Comment: Cardinal Pell on the stand

How will Cardinal George Pell acknowledge the right of a mother to school her children in the Catholic faith, without abuse, asks Madonna King.
Chrissie Foster remembers her husband Anthony handing George Pell a photograph of their daughter Emma. Her arms and wrists were bloodied; the tell-tale signs that she wanted the torture that followed years of abuse to stop. “I wanted to explain to him how Emma was telling the truth - she was only 14 or 15 at the time,’’ Chrissie tells me. “I wanted to break through this clerical belief that victims are liars and were after money.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/12/04/comment-cardinal-pell-stand 

Pell knew of abuse in 80s: witness

CARDINAL George Pell was allegedly overheard discussing convicted pedophile priest Gerald Risdale "rooting young boys" in the 1980s - before he was made a bishop.

The witness known as BWE told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse he had overheard a conversation between Father Pell, who was a priest at Ballarat at the time, and Father Frank Madden . 

http://www.gattonstar.com.au/news/pell-knew-of-abuse-in-80s-witness/2865821/ 

'Baptising children simply to be able to attend a specific school is an abuse of baptism' - Archbishop

Well it use to be within the catholic church... if you did not get your children baptize... they would go to Limbo when they died... we had to get them baptize with-in a month... of their birth... but as this guy says here... to do it... just to get them into a catholic school... that sounds not right... specially from a survivors point of view... who were abused in the catholic church... by nuns... priest... and their workers...

we stay as far away from the catholic church as we can... and our children we did not... send them to a catholic church school... to be abused as well as we were... to send our children to the catholic church school... was to put them in harms way... and it was to re-abuse us again and again... because we would never have peace... knowing what happened to us... in their so called care... would also happen to them...  Ann

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Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has voiced his most forthright support yet for parents and teachers who want more choice about religion teaching in primary schools.
Dr Martin used his homily at the annual School Mass in the Pro-Cathedral to say that teachers should not feel compelled to teach religious education or faith formation. And he also said that parents who did not wish their children to attend religious education had a right to see their wish respected.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/baptising-children-simply-to-be-able-to-attend-a-specific-school-is-an-abuse-of-baptism-archbishop-34267395.html 

We should have known -- and should know now

They did know... they all knew... but they felt it was safer for them... or so they thought it was... to turn their backs on us... because they enjoyed what they were doing to us... they had power and control over every one... and it was the children of the homes... and orphanages... who bought them down... to make them front up to their evil ways... WE ARE THE TRUTH... and WE WILL NOT GO AWAY...  Ann

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Why do we often miss what’s right in front of us? We have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear, as the Bible so memorably puts it. Three instances worth pondering: First, “Spotlight,” a disturbing new film about the Roman Catholic Church’s coverup of pedophile priests in Boston. It’s a horrific scandal that shook the church to its foundations worldwide.
Four smart and motivated Boston Globe investigative reporters — the “Spotlight” team, grew ever more amazed in 2001-02 when they uncovered church policies that enabled priests to continue abusing children for decades. The power of Boston Catholic church officials was all but absolute.

http://wcfcourier.com/news/opinion/cawelti/we-should-have-known----and-should-know/article_aa872c3c-8bf2-5dfc-a3e8-ac47d777888f.html#.VmYTCzzC9KA.facebook 

Time to hold police accountable

All those who knew... and did nothing to stop... or help the children from being abused... by God's servants... should face the law... and to be made accountable for... turning away from the children's cry for help...  Ann

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I went to see the movie "Spotlight," about the Boston Globe's revelations regarding the cover-up of child abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church. It left me thinking hard about our tendency to place loyalty above truth telling, particularly when it comes to well established community institutions.
The desire by many to excuse or deny police violence when it happens is understandable in this context.
Each community wants to believe in the integrity of its own police force. But that desire to trust community institutions can also be dangerous if we yield the ability to hold them accountable. The institution begins to insist on monitoring and disciplining its own. Criticism begins to be interpreted as disloyalty. Mistakes and eventually blatant wrongs are swept under the rug in order to preserve the overall institution. Until, finally, one day, the wrongs are so clear and so devastating that the community wakes up and it is too late. Trust in the institution is gone and along with it the community's sense of pride and place.

http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-opinion/article/Time-to-hold-police-accountable-6682061.php 

Pell commented about priest abuser:inquiry

There's further allegations about Cardinal George Pell, with a former altar boy saying he overheard him make a remark about an abuser priest. Cardinal George Pell said he believed a priest had been abusing boys again, a former altar boy has told an inquiry.
Ballarat-born BWE has told the child abuse royal commission he overheard a conversation between Cardinal Pell, then a Ballarat priest, and Fr Frank Madden before a funeral in September 1983. He said Cardinal Pell commented to Fr Madden about Gerald Francis Ridsdale: "I think Gerry's been rooting boys again".

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/12/07/pell-commented-about-priest-abuserinquiry

Concern at treatment of priests after sex abuse allegations

Concern at the treatment of priests who find themselves the subject of allegations of sex abuse has been expressed by members of the Association of Catholic Priests

Issues such as presumption of innocence, support for priests facing allegations and the time it takes for allegations to be dealt with were all of concern to the clergy, canon lawyer Helen Costigane who lectures in Heythrop College, London, told the association’s annual conference. 

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/concern-at-treatment-of-priests-after-sex-abuse-allegations-1.2442482 

Several priests accused of abuse sent to facility in Jemez Springs

The names of many of the former priests identified as alleged sexual abusers in recent New Mexico lawsuits have turned up frequently since the pedophile crisis erupted publicly in the early 1990s, here and in other states.
Among the former priests are those who were expelled from dioceses across the U.S. after being accused of sexually abusing children and were then sent to a treatment facility for priests in Jemez Springs operated by a Catholic religious order, Servants of the Paraclete.

http://www.abqjournal.com/686737/news/several-priests-accused-of-abuse-sent-to-facility-in-jeme-zsprings.html 

Priest sex abuse victim challenges ‘culture of secrecy’

Brian Gutierrez, 46, said he filed a lawsuit last year against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to spare others the anguish he has endured for nearly 30 years and promote a “new era of openness” in the Catholic Church.
A key goal is to require the archdiocese to publicly disclose records that he says reveal the facts of his alleged rape by a priest in 1986, when Gutierrez was a 17-year-old freshman at the University of New Mexico

http://www.abqjournal.com/686736/news/priest-sex-abuse-victim-challenges-culture-of-secrecy.html 

George Pell asked for payments for paedophile priest, commission heard

Cardinal George Pell lobbied for payments to be made to a paedophile priest days before he was charged with sex offences, documents tendered to the child abuse royal commission show.
In May 1998, the Catholic Church's independent commissioner Peter O'Callaghan, QC, informed then Bishop Denis Hart that Gladston Park priest Wilfred "Billy" Baker was likely to be charged.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/george-pell-asked-for-payments-for-paedophile-priest-commission-heard-20151125-gl7q8c.html 

Attorney releases St. John's Abbey priests' files

Attorney Jeff Anderson Tuesday released the personnel files of five monks and priests who were part of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville.
The five, including two who are now deceased, were previously listed by St. John's Abbey as credibly accused of child sexual abuse. Anderson said the redacted version of the documents posted on his website, show that priests who admitted battles with sexual urges still had access to potential victims.

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/local/2015/11/25/attorney-releases-st-johns-abbey-priests-files/76355754/ 

Catholic Church sent a string of pedophile priests, to Melbourne parish because it was POOR

The Catholic Church sent a string of pedophile priests, from the 1970s to 1990s, to a poor Melbourne parish because it did not care about disadvantaged parishioners, an inquiry has heard.

One of the pedophile priests sent to Doveton, 34km south of Melbourne, left because he was having sex with a number of women, while his successor told a girl he indecently assaulted in confession 'the Lord forgives you', the child abuse royal commission heard. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3333053/Catholic-church-accused-sending-pedophile-priests-Holy-Family-Primary-School-Melbourne-poor.html

Church let 'lunatic' loose in poor parish

The Catholic Church let a "raving lunatic loose" and sent a string of pedophile priests to a disadvantaged Melbourne parish with no concern for the parishioners, an inquiry has heard.

Father Victor Rubeo left Doveton overnight because he was having sex with a number of women in the parish, while his "bizarre and lunatic" successor Father Peter Searson told a girl he indecently assaulted in confession "the Lord forgives you".

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/30187936/vic-priest-abused-girl-during-confession/