‘The safety of children should outweigh religious freedom’

t’s little wonder an alarming tantrum by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, has gone global this week. The president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said protections for confession should be respected – even if details of child abuse are raised.
The long-time supporter and friend of Cardinal George Pell said he would rather go to jail than break the holy “seal” of confession.

http://thenewdaily.com.au/religion/2017/08/16/catholic-confession-child-abuse/ 

Pope apologises to sex abuse victims

Pope Francis on Wednesday asked for forgiveness from the families of child sex abuse victims who had killed themselves as a result of their trauma. He equally commended one survivor for telling his story.
In comments published in German tabloid Bild, the pope described Daniel Pittet’s memoir “Father, I Forgive You’’ as a testament to “how deeply embedded evil can be in the heart of a servant of the church.’’

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/foreign/world-foreign/240452-pope-apologises-sex-abuse-victims.html 

Australia: Court Hears Harrowing Accounts of Child Abuse in Diocese Linked to Vatican Cardinal George Pell

An Australian court heard harrowing details of historic child abuse perpetrated by former priest Gerald Ridsdale, one of Australia’s most notorious pedophiles.
Ridsdale, 83, pleaded guilty to 23 charges Tuesday, including two counts of rape and one of buggery, for abusing 12 children, aged 6 to 13, between 1962 and 1988 in the Victoria state city of Ballarat and the surrounding area.

http://www.newsweek.com/australia-court-hears-harrowing-accounts-child-abuse-diocese-linked-vatican-651096 

Another hot and cold priest

I’m Wendy. My priest’s name is Craig. Forgive the long story, but I don’t know how to understand my priest. His behaviour is odd, and it’s ripping me up inside.Let me start by saying that this has been a horrible year for me! In the same month, I had a tumour on my neck, my mother went into kidney failure, and my 67 year old boss was constantly harassing me, and threatening to fire me, so she could afford to keep her 35 year old boyfriend in the company. 

He just got out of rehab, and hasn’t been employed a year. He went to rehab after working at my company just one week, when he showed up at work drunk. My boss sent him to rehab for three months, then brought him back to the company, where he took my promised promotion. We were in a deficit, and could not afford him, so now all of a sudden, she was finding all kinds of flaws in my work, while he is paid literally just to sit around, and be her boyfriend. On July 4th, she finally got rid of me. My point of all this, is that this year has been misery, and my priest was like a light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

https://maltesemarriedcatholicpriest.wordpress.com/2017/08/28/another-hot-and-cold-priest/ 

Australian inquiry recommends prosecution of priests for not reporting child abuse confessions

Priests who fail to tell police about suspected child sexual abuse should face criminal charges, even if they learn of abuse during a confidential religious confession, Australia's most powerful investigative authority has recommended.
Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - the nation's highest form of inquiry - recommended that all states and territories in Australia introduce legislation which would make it a criminal offence for people to fail to report child sexual abuse in an institutional setting. Clergy who find out about sexual abuse during a religious confession would not be exempt.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/australian-inquiry-recommends-prosecution-of-priests-for-not-reporting-child-abuse-confessions-802044.html

Montana reservations reportedly 'dumping grounds' for predatory priests

For decades, even lifetimes, the Catholic Church refused to turn in priests with known pasts of sexually abusing children, women and men. The story is known in as many corners of the world as the Catholic Church exists, including Montana's two dioceses. Hundreds of victims have come forward with stories of abuse from Catholic clergy. Estimates of others victimized may remain faceless and unaccounted following the settlement of the lawsuit.

In the Pacific Northwest, however, the Catholic Church and the Jesuit Order have been accused of using Indian Reservations as their “dumping grounds” for the worst recidivist priests accused of sexually abusing children throughout the 1900s. Here, church officials reportedly determined predatory priests could remain undetected. Here, the church acted as an anchor for the communities, and the victims lived with the abuse in silence.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2017/08/16/montanas-reservations-were-dumping-grounds-predatory-priests-suit-alleges/504576001/ 

Australia: Court Hears Harrowing Accounts of Child Abuse in Diocese Linked to Vatican Cardinal George Pell

An Australian court heard harrowing details of historic child abuse perpetrated by former priest Gerald Ridsdale, one of Australia’s most notorious pedophiles.
Ridsdale, 83, pleaded guilty to 23 charges Tuesday, including two counts of rape and one of buggery, for abusing 12 children, aged 6 to 13, between 1962 and 1988 in the Victoria state city of Ballarat and the surrounding area.

http://www.newsweek.com/australia-court-hears-harrowing-accounts-child-abuse-diocese-linked-vatican-651096 

Priest abused girl on altar, court told

A father laid his naked daughter on a church altar where she was abused by Australia's worst pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale, a court has heard.

The former Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to sex crimes against another 12 children, one as young as six, during the three decades he abused children throughout western Victoria.

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/08/15/03/33/pedophile-priest-faces-more-jail-time

Crucial test for Benedictine monks’ new leader as order faces sex abuse inquiry

He has been an abbot, an author, a TV star and a radio breakfast show regular and has been described as the country’s most influential Benedictine monk since Cardinal Basil Hume. Now Christopher Jamison is to attempt his most important role: saviour of the reputation of his monastic order.
At the start of August the monks of the English Benedictine Congregation – an association of 13 Roman Catholic communities of monks and nuns – elected Jamison as their leader. His installation as abbot president came just days after Professor Alexis Jay confirmed that the public inquiry she is chairing into child sexual abuse in England and Wales would focus its hearings during October and November on scandals at Benedictine schools and monasteries. The choice of Jamison was almost certainly no coincidence.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/12/benedictine-christopher-jamison-abbot-president-order-faces-sex-abuse-inquiry 

Australian inquiry recommends prosecution of priests for not reporting child abuse confessions

Priests who fail to tell police about suspected child sexual abuse should face criminal charges, even if they learn of abuse during a confidential religious confession, Australia's most powerful investigative authority has recommended.
Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - the nation's highest form of inquiry - recommended that all states and territories in Australia introduce legislation which would make it a criminal offence for people to fail to report child sexual abuse in an institutional setting. Clergy who find out about sexual abuse during a religious confession would not be exempt.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/australian-inquiry-recommends-prosecution-of-priests-for-not-reporting-child-abuse-confessions-802044.html

Papal abuse commission considers restructuring, survivors may lose direct role

Rome — Pope Francis' commission on clergy sexual abuse is considering whether to restructure itself so that it no longer includes the direct participation of abuse survivors. It is evaluating the possibility of creating instead a separate advisory panel of individuals who have been abused by clergy.
A member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors revealed the group's consideration of the idea in an NCR interview Aug. 14, saying that one of the commission's work groups has been tasked with weighing the pros and cons of such a change.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/papal-abuse-commission-considers-restructuring-survivors-may-lose-direct-role

Clerical abuse of children has to be addressed

Arrest of priest shows everyone has to answer for their behavior no matter what station they hold in life.  The arrest of a Filipino Catholic priest accused of trafficking a 13-year-old minor is highly unusual. He has been charged with violating the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of the Philippines. 
Most cases of alleged clerical child abuse go unreported or are covered up in the Philippines. In other countries, the scandal of clerical child abuse has left thousands of child victims without redress, help, therapy, or a chance for justice.

http://www.ucanews.com/news/clerical-abuse-of-children-must-be-addressed/79964 

The Catholic church must stop blaming victims: children cannot consent to sex

What has consent got to do with child abuse? A simple question, which should have a simple answer. A child under the age of 16 is in law unable to consent to sexual acts. The age of consent exists for a reason: to protect vulnerable members of society who have not yet developed the emotional or physical maturity to engage in sexual relationships.
Yet years of revelations about child sexual abuse have shown that this is not a settled question even within trusted institutions that should know better. The independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham found police officers believed girls as young as 11 could consent to sex. In Rochdale, council employees said they thought victims of child sex abuse were “making their own choices”. And in my own work as a lawyer representing survivors of child sexual abuse, I’ve seen how the Catholic church, when dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse, often looks to place blame straight at the feet of a victim.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/24/catholic-church-victim-blaming-children-consent-sex-abuse