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Pope’s Abuse Commission Meets but Fails

By Jerry Slevin
Christian Catholicism
February 9, 2015

http://christiancatholicism.com/popes-go-slow-abuse-commission-meets-finally-with-meager-results/

Pope Francis’ advisory sex abuse commission is orchestrated by disgraced Boston Cardinal Law’s former canon lawyer, Fr. Robert Oliver. It met for the first time at the Vatican with all 17 of its members this weekend. It has touted its predictable empty promises of action on unaccountable bishops in a press statement released Monday (2/9/15). The pope’s illusory, even farcical commission is now, in effect, being exposed as little more than another of the Vatican’s Machiavellian political ploys — a classic stall tactic in the form of an extremely unfocused, open ended, conflicted, slow and understaffed “study commission”.

The pope’s “main accomplishment”, after stalling on the abuse scandal for two years, apparently has been to get two brave, but inexperienced, abuse survivors, Marie Collins and Peter Saunders, to publicly state, after seeing up close the planned procrastination, that they will cooperate with the farce for a further two years, a major mistake. Please see “Peter Saunders & Marie Collins Should Quit Pope’s Abuse Commission, No?“, here, [Christian Catholicism]

Marie Collins and Peter Saunders, very brave and active survivors, appear to be trying their best, but from my professional perspective, they both are being exploited. They would have more impact, it appears to me, if they resigned now. I certainly hope they do. They are giving this farcical commission by their presence a legitimacy that the commission has not earned on its merits, and likely as currently structured never will earn. This likely could have serious negative repercussions for other abuse survivors worldwide, including quite desperate ones in bankrupt USA dioceses, especially Milwaukee and Minneapolis. A lot is at stake for all of them, as well as for millions of defenseless children worldwide, with this commission.

Most importantly, Pope Francis has inexcusably to date failed to appoint to the commission respected canon lawyer, Tom Doyle, a Dominican priest in good standing and the world’s top expert on curtailing priest child abuse. Fr. Doyle and the pope both worked, at different times within a few years of each other, under the same Cardinal, Pio Laghi. Why is Tom Doyle being overlooked? What is the pope afraid of ? Why have Marie Collins and Peter Saunders failed during their many press briefings to demand that Tom Doyle be added to the commission?

It is clear that Marie Collins and Peter Saunders are outmatched by Francis, Oliver and their many high priced advisers, et al. These two survivors have already done damage by naively announcing publicly they will give their survivors’ seal of approval to Francis for another two years — clearly a major tactical error on their part.

The pope already has what he needed and wanted from them. It will help enable the pope to avoid taking serious steps to curtail abuse for at least another two years. It will likely also advance his efforts to avoid his biggest concern, an Australian style USA investigation, as he continues to work to elect a friendlier US President, such as a Jeb Bush, or a similar papal promoter in 2016.

That is bad news for defenseless children, poor women, et al. This is not really about being courageous or inspiring, which both Marie Collins and Peter Saunders appear to be— it is about being shrewd. Marie Collins and Peter Saunders are clearly not shrewd from recent indications. Marie Collins earlier criticized, with little justification, the UN Torture Committee’s condemnation of the Vatican’s child abuse cover-up, and Peter Saunders is making foolish gratuitous remarks about SNAP, etc.

I had offered to assist Marie Collins for free and she never really responded to my offer. Fine, but it seems to me that she is not receiving good advice from anyone. This also seems to me to be just another case, unfortunately, of docile and brainwashed Catholics being highly impressed that the hierarchy will even talk to them, even after they abused them. Pity, really!

The Vatican has spent billions in self defense to protect unaccountable bishops, and shifted to other governments the multi-billion dollars costs of helping priest abuse survivors. Now, the Vatican pinches pennies on a study commission that will only meet in person twice a year, it appears. This seems to be a real and evident farce and an insult to hundreds of thousands of priest abuse survivors worldwide and to their loved ones, whose lives and families have often literally been destroyed by priest predators and unaccountable bishops who protected and still protect their clerical pals.

The Vatican appears to be trying instead to exploit courageous, but frustrated, abuse survivor commission members, Marie Collins and Peter Saunders, using them as mere window dressing. This, while millions of cowardly Catholics worldwide shamefully temporize and continue, despite so many contrary facts, to offer excuses for the pope as he calls for spanking children “with dignity”! Instead these disappointing Catholics are making these two near martyrs, Marie Collins and Peter Saunders, who have already suffered too much, do the heavy lifting alone.

If they do not resign now, then I hope, for their sake, that my current assessment of the commission is wrong. But, for the sake of other survivors and defenseless children, I must call it as I see it now. Professionally, I have had a very high success rate on my calls. For example, I called the ex-Pope’s inevitable resignation more than a year before he resigned.

 

 

 

 

 




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