MARK HENNESSY
Irish Times
Nov. 1, 2011
FOR YEARS, the Catholic Church in England and Wales has prided itself that it has handled matters better than the Catholic Church in Ireland.
It has done so despite being faced with repeated court cases involving clerics and stonewalling in the face of questions. Now, however, it is facing trouble at every turn, beginning with the affair of a missing monk, Laurence Soper (80), who has incredibly been on the run for seven months since failing to turn up for police questioning.
Meanwhile, an examination of its child-safety guidelines in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset is under way following the jailing last week of one of the church’s own child-protection officers for having pornographic images of children.
Ealing Abbey features prominently in the church’s difficulties.
Described as London’s leading independent Catholic co-educational school, it has a proud academic record, with three-quarters of its pupils last year winning top A-Level grades.
In 2009, however, Fr David Pearce was jailed for eight years for abusing five students while a teacher. Another teacher, John Maestri, was imprisoned in 2003 after admitting three counts of indecently assaulting young boys between 1980 and 1984.
Now, Soper – once Ealing’s abbot – is a fugitive from justice after he left a monastery in Rome in March to travel to London to meet detectives who wanted to question him about allegations of misconduct at the school. He disappeared.
He had served in Ealing, first as a teacher from 1972 and later as its head until he moved to Rome a decade ago. There he served as treasurer of the International Benedictine Federation’s treasurer.
Nearly nine months on, a European arrest warrant is likely to be issued.
Condemning his predecessor’s flight “without reservation”, Abbot Martin Shipperlee said the monks had “heard nothing from him since and all efforts to contact him have been without success”.
A report into conduct at Ealing from top QC Lord Alex Carlile is to be shared with the monks and published next week, while a Vatican-ordered apostolic visitation has already reported to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome after visiting last month.
The inspection was to ensure that guidelines put in place in England and Wales in 2002, which were revised in 2007, had been “followed to the letter”, the Bishops Conference of England and Wales said last month.
“The Catholic Church in England and Wales is determined to ensure its robust safety procedures are followed and this visitation is consistent with that aim.
“Any person with an allegation of abuse is urged to report it to the statutory authorities,” the bishops said.
In 2008 Bishop Vincent Nichols, who is now the Archbishop of Westminster but was then chairman of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults, said the church could be “proud” of the progress made in the previous six years.
However, the church’s confidence has been further eroded by the trial of Chris Jarvis, who ran the diocese of Plymouth’s child-abuse investigations for nine years until he was arrested for having more than 4,000 images of children being sexually abused on his computer.
Jarvis interviewed alleged victims, had full access to all confidential files on known cases and handled criminal records checks on those needing clearance to work with children throughout the Plymouth diocese.
So far, Bishop of Plymouth Christopher Budd says that a review shows that Jarvis handled all of cases in the last three years properly, but he has brought in the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to investigate further.
One of the cases that came before Jarvis was that of another Benedictine house, Buckfast Abbey, where two monks have been jailed – one for 10 years – for abuse committed against pupils in its now-closed preparatory school.
Sentencing him last week, Judge Paul Darlow said: “The people who confided in you of their own misery and abuse may well be horrified that the person they were speaking to was, in his personal life, downloading images of children being abused in the same way.”
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Bishop Slattery on Prayer, the Mass and new vocations
Jim Graves
National Catholic Register
Oct. 28, 2011
Bishop Edward Slattery, 71, was born and raised in Chicago. He attended the archdiocese’s Mundelein Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1966. He served in Chicago parishes and was active with the Catholic Church Extension Society, which funds the American home missions.
In 1994, he was ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II and installed as the third bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa, Okla. He is noted for his orthodoxy and piety and has publicly advocated a reform of the liturgy. As the Church prepares for the official promulgation of the new translation of the liturgy on the First Sunday in Advent, Nov. 27, he shared his thoughts on the liturgy, the priesthood and religious life, and maintaining a healthy spirituality.
You’ve made public statements about problems with the liturgy. What changes would you like to see?
I would like to see the liturgy become what Vatican II intended it to be. That’s not something that can happen overnight. The bishops who were the fathers of the council from the United States came home and made changes too quickly. They shouldn’t have viewed the old liturgy, what we call the Tridentine Mass or Missal of Pope John XXIII, as something that needed to be fixed. Nothing was broken. There was an attitude that we had to implement Vatican II in a way that radically affects the liturgy.
What we lost in a short period of time was continuity. The new liturgy should be clearly identifiable as the liturgy of the pre-Vatican II Church. Changes, like turning the altar around, were too sudden and too radical. There is nothing in the Vatican II documents that justifies such changes. We’ve always had Mass facing the people as well as Mass ad orientem [“to the east,” with priest and people facing the same direction]. However, Mass ad orientem was the norm. These changes did not come from Vatican II.
Also, it was not a wise decision to do away with Latin in the Mass. How that happened, I don’t know; but the fathers of the Council never intended us to drop Latin. They wanted us to hold on to it and, at the same time, to make room for the vernacular, primarily so that the people could understand the Scriptures.
Full article at the National Catholic Register
National Catholic Register
Oct. 28, 2011
Bishop Edward Slattery, 71, was born and raised in Chicago. He attended the archdiocese’s Mundelein Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1966. He served in Chicago parishes and was active with the Catholic Church Extension Society, which funds the American home missions.
In 1994, he was ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II and installed as the third bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa, Okla. He is noted for his orthodoxy and piety and has publicly advocated a reform of the liturgy. As the Church prepares for the official promulgation of the new translation of the liturgy on the First Sunday in Advent, Nov. 27, he shared his thoughts on the liturgy, the priesthood and religious life, and maintaining a healthy spirituality.
You’ve made public statements about problems with the liturgy. What changes would you like to see?
I would like to see the liturgy become what Vatican II intended it to be. That’s not something that can happen overnight. The bishops who were the fathers of the council from the United States came home and made changes too quickly. They shouldn’t have viewed the old liturgy, what we call the Tridentine Mass or Missal of Pope John XXIII, as something that needed to be fixed. Nothing was broken. There was an attitude that we had to implement Vatican II in a way that radically affects the liturgy.
What we lost in a short period of time was continuity. The new liturgy should be clearly identifiable as the liturgy of the pre-Vatican II Church. Changes, like turning the altar around, were too sudden and too radical. There is nothing in the Vatican II documents that justifies such changes. We’ve always had Mass facing the people as well as Mass ad orientem [“to the east,” with priest and people facing the same direction]. However, Mass ad orientem was the norm. These changes did not come from Vatican II.
Also, it was not a wise decision to do away with Latin in the Mass. How that happened, I don’t know; but the fathers of the Council never intended us to drop Latin. They wanted us to hold on to it and, at the same time, to make room for the vernacular, primarily so that the people could understand the Scriptures.
Full article at the National Catholic Register
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Irish priests push reform
Michael Kelly
The Irish Catholic
October 28, 2011
DUBLIN, IRELAND -- Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests marked its first year in existence with a Dublin meeting at which more than 300 priests heard a call for an end to mandatory celibacy and for the ordination of women.
The growth of the association has been rapid, with 540 Irish priests -- or one in eight -- now opting for membership. However, the absence of younger priests, sometimes called the “John Paul II generation,” was evident at the gathering.
Fr. Kevin Hegarty, a member of the association’s leadership team, told the Oct. 4-5 meeting that what was needed was a church that would open its doors to “married priests and women priests.” It would benefit from secular insights, such as those on human intimacy and democracy, he said. It would work at developing a “healthy and holistic theology of sexuality.”
Hegarty said that church structures were a barrier to conversation and “despite the promise of the Second [Vatican] Council ... the church in Ireland failed to evolve a strategy that could learn from and contribute to the new consciousness.” An authoritarian hierarchical structure “is contemptuous of intellectual challenge and is fearful of leaps of the imagination. The consequences have flowed.”
In its first year, the Association of Catholic Priests led opposition to the new translation of the Roman Missal and appealed to the Irish bishops’ conference to delay the introduction of the changes. However, the hierarchy dismissed the concerns as “first premature and then irrelevant,” Hegarty said.
“In my 30 years as a priest, the sea of Catholicism has receded,” he said. “I have heard its long withdrawing roar. ... I have worked in a crumbling church. In 1981 it seemed as if it might be different.”
Dominican Fr. Wilfrid J. Harrington, one of the priests attending the meeting, said he was motivated to join the group because of “the betrayal of Vatican II over the past 30 years.”
“I now know, from our meeting, that Vatican II is not dead. Now I am aware that I belong to a sizable group of priests, diocesan and religious who still believe in Vatican II. And, happily and vitally, not only clergy, but very many lay women and men.
“After our [annual general meeting] I confidently expect that membership of the Association of Catholic Priests will grow substantially,” Harrington said.
...........
The Irish association has already established links with similar movements. Msgr. Helmut Schüller, leader of the Austrian clergy who have issued an “Appeal to Disobedience,” was a guest at the meeting, as was Fr. Bernard Survil of the newly formed Association of U.S. Catholic Priests.
Not all Irish priests who long for reform in the church are enthusiastic about Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests. Fr. Paddy McCafferty, who is himself a survivor of clerical abuse and an outspoken critic of the Irish hierarchy, insists that the group is “not prophetic in the true scriptural sense.”
...........
The reaction of the Irish hierarchy to the association has been at best indifferent. There were notably mixed opinions at the meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests, with many priests believing that the group must maintain links to the hierarchy while others dismiss relations with the hierarchy as irrelevant.
As the movement looks to the future all are agreed, however, on the necessity of reaching out to laypeople and ensuring that the voice of ordinary Catholics be heard in shaping the future of Irish Catholicism.
Full story here
The Irish Catholic
October 28, 2011
DUBLIN, IRELAND -- Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests marked its first year in existence with a Dublin meeting at which more than 300 priests heard a call for an end to mandatory celibacy and for the ordination of women.
The growth of the association has been rapid, with 540 Irish priests -- or one in eight -- now opting for membership. However, the absence of younger priests, sometimes called the “John Paul II generation,” was evident at the gathering.
Fr. Kevin Hegarty, a member of the association’s leadership team, told the Oct. 4-5 meeting that what was needed was a church that would open its doors to “married priests and women priests.” It would benefit from secular insights, such as those on human intimacy and democracy, he said. It would work at developing a “healthy and holistic theology of sexuality.”
Hegarty said that church structures were a barrier to conversation and “despite the promise of the Second [Vatican] Council ... the church in Ireland failed to evolve a strategy that could learn from and contribute to the new consciousness.” An authoritarian hierarchical structure “is contemptuous of intellectual challenge and is fearful of leaps of the imagination. The consequences have flowed.”
In its first year, the Association of Catholic Priests led opposition to the new translation of the Roman Missal and appealed to the Irish bishops’ conference to delay the introduction of the changes. However, the hierarchy dismissed the concerns as “first premature and then irrelevant,” Hegarty said.
“In my 30 years as a priest, the sea of Catholicism has receded,” he said. “I have heard its long withdrawing roar. ... I have worked in a crumbling church. In 1981 it seemed as if it might be different.”
Dominican Fr. Wilfrid J. Harrington, one of the priests attending the meeting, said he was motivated to join the group because of “the betrayal of Vatican II over the past 30 years.”
“I now know, from our meeting, that Vatican II is not dead. Now I am aware that I belong to a sizable group of priests, diocesan and religious who still believe in Vatican II. And, happily and vitally, not only clergy, but very many lay women and men.
“After our [annual general meeting] I confidently expect that membership of the Association of Catholic Priests will grow substantially,” Harrington said.
...........
The Irish association has already established links with similar movements. Msgr. Helmut Schüller, leader of the Austrian clergy who have issued an “Appeal to Disobedience,” was a guest at the meeting, as was Fr. Bernard Survil of the newly formed Association of U.S. Catholic Priests.
Not all Irish priests who long for reform in the church are enthusiastic about Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests. Fr. Paddy McCafferty, who is himself a survivor of clerical abuse and an outspoken critic of the Irish hierarchy, insists that the group is “not prophetic in the true scriptural sense.”
...........
The reaction of the Irish hierarchy to the association has been at best indifferent. There were notably mixed opinions at the meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests, with many priests believing that the group must maintain links to the hierarchy while others dismiss relations with the hierarchy as irrelevant.
As the movement looks to the future all are agreed, however, on the necessity of reaching out to laypeople and ensuring that the voice of ordinary Catholics be heard in shaping the future of Irish Catholicism.
Full story here
Kaput with Chaput
Randy Ellison
Boys Don't Tell
Oct. 28, 2011
News item: Rep Louise Williams Bishop proposes bill that would eliminate Pennsylvania’s civil statute of limitations on child sex abuse. That means victims can sue the perpetrators and those who protected them once they heal enough to talk about it.
News item: The Catholic Church appoints Charles Chaput the new Philadelphia Archbishop. Mr. Chaput comes from Denver where he orchestrated the defeat of a bill to provide a one-year window on the statute of limitations for victims to seek civil justice from their abusers and protectors.
Hmm… connection? Naw, I’m sure this was just a nice promotion for this man of faith. I listened to the interview with the Philly Inquirer. He sounds real nice and talks Christian real good. Wants to help the victims heal and is sorry so many left the church.
He makes it clear that just as he believes in Jesus Christ and wants to help Philly Catholics be better Christians, he believes in the statute of limitations. He did not quote a chapter and verse from the Bible for that, but I’m sure it’s there somewhere, and probably goes something like this: After suffering for decades from being raped in the house of God, thou shalt not attempt to hold that house responsible for said rape. We merely opened the door and provided the room for said rape. Okay, we may have paid the rapist for his services, housed and fed him, and gave him a new place to rape from, once people complained, but really, to everything there is a season and the season for justice ends at age 30 in Pennsylvania.
While on the job in Denver Mr. Chaput led the Catholic faithful in a successful defeat of a bill to allow victims of child sex abuse their day in court. After the bill was introduced Mr. Chaput wrote a letter decrying the injustice of targeting the poor Catholic Church that was required to be read from every pulpit. There were also the 25,000 protest cards handed out after mass to be signed and sent to the state capitol. Alliances were formed with teachers unions and anybody else that might be held accountable for their direct support of child sexual perpetrators. Thanks to Mr. Chaput’s upholding of God’s law, the season for civil justice for victims of child sexual abuse in Colorado still stands at age 24.
Mr. Chaput’s thoughts on separation of church and state can be summed up in his own words: “Stuffing your Catholic faith in a closet when we enter the public square or join a public debate isn’t good manners. It’s cowardice.” He pointed to the vacuum of moral leadership in the world, and that what the world “needs more than anything else is holiness—holy men and women who love Jesus Christ and God’s Word more than they love their own careers and agendas.”
Side note: Mr. Chaput did not say, but implied that said holy leaders also need to limit or deny victims their day in court while protecting the assets of the church.
Conclusion: I want to wish Mr. Chaput all the best on his promotion to Philadelphia where he has the opportunity to teach people to be better Christians. And I don’t think it would be nice for any of us to speculate that he was put in that position not as a minister of religion, but as a fixer for the Catholic Church to once again defeat a law that would aid child sex abuse victims.
Disclaimer: I want to say that I have nothing against Catholics or any other religious organization, BUT DAMN IT, when are you people going to quit acting like CEO’s, drop that corporate attitude and start acting like people of faith? Walk your talk.
Boys Don't Tell
Oct. 28, 2011
News item: Rep Louise Williams Bishop proposes bill that would eliminate Pennsylvania’s civil statute of limitations on child sex abuse. That means victims can sue the perpetrators and those who protected them once they heal enough to talk about it.
News item: The Catholic Church appoints Charles Chaput the new Philadelphia Archbishop. Mr. Chaput comes from Denver where he orchestrated the defeat of a bill to provide a one-year window on the statute of limitations for victims to seek civil justice from their abusers and protectors.
Hmm… connection? Naw, I’m sure this was just a nice promotion for this man of faith. I listened to the interview with the Philly Inquirer. He sounds real nice and talks Christian real good. Wants to help the victims heal and is sorry so many left the church.
He makes it clear that just as he believes in Jesus Christ and wants to help Philly Catholics be better Christians, he believes in the statute of limitations. He did not quote a chapter and verse from the Bible for that, but I’m sure it’s there somewhere, and probably goes something like this: After suffering for decades from being raped in the house of God, thou shalt not attempt to hold that house responsible for said rape. We merely opened the door and provided the room for said rape. Okay, we may have paid the rapist for his services, housed and fed him, and gave him a new place to rape from, once people complained, but really, to everything there is a season and the season for justice ends at age 30 in Pennsylvania.
While on the job in Denver Mr. Chaput led the Catholic faithful in a successful defeat of a bill to allow victims of child sex abuse their day in court. After the bill was introduced Mr. Chaput wrote a letter decrying the injustice of targeting the poor Catholic Church that was required to be read from every pulpit. There were also the 25,000 protest cards handed out after mass to be signed and sent to the state capitol. Alliances were formed with teachers unions and anybody else that might be held accountable for their direct support of child sexual perpetrators. Thanks to Mr. Chaput’s upholding of God’s law, the season for civil justice for victims of child sexual abuse in Colorado still stands at age 24.
Mr. Chaput’s thoughts on separation of church and state can be summed up in his own words: “Stuffing your Catholic faith in a closet when we enter the public square or join a public debate isn’t good manners. It’s cowardice.” He pointed to the vacuum of moral leadership in the world, and that what the world “needs more than anything else is holiness—holy men and women who love Jesus Christ and God’s Word more than they love their own careers and agendas.”
Side note: Mr. Chaput did not say, but implied that said holy leaders also need to limit or deny victims their day in court while protecting the assets of the church.
Conclusion: I want to wish Mr. Chaput all the best on his promotion to Philadelphia where he has the opportunity to teach people to be better Christians. And I don’t think it would be nice for any of us to speculate that he was put in that position not as a minister of religion, but as a fixer for the Catholic Church to once again defeat a law that would aid child sex abuse victims.
Disclaimer: I want to say that I have nothing against Catholics or any other religious organization, BUT DAMN IT, when are you people going to quit acting like CEO’s, drop that corporate attitude and start acting like people of faith? Walk your talk.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Exodus as pope's Legion reform lags
By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
VATICAN CITY — When Pope Benedict XVI took over the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order last year, expectations were high that heads would roll over one of the greatest scandals of the 20th century Roman Catholic Church.
One year later, none of the Legion's superiors has been held to account for facilitating the crimes of late founder Rev. Marciel Maciel, a drug addict who sexually abused his seminarians, fathered three children and created a cult-like movement within the church that damaged some of its members spiritually and emotionally.
An Associated Press tally shows that disillusioned members are leaving the movement in droves as they lose faith that the Vatican will push through the changes needed. The collapse of the order, once one of the most influential in the church, has broader implications for Catholicism, which is shedding members in some places because the hierarchy covered up widespread sexual abuse by priests.
In an exclusive interview, the man tapped by Benedict to turn the Legion around insisted that the pope tasked him only with guiding the Legion and helping rewrite its norms — not "decapitating" its leadership or avenging wrongdoing.
Cardinal Velasio De Paolis ruled out any further investigation into the crimes of Maciel, who as a favorite of Pope John Paul II had been held up as a living saint despite well-founded allegations — later proven — that he was a pedophile.
"I don't see what good would be served" by further inquiry into a coverup, the Italian cardinal said. "Rather, we would run the risk of finding ourselves in an intrigue with no end. Because these are things that are too private for me to go investigating."
The Holy See knew of the pedophile accusations, yet for years ignored his victims — as well as complaints about his cult-like sect — because he attracted men and money to the priesthood. As it is, John Paul's legacy was marred by his close association with Maciel; Benedict's legacy, already tarnished by the sex abuse scandal, may well rest in part on how he cleans up Maciel's mess.
Critics, including some Vatican officials, contend De Paolis has an obligation to uncover the truth and take more radical action, given that the Vatican itself found Maciel created a twisted, abusive order to cater to his double life.
The Vatican also determined that for the Legion to survive it must be "purified" of the influence of Maciel, who died in 2008, since its very structure and culture had been so contaminated by his obsession with obedience and secrecy. Members were forbidden from criticizing their superiors, were isolated from their families, and told how to do everything from praying to eating an orange.
In the absence of radical change, the movement has seen a dramatic decline in membership since the scandal was revealed in 2009.
An estimated 70 of the 890 Legion priests and upwards of a third of the movement's 900 consecrated women have left or are taking time away to ponder their future. Seminarians have fled — 232 last year alone, an unusually high 16 percent dropout rate for one year. New recruits are expected to number fewer than 100 this year, half what they averaged before the scandal.
The AP compiled the figures based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former members, who outlined inconsistencies in partial statistics provided by the Legion.
In August, about 20 current and former Legion priests met secretly for a week in Cordoba, Spain, to discuss forming an association to support Legion priests who leave the order, participants told the AP. The move could well encourage more to leave.
And earlier this month, the six editors of the Legion-affiliated Catholic news agency Zenit quit en masse, following the resignation of Zenit's founder. He had cited differences in editorial vision and a loss of trust with the Legion's superiors over the way they covered up Maciel's crimes.
The Rev. Richard Gill, a prominent U.S. Legion priest until he left the congregation in 2010 after 29 years, has openly criticized De Paolis' efforts, particularly his refusal to remove compromised superiors, saying "dismissals will be needed to restore some measure of confidence in the Legion."
He called for an investigation into the origins of the scandal and noted that for most of the 70-odd priests who have left, "loss of trust in the leadership has been the primary reason."
Claudia Madero left the movement in August after living like a nun for 35 years, citing the refusal of her Mexican superiors and De Paolis to embrace change.
"It's true there have been some changes, but these are incidental, not essential," she wrote in her resignation letter.
Benedict, however, gave De Paolis an unofficial vote of confidence last month when he kept him on as his Legion envoy while letting the 76-year-old Italian retire as head of the Vatican's economics office.
Benedict's spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, declined to say if the pope thought De Paolis' mandate should be changed given the exodus, saying the cardinal speaks for himself.
Legion spokesman the Rev. Andreas Schoeggl, meanwhile, gave De Paolis a thumbs up, saying his work had been "great," with all Legion priests helping rewrite the order's constitutions — a shift from the past when decisions were made only at the top.
Yet if the current membership trends continue, the Legion may simply wither away as fewer people join a scandal-tainted congregation that the Vatican itself said has no clearly defined "charism" — a church term for the essential spirit that inspires a religious order and makes it unique.
After all, what would happen to the Franciscans if St. Francis were discredited? The Missionaries of Charity if Mother Teresa were found to be a fraud?
De Paolis paused when asked to define the Legion's charism. "Bella domanda," he said — "good question." Noting that it was a work in progress, De Paolis cited the Legion's evangelical zeal and insisted that even without a clearly defined charism, the vast majority of Legion members are happy, doing good work and serving the church.
But three current members of the movement say the reality is more complex: Some are thinking of leaving but haven't taken the leap, some are in denial of the extent of the scandals, while others are actively working toward reform.
Members have coined the terms "awake" and "asleep" to describe where colleagues are in discovering the abuses of the Legion system, a process that is complicated by the Legion's restrictions on use of the Internet and email.
And despite some changes, abuses continue: "Dissidents" are transferred away from their communities and subject to emotional harassment to test their resolve, three current members said on condition of anonymity because of fear of punishment.
De Paolis defended his commitment and approach to the reform, saying said he had "inserted" himself into the Legion's administration, expanded the Legion's governing council and shuffled some superiors around. He said he hasn't dismissed any superiors outright because he needs them to learn the complex details of the order's structure, culture and finances.
"How can I, someone who doesn't know the Legion, who knows only a bit of Spanish, enter saying I'm in charge?" he asked. "If they (the superiors) wanted to sabotage me, it would have been so easy. If I had made myself the superior, they wouldn't give me information, they would have hidden it from me." He said his priority was to persuade the Legion's leaders to sow change from within.
Maciel founded the Legion in Mexico in 1941 and it became one of the fastest-growing religious orders in the world, praised by Vatican officials who routinely celebrated Masses for the Legion and in Maciel's honor.
Victims began to go public in the mid-1990s with allegations that Maciel had sexually abused them as seminarians, but the Vatican shut down a church trial, only to resurrect it years later. Maciel was sentenced in 2006 to a lifetime of penance and prayer — an inglorious end for a man who had enjoyed unparalleled access to the pope.
In his interview with the AP, De Paolis revealed for the first time that the Legion had reached financial settlements with "four or five" people who said they were sexually abused by Maciel, paying a relatively modest $21,000 to $28,000 (euro15,000-euro20,000) apiece. Negotiations, however, stalled with one victim who demanded millions, he said.
No one has publicly accused top Legion superiors of sexual abuse. But few believe Maciel's closest aides were ignorant of his double life, given that he would disappear for weeks on end with thousands of dollars to visit his family and, by the end of his life, was openly living with his girlfriend.
Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who heads the Vatican's evangelization office, said last year that the Vatican would be wise to look at who covered up for Maciel inside the Legion — "those who took his appointments, those who kept his agenda, those who drove him around."
Yet some suggest De Paolis' reluctance to investigate the coverup is based on fears the revelations could point to complicity by Vatican officials, who defended Maciel even after the sex abuse allegations were established.
"With the Legion I believe there were some who knew, but very few," De Paolis said of Holy See officials. "The others saw that this group was blossoming, that it brought fruits, it offered a service to the church."
De Paolis says he wants to save the fruits, the good that remains in the Legion. But those who have been harmed insist the Vatican must assign blame where it's due and fix the wrongs, or lose all credibility.
"We're angry at the church for allowing this," said Peter Kingsland, a Catholic from Surrey, British Columbia, whose daughter was consecrated in 1992. "They could have claimed ignorance before, but they're no longer ignorant — and now they're a party to it."
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
VATICAN CITY — When Pope Benedict XVI took over the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order last year, expectations were high that heads would roll over one of the greatest scandals of the 20th century Roman Catholic Church.
One year later, none of the Legion's superiors has been held to account for facilitating the crimes of late founder Rev. Marciel Maciel, a drug addict who sexually abused his seminarians, fathered three children and created a cult-like movement within the church that damaged some of its members spiritually and emotionally.
An Associated Press tally shows that disillusioned members are leaving the movement in droves as they lose faith that the Vatican will push through the changes needed. The collapse of the order, once one of the most influential in the church, has broader implications for Catholicism, which is shedding members in some places because the hierarchy covered up widespread sexual abuse by priests.
In an exclusive interview, the man tapped by Benedict to turn the Legion around insisted that the pope tasked him only with guiding the Legion and helping rewrite its norms — not "decapitating" its leadership or avenging wrongdoing.
Cardinal Velasio De Paolis ruled out any further investigation into the crimes of Maciel, who as a favorite of Pope John Paul II had been held up as a living saint despite well-founded allegations — later proven — that he was a pedophile.
"I don't see what good would be served" by further inquiry into a coverup, the Italian cardinal said. "Rather, we would run the risk of finding ourselves in an intrigue with no end. Because these are things that are too private for me to go investigating."
The Holy See knew of the pedophile accusations, yet for years ignored his victims — as well as complaints about his cult-like sect — because he attracted men and money to the priesthood. As it is, John Paul's legacy was marred by his close association with Maciel; Benedict's legacy, already tarnished by the sex abuse scandal, may well rest in part on how he cleans up Maciel's mess.
Critics, including some Vatican officials, contend De Paolis has an obligation to uncover the truth and take more radical action, given that the Vatican itself found Maciel created a twisted, abusive order to cater to his double life.
The Vatican also determined that for the Legion to survive it must be "purified" of the influence of Maciel, who died in 2008, since its very structure and culture had been so contaminated by his obsession with obedience and secrecy. Members were forbidden from criticizing their superiors, were isolated from their families, and told how to do everything from praying to eating an orange.
In the absence of radical change, the movement has seen a dramatic decline in membership since the scandal was revealed in 2009.
An estimated 70 of the 890 Legion priests and upwards of a third of the movement's 900 consecrated women have left or are taking time away to ponder their future. Seminarians have fled — 232 last year alone, an unusually high 16 percent dropout rate for one year. New recruits are expected to number fewer than 100 this year, half what they averaged before the scandal.
The AP compiled the figures based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former members, who outlined inconsistencies in partial statistics provided by the Legion.
In August, about 20 current and former Legion priests met secretly for a week in Cordoba, Spain, to discuss forming an association to support Legion priests who leave the order, participants told the AP. The move could well encourage more to leave.
And earlier this month, the six editors of the Legion-affiliated Catholic news agency Zenit quit en masse, following the resignation of Zenit's founder. He had cited differences in editorial vision and a loss of trust with the Legion's superiors over the way they covered up Maciel's crimes.
The Rev. Richard Gill, a prominent U.S. Legion priest until he left the congregation in 2010 after 29 years, has openly criticized De Paolis' efforts, particularly his refusal to remove compromised superiors, saying "dismissals will be needed to restore some measure of confidence in the Legion."
He called for an investigation into the origins of the scandal and noted that for most of the 70-odd priests who have left, "loss of trust in the leadership has been the primary reason."
Claudia Madero left the movement in August after living like a nun for 35 years, citing the refusal of her Mexican superiors and De Paolis to embrace change.
"It's true there have been some changes, but these are incidental, not essential," she wrote in her resignation letter.
Benedict, however, gave De Paolis an unofficial vote of confidence last month when he kept him on as his Legion envoy while letting the 76-year-old Italian retire as head of the Vatican's economics office.
Benedict's spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, declined to say if the pope thought De Paolis' mandate should be changed given the exodus, saying the cardinal speaks for himself.
Legion spokesman the Rev. Andreas Schoeggl, meanwhile, gave De Paolis a thumbs up, saying his work had been "great," with all Legion priests helping rewrite the order's constitutions — a shift from the past when decisions were made only at the top.
Yet if the current membership trends continue, the Legion may simply wither away as fewer people join a scandal-tainted congregation that the Vatican itself said has no clearly defined "charism" — a church term for the essential spirit that inspires a religious order and makes it unique.
After all, what would happen to the Franciscans if St. Francis were discredited? The Missionaries of Charity if Mother Teresa were found to be a fraud?
De Paolis paused when asked to define the Legion's charism. "Bella domanda," he said — "good question." Noting that it was a work in progress, De Paolis cited the Legion's evangelical zeal and insisted that even without a clearly defined charism, the vast majority of Legion members are happy, doing good work and serving the church.
But three current members of the movement say the reality is more complex: Some are thinking of leaving but haven't taken the leap, some are in denial of the extent of the scandals, while others are actively working toward reform.
Members have coined the terms "awake" and "asleep" to describe where colleagues are in discovering the abuses of the Legion system, a process that is complicated by the Legion's restrictions on use of the Internet and email.
And despite some changes, abuses continue: "Dissidents" are transferred away from their communities and subject to emotional harassment to test their resolve, three current members said on condition of anonymity because of fear of punishment.
De Paolis defended his commitment and approach to the reform, saying said he had "inserted" himself into the Legion's administration, expanded the Legion's governing council and shuffled some superiors around. He said he hasn't dismissed any superiors outright because he needs them to learn the complex details of the order's structure, culture and finances.
"How can I, someone who doesn't know the Legion, who knows only a bit of Spanish, enter saying I'm in charge?" he asked. "If they (the superiors) wanted to sabotage me, it would have been so easy. If I had made myself the superior, they wouldn't give me information, they would have hidden it from me." He said his priority was to persuade the Legion's leaders to sow change from within.
Maciel founded the Legion in Mexico in 1941 and it became one of the fastest-growing religious orders in the world, praised by Vatican officials who routinely celebrated Masses for the Legion and in Maciel's honor.
Victims began to go public in the mid-1990s with allegations that Maciel had sexually abused them as seminarians, but the Vatican shut down a church trial, only to resurrect it years later. Maciel was sentenced in 2006 to a lifetime of penance and prayer — an inglorious end for a man who had enjoyed unparalleled access to the pope.
In his interview with the AP, De Paolis revealed for the first time that the Legion had reached financial settlements with "four or five" people who said they were sexually abused by Maciel, paying a relatively modest $21,000 to $28,000 (euro15,000-euro20,000) apiece. Negotiations, however, stalled with one victim who demanded millions, he said.
No one has publicly accused top Legion superiors of sexual abuse. But few believe Maciel's closest aides were ignorant of his double life, given that he would disappear for weeks on end with thousands of dollars to visit his family and, by the end of his life, was openly living with his girlfriend.
Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who heads the Vatican's evangelization office, said last year that the Vatican would be wise to look at who covered up for Maciel inside the Legion — "those who took his appointments, those who kept his agenda, those who drove him around."
Yet some suggest De Paolis' reluctance to investigate the coverup is based on fears the revelations could point to complicity by Vatican officials, who defended Maciel even after the sex abuse allegations were established.
"With the Legion I believe there were some who knew, but very few," De Paolis said of Holy See officials. "The others saw that this group was blossoming, that it brought fruits, it offered a service to the church."
De Paolis says he wants to save the fruits, the good that remains in the Legion. But those who have been harmed insist the Vatican must assign blame where it's due and fix the wrongs, or lose all credibility.
"We're angry at the church for allowing this," said Peter Kingsland, a Catholic from Surrey, British Columbia, whose daughter was consecrated in 1992. "They could have claimed ignorance before, but they're no longer ignorant — and now they're a party to it."
Monday, October 24, 2011
Bishop Finn should have done more to protect little girls
Nancy Kelly Waters
Special to the (Kansas City) Star
Oct. 24, 2011
My profession makes me a “mandatory reporter.” I cannot, by law, look away or ignore signs of child abuse or child endangerment. I must report any suspicions to the legal authorities. I may inform my superiors but that does not relieve me of my personal duty to report.
Being a mandatory reporter is stressful. Very rarely is it a clear-cut case of abuse. A student might mention something or you might see something or overhear something that sets off a cold alarm. There is no choice once that alarm sounds. The legal, ethical and moral decision of what to do has been made.
As an employee of a school district, I must think only of the child. I cannot think of my personal best interests or the reputation of the school district. I cannot consider any potential awkwardness or bad feelings my call might raise in the family, or in the wider school community. I cannot worry that if my report proves to be unwarranted, I might be somehow targeted or complained about. My duty is to protect the child.
I am a cradle Catholic raised in Kansas City and educated in local Catholic schools. My great grandparents were married in a Catholic church in Kansas City in 1869. Of the children in my father’s family, 75 percent were members of the clergy. I am not anti-Catholic.
I am, however, outraged that the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocesan statement — released as indictments were revealed last week against the diocese and Bishop Robert Finn — denies wrongdoing and promises a vigorous defense.
Bishop Finn, what exactly are you planning to vigorously defend? Do you believe you are blameless? I believe you made a moral mistake when you knowingly let a suspected pedophile remain at large with no legal investigation merely because he worked for the church.
Failing to immediately report what had been reported to you, and failing to direct those in your employ to report their suspicions, appears to me to be illegal and criminal. You may be cooperating with authorities now, but what about when the principal of one of your diocesan schools reported that a priest was behaving strangely towards little girls? The minute you heard of the principal’s five-page report outlining the numerous, serious concerns that teachers and parents had about the bizarre behaviors, you should have picked up the phone to call the police.
When you later heard the same man had any suspicious photos of little girls on his laptop, you should have thought only of what was best for the children in your flock, not the priest’s reputation or your reputation or even the Holy Roman Church’s reputation.
Bishop, you should have thought only of your obligation to the little girls.
Does the diocese really believe that setting up a new “array of steps to ensure accountability for the children” (The Star, Oct. 16) can possibly succeed if the man at the top won’t admit his mistake in failing to notify civil authorities?
Bishop Finn, in my opinion you should have reported. You didn’t. Pay your fine. Do your time. Admit your guilt. They say confession is good for the soul.
Nancy Kelly Waters teaches history and lives in Leawood
Read more: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/bishop-finn-should-have-reported-protect-little-girls/#ixzz1blRX7XIh
Special to the (Kansas City) Star
Oct. 24, 2011
My profession makes me a “mandatory reporter.” I cannot, by law, look away or ignore signs of child abuse or child endangerment. I must report any suspicions to the legal authorities. I may inform my superiors but that does not relieve me of my personal duty to report.
Being a mandatory reporter is stressful. Very rarely is it a clear-cut case of abuse. A student might mention something or you might see something or overhear something that sets off a cold alarm. There is no choice once that alarm sounds. The legal, ethical and moral decision of what to do has been made.
As an employee of a school district, I must think only of the child. I cannot think of my personal best interests or the reputation of the school district. I cannot consider any potential awkwardness or bad feelings my call might raise in the family, or in the wider school community. I cannot worry that if my report proves to be unwarranted, I might be somehow targeted or complained about. My duty is to protect the child.
I am a cradle Catholic raised in Kansas City and educated in local Catholic schools. My great grandparents were married in a Catholic church in Kansas City in 1869. Of the children in my father’s family, 75 percent were members of the clergy. I am not anti-Catholic.
I am, however, outraged that the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocesan statement — released as indictments were revealed last week against the diocese and Bishop Robert Finn — denies wrongdoing and promises a vigorous defense.
Bishop Finn, what exactly are you planning to vigorously defend? Do you believe you are blameless? I believe you made a moral mistake when you knowingly let a suspected pedophile remain at large with no legal investigation merely because he worked for the church.
Failing to immediately report what had been reported to you, and failing to direct those in your employ to report their suspicions, appears to me to be illegal and criminal. You may be cooperating with authorities now, but what about when the principal of one of your diocesan schools reported that a priest was behaving strangely towards little girls? The minute you heard of the principal’s five-page report outlining the numerous, serious concerns that teachers and parents had about the bizarre behaviors, you should have picked up the phone to call the police.
When you later heard the same man had any suspicious photos of little girls on his laptop, you should have thought only of what was best for the children in your flock, not the priest’s reputation or your reputation or even the Holy Roman Church’s reputation.
Bishop, you should have thought only of your obligation to the little girls.
Does the diocese really believe that setting up a new “array of steps to ensure accountability for the children” (The Star, Oct. 16) can possibly succeed if the man at the top won’t admit his mistake in failing to notify civil authorities?
Bishop Finn, in my opinion you should have reported. You didn’t. Pay your fine. Do your time. Admit your guilt. They say confession is good for the soul.
Nancy Kelly Waters teaches history and lives in Leawood
Read more: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/bishop-finn-should-have-reported-protect-little-girls/#ixzz1blRX7XIh
Few are welcome in this place
Jonathan Day is a consultant and writer; he is also the chairman of the parish council of the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception (Farm Street) in central London.
Remember Bishop Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin? He told his diocese that communion under both kinds would be limited to “the Chrism Mass, the Feast of Corpus Christi, … the bride and groom at a Nuptial Mass, and [to] those so allergic to wheat that they cannot tolerate even low-gluten hosts.”
Now he has written a column in his diocesan newspaper on beauty and truth in the liturgy.
Like many essays of a similar stripe, this one starts out positive but turns to the negative. After a quick swipe at Lady Gaga – and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to bring her work into the liturgy – the column zooms in on the Marty Haugen song, “All Are Welcome.” You can find its lyrics online, but the bit that the bishop finds offensive is the chorus:
All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.
He says to us that this cannot possibly be “appropriate-for-liturgical-use” because the chorus is not true and hence not beautiful.
And why is it untrue? In Bishop Morlino’s words, because “People who have little interest in doing God’s Will don’t fit at the liturgy.” Very well, then, let us bring back the ostiarii, in case someone who has little interest in doing God’s will turns up in the narthex. Have these visitors committed sexual impurity? Have they even thought about doing so? Out with them. Has this man called his neighbor “fool”? There’s the exit door. Has this woman been greedy, loving money more than she loves her neighbor? Sorry, not welcome here.
Eventually, the saintly Bishop and a few of his true followers – a very few – can celebrate Mass on their own, perhaps rewriting Haugen’s words:
Few are welcome, few are welcome,
Few are welcome in this place.
See the rest of the column at Pray Tell
Remember Bishop Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin? He told his diocese that communion under both kinds would be limited to “the Chrism Mass, the Feast of Corpus Christi, … the bride and groom at a Nuptial Mass, and [to] those so allergic to wheat that they cannot tolerate even low-gluten hosts.”
Now he has written a column in his diocesan newspaper on beauty and truth in the liturgy.
Like many essays of a similar stripe, this one starts out positive but turns to the negative. After a quick swipe at Lady Gaga – and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to bring her work into the liturgy – the column zooms in on the Marty Haugen song, “All Are Welcome.” You can find its lyrics online, but the bit that the bishop finds offensive is the chorus:
All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.
He says to us that this cannot possibly be “appropriate-for-liturgical-use” because the chorus is not true and hence not beautiful.
And why is it untrue? In Bishop Morlino’s words, because “People who have little interest in doing God’s Will don’t fit at the liturgy.” Very well, then, let us bring back the ostiarii, in case someone who has little interest in doing God’s will turns up in the narthex. Have these visitors committed sexual impurity? Have they even thought about doing so? Out with them. Has this man called his neighbor “fool”? There’s the exit door. Has this woman been greedy, loving money more than she loves her neighbor? Sorry, not welcome here.
Eventually, the saintly Bishop and a few of his true followers – a very few – can celebrate Mass on their own, perhaps rewriting Haugen’s words:
Few are welcome, few are welcome,
Few are welcome in this place.
See the rest of the column at Pray Tell
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