abuse

Vatican Responds to Irish Criticism: 25-Pages of “Nope, not our fault”

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The Vatican has finally responded to the scathing criticism directed at them by the Irish Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. A few months ago the findings of the Cloyne report revealed on-going abuse and cover-up,  so caused considerable anger. In response the Taoiseach (the head of the Irish government) stood up in the Dail (the Irish Parliment)  and gave a speech in which he described “the dysfunction, disconnection and elitism” in the Vatican and accused them of interferring by blocking the reporting of abuse to the Irish Authorities.

A 25 page reply from the Vatican has now been issued in which they state:

“… significant reservations that the speech made by Enda Kenny… in particular, the accusation that the Holy See attempted to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign democratic republic, is unfounded.”

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Catholicism in Ireland facing financial bankruptcy

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The UK’s Guardian reports today that many parishes in Dublin are  close to financial collapse due to child abuse compensation payments. Their source for this is a leaked internal report from the Council of Priests that was published in this week’s edition of the Irish Catholic newspaper. The Guardian article says …

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Its the Catholics again … avoiding responsibility

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I often wonder if I’ve heard every possible excuse to justify not accepting responsibility for child abuse. However, just when I think I have, along comes somebody to prove me completely wrong.

There is currently a case taking place in the UK that involves a girl known as “JGE”, who was sexually abused while a six-year-old resident at The Firs, a children’s home in Portsmouth run by an order of nuns, the English Province of Our Lady of Charity. JGE was sexually abused by Father Wilfred Baldwin, a priest of the Roman Catholic diocese of Portsmouth and its “vocations director”, who regularly visited The Firs during the 70s. Her legal team claim the nuns were negligent and in breach of duty, and that the diocese was liable for Baldwin’s alleged abuse as he was a Catholic priest engaged within the work of the diocese.

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More catholic Abuse – the coverup continues

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We have yet another story about Catholic abuse and an associated cover-up. The tragedy here is that this is now so common, it is almost non-news. A BBC documentary, “Abused: Breaking the Silence”, will air tonight (BBC1 at 10:35 21st June) and reveal all the sordid details. It concerns the antics of Fr Kit Cunningham, the jovial parish priest of St Ethedreda’s church and for many years unofficial padre to Fleet Street. When he was a young missionary in Africa he committed the most disgusting paedophile crimes – he sexually assaulted prep school boys at the order’s school in Soli, Tanzania

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Catholic Child Abuse – some updates

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Two Catholic Related news items caught my eye today …

There is a news report here, that the number of Catholic priests accused of child sexual abuse and the number of victims rose significantly in 2010 …

The bishops’ report said there were 426 victims last year, up from 398 in 2009, while the number of priests accused went up from 286 to 345. Those numbers are down from highs of 889 victims and 622 offending clergy members in 2004.

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Canon law has allowed Catholic abuse priests to escape punishment

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There is an interesting article in today’s UK Guardian that states the position now being taken by Geoffrey Robertson QC, the lawyer engaged to seriously consider a legal challenge against the pope. His book, “The Case of the Pope”, is published tomorrow, so unless you have been living on MARS for the past five years, … Read more