Mixa locutus -- causa finita?

The actual "Mixa File" is still not closed -- No clarification of the German Bishops' clarification -- Why the diocese has clearly the directives of the German Bishop's Conference.

Augsburg (kath.net) Even after the clarifications of the German Bishops Conference on Tuesday and the letter from Bishop Walter Mixa this Wednesday, the Causa Mixa is still leaving a number of questions unclear.

One question remains in connection with the clarification of the German Bishops Conference (GBC), which on Tuesday had affirmed the alleged "Secret Dossier" on Mixa. It says: "They affirmed that the documents and accusations against him in April 2010 had been passed on to Rome. Pope Benedict XVI acted upon this and accepted Bishop Mixa's resignation."

It is completely unclear on the one hand, if the accusation is to be seen as true, if there has been an orderly investigation and if it on the other hand, there is a causal connection between the Pope's decision and the accusation. One kath.net- inquiry to this theme led to Matthias Kopp, the speaker for the GBC, who gave the following answer: "Please understand that I can't answer your questions as if they were represented in a text of the presiding Bishops today."

It is certain that in the past week not one of the high-ranking Bishops of Germany knew of the "Secret Dossier" as kath.net was aware. Clearly, only the closest circle of the German Bishops Conference, some of the members of the Diocese of Augsburg and the Archbishop of Munich were privy.

It is as good as in the hand that the internal Church correspondence from this circle was directing the FAX and the South German Times. Bishop Mixa himself clearly knew nothing of this correspondence.

"That the press has access to the archive of the Vatican or the Papal Nuncio, is for the time being improbable. Therefore the source is especially nebulous like the reported occurrence," explained Mixa-Attorney Gerhard Decker on Sunday to kath.net. Even in the 3-sided-correspondence of Bishop Mixa to the Bishops Congregation, where all of these accusations are theoretically arising, it is not certain.

For more confusion yesterday as members of the Augsburg Diocesan administration and by Bishop Walter Mixa approved a "joint clarification" in a passage. "The Diocese will seek, while a final decision for the successor to the Bishop's office is not known, a temporary home for Bishop Emeritus Dr. Mixa. A confirmation is being sought with the Bavarian Bishops per their clarification of the current day." An explanation of the Bavarian Bishops is till now not forthcoming.

It is exiting that on the beginning of July that Bishop Mixa and Pope Benedict will meet. It's somewhat absurd in this relation to point to #3 of the joint clarification: "the invitation of the Holy Father to a meeting in Rome with Bishop Emeritus Dr. Mixa will happily proceed; his resignation and his circumstances will not be the subject of this discussion."

What the Pope will discuss with Bishop Mixa no one knows and whoever knows the Pope knows that he will surely not let himself be limited. How should this resignation with all its open questions not be a topic? It is clear from the 3-page-letter of Bishop Mixa to Rome, that this will be the motive for his visit.

Mixa's criticisms of the instigation of his colleagues stand out in the room like before: "It should have been brotherly. I should have been advised of a leave till all the accusations were thoroughly investigated. Instead they hurried to the Pope and showed the so-called abuse case like a trump, which de facto consisted of not more than six hand-written sentences of a highly dubious, scribbled memo.", he said to "Welt" a few days ago.

Even high-ranking Church officials of the Diocese of Augsburg refrain from criticism. They have, in the matter of the supposed abuse case about Bishop Mixa, clearly not followed the corresponding guidelines of the German Bishops Conference.

It is clear, that the "educational abuse" was already apparent to the Eichstaetter Pastoral Associate L. already on the 25th of March 2010 in Augsburg. In conjunction with the directives of the German Bishops Conference: "The accredited agent researches the circumstances and is the contact person for the law enforcement authorities."

Accordingly, the accredited agent of the Diocese of Augsburg, i.e. Cathedral Vicar Heinrich hasn't researched this. He has not to-date sought any contact with the suspected victim.

Even in another point the Diocese of Augsburg has clearly violated their own guidelines. The indifference to the complaint was a serious break of the valid directives on the part of the Diocese of Augsburg, as it states: "every complaint or claim of suspicion will be thoroughly investigated. Immediately after becoming aware of suspicion or an incident, the responsible party must commence investigating.
He conducts an interview with the accused, upon which he consults a lawyer. A protocol is to be followed during the interview, for which the responsible party is obliged to follow. With the (presumptive) victim respective his legal guardian will be contacted. According to the protocol, the incident will be assessed and established, how the victim is best to be helped and how to further proceed."

Fact: This did not happen in the Diocese of Augsburg at all. There was no interview with Bishop Mixa and there was no protocol, which would have been undersigned by the participants.

If the victim was approached, may be doubted, for the directives of the GCB states further: "The welfare of the Church goes first to the victim. The defense of the victim from further abuse or public release of information is to be especially avoided. There is also a responsibility for the welfare of the accused. He remains until proven otherwise, innocent. If it is found that the suspicion is groundless, the necessary steps will be taken to restore the good reputation of the person." Presently, there hasn't been any apology to Bishop Walter Mixa.

If one looks exactly at the directives of the GBC and the incidents in the Diocese in conjunction with the alleged victim, then it is clear, that the suppositions of the Diocese of Augsburg could not stand.

On the 16th of June a communication was made by the Diocese: "Those responsible in the Diocese have followed what is just and necessary and appropriate to the directives of the German Bishops Conference and the Freisinger Bishops Conference. The Diocese of Augsburg expressly denies that it had made public any accusations of abuse.

Otherwise the prosecuting attorney's initial inquest was not known at the of Bishop Emeritus Walter Mixa of the Diocese of Augsburg's signing of his resignation."

This supposition is in any event in complete contradiction to the kath.net copy of the original act of the State Prosecuting Attorney. From him it was clear, that the Diocese even previously must have known of the alleged abuse case.

In the kath.net memo concerned, by Augsburger Pastoral Assistant F., who advocated as a "representative for possible victims of sexual and physical violence", said elsewhere: "On March 25 2010 I have spoken about the case with Mr. Heinrich [Responsible Party for Abuse in the Diocese!]. Bishop Mixa had incidentally signed his resignation on 21 April 2010.

Even a Church critic like Alan Posener had stated in Cicero, that Mixa is being treated unjustly. Posener maintains, that Mixa has the same rights as every other Citizen has. "That belongs to his personal rights, which follow, that the worth of a man is unassailable." Fact: The actual "Acta Mixa" is not closed.

Slovenian and Austrian Bishop's Conference Meet to Discuss Sex Abuse

[Vienna] The theme of abuse will be at the center of the discussions of the Austrian Bishops' Conference which will meet at Mariazell Abbey for their summer meeting. On the table there's a comprehensive introductory document which will be discussed, which is the work of around 300 experts [Yikes] which project group is overseen by the Viennese Generalvikar Mosgr Franz Schuster, according to the media representative of the Episcopal Conference, Paul Wuthe. In its highlights the paper establishes clear guildlines for all ecclesiastical workers including orders for the prevention of sexual abuse and violence. "The goal is an Austria-wide standardization of procedures and with that, clarity", said Wuthe.

The proposals will include the establishment of a Church Ombundman and a reinforced collaboration of all ecclesiastical and state organizations with sexual abuse and violence.

A chief role in connection with the last months of well known cases of violence and abuse is played by the Independent Victim's Attorney Waltrud Klasnic and the Independent Victim's Defense Commission. From this basis Waltrud Klasnic will report on the developments in this area, according to Wuthe.

It is also the first time that the Bishops' Conference of Slovenia will meet with that of Austria. Cardinal Schoenborn and Archbishop Anton Stres (Laibach) are meeting on the 23rd of June at 1:00pm in the Abbot's Council at the Abbey of Mariazell, in order to hold a press conference. Shortly before there will be a photo oprrotunity for all participating Bishops in front of the Basilica.

Archbishop Anton Stres of Laibach, Slovenia, will preside over the Mass and preach the sermon.

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Can You Sue the Vatican?

The obedience that American Bishops have given the Catholic Church has been fairly tenuous to downright rebellious historically speaking.

Catholic and Pro-life Judge Andrew Napolitano doesn't think it's a meritorious case, either.

[Fox News]The sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has triggered an interesting legal question: can you put the Vatican on trial in the United States?

Lawyers for victims in Louisville, Kentucky are trying to do just that. But the Vatican is shooting right back, filing defense motions today arguing that bishops based in the U.S. – who have direct responsibility for their priests – are not “employees” of the Vatican.

I spoke Judge Andrew Napolitano, Senior Judicial Analyst for Fox News Channel, and he told me there’s no evidence that American bishops are agents of the Vatican with respect to personnel matters.

Fallout Grows in ex-Minneapolis Cop's Molestation Case

Of course, if you can't count on those who've been deceiving the world for years about their status as Catholic religious to tell the truth, you can't count on these individuals at a prestigious, Waspy, Minneapolis Preparatory school to tell the truth either. The corruption of the best is indeed the worst, but the society at large must also suffer for this loss of innocence.

What is often portrayed as a problem exclusive to the Catholic Church is actually a problem of an increasingly barbaric and decadent West.

This may make it more difficult for Jeff Anderson to portray the Catholic Church as a monster for his ACLU and Socialist friends.

Attorney says Breck School knew Bill Jacobs had history of molesting boys. Former official denies it.

[Minneapolis Star] The lawyer who last month sued the Vatican and Pope Benedict for their handling of sexual abuse allegations within the church turned his attention Monday to a case that involves one of the state's most prestigious private schools.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, in a lawsuit filed in Hennepin County, said officials at Breck School committed fraud by hiring teacher Bill Jacobs in 1973, knowing he had a history of molesting boys and was considered a danger to children.

Jacobs sexually abused a 13-year-old Breck student in 1974, according to Anderson. Even after the boy and his father brought their allegations to the school's headmaster, John Littleford, Jacobs remained on the faculty through the school year. The suit maintains that Littleford "begged'' the boy and his father to remain quiet about the matter.

Read further at... Star and Tribune.

Belgian Cardinal Accused of Ignoring Abuse Reports

BY JOHN W. MILLER
BRUSSELS—One of Europe's most respected clerics was accused over the weekend of ignoring reports of sexual abuse by the bishop of Bruges, who resigned last week over the scandal.

Belgium's Godfried Danneels, a retired cardinal who was once a contender for the papacy, was allegedly informed in the 1990s that Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, now 73, had molested a young man. Monsignor Vangheluwe admitted to the abuse last week, and Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation Friday.

The Dutch-language daily De Standaard reported on Friday that two former priests had personally informed Cardinal Danneels, 77, about Bishop Vangheluwe's abuse several times ...

Read further...Wall Street Journal.

Legal Eagles or Opportunistic Buzzards?

Dante's Inferno contains a place just outside of Hell for Opportunists, men who avoided life's choices between good and evil and earned the contempt of both Hell and heaven. A conventional definition of the term, however, presents us with a more active declaration of evil in that opportunists are unprincipled people, often politicians, who pursue goals without respect to principle, without respect to good or evil. Indeed, St. Thomas Aquinas once said that "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."

What can be said of Communists is that they make use of witting or unwitting soft-hearted and soft-headed men who believe that they are serving the greater good by working with them.

The American Civil Liberties Union, to which Jeff Anderson belongs, has long made a Crusade of its own attacking the appearance of Religion in public life wherever it can be found, and makes common cause in defense of perniciousness in society, while attacking the aemeliorating balm of Religion. They rather make a virtue of a vice and will trample every principle to defend the deliterious and crush the Church with calumnies, but insisting,conveniently, that there is no good or evil and that religion is solely at best a personal choice, at worst a severe debilitating delusion barring one (and perhaps one's surrounding society) from mental health, which should, therefore, not be shown any preferential treatement by the government or its representatives. Beneath all the rhetoric of neutrality and fairness ACLU maintains, it is never the less an organization poised with deliberate hostility and malice towards religion and particularly the Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, you won't read about this in the LA Times.

If ever there was justification for unleashing the law's hounds of hell, complicity in harming a child is it. Few are sympathizing with the church hierarchy who looked the other way from the pedophilia and pederasty in their midst. But it is the faithful who are being asked to pay millions for the sins of the fathers, and innocent children who must bear the scars. [Again, failure to put the blame where it belongs] So INSIGHT recently found two of the most active advocates to square off in separate interviews on the issue of the more than 200 sexual-abuse lawsuits targeting the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

The legal fallout from the sexual-abuse scandals currently threatening Catholic archdioceses around the country soon may be large enough to bankrupt them. And the frenzy shows little sign of abating--next in the crosshairs as these scandals grow, say critics, will be the Protestant churches.

"I brought one of the first cases in the U.S. against the Catholic Church involving child sexual molestation" Minnesota attorney Jeffrey Anderson of Reinhardt and Anderson tells INSIGHT. "Since that time [1983] I've handled over 1,000 cases of child sexual molestation by various religious organizations. Over 600 of them were Catholic clergy." [It has long been a tactic of Communists to back a cause that people unsympathetic to dialectical materialism can get behind.]

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Father Scmidberger Defends the Pope

Father Schmidberger has been very supportive of the Holy Father in the past, as when he thanked Holy Father for the Motu Propio and in some rather public remarks for a regional German paper, he has stepped in again to defend his Pontif for all the world to see.

The Society of Pius X tore down its wall of silence: "Today those who cried the loudest, were those who demanded to be exempt from punishment for sexual abuse of children. Humanist Union belongs to this group."

[Stuttgart, kreuz.net] "The Pope was in no way guilty, therefore he cannot also apolgize.

Explained the German uppter district superior of the Society of St Pius X, Franz Schmidberger to regional newspaper 'Leibziger Volkszeitung.'

Father spoke on the topic of homosexual predators of underage, taboo for many decades in left and anti-church circles.

This "homosexual predation" is for many a welcome cause, in order to diminish the German Pope directly in Germany and discredit the Papacy, determined Fr. Schmidberger.

Humanist Hecklers

Father criticized the advisoress of church-hate, combination 'Humanist Union" and German law minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP):

"Today those who cry loudest, were those who yesterday demanded exemption from punishment for abusing children

To which group the 'Humanist Union' also belongs, to which Mrs. Law Minister Leutheusser Schnarrenberger is counted a member. In the German language there is a word for this: Hypocrisy. The shoe fits!

Father Schmidberger opposes a general criminal suspicion against priests:

"We should be more cautious with this dragging-into-public of sins and guilt. Perhaps one or the other accusation will by closer inspection be proven false."

Sexual Desire contains the Responsibillity of the Child

Fr. Schmidberger sees a complicity in the aberration of society:

"Whoever brings pornographic writings to his person, unnatural scenes on television and dirty pictures on Internet before his eyes, will hardly pereceive any longer, that he is responsible for sexual desire."

The District Superior of explains that the instinct for hunger which is given to men, in order to sustain the individual -- and the sex drive, to propagate human sexuality:

"It is an misuse and deviation of the divine order to decouple man from this purpose, as the hedonistic society does.

Left-Catholic Debauchees Taste the Morning Air

Father Scmidberger states that Anti-Catholic groups and fragments as well as backsliding priests will use the abuse debate in order to implement their own interests:

"The Left-Catholic debauchees taste the morning air.

It is for these people designate that they demand structural changes instead of changing hearts." [Communist watchers, this is familiar stuff]

Beneficial Celibacy

The District Superior said about celibacy, that the priestly unmarried state has given extraordinary fruits for hundreds of years:

"As beneficial as celibacy is, is shown by the persecutions of the Church under the Communists and in the Third Reich:

"Protestant pastors were fearful for their families, Catholics ministers were in this respect free."

Cover instead of Showtrials (Karnevalssitzungen)

The German Bishop's Conference has covered for accused priests, expects Father Scmidberger.

"The Bishops must strengthen the priest's Faith and immediately prevent, for example, frivilous show trials in Churches."

Therefore, the sacrament of confession must take up again its place in the Christian life and in the life of the Church. [!]

"Confession is the most effective measure against sin and sinful impulses."

© picture: Piusbruderschaft.de

Germany's 'Spiegel' offers 1 Million Euro Bounty on Pope Benedict

WANTED!

Seems like they're desperate because they want to crown their assault with something more sustainable. You know, it's a cruel irony in all this, though we repeat it often, that the people responsible for the abuse in the first place are themselves, largely of the same political and philosophical bent as the journalists and political low-jobbers craving the power and financial resources of the Church.

It's funny too since 'Spiegel', Germany's 'Time', was founded by a National Socialist.

[Kreuz.net] The Goebels-Successors want to celebrate Pope's homosexual violation. The thing does not need to be in tune, the main thing is that it be set forth into the world.

Whoever accuses the Pope of a homosexual violation, 'receives one million euros from the Anti-Catholic German magazine, Spiegel'.

This was reported by German web page 'fact-fiction.net’ yesterday with 'apparently reliable' press circles.

The 'Spiegel' was founded by a former Nazi-Journalist apprentice and Lieutenant in the German Wehrmacht.

The Schmiermagazine will offer multiple former Seminarians and Theology students of the 60s and 70s who studied in Munster and Tubingen, this enormous bounty, "if it nails the Pope as a homosexual child molester."

According to the data of 'fact-fiction.net', the accusation does not have to be correct. It is primarily the concern of 'Spiegel' to set these slanders loose in the world.

The offers are going to make the rounds for two weeks.

'Spiegel' informers are to have thick bundles wagged in front of them.

The German Street Magazine, 'Stern' -- of a former National Socialist journalist based - only offers 50,000 for its Pope slanderers.

The magazine doesn't "have so much money any more" since its pratfall with the falsified Hitler diaries in the early 80s according to 'fact-fiction.net'.

According to the web page, the investigative journalist and political editor of the 'Süddeutschen Zeitung’ Hans Leyendecker (60) "crept incognito into the Vatican as as a boy prostitute and ran into German journalist colleagues there."

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Photo: Dallas Observer

Bill Donahue Says New York Times Should Take on Jews for Sex Abuse of Children

NEW YORK TIMES GUNNING FOR THE POPE?

March 15, 2010


Catholic League president Bill Donohue takes on the New York Times:

On March 10, the New York Times ran an article on sex abuse in the Catholic Church stating that in Austria a priest abused a boy 40 years ago. Yesterday, readers learned of a German case where a man says he was abused in 1979. But when Rabbi Baruch Lebovits was found guilty last week on eight counts of sexually abusing a Brooklyn boy, the Times failed to report it. This is not an accident—it is deliberate.

Worse, on Saturday, the Times ran a front-page story saying that in 2002, when the sex abuse scandal in Boston hit, the pope—then Cardinal Ratzinger—"made statements that minimized the problem." No quotes or evidence of any kind were given. "Minimize the problem." Interesting phrase. In 2005, the Times reported that in 2002, Ratzinger believed that "less than 1 percent of priests are guilty" of sex abuse (it was later found that 4 percent was a more accurate figure). The Times characterized his remark by saying he "appeared to minimize the problem." Looks like they got their talking points down just fine.

What the Times could have said over the weekend was that on January 9, 2002, three days after the Boston Globe broke the story on sex abuse, it ran a story reporting that Ratzinger had sent a letter to the bishops worldwide saying that "even a hint" of the sexual abuse of minors merited an investigation. But to do so would have compromised the conclusion it sought to reach.

If the Times were truly interested in eradicating sex abuse, it not only would report on cases like Rabbi Lebovits, it would not seek to protect the public school establishment. But it does. Here's the proof. Last year, there were two bills being debated in Albany on the subject of sex abuse: one targeted only private institutions like the Catholic Church, giving the public schools a pass; the other covered both private and public. The Times endorsed the former.

Contact NYT Public Editor Clark Hoyt: public@nytimes.com

Archbishop Burke Criticizes Media Influence

How striking that he says that there must be "ecclesiastical punishments". These should be far more fearful to the Catholic than the tender mercies even of Sha'ria law and the dreaded wall of hooks or some other unthinkable device of pre-modern justice.

The Prefect of the highest Vatican Court of Appeals, Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, has complained about the negative influence of the public in the revelation of abuse cases.

In earlier cases in the USA, a strong interaction between the media and attorneys intensified and an "objective judgement became difficult to discern between the situation and the individual cases themselves.", said the US Church Justice in Rome for Journalists on Thursday afternoon.

The sexual abuse by clerics have caused a deep wound to the "smallest and most defensive members" of the Catholic Church. An exact and comprehensive recondition of the abuse cases must include ecclesiastical punishments, so said the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.

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(C) 2010 KNA Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur GmbH. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Sex abuse claims against famed rabbi grip Israel

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police said on Friday they were looking into allegations of sexual abuse against one of the country's most famous and politically influential rabbis, in a case that has triggered dramatic headlines this week.

World

Mordechai Elon -- known as "Rabbi Motti" by viewers of his popular TV show and by many young men in the West Bank settler movement -- has vehemently denied the accusations by a group of fellow rabbis who say their aim is to combat sexual harassment by authority figures.

But that has not stopped a wave of soul-searching, which has some parallels with recent turmoil in the Roman Catholic church.


(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis; editing by Andrew Roche)


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Related Articles:

Jerusalem Post...

Rabbis coming out to denounce Motti...

New Ways Ministry Slaps Back at Cardinal George

Catholic Caveman noticed that after Cardinal George issued his condemnation of formerly CCHD funded, New Ways Ministry, that the organization simply retaliated by publishing a list of gay-friendly parishes nationwide, but he doesn't think the Local Ordinary will do much about it. Actually, the Diocese will take measures against parishes that do not follow the rules, albeit slowly and often reluctantly in the case of the Archdiocese of St. Paul in Minnesota. Ultimately, we think the Cardinal is sabre rattling. Until he begins addressing the doctrine he was meant to teach in the first place, nothing will change, you'll only see half-measures and media decoration.

In the latter example, New Ways Ministry indicates that there are three such parishes friendly to gays: St. Francis Cabrini (whose pastor will "bless" same-sex unions, but off campus, since there are so many intolerant people at the Archdiocese who object to change.), St. Joan of Arc (Recently hosted a homosexual men's choir for a "Christmas concert" and St. Stephen's which got a conservative pastor the last year and provoked a mass exodus of the elderly and aging hippies and radicals to another "community". We might amend New Ways list to include the Basilica of St Mary's and disinclude St. Stephen's which seems to now be the home of mostly Latino folks. We also think these folks should include St John's Abbey at Collegeville as well, since they have a large number of homosexuals in their community and even go to great lengths to protect them when they break the law by preying on the students at the two schools they operate.

All in all it's a mixed bag. We think the abuses and heresy will continue because it's a social problem which has effected the Society as well, and you won't begin to address the homosexual problem until you start re-emphasizing moral theology and correct doctrine.

New Milwaukee Archbishop Guards Status Quo

Archbishop Listeki is carrying on in the tradition of disgraced Archbishop Weakland. He welcomed his predecessor, an unctious, unrepentant, self-justifying leftist to appear at the dedication of a bronze featuring the pandering Archbishop as a defender of children.

It's hard to believe that things will improve over what has gone on before when the same lack of integrity and accountabillity is the continuing rule.

Lying to judiciary committees, honoring celebrated and unrepentant pandering homosexual Archbishops, don't help people believe you when you want to defend your accused priests.

It might be time for +Listeki to resign to a Monastery.

+Listeki Defends Accused Priest

+Listeki Urges Victims to Report Abuse to Police

Priest Faces Sex-Abuse Charges in Wisconsin

Listeki Caught Lying to Judiciary Committee

+Listeki Would Rather Maintain the Status Quo

Archbishop Listeki Caught Lying to Judiciary Committee

Catholic Culture

February 05, 2010

The police chief of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is alleging that Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee spoke untruthfully to the state senate judiciary committee on January 12 about the Diocese of La Crosse’s abuse-reporting policy. The archbishop served as Bishop of La Crosse from 2004 to 2009.

Under the diocese’s abuse-reporting policy, which was reprinted in the diocesan newspaper in late January, victims are asked to report incidents of alleged abuse to the diocese, which in turn reports them to civil authorities. For over a year, Police Chief Jerry Matysik has asked the diocese to change its policy and urge victims to reports incidents directly to police.

On January 12, Archbishop Listecki told the state senate’s judiciary committee that the policy had been changed. “He either misunderstood the question or misled the committee,” said Matysik.

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Archbishop Listeki was active earlier in Jaunary telling the world that Archbishop Weakland was a "lightning rod", while going ahead and commemorating a vanity bronze of himself as a defender of Milwaukee's children.

Jesuit School in Berlin Reports Sex Abuse Cases

There must be something very systematically wrong with the Jesuits. It must be the modernism that infects the very air a Jesuit breathes from the day he enters the Novitiate to the day he's buried and goes to meet his just reward.

BERLIN -- Several students at one of Germany's most prestigious high schools were sexually abused for many years by their teachers, the school's director said Thursday.

Father Klaus Mertes says he has sent out 500 letters to alumni of Berlin's private Catholic Canisius Kolleg to determine the extent of the case after seven ex-students recently reported they were abused in the 1970s and 1980s.

Canisius Kolleg is one of Germany's pre-eminent schools, alma mater of many politicians, businesspeople and scientists.

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Why the Weak were Corrupted and the Good Were Cast Out

The following article by Matt C. Abbott of "Renew America" highlights a chapter in a book that starkly illustrates a major component in the disintegration of Catholicism in America. In light of what has happened throughout the Catholic Church in the last half-century, almost nothing is so instructive as the unlawful and heretical intrusion of modern psychology, which often helped to encourage the feeble minded, the credulous, vulnerable and the malevolent among religious to abandon Church teachings on sexuality in favor of sexual liberation. The result was catastrophic for the Catholic Church, and the children who'd been put in its care. The prayerful atmosphere of religious houses suddenly turned noxious to those who did not embrace the new modes of self-expression so that most who did not collaborate with this new and vile spirit were thrown out into the street.

It's for this reason why we think that Women Religious are so reluctant to participate sincerely with a spirit of obedience in the visitation now investigating them. In this case, the patient does not want to be cured and is even adverse to holy things. Not only will not sound doctrine be tolerated in many Catholic religious communities in the United States, but Catholic sacramentals as well. Enter any so-called Catholic religious order's church and you will be hard pressed to find any visible Catholic sacramental presence.

By Matt C. Abbott

The following is a lengthy excerpt from the book Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, authored by Leon J. Podles, Ph.D. Many thanks to Mr. Podles and Charles Eby of the Crossland Foundation for allowing me to reprint this material. (Caution: contains disturbing descriptions.)

Read the entire article...

h/t: Sir Wolfram

Pope convenes Irish bishops for talks on priestly sex abuse

By Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has convened Ireland's bishops for a two-day meeting at the Vatican to discuss the ongoing fallout from the priestly sex abuse scandal in the country.

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Religion Clause: Bankruptcy Judge Orders Trial On Whether Parish Assets Are Shielded From Diocese Creditors

Religion Clause: Bankruptcy Judge Orders Trial On Whether Parish Assets Are Shielded From Diocese Creditors

One commenter responds:

I've never liked the idea that alleged victims of priests' abuse could sue the whole church; its ministries like Catholic Charities should be untouchable. The church funds might pay for counseling --but if accusing a priest gives claimants a financial windfall, seems some people could be motivated to falsely claim abuse. If the abuse can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, then sue the priest! not the church. But my kid learned in "justice class" in a local school that you "sue the deep pocket." Some justice!

They should sue the leftist organizations that have been destroying the moral fabric of this country, and definitely sue Catholic Charities for its gross and long-standing imposture as a Catholic organization. The entire problem with this issue is that the root causes of this aren't discussed because there are protected classes who cause the problem and don't get fingered and sent to jail where they belong, or on a scaffold.

They should be sued for misrepresentation when they take money from pewsitters and give it to murderering, malingering, malcontent anti-Catholics like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development does.

The entire Sex-abuse thing is a classic agit-prop campaign of world-wide scope and soul shattering urgency.

Diocese head of schools on leave | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA

This time it was a married layman. Considered that married folks are more likely to abuse, perhaps having a married clergy isn't such a grand idea after all, but you people, most of you, were probably smart enough to see through the hype.

Diocese head of schools on leave | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA

But wait, there's another one, this time a Canadian, Anglican "priest" facing charges as well. Maybe it isn't just Christian clergypersons we should be hunting down, but the white male?

But we almost forgot to mention that strange case of Deacon Levine, who is currently on hold from becoming a priest, who is also under a pal of supsicion owning to his relationship witht he mostly discredited Society of Saint John.

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:06 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a related matter, Deacon Joseph Levine, originally superior of the disgraced Society of Saint John and unsuccessful candidate for the priesthood first for the Diocese of Scranton and then Paterson, New Jersey (see below), has resurfaced as a "patoral year seminarian/deacon" on the staff of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Bend, Oregon, in the Diocese of Baker (http://www.stfrancisbend.org/parishfstaff.htm). If at first you don't suceed ...?

Ordination Permanently out for Former Local Deacon

A Deacon Formerly Associated with the Controversial Society of St. John Will Not Be a Priest in the Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J.

By David Singleton
The Times-Tribune [Scranton PA]
May 30, 2007

Deacon Joseph Levine is still a deacon in the diocese, but will not be ordained to the priesthood, Marianna Thompson, the diocesan communications director, said Tuesday.

The diocese announced late last week that Deacon Levine would not be ordained Saturday in Paterson as previously scheduled, but released no other details. Four other men were ordained.

Ms. Thompson confirmed Deacon Levine's ordination is off permanently, a result of the "discernment" process during which the deacon and church officials examined his call to the priesthood.

"As we deepened and widened our discernment process, we discerned not to ordain Mr. Levine," she said. "He will not serve as a priest in the Paterson diocese."

Deacon Levine is the former superior general of the Society of St. John, a clerical association once headquartered at a rural compound at Shohola in Pike County. Recognized by the Diocese of Scranton in 1998, the society was suppressed by Bishop Joseph F. Martino in 2004.

At the time of the group's suppression, two of the society's priests were the subject of a sexual abuse lawsuit filed by a former St. Gregory Academy student. The Diocese of Scranton settled the suit in 2005.

Diocese of Paterson officials acknowledged receiving questions about Deacon Levine's suitability for the priesthood. In an e-mail to the diocese last month, Society of St. John critic Jeffrey Bond, Ph.D., accused the deacon of covering up alleged sex abuse by society priests while superior general.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which asked the diocese not to ordain Deacon Levine, applauded the decision.

"SNAP is very pleased that the Diocese of Paterson is taking a proactive stance in screening its candidates," said Father John P. Bambrick, outreach coordinator for the organization's New Jersey chapter.

David Clohessy, SNAP national director, said colleagues and supervisors who have knowledge of abuse by clergymen have a moral obligation to speak up, and there should be consequences for "secrecy and duplicity."

"We think the bishop should trumpet this far and wide," Mr. Clohessy said. [We think Clohessy should be hung along with the perps for being, at best, a Soviet patsy]

And don't forget another one-time inhabitant of Oregon who has since moved to good old Chicago, Cormac Brissett, for whom consent is the only criterion, as Mark Shea puts it so nicely, of the good whose own pederastic intrigues will no doubt earn him his spurs at the gay parnassus alongside names such as +Weakland, Shanley, Geoghan, +O'Brien, +Mahony, +Gumbleton, +Eidschenk, Liuzi and the once great but now failing Jesuit Order to which he now proudly belongs.

Here's the letter written to Mr. Levine from Dr. Bond's website in its entirety, which shows amply that Mr. Levine didn't do anything to correct the problems and simply hoped to stonewall till the thing blew over. It's amazing that there are still people like "Pat" writing in the comments below who want to defend these types:

An Open Letter to Deacon Joseph Levine, Superior General of the Society of St. John
Dear Deacon Levine,

When I first saw your picture on the front page of the Society of St. John's May 2002 Epistle, I thought for a brief moment that there might still be some hope for the SSJ with you as the new Superior General. I wondered if you might honestly address the former Superior General's betrayal of the SSJ's vision, and thus seek to make a new beginning. That faint hope was quickly dashed, however, when I read your unqualified and dishonest praise of Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity.

Fr. Urrutigoity, as you know well, has been accused of homosexual molestation by three different people from three different places: first, by Fr. Andres Morello, the former rector of the SSPX seminary in La Reja, Argentina, where Fr. Urrutigoity was a seminarian; second, by Bishop Fellay on behalf of a young seminarian who had left with Fr. Urrutigoity when he was expelled by Bishop Williamson from the SSPX seminary in Winona, Minnesota, where Fr. Urrutigoity was a professor; and third, by a graduate of St. Gregory's Academy in Elmhurst, Pennsylvania, where Fr. Urrutigoity was a chaplain. This most recent accusation was made in a federal lawsuit filed by the St. Gregory's graduate and his parents.

In addition to these three accusations, there is abundant testimony, including affidavits, establishing Fr. Urrutigoity's habit of sleeping in the same bed with young men and boys.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of the SSJ's sexual and financial misconduct, you boldly state in the May 2002 Epistle that the SSJ has "advanced under Fr. Urrutigoity's leadership from being a mere group of friends with a common idea to becoming a close-knit and disciplined religious community." While I am prepared to believe that the SSJ is "close-knit," I balk at the suggestion that it is a "disciplined religious community."

First and foremost it must be said that the SSJ is not, and never was, a "religious community." The portrayal of the SSJ as Benedictine has been part of the fraud initiated by Fr. Urrutigoity and now, sadly, perpetuated by you. As both Bishop Timlin and Bishop Dougherty made clear to Fr. Richard Munkelt and me, the SSJ is nothing more than a group of diocesan priests with permission to live together. Nevertheless, the SSJ literature has continually suggested otherwise to the detriment of many unsuspecting Catholic donors.

Bishop Dougherty was particularly insistent on this point, and he reported to Fr. Munkelt and me that he had stressed this when he reprimanded Fr. Urrutigoity, Fr. Eric Ensey, Fr. Daniel Fullerton, and Fr. Dominic O'Connor at a meeting on the Shohola property in September 2001. Bishop Dougherty was deeply concerned because, as he explained to Fr. Munkelt and me, the misuse of the trappings and titles of religious life is, more often than not, a cover for serious sin. How right he was! It should also be noted that Bishop Dougherty, troubled by the SSJ's excessive use of novenas for fundraising purposes, quipped to Fr. Munkelt and me that he was going to become a Lutheran if he saw any more advertisements for Society of St. John novenas.

How sad that Bishop Dougherty has not found the courage to stand for the truth he well knows. Instead, Bishop Dougherty is hiding behind a false notion of obedience to his superior, Bishop Timlin, who refuses to protect young souls from the sexual predations of Fr. Urrutigoity and Fr. Ensey. And you, Deacon Levine, appear to have chosen the same path as Bishop Dougherty. You are reputed to be one of the finest minds ever to graduate from Thomas Aquinas College—undoubtedly the best Catholic college in the country—and yet you refuse to face the truth. What is the value of being able to cite chapter and verse of St. Thomas' Treatise on Law if you cannot, or will not, recognize lawlessness when it is staring you in the face? Do you still believe, as you told me last summer, Fr. Urrutigoity is like St. Ignatius of Loyola insofar as he operates on a plane "above the realm of human reason and prudence"? Is this how you have justified to yourself Fr. Urrutigoity's habit of sleeping in the same bed with boys?

I would suggest you re-read St. Benedict's Rule, especially chapter 22 entitled "How the monks are to sleep." The first line of this chapter reads as follows: "All the monks shall sleep in separate beds." St. Benedict adds that all the monks are to sleep in one room, if possible. If not, then the monks are to be grouped in tens or twenties with a senior in charge of each group. A candle is to burn throughout the night. Finally, the younger brothers are not to sleep in beds next to each other, but interspersed with those of their elders. Now compare these balanced and prudent rules of St. Benedict with Fr. Fullerton's defense of Fr. Urrutigoity's habit of inviting young men to sleep with him in his private quarters. Fr. Fullerton had the audacity to argue that this was done because the SSJ wanted to follow the "Benedictine spirituality" of receiving all guests as Christ.

Read also chapter 35 of St. Benedict's Rule entitled "Weekly kitchen service." You will find nothing there about catered meals from gourmet restaurants.

While it is an outright deception to call the SSJ a "religious community," it is simply absurd to call it "disciplined." Even the SSJ's most loyal supporters, in moments of candor and frustration, have admitted that the SSJ priests, quite frankly, live and often behave like spoiled children. They expect nothing but the best—be it furniture, food, drink, or cigars—yet they squander and waste what they are given. Perhaps this explains why you, though only a deacon, were chosen to be Superior General rather than any of the SSJ priests.

If the SSJ is really the disciplined group you say it is, then please explain how the SSJ—just this past month—has been kicked out of yet another house where some of its members were living rent-free. This is the third house that the SSJ has been ordered to vacate after abusing the generous hospitality of the owner. I am amazed that even now, while the SSJ is under close scrutiny, your members could not at least pretend to be concerned about the property of others. Even naughty children know how to behave well under the threat of punishment, but not so the SSJ. Your "disciplined" group just expects that new living quarters and more money will be provided for them.

Furthermore, where is the discipline in allowing priests under your authority to continue to lie to Catholic donors about the scandal surrounding the SSJ? As the new Superior General, you are now responsible for the lies being told by your telemarketing priests, especially Fr. Dominic Carey who has been shameless in his willingness to deceive donors.

Finally, Deacon Levine, you yourself have not been honest and forthright in your letter about the status of the Catholic city the SSJ has proposed to build. You conclude your letter by exhorting your supporters to "persevere in charity" with respect to this "ambitious project" (that is, give more money), yet you are as silent as your predecessor in the face of the hard questions that must be answered: Is there really any hope of building on the Shohola property? Have you acquired a legitimate public access route yet? Or are you still secretly trying to sell the property? And how has the SSJ spent the five million dollars donated to build its city and the College of St. Justin Martyr?

As you exhort Catholic donors to trust you with even more money, I exhort you to put aside the purple prose of your first official letter and, instead, speak the plain truth about these weighty matters.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond
President
The College of St. Justin Martyr
142 Market Road
Greeley, PA 18425

jmb3@ltis.net
www.saintjustinmartyr.org

Laicization is the Heroin of Ecclesiastical Life

Lay involvement is like spiritual heroin for Catholic communities. It may address the pain, but not the disease and ultimately it impedes the recovery of the patient. We might point out which the following article also mentions that before Vatican II and the "Active Lay Participation" it called for, or was called for in its name, there was no vocations crisis. We almost had more priests in the early sixties than was good for us, and many of them fled (or in many cases, thrown out) in the cultural haze of the 60s to find sustainance where they could. You might say they were Aggionamentized (Bl. John XXIIIs word to describe what he was doing to the Church in 1963)

Lay involvement in Church life has been an increasing factor in the last few hundred years anyway, what with laymen getting positions teaching in Catholic Theology faculties and ultimately, taking over the running of Church-related businesses like the making of altar breads (once made exclusively by priests chanting the Psalms) presses and newspapers in the United States during the 30s, much, we might add, to the detriment of the latter.

While attending the New Mass, or seeing it on television, it's common to see a rather well-dressed layman or laywoman, doing the readings, approaching the tabernacle and handling the Sacred Species with an air of self-importance that's hard not to generally notice. Like a Nun working at an abortuary, they seem to understand that they don't belong their; but rebellion is in the air, even for the elderly as is often the case. They are generally indifferent to their surroundings and the importance of the things they're handling or of what they represent. This Ecclesistical Dictatorship of the Proletariat is conceived and impelled to demean the sacredness of holy places and events; there is a pedestrian feel to the whole thing, like going to listen to a sales meeting by Monks, getting married at the post-office or to purchase a new car in a church as Huysman's reports:

Ah! far off was the time when Radegonda, Queen of France, had with her own hands prepared the bread destined for the altars, or the time when, after the customs of Cluny, three priests or deacons, fasting and garbed in alb and amice, washed their faces and hands and then picked out the wheat, grain by grain, grinding it under millstone, kneading the paste in a cold and pure water and themselves baking it under a clear fire, while chanting psalms.

Laicization poses as a solution and is really part of the problem. Parishes which do not have these kinds of pseudo-clerical ministries, by the way, not only produce more vocations, but produce more children as well.

But we can't expect an author, educated no doubt, by a secular faculty with all kinds of false notions about philosophy and religion, to do anything else than perpetuate the propaganda now being levelled at the Irish Church by a bevy of vindictive journalists, washed up rock stars and laity, eagerly and so bravely joining in on the kicking of one who has momentarily fallen.



By 2015 Catholics will be familiar with lay people in priestly roles. [But the laity generally always have been familiar with those roles, which is why they were generally unwilling to usurp them, even at great need]

PATSY McGARRY

ANALYSIS: In the second of our series looking at what things might be like five years hence, we consider the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland, where ordinations have collapsed along with its moral authority [Is this wishful thinking or a guilty conscience?]

THERE WAS a poignancy in the air at the ordination of three men as Redemptorist priests in St Joseph’s Church, Dundalk, on Sunday December 6th. In the front pew a female relative of one of the men wept copiously as the ceremony progressed.

It was conducted by the Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady, who was clearly still reeling from the findings of the Murphy report, published on November 26th, while also attending to his duties. He seemed exhausted. In a momentary lapse he forgot the name of one of the young men. Then, remembering, he commented it was “Seán, the same name as my own”. There was a laugh from the congregation.

The three men made up the largest number to be ordained at once for the Redemptorist congregation in more than 10 years. They were Brian Nolan (31) from Limerick, Tony Rice (31) from Belfast, and Seán Duggan (30) from Galway.

They are no starry-eyed neophytes. Brian Nolan, a former electronics student at Limerick Institute of Technology, admitted that when he told people that he was in the religious life, “it can be a conversation stopper”. But still, he didn’t “feel the need to hold back from telling people what I’m doing”.

Tony Rice worked in a bank for four years. He said the difficulties in the church were symptomatic of a general lack of leadership in a number of areas in our society. “People have reason to be disappointed with several institutions right now – banks, politicians, the church and so many others . . . We need strong, just and accountable leadership to renew our vision and our hope in humanity,” he said.

Seán Duggan gave up corporate law to become a priest. “The choices I have made are not knee-jerk reactions. They have been thought about and talked about over a period of eight years’ training,” he said. “The questions that people throw to me such as celibacy, inept church leadership, married priests and more, are all questions that I’ve thought about myself. It’s not as if I live in a bubble cut off from reality,” he said.

On Sunday November 15th Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said his archdiocese will soon have barely enough priests to serve its 199 parishes. “We have 46 priests over 80 and only two less than 35 years of age. In a very short time we will just have the bare number of priests required to have one active priest for each of our 199 parishes,” he said.

Last April he said there were now 10 times more priests over 70 than under 40 in Dublin. It also emerged at the time that the number of priests in Tuam’s Catholic archdiocese will fall by 30 per cent over the next four years, leaving most parishes there with just one resident priest.

Meanwhile, writing in the Furrow magazine last June, Fr Brendan Hoban, parish priest at St Muredach’s Cathedral, in Ballina, Co Mayo, said of his own Killala diocese that “in 20 years’ time there will be around eight priests instead of the present 34, with probably two or three under 60 years of age”.

He continued “the difficult truth is that priests will have effectively disappeared in Ireland in two to three decades”.

For people of a certain age the very idea of an Ireland without Catholic priests is, truly, beyond imagination. This is not hard to understand. Speaking to the Association of European Journalists in Dublin on November 13th the Catholic Bishop of Killaloe, Willie Walsh, recalled that of the 50 students in his Leaving Cert class of 1952, 20 went on for the priesthood. Vocations were so high then that between a third and a half of Irish priests went on the missions. [Then came the Vatican Council II]

But, almost 50 years later, all has changed. The number of priests in Ireland is in serious decline. The average age of the Irish Catholic priest today is put at 63. For those who are members of religious congregations the average age is in the early 70s.

Each priest must retire at 75. As the Americans say, you do the math!

At the end of September last there were 77 men training for the priesthood at Maynooth. Of that number, 36 entered this year, an increase of 12 on the 24 who entered in 2008.

It is believed to be a blip which won’t alter the downward trend. Meanwhile, for every 10 men who begin training for the priesthood, at Maynooth five or six become priests.

All of which means that the coming decade will see profound change in Catholic Church structures and practices on this island. It will also see the end of the clerical caste which has dominated Irish Catholicism since Victorian times. They will give way, of necessity, to a more lay-directed institution with fewer-but-bigger parishes in fewer-but-bigger dioceses.

An indication of what is to come was illustrated in the Catholic diocese of Waterford and Lismore last June. That month saw the first ordination to the Catholic priesthood there in eight years when Fr Michael Toomey (39) became a priest.

That same month in that same diocese sacristan Ken Hackett conducted a Liturgy of the Word with Holy Communion instead of daily Mass at Ardfinnan parish in Co Tipperary. The priest, Fr Robert Power, was away. Mr Hackett is a minister of the Eucharist and a minister of the word and may do as he did according to Vatican norms published in the early 1970s. Women may also conduct such liturgies. [This is a symptom of a bigger problem with entitlement and feminism] The response to him from parishioners was “very, very good”, he told The Irish Times.

Catholic Ireland is embarking on a path others have already taken.

In one diocese in northern France there is only one priest to serve 27 parishes. It means the priest drops by on occasion in each parish to offer Mass and consecrate hosts. The rest of the time parishioners run their own church.

In 2001 the diocese of Nice had to reduce its 265 parishes to 47. The recently created parish there of Nôtre Dame de l’Espérance has five churches.

It had five priests; now there is one. Each church has an appointed lay person, the relais locale, whose duty is to run both church and parish, and perform almost all functions of a priest except celebrating the Eucharist and administering sacraments only a priest can.

A principal function of the relais is to conduct a Sunday Communion service in the absence of the priest, a “Mass” without the consecration. There is frequently no priest at funerals there any more.

Writing about this in The Irish Times on July 8th, former Dominican priest and author David Rice recalled how, at the Église Sacré Coeur in Beaulieu “I attended one such funeral, conducted by the relais locale for the church. She received the coffin. There were words of welcome, the singing of hymns, a short eulogy of the deceased, readings from scripture, a brief reflection by the relais, the lighting of candles beside the coffin, a blessing of the coffin with holy water, and prayers for the deceased. It lasted about half an hour. There was no Mass, as there was no priest.”

He spoke to a woman appointed there as general manager of the parish with its five churches. While her official title was économe, her job was more about administration than money. Unpaid herself, she managed a payroll for nine people, including cleaners, organists and two parish secretaries.

Other lay people – men and women – were active in priestly roles: parish visitation; counselling; pre-marriage instruction; attending the sick; chaplaincies to hospitals and retirement homes; to scout and youth groups. And it is lay people who, almost exclusively, impart the faith to children.

In 10 years, this way of things is likely to be very familiar to Ireland’s Catholic faithful. And that is believed to be likely even if both the mandatory celibacy rule is dropped and women are allowed become Catholic priests.

Patsy McGarry is Religious Affairs Correspondent