Ongoing religious scandals

Delirium

Philadelphia priest abuse trial a test case for Catholic church

It's been four weeks since the beginning of the trial of the highest ranking U.S. Catholic Church leader charged with covering up the crimes of priests against children.

The main issue is not whether sex abuse occurred, as defense attorneys have pointed out, but how the Archdiocese of Philadelphia - Monsignor William Lynn in particular - handled the allegations against priests in the diocese.

The trial against Lynn and the alleged offending priest, the Rev. James Brennan, has already created a shake-up in Philadelphia's Catholic leadership, according to Catholic commentator and blogger Rocco Palmo.

"It's a shift you see once in 200 years," Palmo told CNN.

Sonics2k

qrrgprgua wrote: »

NAME ONE CASE OF ABUSE IN THE LAST 10 YEARS IN IRELAND? ISAW's and my frustration is not the existence of this thread, its the untruths peddled here.

It doesn't matter if it was in the last ten, twenty, thirty, or FIFTY freaking years! Or do you want us to stand outside the Vatican and give the Priests a big round of applause for not abusing children?

The FACT of the matter is that the Vatican and many of it's members covered up cases of Child abuse.

Now. This thread is about Ongoing religious scandals, not just Christianity, so feel free to post any other scandal news from within the Religious societies.

F12

qrrgprgua wrote: »

NAME ONE CASE OF ABUSE IN THE LAST 10 YEARS IN IRELAND? ISAW's and my frustration is not the existence of this thread, its the untruths peddled here.

What difference would that make? They haven't even settled up for their admitted liability for the things they did in earlier decades, so what has the last ten years to do with anything?

Dades

Short holiday from A&A for qrrqrgua.

Please leave this tangent alone, people. Not even quoting.

Move on.

Hotblack Desiato

What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men.

robindch

Two seemingly-contradictory articles:

State threatens to close non-compliant organizations:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0425/breaking28.html

Irish Times wrote:

Any sports club, society or voluntary organisation that works with children faces being shut down if they fail to implement official guidelines on how to handle child protection and welfare concerns. [...] If a designated officer fails to report concerns without a reasonable excuse, they may face a jail term of up to five years. If an organisation fails to implement Children First guidelines, they face losing State funding and, ultimately, being shut down. [...] Separate legislation published today by Mr Shatter will make it a criminal offence for a person to fail to disclose information to the Garda which would assist in prosecuting a person who commits a serious offence against a child or vulnerable adult. [...] Mr Shatter confirmed the legislation would apply to priests hearing confession, but described the issue as a "media obsession". He said similar legislation has been in place since 1998, but has not proved a source of controversy since.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0425/1224315148024.html

The RCC still seems to be hiding stuff:

Irish Times wrote:

A WOMAN who was the child safeguarding representative in a Dublin Catholic parish for over a decade has resigned following her discovery last month that a priest serving there until recently had been on “restricted ministry” for years. It followed allegations of child sex abuse against him. She had also not been informed that the same priest was the subject of a chapter in the 2009 Murphy report on clerical sexual abuse. The parish pastoral council was not given any of this information about the priest either. It remains unclear just how much information the current parish priest there had been told about the priest, who was given the pseudonym Fr Benito in the Murphy report. [...] Two complaints against Fr Benito were addressed by the Murphy commission. One concerned an alleged sexual assault against a 15-year-old boy in 1988. The second concerned an alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl. In October 2002 the DPP decided not to prosecute in either case. [...] The priest’s history only came to light last month when some in the parish became concerned on being informed by the archdiocese that Fr Benito was standing aside from ministry as it had new information on him.

Kivaro

"In my shock and upset and in my concern to ensure that the images would never be shown again, I destroyed it later that evening."
From the priest who presented showed gay porn to parents in a Co. Tyrone primary school on why he destroyed the memory stick with the images.

The priest "will leave the parish and take a break from his work, though the cardinal said the priest would return to the Diocese at some future date."
I expect they may send him to some basic computer classes on how to secure and encrypt data.

More here.

qrrgprgua

Kivaro wrote: »

"In my shock and upset and in my concern to ensure that the images would never be shown again, I destroyed it later that evening."
From the priest who presented showed gay porn to parents in a Co. Tyrone primary school on why he destroyed the memory stick with the images.

The priest "will leave the parish and take a break from his work, though the cardinal said the priest would return to the Diocese at some future date."
I expect they may send him to some basic computer classes on how to secure and encrypt data.

More here.

You forgot to mention how conveniently the Laptop was "Stolen". I think the priest should have just said the truth and have done with it... Not really the actions of an innocent man. If it had happened to me I would have handed the memory stick to a tech who could pull info from where the images came from .. not destroying them. You usually destroy evidence... because you know you are guilty. My take on this..

magicbastarder

Vatican 'accepted one billion lire' to bury crime boss in basilica next to former popes

Sarky

It's rather more than 30 pieces of silver, but you can't fault them on their adherence to apostolic traditions...

Galvasean

magicbastarder wrote: »

Vatican 'accepted one billion lire' to bury crime boss in basilica next to former popes

Best place for him - in among the other crooks :pac:

Hotblack Desiato

I thought it was funny that the headline (the last place you'd expect to find tautology) referred to 'former popes'. Well, duh, they're dead.

recedite

magicbastarder wrote: »

Vatican 'accepted one billion lire' to bury crime boss in basilica next to former popes

It is likely that the body of De Pedis will be moved to a less high-profile place of rest.

I hope the Mafia kept the receipt, they'll be entitled to a full refund

Sarky

recedite wrote: »

I hope the Mafia kept the receipt, they'll be entitled to a full refund

... And in other news, the pope swears blind that he broke his kneecaps falling down the stairs, and please don't hurt him.

F12

recedite wrote: »

I hope the Mafia kept the receipt, they'll be entitled to a full refund

"Respect the family" comes to mind......:D

ShooterSF

^^^^^

One of the following groups extorted money out of the other so one of it's members could be given "preferential treatment" and are now set out to renege on the deal without paying the other party back. Was it:

A) The Mafia
or
The Catholic Church

Hotblack Desiato

They both run protection rackets, extort money, threaten dire retribution against those who resist them, don't pay taxes, and corrupt the morals of society, so... what's the difference really?

recedite

I'm sure the Dons will come to some sort of civilised arrangement.

Bannasidhe

Who says we only highlight scandals about the Catholic Church in Ireland eh?

In Indonesia, Alex Aan decided to speak his mind and it may cost him the next decade of his life, or even worse. Aan decided to post "God doesn't exist" on Facebook, and by doing so in a majority Muslim nation, the backlash he received was devastating. According to Indonesian law, citizens have freedom of religion, but it comes with an asterisk. The asterisk is that to be granted freedom of religion, citizens must choose one of the six recognized religions, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism. The religion of their choosing is then placed on their national ID card to be shown when asked. According to Raw Story, Aan faces five years for "blasphemy" for "insulting a major religion," and another possible six years for using the internet to voice his opinions.

http://www.examiner.com/article/atheist-arrested-sent-to-jail-for-posting-god-doesn-t-exist-on-facebook

Fortyniner

They just keep on coming..

Three arrests in school child sex inquiry
By Sean O’Riordan and Claire O’Sullivan
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Three men have been arrested in connection with a major investigation into child sex abuse at a Co Cork school.
The arrests follow complaints made by nearly 20 former pupils of Sacred Heart College, Carrignavar.

Gardaí received the first of the complaints last August, when they were approached by a former boarder at the secondary school.

Two of the three men were arrested and questioned at Cobh Garda Station in Co Cork, while the third was detained in Dublin.

The three, described by Garda sources as "elderly", were questioned in relation to allegations made by former pupils who claimed they had been sexually abused at the school in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, when it was run by the order of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

The complaints were made against four former members of staff, one of whom has since died.

Gardaí from Cobh and Glanmire have been involved in the lengthy investigation, along with detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation based at Harcourt Square, Dublin.

Some of the victims alleged that they were subjected to repeated abuse over some length of time, but gardaí said there was no evidence to suggest that they were passed around by their alleged abusers.

While some of the alleged victims still live in Cork, Kerry, and Limerick, others have moved to counties much further north. Gardaí travelled to interview them as part of their painstaking investigation.

They also travelled to interview other former pupils who the alleged victims said would substantiate their stories.

Some of the victims went to the gardaí after meeting counsellors from the One In Four support group, which helps people who have suffered from sexual abuse.

One In Four hosted a special counselling session in Cork last October to deal with allegations of child sex abuse at Carrignavar College.

Garda sources confirmed yesterday that the men were released without charge and that a file will be forwarded to the DPP.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church has completed an audit of child protection practices within the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart late last year.

Whether the report will be made public or not depends upon the missionaries. They have indicated that they will not consider putting anything into the public domain until criminal investigations have concluded.

Last August, the HSE also began an investigation into child protection practices at the school.

The inquiry was ordered by Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald after the Irish Examiner was inundated with letters, phonecalls, and emails from former pupils who say they endured routine violence during their time at the then boarding school.

Allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the school first emerged when Fianna Fáil’s Mark Daly raised questions about the order’s supervision of a former teacher at the school who’d been the subject of numerous abuse allegations.

Settlements were made by the order in two civil cases taken against the priest.


Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/three-arrests-in-school-child-sex-inquiry-193148.html#ixzz1uJMPd91p

Fortyniner

CHRISTIAN BROTHER JAILED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULTS IN DEAF SCHOOL

I wouldn't advise reading this around meal times.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/2012/05/09/christian-brother-jailed-for-sexual-assaults-in-deaf-school/

Sonics2k

They never heard him coming...

I'm sorry, couldn't resist the pun

Seth Brundle

Fortyniner wrote: »

CHRISTIAN BROTHER JAILED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULTS IN DEAF SCHOOL

FFS his defence:

McCabe told gardaí he was ashamed and not proud of himself. He said he had been "unsure" of his sexuality at the time

Unsure of his sexuality???

Adamas

kbannon wrote: »

FFS his defence:

Unsure of his sexuality???

Yeah, it's to do with your faith in your sexuality, something unsure, not certain. It may not be what you wished to believe it to be, so you convince yourself that it might be something else, so you try that, and when you can't figure out what it might or might not have been, you try something else that makes even less sense but you believe it is justifiable anyway - and that's how you become try-sexual.
It's basically a sick-minded excuse for making someone else suffer for being a pervert but allowing them to make them seem reasonable by their own self-evaluation, which never fails to convince them that they are right.
You can't just pervert part of the mind, as all the mind has to operate in balance for it to function properly, so when you pervert or unbalance part of it, it all goes sideways. False ideas unbalance the mind and lead it into fantasy land - and off down the rabbit hole you go. The only way it can be excused is by creating beliefs about it, as the truth would show it to be exactly what it is, and they can't face that, can they?

Newaglish

Sonics2k wrote: »

They never heard him coming...

I'm sorry, couldn't resist the pun

Maybe try harder to resist next time

Galvasean

kbannon wrote: »

FFS his defence:

Unsure of his sexuality???

I didn't realise part of the course of experimenting with your sexuality involved raping people.

Penn

Galvasean wrote: »

I didn't realise part of the course of experimenting with your sexuality involved raping people.

If it does then we're all technically still bi-curious

Genghiz Cohen

Can't really wrap my head around this....

Priest1: I've been hearing disturbing reports that you may be abusing young children.
Priest2: It's true, I've been having forced sexual relations with children.
Priest1: :0
Priest2: But it's only because I am sexually confused!
Priest1: I will pray for you.

/Meeting adjourned

Bannasidhe

Did I imagine that on the news last night reporting this case they said this rapist of children is now a married man with children....:eek:? Anyone else hear that?

CiaranMT

He is aye.