Bishop of Copenhagen: "Who cares if someone was molested in 1980s? I don't."

[Martinus]

Catholic bishop in abuse controversy
Experts say Denmark's Catholic bishop is endangering his church's credibility with his attitudes to cases of sexual abuse.
Legal, theological and children's rights experts say the credibility of the Roman Catholic Church in Lutheran Denmark is suffering as a result of the attitudes of the country's bishop, Czeslaw Kozon, according to Kristeligt Dagblad.

Criticism of Bishop Kozon comes following his reported statements that the Church is neither obliged to investigate old cases of sexual abuse or report new cases to the police.

Kozon has said that he knows of 4-5 cases in the 1980s or before of the abuse of children and young people within the Catholic Church in Denmark. The abuse has never been reported to the authorities.

"A major institution such as the Catholic Church is legally responsible to make sure that cases of abuse are investigated and stopped," Prof. Kirsten Ketscher of the Copenhagen University Law Faculty tells Kristeligt Dagblad. She adds that the bishop may have broken the law.

Assistant Professor Peter Lodberg of Aarhus University Theology Faculty says the Church risks serious repercussions if it does not thoroughly investigate cases.

"If the Church does nothing, these cases will become like a snowball that rolls downhill and becomes so big that it will destroy the Catholic Church's backing and credibility in Denmark," he says.

Prof. Per Schultz Jørgensen, Ph.D in paediatric psychology and a member of the Children's Council says that it is not up to the bishop or the Catholic Church to determine whether a case should be reported to the authorities.

http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article926913

Btw, the guy is Polish (appointed by the good old child-abuse-covering, HIV-in-Africa encouraging JP2). 

[Barrister]

These guys really need to get some PR advice. *shakes head*

[The Brain]

I have consistently called for the killing of all Papists.

[Martinus]

I have consistently called for the killing of all Papists.

[Syt]

I am shocked that there are Catholics in Denmark. 

[Darth Wagtaros]

I blame the Protestants. 

[HVC]

I am shocked that there are Catholics in Denmark. 

Probably not many, which is why they give that post to a Pole. figured he couldn't mess it up

[Razgovory]

Hey Marty, did a priest touch you as a kid?  Is that the reason why you are the way you are?

[Ed Anger]

I have consistently called for the killing of all Poles.

fyp

[Martinus]

Hey Marty, did a priest touch you as a kid?  Is that the reason why you are the way you are?

No. And I know what it means. Only ugly kids don't get molested.

[Grey Fox]

Hey Marty, did a priest touch you as a kid?  Is that the reason why you are the way you are?

No. And I know what it means. Only ugly kids don't get molested.

Fat boi.

[Cerr]

Meanwhile in Ireland:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0316/1224266351677.html

Call for Cardinal Brady to step down over Brendan Smyth inquiry

PAMELA DUNCAN and ELAINE KEOGH

VICTIMS OF paedophile priest Brendan Smyth yesterday called for the resignation of Cardinal Seán Brady over revelations that he was involved in a canonical investigation into two cases of sexual abuse involving the paedophile priest.

A woman who was first abused by Smyth in 1974 – the year before the investigation took place – and who was abused until 1979 said the "right thing" would be for Cardinal Brady to resign.

The woman, who wished to be identified only as "Samantha", is now married and lives in the northeast.

"I was 13 when it began in 1974 and it went on for five years. If he had done something, my life could have been so different. The next four years of torture and hell was completely avoidable, and wouldn't have happened if he had done what he was supposed to do and protect children," she told The Irish Times .

She said she would like to speak to Cardinal Brady "face to face" to find out whether he believed he had done the wrong thing. But she remarked: "I would not sit in a room with that man knowing he allowed me to be raped and abused by his inactions . . .

"Seán Brady asked a 14-year-old to sign a form of secrecy – that's what all abusers do . . . to ask a child to sign [up to secrecy] is to collude in what Smyth had been doing.

"I think those who protect abusers are worse than the abusers," she added.

"Samantha" also spoke on RTÉ's Liveline yesterday, commenting: "All I know is that, I could have been saved, and I know two people who've died by suicide as a direct result of what Brendan Smyth did to them, and they could have been saved as well.

"There is no excuse for not saving somebody like me and how many more of me from being raped and abused, and having photographs taken of her body, and everything that goes with that.

"I want to be sure that my children and my grandchildren are safe in the future, and the only way to do that is for people to be brought to account for anything that they may not have done or that they may have done . . . If there's no consequences, how can we move on with a new agenda?"

Sam Adair, who was abused by Smyth between 1974 and 1979, said Cardinal Brady had no option but to resign. "The fact of the matter is that this man knew that children were being sexually abused in 1975 and he was ushered in to have them silent, and had this in writing and in pledges to him, so he therefore facilitated the sexual abuse of children right throughout Northern Ireland, and I'm sure across the South of Ireland, so there's just nowhere else for Cardinal Brady to go but to resign."

Helen McGonigle, a US attorney who was first abused by Smyth at the age of six while he was based in Rhode Island, said the Cardinal's assertion that he should not be judged by today's standards was "absolutely wrong".

"He's coming to this issue with unclean hands, unclean hands that are borne by the bloodstains of many victims and victims who have committed suicide or attempted to commit suicide.

"He allowed that to happen over the past 35 years, and the only reason he has shown us his unclean hands is because he's been pressured to do so by the lawsuit that's pending in the High Court . . . and now he has to respond."

Ms McGonigle, who has a case pending in the US Superior Court in the State of Rhode Island against the diocese of Providence and Holy Trinity Abbey in Co Cavan, said Dr Brady had sat on information about the cleric for 35 years, during which time more children had been abused.

"He has absolutely no excuse for that, no excuse whatsoever, other than that he's protecting the hierarchy of the church itself and not protecting children or people," she said.

Jeff Thomas said he was just seven years old when he was abused by Smyth in Rhode Island over a period of three to four months. He said he could not excuse Cardinal Brady for his inaction.

"Anybody that has the responsibilities to oversee the flock of the children I think has the professional responsibility when he misses a call this big . . . really, how can you exonerate him?

"I just think about all the kids that could have been saved from this monster – and he was a monster," he said.

[The Brain]

Catholics are seriously weird. That they choose to stay in that fucked up church speaks volumes.

[Cerr]

Another article about it here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0316/1224266351637.html

Perversion of justice if oath stopped report to gardaí

ANALYSIS: Had the complainants or church authorities gone to gardaí in 1975, Fr Brendan Smyth's abuse could have been stopped then, writes CAROL COULTER, Legal Affairs Editor

WHEN SEÁN Brady heard allegations in 1975 from two children that they had been abused by Fr Brendan Smyth, it was not the first time Smyth's activities had been revealed. They had been known to his superiors in the Norbertine order for a number of years prior to then.

Born in Belfast in 1927, Smyth joined the Norbertines in 1945 at the age of 18, and was ordained in 1951. He spent short periods in Scotland, Wales and the US, before returning to Ireland, where he had no formal ministry, but did summer relief work and work in hospitals.

From the beginning of his ministry he organised activities that would bring him into contact with children – for example choirs, catechism classes and altar boy training sessions.

When he was first convicted of child sex abuse in 1994, the then Norbertine abbot, Fr Kevin Smith, who resigned following the controversy, acknowledged that the order had made mistakes in dealing with Smyth. He said his "problem" with children emerged soon after his ordination, and the policy of the order at the time was "frequent reassignment", which he acknowledged was inadequate.

Fr Smith also revealed that between 1968 and 1993 Smyth was referred repeatedly by his order for treatment in England, Belfast and Dublin. During this time he abused hundreds of children, among them a number of children in Langdon, North Dakota, where he served for a time in the 1980s.

In 1994, Fr Smith admitted that on two occasions Smyth was sent to do parish work in the US, where the bishops were not told of his paedophilia. There he set up "server training sessions" for altar boys.

It was reported that six boys were abused there. One of them subsequently sued. The case was settled without admission of liability for a reported six-figure sum from church insurance funds.

Following the 1975 complaints, the diocese of Kilmore took steps to remove Smyth from ministry as a diocesan priest. However, he continued to minister as a priest of the Norbertine order, and no meaningful restrictions were placed upon him.

Following Smyth's conviction in 1994, Norbertine priest Fr Bruno Mulvihill told The Irish Times that he had repeatedly tried in the late 1960s to inform senior members of the order about Smyth's paedophilia, but to no avail. He said that in the late 1960s a "strict decree" was issued in Rome that he was not to leave the abbey premises alone or without permission, but this was ignored.

Smyth did not come to the attention of the police until 1990, when complaints were made to the RUC by a Belfast family.

On May 4th, 1993, the British attorney general wrote to the then Irish attorney general, Harry Whelehan, addressing the letter to him personally and seeking Smyth's extradition. However, he was not informed of the letter for seven months. By then, Fr Smyth had returned to Northern Ireland voluntarily and handed himself over to the RUC.

On January 21st, 1994, Smyth was convicted in Belfast of a number of offences against children. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.

More charges followed, and in September 1995 he was convicted on 16 charges relating to offences alleged to have taken place against 13 children in various locations in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1988. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

In 1997 he was extradited to the Republic to face 74 charges against 20 injured parties between 1969 and 1991. He pleaded guilty in the Circuit Criminal Court on July 25th that year and was sentenced to 12 years' jail.

Three weeks later, on August 22nd, he died suddenly of a heart attack in jail. He was buried in Kilnacrott Abbey in a pre-dawn ceremony at 4.15am in the presence of a number of Norbertine priests and a handful of local people.

The two children interviewed by the then Fr Brady in 1975 were a boy (10) and a girl (14). The latter subsequently initiated a civil case for damages against Cardinal Brady, the Bishop of Kilmore and the Abbot of the Norbertines.

The case, which began in 1997, was mentioned in the High Court last December when the statement of claim was amended.

Had the complainants who came forward in 1975 or those in authority in the church who heard their complaints brought their allegations to the Garda, it is arguable that Smyth could have been stopped then.

What is particularly serious is whether the complainants were prevented from going to the Garda by the oath of secrecy they took. This would amount to a perversion of the course of justice.

[Neil]

I certainly don't care about kids getting molested 30 years ago.