Archive for January, 2014
Pope Defrocked 400 Priests in 2 Years / Assoicated Press
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 21, 2014
A document shows Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests over two years for sexually molesting children.
“The statistics for 2011 and 2012 show a dramatic increase over the 171 priests removed in 2008 and 2009, when the Vatican first provided details on the number of priests who have been defrocked. Before that, it had only revealed the number of alleged cases of abuse it had received and the number of trials it had authorized.
“While it’s not clear why the numbers spiked in 2011, it could be because 2010 saw a explosion in the number of cases reported in the media in Europe and beyond.” By Nicole Winfield and John Heilprin, Associated Press, in The Boston Globe
Click here to read the rest of this story.
Disclosure of Systemic Coverup and Additional Sexual Abuse of Children in Chicago Archdiocese
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Clericalism, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 21, 2014
And so begins the disclosure of systemic coverup and additional sexual abuse of children in the Chicago Archdiocese, along with the excuses or minimizing of current hierarchical officials, some of whom are complicit in the pattern of coverup. Will this be another round of ho-hum responses by people in the pews, or might they wake up to what one survivor told Pope Benedict was a cancer in the body of the Church. But for the courage of survivors and the legal advocacy on their behalf, the Church hierarchy in Chicago and around the world would be spinning the same denials as they have been for the last 12 years. — Bill Casey, former Voice of the Faithful® Board of Trustees Chair
“Thousands of pages of secret church documents released Tuesday (Jan. 21) as part of a court settlement provide an unprecedented and gut-wrenching look at how the Archdiocese of Chicago for years failed to protect children from abusive priests.
“The documents provide new details and insights into how the nation’s third-largest archdiocese quietly shuttled accused priests from parish to parish and failed to notify police of child abuse allegations. The paper trail, going back decades, also portrays painfully slow progress toward reform, accountability and openness.” By Manya Brachear Pashman, Christy Gutowski and Todd Lighty, Chicago Tribune
Click here to read the rest of this article, “New Abuse Documents Detail Chicago Archdiocese Missteps.”
“After a 13-year-old boy reported in 1979 that a priest raped and threatened him at gunpoint to keep quiet, the Archdiocese of Chicago assured the boy’s parents that, although the cleric avoided prosecution, he would receive treatment and have no further contact with minors.
“But the Rev. William Cloutier, who already had been accused of molesting other children, was returned to ministry a year later and went on to abuse again before he resigned in 1993, two years after the boy’s parents filed a lawsuit. Officials took no action against Cloutier over his earliest transgressions because he “sounded repentant,” according to internal archdiocese documents released Tuesday (Jan. 21) that show how the archdiocese tried to contain a mounting scandal over child sexual abuse.” By Tammy Webber, Associated Press, in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Click here to read the rest of this article, “Chicago Archdiocese Hid Decades of Child Abuse.”
Church Wants to Model ‘Best Practice’ on Fighting Abuse, Vatican Says at U.N. Committee Hearings / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 16, 2014
Facing a virtually unprecedented examination of its record on child sexual abuse by a U.N. panel, a senior Vatican official today asserted that the Catholic church wants to be “an example of best practice” in the prevention of abuse.
“Italian Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva, spoke this morning to the Committee on the Convention of the Rights of the Child, a 1989 United Nations treaty which the Vatican ratified in 1990.
“Although the U.N. panel has no power to compel the Vatican to do anything, its body of experts is expected to make recommendations after the day-long hearing. In effect, today marks the first time senior Vatican officials have appeared before an independent body to defend the church’s handling of the abuse scandals that have erupted over the past decade.”
By John L. Allen, Jr., National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of Allen’s article. Allen will be a guest speaker during the Voice of the Faithful® 2014 Assembly:Turning Talk into Action to be held in Hartford, Connecticut, Apr. 5, 2014. Click here for information.
Vatican Comes Under Sharp Criticism for Sex Abuse / Associated Press
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 16, 2014
The Vatican came under blistering criticism from a U.N. committee Thursday (Jan. 16) for its handling of the global priest sex abuse scandal, facing its most intense public grilling to date over allegations that it protected pedophile priests at the expense of victims. The Vatican insisted it had little jurisdiction to sanction pedophile priests around the globe, saying it was for local law enforcement to do so. But officials conceded that it needs to do more, given the scale of the problem and the role the Holy See plays in the international community.” By John Heilprin and Nicole Winfield, Associated Press — Click here the read the rest of this story.
Vatican Facing UN Showdown on Sex Abuse Record / Associated Press
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 15, 2014
The Vatican is gearing up for a bruising showdown over the global priest sex abuse scandal, forced for the first time to defend itself at length and in public against allegations it enabled the rape of thousands of children by protecting pedophile priests and its own reputation at the expense of victims. The Holy See on Thursday (Jan. 16) will be grilled by a U.N. committee in Geneva on its implementation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Among other things, the treaty calls for signatories to take all appropriate measures to protect children from harm and to put children’s interests above all else.” By Nicole Winfield and John Heilprin, Associated Press — Click here to read the rest of this article.
Pope Cleans House at Bank with New Cardinal / Associated Press
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Church Finances, Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 15, 2014
Pope Francis made another move to clean house at the troubled Vatican bank on Wednesday (Jan. 15), naming a new roster of cardinal advisers to replace the ones who were in place during its latest brushes with scandal. Only one cardinal from the previous commission overseeing the bank’s operations, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, survived the cut.” By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press — Click here to read the rest of this article.
Voice of the Faithful® Sees Its Reform Language Echoed in Pope Francis’ Rhetoric — Transparency, Accountability, Clericalism as Evil
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Clericalism, Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 14, 2014
For 12 years, Voice of the Faithful® has touted structural reform of the Church as a starting point for healing and renewal. The language we’ve used during this time sounds very much like rhetoric that reform-minded Pope Francis has employed since being elected. Read this from today’s National Catholic Reporter editorial “Francis’ Advice Is Good for the Church”:
From the moment he walked onto the world stage as pope less than a year ago, Francis set the world spinning with speculation over what exactly he was doing and where he was leading the church … From the start, the pope has been slowly dismantling that portion of the clerical culture that has led to destructive secrecy, corruption and lack of accountability … While the exchange (with leaders of men’s religious orders) was clearly directed at religious leaders and bishops, Francis is certainly savvy enough to know that his plainspoken and sometimes blunt assessments are balm to those in the pews who have held such thoughts themselves but never expected to have them represented at the top levels of church leadership … He emphasized the need for dialogue in several spots in his conversation and he issued a stern condemnation of the kind of hypocrisy — thinking one thing but saying another to get ahead – ‘that is the result of clericalism, which is one of the worst evils.’”
Click here to read the rest of the editorial and click here to read Antonio Spadaro’s La Civilta Cattolica interview to which the editorial refers, “Wake Up the World: Conversation with Pope Francis about the Religious Life.”
Pope with the Humble Touch Is Firm in Reshaping the Vatican / The New York Times
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 14, 2014
Though lengthy, this article appears comprehensive regarding changes Pope Francis has made in the Roman curia to re-direct the Church. The article also shows that, while humble, he is neither soft, nor naive concerning curial politics.
Less than a year into his papacy, Pope Francis has raised expectations among the world’s one billion Roman Catholics that change is coming. He has already transformed the tone of the papacy, confessing himself a sinner, declaring “Who am I to judge?” when asked about gays, and kneeling to wash the feet of inmates, including Muslims. Less apparent, if equally significant for the future of the church, is how Francis has taken on a Vatican bureaucracy so plagued by intrigue and inertia that it contributed, numerous church officials now believe, to the historic resignation of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, last February.” By Jason Horowitz and Jim Yardley, The New York Times — Click here to read this entire article.
Pope Francis Picks Cardinals Who Point the Way to Catholicism’s Future / Religion News Service
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 13, 2014
In naming his first batch of new cardinals on Sunday (Jan. 12), Pope Francis made some surprising choices that largely confirmed the characteristics he wants in the Catholic Church he leads: a greater focus on the poor, a bigger voice for the Global South and a reduced emphasis on the traditional hierarchical perks.” By David Gibson, Religion News Service — Click here to read the rest of Gibson’s article.
The Dangers of Clericalism in the Church Continue to Exist / Our Sunday Visitor
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clericalism, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 10, 2014
‘The pope is the successor of Peter. The bishops are the successors of the college of the apostles. The priests share in that to a limited degree. And that’s my summary of ecclesiology.’ That’s funny — as it happens, it’s my summary of clericalism. The words just quoted don’t come out of the Dark Ages — I heard them spoken just a short time back. I won’t name the speaker — he was talking more or less spontaneously and, with more time to prepare, might have given a better account of himself. Besides, the view expressed is probably widely shared among both clerics and lay people even today. The roots of clericalism do indeed go very deep.” By Russell Shaw, Our Sunday Visitor Contributing Editor — Click here to read the rest of this article.
Whether clericalism has been declining in the Church, as the author of the above article says, may be up for debate, but assuredly he left out one of the most egregious manifestations of clericalism. To just begin to see the problem, read this — “Vatican to Legion: Reform Has Only Just Begun.”
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