Ongoing religious scandals

"An Indianapolis Jesuit high school is standing by a teacher who the Archdiocese of Indianapolis said should not be rehired after the employee’s same-sex marriage became public. As a result, the archdiocese will prohibit Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School from calling itself “Catholic,” a decision the school plans to appeal."

The Vatican has today reaffirmed Catholic teaching that priests cannot reveal what they learn in confession, in an apparent response to moves in Australia and elsewhere to force them to do so in cases of sexual abuse.

A document from the Vatican's Apostolic Penitentiary, which deals with issues of the sacrament of confession, said no government or law could force clergy to violate the seal "because this duty comes directly from God".

The document, which does not mention any countries or the sexual abuse crisis, complained of a "worrying negative prejudice against the Catholic Church".

Most countries' legal systems respect the religious right of a Catholic priest not to reveal what he has learned in confession, similar to attorney-client privilege.

But the sexual abuse crisis that has embroiled the Catholic Church around the world has seen this right challenged more frequently.

In Australia, an inquiry into child abuse recommended that the country introduce a law forcing religious leaders to report child abuse, including priests told of it during confession.

So far, two of Australia's eight states have introduced laws making it a crime for priests to withhold information about abuse heard in confession. Others are still considering their response.

In May, the California state senate passed a bill to require the seal of confession to be broken if a priests learns of or suspects sexual abuse while hearing the confession of a fellow priest or a colleague such as a Church worker.

Church leaders in both the United States and Australia have opposed such laws and the document backed them up unequivocally.

"Any political action or legislative initiative aimed at breaking the inviolability of the sacramental seal would constitute an unacceptable offence against the (freedom of the Church)," the document said.

"(The Church) does not receive its legitimacy from individual States, but from God; it (breaking the seal) would also constitute a violation of religious freedom, legally fundamental to all other freedoms, including the freedom of conscience of individual citizens, both penitents and confessors," it said.

The document said a priest could not demand that a penitent turn himself or herself in to authorities as a condition for receiving absolution from their sins.

The penitent also cannot free a priest from his obligation to respect the seal of confession, it said.

The Irish Mirror yesterday revealed that Gardai believe they’ve uncovered a paedophile ring run by clerics while investigating a hostel for boys which operated in the 1960s and 1970s
The half-way house – which opened under the name “The Boys Club” in Eccles Street, Dublin 1 – is the subject of an investigation by the Sexual Crime Management Unit.

More than 700 vulnerable teenage boys passed through the hostel over the space of a decade and it’s feared most were preyed on by clerics….
…A man who was was born in a mother and baby home and was sent to the hostel from an industrial school where he was raped from a young age.
He said: “The abuse that took place in the hostel was an extension of the abuse I suffered in the industrial school but it was far more intense and pressurised.”
He added priests used the home as a “hunting ground” and “passed boys around like pieces of meat” bribing them with cigarettes and money to keep quiet.

robindch wrote: »

Cardinal Pell's appeal against his conviction fails and unless a subsequent appeal succeeds, will be eligible for parole in October 2022. The pope has yet to defrock him, and Australia has not yet stripped him of his "Order of Australia" medal.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49416573

robindch wrote: »

No doubt, his frock heaves happily with the weight of honorary metal. However, he could have considered, voluntarily, turning in his gongs while investigations and court cases were ongoing on the reasonable expectation that they'd be returned if, and when, he'd been declared innocent of the charges laid against him.

And given the seriousness of the claims, it's hardly an unreasonable course of action, though it's one which does not seem to have occurred to the technically innocent, and by now, no doubt enormously lonely, figure of George Pell.

The leaders of a California based-church have been accused of imprisoning homeless people, forcing them to beg all day and taking the money.

Dozens of victims had their papers taken, their welfare benefits stolen and were punished if they spoke of "things of the world", officials say.

Imperial Valley Ministries (IVM) operates about 30 affiliate church groups in the US and Mexico.

A dozen of the group's leaders were arrested on Tuesday.

The former pastor of Imperial Valley Ministries, Victor Gonzalez, was detained in San Diego.

Eleven others were held in El Centro, California, and Brownsville, Texas.

The defendants are facing charges of conspiracy, forced labour, document servitude and benefits fraud.

The church, which represents its pastors as "missionaries to drug addicts", lured victims by promising them food and shelter and opportunities to get back on their feet at "no cost", federal officials say.

"The indictment alleges an appalling abuse of power by church officials who preyed on vulnerable homeless people with promises of a warm bed and meals," the lead prosecutor, US Attorney Robert Brewer, said at a news conference after the arrests.

"These victims were held captive, stripped of their humble financial means, their identification, their freedom and their dignity."

A statement from the prosecutor added that "windows were nailed shut at some group home locations, leading a desperate 17-year-old victim to break a window, escape, and run to a neighbouring property to call police".

Victims were allegedly locked in group homes, and forced to beg for nine hours a day, six days a week.

According to prosecutors, victims were told "the only thing to be read is the holy bible" and "if any of the rules are broken there will be discipline".

Punishments included the withholding of food, and if they asked to leave they were told their children would be taken away, it is alleged.

Church leaders refused to allow a diabetic victim with low blood sugar to obtain medicine, said officials. She was able to escape.

They were also banned from using the telephone, and told to avoid their family because "only God" loved them now, said officials.

If they did manage to leave, church leaders continued to withhold their money, along with important documents such as immigration paperwork and food benefit cards.

All of the victims have been identified and are now free, officials say.

Support services have been made available to them.

The case highlights the chronic problem of homelessness in California.

President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered White House officials to launch an initiative to address the issue, though California leaders are sceptical.

White House officials earlier this week toured districts of Los Angeles and blamed "liberal policies" for the city's high numbers of destitute people.

Wrightbus is facing questions over £15m in donations to a religious charity.

A large number of the company's employees have been made redundant after it was placed into administration.

The Green Pastures charity, which is led by Wrightbus's majority shareholder Jeff Wright, received the money over six years.

The donations helped it to develop plans for a huge church and village complex known as Project Gateway.

Speaking on BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster programme, Sinn F MLA Conor Murphy said that questions have been raised about the donations.

"I note there are questions that have been raised about the finances of the firm and where they were spent and I think all these things need to come out in the wash," he said.

But DUP MP Ian Paisley said that how directors spend their dividends is a private issue.

"It's up for directors to explain how they spend their dividend," he said.

"Ultimately for the directors, they will have to consider why and how they did those things but no doubt all of those things will be considered."

Alastair Hamilton, chief executive of the government-backed job creation agency Invest NI, would not comment on the funds that the company drew out.

In 2013, Invest NI gave £3.9m in backing for Wrightbus's major £15m research and development project into low-carbon vehicles.

"On every company whenever we put grant assistance in, we put restrictions on the volume or value of drawings that can be made out of that company," he said.

"Clearly, we can't say to a company that we can't give you grant assistance you can take nothing out by way of dividend.

He said that the rules Invest NI put in place in its letter of offer for investment were followed.

The top company in the Wright business, the Cornerstone Group, showed the firm made a loss of £1.7m in 2017.

That compared to a pre-tax profit of almost £11m in 2016.

In 2017, the Cornerstone Group gave £4.15m in charitable donations, according to latest accounts.

However at the time it made earlier donations, the company was making substantial profits.

The donations were always reported in the group's audited accounts.

BBC News NI economics editor John Campbell said that "if a firm has distributable profits it can pay out, shareholders can spend that money on whatever they like".

He added that "in retrospect it looks like a bad decision" given the cash flow needed to run a big manufacturing firm, but he added that any analysis of why the company has struggled cannot ignore "the lamentable state of the UK bus market".

He added that an administrator has a statutory duty to report on the events leading up to administration and the conduct of directors.

"If they find evidence of breaches of the Companies Act they report that to the Department of the Economy."

A major redevelopment project centred around Green Pastures was approved by councillors in 2015.

The plan was to build an urban village on the edge of Ballymena, with housing, business parks, a hotel and community facilities.

Green Pastures said the development would create 100 apprenticeships, 80 safe houses for vulnerable adults and 104 care places for children with special needs.

However, work at the Project Gateway site appeared to have stalled in recent months.