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Spanish Catholic Church to conduct child sex abuse probe – media
19 Dec, 2021 18:53
in Granada. November 23, 2014. © Reuters / Pepe Marin
After months of refusing to do so, Spain’s Catholic Church has reportedly launched an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of hundreds of children by its clergy members going back some 80 years.
The investigation will examine allegations of abuse brought against 251 priests and an unspecified number of lay people from Church-run institutions, El Pais reported on Sunday. The newspaper uncovered the accusations during a three-year investigation.
The number of victims has been pegged at around 1,237, but the paper noted that this figure could rise into the thousands. The allegations cover some 31 religious orders and run across 31 of the country’s some 70 dioceses. The oldest incident is understood to date back to 1943, with the most recent case coming in 2018.
According to El Pais, the investigation will be carried out by the Spanish Episcopal Conference (SEC), a high-ranking body of the country’s bishops headed by Cardinal Juan Jose Omella, the archbishop of Barcelona.
Although it has not yet published its findings in full, the paper stated that the 385-page dossier about the issue was handed to Pope Francis when the pontiff was traveling to Rome after a visit to Cyprus earlier this month.
In a statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the Pope had received the report and passed it on to “competent bodies so it could proceed according to current Church law.” Reuters noted that the documents could also be reviewed by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which investigates sexual abuse.
Earlier in the year, the SEC revealed that 220 cases of child sexual abuse had been officially reported to the Vatican over the past two decades. This included 76 allegations against priests and 144 against members of various religious orders, but did not account for accusations against lay members of the Church or employees working in the institutions run by the religious orders.
In recent months, victims’ rights groups have called for an independent probe similar to the high-profile investigation in France earlier this year that found members of the French Catholic Church had abused as many as 330,000 victims since 1950.
However, Spanish Church officials had thus far refused to do so, suggesting that child sexual abuse was a wider societal problem.
It is, but it doesn't excuse you from addressing the very large portion associated with the Catholic Church. The church will never be able to move on and get right with God as long as it continues to hide some of its horrendous sins.
Clerics get away with child abuse in the Philippines
Published: December 21, 2021 03:57 AM GMT
Father Shay Cullen
Preda Foundation
The era of fear and impunity is coming to a close in many countries, but not the Philippines
There are serious and profound changes taking place in the Catholic Church to acknowledge and prevent child sexual abuse by clerics and laypeople. The number of priests convicted in the Philippines is zero. Clerical child abuse has become a crisis for the Church as an institution.
We celebrate this December Pope Francis’ historic decree that approved a new law, Motu Proprio Vos estis lux mundi, to protect child victims and prosecute any clergy accused of child abuse. It covers bishops who cover up acts of abuse by priests or laypeople. Every complaint of child abuse must be reported and investigated immediately and reported to the Church and the civil authorities.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has guidelines for dealing with child abuse by priests but they are outdated and do not include any cooperation with civil authorities in bringing a cleric child rapist or abuser to justice. That changed in December 2019 when Pope Francis abolished pontifical secrecy and issued new decrees.
The Vatican pontifical law holds bishops and priests and major superiors responsible for failing to report crimes by priests or clerics against children to civil authorities. Pope Francis issued the decree stating that the cover-up of any acts of abuse against children and vulnerable people is a grave crime, especially if committed under threat or by abuse of authority.
In the Philippines, the arrest and detention of an American priest, Father Kenneth Hendricks, 78, in the Diocese of Naval, a town in Biliran province, on Dec. 5, 2018, for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of boys has focused attention on the culture of silence, cover-ups and inaction by local clergy, officials and townspeople. Now such cover-ups and failure to report child abuse to church authorities are a crime under church law. According to Philippine criminal law, one can be charged with aiding and abetting child abuse by allowing it to happen, as an accessory to the crime.
The alleged crimes by Hendricks were known in Naval but no one would take action, talk to the victims or try to stop the abuse for years. The alleged abuse was first reported to authorities in the United States who carried out a quiet investigation, gathered evidence and filed charges against Hendricks in Ohio where a judge issued an arrest warrant.
Remember that Jesus of Nazareth identified himself with children and said justice must be done by tying a millstone around the neck of the abuser and he be thrown into the sea
The fact that no local people dared accuse the priest despite widespread knowledge and complaints by several victims indicates the fear of retribution for going up against a priest. Even local prosecutors and judges in provincial towns like Naval are allegedly under pressure to find ways to freeze prosecutions and court proceedings indefinitely.
They hope the statute of limitations will finally prevail. This should be abolished. The Diocese of Naval apparently welcomes the freezing because as long as the case is there, Hendricks cannot be deported to the US to stand trial. That era of fear and impunity is coming to a close in many countries, but not yet in the Philippines despite the new church laws.
Pope Francis has also instructed that such crimes known to church authorities be reported to civil authorities and must not be withheld under the guise of “confidentiality” stipulated in canon law to protect the names of those involved.
This has been used in the past to stifle all action against pedophile priests and to protect them. Now it is a crime to do so. The instruction specifically states that church authorities must cooperate with civil authorities and share evidence with them in any investigation.
Also, the victims must never be bound to silence about the abusive act by anybody or impeded by anybody. So, the traditional out-of-court settlement is morally wrong and forbidden.
The child sex abuser committed a heinous crime and must be held accountable before the law. This is justice for the victims and a strong deterrent to other would-be child abusers. Remember that Jesus of Nazareth identified himself with children and said justice must be done by tying a millstone around the neck of the abuser and he be thrown into the sea.
So, the days of impunity in the Church are over, according to Pope Francis and the Vatican office protecting the rights of abused children. However, the culture of silence and abuse with impunity is still strong in the Philippine Church.
Many still think that it is a virtue to protect a priest accused by a child of abuse and they blame the child victim. The culture of fear and intimidation that follows when a child reports being abused is shocking.
What is needed in the Philippine Church to bring out the truth is an independent investigation like that done in France where thousands of victims were discovered. Now an investigation in Portugal is underway.
This cover-up and inaction make the Philippine Church a safe haven for pedophiles
and can attract them to become priests
The number of priests challenged in the Philippines for child abuse and investigated is only four or five and no priest has ever been convicted. In other countries, thousands have been brought to justice and the victims helped and compensated.
This cover-up and inaction make the Philippine Church a safe haven for pedophiles and can attract them to become priests. This instruction of Pope Francis is apparently not being respected and obeyed by bishops and church authorities.
There are many conservative bishops around the world resisting the reforms ushered in by Pope Francis and while they have pledged allegiance to the dogma of the infallibility of the pope, apparently they do not now believe in that dogma.
Most cases of child sexual abuse by clergy are rarely exposed. Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, now moved to Rome, said accusations against priests are investigated internally in the Church.
The vast majority of Philippine clergy are faithful and hard-working and are deeply ashamed of the terrible crimes against children that are being allowed to happen. They feel their priesthood is under a cloud by church inaction or silence against abusive clergy.
No priest has been known to have reported a fellow priest for child abuse that led to action to save the victim and bring the abuser to justice. They were afraid or ashamed to report a fellow priest and failed in their priestly and Christian duty to do justice and help the child victim.
That silence is a form of consent. Now dioceses have strict rules and regulations to report child abuse and prosecute the offender in civil courts. However, they allegedly ignore the Vatican law.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
Father Shay Cullen is an Irish Columban missionary who has worked in the Philippines since 1969. In 1974, he founded the Preda Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to protecting the rights of women and children and campaigning for freedom from sex slavery and human trafficking.
Retired Virginia priest charged with child sex abuse
The Washington Post reports that a Fairfax County grand jury indicted 68-year-old Terry Specht of Donegal, Pennsylvania, on two felony counts related to sexual abuse of a child under 13.
According to the indictment, the assault took place in 2000, when Specht was chaplain and assistant principal at St. Paul VI Catholic High School.
Public defender Dawn Butorac says Specht “maintains his innocence.” A diocese spokesperson says Specht was responsible for policy and instruction for the Arlington Diocese Office of Child Protection and Safety, but didn’t oversee abuse investigations.
AP National News
Judge rules Catholic Church vicariously liable for Ballarat
paedophile priest Bryan Coffey's abuse 50 years ago
By Elizabeth Byrne
Posted Mon 27 Dec 2021 at 1:21pm
(ABC Local Radio: Margaret Burin)
A man has successfully sued the Catholic Church after a court found it had vicarious liability for sexual abuse he says he suffered from a notorious priest 50 years ago. The Victorian man's lawyers believe it is the first such ruling in Australia.
Father Bryan Coffey was convicted in the Ballarat County Court in February 1999 of multiple counts of sexual assault against other children, and was given a three-year suspended sentence.
Did they also give him a gold watch? Why no prison time? It wouldn't seem that he was very sick or old as he lived another 14 years. Oh, well, it is likely his real sentence began in 2013.
He died in 2013.
The man told the Victorian Supreme Court that Coffey had sexually abused him at his parent's Port Fairy home on two occasions in 1971, when the assistant priest was visiting.
The victim was five years old at the time.
He claimed damages for pain and suffering, lost earnings, medical expenses, exemplary damages and aggravated damages, related to the priest's position in the community, and the fact that gave him access to his home to commit the offences.
The court heard the man's life had been difficult and he had problems at school, where he says a female teacher was physically abusive to him. Both of his parents were killed in an accident when he was a young man.
He said he had long suffered bouts of depression, which he attributed to the abuse.
Bryan Coffey's victims say they don't understand why they had to fight the church every step of the way, and money won't heal their trauma.
It won't pay for their sins, either.
However, Justice John Forrest found his explanation unconvincing. He pointed to the man's earlier attempt to seek redress from the church over his claim about his former female teacher.
"It is extraordinary that, in the process of making the school abuse complaint to a Catholic redress body — with the help of two firms of solicitors — that [the man] did not mention Coffey's actions," Justice Forrest said.
The man had also not told his psychologists over many years.
But Justice Forrest found that, despite the flaws in the man's account, the abuse did happen, on the balance of probabilities. He found the abuse was consistent with what Coffey's other victims had experienced.
A critical part of the case concerned how the legal action began. The man had made little mention of the incident until he saw an advertisement in a local paper from some Canberra lawyers.
Justice Forrest refused to award damages up until that time, but said he accepted the man had suffered since the memories were reawakened.
"I am satisfied that, once he read the December advertisement, the memories of the Coffey assaults were revived and have since that time played, along with his other issues, a part in the production of his depression and anxiety," the judge said.
Justice Forrest awarded the man $200,000 in damages for pain and suffering. But the more significant finding was that the church was liable for aggravated damages, after Coffey's action.
"I can see no reason why the diocese should not be vicariously liable for such an award given that is relates directly to Coffey's conduct and is compensatory in nature," Justice Forrest said.
Lawyer Sangeeta Sharmin, who works for Ken Cush & Associates in Canberra, said the decision was significant. "It marks for the first time in Australia a decision that exercises attribution of liability to a bishop for the acts of his predatory priest or assistant priest," Ms Sharmin said.
"Bishops and church leaders can no longer avoid responsibility by using a technical argument that the abuse did not arise from confidence in the clerical collar."
The court awarded the man an additional $20,000 for aggravated damages and a further $10,000 for future medical costs.
Mumbai – POCSO Court announces Life sentence to
Catholic Pastor for sodomizing a 13 years old boy
By Manish Sharma
December 30, 2021
Here, I must interject to note the definition of the word "church". There is the Catholic Church, which still considers itself as God's church, even after the thousands of paedophile priests, Bishops and Cardinals have been outed.
The real "church" is made up of those people who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour - regardless of church affiliation. This does not include paedo priests, Bishops, or Cardinals, or anyone else who enables those evil men to continue in their Satanic work of destroying innocence and violating the sacred.
The real "church" is made up of those people who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour - regardless of church affiliation. This does not include paedo priests, Bishops, or Cardinals, or anyone else who enables those evil men to continue in their Satanic work of destroying innocence and violating the sacred.
You greatly dishonour real Christians when you include Catholics under the label "church". Yes, of course there are good Catholic Christians, but, unfortunately, too few of them.
If any such case comes into the picture, the entire Church and Missionaries ecosystem kicks in to cover it up. They never shy away from demeaning the victims and their families. We have seen another such incident in Mumbai, where a pastor Father Lawrence sodomized a 13-years old boy in 2015.
Finally, the POCSO court has ordered the life sentence awarded to Father Lawrence for his heinous crime. The 13-year-old faced multiple assaults inside the Christ the King Church, Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, on November 27, 2015, that left him bruised and bleeding. He is now 18 years old and is still undergoing treatment for bodily ailments apart from suffering hallucinations and nightmares.
The boy’s mother hailed this decision and said that “Jesus had answered her prayer at Christmas”. “The court has pronounced Fr Lawrence guilty today. But I held him guilty on the very day of the assault. My faith in the men that run the Church is broken but my faith in Jesus is unshakeable.”
His mother said, “Supporters of Father Lawrence even held a morcha (march?) against us while we were inside the police station premises. They claimed we were filing a false case to extort money from the Church.
Unfortunately, too many pseudo-Christians worship their priest, pastor, Bishop, etc., rather than Jesus Christ, otherwise, they might know the truth.
They made it impossible for us to continue living in Shivaji Nagar by their taunts and criticism. We repeatedly shift residence from Govandi to Santacruz and the Chembur. Even now when I visit to seek documents from the church, they surround us with abuse.”
The family accused the Catholic Church hierarchy of abandoning them in their struggle for justice. The boy’s mother squarely blamed the Archbishop of Bombay, for “harassing the victim while harboring the accused priest”. Here it is important to know that Father Lawrence was arrested from Archbishop House.
The family also stated that the Archdiocese gave any help towards medical costs or legal aid, let alone moral support, as it claimed to this newspaper in 2015. “It is a blatant lie. The only person who stood by us was Brother Joe of SSVP,”.
This verdict is likely the first conviction of a Catholic priest in a POCSO case under the Bombay Archdiocese. We hope either the Vatican or Archdiocese of Bombay should defrock Fr Lawrence with immediate effect.
However this seems slightly difficult, as neither the local Church nor the Vatican takes any action against such Pastors, and this has become a trend. Church and Missionaries are gradually turning into places where such acts are performed without any shame, and they use their ecosystem to cover such acts and blame the victims.
There is a Higher Court whenever earthly courts and Popes fail to protect women and children.
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