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isabella R

Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog: The Cardinal Sin: Disobeying the Big Guy - 0 views

www.priestabusetrial.com/...cardinal-sin.html

Monsignor William J. Lynn sexual-abuse scandal philadelphia trial crime

shared by isabella R on 23 May 12 - No Cached
  • Because in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, that's the one unpardonable sin for which there is zero tolerance.
  • So what was Msgr. Picard's unpardonable sin? When he got the news that Cardinal Bevilacqua had just approved the transfer of Father Mills to St. Andrew's, Picard got on the phone with Msgr. Lynn and said no way
  • Lynn became "very upset because the die was cast, the letter was written," Msgr. Picard told the jury
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • It's hard to overstate what happened next. A meeting of the priest personnel board was convened by Msgr. Lynn and Cardinal Bevilacqua. All 15 board members unanimously agreed that Father Picard had disobeyed the archbishop. Father Picard had now landed somewhere in between double secret probation and the Inquisition.
  • the cardinal, saying that Picard had committed a grave offense. "He did disobey the archbishop, and this is what's out on the street,"
  • n the secret archive files, Cardinal Bevilacqua stated, "He will not tolerate even the appearance of disobedience by any priest."
  • The cardinal's men discussed having Father Picard write a letter of apology to Father Mills, another letter of apology to Cardinal Bevilacqua, and finally a third letter of apology to every priest in the archdiocese. At the end of the meeting, the records noted, the cardinal thanked the members of the priest personnel board for their "wisdom and support."
  • The cardinal told Picard he was weighing several punishments. They included taking away Picard's pastorate at St. Andrew's, and transferring him to another parish. Since Father Picard had turned down the transfer of Father Mills, he was told not to expect any replacements at St. Andrew's for the foreseeable future. A church deacon, a seminarian in his eighth and final year of studying for the priesthood, had been sent to St. Andrew's, to help out.
  • But after the flap over Father Mills, the cardinal decided that Picard might be a bad influence on the deacon, and so the deacon was shipped to another parish.
  • Father Picard was told that his reputation had been tarnished by his disobedience. And that when he was through with his penance, he was told he could seek another meeting with the cardinal,
  • t was noted in the secret archive files that "there is no remorse on the part of Father Picard at all." But after he went on his retreat, it was noted in the secret archive files that Father Picard "exhibited more contrition"
  • The archdiocese secret archive files say that besides disobeying Cardinal Bevilacqua, Picard had also injured the reputation of Father Mills.
  • Catholic priests are like the gang of losers that are the pitiful, petty, freak fraternity from any high school. No one would care, except they rape children, lie about it, bully the victims, and try to convince people that they have the only free tickets to heaven, as if God would put these freaks in charge of tickets.
  • isabella R on 23 May 12
     
    If you're a priest in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, you can "act out sexually" all you want. You can get away with it for years, even decades at a time, while they transfer you from parish to parish, in between recuperative stays at St. John Vianney's, the friendly archdiocese clinic for sex abusers. Just make sure that you don't disobey an order from the archbishop. Because in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, that's the one unpardonable sin for which there is zero tolerance. To make that point Wednesday, the prosecution had Detective James Dougherty read into the record 34 formerly confidential documents regarding the case of Monsignor Michael C. Picard. And then, the prosecution brought the monsignor to the witness stand to tell his story.
isabella R

Cover story -- Philadelphia: Shining light on a cover-up - 0 views

natcath.org/...042806a.php

catholic abuse scandal sexual-abuse priest bishops abuse of power philadelphia

shared by isabella R on 23 May 12 - No Cached
  • “They needed someone with my talent for drudgery.”
  • Molloy met victims in a small office on the 12th floor of the archdiocese’s Center City headquarters, which was located across the hall from the cardinal’s large office and a few doors down from the “Secret Archive” records room. The secretary for clergy, Msgr. Bill Lynn, was also present. One of the men would take notes while the other conducted the interview. To avoid giving the impression that the accused priest might be guilty, Molloy said he and Lynn were instructed not to treat complainants with excessive sympathy or compassion.
  • We were functionaries, auditors,” said Molloy. “Our job was to interview the victim and the accused priest, then write up a report for the archbishop. We didn’t have marching orders to do anything other than that.”
  • ...40 more annotations...
  • One of the earlier cases Molloy handled was that of Fr. Nicholas Cudemo.
  • Cudemo already had numerous allegations and subsequent reassignments on his record. Molloy told the latest victim that although he still had to talk with Cudemo, he had “no reason not” to believe her. He assured the victim the cardinal would suspend Cudemo if he contacted her family. Upon learning of his remarks, Molloy said, Cullen verbally reprimanded him for “overreaching.
  • The Cudemo case was when I truly realized that I couldn’t be sure that I could trust my superiors to do the right thing,” said Molloy. “So I decided to operate in a manner that would eliminate the need to trust anybody.” Molloy said he then went into “hyper-documentation” mode, taking great pains to make his files to Bevilacqua and Cullen as detailed as possible. At the time, he said, it was the best contribution he felt he could make to the situation, to history. If it all blew up one day -- and he was pretty confident it would -- he wanted as detailed a record as possible to exist. If his superiors were making the correct decisions in handling the abusers, they would be happy to have his reports. If his superiors were making the incorrect decisions, then his reports would help explain what went wrong.
  • “I wanted my memos to be there,” he said, “if the archdiocese’s decisions were eventually put on the judicial scales.” He was also motivated by self-protection.
  • Molloy said he never contemplated calling the press, alerting parishioners or contacting the authorities.
  • “The archbishop was still the archbishop,” he said. “He deserved the benefit of the doubt.”
  • Two of Gana’s victims informed the archdiocese of their abuse in the early 1990s.
  • In filing his report to Bevilacqua, Molloy strayed from his usual recitation of the facts and injected his own bit of advice, suggesting to the cardinal that a “forensic psychiatrist” examine Gana. In Molloy’s eyes, offering this common sense suggestion was some type of bold, defiant course of action. He was, he said, a “frustrated messenger.”
  • The secrecy surrounding the complaints had become too much for him. “It had gotten to the point where I felt like I was working for the CIA instead of the church,” he said.
    • isabella R
      isabella R on 23 May 12
       
      Spade sat at the prosecutor's table, listening as another attorney asked Lynn to identify for the grand jury a batch of documents detailing the transfers of dozens of abusive priests. It was as if the courtroom had become an arena for the unimaginable. Fr. Nilos Martins, who in the mid-1980s was the assistant pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord in North Philadelphia, invited a 12-year-old boy, Daniel, up to his rectory room one Saturday afternoon to watch television. The priest ordered the child to undress and then anally raped him. Spade listened as Daniel, now a Philadelphia police officer, testified that as he cried out in pain, the priest kept insisting, "Tell me that you like it." When the priest was done, he gave Daniel a puzzle as a present and told the boy to get dressed and leave.A few days later, Daniel returned to the church to serve Mass as an altar boy. The pastor, Fr. John Shelley, had learned of the attack from a teacher Daniel confided in. He informed Daniel that he was no longer welcome as an altar boy. Word of the attack then spread through the parish school. According to his testimony, one of Daniel's teachers, a Sr. Mary Loyola, began to refer to him as Daniella, prompting laughter from the rest of the class. When Daniel begged his teacher to stop, she gave him a demerit."I can't be sitting here listening to this," thought Spade. "I must be imagining what I'm hearing." The names of the victim and Sr. Mary Loyola were changed for the report.
  • “I washed my hands of the place,”
  • There is John Delaney, who explained how the priest who began raping him when he was 10 years old made him believe that his own mother consented to the abuse.
  • “I’ve harbored this feeling toward my mom for going on 20 years,” Delaney testified, “only to come to find out the other night that it wasn’t true. She had no idea. She had absolutely no idea. I’ve been hating her for 20 years for no reason whatsoever, and that’s not right. That’s my mom.”
  • ome of the testimony is so shocking Allen wishes she could forget it as quickly as she heard it. “These were just babies, 9 or 10 years old,” said Allen. “And to think they had to live with the fear of this happening day after day and not knowing if it would ever end. It was heartbreaking.
  • Allen was shocked that the archdiocese didn’t conduct more serious investigations when allegations arose. Most times, if the accused priest denied what happened, that was good enough for the archdiocese. “They were feeding these kids to the wolves,” she said.
  • Lynn explained, was not only having sex with children. He was also sleeping with women, abusing alcohol and stealing church property. “You see,” said Lynn, “he was not a pure pedophile. Otherwise he would have been removed.”
  • “It must have fallen through the cracks.” “We all just gasped at that,” remembered Allen. “It was sickening.”
  • Bevilacqua as “arrogant and cocky”
  • In his final act as assistant vicar for administration, Molloy requested the alarm code to the records room be reprogrammed and that all the locks and combinations to the filing cabinets and safes be changed. He wanted to make sure no one could ever accuse him of coming back to steal or alter the reports he had written.
  • Bevilacqua testified in front of the grand jury a total of 11 times. “You could tell how annoyed he was at having to be there,” said Allen. “His tone, his mannerisms, they never changed. He was always cold. And every time it was the same thing of ‘I’m the cardinal and I’m telling you our main concern was for the children.’ ” Allen wondered how someone could be in a position of power all those years and never do anything to stop the evil being committed against those children. “In the end,” she said with a sigh, “I guess he knew that regardless of what he did he’d always have people supporting him.”
  • “He would ignore every question and answer with the same refrain of ‘Our main concern was the safety of the children.’ It was angering because it was obvious that his main concern was protecting his priests and the church.”
  • Fr. Nilos Martins, who in the mid-1980s was the assistant pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord in North Philadelphia, invited a 12-year-old boy, Daniel, up to his rectory room one Saturday afternoon to watch television. The priest ordered the child to undress and then anally raped him. Spade listened as Daniel, now a Philadelphia police officer, testified that as he cried out in pain, the priest kept insisting, “Tell me that you like it.” When the priest was done, he gave Daniel a puzzle as a present and told the boy to get dressed and leave.
  • A few days later, Daniel returned to the church to serve Mass as an altar boy. The pastor, Fr. John Shelley, had learned of the attack from a teacher Daniel confided in. He informed Daniel that he was no longer welcome as an altar boy.
    • isabella R
      isabella R on 23 May 12
       
      This was never an anti-Catholic project. It was just something that needed to be done."
  • According to his testimony, one of Daniel’s teachers, a Sr. Mary Loyola, began to refer to him as Daniella, prompting laughter from the rest of the class. When Daniel begged his teacher to stop, she gave him a demerit.
  • He believes the scathing tone of the report was due to the investigators’ anger over the archdiocesan attorney’s “hardball tactics.”
  • The investigation allowed Spade an opportunity to meet the noted Jesuit canon lawyer Ladislas Orsy
  • Over lunch, the Jesuit delivered a long discourse on how the general attitude of the Vatican, as well as the local hierarchy in Philadelphia, was to save the “institution” from scandal while the biblical precept to protect children went largely ignored.
  • “I was learning about canon law and the rituals and history and tenets of the Catholic faith,” he said. “And I found myself being drawn to it.” He began attending Mass. Spade would discuss his feelings with his wife, Karen, a lapsed Catholic. “I would tell her how I really liked the faith and she would say, ‘Are you out of your mind? You’re seeing what this institution has done to these kids and you’re saying you like it?’ And I’d say, ‘No, I don’t like the institution but I like the faith, I like the intellectual and spiritual part of it.’ “It’s funny,” he continues. “We were all being bashed as being anti-Catholic and here I was defending the church to my own wife, who was Catholic.
  • Once, while going over old documents, Spade had asked him, “Father, you’re such a nice guy, how could you have been a part of this? I mean you had to know what you were doing was wrong.” “He didn’t have any real answer,” recalls Spade, “other that it was his job and that he was trained to be obedient to his cardinal.” When it is all done, when the report is finally released, a single sentence on Page 41 will distinguish Molloy from others who participated in the handling of the complaints. It reads, “Molloy displayed glimpses of compassion for victims.”
  • He found himself becoming overprotective and paranoid about his own children’s safety. “I was dealing with all these cases where kids were betrayed by those they were taught to trust the most,” he said. “I was like, ‘My God, you can’t trust your children with your friends, teachers, or even other family members.’ I don’t think it’s healthy to be like that.” From the very beginning of the investigation, public relations spokespersons connected to the archdiocese condemned the probe as an anti-Catholic witch-hunt. The Catholic-bashing talk became a running joke among investigators. Three of the five frontline investigators were Catholic. “I was raised Catholic,” said former prosecutor Maureen McCartney. “I had 12 years of Catholic school. My family is very Catholic. It is a big part of my life. This was never an anti-Catholic project. It was just something that needed to be done.”
  • “I look back and say what happened was insufficiently protective of the welfare of children,” Molloy said. “But I don’t want to say there was a lot of badly motivated men trying to conspire to achieve a cover-up.” As for his own regrets, he said, he wished he had shown more compassion, offered more assistance to the victims he encountered. “I regret that very much,” he said. “More than anything.” He said he sat down numerous times to write letters offering assistance to John Salveson, the president of the Philadelphia Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP. He said he wanted Salveson to know he would meet with the victims with whom he had had contact “to try to answer any questions they had about the way things had developed in the diocese with their cases.” But he never finished the letters.
  • I had to hesitate in the end because there is the possibility of lawsuits being filed down the road, and I did not want to create a situation which would be construed as an attempt to manipulate people’s opinion.”
  • At the time of the interviews with this writer, which occurred during the final three months of Molloy’s life, he said attendance at St. Agnes was strong and collections were increasing. “People have been supportive and understanding.” “After all,” he said. “I wasn’t the one making the decisions. I was just a frustrated messenger.” Would he have done anything differently? “I suppose that I would like to think that there could have been more insistence on my part that some of these perps could have been dealt with more severely.” Or maybe, he said, “I would find some polite way of convincing the archbishop that it would not be good for me to accept appointment to a position in such an office of the central administration.” But in the end, he said, “My job now is the same as it was then. To do the assignments I get from my bishop to the best of my ability.”
  • No mention was made of Molloy’s cooperation with the grand jury investigators. “I’m disappointed nothing was said about it,” Spade said after the funeral. “After talking with Molloy for a long time, I believe he was a good and decent man who was a product of the church he had committed his life to. I think he realized mistakes had been made and would have liked people to know that he helped get the truth out.”
  • “I’m beginning to believe it [the investigation] will amount to nothing more than just a scathing report which will set out in detail the way the archdiocese through Krol and Bevilacqua allowed child abusers to continually abuse children without removing them from their ministries.” “Prophetic, huh?” he asks now.
  • There was also another major obstacle to prosecution. Because of the way the archdiocese is set up legally, as an “unincorporated association” rather than a corporation, investigators realized that a loophole in Pennsylvania law most likely protected church officials from being prosecuted for crimes such as endangering the welfare of children, intimidation of victims and witnesses, and obstruction of justice. In short, Pennsylvania law did not seem to hold Bevilacqua or other church officials responsible for “the supervision of children.” Only the individual priests who committed the abuse could be prosecuted, but they were almost all protected under the statutes of limitations.
  • ivision developed within the district attorney’s office on how to proceed. Some believed the office should indict Bevilacqua and other church officials in the hope of creating new precedent. Others within the office viewed indictments as irresponsible and unlikely to succeed, given the narrowly defined laws. They feared failed indictments would tie the investigation up for years, which would delay them from releasing a detailed report, create sympathy for church officials, and open the office up to even more accusations of Catholic-bashing than the archdiocese was already hurling at them. “That’s where we had arguments,” said Spade. “On whether or not we should try and push the envelope.” Spade was among the most vocal calling for indictments.
  • “When someone is harmed, there should be retribution,” he said. “I thought that’s why we have a legal system.”
  • He still occasionally attends Catholic Mass and he and his wife have decided to send their children to a Catholic grade school in the Philadelphia suburbs run by the Sisters of Mercy but not directly associated with the archdiocese. “That was important to us,” said Spade. “We liked the ideal of service and charity that the sisters instill in the children, but we did not want any school that was actually run by archdiocese officials.
  • isabella R on 23 May 12
     
    Fr. Nicholas Cudemo.
isabella R

Nun 'abused' by priest appears before court seeks to engage lawyer - General | hindujag... - 0 views

www.hindujagruti.org/...14306.html

catholicism Roman Catholic abuse of power sexual-abuse rape nuns india

shared by isabella R on 25 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • isabella R on 25 Jun 12
     
    Jyeshtha Amawasya, Kaliyug Varsha 5114 Why popular secular media channels are silent on this. Is it because Hindus are not involved in this ? Trichy (Tamilnadu) : All the five accused in the Sister Florence Mary rape case appeared before the mahila court in Trichy on Wednesday, even as the victim submitted a petition before the judge, seeking permission to officially engage a lawyer for the prosecution, along with the public prosecutor before the start of the trial. Meanwhile, defence lawyer A Rajendran, who appeared for Fr Rajarathinam, a Jesuit priest and accused number one in the case, asked the judge to grant more time to counter the victim's plea. Judge Rahman posted the hearing to May 28. Fr Rajarathinam, the former principal of St Joseph's College, Trichy was accused by Florence Mary (31), a former member of St Anne's congregation in Trichy, of rape in 2006 and later in 2008. The priest was granted anticipatory bail by the Madras high court on November 3, 2010 after he allegedly went underground for over a month. The other accused in the case were Fr Provincial Mudiappasamy Devadoss, Fr Joe Xavier, Fr Xavier Vedam, the principal of Arulanandar College, Karumathur and Dr Suchitra attached to Kavery hospital, Trichy who had allegedly conducted the abortion on the nun who was allegedly raped by Fr Rajaranthinam... Source : TOI
isabella R

Multiple deaths at boys' home were no accident | Radio Netherlands Worldwide - 0 views

www.rnw.nl/...hs-boys'-home-were-no-accident

abuse of power catholic Roman Catholic corruption bishops vatican scandal sexual-abuse abuse murder

shared by isabella R on 30 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • isabella R on 30 Jun 12
     
    A Roman Catholic brother administered a deadly overdose of medication to 37 severely handicapped boys at a home for the disabled in the Netherlands 60 years ago, the Dutch public prosecution office has confirmed. On the heels of a castration scandal in the church this spring, a deeply macabre cold case has been solved.
isabella R

Victims say bishop hinders prosecution - SNAP - 0 views

www.snapnetwork.org/say_bishop_hinders_prosecution

Ojeda sacramento soto prosecution re-victimization abuse of power Roman Catholic catholic corruption abuse sexual-abuse

shared by isabella R on 12 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • isabella R on 12 Jul 12
     
    Bishop turns in Priest for abuse but does everything to make him look falsely accused;RESULT -At earlier court hearings, dozens of Ojeda's supporters filled the courtroom, said they disbelieved the charges and released helium balloons to "celebrate" the admitted predator's release on bail. WHILE VICTIMS "LEARN" THE "LESSON"...A TOTALLY NEW STRATEGY---UNBELIEVABLE
isabella R

In defense of our women religious | National Catholic Reporter - 0 views

ncronline.org/...defense-our-women-religious

abuse of power Roman Catholic catholic corruption oppression

shared by isabella R on 28 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • By comparison, this reflects badly on the hierarchy, fixated on retrieving their own image and power by dragging the Church backward in time. They fuss about obedience, dogma, retro-liturgical maneuvers, the charade about religious freedom, women’s reproductive behaviors, and who marries whom. American nuns find such issues to be counterproductive to the works of the Gospel, at worst; and mere distractions at best. Hence, they refrain from pursuing them. There is so much to do in helping “the neighbor” survive in human dignity that nuns have no time for what is surely not on the Holy Spirit’s agenda. And, therein lies the danger! Today these issues are foremost on the hierarchical agenda.
  • Exhibit A, entered by the defense: The Gospels.
  • Exhibit B, entered by the defense: Teaching from Vatican Council II
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Exhibit C entered by the defense: Statements from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
  • Exhibit #D entered by the defense: Papal statements quoted in opening paragraph, above.
  • It seems very disingenuous for Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, John Paul II, to “appeal” for a greater participation of women in the formal leadership and missions of the Church. It is in the Pope’s power to accord equality to women, and he can bring it about whenever he chooses to do so.
  • It is reasonable to think that this accusation of doctrinal unfaithfulness would not have been directed to the LCWR if women provided balance in the Vatican tribunals and bureaucracies. Women, with their “superiority” and “genius” would surely help the males prioritize issues according to appropriate judgment concerning their importance for the common good and the mission of the Church.
  • Exhibit #5E entered by the defense: Warnings and indictments addressed by Jesus to those in power.
  • : Jesus detested hypocrisy. In the light of recent public exposure of deplorable behavior and practices by the hierarchy, for which they have yet to assume public responsibility, I submit that these words of Jesus should be entered into the court documents as reflecting on a lack of integrity in the prosecution. The Defense Rests
  • Catholic theologian Regina Schulte is one of the reasons our church is in trouble today. Years ago she went off and got educated. For a while she served the church as a Catholic sister. Eventually she left the religious life and married. For years she and her late husband, Jim, earned their livings as Catholic theologians. Jim died eleven years ago. Regina continues reflecting on life, church, and the human condition while living in partial retirement.
  • Pope Benedict XVI expressed an appeal for women to have a more visible role within the Church. In two earlier instances, the Pope also spoke of the need to expand roles of women. “Women’s spiritual power will know how to make their own space. And we will have to try and listen,” he said on one occasion. On the other: “[Women], and we with them, must look for their right place, so to speak….I believe that women themselves, with their superiority…will know how to make their own space. We’ll try not to stand in their way.”
  • Condescending though they be, these remarks seemed to have handed a blank check to women. But, in the case of U.S. women’s religious congregations, the Vatican is now placing a “hold” on that check. Not only has their “space” been closed, but bishops (as in “men”) have been given control of what nuns have created in that space. The Vatican’s actions speak louder than their words (as in “false prophecy”) It isn’t that nuns were awaiting permission to pursue their modern apostolates; the above-quoted words of Benedict merely endorse what they have been doing in their own inspired way since Vatican Council II. But, perhaps they became too successful “in their space.”
    • isabella R
      isabella R on 28 Jul 12
       
      Pope Benedict XVI expressed an appeal for women to have a more visible role within the Church. In two earlier instances, the Pope also spoke of the need to expand roles of women. "Women's spiritual power will know how to make their own space. And we will have to try and listen," he said on one occasion. On the other: "[Women], and we with them, must look for their right place, so to speak….I believe that women themselves, with their superiority…will know how to make their own space. We'll try not to stand in their way." Condescending though they be, these remarks seemed to have handed a blank check to women. But, in the case of U.S. women's religious congregations, the Vatican is now placing a "hold" on that check. Not only has their "space" been closed, but bishops (as in "men") have been given control of what nuns have created in that space. The Vatican's actions speak louder than their words (as in "false prophecy") It isn't that nuns were awaiting permission to pursue their modern apostolates; the above-quoted words of Benedict merely endorse what they have been doing in their own inspired way since Vatican Council II. But, perhaps they became too successful "in their space."
  • isabella R on 28 Jul 12
     
    They [the hierarchy] fuss about obedience, dogma, retro-liturgical maneuvers, the charade about religious freedom, women's reproductive behaviors, and who marries whom. American nuns find such issues to be counterproductive to the works of the Gospel, at worst; and mere distractions at best.
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