Boy raped by priest, then castrated

This video is called Belgian Bishop Admits Sexual Abuse of Boy – Sends Shockwave through Belgium.

Translated from Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad today:

Boys in Catholic Church castrated because of homosexual behavior

by Joep Dohmen

Within the Roman Catholic Church in the nineteen fifties underage boys were castrated. That was to cure their “homosexual behavior“. In at least one case this concerns a boy who had been sexually abused by friars in a Catholic boarding school. Research by NRC Handelsblad proves this. The daily paper found indications for another ten cases.

The commission Deetman, commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church to examine child abuse within the church, was informed in writing about the castrations, but did not mention it in its final report. …

The newspaper examined the reporting of Rogge, which related to the castration of abuse victim Henk Heithuis. Heithuis in 1956 reported to the police about sexual abuse in a Catholic boys boarding school in Harreveld in Gelderland. After his testimony, he was brought by the police to a mental hospital called Padua in Boekel, Brabant province, also managed by Catholic clerics. There, he was castrated because of homosexual behavior.

Also, sensitive information about former Prime Minister Marijnen was left outside the Deetman report

Information on castration is not the only thing missing in the final report of the committee. Deetman also omitted sensitive information about Vic Marijnen, politician of the Catholic People’s Party (KVP). Marijnen – Minister since 1959, Prime Minister since 1963 – until 1959 was the chairman of the boarding house where Henk Heithuis and dozens of other pupils have been abused. In fact a confidential report of the Deetman committee said that it had been discovered in archives that Marijnen in 1958 had tried to get clerics convicted for sexual abuse out of prison.

This looks like a cover-up by Mr. Deetman. Deetman is a prominent politician in the CDA party, the successor to the Catholic People’s Party (KVP) (and to two protestant parties).

What will the Dutch parliament do about the Roman Catholic sexual abuse scandals? See here.

See also here.

Related articles

• Priests abused ten thousands of Dutch children (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Anti-gay top UK Cardinal accused by 4 priests of being big gay harasser (americablog.com)
• Homophobia Gone Mental: Choppity Chop Go The Naughty Bits… (biblioblography.blogspot.com)
• Perhaps they should have tried this technique on the priests? (freethoughtblogs.com)
• Quebec victims group backs Cardinal Ouellet in hope of shining light on abuse (cp24.com)
• Catholic Church rocked by fresh sex claims (express.co.uk)
• Catholic Church in Scotland knew of 20 allegations of child sex abuse by priests – Scottish Daily Record (dailyrecord.co.uk)
• Newspaper investigation: Dutch Roman Catholic church surgically castrated abused boys in 1950s (miamiherald.typepad.com)
• Victims of sex abuse by priests protest in Montreal (cbc.ca)

Kestrel and tufted ducks

This morning, along the Great North Holland Canal, a kestrel hovering.

This is a video of young kestrels at their nest.

Swimming in the canal, scores of tufted ducks.

Capitalist austerity destroys Greece

This video is called Greek Unions Protest Labor Bill.

From the World Socialist Web Site:

On-the-spot report

Unemployment, wage cuts destroy living standards of millions in Greece

17 March 2012

Plastered on the windows of the unemployment office in the Neos Kosmos district of Athens are posters with slogans denouncing the austerity measures of the unelected Greek government of Lucas Papademos. One of these is from the employees of the unemployment office. Another, from members of the physicians’ union, demands free health care for all.

Posted on the door is a sheet of paper stating that the basic level of unemployment benefits has been reduced from €460 a month to just €360. That is the total amount an unemployed person receives in government benefits.

The supervisor of the office told the World Socialist Web Site that the number of unemployed has increased enormously in the local area, but he would not give any concrete figures, explaining that he had been instructed not to.

Young people entering the building to register as unemployed were visibly angry. A woman told us, “It is a terrible situation. I just want to say one thing to you and that is that the politicians just lie. All of them just lie.”

One of the main features of the recession in Greece, now in its fifth year, is the enormous increase in youth unemployment. More young people are now unemployed than have jobs, with 51.1 percent of youth unemployed.

Dr. Kostas Dimoulas, a lecturer in industrial sociology at Panteion University, told the WSWS that even this is an underestimation. The real figure is as high as 60 percent. Dimoulas is a senior consultant with the Labour Institute of the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE).

More than 1 million people are now unemployed. For December 2011, the rate was 21 percent, up from 14.8 percent for the same month in 2010.

Dimoulas forecasts a massive rise this year, saying that by the end of 2012, it will probably increase by at least 300,000, to 24 per cent. “Most of the companies are already using a new law that allows employers to dismiss 5 percent of their staff per month,” he said.

First chiffchaff song of spring

In the morning today, on my way to the railway station, I heard the first chiffchaff song of this spring.

This is a chiffchaff video from Spain.

Like the bigger black-tailed godwits, this little songbird had probably returned all the way from Africa.

I heard jay, robin, and great tit sounds as well.

How Do Birds Sing Without Pausing To Breathe? Here.

100 ornithologists and stakeholders from 40 countries met in the southern Czech town of Mikulov to launch the exciting three-year project “Birds in Europe 3”. The overall goal is to collate the best available data on the distribution, trends and abundance of all European bird species, and produce the third assessment of their population status: here.

Versatile Blogger Award again, thanks Ann!

Thank you so much, Ann Novek, for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award! It really is a honour to get this award from the author of such an interesting blog.

For this blog, this is the second time it got that award.

The rules for the Versatile Blogger Award are:

In a post on your blog, nominate 7 fellow bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award.

In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.

In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.

In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.

In the same post, include this set of rules.

Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

7 completely random pieces of information about me:

1. I saw hippos in the Gambia.

2. Yesterday afternoon, a couple of collared doves landed on my balcony.

3. This week, I heard the blackbird near my house sing for the first time this spring.

4. Yesterday, my computer screen went blank for no apparent reason. Nothing to get my computer back to health again worked. An hour later, everything worked fine, for no apparent reason.

5. I write poetry.

6. Sometmes, I interview other poets for my blog.

7. Sometimes, I translate poetry into English.

My nominees are:

1. Malou’s Going Dutch blog.

2. Tracie Louise Photography.

3. Elena’s blog Live simply, travel lightly, love passionately & don’t forget to breathe.

4. Nikolay Kotev’s blog.

5. Craig Hill.

6. Manipal’s Photo Blog.

7. naturestimeline blog.