Ongoing religious scandals

recedite · 23-07-2015 11:54am

The two main unknowns here are;
1. How much have they actually paid, and is it enough to pay for the six year indemnity.
2. How much has accrued outside the 6 year indemnity, and is now payable separately.

Peregrinus · 23-07-2015 12:19pm

Deleted User wrote: »

You say "this isn't a simple binary" yet offer the other side of the agreement as just that (outright repudiation), is there only grey area on the side one party in the agreement?

No, no. I'm not the one saying that outright repudiation is the only course the state can or should take. I'm resisting that argument. I'm not convinced they have the right to repudiate the agreement and, if they do, I'm not convinced they should (for reasons discussed below).

Deleted User wrote: »

Through having access to legal recompense?

Again, I think you have this the wrong way around. Victims already have access to legal recompense, through the compensation scheme. The reason the church/state agreement on handling liability to pay compensation was made at all was to make the compensation scheme possible - you can't have a functioning compensation scheme unless you have established who will pay the compensation, and in what proportions. And, as a corollary, one consequence of repudiating the agreement is that the compensation scheme will likely collapse (unless the state is going to take on 100% of the liablity, which is not the plan). I don't know how many applications for compensation are still outstanding.

So, far from giving victims access to compensation, repudiating the church/state agreement is more likely to deprive them of it.

Deleted User wrote: »

Agreed, the devil is in the detail. However I'd be enormously surprised if the final line was true. As I'm sure you would be too.

I would not be surprised if the church agencies were not in breach. I haven't seen any report of someone in a position to know saying that they are. And, if they were, the state could take enforcement proceedings, which they haven't done.

Absolam · 23-07-2015 12:53pm

recedite wrote: »

You can't have it both ways. If you take the wording literally, then church property cannot be diverted in lieu of cash. Then the original deal is void because it contains illegal terms.
If you take a looser (and more reasonable IMO) interpretation then church property can be diverted in lieu of cash, provided it is in payment of a genuine debt, or payment for a benefit/service such as the indemnity.

Have what both ways? A religious institution is entitled to divest itself of assets as it sees fit. The State is not entitled to divest a religious institution of its assets save for necessary works of public utility and on payment of compensation. The religious organisations can do what they want with their assets, including pay debts with them. The State can't require that they pay debts with them.

recedite wrote: »

History tells us that church property has been stolen or nationalised in the past, such as when Henry VIII when he seized the monasteries, or the French Republic seized the churches at one time. If the wording needs to be clarified so that it only refers to that kind of thing, then we can amend it at any time by referendum easily enough.

Sure, we could just remove the entire clause if we're going to have a referendum. We could even insert a new clause that simply makes all religious properties the property of the State and saves a load of legal haggling. Unlike Henry VIII, we'd just need a majority of the population to agree

Cabaal · 27-07-2015 4:33pm

Australia Jehovah's Witnesses 'did not report 1,000 alleged abusers'

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-33673240

The Jehovah's Witnesses Church in Australia failed to report more than 1,000 alleged child sex abusers to the police, an inquiry has heard.

Instead, the commission says, the Church itself handled all the cases - some of which date to the 1950s.

wp_rathead · 17-08-2015 3:02pm

Was going to put this in the "Funny-Side of Religion" thread, but it pisses me off to much:

And this is what you hear if you ring the call-line

Fred Swanson · 22-08-2015 4:10pm

This post has been deleted.

looksee · 22-08-2015 4:23pm

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Could Ireland refuse to accept him? Better to send him to Vatican City.

recedite · 22-08-2015 5:04pm

I don't think we can refuse to take him back, if his citizenship reverts to being Irish.
I hope he remembers to register as a sex offender when he gets here.

PopePalpatine · 22-08-2015 6:40pm

That might be the thing that forces the Ionanists to consider suicide bombing.

robindch · 26-08-2015 11:07am

Hawaiian Cardinal fails to turn wine into water fast enough:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/catholic-cardinal-arrested-for-drunken-driving-in-hawaii_55dba411e4b0a40aa3abf313

As usual with senior types, the offending person has said he "regrets" making "an error of judgement" and does not admit wrong-doing, breaking the law or even a simple driving while plastered.

HuffPo wrote:

One of the Roman Catholic Church's most senior clergymen was arrested last week for driving under the influence during a trip to Hawaii. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Monday that 79-year-old Cardinal William Joseph Levada, of Menlo Park, California, was stopped at about midnight Thursday in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island after a patrol car saw him swerve.

Levada, formerly the highest ranking American official in the Vatican, was charged with driving under the influence and was released from police custody after posting $500 bail. In a statement emailed to The Huffington Post by a spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Levada said, “I regret my error in judgment. I intend to continue fully cooperating with the authorities.”

Levada, the former archbishop of Portland and San Francisco, was reportedly vacationing with other priests on the Big Island when the arrest occurred. When asked how the archdiocese handles situations like this, spokesman Michael Brown said that in this specific case, "'punishment' is not a factor."

“Speaking generally at all levels of the organization, such things would be looked at on a case-by-case basis," he wrote in an email to HuffPost. "Where a lapse in judgment occurred, the matter would probably be considered less serious. If the matter seemed to indicate a more serious problem, this would be treated more seriously. This would be true at all employee levels."

New cardinal William Joseph Levada receives the biretta cap from Pope Benedict XVI in Saint Peter's Square, March 24, 2006 in Vatican City. The Pontiff installed 15 new cardinals during the Consistory ceremony.
Catholic cardinals, traditionally seen as "princes of the church," are appointed by the pope and are second to him in terms of church hierarchy. Currently, there are 219 cardinals worldwide, including 15 in the United States.

In 2005, former Pope Benedict XVI named Levada as his successor as Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. One year later, Benedict named him a cardinal. Since his retirement as Prefect in 2012, Levada has held the position of Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was part of the conclave that elected Pope Francis in 2013. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Levada is scheduled to appear in Kona District Court Sept. 24. A police spokeswoman declined to provide the newspaper with Levada's blood alcohol content.

robindch · 28-08-2015 1:46pm

Remember that archbishop who was "recalled" to the Vatican to face trial over a wide range of illegal acts and who fell ill the day before his trial opened last month?

Well, the Vatican has just announced that he's dead:

http://www.thejournal.ie/vatican-sexually-assaulted-boys-trial-dies-2297680-Aug2015/

The Journal wrote:

FORMER POLISH ARCHBISHOP Jozef Wesolowski, who would have been the first high-ranking church official to go on trial on paedophile charges, died overnight, the Vatican announced Friday. Wesolowski, 67, had suffered from health problems that last month caused postponement of his criminal trial, which was to be the first of its kind initiated by the Vatican against a church official.

Wesolowski had been charged with possessing child pornography in Rome in 2013-14, and the sexual abuse of minors during his 2008-13 stint as the Vaticannuncio, or ambassador, in the Dominican Republic. He was secretly recalled from his posting in 2012 after the church hierarchy was informed that he had regularly paid young Dominican boys for sexual services.

Wesolowski was defrocked by a church court in June 2014. He was placed under house arrest in September 2014 following a decision to pursue criminal charges against him. Both moves were personally ordered by Pope Francis, according to Vatican officials. The disgraced prelate fell ill on the eve of the opening of his 11 July trial.

Hotblack Desiato · 28-08-2015 9:09pm

robindch wrote: »

Well, the Vatican has just announced that he's dead:

Am I the only one thinking 'closed coffin full of bricks' at the 'funeral' ?

Is there space for one more in the Benedict Retirement Home?

kylith · 28-08-2015 9:25pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Am I the only one thinking 'closed coffin full of bricks' at the 'funeral' ?

Is there space for one more in the Benedict Retirement Home?

For a priest called Wozef Jesolowski, perhaps?

robindch · 28-08-2015 11:58pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Am I the only one thinking 'closed coffin full of bricks' at the 'funeral'?

You're ahead of me.

I was thinking the Reverend Green with the lead piping in the Sistine Chapel.

Hotblack Desiato · 29-08-2015 1:27am

kylith wrote: »

For a priest called Wozef Jesolowski, perhaps?

It's A Grand Place Altogether For People Not Hiding Away From Possible Extradition For Child Abuse And/Or Conspiracy To Cover Up Same, So It Is.

recedite · 29-08-2015 11:46am

I reckon it was the Pope's butler, with a poison tipped umbrella, in the Sistine Chapel.

Hotblack Desiato · 08-09-2015 11:50pm

Notorious clerical sex abuser dies in prison awaiting trial

robindch · 09-09-2015 4:24pm

The ominously-titled "National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland", funded by the Church, has published its latest audit.

The covering press release is here, the summary results are here and the detailed reports are here.

The most notable thing is the low rate of conviction - only one in every fifty allegations resulted in conviction, which is consistent with the conversion rate for allegations of rape (apparently, only around one percent).

NBSCCCI wrote:

For the 8 male orders a total of 325 allegations have been made since 1941 against 141 priests, or brothers resulting in 8 criminal convictions up to date of each review, one of these allegations relates to abuse having taken place in 2003. All other instances of abuse occurred prior to 1996.

Peregrinus · 10-09-2015 2:17am

These aren't 325 new allegations, as far as I can tell. This was an audit, not of how many allegations were received, but of how well or badly allegations were handled when received. As such, it examined the handling of allegations that were mostly already known about.

The low conviction rate, we already know about. It may be comparable with the rape conviction rate, but I think that's coincidental. There are different dynamics at work to influence the conviction rate.

Headlines notwithstanding, these weren't 325 allegations of abuse; the figure of 325 includes (a) allegations of abuse, (b) allegations of suspected abuse ("I am concerned that something may have happened to this child") and (c) allegations of concerns about child safeguarding ("they don't have good procedures in place"/"they're not following the procedures they claim to have in place"/"Brother So-and-so was always hanging around the changing rooms"). A lot of those would not be allegations that any criminal activity has taken place. Even if we look just at allegations of abuse, some of those did not involve any allegation of necessarily criminal activity ("I was given a hard time at school"). Whereas all allegations of rape are allegations of criminal activity.

Of the 325 allegations, one related to the year 2003; the rest to various years between 1941 and 1995. While a proportion of rape allegations would also be made years or decades after the event, I don't think it would be anything like that proportion. And that obviously influences prosecution and conviction rates.

The low conviction rate for rape is partly the result of low reporting rates. Many allegations of rape known to, e.g., hospitals or the rape crisis centre are never reported to the police (because that's up to the victim, and many victims don't go to the police). Counsellors and medics cannot report independently, since this is normally a breach of their professional ethic of confidentiality. Whereas all of the 325 allegations covered by this report were referred to the police.

So, all-in-all, I don't think comparisons with the rape conviction rate are necessarily very meaningful.

Seth Brundle · 13-09-2015 9:42pm

A leopard doesn't change it's spots apparently...
Abuse survivor Marie Collins speaks out on pope’s child agency

Cabaal · 24-09-2015 9:15am

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/09/23/us/ap-us-pope-sex-abuse.html?_r=0

Pope Praises US Bishops' Response to Abuse, Angering Victims

NEW YORK — Pope Francis praised American bishops on Wednesday for their "generous commitment" to helping victims of clergy sex abuse, drawing an angry rebuke from advocates who said the bishops acted only under the threat of hundreds of lawsuits.

They only did something when the government and courts started to get involve, they were not generous and they certainly didn't have courage.

Hoagy · 03-10-2015 8:35pm

They're still at it then.

Global Post

Hotblack Desiato · 15-10-2015 12:49am

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-34528241

His mother put him into the care of the nuns in 1937, when he was just two weeks old, and he was sent to Australia at the age of ten.

He was told his mother, father and all of his relatives were dead.

But Paddy never believed what he was told and began searching for his family in 1965, when he was 28 years-old.

He had visited Ireland, but the Sisters of Nazareth repeatedly told him he had been an orphan and that they could find no records of his mother.

...

Paddy had finally found his family in 2009.

The breakthrough was a letter his mother gave the Sisters of Nazareth declaring that she was putting him into their care.

The letter included a cover note from a priest recommending him for adoption. After 46 years of searching, he was able to trace his relatives within two weeks.

But it was too late for a reunion with his mother. She died in 1999, two years after he first visited Ireland trying to find her.

"I was just so shocked when I was told that," he recalls.

"I was here in 1997 and the nuns told me they had no record of my mother. They kept that letter for 72 years. If they had given it to me earlier it could have helped me find my mother when she was still alive."

kylith · 15-10-2015 8:59am

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-34528241

His mother put him into the care of the nuns in 1937, when he was just two weeks old, and he was sent to Australia at the age of ten.

He was told his mother, father and all of his relatives were dead.

But Paddy never believed what he was told and began searching for his family in 1965, when he was 28 years-old.

He had visited Ireland, but the Sisters of Nazareth repeatedly told him he had been an orphan and that they could find no records of his mother.

...

Paddy had finally found his family in 2009.

The breakthrough was a letter his mother gave the Sisters of Nazareth declaring that she was putting him into their care.

The letter included a cover note from a priest recommending him for adoption. After 46 years of searching, he was able to trace his relatives within two weeks.

But it was too late for a reunion with his mother. She died in 1999, two years after he first visited Ireland trying to find her.

"I was just so shocked when I was told that," he recalls.

"I was here in 1997 and the nuns told me they had no record of my mother. They kept that letter for 72 years. If they had given it to me earlier it could have helped me find my mother when she was still alive."

Philomena had a very similar story. She told the nuns that if the son she'd had to give up contacted them to put him in touch. She told them this several times, and then discovered that he had been looking for her but the nuns had told him they had no record. He'd died only a short time before she found that out.

Hotblack Desiato · 15-10-2015 8:18pm

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2015/10/15/carmelite-vicar-general-agrees-need-to-apologise-for-scandal_f4a7a7ca-3cb7-4a16-8a7c-4fa6d25d8909.html

(ANSA) - Rome, October 15 - The Vicar-General of the Carmelite Order in Rome, which is embroiled in a gay prostitution scandal, on Thursday said he agreed with Pope Francis for the need to apologise for scandals in the church.
"We are always in tune with the pope," Vicar General Agusti Borrell told TV2000.
"Yesterday he made an appeal in which he asked for forgiveness in the name of everyone. He didn't speak of concrete cases, we don't know exactly who he was referring to, but certainly from our side we are always ready, as Christians, to ask for forgiveness for our mistakes, our weaknesses, the sins in our life that occur in everyone's lives," Borrell said.
He added that his order would continue to search for the truth amid recent suspicions and public accusations. In recent days, Italian media reported that at least one senior Carmelite was being investigated for links to gay prostitution in Rome's Villa Borghese park.

Hotblack Desiato · 22-10-2015 8:16pm

Singapore pastor spent church funds on wife’s music career

The pastor of a Singapore megachurch was convicted of fraud on Wednesday, with a judge finding that he had used millions in church funds to promote his wife’s pop music career.

The pastor, Kong Hee, of City Harvest Church, and five other church officials were convicted of charges related to the misuse of $36 million (about €32 million)to support the career of Kong’s wife, Ho Yeow Sun, a singer who is also known as Sun Ho.

Kong and the other leaders, who were convicted of varying counts of criminal breach of trust, face up to 20 years in prison.

Ho released several Mandarin-language albums in Taiwan and an English-language album aimed at the US market,which included China Wine, a 2007 song on which she collaborated with Wyclef Jean.

Cabaal · 29-10-2015 8:10am

Not Ireland....but pretty f*cked up none the less. Once again the nuns are involved

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34656346

In the winter of 1949, 13-year-old Pamela Smedley boarded a ship to Australia with 27 other girls. She had been told by the nuns from the Catholic home she lived in that she was going on a day-trip. In reality, she was being shipped out to an orphanage in Adelaide and wouldn't see England again for more than three decades.

"We thought it would be like going to Scarborough for the day because we were so innocent and naive," says Pamela, who is now in her 70s and still lives in Adelaide.

Once again we hear the same disgusting story with the nuns involved,

Pamela's unmarried Catholic mother had been pressured to give her up as a baby and so she was sent to live under the care of nuns at Nazareth House in Middlesbrough, Teesside.

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.

A few hours a day would be spent making the strings butchers use to hang their meat. "It was very coarse string and it made our fingers bleed," says Pamela. "If you did anything wrong the penalty was an extra 100 strings and the nun in charge would hit us with her walking stick."

Desperate to break free of the scheme's clutches, she got married three days after her 18th birthday. In 1989 she was connected with the Child Migrants Trust, who helped her to be reunited with her mother Betty. For 40 years Betty had believed Pamela was adopted by a loving family in England.

Same formula in country after country, after country, we'll be hearing about this exact same stuff happening in Africa, South America and parts of Asia for many many decades to come

Parents being told that kids were adopted to people in Africa when in reality they were sold off to some well off westerner

robindch · 04-11-2015 2:56pm

The Vatican gets serious about criminals operating within its walls and arrests one priest and a PR hack. For allegedly leaking documents.

http://www.religionnews.com/2015/11/02/2-arrested-vatican-leaked-documents-probe/

Hotblack Desiato · 06-11-2015 1:57am

A deliciously spiky article celebrates 40 years of the 'wonderful' Catholic Communications Office.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/catholic-communications-office-marks-40th-anniversary-1.2417513

Hotblack Desiato · 06-11-2015 2:17am

The catholic church hierarchy, of all people, are saying they are worried about people being mean to each other :

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/catholic-primate-concerned-at-trends-in-social-media-1.2418879

Speaking at the same conference Fr Thomas Casey, lecturer in philosophy at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, said that “we all know that technology has given bullies a much wider platform through online name-calling and we know this can emotionally destroy children and teenagers”. Words could “ cause irreparable damage.”

Time was the bullies had to make do with pulpits.

robindch · 09-11-2015 11:56am

The National Catholic Reporter investigates the costs of the ongoing abuse scandal and finds that in the last 65 years, almost $4 billion has been paid out. As the figure is derived from public records from multiple sources, since the church doesn't maintain any central record itself, and doesn't contain anything from confidential settlements, the amount is likely to be a significant underestimate.

http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/ncr-research-costs-sex-abuse-crisis-us-church-underestimated

NCR wrote:

The U.S. Catholic church has incurred nearly $4 billion in costs related to the priest sex abuse crisis during the past 65 years, according to an extensive NCR investigation of media reports, databases and church documents.
In addition, separate research recently published calculates that other scandal-related consequences such as lost membership and diverted giving has cost the church more than $2.3 billion annually for the past 30 years.

Between 1950 and August of this year, the church has paid out $3,994,797,060.10, NCR found.

That figure is based on a three-month investigation of data, including a review of more than 7,800 articles gleaned from LexisNexis Academic and NCR databases, as well as information from BishopAccountability.org and from reports from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

robindch · 09-11-2015 1:27pm

robindch wrote: »

The Vatican gets serious about criminals operating within its walls and arrests one priest and a PR hack. For allegedly leaking documents.

http://www.religionnews.com/2015/11/02/2-arrested-vatican-leaked-documents-probe/

The New Yorker suspects that this leak-scandal is more serious than the last one:

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-the-new-vatican-leaks-scandal-is-different

robindch · 13-11-2015 12:05pm

Pope Frank comes out with a few great lines on the Vatican finances. But reforms are still a long way off.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34785469

Pope Frank wrote:

A believer cannot speak of poverty and the homeless but have the lifestyle of a pharaoh.

Pope Francis once said that it hurt his heart to see a priest with the latest model of car. "If you like the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger," he said.

Pope Frank wrote:

If we don't know how to look after money, which you can see, how can we look after the souls of the faithful, which you can't see?

Seth Brundle · 13-11-2015 12:40pm

robindch wrote: »

But reforms are still a long way off.

The RC church will not reform until the money stops coming in. Then saying that they are carrying out reform doesn't mean that it will be anything meaningful!

PopePalpatine · 13-11-2015 2:08pm

kbannon wrote: »

The RC church will not reform until the money stops coming in. Then saying that they are carrying out reform doesn't mean that it will be anything meaningful!

Why does this post remind me of FIFA? :pac:

Panrich · 20-11-2015 3:45pm

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabian-court-sentences-palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadh-to-death-for-apostasy-a6742161.html?

These thugs are losing all sense of reason at this stage.

Bannasidhe · 20-11-2015 6:42pm

Panrich wrote: »

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabian-court-sentences-palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadh-to-death-for-apostasy-a6742161.html?

These thugs are losing all sense of reason at this stage.

Quick - let's sell them more weaponry!

recedite · 21-11-2015 10:10pm

Panrich wrote: »

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabian-court-sentences-palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadh-to-death-for-apostasy-a6742161.html?

These thugs are losing all sense of reason at this stage.

Crazy stuff, like the Salem witch trials. One person accuses another of something. Any suggestion that the accuser might have some ulterior motive for destroying the accused is not entertained by the "court".

Fayadh's conviction was based on evidence from a prosecution witness who claimed to have heard him cursing God, Islam's Prophet Mohammad and Saudi Arabia, and the contents of a poetry book he had written years earlier.
The case went to the Saudi appeals court and was then returned to the lower court, where a different judge on November 17 increased the sentence to death. The second judge ruled defence witnesses who had challenged the prosecution witness' testimony ineligible

As this guy is not a Saudi national, he will be treated a lot worse than that other guy (Badawi) mentioned in the same article. Unfortunately.

robindch · 23-11-2015 12:49pm

More on Bessborough.

Nuns told don’t co-operate as Bishop tried to thwart probes into Bessborough scandal

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/special-report-nuns-told-dont-co-operate-as-bishop-tried-to-thwart-probes-into-bessborough-scandal-366416.html

Alice Lister, Health Inspector wrote:

The greater number were miserable scraps of humanity, wisened, some emaciated and almost all had rash and sores all over their bodies, faces, hands and heads [...] The condition of the infants and younger children in the institution gives cause for uneasiness. During the year ended 31.3.43, 70 children died. There were 114 admissions (ie, births plus infants admitted after birth during the year and all but one of the 70 deaths were of children under one year)

Without apparent irony, Bessborough's resident medic, a Dr O'Connor, explained that the high death rate was because illegitimate children are less resistant to disease because of stress on the mothers.

Bessborough medic, Dr O'Connor wrote:

In spite of this selection [of food] some of the children lost weight and died. An explanation for this is that some infants saw a remarkable difficulty in digesting food and this is due to a primary failure of the process of assimilation, whether for particular food, or for foods in general, even in some cases where the child is breast fed, they do not assimilate the nourishment in the milk. This is more remarkable in illegitimate children. It must be remembered that the period of Gestation of these children is far different to that of the married woman. The girl worries a great deal and is mentally upset over her condition. She is constantly trying to conceal the fact that she is pregnant, and in some cases every effort is made to get rid of the foetus. All this has undoubtly (sic) a most injurious effect on the developing foetus resulting in weak and defective children who have a poor resistance to disease and defective powers for assimilating food [...]

recedite · 23-11-2015 1:26pm

The amount of sin accumulated by the mothers must have had an adverse effect on the digestive system of their infants.

Hotblack Desiato · 02-12-2015 11:43pm

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/ex-priest-who-asked-to-be-laicised-guilty-of-indecent-assault-1.2451401

A former priest who wrote to the Pope asking to be laicised because of his history of “abusing young boys” has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a secondary school student in the 1980s while the priest worked as a choirmaster and music teacher.

Henry Moloney (77) with an address at Kimmage Manor in Dublin was found guilty on Tuesday evening, on the unanimous verdicts of a jury, of seven counts of indecent assault, all of which took place within one school year in the 1980s.
...
The former priest had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
...
“It also took Henry Moloney a long time to talk about these matters,” Mr Humphreys said. “It wasn’t until 45 years later, after he started his abuse of young boys, that he wrote to the Pope and told the Pope about it.”

He quoted from Moloney’s letter of 2014, which stated “I have greatly sinned over 10 years, from 1969 to 1979 in my abusing young boys,” and went on to say “from 1980 to 1991 there were sporadic betrayals”.

No remose. No shame. No decency. Handy retirement (until now) in Kimmage Manor wanting for nothing.

robindch · 17-12-2015 11:45am

The Murphy Report on the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations in Dublin between 1975 and 2004 criticized the actions of Dermot O’Mahony as being "particularly bad" and involved the predatory activities of thirteen priests.

O'Mahony died recently and on Tuesday, the priest leading his funeral mass compared O'Mahony's suffering to that of the saints. O'Mahony seems to have written a letter of apology which the church wouldn't allow to be published (not sure if it has been published).

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/bishop-scapegoated-by-clerical-abuse-report-funeral-told-1.2467773

Hotblack Desiato · 18-12-2015 2:35am

That was bad. But the quotes in this article were among the most sickening things I've ever had the misfortune to read.

Oh, wait a minute, they're out the back of the pub car park tearing each other's eyeballs out.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/archbishop-criticised-for-vilifying-clergy-in-abuse-inquiry-1.2470356

As I've said before, Flannery and the ACP are decidedly not our friends, not that Martin is either.

robindch · 08-01-2016 3:51pm

Spotlight, a film about the Boston's Globe's investigation of pedophile priests in Boston, is due out on January 29th:

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/spotlight-exclusive-exposing-a-cover-up-by-the-catholic-church-1.2487079

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56jw6tasomc

eire4 · 09-01-2016 12:21am

robindch wrote: »

Spotlight, a film about the Boston's Globe's investigation of pedophile priests in Boston, is due out on January 29th:

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/spotlight-exclusive-exposing-a-cover-up-by-the-catholic-church-1.2487079

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56jw6tasomc

I have seen it actually and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Very well done and very emotional to put it mildly.

PopePalpatine · 09-01-2016 4:47pm

At least 231 members of a boys' choir ran by Joseph Ratzinger's brother George from 1964-94 were abused: http://www.thejournal.ie/regensburg-domspatzen-ratzinger-benedict-choir-child-abuse-scandal-2538826-Jan2016/?utm_source=shortlink

The Randy Riverbeast · 10-01-2016 1:54am

But dont worry, they are taking care of the people who really matter.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/catholic-church-spent-millions-providing-for-paedophile-priests-20160109-gm2f4z.html

robindch · 10-01-2016 2:24am

PopePalpatine wrote: »

At least 231 members of a boys' choir ran by Joseph Ratzinger's brother George from 1964-94 were abused [...]

Interesting to see that in February 2014, the diocese said there was only 75 victims, and that a payment of €2,500 each should be enough.

Seth Brundle · 10-01-2016 2:27am

robindch wrote: »

Interesting to see that in February 2014, the diocese said there was only 75 victims, and that a payment of €2,500 each should be enough.

"Mental reservation"?

pauldla · 15-01-2016 6:30am

The New Yorker with a (somewhat misleadingly titled) article What Pope Benedict Knew About Abuse in the Catholic Church, dealing with the Bavarian Boys Choir scandal mentioned above.

Ongoing religious scandals

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