GUEST VIEWPOINT, by Joey Piscitelli
I have to commend the Vatican prosecutor Charles Scicluna for his statements yesterday warning his fellow clerics that they would suffer eternal damnation in Hell for sexually abusing children. Even if the speech was a hollow political maneuver to display concern, I liked his public accusations of truth about where the Clergy molesters belong.
However, being a Pagan, I do not believe in Hell, or Satan, and I am convinced that if there truly is a satan, he exists in the minds of the sexual abusers, and those who protected them, and transferred them. As far as hell is concerned, I witnessed it myself when I was abused, as did tens of thousands of other child abuse victims, and the origination of the location of a probable hell itself, if it did exist, I believe is at the Vatican.
I say this because the hierarchy of the church, winding all the way to the top of the clerical chain of authority to the Pope himself, was complicit in the organized violation of children all over the globe, and the devil, if he really existed, would have been proud of the centuries of hell on earth that these men have distributed in his honor.
The Reverend Charles Scicluna fell short of revealing the location of hell, or satan, and this latest tactic of the Vatican, and the Pope, and Cardinal Levada, of blaming "other" clerics for the child sex abuse scandal is diabolical in itself. As the spokespersons for the Vatican, including the Pope himself, travel to locations on many continents, casting stones at others, I am amused that many people buy the charade. The lawyers and brainstormers who concocted this charade for the Vatican have most probably calculated the percentage of observers who fall for the scam, but I believe many people may not. Especially those who have been abused by the Vaticans employees, and have experienced the widespread cover-ups of the rapes, and violations by the Mammoth Molestation Machine that is truly headquartered in the Vatican itself.
The charade about " hell " at yesterdays conference at the Vatican was wrapped up by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, who told churchmen that it was "possible' that sex abuse by clergy "might" have been covered up in Italy too.
You think?
If this charade wasn't so grossly sick and disturbing, it would be funny. But because I don't believe there is a hell, or satan, or any of that nonsense, I have mixed feelings, and I feel frustrated, because if there was a real hell, I absolutely know who belongs there.
Joey Piscitelli
Monday, May 31, 2010
OT: Observing the End of Life as We Know It on Earth
.
Best coverage of the "oil gush" is at nola.com Such as these photos from the scene called "Oil Paintings" more pics below:
ALSO read GulfOilBlog from Univ. of GA, scientists report daily findings on the "slick." Pics from NOLA Dot Com.
Scenes from our Future Planet:
Still, doesn't the Gulf of Mexico look like artist renderings of how Venus may have looked before it became the ball of boiling gases it is today? Happy Holiday, May 31, 2010...
.
Best coverage of the "oil gush" is at nola.com Such as these photos from the scene called "Oil Paintings" more pics below:
ALSO read GulfOilBlog from Univ. of GA, scientists report daily findings on the "slick." Pics from NOLA Dot Com.
Scenes from our Future Planet:
(Best journalism on the beginning of the end of life as we know it on Earth is at the source, at NOLA Dot Com as well, like the article quoted here, by Kari Dequine, Contributing writer:)
When you cross the bridge to Grand Isle, they say, you leave behind everything stressful and unpleasant. It is Louisiana's island paradise. Usually, Memorial Day weekend ushers in the summer season, fishing rodeos and festivals. Spirits are high and the whole island is buzzing with life. "See that spot right there?" said rodeo board president Bob Levin, pointing to the bridge from the deck of the Bridgeside Marina. "When you come, that's where you leave your stress."
But now, the weight of the world has been dumped on the tiny stretch of island. The beaches are eerily deserted, the waters void of boats and businesses near empty.
Now we go through the motions of our daily life much as someone that has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Today we look fine, but as time goes on and the cancer takes its toll we'll not be able hide the deterioration of our once beautiful land and city.
There's no amount of money that can replace what is being taken from us. No punishment enacted against those that allowed this to happen would be appropriate, nothing we could do to them could be enough to bring back the dead, return the ecosystem, or restore our way of life.
By this time next year we won't recognize this city. With the destruction of the wetlands we won't have a city to recognize. (Article Continued here: Instead of roaring into its summer season, Grand Isle is eerily quiet )
MORE OIL PAINTINGS
Below: Humans have this ability to find beauty in ugliness
Still, doesn't the Gulf of Mexico look like artist renderings of how Venus may have looked before it became the ball of boiling gases it is today? Happy Holiday, May 31, 2010...
.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
When I have lots of work, it is not a sign the economy is rebounding. I work in reality TV production, one of the cheapest ways to produce shows. Just about the only production going on right now in L.A. is reality TV. When I stop having a lot of work, it probably will mean the economy is rebounding...
Meanwhile expect a lot more reality shows...
Meanwhile expect a lot more reality shows...
L.A. LIFE: If You Want Greenery, People Watching, or Anything Like a Park, Buy Your Own Real Estate
.
(Not as Off Topic as it looks to be at first:)
I Just Wanted a Place to Sit Down. Some Shade.
Out among the growing number of pedestrians in L.A., I hadn’t been to the Farmers Market at
Ivar between Sunset and Hollywood in years, so wandered over there on a recent Sunday.
I thought I’d buy a tomato or two with the handful of change in my pocket. But in an L.A. Farmers Market it’s more like nine dollars will buy you a sack of organically grown tomatoes manured by happy cows, or something like that.
Our Farmer’s Market has brand new high rise “luxury” apartment and office buildings all around it, and the blocked off streets were jammed with pedestrians who had driven there. The proprietors of the stands selling produce were not very friendly to me at all, probably because it was obvious I wasn’t there to spend money. My shoes, my hair, hands, all show I don’t have “disposable income.”
Around me was a bustle of people, young New Republican types, buying gallons of raw milk, with nine dollar sacks of produce bulging from their designer shopping bags.
Soon I just wanted a place to sit down, some shade.
There was nothing there for me.
Well, there was a 3-piece jazz combo, a guy with wrinkles, so he must be my age, there singing sleazy blues-jazz songs with another guy leaning over a keyboard and a drummer between them. They were set up in one of the farmer blocks with parking space lines, and they had a hat on a speaker in front of them to collect dollar and coin tips. I tried to lean on a pole and watch them perform a song and almost pulled down the Santa Barbara Pistachio Farm stall.
When the singer finished his song, he got more aggressive about wanting coins and dollars in the hat.
I wandered a few feet out of range, and his amplified voice called out, “Well if you don’t have any coins, why don’t you just take me home with you?”
Stunned. I had a little PTSD reaction.
I’m an adult victim of a pedophile priest and it affects your life until you die, it seems. Thirty years ago I would have taken the singer up on it, in fact I would have been eyeing him and his microphone stick blatantly from the sidelines. That Sunday standing there in the heat, I felt the remnants of my old life left all over me in my sweat, residue from a hundred or so men like the skinny bony singer flirting with the audience now from his makeshift stage.
I shivered, turned, and walked away.
My sister would have stayed until the market closed and taken the singer home.
She and I are two adult victims of Father Thomas Barry Horne, pedophile priest from Chicago, 1940s-1950s, and we both have led unusual, intertwined but disconnected, oversexed lives. Today we both are old ladies living alone in neighborhoods that are known for being part of the sex industry, me in L.A., my sister in S.F.
Leaving the Farmers Market, I walked up the slight grade of hill between Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood, and it almost felt like San Francisco topography I was getting so tired, but at least there’s shade up on the Walk of Fame.
Still no place to sit for blocks. I walked, I walked.
Then at last, comfort: A wrought iron bench. When I finally sat down, the metal almost felt soft, it was cool, pain relieving.
In the shade, with the wind massaging me, I gazed up at the Capitol Records building, remembering that time, another incident from my Annie Fannie days…. I could sit here for hours, I thought, just continue to discretely smoke, using my visor to hide the pipe and block the wind. Gaze at people walking by, enjoy the day, gaze at the Capitol Records building, see what else I remember.
Then three recent arrivals from a Southeast Asian nation squeezed onto the bench next to me and asked about the Metro. I was friendly, tried to be hospitable, but on a Sunday, them waiting for a bus, they could be there for hours.
So I left the bench, left the memories of Capitol Records 1968 buried on one of those round floors, and wandered on to Argyle and Hollywood, to catch a ride home myself.
At the Armenian grocery in my neighborhood, I noticed they really are trying to keep the floors clean now and make the store more hospitable, the fruit isn’t rotting there anymore. I bought some Chocolates with vodka and liqueurs in them and spent the rest of the day at home.
The closest I’ll ever get to a park and shady place to sit in this city is probably the small square of yard in front of my apartment building, where some prophetic manager decades ago planted a handful of palm trees.
Today they connect together at the top and make several square feet of shade in the grass.
As long as I live in L.A., I have to accept it. If you want greenery, or anything resembling a park, you have to have your own piece of real estate.
Blogged by Kay Ebeling, where this post originally appeared a little longer Thursday, May 27, 2010 here:
The Isolation Comes with Aging, then Add On having lived a weird life like mine…
Ebeling Produces The City of Angels Is Everywhere
This post also appears at AlterNet:
.L.A. LIFE: If You Want Greenery, People Watching, or Anything Like a Park, Buy Your Own Real Estate
POSTED: 8:01 am, May 29, 2010 COMMENT NOW!
(Not as Off Topic as it looks to be at first:)
I Just Wanted a Place to Sit Down. Some Shade.
Out among the growing number of pedestrians in L.A., I hadn’t been to the Farmers Market at
Ivar between Sunset and Hollywood in years, so wandered over there on a recent Sunday.I thought I’d buy a tomato or two with the handful of change in my pocket. But in an L.A. Farmers Market it’s more like nine dollars will buy you a sack of organically grown tomatoes manured by happy cows, or something like that.
Our Farmer’s Market has brand new high rise “luxury” apartment and office buildings all around it, and the blocked off streets were jammed with pedestrians who had driven there. The proprietors of the stands selling produce were not very friendly to me at all, probably because it was obvious I wasn’t there to spend money. My shoes, my hair, hands, all show I don’t have “disposable income.”
Around me was a bustle of people, young New Republican types, buying gallons of raw milk, with nine dollar sacks of produce bulging from their designer shopping bags.
Soon I just wanted a place to sit down, some shade.
There was nothing there for me.
Well, there was a 3-piece jazz combo, a guy with wrinkles, so he must be my age, there singing sleazy blues-jazz songs with another guy leaning over a keyboard and a drummer between them. They were set up in one of the farmer blocks with parking space lines, and they had a hat on a speaker in front of them to collect dollar and coin tips. I tried to lean on a pole and watch them perform a song and almost pulled down the Santa Barbara Pistachio Farm stall.
When the singer finished his song, he got more aggressive about wanting coins and dollars in the hat.
I wandered a few feet out of range, and his amplified voice called out, “Well if you don’t have any coins, why don’t you just take me home with you?”
Stunned. I had a little PTSD reaction.
I’m an adult victim of a pedophile priest and it affects your life until you die, it seems. Thirty years ago I would have taken the singer up on it, in fact I would have been eyeing him and his microphone stick blatantly from the sidelines. That Sunday standing there in the heat, I felt the remnants of my old life left all over me in my sweat, residue from a hundred or so men like the skinny bony singer flirting with the audience now from his makeshift stage.
I shivered, turned, and walked away.
My sister would have stayed until the market closed and taken the singer home.
She and I are two adult victims of Father Thomas Barry Horne, pedophile priest from Chicago, 1940s-1950s, and we both have led unusual, intertwined but disconnected, oversexed lives. Today we both are old ladies living alone in neighborhoods that are known for being part of the sex industry, me in L.A., my sister in S.F.
Leaving the Farmers Market, I walked up the slight grade of hill between Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood, and it almost felt like San Francisco topography I was getting so tired, but at least there’s shade up on the Walk of Fame.
Still no place to sit for blocks. I walked, I walked.
Then at last, comfort: A wrought iron bench. When I finally sat down, the metal almost felt soft, it was cool, pain relieving.
In the shade, with the wind massaging me, I gazed up at the Capitol Records building, remembering that time, another incident from my Annie Fannie days…. I could sit here for hours, I thought, just continue to discretely smoke, using my visor to hide the pipe and block the wind. Gaze at people walking by, enjoy the day, gaze at the Capitol Records building, see what else I remember.
Then three recent arrivals from a Southeast Asian nation squeezed onto the bench next to me and asked about the Metro. I was friendly, tried to be hospitable, but on a Sunday, them waiting for a bus, they could be there for hours.
So I left the bench, left the memories of Capitol Records 1968 buried on one of those round floors, and wandered on to Argyle and Hollywood, to catch a ride home myself.
At the Armenian grocery in my neighborhood, I noticed they really are trying to keep the floors clean now and make the store more hospitable, the fruit isn’t rotting there anymore. I bought some Chocolates with vodka and liqueurs in them and spent the rest of the day at home.
The closest I’ll ever get to a park and shady place to sit in this city is probably the small square of yard in front of my apartment building, where some prophetic manager decades ago planted a handful of palm trees.
Today they connect together at the top and make several square feet of shade in the grass.
As long as I live in L.A., I have to accept it. If you want greenery, or anything resembling a park, you have to have your own piece of real estate.
Blogged by Kay Ebeling, where this post originally appeared a little longer Thursday, May 27, 2010 here:
The Isolation Comes with Aging, then Add On having lived a weird life like mine…
Ebeling Produces The City of Angels Is Everywhere
This post also appears at AlterNet:
.L.A. LIFE: If You Want Greenery, People Watching, or Anything Like a Park, Buy Your Own Real Estate
POSTED: 8:01 am, May 29, 2010 COMMENT NOW!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Cartoon from Palestian Media Watch, Perspective from Across the Seas
.
Moved to bottom of story two down from here.
Moved to bottom of story two down from here.
Off Topic but Interesting; BP started in 1908 in Iran (then Persia)
.
The BP story, from first oil to tomorrow’s energies, from BP Website :
Our history is full of discoveries, starting in 1908 with oil found in a rugged part of Persia after a long and difficult search. Since then, discoveries large and small (and sometimes just in the nick of time) have fuelled our progress.
(Persia was the name of today's Iran, for those of you who slept through History class.)
I think we are being attacked in the Gulf and over the electronic financial system. And no one is in charge, no one knows how to handle it.
Stock up on canned goods.
***
The Gulf of Mexico vulnerability has been on my mind a lot lately: At CofA 2 Monday, May 24, 2010
We are Under Attack by a Foreign Oil Company, Ecological War, After Last Year a Financial Attack.
They won’t let us know what they're doing or...
The BP story, from first oil to tomorrow’s energies, from BP Website :
Our history is full of discoveries, starting in 1908 with oil found in a rugged part of Persia after a long and difficult search. Since then, discoveries large and small (and sometimes just in the nick of time) have fuelled our progress.
(Persia was the name of today's Iran, for those of you who slept through History class.)
I think we are being attacked in the Gulf and over the electronic financial system. And no one is in charge, no one knows how to handle it.
Stock up on canned goods.
***
The Gulf of Mexico vulnerability has been on my mind a lot lately: At CofA 2 Monday, May 24, 2010
We are Under Attack by a Foreign Oil Company, Ecological War, After Last Year a Financial Attack.
They won’t let us know what they're doing or...
First Responses: How Do You Feel About Obama Siding with The Vatican re Sex Abusing Clergy
.
(Here are the first responses to our quest for comments yesterday. First, this all started when last weekend I got this in my email and thought it must be a mistake:)
Obama Administration Kisses Vatican’s Ass
Apparantly the Obama Administration decided to kiss the Popes Ass instead of his ring, as three Federal U.S. lawyers told the U.S. Supreme Court, cowardly and predictably, that the Oregon case against the Vatican should not go forward last week.
The spineless lawmakers in the Obama administration were unable to overlook the fact that there are approximately 60 million potential Catholic votes in this country, enough to buy any US Presidents dignity and conscience.
So what if tens of thousands of children were abused, violated, sodomized, raped, and devastated for decades by the largest criminal syndicate of child molestation known to mankind. There’s voters out there
The fed court could decide that there weren’t enough kids raped by the deviates in the Catholic Clergy, and that the Bishops did such a wonderful job of covering it up, that the Pope can continue his charade, as long as the votes come in at election time.
Pope Benedict, the Prada wearing Kingpin of sex abusers was ecstatic at the news last week, and I am sure his expectations in the decision were granted according to Canon Law. Confusingly enough, the the Court would have to quote several passages from the Code of Catholic Canon Law, instead of the US Constitution, when delivering their “decision.”
$$$$!
Oh well. I guess the molestations and cover-ups can now continue, as planned.
Joey Piscitelli
Clergy Abuse Victim
*****
(Swamped at work yesterday, I sent out an email to everyone on my lists asking for more comments, only I got it wrong at first. It was not Supreme Court decision yet, last week, it was our President, using his civil servant lawyers, to argue against the adult victims of pedophile priests in the Court in favor of The Vatican.)
Greg Bullough responded to the email:
As an Obama supporter, I feel betrayed.
My response will be to ask my senators to quash the President's latest Supreme Court nominee. She is, after all, the Solicitor General responsible for advancing this unthinkable position.
The Administration has chosen political expediency and international relations (with what, a pseudo sovereign state?) over the interests of crime victims. So much for the advocate of the down-trodden!
This is not the Administration I voted for; as I told them, November 2010 is coming up, and the next Presidential election isn't that far off, either.
I won't forget.
Greg
*****
(TIM HALE attorney in Santa Barbara helped me understand what was going on:)
With regards to to the Obama administration brief, any argument that makes it more difficult to hold entities accountable when they protect pedophiles reflects a failure to prioritize the welfare of today's children.
Allowing the Oregon plaintiff to attempt to prove his claim against the Vatican does not change the fact he will carry the burden of proof to show the Vatican's authority over church leaders who protected pedophile priests. If he fails to carry that burden the lawsuit should be dismissed. However, if he has the evidence necessary to meet that burden, depriving him of the right to prove his case is is a travesty for today's children, and a lost opportunity to send a clear message that such conduct will not be tolerated.
*****
From Tennessee:
Under the definitions, wouldn't the Vatican be considered a "Terriorist State?" They have total disregard for women and children's rights. It is definitely not a Democracy, and is antithesis to freedom of religion.
Mike Coode
*****
From Arthur Baselice
in Pennsylvania:
When the bishops wanted to move perps the bishops engaged in a scam entitted "bishops helping bishops." Now that the U.S. has sided with The Vatican, it is now "criminals helping criminals."
Arthur Baselice
*****
From TIM WALSH in New York:
Regarding the Vatican...
When I was in Rome last December, I went to the Coliseum and noticed huge pit marks all over the walls of the structure. I finally found a local and asked, "what are all those pit marks from"? are they from WWII ? Did the allies bomb Rome and shoot at the Coliseum ?
The guy laughed and said, "No, the allies didn't touch Rome !" He then went on to explain that the RCC is known as the greatest recyclers in Rome, in that they are the ones that stripped "ALL" the marble off the Coliseum and and built the Vatican with it.
I thought to myself...The F%@&en Bastards ! !
Tim
*****
ANOTHER READER WRITES:
This could have been a great opportunity for Obama to show that he is serious about his claim as a candidate and then as president to CHANGE the way business is done in Washington.. to stop the special interest groups and to stop lobbyists..
Instead we see he is just another old boys club member.. kissing the popes ass..
just like bush did..
from
disgusted with church and state..
PS: Was actually trusting Obama and his team to be who they said they were or going to be.
Instead they are just like the Jesuits (full of crap
*****
From Damian Chapa in L.A.
Obama and Bush and all of the presidents since Kennedy have been owned by the Federal Reserve. Kennedy had an Executive order 11110 that would have put the Federal reserve, in federal control but owned by mostly Illuminati members, out of business. And the federal reserve is a greater enemy to the United States of America people than any army.
WORLDWIDE
Number of abortions per year: Approximately 42 Million
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 115,000
So what is worse than a Pedophile? Maybe a murdering bastard like your President and ourselves.
*****
JOHN B: in Australia wrote:
How does it make me feel?
Abandoned, deceived, re abused, exploited and as an object of trade by the country after having our well-being and our rights abandoned, re abused, deceived and traded by the church.
Seriously when a country is knowingly prepared to permit this sort of excuse to be upheld against the human rights of individuals and the people and more so when the issue is the sexual safety of children and the President persists in refusing to use his position in regards the justice and the protection of children from sexually abusive clergy, we would call that a morally, ethically and socially failed state and deem it to be a moral hazard to children.
If it were other than the Vatican, the United States would discontinue trade and enforce sanctions against such a dysfunctional state, it may even consider war tactics. Yet the Vatican undertakes these abuses of human rights and the USA sees no hypocrisy. Obama needs to publicly clear the air on this issue else he risks adding division in his own country.
JohnB, Australia
*****
Another One
From My Penn Pal:
I believe Manuel Noriega was the president of Panama or some other small Central American country who at one time was a CIA operative until the US went to his 'SOVEREIGN' country and extricated him for trial in the US for drug charges. He is currently in prison, as he had outlived his usefulness for the US Govt. The same treatment should be afforded the 'pope' for his crimes.
The title of 'sovereign nation' bestowed on the Vatican is to me just a gesture of kindness and respect.
Given what we know now about this so called nation that rules no one, as Lena stated the bishops don't work for the 'pope' the sovereign nation exemption should be removed and the victims should be able to proceed against the catholic church.
It is very disheartening to know that the US government, a government that I pay taxes to and a country that I love, protects a worldwide criminal organization.
If the Vatican enjoys sovereign immunity then every other religious organization should have the same privilege.
Money buys power, what a disgrace that 'Obama and Kagan' have chosen to support and aid the criminals and not the victims!
Arthur Baselice
(CofA: KEEP WRITING)
.
BONUS
More from Mike Coode from 2009:
Cityof Angels 5: Hope 2009: A Summer Read: Tennessee survivor Mike ...
Soon to be a major book, maybe a movie or at least part of one, here is Mike Coode's story, something to read on a beach chair this weekend .........
.
BONUS
Here’s a lovely cartoon from a Fall 2006 issue of Palestinian weekly Al Risala, a Hamas publication:
On Google Images via Palestinian Media Watch. The Arabic script reads, “The Pope and those who live under his cloak.”
Again, don't blame me, just letting people see what other people say and feel.
.
(Here are the first responses to our quest for comments yesterday. First, this all started when last weekend I got this in my email and thought it must be a mistake:)
Obama Administration Kisses Vatican’s Ass
Apparantly the Obama Administration decided to kiss the Popes Ass instead of his ring, as three Federal U.S. lawyers told the U.S. Supreme Court, cowardly and predictably, that the Oregon case against the Vatican should not go forward last week.
The spineless lawmakers in the Obama administration were unable to overlook the fact that there are approximately 60 million potential Catholic votes in this country, enough to buy any US Presidents dignity and conscience.
So what if tens of thousands of children were abused, violated, sodomized, raped, and devastated for decades by the largest criminal syndicate of child molestation known to mankind. There’s voters out there
The fed court could decide that there weren’t enough kids raped by the deviates in the Catholic Clergy, and that the Bishops did such a wonderful job of covering it up, that the Pope can continue his charade, as long as the votes come in at election time.
Pope Benedict, the Prada wearing Kingpin of sex abusers was ecstatic at the news last week, and I am sure his expectations in the decision were granted according to Canon Law. Confusingly enough, the the Court would have to quote several passages from the Code of Catholic Canon Law, instead of the US Constitution, when delivering their “decision.”
$$$$!
Oh well. I guess the molestations and cover-ups can now continue, as planned.
Joey Piscitelli
Clergy Abuse Victim
*****
(Swamped at work yesterday, I sent out an email to everyone on my lists asking for more comments, only I got it wrong at first. It was not Supreme Court decision yet, last week, it was our President, using his civil servant lawyers, to argue against the adult victims of pedophile priests in the Court in favor of The Vatican.)
Greg Bullough responded to the email:
As an Obama supporter, I feel betrayed.
My response will be to ask my senators to quash the President's latest Supreme Court nominee. She is, after all, the Solicitor General responsible for advancing this unthinkable position.
The Administration has chosen political expediency and international relations (with what, a pseudo sovereign state?) over the interests of crime victims. So much for the advocate of the down-trodden!
This is not the Administration I voted for; as I told them, November 2010 is coming up, and the next Presidential election isn't that far off, either.
I won't forget.
Greg
*****
(TIM HALE attorney in Santa Barbara helped me understand what was going on:)
With regards to to the Obama administration brief, any argument that makes it more difficult to hold entities accountable when they protect pedophiles reflects a failure to prioritize the welfare of today's children.
Allowing the Oregon plaintiff to attempt to prove his claim against the Vatican does not change the fact he will carry the burden of proof to show the Vatican's authority over church leaders who protected pedophile priests. If he fails to carry that burden the lawsuit should be dismissed. However, if he has the evidence necessary to meet that burden, depriving him of the right to prove his case is is a travesty for today's children, and a lost opportunity to send a clear message that such conduct will not be tolerated.
*****
From Tennessee:
Under the definitions, wouldn't the Vatican be considered a "Terriorist State?" They have total disregard for women and children's rights. It is definitely not a Democracy, and is antithesis to freedom of religion.
Mike Coode
*****
From Arthur Baselice
in Pennsylvania:
When the bishops wanted to move perps the bishops engaged in a scam entitted "bishops helping bishops." Now that the U.S. has sided with The Vatican, it is now "criminals helping criminals."
Arthur Baselice
*****
From TIM WALSH in New York:
Regarding the Vatican...
When I was in Rome last December, I went to the Coliseum and noticed huge pit marks all over the walls of the structure. I finally found a local and asked, "what are all those pit marks from"? are they from WWII ? Did the allies bomb Rome and shoot at the Coliseum ?
The guy laughed and said, "No, the allies didn't touch Rome !" He then went on to explain that the RCC is known as the greatest recyclers in Rome, in that they are the ones that stripped "ALL" the marble off the Coliseum and and built the Vatican with it.
I thought to myself...The F%@&en Bastards ! !
Tim
*****
ANOTHER READER WRITES:
This could have been a great opportunity for Obama to show that he is serious about his claim as a candidate and then as president to CHANGE the way business is done in Washington.. to stop the special interest groups and to stop lobbyists..
Instead we see he is just another old boys club member.. kissing the popes ass..
just like bush did..
from
disgusted with church and state..
PS: Was actually trusting Obama and his team to be who they said they were or going to be.
Instead they are just like the Jesuits (full of crap
*****
From Damian Chapa in L.A.
Obama and Bush and all of the presidents since Kennedy have been owned by the Federal Reserve. Kennedy had an Executive order 11110 that would have put the Federal reserve, in federal control but owned by mostly Illuminati members, out of business. And the federal reserve is a greater enemy to the United States of America people than any army.
WORLDWIDE
Number of abortions per year: Approximately 42 Million
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 115,000
So what is worse than a Pedophile? Maybe a murdering bastard like your President and ourselves.
*****
JOHN B: in Australia wrote:
How does it make me feel?
Abandoned, deceived, re abused, exploited and as an object of trade by the country after having our well-being and our rights abandoned, re abused, deceived and traded by the church.
Seriously when a country is knowingly prepared to permit this sort of excuse to be upheld against the human rights of individuals and the people and more so when the issue is the sexual safety of children and the President persists in refusing to use his position in regards the justice and the protection of children from sexually abusive clergy, we would call that a morally, ethically and socially failed state and deem it to be a moral hazard to children.
If it were other than the Vatican, the United States would discontinue trade and enforce sanctions against such a dysfunctional state, it may even consider war tactics. Yet the Vatican undertakes these abuses of human rights and the USA sees no hypocrisy. Obama needs to publicly clear the air on this issue else he risks adding division in his own country.
JohnB, Australia
*****
Another One
From My Penn Pal:
I believe Manuel Noriega was the president of Panama or some other small Central American country who at one time was a CIA operative until the US went to his 'SOVEREIGN' country and extricated him for trial in the US for drug charges. He is currently in prison, as he had outlived his usefulness for the US Govt. The same treatment should be afforded the 'pope' for his crimes.
The title of 'sovereign nation' bestowed on the Vatican is to me just a gesture of kindness and respect.
Given what we know now about this so called nation that rules no one, as Lena stated the bishops don't work for the 'pope' the sovereign nation exemption should be removed and the victims should be able to proceed against the catholic church.
It is very disheartening to know that the US government, a government that I pay taxes to and a country that I love, protects a worldwide criminal organization.
If the Vatican enjoys sovereign immunity then every other religious organization should have the same privilege.
Money buys power, what a disgrace that 'Obama and Kagan' have chosen to support and aid the criminals and not the victims!
Arthur Baselice
(CofA: KEEP WRITING)
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BONUS
More from Mike Coode from 2009:
Cityof Angels 5: Hope 2009: A Summer Read: Tennessee survivor Mike ...
Soon to be a major book, maybe a movie or at least part of one, here is Mike Coode's story, something to read on a beach chair this weekend .........
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BONUS
Here’s a lovely cartoon from a Fall 2006 issue of Palestinian weekly Al Risala, a Hamas publication:
On Google Images via Palestinian Media Watch. The Arabic script reads, “The Pope and those who live under his cloak.”
Again, don't blame me, just letting people see what other people say and feel.
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Map of Catholic Priest Sex Abuse Cases Worldwide
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From Post Italia, a Global Perspective translated from Italian :
Over the past fifteen years or so, greater attention to civil authorities, and a growing tendency on the part of victims to report incidents, brought public attention to the incidence of child abuse by members of the Catholic Church.
Click here for Global Map
Translation continued:
The scandal has forced Church leaders, have never been involved, starting to speak out publicly about the affair, following allegations that he operated a lack of transparency in dealing with cases of abuse and lack of incisiveness in punishing the guilty, in addition to systematically attempted to cover up cases without reporting them to law enforcement. In addition to the seriousness of the facts, and the crisis in which they dragged the self-criticism of ecclesiastical institutions is impressive geographical spread of abuse and violence, and diverted into a horrible reflection of the spread of the verb.
(Click here to continue reading and see map.)
.
From Post Italia, a Global Perspective translated from Italian :
Over the past fifteen years or so, greater attention to civil authorities, and a growing tendency on the part of victims to report incidents, brought public attention to the incidence of child abuse by members of the Catholic Church.
Click here for Global Map
Translation continued:
The scandal has forced Church leaders, have never been involved, starting to speak out publicly about the affair, following allegations that he operated a lack of transparency in dealing with cases of abuse and lack of incisiveness in punishing the guilty, in addition to systematically attempted to cover up cases without reporting them to law enforcement. In addition to the seriousness of the facts, and the crisis in which they dragged the self-criticism of ecclesiastical institutions is impressive geographical spread of abuse and violence, and diverted into a horrible reflection of the spread of the verb.
(Click here to continue reading and see map.)
.
City of Angels Invites Comments on the US Dept of Justice Siding with the Vatican This Week
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I'm slammed at work, so invite others to write how it makes you feel to have the President of the United States side with the Vatican instead of hundreds of thousands of crime victims of the pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church. It was the U.S. solicitor general, joined by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Justice Department who filed briefs in favor of The Vatican Friday May 21st.
Do you agree that the .17 square miles of real estate that is the Vatican is a sovereign nation? That a mall sized pile of cement populated by leaders of a religion, who go out from that nation all over the globe propagating their message, is a sovereign nation?
Like Italy and Germany?
Am I still not getting this right?
Please send editorials and comments, or draw pictures or cartoons, produce videos take photos- about news stories linked below:
By the way: Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan currently heads the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, who wrote the amicus brief. Hearings confirming Kagan onto the Court are scheduled for June in D.C....
Please comment on the news below: Write to cityofangelslady@yahoo.com
Obama Administration Sides With Vatican in Sex Abuse Case
FOXNews - 11 hours ago
The Obama administration reportedly has sided with the Vatican in a case involving a man who says he was sexually abused decades ago by a priest from Oregon ...
Religion News in Brief
The Associated Press - 13 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has largely sided with the Vatican in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit that names the Holy See as a defendant and is before ...
Vatican sex abuse case at US Supreme Court
AFP - May 25, 2010
WASHINGTON — In a brief before the US Supreme Court, the Obama administration has backed the Vatican's claim of immunity from a lawsuit brought against an ...
In Brief to High Court, U.S. Supports Vatican in Sex-Abuse Case
Wall Street Journal (blog) - Ashby Jones - May 25, 2010
For the most part, the US government has stayed on the sideline while big-ticket litigation against the Vatican over sex-abuse claims has ...
Obama Sides with Vatican in Abuse Lawsuit
Beliefnet.com (blog) - 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Obama administration has made a rare foray into the Catholic sexual abuse crisis, backing the Vatican's claim it is immune to lawsuits ...
Admin Backs Vatican Immunity in Sexual Abuse Suit
Democracy Now - 12 hours ago
The Obama administration is backing the Vatican's claim to immunity from lawsuits over sexual abuse by US priests. In a brief filed with the Supreme Court ...
Obama backs Vatican over abuse case
Press TV - 19 hours ago
The administration of President Barack Obama has taken sides with the Vatican over sexual child abuse lawsuits, saying the Holy See is immune from ...
Obama administration supports Vatican over sex abuse lawsuit Independent Catholic News - Dan Bergin - May 25, 2010
President Obama's government has taken the side of the Vatican over a lawsuit that is calling for the Holy See to be held responsible for the sex abuse ...
Justice attorney backs Vatican's claim of immunity from abuse lawsuit
U.S. Catholic magazine - Patricia Zapor - May 25, 2010
By Catholic News S... By Patricia Zapor, Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In one of two cases that seek to draw the Holy See into US courts over ...
U.S. Supports Vatican immunity from abuse charges.
RantRave Published Opinion. - May 25, 2010
The Supreme Court received a letter from the solicitor general in a filing asking them to set aside an appellate court ruling that allowed a case in Oregon ...
PopeWatch: Kagan Sides With Vatican on Abuse Lawsuit
Beliefnet.com (blog) - May 25, 2010
Some good news for Pope Benedict: the Obama administration, in a brief filed by Solicitor General and Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, has sided with the ...
Obama administration asserts Vatican immunity
CathNews - May 24, 2010
The Obama administration has taken the side of the Vatican in the US lawsuit that wants the Holy See to be held responsible for the sex abuse crisis in the ...
Obama administration asks court to bar lawsuit against Vatican
Catholic Culture - May 24, 2010
The Obama administration has weighed in strongly against efforts by abuse victims to bring suit against the Vatican. In a brief filed with the US Supreme ...
.
Posted by kay ebeling, the city of angels is everywhere
NOTE: All submissions will be published, within reason, with editing for space and sanity.
.
I'm slammed at work, so invite others to write how it makes you feel to have the President of the United States side with the Vatican instead of hundreds of thousands of crime victims of the pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church. It was the U.S. solicitor general, joined by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Justice Department who filed briefs in favor of The Vatican Friday May 21st.
Do you agree that the .17 square miles of real estate that is the Vatican is a sovereign nation? That a mall sized pile of cement populated by leaders of a religion, who go out from that nation all over the globe propagating their message, is a sovereign nation?
Like Italy and Germany?
Am I still not getting this right?
Please send editorials and comments, or draw pictures or cartoons, produce videos take photos- about news stories linked below:
By the way: Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan currently heads the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, who wrote the amicus brief. Hearings confirming Kagan onto the Court are scheduled for June in D.C....
Please comment on the news below: Write to cityofangelslady@yahoo.com
Obama Administration Sides With Vatican in Sex Abuse Case
FOXNews - 11 hours ago
The Obama administration reportedly has sided with the Vatican in a case involving a man who says he was sexually abused decades ago by a priest from Oregon ...
Religion News in Brief
The Associated Press - 13 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has largely sided with the Vatican in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit that names the Holy See as a defendant and is before ...
Vatican sex abuse case at US Supreme Court
AFP - May 25, 2010
WASHINGTON — In a brief before the US Supreme Court, the Obama administration has backed the Vatican's claim of immunity from a lawsuit brought against an ...
In Brief to High Court, U.S. Supports Vatican in Sex-Abuse Case
Wall Street Journal (blog) - Ashby Jones - May 25, 2010
For the most part, the US government has stayed on the sideline while big-ticket litigation against the Vatican over sex-abuse claims has ...
Obama Sides with Vatican in Abuse Lawsuit
Beliefnet.com (blog) - 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Obama administration has made a rare foray into the Catholic sexual abuse crisis, backing the Vatican's claim it is immune to lawsuits ...
Admin Backs Vatican Immunity in Sexual Abuse Suit
Democracy Now - 12 hours ago
The Obama administration is backing the Vatican's claim to immunity from lawsuits over sexual abuse by US priests. In a brief filed with the Supreme Court ...
Obama backs Vatican over abuse case
Press TV - 19 hours ago
The administration of President Barack Obama has taken sides with the Vatican over sexual child abuse lawsuits, saying the Holy See is immune from ...
Obama administration supports Vatican over sex abuse lawsuit Independent Catholic News - Dan Bergin - May 25, 2010
President Obama's government has taken the side of the Vatican over a lawsuit that is calling for the Holy See to be held responsible for the sex abuse ...
Justice attorney backs Vatican's claim of immunity from abuse lawsuit
U.S. Catholic magazine - Patricia Zapor - May 25, 2010
By Catholic News S... By Patricia Zapor, Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In one of two cases that seek to draw the Holy See into US courts over ...
U.S. Supports Vatican immunity from abuse charges.
RantRave Published Opinion. - May 25, 2010
The Supreme Court received a letter from the solicitor general in a filing asking them to set aside an appellate court ruling that allowed a case in Oregon ...
PopeWatch: Kagan Sides With Vatican on Abuse Lawsuit
Beliefnet.com (blog) - May 25, 2010
Some good news for Pope Benedict: the Obama administration, in a brief filed by Solicitor General and Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, has sided with the ...
Obama administration asserts Vatican immunity
CathNews - May 24, 2010
The Obama administration has taken the side of the Vatican in the US lawsuit that wants the Holy See to be held responsible for the sex abuse crisis in the ...
Obama administration asks court to bar lawsuit against Vatican
Catholic Culture - May 24, 2010
The Obama administration has weighed in strongly against efforts by abuse victims to bring suit against the Vatican. In a brief filed with the US Supreme ...
.
Posted by kay ebeling, the city of angels is everywhere
NOTE: All submissions will be published, within reason, with editing for space and sanity.
.
Kay Is:
.
Loaded with work on paid job right now, but good stories are in development for next lull in TV jobs...
Loaded with work on paid job right now, but good stories are in development for next lull in TV jobs...
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
VIDEO: Pope Song, If You Cover for a Kiddie- F---er You're a F---er Too
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Hey, don't blame me, I didn't create the situation that makes "fuck" the only word people can find to express themselves about it.
Hey, don't blame me, I didn't create the situation that makes "fuck" the only word people can find to express themselves about it.
VIDEO: Pedophile Priest on the Run, Maryland, South Carolina, or ???
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Wayland Brown "brutally raped children" in Georgia and South Carolina, has not reported to Parole Officer in Maryland, Predator Priest's location now unknown.
May 24, 2010 — Wayland Y. Brown is missing and on the run from Maryland. Brown is a dangerous convicted pedophile priest who has raped and abused countless times. South Carolina has enough evidence to issue a warrant for his arrest for abuse he did there. Ask South Carolina officials of Beaufort county to issue a warrant and put this brutal pedophile in jail. Help get Wayland Brown off the street and keep children safe!
Wayland Brown "brutally raped children" in Georgia and South Carolina, has not reported to Parole Officer in Maryland, Predator Priest's location now unknown.
May 24, 2010 — Wayland Y. Brown is missing and on the run from Maryland. Brown is a dangerous convicted pedophile priest who has raped and abused countless times. South Carolina has enough evidence to issue a warrant for his arrest for abuse he did there. Ask South Carolina officials of Beaufort county to issue a warrant and put this brutal pedophile in jail. Help get Wayland Brown off the street and keep children safe!
Wonder What Was Motive for Catholic Church Vandalized in Maywood
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"Supplies were torn apart and scattered throughout the kitchen and the suspects even defecated in the auditorium, located next to the kitchen," reports ABC7 in L.A.) "There was also a cross displayed in a sacrilegious manner and the numbers 6-6-6 were written on the walls as well."
Local news also just showed footage. There's a knife stabbed right into the middle of a Mary Statue face.
Maywood church vandalism may be hate crime - KTLA 5
Investigators said the vandalism is extremely graphic, calling it heinous. Pictures from the Maywood Police Department's Web site shows what vandals did to ...
(Maywood is south of L.A. between Inglewood and Pico Rivera, a miasma of racially charged gangs, recent immigrant families, and working class homes.)
Anyone with information about the case is urged to call Maywood-Cudahy Police Department Detective Bureau at (323) 562-5005.
Maywood church vandalism may be hate crime
abc7.com - 4 hours ago
Police say that the Santa Rosa De Lima Catholic Church School in Maywood may have been the target of a hate crime. (KABC Photo) MAYWOOD, Calif. ...
Police seek leads in hate crime at Maywood Catholic Church
Los Angeles Times (blog) - 9 hours ago
Vandals ransacked a Catholic Church in Maywood on Monday in an incident that police are classifying as a hate crime. The vandals broke into the Santa Rosa ...
Maywood Church Vandalized
KTLA - 7 hours ago
Vandals stuck a knife in a painting of the Virgin Mary at the Santa Rosa de Lima Church. (KTLA-TV) MAYWOOD, Calif. -- Maywood-Cudahy police are searching ...
Catholic church in Maywood vandalized
San Jose Mercury News - 5 hours ago
AP LOS ANGELES—Police are describing the vandalism inside a Catholic church in Maywood as "a hate crime." Maywood-Cudahy police Capt. ...
.
"Supplies were torn apart and scattered throughout the kitchen and the suspects even defecated in the auditorium, located next to the kitchen," reports ABC7 in L.A.) "There was also a cross displayed in a sacrilegious manner and the numbers 6-6-6 were written on the walls as well."
Local news also just showed footage. There's a knife stabbed right into the middle of a Mary Statue face.
Maywood church vandalism may be hate crime - KTLA 5
Investigators said the vandalism is extremely graphic, calling it heinous. Pictures from the Maywood Police Department's Web site shows what vandals did to ...
(Maywood is south of L.A. between Inglewood and Pico Rivera, a miasma of racially charged gangs, recent immigrant families, and working class homes.)
Anyone with information about the case is urged to call Maywood-Cudahy Police Department Detective Bureau at (323) 562-5005.
Maywood church vandalism may be hate crime
abc7.com - 4 hours ago
Police say that the Santa Rosa De Lima Catholic Church School in Maywood may have been the target of a hate crime. (KABC Photo) MAYWOOD, Calif. ...
Police seek leads in hate crime at Maywood Catholic Church
Los Angeles Times (blog) - 9 hours ago
Vandals ransacked a Catholic Church in Maywood on Monday in an incident that police are classifying as a hate crime. The vandals broke into the Santa Rosa ...
Maywood Church Vandalized
KTLA - 7 hours ago
Vandals stuck a knife in a painting of the Virgin Mary at the Santa Rosa de Lima Church. (KTLA-TV) MAYWOOD, Calif. -- Maywood-Cudahy police are searching ...
Catholic church in Maywood vandalized
San Jose Mercury News - 5 hours ago
AP LOS ANGELES—Police are describing the vandalism inside a Catholic church in Maywood as "a hate crime." Maywood-Cudahy police Capt. ...
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Monday, May 24, 2010
Australian Bishop Says Child Abuse Cultural in Church, and I Say, Well Then Why Do You Still Work for Them?
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The Associated Press is Staying On This Topic, today:
[Australia's] Coleridge said as a young priest in the 1970s, he regarded pedophilia cases as "tragic and isolated." Coleridge's view shifted when he was called to serve at the Vatican as chaplain to Pope John Paul II during a five-year period that ended in 2002. While there, Coleridge came to regard child abuse in the church as "cultural."
"There is no one factor that makes abuse of the young by Catholic clergy in some sense cultural," Coleridge wrote. "It seems to me a rather complex combination of factors which I do not claim to understand fully."
Australia archbishop: Church culture tied to abuse
The Associated Press - Rod McGuirk - 6 hours ago
CANBERRA, Australia — The Roman Catholic Church's culture of discretion and focus on "sin and forgiveness rather than crime and punishment" were among ...
The Associated Press is Staying On This Topic, today:
[Australia's] Coleridge said as a young priest in the 1970s, he regarded pedophilia cases as "tragic and isolated." Coleridge's view shifted when he was called to serve at the Vatican as chaplain to Pope John Paul II during a five-year period that ended in 2002. While there, Coleridge came to regard child abuse in the church as "cultural."
"There is no one factor that makes abuse of the young by Catholic clergy in some sense cultural," Coleridge wrote. "It seems to me a rather complex combination of factors which I do not claim to understand fully."
Australia archbishop: Church culture tied to abuse
The Associated Press - Rod McGuirk - 6 hours ago
CANBERRA, Australia — The Roman Catholic Church's culture of discretion and focus on "sin and forgiveness rather than crime and punishment" were among ...
Sunday, May 23, 2010
I Never Covered Up Abuse Says Archbishop. He Was In Same House When It Happened, Claims Plaintiff
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From Herald Sun, Australia
May 22, 2010
Peter Gogarty, a victim of abuse by priest Jim Fletcher, has complained to police about a "conspiracy of silence" because he was preyed on in an upstairs bedroom in the same house in the diocese in which Archbishop Wilson lived at the time.
Mr Gogarty, who was 12 when the abuse began, told ABC TV's Lateline this week he would often see Philip Wilson as he was led in and out of the house by Fletcher, who died in jail in 2006. ( Continue Reading Here )
From Herald Sun, Australia
May 22, 2010
Peter Gogarty, a victim of abuse by priest Jim Fletcher, has complained to police about a "conspiracy of silence" because he was preyed on in an upstairs bedroom in the same house in the diocese in which Archbishop Wilson lived at the time.
Mr Gogarty, who was 12 when the abuse began, told ABC TV's Lateline this week he would often see Philip Wilson as he was led in and out of the house by Fletcher, who died in jail in 2006. ( Continue Reading Here )
New Perp Priest Named in Portland OR Lawsuit: Fr. Leonard Plocinski, for late 1970s Altar Boy Rape
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From: The Oregonian
May 20, 2010
A man who claims a 2008 suicide attempt caused him to connect a lifetime of misery to a childhood rape by a Catholic priest has filed a $2.8 million federal lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. The man, identified only by his initials in U.S. District Court papers, accuses Father Leonard E. Plocinski of grooming him for sex and ultimately raping him in the late 1970s, when he was an altar boy of 8 or 9 in Dallas, Ore. The abuse occurred in the changing room at St. Phillip's Catholic Church, the lawsuit alleges. A civil complaint filed last Friday seeks $2.5 million for pain and suffering and economic damages of $300,000 -- including an estimated $50,000 for counseling and psychological treatment. The suit accuses the archdiocese, its Roman Catholic Archbishop and St. Phillip's of sexual battery of a child, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
The allegation against Plocinski was the first ever made against the priest, who died in 1995...
Continue Reading: Man claims abuse by priest caused lifetime of pain, attempted suicide OregonLive.com - Bryan Denson - May 20, 2010
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From: The Oregonian
May 20, 2010
A man who claims a 2008 suicide attempt caused him to connect a lifetime of misery to a childhood rape by a Catholic priest has filed a $2.8 million federal lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. The man, identified only by his initials in U.S. District Court papers, accuses Father Leonard E. Plocinski of grooming him for sex and ultimately raping him in the late 1970s, when he was an altar boy of 8 or 9 in Dallas, Ore. The abuse occurred in the changing room at St. Phillip's Catholic Church, the lawsuit alleges. A civil complaint filed last Friday seeks $2.5 million for pain and suffering and economic damages of $300,000 -- including an estimated $50,000 for counseling and psychological treatment. The suit accuses the archdiocese, its Roman Catholic Archbishop and St. Phillip's of sexual battery of a child, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
The allegation against Plocinski was the first ever made against the priest, who died in 1995...
Continue Reading: Man claims abuse by priest caused lifetime of pain, attempted suicide OregonLive.com - Bryan Denson - May 20, 2010
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Tennessee Blogging on Pedophile Priest Epidemic, Memphis et al
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The sex abuse crisis should teach us that it takes more than a seminary to raise a priest. From 'SNAP of Tennessee':
In the spring of my first year of college, I wrote my bishop and told him I wanted to be a priest in our East Tennessee diocese. Four months later I was in the seminary— at a Benedictine monastery on the far side of Missouri, a good 13-hour drive from the Catholics among whom I had experienced a call to serve....
I didn’t know it then, but the visit was my first contact with the clergy sex abuse crisis. Within 10 years I learned that two of the priests I had met were perpetrators; one was carrying on an abusive relationship with a student I would meet when I arrived at seminary. The third priest claimed on national television to have been abused by my bishop, who was one of the few in the United States to resign as a result of the scandal. As the latest chapter of the sex abuse catastrophe is being written across Europe, I... ( Continue reading here )
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The sex abuse crisis should teach us that it takes more than a seminary to raise a priest. From 'SNAP of Tennessee':
In the spring of my first year of college, I wrote my bishop and told him I wanted to be a priest in our East Tennessee diocese. Four months later I was in the seminary— at a Benedictine monastery on the far side of Missouri, a good 13-hour drive from the Catholics among whom I had experienced a call to serve....
I didn’t know it then, but the visit was my first contact with the clergy sex abuse crisis. Within 10 years I learned that two of the priests I had met were perpetrators; one was carrying on an abusive relationship with a student I would meet when I arrived at seminary. The third priest claimed on national television to have been abused by my bishop, who was one of the few in the United States to resign as a result of the scandal. As the latest chapter of the sex abuse catastrophe is being written across Europe, I... ( Continue reading here )
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Saturday, May 22, 2010
Put Pedophiles on Island by Themselves, CA Politician Has Same Idea as Servants of the Paracletes, 50 Years Later
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He wants to put convicted child molesters on an island off the Coast of Santa Barbara, and the idea has created a buzz in the crowded election for Governor of California.
The Orange County Republican is not the first one to get the idea. Leader of Catholic religious order Servants of the Paracletes concluded, after a decade or so of dealing with priests who went after children, that putting pedophiles off on an island was the best way to deal with them.
The Pope Knew Back in 1963 about the Pedophile Problem in the Catholic Church
ALSO Scanned at link above are documents from meetings between the Pope Paul VI and the Paracletes founder in 1963 (pictured together at right). Gerald Fitzgerald, founder of the Paracletes traveled to Rome to talk about solutions to the pedophile problem. These documents show that the Catholic Church was aware of the pedophile epidemic as far back as the 1950s, as they were treating patients at the Servants of the Paracletes center in Albuquerque, NM, (since 1988, in St. Louis, MO).
Put them on an island with no connection with other humans at all, was the conclusion of the Catholic priest most intimately connected to the problem.
Now a Neo-Republican Californian from Orange County is saying the same thing in his campaign for Governor:
Gubernatorial Candidate Wants To Create 'Pedophile Island' To ...LA Weekly (blog) - Dennis Romero - 4 days ago
Chief among the Republican candidates for Governor of California is Douglas Hughes, whose campaign promise is to turn Santa Rosa Island off Santa Barbara into "Pedophile Island" where convicted molesters would be housed....
Hughes, who describes himself as a retired businessman from Fountain Valley, has other unorthodox views: He would implement a green card points reward system for immigrants, build "triple fencing" at the Mexican border, and have the state sell drugs to addicts at half price.'
(Oh well, at least he's coming up with ideas.)
.
Read the whole story of Servants of the Paracletes and their documents as reported at City of Angels in 2008 here:
PROOF: Bishops knew about pedophile priests as far back as 1950s and worked to keep the problem secret. Documents here, click to enlarge
(Check out the Hughes For Governor website )
.
He wants to put convicted child molesters on an island off the Coast of Santa Barbara, and the idea has created a buzz in the crowded election for Governor of California.
The Orange County Republican is not the first one to get the idea. Leader of Catholic religious order Servants of the Paracletes concluded, after a decade or so of dealing with priests who went after children, that putting pedophiles off on an island was the best way to deal with them.
“9. Father Gerald thought that such priests -- meaning priests attracted to male children, teenagers -- should be completely segregated from society, and consequently wanted a remote ‘island refuge’ far from civilization and a monastery would be established and such men could live and try to save their souls."Click here to read the entire post with scanned documents at City of Angels 4, where we were posting in 2008.
The Pope Knew Back in 1963 about the Pedophile Problem in the Catholic Church
ALSO Scanned at link above are documents from meetings between the Pope Paul VI and the Paracletes founder in 1963 (pictured together at right). Gerald Fitzgerald, founder of the Paracletes traveled to Rome to talk about solutions to the pedophile problem. These documents show that the Catholic Church was aware of the pedophile epidemic as far back as the 1950s, as they were treating patients at the Servants of the Paracletes center in Albuquerque, NM, (since 1988, in St. Louis, MO).Put them on an island with no connection with other humans at all, was the conclusion of the Catholic priest most intimately connected to the problem.
Now a Neo-Republican Californian from Orange County is saying the same thing in his campaign for Governor:
Gubernatorial Candidate Wants To Create 'Pedophile Island' To ...LA Weekly (blog) - Dennis Romero - 4 days ago
Chief among the Republican candidates for Governor of California is Douglas Hughes, whose campaign promise is to turn Santa Rosa Island off Santa Barbara into "Pedophile Island" where convicted molesters would be housed....
Hughes, who describes himself as a retired businessman from Fountain Valley, has other unorthodox views: He would implement a green card points reward system for immigrants, build "triple fencing" at the Mexican border, and have the state sell drugs to addicts at half price.'
(Oh well, at least he's coming up with ideas.)
.
Read the whole story of Servants of the Paracletes and their documents as reported at City of Angels in 2008 here:
PROOF: Bishops knew about pedophile priests as far back as 1950s and worked to keep the problem secret. Documents here, click to enlarge
(Check out the Hughes For Governor website )
.
Friday, May 21, 2010
WE ARE OUT OF TIME---PROTECT OUR CHILDREN! by Debbie Bodkin,
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On OpEdNews: Debby Bodkin - Writer
Letter to Jeffrey Lena, Esq., Attorney for The Vatican and Pope Benedict
WE ARE OUT OF TIME
PROTECT OUR CHILDREN!
Dear Mr. Lena:
As a Catholic wife, mother and advocate for clergy sex abuse victims, this letter is sent in response to a recent article entitled "Pope not liable for abuse, says Vatican." In the article, you are quoted as follows:
". . . "This lawsuit is trying to say that the bishop in Louisville is an employee of the pope,' Jeffrey Lena, the Vatican's US attorney said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I say that's not true.'"
As a legal secretary for approximately 25 years, I have had the opportunity to work with brilliant and ethical attorneys. From my experience as a legal secretary, wife and mother, I value all of life's lessons and take them with me in every aspect of my continuing life path. When the clergy sex abuse crisis erupted publicly in 2001 - 2002, I considered myself a very loyal Catholic and only divine intervention could assist the individual who dared to debate and/or accuse a priest of my Church of sexually abusing a child or adult.
However, my life path changed drastically once I took the time to seek my own answers and listen to the personal stories of sex abuse victims and their families. Unbelievably, eight years later, I am haunted by public statements from Vatican officials and attorneys like you, representing ... Continue reading here
On OpEdNews: Debby Bodkin - Writer
Letter to Jeffrey Lena, Esq., Attorney for The Vatican and Pope Benedict
WE ARE OUT OF TIME
PROTECT OUR CHILDREN!
Dear Mr. Lena:
As a Catholic wife, mother and advocate for clergy sex abuse victims, this letter is sent in response to a recent article entitled "Pope not liable for abuse, says Vatican." In the article, you are quoted as follows:
". . . "This lawsuit is trying to say that the bishop in Louisville is an employee of the pope,' Jeffrey Lena, the Vatican's US attorney said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I say that's not true.'"
As a legal secretary for approximately 25 years, I have had the opportunity to work with brilliant and ethical attorneys. From my experience as a legal secretary, wife and mother, I value all of life's lessons and take them with me in every aspect of my continuing life path. When the clergy sex abuse crisis erupted publicly in 2001 - 2002, I considered myself a very loyal Catholic and only divine intervention could assist the individual who dared to debate and/or accuse a priest of my Church of sexually abusing a child or adult.
However, my life path changed drastically once I took the time to seek my own answers and listen to the personal stories of sex abuse victims and their families. Unbelievably, eight years later, I am haunted by public statements from Vatican officials and attorneys like you, representing ... Continue reading here
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Jesuits in America: Lincoln, Jefferson, also Napoleon, Dostoyevsky. All Agree They Are More Army than Religious Order
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Found at Spiritually Smart Dot Com: (after a reader emailed the link. I get the greatest emails these days). Here is what statesmen through history have written about the Jesuits.
President John Adams
(1735-1826; 2nd President of the United States):
"My history of the Jesuits is not eloquently written, but it is supported by unquestionable authorities, [and] is very particular and very horrible. Their [the Jesuit Order's] restoration [in 1814 by Pope Pius VII] is indeed a step toward darkness, cruelty, despotism, [and] death. I do not like the appearance of the Jesuits."
President Thomas Jefferson:
“I do not like the reappearance of the Jesuits...Shall we not have regular swarms of them here, in as many disguises as only a king of the gypsies can assume, dressed as printers, publishers, writers and schoolmasters? If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of Loyola’s. Nevertheless, we are compelled by our system of religious toleration to offer them an asylum....” (The Power and Secret of the Jesuits, Rene Fulop-Miller, 390)
Thomas Jefferson replied to his predecessor: “Like you, I disapprove of the restoration of the Jesuits, for it means a step backwards from light into darkness....” (The Power and Secret of the Jesuits, Rene Fulop-Miller, 390)
_________________
More from Spiritually Smart Dot Com
"It is my opinion that if the liberties of this country, the United States of America are destroyed, it will be by the subtlety of the Roman Catholic Jesuit priests, for they are the most crafty, dangerous enemies to civil and religious liberty. They have instigated MOST of the wars of Europe."
Marquis de LaFayette
(1757-1834; French statesman and general who served in under the command of General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War)
"The war [i.e., the American Civil War of 1861-1865] would never have been possible without the sinister influence of the Jesuits."
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865;
16th President of the United States)
President Lincoln told Catholic priest, Charles Chiniquy (whom as a lawyer, Lincoln had defended against the Catholic Church; defeated them, revealed great scandal in the Chicago diocese, which led the Vatican and its military intelligence/assassins [the Jesuits] to become Lincoln's mortal enemy!)
Abraham Lincoln's views on the Jesuits:
"So many plots have already been made against my life, that it is a real miracle that they have all failed . . . But can we expect that God will make a perpetual miracle to save my life? I believe not. The Jesuits are so expert in those deeds of blood that Henry IV (king of France who was assassinated by the Jesuit Revaillac for giving liberty to his people), said that it was impossible to escape them, and he became their victim, though he did all he could to protect himself.
"My escape from their hands, since the letter of the Pope to Jeff Davis has sharpened a million of daggers to pierce my breast, would be more that a miracle. . . . I know that Jesuits never forget nor forsake (never give up). Man must not care how and where he dies, provided he dies at the post of honor and duty."
"The public is practically unaware of the overwhelming responsibility carried by the Vatican and its Jesuits in the starting of the two world wars, a situation which may be explained in part by the gigantic finances at the disposition of the Vatican and its Jesuits, giving them power in so many spheres, especially since the last conflict."
Edmond Paris
(The Secret History of the Jesuits; Page 9)
"The Jesuits are a secret society a sort of Masonic order with super-added features of revolting odiousness, and a thousand times more dangerous."
Samuel Morse
(1791-1872; American inventor of the telegraph; author of the book Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States)
"The Jesuits are a MILITARY organization, not a religious order. Their chief is a general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a monastery. And the aim of this organization is power, power in its most despotic exercise absolute power, universal power, power to control the world by the volition of a single man [i.e., the Black Pope, the Superior General of the Jesuits]. Jesuitism is the most absolute of despotisms [sic] and at the same time the greatest and most enormous of abuses"
More from Spiritually Smart Dot Com
Napoleon I
(i.e., Napoleon Bonaparte; 1769-1821; emperor of France)
"[The Jesuits] are the deadly enemies of civil and religious liberty." R. W. Thompson (Ex-Secretary, American Navy) "The Roman Inquisition had been administered since 1542 by the Jesuits."
F. Tupper Saussy
(Rulers of Evil; xviii)
"The Jesuits... are simply the Romish army for the earthly sovereignty of the world in the future, with the Pontiff of Rome for emperor... that's their ideal. It is simple lust of power, of filthy earthly gain, of domination - something like a universal serfdom with them [i.e., the Jesuits] as masters - that's all they stand for. They don't even believe in God perhaps."
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
(1821-1881; famous Russian novelist)
"Between 1555 and 1931 the Society of Jesus [i.e., the Jesuit Order] was expelled from at least 83 countries, city states and cities, for engaging in political intrigue and subversion plots against the welfare of the State, according to the records of a Jesuit priest of repute [i.e., Thomas J. Campbell]. Practically every instance of expulsion was for political intrigue, political infiltration, political subversion, and inciting to political insurrection." (1987)
J.E.C. Shepherd
(Canadian historian)
"It is impossible to read Elizabethan history [i.e., the history surrounding Queen Elizabeth I of England; queen: 1558-1603] except in the context of an army of Jesuits, masters of deceit, treachery, treason, infiltration, subversion, assassination, insurrection, civil war and coercion, plotting for the good of the papacy, and the defeat of all the Pope's foes anywhere in the world.
More from Spiritually Smart Dot Com
J.E.C. Shepherd
(Canadian historian; 1987)
"The whole frightful responsibility for this terrible Thirty Years' War [1618-1648] must rest upon the [Holy Roman] Emperor Ferdinand II, and his teachers, rulers, and bosom friends the Sons of Loyola [i.e., the Jesuit Order]".
Theodor Griesinger
(German historian; 1873)
"If you trace up Masonry, through all its Orders, till you come to the grand tip-top head Mason of the World, you will discover that the dread individual and the Chief of the Society of Jesus [i.e., the Superior General of the Jesuit Order] are one and the same person."
James Parton
(American historian)
The following three (old dictionary and encyclopedic) entries were found at this source: Greg Szymanski's; 'Arctic Beacon:
"Jesuit" (per Webster's 1828 Dictionary of the English Language): "One of the Society of Jesus, so called, founded by Ignatius Loyola; a society remarkable for their cunning in propagating their principles."
"Jesuitism" (per Webster's 1828 Dictionary of the English Language): "[1.] The arts, principles and practices of the Jesuits. 2. Cunning; deceit; hypocrisy; prevarication; deceptive practices to effect a purpose."
More from Spiritually Smart Dot Com
"Jesuit Order" or "Jesuits" (Excerpts from the 1955 World Scope Encyclopedia with interjected comments of Greg Szymanski):
"Jesuits, or Society of Jesus: A monastic order of the Roman Catholic Church, founded (1536) in Paris by Ignatius of Loyola. Originally the special function of the order was to care for the sick and to fortify the position of the Pope within the [Roman Catholic] Church.
[Ed. Note: The Jesuit Order was primarily founded to counter the Protestant Reformation.] The latter function soon became the principal one of the order and thus it is not surprising that the order was approved by Pope Paul III as early as 1540, the first generalship being vested in the founder. By the time Ignatius died in 1566…his order had increased from 60 to more than 1000 members.
The members had to vow not only chastity, poverty, and implicit obedience to authority…but, especially, compliance with the commands of the Pope in going to any country and under any conditions to convert heretics and infidels, especially Moors and Jews. …
Their influence on the hierarchy of the [Roman] Catholic Church has increased continually since about 1860. In the U.S. they possess a large number of educational institutions, the most noteworthy being in New York City; Washington and Georgetown, D.C.; Baltimore; Buffalo, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; New Orleans, Louisiana; Denver, Colorado; Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio; Omaha, Nebraska; and San Francisco, California."
From Spiritually Smart Dot Com
Found at Spiritually Smart Dot Com: (after a reader emailed the link. I get the greatest emails these days). Here is what statesmen through history have written about the Jesuits.
President John Adams
(1735-1826; 2nd President of the United States):
"My history of the Jesuits is not eloquently written, but it is supported by unquestionable authorities, [and] is very particular and very horrible. Their [the Jesuit Order's] restoration [in 1814 by Pope Pius VII] is indeed a step toward darkness, cruelty, despotism, [and] death. I do not like the appearance of the Jesuits."
President Thomas Jefferson:
“I do not like the reappearance of the Jesuits...Shall we not have regular swarms of them here, in as many disguises as only a king of the gypsies can assume, dressed as printers, publishers, writers and schoolmasters? If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of Loyola’s. Nevertheless, we are compelled by our system of religious toleration to offer them an asylum....” (The Power and Secret of the Jesuits, Rene Fulop-Miller, 390)
Thomas Jefferson replied to his predecessor: “Like you, I disapprove of the restoration of the Jesuits, for it means a step backwards from light into darkness....” (The Power and Secret of the Jesuits, Rene Fulop-Miller, 390)
_________________
More from Spiritually Smart Dot Com
"It is my opinion that if the liberties of this country, the United States of America are destroyed, it will be by the subtlety of the Roman Catholic Jesuit priests, for they are the most crafty, dangerous enemies to civil and religious liberty. They have instigated MOST of the wars of Europe."
Marquis de LaFayette
(1757-1834; French statesman and general who served in under the command of General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War)
"The war [i.e., the American Civil War of 1861-1865] would never have been possible without the sinister influence of the Jesuits."
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865;
16th President of the United States)
President Lincoln told Catholic priest, Charles Chiniquy (whom as a lawyer, Lincoln had defended against the Catholic Church; defeated them, revealed great scandal in the Chicago diocese, which led the Vatican and its military intelligence/assassins [the Jesuits] to become Lincoln's mortal enemy!)
Abraham Lincoln's views on the Jesuits:
"So many plots have already been made against my life, that it is a real miracle that they have all failed . . . But can we expect that God will make a perpetual miracle to save my life? I believe not. The Jesuits are so expert in those deeds of blood that Henry IV (king of France who was assassinated by the Jesuit Revaillac for giving liberty to his people), said that it was impossible to escape them, and he became their victim, though he did all he could to protect himself.
"My escape from their hands, since the letter of the Pope to Jeff Davis has sharpened a million of daggers to pierce my breast, would be more that a miracle. . . . I know that Jesuits never forget nor forsake (never give up). Man must not care how and where he dies, provided he dies at the post of honor and duty."
"The public is practically unaware of the overwhelming responsibility carried by the Vatican and its Jesuits in the starting of the two world wars, a situation which may be explained in part by the gigantic finances at the disposition of the Vatican and its Jesuits, giving them power in so many spheres, especially since the last conflict."
Edmond Paris
(The Secret History of the Jesuits; Page 9)
"The Jesuits are a secret society a sort of Masonic order with super-added features of revolting odiousness, and a thousand times more dangerous."
Samuel Morse
(1791-1872; American inventor of the telegraph; author of the book Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States)
"The Jesuits are a MILITARY organization, not a religious order. Their chief is a general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a monastery. And the aim of this organization is power, power in its most despotic exercise absolute power, universal power, power to control the world by the volition of a single man [i.e., the Black Pope, the Superior General of the Jesuits]. Jesuitism is the most absolute of despotisms [sic] and at the same time the greatest and most enormous of abuses"
More from Spiritually Smart Dot Com
Napoleon I
(i.e., Napoleon Bonaparte; 1769-1821; emperor of France)
"[The Jesuits] are the deadly enemies of civil and religious liberty." R. W. Thompson (Ex-Secretary, American Navy) "The Roman Inquisition had been administered since 1542 by the Jesuits."
F. Tupper Saussy
(Rulers of Evil; xviii)
"The Jesuits... are simply the Romish army for the earthly sovereignty of the world in the future, with the Pontiff of Rome for emperor... that's their ideal. It is simple lust of power, of filthy earthly gain, of domination - something like a universal serfdom with them [i.e., the Jesuits] as masters - that's all they stand for. They don't even believe in God perhaps."
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
(1821-1881; famous Russian novelist)
"Between 1555 and 1931 the Society of Jesus [i.e., the Jesuit Order] was expelled from at least 83 countries, city states and cities, for engaging in political intrigue and subversion plots against the welfare of the State, according to the records of a Jesuit priest of repute [i.e., Thomas J. Campbell]. Practically every instance of expulsion was for political intrigue, political infiltration, political subversion, and inciting to political insurrection." (1987)
J.E.C. Shepherd
(Canadian historian)
"It is impossible to read Elizabethan history [i.e., the history surrounding Queen Elizabeth I of England; queen: 1558-1603] except in the context of an army of Jesuits, masters of deceit, treachery, treason, infiltration, subversion, assassination, insurrection, civil war and coercion, plotting for the good of the papacy, and the defeat of all the Pope's foes anywhere in the world.
More from Spiritually Smart Dot Com
J.E.C. Shepherd
(Canadian historian; 1987)
"The whole frightful responsibility for this terrible Thirty Years' War [1618-1648] must rest upon the [Holy Roman] Emperor Ferdinand II, and his teachers, rulers, and bosom friends the Sons of Loyola [i.e., the Jesuit Order]".
Theodor Griesinger
(German historian; 1873)
"If you trace up Masonry, through all its Orders, till you come to the grand tip-top head Mason of the World, you will discover that the dread individual and the Chief of the Society of Jesus [i.e., the Superior General of the Jesuit Order] are one and the same person."
James Parton
(American historian)
The following three (old dictionary and encyclopedic) entries were found at this source: Greg Szymanski's; 'Arctic Beacon:
"Jesuit" (per Webster's 1828 Dictionary of the English Language): "One of the Society of Jesus, so called, founded by Ignatius Loyola; a society remarkable for their cunning in propagating their principles."
"Jesuitism" (per Webster's 1828 Dictionary of the English Language): "[1.] The arts, principles and practices of the Jesuits. 2. Cunning; deceit; hypocrisy; prevarication; deceptive practices to effect a purpose."
More from Spiritually Smart Dot Com
"Jesuit Order" or "Jesuits" (Excerpts from the 1955 World Scope Encyclopedia with interjected comments of Greg Szymanski):
"Jesuits, or Society of Jesus: A monastic order of the Roman Catholic Church, founded (1536) in Paris by Ignatius of Loyola. Originally the special function of the order was to care for the sick and to fortify the position of the Pope within the [Roman Catholic] Church.
[Ed. Note: The Jesuit Order was primarily founded to counter the Protestant Reformation.] The latter function soon became the principal one of the order and thus it is not surprising that the order was approved by Pope Paul III as early as 1540, the first generalship being vested in the founder. By the time Ignatius died in 1566…his order had increased from 60 to more than 1000 members.
The members had to vow not only chastity, poverty, and implicit obedience to authority…but, especially, compliance with the commands of the Pope in going to any country and under any conditions to convert heretics and infidels, especially Moors and Jews. …
Their influence on the hierarchy of the [Roman] Catholic Church has increased continually since about 1860. In the U.S. they possess a large number of educational institutions, the most noteworthy being in New York City; Washington and Georgetown, D.C.; Baltimore; Buffalo, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; New Orleans, Louisiana; Denver, Colorado; Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio; Omaha, Nebraska; and San Francisco, California."
From Spiritually Smart Dot Com
Blogger Seeks Full Disclosure about Monks at St. John's Abbey, in Minnesota
.
Behind the Pine Curtain Post
May 20, 2010 -
Broken Agreement
Raleigh diocese not part of [Schulte] suit
Filed Under: Francisco Schulte, Jeff Anderson, Jeffrey Ingham
RALEIGH — Despite a lawsuit filed this week by two Raleigh brothers alleging sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest, the number of cases involving the Diocese of Raleigh remains far below those at dioceses at the epicenter of scandal that has rocked the church.(more…)
Read it under "Ongoing Coverage of Francisco Schulte." at Behind the Pine Curtain.
Behind the Pine Curtain Website started to get information on the internet "about the abusive monks in Collegeville. [Behind the Pine Curtain] was created in order to move closer to full disclosure" about the abusive monks in Collegeville and St. John's Abbey.
(The City of Angels IS Everywhere)
More from today's ppost:
"In 2002, an agreement was made. After years of disgraceful cover-ups, leaders of the Benedictine monks at St. John’s acknowledged the abuse perpetrated by their clergymen, made financial amends with victims, and agreed to change." (more)
.
Behind the Pine Curtain Post
May 20, 2010 -
Broken Agreement
Raleigh diocese not part of [Schulte] suit
Filed Under: Francisco Schulte, Jeff Anderson, Jeffrey Ingham
RALEIGH — Despite a lawsuit filed this week by two Raleigh brothers alleging sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest, the number of cases involving the Diocese of Raleigh remains far below those at dioceses at the epicenter of scandal that has rocked the church.(more…)
Read it under "Ongoing Coverage of Francisco Schulte." at Behind the Pine Curtain.
Behind the Pine Curtain Website started to get information on the internet "about the abusive monks in Collegeville. [Behind the Pine Curtain] was created in order to move closer to full disclosure" about the abusive monks in Collegeville and St. John's Abbey.
(The City of Angels IS Everywhere)
More from today's ppost:
"In 2002, an agreement was made. After years of disgraceful cover-ups, leaders of the Benedictine monks at St. John’s acknowledged the abuse perpetrated by their clergymen, made financial amends with victims, and agreed to change." (more)
.
Abortion, if Sin, is Done from Fear or Need, Not Punishable by Canon Law, as Phoenix Diocese Claims
.
From Catholics for Choice today:
Diocese of Phoenix Maligns Catholic Nun, Errs on Canon Law
The recent news about a woman in Phoenix who received an abortion in a Catholic hospital has raised again the issue of Catholics, abortion and excommunication. The bishop of Phoenix has declared that a nun who is a hospital administrator and a member of the ethics committee is excommunicated because of her alleged action, or inaction, in regard to the pregnant woman's care.
To defend the bishop's announcement that Sister McBride was "automatically excommunicated" for her actions, the diocese has published a document called "Questions & Answers Re: The Situation at St. Joseph's." While the questions are timely, the answers unfortunately misrepresent the church's law. For example, one of questions reads: "Does that mean that all women who have had an abortion are excommunicated?"
The incorrect answer the diocese provides reads: "Yes, anyone who has had an abortion is automatically excommunicated. But so are those who encouraged the abortion, helped to pay for the abortion, or performed the abortion, including those who directly assisted in its performance."
This claim is simply not supported by Catholic canon law.The real answer to that question is: No.
Not every woman who has an abortion is excommunicated. The Catholic church's law on crimes and punishments is very strict, and, as in secular criminal law, provides a range of characteristics that would make a person incapable of committing a crime (for example, being under the age of seventeen, or acting in self-defense).
There are also mitigating factors that would make a person who committed a crime ineligible for punishment or eligible only for a lesser penalty. These include people who act in fear or in case of necessity.
Another wrong answer is provided in response to this question: "From the news reports we were told that Sr. McBride also consulted with others who agreed that the abortion should be performed. Are they also excommunicated?" The diocese says: "Yes. Those Catholics who gave their consent and encouraged this abortion were also excommunicated by that very action. So too is anyone else at St. Joseph's who participated in the action; including doctors and nurses."
The real answer is, again: No.
The Catholic church's law does, in limited circumstances, provide penalties for accomplices, but the scope of people who might be eligible is even smaller than in the first case. In the situation at St. Joseph's, even if all the requirements were met, the penalty of excommunication would only be available for someone whose participation was so necessary that the abortion would not have been provided without his or her action.
It's not clear that this is the case for Sr. McBride.
Canon lawyers have long agreed that the actions of hospital administrators rarely if ever rise to the level that would make them "accomplices" according to canon law.Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, said in a statement, "It is unfortunate that once again, given an opportunity to show compassion and understanding, the Catholic hierarchy has instead taken the low road and persecuted a Catholic who, in good conscience and based on her experience, provided her opinion in a difficult medical and ethical situation.
The bishop's response was to publicly damage the good reputation of a woman who has, by all accounts, dedicated much of her life to caring for those in need. In the Catholic church, Sister McBride has a right to her good reputation and a right, as well as a duty, to follow her conscience.
It's notable that the diocese isn't talking much about those provisions of canon law."
Click here to read this press release online
.
From Catholics for Choice today:
Diocese of Phoenix Maligns Catholic Nun, Errs on Canon Law
The recent news about a woman in Phoenix who received an abortion in a Catholic hospital has raised again the issue of Catholics, abortion and excommunication. The bishop of Phoenix has declared that a nun who is a hospital administrator and a member of the ethics committee is excommunicated because of her alleged action, or inaction, in regard to the pregnant woman's care.
To defend the bishop's announcement that Sister McBride was "automatically excommunicated" for her actions, the diocese has published a document called "Questions & Answers Re: The Situation at St. Joseph's." While the questions are timely, the answers unfortunately misrepresent the church's law. For example, one of questions reads: "Does that mean that all women who have had an abortion are excommunicated?"
The incorrect answer the diocese provides reads: "Yes, anyone who has had an abortion is automatically excommunicated. But so are those who encouraged the abortion, helped to pay for the abortion, or performed the abortion, including those who directly assisted in its performance."
This claim is simply not supported by Catholic canon law.The real answer to that question is: No.
Not every woman who has an abortion is excommunicated. The Catholic church's law on crimes and punishments is very strict, and, as in secular criminal law, provides a range of characteristics that would make a person incapable of committing a crime (for example, being under the age of seventeen, or acting in self-defense).
There are also mitigating factors that would make a person who committed a crime ineligible for punishment or eligible only for a lesser penalty. These include people who act in fear or in case of necessity.
Another wrong answer is provided in response to this question: "From the news reports we were told that Sr. McBride also consulted with others who agreed that the abortion should be performed. Are they also excommunicated?" The diocese says: "Yes. Those Catholics who gave their consent and encouraged this abortion were also excommunicated by that very action. So too is anyone else at St. Joseph's who participated in the action; including doctors and nurses."
The real answer is, again: No.
The Catholic church's law does, in limited circumstances, provide penalties for accomplices, but the scope of people who might be eligible is even smaller than in the first case. In the situation at St. Joseph's, even if all the requirements were met, the penalty of excommunication would only be available for someone whose participation was so necessary that the abortion would not have been provided without his or her action.
It's not clear that this is the case for Sr. McBride.
Canon lawyers have long agreed that the actions of hospital administrators rarely if ever rise to the level that would make them "accomplices" according to canon law.Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, said in a statement, "It is unfortunate that once again, given an opportunity to show compassion and understanding, the Catholic hierarchy has instead taken the low road and persecuted a Catholic who, in good conscience and based on her experience, provided her opinion in a difficult medical and ethical situation.
The bishop's response was to publicly damage the good reputation of a woman who has, by all accounts, dedicated much of her life to caring for those in need. In the Catholic church, Sister McBride has a right to her good reputation and a right, as well as a duty, to follow her conscience.
It's notable that the diocese isn't talking much about those provisions of canon law."
Click here to read this press release online
.
UNDER OATH: Levada Deposition Reveals Cardinal All But Shrugged Off Early Reports of Child Molestation by Priests
.
Starting up again from page 42 of Deposition of William Levada for the United States District Court of Oregon Jan. 9, 2006, during the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, bankruptcy.
Attorneys for plaintiffs in dozens of child sex abuse lawsuits seized the opportunity to depose the Cardinal in San Francisco, as the previous year he had transfered to The Vatican while new lawsuits were being filed against his employee priests for pedophilia.
Plaintiffs ask the Cardinal about internal attempts to address the pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church as it began to become evident in the 1980s and 1990s, during Levada's rise to power. Since 2005 Levada has been in the Pope's old job at the Vatican reviewing crime reports against priests, after being Archbishop of Portland and San Francisco and auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles.
The Cardinal claims little or no knowledge of priests molesting children in the '80s and '90s, and admits to taking little or no action about the predations, as more and more allegations came up. These quotes are from pages 42 to 57, of 167 pages.
As City of Angels reads through the depo, we copy and paste here, for the record, with occasional comments in [brackets] from the journalist who writes this blog, who is also one of hundreds of thousands of adult victims of pedophile priests in the world today.
DEPOSITION TRANSCRIPT BEGINS HERE
KELLY CLARK Q: He mentioned that he read at least a version of the report. He didn't know if it was the final version or not. [Cardinal Levada,] at any time as Bishop of Portland, do you recall attempting to implement anything from the Doyle/ Peterson report into the policy of the archdiocese?
WILLIAM LEVADA A: No.
Q: What was the purpose of them presenting the report to the conference?
A: [This is what college writing professors call Gobbledeegook] The purpose was to, was to execute the mandate that had been given to us; that is, to be the interlocutors with these three persons who had come to the Conference, to be the first persons to visit with them and to give a preliminary response, from our review of the document, to the persons at the Conference who handle such issues and make judgments about them. We were not at a level to do that.
Q: What was your reaction to the materials you read from Peterson, Doyle, Mouton?
A: My general reaction, as best I recall it, was that the case they presented was more aggressive in its response than the facts as I knew them warranted. So-- I’ll just put it that way.
Q: The case?
A: The general situation about clergy abuse of children.
Q: Okay, not referring specifically to the Gil Gauthe situation in Louisiana, but the global picture?
A: Correct.
*********
'The case they presented was more aggressive in its response than the facts as I knew them warranted’
*********************
Q: So their description of the problem of clergy abuse in the church, you felt, might have been overstated?
A: It seemed to be too dependent on the Guathe situation, which I suppose I looked on as a more, as a unique phenomenon.
Q: Do you recall your reaction to the content of the report as it described the phenomenon of pedophilia itself?
A: I do not recall my reaction to that.
Q: When you were in Rome at the North American College, never heard anything about this problem of priests abusing kids?
A: I'm I didn't.
Q: and then you were five years in parish work in the archdiocese of Los Angeles, including college teaching and campus ministry. In all those years, never heard about priests abusing kids?
A: Never.
Q: Same question St. John’s Seminary School of Theology. [Just north of Los Angeles on the coast] No rumors, anecdotal stories, nothing about priests abusing kids?
A: Nothing.
[Remember, the Cardinal is under oath.]
Q: And the same would be true up until the time you came to Portland?
A: Right.
Q: Who made the appointment of you and Bishop Quinn to do this work [with the Doyle Peterson Mouton report]?
A: Probably the general secretary.
Q: Do you recall if it was Roger Mahony?
A: No.
Q: Did Mahony have any involvement?
A: No, he would not have.
Q: What happened to the Doyle/Peterson Report after your role in presenting it to the bishops?
MS. McNAMARA: Objection. Vague. [McNamara is the Cardinal's attorney]
Q: Well, let me ask it differently. What do you recall that the Conference of Bishops did in response to the presentation of the report?
McNAMARA: Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence.
Mr. CLARK: Go ahead if you can understand it.
WILLIAM LEVADA: Once transmitting the material and giving a preliminary evaluation, I was no longer involved in the process of evaluating the proposal or of creating a general Conference response.
[We Are Talking About Sexual Penetration Of Children Here!!!!]
LEVADA: But it is my recollection that the conference decided not to follow up on the specific proposal that Peterson, Doyle, and Mouton made.
Q: Do you know why?
A: No I do not.
Q: You said before, correct me if I'm wrong, by “too aggressive” did you mean in describing the scale of the problem of priest molestation of kids.
McNAMARA: Objection. Misstates facts.
[No it doesn't]
A: Yes I think that's correct, yes. And too aggressive regarding the response.
Q: Do you recall specifically what you thought was too aggressive in its description of the problem? Let me put it differently. What was your impression of the scale of the problem at the time the Doyle/Peterson [WHY do they always leave out the name Mouton?] report was presented to the bishops?
[Mouton was the attorney who DEFENDED Gilbert Gauthe]
A: My impression, apart from the Gauthe case, was that the few instances of this sexual abuse that had come to my attention were being handled appropriately by diocesan bishops. And that while we needed to pay attention to this matter and protect children, that a broad scale national effort in that regard was- was- did not seem to be called for at that time.
*****
'Did not seem to be called for at that time.'
******
[Wait a minute here, Doyle/ Peterson/ Mouton made their report in 1985. Gilbert Gauthe was convicted that year of raping 39 children after a trial and complicated prosecution. Bishop Accountability profiles Gauthe here under G
Gauthe was first widely publicized abuser. First allegations against him came out in 1983. Convicted in 1985 of abuse of as many as 39 young children between 1972-1983. Served 10 years in prison. Multiple civil suits and settlements. In 1997 he pled no contest to abuse of 3 yr old boy in Texas. 7 yrs probation. As of 2008, Gauthe was living near Houston, TX. He was arrested 4/08 because he failed to register as sex offender. Served 2 yrs county jail. Released 4/23/10.
****************
Deposition transcript excerpts continued:
****************
Q: What were the cases that had come to your attention?
A: I don't recall.
[Hah! He forgot Gauthe?!]
Q: Okay, I thought you told me before-
A: My exposure. We were talking about my experience as auxiliary bishop, priest, and so forth. But once I became a bishop, I heard, then, about different-
Q: Oh.
A: -situations that, from- in committee work and so forth that brought one or other case to my attention, not in any detail.
[Man, does that sound like the stumbling of a liar to anyone else reading this?]
Q: At the time you left Portland in 1995, would you have held that same view?
A: That's a good question. At the time I left Portland, I believe that the work done to date by the Conference of Bishops was right on track.
***********
To Be Continued
***********
Previous reporting here on the Levada Jan 2006 deposition was posted on AlterNet part 1: And on AlterNet part 2
This Blog Posted by Kay Ebeling, The City of Angels Is Everywhere
PS: We are up to page 57 of 167 in deposition transcript.
Lots more stories coming
.
Starting up again from page 42 of Deposition of William Levada for the United States District Court of Oregon Jan. 9, 2006, during the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, bankruptcy.
Attorneys for plaintiffs in dozens of child sex abuse lawsuits seized the opportunity to depose the Cardinal in San Francisco, as the previous year he had transfered to The Vatican while new lawsuits were being filed against his employee priests for pedophilia. Plaintiffs ask the Cardinal about internal attempts to address the pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church as it began to become evident in the 1980s and 1990s, during Levada's rise to power. Since 2005 Levada has been in the Pope's old job at the Vatican reviewing crime reports against priests, after being Archbishop of Portland and San Francisco and auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles.
The Cardinal claims little or no knowledge of priests molesting children in the '80s and '90s, and admits to taking little or no action about the predations, as more and more allegations came up. These quotes are from pages 42 to 57, of 167 pages.
As City of Angels reads through the depo, we copy and paste here, for the record, with occasional comments in [brackets] from the journalist who writes this blog, who is also one of hundreds of thousands of adult victims of pedophile priests in the world today.
DEPOSITION TRANSCRIPT BEGINS HERE
KELLY CLARK Q: He mentioned that he read at least a version of the report. He didn't know if it was the final version or not. [Cardinal Levada,] at any time as Bishop of Portland, do you recall attempting to implement anything from the Doyle/ Peterson report into the policy of the archdiocese?
WILLIAM LEVADA A: No.
Q: What was the purpose of them presenting the report to the conference?
A: [This is what college writing professors call Gobbledeegook] The purpose was to, was to execute the mandate that had been given to us; that is, to be the interlocutors with these three persons who had come to the Conference, to be the first persons to visit with them and to give a preliminary response, from our review of the document, to the persons at the Conference who handle such issues and make judgments about them. We were not at a level to do that.
Q: What was your reaction to the materials you read from Peterson, Doyle, Mouton?
A: My general reaction, as best I recall it, was that the case they presented was more aggressive in its response than the facts as I knew them warranted. So-- I’ll just put it that way.
Q: The case?
A: The general situation about clergy abuse of children.
Q: Okay, not referring specifically to the Gil Gauthe situation in Louisiana, but the global picture?
A: Correct.
*********
'The case they presented was more aggressive in its response than the facts as I knew them warranted’
*********************
Q: So their description of the problem of clergy abuse in the church, you felt, might have been overstated?
A: It seemed to be too dependent on the Guathe situation, which I suppose I looked on as a more, as a unique phenomenon.
Q: Do you recall your reaction to the content of the report as it described the phenomenon of pedophilia itself?
A: I do not recall my reaction to that.
Q: When you were in Rome at the North American College, never heard anything about this problem of priests abusing kids?
A: I'm I didn't.
Q: and then you were five years in parish work in the archdiocese of Los Angeles, including college teaching and campus ministry. In all those years, never heard about priests abusing kids?
A: Never.
Q: Same question St. John’s Seminary School of Theology. [Just north of Los Angeles on the coast] No rumors, anecdotal stories, nothing about priests abusing kids?
A: Nothing.
[Remember, the Cardinal is under oath.]
Q: And the same would be true up until the time you came to Portland?
A: Right.
Q: Who made the appointment of you and Bishop Quinn to do this work [with the Doyle Peterson Mouton report]?
A: Probably the general secretary.
Q: Do you recall if it was Roger Mahony?
A: No.
Q: Did Mahony have any involvement?
A: No, he would not have.
Q: What happened to the Doyle/Peterson Report after your role in presenting it to the bishops?
MS. McNAMARA: Objection. Vague. [McNamara is the Cardinal's attorney]
Q: Well, let me ask it differently. What do you recall that the Conference of Bishops did in response to the presentation of the report?
McNAMARA: Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence.
Mr. CLARK: Go ahead if you can understand it.
WILLIAM LEVADA: Once transmitting the material and giving a preliminary evaluation, I was no longer involved in the process of evaluating the proposal or of creating a general Conference response.
[We Are Talking About Sexual Penetration Of Children Here!!!!]
LEVADA: But it is my recollection that the conference decided not to follow up on the specific proposal that Peterson, Doyle, and Mouton made.
Q: Do you know why?
A: No I do not.
Q: You said before, correct me if I'm wrong, by “too aggressive” did you mean in describing the scale of the problem of priest molestation of kids.
McNAMARA: Objection. Misstates facts.
[No it doesn't]
A: Yes I think that's correct, yes. And too aggressive regarding the response.
Q: Do you recall specifically what you thought was too aggressive in its description of the problem? Let me put it differently. What was your impression of the scale of the problem at the time the Doyle/Peterson [WHY do they always leave out the name Mouton?] report was presented to the bishops?
[Mouton was the attorney who DEFENDED Gilbert Gauthe]
A: My impression, apart from the Gauthe case, was that the few instances of this sexual abuse that had come to my attention were being handled appropriately by diocesan bishops. And that while we needed to pay attention to this matter and protect children, that a broad scale national effort in that regard was- was- did not seem to be called for at that time.
*****
'Did not seem to be called for at that time.'
******
[Wait a minute here, Doyle/ Peterson/ Mouton made their report in 1985. Gilbert Gauthe was convicted that year of raping 39 children after a trial and complicated prosecution. Bishop Accountability profiles Gauthe here under G
Gauthe was first widely publicized abuser. First allegations against him came out in 1983. Convicted in 1985 of abuse of as many as 39 young children between 1972-1983. Served 10 years in prison. Multiple civil suits and settlements. In 1997 he pled no contest to abuse of 3 yr old boy in Texas. 7 yrs probation. As of 2008, Gauthe was living near Houston, TX. He was arrested 4/08 because he failed to register as sex offender. Served 2 yrs county jail. Released 4/23/10.
****************
Deposition transcript excerpts continued:
****************
Q: What were the cases that had come to your attention?
A: I don't recall.
[Hah! He forgot Gauthe?!]
Q: Okay, I thought you told me before-
A: My exposure. We were talking about my experience as auxiliary bishop, priest, and so forth. But once I became a bishop, I heard, then, about different-
Q: Oh.
A: -situations that, from- in committee work and so forth that brought one or other case to my attention, not in any detail.
[Man, does that sound like the stumbling of a liar to anyone else reading this?]
Q: At the time you left Portland in 1995, would you have held that same view?
A: That's a good question. At the time I left Portland, I believe that the work done to date by the Conference of Bishops was right on track.
***********
To Be Continued
***********
Previous reporting here on the Levada Jan 2006 deposition was posted on AlterNet part 1: And on AlterNet part 2
This Blog Posted by Kay Ebeling, The City of Angels Is Everywhere
PS: We are up to page 57 of 167 in deposition transcript.
Lots more stories coming
.
PETITION: To: Eric Holder, We Request an In Depth Criminal Investigation of Pedophilia in Catholic Church
.
To: U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder
We, The Undersigned, request that an in depth criminal investigation be made concerning the numerous convictions, prosecutions, allegations and accusations made against the Catholic Church (i.e.: dioceses, priest, bishops, cardinals, etc.) relating to the sexual abuse of minors in a number of States, Territories and Jurisdictions.
SIGN THE PETITION HERE
Copy from Petition Cotinued:
The volume of outcry by victims alleging abuse, the continuous defense and repudiation by the Catholic Church and the intensive reporting by the media warrants a careful; and plenary, review of these most serious charges.
In the interests of justice; and as a matter of National interest, it is imperative for the sake of this Nation’s greatest resource (our children) that the issue be investigated in an appropriate and complete manner. There is no greater threat than the operation of an organization that harbors, fosters, enables, aids or abets pedophiles and/or similar criminal activity within or nation.
It is because of these alleged criminal activities by the Catholic Church (i.e.: dioceses, priest, bishops, cardinals, etc.) that we request a full investigation.
Respectfully submitted.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Petition
Posted by Kay Ebeling Also at AlterNet:
From New York Activists, going to post this at least once a day for awhile at AlterNet:
PETITION to Eric Holder: Investigate Pedophile Epidemic in Catholic Church
To: U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder
We, The Undersigned, request...
.
.
To: U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder
We, The Undersigned, request that an in depth criminal investigation be made concerning the numerous convictions, prosecutions, allegations and accusations made against the Catholic Church (i.e.: dioceses, priest, bishops, cardinals, etc.) relating to the sexual abuse of minors in a number of States, Territories and Jurisdictions.
SIGN THE PETITION HERE
Copy from Petition Cotinued:The volume of outcry by victims alleging abuse, the continuous defense and repudiation by the Catholic Church and the intensive reporting by the media warrants a careful; and plenary, review of these most serious charges.
In the interests of justice; and as a matter of National interest, it is imperative for the sake of this Nation’s greatest resource (our children) that the issue be investigated in an appropriate and complete manner. There is no greater threat than the operation of an organization that harbors, fosters, enables, aids or abets pedophiles and/or similar criminal activity within or nation.
It is because of these alleged criminal activities by the Catholic Church (i.e.: dioceses, priest, bishops, cardinals, etc.) that we request a full investigation.
Respectfully submitted.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Petition
Posted by Kay Ebeling Also at AlterNet:
From New York Activists, going to post this at least once a day for awhile at AlterNet:
PETITION to Eric Holder: Investigate Pedophile Epidemic in Catholic Church
To: U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder
We, The Undersigned, request...
.
.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
VIDEO: Child Rape Victim Grows Up To Help Find Attacker (from MSNBC)
.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Why Does Pope Remind Me of George Bush? LTE to PA Paper
.
What A Find:
Letter to Editor of Daily Times
of Delaware County, Pennsylvania:
Why is Pope Benedict starting to remind me of George W. Bush?
Let’s see … you have a future pope who felt it was more important to protect a pedophile priest than more than 22 deaf kids he molested. You had a president who attacked the wrong country, allowed people like Karl Rove to out a CIA agent and let poor people die during Katrina because of indifference.
Both of these guys also have trouble taking responsibility for their actions. Bush still has never accepted any blame for Iraq and 9/11.
The Vatican right now is trying to blame the gay community for the actions of its priests even though there is no connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, according to the statistics.
I think the pope might be a little worse. Most of Bush’s failures came from incompetence. Intentionally protecting a criminal priest is just out-and-out evil... Continue reading
What A Find:
Letter to Editor of Daily Times
of Delaware County, Pennsylvania:
Why is Pope Benedict starting to remind me of George W. Bush?
Let’s see … you have a future pope who felt it was more important to protect a pedophile priest than more than 22 deaf kids he molested. You had a president who attacked the wrong country, allowed people like Karl Rove to out a CIA agent and let poor people die during Katrina because of indifference.
Both of these guys also have trouble taking responsibility for their actions. Bush still has never accepted any blame for Iraq and 9/11.
The Vatican right now is trying to blame the gay community for the actions of its priests even though there is no connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, according to the statistics.
I think the pope might be a little worse. Most of Bush’s failures came from incompetence. Intentionally protecting a criminal priest is just out-and-out evil... Continue reading
Eliminate SOL on All Sex Crimes, CORSAL Committee, Massachusetts
.
"We must relentlessly prosecute the perpetrators, so they will be entered into the criminal justice system."
The following was received from Carmen Durso, Esq. Chairman of CORSAL, a committee in Massachusetts formed to advocate for reform of sex abuse laws in the Commonwealth.
Change or repeal the Statutes of Limitations for sex crimes.
HOW TO DO SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN FIRING THE POPE
We who advocate for clergy sexual abuse survivors are angry.
We want Bishops to resign, the Pope to be fired, and the Vatican to be held accountable. But we know these
things are unlikely to happen. So what can we do? Go to the State House on May 26th, and you may accomplish something more important.
Changes, in a two thousand year old organization, often seem to be glacial, that is to say, not noticeable during our lifetime. And then, the Catholic Church is different from every other religion in one very important respect.
In 2005, Texas attorney Dan Shea sued a local Diocese, on behalf of three abuse victims. A Federal judge gave him permission to depose Cardinal Law, who had fled to
Rome. Next, he sought to examine Joseph Ratzinger under oath about Crimen Sollicitationis, a Vatican document imposing secrecy on reports of sexual misconduct. But he hit a brick wall when Ratzinger was named Pope, and the U.S. State Department intervened, persuading the judge to dismiss the claim because, as head of a foreign
national state, the Pope is immune from suit.
After spending much of my professional life dealing with child sex abuse issues, I am convinced there are some things we can do to stop this problem, not only in our churches, but in all of our youth-serving organizations.
First, we must relentlessly prosecute the perpetrators, so they will be entered into the criminal justice system, punished appropriately, and branded, for life, as dangerous people. To accomplish this, we must eliminate all criminal statutes of limitation, for all sex crimes, so that the child, who cannot speak of this until he is a man, will obtain justice, no matter how long it takes.
Because we cannot make criminal SOL reform retroactive, we must also remove all legal barriers to civil suits against the organizations within which perpetrators operate. No statutes of limitations and no charitable immunity defense should ever stand in the way of obtaining the truth.
If it were not for the pioneering work of Attorneys Eric MacLeish, Mitch Garabedian, and others, you would not know today about this issue. You would not be reading about the Pope, or hearing that there are clergy abuse problems in Ireland, Germany, Australia, Italy, etc. The law suits filed in Boston have, once again, fired a shot heard round the world.
The threat of financial sanctions is one of the few external pressures to which institutions will respond. If I were Pope, and knew that every time a sexual abuse victim came forward, the church was going to face another million dollar law suit, eventually it would occur to me that making my organization a model for sexual abuse prevention is more cost effective than stone-walling victims, as well as the morally correct thing to do.
These steps are a state-by-state effort, and other states are way ahead of us. If you agree that advocating for these changes makes more sense than waiting for the Vatican to implode, come to the State House on Wednesday, May 26th, and speak to your Representative and Senator.
Call or write, if you can't come (http://www.mass.gov/legis/ ). Tell them you want favorable action on House Bill No. 1523, sponsored by the Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws (http://www.corsal.org/ ).
Don't call the Vatican. Their lines are busy
right now.
.
"We must relentlessly prosecute the perpetrators, so they will be entered into the criminal justice system."
The following was received from Carmen Durso, Esq. Chairman of CORSAL, a committee in Massachusetts formed to advocate for reform of sex abuse laws in the Commonwealth.
Change or repeal the Statutes of Limitations for sex crimes.
HOW TO DO SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN FIRING THE POPE
We who advocate for clergy sexual abuse survivors are angry.
We want Bishops to resign, the Pope to be fired, and the Vatican to be held accountable. But we know these
things are unlikely to happen. So what can we do? Go to the State House on May 26th, and you may accomplish something more important.
Changes, in a two thousand year old organization, often seem to be glacial, that is to say, not noticeable during our lifetime. And then, the Catholic Church is different from every other religion in one very important respect.
In 2005, Texas attorney Dan Shea sued a local Diocese, on behalf of three abuse victims. A Federal judge gave him permission to depose Cardinal Law, who had fled to
Rome. Next, he sought to examine Joseph Ratzinger under oath about Crimen Sollicitationis, a Vatican document imposing secrecy on reports of sexual misconduct. But he hit a brick wall when Ratzinger was named Pope, and the U.S. State Department intervened, persuading the judge to dismiss the claim because, as head of a foreign
national state, the Pope is immune from suit.
After spending much of my professional life dealing with child sex abuse issues, I am convinced there are some things we can do to stop this problem, not only in our churches, but in all of our youth-serving organizations.
First, we must relentlessly prosecute the perpetrators, so they will be entered into the criminal justice system, punished appropriately, and branded, for life, as dangerous people. To accomplish this, we must eliminate all criminal statutes of limitation, for all sex crimes, so that the child, who cannot speak of this until he is a man, will obtain justice, no matter how long it takes.
Because we cannot make criminal SOL reform retroactive, we must also remove all legal barriers to civil suits against the organizations within which perpetrators operate. No statutes of limitations and no charitable immunity defense should ever stand in the way of obtaining the truth.
If it were not for the pioneering work of Attorneys Eric MacLeish, Mitch Garabedian, and others, you would not know today about this issue. You would not be reading about the Pope, or hearing that there are clergy abuse problems in Ireland, Germany, Australia, Italy, etc. The law suits filed in Boston have, once again, fired a shot heard round the world.
The threat of financial sanctions is one of the few external pressures to which institutions will respond. If I were Pope, and knew that every time a sexual abuse victim came forward, the church was going to face another million dollar law suit, eventually it would occur to me that making my organization a model for sexual abuse prevention is more cost effective than stone-walling victims, as well as the morally correct thing to do.
These steps are a state-by-state effort, and other states are way ahead of us. If you agree that advocating for these changes makes more sense than waiting for the Vatican to implode, come to the State House on Wednesday, May 26th, and speak to your Representative and Senator.
Call or write, if you can't come (http://www.mass.gov/legis/ ). Tell them you want favorable action on House Bill No. 1523, sponsored by the Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws (http://www.corsal.org/ ).
Don't call the Vatican. Their lines are busy
right now.
.
L.A. Times Editorial May 18 Ignores Contradictions Same Day in its Own Newspaper to Buy Into Vatican Spin
.
As one of many adult victims of a policy that served children up to priests as an entitlement, watching the news media continue to go out on a limb to avoid saying the Catholic Church is run by criminals is astounding. I mean, how much more evidence do they need?????? From today's L.A. Times Opinion: (Note the Ad right in the middle of it. All the news that fits around the ads.)
"Last week, however, the pope sounded a dramatically different note. He told reporters accompanying him on a pilgrimage to Portugal, "The greatest persecution of the church doesn't come from enemies on the outside but is born from the sins within the church." He added, "The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also justice."
» Don't miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.
"His words have been matched by actions. The Vatican has taken control of the Legion of Christ, an ultraconservative Mexico-based order whose late founder exploited his Vatican connections to escape punishment for molesting seminarians. It also has issued guidelines that for the first time explicitly say that church officials should report instances of sexual abuse to the police. That policy has been in force in the American church for the last eight years."
The L.A. Times itself published this earlier that same day: May 18, 2010 8:29 am
"There's irony in the decision of the Vatican to fight lawsuits stemming from the allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy. In resisting the claims of victims from the United States, the Holy See is arguing that local bishops are not Vatican officials or employees. Whatever its validity in American law, this claim conflicts with the centralization of power in the Roman Catholic Church."
*****
Dear L.A. Times Editors:
1. Days after that "dramatically different note," the Pope's lawyer claimed in Court that Catholic Bishops aren't employed by the Pope so that 1962 "Crimen Solicitaciones" document the Pope sent out to all the bishops may order the bishops not to talk about priest sex crimes, but the bishops did not know about it, did not likely read the document....
So who fires them?
2. The Pope swept into Mexico and sucked up all the assets of the Legionaires because they have a gazillion dollars or so worth of assets and Il Papa did not want to let go of any of that loot, considering its oversexed fallen leader Fr. Marcel Marcial was most revered for his fundraising skills.
GAWD!!!! Do we have any thinking writers anywhere in mainstream media anymore? No wonder hundreds of thousands of people poured into the Vatican last weekend. Everyone is buying the Pope's statements. People so want to believe in him, they are ignoring reality. Because he said he changed, he must have changed?
PEOPLE!!!
They lied to families about priests raping their children. How can you believe anything else they say on the topic???????
As one of many adult victims who was served up as a child to a priest because he could not give up a real sex life, then seeing the news media continiue to believe these guys, it's astounding.
I mean, how much more evidence do they need??????
.
Kay Ebeling
.
As one of many adult victims of a policy that served children up to priests as an entitlement, watching the news media continue to go out on a limb to avoid saying the Catholic Church is run by criminals is astounding. I mean, how much more evidence do they need?????? From today's L.A. Times Opinion: (Note the Ad right in the middle of it. All the news that fits around the ads.)
"Last week, however, the pope sounded a dramatically different note. He told reporters accompanying him on a pilgrimage to Portugal, "The greatest persecution of the church doesn't come from enemies on the outside but is born from the sins within the church." He added, "The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also justice."» Don't miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.
"His words have been matched by actions. The Vatican has taken control of the Legion of Christ, an ultraconservative Mexico-based order whose late founder exploited his Vatican connections to escape punishment for molesting seminarians. It also has issued guidelines that for the first time explicitly say that church officials should report instances of sexual abuse to the police. That policy has been in force in the American church for the last eight years."
The L.A. Times itself published this earlier that same day: May 18, 2010 8:29 am
"There's irony in the decision of the Vatican to fight lawsuits stemming from the allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy. In resisting the claims of victims from the United States, the Holy See is arguing that local bishops are not Vatican officials or employees. Whatever its validity in American law, this claim conflicts with the centralization of power in the Roman Catholic Church."
*****
Dear L.A. Times Editors:
1. Days after that "dramatically different note," the Pope's lawyer claimed in Court that Catholic Bishops aren't employed by the Pope so that 1962 "Crimen Solicitaciones" document the Pope sent out to all the bishops may order the bishops not to talk about priest sex crimes, but the bishops did not know about it, did not likely read the document....
So who fires them?
2. The Pope swept into Mexico and sucked up all the assets of the Legionaires because they have a gazillion dollars or so worth of assets and Il Papa did not want to let go of any of that loot, considering its oversexed fallen leader Fr. Marcel Marcial was most revered for his fundraising skills.
GAWD!!!! Do we have any thinking writers anywhere in mainstream media anymore? No wonder hundreds of thousands of people poured into the Vatican last weekend. Everyone is buying the Pope's statements. People so want to believe in him, they are ignoring reality. Because he said he changed, he must have changed?
PEOPLE!!!
They lied to families about priests raping their children. How can you believe anything else they say on the topic???????
As one of many adult victims who was served up as a child to a priest because he could not give up a real sex life, then seeing the news media continiue to believe these guys, it's astounding.
I mean, how much more evidence do they need??????
.
Kay Ebeling
.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Happy Clicking
.
At City of Angels and AlterNet now,
TRANSCRIPT: After Guilty Verdict a Plea of Innocence, Is Pedophile Priest Donald McGuire a Fall Guy for the Jesuits?
Posted 7:51 pm, May 18, 2010
(A couple readers inform me that Jesuit priest Donald McGuire still maintains his innocence of extensive pedophile crimes., even after his convictions in Wisconsin and Illinois and with current charges in San Francisco, So City of Angels did some digging and came up with the speech McGuire made in 2006 in a Wisconsin court after his conviction. He’s pleading to the Judge that he really is not guilty. In the name of fairness, I copy and pasted the transcript* I got for readers to… digest.)
To me, McGuire claiming innocence in the face of an avalanche of charges shows the core of the problem with Pedophile Catholic Priests. They don’t live in the real world and are clueless as to how it works. In the statement, McGuire seems astounded that the entitled life he lived as a priest is now disrupted, especially since access to young boys seems to be part of that entitlement.
My reader-sources say, the Jesuit McGuire was prosecuted for crimes so many other Jesuit priests have commited, it’s not balanced justice. McGuire is essentially the fall guy. He took all the public flak, while other perps continue to live the Jesuit Life.
The “Society of Jesus” seems particularly adept at letting sex crimes of its priests slip by while the public is focused on pedophile priests somewhere else. The end result is Jesuit priest sex crimes rarely make the news, Jesuit perpetrator names rarely even make it into print. The Jesuits quietly pay out settlements and sustain a veneer of “education, intellectual research and promoting social justice” per Wikipedia
Now two City of Angels readers claim Jesuit Donald McGuire did not receive a fair trial in Illinois or Wisconsin. Not that the priest is innocent of pedophilia, but that the Jesuits... (Click here to continue reading)
And AlterNet will send you clicking back here again.
.
At City of Angels and AlterNet now,
TRANSCRIPT: After Guilty Verdict a Plea of Innocence, Is Pedophile Priest Donald McGuire a Fall Guy for the Jesuits?
Posted 7:51 pm, May 18, 2010
(A couple readers inform me that Jesuit priest Donald McGuire still maintains his innocence of extensive pedophile crimes., even after his convictions in Wisconsin and Illinois and with current charges in San Francisco, So City of Angels did some digging and came up with the speech McGuire made in 2006 in a Wisconsin court after his conviction. He’s pleading to the Judge that he really is not guilty. In the name of fairness, I copy and pasted the transcript* I got for readers to… digest.)To me, McGuire claiming innocence in the face of an avalanche of charges shows the core of the problem with Pedophile Catholic Priests. They don’t live in the real world and are clueless as to how it works. In the statement, McGuire seems astounded that the entitled life he lived as a priest is now disrupted, especially since access to young boys seems to be part of that entitlement.
My reader-sources say, the Jesuit McGuire was prosecuted for crimes so many other Jesuit priests have commited, it’s not balanced justice. McGuire is essentially the fall guy. He took all the public flak, while other perps continue to live the Jesuit Life.
The “Society of Jesus” seems particularly adept at letting sex crimes of its priests slip by while the public is focused on pedophile priests somewhere else. The end result is Jesuit priest sex crimes rarely make the news, Jesuit perpetrator names rarely even make it into print. The Jesuits quietly pay out settlements and sustain a veneer of “education, intellectual research and promoting social justice” per Wikipedia
Now two City of Angels readers claim Jesuit Donald McGuire did not receive a fair trial in Illinois or Wisconsin. Not that the priest is innocent of pedophilia, but that the Jesuits... (Click here to continue reading)
And AlterNet will send you clicking back here again.
.