Honeymoon over for #PopeFrancis and #Catholics

Is this the end of the pope's honeymoon period? (Max RossiReuters)

Pope Francis’ honeymoon is over says reporter Will Carless from globalpost.com. People all over the world are realizing that much of what Francis says is just more of the same stonewalling and cover up. To update the Feb. 9^th post on this blog about Peter Saunders being thrown off the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors we quote Saunders:

“I very quickly realized that I’m surrounded by a group of lovely, kind, caring people whose primary loyalty is to the church,” Saunders said. “When #Jesus walked into the temple 2,000 years ago and found people trading, gambling and up to all sorts of no good, he didn’t form a committee and say ‘let’s discuss this,’ he just picked the bastards up and threw them out.”

And then we have Marie Collins, the other member of the commission who is also an abuse survivor. Collins obviously hasn’t read much #Vatican history: that popes have been convening commissions for hundreds of years with the same results: weak recommendations with no action that would protect children from rapist clergy or help survivors get justice.   

Collins believes that the commission is “working extremely hard on complicated policy changes that, once put into effect, will have a tangible impact on child safety.”  How “extremely hard” would it be for the Pope to open his records of reported rapist priests and their locations and hit “send” on the Vatican computer?  Collins believes that it “takes time to do right” – but children in danger right now don’t have that time; survivors still suffering at the ends of their lives don’t have that time.  She says that “Saunders doesn’t seem to be willing to put in that time,”  -- that’s correct, Saunders and all advocates of the children and survivors want the abuse to stop  right now!   Those who don’t are enablers or worse.

Speaking about Pope Francis’ feeble efforts: 

“I think Pope Francis enjoyed a longer and deeper honeymoon period than any leader I’ve ever seen,” said David Clohessy, national director and spokesman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or #SNAP. “But I think that’s eroding, and justifiably so, and more quickly than many church officials would hope.”

Francis is proving this erosion:

Recently, reporter John L. Allen Jr., an associate editor of the Catholic website #Crux, wrote about Vatican guidelines for new priests.  According to Allen, a church official who outlined the guidelines said bishops have “no duty to report allegations [of sexual abuse] to the police,” and that the commission, set up to advise the church on these matters, did not help in the creation of the guidelines. Allen wrote:

“What’s the point of creating a commission to promote best practices, and putting one of the Church’s most credible leaders on the abuse issue, Boston #CardinalSeanO’Malley, in charge of it, and yet not having it address the new leaders who will have to implement those practices?”  So nothing has changed: bishops still don’t have to report child rapes to the police – so what is the use of the commission?

O’Malley won’t talk about the work or plans of the commission and repeatedly turned down #GlobalPost requests for an interview.  David Clohessy said the news regarding the commission is just the latest version of a long line of promised church reforms that have gone nowhere. “There literally have been hundreds of church panels, and there have been thousands of incredibly smart experts and law enforcement officials and psychologists, and victims, who have wasted countless hours advising bishops who pretend to listen and care,” Clohessy said.

Pope Francis, do we need another commission to tell us why this one isn’t working?

#PopeFrancis tells clergy abuse survivor to shut up and get off Commission for Protection of Minors

Peter Saunders, clergy abuse survivor, forced to leave Pope Francis' Commission

Peter Saunders, English advocate for sexually abused children and one of two survivors on the Pope’s Commission for the Protection of Minors was given an unrequested “leave of absence” by the Holy See.  Note that the Pope is the ruler of both the Vatican City State and the Holy See.  So it is really the Pope that didn’t approve of Saunders. Why? Maybe it is his role as head of the UK National Association for People Abused in Childhood. Or, the Pope and his cohorts didn’t like him saying that the Vatican system was “essentially corrupt and unwilling to do the right thing”.  Or, Pope Francis didn’t like being criticized for appointing Chilean bishop Juan Barros to the Diocese of Osorno when Barros is accused of covering up the sex abuse crimes of Fr Fernando Karadima.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Peter Saunders said he was “shell-shocked” and disappointed at the manner in which the “inquisition” had expressed a vote of no confidence in him especially as he was personally asked to join the panel by Pope Francis.

Saunders says he is still on the commission until he decides to leave or Pope Francis personally asks him to step down.  A Vatican spokesman said Saunders “can say what he wants” and that the separation with Saunders “was a unanimous decision made by the members, with only one abstention.” Marie Collins, the other survivor of clerical sexual abuse, said on Twitter that she hadn’t voted in favor of removing Saunders.

David Clohessy, SNAP

David Clohessy,  Director of SNAP* (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) said, “We share Pete Saunders’ justifiable frustration with Vatican officials. They refuse to take quick, simple, common sense steps to protect kids and deter cover ups by punishing clerics who conceal abuse. Instead, they do what church officials have done for decades: shrewdly fixate on and discuss meaningless internal policies on paper that give the impression of progress while changing virtually nothing.”  “Pete has been a brave, honest and tireless voice for kids and victims.”

“The Pope’s abuse panel will issue recommendations. The Pope will adopt them. And nothing will improve. Why? Because there will be no enforcement. Why? Because the church hierarchy is an entitled, rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy. No new protocols or policies or procedures will radically undo a centuries-old self-serving structure that rewards clerics who keep a tight lid on child sex crimes and cover ups,” said Clohessy.

*SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org

Pope Francis had promised to attend commission meetings to answer questions about his handling of the sex abuse issue but he did not.  “Of course Pope Francis has established he is part of the problem,” Peter Saunders said in an interview with Agence France AFPTV.  “That breaks my heart because when I met him 18 months ago I thought there was a sincerity and a willingness to make things happen, and I am afraid that has been dashed now.”

In creating the Commission, the Holy See is up to its old tricks:  giving it “no teeth” – It is an advisory body, with no authority to change rules or judge specific abuse complaints.   No action: They issue statements like asking Pope Francis to remind all bishops of the importance of personal outreach to abuse victims, and also to institute a “Universal Day of Prayer” as well as a penitential liturgy for the crime of sexual abuse. They’ll hold workshops on the legal aspects of the protection of minors. I underlined the “no actions.”    As if talking and praying will heal children who were raped and punish their attackers -- or stop the multitude of pedophile priests currently stalking more children worldwide.

Saunders says now he realizes the commission was “smoke and mirrors” and he is convinced the Church will never act alone to cure the “cancer” of child abuse.  He added that he doesn’t want to work under secrecy and in darkness or, “be silenced on an issue as important as child protection.”

The biggest lie promoted by the Vatican and the Pope is that clerical sex abuse is a problem of past decades and no longer exists. “This is not in any sense a historical issue or problem,” Saunders said. “It has to be tackled now. The Pope could do so much more and he is doing next to nothing. This is a societal problem — but if the Church, the so-called moral leadership of the world, does not take a lead in this area it would quite rightly be considered morally bankrupt in every other area.”    

Pope Francis, stop convening commissions that do nothing and start taking action – like opening up the Vatican records on your child-abusing clergy and handing them and the clergy over to the police.

#Spotlight is just the beginning of the end for the #CatholicChurch

http://www.wcvb.com/news/clergy-sex-abuse-victims-claim-church-is-breaking-promises-for-care-treatment/37851766

On Friday, February 5^th, TV news station WCVB.TV in Boston aired the first part of an  rendering by investigative reporter Mike Beaudet on the treatment of survivors of Catholic Church clergy/nun abuse.    The Church says it is helping survivors by paying for psychotherapy – it makes them look good.  But just like the statements that all children are now safe from clergy pedophiles – helping survivors is another cover up. 

Survivors, many of who are suicidal, or alcohol/drug addicted are made to go through a process that makes them victims all over again.  Survivors have to go to the Diocese “outreach” office – a place where priests and their lawyers walk the hallways, where their black autos fill the parking lot, where reminders of who the abusers are hit you wherever you look and walk.  Then survivors have to re-tell their horrific stories of the abuse to lay person intake clerks who are more concerned with filling out forms than caring about what happened.  Then, the survivor has to wait for weeks or longer to find out if they are approved for therapy by the perpetrators who are the cause of the need for this therapy.

Many get turned away because the requirements for approval are purposely made difficult to get, especially by survivors who are suffering every minute of the day.  Having to remember names of abusers, dates, and places is often too traumatic for a survivor to endure.  Some get approval for psychotherapy but often it is too little too late.  Once a week may be approved when a survivor who, for the first time has talked about the abuse and needs therapy more often. The approval has to be given every year and this holds a sword over the heads of survivors who worry they will be cut off.

Years ago, in Boston, the Attorney General recommended that there be an independent survivors review board but the church ignored it – because they can.  They have enough money (taken from parishioners) to pay high priced lawyers and lobbyists to stonewall the authorities and change laws.

Look at the video and listen to the survivors – there is an overwhelming amount of evidence of yet another church coverup and much material for the next “Spotlight” movie. 

#SNAP supports whistleblower #catholicpriest

Members of SNAP support Fr. Gallagher

Update: Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, gathered on the sidewalk near the Diocese of Palm Beach to support Father Gallagher who was demoted after he exposed a pedophile priest (see yesterday's post).

 "Instead of being praised for protecting a child victim of sexual abuse, it seems as though the Bishop and the Church are punishing the ones who are doing the right thing," SNAP member David Pittman told CBS12 reporter Al Pefley .  "I was told I that I had a choice of either taking a demotion or to resign from priesthood. Those were my options," said Gallagher.  SNAP* is calling for an investigation to make sure there was no cover-up.  The Diocese has not commented.

*SNAP is an advocate for child and adult sexual abuse survivors of any religion or organization.

http://cbs12.com/news/local/group-shows-support-for-whistleblower-priest

#CardinalO’Malley tells whistleblower #catholicpriest to get lost

Father Gallagher

Father John Gallagher, a priest from West Palm Beach says the Catholic Church is trying to force him out because he blew the whistle on a pedophile priest.  When Gallagher found out that one of his priests, Jose Palimatton, had shown child pornography to a teenage boy, he reported it to the Diocese of Palm Beach. But he says they didn't want to hear it.

"When I made the initial phone call to the Diocese, I was told we are used to this, we normally put people like this on an airplane," Gallagher said.  The head of the Diocese, Bishop Gerald Barbarito, told Gallagher that he didn't want to know the details of the crime.  So Gallagher called the sheriff's office. Palimatton was arrested, pleaded guilty, got 6 months in jail and was deported back to India.

Since then, the church has treated Gallagher like an outcast:  while he was out on medical leave, the Diocese removed all his possessions from the rectory where he lived and changed the locks on the door.   When he tried to tell Cardinal Sean O'Malley in Boston – who is on Pope Francis’ committee to stop clergy crime, O'Malley told him to take a very long vacation – and this was in back in October, 2015.

"And what did you take that to mean?" asked CBS12 reporter Al Pefley. "That means what it means. Go away," Gallagher explained. Even though the police wrote a letter to Cardinal Sean O'Malley in Boston, commending Gallagher for his actions, O’Malley ignored him.  The Diocese of Palm Beach of course, denied they were harassing Gallagher and said he went on medical leave “freely on his own”. 

Is it any wonder that more whistleblower priests don’t come forth? Pope Francis with O’Malley as head of his sex abuse commission -- that has done nothing to help the abused for three years -- is doing what comes naturally for the catholic church: stonewalling, denying, covering up and continuing the abuse.

 http://cbs12.com/news/local/whistleblower-priest-claims-church-ostracizing-him

A pope and a priest: brothers in crime in the catholic church

Joseph and Georg

In my book, “Smothered” in 2012 I wrote a letter to the former pope Benedict (Joseph Ratzinger). I said:

“You are truly evil. It runs in your family. Your older brother Georg Ratzinger, a priest and choirmaster worked in two schools for boys. (Georg is pronounced: GAY-org, with 'org' as in 'organization'). He admitted that he smacked children and that he knew that priests were molesting the boys and did nothing about it. What other reason would he have to purposely smack children who were raped except to keep them quiet?”

A new investigation of brother Georg began in 2015.  As reported by Walter Einenkel   (Daily KOS, 1/12/16) at least 231 children were abused during former Pope Benedict XVI's brother's watch.  Georg Ratzinger led the Regensburger Domspatzen choir for 30 years while these children were being abused.

Lawyer Ulrich Weber, who was commissioned by the choir to look into accusations of beatings, torture and sexual abuse, said that the actual abuse affected even more children than the 231. When asked whether Georg Ratzinger, who conducted the Regensburg choir from 1964 to 1994, knew about the abuse, Mr. Weber said, “After my research, I must assume so.” Most of the abuse was done by Johann Meier, director of the school connected with the choir between the years 1953 until 1992. Meier has since died. Weber said at least 40 of the 231 abuse cases also involved sexual violence, “from fondling to rapes.” Most cases are too old for legal action now, he said.

Joseph Ratzinger, who became Benedict XVI was the Archbishop of Munich from 1977 until 1981, when he went to head up the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the branches of the Church that dealt with priestly sexual abuse.

Joseph Ratzinger understood better than most that priestly abuse was a crime that went against everything the Church was supposed to stand for. But, for much of his career, he spent his time doing everything but stopping the clergy abuse of children. At the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was too busy disciplining anyone who dared step out of line with Church teachings on personal sexuality and family planning to think about the thousands of priests molesting children.

The church traditionalists wish for the good old days when the pope’s authority was unquestioned, civil authorities treated the church with extreme deference, and parishioners obeyed without objection. They ignore the facts that those good old days were also a time when children were slapped, beaten, and often sexually abused, and  bishops, parents, and police looked away.  These “good old days” are still going on for all the priests and nuns who got away with these crimes, those still committing these crimes and for the bishops, cardinals and the pope who know what is going on but do not stop it.  Pope Francis can stop it but will talk with no action as long as the faithful put up with his lies.  

Boston vigil for clergy abuse victims ends because Pope Francis protects criminals

Jane Braunsky (right) spoke to Paul Kellen after she attended Mass on Sunday

In January 2002, after the Boston Globe Spotlight Team published the first story detailing the church’s attempt to cover up the abuse of children by priests, a dedicated and courageous group of people started a 14 year vigil for the abused children.

Every week, in in sleet, snow, rain, and heat, members of the group were there outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston – they never missed a week. They protested the Catholic Church’s poor response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

“I’ve decided that, after 14 years, the church is not going to change,” Kenneth Scott, 76, said as he staged his final protest with five others huddled under umbrellas.  He will still support and help the victims but will find other ways. 

Brian Harlow

 Brian Harlow, a 41-year-old North Cambridge resident and survivor of clergy sexual abuse, came Sunday to express his gratitude to the protesters, who stand silently on the sidewalk and hold signs displaying the photos of abuse victims. “I’m just so grateful,” he said. “They didn’t have to do this. They just care. They’re the most amazing people you’d ever hope to meet.”

The protesters decided to quit after Pope Francis praised American bishops in September for their “courage” in dealing with the abuse scandal – causing outrage from victims for his insensitive and cold comment.  Francis supported all the bishops still working for the church and still unpunished for their criminal cover ups of pedophile priests.

“The pope’s message last fall was disheartening, discouraging, dismaying,” said Paul Kellen, a 79-year-old from Medford, “I don’t see any hope.”

What do the parishioners at the cathedral, which serves as the mother church of the Archdiocese of Boston think about the protesters? Some shout at them, some thank them. But too many just don’t get it:  the fact that children are still in harm’s way, pedophile priests are still being moved from parish to parish and molesting children every day, that bishops are still covering up for their criminal clergy, that all over the world millions of victims lead lives that are ruined – all at the hands of a church, of a pope, that hides behind God and does the work of the devil.

Here is a typical parishioner, Kim Curry, who said to the Boston Globe reporter,  Michael Levenson, that she sees the protesters after Mass and is not sure why they are demonstrating. “We’re all aware what happened,” she said. “What is it that they want done?”  How about putting all the criminal clergy and their enabler bishops in jail!

Another parishioner, Jane Braunsky, said she, too, is not sure what they want. “Apologies have been made, bishops have made them, both popes have made them, the cardinal has certainly mentioned it during his sermons, if they had listened,” she said. “I’m not sure what more can be done. So, if they’re Christian, they should say, ‘OK, we’ll take that as an apology and go forth and live.’”

Does an apology take away the memories of being raped by a “man of God”, of being beaten and smothered into a coma by nuns – like I was? Does it bring back my brother who committed suicide because of what they did to us.  Does it take away a lifetime of disability, of lost ability, of daily flash-backs?  Does it help other victims who became alcoholics, drug-addicts and committed suicide?  If these parishioners are really Christians, they will demand justice for the abused and protection for the children now being abused by a church and a pope who do nothing to stop it. It’s time to show the Holy Cross protesters that their years of trying were not in vain.  If the church won’t do anything to help then tell it what to do by walking away with your contributions in your pocket – not in the church’s bank account where they will use it to bail out criminal clergy.

Police arrest pedophile catholic priest in Calabria: bishop cover up deja-vu

Antonello Tropea: Priest or Pervert? 

In Gioia Tauro, a poor city in Calabria, Italy catholic priest Antonello Tropea was caught using the gay dating app Grindr for teen sex. Under investigation for two months, police surprised him inside a car parked in a secluded area. Tropea was with an underage boy who said Tropea paid him $21 for oral sex -- a fee they had agreed on WhatsApp after meeting on Grindr. A police search of the clergy house uncovered much evidence, including child porn images and message exchanges on email and Tropea’s smartphone with the boy and other teenagers. Also confiscated were 16g of marijuana and sex toys.

Tropea's bishop Francesco Milito is also under investigation for allowing such behavior. He knew about accusations against Tropea for some time but did not take any action. According to court papers two parishioners had warned Milito of Tropea’s deviant activity months ago. Milito dismissed the accusations as "nuns' chatter" in a phone conversation with Tropea that was taped by police according to the Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper. When Tropea was being investigated, the bishop openly advised him "not to talk with Carabinieri police" about the issue.

Tropea was organizing dates with teens on Grindr while pretending to be a sales rep - named Nicholas after the patron saint of his parish, San Nicola di Mira. Most of the encounters took place in Tropea’s car but he also met with some boys at his church rectory.

Luring minors for paid sex, buying pornography and drugs, using a phony name taken from a saint -- would you want this priest to baptize your baby, give you communion, or be alone with your child? Would you want bishop Milito to cover-up for this pervert and lie to police about it? Again we see what the church clergy does with parishioners’ money. Don’t support an organization that abuses children – there may be another Tropea in your parish.