Thatcher’s Downing Street child abuse scandal

This video from Britain is called Inquiry launched into Tory child abuse.

By Sadie Robinson in Britain:

Tue 6 Nov 2012

Child abuse scandal: the cover-up goes to the top

David Cameron has announced an investigation into allegations that senior Tories abused children during the 1970s and 1980s.

He was forced to make the move following claims that one senior Tory raped a child, Steve Messham, in north Wales “more than a dozen times”.

The senior Tory is said to have been a top ally of Margaret Thatcher.

The allegations are shocking enough. But more appalling is the fact that the establishment covered them up. Police dismissed victims as liars. An investigation into abuse in 2000 was limited to abuse that occurred inside children’s homes.

Those who had been driven elsewhere to be abused by others, including senior Tories, couldn’t give evidence about that. The final report protected the names of several alleged abusers—including two senior Tories.

A previous inquiry commissioned by Clwyd County Council was never published. Copies of it were pulped so that the local authority could maintain its insurance cover.

Politicians and the press are usually eager to denounce paedophiles and call for tougher sanctions for abusers. But when people in power abuse children, they turn a blind eye. It seems some abusers matter more than others.

Along with Cameron’s inquiry, the police investigation into allegations of child abuse in north Wales could also be reopened. Yet the entire establishment has failed victims of abuse time and time again as it has continued to protect people in power.

Sadly there’s no guarantee that fresh investigations will deliver truth or justice. This scandal doesn’t simply condemn individual Tories. It’s an indictment of the sick system they uphold.

Related articles

• Tory child sex ring claim: Cameron races to control scandal (guardian.co.uk)
• Child abuse scandal: police inquiry to be led by National Crime Agency boss (guardian.co.uk)
• Cameron orders two more inquiries into alleged north Wales sex abuse ring (guardian.co.uk)
• ‘Top Tory’ in child sex abuse scandal – Cameron orders full investigation (standard.co.uk)
• “Maggie minister abused children”: Claim that alleged paedophile was in Tory Cabinet (mirror.co.uk)
• Tory at centre of child abuse claims may sit in House of Lords, MP suggests (telegraph.co.uk)
• Cameron acts urgently on Tory child abuse allegations (smh.com.au)
• Paedophile scandal: Three victims name Tory bigwig as one of their abusers (mirror.co.uk)

Conservative cardinal covered up clerical child abuse

This video from New York City in the USA says about itself:

NYC’s gay population protests the Roman Catholic Church’s dealings with their child molestation scandal in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Easter Sunday 2010.

By Valerie Tarico, Truthout in the USA:

Head of Catholic Bishops Paid Pedophiles to Disappear

Thursday, 31 May 2012 12:42

Timothy Dolan, cardinal of New York and head of the Catholic Conference of Bishops, had his prime-time career launched by the pedophile priest scandal. Now, despite efforts to distance himself, his role in pedophile protection may come back to bite him. Wednesday, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee admitted that, during Dolan’s tenure, pedophiles were paid to simply disappear.

In June of 2002, Dolan was appointed archbishop of Milwaukee after his predecessor, Rembert G. Weakland, admitted a confidential settlement of $450,000 to a man who accused Weakland of sexually assaulting him in 1979. In contrast to Weakland, Dolan was a known theological conservative with the trust of the Vatican and, despite questionable management of sexual abuse scandals in his previous position in Saint Louis, he was tasked with cleaning up the mess.

From the start, Dolan positioned himself as a victim’s advocate: “… [i]t is impossible to exaggerate the gravity of the situation, and the suffering that victims feel, because I’ve spent the last four months being with them, crying with them, having them express their anger to me.” His response to those tears and anger, however, foreshadowed events of this winter, when Dolan had consistently argued that the church is above the law.

In the case of the pedophile priests, Dolan almost immediately set about exploring financial incentives that would encourage them to step down and fade away into the community. He emphatically denied in 2006 that this was the case. But during subsequent bankruptcy proceedings for the Milwaukee archdiocese, public documents showed that Dolan had discussed payout options with his finance committee as early as 2003. Now email from Julie Wolf, communications director for the archdiocese, confirms that pedophiles were paid up to $20,000 apiece in exchange for quietly relinquishing their positions in the church.

Peter Isely is Midwest director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and a resident of Milwaukee. Isely expressed outrage at the newly confirmed payoffs, which his organization has long alleged despite Dolan’s denial. “This is as ludicrous as a school board, instead of firing a teacher for criminal acts against children, calling the police and revoking his license to teach, instead saying that they had to pay the child molester tens of thousands of dollars to hand over their license to the board.”

In 2006, serial molester Father Franklyn Becker admitted that he had been paid $10,000 for signing “laicization papers” renouncing priesthood. At the time, Dolan insisted that the payment was to cover health care expenses. “For anyone to assert that this money was a ‘payoff’ or occurred in exchange for Becker agreeing to leave the priesthood is completely false, preposterous and unjust.” Minutes from the 2003 Finance Committee meeting suggest otherwise. Payouts to pedophiles like Becker were to be on top of pension, salary and health care benefits, and had no strings attached.

Since moving to New York and taking over leadership of the Catholic Council of Bishops, Dolan has leveraged his position to advance a set of priorities based on conservative theology, anti-reproductive rights and anti-gay rights in particular. He has been a vocal and visible opponent of comprehensive health care access and marriage equality, arguing, essentially, that religious freedom operates at the level of institutions and trumps civil rights law. His position as cardinal gains him not only the ear of the Catholic laity, but of the White House. Last November, for example, a meeting between Dolan and Obama was described as “one among many meetings with officials from the Catholic Church and the administration.”

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! in the USA: “Three years ago today, abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot dead while attending church in Wichita, Kansas. Reproductive healthcare providers remain the target of violence amid a wave of new legislation curtailing access to safe abortions. Last week, two clinics in Georgia and a women’s organization in New Orleans were set ablaze. Today, the House of Representatives votes on the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act to ban abortions based on the sex of a fetus”: here.

Historian says Catholic church is heading for a schism: here.

Surge in African-American Support for Same-Sex Marriage Ignites Conservatives: here.

Equal rights campaigners slammed Britain’s bishops today for “scaremongering” about gay marriage: here.

Church of England warnings about the dire consequences of legalising same-sex marriage tread an uneasy path between the silly and the sinister: here.