerical child abuse scandal, holy see, justin rigali, philadelphia, philadelphia PA, priestly pedophilia scandal, priestly pedopholia, roman catholic, roman catholic church, vatican, vatican city

What the Roman Catholic Church has done to the children of one of the most-Catholic countries in the world — i.e. Ireland — is a travesty that reaches beyond the imagination. This timeline of the scandal there, courtesy of the Irish Times (WebCite cached version), shows the Church there had been insuring itself against child-abuse claims in the 1980s; allegations began emerging in the 1990s, and the Magdalene laundries became infamous by the end of that decade. Since then the Irish judiciary has undertaken a number of investigations into the abuse. The Ferns report (focused on the diocese of Ferns) was released in 2005. The Ryan Report, with a national scope, was released in 2009. The Murphy Report (focused on the archdiocese of Dublin) was released a few months later. Just yesterday, the Cloyne Report (focused on the diocese of Cloyne) was released, and as the New York Times explains, the situation is even grimmer than had been thought (cached):

The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland was covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests as recently as 2009, long after it issued guidelines meant to protect children, and the Vatican tacitly encouraged the cover-up by ignoring the guidelines, according to a scathing report issued Wednesday by the Irish government.

Alan Shatter, the Irish justice minister, called the findings “truly scandalous,” adding that the church’s earlier promises to report all abuse cases since 1995 to civil authorities were “built on sand.” Abuse victims called the report more evidence that the church sought to protect priests rather than children.

That’s right, folks. This means that, even as the Irish government was wrapping up the Ryan and Murphy investigations — and four years after the Ferns Report had been released — Ireland’s Catholic bishops were still actively covering up for child-abusing clergy whom they supervised:

The Cloyne Report, as it is known, drafted by an independent investigative committee headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, found that the clergy in the Diocese of Cloyne, a rural area of County Cork, did not act on complaints against 19 priests from 1996 to 2009. The report also found that two allegations against one priest were reported to the police, but that there was no evidence of any subsequent inquiry.

It’s clear the Church knew what this latest report would say, long before its release:

John Magee, the bishop of Cloyne since 1987, who had previously served as private secretary to three popes, resigned last year.

The Irish foreign ministry summoned the papal nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, to a meeting, to answer for the Holy See’s conduct. The Irish Times reports on his comments afterward (cached):

The papal nuncio today said he was “very distressed” by the report into child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne. …

“I wish to say, however, the total commitment of the Holy See for its part to taking all the necessary measures to assure protection.”

Except, the Holy See actually did nothing of the sort! The Cloyne Report shows — via documentation — that the Vatican actively worked to undermine Irish bishops’ cooperation with secular authorities in child-abuse cases, as the NY Times story explains:

Most damaging, the report said that the Congregation for the Clergy, an arm of the Vatican that oversees the priesthood, had not recognized the 1996 guidelines. That “effectively gave individual Irish bishops the freedom to ignore the procedures” and “gave comfort and support” to priests who “dissented from the stated Irish church policy,” the report said.

The report gave details of a confidential letter sent in 1997 by the Vatican’s nuncio, or ambassador, in Ireland to Irish bishops, warning them that their child-protection policies violated canon law, which states that priests accused of abuse should be able to appeal their cases to the Vatican. The nuncio also dismissed the Irish guidelines as “a study document.”

I blogged about this letter six months ago when it was reported in media outlets and released on the Internet. So this particular item is not really news. The Cloyne report, however, places it in perspective and demonstrates its effect on Ireland’s bishops.

Ireland’s chief Catholic hierarch, Cardinal Seán Brady, apologized — again:

Cardinal Brady issued an apology on Wednesday and called for more openness and cooperation with civil authorities. He has been fighting calls for his resignation since last year, when he acknowledged helping to conceal the crimes of one serial-rapist priest from Irish authorities in the mid-1970s.

I’ve already blogged about that particular skeleton in Brady’s closet. What a marvelous, stand-up kind of guy. (Not!)

I have to wonder how many more of these reports are going to be released; how many more times are we going to hear Catholic hierarchs express their regrets and promise to do better; and how many more times are we nevertheless going to discover that they continue to refuse to do so? How long is it going to be before the Roman Catholic Church finally admits what it has done and actually tries to make things right?

My guess is, they never will. (After all, there are Catholics who — even now — are convinced Galileo deserved to be destroyed because he insolently agreed with Copernicus!)

Final note to anyone who will complain that child abuse happens in all religions and I’m not supposed to report on the Catholic Church’s abuses … I’ve already answered that tired whine, and quite frankly, I’m tired of hearing it. It shouldn’t matter — and it doesn’t! — that other religions’ clergy abuse children. What the Catholic Church has done, is what it has done, and no amount of any other religions’ wrongdoing can possibly justify it. (That’s known as “two wrongs make a right” thinking, and is both fallacious and amoral. It needs to fucking stop.)

Photo credit: JohnArmagh / Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: abuse scandal, archbishop sean brady, cardinal sean brady, catholic child abuse scandal, catholic church, catholic clerical abuse scandal, catholic scandal, child abuse, clerical child abuse, clerical child abuse scandal, cloyne report, diocese of cloyne, ireland, priestly pedophilia, priestly pedophilia scandal, roman catholic, roman catholic church, scandal, sean brady