Irish Church accused of abuse cover-up

[demoleft]

Source: bbc

A damning report into clerical child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese has criticised the Catholic Church hierarchy for covering up the abuse.

The report investigated how Church and state authorities handled allegations of child abuse against 46 priests.

It found that the Church placed its own reputation above the protection of children in its care.

It also said that state authorities facilitated the cover-up by allowing the Church to operate outside the law.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8381119.stm

---

france 24 on the new report, via reuters:

REUTERS - The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Dublin obsessively covered up widespread sexual abuse of children by priests until the mid-1990s in a misuse of the Church's central role in Irish society, an official report said on Thursday.

The government-commissioned inquiry into abuse in the Irish capital from 1975 to 2004, which came six months after a similarly damning report about Church-run industrial and reform schools, also accused state officials of abetting the cover-up.

The report, designed to show how church and state responded to charges of abusing children, said a representative sample of 46 priests made "abundantly clear" that it was widespread.

"The Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets," the report said.

source:
http://www.france24.com/en/20091126-catholic-church-covered-four-decades-child-abuse-government-report-ireland

[Warpy]

1. The Irish papers have been full of this over the past several weeks

but the stories have crept from page 3 or 4 to front page news just this past week as the church's role in protecting its own has become fully known.

I'm for anything that breaks the power of that church in Ireland. Women have been in chains there for too many years. I just hate the fact that so many children were so badly hurt in the process.

Now if we could only start taxing the bastards here.

[demoleft]

2. and in italy too. same cover-up system. beastly jail for them, really. n/t

[marew]

3. Unbelievable!

No wonder they're against abortion, they want more victims!

These hypocrites need to be in jail, all of them... the perpetrators and the bishops! When I worked in a children's setting as a professional, state law said that if anyone did not report even "suspected" abuse, they could be charged with a felony and sent to jail. The fact institutional abuse was allowed to continue so widespread for so long is abominable. How can the Catholic Church ever defend their behavior? And even other priests and nuns, below the bishops, had to know what was going on and they also kept silent. This is so hard to even think about, what these children endured!

[Proletariatprincess]

4. Tax all religious institutions in the USA

...and it will pay for health care for everyone.
Is caring for people in need the mission of religion? Force them to put their money where their mouths are...lol.

[panzerfaust]

16. Amen

[winyanstaz]

5. The Catholic Church is a pedophile heaven.....

And the ruined lives and dead little bodies are strewn across the world.(google: Native American children dead at Catholic schools in Canada)..
There is NO reason to allow this evil empire to continue. The Church must be closed and the records examined and the rapists and pedophiles put into prison.....as it is a criminal enterprise that preys on children.
It is also time to open up the Vatican to the public and see what treasures stolen from around the world and what information that rightfully belongs to the world is hidden inside.
This is indeed the fall of the Whore of Babylon and the fall of the Roman Catholic Empire. The end of the world as we know it.

[tomm2thumbs]

6. 'the end justifies the means' is their argument - scary, given their power

guess if that is the case, anything goes

[rhett o rick]

7. Having their followers believe that priests are more godly than mere men is more important than the

safety of children. Instead of the church telling their followers that priests are mortal men and should not be trusted by parents with their children any more than any other adult males, they hold on to the myth that priests are more godly and therefor can be trusted. What's a few children sacrificed to the myth. Then when abuse happens, it must be covered up at all costs. Of course the costs are to the children, parents and other followers that must pay the lawsuits.

[Joe Chi Minh]

8. I believe you have identified the basic problem. Perhaps another Roman Catholic

will correct me if I'm mistaken in this, but as I understand it, it is the Church's teaching that, when a priest celebrating the Mass elevates the Sacred Host, at that moment, he becomes Christ.

Well, surely, it is impossible for a priest to become Christ, in his (Christ's) own right, any more than it would be possible for any other "other Christ by adoption", a lay-person, to become Christ in his own right. For mortal men, the calling of all the Children of Light, to be "other Christs" by adoption, and in that capacity, destined to share the very life of the Holy Trinity, is surely an honour beyond imagining. Nobody, but nobody could become Christ in his own right.

Maybe it is not held in terms of a formal theological tenet, but the mere fact of its being believed at all, most notably in countries with a strong, traditional Catholic culture, where the priest's status is considerable, must affect the minds of priests from their infancy, at least at a subliminal level, so that they are faced with an insoluble conundrum: "How can a man who becomes Christ every day - in his own right, moreover - be a paedophile?

If the Church does not hold that the priest becomes Christ in his own right, in contradistinction to the laity, who are "other Christs" by adoption, then there has clearly been a departure in emphasis from the teachings of the New Testament, of a new dispensation, in which the former priesthood of men is replaced by Christ's own High Priesthood. The sacrifice of the Mass is a commemoration of the once only sacrifice by Christ of his own life. Peter, evidently addressing fellow-elders, refers to himself as an elder: 1 Peter 5:1 I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be ... Was it not Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, who told a man, "get up off your knees! I am man like you." Then proceeded to perform, albeit wholly through Christ's grace, a staggering miracle!!!

It is practical to have one person presiding over the Mass and the other sacraments, a specialist, rather than a roster of people with all sorts of other worldly concerns to preoccupy them; and who better than the pastor?

The word, 'elder', a carry-over from Judaism, indicates not a different caste, but a status of seniority, in the sense of authority. The ministry of the sacraments is a calling, not an accolade. As one holy, old priest once put it, it was the way God had given him to save his soul. Of course, all things being equal (i.e. if the pastor is truly a man of God), it is natural for the laity to have a special respect for the bearer of the office, since the pastors' way of life naturally/supernaturally leads inevitably to spiritual synergies, which would be noticeable and would inspire admiration and love in his congregation.

Anyway, the point is that, while, post Vatican II, the Catholic church has renounced the atrociously mean legalism of the Tridentine church, and while not all "the traditions of men" in the Catholic Church are counter-productive, it still evidently carries very unfortunate, vestigial legacies from the Tridentine era, which exercise inordinately seminal effects. Clericalism being one of them.

[rhett o rick]

10. Thanks, Very well put. nt

[47of74]

11. I think you're referring to In persona Christi

As I understand the practice the priest does not actually become Christ, but acts in His name during the consecration and while administering the other sacraments. Under the principle of ex opere operato the effectiveness of the sacrament is not dependent on the nature of the person giving the sacrament - that Christ guarantees sacraments administered in His name by mere humans. If that were not the case very few of the sacraments would ever be valid because no one is perfect.

Well, that's my admittedly non expert understanding of this. If I got it wrong I hope someone would correct me here.

[Joe Chi Minh]

23. That would be how I understand it. With the authority given it by Christ,

doubtless for practical reasons, initially at least, the Church designated the elders as presidents over their congregation, to act in the name of Christ. A roster would be impractical, as concelebration for a congregation of any size. Also, the elders would have the authority to ensure that everything was conducted properly.

So, acting in the person of Christ is a practical matter, rather than an essentially meritorious distinction, although it is natural to hope and expect the elder to be an exemplar. His essential 'royal priesthood after the order of Melkisedech and forever', however, despite his authority to administer the sacraments, and even at the time of the consecration of the Sacred Host, would remain no different from that of the laity. Because of the shared adoption by Christ, and the royal nature of that shared priesthood, how could the elder/priest be invested with a still greater spiritual majesty?* I doubt if God had in mind an imperial priesthood.

*call to serve. A feature of service is abasement. Our Christian values are the antithesis of the World's, aren't they?

[panzerfaust]

15. Miracle of the Mass

The "Miracle of the Mass" is that of "transubstantiation" whereby the bread and wine is transformed at the moment of the elevation of the Host into the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus: Thus in receiving the Eucharist a Catholic is consuming the actual Body and Blood of Christ.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Protestantism is the rejection of transubstantiation.

It is amusing that missionaries to the Fiji Islands (then known as the Cannibal Isles) had a lot of difficulty tying to explain this to the indigenous population.

So, the priest does NOT become Christ. Nor does it matter how steeped in Sin the priest may be - he is still the channel for God's Grace - it is the sacrament (and there is much argument about what the sacraments are) that is Holy, NOT the priest ... In much the same way as one can drink Champagne from a crumpled plastic cup (which will likely do your soul much more good than eating any number of bits of dead God).

Oh. Sorry. He is NOT dead, His omniscient, omnipotent, wise and powerful presence makes the world go 'round.

Praise the Lord (and His ONE True Church)!

[IndianaGreen]

17. In short, Christianity is based on one human sacrifice to a blood thirsty GAWD

Human sacrifices were verbotten by Jewish law, for many good reasons.

[fascisthunter]

19. .

[greengestalt]

9. Preesstzz F*ck Little Boyz!

I remember this joke I saw in a magazine (yeah, a 'mens' one)

A traumatized altar boy is running from a room. A lecherous, fat old priest is adjusting his robe with one hand and at the same time he's in front of a wooden cross. Instead of desperately praying for forgiveness, he's pulled out his pocket knife and is cutting a notch in it, and the cross is already full of notches...


You might look up "Father Ramos" to get real outraged.


A friend of my Mother's is native to India. They have tons of "Good Christians" over there trying to convert them. BUT-they, while polite of course, simply do not leave their children alone with ANY Christian priest. The hard way, people in India learned to assume almost ANY "Good Christian" priest has been put there because he couldn't keep his hands off little children and was sent there where the officials were more bribe able and the economy was lower so lawsuits would be affordable. They would have banned them early on (this has been going on a LONG time!) but they had "British Gunboat Diplomacy" forcing the issue till they got entrenched. I'm not being "Prejudiced" against Catholics, other denominations have perverts and child molesters, Catholics seem to have the majority of gay child molesters by far though...


And then, they excommunicate people over Abortion and even BIRTH CONTROL! Besides implications of Hipocrasy, IMHO it's to provide an endless stream of neglected/abandoned children to molest...


Yeah, they should lose their "Tax Exempt" status. Being so political, they violate seperation of church and state regardless.

[IndianaGreen]

12. Ireland's Roman Catholic archbishops 'covered up abuse to protect church's reputation'

Ireland's Roman Catholic archbishops 'covered up abuse to protect church's reputation'

Ireland's Roman Catholic archbishops and police covered up four decades of child sex abuse by priests in a conspiracy to protect the reputation of the church, a report found.

By Matthew Moore
Published: 6:00PM GMT 26 Nov 2009

Clergy were able to molest hundreds of vulnerable children because of a "systemic, calculated perversion of power" that put their abusers above the law, the Irish government said.

The damning verdict on the conduct of church and secular authorities followed a three-year investigation into allegations of child abuse by priests in Dublin going back to the 1960s.

Investigators who were given access to 60,000 previous secret church files accused four Archbishops of Dublin of deliberately suppressing evidence of "widespread" abuse.

Archbishops John Charles McQuaid, Dermot Ryan and Kevin McNamara, who have all since died, and Cardinal Desmond Connell, who is retired, all refused to pass information to local police, the report said.

Evidence was kept inside a secret vault in the archbishop's Dublin residence, with suspect clerics moved between parishes to prevent the allegations being made public.

For their part, Gardai frequently ignored complaints from victims, effectively granting priests immunity from prosecution. The inquiry found that church authorities nurtured inappropriately close relations with senior police officers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/6663517/Irelands-Roman-Catholic-archbishops-covered-up-abuse-to-protect-churchs-reputation.html

[IndianaGreen]

13. Irish Archbishops colluded over child abuse

Here is the link to the full report: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB09000504

Irish Archbishops colluded over child abuse

By David McKittrick
Friday, 27 November 2009

It is the latest in a series of hugely damaging reports on the church and children, all of which have concluded that it routinely placed its own image before the protection of the vulnerable. The conclusion of this report, produced by a Commission of Investigation after years of research, could hardly have been more damning.

It said: "The Dublin Archdiocese's preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets."

It further said the Archdiocese "did its best to avoid any application of the law of the state". In many cases, reports of abuse were not followed up by police, it said, finding that senior police often regarded priests as being outside their remit.

The authors of the report, including a judge and two lawyers, examined a sample of complaints concerning 46 priests. Concluding that these had abused more than 320 children, they added that it was abundantly clear that child sexual abuse by clerics was widespread. They wrote: "One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children, while another accepted that he had abused on a fortnightly basis during his ministry which lasted for over 25 years."

In his apology for what he called "the revolting story" set out in the report, Diarmuid Martin, the present Archbishop of Dublin, said it highlighted "devastating failings of the past". He added that the sexual abuse of a child was a crime in both civil law and canon law.

The report pointed out that, in turning a blind eye to the crimes of priests, the Archbishops had been in breach not just of the law of the land but also of canon law. Several of the Archbishops were qualified canon and civil lawyers. In one case an abusive priest was not reported to the police by an Archbishop despite having abused several young people while acting as a chaplain in a children's hospital. In many cases, abusing priests were simply moved to different parishes.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/irish-archbishops-colluded-over-child-abuse-14578148.html#ixzz0Y2iypuPz

[panzerfaust]

14. Coincidentally, Todays Harpers Weekly Cartoon of Nov 1869:

http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/CartoonOfTheDay.asp ...


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/world/europe/27ireland.html?ref=europe

The cover-ups spanned the tenures of four Dublin archbishops and continued through to the mid-1990s and beyond, even after the church was beginning to admit to its failings and had professed that it was confronting abuse by its priests.

But rather than helping the victims, the church was concerned only with “the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets,” said the 700-page report, prepared by a group appointed by the Irish government and called the Commission of Investigation Into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

Mea Culpa, mea maxima culpa. Buta, mea stilla ina chargea! Capisca?

I wonder if that is what Christ meant by "Suffer the little children to come unto me..."

Not, I think.

I do think that organized religion, is simply organized crime.

I do think that the time is long past when we should all be forced to support such corrupt institutions by exempting them from taxation - taxes that the rest of us end up paying. When a church, having finally disgusted God beyond endurance, is struck by a bolt of lightening, it is not the church's firetrucks that respond to put out the blaze...

[fascisthunter]

18. it's like a Pedophile Cult that's found a Host

to work from.... once again, God is being used for "evil".

[Solly Mack]

20. k/r

[onager]

21. "Father" Oliver O'Grady was deported to Ireland.

He's the subject of the 2006 documentary, "Deliver Us From Evil."

The night before O'Grady was scheduled to provide testimony regarding Cardinal Roger Michael Mahony's awareness of his history as a child molester and rapist, Mahony's attorneys went to O'Grady's jail cell and cut a deal with him.

The deal exchanged O'Grady's silence for a financial annuity--an undisclosed amount of money, that the Diocese of Los Angeles will pay him once he turns age 65 in 2011.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliver_Us_From_Evil_(documentary)

So this asshole gets deported to a foreign country full of fresh potential victims. (IIRC from the documentary, O'Grady was deported to Ireland with no warning about his past crimes.) But the Church is also paying him to keep quiet about Cardinal Balony and the L.A. archdiocese.

Incredible. The kind of story that makes me proud to be an atheist.

Cue Stalin/Mao/Pol Pot references in 5...4...3...2...

[mackerel]

22. RoI was aware of this for years. They also colluded in

the cover-up. I see they've overlooked themselves for blame.

[dflprincess]

24. O'Grady was originally from Ireland.

It's where he was ordained and began his priesthood. I'll bet money that the Irish Church sent him to the U.S. because of his problem. Not that they'll ever admit that.

O'Grady did serve time in prison here before he was deported. I believe it is U.S. policy to return foreign nationals who have been convicted of felonies to their country of origin after they've served their time.

What is scary, if Wiki is correct, is that his current whereabouts are unknown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_O%27Grady

[tabasco]

25. Every religion seeks to manipulate and exploit the gullible and weak.

The Catholics have made it an art form.