Tuesday 16 May 2017

VATICAN'S 2000+ ABUSE CASES !!!

Pope Francis acknowledges 2,000 clerical sex abuse cases on backlog, but said Vatican is 'on the right path' as more staff are added to congregation

·         Vatican has a 2,000-case backlog of clerical sex abuse cases to be processed
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·         Pope Francis said criticism of slow process is justified and staff are being added
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·         This is his first response to the criticism since abuse survivor Marie Collins left his advisory board in March
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PUBLISHED: 16:54, 14 May 2017 UPDATED: 20:59, 14 May 2017

He told reporters that more staff are being added to the congregation to boost efficiency and that there are ongoing discussions about giving more regional help to bishops to better prepare their cases

Pope Francis has acknowledged the Vatican has 2,000 clerical sex abuse cases backlogged for processing, but he added that more staff are being brought in to improve progress.
This is the first time the pope has responded to the criticism of how the Vatican is handling sex abuse cases since Marie Collins resigned from the Vatican's sex abuse commission on March 1. 
When she left the advisory board, Collins, pictured,  said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ignored or scuttled commission proposals to protect children and care for abuse victims that had been approved by the pope
The prominent Irish abuse survivor left the advisory board citing the 'unacceptable' lack of cooperation from Cardinal Gerhard Mueller's office, which processes canonical cases against pedophile priests. 
She also said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ignored or scuttled commission proposals to protect children and care for abuse victims that had been approved by the pope. 
Pope Francis, pictured on the plane from Portugal Saturday, has acknowledged the Vatican has 2,000 clerical sex abuse cases backlogged for processing, but he added that more staff are being brought in to improve progress
The pope's comments Saturday are his first response to the way the Vatican is handling sex abuse cases since Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins, pictured, left the advisory board in March
Francis told reporters on his plane Saturday that Collins was 'a bit right' to criticize how long it takes to process cases, according to Fox News, but he did not address her other concerns with the commission.  
'Marie Collins was right on that point,' he said, speaking of her critique of the slow pace. 'But we are on the right path, as there were 2,000 cases backlogged.'
He added that more staff are being added to the congregation to boost efficiency and that there are ongoing discussions about giving more regional help to bishops to better prepare their cases before sending them on to the Vatican. 
The pope was flying home to Portugal just one day before Mother's Day, where he held a moment of silence in St Peter's Square to pray for mothers, 'even our mothers in heaven'. 
Speaking of Collins's critique of how long it takes for the sex abuse cases to be processed, Francis said: 'Marie Collins was right on that point. 
He told reporters that more staff are being added to the congregation to boost efficiency and that there are ongoing discussions about giving more regional help to bishops to better prepare their cases
On the plane Saturday, Francis also denied that he had accepted a request for clemency from a pedophile priest. 
Francis has pledged 'zero tolerance' for abusive priests, and he won praise for creating the commission to provide the church with expert advice on protecting children and keeping pedophiles out of the priesthood. 
But questions have dogged him from the start about whether he really 'gets it' about abuse, given he never dealt with the issue as archbishop and has surrounded himself with cardinal advisers who themselves have botched handling cases. 

His board has also lost credibility since Collins left in March. She was the only abuse survivor on the commission.

Pat says:

It even comes as a surprise to me that the Vatican has 2000+ current cases of priest abusers on their books.

We all knee this was a BIG problem but only the Vatican knows just how big it really is.

And that does not include the cases not drawn to their attention yet!

And some bishops are continuing to ordain unsuitable candidates  - the problems / scandals of the future.

The underlying causes of all these problems are not being addressed.

The "Titanic" is heading for the iceberg.

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FOR THOSE SEEKING A NEW CATHOLIC HOME
INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC CHURCH



A number of us are in the process of creating an interim website for the new Independent Catholic Church.

SEE:
 www.independentcatholicchurch.co.uk


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52 comments:

  1. Bishop Pat, dare I say it but the Independent Catholic Church is the bestest idea you have ever had in your whole life!

    Your whole existence has been leading towards this moment, Bishop. The whole world is watching you now with bated breath.

    Indeed, Heaven itself looks on anxiously, as it awaits the birth cries of this newly born Church - the True Church - at long last - a New Pentecost!

    Are you going to ordain Mrs Carter? Big Lily is hoping against hope that you will.

    Furthermore, Big Lil did express the fond and earnest desire, to me, the other day, that you would bring her neighbour, Old Maggie, to live with you in Larne, as Big Lily said, " ma nerves is racked so they are".

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    1. It's a pity, really, that Maggie can't seek orders herself, since she'd be such a model of human understanding and valuing of others' opinions, but sadly her day job as a traffic warden keeps her busy and gives her all the power she wants.

      Delete
    2. Funny, 00:54, the Jews would have said as much of the early Christians (in fact, the word 'Christians' was probably used pejoratively in the beginning, since it literally means 'partisans of Christ').

      Don't you recall what the liberal rabbi Gamaliel said to the Sanhedrin about the early Church? Wasn't it along these lines? If this work is not of God, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to suppress it, since you will be opposing God himself.

      These Jews didn't know any better, but you do. (You have read Acts of the Apostles, haven't you? Haven't you?)

      Delete
    3. Ure just sore at me, 10:25, cos a jilted y' at the altar fer my Magnus all them years ago.👰

      Delete
    4. @Magna Carta
      I'm surprised you get time to do any reading. Don't you have to ticket a certain number of cars a day?

      Delete
  2. Tbh Pat, what surprises me is that you believe that figure, when you're so skilled in interpreting church-speak and cover-ups!
    Translated for we English speakers, this actually means 'we have 2,000 cases of paedo clergy which we're prepared to refer to on the record, while giving no indication of how dangerous these people are or whether anything is in place to protect the public from them'.
    Since it wasn't said I would infer that they are not being managed robustly.
    I will also guess the majority are in South America or Africa, the new places to dump problematic clergy from elsewhere.

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    1. I agres. These are 2000 ACKNOWLEDGED cases.

      And you are right about Sth America and Africa.

      I wonder, for instance, how many Irish missionaries have abused children, women and men in these two continents.

      This scandal will gradually emerge.

      Delete
  3. Pat,
    In your 31 years at the Oratory how many followers have you attracted? i.e. How many in 1985 and how many are there today?

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    1. Lets put it this way - if I gathered together all those who were ministered to at The Oratory in tge past 31 years we would need a very large venue.

      4000 marriages and blessings - 4000 couples, 8000 persons, not to mention their families.

      350 baptisms - 700 parents.

      The Oratory is not a terratorial parish. Our parish is the world.

      The normal Sunday congregation is 20 regulars.

      At present we have 100 weddings / blessings a year - more than some RC dioceses :-)

      At Jesus' Mass on Calvary there were 4 attendees - 3 women and 1 man.

      Number wise that was a "failure".

      "Even if you are a minority of one, tge truth is still the truth" Mahatma Gandhi.

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    2. Pat, My question was about the number of followers. The fact that disaffected Catholics and those not free to marry in the real church have recourse to you is irrelevant.
      Your reference to Jesus on Calvary is an odd one.
      Where I live the Sunday Mass attendance is 1800 people per week as reported on the newsletter, so your numbers look pathetic by comparison.
      I would not like to be in your shoes when you must account for all the bogus weddings before God.

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    3. I do not regard the RC Denomination as "the real church".

      Calvary reference - surely if we are judging everything by numbers Clavary and the Last Supper must be regarded as pathetic too???

      I note you attend on Sundays with 1799 "others".

      I wonder how many of them practice "RC teaching in their private lives?

      I am more interested in quality than quantity.

      I will be very happy to tell God about all the people and couples I helped over the years who were turned away by the RC pharisees.

      Delete
  4. Florrie McWilliams, is thon ure dulcit tones agean? Nat a bitta wonder, luv, thon convent rejected you, cos ure tongue's niver on haliday, so it's nat. Remember what was said durin' the war? (An don't lie 'bout ure age agean. Y'were as oul as Goebbels) :'Loose lips sink ships.' Will here, luv, if you'd bin fightin' fer the Germans, they'd a won the Battle of the Atlantic in a week.

    An y'know what? Y' don't afin talk a latta sense, Florrie, but I'd say the whole Roman World is watchin' Bishop Buckley nye. Aye! An thon oul lad, Pope Francis, is prabably so feard he's sittin' awn a commode instead a thon papal throne.

    An tell thon big huzzy t' stay off them hay heels, otherwise it'll not just be her nerves that is wracked, so it won't.


    Maggie Carta (Magna's Oul Ma)

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    1. Magna, you're cringeworthy attempts to imitate a "wee Belfast woman" aside, doesn't it say it all that you are caricatured on here, as a shrewish, chain smoking, bellicose, alcoholic, "fur coat and no knickers", vicious old witch, who annoys the heart out of her neighbors? Lol.

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  5. Let Francis do his investigating but the abuse cases should be handed over to the Police Forces in whatever jurisdiction they happened in. Suspend suspects pending outcome. The front page of the new website is looking good

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  6. MourneManMichael16 May 2017 at 10:35

    I posed the conundrum in my last two comments to +Pat's last blog concerning the nun helping five priests to abuse.
    To repeat: It is surely an enigma that RC clergy abuse minors on such a scale, while at same time professing to represent a religion based on upholding high personal, ethical and moral standards of behaviour as is required by their all seeing/knowing God as a pre-requisite 'examination' for their admission to 'Heaven'.
    This current blog quantifies acknowledged/admitted abuse figures. Given historical patterns of disclosure, these 2000+ figures are likely to only be the tip of the iceberg.
    So the enigma remains. Apart from MC's comment, no blog followers attempt to shed light or explanation on my central question.
    To what extent is RC clericalism a sham, and its elitist hierarchy of clerics effectively self selected shamen?
    And what are the implications of such deceit?
    MMM

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    1. Possibly they go into that religious environmenr knowing there is something 'wrong' with them and hoping the religion will put them right?
      But I'm being too kind: paedophiles go in to teaching, scouting and clergy for the endless opportunities of grooming children. Since the public sector is now paranoid about child abuse I would predict that they're more likely than ever to go into the church where the selection procedures and safeguards remain wooly, and despite all the talk there remains a backlog of cases to deal with. Actually there should be no backlog, these priests should be suspended and the police contacted.
      As to whether these people really believe their religion, obnectively obviously not, but some may persuade themselves they do.

      Delete
    2. MMM Throwing logic out the window why do some priests think they can operate above the law and be cheerfully liberal with sexual activity? This is not based on scientific research but reflection and supposition. Y'see the poor old priest has so much on his plate condemned to a life of loneliness living in a big house and will probably end up in a big old folks home where nobody will even know his name. The "settled folk" have all the fun and benefits,Partners children etc so fekit if I get the biggest car its the least i'm entitled to. Have sex? Fellas cant have babies-wheres the harm. Have it off with the woman down the street...she fancies me.. Of course where it totally sour is when it comes to abuse of vulnerable people or minors. My imagination refuses to go down that road. Stating the obvious abuse can not be tolerated and needs to stop

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    3. There are hundreds of good ordinary lay people who are single and living alone. I hope I might be regarded as one of them, on my own happily for over fifty years. I never feel the need to be promiscuous and even if I did, I know it would not bring real happiness and contentment. There are better ways to contact others and alleviate loneliness. My nearest family member lives 102 miles away.

      Delete
    4. 17.39 You appear logical and balanced. The problem with my imagenary fr somebody is that he may well choose to believe an unfair burden has been placed on his shoulders so frustration of lifestyle leads to inappropriate or exhagerated lifestyle choices to compensate.

      Delete
  7. MMM,

    It is a huge enigma that RC clergy abuse minors while professing to represent the Catholic faith.

    Let me try and answer your questions:

    RC clericalism is a sham!

    In my 47 years in the church I have met many priests who do not believe in God or pray to that God.

    I have even met a priest who got out of bed with a 14 year old boy to go and celebrate Sunday Mass and then go straight back to bed with the boy.

    Many clerics are and remain sexually immature.

    Celibacy / chastity is an unbearable burden for them?

    Priesthood brings social status, power etc.

    The implications - the current clerical and church chaos and damage.

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    1. That was an excellent historical and psychological analysis, Bishop P. .

      It is the worldly nature of priesthood that attracts the immature, not Christ. And it is Satan who tempts these into the Church, because such worldliness resonates with their natures.

      Roman Catholicism is being destroyed by its priests and religious through a self-aggrandizing and false theology of priesthood which makes demi-Gods of mere men...in their eyes, at least. It is the root of clericalism in the Church.

      Delete
    2. Did you report that priest Pat?

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    3. I did. He is dead now.

      Sadly the boy he was in bed with went on to be a very promiscuous gay priest himself - and is still active both as a priest and a sex machine with consenting adults.

      His bishop knows about this and is protecting him.

      In fact after he was reported his bishop promoted him to a bigger parish.

      Delete
    4. Why then is he not exposed on the blog?

      Delete
    5. MournemanMichael16 May 2017 at 14:01

      Pat, I view current chaos in the RC church as a consequence of what you acknowledge as a lack of belief.
      But the implication is that such lack of belief is widespread, and manifests itself more obviously in abusers departing from normally accepted ethical and moral standards in addition to those of their professed religion.
      I ponder in addition on how many non abusing RC clerics genuinely continue to believe the central tenets of their religion, the existence of God, Christ's divinity and mission etc. To what extent are a significant proportion of them only constricted and retained in clerical role by the imperatives of financial familial and community requirements?

      Delete
    6. A large number of RC clerics do not believe - and not only abusers.

      You are right that many of them stay in as a result of financial, familial and community requirements.

      How often a priest has said to me:

      "I will leave when my mother dies".

      "I would leave only I have no qualifications and would end up homeless, jobless and destitute.

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    7. I would say I am a person of faith and prayer. I can remember working with a priest about 20 years ago and thinking - "you don't believe a word of it, do you.."

      Delete
  8. The website is not working

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    1. Teething problems. It will be working in 5 minutes.

      Delete
    2. There does not seem to be a comment forum on the website?

      I see there is a reference to a threefold ministry of Holy Orders - deacon, priest and bishop. We really need to get away from this Roman nothing that a priest does not enjoy the fullness of priesthood and that only a bishop does. There is no difference between a priest and bishop, the new testament does not distinguish. That was a later Roman innovation. Let's consider calling them Priest-Bishops otherwise we are setting ourselves up on the path to clericalism and a false notion that a bishop has some type of authority over a priest.

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    3. The website is less that 24 hours old. Give us a chance to finish constructing it please.

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    4. EDWIN HARWOOD DD

      And this is what I hold in respect of the historic episcopate and apostolic succession. The episcopate is historic--is the normal type of the highest office in the church of Christ--but it is an institutio ecclesiastica and not an institutio divina. The ministry, as such, is a divine institution, but the form of its constitution is subject to the decisions and actions of the church. The church has the right to order the form of its government, subject only to Christ, its adorable Head.

      I agree with Harwood. The episcopate is not a divine institution but a historic institution.

      As Catholics we belive that God reveals things both in Scripture and Tradition.

      The episcopate is from Tradition.

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    5. Sorry Pat, got ahead of myself!

      Delete
  9. Pat, will the ICC be discriminating against sissies? I'm not sure I want to be in a church with heteronormative binary types.

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    1. No it will NOT be discriminating against anyone.

      Delete
  10. Symbolism of the logo is great but you really should get somebody who is more skilled at graphic design to redraw it for you. It doesn't look good. Also, perhaps you should do your website in squarespace so that your site looks professional, it's not very good at the moment.

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    1. Thank you for your constructive criticism.

      We are limited by our funds and by our lack of experience.

      I do not even know what "squarespace" is.

      Can you offer us help? Advicxe?

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    2. There is symbolism in itself that the logo is not completely symmetrical. God uses weakness and the worlds sense of imperfection to his greater glory. I would not mind it remaining exactly as it is, but neither would I mind if it is recreated symmetrically.

      Delete
    3. MournemanMichael16 May 2017 at 18:16

      My daughter who lived in the Middle East for 14 years pointed out a non symmetrical pattern/mistake in an expensive Persian carpet saying it is intentional as "Only Allah is perfect!"
      MMM

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    4. I wasn't aware that Pat was a Mohammedan

      Delete
  11. Pat the 2000 cases mentioned by Pope Francis in his presser on board the flight are 2000 cases referred to the Vatican authorities for a decision. Many of these are where priests have been accused of offences, maintain their innocence, have no case to answer before the Civil authorities, but who have been hung out to dry by their bishops and dioceses. Many of them are probably innocent of ever having abused anyone, let alone a child. For the sake of fairness I hope you mention this please. Vatican Insider.

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    1. The official transcript of the press conference says that "there are many delayed cases," ... "they have been piling up… " No figure at all is mentioned. Where does the 2000+ figure come from?

      In response to a question about the Pius X Fraternity Francis mentions in an offhand way that they have been sending THEIR child abuse cases to the CDF. Now that is a sensational revelation in several ways.

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  12. https://www.squarespace.com
    And here is an example of a church website in square space
    http://www.royaldocks.faith

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  13. Brentwood church?

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  14. Well done Tom and Pat on the ICC work so far. My original post on Tuesday last week certainly got you going. This has been hanging there for a long time but in our village-island no one, including me was prepared to put his or her head above the parapet. Now the problem is how can we maintain involvement with Catholic groups if it is known that we are involved with ICC. I for one will be given my marching orders by the Religious Police from a number of things I enjoy doing with my fellow Catholics. However, if there was a chance of getting into ministry in the ICC that would trump every sacrifice. Or is there anyway both " horses" can be straddled, to use a poor metaphor. My clerical pal thinks not. How can I square the circle Pat? This as for others I know has been a thorn in the side (!!) for many years... Oh to have been born an Anglican! I could have joined the Ordinariate

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    1. You want to be involved with the ICC but you wish you had been born an Anglican so that you could join the Ordinariate?! Are you aware that they are polar opposites?

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    2. 20.47 Affiliating to any other church group not in communion with Rome would mean automatic Excommunication.Dont worry it's not as bad as it sounds. Excommunication is a juridical tool of canon law. The same canon law that says nobody is outside the grace of God. So canon law shoots itself in the foot. Good luck in your searching.

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    3. A first glance the new site is sadly looking to be an extension to this. In the about us section if it were me I'd review the opening paragraphs to avoid the RC. Its should be about what you want to be not what you've come from. It just smacks of negative.

      As stated before aspects of things like abortion pro's and cons etc are and could be a ground gor discussion as it children, vulnerables and the protection of such.

      I know you've said its only up and going and I hope you get the comments section up and going quickly as it would be nicer to make comment away from this more personal blog.
      Anyhow thought I'd get that out in case I got distracted with life.

      Delete
  15. "So for 5 years now, in a very sensitive way, and only when it was acceptable and appropriate, I have been asking heterosexual men and women about their experience in this area." I'm surprised you did this. How different is this kind of "sensitive" questioning from what is alleged to have been asked of Maynooth seminarians re their sex lives by their chaplain/director of formation as documented on this blog?

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  16. And when your new 'church' takes off and has many members, you hope to escape the infiltration of those who have managed to infiltrate every denomination (that I have ever heard of) and every sect (try googling sex abuse and Mormons/Jehovah's witnesses/Baptists/Etc. etc.). The fact is that Catholic priests were considered to be employees (sue for the money true or not) rather than congregational appointees (so no money there then, don't bother)so the abuse of boys/men (almost no girls - it was almost always homosexual abuse) will never happen in the ICC? It will.

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