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Post by assisi on Jan 8, 2020 13:44:00 GMT
Rod Dreher makes a point worth bearing in mind: that people who are already alienated are often better placed to recognise the full scope of what has gone wrong than insiders. (The example he gives is of the American traditionalist paper THE WANDERER publicising systematic clerical sexual and financial scandals at a time before the secular media got interested and when the official Catholic media were busily whistling past the graveyard with "Nothing to see here, folks!") This is something to be borne in mind when I criticise (for example) John Lacken. I have some significant disagreements with him but he is very unusual in his willingness to point out such awkward facts as how most Irish Catholic schools are Catholic in name only and the effects of the bishops' preference to imitate Brer Rabbit ("lie low and say nothing"). www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/in-praise-of-tabloid-catholic-journalism/It struck me recently that the bulk of online content I access comes from commentators on politics, religion, culture etc., all of which is stimulating and worthwhile. However I do think that we need more journalistic type writers and bloggers. The type that would pursue a particular (abuse) case and bring about some resolution. Preferably a practicing Catholic who did this through love of his/her faith rather than any other reasons. Vigano's request to McCarrick to come out publicly and admit his actions and atone for his sins, seems to have fallen on deaf ears. I cannot remember any other high profile abuser, layman or clergy, speak out, except for a general 'sorry' when found guilty in court. There may be mitigating factors, McCarrick losing his Dad at a young age for example and the ability of abusers to compartmentalise their abuses and separate them from the other parts of their life. Nonetheless these reasons are nowhere near enough to excuse the things they have done, often over many many years. In short, it appears that it takes a third party (journalist, police, victim) to bring these people to justice; a call to their soul to come clean does not appear to work. I know Gemma O'Doherty has her detractors, and I do believe she is too quick to throw her approval behind theories that are difficult to substantiate (e.g. vaccinations, where evidence to support both sides exist) but her dogged pursuit of some long standing crimes have caused fear in the establishment even if the cases haven't always been resolved. Ireland and the Catholic Church in general need a dozen or so Gemma O'Doherty types to tackle any outstanding abuse issues in the Church, but also in the secular world of Government and public institutions.
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Post by hibernicus on Jan 25, 2020 19:21:59 GMT
This is grim news. It seems that Pope Benedict's investigation of the Legion of Christ after the removal of Maciel was inadequate, that his delegate failed to pursue allegations of abuse by other Legionary priests, and that the victims are now coming forward and telling their stories. Those who want to learn - and understand - the horrific details can read more at the link below, and at a story by Christopher Altieri on the CATHOLIC HERALD website. There is outrage over this in Mexico - and rightly so - and new calls for the Legion to be suppressed - which it seems more and more should have been done in the first place. Let's hope and pray Pope Francis can get a grip on this - it certainly seems like a case where his style of governance would be appropriate: apnews.com/d71dbfb06b1065b2e9f910c2581371e2
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Post by hibernicus on Feb 18, 2020 18:41:43 GMT
More bad news from the Legion of Christ, the poisoned gift that keeps on giving. Apparently they tried to get boys who had been abused in one of their minor seminaries in Italy (the Legion is one of the few parts of the Church that still runs minor seminaries - this is a good explanation for why they have died out almost everywhere else) to say that their accusations had been a lie as part of a compensation settlement, and Cardinal De Paolis who was in charge of the supposed clean-up knew of this and did nothing or worse than nothing. The automatic reflex to cover up runs so deep, and Pope Benedict did not do enough to counter it, for whatever reason. www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-rotten-legion-of-christ/www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/02/17/court-evidence-suggests-abuse-cover-up-by-high-ranking-legionaries-of-christ/I used to wonder whether I did the right thing in not pursuing a vocation with the Legion when I was a teenager. Now I thank God I didn't. Acts 19: 13-15 13 Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, “I bind you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 Eventually, one of the evil spirits answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”…
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Post by hibernicus on Feb 22, 2020 20:09:04 GMT
This is horrible. L'Arche have revealed that Jean Vanier used false mysticism to seduce a number of women, including nuns and assistants. It does not appear that any of the women were intellectually disabled, but this is still a frightful abuse of his position of authority and his reputation for personal sanctity, and sheer blasphemy. This will do terrible damage to the work of L'Arche for the intellectually disabled, in which Vanier did great good. When the mask was lifted from Maciel, what is seen is purely demonic, where with Vanier we still have a great work of mercy which has benefitted so many. This in no way excuses or could excuse his crimes. Leave him to heaven - pray for him and his victims. I just don't know what to say about this. www.bbc.com/news/world-51596516www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/02/22/larche-reports-sexual-misconduct-by-founder-jean-vanier/
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Post by annie on Feb 26, 2020 11:45:41 GMT
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Post by annie on Feb 28, 2020 20:46:33 GMT
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Post by hibernicus on Mar 11, 2020 20:56:10 GMT
This post centres on the searing reflections of a father who named his son after Vanier and still sees the good in much that Vanier did, but sees also the horror of the crimes of the man whom he thought was a saint and is thereby tempted to despair. The form that this temptation takes is to doubt whether sanctity really exists. As Newman said, the lives of the saints bear witness to God's grace, so the fall of an apparent saint may lead people to doubt the testimony and hence the grace. It is necessary to see just how much harm has been done, and yet with the aid of God's love, to avoid despair. www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/jd-flynn-what-in-jean-vanier-name/
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Post by annie on Mar 13, 2020 10:30:47 GMT
This post centres on the searing reflections of a father who named his son after Vanier and still sees the good in much that Vanier did, but sees also the horror of the crimes of the man whom he thought was a saint and is thereby tempted to despair. The form that this temptation takes is to doubt whether sanctity really exists. As Newman said, the lives of the saints bear witness to God's grace, so the fall of an apparent saint may lead people to doubt the testimony and hence the grace. It is necessary to see just how much harm has been done, and yet with the aid of God's love, to avoid despair. www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/jd-flynn-what-in-jean-vanier-name/Secular saints such as Jean Vanier and Martin Luther King would have failed the testing of our Church's former use of a Devil's Advocate, sifting the chaff from the wheat. Only for a false witness, we wouldn't have the magnificent St Patrick's Confessions. St John Paul, familiar with the smearing tactics of the communist police in Poland, sadly disbelieved the reports of actual crimes against the vunerable within the Church. Saints are human, fallible beings like the rest of us. What sets them apart is their horror of being or remaining in a state of sin. No one can lift themselves up by their own boot straps, we all depend on the grace and mercy of God.
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 7, 2020 21:46:16 GMT
I didn't like to comment on the trials of Cardinal Pell while the legal proceedings were ongoing. Now that they have concluded, a few reflections are in order: (1) The arguments I have seen put forwards by the advocates of Cardinal Pell's guilt seem to me to boil down to saying that to acquit Pell would amount to saying that all clerical abuse victims are liars and that clerical abuse never happened at all. This is a really dreadful mindset - the issue in any trial should be the guilt or innocence of the accused. These claims amount to saying that accusation is in itself proof of guilt. Tell that to the Guildford Four. I mention the Guildford Four in particular because one of them was recorded by security cameras at the South Bank in London just over an hour after the bombings. The prosecution rebutted this by establishing that under some circumstances it was possible to drive from Guildford to the South Bank in an hour, and it is often pointed out in retrospect that this obscured the fact that they had not produced any evidence that the accused had in fact done so, when the onus was on the prosecution to prove guilt and not on the defence to prove innocence. Anyone who followed the Pell trial in detail will see the parallel. (2) This was seasoned in some cases by sheer ignorance; one poster on Politics.ie said the jury had absolute discretion and should never be overruled by judges; this logically implies that there should be no appeal courts at all (though apparently US appeal courts are more likely to defer to jury decisions than the Australian courts). In justice I should note, however, that several self-proclaimed atheists on Politics.ie pointed out the shortcomings of the trial and criticised the hysteria. (3) There seems to have been no attempt at all to limit prejudicial publicity, with the ABC TV channel in particular seeming to assume Pell's guilt throughout. The wide pre-trial circulation of Tim Minchin's song "Come Home Cardinal Pell" also deserves dishonourable mention. (4) Let's not forget, though that there have been absolutely horrendous clerical abuse scandals in Australia, involving both individual priests and institutions as well as the usual episcopal mishandlings and cover-ups, of which we will probably hear more in the near future. The best response is to listen critically and learn, and to pray for all involved. Bear in mind that the post below is by an Eastern Orthodox convert who left Catholicism over the clerical abuse scandal, so his view that the Pell case was disgracefully handled can't be dismissed as Catholic apologetics: www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/cardinal-pell-is-free/
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 22, 2020 23:00:40 GMT
A number of serious accusations, supported in some instances by named witnesses, about clerical abuse and cover-ups by SSPX priests and supporters have been made public recently by conservative sites. These include at least one instance where a SSPX priest has been convicted by a court in France. I'm not linking at present until matters become clearer, but expect to hear more of this. There is an Irish angle to one of the allegations.
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Post by hibernicus on May 20, 2020 22:19:58 GMT
The allegations of scandalous behaviour by SSPX clerics centred on a SSPX-dominated village in Kansas goes public. Remember that at present these are allegations under investigation. A couple of points about some local SSPX supporters' response to the story and parallels to Irish experience: (1) There is veneration of the sacred character of the priesthood, taken to the extent that some individuals are claiming priests can do no wrong and even if the accusations are true they are being hyped by the hostile outside world which wishes to crush "the true Mass", with diabolic assistance/instigation. This allegedly extends to some individuals blaming the alleged victims for going public and claiming they should have kept quiet. (2) In at least one case a teacher who relayed a pupil's allegations of abuse to a superior was dismissed from his position, allegedly for having done so, and obliged to leave the village. This is a problem when a group is the main local employer/can get someone blacklisted and when employees can be dismissed without any procedure. The parallel with the ability of old-style clerical managers to crush a teacher for arbitrary reasons, as described in Criostoir O Floinn's CONSPLAWKUS, comes painfully to mind. www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/05/20/kansas-investigating-sexual-abuse-claims-in-breakaway-society-of-st-pius-x/www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/05/20/kansas-investigating-sexual-abuse-claims-in-breakaway-society-of-st-pius-x/
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Post by hibernicus on Sept 10, 2020 20:00:03 GMT
The story of a faithful US Jesuit and his tribulations, as recalled by Rod Dreher. I must say that when earlier obituaries revealed that Fr Mankowski was the author of the "Diogenes" column in the CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT, I was startled to find that they had been written by a priest - and indeed by a member of a religious Order, whose vows of obedience placed him in a particularly vulnerable position - because they were so unsparing about the faults and failings of clericalism and ecclesiastical bureaucracy and how these contributed to the horrors which have been revealed. (An example of his analysis is given in the column linked below.) www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/life-and-death-of-paul-mankowski-sj/
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Post by annie on Sept 17, 2020 19:12:57 GMT
Further background on what happened the church and the world since the 60's and it's ongoing effects in the US and the upcoming election there is included in this piece from Robert Moynihan. It is much too long to copy and paste but if you click on this link you will be able to see it for yourself. insidethevatican.com/news/newsflash/letter-24-wed-september-16-2020/
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Post by assisi on Sept 18, 2020 13:01:40 GMT
Further background on what happened the church and the world since the 60's and it's ongoing effects in the US and the upcoming election there is included in this piece from Robert Moynihan. It is much too long to copy and paste but if you click on this link you will be able to see it for yourself. insidethevatican.com/news/newsflash/letter-24-wed-september-16-2020/I
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Post by assisi on Sept 18, 2020 13:23:43 GMT
Further background on what happened the church and the world since the 60's and it's ongoing effects in the US and the upcoming election there is included in this piece from Robert Moynihan. It is much too long to copy and paste but if you click on this link you will be able to see it for yourself. insidethevatican.com/news/newsflash/letter-24-wed-september-16-2020/I like Vigano because of his forthright way of expressing things. The article covers so much ground that it is hard to respond to everything. However even before Vigano's interview it is worth drawing attention to the language used by Bishop Callahan to censure Father Altman's view that “You cannot be a Catholic and be a Democrat. Period.” Bishop Callahan says: I pray that Fr. Altman’s heart and eyes might be open to the error of his ways and that he might take steps to correct his behavior and heal the wound he has inflicted on the Body of Christ.”While Fr Altman may be accused of generalising, most sensible people know exactly what he is alluding to, the prolonged, blatant and celebratory support of abortion (which, on certain occasions may result in infanticide on a child who is born after a botched abortion) by Democrats. The Bishop is cowardly in that he aims his most emotive criticism 'the wound he has inflicted on the Body of Christ' on a faithful priest rather than the men and women of the Democrat party. Ironic too that the Bishop doesn't realise that his use of the terminology 'wound...on the Body of Christ' might lead a normal person to think of the monsters who inflict the ultimate wound on the bodies of the innocent rather than a priest defending the unborn.
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