Former nun condemns Pope Francis for letting pedophile priest run free

Mary Dispenza a former nun who was raped by a priest at age seven thinks that pope francis is more interested in good PR than in stopping priest abuse of children.  As Mary says, it is great news that the United Nations has condemned the Vatican and the bishops for violence, rape and sexual abuse against children (see January 20, 2014 post). Yes, the pope and his entourage are criminals because they transferred known pedophile priests from one unsuspecting parish to another and so allowed these crimes. Mary said, “It's shameful that in spite of Pope Francis' refreshing compassion toward the poor and downtrodden, to date he has not addressed the issue fully. Pope Francis is caught up in the shame and like most of his brother bishops, seems unwilling to say, “Enough is enough -- not ever again in our church will one of these little children be harmed."

Like many of the survivors including myself, Mary repressed the memories of abuse until she was in her 50s. The pastor of Mary’s parish suspected Father Rucker of "touching" little girls in 1947 but the bishop just transferred him over and over until 2002, when he was finally defrocked – that’s 50 years – five decades of abuse.  Thirty three women are now accusing him of child abuse – who knows how many more were abused? This is abuse that could have been prevented

A key point that Mary makes is that all the abuse was not in the past – that is what the Church would have us believe.  Mary says, “It lives on today. Pedophiles are still in the priesthood. Coverups of their crimes are happening now, and bishops in many cases are continuing to refuse to turn information over to the criminal justice system. Cases are stalled and cannot go forward because the church has such power to stop them. Children are still being harmed and victims cannot heal.”

 

Mary knows as I know (as written in my book) how many tens of thousands of children were, are and will continue to be abused. Because Pope Francis is the leader of the Church he must tell the bishops and all clergy and nuns down the ladder to put the safety of children first.

We, all the survivors that can speak up for ourselves -- and for those too damaged to speak call on Pope Francis  to take action:  report sexual abusers to civil authorities, release the criminal records,  order every bishop to immediately defrock any pedophile priest who has ever sexually abused children – keep them away from the children all over the world! 

 

Link to Mary’s article on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/06/opinion/dispenza-priest-abuse/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

 

 

Pope Francis the milkman: the parishioners drink Cool Aid

Saying that someone “drank the Cool Aid® today means that the person completely believes something without questioning it. This applies to certain catholics as described by my friend Dwayne.

Dwayne James Mitchell is a survivor of abuse by catholic school nuns. He is also a teacher and motivator, is ex-military and a person who has helped me deal with the abuse I suffered at the hands of the Pope's henchmen (and women).  I think Dwayne's words should be shared with others and we both would like you to share your thoughts with us.

“REASONS WHY "COOL AID DRINKING PEOPLE" STAY WITHIN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH!

1.) They are one dimensional people when it comes to their religion. ---- They DO NOT allow themselves to think for themselves. ----- They just accept blindly what the clergy tells them. (That is the way that they have been trained in Catholic School.) They never question. ---- They never take a stand!   

2.) They are afraid to disagree with the Catholic Church because they want their children to be educated in the local Catholic School. ----- They believe that a "Catholic School Education" equals a "high quality academic education." While there might be some exceptions in very expensive Catholic Academies, ---- the average Catholic School cannot come close to the curriculum offered by the Public School, especially in Technology areas. ------- In addition, Catholic Education is more about "indoctrination" rather than "education."

3.) They believe that the Pope will take care of them, and that he will eventually improve things within the Church, and in the process, make positive things happen. (The fact is that the Pope could "care less about the people," and he does not even know that they exist. ----- His goal is to milk as much money out of them as possible during their life time. ------ The management of the Catholic Church is there to "keep the faithful in line and on their knees with their check books open for the taking! ------ They could care less about the welfare and the quality of life of the people. ---- They want the "faithful" to be subservient to the clergy and the Catholic Church. ----- They NEVER want the faithful to feel good about themselves!  ------ They never wanted the faithful to have a "positive relationship with a positive / loving God." ------- For the Catholic Church to survive, the religious experience must be negative, and the Church needs to be in control at all times.

4.) They like the Catholic Service! ---- But they have never allowed themselves to experience the services and / or beliefs of other Christian Churches, because the Catholic Church does not allow them to visit and they are told and believe that the Catholic Church is right, and everyone else is wrong. ---- They believe that to listen to the message of other Christian Clergy or to disagree with the Church is a sin! ---- (They have a one sided belief of the Christian Religion, ----- the Catholic Side!)

5.) They are afraid to confront the issues in their own mind! ---- They are afraid to consider leaving the Catholic Church for another Christian Church because of family pressure. ------ (What would their family think?)

6.) The sexual and physical abuse of children is not a "big issue" with them because they were not abused as children, so as such, the system worked for them, and as long as they can work through the system with their children everything is "ok!"  (It is all about "ME" and "MY STANDING" with the local Catholic Clergy and the local Catholic School!) 

7.) They have the simplistic / non thinking attitude that states; ---- "I was born a Catholic, and I will die a Catholic!" ---- (It doesn't matter what the Church does, they will never challenge the actions of the Catholic Church and the Catholic Clergy. ----- they have "blind faith" and "blind loyalty" to the organization!  They are told that only the Catholic Church can save their souls.”

When I read what Dwayne wrote I ask myself: “Do I need a self-serving business organization to save my soul?  Can’t I pray to God in any church or any place I choose?  I believe I can, Dwayne believes it and I hope that you believe it.  We can do better with our donations than give it to an organization that will use it to pay high priced lawyers to defend its criminals. We can do better for our children and grandchildren than to send them to schools that will abuse them and turn them into unthinking robots. Let’s do it. 

What does Pope Francis say about nuns who abuse children? Nothing so far.

We all know what the priests have been doing to children – their evil deeds and the cover up of those deeds by the catholic church hierarchy make headline news every day.  But is that the whole story?  What about the catholic nuns?  Many of us remember the nuns in the catholic schools and homes for children and the memories are not happy.  What are the facts about the nuns?  Remember, there are many more nuns than priests and that equals a much greater opportunity for nuns to abuse children – and that is just what they did.

The nuns have been called “soldiers” of the pope by me (book: Smothered, 2012) and by others.  These nun ground troops have a long history of child abuse starting during the Inquisition in the eleventh century.  During Inquisitions the pope and his armies went on crusades to torture and kill those who did not agree with their beliefs

In the year 1231 pope gregory IX gave the job of carrying out inquisitions to the dominican order of nuns (and priests).  In 1252, pope innocent IV authorized the dominicans' use of torture and they never stopped using it. In 1578 the inquisitors’ handbook said that punishment wasn’t for the correction and good of the person being punished – it was for the public good so others “may become terrified and weaned away from the evils they would commit.” The nuns learned the lesson and applied it to children.  They beat a child as an example to other children.

 Dwayne James Mitchell, a teacher and survivor of catholic school nun abuse who writes on the blog “Catholic Nuns, Child Abuse and Vows, made this comment about the nuns:

“Again the goal [of the church] was to get control of the individual at the earliest point in time so they would have them under control for the rest of their lives. ---- Along the way, they made it a point to instill “fear” within the young person about their soul, and that the Catholic Church was the only way to save their soul from damnation. ---- Everything along the way was orchestrated so as to get the individual under their complete control and in alignment with their agenda both in the “here and now” and in the future!”  So they started with the children – in catholic schools and in catholic homes or orphanages: physical, sexual and psychological abuse was their agenda.

Dwayne says that regarding abuse of children by nuns, “What we are seeing is just the "tip of the iceberg" and that “We need to uncover the "motivation" behind the actions of the nuns… Every order of nuns was following orders from someone.”  We can guess at that “someone.”  The pope is the head of the catholic church. He is, in fact, the king of the Vatican state. All of the orders for everything come from him, down to the cardinals and bishops and priests and finally to the nuns.  Dwayne knows and I know that there are many more survivors of nun and priest abuse. We ask that you share your stories with us. Were you abused by nuns in catholic schools or catholic homes?  Why do you think they treat children this way? The pope is welcome to voice his opinion.   

Pope Francis sends bishops for Swiss grilling by UN

This is a great summary of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child vs. the Vatican by the dedicated people at BishopAccountability.org.

The Monitor | UN Grills the Vatican: 5 Remarkable Moments | January 17, 2014

For six hours in Geneva, Switzerland yesterday, two Vatican officials faced the 18 human rights experts who make up the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, fielding a polite bombardment of pointed questions on child sexual abuse. To help the UN Committee prepare its approach, BishopAccountability.org submitted a letter and report; these provide, we think, succinct and powerful overviews of the Holy See's involvement in child sexual abuse worldwide. See our submission here.

Yesterday's hearing contained many important moments and a few revelations, not all of which were captured in news reports. We thought we'd list five that struck us as particularly significant.

1. For the first time, the Vatican had to admit publicly that it still does not require the reporting of child sex crimes to civil authorities. Committee member Jorge Cardona of Spain asked, "Shouldn't the Guidelines [the Vatican's 2011 instructions to bishops' conferences on abuse policies] refer to the fact that in all cases crimes must be reported?" Bishop Charles Scicluna replied, "Our guideline is to follow domestic law." [See more on this issue in our Report.]

2. The Committee's most repeated question? They want the data about abuse cases that the Holy See has refused to provide. Committee chair Kirsten Sandberg of Norway reiterated the request six times.  "You say that providing data is up to the country where the crime takes place. But your giving out data would help ... You have these data and could provide them. We ask again that you provide us ... the data that has been asked for." [See our discussion of the Holy See's data in our Letter to the Committee.]

3. The Vatican believes that it is the obligation of the individual perpetrator, not the Church, to compensate victims, Bishop Charles Scicluna said: "We promote personal responsibility. The person causing the damage has the duty to compensate." (In a 2012 interview, Scicluna called civil court rulings that the Church is liable "unfair.")

4. The Holy See appears to have no intention to return nuncio Józef Wesołowski to the Dominican Republic to face charges that he sexually abused five boys there.  The Holy See's Permanent Observer to the UN, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, said yesterday that Wesolowski will be tried instead in the Vatican, under the city state's newly revised criminal code.

5. Religious orders, which comprise one third to one half of the world's Catholic clerics, still are not being compelled by the Holy See to create abuse policies. This fact was uncovered by Committee member Cardona, who asked about the Holy See's "Circular Letter" of May 2011. Cited frequently by the Holy See as proof that it now "gets it," the Circular Letter requires bishops' conferences in every country to develop binding abuse policies. "Is it also for religious orders? Are there instructions for Jesuits, Benedictines ...?" It pertains only to bishops' conferences, Scicluna conceded. But "there is a section that says major superiors are 'strongly invited'" to participate, he added.

The Committee is the first international entity to hold the Holy See publicly accountable for its obligations to keep children safe from sexual violence. Its inquiry has been profoundly constructive. We look forward to its concluding report, which is due in early February.

Warm regards, 

Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director
BishopAccountability.org  (you can go to the website for details)

 

Vatican answers to UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: will Pope Francis tweet this?

This news break from SNAP needs repeating:

 

This Thursday, for the first time ever, the Vatican will be questioned about its record on child sexual violence by an international body. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva is holding the meeting in two sessions on Jan 16, each three hours long. SNAP and our attorneys from CCR will be there. Later in the evening (Geneva time) CCR and SNAP are hosting a reportback via Livestream directly after the review to report about it to survivors, advocates and supporters. Two separate events and you can view them both on the internet.

Watch the UN review via livestream here!

The review will take place on Thursday, January 16, 2014 from 10am-1pm CET, (4am-7am EST) where the Vatican will be reviewed on their compliance with the Convention on Rights of the Child and then from 3pm-6pm CET (9am-12 noon EST) the Vatican will be reviewed on their compliance with the Optional Protocols on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.**This will be broadcast in the English language. This is broadcast by the UN.
Then two hours later at 8 pm CET (2 pm EST) we will have the “reportback” by CCR and SNAP.  Tune in here .

You can  follow the conversation on Twitter and ask questions before or during the livestream by tweeting to the hashtag #HolySeeConfess or by emailing questions to askCCR@ccrjustice.org.

SNAP and CCR submitted reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child detailing how the Holy See has violated the core principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
If you have questions please email or call the SNAP office at: 312 455 1499 or Chicagoffice@snapnetwork.org .
Don’t miss the chance to participate in this historic event!
 Barbara Blaine  http://www.snapnetwork.org/

It’s time that Pope Francis accepts responsibility for the child abuse crimes committed by those under his control.

The courts giveth and the Vatican taketh away: Pope Francis’ lawyers strike a blow against children

Digital Journal reporter Yukio Strachan wrote (12/26/13):  “In a shocking blow to victims of child sexual abuse and their advocates, a Roman Catholic Church senior official who was found guilty of covering up child sexual abuse for years had his conviction overturned Thursday by a Pennsylvania appeals court.”  Why would a court overturn this landmark conviction?  

 

Last year, when the priest, William J. Lynn of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was found guilty, survivors and advocates against clergy sexual abuse felt that “justice was served for the hell that victims and their families were put through because of the negligence of priests like Lynn who put the protection of predator priests over the protection of vulnerable children,” Strachan reported.

 

A three-judge Superior Court panel interpreted as valid an old law stating that:  A parent, guardian or other person supervising the welfare of a child had to be directly supervising the child. A new revision of the law says that a person that employs or supervises someone who directly supervised a child is also guilty. But the three judges reversed the previous decision of Judge M. Teresa Sarmina who had said that the new law applied to Lynn.

 

The Digital Journal article quoted Barbara Dorris, outreach director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests SNAP):  “We felt that this conviction sent a very strong message that if you protect predators, you would be punished.  "We hoped it would cause other prosecutors to go after other people protecting pedophiles. We thought it was a trend, a start." SNAP was heartsick and so am I.  

 

While the Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams strongly disagreed with the decision and will appeal it, continuing this fight is a hardship for all of the good people who want to stop child abuse by the catholic church. The church has deep pockets to hire all the lawyers it needs – all those donations from the faithful are put to whatever use the church decides.  Individual victims and advocate organizations like SNAP stretch their limited resources but they keep fighting because no one is more important than the children.

 

Take a Vatican quiz (Pope Francis can answer too)

Which is worse?

1.    Pedophile priests loose in the parish

2.    Priests who cover up for pedophile priests (like William Lynn in Philadelphia)

3.    Judges who overturn priests’ sexual abuse convictions (like John T. Bender)

Who do you choose?  In all three cases the priests are still out there molesting children. The next post will give you more information about these pedophile enablers.

Will Pope Francis stick to his guns or to pillows?

The New York Times commented that after decades of vatican indifference and evasion, Pope Francis has created a commission to study the rape and intimidation of schoolchildren by priests. The new commission, “long overdue”, says the Times, will come up with specific recommendations for firmer safeguarding of schoolchildren and better training of catholic priests.  Francis had to do something after vatican officials refused to answer the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child on how the church handled the scandal – the church of course had blamed the bishops and local criminal justice authorities.

The vatican has created commissions before to look at child abuse by clergy, but so far they have only tried to cover up or protect their criminals.  One study panel created more than a decade ago reported on the abuse of schoolchildren in the U.S., a scandal in which 700 priests had to be dismissed in a three-year period. Although they recommend that "there must be consequences" for church leaders who shielded offending priests there was no way decided on how to make powerful diocesan offenders accountable so only a few leaders faced criminal investigation.

This latest attempt offers no assurance to parents that Francis will order greater accountability from those who covered up criminal abuse of children. It is also missing the rest of the iceberg:  the abuse that took or takes place in catholic “homes” for orphaned and  neglected children – most of it done by nuns. And they did more than just rape and beat children.  The Dominican nuns at St. Agnes Home in Sparkill, NY smothered me and put me in a coma. Gilbert Bonneau was also smothered (with a witness) with a pillow like I was -- by a nun at St. Colman’s home in Watervliet, NY. He was in a coma and died. See post of July 30, 2013: Catholic nuns do more than abuse children: they murder them. But I lived.

The reason I lived is to share this information with you and with everyone. Gilbert’s family is still fighting.  His brother Bill recently said to me: “Keep up the fight (George) you are doing a great job exposing the Evil Catholic Church and their phony Priest, Nuns, Brothers Etc. People are catching on. They did a job on you and the Nuns killed my brother, I will keep on fighting until my last breath to get justice for Gilbert. Sooner or later the truth will come out. Hang in there. Bill”   Like Bill, we need to keep revealing the truth to the world so they won’t forget Gilbert and the thousands like him who died in silence.