SOME of the NEWSITEM HEADLINES below have been CHANGED to amplify the meaning
!!!: "Bishop resigns over handling of sex case."IRELAND:
Comiskey/Fortune, also see below. -- BBC,
http://news.bbc. co.uk/1/hi/world/ europe/1905395.stm ,
Apr 1 2002
• Priest abuse and abortion woman gets $2m payout. USA: in Los Angeles area, Fr John Lenihan.
-- The West Australian, Wed Apr 3 02, p25
!!!: Bishop resigns over boy-sex cleric.IRELAND: Bishop had tried everything but dismissing Fr Sean Fortune! Bishop of Ferns, Brendan Comiskey, said: "I found Father Fortune virtually impossible to deal with.
I confronted him regularly; for a time I removed him from the ministry. I sought professional advice in several quarters. I listened to criticisms and praises. I tried compassion and I tried firmness. Treatment was sought and arranged."
Bishop Comiskey resigned a day before a documentary was to be shown in Ireland about Father Fortune, who sexually abused dozens of boys in the 1980s and 1990s.
-- The West Australian, Wednesday April 3 2002, p 25
• Priest-sex scandals keep lawyer Stephen Rubino busy on three continents. USA:
-- The West Australian, Wed Apr 3 02 p25
• Parole for disgraced Test umpire.AUSTRALIA: Steve Randell. Indecent to girls at Tasmanian Catholic school. -- West Australian, Thur Apr 4 02 p31
• "Crimes like sex abuse by priests and acts of hypocrisy by Christians have only worsened an already suffering public image for the Churches."PERTH:
-- The Record, Western Australia Roman Catholic newspaper, "I say, I say" (comment by Paul Gray), April 4 2002, p 6
• Catholic clergy not main offenders + Celibacy is a tradition of love: Jesuit. --
The Record, April 4 2002, p 11
• Pope accepts resignation of Archbishop of Poznan [sneaked through a tunnel] + Purification being undergone by U.S. Catholic Church + Scandal preventable: Canadian archbishops. --
The Record, April 4 2002, p 12
• "Forced care inquiry 'overdue'."AUSTRALIA: Democrats Senator Andrew Murray wants an inquiry into the bad treatment of non-indigenous Australian-born children who were taken from their homes, and put into orphanages and children's homes. It would be a follow-on from the inquiries into the stolen generations [of Aboriginal children], and the child migrants [see Parliamentary report of August 2001 at www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/child_migrat/c04.doc]. --
The West Australian, Sat April 6 2002, p 34
• Abuse priest Fr Don Rooney suicides. USA:
-- The Sunday Times, Perth, Sunday April 7 2002, p 37
• Mormons acknowledge abuse. USA:
-- The West Australian, Tuesday April 9 2002, p 20
A sizeable number of teachers at a Californian seminary were apparently involved in the systematic sexual abuse of their seminarians
The young victims of priests were rarely considered. Their profound spiritual and emotional injury was hardly ever noticed.
One of the victims of Father James Porter told how he left the church in 1992 after the Archbishop of Boston criticized the Press for its approach to these appalling perversions of the Christian ministry.
The Church authorities still backing celibacy continue to make excuses, to continue the "cover-up". Those who think themselves God's spokesmen perpetuate the misunderstanding and protect it from any evidence that might call its "truth" into question. Celibacy is "purity."
There is no basis in revelation for the view that virginity or celibacy is the divinely preferred way of life for human beings. The Book of Genesis makes it clear that God's plan was that male and female would live together as a unified image of God. The celibacy myth evolved over the centuries, mostly as an alien import from the east.
At a crucial stage of personal development the young seminarian is formed in a culture of denial. He must deny his natural feelings, he must downgrade the natural order which includes those feelings, he must deny the importance of his natural family, he must relegate marriage and the procreation of children to an inferior level of life, and so he must even see children in a diminished light.
Among the many reform groups which have arisen in the church during the past two decades (ARCC was one of the first) there is a group calling itself "Celibacy Is The Issue."
Many priests are experiencing identity crises. They are finding it difficult to be enthusiastic about their ministry. Denied the helpmate God created for them, they are experiencing deep loneliness and depression. Some have escaped this by entering de-facto relationships.
Secondly, nobody can deny that there are many dedicated and virtuous unmarried persons in the church. Among these are many priests. We are grateful for the dedication and charity, not for the celibacy.
• Cardinal accused says e-mails leaked and broadcast. USA: -- The Record, April 11 2002, p 5
• Beware the hysteria of the publicity about clerical paedophilia. PERTH:
-- The Record, letter from Alan Ames, April 11 2002, p 7
• Survey on U.S. abuse. USA: 66% disapprove of Catholic Church handling. -- The Record, April 11 2002, p 12
LAWYER TRIES SUING THE POPE and NEWS MEDIA UNCOVER LONGSTANDING CORRUPTION • Vatican named in U.S. lawsuits. USA: Lawyer Jeffrey Anderson handles hundreds of cases; alleges moving abusers is Church policy to avoid liability. -- The Record, April 11 2002, p 13
In Australia, more than 100 clergy from the Catholic and Anglican Churches have been convicted of child sexual abuse in the past five years.
Melbourne lawyer, David Forster, said: "You have to have firstly a Royal Commission established by the Federal government to look at the sexual abuse issue within Australia, specifically within the religious community."
Mr Forster has represented over 100 sexual abuse victims, both Catholic and Anglican.
Prof. Patrick Parkinson, Professor of Law, University of Sydney, author of the book Child Sexual Abuse and the Churches, says that many priests and ministers are in a position of extraordinary power -- to define what is right and what is wrong to young children.
Prof. Parkinson said: "There was a fundamental confusion between forgiveness and trust. You could forgive somebody, that doesn't mean you have to trust them, and in particular it doesn't mean you have to trust them working with children. "
Anglicans (Church of England)
Anglican minister (dec'd) in the diocese of Bendigo 30 years ago sexually assaulted a boy, Peter O'Flaherty, then 10, for about six years. His father had complained to the minister's superior about the abuse, but nothing was done.
The Anglican process is haphazard: 23 dioceses with 23 different sets of procedures to deal with child sexual abuse complaints.
The Anglican Church in Sydney was forced to introduce a better system of dealing with victims' complaints after the 1996 Wood Royal Commission Inquiry into Paedophilia embarrassed the Church. The result was a new Church Discipline Ordinance which sped up the investigation of complaints.
But Clare Pascoe Henderson, one of the key witnesses to the Wood Royal Commission, someone whose evidence was a catalyst for change in Sydney, is still waiting for some justice. Three years sexual relations from age 14 to 17 with her local Anglican minister had left her shattered.
When she complained to the Church more than ten years later, she was told the Church couldn't do anything because of its "statute of limitations". When the Anglicans relaxed this, they did not contact her.
The Head of the (Anglican) Professional Standards Unit, Philip Gerber, says the Church's "ordinances are published" and there was no particular agreement to tell her!
Roman Catholics
In the U.S., about 2000 priests of the Catholic Church have been disgraced. The Church there is accused of bribing some victims, to keep them quiet.
In Ireland, one of the country's top bishops has quit amid allegations he protected a priest whom he knew had sexually assaulted dozens of boys. The Catholic Church has already promised more than $200 million in compensation for victims, and there is now to be a government inquiry.
In Victoria (Australia) Fr Kevin O'Donnell (dec'd) was jailed for sexually abusing boys and girls aged between 8 and 14 years old from the 1940s to the 1970s, and senior Church leaders knew.
Encompass was set up four years ago by the Catholic Church in Australia, as part of a system to deal with child sexual abuse. Dr Gerardine Taylor, the Clinical Director of an Assessment and Treatment Centre for Sex Offenders, says "Paedophilia, like all paraphilias, is not curable."
In The New York Times, author and critic Jason Berry wrote a stinging critique of celibacy in the Catholic Church, saying celibacy led to the pathology of sexual secrecy.
Fr Vincent Ryan, New South Wales, appealed to the High Court over the severity of his sentence, a minimum prison term of 11 years, for dozens of offences against boys aged from 6 to 14. He had been warned by the Church as far back as 1975 that his abuse of children must stop but his offending continued for another 15 years.
There are separate Catholic Church procedures in Melbourne and for any complaints against priests of the Jesuit order.
The policy of removing clergy as an 'unacceptable risk' has brought Australian Catholic bishops into conflict with the Vatican, which wants allegations of child sexual abuse dealt with by secret, internal Church courts.
Fr Peter Chalk of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, masturbated in front of a 17-year-old student priest in a Victorian seminary in the mid-'70s and tried to seduce him. He went abroad and has not been charged.
POPE DECIDES TO SEE THE UNITED STATES CARDINALS IN ROME -- COURT DAMAGES AND INSURANCE PROBLEMS FINALLY HIT HOME, and THE FAITHFUL NEED A SHOW OF CONCERN • Pope to 'carpet' U.S. cardinals on sex abuse. USA: Cardinal Law knowingly transferred offenders,
450 more claimants.
-- The West Australian, Wednesday April 17 2002, p 27
• PM Howard 'cool' on sex abuse inquiry.AUSTRALIA: Democrats move; The West Australian, Wednesday April 17 2002, p 44
• Pope calls U.S. cardinals to Rome.ROME: Call for 23-24 April, Vatican says to examine paedophilia and to aim to return safety to families and trust to the clergy and faithful.
-- The Record, April 18 2002, p 2
• Oblates nearing insolvency in Canada.CANADA: Litigation costs force order to seek bankruptcy protection.
-- The Record Apr 18 02 p10
• Boston's Cardinal Law determined to carry on. USA: Documents reveal complaints against Fr Paul Shanley from 1967 included that he spoke in favour of man-boy sex and joined an organisation devoted to that, but Church kept him as priest, two newspapers call for his resignation, Fr John Geoghan imprisoned but Church had treated his offences with secrecy;
The Record, April 18 2002, p 12
• Wesley teachers jailed [mid 1990s].VICTORIA, Australia: Victorian husband and wife - John Alexander, Elspeth McKenzie - seduced 14-year-old Wesley College girl;
The West Australian, Saturday April 20 2002, p 7
• Priest was evil one, says cover-up victim.
USA: Fr Paul Shanley said he kept a promise to keep silent about cardinal abusing him in seminary, hierarchy conspiracy to allow Fr Shanley access to youth since 1967, Cardinal B.Law's secret Rome trip, and all 8 U.S. cardinals off to Rome, Victim's lives broken.
-- The Weekend Australian, Roy Eccleston, April 20-21 2002, p 16
• "The Pope's Man."AUSTRALIA: An article about Dr George Pell, former R.C. Archbishop of Melbourne, now one year Archbishop of Sydney; details of his opposition to embryonic stem cell research, his refusal to give communion to a group of practising homosexuals, and his claim that the clergy's sexual misconduct is not because of the repression due to a cloistered and celibate lifestyle, but rather the sickness in a society that has lost its way.
-- The Weekend Australian Magazine, Luke Slattery, photography Nick Cubbin, April 20-21 2002, pp 24-27
• Church rocked by sex scandals.EUROPE and USA - Scandals in Austria (cardinal), France (abbot and bishop), Germany (bishop), Ireland (bishop mismanaged), Poland (archbishop), Britain (archbishop admitted mismanaging Fr Michael Hill),
United States (Boston Fr John Geoghan gaoled 18 Jan 2002, Philadelphia 35 priests, Allentown dismissed 4, St Louis dismissed 2, California $1.2m paid, New York dismissed 6, Cleveland suspended 9, had dismissed 12 previously);
2002/WORLD/europe/04/21/vatican.sex.reut/index.html ; Factfile from Reuters in CNN April 21 02
• Force out Cardinal Law, U.S. bishops urge Pope. USA: Law's secret talks with Pope followed by stance he will remain, ovation. -- The West Australian, Tuesday April 23 2002, p 23
• Parent Alleges Deterring By Pastor.
UNITED STATES: The pastor at St. Monica's Church in Methuen rebuffed a father's intent to inform police that the Rev. Ronald H. Paquin had attempted to molest his son five years before Paquin was involved in a fatal accident in which another teenager, whom he had allegedly abused, was killed.
According to a lawsuit filed yesterday in Middlesex Superior Court, John J. Facella, now of Rye, N.H., confronted the Rev. Allen E. Roche, pastor at St. Monica's, in late 1976 with the report that . . . (674 words)
-- Boston Globe Archive,
http://nl.newsbank.com ,
by Stephen Kurkjian, Globe Staff,
April 23, 2002
POPE SAYS 'NO PLACE', BUT LEAVES IT TO THE U.S. BISHOPS WHO ALLOWED THE ABUSING • "No place" - Pope's U.S. sex abuse speech. ROME: Text of 23 April 2002 speech to U.S. cardinals gathered in Rome (leaving it to the U.S. hierarchy, with loopholes!). On the credit side, the Pope called the abuse a "crime." CNN version at
www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/23/pope.scandal.text.ap/index.html
Apr 23 02
• Pope says bishops' decisions 'wrong'. ROME: -- CNN news, April 23, 2002 Posted: 1:46 PM EDT (1746 GMT),
2002/WORLD/europe/04/23/pope.scandal/index.html • Not Good Enough.AUSTRALIA: Too many loopholes in Pope's speech and Anglican system; suggested letter to bishops of both Anglican and Catholic Churches; revised edition issued Apr 26 02, original April 24 02
• Pope lays down sex abuse law.ROME: But repentance loophole lingers still.
-- The West Australian, Thur Apr 25 02, p 19
• Sex abuse summit. VATICAN: Summit at Vatican brings together two very different views of law.
-- The Record, Apr 25 02, p 12
• U.S. cardinals stop short of 'zero tolerance'.ROME: Bishops bluffing; talk of penance and rehabilitation on 24 Apr 02 European time, posted 25 Apr 2002,
CNN version at
2002/WORLD/europe/ 04/24/pope. talks/index.html • Sex hush riles seminarians.ROME: It's not just a U.S. problem, donations going to hush money, faulting of U.S. cardinals for spread of sexual misconduct; bishops covering up offenders; no apology to victims;
The West Australian, Sat Apr 27 02, p 23
BLACKMAIL IN U.S.A. AND SPAIN • Priest Fr Paul Shanley talked up boy-love. USA: bishop had evidence but did nothing. -- The West Australian, Sat Apr 27 02,
p 23
• "Make All Religions Safe."AUSTRALIA: Petition forms, half an A4 page in size, began to be distributed as "Leave Our Kids Alone" on 27 April 2002. No "source" was put on the forms. A small number of signatures were sent by the Faith Purification Programme (FPP) to major Churches in Western Australia in May or June 02, and four signatures on 11 Oct 02. No response was received. On January 22 2003 nine signatures were sent, and this time the Churches of Christ and the Anglican Primate were the only WA Churches to respond by Feb 20 2003. The Catholic Archbishop's reply was dated 5 March 2003. It is not known how many signatures had been sent independently. No apparent improvement has been noted. The petition forms under the new title "Make Our Religion Safe" are being put on the WWW on Feb 20 2003, and instead of asking people to send signatures to Churches, the request will primarly ask them to send them to FPP. A motto has been added: "FOR GOOD TEACHINGS TO BE HEEDED, A BIG CLEAN-UP IS NEEDED." New name from 20 Feb 03;
first old-name distribution: Apr 27 02
• Sex abuser jailed at 69. [1986-87 Crisafio] - No religion link reported. Boy.
The West Australian,
By David Darragh, p 52, Saturday, August 10, 2002
PERTH (W. Australia):
AN ELDERLY man has been jailed for eight years after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy who had run away from home.
In sentencing, District Court Judge Hal Jackson said yesterday that Peter Pasquale Crisafio had initiated sex acts with his 15-year-old victim on nine different occasions after the boy had run away from home and stayed with the then 53-year-old at his North Perth home.
A jury last month found Crisafio, now 69, guilty of all 24 sex charges. Crisafio was convicted of seven counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and 17 counts of indecent dealing.
The offences were committed between May 1986 and January 1987.
Crisafio was made eligible for parole and his sentence was backdated to July 18 when he went into custody.
• "More safety with married clergy" petition. AUSTRALIA: (begun 07 Apr 03)
• Two kinds of petition on the one sheet. AUSTRALIA: "Make All Religions Safe" PLUS "More safety with married clergy"
• "Petition for Optional Married Clergy"AUSTRALIA: (begun 04 Nov 03)
• Dr Pell, opposed to inclusive language translations, may help re-translate scriptures back to "man, men".VATICAN:
"The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship has appointed Sydney's Archbishop George Pell as chairman of its new 12-member committee for "reviewing translations of liturgical books into English".
The congregation said the committee, which held its inaugural meeting last week in the Vatican, included bishops from nine different countries in order to reflect "the breadth and the diversity of the cultures in which the English language is spoken". The committee has been given a Latin name – Vox Clara.
Archbishop Pell challenged the use of inclusive language in the first English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He and other influential prelates urged the Vatican to reject the original English text that was prepared under the supervision of Cardinal Bernard Law, Archbishop of Boston, who had endorsed the use of inclusive language. As a result of the protests the English version of the catechism was delayed by nearly two years and was finally published in 1994." -- CathTelecom www.cathtelecom.com/news/204/149.php quoting "Pell to chair Vatican translation committee," The Tabletwww.thetablet.co.uk , Apr 28 2002
!!!: Blackmail and homo inn! USA: sex priest Paul Shanley in blackmail threat against Cardinal Humberto Madeiros; one-time U.S. motorcycle "street priest" ran inn with homosexual clients; papers with Greg Ford's lawyer Roderick MacLeish jun.
-- The West Australian, Mon Apr 29 02, p 21
!!!: Sex video and blackmail! [CURRENT]SPAIN: Priest sex video sent to flock by homosexual blackmailing ex-lover (Fr Eladio Ocana Serrano), Spain; withdraws to monastery; The West Australian, Tue Apr 30 02, p 20
• [Disabled woman impregnated by Lismore priest, and paid hush money.]AUSTRALIA: Lady gets silence clause and $15,000.
"On Sunday, Mr McCarthy tried to deflect criticism away from individual diocesan bishops, such as retired Bishop of Lismore, the Most Rev John Satterthwaite, and his successor, the Most Rev Geoffrey Jarrett, who signed off on a confidentiality agreement last month. It prevented a physically disabled woman who had been paid $15,000 compensation from going public with her story over how she became pregnant to a priest in the Lismore diocese."
-- Sydney Morning Herald, of June 11 2002,
http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2002/06/10/1022982819880.htm ,
"Church fails its own sex abuse rules," By Kelly Burke, Religious Affairs Writer, payment made May 2002.
[COMMENT: Remember, the "no silencing" principle was adopted in "Towards Healing" in the year 2000! COMMENT ENDS]
[List as May 2002]
• Umpire back.AUSTRALIA: Former test cricket umpire, convicted paedophile Steve Randell, 46, released from gaol, may umpire again. He had served 2 years 9 months gaol.
-- The West Australian, Wed May 1 02, p 14
• ABC Radio talk about R.C. priests' problems with celibacy.AUSTRALIA: Some go visiting prostitutes, and there's been a decade of sex-abuse charges. Books discussed Cassocks in the Wilderness, Sex, Priests and Power, and Celibacy, a Way of Living, Loving and Serving. -- Australian Broadcasting Corporation, May 3 02
COST OF ABUSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS, and, CELIBACY DISPUTED • [Newspaper reviews of clerical child abuse.]AUSTRALIA: Catholic cardinals get lecture from Pope John Paul II, celibacy not part of original Christianity, Anglican problems, and other information:
"Suffer the little children" pp 1-2: Catholic Father Gilbert Gauthe, Boston, in the mid-1980s was gaoled 20 years for molesting dozens of children, who were awarded $35 million; Fr Rudolph Kos, Dallas, in 1997, cost that diocese $235 m over former altar boys abused during 15 years; In January 2002 Fr John Geoghan, Boston (again) was convicted, Cardinal Bernard Law was involved in covering up;
-- The West Australian, "Big Weekend," pp 1-4, Sat May 4 02
• Gun wound by sex victim. UNITED STATES: Priest Maurice Blackwell shot (wounded) by accuser in sex case. [A jury convicted the accused, Mr Dontee Stokes, on lesser charges, but not of attempted murder, The West
Australian, Dec 18 2002]
-- The West Australian, Thur May 16 02, p 23
• Hanged in "reform" home. U.S.A: Fr Alfred Bietighofer, 64, accused of boy fondling in the 1970s and 80s, was found hanged in his room at an institute for troubled priests in Maryland.
-- The West Australian, Sat May 18 02, p 28
• "School employee on sex abuse charges" (Anglican).
BRISBANE (Qld) Australia: Police have charged a former employee of Brisbane's exclusive Anglican Church Grammar School with sexual abuse. At least two other sex abuse cases are pending against the school with claims of more than $3m. Former archbishop Dr Peter Hollingworth, now Governor-General, has agreed to co-operate with the forthcoming Brisbane diocesan inquiry.
-- The Weekend Australian, May 18-19 02, p 3
• Hiding the records ending after lawyers are faced with the alternative.
WHITE PLAINS, New York State - Jeanine Pirro has a great smile. She flashed it briefly last month, as lawyers for the Archdiocese of New York took their seats around the polished conference table here in her fifth-floor office, and then there were no more smiles.
Pirro, the district attorney for Westchester County, had assembled a group of seven other district attorneys from in and around New York. They wanted information, and they wanted it fast. The archdiocese had resisted requests to turn over records of priests who had sexually abused minors, so Pirro put together a meeting to present the archdiocese with its options.
Pirro prefaced her remarks by noting that she is a devout Catholic, but quickly cut to the chase: The archdiocese had information about sexually abusive priests that she and other prosecutors needed to see. They could do it the easy way, she said, or they could do it the hard way.
Then she stared at the church lawyers, as if to say, ''What's it going to be, boys, yes or no?''
The church lawyers looked at each other. One of them, a friend of Pirro's, looked at her with incredulity.
And then they blinked. They agreed to turn over the information. "Eventually, they gave up everything," Pirro said in a recent interview here. --
Boston Globe,
"Abuse cases long her crusade," by Kevin Cullen, May 21 2002
• "Dr Pell acts on Sydney gays."SYDNEY (NSW) Australia: R.C. Archbishop George Pell of Sydney last Sunday refused Holy Communion (the consecrated bread) to about a dozen people wearing a rainbow sash, which openly signifies their support for active homosexuality. Instead he blessed them. In a statement issued after the Mass (the R.C. communion service) he said it was inappropriate to mount an ideological demonstration during Mass. "The Church's view on sexuality ... derives from natural moral law ... unchanging. ... governs all people everywhere ... Our ... religious tradition allows men and women sexual expresion within the bounds of family life, a sexuality that is life giving."
The Record, Perth, May 23 02, p 12
• U.S. sex suspects removed in New York, North Carolina, Michigan and Illinois.
WASHINGTON (DC): Sex suspects were removed from ministry by various U.S. RC bishops.
One of them, Bishop Matthew H. Clark of Rochester, N.Y. State, said that
the diocese could no longer follow past practices of returning priests to ministry, following a creditable accusation of sexual abuse of a minor. "It did not leave people at peace," he said.
-- The Record, Perth, "More US priests removed," May 23 2002, p 12
• Bishop Gumbleton exposes Church's inaction after 1971 reports that priests were immature; Church in Crisis National Catholic Reporter,
"Church in Crisis,"
www.natcath.com/ crisis/gumbleton.htm , speech by Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton,
on May 25, 2002, (posted on NCR website June 17, 2002 )
LEXINGTON ( MA): . . .
But if we are really going to understand this crisis, and if we’re going to find the right way to bring about a resolution of it, to restore credibility to the Church, to bring healing to the victims, to curtail insofar as humanly possible any further incidents of sexual abuse, then we have to see this crisis not just as a sex scandal, but as a crisis of leadership within the Catholic Church…a crisis that revolves around the leadership of the Catholic bishops.
***
This is a clear lack of leadership in our Church. Some of it perhaps due to ignorance many years ago. But that ignorance was overcome when
we in the Catholic Conference of Bishops were fully informed about the nature of the problems we were dealing with and how intractable many
of these problems are. And yet the cover-ups and the collusion and the lack of response to the victims went on.
There has been a deeper and more profound kind of failure on the part of the Catholic bishops in the United States and perhaps in other parts
of the world in allowing a situation to develop where such a large number of priests seem so susceptible of becoming perpetrators of these
kinds of crimes.
Over 30 years ago, the Catholic Bishops of the United States authorized a five-part study of the priesthood in the United States. We paid
hundreds of thousands of dollars for this study. It was completed, most of it, by 1971. The study included a historical study of the US
priesthood, a spirituality study, a theological study of what the US priesthood means in a post-Vatican II Church in the United States. And then
even more pertinent to our current problems, there was a very thorough sociological study and an equally thorough psychological study of the
US priesthood. I can remember very clearly the meeting we held in 1971 when the chief authors of the sociological and psychological studies made a presentation to the Catholic bishops.
That psychological study should have been an exceptionally helpful eye opener for the Catholic bishops. It categorized, from a psychological development perspective, what the priesthood in the United States looked like. At one end of the spectrum are maldeveloped priests. And according to the study, there were about 7 or 8% of the priests in the United States who were seriously
maldeveloped. Then there was a very large category -- 65-66% of the priests in the United States who were described as underdeveloped. And
then another category of about 13-14% or so that were developing persons. At the other end of the spectrum about 7 or 8% of priests who
would be termed developed persons. ... [A far larger report is recorded at the publication date, June 17, 2002]
[Speech given on May 25, 2002]
• "Paedophile priests stay in Church."AUSTRALIA: The Catholic Church in Australia is not taking action to expel paedophile clerics despite an edict from the Pope that those who harm children have no place in religious life. -- Sun Herald,www.smh.com.au
Cost - $1.10 (426 words),
26 May 2002
• "New flak for Hollingworth;" AUSTRALIA: Former Anglican archbishop, Governor-General Hollingworth's PR advisor (recommended by his daughter) was paid $250 an hour, i.e., $13,517 for three weeks during the furore over a sex abuse row.
The West Australian, Tue May 28 02, p 5
"60 MINUTES LOOMING:" SYDNEY'S DR PELL SWEARS THAT SILENCING A VICTIM OR COVERING UP ALLEGATIONS UNFOUNDED, UNTRUE, AND AN ANATHEMA TO HIM (keep reading and reading!) • Sydney's Catholic Archbishop Pell swears out Statutory Declaration denying he offered money or goods to David Ridsdale.SYDNEY (NSW) Australia: He was commenting on Mr Ridsdale's statements to "60 Minutes", which was going to air on June 2.
"The allegation that I attempted to silence a victim or cover up allegations is unfounded and untrue and is an anathema to me."
Statutory declaration by Dr Pell is in PDF (Acrobat) format at
http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/pdf/Statdec.pdf , dated May 30 02
• "U.S. Bishop resigns." [?1970s-80s] UNITED STATES: (R.C.) Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland's resignation was accepted by the Pope. He had been accused of making an unwelcome sexual advance on a man more than 20 years ago. He acknowledged that he had made a monetary settlement with the man in 1998, but said he had never abused anyone.
The Record, May 30 02, p 12
• "Second Priest in Week Resigns Amid Molestation Accusations;" [1979]
SEATTLE -- A second Catholic priest in a week has resigned from active ministry amid
accusations that he molested a boy decades ago, the Archdiocese of Seattle announced late Friday.
Archbishop Alex Brunett accepted the Rev. Dennis V. Champagne's resignation on Thursday, a day after the priest was placed on administrative leave as archdiocese officials investigated fresh details about the allegation.
Champagne, 57, has been co-pastor of St. John Bosco Church in Lakewood and at Immaculate Conception Church in Steilacoom, both in Pierce County, and was former
pastor of St. Michael's parish in Snohomish, the archdiocese said.
Champagne was first investigated in 1986, after a priest wrote a letter to then-Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen saying he had been told that Champagne had molested a boy in 1979 while serving as pastor at St. Michael's. ...
Champagne's resignation came a week after the archdiocese announced that it had
removed the Rev. John Cornelius from active ministry following accusations from at
least a dozen men who said he had abused them decades ago.
Cornelius also offered his resignation and said he acknowledged "responsibility for my failures."
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,54204,00.html
Fox News, Fri May 31 02
• Bishop Caught on Tape Suggesting Concealing Abuse Evidence. (U.S.) And Vatican got list of names in 1985.
May 31 -- The Vatican's American embassy may have played a key role in keeping secret the scope and seriousness of the priest sexual abuse problem and of the millions of dollars in Church money used to keep the scandal quiet, ABCNEWS has learned.
In a tape obtained by ABCNEWS, the auxiliary bishop of Cleveland, A. James Quinn, was recorded in 1990 telling a seminar of church leaders and lawyers to destroy any anonymous allegations when sex-abuse allegations arise. ...
Quinn continued to suggest that officials should consider sending "dangerous" material to the apostolic delegation at the Vatican Embassy (which has diplomatic immunity), before lawyers or law enforcement officials could formally subpoena the material.
...
The former canon lawyer at the Vatican Embassy, Father Tom Doyle, says embassy officials have known for years -- and passed on to Rome -- details of the growing scandal.
"It's been known at the Vatican since at least 1985, and I'm certain of it," said Doyle. "I personally sent a report that was sent to the Vatican in spring of 1985 naming names."
Jason Berry, author of Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children, said the tape shows an effort to bury any potentially damaging evidence.
-- American Broadcasting Corporation News,
"Hidden Evidence? Bishop Caught on Tape Suggesting Concealing Abuse Evidence,"
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/bishopquinn020531.html ,
By Brian Ross, May 31 02
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP PELL DENIES HE ATTEMPTED TO SILENCE A SEX-ABUSE VICTIM, TRIES TO STOP HIS TV INTERVIEW GOING TO AIR (please keep reading!) • "Pell denies sex cover-up report."SYDNEY (NSW) Australia: Sydney's Catholic Archbishop George Pell brandished a statutory declaration and foreshadowed legal action over allegations that he had attempted to silence a sex-abuse victim by "buying him off." Dr Pell said that it was "anathema" to him. He lambasted Channel 9's "60 Minutes" programme which plans to telecast the allegations on Sunday. --
The West Australian, Fri May 31 02, p 33
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* Gumbleton = Bishop Gumbleton exposes Church's inaction after 1971 reports that priests were immature; Church in Crisis;
National Catholic Reporter, "Church in Crisis," www.natcath.com/crisis/gumbleton.htm , speech by Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, in LEXINGTON, USA, on May 25, 2002, posted June 17, 2002
AUSTRALIA, CANADA, U.S.A. STATE / PROVINCE ABBREVIATIONS
Comiskey/Fortune, also see below. -- BBC,
http://news.bbc. co.uk/1/hi/world/ europe/1905395.stm ,
Apr 1 2002