A Broken Church, and the Return from Emmaus.

May 8, 2011 — Terence Weldon

The Gospel reading for today, the third Sunday of Easter, is Luke’s familiar telling of two disciples’ journey to Emmaus.

Michael B Kelly has used an interpretation of this story to draw an important lesson for lesbians and gay men in the Catholic Church, but in the present circumstances of the church, his presentation of the tale is relevant to the Church as a whole, to Catholics and other Christians of any orientation.

 

In this understanding, what is crucially important is not the familiar part, the journey itself and the encounter with a stranger who turns out to be the risen Christ himself, but the beginning and end of the story. The Gospel reading begins by saying that two disciples were on a journey to Emmaus, a village a short distance from Jerusalem. It does not spell out where they are coming from, anything of their background, or why they are travelling. Kelly fills in some gaps. (more…)

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Abuse and Suicide: A Moving Reader’s Response

July 31, 2010 — Terence Weldon

My post on the church’s culpability in youth suicide has brought this moving comment, which has brought me , quite literally, to tears. I reproduce it here for your consideration, with no further comment – I have no words that would be good enough:

Thank you Terence for posting this thought provoking post. I would not want to comment directly on the Unglo family’s actions, though I have a good idea of their anguish and pain.

All I would say is that sometimes (and more often than appears on the surface) your two threads of thought intersect, tragically.
My wife and I are firmly convinced that young gays and lesbians are far more likely to be clergy sexually abused than their straight peers.

Here is our story, which is the story of our beloved son: Remembering Eric – 2nd Anniversary Of His Death the associated links tell some more about him and us. I know we had to fight my then-Bishop to have Eric’s funeral service in the local church building ~ because ‘the canons’ forbade the funeral of ‘a suicide’ in church. Heaping insult upon injury.

May Eric, and all the other suicide-victims of clergy sexual abuse … rest in peace, and rise in Glory!

sincerely,

John Iliff

“Eric’s story” concludes with these word:

It was there in 1935 that he told his students:

‘The one who does not cry out for the Jews has no right to sing Gregorian chant’.

Today, we forthrightly submit that:

‘The one who does not cry out for the victims of clergy sexual abuse has no right to say the Catholic mass nor sing the Orthodox Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom’.

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Suicide, Abuse, and the Catholic Church

July 30, 2010 — Terence Weldon

One of my earliest memories from primary school religion lessons is that suicide is a grievous sin, one of the worst of all. If that is so, how serious is it to be responsible for another person’s suicide? And how serious is it if that person is a representative of the Catholic Church, or indirectly, the whole impersonal structure of the Church itself?

The Church has by now become accustomed to being sued by survivors of clerical abuse, of boys, girls, and adults alike. It is also now accustomed to paying out large sums, as the result of court judgements, out-of court settlements, or (in some cases) plain hush money, all for abuse.

In Pennsylvania, it is now facing a monetary claim on different grounds, still arising from a case of alleged abuse. Michael Unglo was an abuse victim in the diocese of Pittsburgh, where he was molested for several years by Fr Richard Dorsch, who was later defrocked and imprisoned.  After Unglo attempted suicide in 2008, Bishop Zubik promised him that the church would “right the wrong”  that had been done to him, and began paying for psychiatric treatment.  Earlier this year, he was told that a payment of $75 000 would be his last one. Two months later, he killed himself. (See “Suicide’s family sues Catholic church“, at UPI.com )

Now the family are suing the diocese for wrongful death, arguing that the diocese should have continued paying for his treatment. (more…)

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Examining the Abuse Crisis in the Church: NCR Review

July 29, 2010 — Terence Weldon

It’s been a while now since I wrote anything at all about the problems of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. That is not because I’ve lost interest, and still less because the problem has gone away – quite the contrary. I just reached a point, especially after the papal response to the Irish bishops, that there seemed so much to say, but also so much being written elsewhere, that the issue was in danger of becoming all-consuming, and with it, a risk of becoming contaminated with what my colleague Jayden Cameron calls “psychic poison”.  I needed to take a step back, and get some of the perspective that comes with distance.

With that advantage, I now want to make a regular return to the topic, not with my own thoughts, but by drawing to your attention some of the better commentary I have seen elsewhere – with the emphasis on commentary, not the gory details. I am also no longer particularly interested in analysing the causes, (except  where there is something fresh being said), as much of these have been discussed endlessly, both here at QTC and elsewhere. I am now more interested in the likely long-term impact on the church (as I began to discuss here).

(As Andrew Sullivan observes, “One imagines that this 1973 design for the Catholic Church’s Archdiocesan Youth Commission would not make the cut today”)

To kick this off, I wiant to draw your attention to what has become an impressive continuous series on the subject at National Catholic Reporter, some of which I will be discussing later in more detail. (more…)

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Background to the “War on the Church” in Belgium.

June 29, 2010 — Terence Weldon
Monseigneur Rauber, Cardinal Danneels, Monseig...

MONSEIGNEUR RAUBER, CARDINAL DANNEELS, MONSEIGNEUR VANGHELUWE AND MONSEIGNEUR JOZEF DE KESEL

The Vatican, and many Catholic apologists around the world, have reacted with shock and anger to the Belgian police raids on the bishops’ headquarters and the residences of leading churchmen. Two useful background pieces at NCR offer some  perspective on why, in a supposedly strongly Catholic country, the authorities should have acted so forcefully against the Church.

(more…)

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Can You Sue the Vatican? SCOTUS Says “Yes”.

June 28, 2010 — Terence Weldon

“Can You Sue the Vatican?” was a headline I was seeing for a time on my Google News pages, referring to a lawsuit in Louisville, Kentucky, in which an abuse victim is seeking legal redress directly from the Vatican. The defence has argued no, you cannot – on the grounds that the Vatican is a “sovereign” state, and that the local bishops are not Vatican employees, but operate independently, outside of and beyond direct papal control. The shallowness of the latter claim was demonstrated earlier today by a papal reprimand for Austria’s Cardinal Schonborn over his criticism two months ago of a fellow cardinal. Only the pope, said the statement, may criticize a cardinal. Other cardinals may not. By what twisted logic can one argue that the Pope may determine limits on what his cardinals may say – and still maintain that these cardinals are “independent” of Vatican control?

Meanwhile, also today, the US Supreme Court has delivered a judgement that will have major implications for the Kentucky law-suit, and for others of the kind. (more…)

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Belgium: Does Abuse Cover-Up Continue?

June 25, 2010 — Terence Weldon

One of the repeated claims made by Church authorities to counter the outcry over abuse, is that while they acknowledge past mistakes, these are indeed all in the past, that procedures have been mended, and that in the church as it is now, all is well. Belgian police are not convinced, and have raided the offices of the Bishops’ headquarters, the Archbishop’s palace, and the home of the Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, confiscating computer files and documents relating to ongoing investigations of abuse.

Monsignor Giacinto Berloco, papal nuncio to Belgium and Luxembourg, speaks to police during a raid on the offices of the country’s most senior Catholic prelate. Photograph: Matthew Busch/AP

(more…)

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Scottish Church & Accountability

June 1, 2010 — Terence Weldon

One of the few positive outcomes of the outcry over sexual abuse has been an increased willingness by those who hold power in the church, to recognise the importance of honesty about the record, and of co-operation with civil authority. Last year, the Irish Papal Nuncio came in for sustained attack over his repeated failures to co-operate with the Murphy commission. I thought that since then, some lessons had been learnt. The German bishops responded with alacrity to the emerging scandal in their church, agreeing to work together with government in a joint investigation. Other countries announced their own church investigations.

In Scotland, it seems that the message has not sunk in.  Helen Holland, a Scottish abuse survivor, has pointed out that the local Church has refused to participate in a government- spons0red investigation, because ” the church’s insurers had advised against it.” Yet again, the Church is putting financial considerations before the possibility of honesty, accountability, reconciliation, or healing.

Bishop Joseph Devine

Ms Holland was responding to an earlier article by the Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Devine. When I read this on Sunday, I was not moved to report or comment on it, as it seemed to be simply filled with the same old platitudes. But at the time, I was not aware of the refusal to participate in this inquiry. Now, I do want to take a look at his remarks, and the ignorance displayed. These are extracts from Devine’s article: (more…)

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Investigation Team For Ireland Announced.

May 31, 2010 — Terence Weldon

Pope Benedict has named the  members of the “visitation” that he promised for Ireland back in March. Initial reaction has been mixed. On the positive side, the seniority of the team members is impressive, showing that the Vatican is taking this very seriously.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who heads the team

Some people in Ireland welcomed the news. Garry O’Sullivan, the editor of The Irish Catholic, Ireland’s leading Catholic weekly newspaper, said the visitation appeared to be more significant than he expected. “This shows Rome means business,” he said. “The fact that there are two cardinals and three archbishops is a sign of intent. It is a high-powered group and the scope appears to have widened.”

On the other hand, some people are asking questions about three of the team members on the grounds that their own records in dealing with allegations of abuse has come under earlier scrutiny – retired Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor (formerly of Westminster, who will head the team), Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. Archbishops Timothy Collins of Toronto and  Terence Prendergast of Ottawa complete the team of visitators for the dioceses and seminaries being investigated, with some additional members taking on the task for the religious orders. (more…)

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Mapping Church Abuse

May 27, 2010 — Terence Weldon

After the German revelations started to snowball earlier this year, with additional revelations flowing fast from one country after another, it became for a time impossible to keep up, and more difficult still to make sense of just where the problems were (other the obvious but simplistic answer, “everywhere”). Now to help us make sense of it all, I am delighted to have found a superb interactive map from Italy’s Il Post. The  text is in Italian but live with it (practice your language skills). It’s well worth it.  This is the description from HuffPost, who promise an English version is on the way- or go direct to the main map at Il Post

To describe the international scope of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests and members of religious orders, we – the Italian online magazine Il Post – have designed a map, an infographic, that shows every documented and clear case of abuse. The map, built by designer Gino Selva, shows in darker blue the areas of the world where at least 20% of population belongs to the Catholic faith. And as we expected, the spread on the map of documented abuses is wide and covers nearly all such areas. We grouped many instances in single dots and explanations and we built pop-up data about the time and details of the stories described. We are working on the English version and we will be updating the data: yesterday a priest was arrested near Milan, Italy, on allegations of sexual assault of a 13-year-old, but criminal prosecution has just begun. The map is open to updates and new information: write to mail@ilpost.it.

Click on the image for the real map

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