..
Cardinal Nichols of England and Wales, Refuses Call to Step Down After Damning Report From IICSA
ON: 11/20/2020, BY SIMON CALDWELL, The Pilot
MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said he will not "walk away" from leadership of the church amid pressure to resign over his handling of child abuse cases.
Cardinal Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, has faced calls from sexual abuse survivors, lawyers and the media to step down since an inquiry into child abuse concluded that he showed neither compassion nor leadership in confronting the problem in at least two instances.
But in a Nov. 20 virtual news conference to announce wide-ranging reforms to child protection systems in the English and Welsh church, he said he had "no wish whatsoever to turn my back on this challenge, no wish to walk away at all."
"I want to be there doing everything I can to take these important recommendations forward," he said.
"I won't be doing the work myself. It is the work given to professionals designated to do it, but they can be sure they will have my full support and enabling ability to bring this to a proper end."
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, convened by former Home Secretary Theresa May nearly a decade ago, accused Cardinal Nichols of "preferring to protect the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales and in Rome" over the welfare of vulnerable children.
The 154-page "Roman Catholic Church: Investigation Report" said that the inquiry found "no acknowledgement of any personal responsibility to lead or influence change" on the part of the cardinal, saying "he did not always exercise the leadership expected of a senior member of the church."
But, speaking to media, Cardinal Nichols emphasized that his "first thoughts are and were" for those who suffered abuse.
"To each and every one I express my profound apologies," he said. "I have spent many hours listening to survivors, I have sat and talked with them, I have shared meals with them and I have wept with them. Nothing removes from my soul the horror of what has happened."
"I remain shocked and ashamed," he said. "It's a reality that hangs like a dark cloud over my mind and heart."
"Abuse is terrible wickedness. It can destroy or severely damage the capacity for trust and love. It can create of a life an empty shell," he said.
"I say again I am very sorry for all that has happened over these years," he added.
And, what about your part? Are you willing to admit that you were part of the problem? Why should we assume that you would now be part of the solution?
The national inquiry has examined abuse in more than a dozen institutions, including social care, government and the Anglican Church, and will report on each area before it publishes a final general report.
In its report on the Catholic Church, it revealed that between 1970 and 2015 approximately 900 complaints were received into 3,000 instances of child sexual abuse against more than 900 individuals in the church, including priests, monks and volunteers.
In the same period, the report said, there were 177 prosecutions resulting in 133 convictions, with millions of pounds paid in compensation.
The report made seven recommendations in such areas as leadership, training, auditing and compliance, and requested a change in the Code of Canon Law to explicitly recognize abuse as a crime against a child.
It should also be recognized as a crime against God! But I see no such reference in the Cardinal's remarks. I wonder how you get to be a Cardinal and still have so little knowledge of God?
But in the Nov. 20 news conference, child protection specialist Ian Elliott, who chaired the new review of safeguarding in the church, established in July 2019, told journalists the conclusions of his review panel exceeded the demands of the inquiry.
Besides structural improvements, he said, they included plans for the creation of a National Tribunal Service to address the canonical matters connected to clergy discipline and canonical offenses.
Carol Lawrence, a member of the review panel, added, "If we look at the recommendations around auditing, around complaints-handling, and around training -- all of which came through the work of the panel and are in Ian's report -- ours are much more far-reaching than IICSA suggested they needed to be.
"The intention is to be as far-reaching as we can in this," she continued. "More details have been thought out and the intention is there to make this happen as quickly as it can be implemented."
The reforms, which will place Catholic safeguarding under a "One Church" model covering religious institutions and other areas of ecclesial life as well as parishes and schools, will see the abolition of existing structures in favor of the creation of a single Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency with the power to enforce uniformly high standards of protection.
Subsidiary groups include a survivor/victim panel.
The bishops have accepted the conclusions of the Elliott Report and plan to implement them immediately.
A Nov. 20 statement from the bishops' conference said the Elliott Report was "fashioned with the participation of survivors of abuse. Their insight and wisdom has been crucial," it said. "We thank them for their great courage and generosity in working with us, and we look forward to continuing this growing collaboration."
Report blames top Montreal Church officials for ignoring complaints about priest who preyed on young boys
Catholic Church officials protected Brian Boucher's reputation for years
before he was arrested, report says
Benjamin Shingler · CBC News ·
Posted: Nov 25, 2020 2:36 PM ET
Brian Boucher is serving an eight-year sentence for sex crimes against young boys. 'The primary culprit is the lack of accountability of the people involved in Boucher's education, training and career,' says a report, released Wednesday, into the Church's conduct.
A Montreal priest was able to sexually abuse two young boys and terrorize several others over a 20-year span because top officials in the Catholic Church ignored complaints about his behaviour and, in some cases, tried to keep serious allegations secret, according to a damning new report.
The priest, Brian Boucher, worked at 10 churches in Montreal during his career, which began in the early 1980s. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2019 after being found guilty in one case and pleading guilty in another.
After Boucher was sentenced, the church commissioned former Quebec Superior Court justice Pepita Capriolo to investigate how the crimes could have gone undetected for so long.
As she released her report on Wednesday, Capriolo placed blame on the upper echelons of Montreal's Catholic Church. She said officials preferred to turn a blind eye rather than investigate mounting complaints about Boucher.
"What struck me most was the passing of the buck," Capriolo said at a news conference. "The need to protect the reputation of Boucher seemed to be paramount."
Report found years of inaction by superiors
Capriolo's report documents years of inaction by Boucher's superiors and, in some cases, efforts to keep troubling allegations secret. That allowed Boucher to keep working as a parish priest despite a multitude of warning signs.
"The primary culprit is the lack of accountability of the people involved in Boucher's education, training and career. Complaints were 'passed on' and no one took responsibility for acting on them," Capriolo said in her 276-page report.
Two of the province's most powerful Catholic figures in the last half-century — Cardinal Marc Ouellet, once a candidate for the papacy, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, now deceased — were among those aware of Boucher's behaviour, according to the report.
Brian Boucher became the parish priest at Our Lady of the Annunciation in the Town of Mount Royal in 2005. He was convicted last year of sexually abusing an altar boy from that church. (Louis-Marie Philidor/CBC)
But for decades, the only action taken was to send Boucher to therapy and psychological assessments.
Capriolo said she spoke with more than 60 people and read through hundreds of documents while preparing her report. Though she was granted complete independence, she said that at times key documents were missing.
She said the "shredding of documents was a well-known practice" in Turcotte's Montreal office.
"The culture of secrecy, which reigned in the Church during the period covered by this investigation, caused the disappearance of important documents and the general lack of a paper trail," she said.
Capriolo's report builds on an investigation conducted last year by CBC News, which relayed how Montreal parishioners had raised concern about bullying and worrisome relationships with young boys.
'Worrisome' relationships went unchecked
Capriolo's report notes that many raised concerns about Boucher's unacceptable behaviour early on. He was described as "rude, authoritarian, overly intense, homophobic, racist, misogynist and verbally, and sometimes even physically, aggressive."
Interesting that he was called homophobic when he was a homosexual!
Those concerns were "repeatedly reported to his superiors" and there were rumours about his "untoward interest in young boys" since the 1980s.
At the end of the 1990s, he had a "very close and worrisome relationship" with a young boy she refers to as "Jeremy." The boy was frequently alone with Boucher and, according to the report, church members noticed marks on his neck.
The report details a separate incident during the 1998 ice storm. After a night of smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol, an 18-year-old student from Mexico fled from the rectory, without his shoes, after Boucher made a sexual advance.
In 2003, the report says, there was also an abusive relationship with a 19-year-old that led to Boucher receiving psychological treatment. Again, no disciplinary action was taken.
There were further allegations of inappropriate behaviour in 2006. They, too, were dismissed.
The report states that in 2011, "a senior official of the Church wrote a lengthy, detailed summary of Boucher's ongoing failings in order to stop his reappointment as a pastor of a parish. The official left on extended sick leave and Boucher was reappointed."
In 2015, Boucher was finally subjected to a more thorough internal investigation, after he claimed he had been the victim of sexual abuse by a "much younger fellow priest." It turned out Boucher was the "perpetrator and not the victim," according to Capriolo's findings.
That investigation, conducted by Bishop Thomas Dowd, resulted in the conclusion that there were "at least two child victims."
Archbishop commits to decisive action
Capriolo's report includes 31 recommendations. Many of them are aimed at ensuring priests in the Catholic Church are held more accountable for their actions.
The first recommendation is that an external ombudsperson be tasked with investigating the conduct of priests at each stage of their career.
Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine, who commissioned the report last November, apologized to Boucher's victims at Wednesday's news conference.
"In the name of the Catholic Church in Montreal, and speaking for myself personally, I wish to say how sorry we are that you have had to experience the effects of such terrible acts, which should never have occurred," he said.
He committed to "acting decisively" to ensuring such abuse doesn't occur again.
Capriolo will chair a committee along with Lépine to follow through on the recommendations.
Lépine also said he would oversee a broader examination of church records, beginning early next year, to explore whether other cases of abuse had not been acted upon.
Pope Francis sued by three Australians allegedly sexually assaulted by Melbourne paedophile priest Michael Glennon
Posted 27 Nov 2020
ABC News, AU
Pope Francis is named in the lawsuit because he is the only person in the church who can defrock a priest.(AP: Andrew Medichini)
Three men who were allegedly sexually assaulted by a paedophile priest are suing Pope Francis, the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, and the Catholic Church.
It is the first known case in Australia where victims have claimed compensation from a pope for failing to take action to stop the clerical sexual abuse by a known abuser.
The three men from one extended family were allegedly abused — repeatedly and regularly — by serial paedophile Michael Glennon in the 1980s.
A writ has been lodged with the Victorian Supreme Court, claiming damages against Pope Francis, the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli and one of his predecessors, Frank Little. The entity representing the church is also named.
Glennon was sentenced a number of times for child sex offences and died in prison in 2014.
"There were requests made to defrock him but that didn't occur until well after our clients' alleged abuse occurred," said Angela Sdrinis, the lawyer representing the men.
She said the Pope had been included because only he can sack a priest.
"Unfortunately it wasn't within the power of the Archbishop of Melbourne or indeed the Melbourne archdiocese to laicise the priest. That is a function of the Pope," she said.
"That's why we've been led to a position where we feel we almost have no choice but to join the Pope. We say that step should have been taken much earlier. It should have been taken after the first conviction, which was 1978."
No comments:
Post a Comment