Victims of sex abuse at elite school say cries for help ignored

It might be an exclusive school but there is nothing exclusive about how Knox Grammar School dealt with allegations of sexual predatory behaviour by teachers towards its students.
Since public hearings at the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse began 17 months ago Australia has become used to seeing a regular pattern to how it plays out: A lone victim speaks out against an institution.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/victims-of-sex-abuse-at-elite-school-say-cries-for-help-ignored-20150227-13qgjl.html 

Priests’ right to secrecy of confession defended, even in sex abuse cases

Spain’s bishops conference on Thursday defended the right of priests to maintain the secrecy of the confessional booth even in cases of serious crimes such as the sexual abuse of children.
“Not reporting a crime learned of in the course of the secret of confession is not a cover up or a crime,” the secretary general of the Spanish bishops conference, Jose Maria Gil Tamayo, told a news conference. This principle applied even in cases of sexual crimes, he added  “This legal principle is recognised by the Spanish state for all religions,” he said.

http://arynews.tv/en/priests-right-secrecy-confession-defended-even-sex-abuse-cases/ 

Jehovah's Witness Leaders Accused Of Covering Up Child Sexual Abuse

The leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses – one of the world’s most insular religions – for 25 years has instructed its elders to keep cases of child sexual abuse secret from law enforcement and members of their own congregations, according to an examination of thousands of pages of documents in recent cases.
The religion’s parent organization, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, issued the directives in at least 10 memos dating back to 1989. Although the memos were anonymously written, Watchtower officials have testified that the organization’s Governing Body approved them all.

 http://www.revealnews.org/article/jehovahs-witnesses-use-1st-amendment-to-hide-child-sex-abuse-claims/

In abuse by Irish priests, a little “mental reservation”

It was a ride and I was hitchhiking around Ireland and the driver of a tiny Morris Minor who’d stopped was a priest, so what could be wrong? This was the 1970s when I was fresh out of an American college, bumming around Europe on almost no money. But it was the Ireland of my ancestors and they had no money either, so we were all in this together.
A little too much so, I discovered shortly after getting into the front passenger seat when the priest — and he was wearing his clerical collar, so there could be no doubt — put his hand on my knee. Suddenly, if I’d been headed to Galway, which I think I was, I decided getting off at the next little village was just grand, and so slipped out of the only awkward experience I’d had hitching around a half dozen European countries.

http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2009/11/29/in-abuse-by-irish-priests-a-little-mental-reservation/ 

Priest 'a violent bully and coward'

THE former priest Brian Spillane has been sentenced to nine years' imprisonment for a series of sexual assaults on young girls - attacks described as "serious, planned and callous" by Judge Michael Finnane of the NSW District Court.
"The offender used his position as a priest to gain access to the homes in which each of his victims lived," said the judge. "He was very trusted and the parents of each of the victims readily gave him access to their daughters because of that trust and the esteem in which he was held."

http://www.smh.com.au/national/priest-a-violent-bully-and-coward-20120419-1xa40.html 

Priest faces jail over sex abuse

A Catholic priest dubbed the "fat vicar" is facing jail after he was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy at a children's home.

Father Anthony McSweeney, 68, preyed on the vulnerable youngster while working at Grafton Close Children's Home in Hounslow, west London, between 1979 and 1981. Morbidly obese McSweeney was also found guilty of making indecent images of children.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/priest-faces-jail-over-sex-abuse-31027747.html 

Two views presented in retrial of accused pries

A hung jury resulted last spring in the mistrial of the Rev. Andrew McCormick on child sex-assault charges. Lawyers in the retrial that started this week spent parts of four days to select a jury before opening arguments could be heard Thursday afternoon.
The Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury of 10 women and two men heard accusations that McCormick, 58, abused a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997 at St. John Cantius Catholic Church in Bridesburg.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150227_Two_views_emerge_in_retrial_of_accused_priest.html 

The dangers of ‘willful blindness’

Margaret Heffernan speaking at a TedX in March 2013 put her finger on a fundamental problem which found all over the world.  Willful blindness is a legal concept which means, if there’s information that you could know and you should know but you somehow manage not to know, the law deems that you’re willfully blind. You have chosen not to know. There’s a lot of willful blindness around these days.
You can see willful blindness in banks, when thousands of people sold mortgages to people who couldn’t afford them. You could see them in banks when interest rates were manipulated and everyone around knew what was going on, but everyone studiously ignored it. You can see willful blindness in the Catholic Church, where decades of child abuse went ignored.

http://sluggerotoole.com/2015/02/27/friday-thread-the-dangers-of-willful-blindness/ 

Never forget ‘shameful shadow’ of abuse:

The Derry-born head of the Catholic Church in Ireland says the “shameful shadow” of clerical sex abuse has left an “indelible mark” on the lives of so many people.
Branding the abuse scandal a “pitiful chapter in the life of the church”, Archbishop Eamon Martin says no-one should forget the legacy of “betrayal, trauma and shame” that it has had in Ireland.  Dr Martin was speaking at the opening of the first National Safeguarding Conference hosted by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland.

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/never-forget-shameful-shadow-of-abuse-dr-martin-1-6606249 

Archbishop Martin opens Ireland's First National Safeguarding Conference

Archbishop Eamon Martin opened the First National Safeguarding Conference in Athlone today. The text of his introductory address follows: The first National Safeguarding Conference hosted by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland marks a significant milestone on our journey. I use the words 'milestone' and 'journey' very deliberately. 
I remember as a little boy noticing 'milestones' along the road and being told they were markers to reassure travellers that they were on the correct path, or, useful reference points for road services and planners when they were examining the state of the highway and making decisions about future needs.

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=26850 

Australia’s most notorious juvenile detention centre for girls under eighteen magdalene-sisters

When Parramatta Girls’ Training School -Australia’s most notorious juvenile detention centre for girls under eighteen - closed in the early 1970s, it re-opened almost immediately as the Norma Parker Centre, a Periodic Detention Centre for women. “Periodic”simply meant that inmates were granted leave on weekends. When I  returned to the old place in the Nineties, before the Norma Parker Centre also closed - my first visit since I was released in 1970 - I stood in the car park on a sunny Friday afternoon, amazed at the sight of a young woman dressed in her own clothes, being released for the weekend by a male officer. He unlocked a side door, and she stepped out for two days and nights of freedom. 
On my arrival at Parramatta GTS in 1970, the solid timber gates (pictured above with new, smaller iron gate) opened and the blacked-out police car drove in and parked on the gravel in front of the main entrance. The Superintendent Percy Mayhew, came down the steps from the front door to greet me. I use the term “greet” ironically, because Percy’s agenda was to intimidate and terrify me. He was the most frightening man I had ever seen. He did not need to do much besides glare at me to make me shake with fear. He reminded me of a hawk. His eyes pierced into mine. I can’t remember what he said but it wasn’t friendly or kind.

http://www.mareegiles.com/tag/the-magdalene-sisters

Free health services for former residents of Magdalene laundries in Bill

There was a mistaken public perception that women referred to the Magdalene laundries were mainly lone parents, Minister of State for Equality Aodhán Ó Ríordáin told the Seanad. “This perception does not reflect the reality in most cases,’’ he said. He said the McAleese report found placements of girls or women in the laundries were made for a very wide range of reasons.

“It is hard to credit nowadays that some cases of referrals were seen as a means of providing for girls or women with physical disabilities, or with mental or psychiatric illness,’’ Mr Ó Ríordáin added. “Some had intellectual disabilities and special needs, while others were referred because of advanced age.’’

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/free-health-services-for-former-residents-of-magdalene-laundries-in-bill-1.2116276 

Is Pope Francis about to eliminate celibacy? (9 things to know and share)

The mainstream media is all atwitter made by Pope Francis’s incoming secretary of state about the possibility of eliminating clerical celibacy.
Is this a sign of things to come?
Is this yet another indication of Pope Francis “breaking with tradition”?
Is this an indication the mind of Pope Francis himself?
Is it a major new development?
Or is it just the press hyperventilating because they have no idea what they’re talking about?
Here are 9 things to know and share . . .

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/is-pope-francis-about-to-eliminate-celibacy-9-things-to-know-and-share 

Is There a Link Between Priestly Celibacy and Sexual Abuse?

To say that clerical celibacy can lead to sex abuse is “much too simplistic,” because most abuse happens in the family, where the majority of the perpetrators are married men or other family members, a psychiatrist member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said.
In an interview with the Register Feb. 16, Baroness Sheila Hollins said any link between priestly celibacy and sex abuse is “complicated, and I think it would be much too simplistic to say celibacy is the cause of it, because in fact 80% of abuse happens in the family, where perpetrators are mostly going to be married men, but sometimes, of course, they may be other family members.”

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/is-there-a-link-between-priestly-celibacy-and-sexual-abuse/ 

No DPP file for priest garda was investigating, court told

An officer of the Director of Public Prosecutions has told the trial of a detective charged with forging a DPP letter that there was no file for a priest the detective was investigating for child abuse.
Wicklow detective Garda Catherine McGowan (aged 48), who is based at Bray Garda Station, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/no-dpp-file-for-priest-garda-was-investigating-court-told-663785.html 

Church admits abuse at school for Germany's most famous boy's choir

A former longtime director and several teachers are accused of physically abusing children over decades at the school of the most well-known children's choir in Germany, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg said Tuesday.

Seventy-two children who went to the school for the Regensburger Domspatzen choir have stepped forward to say they were abused from 1953 to 1992, the diocese in the southern state of Bavaria said. They said they were hit with fists, rods and a bunch of keys.

http://www.thenewage.co.za/152704-1020-53-Church_admits_abuse_at_school_for_Germanys_most_famous_boys_choir 

Garda pleads not guilty to forgery linked to sex abuse claims

An alleged victim of clerical sexual abuse has told a trial of a detective charged with forgery of her anger when she found out a file on her case had never been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Wicklow Det Garda Catherine McGowan (48), based at Bray Garda station, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15th, 2009 at the station and two counts of using a false instrument at the station and at Harcourt Street Garda station between June 21st and 22nd, 2011.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/garda-pleads-not-guilty-to-forgery-linked-to-sex-abuse-claims-1.2116073 

Alleged clerical sex abuse victim angry that her case file was not sent to DPP

An alleged victim of clerical sexual abuse has told a trial of a detective charged with forgery that she was angry when she found out that a file on her case had never been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Wicklow detective Garda Catherine McGowan (48), who is based at Bray Garda Station, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.

http://www.sundayworld.com/news/courts/alleged-sex-abuse-victim-angry-that-her-case-file-was-not-sent-to-dpp 

Two held in boys home abuse probe

Two men from East Anglia have been arrested and a further two people interviewed in relation to alleged historic sex abuse at a notorious Catholic boys home in Bedfordshire , police said.
A 72-year-old man from Bedford was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting four children, while a 79-year-old man from Mundford, Norfolk, was arrested on suspicion of six sexual and 14 physical assaults at St Francis Boys' Home in Shefford, Bedfordshire.

http://www.newmarketjournal.co.uk/news/regional/two-held-in-boys-home-abuse-probe-1-6597446 

Rolf Harris abandons appeal against sex convictions

Jailed pedophile Rolf Harris has abandoned his push to appeal 12 convictions for sexually assaulting four girls in the United Kingdom. Harris's initial application was refused by a single Court of Appeal judge in late October and the disgraced entertainer is now out of time to ask the court to revisit the issue.
A Judicial Office spokesman today confirmed to AAP that Harris hadn't renewed his application to appeal "and he is now out of time". The 84-year-old Australian had 28 days to ask for a hearing before three Appeal Court judges but chose not to.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11367355 

Child abuse lawsuits could hit state government

Child abuse victims could line up to sue the state itself once the Andrews government removes the statute of limitations from compensation claims.  The Andrews government is opening itself up to a range of potential lawsuits – including class actions – from people abused in state-run schools, orphanages and detention centres, lawyers say.
The state introduced a law on Tuesday abolishing current time limits to making compensation claims against a person or an organisation for child abuse. If passed, it will destroy what is widely considered the main legal barrier to victims receiving compensation from the institutions in which they were abused, following a recommendation from the Betrayal of Trust report of the state's inquiry on child sexual abuse.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/victoria/child-abuse-lawsuits-could-hit-state-government-20150224-13np1a.html

The Vatican Just Called For Reforming The Biggest Health Care Problem You’ve Never Heard Of

The Vatican took on “Big Pharma” last week, asking the international community to reform laws that allow drug companies to blindly pursue profits while keeping life-saving drugs out of the hands of poor people.
According to Vatican Radio, last Wednesday Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, spoke at a UN Forum dedicated to making medicines more affordable and accessible for people in poorer nations. In his address, Tomasi argued that there are many obstacles that keep poor people from purchasing drugs, but called out one issue as particularly devastating: the abuse of intellectual property laws by pharmaceutical companies.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/02/24/3626091/you-received-without-payment-give-without-payment/ 

Prison release of former priests raises questions for Catholic church

One of the first St. Louis area priests to plead guilty to sexual abuse since the crisis shook the Roman Catholic Church more than a decade ago is now a free man.
On Monday morning, after 12 years in prison, Gary P. Wolken, 49, walked out of the Western Missouri Correctional Center in the small town of Cameron. That has some in the community worried.

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/prison-release-of-former-priests-raises-questions-for-catholic-church/article_682c4a7d-62e4-57f5-aa66-2f675716ef88.html 

Child abuse legal time limits to be lifted in Victoria

Victims of child abuse in Victoria will be able to seek civil damages regardless of when the abuse occurred under new laws to remove complex time limitations.
The new laws will mean victims who suffered child abuse decades ago will be able to seek civil damages from those responsible for the abuse, including an organisation. Attorney-General Martin Pakula will introduce the laws to the Victorian parliament this week, which will apply retrospectively. 

http://www.watoday.com.au/victoria/child-abuse-legal-time-limits-to-be-lifted-in-victoria-20150223-13mk6t.html

Cleaner found stash of porn video tapes

A CATHOLIC priest alleged to have sexually abused boys living in care was caught by his cleaner, a court heard.
Tony McSweeney, 68, was Father at St Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Eastwood Road North, Eastwood, when his housekeeper Julia Woodyatt discovered videotapes of child abuse and sex toys at his home, Southwark Crown Court heard. 

http://www.southendstandard.co.uk/news/11808669.Trial_of_priest_accused_of_sexually_abusing_young_boys/ 

16-Year-Old’s Rape Goes Viral On Social Media: ‘No Human Being Deserved This’

In an incident that shares several elements with the infamous Steubenville rape case that made national headlines last year, a 16-year-old girl from Texas says that photos of her unconscious body went viral online after she was drugged and raped at a party with her fellow high schoolers. But the victim isn’t backing down. She’s speaking out about what happened to her, telling her story to local press and asking to be identified as Jada.
After other teens started mocking her online — sharing images of themselves splayed out on the floor in the same pose as Jada’s unconscious body under the hashtag #jadapose — the victim decided to speak out. She sat down with local outlet KHOU 11 to tell her side. “I’m just angry,” Jada said.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/07/10/3458564/rape-viral-social-media-jada/ 

Catholic Church ‘can no longer cover up abuse’

THE Catholic Church in Scotland can no longer cover up the abuse of children and vulnerable adults as they have done in the past according to the head of a new external review.
Dr Andrew McLellan, the former moderator of the Church of Scotland, who will lead an 18 month review of the Catholic Church’s current safeguarding protocols, said: “The only credible policy for a church must be ‘no abuse; no cover-up.”

http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/catholic-church-can-no-longer-cover-up-abuse-1-3344537 

When will it ever end for the Catholic Church, maybe when they start being honest

After at first denying everything, then pretending his problems never existed, just like his Vatican bosses…Cardinal  Keith O’Brien has finally done something the Pope never had the courage to do before skulking off into ‘retirement’…admitted to being a dodgy ratbag
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, formerly the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the UK, signalled that he did make homosexual advances towards young men. He confessed that his “sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected” and asked for forgiveness from those he had “offended”, as well as the entire Catholic Church and the people of Scotland.

http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/03/when-will-it-ever-end-for-the-catholic-church-maybe-when-they-start-being-honest/ 

Brian Johnstone. The forgotten children.

Professor Gillian Triggs, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, has found that by reason of its policy of the continued retention of children of asylum seekers, Australia has been and remains in breach of its international obligations. 

This applies to both major political parties. The legal argument is clear and has not been refuted. The best the Prime Minister could offer was bluster, condemning the report as a “transparent stitch-up.” Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson conceded that retaining children in detention was not in anyone’s interest, but provided no justification for continuing the detention.

http://johnmenadue.com/blog/?p=3294 

Harris losing AO 'sends strong message'

Child protection campaigner Hetty Johnston says stripping convicted child abuser Rolf Harris of his Order of Australia honours sends a strong message that people who harm children will be caught and will face consequences.
The disgraced entertainer's awards as Officer and Member of the Order of Australia were terminated in a government gazette on Monday.

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/26401117/harris-losing-ao-sends-strong-message/ 

Former Catholic Brother to be Sent to Australia to Face 250 Charges of Sexually Abusing Children

A High Court judge today backed a decision by the New Zealand Government to extradite a former Catholic brother to Australia to face 250 charges of child-sex abuse charges.
Australia requested the extradition of Bernard Kevin McGrath, 66, in November 2012 alleging that he raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at one of Australia’s most prominent Catholic religious orders – the St John of God Brothers between 1977 and 1986. According to court evidence the institution which specialized in accommodating boys, many of whom had intellectual disabilities, had an entrenched culture of sexual abuse.

http://www.newsrecord.co/former-catholic-brother-sent-australia-face-250-charges-sexually-abusing-children/ 

Calls for an inquiry into Northern Ireland's "forgotten babies" not answered 18 months later, campaigners claim

Calls for an inquiry into Northern Ireland's "forgotten babies" not answered 18 months later, campaigners claim.  At least 11,000 people are interred in west Belfast on land which used to form a nature reserve.
Hundreds of infants from homes for unmarried mothers and their offspring were routinely placed there without ceremony or marker during the last century, Amnesty International said.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/calls-for-an-inquiry-into-northern-irelands-forgotten-babies-not-answered-18-months-later-campaigners-claim-30838612.html 

Dominican boy endured 6 years of sex abuse, death threats by priest

"He abused and raped me for six years, forced me to wear women’s undergarments and threatened to kill me," revealed in dramatic and revealing confessions to a local TV station, one of the many abused boys, sodomized and violated by Polish former priest Wojciech Waldermar Gil (Padre Alberto) in the town of Juncalito, in Dominican Republic’s highlands.
The boy identified only as "Juan" in the interview on Univision, said he tried to take his own life several times, after the abuse, which many believe senior Dominican Catholic prelates sought to cover up.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2014/12/18/53690/Dominican-boy-endured-6-years-of-sex-abuse-death-threats-by-priest 

Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse: Wollongong Bishop censured over John Nestor

Wollongong Catholic Bishop Peter Ingham erred by not making public the reasons behind the 2008 defrocking of priest John Gerard Nestor, the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse has found.
In a damning set of nine findings handed down on Friday, the royal commission takes aim at the Catholic Church and some of its officials for not making notes of potentially incriminating internal meetings with Nestor, and for the five years it took for an internal appeal process to run its course.

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/2777085/wollongong-bishop-censured-over-defrocking/ 

Victims of abuse are 'unfairly' represented

Child abuse victims have been unfairly denied legal representation at a major inquiry into alleged historical offences at care homes, the High Court has heard.  A judge was also told they should be provided with a team of barristers and solicitors to ensure equality with those accused of inflicting sexual and physical assaults.
Judicial review proceedings have been brought by a woman who claims she was abused by a "high-profile public figure".

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/victims-of-abuse-are-unfairly-represented-30848726.html 

Police investigating 718 cases of child abuse in Northern Ireland

Police are investigating more than 700 claims of child abuse in Northern Ireland, it can be revealed.  Officers are probing 718 "live" cases where the victim was aged under 18. The figure is thought to include a number of historic allegations relating to children's care homes.
It comes as a leading charity revealed it has seen the number of calls to a specialist helpline jump by almost a quarter in the last year. The issue of child abuse has been in the headlines throughout 2014. A State inquiry into historical abuse in Northern Ireland, chaired by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart, opened in January.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/police-investigating-718-cases-of-child-abuse-in-northern-ireland-30869048.html 

Kincora: Only a full inquiry will do

Taken at face value, the testimony of Richard Kerr on abuse at Kincora Boys' Home in east Belfast in the 1970s is explosive and compelling. He claims he was abused both there and in London by what appears to have been an organised paedophile ring. And he says he has evidence of MI5 involvement.

His story is tragic. As a teenager he was taken into care after his family life collapsed. His eventual arrival at Kincora led to a life of degradation, including abuse by numerous men and later working as a male prostitute.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/editors-viewpoint/kincora-only-a-full-inquiry-will-do-31006858.html 

Magdalene victims not buried in Glasnevin location

Just 33 out of 187 Magdalene women listed on the headstone for High Park laundry in Glasnevin Cemetery are actually buried at that location, a study claims. The revelation is contained in the first of series of critiques of the McAleese report planned by Justice For Magdalenes Research (JFMR).
Running to some 66 pages, the report discusses issues around death, institutionalisation of former Magdalene women and research on Magdalene graves and duration of stay.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/magdalene-victims-not-buried-in-glasnevin-location-313643.html 

HIA: Pensioner says Nazareth House nuns 'medieval'

Nuns at a children's home in Northern Ireland "operated in a medieval vacuum", a witness has told the Historical Abuse Inquiry. The pensioner was giving evidence via videolink from Perth in Australia. He said he was sexually and physically abused both at Nazareth House in Belfast and at Rubane House in County Down.
The man said that after he was transferred in 1956 to a boys' home in Australia, he was also abused there. The inquiry is currently examining alleged abuse at Rubane House, the De La Salle Catholic institution on the Ards peninsula.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29538277 

Eclipsed- The Magdalene Laundries

Patricia Burke Brogan's play, "Eclipsed", tells the story of four girls sentenced to the Magdalene Laundries. Created as an institution for "fallen girls", these asylums started as a way to keep women from becoming prostitutes.  Over 30,000 girls were put into these laundries, by their families that no longer wanted them. The girls were told to find penitence at the local convents, the laundries.  Told they were washing their sins away from lust, the girls were made to wash Ireland's laundry and at the same time fattening the Catholic Church's income. Suffering physical, emotional and mental damage, these institutions felt like prisons but were worse--there had been no trial, no sentence. Some of the girls were committed to the laundries for most of their lives. 

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/eclipsed-the-magdalene-laundries 

Irish Catholics continue to flee the church

The Vatican’s protection of bishops complicit in recycling clergy sex abusers is a front-burner issue for Alberto Athié, one of Mexico’s most respected public figures. Last July, when Pope Francis met with abuse survivors in Rome, Athié posted an open letter asking the pope to dismiss Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera for his defense over many years of the long-accused pedophile and founder of the Legion of Christ religious order Father Marcial Maciel.
Athié’s manifesto, signed by 128 abuse survivors, lawyers and supportive groups, called for reforms in the way church leadership handles abuse cases — and the loophole that gives bishops full discretion and has kept Pope Francis from making significant progress in his efforts to create a “zero tolerance” policy

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/150220/search-truth-and-reconciliation-church-sex-abuse-scandal 

The search for truth and reconciliation in church sex abuse scandal

The Vatican’s protection of bishops complicit in recycling clergy sex abusers is a front-burner issue for Alberto Athié, one of Mexico’s most respected public figures. Last July, when Pope Francis met with abuse survivors in Rome, Athié posted an open letter asking the pope to dismiss Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera for his defense over many years of the long-accused pedophile and founder of the Legion of Christ religious order Father Marcial Maciel.
Athié’s manifesto, signed by 128 abuse survivors, lawyers and supportive groups, called for reforms in the way church leadership handles abuse cases — and the loophole that gives bishops full discretion and has kept Pope Francis from making significant progress in his efforts to create a “zero tolerance” policy.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/150220/search-truth-and-reconciliation-church-sex-abuse-scandal 

Heart-wrenching documentary shines light on adoption trade of Irish ‘illegitimate children’

A HEARTBREAKING DOCUMENTARY by journalist Martin Sixsmith on the Irish Catholic Church’s role in the adoption trade of thousands of ‘illegitimate children’ was aired last night on BBC television, and tonight on RTÉ Two.
Sixsmith helped Philomena Lee in her search for her son, with the story later being made into a Hollywood movie. Returning to the subject matter, Sixsmith travelled to Ireland and America to reveal the moving stories of parents and children whose lives were changed forever, when they discovered evidence that the Church failed to properly vet prospective parents, sometimes with tragic consequences.

http://www.thejournal.ie/irelands-lost-babies-doc-1677136-Sep2014/ 

Just one priest agreed to be interviewed for documentary on mother-and-baby homes

THE HISTORY OF mother-and-baby homes in Ireland is to be investigated in a French documentary. So far, only one priest has agreed to be interviewed for the programme, despite numerous requests made of religious figures.
The documentary, which is being made by France 2, came to light after a letter from Terry Prone to one of its makers, Saskia Weber, went public. Prone’s letter was sent to Weber in response to a request for an interview with Sr Marie Ryan of the Bon Secours sisters, for whom Prone is a public relations representative.

http://www.thejournal.ie/france-2-documentary-mother-and-baby-homes-1730439-Oct2014/ 

Should the mother-and-baby homes inquiry include orphanages?

JAMES REILLY HAS said that the terms of reference for the mother-and-baby homes inquiry must not be too broad, otherwise it will be “flawed from the start”.
The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs was criticised this week by the Bethany Survivors’ Group for not including the Westbank Orphanage in Greystones in the investigation.

http://www.thejournal.ie/mother-and-baby-homes-1779265-Nov2014/ 

Archdiocese attempting to block subpoenas regarding sex abuse allegations against priest

The Archdiocese of Mobile is attempting to block subpoenas related to sexual abuse allegations, according to court documents. Reverend Johnny Savoie at St. Pius X Catholic School is being sued by four parents for allegedly failing to protect their children from claimed bullying problems.
During that lawsuit, attorneys found a statement by Father Savoie to his parish that an Archdiocese investigation found there was no evidence supporting previous claims of sexual abuse allegations involving a minor.

http://www.fox10tv.com/story/28153434/archdiocese-attempting-to-block-subpoenas-regarding-sex-abuse-allegations-against-priest 

Magdalene survivors may get complementary therapies

Minister for Justice and Equality Frances Fitzgerald has promised to examine the option of funding "complementary therapies" for Magdalene survivors. In a statement to RTÉ News, her department explained that the therapies were excluded from a special medical card scheme approved by the Dáil yesterday.
It said this was because Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has reservations about providing and funding them through the health service.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0219/681413-magdalene-women/ 

Brisbane’s St Laurence’s College apologises for sex abuse of boys

A BRISBANE Catholic boys’ school has apologised “un­reservedly” to students who suffered sexual assaults during the school’s history.
St Laurence’s College principal Ian McDonald made the apology last Friday during a candlelight mass, and it was published yesterday in the school newsletter.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/brisbanes-st-laurences-college-apologises-for-sex-abuse-of-boys/story-fnn8dlfs-1227232669695?from=public_rss 

No Faith Is Free From Child Abuse Scandals or Cover-Ups

What has been happening in Sydney and Melbourne is doubly shocking. First, there have been revelations over a rabbi who abused children at a yeshivah, Jewish learning seminary over many years, which was then followed by a cover-up when allegations surfaced.
Second, it is a wake-up call to Jewish communities in the UK to be vigilant about a problem from which, until now, we thought we were immune. It was all too easy to think that paedophile ministers were rife in the Church of England and the Catholics, but not really an issue for us.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jonathan-romain/australia-rabbis-child-abuse_b_6721212.html 

Child abuse inquiry draws out NZ victims

Five adults living in Australia have reported abuse suffered while they were children in New Zealand, prompted by Australia's Royal Commission on child abuse, the Catholic Church says.
The commission, which started hearings yesterday, is investigating child abuse at state-run and private institutions and organisations. The director of the Catholic church's office for professional standards, Bill Kilgallon, says five people who live in Australia but were children in New Zealand have come forward after hearing about the royal commission.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/221956/child-abuse-inquiry-draws-out-nz-victims 

Our horror at the mass baby grave in Ireland shows an instinctive religiosity

Why is it that we are more shocked by what happens to dead babies than to live ones? The story that almost 800 dead babies were buried in a disused sewage tank outside Tuam in rural Ireland turns out to be problematic. It is certain that 796 babies did die under the care of nuns in a home for unmarried mothers there between 1925 and 1961 and that is in itself a shocking statistic. But what gave the story wings was the claim that their bodies had been dumped in a septic tank, widely attributed to Catherine Corless, the local historian who uncovered the scandal.
In an interview she has denied that she ever used the term "dumped". More to the point, it was impossible that 800 children were placed there, since "only" 204 died in the years before the home was connected to the mains water supply, in 1937. In her first account of the discovery, Corless described the structure as a "crypt". Only later did she identify it, from a map, as a septic tank. If the bodies were placed in it long after it had been drained and disused, this would seem much less shocking. That less shocking story is at least plausible: the alternative would be that the nuns buried some babies decently in the unofficial graveyard but just dumped others in the cesspit. On what basis could they possibly have chosen?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/jun/11/horror-mass-baby-grave-ireland-instinctive-religiosity 

The mother behind the Galway children's mass grave story: 'I want to know who's down there'

It was amateur historian Catherine Corless's painstaking research that brought news of the children's mass grave in Tuam to the world's attention. She tells how her search for the truth turned her life upside-down.  Catherine Corless spent eight months trying unsuccessfully to get people to pay attention to the research she was doing on an institution for unmarried mothers in Tuam, the Galway town where she grew up.
An amateur historian who had spent weeks scouring records in libraries, churches and council offices, she had uncovered the fact that, between 1925 and 1961, 796 children died in the St Mary's Mother and Baby Home, run by nuns from the Bon Secours order, but she was unable to find records of where they were buried. Last September she suggested that many of the bodies may have been put in a disused septic tank in a corner of the home's garden, a spot where boys had discovered a pile of children's skeletons in the 1970s.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/13/mother-behind-galway-childrens-mass-grave-story 

Tell us the truth about the children in Galway's mass graves

The bodies of 796 children, between the ages of two days and nine years old, are believed to have been buried in a disused sewage tank in Tuam, County Galway. They died between 1925 and 1961 in a mother and baby home under the care of the Bon Secours nuns.
Locals have known about the grave since 1975, when two little boys, playing, broke apart the concrete slab covering it and discovered a tomb filled with small skeletons. A parish priest said prayers at the site, and it was sealed once more, the number of bodies below unknown, their names forgotten.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/04/children-galway-mass-graves-ireland-catholic-church 

Sam Jordison: Magdalene Laundries

In case you're wondering what these women are fighting for, here's an article I wrote for Disinformation back in 2006.  It took a chance discovery to set in motion the chain of events that led to the unravelling of the mystery of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.
In 1993 a mass grave was discovered in the grounds of a Catholic nunnery in the north of Dublin. The grave was found on land that The Good Shepherd nuns from High Park Convent had sold to a developer, to build the kind of brash new development that has characterised Ireland’s economic miracle during the past 15 years. At first it was thought that there were 133 bodies. They were all female.

http://samdjordison.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/magdalene-laundries.html 

Ireland and damaged belonging: From Magdalene Laundries to Cupcake Scrub

“It is true,” he said, “that you cannot commit a crime and that the right arm of the law cannot lay its finger on you irrespective of the degree of your criminality. Anything you do is a lie and nothing that happens to you is true.”
I nodded my agreement comfortably. “For that reason alone,’ said the Sergeant, “we can take you and hang the life out of you and you are not hanged at all and there is no entry to be made in the death papers. The particular death you die is not even a death (which is an inferior phenomenon at the best) only an insanitary abstraction in the backyard, a piece of negative nullity neutralised and rendered void by asphyxiation and the fracture of the spinal string. If it is not a lie to say that you have been given the final hammer behind the barrack, equally it is true to say that nothing has happened to you.”
“You mean that because I have no name I cannot die and that you cannot be held answerable for death even if you kill me?”
“That is about the size of it,” said the Sergeant.

http://paper-bird.net/2013/09/05/ireland-and-damaged-belonging-from-magdalene-laundries-to-cupcake-scrub/ 

Song for a Raggy Boy

Based on a true story (but with the standard "all characters are fictional" disclaimer), this chilling drama is reminiscent of The Magdalene Sisters, as it examines a horrific aspect of Ireland's Catholic history. But the filmmakers undermine their point with a simplistic script that refuses to allow shades of grey in what should be a complex, disturbing story.
In 1939, William Franklin (Quinn) is the first lay teacher at St Jude's reform school. He's just returned from the Spanish Civil War and is haunted by memories of murdered friends and lovers, then he discovers the same kind of harsh fascism at St Jude's. The school is ruled with a brutal iron fist by Father John (Glen), who thinks the boys are mere animals, un-redeemable brutes who need fierce control at all times. Franklin, of course, has a heart of gold and draws out his students' talents and respect. The story basically centres on two of the boys, Liam and Patrick (Travers and Newman), who develop a strong bond with Franklin amid their particularly horrific experiences. 

http://www.shadowsonthewall.co.uk/04/songragg.htm 

Ireland’s disappeared; Magdalenes? What Magdalenes?

It was Ireland’s hidden scandal: an estimated 30,000 women were sent to church-run laundries, where they were abused and worked for years with no pay. Their offense, in the eyes of society, was to break the strict sexual rules of Catholic Ireland, having children outside wedlock.
Their “offense” – but it wasn’t a mere offense, was it, it was a crime. We know this because of what the passage says: the women were imprisoned for years. They got the kind of sentence a convicted murderer gets. They were locked up, for years, and abused and worked for no pay. That’s an extremely harsh prison sentence – for having children outside marriage.

http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2011/ireland%E2%80%99s-disappeared/ 

A History of Loneliness by John Boyne: Review

John Boyne’s ninth novel for adults, A History of Loneliness, is an achingly sad story of a kind-hearted but cowardly priest who prefers to bury his head in the sand than confront difficult situations.

Boyne waited years to write this brave, personal, yet ultimately Irish story. “The Catholic priesthood blighted my youth and the youth of people like me,” he says of growing up gay in Catholic Ireland. In a piece for The Guardian he recalls being groped in class by his teachers and being told by these same men that he was sick, mentally disordered and in need of electroshock therapy. The author admits that like his protagonist, Dubliner Odran Yates, perhaps the reason he did not write about his experiences sooner was that he was ashamed. “I did not become ashamed of being Irish until I was well into the middle years of my life,” says Odran Yates in the opening sentence of the novel. 

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2015/02/21/a-history-of-loneliness-by-john-boyne-review.html 

Pope Francis defrocks Irish Catholic priest convicted of abuse

James Donaghy, who is originally from Lady Wallace Drive in Lisburn and served as priest in the west Belfast parish of Corpus Christi in Ballymurphy,  was convicted of several sex abuse charges following trials in 2011 and 2013 and is currently serving a 10-year jail sentence, UTV reports.
Although Donaghy stepped down from his duties in March 2004, Pope Francis has now officially banned him from the ministry. At his 2011 trial. Donaghy was found guilty of 23 sex abuse charges committed against three teenagers. In 2013, he was convicted of abusing a fourth victim. the court heard he told his young victim he could get his grandfather into heaven as he sexually abused the boy, the BBC reports.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Pope-Francis-defrocks-Irish-Catholic-priest-charged-with-abuse.html# 

Defending my forehead -- and my faith

Today is the day practicing Catholics receive ashes. Today I will not do what I did when my three children were young and still in school. That is, avoid ashes in the morning when they would have to go to school so marked.
No, we went for ashes in the evening and then straight home, lest the smudged black on our foreheads be seen as a hostile statement. Hostile to the gay women whose children my children played with and grew up with. Hostile to the gay men in our family who’d been vilified by the Church. Hostile to survivors of life-shattering sex abuse at the hands of priests, one of whom had abused my own childhood friends.

http://www.cruxnow.com/faith/2015/02/18/defending-my-forehead-and-my-faith/ 

A residential school survivor’s remarkable memoir

It’s one of those things that writers do when they’re on the trail of a story: get up in the wee hours of a morning and drive 100 miles on the possibility they’ll find a special person. David Carpenter chuckles as he tells of his quest for Joseph August “Augie” Merasty, who years before shyly sought out a writer to tell his story.
The elderly Cree trapper’s signature was needed to let the University of Regina Press publish The Education of Augie Merasty, a 76-page book that, through one man, tells the story of Canada’s experiment with residential schools.

http://www.leaderpost.com/news/residential+school+survivor+remarkable+memoir/10821206/story.html 

Judge orders records on possible sex abuse turned over

A Minnesota judge has ordered the religious organization that operates the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville to turn over any records related to possible sex abuse by its clergy over a 30-year period. The Belleville News-Democrat reports that the court order covers offices of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate nationwide. The ruling comes in a civil lawsuit that accuses the late Reverend James Vincent Fitzgerald of sexually abusing two brothers during a Minnesota fishing trip.

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20150218/NEWS/150219499/11669/NEWS 

Did Catholic Church follow procedures for reporting sex-abuse claim against Mobile priest?

The Archdiocese of Mobile investigated and cleared a priest in late 2013 after receiving an allegation that he had sex with a teenager nearly a decade earlier, but it is unclear whether church leaders reported it to authorities.
The allegation has surfaced as part of a lawsuit accusing the school overseen by the priest, the Rev. Johnny Savoie, of failing to prevent severe bullying. It is one of four bullying lawsuits pending against St. Pius X School and its administrators, including Savoie.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/did_catholic_church_follow_pro.html 

National victims' group calls for suspension of Catholic priest accused of inappropriate sex

A national support group for sexual abuse victims said Thursday that a Mobile priest accused of an inappropriate sexual relationship with a teenager a decade ago should be suspended.
The allegation has surfaced in connection with an unrelated lawsuit accusing St. Pius X School of failing to protect students from severe bullying. The Rev. Johnny Savoie is the pastor of the church and oversees the school's administrators.

http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/02/national_victims_group_calls_f.html 

Victims Want Pope Francis To Hand Over Pedophile Priests and Nuns

Pope Francis has spoken about the history of sexual abuse within the church and its clergy, but the acknowledgement isn’t enough for victims. Victims from around the world banded together on Monday to address what they feel Pope Francis should do with these “pedophile priests,” according to Patheos.
The group of victims from the United States, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico wrote a letter on Monday addressed to the Pope that was made public in Mexico City. According to First Post, in regards to the Pope’s acknowledgement of the pain these pedophile priests has caused, the group stated, “words are not enough.” 

http://www.inquisitr.com/1851781/victims-want-pope-francis-to-hand-over-pedophile-priests/ 

Catholic Church in Scotland received 15 allegations of abuse last year

CLAIMS of sexual, physical, verbal or emotional abuse were made against seven members of the clergy and six others people working in the church community.  THE Catholic Church in Scotland received 15 allegations of abuse last year.
Claims of sexual, physical, verbal or emotional abuse were made against seven members of the clergy and six others people working in the church community. Six of the allegations related to historical abuse in the 1980s or earlier, the Church said.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/catholic-church-scotland-received-15-4821178 

"Margaret died of her slave-related injuries"

You think you've heard it all, and nothing new under the sun can shock you. And you're always, always wrong.
justiceformagdalenes and # margaret have been trending on and off on Irish Twitter this weekend, thanks in no small part to the daughter of a Magadalene inmate who took to Twitter to tell her mother's story. Her mother was consigned to a Laundry at age 2 -- two, when her fingers should still have been learning how to eat with a knife and fork - and died there at age 51. 

http://www.irishabroad.com/Discussions/Messages.aspx?TopicID=86168&CategoryID=11 

THE BEAST IS SILENT A personal story by "Michael" -- a survivor of clergy abuse

Alone in his room the priest would mastermind his hunt. He would examine his conscious as he looked in the mirror. He admires his body and hungers for it to be touched by a young boy's hand. He is reminded of his vow of celibacy but knows it does not work for him or for most of his peers. 
Many of them share stories of their affairs with the outside world and the temptations they confront daily. Few, however, speak about "crossing the line" by submitting to their carnal desires. At the fortress nightly visitations by young boys are frequent and are masked as "vocational counseling." 

http://www.religioustolerance.org/mich01.htm

Catholic Priest Accused Of Molesting Young Boys ‘Moved On’ By The Church, Never Arrested

A Catholic priest from the U.K., accused of molesting young boys in his care during the 70s and 80s, was simply “moved on” by the church and never prosecuted, despite the fact he was found in possession of child porn and a range of sex toys.
Father Tony McSweeney, 68, is accused of molesting three youngsters at Grafton Close Children’s Home in Hounslow, West London, while years later a cleaner discovered a drawer crammed with video tapes and child pornography.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1853469/catholic-priest-accused-of-molesting-young-boys-moved-on-by-the-church-never-arrested/ 

Catholic Church in Scotland reveal 27 priests have been reported for sex abuse allegations

THE Bishops' Conference of Scotland revealed 46 allegations of abuse between 2006 and 2012 - with more than half involving sex abuse claims.  ABUSE allegations have been made against 27 Scots priests in a six-year period, a report revealed yesterday.
Figures released by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, who represent the Catholic Church in Scotland, showed 46 allegations of abuse between 2006 and 2012. More than half involved sex abuse claims.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/catholic-church-scotland-reveal-27-2851687 

Orphan’s anguish at hands of nuns at Neerkol facility

When Theresa Whitfield heard the girls' dormitory at the abandoned Neerkol Orphanage had burnt down, she felt relief that verged on sheer delight. The two-storey brick building was a prison of pain during the "10 horrible years" she spent there in the 1950s.
Theresa (nee Gillon) was one of hundreds of thousands of British children who were shipped to Australia and housed in church-run institutions. She was just seven years old when she first set foot on the rural setting of Neerkol outside Rockhampton. 

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/orphans-anguish-at-hands-of-nuns-neerkol-facility/2468602/ 

An Irish Catholic orphanage hid the bodies of 800 children

They have no headstones, no coffins. No memory boxes of toys and photographs. There are nearly eight hundred of them – and counting. They are the 796 babies and young children aged between two days and nine years whose grave, “filled to the brim with tiny bones and skulls,” was found last week in an unmarked site that once housed a septic tank near a County Galway home for unwed mothers.
Local death records show that the children, mostly babies and toddlers, died during the years The Home, run by the Bon Secours Sisters, was in operation — between 1925 and 1961. The causes of death listed include “sicknesses, diseases, deformities and premature births.” A full tally of the bodies has not yet been made, and it’s unknown yet if investigators will find more bodies than the ones whose deaths were recorded.

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/04/an_irish_catholic_orphanage_hid_the_bodies_of_800_children/ 

Inwood’s Old Magdalen Asylum

That girl you saw in the dormitory,” a matron of the Magdalen Benevolent Society explained to the reporter.  “She is really the worst girl in the place.  I wouldn’t trust her out of my sight. Her parents haven’t much for her, “ she continued.  “Their only worldly possessions are seven small children and a pushcart.  Her sisters told me a woeful story of poverty.”
In September of 1903 a seemingly routine real estate transaction transpired on the northern tip of Manhattan. Inwood resident Francis A. Thayer sold, to the New York Magdalen Benevolent Society, a large tract of land on the northwestern end of Dyckman Street overlooking the Hudson River.
In September of 1903 a seemingly routine real estate transaction transpired on the northern tip of Manhattan.

http://myinwood.net/inwoods-old-magdalen-asylum/

The Lost Children After Many Years, Painful, Emotional Reunions

Not only had these lost children been shipped 12,000 miles from Britain to the bottom of the world. Not only had they been exploited and abused. They had been deceived. They weren't orphans. They had families back in Britain, families which had dropped them off at institutions with every intention of getting them back.
When Tony Jones discovered that his mother was still alive in England, he was shocked: "All them years, and they didn't even tell me I had a family?" he says. Too poor to care for him, Maud Jones had placed Tony in a children's home in England after she divorced his father. She never gave consent for Tony to be shipped to Australia. She was never even asked.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-lost-children/