This 2011 Dutch video says about itself (translated):
This presentation was made on the occasion of a reunion in November 2008. The still living classmates of the minor seminary in Weert – graduating class 1964 – sent photographs and other material to Ad van Zeeland for that purpose. He made a comprehensive presentation of all of this that paints an extensive picture of learning and becoming a priest some 45 years ago. In the meantime it has become clear that sexual abuse has also taken place at this seminary and this is now mentioned in the film.
The Court of Appeal in Den Bosch has since ruled that Arnold-Jan Prinsen may hear various witnesses before the examining magistrate. Those witnesses may confirm the essence of his reproach: that the congregation leadership knew that one of the fathers was a pedosexual, but did nothing to protect children like Prinsen. “For the first time, there is now a judicial investigation into abuse in the Roman Catholic Church“, says his lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld.
Income lost
The now 66-year-old man says he was abused in 1964 [when he was 11 years old] by a priest in Weert. Only in 2015 did he find out that the boarding school was already aware in 1961 of another abuse case by the same clergyman. According to Zegveld, the usual barring period of 30 years should therefore not apply in this case.
Prinsen got psychological problems four years ago due to his discovery and that, according to him, cost him hundreds of thousands of euros in his dental practice. He holds the congregation in Weert responsible for this. They no longer contradict the facts, as is apparent from the ruling by the court, but they invoke the barring period.
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.
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.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 