A short book containing the Blogger's Correspondence with R.J. Neuhaus following his "Feathers of Scandal" defense of Fr. Marcial Maciel, Founder of the Legion of Christ, accused of sexual abuse of his seminarians; together with subsequent revelations, the author's analysis and recent Vatican actions;
Pope Benedict on Maciel in "Light of the World",
Psychological Profile of Maciel as Psychopath Guru
Image copyrightJohn StillwellImage captionLord Janner is alleged to have committed the offences between 1955 and 1988
Late peer Lord Janner allegedly began sexually abusing children as far back as 1955, a public inquiry has heard.
The peer died in December aged 87, soon after he was found unfit to stand trial over abuse claims, owing to dementia.
TheIndependent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abusewas told Lord Janner abused children over a 33-year period, arranging for those "in whom he had a sexual interest" to be brought to the Houses of Parliament.
His family denies the allegations.
The inquiry, chaired byDame Lowell Goddard, will be the biggest in British history. It is set to last for five years and has a budget of £17.9m for this financial year alone.
Lord Janner's case is one of 13 areas it will initially focus on.
Speaking at the first preliminary hearing, counsel to the inquiry Ben Emmerson QC said: "The allegations in summary are that Greville Janner exploited children and perpetrated a full range of sexual offences against them, including what would now be termed in English law as rape.
"In relation to a number of the complainants it is alleged that Janner abused his position as an MP by arranging for children in whom he had a sexual interest to be brought to the Houses of Parliament."
The offences are alleged to have taken place in children's homes and hotels between 1955 and 1988 - previously the oldest allegations to emerge against him dated back to the late 1960s.
Wednesday's preliminary hearing was told that 17 complainants in the Janner case had been given core participant status in the inquiry, meaning they have the right to make statements, see documents and seek permission to ask questions.
The inquiry has not received an application for core participant status from Lord Janner's family.
The hearing also heard submissions about the anonymity of some witnesses, and whether public hearings, due to begin in September, will be televised.
Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders originally decided the peer should not be charged when the allegations emerged because he was suffering from dementia, but this wasoverturned by an independent review.
A trial of the facts was due to take place at the Old Bailey, but was dropped when Lord Janner died.
It would have heard evidence from alleged victims, but decided only whether the ex-MP committed the physical acts of abuse - and would not have made a finding of guilt or a conviction.
'Findings of fact'
Referring to the Goddard inquiry as a whole, Mr Emmerson said: "The task is vast but critically important."
He continued: "Allegations of the involvement of politicians in child sexual abuse are reported on the one hand as evidence of a paedophile conspiracy... and on the other as evidence of a modern-day witch-hunt.
"It is the role of this inquiry to move from the realms of rumour and speculation, allegation and counter-allegation, to the assessment of objective facts."
He cited figures indicating that between April 2012 and March 2014 more than 50,000 children were identified as victims of sexual abuse, but said the true number may be as high as 450,000.
"These figures should answer the doubts of anyone who questions the need for this inquiry," the QC said.
As part of her wider inquiry, Dame Lowell, who served as a judge in her native New Zealand, will investigate the way in which public bodies handled child sex abuse claims.
The inquiry is unable to make findings of criminal or civil liability, but Mr Emmerson added: "No-one should be in any doubt that, where the evidence justifies it... the panel will make findings of fact on allegations of child sexual abuse."
He said it "will also need to recognise the damage that can be caused by false accusations of sexual abuse".
Who was Lord Janner?
Image copyrightAP
Born in Cardiff in 1928
Served in the Army and studied at Cambridge before becoming a barrister and then QC
Labour MP for Leicester North West and then Leicester West from 1970 until retiring in 1997, when he was made a life peer
Diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2009
Suspended from the Labour Party in April 2015
Ruled unfit to stand trial over allegations of child sexual abuse on 7 December 2015
Under investigation for sexual assault and mistreatment of some of the sisters. Avellino attorney general is investigating Fr. Stefano Manelli, founder of the order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, now 82 years old. The abuses would have happened in the convent at Frigento. And it would have affected scores of sisters who were guests of the monastery.
Police investigators are also looking into some suspicious deaths to see if there is any connection to the sexual abuses. The order's 30 million euro patrimony has been seized pending the investigation. Manelli was investigated in 2012 by the Vatican over allegations of abuse and mishandling of the order's monies.
Indagato
per violenza sessuale e maltrattamenti nei confronti di alcune suore.
Nel mirino della procura di Avellino finisce padre Stefano Manelli,
fondatore dell’ordine dei francescani dell’Immacolata, oggi 82enne. Gli
abusi sarebbero avvenute nel convento di Frigento. E sarebbero state
decine le suore, ospiti nel corso degli anni del convento, a rivelare
quelle violenze. I magistrati stanno indagando anche su alcune morti
sospette che avrebbero qualche collegamento con lo scandalo che ha
coinvolto l’ordine e che ha portato anche al sequestro di beni per circa
30 milioni di euro. Su Manelli pesa anche una inchiesta del Vaticano
avviata nel 2012 a seguito di esposti relativi agli abusi e alla
gestione anomala di un patrimonio economico importante come quello
dell’ordine dei Francescani dell’Immacolata.
British priest received pension while avoiding authorities for alleged sexual abuse of 16 children
A suspected paedophile
priest, British-born Ronald Pickering, reportedly received almost
AU$200,000 (£97,000) from the Archdiocese of Melbourne for almost a
decade after he evaded Australian authorities in 1993 and fled to his
homeland, where he died in 2009.
The Sunday Age newspaper in Melbourne
reported on 10 January that Pickering, who is believed to have abused at
least 16 children but never faced justice, was one of a number of
abusive priests who received pension, housing and private medical
insurance benefits while victims received one-off payments of $31,000 to
$37,000 under the church's Melbourne Response redress scheme.
The paper said parishioners had
unwittingly been partly funding the assistance through their donations
into church collection plates, which they believed went towards the
local church or fundraising for retired priests.
It said Archbishop Sir Frank Little, who
led the Church in Melbourne from 1974-96, appointed Pickering "Pastor
Emeritus" in 1993, entitling him to additional payments, even though he
had been aware of complaints against Pickering as early as 1986. The
current Archbishop, Denis Hart, stopped the payments in 2002.
"Despite being personally aware of
complaints as early as 1986, then Melbourne Archbishop Frank Little
ordered Pickering's retirement entitlements be boosted in the wake of
his impromptu departure," the Sunday Age said.
"'At this time the Archbishop does not
intend appointing Father Pickering as Pastor Emeritus. However, he would
appreciate your regarding Father Pickering, in this exceptional case,
as qualifying for receipt of those monies which would normally be
granted to PEs,' the Priests Retirement Foundation was instructed."
A spokesman for the archdiocese told the
newspaper the church was providing support to six priests with criminal
convictions for child sex crimes, including four who had been laicised.
Nine others received payments until their deaths.
Pickering was ordained in 1957 in the UK
and arrived in Melbourne shortly afterwards. He was an assistant priest
at various parishes including at St Mary’s parish, East St Kilda, where
he was accused of abuse.
Later, he moved to St James' parish in the Melbourne suburb of Gardenvale (pictured above),
where again he faced accusations of abuse, on one occasion in 1986
taking extended leave in England after Archbishop Little informed him
that a complaint had been made.
In March 1993, Pickering resigned as
parish priest of Gardenvale and asked Archbishop Little for an
appointment as Pastor Emeritus, saying he planned to retire to Tasmania.
His resignation was accepted on 26 March 1993 and, at his request, he
was appointed Administrator of the parish until 30 June that year.
Senior Counsel assisting the Royal
Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Ms Gail
Furness, told a public hearing of the Commission in Melbourne last
November that Pickering suddenly left Australia and on 14 May 1993
arrived in London.
"He later described his departure as embarrassing and unexpected," Ms Furness said.
"A solicitor’s letter was received by the
Archdiocese of Melbourne in December 1993 seeking compensation for
sexual assaults alleged to have been committed by Pickering in 1966.By this time, Pickering had left Australia ... Pickering’s faculties as a priest were removed in January 1994."
Ms Furness said 19 people had made claims
of child sexual abuse through the Melbourne Response in relation to
Pickering over alleged incidents from 1960 to 1989 inclusive. Sixteen
claims led to compensation totalling $881,000, including treatment,
legal and other costs - an average of about $55,000 per claimant. Of the
19 claims, 12 were made before his death.
Last year, arsonists were suspected of
attacking three Catholic churches in Melbourne associated with Pickering
and another deceased paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell during Holy
Week, with St James’ in Gardenvale gutted (pictured above) and St Mary’s in St Kilda East damaged (The Tablet, 9 April 2015).
Golden Globe-winning actor Rachel
Griffiths, a former parishioner of St James’, told the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation that she was “quite elated, like many of my
generation” by the fire at St James, given its connection with
Pickering. “For the community here, it’s kind of the haunted house on
the hill,” she said.
In evidence to the Royal Commission on 1
December last year, Archbishop Hart said that when it came to his
knowledge that Pickering was being funded by the Priests' Retirement
Foundation, and Church authorities in Melbourne didn't know where he
was, "I refused to be part of that subterfuge and I withdrew the
funding".
"Initially, we knew he was in England and
we had an address; we found out that he was no longer at that address,
and the person who made contact with the diocese wouldn't tell us where
he was, and therefore I wasn't prepared to be part of a subterfuge that
would conceal from any authorities that might be wanting to be in
contact with him the fact of his address ... I made the executive
decision that we wouldn't - that's about 2002, I think - that we
wouldn't fund him; if we didn't know where he was, we were not being
part of any concealment from the authorities."
Archbishop Hart acknowledged that
Archbishop Little's decision to remove Pickering's priestly faculties
rather than suspend him would avoid publicity.
Ms Furness: "Again, that's another illustration of the Church operating in secrecy in order to protect its reputation?"
The Australians are taking this issue very seriously and have set up a Royal Commission to investigate, similar to what was done in Ireland where a special commission of judges investigated abuses in Church institutions and did a real clean up. When will this be done in the good old USA....
January, 6, 2016
Catholic Church's "ticking time
bombs" set to detonate
The Catholic Church knew it had pedophile
"time bombs" in its midst.
Bishop
Peter Connors leaves the Royal Commission into Abuse hearings in Melbourne in
November. Connors chaired a 1992 meeting that likened abuse allegations to
"ticking time bombs". Photo: Mal Fairclough, AAP It not only let
them keep ticking away but also covered up the pedophiles’ evil deeds to
protect its reputation.
The extent of the cover-up is still being
dissected by the child abuse royal commission but victims advocacy group Broken
Rites spokesman Dr Wayne Chamley expects its report will be absolutely scathing
of the Catholic Church.
Bishop Peter Connors leaves the Royal
Commission into Abuse hearings in Melbourne in November. Connors chaired a 1992
meeting that likened abuse allegations to "ticking time bombs".
Photo: Mal Fairclough, AAPIt not only let them keep ticking
away but also covered up the pedophiles’ evil deeds to protect its reputation.
The extent of the cover-up is still being
dissected by the child abuse royal commission but victims advocacy group Broken
Rites spokesman Dr. Wayne Chamley expects its report will be absolutely scathing
of the Catholic Church.
“The commission is unpicking a conspiracy,”
Dr. Chamley said.
“These bishops collectively have been
running this conspiracy certainly since 1992.”
Minutes of a special issues committee
meeting at the 1992 Australian Catholic Bishops Conference reveal: “It was
agreed that there are serious ‘time bombs’ ticking away in a number of diocese
at the present time.”
The focus was on treating the accused
offender fairly, even though the minutes reveal the special issues committee –
set up to deal with allegations against priests – agreed “the prognosis for
offenders to be returned to any form of active ministry as a priest is not
good”.
The group was also worried about the
discovery of documents. “It does seem better to keep good records. On the other
hand, it was noted that too many people are keeping too many records.”
It is the first piece of evidence showing
bishops collectively knew about abuse by clergy from that date, Dr. Chamley
notes.
“Everybody knew about it and they decided
they were going to try and battle it out and just keep it under wraps so you
have all those cover-ups and moving people around,” he said.
“What confounds me was not one of them was
prepared to break ranks.”
As the royal commission investigates
widespread abuse by Catholic clergy over decades in the Ballarat diocese
covering the western third of Victoria and Melbourne archdiocese, senior church
figures have admitted failings.
There has been a terrible abuse of the
trust people gave implicitly to priests
“I certainly have been absolutely horrified
by the predatory actions, the depravity and the power play by these pedophile
priests over people who should have expected just the opposite: care and love
and support,” current Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said.
“Instead they have been totally betrayed.”
Archbishop Hart has admitted the church
failed to recognise it had pedophiles in its midst.
Not only that, it knew of their existence
and failed to act, leading to more children being abused.
John Stillwell
AP
