The Clerical Child Abuse Thread (merged)

Archbishop Philip Wilson from Australia has been charged with covering up clerical abuse.

Peregrinus wrote: »

For the record, I think Wilson has been charged under this section. The law in question doesn't deals specifically with sex abuse or child sexual abuse; it makes it an offence, in certain (fairly widely drawn) circumstances, to fail without reasonable excuse to report any serious indictable offence.

What I have linked to above is the current version of the legislation. It has been amended from time to time over the years, and the charge reportedly relates to things Wilson did (or, more accurately, failed to do) in the 1970s, so the law might have been stated in different terms them. I don't know this, though.

A wild guess says an awful lot is going to depend on the facts of the case - which we don't know yet - and on what is the extent of the "without reasonable excuse" get-out that the legislation provides. If it's shown that Wilson knew something and didn't report it, what reason will he give for not reporting it and will the courts think that was a "reasonable excuse"?

Interesting times. I doubt this one will be resolved quickly.

Possibly the court might take a plea "I heard about it in confessional situations and my mortal soul would be at risk if I divulged the admitted sins of the confessor outside the sacrament of confession" into consideration when summing-up is done. I don't know how far the Australian people/jury are prepared to go in giving that excuse a hearing now (noted Archbishop Hart's statement: "The presumption of innocence applies to Archbishop Wilson as it does to all citizens subject to criminal charges before the court. I urge people not to make any judgement until the charge against Archbishop Wilson has been dealt with by the court).

Yup. At this point we don't know exactly what Wilson is said to have known, or when or how he is said to have come to know it so, whatever instinctive suspicions we might have, it's not really possible to make any meaningful judgment about whether or when he should have reported what he knew.

For the record, though, in the various newspaper reports of this matter that have appeared in Australia I haven't seen any suggestion or hint that Wilson came to know of whatever he knew in the context of hearing confession, and I doubt that this will form part of any defence that he offers. Reportedly, the prosecution will relate to what Wilson knew or didn't know, and did or didn't do with his knowledge, about abuse committed by one Fr. Dennis McAlinden in 1985. McAlinden was a priest in the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle; Wilson was Vicar-General of that diocese from 1987 to 1990, and in that capacity was involved in dealing with the McAlinden abuse when it came the knowledge of the diocese. (McAlinden was transferred to a remote parish in a diocese in Western Australia where, we are not surprised to learn, he continued his abusive behaviour.)

So probably whatever knowledge is involved here will turn out to be something he acquired as Vicar-General of the diocese, not as a priest hearing anybody's confession.

aloyisious wrote: »

Now this is a lift and paste from F/B. I find it incredulous that such an apparently adult person could come out with the remark attributed to him, it's so impossible to relate it to some-one who should have been aware that priests having sex with children was illegal. If it is a true and absolutely accurate record of what he said, then it exposes the weakness of the RC hierarchy mind-set that a member doesn't even that child-rape is: 1. a criminal offence, and 2. certainly not what Christ had in mind for his followers as a pursuit. Interestingly enough, he was caught out as conflicted in his testimony, as the attorney had possession of documents about the archbishop discussing one child abuse case and the statute of limitations.

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2014/06/st-louis-archbishop-claims-he-wasnt-sure-it-was-illegal-for-priests-to-have-sex-with-kids/

Ha. I came across this before in another case, but then when you look at the records you find that whilst they did not know it was a crime they, for some unknown reason, took out insurance policies against claims for damages as a result of child rape. Funny that they did not know it was illegal, but took insurance out to protect them against the fallout.

MrP

PopePalpatine wrote: »

Truly disgusting.

I suppose the Archbishop of Drive-By Posting is going to come around with a post with only the word "Trite" written in it.

Does it never end .

More on the mother-and-baby homes:

Going Strong wrote: »

More grim news.

Concerns that up to 1,000 children may have been “trafficked” to the US from the Tuam mother and baby home in “a scandal that dwarfs other, more recent issues with the Church and State” were raised by the HSE in 2012.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/special-investigation-fears-over-trafficking-of-children-to-the-us-334315.html

Here's an interesting excerpt:
It notes there were letters from the Tuam mother and baby home to parents asking for money for the upkeep of their children and notes that the duration of stay for children may have been prolonged by the order for financial reasons.

It also uncovered letters to parents asking for money for the upkeep of some children that had already been discharged or had died. The social worker, “working in her own time and on her own dollar”, had compiled a list of “up to 1,000 names”, but said it was “not clear yet whether all of these relate to the ongoing examination of the Magdalene system, or whether they relate to the adoption of children by parents, possibly in the USA”.

Going Strong wrote: »

And even more.

The State has said it was horrified by the revelations about the 796 babies buried at Tuam. However, HSE reports into Tuam and Bessborough mother and baby homes had been prepared for the Government two years previously

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/special-investigation-government-already-knew-of-baby-deaths-334260.html

I also found this bit interesting:
The report highlights the “intricacies of Bessborough’s accounting practices”, and that “detailed financial records and accounts were not handed over to the HSE by the Sacred Heart Order”.

We also learn of the nuns’ “preoccupation with material assets” and “preoccupation with materialism, wealth, and social status”, and that the women provided “a steady stream of free labour and servitude”. The nuns also received “financial renumeration” for the children of these women.

The Northern Ireland Historical Abuse Inquiry has commenced its examination of the crimes of Fr Brendan Smyth. http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0622/709660-brendan-smyth/

Today, they heard a confession from Smyth to a doctor in 1994 where he claimed the number of his victims could run into the hundreds.

The story of one of the girls shipped off from Britain to Australia by the RCC: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34656346

Upon arrival at Goodwood, all the children's personal mementos - photographs, letters, toys - were taken from them and they were left with just a Bible. Everyone was terrified of the Reverend Mother, even the other nuns, says Pamela. She recalls the big strap the nun had around her waist which her rosaries would hang from.
"It is what she'd use to beat us - at night she would walk up and down the dormitories and if you so much as twitched in your bed you'd get the strap."

Sexual abuse was a harsh reality for many of the children under the care of these schemes, including Pamela, who was assaulted while on the voyage over to Australia and while working at an isolated shearing station, aged 15.
"We were taught never to let a man touch you - and that was all I knew, so I believed I was a sinner and would go to hell for it," she says. When it happened for the first time on the boat, the nuns in Pamela's charge insisted she was just dreaming. "I was terrified and I still go to sleep with my hands guarding between my legs," she says.

This was probably discussed pages back, but how was Pope John Paul II made a Saint, yet the Legionaries of Christ founder Fr Marcial Maciel carried on his wickedness in safety (sodomising his son, embezzlement etc)? This was in spite of so much evidence and reports. The idea that JP2 saw it in a similar light to the Communist smears against Catholic and Greek Rite Catholics (fabricated accusations of sexual misbehaviour was a standard Communist tactic), doesn't cut it, in my humble opinion.

The RCC in the state of New York spent $2.1m over 2007-15 on lobbying against stronger laws on child abuse: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/catholic-church-hired-lobby-firms-block-n-y-kid-rape-laws-article-1.2655010

The Catholic Church's attempts at derailing new legislation in Pennsylvania - which would allow sexual abuse survivors to file for civil action until they're 50 (it's 30 at the moment) have been "mafia-like", says one Republican legislator. Catholic Republican legislators say they were "crushed", "angered" and "disappointed" when named and shamed on their local parish bulletins for supporting this legislation and being disinvited from RCC events.