An investigative grand jury report into Clergy abuse in six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses is just days away from being made public.
Approximately 900 pages long, it is the product of more than two years’ worth of top-secret subpoenas and testimony led by a team in the Attorney General’s Office.
Civil and criminal statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse made it virtually impossible for people to sue or press charges once a child had become a full-fledged adult.
But what’s about to come may test that.
The grand jury scrutinized the Dioceses of Greensburg, Allentown, Scranton, Erie, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh.
The Philadelphia Archdiocese was spared because its own horrific legacy of concealment was laid bare by multiple local grand jury probes dating to 2005.
Altoona-Johnstown concealment of abuse was revealed just two years ago by former Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane.
The grand jury judge, Norman A. Krumenacker III, in a ruling last week to stop unnamed individuals from blocking the report’s release, hinted that what’s to come is extensive, including findings into allegations of “endangering the welfare of children, obstruction of justice by individuals associated with the Roman Catholic Church, local public officials, and community leaders.”
And so the scandals of abuse and the corruption of concealment continue to plague the Church.
The sacred dignity and moral credibility of the Church have been dealt a death-blow around the world.
One can only imagine how many pews have been and will be emptied by the time the evidence in Pennsylvania comes to the attention of the public.
Pope Francis certainly engaged the abuse after being publicly shamed for his cavalier remarks about a particular Bishop in Chile. In response to the Holy Father's forceful intervention in that country, all of the Bishop's resigned. Thus far, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of three of those who were complicit in covering up the abuse.
In the United States, where the stories of abuse and concealment first broke upon the world scene, the Bishops thus far (with the exception of Bishop Finn and Cardinal Law) have remained unscathed and untouched by the scandal.
If there be justice, many more members of the USCCB need to be brought to accountability for the culture of corruption and deception they helped perpetrate for decades, if not longer.
All of us need to pray that the Church will repent of its scandalous sins and provide justice and restitution to those who have been so wounded by those who were supposed to provide for their spiritual care.
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Monday, June 18, 2018
NOT YOUR FATHER'S IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH
When Pope Francis visits Ireland this summer (August 25-26), he will be welcomed by President Michael D Higgins.
Some think that is the only welcome the Pope will receive.
But the Holy Father will be greeted by a Church which, according to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, the President and host of the World Meeting of Families,is struggling “to find a new place in Irish society and culture - a very different one from the dominant one it held in the past”.
With evolving views on divorce, same-sex marriage and abortion, analysts suggest Ireland has changed utterly since John Paul II’s visit in 1979.
Since then, the Catholic Church has suffered critical setbacks following sex scandals, sordid revelations of clerical abuse and reports on how some within the Church hierarchy covered up such stories and failed to report Priests who were child abusers to the authorities.
In recent weeks, the treatment meted out to women in mother-and-baby homes run by Women Religious for unmarried pregnant women has been in the spotlight.
The story of the Magdalene laundries - Catholic-run workhouses where 10,000 women and girls were forced to do unpaid, manual labour between 1922 and 1996 - prompted a state apology by Irish President Michael D Higgins.
There have also been allegations of forced adoptions, in some cases in exchange for money from rich Catholic Irish-Americans.
The 2016 Census put the number of self-described Catholics at 3.73m - about 78% of the population.
Yet, weekly Mass attendance fell from 63% in 2002 to 48% in 2010, according to the Church's most recent available statistics, with less than a quarter of 26-to-34-year-olds attending Mass weekly.
Archbishop Martin has said that in some parishes, only 2% of people went to Mass.
Certainly, the love affair that existed between the Church and the people of Ireland is over for the present. Whether that relationship can ever be rekindled will depend largely on the Pope’s message to once-devout Irish Catholics during his visit.
One thing’s for certain: this is not your Irish Catholic father’s Church anymore!
Some think that is the only welcome the Pope will receive.
But the Holy Father will be greeted by a Church which, according to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, the President and host of the World Meeting of Families,is struggling “to find a new place in Irish society and culture - a very different one from the dominant one it held in the past”.
With evolving views on divorce, same-sex marriage and abortion, analysts suggest Ireland has changed utterly since John Paul II’s visit in 1979.
Since then, the Catholic Church has suffered critical setbacks following sex scandals, sordid revelations of clerical abuse and reports on how some within the Church hierarchy covered up such stories and failed to report Priests who were child abusers to the authorities.
In recent weeks, the treatment meted out to women in mother-and-baby homes run by Women Religious for unmarried pregnant women has been in the spotlight.
The story of the Magdalene laundries - Catholic-run workhouses where 10,000 women and girls were forced to do unpaid, manual labour between 1922 and 1996 - prompted a state apology by Irish President Michael D Higgins.
There have also been allegations of forced adoptions, in some cases in exchange for money from rich Catholic Irish-Americans.
The 2016 Census put the number of self-described Catholics at 3.73m - about 78% of the population.
Yet, weekly Mass attendance fell from 63% in 2002 to 48% in 2010, according to the Church's most recent available statistics, with less than a quarter of 26-to-34-year-olds attending Mass weekly.
Archbishop Martin has said that in some parishes, only 2% of people went to Mass.
Certainly, the love affair that existed between the Church and the people of Ireland is over for the present. Whether that relationship can ever be rekindled will depend largely on the Pope’s message to once-devout Irish Catholics during his visit.
One thing’s for certain: this is not your Irish Catholic father’s Church anymore!
Sunday, June 17, 2018
POPE FRANCIS: VOCATIONAL CRISIS DUE TO "DICTATORSHIP OF MONEY" --- REALLY?
In a recent speech to Italy's bishops, Francis offered a simple sound bite: "How many seminaries, churches, monasteries and convents will be closed in the next few years? God only knows."
Europe is "hemorrhaging" priests and nuns, he added, because of a "crisis in vocations" in which few Catholics are willing to take vows and serve the church.
Once, Europe was the heart of Christendom and sent waves of missionaries around the world. Now Europe is suffering from "vocational sterility," in part because of a "dictatorship of money" that is seducing the young, the Pope said.
With all due respect, Your Holiness, the part of the “vocational sterility” to which you refer, the “dictatorship of money” is really just a small, perhaps the smallest part of the crisis in vocations to which you refer, isn't it?
Perhaps coming from the poverty of South America and the huge gaps that exist between the rich and the poor is the filter through which Your Holiness views most, if not all, the problems of modern society as well as those within the Church itself.
But, the very large and very real part of the crisis is staring you right in the face, Your Holiness, You only have to have the honesty and courage to recognize it and give voice to its reality.
Isn't it really the moral irrelevancy of the Church resulting primarily from the scandal not just of the abuse of minors but the corruption at the highest levels of Church hierarchy that protected and enabled such detestable behavior for decades, perhaps even for centuries?
The Priesthood and Religious Life have been critically wounded by the horrific tales of suffering on the part of so many direct victims of abuse but also by those who sought to bring the perpetrators to justice, victims themselves of derision and scorn by Bishops and their minions.
But one cannot ignore the affect which confusion and dissent among the Bishops, sometimes coming in the form of highly derogatory and inflammatory remarks Bishops have been making about one another.
When Bishops cannot unite in fraternal charity and cooperate with each other, what are the faithful to think?
Wide divergency in theological speculations, a Catholic morality that verges upon relativism, pastoral solutions which challenge traditional Catholic doctrine and practice, all these are part of the crisis in vocation the Church is suffering, aren't they?
To simply emphasize secular values and the “dictatorship of money” suggesting that is the largest part of the collapse in vocations is, well, disingenuous at best, isn't it?
Frankly, I wonder about those presently in seminary and Religious formation. In a Church so challenged, searching for relevancy in the lives of ordinary people, what does it mean to be a Priest or Religious these days?
Do they not see a Church on the brink of being reluctantly dragged into the realities of the Twenty-first Century, being confronted with calls for a real and honest discussion and decision regarding the return of the ancient custom of a married Priesthood, with challenges to a traditional male Priesthood, with the reality that fewer and fewer of the future generations of the Church actually practice their faith, what moves people to consider let alone engage in priestly or Religious formation?
The obvious answer the Church will offer, of course, is those in seminary and Religious formation have been inspired by the Providential Grace of the Holy Spirit constantly enlivening the Church from generation to generation.
I don't disagree.
But what is it about the spiritual and emotional makeup of seminarians and novices themselves that attracts them to a life of service to the Church?
The Church that inspired me to Priesthood is certainly in no way the Church of today. Almost everything about the Church in my youth was clear and ordered and consistent.
Nowadays, I am told that was because we Catholics, both the hierarchy and the faithful, were ignorant and immature in our knowledge and association with the “real world”.
I can only confess that the clarity and consistency of Church teaching and practice made sense to me and strengthened my vocational aspirations all along the way.
Perhaps, I am completely out of touch but I believe that the seminarian or novice of today must be being called to vocation for reasons completely different from my own.
I don’t understand them, but ask the Lord to bless them for sure.
And please bless Pope Francis and the Church, dear Lord. Paraphrasing the Pope himself, “Only You, dear God, know how much we need it!”
Europe is "hemorrhaging" priests and nuns, he added, because of a "crisis in vocations" in which few Catholics are willing to take vows and serve the church.
Once, Europe was the heart of Christendom and sent waves of missionaries around the world. Now Europe is suffering from "vocational sterility," in part because of a "dictatorship of money" that is seducing the young, the Pope said.
With all due respect, Your Holiness, the part of the “vocational sterility” to which you refer, the “dictatorship of money” is really just a small, perhaps the smallest part of the crisis in vocations to which you refer, isn't it?
Perhaps coming from the poverty of South America and the huge gaps that exist between the rich and the poor is the filter through which Your Holiness views most, if not all, the problems of modern society as well as those within the Church itself.
But, the very large and very real part of the crisis is staring you right in the face, Your Holiness, You only have to have the honesty and courage to recognize it and give voice to its reality.
Isn't it really the moral irrelevancy of the Church resulting primarily from the scandal not just of the abuse of minors but the corruption at the highest levels of Church hierarchy that protected and enabled such detestable behavior for decades, perhaps even for centuries?
The Priesthood and Religious Life have been critically wounded by the horrific tales of suffering on the part of so many direct victims of abuse but also by those who sought to bring the perpetrators to justice, victims themselves of derision and scorn by Bishops and their minions.
But one cannot ignore the affect which confusion and dissent among the Bishops, sometimes coming in the form of highly derogatory and inflammatory remarks Bishops have been making about one another.
When Bishops cannot unite in fraternal charity and cooperate with each other, what are the faithful to think?
Wide divergency in theological speculations, a Catholic morality that verges upon relativism, pastoral solutions which challenge traditional Catholic doctrine and practice, all these are part of the crisis in vocation the Church is suffering, aren't they?
To simply emphasize secular values and the “dictatorship of money” suggesting that is the largest part of the collapse in vocations is, well, disingenuous at best, isn't it?
Frankly, I wonder about those presently in seminary and Religious formation. In a Church so challenged, searching for relevancy in the lives of ordinary people, what does it mean to be a Priest or Religious these days?
Do they not see a Church on the brink of being reluctantly dragged into the realities of the Twenty-first Century, being confronted with calls for a real and honest discussion and decision regarding the return of the ancient custom of a married Priesthood, with challenges to a traditional male Priesthood, with the reality that fewer and fewer of the future generations of the Church actually practice their faith, what moves people to consider let alone engage in priestly or Religious formation?
The obvious answer the Church will offer, of course, is those in seminary and Religious formation have been inspired by the Providential Grace of the Holy Spirit constantly enlivening the Church from generation to generation.
I don't disagree.
But what is it about the spiritual and emotional makeup of seminarians and novices themselves that attracts them to a life of service to the Church?
The Church that inspired me to Priesthood is certainly in no way the Church of today. Almost everything about the Church in my youth was clear and ordered and consistent.
Nowadays, I am told that was because we Catholics, both the hierarchy and the faithful, were ignorant and immature in our knowledge and association with the “real world”.
I can only confess that the clarity and consistency of Church teaching and practice made sense to me and strengthened my vocational aspirations all along the way.
Perhaps, I am completely out of touch but I believe that the seminarian or novice of today must be being called to vocation for reasons completely different from my own.
I don’t understand them, but ask the Lord to bless them for sure.
And please bless Pope Francis and the Church, dear Lord. Paraphrasing the Pope himself, “Only You, dear God, know how much we need it!”
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
Happy Father’s Day to each and all called to the Sacramental life of Marriage and Family, called to be partners and companions of their wives, assisting them in this life and inspiring them to the blessings of eternal life as well.
As I mentioned last month as we celebrated Mother’s Day, wife and husband are one person, formed by the Grace of the Sacrament, committed to each other in fidelity and permanence, and untied both spiritually and physically in a way that God has chosen for the procreation and regeneration of humanity itself.
We cannot honor Fathers without honoring Mothers and vice versa.
On this Father’s Day, along with your wives, you husbands and dads are revered as well as reminded of the nobility and dignity of your vocation.
Not only do your families form the bedrock of society itself, but you are as the Early Fathers of the Church have taught “the domestic Church”, the smallest yet perhaps the most critical “cell” of the Body of Christ.
You are the first teachers of your children in the ways of Faith, the example you give unparalleled for its effect upon your children’s commitment to the Church and love of the Sacraments.
God bless you for your fidelity, your devotion, to your families.
God bless you for all the toil and tribute you offer your spouses and your children.
God bless you for the anxieties, the worries, the tears, the laughter, the sorrow and the joys you have and will continue to experience throughout your lifetimes.
God bless you, Dads and Moms and Children, on this Father’s Day and always!
As I mentioned last month as we celebrated Mother’s Day, wife and husband are one person, formed by the Grace of the Sacrament, committed to each other in fidelity and permanence, and untied both spiritually and physically in a way that God has chosen for the procreation and regeneration of humanity itself.
We cannot honor Fathers without honoring Mothers and vice versa.
On this Father’s Day, along with your wives, you husbands and dads are revered as well as reminded of the nobility and dignity of your vocation.
Not only do your families form the bedrock of society itself, but you are as the Early Fathers of the Church have taught “the domestic Church”, the smallest yet perhaps the most critical “cell” of the Body of Christ.
You are the first teachers of your children in the ways of Faith, the example you give unparalleled for its effect upon your children’s commitment to the Church and love of the Sacraments.
God bless you for your fidelity, your devotion, to your families.
God bless you for all the toil and tribute you offer your spouses and your children.
God bless you for the anxieties, the worries, the tears, the laughter, the sorrow and the joys you have and will continue to experience throughout your lifetimes.
God bless you, Dads and Moms and Children, on this Father’s Day and always!
Saturday, June 16, 2018
HURTFUL MEMORIES REGARDING POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL II'S VISIT TO IRELAND HAVE NOT DIMMED
“Singing Priest”, Father Michael Cleary, and Bishop Eamonn Casey were the Church’s representatives chosen to greet Pope Saint John Paul II on the tarmac during his visit to Ireland.
That fact remains an issue that “has form” as they say in Ireland -- in other words, a bad history since it was only after their very prominent role during the Papal visit that their personal and sordid affairs revealed them to be liars and frauds.
Memories are long in Ireland. And as preparations for Pope Francis' visit progress, the memory of the two Clerics who greeted Pope Saint John Paul II have not dimmed.
Both men had made many pronouncements on the sacredness of marriage and the battle against those seeking a legal abortion and were seen as the most blessed among the Irish Clergy during the Pope’s visit.
All the while, they had had been violating their preaching about the evils of sex outside marriage, secret affairs, and secret lives.
Father Michael Cleary and Bishop Eamonn Casey had plenty to hide.
Both had fathered children and both covered up scandalous relationships that would tear the Catholic Church apart in Ireland when their stories were told.
Father Cleary was known as the “Singing Priest” who made a huge name for himself as an entertainer and a Cleric seen as being in touch with young people. He also led from the front on the 1983 abortion referendum, promising fire and brimstone and hell against anyone who went against the church's wishes.
Yet, he had commenced an affair with his housekeeper, Phyllis Hamilton. She was just 17 years old (he was 34) when the affair started. She bore him at least two children. A third child, a woman now living in Florida who is Hamilton’s third child, claims he was also her father but it has not been proven.
A friend of both Hamilton and Cleary said, “In October 1993. I met with Monsignor Alex Stenson at Archbishop’s house, who agreed to meet in confidence. I told him about Father Cleary, Phyllis and their two sons and their fears of public exposure. His view was that until Michael told the Church directly, the Church could not offer him, or anyone else that may be involved, any support.”
Bishop Eammon Casey had for years been courting Annie Murphy, a young American who visited him through family connections in Kerry. They had a torrid affair and a son.
Bishop Casey embezzled over $100,000 in parish funds to pay for his son’s (Peter Murphy) education. He refused to acknowledge him until his mother broke her silence.
With that reveralation, the dam burst of Irish Clerical scandals broke.
These were the two men of all the Clerics in Ireland who had been handpicked to meet Pope Saint John Paul.
It will be interesting to see who meets Francis this coming August.
Pope Francis is a popular pope, and he deserves a proper reception.
Please God, the Church will choose those who greet the Holy Father carefully, very carefully indeed.
That fact remains an issue that “has form” as they say in Ireland -- in other words, a bad history since it was only after their very prominent role during the Papal visit that their personal and sordid affairs revealed them to be liars and frauds.
Memories are long in Ireland. And as preparations for Pope Francis' visit progress, the memory of the two Clerics who greeted Pope Saint John Paul II have not dimmed.
Both men had made many pronouncements on the sacredness of marriage and the battle against those seeking a legal abortion and were seen as the most blessed among the Irish Clergy during the Pope’s visit.
All the while, they had had been violating their preaching about the evils of sex outside marriage, secret affairs, and secret lives.
Father Michael Cleary and Bishop Eamonn Casey had plenty to hide.
Both had fathered children and both covered up scandalous relationships that would tear the Catholic Church apart in Ireland when their stories were told.
Father Cleary was known as the “Singing Priest” who made a huge name for himself as an entertainer and a Cleric seen as being in touch with young people. He also led from the front on the 1983 abortion referendum, promising fire and brimstone and hell against anyone who went against the church's wishes.
Yet, he had commenced an affair with his housekeeper, Phyllis Hamilton. She was just 17 years old (he was 34) when the affair started. She bore him at least two children. A third child, a woman now living in Florida who is Hamilton’s third child, claims he was also her father but it has not been proven.
A friend of both Hamilton and Cleary said, “In October 1993. I met with Monsignor Alex Stenson at Archbishop’s house, who agreed to meet in confidence. I told him about Father Cleary, Phyllis and their two sons and their fears of public exposure. His view was that until Michael told the Church directly, the Church could not offer him, or anyone else that may be involved, any support.”
Bishop Eammon Casey had for years been courting Annie Murphy, a young American who visited him through family connections in Kerry. They had a torrid affair and a son.
Bishop Casey embezzled over $100,000 in parish funds to pay for his son’s (Peter Murphy) education. He refused to acknowledge him until his mother broke her silence.
With that reveralation, the dam burst of Irish Clerical scandals broke.
These were the two men of all the Clerics in Ireland who had been handpicked to meet Pope Saint John Paul.
It will be interesting to see who meets Francis this coming August.
Pope Francis is a popular pope, and he deserves a proper reception.
Please God, the Church will choose those who greet the Holy Father carefully, very carefully indeed.
Friday, June 15, 2018
THE USCCB: A MODEL OF THE IRRELEVANT ENGAGING IN THE FUTILE
Members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB ) engaged a lengthy debate during their General Assembly on Thursday. The discussions centered upon the future of the Bishop’s guide to politics and voting contained in the document, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.
When the Bishops eventually voted on their action item, 77 percent supported a measure calling for the production of a short letter to inspire prayer and action regarding public life, and a short video and other secondary resources -- to “complement rather than to replace” the existing Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship document, and to apply the teachings of Pope Francis to our day.
Preceding the debate was a presentation by Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles (land of the wholly out of touch), who chairs the Bishops’ working group on Faithful Citizenship. The working group is already looking ahead to the 2020 presidential election, and wants to produce “user-friendly” supplements to the document.
Archbishop Gomez insisted that Faithful Citizenship “has lasting value” but is too long, and perhaps not particularly accessible to those in the pews. While it does an excellent job of conveying information, he said, the document lacks the ability to inspire voters, “so the task before us is to motivate the people to pray and to act.”
He noted three priorities for the working group: reminding Catholics that faith is prior to partisan politics- that faith “shapes Catholics first”, and they are “members of a political party second (or third or fourth)”; that Catholics are called to be faithful citizens at all times, continually; and that public discourse should be always civil.
He noted three priorities for the working group: reminding Catholics that faith is prior to partisan politics- that faith “shapes Catholics first”, and they are “members of a political party second (or third or fourth)”; that Catholics are called to be faithful citizens at all times, continually; and that public discourse should be always civil.
Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego charged that the current edition of Faithful Citizenship (last revised in 2015), doesn’t engage with current issues and “Catholic teaching as it is now.”
Since the 2016 election, he said, “legal and political institutions are being atrophied” and we are in “a radically different moment”, noting widespread opposition to immigration, profound racial divisions, and school shootings.
Once again, the USCCB confirms how irrelevant it has become.
Talk about re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic!
First, Bishop McElroy who is so eager to point out the “atrophy” which infects political institutions would be more credible if he were as eager to point out and address the “decay” within the institutional Church evidenced in the culture of corruption and cover-up by the members of the USCCB regarding the criminal sexual abuse minors.
Physicians heal thyselves first! The entire Conference of Bishops in Chile resigned in disgrace for their corrupt behavior. What a model of personal responsibility and accountability other Conferences (including the USCCB) ought to follow.
Physicians heal thyselves first! The entire Conference of Bishops in Chile resigned in disgrace for their corrupt behavior. What a model of personal responsibility and accountability other Conferences (including the USCCB) ought to follow.
Second, this is nothing but the latest effort of the USCCB to intrude its way into the next Presidential election by giving support to the liberal agenda of the left which it has so passionately espoused in its guidelines and in the agencies which have benefited from radically socialist political agendas.
These agencies, many of them operating under the aegis of the USCCB are now, under the assault of the Trump administration, being threatened with extinction by having their federal funding withdrawn.
The Bishops know it and don't like it one bit.
These agencies, many of them operating under the aegis of the USCCB are now, under the assault of the Trump administration, being threatened with extinction by having their federal funding withdrawn.
The Bishops know it and don't like it one bit.
This latest ploy (an obvious and futile one) is nothing less than an outrageous attempt by the USCCB to protect the kingdoms it has created.
The USCCB long ago forgot its proper function to advance the mission of the Church by the clear enunciation of its doctrinal teachings, the proper and reverential celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, and by calling the faithful to recognize and fulfill their responsibilities as members of the People of God.
Catholics in the pews (the few that are left, sadly) are oblivious to the millions of dollars they have contributed which have been diverted away from their local parishes and churches to support the wasteful engagements of the USCCB.
The Conference has not only lost its credibility but, more importantly, its purpose.
Let the Bishops debate and remonstrate among themselves. No one is listening. No one cares.
NEW SCANDALS OF ABUSE AND COVER-UP ROCK CHURCH IN CHILE
Last week, the Vatican issued a statement indicating that Pope Francis had accepted the resignations of Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, Bishop Gonzalo Duarte of Valparaiso and Bishop Cristian Caro of Puerto Montt.
Of the three, only the 61-year-old Bishop Barros is below the retirement age of 75.
Francis named temporary leaders for each of the dioceses.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, the two investigators who provided the Holy Father with overwhelming evidence of widespread abuse and coverup are heading back to Chile to begin what the Vatican has said is a “healing” mission.
By announcing the acceptance of these three resignations on the eve of their arrival, Pope Francis is essentially giving the investigators a hand in helping to heal the divisions in a diocese where Bishop Barros was never fully accepted on account of his silence despite his knowledge of instances of abuse.
The investigators also amassed evidence that the Chilean hierarchy systematically covered up and minimized abuse cases, destroying evidence of sex crimes, pressuring church investigators to discredit abuse accusations and showing “grave negligence” in protecting children from pedophile priests.
Subsequent to the Pope’s meeting with all the Chilean Bishops, a host of new accusations have come to light, leading the Pope to refer to a “culture of abuse and cover-up” in the Catholic Church.
The latest scandal involves revelations of a gay Priest sex ring in the Rancagua diocese of the very Bishop who headed the Chilean church’s sex abuse prevention commission. To date, 14 Priests in Rancagua have been suspended and the Bishop has resigned as head of the commission after admitting he was slow to act on accusations minors had been abused.
Most recently, Chilean police and prosecutors raided Roman Catholic Church offices in two Chilean cities in search of documents related to a child sex abuse scandal.
Officials have reportedly targeted the headquarters of Santiago’s Ecclesiastical Court and the Bishop’s office in Rancagua.
The “healing mission” for the Church in Chile will be long and arduous indeed.
Of the three, only the 61-year-old Bishop Barros is below the retirement age of 75.
Francis named temporary leaders for each of the dioceses.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, the two investigators who provided the Holy Father with overwhelming evidence of widespread abuse and coverup are heading back to Chile to begin what the Vatican has said is a “healing” mission.
By announcing the acceptance of these three resignations on the eve of their arrival, Pope Francis is essentially giving the investigators a hand in helping to heal the divisions in a diocese where Bishop Barros was never fully accepted on account of his silence despite his knowledge of instances of abuse.
The investigators also amassed evidence that the Chilean hierarchy systematically covered up and minimized abuse cases, destroying evidence of sex crimes, pressuring church investigators to discredit abuse accusations and showing “grave negligence” in protecting children from pedophile priests.
Subsequent to the Pope’s meeting with all the Chilean Bishops, a host of new accusations have come to light, leading the Pope to refer to a “culture of abuse and cover-up” in the Catholic Church.
The latest scandal involves revelations of a gay Priest sex ring in the Rancagua diocese of the very Bishop who headed the Chilean church’s sex abuse prevention commission. To date, 14 Priests in Rancagua have been suspended and the Bishop has resigned as head of the commission after admitting he was slow to act on accusations minors had been abused.
Most recently, Chilean police and prosecutors raided Roman Catholic Church offices in two Chilean cities in search of documents related to a child sex abuse scandal.
Officials have reportedly targeted the headquarters of Santiago’s Ecclesiastical Court and the Bishop’s office in Rancagua.
The “healing mission” for the Church in Chile will be long and arduous indeed.
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