Search

Results

Exploring the word

08 Aug 2010 - Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

CATHOLICS THESE DAYS are angry. I live in a curious region that votes majority conservative Republican yet harbors a subset of way-out liberals. Both sets of Catholics are angry. While the politics of anger can be complicated to parse, one thing unites the rage on both sides: a crisis of confidence in church leaders. Catholics on both sides of the aisle are not satisfied with the way our leadership handled the clergy abuse scandals. Fresh revelations exacerbate the shame. While some fury is directed toward the offending priests themselves, most is reserved for the bishops and the pope. Lack of accountability all around continues to fester in the assembly—and it's not going away. It will be very difficult for the church to lead if the faithful give up on following. We have to talk about this; and by "we" I mean we who preach. We can't wait for the media to give the pope's remarks on these matters a fair hearing. Don't wait either for bishops worldwide or locally to get their act together with a coherent statement that communicates. They can talk all they want about precautions currently set in place. What people want to know is: Why should we trust you? You, who couldn't be entrusted with the gift of our children? It's fair to say: If local pastors cannot regain the confidence of their communities in church leadership, we may as well close our doors right now. We get ample opportunities in the lectionary to continue the in-house dialogue on leadership. We should show courage and take them. Jesus tells a parable about responsibility and culpability this week. Peter (Peter!) asks him, "Lord, who's the steward of the household to whom you refer?" And Jesus all but tells him, as the prophet once told King David: "That man is you." The buck stops with Peter. It always stops with Peter. And those whose authority derives from Peter have to take seriously the charge that, in the master's absence, the stewards have acted in a way that deserves a severe beating, an assigned place with the unfaithful, as the gospel soberly declares. It will make any preacher profoundly uncomfortable to mea culpa for the church once again. But pastors are the local face of that authority. The alternative is what we have now: punting control of this discussion to the blogosphere, news channels, and other venues where Catholics and others get information and vent frustration. Leadership requires "girding our loins and lighting our lamps" (Luke 12:35). We need to tell the truth: A thief broke into our house and we were not ready. We need to express our shame, acknowledge the pain, pray for healing, and give our people a model to follow. Related scripture links Other heroes in Hebrews: Heb. 11:20-39 Christ assumes and fulfills salvation history: Luke 9:28-31 Common scenes in Lucan parables: 8:4-18, 10:29-37, 12:16-21, 13:6-9, 18-21, 14:7-24, 15:1-16:8, 16:19-31, 18:1-14, 19:11-27 Those who have eyes to see: Luke 7:41-42, 10:23-24, 11:33-36, 12:54-56, 18:41-42 Catechism links Preparedness: CCC 305; 544; 1021-1022; 2443-2449; 2544-2547; 2612; 2849

Authors Alice Camille

Trust sexual abuse responsibility culpability Peter church leaders

Restricted
Suffered the little ones

24 May 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Letter to the Ephesians for the Ascension this Sunday encourages Christians to "live in a manner worthy of the calling you have received." A nine-year inquiry into child abuse at Catholic institutions in Ireland concluded that many of those involved knew that sexual abuse was "endemic" but did little to prevent it. About 35,000 Irish children were placed in a network of reformatories, industrial schools, and workhouses run by the church from the 1930s to the 1990s, when the last of them was closed. More than 2,000 told the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse that they suffered physical or sexual abuse while there. "When confronted with evidence of sexual abuse, the response of the religious authorities was to transfer the offender to another location where, in many instances, he was free to abuse again," the report said. Schools were run "in a severe, regimented manner that imposed unreasonable and oppressive discipline on children and even on staff," the report concluded. "Children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from." The report also slammed Ireland's Department of Education for its failure to stop the crimes. In rare cases when it was informed of sexual abuse, "it colluded in the silence," the report said. Cardinal Sean Brady, leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, said he was "profoundly sorry and deeply ashamed that children suffered in such awful ways in these institutions. "This report makes it clear that great wrong and hurt were caused to some of the most vulnerable children in our society," Brady said. "It documents a shameful catalogue of cruelty: neglect, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, perpetrated against children." Source: Articles by Padraic Halpin and Carmel Crimmins for Reuters and by the BBC

Children sean brady catholic church ireland abuse sexual abuse physical abuse commission to inquire into child abuse

Restricted
Diocese fails to court justices

08 Nov 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Christ, the high priest in this Sunday's reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, "did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands." The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to enter into deliberations on an appeal filed by the Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut of a state court decision to make public more than 12,000 pages of clergy sexual abuse files. The appeal to the nation's highest court was the diocese's likely last legal effort to keep secret documents from 23 clergy sexual abuse cases that were settled in 2001. Four newspapers--the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and Hartford Courant--have been fighting for eight years to get the documents unsealed. Among the court documents are three depositions by former Bishop Edward Egan, who was in charge of the Bridgeport diocese when most of the lawsuits against priests under his supervision were filed and adjudicated. Egan retired last year as the archbishop of New York City. The Hartford Courant obtained copies of Egan's depositions, which show that he knowingly transferred priests who had been accused of sexual molesting minors to different parishes and rarely removed an alleged pedophile priest from service. Church officials believe that the church has been treated unfairly by the courts and the media in the case. "We were disappointed to learn that the United States Supreme Court has decided not to hear our case. The Court reviews only about 80 cases out of more than 10,000 cases presented, and regularly reminds the public that it must decline to review many cases that were wrongly decided by the lower courts. Unfortunately, ours was one of those cases," diocesan spokesman Joseph McAleer said. Source: An article by Dave Altimari for the Hartford Courant

priests supreme court clergy sexual abuse

Restricted
Europe roiled by fresh allegations of clerical child abuse

14 Mar 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

We are to be ambassadors for Christ, Saint Paul reminds readers in this Sunday's second reading. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi Tuesday acknowledged the "gravity of the crisis the church is undergoing" after fresh allegations surfaced in recent weeks of widespread sexual abuse by members of the clergy in Germany, Austria, and Holland. But the Vatican said it was wrong to focus blame for child abuse exclusively on the church, saying "the issue is much broader." Lombardi also denied allegations by a German government minister that the Vatican had hampered investigations of pedophilia by "creating a wall of silence." Reports last month alleged that Catholic priests had sexually abused more than 100 children at Jesuit schools there. "Errors committed by the institutions and members of the church are particularly reprehensible given the church's educational and moral responsibility," Lombardi told Vatican Radio. "But every objective and well-informed person knows that . . . concentrating accusations on the church alone gets things out of perspective," he said. Lombardi cited a recent report by Austrian authorities that detailed 17 cases of abuse in institutions linked to the Catholic Church, but 510 in other organizations. The Dutch Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday said it would ask an independent commission to look into more than 200 reports of alleged sexual abuses by priests, in response to an increasing number of victims coming forward. Germans were outraged by reports of abuse by Jesuits and allegations of beating and pedophilia at three Catholic schools in Bavaria, including one linked to a prestigious choir run by Pope Benedict XVI's brother from 1964 to 1994. Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, 86, has acknowledged he slapped pupils in the face to discipline them but has denied any knowledge of sexual abuse. "At the beginning I also repeatedly administered a slap in the face, but always had a bad conscience about it," Ratzinger is quoted as saying in an interview with a German newspaper Tuesday. The latest allegations follow years of damaging scandal in Ireland and the United States. The U.S. church has paid some $2 billion in settlements to victims since 1992. Source: An article by Daniel Flynn for Reuters News, Allan Hall for TimesOnline.co.uk, and Melissa Eddy and Alessandra Rizzo for the Huffington Post

vatican georg ratzinger pedophilia netherlands austria jesuits germany clergy sexual abuse federico lombardi domspatzen

Restricted
Buzz builds around new unofficial “saint of abuse victims”

10 Oct 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday praises the Lord for having done “wondrous deeds.” Many saints have been lauded for remarkable deeds as well, but few if any are known to have exposed clerical sex abuse—until this week. A new documentary brings to light that Australia's Mother Mary MacKillop (1842-1909), to be canonized October 17, was briefly excommunicated after having blown the whistle on abusive priests. MacKillop, the founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who now have thousands of women in their communities across Australia, heard disturbing reports of priests sexually abusing children in the Kapunda parish in the diocese of Adelaide in south Australia, according to the documentary on Australia’s ABC Compass station. MacKillop and her sisters informed Father Julian Tenison-Woods, cofounder the Josephites, of their concerns, which were then reported to the diocesan vicar-general. One of the abusive priests, Father Patrick Keating, was sent back to his native Ireland, where he continued to serve as a priest. The whistleblowers apparently so angered Keating’s colleague Father Charles Horan that he vowed revenge and used his influence over Adelaide Bishop Laurence Sheil to have MacKillop excommunicated. In 1871, after only four years as a nun, MacKillop was turned out onto the street with no money and nowhere to go—a bit like one of the outcast lepers we read about in this Sunday’s readings. Perhaps recalling the God of justice praised by the psalmist this Sunday, however, Sheil revoked the punishment on his death bed some five months later. After being reinstated by the Catholic Church, MacKillop became known for her work with disadvantaged children, female ex-prisoners, and prostitutes. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995. After her canonization October 17, she will be known as Saint Mary of the Cross. A statement from the Sisters of St. Joseph has confirmed that the documentary’s reports are “consistent with” the extensive studies that have been done of the event. In a column commenting on the revelations, Father James Martin, S.J. wrote: “Now victims of sex abuse and their families, and all who desire reconciliation and healing in the church, can pray to Mary MacKillop, who understands them perhaps better than any other saint. Perhaps it is providential that she walks back onto the world’s stage again.” Source: Articles by DailyMail.com.uk, Ecumenical News International, Father James Martin, S.J. for The Huffington Post, CathNews.com.au, and ABC.net.au

canonization sexual abuse clergy sexual abuse mary mackillop australia sisters of st joseph laurence sheil

Restricted
Buzz builds around new unofficial “saint of abuse victims”

10 Oct 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday praises the Lord for having done “wondrous deeds.” Many saints have been lauded for remarkable deeds as well, but few if any are known to have exposed clerical sex abuse—until this week. A new documentary brings to light that Australia's Mother Mary MacKillop (1842-1909), to be canonized October 17, was briefly excommunicated after having blown the whistle on abusive priests. MacKillop, the founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who now have thousands of women in their communities across Australia, heard disturbing reports of priests sexually abusing children in the Kapunda parish in the diocese of Adelaide in south Australia, according to the documentary on Australia’s ABC Compass station. MacKillop and her sisters informed Father Julian Tenison-Woods, cofounder the Josephites, of their concerns, which were then reported to the diocesan vicar-general. One of the abusive priests, Father Patrick Keating, was sent back to his native Ireland, where he continued to serve as a priest. The whistleblowers apparently so angered Keating’s colleague Father Charles Horan that he vowed revenge and used his influence over Adelaide Bishop Laurence Sheil to have MacKillop excommunicated. In 1871, after only four years as a nun, MacKillop was turned out onto the street with no money and nowhere to go—a bit like one of the outcast lepers we read about in this Sunday’s readings. Perhaps recalling the God of justice praised by the psalmist this Sunday, however, Sheil revoked the punishment on his death bed some five months later. After being reinstated by the Catholic Church, MacKillop became known for her work with disadvantaged children, female ex-prisoners, and prostitutes. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995. After her canonization October 17, she will be known as Saint Mary of the Cross. A statement from the Sisters of St. Joseph has confirmed that the documentary’s reports are “consistent with” the extensive studies that have been done of the event. In a column commenting on the revelations, Father James Martin, S.J. wrote: “Now victims of sex abuse and their families, and all who desire reconciliation and healing in the church, can pray to Mary MacKillop, who understands them perhaps better than any other saint. Perhaps it is providential that she walks back onto the world’s stage again.” Source: Articles by DailyMail.com.uk, Ecumenical News International, Father James Martin, S.J. for The Huffington Post, CathNews.com.au, and ABC.net.au

canonization sexual abuse clergy sexual abuse mary mackillop australia sisters of st joseph laurence sheil

Restricted
Pope calls for reflection on lessons of abuse scandal

26 Dec 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The gospel at the Christmas Vigil Mass recounts how Joseph, on learning that Mary was unexpectedly “with child,” decided not to “expose her to shame.” Pope Benedict XVI told Vatican cardinals and bishops gathered to hear his traditional Christmas address Monday that the church needs to reflect on what can be learned from the shameful revelations of clerical sex abuse of children, which he said reached “an unimaginable dimension” in 2010. Benedict spoke of the church's need to accept the "humiliation" of the revelations of abuse as a call for renewal. "We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the injustices that occurred," Benedict said. "We know of the particular gravity of this sin committed by priests and our corresponding responsibility," Benedict told the prelates gathered in the frescoed Sala Regia of the Vatican's apostolic palace. While accepting responsibility for the scandal, Benedict said the abuse also must be seen in a broader social context in which child pornography and sexual tourism are rampant, and where as recently as the 1970s pedophilia wasn't considered the absolute evil that it is today. Recently, the Vatican released documentation showing that as early as 1988 then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sought to find quicker ways to permanently remove priests who molested children in a bid to get around church law that made it difficult to defrock priests against their will. While Ratzinger was unsuccessful then, Vatican rules now allow for fast-track defrocking. But victims’ advocates say the Vatican still has a long way to go in terms of requiring bishops to report sex crimes to police and release information and documentation about known pedophiles. Source: An article by Nicole Winfield for the Associated Press

benedict xvi clergy sexual abuse

Restricted
This Philadelphia story is not a happy one

13 Mar 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned,” intones the psalmist this Sunday as Lent gets underway. Tuesday, Cardinal Justin Rigali of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia acknowledged the “great evil” of sexual abuse of minors as he placed an unprecedented 21 archdiocesan priests on administrative leave. In February a Philadelphia grand jury released a report that harshly criticized the church's handling of complaints by alleged victims of pedophile priests and singled out a lack of action by Rigali and retired Archbishop Anthony Bevalacqua. In the wake of the grand jury disclosure, the archdiocese hired a former district attorney with experience in molestation cases to review the complaints. Rigali said the decision to suspend the 21 priests came after "looking at both the substance of allegations, and the process by which those allegations were reviewed." Since 2002, when the national abuse crisis erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston, American dioceses have barred hundreds of accused clergy from public church work or removed the men permanently from the priesthood. The actions of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia stand out because they come more than eight years after U.S. bishops reformed national child protection policies and pledged swift action to keep potential abusers away from young people. "I know that for many people their trust in the church has been shaken," Rigali stated. "I pray that the efforts of the archdiocese to address these cases of concern and to reevaluate our way of handling allegations will help rebuild that trust." Sources: Articles by Joann Loviglio for The Huffington Post, Dave Warner for Reuters, and Katharine Q. Seelye for the New York Times

philadelphia sexual abuse justin rigali clergy sexual abuse anthony bevalacqua

Restricted
This Philadelphia story is not a happy one

13 Mar 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned,” intones the psalmist this Sunday as Lent gets underway. Tuesday, Cardinal Justin Rigali of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia acknowledged the “great evil” of sexual abuse of minors as he placed an unprecedented 21 archdiocesan priests on administrative leave. In February a Philadelphia grand jury released a report that harshly criticized the church's handling of complaints by alleged victims of pedophile priests and singled out a lack of action by Rigali and retired Archbishop Anthony Bevalacqua. In the wake of the grand jury disclosure, the archdiocese hired a former district attorney with experience in molestation cases to review the complaints. Rigali said the decision to suspend the 21 priests came after "looking at both the substance of allegations, and the process by which those allegations were reviewed." Since 2002, when the national abuse crisis erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston, American dioceses have barred hundreds of accused clergy from public church work or removed the men permanently from the priesthood. The actions of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia stand out because they come more than eight years after U.S. bishops reformed national child protection policies and pledged swift action to keep potential abusers away from young people. "I know that for many people their trust in the church has been shaken," Rigali stated. "I pray that the efforts of the archdiocese to address these cases of concern and to reevaluate our way of handling allegations will help rebuild that trust." Sources: Articles by Joann Loviglio for The Huffington Post, Dave Warner for Reuters, and Katharine Q. Seelye for the New York Times

philadelphia sexual abuse justin rigali clergy sexual abuse anthony bevalacqua

Restricted
Is Woodstock to blame for clergy sex abuse?

22 May 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s reading from the First Letter of Peter evokes Isaiah 28 in speaking of Christ as a "cornerstone” for believers. But the passage also puts us on notice that “disobeying the word” will cause people to stumble and fall on that stone. A five-year study into factors that led sexually abusive clergy astray was released Wednesday. Not all observers are satisfied with the conclusions. Researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York said that contrary to what critics on the left and right, respectively, have sometimes asserted, neither the all-male celibate priesthood nor homosexuality was to blame. Instead, they concluded that the abuse occurred because priests who were ordained in the 1940s and ‘50s were stressed, inadequately trained and monitored, and emotionally unprepared to deal with the social and sexual upheaval of the 1960s and ‘70s. The study was commissioned and partly funded by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops and relied on church authorities to supply much of the data analyzed, which caused some critics to question its objectivity. Others criticized the study for supporting what has been called the “blame Woodstock” defense. "This recalls an old tabloid banner headline from an early pre-Boston stage of this crisis: 'Bishops Blame Society'," said David O'Brien, a historian of American Catholicism at the University of Dayton, referring to the sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2002. He said the report was flawed because it seemed to exonerate bishops. While the study did credit the church hierarchy for making important strides in combating child abuse in recent years, researchers also noted the bishops’ abysmal track record in many tragic instances and said church leadership was too often reflexively defensive and self-protective--behavior they said fits a well-defined pattern of crisis management in large institutions. Source: Articles by Lisa Wangsness for the Boston Globe, David Gibson for Religion News Service,Guardian.co.uk, and David Batty and Laurie Goodstein for the New York Times

bishops sexual abuse john jay college of criminal justice david obrien

Restricted

← Previous 1 2 Next →