Ongoing religious scandals

furiousox

jobee wrote: »

The grass roots of the religion are so overawed by their religious masters they
are to terrified to speak up, We are looking at cowardice.
It is cowardice that will finish them.

This post sounds best in a 'Darth Vader' type voice :pac:

jobee

furiousox wrote: »

This post sounds best in a 'Darth Vader' type voice :pac:

Vader or not, churches are closing all over Europe.

Its bad management thats doing it. This Pope is another flop.

Nodin

Despite allegations that he lured four young men into sexual relationships, many of Bishop Eddie Long's followers remain unwavering in their support for him as he pledges to fight the accusations like David fighting Goliath.

Casting himself as the Bible's ultimate underdog, Long went before thousands of faithful supporters at his megachurch Sunday and promised to battle claims in lawsuits filed last week that he abused his "spiritual authority."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/27/national/main6904087.shtml?tag=stack

And of course, as is often the case....

CNN has said "Long frequently denounces homosexual behavior."[12] Long has ministered “homosexual cure” programs to recruit gays and lesbians for what he called “Sexual Reorientation” conferences and his church offers an ongoing “Out of the Wilderness” ministry to help convert homosexuals into heterosexuals.[13] In 2004, Long led a march with Bernice King to the grave of her father, Martin Luther King, Jr. The march was a protest against same-sex marriage and in support of a national constitutional amendment to protect marriage "between one man and one woman."[14] A 2007 article in the Southern Poverty Law Center's magazine called him "one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Long

Evidently the way back from "Out of the Wilderness" requires the odd rest stop in the bushes...

jobee

sink wrote: »

While I think the president of a secular state should no be commenting on internal religious matters, in this case I agree with her. Martin seems to be the only one in the upper echelons of the Catholic church who is taking the situation seriously rather than trying to cover his own ass and the churches reputation.

How the heck can you be a secular state with blasphemy laws hanging over you.

Pushtrak

Found another one on Pharyngula. It's a long one so I'll not paste it here.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/10/from_nunavut_to_lourdes.php

jobee

Nemi wrote: »

Are they still crowding in? I think they're getting the message.

/QUOTE]
Its just a case of-old habits die hard.

Giving money to Rome at weddings and funerals is the same.

Nodin

This is the shower that used be broadcast early Sunday mornings on Sky1. Having seen some of his politicised blatherings, I can't say its a loss.

CBS/ AP) Crystal Cathedral has filed for bankruptcy in Southern California after months of trying to overcome mounting debt.

The megachurch, birthplace of the "Hour of Power" televangelist broadcast, announced its filing Monday as it deals with a $55 million debt.

The Orange County-based church, founded in the mid-1950s by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, earlier this year ordered major layoffs. It also cut the number of stations airing the "Hour of Power" and sold property to stay afloat.

In addition, the 10,000-member church canceled this year's "Glory of Easter" pageant, which attracts thousands of visitors and is a regional holiday staple.

In February 2009 a man shot himself to death in front of a cross inside Crystal Cathedral as a group of Canadian visitors was being told about the church's suicide-prevention program.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/18/business/main6969921.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColLowerPromoArea;morenews

mikhail

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101112/ap_on_re_us/us_priest_attack

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Will Lynch is looking for justice in an unusual way. Charged with savagely beating the priest he says molested him as a child, he plans to try to use his trial to publicly shame the Rev. Jerold Lindner in court and call attention to clergy abuse.

Nodin

The American pastor who denounced Facebook as leading to adultery has admitted having a three-in-a-bed affair.

http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/18974569/?view=Standard

The line between satire and reality is getting harder and harder to see....

robindch

Nodin wrote: »

The line between satire and reality is getting harder and harder to see....

Poe

mikhail

This might just be a new low for an individual case:

(CNN) -- A Catholic priest, facing criminal charges and a lawsuit alleging that he sexually abused a teenage boy, is now charged with attempting to hire someone to kill the youth, authorities said Tuesday.

More.

I noticed that while the article calls him Catholic, the picture captioned him as "Rev.". A little googling finds this indicating his parish is Roman Catholic.

Nodin

I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword.

(yes, it is sniping, but I found it amusing in a grim way)

Nodin

New documents show how the former Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger -- now Pope Benedict XVI -- and his successor Reinhard Marx failed to properly deal with a suspected pedophile. Despite massive allegations of abuse, the archdiocese allowed the priest to continue working with children.

And in a almost Father Ted moment......

In order to convince Ratzinger that he should be given his own parish, the priest attached to his application a copy of a church newsletter from his current parish. This included an article in which he proudly describes his accomplishments working with children and young people. For instance, on April 4, 1980 -- in other words, less than three months after his transfer for disciplinary reasons -- he wrote about a pilgrimage that he had organized with "20 to 25 girls and boys."
'Athletic Ability'
In June, he wrote that "150 altar boys from the parishes of our deanery" held their main Munich gathering in his parish. In his article, H. delightedly praised the youngsters' "dexterity," "imagination" and "athletic ability" during sporting events in the "Altar Boys' Cup."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,731683,00.html

maringo

Rats coverup alleged in March 2010.
Anyone know if Fr. Francis Markey of Carrickmacross ever stood trial for alleged rape in Ireland after his extradition from the US? Its a bit of a mystery after the media cover of his arrest on an Irish warrant in Indiana and then disappears off the radar ...

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/89109067.html

Dougla2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h7ekCD6uE4

disgraceful police brutality against activists protesting a violation of the us constitution against state religion please send this to everybody this video needs to be seen

Dades

^^ Already posted in Hazards.

robindch

Seems that while over 350 allegations of sexual abuse of minors by religious workers were made to the church (huh?) in southern Germany during the period 1945 to 2009, it seems that only one case was reported during Ratzinger's years at the top between 1977 and 1982.

So, either religious workers suddenly stopped abusing kids, or else evidence was systematically destroyed. An influential report by a German lawyer plumped for the latter:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6294220,00.html

Dougla2

Dades wrote: »

^^ Already posted in Hazards.

reddit ay?

MackDeToaster

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/10/wikileaks-vatican-child-sex-abuse-investigation

The full link there doesn't seem to be working right now but it'll be interesting to see what comes out of this (although the basics are already known).

robindch

^^^ More on this:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1211/breaking3.html
http://www.thejournal.ie/the-vatican-and-ireland-the-wikileak-in-full-2010-12/

The cables claim that many in the Vatican were "offended" by requests to provide information to the Murphy Commission because they were an "affront to Vatican sovereignty".

MrPudding

robindch wrote: »

^^^ More on this:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1211/breaking3.html
http://www.thejournal.ie/the-vatican-and-ireland-the-wikileak-in-full-2010-12/

The cables claim that many in the Vatican were "offended" by requests to provide information to the Murphy Commission because they were an "affront to Vatican sovereignty".

I will take the opportunity to pimp this book again, for anyone that has not read it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Case-Pope-Vatican-Accountability-Rights/dp/0241953847/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292108002&sr=1-1

It makes reference to the vatican's demand for communication about abuse to be made through diplomatic channels. The sooner the sham "statehood" is removed from the vatican the better.

MrP

Nodin

Abuse by Tony Walsh 'hushed up' by Church

The Commission of Inquiry into allegations of child sexual abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese details the incidents of abuse over 15 years and concludes the child abuser was moved from parishes in Ballyfermot to Westland Row to avoid further scandal.
The Murphy Report outlines how Tony Walsh abused children in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s even though priests, canons, monsignors, bishops and the Archbishop in Dublin knew about it.
The first complaint against him was made two days after he was appointed a parish priest in Ballyfermot in 1978 but nothing was done.
It also describes as astonishing a letter from the Archbishop thanking him for his 'dedicated work' in Ballyfermot.

It describes how some priests felt his activities were 'hushed up' and that a monsignor was outraged at a suggestion that the gardaí be informed of his activities.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1217/abuse_murphy.html

Relevant sections of 'Murphy' are linked in the RTE report....

...impossible to think of a comment that just doesn't fuck them all out of it from a height, at this moment in time.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1217/abuse_murphy.html

cavedave

Nicknamed Fr Filth, he attacked a young boy in the toilet of a pub in Dublin in May 1994 after attending the funeral of his victim's grandfather as the Catholic hierarchy in Rome debated how he should be dealt with.

also here

...impossible to think of a comment that just doesn't **** them all out of it from a height, at this moment in time.

+1

rename themselves Society for not Protecting the Born Child.

Focalbhach

Figure this might be the best place to (attempt to) satisfy my curiosity - is anyone aware of the running total of clergy who have been convicted of child abuse? I'm interested in it as a proportion of the total number of active religious.

MrPudding

Leto wrote: »

Figure this might be the best place to (attempt to) satisfy my curiosity - is anyone aware of the running total of clergy who have been convicted of child abuse? I'm interested in it as a proportion of the total number of active religious.

I think the percentage is actually very low, single digit, if I remember correctly. That said, I think this is more of an indication of the nasty and underhanded way the church operates, rather than an indication of the number of priest rapists. The problem is, anyone who was raped and went for the church was bullied into a confidentiality agreement that Prevented them from going to the authorities or otherwise discussing the rape. Anyone discussing events dealt with in this way is threatened with ex-communication.

I am not sure it is possible to get accurate figure a out the amount of abuse dealt with inthis manner.

Chris

cavedave

Leto

Figure this might be the best place to (attempt to) satisfy my curiosity - is anyone aware of the running total of clergy who have been convicted of child abuse?

I think the X% priests have been convicted of child abuse figure is not a very useful one. More telling is the % of the hierarchy who were aware of child abuse and did not report it to the Garda and did almost nothing to stop it (or did actions that made it more likely). It seems to be close to 100% of priests above parish priest level were accessories to child rape.

recedite

In the early days of publicity, it was said that priests were no more likely to be paedophiles than the general population. It was just that they got more media attention. As time goes by though, I think a propensity and culture of the tendency has been uncovered amongst them.

It would be interesting to compare to, say, other religious personnel;eg imams and rabbis. Then compare also to the general population;eg plumbers and shopkeepers.
Parents are still advised to be vigilant not towards their local priest, but towards anyone in the family;eg the child's uncle. Is this advice still valid?

Focalbhach

Thanks for the replies, all.

cavedave wrote: »

I think the X% priests have been convicted of child abuse figure is not a very useful one. More telling is the % of the hierarchy who were aware of child abuse and did not report it to the Garda and did almost nothing to stop it (or did actions that made it more likely). It seems to be close to 100% of priests above parish priest level were accessories to child rape.

What I'm interested in at the moment is the state of play at the level of individual priests, rather than for the Church as a whole or the Church hierarchy. Put it this way: if a parish priest (or a school chaplain) were to be regarded with suspicion by their local community purely on the back of the revelations of the last few years - "he's a priest; keep the kids away just in case" - I'm wondering how justified that is.

I think recedite put it better than I am:

recedite wrote:

It would be interesting to compare to, say, other religious personnel;eg imams and rabbis. Then compare also to the general population;eg plumbers and shopkeepers.
Parents are still advised to be vigilant not towards their local priest, but towards anyone in the family;eg the child's uncle. Is this advice still valid?

cavedave

According to wikipedia (with linked to sources)

Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi in September 2009, the Holy See stated "We know now that in the last 50 years somewhere between 1.5% and 5% of the Catholic clergy has been involved in sexual abuse cases", adding that this figure was comparable with that of other groups and denominations.[10] A Perspective on Clergy Sexual Abuse by Dr. Thomas Plante of Stanford University and Santa Clara University states that "approximately 4% of priests during the past half century (and mostly in the 1960s and 1970s) have had a sexual experience with a minor" which "is consistent with male clergy from other religious traditions and is significantly lower than the general adult male population which may double these numbers".[11][12] Additionally, according to Newsweek magazine, the figure in the Catholic Church is similar to that in the rest of the adult population.[13] However, statistics from the US Department of Health an Human Services show that this figure was less than 0,2% for the rest of the population of the US during the last decade

Galvasean

BIG difference between 0.2% and potentially 5%.
It begs several disturbing questions:
Do religious positions of authority over children attract paedophiles?
Or do they help create them (particularly in situations of forcved abstinence)?