The priest who shattered my faith in the Catholic Church

Other than its also being a revelation of cataclysmic proportions, my road-to-Damascus moment was very different from St Paul’s. I was not on a horse, galloping along some dusty road in the Middle East. I was at a pre-Christmas drinks party in south Co Dublin. I was not a persecutor of Christians; I was one of them myself – a practising Catholic to boot. Nor was God the recriminating injured party on this occasion. (“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”) Instead it was the distressed voices of suffering children that I came to hear

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/the-priest-who-shattered-my-faith-in-the-catholic-church-1.3293062 

Abuse by priests is not due to celibacy, says Vatican expert

Here is where i say eyes wide SHUT... Thee are NONE so  BLIND as though who CAN NOT SEE...  or DO NOT WANT to SEE... Ann

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Celibacy cannot be blamed for clerical sex abuse because the average perpetrator does not commit the crime for up to 20 years after entering the priesthood, according to a top Vatican expert.

Professor Hans Zollner, a member of the Vatican's Commission for the Protection of Minors, said "celibacy as such is not the problem" because the average age of clerical paedophiles is 39. If were a problem, the age would be closer to that when priests take their vows, which is usually in their twenties.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/abuse-by-priests-is-not-due-to-celibacy-says-vatican-expert-36331006.html 

Trial again postponed for Aurora priest accused of sex abuse of girls

The trial for an Aurora priest charged with sexually abusing girls at their Catholic church has been pushed back again, from November to February, while lawyers figure out whether the lead investigator on the case destroyed or withheld notes that could affect its outcome.
The investigator's resignation from the Kane County Child Advocacy Center has complicated legal proceedings involving his work, including that of Alfredo Pedraza Arias, a Colombia national whose lost his temporary religious worker visa after he was charged with sexually abusing two young girls at Sacred Heart Church in Aurora and one of the girls' homes between 2012 and 2014. Arias, 50, has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-priest-sex-abuse-trial-delayed-st-1117-20171117-story.html 

Mike Kelly: Chris Christie's fading voice

Gov. Christie voted Tuesday for Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno as his successor and traded sharp words with a voter in Mendham Township, Morris County where they both voted. Peggy In the end, he couldn’t stop himself.  

Chris Christie cast his vote Tuesday – for Kim Guadagno, he said. Nothing unusual there. Then, as he walked from a polling station in Mendham, he met Victoria Giambra, a constituent with a bone to pick. This is when Christie couldn’t hold back.

http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/columnists/mike-kelly/2017/11/11/mike-kelly-chris-christies-fading-voice/846288001/ 

Phillips Exeter Deans Failed to Report Sex Assault Case, Police Say

A New Hampshire State Police investigator sought the arrests last year of two deans at Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the nation’s elite prep schools, on a charge that they failed to report the alleged sexual assault of a student to the authorities, newly obtained records show.

But the deans were not arrested or prosecuted, and a year after that police investigation, they remain in their posts at the school.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/us/phillips-exeter-sex-assault.html?emc=edit_tnt_20171114&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y 

Mitch McConnell Believes the Women. Good for Him.

“I believe the women, yes.” With that statement, about accounts of lecherous behavior and child molestation by the Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said words that thousands of victims of sexual harassment and assault have waited in vain to hear.

Perhaps nobody should hold her breath expecting this will bring real, lasting change. Mr. Moore is too much of an extremist, making him already unpopular for even Republican leaders. But the flood of accusations against famous men in entertainment, the news media and politics has raised hope that women can come forward without fear to seek justice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/opinion/roy-moore-women-mcconnell-alabama.html?emc=edit_tnt_20171114&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y 

Frightening realities of sex and young people

Prominent Tauranga sexual abuse counsellor Denise McEnteer talks to Carly Gibbs about the frightening realities of sex and our children.

Warning: Graphic content.
She's gone to bed. Lights are out. Someone is keeping her up though. Under the sheets a blue light flickers. Should she send it? She pauses. She sends. It's a deep breath that follows. Time is endless. There's no reply. In the morning; at school, everything's not okay.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11942340 

Child abuse royal commission chairman criticises police, church ahead of report

Police forces failed in their duty to protect Australian children because they often refused to believe their complaints about sexual abuse, the royal commission’s chairman says.
Child protection agencies also failed to listen to children, leaving them in situations of danger, Justice Peter McClellan said in some of his final remarks before the commission’s final sitting.

http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/vic/2017/11/14/child-abuse/ 

Are we in an ‘Age of Inquiry’ into institutional child abuse?

The recently elected New Zealand government has committed to establishing an inquiry into the abuse of children in state care during its first 100 days of office. The Maori Women’s Welfare League is urging ministers setting up the inquiry to consult widely, including with victim and survivor groups and organisations with a history of involvement in state ‘care’. As they have stated, such consultation is essential to ensuring the inquiry leads to systemic change that will prevent abuse in the future.

http://www.findandconnectwrblog.info/2017/11/are-we-in-an-age-of-inquiry-into-institutional-child-abuse/ 

Christians Love Pedophilia Says Church Of Satan

The Church of Satan wants Christians to know that when it comes to pedophilia, it has the moral high ground.
The Satanic organization took advantage of the child sex allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore — and support for Moore from local pastors — to herald Tuesday that "Christians love pedophilia.”

http://www.newsweek.com/roy-moore-satan-christians-sexual-abuse-711686 

Lord James of Blackheath: I Helped Smuggle Children Used For Slavery And Sex

In a debate which took place in the House of Lords yesterday on the Modern Slavery Bill, Lord Blackheath makes a startling revelation. He tells his fellow peers that whilst working for the Australian Civil Service in London, he was tasked with herding, as he puts it, small children on to boats at Tilbury, for transportation to Australia. Blackheath says:
“They did not have names; they did not know who their parents were, or where they came from, and they were completely terrified.”

https://researchingreform.net/2015/02/24/lord-james-of-blackheath-i-helped-smuggle-children-used-for-slavery-and-sexual-exploitation/

Royal commission chairman blames abuse on disregard for children’s rights

A disregard for the rights of children led to “heartless and cruel” abuse in Australian institutional environments, chair of the royal commission into historical sexual abuse, Justice Peter McClellan, has told a Swinburne public lecture.
Justice McClellan was speaking at Swinburne as part of the final Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science Seminar for 2017. He is currently the Chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

http://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/latest-news/2017/11/royal-commission-chairman-blames-abuse-on-disregard-for-childrens-rights-.php 

Hollywood and Pedophilia

In a scene from “I, Claudius,” a 70s television drama based on the life of the Roman emperor who ascended to power after Caligula’s death, Claudius relates the dismay of Julius Caesar when the emperor discovers the extent of his daughter’s promiscuity. The accused are lined up before Caesar and confess their sins. Finally, after hearing out all the fornicators, a frustrated and overwhelmed Caesar exclaims, “Is there anyone in Rome who has not slept with my daughter?”
A similar question could be asked of the Hollywood and Washington swamp critters coming out of the woodwork either to confess their sins or to expose those who sinned against them: Is there anyone who has not been harassed by or forced to sleep with people like Harvey Weinstein?

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/11/hollywood_and_pedophilia.html 

Catholic clerical abuse topic of 2017 Lester Lecture

The structures and theology of the Catholic Church make it the ideal environment to enact and conceal clerical sexual abuse, professor Robert Orsi said in a lecture.
The talk, titled “Violence, Memory, and Religion Among Survivors of Clerical Sexual Abuse” was the 2017 Lester Lecture, an annual lecture sponsored by the Religious Studies department in honor of Robert Lester, late founder of the CU Religious Studies program. The series is meant to “address contemporary issues in the academic study of religion.”

https://cuindependent.com/2017/11/10/catholic-clerical-abuse-subject-2017-lester-lecture/ 

ASU professor resigns amid Catholic Church child sexual-abuse scandal

A renowned professor of medieval art history at Arizona State University was forced to resign Thursday after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced he had sexually abused minors decades ago while he was an East Coast priest.

Professor Jaime Lara was ordained in 1973 and was in active ministry until 1992 when he was laicized by the Vatican for sexually abusing children, the Diocese of Brooklyn confirmed Wednesday on its website.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2017/11/10/asu-professor-jaime-lara-resigns-amid-catholic-church-child-sex-abuse-scandal/852226001/ 

Manhattan priest still on the job despite allegations of sexual abuse from two former altar boys

A Manhattan parish priest remains on the job despite allegations from two former altar boys that he sexually abused the pair, an attorney charged Thursday.
The Rev. Lawrence Quinn targeted the boys in two separate incidents while in a Bronx parish, Our Lady of Mercy, where he spent nearly two decades, according to lawyer Patrick Noaker.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan-priest-working-sex-abuse-allegations-article-1.3621874 

NYPD opens investigation into Catholic priest sex abuse claims

Prosecutors and the NYPD have opened an investigation into allegations that a Catholic priest sexually abused 15 victims decades ago at a parish school, officials said.
The Queens District Attorney’s office and the NYPD’s Special Victims squad are looking into the allegations made public Tuesday by the 15 women against former Rev. Adam Prochaski, who once worked at Holy Cross School in Maspeth, police officials said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-opens-investigation-catholic-priest-sex-abuse-claims-article-1.3525577 

Vatican turned blind eye to sex abuse in teenage dorm, claims new book

A new book contains bombshell allegations that priests sexually abused teenage boys at a youth seminary in the Vatican, claiming reports of abuse were stifled.
Original Sin, Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi's latest book, includes the shocking claim that a man, who recently became a priest, sexually assaulted a 17-year-old boy in 2012.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/vatican-turned-blind-eye-sex-abuse-teenage-dorm-claims-new-book-1646725 

OPINION: Proposed archdiocese act a recipe for abuse

Last month, Bill 30 was introduced in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. It was unanimously given second reading by MLAs after less than a minute of debate. This new Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth Act is still before the standing committee on local and private bills, where it was rightly deferred for more consideration.
The implications are anything but local or private.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1519180-opinion-proposed-archdiocese-act-a-recipe-for-abuse 

Father John Carey reflects on the media, the abuse scandal and the Christian message

A remarkable anniversary is being celebrated. The Glen Innes parish priest, Father John Carey, is marking sixty years since he was ordained into the Catholic priesthood.
Much has changed since his ordination ceremony in Rome in December, 1957. He said that he used to conduct mass in Latin in Inverell and Tenterfield before he moved to Glen Inness. He spoke Latin as fluently as he now speaks English, having prepared for the priesthood for eight years in Rome.

http://www.gleninnesexaminer.com.au/story/5047928/sixty-years-of-priesthood-pictures-from-a-life/ 

Director Alex Gibney on making of Loughinisland documentary No Stone Unturned

OSCAR-winning documentarian Alex Gibney is well used to exposing corruption within powerful institutions thanks to films which have taken on war crimes (2007's Academy Award-winning Taxi To The Dark Side), child abuse cover-ups in the Catholic Church (Mea Maxiuma Culpa: Silence in The House of God, from 2012) and the Church of Scientology's ultra-controlling and manipulative ways (2015's Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief).
However, the UCLA Film School-trained New York writer/director admits he was shocked by what he discovered while making his new film about the 1994 Loughinisland massacre, which premiered at this year's New York Film Festival and opens in selected Irish cinemas

http://www.irishnews.com/arts/2017/11/10/news/director-alex-gibney-on-making-of-loughinisland-documentary-no-stone-unturned-1182945/ 

LA prosecutor enlists taskforce to probe 'widespread' Hollywood sex abuse claims

The group of “veteran sex crimes prosecutors” has been established to analyse cases handed to them by the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills police departments to see if charges should be brought.
The LAPD and Beverly Hills Police Department are among four forces, including the Metropolitan Police in Britain, investigating claims made by multiple women against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/la-prosecutor-enlists-taskforce-to-probe-widespread-hollywood-sex-abuse-claims-36306645.html