ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Michael Brennan Deputy Political Editor– 20 February 2013

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has pledged that the compensation fund for Magdalene Laundry survivors will not be a “gravy train” for lawyers.

He said that the Magdalene survivors he had spoken to had specifically asked for a process that was “non-legalistic” and “non-adversarial”.

He said he believed it would be possible to deal with the issue compassionately and sensitively.

Previously, a redress board was set up to take evidence from survivors of physical and sexual abuse in industrial schools. The ultimate cost was €1.3bn, with survivors having to reveal what had happened to them in behind-closed- doors sessions, and lawyers getting a substantial share of the proceeds in legal fees.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Aus den vollmundigen Versprechen des Runden Tisches ist bislang nichts geworden. Die Betroffenen sind empört Von Miriam Hollstein

Seit Monaten streiten Bund und Länder um die Umsetzung des 100-Millionen-Hilfsfonds

Es gibt Tage, da muss sich Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig wie der tragische griechische Held Sisyphos persönlich vorkommen. Tage, an denen der Stein, den der Unabhängige Beauftragte für Fragen des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs seit gut einem Jahr den politischen Berg hinaufrollt, krachend wieder herunterfällt. Dieser Mittwoch dürfte wieder einmal so ein Tag werden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Focus

Gegen die Teilnahme eines umstrittenen US-Kardinals an der Wahl des nächsten Papstes regt sich in den USA Widerstand. Der frühere Erzbischof von Los Angeles, Kardinal Roger Mahony, soll versucht haben, sexuellen Missbrauch zu vertuschen und beschuldigte Geistliche zu schützen.

Die Organisation „Catholics United“ fordert von Mahony nun in einer Petition, nicht zum Konklave zur Wahl des Nachfolgers von Benedikt XVI. nach Rom zu fahren. Auch mehrere US-Medien äußerten sich kritisch.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Von Annette Langer

Systematisch soll Kardinal Roger Michael Mahony sexuellen Missbrauch in seiner Diözese verheimlicht haben. Dennoch darf er zum Konklave nach Rom fahren und einen neuen Papst wählen. Ein Skandal, finden progressive Katholiken und fordern einen Reiseverzicht.

Kardinal Mahony darf dabei sein. Er ist einer der 117 Wahlberechtigten, die nach dem Rücktritt von Benedikt XVI. einen neuen Papst wählen dürfen. Er freue sich schon sehr auf das Konklave im März, ließ der emeritierte Erzbischof wissen. Schon bei der Wahl Joseph Ratzingers im Jahr 2005 sei der Heilige Geist fast greifbar gewesen, schreibt er in seinem Blog: “Da gab es keine weltlichen Stimmen oder Einflüsse. Es war unglaublich.”

Doch mit den profanen Stimmen ist das so eine Sache. Man hat sie nicht im Griff. Und sie erheben sich gerade unüberhörbar.

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
National Catholic Register

by JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND
02/18/20

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — After Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would resign, a debate quickly ensued about the proper terminology for describing the Pope’s stunning decision: Had he “abdicated,” resigned or “renounced” his office? And what would he be called after he took up his new life of prayer and study?

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., a canon lawyer, has entered the discussion, offering the fruit of his analysis regarding the proper canonical term for the Pope’s decision and the likely title and name he will use after his resignation.

Such matters are not entirely settled because of the singular nature of this landmark decision: “A Pope has not left office alive for almost 600 years,” acknowledged Bishop Paprocki in a statement that offered his “canonical reflections on terminology.”

The remarks were sent to a canon-law listserve, and the bishop subsequently agreed to allow the Register to publish his reflections.

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VATICAN CITY
The Plain Dealer

VATICAN CITY — As of 8 p.m. on Feb. 28, Pope Benedict XVI will no longer be pope and the Vatican will go into “sede vacante” mode — a Latin expression that means that the seat of St. Peter is vacant.

So who’s in charge until a new pope is chosen? The “interregnum” between two popes is governed by ancient rituals and by institutions half forgotten even within the Vatican.

But it is also the only time that the Catholic Church comes close to vaguely resembling a democracy, with the College of Cardinals acting somewhat like a Parliament with limited powers as it prepares to choose the new pontiff in a closed-doors conclave.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAPwisconsin.com

Action Alert: Important Milwaukee Archdiocese Bankruptcy Court Hearing Thursday February 21, 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: Milwaukee Federal Courthouse, 517 E. Wisconsin Avenue

An important hearing will be held in Federal Bankruptcy Court which could significantly determine the outcome of the 570 cases filed by victim/survivors. If you are able, I urge you to attend, along with family members and supporters.

I know it can be difficult to attend these hearings. For two years, lawyers from the archdiocese have done little else but attempt to disqualify, discredit and dismiss every case filed by victims. It makes a significant difference, however, if Judge Kelley sees survivors, our families, and our supporters in attendance. (There will be a sign language interpreter.) Judges and lawyers are human; they need to see the faces of those who are going to be directly affected by their seemingly abstract actions, arguments and decisions. Afterwards, I ask you to stay and join SNAP leaders for remarks to the press on the day’s activities in court and what the decisions and deliberations mean for survivors, the church, and our public mission to achieve institutional accountability, transparency and child safety.

On Thursday, to the best of my understanding, at least three key decisions will be made or at least significantly discussed:

–A motion by attorneys for victim/survivors asking the Bankruptcy Court to decide any insurance liability issues before issuing other decisions, such as claim objections. As you know, the archdiocese has spent two years trying to throw out the cases filed by survivors. Attorneys for victims will be asking the judge to decide the issue of insurance coverage before the archdiocese is allowed to continue dragging survivors through endless objections and possible depositions without having even tried to procure the necessary funding for restitution and relief at the end of this torturous and traumatic legal process.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Cardinal tipped to become first black pope in modern times blames gay priests for abuse scandals facing Catholic church

By Simon Caldwell

The African cardinal widely tipped to be the first black pope in modern history faced a firestorm of criticism last night after he laid the blame for clerical sex abuse crises at the feet of gay priests.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, who comes from Ghana, told an American journalist that similar sex scandals would never convulse churches in Africa because the culture was inimical to homosexuality.

‘African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency,’ he told Christiane Amanpour of CCN.

‘Because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa homosexuality or for that matter any affair between two sexes of the same kind, are not countenanced in our society,’ he continued.

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CANADA
Mississauga

NEWMARKET — The 91-year-old former top physician in York Region defiantly denied allegations Tuesday that he sexually abused little boys decades ago, while he was a family doctor, United Church elder and Boy Scout volunteer.

“Not guilty,” Dr. Owen Slingerland said four times as allegations of indecent assault on four boys were read out in a Newmarket courtroom.

Supporting himself with a cane, Slingerland spoke in a loud but cracking voice as he denied the charges before Justice Anne Mullin in Superior Court.

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UNITED STATES
Gawker

Taylor Berman

In an interview last week with CNN, Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, considered by many to be the favorite to succeed Pope Benedict XVI (which would make him the first black Pope), created an uproar with his response to Christiane Amanpour’s question about the possibility of the Catholic Church’s sex scandal spreading to Africa. For Turkson, the issue isn’t Church-wide cover ups of the scandal or any other systematic problem; instead, Turkson thinks the abuse occurred because there were too many gay priests in Europe and North America.

“African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency,” he said. “Because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa homosexuality or for that matter any affair between two sexes of the same kind are not countenanced in our society.”

Right. As CNN dutifully noted in their post about the interview: “According to the American Psychological Association, ‘homosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are.'”

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UNITED STATES
Press TV (Iran)

[UN report]

The United Nations has accused the United States for failing to pursue cases of child sex abuse among religious leaders and groups.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report this month highlighting widespread sexual abuse committed by clerics and staff of religious institutions in America, along with a lack of measures “to properly investigate cases and prosecute them”.

“The committee is deeply concerned at information of sexual abuse committed by clerics and leading members of certain faith-based organizations and religious institutions on a massive and long-term scale,” the report said.

This comes as the American Catholic Church attempts to tackle an ongoing nationwide scandal over a pattern of covering-up allegations of sexual crimes committed by abusive priests.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has admitted the church is “broken” and will hold a series of prayer gatherings to start afresh amid a slew of child sex abuse allegations.

In a statement on Wednesday, diocesan co-ordinator for The Year of Grace, Sister Louise Gannon, said the local community was invited to gather with Newcastle-Maitland Bishop Bill Wright “for prayers of healing and hope” at six different locations in the Hunter region during Lent.

“We recognise with the history of sexual abuse in this diocese, we have a need to pray together and ritualise our need for healing,” Sr Gannon said.

“This is a very significant and public aspect of our brokenness as a church and in the context of … the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry and the Royal Commission we would not have a prayer focused on healing without naming it as such.”

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VATICAN CITY
Malay Mail

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Location:
VATICAN CITY

US cardinal Roger Mahony “made mistakes” and failed to crack down on abuse but will probably attend the conclave to elect a new pope, the Vatican’s former anti-abuse prosecutor said on Wednesday.

“He is a very humble cardinal who did not manage to curtail paedophilia cases in his diocese as would have been right,” Charles Scicluna, who was in the prosecutor’s office between 1995 and 2012, told La Repubblica daily.

Scicluna said that before 2002, when US bishops promised zero tolerance against sexual abuse by priests as a wave of denunciations began to emerge, there were “no clear guidelines, especially on a diocesan level”.

“Everyone did what they could and unfortunately in some cases Mahony made mistakes,” said Scicluna, who is now auxiliary bishop of Malta, adding that he had met Mahony several times since the cardinal had come to him for advice.

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VATICAN CITY
CanIndia

VATICAN CITY

Activists fighting for truth and justice for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests hold out little hope for progress under the next pope as controversy brews over a US cardinal who covered up for predator clerics.

A Catholic association has asked retired Los Angeles archbishop Roger Mahony to stay away from next month’s conclave after he was stripped of all public duties for mishandling claims against dozens of priests.

Campaigners say the disgraced cardinal’s behaviour is precisely what Pope Benedict XVI has failed to crack down on and point to other “cardinal electors” linked to abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.

“He should have the good sense to stay well away from Rome,” said Roberto Mirabile, director of the Italian anti-abuse group La Caramella Buona, whose lobbying helped convict a paedophile parish priest near Rome last year.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW, in Rome

If US Cardinal Roger Mahony is unfit to vote in next month’s conclave, what about Irish primate, Cardinal Seán Brady? In the wake of the fierce polemics surrounding Cardinal Mahony, Vatican commentators yesterday suggested that Cardinal Brady might be the next church leader to find his right to vote in conclave contested.

The US group, Catholics United, has been running a campaign calling on Cardinal Mahony not to take part in the conclave. They argue that, given that earlier this month Cardinal Mahony was relieved of all church administrative duties by his successor Archbishop José Gomez because of his mishandling of clerical sex abuse cases, then he should not travel to Rome to vote.

An online petition by Catholics United, bearing 5,000 signatures by last night, reads, “Cardinal Mahony: Stay Home”, adding: “If a cardinal is stripped of public ministry in his diocese, why should he be rewarded with being allowed to vote for the next pope?”

In 2007, the archdiocese of Los Angeles, then administered by Cardinal Mahony, reached a $660 million settlement with 500 victims.

Vatican commentators began to speculate yesterday as to just how many other cardinals might have similar problems in their past. In that context, SKY 24 TV Italia yesterday asked if Cardinal Brady might be next in line because of his 1975 involvement in an internal, canon law hearing, involving children who had been abused by paedophile, Fr Brendan Smyth.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

CONOR KANE

A former priest and school principal was jailed for two years last night for indecently assaulting a pupil over 30 years ago.

Con Desmond (77) with an address at Woodlands, Kilrush Road, Ennis, Co Clare, was convicted last month at Waterford Circuit Court of 13 charges of indecently assaulting a pupil at the St Stephen’s De La Salle National School in Waterford city. He had denied the offences, which occurred between 1977 and 1980 when the victim was aged between eight and 10.

Desmond was principal of the school and the assaults took place in his office. Judge Donagh McDonagh said: “This is an evil man who exploited one of the most innocent who was entrusted to his care.”

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UNITED STATES
SNAP Wisconsin

[UN report]

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

The United Nations leading voice on children’s rights has issued a stinging criticism of US law enforcement and US government agencies for their failure to investigate and prosecute clergy child sex offenders and bring church officials who have covered up these crimes to justice.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued their remarks in a report from Geneva saying they are “deeply concerned” about the lack of action by officials in the US concerning crimes that have taken place on a “massive and long-term scale.”

Although the Committee is concerned about crimes and cover ups taking place in other faith communities across the United States, it is the Catholic Church where the documentation and criminal evidence is overwhelming, incontrovertible and wide spread.

The Committee, of course, is right and the criticism is long overdue.

What other organization could withstand shattering headlines, year after year, in virtually every major prosecution district across the United States concerning the concealment and transfer of child sex offenders by its senior management, often crossing state and international boundaries, and it would result in no federal investigations, not a single hearing on Capitol Hill, and no denunciations from the White House? The United States, after all, even has an official ambassador to the Vatican and recognizes the Holy See as an actual government. What other foreign government has tens of thousands of institutions and employees in the United States and has been exposed for systematically concealing and harboring scores of individuals who have harmed American citizens, particularly our most vulnerable citizens, children, and has never faced prosecution, sanction, or investigation? Isn’t it time for the US ambassador to the Vatican to start advocating on behalf of American children?

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BOSTON (MA)
WBUR

Audio report (above) is WBUR reporter Deborah Becker’s full conversation with John Allen, the National Catholic Reporter’s Vatican correspondent. Text report (below) by WBUR’s Newsroom.

BOSTON — As Catholic cardinals head to Rome next week to say goodbye to Pope Benedict XVI, some Italian commentators are suggesting that Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley could be a candidate for the papacy.

Vatican reporter John Allen, with the National Catholic Reporter, says several Italian news reports mention O’Malley as a possible successor, praising his handling of the church sex abuse scandal despite criticism from victim advocates in Massachusetts.

Last week, O’Malley has made it clear that he is not interested in becoming pope, saying “it’s a very, very challenging position and it’s a very lonely position. It’s a very difficult task.”

“I haven’t lost sleep about it and I have bought a round-trip ticket, so I’m counting on coming home,” O’Malley added.

Allen reported that before now, an American was rarely considered for the position.

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UNITED STATES
NBC Chicago

New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan says Catholics could see a non-European Pope emerge this March when white smoke pours from a Vatican smokestack.

“It’s highly possible,” Dolan said on his New York radio show. “To think that there might be a pope from North America, to think that there might be a pope from Latin America, a pope from Asia, a pope from Africa. I think that’s possible, don’t you.?”

One possibility that Dolan downplayed, however, is speculation over his ascendance.

“I could be the next shortstop of the Yankees too,” he said when asked if he might preside over the Catholic faith after Benedict.

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BOSTON (MA)
NECN

[with video]

(NECN) – It’s time for the Braude Beat, and Broadside host Jim Braude talked about the news that rocked many in Boston’s Catholic community on Tuesday.

The National Catholic Reporter’s Vatican correspondent wrote a blog post saying the Italian press is abuzz about Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley being a contender for pope.

Braude says he doesn’t think Cardinal O’Malley will be the next pope.

“No disrespect intended to Cardinal Sean, it’s just that he’s not – if you look down the list of qualifications … he just doesn’t fit the mold,” Braude says.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Capuchin religious order says priest in charge of Wisconsin high school seminary committed sexual assaults against minors

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

The Capuchin Franciscans, a Roman Catholic religious order, has announced that Fr. Dennis Druggan, the longtime President of St. Lawrence Seminary, a high school boarding school located in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin and operating in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, has been permanently removed from ministry for reports of sexually assaulting minors.

It’s commendable that the Capuchins appear to have taken decisive action in this case and are public about it. It may be too early to judge, but it is an encouraging sign that former and emerging cases will be treated in a similar manner.

In July of 2012, a victim came forward from Montana saying Druggan had sexually assaulted him as a youngster in the 1980’s. The Capuchins then suspended Druggan from his post at St. Lawrence. Druggan denied the sexual assault(s). Now, a second victim has come forward, presumably also from Montana.

Druggan’s denial of these criminal acts, along with his position as president in charge of St. Lawrence, a boarding school for youngsters where he has had unprecedented access to thousands of minors for years, is cause for obvious concern. Child sexual assault is the most underreported crime in the nation, with an annual reporting rate of only 7 or 8 percent. That means that most victims never report their crime and when they do it takes decades for them to do so.

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IRELAND
Los Angeles Times

By Emily Alpert
February 19, 2013

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny offered an emotional apology Tuesday for government involvement in a harsh system of laundries run by Roman Catholic nuns, where women and girls labored long hours behind locked doors, unpaid and often bewildered about why they were there.

“As a society, for many years we failed you,” Kenny said in a televised official apology Tuesday before the Irish Parliament. “This is a national shame.”

Kenny stopped, his voice breaking, and then concluded, “Let me hope that this day and this debate heralds a new dawn for all those who feared that the dark midnight might never end.”

The apology came two weeks after a report found that the Irish government had been involved in the infamous Magdalen laundries, helping to send girls and women into the workhouses, paying them through government programs and contracts, and bringing runaways back in the hands of police.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Taoiseach has apologised unreservedly on behalf of the State to the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries.

Speaking in the Dáil, Enda Kenny apologised to the women for the hurt they endured in the laundries and for any stigma they suffered as a result of the time they spent in the laundries.

He said: “I, as Taoiseach, on behalf of the State, the Government and our citizens deeply regret and apologise unreservedly to all those women for the hurt that was done to them.”

Mr Kenny had been criticised by some survivors for his initial response to the McAleese Report.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Some of the survivors, children and family members were present in the public gallery of the Dáil this afternoon.

The surviving women held hands tightly and wept as the Taoiseach made his tearful apology.

All those present have acknowledged Mr. Kenny’s speech.

In a statement this evening the group thanked Mr Kenny for his words,

“This was a deeply meaningful experience for people who never thought they would see this day, and the official apology, come to pass. JFM thanks Mr. Kenny on their behalf.”

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CANADA
Daily Brew

By Matthew Coutts | Daily Brew

A new study suggesting religion doesn’t work to deter criminal behaviour is being trumpeted as controversial and provocative. But haven’t most of us already figured this out, already?

The U.S. study suggests that criminals are able to adopt religious messages to support their behaviour through “purposeful distortion or genuine ignorance.”

Many inmates interviewed as part of the study, published in the journal Theoretical Criminology, were able to rationalize and excuse their violent behaviour — one even said he prayed before each crime to “stay cool with Jesus.”

The study’s lead author, Volkan Topalli, told Postmedia News:

People have to understand that presenting religious doctrine to people isn’t enough to change their behaviour. (Faith-based services) have to be systematic and about behaviour change — religion has to be a vehicle, rather than the goal.

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IRELAND
Fine Gael

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny
•February 19th, 2013

I begin today’s debate by thanking Dr Martin McAleese and his team for their excellent work on this report.

I thank equally all the women who met with them to assist in its compilation. I also thank the religious orders who cooperated fully with Dr. McAleese.

Together they have helped provide Ireland with a document of truth.

The Magdalene laundries have cast a long shadow over Irish life over our sense of who we are.

It’s just two weeks since we received this report: the first-ever detailed Report into the State’s involvement in the Magdalene Laundries.

It shines a bright and necessary light on a dark chapter of Ireland’s history.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By
Matt Stout / Boston Herald

Buzz is growing around Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley as the next possible pope, according to Vatican watchers, who say Boston’s Roman Catholic archbishop has the background, touch and personality to be a major contender to sit in St. Peter’s chair.

John L. Allen Jr., the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, wrote in a blog post today that O’Malley has generated a “surprising degree of buzz” with the Italian press covering the Vatican, making the once improbable notion of an American being named pope now “thinkable.”

The growing chatter around O’Malley is based, writes Allen, “partly on the strength of his profile as a reformer on the church’s sexual abuse scandals, and partly because of his Capuchin simplicity as a perceived antidote to the Vatican’s reputation for intrigue and power games.”

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UNITED STATES
Newser

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 19, 2013

(Newser) – Thinking about “pope” as your career goal? Consider the retirement package, which is apparently around $3,340 per month. That’s how much Pope Benedict will get when he abdicates later this month, and while it may seem a bit low for someone who was the leader of the entire Roman Catholic Church, also consider the fact that most if not all of his expenses will be covered by the Vatican after he retires. (He’ll be living there, for one thing.)

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UNITED STATES
Salon

By Mary Elizabeth Williams

As leader of the Catholic Church, a pope wears many hats – and not just the big and pointy kind. He is the bishop of Rome. He is heir to the seat of St. Peter. He is the guy who runs the Pontifex Twitter account. He’s also head of the Holy See. And as such, he gets some interesting perks. Like diplomatic immunity.

When the 85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI steps down from his job later this month, he will no longer be a head of state. Perhaps that’s why he’s chosen to stick around Vatican City. As Reuters noted recently, staying at the Vatican – its own distinct sovereign territory – means he’ll be able to enjoy his retirement in the comfort of “legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world.” How convenient!

During Benedict’s reign, a glut of horrific sex abuse cases, some dating back several decades, have shaken up the Catholic Church worldwide. And as they have continued to emerge, the institution has faced an unprecedented set of moral and legal challenges. In 2010, the United States Supreme Court denied the Vatican’s invocation of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 in a lawsuit filed against the Holy See involving allegations of abuse by Father Andrew Ronan of Oregon. Last year, however, in district court, Judge Michael W. Mosman dismissed the case. And just earlier this month, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony was stripped of his official diocese duties after the release of thousands of pages of documents revealing his complicity in shielding sexually abusive priests from justice. Six years ago, the diocese reached a landmark $660 million settlement with victims. Mahony, by the way, is still planning on journeying to Rome later this month to help choose the new pontiff. This is the kind of man who gets to decide who’s pope, folks.

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GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

From the election of the next pope to the morning-after pill, Catholic bishops have much to talk about at their annual conference.

The German Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the western city of Trier will be a mixture of uncertainty, diagnosis and prayers. Following Pope Benedict XVI’s recent announcement of his resignation at the end of the month, the election of a new leader of the church is high on the agenda. Four of the 66 members of the Bishops’ Conference will travel to Rome to elect the new pope: 76 year-old Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Cologne Cardinal Joachim Meisner (79), Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx (59) and Berlin Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki (56). They are members of the papal conclave which elects the pope, and which is made up of cardinals who are under 80.

At the moment, the German bishops are being unusually open about their desires and expectations for Pope Benedict XVI’s successor. They want a much younger pope – who doesn’t have to come from Europe. They are criticizing the Italian system of the Curia. Cardinal Lehmann lamented its “centralism.” He spoke of Benedict XVI’s disappointment and loneliness, pointing to the lack of good people around him. But the bishops who have gathered in Trier are not suggesting any names or even indirectly indicating any preference. That wouldn’t be the done thing.

Sexual abuse

But there is a need to discuss German issues too. The process of dealing with the sexual abuse that took place in church institutions has stalled. The German Bishop’s Conference began working with the criminologist Christian Pfeiffer in 2011. Researchers wanted to draw lessons for the training of priests and church practice by looking at biographies of offenders across the country.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

by Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 19, 2013

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who was been publicly disgraced for his handling of priests accused of sex abuse in the 1980s, has written that his personal Lenten journey involves suffering and “never protesting misunderstandings, and never getting angry because of false accusations.”

Reflecting on the prophet Isaiah’s passage on the suffering servant, Mahony writes that the passage is “important for all of us who are disciples of Jesus Christ since we are called to imitate his words, actions, and life.”

“Part of that journey will always entail suffering from time to time,” wrote Mahony on his personal blog Monday. “But what makes Jesus’ suffering so different, and so important for us, is that he lived out Isaiah’s prophecy fully: ‘…he did not open his mouth…'”

“That means never rationalizing what is happening in our lives, never protesting misunderstandings, and never getting angry because of false accusations,” Mahony continues. “And that is so difficult for us human beings. It is certainly difficult for me on my journey.”

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Alessandro Speciale| Religion News Service

Updated: Tuesday, February 19

VATICAN CITY — The controversy over Cardinal Roger Mahony’s vote in the conclave that will elect a new pope has now reached the Vatican, with at least one cardinal musing aloud that the former archbishop of Los Angeles should consider staying home.

Mahony, who led the nation’s largest archdiocese from 1985 to 2011, has been accused of hiding sexual abuse by priests and was recently sidelined by current Archbishop Jose Gomez.

Gomez announced that Mahony would no longer have any “administrative or public duties” after a court-ordered release of 14,000 pages of internal church records showed Mahony and others actively tried to shield abusive priests from prosecution. Gomez called the records “brutal and painful reading.”

Nonetheless, the 76-year old cardinal remains a bishop” in good standing” and retains the right to vote for the future pope until he reaches age 80. Gomez has since said he supports Mahony’s vote in the conclave.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

An American cardinal accused of covering up sex abuse by priests insisted on Tuesday he would attend next month’s conclave to elect a new Pope, despite a growing campaign among Catholics to have him barred.

By Nick Squires, Rome
9:49PM GMT 19 Feb 2013

Roger Mahony, 76, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, was last month relieved of all his church duties for allegedly trying to conceal abuse cases involving dozens of priests in the US.

He was stripped of those duties by his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, who took over from him in 2011.

Catholics on both sides of the Atlantic said it would be wrong for the disgraced cardinal to attend the conclave, the secretive gathering of cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel which will choose a new pontiff sometime in mid-March.

But Cardinal Mahony posted a message on his Twitter account saying he would defy his critics and turn up for the conclave.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on February 19, 2013

A journalist recently suggested to me that DC Archbishop Donald Wuerl was “less dirty” on abuse than the other US prelates who will attende the papal conclave. “Not so fast,” I replied.

Wuerl, like his colleagues Tim Dolan and Roger Mahony, could be called the “teflon bishop.” Little about his poor record on clergy sex crimes sticks to him.

In a particularly egregious example, in 2010 he let Fr. Walter Salisbury – a priest who had been convicted twice of abusing children – move quietly to Maine and continue working there, without any warning whatsoever. This, in effect, gave Fr. Salisbury new “hunting grounds.”

Wuerl has also refused to take the simple step of posting the names of credibly accused priests on his diocesan website. He has refused in both Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh, his former posting.

On top of this, Wuerl has constantly displayed a general disregard for survivors of abuse. In particular, in 2010 Wuerl honored Cardinal Dario Hoyos, a Vatican official who was infamous for his hurtful claims about abuse victims and who once sent a letter to French bishop Pierre Pican, thanking him for hiding a sexually abusive priest from authorities. Despite knowing that Cardinal Hoyos was a polarizing figure and hurtful to victims, Wuerl honored him anyway.

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IRELAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 19, 2013

I can stomach a lot. But it’s very hard for me to read about the Magdalene Laundries.

When I do, here’s what I think:

–I wasn’t torn from my family
–I had one tormentor, not several or many
–I wasn’t around that tormentor 24/7
–No one blamed me for my plight (some of the girls were put in these cruel institutions for being on a train without a ticket)

I could go on and on, but my point is simple: these defenseless girls – hundreds and hundreds of them – suffered immeasurably and needlessly, both as youngsters and well into adulthood. My heart aches to think of what they endured while church and governmental authorities inflicted or ignored their pain.

Now, thanks to their courage and tenacity, they’ve gotten an apology. I hope it helps. I hope real compensation will follow soon. And I hope – desperately – that some crucial lessons have been learned about secrecy, cruelty and how dangerous it is when secular and religious figures collude.

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IRELAND
YouTube

Video.

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IRELAND
BBC News

The Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach), Enda Kenny, has formally apologised on behalf of the state for its role in the Magdalene laundries.

Some 10,000 women and girls were made to do unpaid manual labour in laundries run by Roman Catholic nuns in Ireland between 1922 and 1996.

More than a quarter of those who spent time in the laundries had been sent there by the Irish state.

Mr Kenny apologised to all the women affected.

He said their experiences had cast a “long shadow” over Irish life and that it had been “humbling and inspiring” to meet them.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Michael Brennan Deputy Political Editor– 19 February 2013

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has delivered the first official apology to the women of the Magdalene laundries.

He had come under fire for failing to apolgoise two weeks ago when former Senator Martin McAleese’s 1,000-page report into State involvement in the Magdalene Laundries was published.

But in the Dail, Mr Kenny delivered a clear state apology to the 10,000 women who had been in the country’s ten Magdalene Laundries.

He said there never would have been any need for institutions such as the Magdalen Laundries in a society guided by the principles of compassion and social justice.

And he said that women kept in there were wholly blameless and were only described as “fallen women” due to prejudice.

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IRELAND
Sky News

Ireland’s Prime Minister choked back tears as he issued an apology to thousands of women who were subjected to regimes of hard work and prayer in Catholic-run workhouses.

Enda Kenny, known as the Taoiseach, described the Magdalene laundries as “the nation’s shame” as he said the state accepted its direct involvement.

“Therefore, I, as Taoiseach, on behalf of the State, the government and our citizens deeply regret and apologise unreservedly to all those women for the hurt that was done to them, and for any stigma they suffered, as a result of the time they spent in a Magdalene Laundry,” Mr Kenny said.

During a moving speech, he also outlined plans to compensate the survivors.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

MICHAEL O’REGAN and MARIE O’HALLORAN

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has apologised to the women who spent time in the Magdalene laundries.

In an emotional speech, which was greeted by loud applause, Mr Kenny said: “This is a national shame for which I say again I am deeply sorry and offer my full and heartfelt apologies.”

Opening the Dail debate tonight on the McAleese report, Mr Kenny said the Magdalene laundries were reserved for what was offensively and judgementally called fallen women.

The women, he added, were wholly blameless.

He added: “I, as Taoiseach, on behalf of this State, the Government and our citizens, deeply regret and apologise unreservedly to all those women for the hurt that was done to them, for any stigma they suffered as a result of the time they spent in the Magdalene laundry.”

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IRELAND
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Henry McDonald in Dublin
The Guardian, Tuesday 19 February 2013

The Irish State has finally said sorry to 10,000 women and girls incarcerated in Catholic Church-run laundries where they were treated as virtual slaves.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was forced into issuing a fulsome apology on Tuesday evening to those held in the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland.

The apology in the Dáil (Irish parliament) came about two weeks after a damning 1,000-plus page report was released detailing the way women and girls were maltreated inside the nun-controlled laundries.

Survivors groups were enfuriated when the Irish premier initially declined a fortnight ago to explicitly apologise for the state’s role in sending women and girls into the Magdalene Laundries, sometimes simply for coming from broken homes or being unmarried mothers.

In a powerful speech to a packed Dáil Eireann, Kenny made some amends for what many view as a major error of judgment on the day the report was released.

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BOSTON (MA)
My Fox Boston

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) — Cardinal Sean O’Malley is reportedly among the names being weighed as Pope Benedict XVI’s successor among Italian journalists.

According to the National Catholic Reporter, the Boston cardinal’s work as a reformer during the church sex abuse scandal is one of the reasons his name has created a buzz in the Italian press.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York has also been considered a potential American prospect.

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BOSTON (MA)
The Patriot-Ledger

WCVB-TV
Posted Feb 19, 2013 @ 12:14 PM

VATICAN CITY —

While conventional wisdom has long held that the election of an American to the papacy is unlikely, reporters at the Vatican say there is a growing “buzz” about Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

“I can confirm the O’Malley buzz from personal experience. Right now, it’s tough for an American journalist to walk into the Vatican Press Office without fielding questions from colleagues about him,” wrote John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter.

Vatican reporters have said there is no clear choice among the College of Cardinals to succeed Pope Benedict XVI when he resigns at the end of the month.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Ruth Gledhill Religion Correspondent

The Cardinal who is favourite to be the first black Pope has been attacked by abuse survivor groups after he linked clerical sex abuse and homosexuality.

Cardinal Peter Turkson claimed that clerical sexual abuse is unlikely to ravage the Church in Africa because its culture condemns homosexuality.

Cardinal Turkson, from Ghana, who is President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, is currently second-favourite after Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan to succeed Benedict XVI as the next Pope.

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BOSTON (MA)
WHDH

BOSTON (WHDH) — A Catholic newspaper reported that buzz is growing for Cardinal Sean O’Malley as a contender to become the next pope.

The National Catholic Reporter cited six Italian newspapers that have mentioned O’Malley as a possible contender.

Pope Benedict is set to step down on Feb. 28. It is the first time in more than 600 years a pope has resigned.

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ROME
Catholic Culture

A prominent Italian cardinal has suggested that Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired Archbishop of Los Angeles, should voluntarily relinquish his right to participate in the election of the next Pope.

Although he has been barred from representing the Los Angeles archdiocese in public affairs because of his involvement in the sex-abuse scandal, Cardinal Mahony remains an eligible cardinal-elector. “This is a troubling situation,” Cardinal Velasio De Paolis told the Italian daily La Repubblica.

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BOSTON (MA)
NECN

[with video]

(NECN) – Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, Boston’s Roman Catholic Archbishop, is a candidate to become the next pope, according to John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter.

Conventional wisdom suggests that it is unlikely for an American to become Pope, according to Allen, but O’Malley’s work to reform the church’s sexual abuse scandal could make him a strong suitor for the papacy.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York has also been reported as a potential successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

The Archdiocese released a statement that they will not comment on the subject.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler ( February 14, 2013 6:11 PM

The mainstream media are suddenly taking a keen interest in Vatican affairs, sending reporters to process the latest unfounded rumors from Rome. Meanwhile self-proclaimed experts on Catholicism are flooding the internet with their own theories. As a result, thousands of inaccurate stories are appearing every day. Once again I encourage readers to treat every new report with caution, and sensational reports with outright skepticism. To separate the wheat from the chaff, keep checking this site.

We cannot correct every misleading story that appears in the media; there are simply too many. But we can, and will, offer occasional bulletins to clear up the most popular misconceptions. For instance:

•The Vatican is not hiding evidence of a medical crisis that prompted the Pope’s resignation. Yes, the Holy Father recently had the battery replaced on his pacemaker, but that is a routine operation. Yes, he stumbled and hurt his head during his trip to Mexico last year. But the injury was not severe, he completed all events on his schedule for that trip, and he has recovered fully. (It would have been sensible for Vatican officials to disclose the accident at the time, but the cult of secrecy runs deep.) Those who see the Pontiff on a regular basis report no signs of physical illness, apart from the ordinary effects of aging in general and arthritis in particular. It’s still possible that the Pope has suffered some new medical setback in recent weeks, but if that is the case, even high-ranking Vatican officials are still in the dark about it. The conspiracy theories, alleging an old illness or injury that has been hidden from the public, are simply wrong.

•Pope Benedict will not directly influence the choice of his successor. The Pope will leave Rome after his resignation, to live for a while at Castel Gandolfo. He probably will not return to Rome until his successor has been elected. He will not participate in the meetings of cardinals prior to the conclave, and he would not be eligible to vote in the conclave in any case, since he is over the age of 80. Certainly everything he says between now and February 28 will be carefully scrutinized for signals about his thoughts on the future of the papacy. But those who know Pope Benedict well agree that he will do his best to avoid influencing the papal election.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler February 19, 2013

With the caveat that we can’t possibly keep up with all of the mistakes being made by reporters in their rush to cover the papal resignation and the coming conclave, here are a few more corrections of errors that have cropped up in multiple reports. Once again I encourage readers to treat every new report with caution, and sensational reports with outright skepticism. To separate the wheat from the chaff, keep checking this site.

•The papal conclave will not be moved forward to a date earlier than March 15. The idea of an earlier conclave may be appealing, since the cardinals have had plenty of warning and time to assemble in Rome. But canon law forbids it. As canonist Edward Peters points out, accommodations can be made when canon law is unclear, but not simply when the law proves inconvenient. The rules for a papal conclave are clear: 14 days must lapse after the Holy See becomes vacant. We know exactly when the vacancy will occur, on February 28. So the conclave cannot meet before mid-March. These rules could be changed, but only by Pope Benedict XVI, who remains, until his resignation, the supreme legislator for canon law.

•And while we’re on the topic of canon law, it is not improper to refer to a Pope’s “resignation.” It is true that ordinarily a “resignation” must be submitted to some higher authority, and for that reason some commentators prefer to use the term “abdication.” But the English translation of the Code of Canon Law refers to “resignation,” and specifically states that a papal resignation does not have to be submitted to, or accepted by, anyone in order to become effective. Of course the English translation of the Code is unofficial, so this debate may remain open.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

February 19, 2013

Editorial

Before we actually find out who is behind door number one on the balcony of the largest Church in Christendom, the jockeying, the political skills and the last minute Pope Benedict activity shouldn’t be overlooked.

One can’t help but be struck by the political skills of the Italian cardinals.

One of them, Cardinal Giandranco Ravasi, is preaching the Lenten Retreat at the Vatican this week. That means he’s commanding the face to face attention of all the Curia cardinals. In addition, as the Lenten retreat preacher his statements will make their way into official and not so official postings on the Internet.

He’s commanding the attention of the Curia Cardinals, one of the larger voting blocs of Cardinal electors, on an unfettered and wide open stage that’s laid out with a day’s worth of time every day through Saturday.

Plenty of time for private rubbing of elbows, plenty of time for jotting a note to introduce him during a luncheon, dinner, reception next week to those whom a kingmaker Cardinal thinks he needs to meet, plenty of time waiting, albeit, begging to be used – complete with the complete texts of what he’s saying – courtesy of the papal print machine.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Evangelisch

Kurz vor dem Treffen des ehemaligen Runden Tisches zum sexuellen Kindesmissbrauch gibt es Streit um die Finanzierung des Hilfsfonds für Missbrauchsopfer.

Bundesfamilienministerin Kristina Schröder (CDU) forderte am Dienstag die Länder auf, ihren Anteil von 50 Millionen Euro zur Verfügung zu stellen. Bisher fehlten immer noch die Zusage und das Geld der Länder, sagte sie dem “Wiesbadener Kurier” (Mittwoch). Schröder ließ dabei erkennen, dass sie die Hilfen notfalls auch ohne die Länder starten will.

Der Runde Tisch Kindesmissbrauch, der als Folge der bekannt gewordenen Taten vor allem in der katholischen Kirche zusammengetreten war, hatte am Ende seiner Arbeit im November 2011 einen Fonds in Höhe von 100 Millionen Euro für die Finanzierung von Hilfen empfohlen, den Bund und Länder je zur Hälfte bestücken sollten. Die Bundesregierung hatte ihren Anteil sofort zugesagt, die Auszahlung aber an die Bedingung geknüpft, dass die Länder mitziehen.

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OSTERREICH
Katholische Kirche Osterreich

Verhandlungen über einen außergerichtlichen Vergleich in zwei gerichtsanhängigen Missbrauchsfällen hat die Abtei Wettingen-Mehrerau aufgenommen. Die Vorarlberger Zisterzienserabtei sei daran “sehr interessiert” und habe den beiden Klägern “einen namhaften Betrag angeboten”, teilte Abt Anselm van der Linde am Dienstag in einer Aussendung mit. Ungeachtet dessen habe das Kloster gegen die beiden Zwischenurteile des Landesgerichts Feldkirch berufen. Dieser Schritt sei “trotz der laufenden Verhandlungen über eine außergerichtliche Einigung notwendig, um zu verhindern, dass die beiden Urteile rechtskräftig werden”.

Die Vorgeschichte: In einem Zivilprozess Ende Jänner über zwei Missbrauchs-Fälle in den Jahren 1968 und 1982 hatte das Landesgericht die Frage verneint, ob die damaligen Übergriffe eines Mehrerauer Paters bereits verjährt sind. Laut den beiden betroffenen Männern, heute 58 und 46 Jahre alt, hat sie derselbe Priester mehrmals sexuell missbraucht und vergewaltigt. Ein vom Gericht eingeholtes psychologisches Gutachten besagte, der ältere der beiden Kläger habe sich erst 2010 an den Missbrauchsfall erinnert.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Sexueller Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche scheint kein Thema zu sein, dass die Menschen der Region in Scharen auf die Straße gehen lässt. Obwohl das „Aktionsbündnis Aufklärung“ anlässlich der Frühjahrsvollversammlung der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz in Trier bundesweit zum Protest aufgerufen hatte, sind nur etwa 30 Demonstranten zu einem Protestmarsch erschienen.

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OSTERREICH
Der Tagesspiegel

Österreich – das Land, in dem Heimkinder brutal missbraucht und misshandelt wurden

von Caroline Fetscher

Missbrauch mit System: In Österreich brechen die ehemaligen Insassen von Kinderheimen ihr Schweigen.

Mädchen, die als Neue zu den Nonnen ins Heim kamen, mussten die ersten Nächte zum Schlafen in einem Kellerraum unter der Kirche verbringen. Zum Eingewöhnen, hieß es. Das war kein falsches Versprechen. Hilde, heute eine Erwachsene, erinnert sich an das Inventar des ungeheizten, unbeleuchteten Kellers bei den „Schwestern vom guten Hirten“: ein Hocker, ein Kübel, ein schimmelnder Strohsack, ein Plastiknapf für Nahrung. „Man hat uns erzählt, wir sind Teufel“, erinnert sich Hilde, die in den 1960er Jahren Heimzögling in Österreich war. Kinder wie Hilde hatten geschiedene oder alleinerziehende Mütter, hatten kranke Eltern oder waren, wie es heute heißt, „verhaltensauffällig“.

Markus’ Mutter gab ihn mit sechs ins Heim. „Weil ich ein schlimmes Kind war“, sagt der Erwachsene. In der Akte des Jungen war zu lesen, dass die Mutter ihn „hasst“; solche Zeilen lasen sich wie ein Freibrief für Misshandler und Missbraucher.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Deutschland Today

Mainz/Trier (AFP) – Fundamentale Positionen der katholischen Kirche wie der Zölibat und das Priesteramt nur für Männer werden nach einem vom ZDF veröffentlichten Politbarometer Extra von einer großen Mehrheit der Katholiken in Deutschland abgelehnt. Mit ihrer Meinung stehen die Laien damit Andersgläubigen und Nichtgläubigen näher als ihrer Kirchenführung. Die Bischofskonferenz beriet derweil über den ersten eucharistischen Kongress.

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UNITED STATES
The Nation

Frances Kissling

February 19, 2013

“In Benedict, the Catholic Church got the pope it deserved,” writes John Patrick Shanley in The New York Times. Shanley, author of the play Doubt, pulls no punches. Pope Benedict, he correctly charges, is “a protector of priests who abused children. He’d been a member of the Hitler Youth. In addition to this woeful résumé, he had no use for women.”
 
This pope led a multinational corporation mired in financial scandals and unable to fire the most egregious criminals in its midst. There is almost no country he can visit where Catholics have not suffered because of the Church. In Africa, the church’s opposition to birth control and to condoms to prevent AIDS transmission contributes to high rates of maternal death and AIDS. In Mexico, site of one of Benedict’s recent trips, Catholics were still outraged over the case of Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, the ultra-conservative order of priests, who raped young seminarians, fathered several children, abused drugs and misspent church funds. In 1998, eight Mexican priests charged Maciel with sexually abusing them. A year later, the priests were told the case had been shelved by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who, for the uninitiated, later became Pope Benedict). In the US, the investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, whom the Vatican claimed paid too much attention to poverty and not enough to fighting against abortion, was widely derided by Catholics and others as a further example of the Vatican’s foolishness, and gave rise to a popular “Nuns on the Bus” anti-poverty tour. No wonder he’s tired and his doctors say no more travel.

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UNITED STATES
Publishers Weekly

Michael D’Antonio. St. Martin’s/Dunne, $26.99 (432p) ISBN 978-0-312-59489-3

Pulitzer Prize–winning journo D’Antonio (Atomic Harvest) pens what will be widely regarded as the definitive history of the Catholic Church’s “most severe crisis since the Reformation”: the revelations of endemic sexual abuse of minors by priests in the United States and Europe. Employing his considerable gift for sifting through mountains of facts, the author carves out a coherent and enthralling narrative, and brings the long-running tragedy to life by focusing on the handful of individuals responsible for bravely exposing the pain and horror of the abused children. In 1984, American priest Thomas Doyle learned of a lawsuit brought by parents of a victim, and was deeply troubled by his superiors’ callous nonchalance toward the suit, and more alarmingly, toward the suffering child. (When Doyle asked a monsignor, “What are you doing for the boys?,” he responded, “As far as I know, nothing.”) Along with plaintiffs’ attorney Jeffrey Anderson, Doyle and a few others worked tirelessly to get the church, the media, and the public to pay attention; their persistence eventually paid off.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

[with video]

by Trish Van Pilsum

Matthew Feeney was a prominent talent agent when he was charged with molesting two boys who were his clients. He claims he did nothing wrong, but the FOX 9 Investigators found Feeney’s own words paint a startling picture.

If Feeney’s job was to cast performers in just the right role, one might wonder what role he considered for himself — and what role would best fulfill what he once called his “temptation.”

“I can tell you what my trigger was,” Feeney told a longtime advocate for sexual abuse survivors as he disclosed his attraction to boys between the age of 14 and 15. “I can tell you when I fell off the wagon.”

It’s already known that Feeney’s victims span decades — and possibly the country, but Feeney says he stayed away from teen boys in the years following three child sex abuse convictions in 1992. While he has repeatedly refused to give details about what he’s done in recent years, Feeney did make an admission that some of his actions were “definitely” inappropriate while he was being recorded in secret. …

In the journal, Feeney also writes about going outside and shooting himself, saying, “at least the kids would be safe from me and my temptation.”

Yet, it seems Feeney may have succumbed to that temptation. The journal landed in the hands of police investigators in 1992 after a boy accused Feeney of molesting him in his sleep while he stayed at Feeney’s home in St. Cloud. Feeney was the boy’s youth counselor at St. Joe’s Catholic Church at the time.

In a statement to a detective obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators, Feeney admitted to fondling 10 or a dozen boys in their sleep, mostly while he was serving as a counselor at the Catholic youth camp near Milaca. He said 90 percent of those victims were 14, 15, or 16 years old.

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AUSTRALIA/IRELAND
SBS

[with audio]

Dateline looks at what lessons the Australian child sex abuse inquiry can learn from Ireland’s experience.

With the Royal Commission into child sex abuse at institutions in Australia to begin soon, tonight’s Dateline at 9.30pm on SBS ONE looks at the experience of Ireland, which is the only other country to have held a national inquiry.

Reporter Evan Williams hears some of the very personal and distressing stories of abuse in Catholic institutions, with most victims deeply affected into adulthood.

“I was told I would be healed, I’m not healed. I was told open the scars and open up, I did that, and the scars are festering away because I’d been promised so much, and then just left there,” John Kelly, who spent time in a state-funded and Roman Catholic-run children’s institution, tells Evan.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on February 19, 2013

In yet another example of stunning self-absorption by a Catholic official, Cardinal Roger Mahony blogged today about how “difficult” it is for him to “never rationalize. . . never protest misunderstandings, and never get angry because of false accusations.”

The irony here is that no Catholic official in the US has worked harder or spent more money to rationalize decades of irresponsible actions than Mahony. Even now, in retirement, he repeatedly uses his blog to defend the indefensible and posture as a victim, heaping more pain on the thousands who have been sexually victimized by 280 LA predator priests and several more from his first diocese in Stockton.

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Bloomberg

By Joshua Goodman – Feb 19, 2013

Catholic cardinals impressed by Barack Obama’s rise to power may be encouraged to elect the first black pope, according to a Brazilian theologian once silenced by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became pope.

Leonardo Boff said the chances of an African such as Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana becoming the next pontiff are slim after Pope Benedict XVI named most of the 117 cardinals who will choose his successor in a conclave next month. Still, Obama’s election as U.S. president may open up the Vatican’s old guard to change, easing opposition to contraception and women priests, he said.

“Without a doubt Obama’s presence is going to be felt among the cardinals,” Boff, a former Franciscan friar who studied with Ratzinger at the University of Munich in the 1960s, said in a phone interview. “We already have a black president, so why not a black religious president?”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun Leader

Fiona O’Doherty
From:Hobsons Bay Leader
February 20, 2013

A STREET named after a paedophile priest may keep its name after residents rejected a plea to change it, made on behalf of the man’s victims.

As children living in Laverton, Tony Hersbach and his twin brother, Will, were abused by Father Victor Rubeo over several years.

Family friends have petitioned the council to change the Altona Meadows street named after him: Rubeo Ave.

But half the street’s residents told the Hobsons Bay Council they did not support a name change.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Vatican City, February 19 – A large number of Catholic faithful on Tuesday called for American Cardinal Roger Mahony to stay away from the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope amid a growing scandal over his alleged role in covering up sex abuse by priests in his former Los Angeles archdiocese. The deluge of opposition found expression on social networks and media blogs after the 76-year-old ex-archbishop posted a message on his Twitter account asking for prayer so that “we might elect the best pope for the Church of today and tomorrow” following the resignation of Benedict XVI with effect from the end of this month. “#Mahony Cardinal, please, stay home!” said one Twitter user, using a hashtag to identify the word Mahony as a trending topic. #Mahony voting for a new pope rankles some Catholics. I can see why!” said another. Mahony will be questioned under oath February 23 about how he handled Father Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, a visiting Mexican priest who allegedly molested 26 children in the Los Angeles archdiocese in 1987 during his tenure.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on February 19, 2013

To say that Cardinal Peter Turkson’s claims about clergy abuse in Africa are uninformed would be far too kind. We hope this awful comment disqualifies him from consideration as the next pope.

We hear less about clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Africa for the same reasons we do throughout the developing world: there tends to be lesser funding for law enforcement, less vigorous civil justice systems, less independent journalism, and an even greater power and wealth difference between church officials and their congregants.

So when we hear Turkson’s assertion that the sexual abuse crisis hasn’t come to Africa because of cultural reasons that demonize homosexuality, we can’t help but be upset and worried. Not only is the link between homosexuality and child abuse a fallacy, but it is a weak shield to hide behind.

It’s hard to address a crisis you don’t think exists. So we fear for the safety of kids in Turkson’s diocese if he denies there are predatory priests there.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By FRANK BRUNI

Published: February 18, 2013

There were reports over the weekend that cardinals might tweak the rules and begin the conclave to choose Pope Benedict XVI’s successor sooner than March 15, which had been the earliest date mentioned. That would be a blessing. Already in the American news media it’s all pope all the time, a tsunami of papal coverage, and until a new pope is named, the tide won’t quit. You’d be forgiven for concluding that he’ll actually have significant sway over Catholics in this country.

He won’t, not over the majority of them, not in any immediate sense. And it’s worth pausing, amid this hoopla, to remember that. In large parts of the Roman Catholic world, certainly in North America and Western Europe, most Catholics don’t feel any particular debt or duty to the self-appointed caretakers of their church. They don’t feel bound by the pope’s interpretation of doctrine or moral commands. And many regard him and other Vatican officials as totems, a royal family of dubious relevance, partly because these officials have often shown greater concern for the church’s reputation than for the needs, and wounds, of the people in the pews.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

By Fergus Finlay

I WAS with a group of young people the other day when the news broke on a telly in the background. The Pope had resigned.

Astonishing, remarkable news. So I shushed the conversation, naturally, and turned to focus on the television. And the young people looked at me as if I had two heads.

It was clear that, in expressing an interest in the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, I had confirmed myself as a complete dinosaur (not the first time, of course). It was just as clear that the passing of a pope held absolutely no interest whatsoever for the young people I was with. And, over the following couple of days, the vast majority of people I met could care less.

Without asking all sorts of impertinent questions, I couldn’t establish whether the people I was talking to were Catholic, or what kind of Catholic they were. But surely the odds are that the majority of people for whom the resignation of the pope is a matter of supreme indifference are themselves members of his flock, at least nominally. And yet their eyes glaze over if you talk about it.

If it is the case — and it seems to be — that so significant a historic event as the resignation of a pope means so little to so many people raised in the Catholic faith, then surely the Church in Ireland, and presumably elsewhere, faces fundamental problems.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By David Gibson
Religion News Service

When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, the surprising choice cast a pall over the liberal wing of the flock and left conservatives giddy with the prospect of total victory. Ratzinger had for decades served as the Vatican’s guardian of orthodoxy, the man known as “God’s Rottweiler,” and his vocal fans were crowing about the glorious reign to come.

“He’ll correct the lackadaisical attitudes that have been able to creep into the lives of Catholics,” the Rev. M. Price Oswalt, an Oklahoma City priest who was in St. Peter’s Square that April day, told The New York Times. “He’s going to have a German mentality of leadership: either get on the train or get off the track. He will not put up with rebellious children.”

Now, however, with Benedict set to leave office eight years later in an unprecedented departure, many on the Catholic right are counting up the ways that Benedict failed them, and wondering how their favorite watchdog turned into a papal pussycat.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Louis A. Ruprecht

The unexpected announcement by Pope Benedict XVI that he will step down from his pontifical duties on Feb. 28 came as a stunning surprise to media observers and Catholic faithful alike. Predictably, theories about what lay behind the move abound, most of them conspiratorial.

My first inclination in responding to this news was not conspiratorial. I am inclined to take the Pontiff at his word, and to assume that this decision is based on his declining physical abilitiess, or declining health, and that these are severe enough to warrant this highly unusual decision. I have seen nothing to support the most conspiratorial interpretation of his announcement, suggesting that his departure confirms that the pope is “giving up” in the wake of all the scandals that have beleaguered his papacy for so many years.

First among these is the sexual abuse scandal that spread like wildfire and refused to abate, suggesting at times the existence of a systemic failure on the part of ecclesiastical officials to take the matter up with sufficient seriousness. Since then-Cardinal Raitzinger was responsible for reviewing all such accusations of priestly impropriety, the pope is intimately, perhaps too intimately, involved in this scandal.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Michael D’Antonio

Benedict XVI is enjoying, from some, a warm and generous farewell as he vacates the papal throne for a quieter life behind the walls of the Vatican, but the context of his resignation — the first by a pope in roughly 600 years — is shadowy and cold. This is, after all, the man who long acted as Rome’s “Rottweiler” to punish loyal dissenters and who remains the subject of a “crimes against humanity” claim before the International Criminal Court. For him, seclusion in a Vatican convent provides a way to evade responsibility for his central role in protecting thousands of priests who raped children around the world.

The systemic and international nature of the long running sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church was illustrated quite starkly when victims from around the world climbed the steps to the courthouse in the Hague carrying boxes holding 20,000 pages of evidence linking the cover-up of these crimes to the highest officials in the Vatican. Their claim, filed in September 2011, argues that the Vatican state enabled thousands of crimes against children and a cover-up that allowed priest rapists to evade civil authorities.

Formerly Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, Benedict was at the center of the Church response to clergy sex abuse throughout the scandal, first as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Inquisition) and, since 2005, as pope. In recent years has has apologized and met with representative victims. However he has never offered them the justice that comes with full disclosure of the facts, or acknowledgement of his own responsibility. Instead he has continued to favor the privileges of clergy and refused to participate in a genuine consideration of the ways Rome’s medieval approach to governance and morality set the conditions for abuse.

The hierarchy’s penchant for privilege was noted by a Vatican source in a Reuters report on Benedict’s decision to resign and live-out his life in the shelter of the papal state’s tiny autonomous district. “His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless,” the source told the news agency. “He wouldn’t have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else.” The same source noted that the protection provided by the sovereign status of the Vatican was necessary to provide Benedict a “dignified existence.”

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CANADA
News 1130

OTTAWA (NEWS1130) – Interim Aboriginal Affairs Minister James Moore admits Canada has a horrible record on native residential schools.

For the first time ever, researchers have determined at least 3,000 First Nations children died during forced attendance at native residential schools in Canada.

The findings are included in unpublished research conducted by the Missing Children Project — part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which is examining the 120-year legacy of church-run residential schools across Canada.

Research manager Alex Maass says the numbers could climb as more documents are unearthed.

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CANADA
Leader-Post

By Jason Warick, The StarPhoenix With Canadian Press Files
February 19, 2013

Rita Custer is searching for answers about her late daughter, Monica, who died mysteriously in 1986 while attending an Indian residential school in Prince Albert.

“I want the truth for my family, but for all of the other families, too,” Custer said Monday in a telephone interview from her Pelican Narrows home.

A national report released Monday stated at least 3,000 children are known to have died during attendance at Canada’s Indian residential schools.

“As parents, this is painful, but we have the right to know how our children died (and) how many of them died,” Custer said.

While deaths have long been documented as part of the disgraced residential school system, the findings are the result of the first systematic search of government, school and other records.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press
February 19, 2013

At least 3,000 children, including four under the age of 10 found huddled together in frozen embrace, are now known to have died while attending this country’s Indian residential schools, according to new unpublished research.

While deaths have long been documented as part of the disgraced residential school system, the findings are the result of the first systematic search of government, school and other records.

“These are actual confirmed numbers,” Alex Maass, research manager with the Missing Children Project, told The Canadian Press.

“All of them have primary documentation that indicates that there’s been a death, when it occurred, what the circumstances were.”

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CANADA
CTV

CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013

A grim report into Canada’s residential school system should serve as a “wake-up call” to end the ignorance surrounding the dark period in the country’s history, says the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

The research released Monday shows at least 3,000 children are now known to have died while in the Indian residential schools system that started in the 1870s. The new numbers are the result of the first systematic search of government, school and other records.

Marie Wilson, commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said the numbers are shocking. Of the 3,000 confirmed to have died, she said, 500 are children whose identities remain entirely unknown.

“I hope it’s a huge wake-up call to Canada about the enormity of the impacts of the residential school story,” she told CTV’s Canada AM on Tuesday.

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CANADA
Daily Brew

Matthew Coutts | Daily Brew

Freshly studied documents on Canada’s disgraced Indian residential school system suggest more than 3,000 children died while in the imposed care of such facilities, stamping a harsh number on the cost of an often overlooked smudge on Canada’s history.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said the number has been confirmed through the study of government and school records, telling the Canadian Press that all but 500 of those left dead have been identified.

What is amazing is that this is the first time a number has been placed on residential school fatalities based on systematic research.

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churchauthority.org

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) we call on all other members of the People of God to assess the situation in our church.

Many of the key insights of Vatican II have not at all, or only partially, been implemented. This has been due to resistance in some quarters, but also to a measure of ambiguity that remained unresolved in certain Council documents.

A principal source of present-day stagnation lies in misunderstanding and abuse affecting the exercise of authority in our Church. Specifically, the following issues require urgent redress:

The role of the papacy needs to be clearly re-defined in line with Christ’s intentions. As supreme pastor, unifier and prime witness to faith, the pope contributes substantially to the health of the universal church. However, his authority may never obscure, diminish or suppress the authentic authority directly given by Christ to all members of the people of God

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IRELAND
Irish Times

[Authority in the Catholic Church]

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

More than 160 leading Catholic scholars worldwide have signed a “Declaration on authority in the Catholic Church” that calls for change in church governance.

The signatories include leading theologians Hans Kung, Leonardo Boff and Dr John Wijngaards, as well as three Australian bishops, William Morris, Pat Power and Geoffrey Robinson.

In a letter to The Irish Times today, Irish signatories to the declaration speak of the need for “a pope who will redress the present imbalance in the exercise of authority in the Catholic Church.” Their letter continues that “more autonomy should be given to national bishops’ conferences and collegiality enabled at all levels in the church”.

It calls for “a new, more democratic process of electing key office holders in the church including bishops, cardinals and experts of papal commissions”.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 19, 2013

Rome —

John Allen is offering a profile each day of one of the most frequently touted papabili, or men who could be pope. The old saying in Rome is that he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal, meaning there’s no guarantee one of these men actually will be chosen. They are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome these days, ensuring they will be in the spotlight as the conclave draws near. The profiles of these men also suggest the issues and the qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

When it comes to “next pope” stories, nothing’s sexier from a media point of view than the idea of a “black pope,” referring in this case not to the head of the Jesuit order (traditionally dubbed the “black pope,” ostensibly because of the black cassock the Superior General wears, but also a derogatory reference to alleged Jesuit intrigue), but a pontiff from Africa.

At the symbolic level, the notion of what’s traditionally seen as the planet’s ultimate First World institution being led by a black man from the southern hemisphere has an undeniable magic.

Among the 117 cardinals who will shortly gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect the successor to Benedict XVI, the name of Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana usually figures prominently on the short list of possible African candidates.

Indeed, Turkson himself has not been shy about embracing the possibility. In a recent interview with the U.K. Telegraph, Turkson openly speculated about what it would mean for him to become pope. (In a good candidate for understatement of the year, Turkson was quoted as saying that “it would signal a lot of [personal] change.”)

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Curia is eager to turn spot light away from divisions

Paolo Mastrolilli
Rome

A drawn-out Conclave that ends up exposing divisions within the Curia. This is what circles close to the Curia are worried could happen with the papal election process. Meanwhile, cardinals have already started contacting each other to try to reach as quick and as unanimous a solution as possible.

Those closest to Joseph Ratzinger claim they were not very surprised by his resignation. He had spoken about it openly, people were aware he was considering it and some even say he had wanted to resign a year ago when he turned 85. But the time was not right given the internal scandals that had been plaguing the Curia, Nuncio Viganò’s transferral to Washington, the papal document leak, not to mention the continuous embarrassment caused by the sad events surrounding the clerical sex-abuse scandal. All these factors had made it impossible for the Pope to resign immediately because it would have looked as though he was trying to escape in the face of difficulty. But all he had done was postpone it. Those who were close to Benedict XVI knew it was only a matter of time before he decided to step down and they therefore had to prepare for that moment.

The announcement made on 11 February was the end of the road and despite the great shock it caused, it gave the Vatican the chance to think things over and to manage the succession process better. The end did not come suddenly. When they come to Rome for the Conclave, even the cardinals that were less informed about Ratzinger’s intentions will have had several weeks to reflect on the situation, contact their colleagues and get an idea of how his successor’s election could go. This, however, puts the pressure on for a quick solution to be found, particularly given the media landscape, where global communication never sleeps thanks to newspapers, television, internet and cell phones which are constantly collecting and transmitting all kinds of information. If after a day or so of voting we still see black smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel, the sense of a rift and a deep crisis within the Church will quickly spread across the world.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Pope Benedict has named Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, the president of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, as his pontifical delegate to govern the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception.

The February 15 decision follows an apostolic visitation of the community by Archbishop Filippo Iannone, the second leading official in the Diocese of Rome.

Founded by Blessed Luigi Maria Monti in 1857, the community operates an Italian hospital group whose budget shortfall is estimated at $800 million.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Carl Packman

After the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI the rumour mill was fired up without abandon. Already circulating around the blogosphere is the assumption that this pardon – only the third of its kind (unless you count Gregory XII in 1415 who agreed to quit at the request of the council of Constance) – is due to an impending arrest warrant with the Pope’s name on it.

One Stuart Wilde, a metaphysics writers, has alleged that a meeting will take place between the Pope and the Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, where the subject of full immunity from the prosecution for crimes against humanity will be raised.

Immediately this was countered by asking a simple question: why would the Pope resign, renouncing not only his Papacy, but also his immunity as a head of Vatican City, a sovereign state (as it has been since the the 1929 Lateran Pacts between Italy and the Holy See)? Even if the Vatican’s sovereignty was called in to question, the Holy See has a special status in international law which gives it rights that are in some cases analogous to sovereign rights.

One does not have to like these facts (indeed as a non-Catholic I benefit nothing from repeating them), but such they are.

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IRELAND
Herald

Alan O’Keeffe– 18 February 2013

PAYOUTS totalling €100m could be made to almost 1,000 former residents of Magdalene laundries.

Details of a system of compensation and State assistance will be finalised at a meeting of the Cabinet tomorrow.

The women’s experiences will be considered on a case by case basis by a person appointed by the State to access how best to address their individual needs.

Former residents say that a process of compensation amounting to more than €100m should be set up within a month and wound up by August, so as not to allow the issue to drag on.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Amnesty International

Posted: 19 February 2013

Amnesty International has written to Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Ministers to raise allegations of abuse suffered in Magdalene Laundry institutions within the jurisdiction.

Later today, the Dáil will debate a report showing state involvement in the operation of ten Magdalene Laundries in the Republic of Ireland, but Amnesty has warned that women who experienced abuse in such institutions in Northern Ireland risk being excluded from inquiries on both sides of the border.

The Historic Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland only covers abuse suffered by children in residential institutions, while the McAleese Report only covers Magdalene Laundries in the Republic of Ireland.

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International, said:

“Magdalene Laundries operated in Northern Ireland into the 1980s. I have spoken with women survivors of these institutions who now fear being left behind, with no inquiry in place – north or south – into their suffering.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Thousands of women who survived Catholic-run workhouses known as Magdalene laundries are expected to receive a state apology from the Government.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to make a statement two weeks after a report revealed 10,000 women were incarcerated in institutions run by nuns for a myriad of reasons from petty crime to poverty, disability or pregnancy outside marriage.

Twenty women who were locked up in one of the laundries will attend a parliamentary debate to witness first hand the anticipated apology.

Representative group Magdalene Survivors Together is also hoping to hear details of a compensation scheme.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Cabinet is to hold a special meeting this evening to agree the details of the Government’s response to the McAleese Report into the Magdalene Laundries.

Ministers are likely to discuss the wording of any apology and the shape of any redress or compensation scheme.

The meeting will be held before the Dáil debate on the report begins.

The Taoiseach is expected to begin the statements on the report at around 6.30pm, followed by the leaders of all the other parties.

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UNITED STATES
Anglican Curmudgeon

If there is one person within or without the Catholic Church who is qualified to place Pope Benedict XVI into a long-term perspective, it is James V. Schall, S.J., professor of political philosophy at Georgetown University. Father Schall has written and edited more than three dozen books and monographs, as well as countless articles (here are links to those published just in Crisis Magazine). Two of my favorites are his book on the paradoxes of G. K. Chesterton, and his book on Benedict’s Regensburg Address.

Even with all of Fr. Schall’s qualifications, his evaluation of the contributions made by Benedict XVI to our age may still come as a surprise. Here is an excerpt from his article, “On the Mind of the Pope”, at The Catholic World Report:

Over the years of his life, Benedict has produced an enormous amount of writings. I suspect his Opera Omnia, when finally published in a German critical edition, will equal or surpass the collected works of Augustine or Aquinas , both of which are enormous. It would take most of an ordinary person’s lifetime just to read the works of Aquinas or Augustine or Benedict, let alone write and understand them. We now have the works that Joseph Ratzinger produced as a philosopher and theologian, together with that which he wrote and spoke as part of his Petrine office. As pope he gave hundreds and hundreds of talks, wrote encyclicals, exhortations, letters, even books….

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

Brendan Butler of We Are Church outlines the main issues that he would like to see the new pope dealing with.

To restore the credibility of the Catholic Church for alienated Catholics and the wider society, a new Pope should :

1 . Decentralise the absolutism and creeping infallibility within the papacy in favour of national bishops’ conferences, who should exercise co-responsibility with the Pope, with the Roman Curia reformed to become an administrative arm of the Church .

2. Establish that unity through diversity rather than uniformity be a guiding principle in all areas of Church governance and theological reflection.

3 Ensure that respect for the human rights of all the people of God should be foundational in the exercise of power within the Church.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

The King is Dead: Long live the King?

Pope Benedict XVI has not died. Rather, in a decision that has deservedly won him great praise, he has announced that he is to resign on health grounds. Nonetheless, attention has immediately switched to his successor: should it be a younger man? Should he come from outside Europe? What challenges will a future Pope face, and what does this tell us about a suitable candidate?

I suggest that there is a more important question. What should the role of Pope involve?

We have become accustomed to speak of the Supreme Pontiff, of a monarchical-style papacy, of Roman ‘hands-on’ intervention world-wide. But it was not always so and need not be so. It would be a good question for Sean Brady and his fellow Cardinal electors to ask if it should be so.

In Ireland our own former President Mary McAleese has written of the constitutionally incoherent nature of the Catholic Church’s organizational structure, with its unresolved tensions between papal primacy and Episcopal collegiality. She was, perhaps unwittingly, echoing the words attributed to Pope Pius IX in 1939: ‘The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, has become a monstrosity.

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

KREMSMÜNSTER/STEYR/LINZ. Im Fall des mutmaßlichen sexuellen Missbrauchs von Zöglingen durch einen Pater des Stiftes Kremsmünster warten der Beschuldigte und die Opfer nun gespannt auf die Anklage der Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr.

Die Ermittlungen gelten längst als abgeschlossen. In der Vorwoche wollte die Steyrer Anklagebehörde eine Entscheidung verkünden. Doch die Oberstaatsanwaltschaft Linz ließ die Akten anfordern, um den Fall noch einmal zu überprüfen. Dies sei in öffentlichkeitswirksamen Verfahren auch so üblich, sagt ein Behördensprecher. Geprüft werde nun, ob das Vorhaben der Steyrer Staatsanwälte korrekt sei. Die Prüfung werde „mehrere Tage“ dauern.     

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Stern

Einen Papst zu wählen, gehört zu den größten Aufgaben eines Kardinals. Doch einer soll dem Konklave fern bleiben: Kardinal Roger Mahony. Die US-Katholiken setzen sich dafür ein. Aus gutem Grund.

Eine Vereinigung von US-Katholiken will die Teilnahme des früheren Erzbischofs von Los Angeles, Kardinal Roger Mahony, am Konklave zur Papstwahl wegen seiner Verstrickung in einen Missbrauchsskandal verhindern.

“Lieber Kardinal Mahony, bleiben Sie zu Hause”, hieß es am Montag in einer im Internet einsehbaren Petition der Organisation Catholics United. “Ihre Verwicklung in den Missbrauchsskandal der Kirche und das vom Erzbischof von Los Angeles verhängte Verbot der Ausübung öffentlicher Ämter sollten Ihnen Hinweis darauf sein, dass sie nicht am nächsten Papstkonklave teilnehmen sollten.”

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VATIKANSTADT
kathweb

Ehemaliger Justizpromotor der Glaubenskongregation, Bischof Scicluna: Papst wusste über Stand der Aufarbeitung genau Bescheid und gab zu den schlimmsten Fällen selbst Anweisungen

Vatikanstadt, 19.02.2013 (KAP) Lob für den Umgang Papst Benedikts XVI. mit dem Problem des sexuellen Missbrauchs in der Kirche kommt vom jahrelangen Justizpromotor in der Glaubenskongregation, Charles Scicluna. Wie der frühere vatikanische “Chefankläger” und nunmehrige Weihbischof von Malta gegenüber “Radio Vatikan” angab, habe sich der Papst in dem größten Kirchenskandal der vergangenen Jahre “mutig und entschieden” verhalten.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 19, 2013

Rome

For a long time, conventional wisdom held that an American could not be elected to the Throne of Peter because you can’t have a “superpower pope.” Not only do the Americans already have too much power, or so the theory went, but a shadow would hang over the papacy as part of the world would suspect its decisions were being secretly crafted by the CIA.

In the early 21st century, however, some of the air has gone out of that bias, because the United States is no longer the world’s lone superpower. As a result, for the first time an American seems thinkable.

While the U.S. media has focused on Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as the most plausible, if still remote, American prospect, another name has generated a surprising degree of buzz in the Italian press: Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, partly on the strength of his profile as a reformer on the church’s sexual abuse scandals, and partly because of his Capuchin simplicity as a perceived antidote to the Vatican’s reputation for intrigue and power games.

Here’s a sampling of what’s been in the Italian papers over the last few days vis-à-vis the 68-year-old Capuchin cardinal of Boston.

Marco Politi

One of Italy’s most-cited Vatican writers, Marco Politi gave an interview on Feb. 14 to the Suddeutsche Zeitung, the main daily in Munich, in which he was asked who the favorites are heading into the conclave. He replied: “There are no favorites. It’s not like 2005, when there was a clear candidate in Ratzinger and a strong contrast in Martini. The situation is very fragmented, and there are many papabili. There’s Cardinal Scola of Milan, and Cardinal Ouellet who heads the Congregation for Bishops. There are candidates from South America, as well as outsiders such as Cardinal O’Malley of Boston and Cardinal Erdo of Budapest. There’s not yet any aggregation of votes.”

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UNITED STATES
GlobalPost

Agence France-Presse
February 19, 2013

US cardinal Roger Mahony, retired from church duties as part of a paedophilia scandal, cannot be banned from the conclave to elect a new pope, but could be advised to stay away, a fellow cardinal and canon law expert said in an interview on Tuesday.

“The common practise is to use persuasion. There is no more that can be done. Cardinal Mahony has the right and duty to take part,” Velasio De Paolis, one of the 117 cardinal electors due to participate, told La Repubblica daily.

“This is a troubling situation but the rules must be followed,” he said.

“He could be advised not to take part only through a private intervention by someone with great authority,” the cardinal said, adding that ultimately “it will be up to his conscience to decide whether to take part or not”.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by James Flanigan | Feb. 13, 2013

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?: THE CRISIS IN IRISH CATHOLICISM
By Brendan Hoban
Published by Banley House, 9.95 euros

The statistics on the Irish and American churches are bleak. In both countries, only one-third of Catholics attend Mass regularly. Two of the most loyal churches in the Catholic world are dispirited; their good priests don’t know where to turn for the shame of it.

However, the book Where Do We Go From Here?, published in Ireland, where public reports of clergy sexual abuse of children cover more than five decades, offers guidance to the American church and particularly Los Angeles, where Cardinal Roger Mahony was forced to release records of clerical abuse and cover-ups that have unleashed a fresh explosion of denunciation, rebuke, sadness and apology (see story).

Author Brendan Hoban is a priest in rural Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland, who has written half a dozen books on church and the priesthood, as well as on history. His prescription is simplicity itself, that the church finally live by the tenets of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). “Under the inspirational guidance of Pope John XXIII, they ushered in a way for the church of being at home in a constantly changing world,” Hoban writes.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Tens of thousands of survivors of priest rape worldwide, and many millions of other people, surely think it outrageous that either the Pope or any Cardinal is immune from prosecution for child endangerment. Nevertheless, the next Pope and Cardinals at the Vatican are likely immune, as Cardinal Law well knew when he fled Boston for the Vatican.

Philly’s Cardinal Bevilacqua lacked immunity, but died last year before his likely imminent indictment. His successor, Cardinal Rigali, appears to remain at risk as the civil case against him proceeds. Their top subordinate, Monsignor Lynn, today sits in prison for following the cover-up orders of his Cardinal.

Los Angeles prosecutors, recently emboldened by an evidentally “Vatican blessed” public shaming of Cardinal Mahony, are feverishly combing through recently released files apparently trying to find some basis to prosecute Cardinal Mahony.

Neither Cardinal Rigali nor Ireland’s Cardinal Brady have been publicly shamed, so far at least, for their well reported abuse cover-up misdeeds, nor has convicted Opus Dei Bishop Finn, a St. Louis protege like Cardinal Dolan of the Vatican clique’s longtime colleague, Cardinal Rigali.

It appears that, for the immune Vatican clique, there are different shaming standards depending on which Cardinal misbehaves. Apparently, Cardinals like Mahony, who may be disapproved of politically by key plutocratic Republican Vatican contributors, are at a higher risk of public shaming. If this arbitrary process fails to make some Cardinals anxious, they should have a serious talk soon with their criminal lawyers. …

We all have a moral obligation to protect children and signing a petition is a simple, yet potentially effective, way towards meeting that obligation. Please take a minute and sign it at:

[Click here for the petition.]

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UNITED STATES
National Secular Society (United Kingdom)

[note: This release does not link to the NSS Web site.]

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed deep concern to the US Government about “sexual abuse committed by clerics and leading members of certain faith-based organizations and religious institutions on a massive and long-term scale amounting to sexual slavery or servitude of children”.

Concerned that the failure of the US authorities to prosecute the sexual abuse, it has urged them to investigate all cases of “sexual abuse of children whether single or on a massive and long-term scale, committed by clerics”.

The condemnation (shown in full below) was made as part of a cyclical five yearly review of states by the committee, and followed evidence given by the (UK) National Secular Society focussing on the Catholic Church. NSS Executive Director, Keith Porteous Wood commented:

“$2 billion has been paid out to abuse victims in compensation by the Catholic Church in the US indicating a massive scale of abuse. Yet very few clerical perpetrators have been convicted and only one official has been convicted for facilitating the abuse. Hundreds if not thousands of clerics have wrongly escaped incarceration due to the continuing secrecy of the Church and the issue being almost ignored by law enforcers.

“That so many perpetrators have escaped justice is yet a further abuse of the victims whose whole lives have often been ruined as a result.

“The Pope has been responsible since 1981 for the policing of the Church, and with it, child abuse, and many think, as I do, that no one is more responsible than him. He has hushed up abuse accusations to protect clerics, the Church’s reputation and funds. He has obstructed secular justice rather than encouraged it. We can only hope that his successor opens the secret files and treats victims with the respect they deserve.

“Prosecuting authorities have some very awkward questions to answer, and I hope they too take to heart the UN’s stinging criticism, where they mention ‘inaction and/or corruption’. This is relevant to the proceedings relating to Cardinal Mahoney.

“I acknowledge that child abuse in religious institutions is not confined to the RC Church, but there is no doubt that it has occurred within the RC church at a much greater level than any other religious institution.”

What the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded:

[Click here for the UN report]

35. The Committee is deeply concerned at information of sexual abuse committed by clerics and leading members of certain faith-based organizations and religious institutions on a massive and long-term scale amounting to sexual slavery or servitude of children and about the lack of measures taken by the State party to properly investigate cases and prosecute those accused who are members of those organizations and institutions.

36. The Committee urges the State party to take all the necessary measures to investigate all cases of sexual abuse of children whether single or on a massive and long-term scale, committed by clerics, to issue clear instructions to all relevant authorities to actively prosecute those cases and to engage in a dialogue with faith-based organizations religious institutions and their leaders, in order to enlist their active and open collaboration to prevent, investigate and prosecute cases. The State party should also draw the attention of law enforcement authorities to the sanctions that may be imposed on them in case of inaction and/or corruption.

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WISCONSIN
Sheboygan Press

MOUNT CALVARY — Fr. Dennis Druggan, president and rector of St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mount Calvary, has been removed from public ministry due to an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

The allegations involve a minor in Montana more than 25 years ago, according to a statement from the Capuchin Province of St. Joseph and reported by the Fond du Lac Reporter.

Druggan, OFM Capuchin, had been on administrative leave since he was informed of the initial complaint in July. A second complainant came forward after the initial complaint, according to the statement. There have been no allegations involving his ministry at St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mount Calvary, a village of about 800 people about 18 miles west of Plymouth.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Huffington Post

Patrick Corrigan

Today, it is our generation’s and our governments’ reputation for honour, not that of the Magdalene women, which is at stake.

The Church of the Good Shepherd on Belfast’s Ormeau Road is a gorgeous bit of red-brick Victorian splendour.

I was married there. But, on that joyful day, little did I realise the desperate, tragic stories which cling through history to its bricks.

For it was here that one of Northern Ireland’s own ‘Magdalene Laundry’ institutions was to be found, where thousands of girls and women, from the 1850s right through to the 1970s, lived lives scarred by shame, family separation and servitude.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

JACKY JONES

SECOND OPINION: Forster Street in Galway runs alongside the gates of the old Magdalene home and laundry. Ordnance Survey maps included in the report of the inter-departmental committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalene laundries show that in 1898 there were just a few buildings opposite the laundry site.

By 1944 the maps show a row of houses named St Mary Magdalen’s Terrace. The interesting thing about these houses is that they had no windows on the first storey, which overlooked the laundry grounds.

Preserve anonymity

Growing up in Galway, I was aware of the urban myths about the terrace, the most charitable being that no windows overlooked the laundry to preserve anonymity.

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IRELAND
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

Later today the Irish prime Minister, Enda Kenny, is expected to offer a full apology for the suffering endured by thousands of women locked up in the Magdalene Laundries. Here, Samantha Long, the daughter of Margaret Bullen, who died in one of the laundries, shares her birth mother’s tragic story.

By Samantha Long
7:00AM GMT 19 Feb 2013

In 1993, at the age of twenty one my twin sister Etta felt a need and a curiosity to trace our beginnings. We had been adopted together at the age of nine months and always knew that – our loving upbringing was secure and carefree.

After a two year search, our social worker telephoned to say that she had located our biological mother and she was ready to meet. We expected to find a married woman with other children, who had moved on with her life and her past.

Nothing prepared us for what we found.

Margaret Bullen had been committed to Ireland’s Industrial School system at the age of two years because her mother was unwell and her father was unable to take care of their seven children. That was the end of Margaret and the outside world. By the age of five she was preparing breakfast for 70 children including herself. This work started at 4am after kneeling in the cold to say the rosary first. A fellow female child slave from this institution has told me that Margaret was a fretful bed-wetter, and to this day that woman can still imagine the smell of urine as the girls knelt to pray before dawn.

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VATICAN CITY
DNA (India)

The Pope could receive a pension of 2,150 pounds a month once he steps down on Feb 28 and goes into retirement within the walls of the Vatican.

The Vatican has indicated that the most likely title for Benedict after his resignation will be Bishop Emeritus of Rome. That would entitle him to a pension of 2,500 euros a month. The Vatican would not confirm the arrangement but its spokesperson, Fr Federico Lombardi, said last week that the Pope would want for nothing. “We will ensure he can live a dignified existence,” he said.

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