Catholic kiddie fiddlers part 1463: Victims react to pontiff's letter

[Martinus]

Victims react to pontiff's letter
Groups representing victims of clerical abuse have given a mixed reaction to the Pope's letter to Irish Catholics about the issue.

Maeve Lewis of One in Four said that despite some positives she was largely "despondent" about the letter.

She said it had not sufficiently addressed the "cover-up" of paedophile priests by the church's hierarchy.

However, Patrick Walsh of Irish Survivors of Abuse said the letter was "unprecedented" and "encouraging".

Pope Benedict XVI's letter accused Irish bishops of having made "serious mistakes".

Prayer

However, One in Four has said that the Irish primate, Cardinal Sean Brady, should resign following his alleged role in the cover-up of an abuse case.

He was present at two meetings in 1975 when alleged victims of serial paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth were sworn to secrecy about what had happened.

Ms Lewis said that she welcomed the Pope's call for the church to co-operate with the secular authorities.

"But we are very despondent that the Pope does not address the key issue, which is the church policy, right to the very top of the Vatican, to cover up sex abuse scandals to protect paedophile priests at the expense of vulnerable children."

She said the group was "astounded" at the Pope's comments about how clerical sexual abuse could be seen in the context of the secularisation of Irish society.

"This shows a complete misunderstanding of the dynamics of sexual violence, and creates little hope that the Church will ever respond effectively to the problem."

However, Mr Walsh said that while there would be "mixed feelings" about the

he felt it was "encouraging".
He said: "There is an awful lot of call to prayer as you would expect of course from a man whose stock in trade is prayer.

" The context is of course inappropriate as a pastoral letter is addressed only to practising Catholics "
Andrew Madden, abuse survivor
"But I cut through all that stuff and what I see here is a very important historical document, unprecedented in the history of the Holy See, absolutely unprecedented."

He added that he believed the Pope's comments meant that those guilty of abuse should face criminal prosecution.

"Clearly it is a demand by the Pope that those who are guilty of crimes against the young submit themselves to the demands of justice. I take that to mean secular justice."

Clerical abuse survivor, Andrew Madden said the letter "failed to address this issue at all seriously".

In a statement, he said: "The context is of course inappropriate, as by its very definition a pastoral letter is addressed only to practising Catholics and so ignores many other people who may in some way have been affected by this issue."

Failure

He added that a pastoral letter was not the way to respond to reports carried out by the Irish state which detailed "the rape, abuse and sexual abuse of children by priests and religious in this country and its cover up by Church authorities".

He added: "As I had anticipated the letter also fails to address any of the issues raised by myself and others in our open letter to the Pope last month, in advance of the Irish Bishops' trip to Rome."

Cardinal Brady has said he hopes the Pope's letter will be a chance for "rebirth" in the church.

Speaking at mass in Armagh on Saturday morning, he urged people to read it with "an open heart and in a spirit of faith".

He added: "No one imagines that the present painful situation will be resolved quickly.

"Yet with perseverance, prayer and working together in unity, the Holy Father says we can be confident that the Church in Ireland will experience a season of rebirth and spiritual renewal."

The Archbishop of Dublin said the letter was a "further step" in the healing process.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin added: "I welcome the Pope's expression of apology and his recognition of the suffering and betrayal experienced by survivors.

"The Pope recognises the failures of Church authorities in how they dealt with sinful and criminal acts."

I love that he has a nerve to blame the secular society for this. Also pointedly missing is any indication of change of the church's policy when it comes to the cooperation with secular authorities - unlike public (and I suspect, most private schools), there is still no obligation of the church-run institutions for children to report cases of child abuse to the authorities.

[Martinus]

Pope's sex abuse letter breaks Vatican taboo
By David Willey
BBC News, Rome
In an unusual Vatican document, Pope Benedict has issued a heartfelt personal apology to the people of Ireland and to thousands of victims of sexual abuse in past decades by Roman Catholic priests there.

He has also rebuked Irish bishops for "grave errors of judgement" in dealing with the problem.

"I can only share in the dismay and sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced on learning of these sinful and criminal acts," the Pope wrote.

About 15,000 Irish people who attended church-run schools and institutions when they were children and claim to have been abused by priests and teachers have received so far over one billion euros in compensation from a state redress board.

The final number of victims and of the sums of money paid out by the Church and the Irish government could be much higher.

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," Pope Benedict wrote.

Having already met victims of predator Catholic priests during visits to America and Australia, the Pope provided a rare personal insight into the ordeals suffered by children who were sexually abused.

"I know some of you even find it difficult to enter the doors of a church after all that has occurred," he wrote.

The pope's unprecedented eight-page pastoral letter devoted exclusively to the scandal and crisis in the Irish Church has broken a Vatican taboo.

" I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel "
Pope Benedict
Most Vatican documents relating to the scandal have hitherto been classified as confidential and have been marked only for the eyes of bishops.

The Pope announced that he is sending teams of inspectors to some Irish dioceses, to seminaries and to Irish religious orders to investigate how far they have strayed from the new rules laid down by Rome to try to curb the flood of cases of alleged priest paedophilia reaching the desks of Vatican officials during the past decade.

But the Pope admits that no-one imagines that what he calls "this painful situation" will be swiftly resolved.

The letter has not been welcomed by Ireland's main group of clerical abuse victims, One in Four.

They expressed deep disappointment that the Pope accepted no blame for what they call "a deliberate policy of the Catholic Church to protect sex offenders, thereby endangering children".

In Germany - where more than 250 cases of sexual abuse by priests have been reported to the Vatican - Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, who briefed the Pope recently on the situation in his homeland, commented that the scandal was not just an Irish problem.

The Pope's criticism of the sluggish reaction of the Irish hierarchy to the scandal was applicable in Germany also.

Celibacy question

What the Pope's letter does not mention is also worth pointing out.

There is no indication of any sanctions being adopted against Ireland's 28 bishops for their "grave errors of judgement".

There is no mention either of the word "celibacy".

The rule - which forbids Catholic priests from marrying, and which dates not from early Christian times, but which became mandatory only during the Middle Ages - is being publicly questioned for the first time by some church heavyweights, such as the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schoenborn.

The taboo on any discussion at official level of the celibacy rule imposed by the late Pope John Paul II has been maintained by his successor, but increasingly a connection is being seen in some church quarters between celibacy and the psychological problems suffered by many priest paedophiles.

The Vatican has moved into full damage control mode, making wide use of new media outlets to put over its point of view during the latest revelations concerning sexual abuse scandals in the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Italy and the world's most populous Catholic country, Brazil.

The Pope's pastoral letter, together with background information about the Catholic Church's plans to try to counter the blows inflicted by the scandals on its reputation as guardian of morals, has been posted on Twitter and also video-sharing site YouTube.

[Josquius]

Throw a bit of papal money thei...err....our ....way and its fine

[Eddie Teach]

Throw a bit of papal money thei...err....our ....way and its fine

Was Tyr abused by a Catholic priest as a kid? 

[Josquius]

Throw a bit of papal money thei...err....our ....way and its fine

Was Tyr abused by a Catholic priest as a kid? 

If there's money in it I was.

[Razgovory]

I guess this is a big story in Poland.

[Martinus]

I guess this is a big story in Poland.

This is one of the top two international stories on BBC (along with the US Health Care bill).

[The Larch]

I love that he has a nerve to blame the secular society for this.

They do the same over here. The speaker of the Spanish Bishops Conference, when asked about the issue last week, started drifting and talked about Jesus' suffering on the cross, original sin, and how a secularized society has no morals and no guidance against evil and so on and so forth.

[Grey Fox]

I guess this is a big story in Poland.

This is one of the top two international stories on BBC (along with the US Health Care bill).

So it's big in Europe.

You can't expect americans to care much about what the Catholic church does.

[Malthus]

Throw a bit of papal money thei...err....our ....way and its fine

Was Tyr abused by a Catholic priest as a kid? 

If there's money in it I was.

Few would admit to a hankering for the life of a child prostitute. 

[The Brain]

Atomic fire is the best way to rid the world of popery.

[Syt]

I guess this is a big story in Poland.

It is in Germany (as concerned "market"). In Austria, too, esp. since there was a scandal a few years back regarding sexual abuse at a priest's college.

[DGuller]

We need a gay sub-forum.

[The Minsky Moment]

I had thought that this scandal was old news and had lost the power to shock but the revelation that Brady:

(a) was involved in pressuring two teen victims of abuse to sign confidentiality agreements protecting the Church and the offender, and
(b) apparently sees no real problem in this even today,

was IMO pretty damn disturbing, especially coming from such a senior official.

[sbr]

We need a gay sub-forum.

We need a Marti sub-forum.  With very limited access.