Monthly Archives: July 2014
Pope Francis asked us for forgiveness..my response to him
This is my first communion. I am in the first row with my two brothers. My older brother Joe on the left of me, my twin brother Paul on my right.
Not so long ago, Pope Francis asked priest abuse victims for forgiveness.
Yet how do those of us, whom were raped and had our souls stolen from us, whom committed suicide because of it, can give him forgiveness, or any of us so harmed, when he refuses to clean house of all the Cardinals, Bishops and Archbishops whom covered up these evil crimes and are still sitting in the positions that they are in?
How can Paul Anthony Carson, whom upon seeing the priest whom raped him walking down the street and then going home and hanging himself, being found by his parents, forgive him?
How can Emma Foster, whom was raped by Father Kevin O’Donnell, while at a primary school whom committed suicide because of it, forgive him?
How can Daniel Neill, whom committed suicide because of his rapist priest, Joseph Gallagher, forgive him?
How can the 30 boys raped at the St Alipius primary school, whom committed suicide forgive him for their rapes?
How can David M. Jarboe Jr. whom stepped into the parking lot of downtown Owensboro’s Blessed Mother Catholic Church and because of his horror from his priest rape, blew his brains out, forgive him?
How can the 40 suicide victims of another parish in Victoria Australia forgive him?
Or the thirteen victims of priest rape whom committed suicide in Belgium forgive him?
Or the thousands of others, whom committed suicide, because of their rapes and soul tortures by their pedophile priests forgive him?
How can the parents and relatives of these children, ever forgive him? Whom lost their child, due to the brutal rapes and soul destruction of them.
How can the parents of Paul Anthony Carson, whom cut him down, and were devastated forgive him? Or any of the other parents?
None of them can. Matter of fact, they are supposedly in hell, burning for all eternity, because the pain and suffering brought on by their rapes by Roman Catholic priests, committed suicide, which the RC teaches that if you do commit suicide, then you will burn in hell for eternity. I don’t believe they are. I believe they are in Paradise, free from all of their suffering, at peace and filled with light and love. They are the true Angels, the Guardians, the Protectors of us still here.
The horror, the suffering, the pain, of those of us, whom were raped, whom had our souls stolen from us, whom then were continually brutalized by the leaders of the church, whom told us we were to blame for our rapes, that we seduced their priests, that because we did not punch our rapist priests in the face, that meant we not only wanted to be raped, we enjoyed our rapes and we are homosexuals because of it, with all the connotations that goes along with that evil declaration against us, have driven many of us to kill ourselves. Or that we should consider our rapes as gifts from God, or many other equally disgusting insults thrown at us by those leaders whom are supposed to help us heal.
In my opinion, the Roman Catholic Church, from Pope Francis, to the Cardinals such as Timothy Dolan, Donald Wuerl, Roger Mahony, Bernard Law, John Niedstedt, and many others, Bishops and Archbishops, are just as responsible, not only for the rapes of these men and women, but also for the suicides of these victims. They drove many to commit suicide over what they said about us, and that makes them as responsible for these suicide deaths as if they pulled the triggers themselves. You do not insult, nor you do not blame the victims of rape for their rapes.
No Pope Francis, until you do what you have promised us you would do. Clean house, stop fighting us victims when we seek justice for the crimes committed against us, with the church lawyers getting our cases dismissed using the statues of limitations.
When Parishioners start caring more about us, their very children of the church, whom were raped and brutalized, and many of you turned your backs on your own children, because you would rather support the leaders of your churches, over your very own children.
When people stand up and demand that the disgusting attacks against us, like Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, whom claims we seduced our priests, whom claims because we did not punch our rapist priests in the face when they were raping us, thereby, we not only wanted to be raped, we enjoyed our rapes and we are homosexuals because of it.
Then maybe, we will find it to forgive you all. We cannot do so, until all of you, truly repent, and start standing up for us, instead of those whom so harmed us.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks about rape.
PART THREE
LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
CHAPTER TWO
“YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”
ARTICLE 6
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
II The Vocation to Chastity:
Offenses Against Chastity
2356: Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them.
Start living up to your Catechism teachings. Start standing up for your sons and daughters whom had their lives devastated by a pedophile priest of this church. How many more of your children must die? How many more of your children will commit suicide before you finally wake up and realize that YOU MUST stand up for your own children over the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops and Archbishops of the Roman Catholic Church?
How many more parents are going to come home and find their child dead because of this evil?
Editorial: Extension of child sexual abuse statute of limitations to help many survivors
Editorial: Extension of child sexual abuse statute of limitations to help many survivors
From the link: http://www.masslive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/07/editorial_child_sexual_abuse_s.html
By
on July 18, 2014 at 4:10 PM
Victims of child sexual abuse now have until they reach the age of 53 to sue the perpetrators of this heinous and all too common crime.
The law, signed by Gov. Deval Patrick last week, extends the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits by three decades. Until last week the statute of limitations expired at the age of 21.
This change will mean that those who are traumatized will have additional time to decide whether to pursue civil litigation, which can be harrowing and difficult at best, traumatizing at worst.
The criminal statute of limitations was extended in 2006 from 15 years after a victim’s 16th birthday to 27 years.
Kathy Picard, of Ludlow, worked for a dozen years to get the law changed, and last week she stood with Gov. Deval Patrick as he signed the bill.
Picard said she told family members about her childhood sexual abuse, which took place from the time she was 7 to 17, and like so many of her generation, she was told to keep quiet.
Congratulations to Picard for her persistence. Her work will help others attain a small measure of justice.
The floodgates are likely to open now, as adult victims pursue justice to right a wrong that can never be justified or fully atoned for or paid for through a legal settlement or penalty.
Ultimately, changing the past would be the only way to fully compensate victims for the damage done to their bodies, psyches and spirits.
CA- Twice accused Los Angeles priest now working on Guam; Victims respond
CA- Twice accused Los Angeles priest now working on Guam; Victims respond
From the link: http://www.snapnetwork.org/ca_twice_accused_los_angeles_priest_now_working_on_guam_victims_respond?recruiter_id=33428
For immediate release: Friday, July 18, 2014
Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, CA, 949-322-7434 cell, jcasteix@gmail.com
We are shocked to learn that a Los Angeles priest from Los Angeles – accused twice of molesting children – now works as a priest on Guam. We strongly urge Guam Catholic officials to oust him.
Fr. John Wadeson, has been named in LA archdiocese records and in news reports as a twice accused predator priest. Because those allegations were deemed “credible” by church officials, he is not allowed to present himself as a priest anywhere in the Archdiocese of LA.
Despite this, Guam Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron is letting Fr. Wadeson work and act as a priest. Apuron also lets Fr. Wadeson travel to other dioceses, including Honolulu.
Although Fr. Wadeson has not been convicted of abuse, the fact that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has banned him from ministry is just cause for Apuron to remove the cleric immediately. We fear that Apuron is putting Guam’s children at direct risk and protecting a credibly accused predator instead of protecting his flock.
We urge Apuron to immediate remove Fr. Wadeson from ministry and make public announcements about Fr. Wadeson at every parish where he has worked or celebrated Mass, begging anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by Fr. Wadeson to step forward, get help, call police, protect others and start healing.
We also want Apuron to explain to parishioners that Fr. Wadeson has been accused of abuse by two children and is banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
We also beg Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez to immediately tell Apuron about the risks that Fr. Wadeson poses. As a powerful Archbishop, Gomez can easily use his power and influence to ensure that Fr. Wadeson can never work as a priest again.
Finally, we applaud whistleblowers in the Archdiocese of Hagatna, who are working steadfastly to ensure that Fr. Wadeson is removed and his past is exposed.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact – David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)
Psychotic nuns ran children’s home like Nazi concentration camp, abuse inquiry is told
Psychotic nuns ran children’s home like Nazi concentration camp, abuse inquiry is told
* We were bathed in Jeyes fluid, says a former resident * Chain gangs had to polish floor until it sparkled * Boy reported being abused, but sister did nothing
By Michael McHugh – 29 January 2014
Nuns who ran a hellhole children’s home in Northern Ireland were virtually psychotic, a former resident said.
The site of the former St Joseph’s Home, Termonbacca
The Sisters of Nazareth property in Londonderry was like a Nazi concentration camp, with youngsters’ screams of despair still haunting survivors, the UK’s largest ever inquiry into institutional child abuse was told.
Inmates formed chain gangs to polish floors until they sparkled – with arms linked and rags under both feet – and were beaten with bamboo canes and straps.
One witness reported how the nuns used to wash the children with Jeyes fluid – a strong disinfectant normally used for outdoor cleaning jobs.
Another revealed how he tried to report sexual abuse by older boys to a nun.
The sister said: “You are a bad boy, you are going to Hell, nothing like that ever happened.”
He said the assault happened in St Joseph’s Home, Termonbacca, in Londonderry. The witness said: “That was the reaction, a coldness and heartlessness about the place that will always scare you. I never heard children cry like I have in that place, it was one of despair and that still haunts me a little bit, it was a scream of despair.”
One witness described the atmosphere.
“It was a form of psychological abuse… you were worth nothing,” he said.
Another added: “The whole atmosphere of Termonbacca was not asking and not being informed, you were a number, you were not worthy of information, you were told what to do.”
He was transferred from Derry to a home in Salthill, on the outskirts of Galway city, run by the Christian Brothers.
“The comparison was two hellholes. Which was better?
“It is difficult to describe when things are bad, you are on a race to the bottom. Salthill was Auschwitz; Termonbacca was Treblinka, it was somewhat better,” he said.
One witness said nuns bordered on psychotic at times.
He added: “There was always a hovering threat of something about to happen, even if it did not happen, not happening was in itself a threat.
“It exploded in rage or very ironic, cynical, derogatory (comments) or anything that could be said that could purposefully put you into a psychologically negative landscape, that was their major modus operandi.”
Another witness suffered depression and was silent and withdrawn as a child. He is still seeing a doctor about mental health issues.
He was attacked by older boys, pushed to the ground and beaten.
“There were times I thought I was going to die – it was torture to face another day,” he said.
He later lived south of the border. “The Republic of Ireland, I am sorry to say, was a cruel and unjust place for people of my background. There was no support,” he said.
“They did not want us at all, there was no understanding, there was a lot of ignorance.”
He said the Northern Ireland Executive should not delay because victims were ageing.
Another witness was forced to bring nuns canes to hit him with.
He said: “The only ones I knew were very, very cruel.”
He was once beaten for having a hole in his sock, and also at school for laughing when an ink pot exploded over a desk.
They would go to bed early, because being in bed was a form of control by nuns, he testified, adding he would be praying he did not wet the bed.
“They could get on with their praying… who they are praying to, I am not too sure.”
BACKGROUND
The treatment of children in Church-run residential homes is a key concern of the investigation being held in Banbridge, Co Down. It is chaired by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart. Christine Smith QC (below) is senior counsel for the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, which is considering cases in 13 residential institutions between 1922, the foundation of Northern Ireland, and 1995. Public hearings are due to finish in June 2015, with the inquiry team to report to Stormont’s power-sharing Executive by the start of 2016.
Bath time ‘was like lining up for the gas chamber’
Bath time at a children’s home in Londonderry was like being sent to the gas chamber, the historical abuse inquiry has heard.
A former resident told the inquiry that the the Sisters of Nazareth used to bathe children with Jeyes fluid, a strong chemical detergent used to clear drains, and compared the washing regime to the Nazi gas chambers used in the Holocaust.
“It was kind of like a Zyklon B gas chamber, it was the general cleaning method used for children,” he said.
He alleged that aged five or six he was taken out of bed at night and sexually abused in a bathroom by a woman, perhaps a nun or a civilian worker.
“It was something that was happening outside my body… I am not there although I am there,” he said. “It is as clear today, sadly, because I would love it not to be so clear, but the effects of it were monumental.
“The damage has been done and is permanent and does not go away. They are on their own, they are lonely and sad and broken.”
On Monday Christine Smith QC, for the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, criticised the Sisters of Nazareth for their “less than wholehearted” and slow efforts to hand over evidence.
Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland programme director Patrick Corrigan said this approach was leading to concerns that this is a deliberate tactic to delay and frustrate the investigations of the inquiry.
“Given the fixed lifespan which the Northern Ireland Executive has put in place for the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, we are concerned that late submission of evidence by respondents might undermine the ability of the inquiry to establish the full truth of abuse suffered by children before it is able to conclude its work,” he said.
Bill Donohue…please remove the Cardinals penis from your mouth
Bill Donohue, the dick sucker for Cardinals Timothy Dolan, Donald Wuerl, Roger Mahony, George Pell, William Leveda, Sean Brady, Keith O’Brien, Francis George, Bernard Law and many others, and of course Bishops like Lynn…..sure does love having these Cardinals and Bishops penises in his mouth when he speaks for them. So tell us Bill, is their jizz holy? Does it taste like the communion wafer or the wine? Do you gargle with it all before you spew forth their words? Do you swallow before the picture you have of your newly elected Patron Saint of Pedophiles Pope John Paul II? Or do you swallow it first? Come on Bill…inquiring minds want to know!!!!
But Bill….you went on The Steve Malzberg show the other day and blew your creamy load you collected from your mouth by your buddy Pedophile Pimp Cardinals all over yourself and others. When Bill are you going to swallow, instead of spewing your disgusting nastiness all over the place?
Get the facts straight Billy Bob…..
A study done by The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect found that even though only 25% of citizens in the U.S. are Roman Catholic, 54% of the sexual abuse cases were perpetrated by Catholic priests. The church has paid at least 2.6 billion to settle sexual abuse cases. In 2007 alone the Los Angeles Archdiocese on July 15 announced the largest church settlement of sexual abuse lawsuits to date, agreeing to pay more than 500 alleged victims a total of $660 million. The abuse continues and the wealthy Vatican is easily able to cover these claims. The Vatican even has insurance policies to cover these operating costs.
Even Pope Francis admits: Pope Francis has revealed that “reliable data” collected by the Vatican suggests that one in every 50 members of the Catholic clergy is a paedophile.
Bill “Pig Face” Donohue, degenerate leader of the Catholic League for the Defense of Roman Catholic Pedophile Pimps, Priests and assorted Perverts of the RCC.
The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue was a guest on yesterday’s edition of “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV where he was asked by guest-host Ed Berliner what Pope Francis could do to “clean up the Catholic Church” and put an end to the sexual abuse of children within the church.
Donohue responded that there was not much the Pope could do … mostly because sexual abuse of children is not a problem in the church any more.
“This problem that took place,” Donohue asserted, “was between approximately 1965 and 1985. That coincides with the sexual revolution and then the discovery of AIDS in ’81.”
“What I am saying,” he continued, “is that this problem has largely been checked.”
Declaring that other institutions, such as public schools, have a much worse problem with sexual abuse than does the church, Donohue said there was no problem for Pope Francis to even address.
“So what can this Pope do? About what? I mean, I don’t know of a single institution which has less of a problem, proportionately speaking, today than the Catholic Church when it comes to the sexual abuse of minors”:
– See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donohue-no-institution-has-less-problem-sexual-abuse-catholic-church#sthash.f5sqUWr6.dpuf
SO PLEASE BILL…KEEP GARGLING YOUR PEDOPHILE PIMPS SPERM…YOU MAKE SUCH FUNNY NOISES WHEN YOU DO.
The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue was a guest on yesterday’s edition of “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV where he was asked by guest-host Ed Berliner what Pope Francis could do to “clean up the Catholic Church” and put an end to the sexual abuse of children within the church.
Donohue responded that there was not much the Pope could do … mostly because sexual abuse of children is not a problem in the church any more.
“This problem that took place,” Donohue asserted, “was between approximately 1965 and 1985. That coincides with the sexual revolution and then the discovery of AIDS in ’81.”
“What I am saying,” he continued, “is that this problem has largely been checked.”
Declaring that other institutions, such as public schools, have a much worse problem with sexual abuse than does the church, Donohue said there was no problem for Pope Francis to even address.
“So what can this Pope do? About what? I mean, I don’t know of a single institution which has less of a problem, proportionately speaking, today than the Catholic Church when it comes to the sexual abuse of minors”:
– See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donohue-no-institution-has-less-problem-sexual-abuse-catholic-church#sthash.f5sqUWr6.dpuf
The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue was a guest on yesterday’s edition of “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV where he was asked by guest-host Ed Berliner what Pope Francis could do to “clean up the Catholic Church” and put an end to the sexual abuse of children within the church.
Donohue responded that there was not much the Pope could do … mostly because sexual abuse of children is not a problem in the church any more.
“This problem that took place,” Donohue asserted, “was between approximately 1965 and 1985. That coincides with the sexual revolution and then the discovery of AIDS in ’81.”
“What I am saying,” he continued, “is that this problem has largely been checked.”
Declaring that other institutions, such as public schools, have a much worse problem with sexual abuse than does the church, Donohue said there was no problem for Pope Francis to even address.
“So what can this Pope do? About what? I mean, I don’t know of a single institution which has less of a problem, proportionately speaking, today than the Catholic Church when it comes to the sexual abuse of minors”:
– See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donohue-no-institution-has-less-problem-sexual-abuse-catholic-church#sthash.f5sqUWr6.dpuf
Bill Donohue of the Catholic League calls Pope Francis a LIAR
There isn’t a pedophile problem in the Roman Catholic Church spews Bill Donohue, the Defender of the Pedophiles of the Roman Catholic Church.
Bill Donohue states again and again, that there is not a pedophile problem in the Roman Catholic Church, that this is a homosexual problem.
So in essence, with Bill Donohue stating this…he is calling Pope Francis, his Holy Father…A LIAR!!!!
Pope Francis: ‘One in 50’ Catholic priests, bishops and cardinals are paedophiles
So Bill…you pig faced scumbag defender of the Pedophiles of the Roman Catholic Church…you are calling your Pope a liar…and you should now shut the fuck up.
No Bill, instead get down on your knees, remove Cardinal Timothy Dolans shriveled little penis from your cock suckers mouth, and say 1 MILLION Our Fathers and 1 MILLION Hail Mary’s….then do you good deed…suck off Dolan and swallow his sacred sacrament…you disgusting, scumbag degenerate defender.
Enjoy your eternity in hell Bill and Dolan…you both deserve it.
Pope Francis: ‘One in 50’ Catholic priests, bishops and cardinals are paedophiles
Pope Francis: ‘One in 50’ Catholic priests, bishops and cardinals are paedophiles
Pope Admits there are Child Rapists at Every Level in the Church
Francis pledged to drive out the ‘leprocy’ of child abuse from the Church
by Adam Withnall
Published 13/07/2014|15:37
From the link: http://theenchantingvalley.ning.com/profiles/blogs/pope-admits-there-are-child-rapists-at-every-level-in-the-church?xg_source=activity
Blogger Notes: A study done by The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect found that even though only 25% of citizens in the U.S. are Roman Catholic, 54% of the sexual abuse cases were perpetrated by Catholic priests. The church has paid at least 2.6 billion to settle sexual abuse cases. In 2007 alone the Los Angeles Archdiocese on July 15 announced the largest church settlement of sexual abuse lawsuits to date, agreeing to pay more than 500 alleged victims a total of $660 million. The abuse continues and the wealthy Vatican is easily able to cover these claims. The Vatican even has insurance policies to cover these operating costs.
Pope Francis has revealed that “reliable data” collected by the Vatican suggests that one in every 50 members of the Catholic clergy is a paedophile.
Speaking in an interview with La Repubblica, the Pope said his advisors had tried to “reassure” him that paedophilia within the Church was “at the level of two per cent”.
He pledged that he would drive away the “leprosy” of child abuse that was infecting the “house” of Catholicism.
“I find this state of affairs intolerable,” he said.
Pope Francis said his advisors at the Vatican had given him the two per cent estimate, which included “priests, bishops and cardinals”.
He also warned of much greater figures for people who were aware of the existence of abuse – sometimes within their own families – but who stayed silent because of corruption or fear.
His comments came a week after the Pope met with six victims of clerical paedophilia to apologise for their abuse at the hands of priests.
The meeting, with six British, Irish and German Catholics, was designed to acknowledge the gravity of the Church’s guilt and complicity.
Despite Pope Francis’s popularity, there has been criticism of Francis for failing to take a high-profile stand against the global paedophilia scandal.
His predecessor, Benedict XVI, met with victims of sexual abuse by priests, in Washington in 2008. He then met with victims in Australia, Germany, Malta and the UK.
In February and May, critical reports released by two separate UN committees condemned the Church’s “code of silence” on paedophile priests. It said this silence was allowing known sex offenders to continue working with children.
Independent News Service
Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for the Defense of Roman Catholic Pedophiles earns his money
Why yes Bill…keep doing all you can to protect, defend and stand up for your disgusting pedophiles of your church…ooohhhh and if the priest does NOT talk…about what he knows about children and teens being raped by other priests? Then that is called aiding and abetting in the commission of a crime and damn straight they should go to prison for it.
But yeah Bill Donohue of the Catholic League…protecting and defending the rights of a rapist of children is tantamount to their rights to hide information under the seal of confession…to the rights of the victims to receive justice for the crimes committed against them.
Catholics are decrying a recent Louisiana Supreme Court decision that reaches into the most sanctified of church places, the confessional booth.
The ruling revives a lawsuit that contends a priest should have reported allegations of sexual abuse disclosed to him during private confessions and opens the door for a judge to call the priest to testify about what he was told. The lawsuit was filed by parents of a teen who says she told the priest about being kissed and fondled by an adult church parishioner.
If the priest were called to testify, Catholic groups say it could leave him choosing between prison and excommunication.
“Confession is one of the most sacred rites in the Church. The Sacrament is based on a belief that the seal of the confessional is absolute and inviolable. A priest is never permitted to disclose the contents of any Confession,” Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said in a statement this week blasting the ruling
The Catholic League supports Fr. Bayhi and the Diocese of Baton Rouge in their quest for a reversal of this ruling, and a recognition that clergy cannot be forced to violate their faith.
WHY OF COURSE BILL DONOHUE…YOU SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR ALL THE SCUMBAG PEDOPHILE PIMPS AND PRIESTS OF THE UNHOLY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF PEDOPHILE LOVERS…BUT HEY….ISN’T THAT WHAT CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN AND THE REST PAY YOU TO DO?
http://www.catholicleague.org/court-rules-seal-confession/
Bill Donohue comments on a ruling made by the Supreme Court of Louisiana:
In 2008, a fourteen-year-old girl alleges that she told her parish priest that she was being abused by a now-deceased lay member of their parish. The girl alleges the disclosures came during the Sacrament of Confession. Now her parents are suing the priest, and the Diocese of Baton Rouge, for failing to report the alleged abuse. The State’s Supreme Court has ruled that the priest, Fr. Jeff Bayhi, may be compelled to testify as to whether the Confessions took place, and if so, what the contents of any such Confessions were.
Confession is one of the most sacred rites in the Church. The Sacrament is based on a belief that the seal of the confessional is absolute and inviolable. A priest is never permitted to disclose the contents of any Confession, or even allowed to disclose that an individual did seek the Sacrament. A priest who violates that seal suffers automatic excommunication from the Church.
As a result of this ruling Fr. Bayhi may now have to choose between violating his sacred duty as a priest and being excommunicated from the Church, or refusing to testify and risk going to prison. The Diocese said Fr. Bayhi would not testify.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the free exercise of religion. Just as government cannot compel anyone to follow a particular religion, it likewise cannot prevent anyone from exercising the tenets of his faith. By deciding that Fr. Bayhi must choose between his faith and his freedom, the Louisiana Supreme Court has endangered the religious liberty of all Americans.
The Catholic League supports Fr. Bayhi and the Diocese of Baton Rouge in their quest for a reversal of this ruling, and a recognition that clergy cannot be forced to violate their faith.
BILL DONOHUE OF THE CATHOLIC LEAGUE…THERE IS A SPECIAL PLACE RESERVED FOR YOU IN HELL…ENJOY YOU DISGUSTING PEDOPHILE PROTECTOR.
A life unlived: 35 years of slavery in a Magdalene Laundry
A life unlived: 35 years of slavery in a Magdalene Laundry
One woman tells the story of her mother who was sent to a Laundry in Dublin at the age of 16 – and died there at the age of 51.
From the link: http://www.thejournal.ie/magdalene-laundry-true-story-margaret-bullen-samantha-long-614350-Sep2012/
THE TREATMENT OF women incarcerated in Magdalene Laundries – and the level of State involvement in these Church-run institutions – has been highlighted yet again this month. There was disappointment among survivors and relatives of those kept in the Laundries when it was announced that a State committee’s final report into the matter would be delayed until the end of the year.
To reiterate the urgency of revealing the inter-departmental findings, the Justice for Magdalene advocacy group last week distributed some redacted statements of women detailing their lives in such institutions. (The group claims that there was State involvement in the operation of the Laundries as places to send women considered to be “problem girls”, due to poverty or pregnancy outside marriage for example.)
Samantha Long’s mother Margaret Bullen was placed in Gloucester Street (now Sean McDermott Street) Laundry c.1967 and died 35 years later, never having been released into society and her own home. Margaret died of an illness known as Goodpasture Syndrome, a disease of the kidneys and liver – one of the causes is exposure to industrial-strength chemicals such as those used in the Laundries.
Samantha made a lengthy statement to the interdepartmental committee, led by Senator Martin McAleese, about her mother’s life. Margaret Bullen had a tragic start in life: she was born in a mental institution in Grangegorman, Dublin to a mother who already had six children, Margaret being the youngest. Margaret was sent home to Kimmage to live with her siblings and father, where she remained until she was three years old. At that point, Margaret’s brother was sent to Artane industrial school and Margaret and her sister closest to her in age sent to the notorious High Park industrial school and Laundry in Drumcondra. That, as Samantha says of her mother, “was the end of her and the outside world”.
A second statement sent to Senator McAleese’s committee from a former Laundry inmate who remembers Margaret and her sister recounts how Margaret suffered fits as a young child but that they were ignored by the nuns there (then known as the Sisters of Charity of Refuge, now the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity).
Margaret appears to have been moved in her early teens to a special school called St Teresa’s in Blackrock, after she was certified mentally unfit for education, but fit for work. Her daughter Samantha says in her own statement:
She was assessed at age thirteen as being mentally challenged because on the day that they measured her, they said that she had an IQ of fifty, which I dispute after meeting her, even after all those years of institutionalisation.. And I think that if you’re hungry and tired from your slavery, your IQ wouldn’t be very sharp, or your skills on any given moment mightn’t be sharp. You would be probably just pulled into this room – “now we’re going to measure your IQ” – so even the shock of that wouldn’t, you know, you could shut down.
At roughly the age of 16, Margaret was sent to the Magdalene Laundry at Gloucester Street. The exact time and circumstances of her move there are not clear because Samantha and her sister are still waiting on full records to be supplied to them on their mother’s past.
She became pregnant – twice – with Samantha and her twin sister Etta, and later with another daughter, while officially under the care of the Gloucester Street nuns. The circumstances of these conceptions are again shrouded in mystery but Samantha says her conversations in later life with her mother when they were reunited led her to believe that Margaret had been the victim of sexual abuse and predators several times.
There was no education, no education and I, you know, I honestly believe for a long time she didn’t know how she got pregnant, she just knew that somebody hurt her once and then she had babies. I really believe that. She didn’t make that connection, I know that for sure. She was no, she didn’t have a boyfriend, let’s put it that way. And that’s the politest way that I can say that.
Some of the more harrowing details of Samantha’s testimony recount how her mother was denied society, education, wages and other basic rights for most of her life. This extract recalls Samantha and Etta’s first meeting with Margaret in the Gresham Hotel when they were 23 and had traced her as their biological mother. (Samantha and Etta were adopted by a loving couple in Dublin and later moved to Sligo in childhood.)
Margaret was only 42 at the time but looked much older. She was carrying a handbag but it was completely empty, because she didn’t own anything nor did she have any money. Samantha recalls:
And, she was just lovely, and she was asking extremely innocent questions like, she, it was the first time she ever had coffee and it was very exciting for her to have coffee and she hadn’t seen brown sugar before either and obviously in the Gresham there was brown and white sugar cubes on the table and it was all very fancy to her. And she was just overjoyed to be there and absolutely wowed by everything.
She looked, she looked like a pensioner. I couldn’t believe she was forty-two, I kept looking, I kept looking into her face to find a forty-two year old and I couldn’t, because she had the face of hard work, that face that you see in so many women that have just had to work too hard and have never had a rest and have never had anyone to take care of them or tell them to put their feet up, and who have just, just worked too hard. Because, as I said on the radio a few years ago, this was slavery and I don’t use that term lightly and I’m not an emotive person but slavery is a form of work for which you get no pay and you can’t leave and these were the white slaves of Ireland and they were never emancipated. And nobody stood up for them until now, until you guys (Justice for Magdalenes) did.
Samantha Long was asked by Senator McAleese’s commission what she would like the State to do to redress any wrongs committed against the women in Magdalene Laundries. She answered:
I would like the state to apologise for keeping those young girls behind bars, literally and figuratively. I would like the church and state to apologise for forcing them to do slave labour.I would like the church, the state and society to redress their reputations and apologise for keeping them down, for denying them education, freedom, money, their babies and their lives, all of those things.
And I would like that the circumstances that they find themselves in, through the missing pieces that the rest of us get in life, because they had no education, so how could they make it?
They were sitting ducks, keep them down, keep them unaware of their rights, keep them without money, keep the roof over their head, feed them a little bit, keep them alive, just enough for work. Give them their wages now, give them their wages.
Irish Catholic church child abuse: ‘A cruel and wicked system’
Irish Catholic church child abuse: ‘A cruel and wicked system’
Artane industrial school former pupil says he is unconvinced report will reveal full truth about abuse in Catholic-run institutions
- theguardian.com, Wednesday 20 May 2009 05.43 EDT
From the link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/20/irish-catholic-church-child-abuse1
In their distinctive Thunderbirds-style light-blue uniforms with red trim the Artane Boys Band are icons of Irish music. For decades, the band marched around the pitch at Croke Park, Dublin, and played across Ireland, Britain and the US.
But behind this image of boyhood wholesomeness lay a darker truth.
Until the 1970s thousands of the young men in the band were being abused, beaten and exploited at the industrial school that gave the ensemble its name.
One of those who was physically beaten on a regular basis by members of the Christian Brothers order that ran Artane was Patrick Walsh, now a businessman who lives in north London.
“The band was an extraordinary facade back then at that time,” Walsh, who played the clarinet in the band during the 1960s, told the Guardian. “It was used by the church and state to convey a bogus image of wholesomeness that did not exist in these institutions. In Artane, the brothers were men of violence. On a daily basis, I witnessed some savage behaviour meted out to me and other boys.”
Walsh added: “The boys in the band didn’t receive a farthing, the Christian Brothers pocketed the money. We did the work, they took the money. There is a word for it: unpaid labour, or slavery.
“They also had a 500-acre farm at Artane, growing potatoes and vegetables, and we, the kids, worked in the fields without pay.”
For 10 years Walsh has campaigned alongside the group Irish Survivors of Child Abuse to expose a system that allowed thousands of vulnerable children to be exploited and sexually abused while in the care of both church and state.
He has welcomed today’s publication of the report by Justice Sean Ryan. But he is not convinced that, even now, the full truth will come out.
From the mid-1920s until the early 1970s thousands of Irish children officially in the care of the state were subjected to a double regime of sexual abuse and wageless slavery. Ireland’s notorious industrial schools and orphanages – all run by Catholic orders – were home to boys and girls who had been officially declared criminals by the courts.
Some children were even sent to these institutions simply because their parents had split up: one-parent families, usually held together by abandoned wives, were regarded with suspicion in post-independence conservative Catholic Ireland.
In the last 12 years, up to 9,000 former members of Ireland’s childcare system have claimed tens of millions of euros in compensation for being either exploited, abused or both in these institutions.
The five-volume report, published by the Irish government today, seeks to address decades of clerical child abuse and state neglect. It confirms allegations from former pupils that they were used as unpaid virtual slaves, who made money for religious orders in mini factories, farms, shops and laundry services.
The Ryan commission (originally the Laffoy commission) was established nine years ago and has investigated allegations of abuse in orphanages, industrial schools and church-run hospitals across the republic. The Artane industrial school, in north Dublin, was among the institutions under scrutiny.
But Walsh said it was frustrating that the terms of the Ryan commission meant that no abusers would be brought before the Irish courts.
He said: “The victims of abuse will most likely be even more traumatised than ever to learn that, following this lengthy inquiry, there will be no criminal prosecutions brought against their abusers or against those in the hierarchy of the church … complicit in the brutal crimes against innocent children.
“It is unlikely that officials from any government department will ever be held accountable having presided over an illegal, cruel and wicked system that led to untold suffering for tens of thousands of innocent Irish children and their families since the foundation of the state.”
Walsh was “sentenced” to six years in Artane after appearing in an Irish court. His “crime” was that his father had abandoned him along with his brothers and sisters, and the Irish authorities deemed his mother not fit to look after the children.
Between 1963 and 1969, he was incarcerated alongside young juvenile offenders in the industrial school.
He said he was disappointed that the courts system that processed thousands of children and labelled them criminals simply because of situations such as marital breakdowns would not be put under the spotlight.
Both the Ryan commission and the earlier Laffoy commission refused to scrutinise the role of the Irish courts in sending children to places such as Artane or the Goldenbridge industrial school in Dublin’s Inchicore district.
Like the individual cases of paedophile priests in the early 1990s, the revelations of widespread child abuse in state-owned but church-run institutions dealt blow after blow to the Catholic church’s authority in the republic.
Yet when the final bill for compensating the thousands of victims of that abuse is counted, the cost will be shouldered, in the main, by the Irish taxpayer rather than the Catholic church.
In June 2002, under a special deal worked out between the Catholic hierarchy and the government, then led by Bertie Ahern, the church will pay only €128m (£112m) in compensation.
The overall cost, according to official figures, will be €1.3bn.
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