We have yet another story about Catholic abuse and an associated cover-up. The tragedy here is that this is now so common, it is almost non-news. A BBC documentary, “Abused: Breaking the Silence”, will air tonight (BBC1 at 10:35 21st June) and reveal all the sordid details. It concerns the antics of Fr Kit Cunningham, the jovial parish priest of St Ethedreda’s church and for many years unofficial padre to Fleet Street. When he was a young missionary in Africa he committed the most disgusting paedophile crimes – he sexually assaulted prep school boys at the order’s school in Soli, Tanzania
catholic
Catholicism and AIDS – Lying for Jesus
The manner in which the Catholic church handles the topic of AIDS is quite frankly bizarre, and illustrates the degree of their utter moral bankruptcy. It is highly ironic, not only because they claim to hold the high moral ground, but also because they claim to have an exclusive direct line to God. This of course is a complete delusion, but I need not ponder on that, it is blindly obvious to any critical thinker.
The latest news is that a Vatican cardinal, Cardinal Tarcisio Berton, opened an international conference on AIDS with a speech that strongly defended the church’s two-pronged strategy against the disease – education of consciences and mobilization of Catholic health resources for patients.
Catholic Child Abuse – some updates
Two Catholic Related news items caught my eye today …
There is a news report here, that the number of Catholic priests accused of child sexual abuse and the number of victims rose significantly in 2010 …
The bishops’ report said there were 426 victims last year, up from 398 in 2009, while the number of priests accused went up from 286 to 345. Those numbers are down from highs of 889 victims and 622 offending clergy members in 2004.
Catholic Church is “on the edge” in Ireland
The news today in the Irish Independent is …
THE Pope will be officially told the Irish Catholic Church is “on the edge” of national collapse and has only five to 10 years to make a radical recovery by giving laymen and women a greater say in decision-making.
This warning will be submitted in the coming months in a confidential report to Pope Benedict XVI by an international investigator examining the state of the Irish church in the wake of the Murphy and Ryan reports into clerical child abuse.
The full article is here, I’ll let you read it all at you leisure.
To some this is perhaps bad news, but for many others such as myself, this is very good news indeed. Having grown up in Ireland, I’d heard some things that I simply refused to believe at the time, but now know that my friends were not simply telling me tall stories. For there lurking under the social covers were deep dark tragic tales. I need not repeat such stories, we all know them.
Vatican ordered Irish bishops not to report abuse
We have known for some time, but now have solid proof, that the Vatican ordered the Irish Bishops to cover-up clerical abuse and not to report it to the police … Now what makes this interesting, is that its not historical, its recent. The 1997 letter, obtained by RTE, and signed by the late Archbishop … Read more
Collective stupidity incarnate
A couple of days ago I blogged about how a Bishop in Phoenix has made the decision to strip St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center of its Catholic affiliation because they had performed an abortion to save a life, and if not done, both mother and baby would now be dead. I’m not at all … Read more