by Grania
When I left religion behind me, I had no intention of ever looking back. I don’t care what the pope’s opinion is on anything, whether I agree or disagree with him or not. But I realised over the years that the institution I had turned away from still had enormous effect on people’s lives; even those who had nothing at all to do with the Church. Women can find themselves without access to birth control or abortion; same sex couples can find themselves denied access to marry or adopt children. So the Church becomes impossible to ignore when it negatively impacts on the daily lives of people all over the world.
After the relentless avalanche of reports of rape and abuse of children by Catholic clergy all over the world, and the subsequent revelation that the highest ranking officials in the church had done everything in their power to conceal the crimes and silence the witnesses; the world has come to expect cooperation from the church in ensuring that this does not happen again, in safeguarding children in its care, and making sure that priests involved are brought swiftly to justice.
However, this turns out to not be the case. In spite of a Commission for the Protection of Minors supposedly laying out new guidelines and practices for the clergy; training guidelines for priests state:
“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds”.
The guidelines were written by one Monsignor Tony Anatrella, described by Catholic new site Crux Now as “controversial for his views on homosexuality and ‘gender theory’ ” which can understand as vehemently misogynistic and homophobic (read those links at your own peril).
Crux Now continues:
Anatrella argued that bishops have no duty to report allegations to the police, which he says is up to victims and their families. It’s a legalistic take on a critical issue, one which has brought only trouble for the Church and its leaders. Why, one wonders, was it part of a training session?
Most basically, canonical procedures kick in only after abuse has been alleged. Presumably the goal ought to be to stop those crimes from happening, and in that regard it’s striking that Anatrella devoted just a few paragraphs to abuse prevention, using abstract language without concrete examples.
This is a good example to those of you have have blessedly lived lives entirely outside of the Catholic Church of liberal, progressive Catholics who are frequently at odds with the Vatican and Rome.
The spin doctors of the Vatican are now claiming that it is not what it appears to be; although their argument seems to be only that this isn’t “new” but is consistent with previous statements on the subject.
Some countries now have legislation that requires clergy to report any such crimes they are aware of, and presumably that is exactly what will be done in some cases. But this seems to indicate that the core is still rotten, and those among the clergy and the Vatican who still wish to ignore or conceal these crimes will continue to do so and encourage their peers to do likewise.
“However, this turns out to not be the case”.
Color me surprised.
Just watching the ‘Spotlight’ movie, book to follow…
Hopefully they will be hauled over the coals
No one will ever convince me that there is such a thing as a progressive Catholic. This is akin to a progressive conservative. Thankfully the useless conservative party here in Canada has dropped the progressive moniker!! Regressive is a more appropriate term to be used with any religion. No quotation marks required.
“Progressive” catholics, to the extent that they provide moral and financial support to that multi-national criminal organization known as the Catholic church, are complicit in and bear responsibility for the crimes committed by that by that organization.
Thanks Steve
I’m been saying the same for years: there is no such thing as a moderate or progressive Catholic. Moderate/progressive Catholic feed the beast that is the RCC.
In my experience, progressive Catholics suffer from a kind of Don Quixote illusion that the church is capable of far more radical reform than is actually ever really possible.
They often have views much more in line with liberal Anglicanism, but often regard themselves as so entrenched in being culturally Catholic, that they just can’t bring themselves to jump the ship.
Eugene Kennedy’s heavily dated book “The Two Cultures of American Catholicism” is interesting though with a lot a sweeping over-generalizations.
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This is definitely the worst thing that has happened since Francis became pope.
I know some progressive Catholics who fit this bill. They’re Democrats, pro-abortion, pro-birth control, pro-gay, all opposite from the Church they attend weekly. One could perhaps argue that they aren’t really Catholic, but they’re certainly progressive. Progressive views definitely cannot be squared with official Church teachings, nor with their respect for authoritarianism.
Anatrella’s actions make me suspect the worst of him.
Couldn’t you tell that from the dog-collar, or purple skirt or whatever it that his class of shamen wears?
Late december 2015 entry that seems sadly relevant
http://pictoraltheology.blogspot.com/2015/12/boundaries.html
I think the best line in this very good story is – the core is still rotten. The Catholic church has not changed or reformed itself at all. Self-investigation of wrong doing does not work for any institution.
It reminds me most of how bad sexual harassment had become in the 70s and 80s throughout corporate America. In some cases it still is. But I saw first hand, how our company finally put a stop to it. It is one of those thing that you say after the fact, why the hell didn’t we think of that.
Put simply, the investigative process had to be taken away from the chain of command or, I should say the company management. The way it worked was, if anyone came up to you as a supervisor or manager and reported being sexually harassed by someone, you had 2 hours to report this news to HR. HR then turned it over to legal who brought in people to investigate the allegations. All management at the location were not involved in the investigation at all. If they tried to get involved, they were in trouble. The important factor in this was that supervisors and managers had 2 hours to report. If they did not, they were in big trouble. They were to do no inquiry themselves…just report.
The point of this story is to show exactly what Grania discovered about the church. If you leave such a thing in house, you have nothing.
It is the core. It is the house. That is precisely the good news in all of this. Because rottenness that comes from within is much worse than secular admonishment from the outside.
I still contend the Catholic church is doing a great service of extinction for its own members. The only survivors will be geriatric and uneducated. This does not sustain religion.
The Catholic Church is a pitiful joke. Followers can’t see it because when your 5 years old and your parents drag you to the chamber of lies when you’d rather be chasing butterflies…
The only way to diminish the harm is to keep picking away members to a life of reason faster than new members can be made, and attrit that wretched thing into oblivion.
What puzzles me is: Parents drag to the church their 5- or 10-yr-old, listen to the sermon, then go home with the child. We can say that this situation is abuse, but it is not sexual abuse and cannot be. Where do Catholic clergymen find so many unattended kids to abuse?
Choir practice.
Catholic primary and secondary schools.
Ouch! And then we have another generation of victims having to ask that rotten nest of criminal aiding and abetting “Why?”
Never mind prevention, where are their supposed morals!?
Their mistake is assuming that what was true in the past is still true. Only I am not sure that it will play out like it had in the past, where there was a wall of silence and obfuscation. My gut tells me that it is now more likely that victims families will come forward, for one thing, and they wont’ stop at just complaining to church authorities only to watch it disappear.
Good post Grania.
This also shows the problem of religion having too much power and too much influence in government. People in your country are expected to follow the rules of the Catholic Church, whatever their religion, because they have been in a position to set the rules in Ireland. (Which, of course, is not, by any stretch of the imagination, limited to Ireland.)
This is why secularism and separation of Church and State are so important. That way, a religion can try to impose any rules it wants on its followers, but (in theory at least) people have other options.
And another reason it matters who gets to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court, especially when considering that even with the death of Scalia there are still 4 very conservative Catholics on the current Court and the rabid right would prefer that Cruz or Trump or even Rubio replace Scalia with another ultra-conservative Catholic than with anyone Obama might come up with. Hopefully enough Republican Senators won’t go along with such obvious political grandstanding that is entirely contrary to the Constitution, or if they do that they get thorough wacking by the voters this November.
How many self-avowed atheists are there on the Supreme Court? There should be at least one.
In every sense of the legal phrase, it is a CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY of monumental proportions. The entire organization is rotten to its very core. They need to prosecuted for their collective crimes against mankind in general and children in particular. I think “Spotlight” should have been nominated for every high honor available for bringing to light the truth of the crimes of the Catholic Church.
Hear, hear.
This is a criminal conspiracy to cover up the lass rape of children. Yet our political and media class almost uniformly aid and abet the enterprise.
When things go rotten they usually stink as well… well, right here, we have the room freshner, Monsignor Tony Anatrella.
The CC is a law unto themselves with very little to do with the ‘holy spirit’ and more to do with holy hell! the nerve of these shysters.
When will there finally be some attention focussed on the institutionalised abuse by Buddhist monks?
The scale is far larger than the Catholic Church. Poverty stricken parents in Asia put their kids in the care of monasteries (sometimes for up to a decade) where they are clothed and fed and educated. And raped.
There is little to stop a “celibate” monk from raping his charges. Religion and politics are in cahoots in Asia and there is almost no recourse for rape victims. This, combined with the shame of being an abuse victim, leaves almost no abuse reported to the secular authorities.
I am not surprised to hear this, but I have not heard of the extensiveness of this before. It should be outed, of course.
By way of prediction I would lay a bet that Islamic schools have this problem too, since the problem with humans is not that different in different cultures.
Islamic schools? Islamic families? One of the biggest problems with Islam in Europe is the sexual abuse of children. This is not only endemic in the Pakistan cultures in the UK, it is widespread in Europe in Muslim societies.
I should add, in Catholic schools in Europe as well. At least when I was a school kid, but I avoided trouble.
To expect such a fossilized institution to change its ways is unfortunately futile, even with a comparatively progressive pope. It will continue to protect itself, even at the expense of children.
And it will continue to promote itself as the pinnacle of morality while condemning all others to hell, including those who would criticize it. The hypocrisy is profound.
Thank you, Grania, for your beautifully written post.
Most people (particularly Catholics), seem to be unaware that Catholic priests used to be able to marry and have families. The church became concerned about inheritance by the spouse and children of the priest’s properties and money when the priest died. Therefore, celibacy was inflicted on priests as a way of ensuring that priestly possessions remained in the church. So, too many years of abuse and rape of children by priests is largely due to the excessive acquisitiveness and power grab of the Catholic Church.
I do not believe there is a hell, nor would I wish for one, but if there were, I would expect priests who abuse and rape children to go there immediately upon death. Those who facilitate and cover up the actions of raping priests deserve to go there too. Fire would not be enough. For eternity, the rapists should receive exactly the same abuse they dealt out to children while they lived.
This injunction against marriage of priests, invoked around 900 AD (I’m not sure about the exact date) had a significant consequence. At that time, the majority of priests were educated people, but they could legally not have offspring, so intelligence was squeezed in the bud. Not so for Jewish clerics.
ISTR that it was a bit later – around 1100 or 1200 … but that shouldn’t be too hard to check.
Earwig-o, from Wikipedia :
So that’s as clear as mud then. As one would expect.
Of course, there are still married clergy in the western Church too. There was a fix for Murk-Of-England married clergy who didn’t want to deal with women priests and (what’s the term) changed strips to join the other team, so that they could retain their superhuman powers and still maintain sexual relations with their wives.
So that’s as clear as mud then. As one would expect.
It would seem that clergy, like everyone else, would be included in mandatory reporting rules.
In my state, after a child was murdered in a public bathroom, laws were passed that made everyone a mandatory reporter. Previous laws required specific groups – doctors, nurses, teachers etc. – to report. As I understand it, under the new law, if anyone has information about possible abuse, they are required to report immediately to the appropriate government authority. I’ll have to reread the law to see if clergy were exempt. If so, the next legislative session needs to remedy that. If not, clergy need to obey the law, and know that people will not allow them to circumvent it.
It might be a good idea for everyone to check the laws in the various states and look into how they are enforced, to make sure loopholes are closed.
I really cannot stomach this institution. Everything is always consistent with everything they’ve ever said, “properly understood.” Yet another example from the COLF site: “In Western countries we must stop being afraid to speak up against trends that are oversimplifying things and leaving young people lost.” This, nearly in the same breath that it says society is wrong for not leaving sexual orientation solely to biological determinants? What could be simpler than a binary system with no gray areas? I’m sure I’m blinded (likely from excessive masturbation) by grave sin somewhere in my interpretation.
“… this isn’t “new” but is consistent with previous statements on the subject.”
Well, that’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? “We are utterly consistent in our under-reporting of child sexual abuse”.
Former NSW state judge Kieran Tapsell (In Australia) has written (and spoken to the media) about this. His book is “Potiphar’s Wife: the Vatican’s Secret and Child Sexual Abuse”. The book exposes the “Pontifical Secret” of Canon Law. An edict of 1922 of the then Pope Pius the XI to the Worldwide catholic church. Bishops, Cardinals Archbishops must swear to obey papal bulls.
This one of 1922 according to Tapsell, says that the senior clergy may not allow sex abuse to be reported to the State authorities – it was aimed at protecting church power from the State – particularly the Italian state of the day. According to Tapsell Sex abuse became a “secret of the Holy Office”
Sex abuse ad international secrecy imposed by the Vatican
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/religionandethicsreport/how-canon-law-prevented-sex-abuse-by-clery-being-reported-to-po/5500940
On one ABC program on the matter I heard that bishops have been dealing with complaints from congregations about abuse by celibates since the 10th century AD. Would not be surprised. Its all part of the legalism and equation with rule of the Church – like having a Vatican State only it impacts on peoples everyday lives much more. Which is not to say individual clergy don’t do a lot for their parishes and society but its structures of institutional power here. The Celibacy thing creates a special class somewhat separated from the community, makes the cleric’s supreme loyalty the church, not family and means there’s no risk of dividing church property amongst heirs – though of course in modern societies with modern corporate charitable organisations if something is owned by the church as a corporation there’s no question of division of property
It has been proposed there should be two streams of clergy – non=celibate and a smaller celibate one with no stigma for leaving the celibate one. That would help – in the Eastern Orthodox according to Wikipedia only the bishops are celibate and priests are married (so long as they marry before ordination, are not monastics)
In Australia, the Catholic school system has a good reputation as a quality education (Im not Catholic). There used to be abuse but for some time now the clergy make sure only lay people do the teaching and dealings with children. The attitude to past abuse is bad though. However this 1922 Papal ruling needs to be exposed more widely and pressure for it to be overturned.
No doubt, Yahweh will sort it out eventually, right? (sic)
“Anatrella argued that bishops have no duty to report allegations to the police, which he says is up to victims and their families. It’s a legalistic take on a critical issue, ”
Jesus Christ is a lawyer too? What a catch for a lucky lady!
🇻🇦
How many obstruction of justice charges can be filed now?
I find it strange there hasn’t been more public waves made about the secret 1922 papal ruling forbidding senior clergy from passing reports of clerical sex abuse to the police. Apart from the ABC link cited above and the book by Justice Tappsal Ive never seen anything about it. Admittedly This has only recently come to light as far as I can tell. Papal rulings have been overturned by popes before but this one is particularly hot.
From reports in our national media (in Australia) some clergy want liberal change of various kinds but they are not going to be promoted – senior clergy are conservative and Pope John Paul saw to it that any non conservatives got removed.
The current Pope seems keen to push change on certain issues – clerical abuse, corruption, economic justice, but on anything affecting the clergy he is blocked by the Vatican apparatus. Furthermore he is conservative on the core traditionalist issues of the Catholic church (or any orthodox religion) sex roles, sexuality and the (hierarchical) family. Thus he is rock solid on no artificial contraception (except the “natural” and ineffectual rhythm method), no divorce, no abortion no matter what the circumstances, against homosexuality, no female clergy, and pro a view that equates feminity and women with motherhood and nothing else. Of course the great bulk of Catholics in Western countries (and increasingly in South America) ignore the traditionalist teachings e.g.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/world/americas/catholic-leaders-say-zika-doesnt-change-ban-on-contraception.html?_r=1
Religion should never be allowed to be part of the state or have official state backing – thats something that requires a constant battle -as does defence of mandatory teaching of evolution in schools
I really think though religion is not going to go away no matter what people say. I think moderate religion can have a positive role – many or most charitable organisations have some religious connection, and life is so complex and messy we can’t provide mathematics like answers to human problems. But it does need to be kept in its place and my hope is that hard line religion in the West as well as elsewhere does not take advantage of social crises (as could happen with global warming, renewed hegemonic tensions and the rising problem with aggressive Islam) to assert a huge global regression in standards of social and economic life. In crises people tend to go for simplistic (and authoritarian) certainties.
Hopefully the crisis with numbers of Catholic clergy will mean that the Church will be forced to change – except the smaller and smaller pool of clergy probably self selects for more conservative ones. They really need to have an at least mainly non celibate clergy