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... Not Just L.A., The City of Angels Is Everywhere...

I was age five when the bishop stood over me and said, "Stop babbling about what the priest did to you." Then, forty years later... I started babbling.
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Saturday, March 20, 2010

'We Contacted Pope When He Ran CDF Years Ago, He Ignored Us,' Write Crime Victims of Pedophile Priests

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(Originally posted at AlterNet) While the Pope apologizes today and promises that "tribunals" will seek justice in the pedophile priest epidemic that is now proved to be global not national, those of us who have been trying to get justice for years are astonished at the difference between the truth and press statements coming out of the Vatican. Because the Pope ran the office in the Vatican that investigated pedophile priest crimes for two decades, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Two of the adult victims of pedophile priests sent City of Angels letters that document their efforts to get the Pope, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, to do something about the crimes in the U.S. Joey in San Francisco sent a copy of a letter he write directly to the Pope at the CDF in 2005, which we have published in full below. Bill in Massachusetts sent a copy of a letter he wrote recently to the New York Times outlining his efforts to get the Pope to step up and take action years ago.

The Office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which Ratzinger was prelate, took in reports of priest sex crimes (written in Latin, from what I understand). CDF has “judicial review” of all criminal activity in the Catholic Church, much of which is clergy sex crimes.

Still today the Pope can say with a straight face that he is shocked and dismayed at hearing about the crimes that emerged in Ireland last year and Germany last week, and that he will take action immediately (see stories linked below).

"I can tell you from my experiences, the CDF never even acknowledged the elaborate case I presented to them," writes Nash. "I filed my case to two congregations, the CDF and the Congregation for Religious. I sent four follow ups to each over a several month period.

"Meanwhile I exposed to both the American media and the Italian media explicit details of the case: a criminal record from the state of Wisconsin on the priest; my financial settlement with the order; and an explicit letter from a high ranking official from the order that specifically described Father Tully as an ephobophile."

Bill Writes CDF, Gets Run Around, Finally Told to Write CDF

"Eventually, I heard from Cardinal Rode, who told me he knew nothing about the case and I should refer this to the CDF (which I already had done). The CDF never acknowledged my case. It was only because of the media attention the story got, that the order was so embarrassed, they quietly moved him again from his post in Vicenza, Italy, back to New York."

Today James Tully is a former priest living somewhere in New Jersey. (He is not on any sex offender registry, no one is monitoring him, he could be anywhere.)

"Ratzinger led that congregation for the longest time. Currently it is led by (former San Francisco Archbishop William) Levada with Sicluna in charge of the disciplinary section," writes Nash, from Massachusetts.

JOEY IN SAN FRANCISCO wrote the CDF begging for action in 2005

Here is his letter:

Mr. Ratzinger,

As you already know, from my prior complaints and active lawsuit, I am a victim of child sexual abuse by one of your disturbed Priests, Fr. Steven Whelan, whom you placed in ministry as a Pastor with access to children in San Francisco.

Have you no shame, or sense of decency?

Do you not care about the safety of children? The safety of children in San Francisco and elsewhere should be the most important issue on your agenda. I suspect that you care more about the welfare and security of your abuser priests than that of innocent children, which is a disgrace. To harbor and promote an accused molester to the position of pastor is completely irresponsible.

THIS PART GETS EERIE:
Joey's letter to Ratzinger continued:


If this is your policy in California, I am sure that you have probably done the same thing in Italy and Germany, and elsewhere that you have been located. It’s probably just a matter of time that you will get caught yourself, and Karma will catch up to you.

If, and when that happens, I hope you will remember me, and all of the others that have demanded that you protect children instead of sexually abusive priests.
Your ignoring of my demands to remove the predator that abused me is completely irresponsible, but you already know that. If there is a God, I am sure that he is ashamed of your behavior, and that of all the abusive clergy who are in the Catholic Church.

Joey Piscitelli, Martinez, California

(Recently our "victim advocacy group" SNAP sent out a notice for survivors to send stories of their attempts to contact the CDF in the past, so they could help a reporter with an article some time in the future.

NOTE: As soon as City of Angels finds out a new fact about crimes of the Catholic Church and its pedophiles, that fact gets published within hours, no filtering.)


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Missing from most news stories and press releases the past few weeks, both from the Vatican AND from crime victim advocacy groups, is this critical information about the Pope’s involvement in these crimes from the start. CNN was one news organization that noticed it and seems to have tacked it onto this one news story. CNN STORY

Focus on Germany Still Steers Attention from True Global Nature of these Crimes

Transfering pedophile priests and covering up their crime sprees was international policy that came directly from the Vatican, through Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Fatuous spinmeistering from the Vatican today is even more astounding in that news media around the world are repeating the Roman Catholic Press Releases as if they were true.

Here is what I picked up this morning from Abuse Tracker (what a way to wake up).

Pope blasts Irish bishops, orders Vatican probe
VATICAN CITYYNet News (Israel)
Pope Benedict XVI has rebuked Irish bishops for "grave errors of judgment" in handling clerical sex abuse and ordered a Vatican investigation into the Irish church to wipe out the scourge.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:56 AM

Pope Apologizes to Irish Catholics for Sexual Abuse Cases
VATICAN CITYBusiness Week
March 20, 2010, 7:22 AM EDTBy Sara Gay Forden and Jeffrey Donovan
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Pope Benedict XVI apologized to victims of child sex abuse in Ireland and said “grave errors” of leadership were committed by Catholic authorities in the country after scandals involving priests emerged over decades.
“You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry,” the pope said today in a letter to Irish Catholics, his first apology to them over the abuse cases. The letter was distributed to reports at the Vatican today.
The pontiff has struggled to contain the damage to the church and its reputation from the Irish scandals, which have been followed by similar cases in his native Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Benedict has been accused by Irish victims of being slow to respond to investigations that documented “endemic” abuse of children by priests since the 1930s.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:54 AM

Pope 'truly sorry' for Irish sexual abuse - Update
VATICAN CITYEarth Times
Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday apologised to victims of sexual abuse by priests in Ireland, saying he is "truly sorry" for what they have endured.
"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," the pontiff said in a letter to be read out in churches and parishes throughout Ireland.
The pastoral letter is the first public statement by the Vatican on the long-brewing scandal.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:51 AM

Pope voices 'shame, remorse' for Irish child abuse
VATICAN CITYSydney Morning Herald
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday expressed in a letter "shame and remorse" for episodes of child sex abuse, saying "serious mistakes" were made by Irish bishops in responding to allegations.
"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," said the pope in a letter to Irish Catholics signed on Friday and published on Saturday.
The pope said priests and religious workers guilty of child abuse "must answer" for their crimes "before properly constituted tribunals."
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:48 AM

Why criticize the pope?
HOUMA (LA)Houma Today
Johann Christoph ArnoldPastor, Church Communities
The attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the scandal surrounding pedophile priests in Germany should stop.
As head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope naturally bears some responsibility for the actions of the authorities under him. But this campaign by the media and anti-Christian liberals is hardly a righteous one.
Its real aim is to drive God out of the public sphere and to undermine an institution that, despite its many problems, is one of the few remaining pillars of reverence and respect in society.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:46 AM

Pope 'sorry' over abuse scandal
VATICAN CITYBelfast News Letter
THE Pope has personally apologised to the victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.In a pastoral letter and posted on the Vatican website, the leader of the Catholic Church said he was "truly sorry" for their suffering.
In a direct message to the priests who abused children, Pope Benedict said those involved "betrayed the trust that was placed in you by innocent young people and their parents, and you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals".

(Abuse Tracker is an ongoing news feed filtering stories about the clergy abuse crisis from all over the world, which are then fed into the database at bishopaccountability.)

'I was a victim of abuse. This is what the Pope must do to stop it'
IRELANDThe Independent (United Kingdom)
By Colm O'Gorman
Saturday, 20 March 2010
It was not being raped by a priest at the age of 14 that shattered my faith; it was the horrifying realisation that the Catholic Church had wilfully, knowingly abandoned me to it, the knowledge that they had ordained the priest who abused me despite knowing he was a paedophile and set him free to abuse with near impunity, ignoring all complaints.
And so it is difficult not to be cynical about the likely merit of the pastoral letter that Pope Benedict XVI will publish today.

(Posted By Kay Ebeling March 20, 2010)

NOW WHO HAS JURISDICTION
to prosecute the Pope?

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Given the 'popes' letter it is very clear to me that there will be no action taken by the catholic church only the appearance of action with rhetoric. The only way to resolve this matter is through the court system. The vicitms need to have available a way to address the crimes of the church. The US Govt. needs to intervene and open a "WINDOW" to provide the victims with to opportunity to confront and identify the ' perps' and those that enabled this behavior. In the meantime 'STOP' donating to an orginazation that engaged in this evil behavior, no money no church !!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Kay,
Many thanks for all the information you've gathered. To find all of this in one place is truly amazing! I know this is truly serious business, but I thought that in as much as the pope's letter to the Irish people isn't being greeted with whole hearted zeal and enthusiasm, he might want to follow up with"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiGPQVUJqq0