Posts Tagged Scotland
After waiting years to be heard, the children of Smyllum tell their heartbreaking stories / The Sunday Post
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on December 4, 2017
“And, finally, after all those years, these adults, who were once children in Scotland’s care homes, would tell their stories. Stories of neglect, of cruelty, of abuse and of murder.” (The Sunday Post)
They had waited a long time to be heard.
“But in this nondescript office block, as commuters rushed by outside, they would speak at last.
“And, finally, after all those years, these adults, who were once children in Scotland’s care homes, would tell their stories. Stories of neglect, of cruelty, of abuse and of murder.
“The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry started its second phase in Edinburgh last week as judge Lady Smith turned her attention to Smyllum Park children’s home in Lanarkshire, the orphanage where, as we revealed in September, up to 400 children are buried in an unmarked grave.
“The hearings were harrowing for those who gave evidence and those who heard it. It was often heart-breaking.
“Some in the seats open to the public wept as former child residents – most are now pensioners – described growing up in Smyllum.”
By Gordon Blackstock, The Sunday Post — Read more …
The Catholic church must think upon its sins / The Guardian
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on September 8, 2015
If Satan were ever to consider deploying a PR strategy to gloss over all his crimes and misdemeanors he could do worse than contact one of his oldest adversaries, the Catholic church in Scotland.
“For more than two decades now, the church has been revealed to have been exhibiting behaviors and conduct that would have led to a full public inquiry and suspension of its activities pending the outcome. Yet, following decades of child sex abuse by several of its priests, and subsequent cover-up by its hierarchy, it has managed to escape proper scrutiny and any degree of accountability.”
By Kevin McKenna, The Guardian — Click here to read the rest of this commentary.
Scottish Church needs to start over / The Tablet
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on August 24, 2015
If anybody ever doubted the necessity for an independent review into child protection procedures inside the Catholic Church in Scotland, every page of the McLellan Report published this week will correct that impression. The report is, in effect, a vote of no confidence in the Scottish bishops’ safeguarding procedures based on their performance so far. Its central charge is that the Scottish Catholic Church for years paid lip service to the need for child protection while the manner in which it treated survivors amounted to further abuse …”
“In such a clerical culture, which Scottish Catholicism surely was and in many ways still is, an abusive priest may well have thought that the powers-that-be would protect him to avoid a scandal. Too often he was right. The cultural reform that the McLellan report thinks is necessary to abolish the scourge of child abuse, therefore, goes far wider than this one issue. The leadership of the Catholic Church in Scotland has to become accountable to its members. That journey has hardly begun.”
Editorial in The Tablet — Click here to read the rest of this editorial
Bishops that Left Abuse Unreported Face Police / The Scotsman
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on May 19, 2014
Church officials have warned that Catholic dioceses and bishops who ignored complaints over alleged sexual abuse by priests will be reported to police for prosecution. Complaints of clerical sexual abuse stretching back almost 70 years are the subject of a review by the Catholic Church in Scotland, which insists any serious complaint since 1947 must be passed on to the police even if both alleged victim and priest are dead.”
By Stephen McGinty, The Scotsman — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Disgraced Cardinal’s Archdiocese Subject to Vatican Investigation / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Clericalism, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 4, 2014
The Vatican has appointed a bishop known for aggressively investigating cases of sexual abuse to take testimony of clergy alleging sexual misconduct in Scotland’s archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, where Cardinal Keith O’Brien was archbishop until resigning under disgrace in February 2013.
“The archdiocese’s current leader, Archbishop Leo Cushley, announced the investigation in two letters sent to his clergy Tuesday …
“Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, a noted canon and civil lawyer widely known for his advocacy and work on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse by clergy, said in a brief interview Thursday he had “never heard” of such an investigation before.
“‘That’s very unusual indeed,’ said Doyle. ‘I’ve never heard of a cardinal being investigated like this by the Holy See.’
“Jesuit Fr. John O’Malley, a noted church historian who has written books on the Second Vatican and Trent Councils and a history of the popes, likewise said he ‘could not recall’ a similar instance of an archdiocese or cardinal being investigated …”
By Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Voice of the Faithful
A lay movement for governance reform in the Roman Catholic Church, responding to the clergy sexual abuse scandal and supporting survivors.
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