NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Date ......... .................... ........
No, it's not good enough! The bishops' hiding and fostering of the carnal activities of some clergymen in abusing children have come into the open -- again -- and the responses are JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
Reading both the Anglican and Roman Catholic positions, it is obvious that without a real outpouring of holiness, the leadership will continue the old policy of allowing sinful sick clergymen to continue their unhealthy activities, and of leaving the victims to be mired in self-blame, alone with their injuries.

The Australian Anglicans' position of shirking responsibility can be seen in its years-long evading of Clare Pascoe Henderson in the Sydney archdiocese (see her own website and the ABC Background Briefing exposures). People of good will have seen the unacceptable attitude of the former Archbishop of Brisbane, Dr Peter Hollingworth, right up until February-March 2002. He only made a belated partial U-turn after the public outcry which followed his telling television interview. His successor, who has to find $400,000 exemplary damages, announced in April 2002 that he couldn't find anyone to run a Church inquiry into carnal abuse of children. Fortunately, later he organised it, and its findings against Dr Hollingworth became public property thanks to the Queensland Premier Beattie putting it in as a parliamentary document, and it being put on the Internet. The resignation of the G-G came soon after.
Rome's "escape hatch" was re-stated by the Pope in his sex abuse speech of 23 April. Read the CNN version at http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/23/pope.scandal.text.ap/index.html where he says"… we cannot forget the power of Christian conversion, that radical decision to turn away from sin and back to God, which reaches to the depths of a person's soul and can work extraordinary change" and "A great work of art may be blemished, but its beauty remains."
This is a restatement of the old "forgive and let them continue" policy. Most RCs were taught that the clergy got special graces from Holy Orders, and they expect their clergymen to behave accordingly. If bishops or priests commit such a combined triple mortal sin, they presumably do not believe the teachings, so they do not have the faith, and ought to be removed from the priesthood, at the very least.

The Pope even commented about the bishops who kept employing the paedophiles: "It is true that a generalized lack of knowledge of the nature of the problem and also at times the advice of clinical experts led bishops to make decisions which subsequent events showed to be wrong." But the teaching is, Jesus leads the Church, and the early Church leaders acted with such words as "it has seemed good to the holy spirit and to us", and as if no other "experts" were needed to deal with sinners who had infiltrated into their ranks. See what St Peter did to a married couple who lied to him about money.
The Pope's first sentence included "… difficult situation which has arisen in your country in recent months." This was stated in spite of facts showing it is a WORLD-WIDE problem. For example: In Canada the liability is $1 C billion; apologies for carnal clergy have been issued in country after country; the Pope himself apologising for what happened in the Pacific-Oceania area; and the U.S. court cases have ordered hundreds of millions of dollars for sins back to the 1960s, including some clergy who were transferred in and out of the U.S.
The calling of the United States cardinals to the Vatican around 22 April 2002 and onwards was a step in the right direction, but as the European newspapers have commented, nothing changed.

We call on the leaders of all Churches to follow the early Christian tradition, of "removing the wicked from among yourselves," and to dismiss any cleric indulging in sex abuse of a minor. It is possible to forgive sinners, but we don't have to trust them with any position in the clergy. We want a Zero Tolerance Policy.

Some facts about the huge size of the problem, and about the Zero Tolerance Policy, are at:
Background Briefing, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, April 14, 2002 www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s531384.htm
Perpetrators List of victim Clare Pascoe Henderson www.pip.com.au/chenderson/perplist.htm
Broken Rites support group http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au
Guidelines: Non-marital carnal activity of Church workers www.multiline.com.au/johnm/nonmarital.htm
The Weekend Australian, "Paying for the sins of the Fathers," March 2-3 2002, page 23

Yours faithfully,

Copy from the Internet at: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johm/ethics/notgood.htm , then print at Office Works for 6 c per sheet

FURTHER READING

A: Guidelines for handling clergy abusing children; Feb 19 2002
B: Fathers would make the best "Fathers"; how to select clergy; Mar 4 02
K: Hoopmann, Queensland Lutheran Pastor, denies sex charge The West Australian Mar 6 02
L: Father Geoghan -- Deal close on $60m U.S. sex payout The West Australian Mar 7 02
#: U.S. bishops act on R.C. sex problem The Record Mar 7 02
#: Adelaide's Archbishop Wilson defends Vatican guidelines The Record Mar 14 02
@: Anglican sex sorrow not conscience move The West Australian Mar 19 02
@: Some U.S. RC's. query no-sex vow The West Australian Tuesday Mar 19 02
@: Polish archbishop quits over sneaking down tunnel to dormitory The West Australian Mar 30 02
@: Priest abuse and abortion woman gets $2m payout in Los Angeles area - Fr John Lenihan; The West Australian, April 3 02
@: Priest was evil one, says cover-up victim , Fr P.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, all 8 U.S. cardinals off to Rome, Victim's lives broken; The Weekend Australian Roy Eccleston Apr 20-21 02 p16

FURTHER READING, continued

@: Bishop resigns over boy-sex cleric Fr Sean Fortune in Ireland; The West Australian, April 3 2002
@: Scandal keeps lawyer Stephen Rubino busy with 250 clients in three continents The West Australian Wednesday Apr 3 02
@: Teachers jailed, 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 , Fr P.Shanley said he kept silence 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
#: Church rocked by sex 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), Factfile from Reuters in CNN 21 April 02; 2002/WORLD/europe/04/21/vatican.sex.reut/index.html
Perpetrators List kept by victim Clare Pascoe Henderson http://www.pip.com.au/~chenderson/perplist.htm

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