Cardinal admits 'scandalous' response to abuse allegations

One of Pope Francis' top advisers acknowledged Sunday that the Catholic Church "has made enormous mistakes" in allowing thousands of children to be raped and molested by priests over centuries as he testified at an extraordinary public hearing of an Australian investigative commission just a few blocks from the Vatican.

Source

Two dozen abuse survivors sat in the front as Australian Cardinal George Pell testified to the Royal Commission. He was questioned about what the Vatican was doing to address the scandal and how he handled past allegations that were brought to his attention.

"I'm not here to defend the indefensible. The church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those." He said the church had "mucked things up and let people down" and for too long had dismissed credible abuse allegations "in absolutely scandalous circumstances."

Now, Pell was an educator and adviser to former Ballarat Bishop, Ronald Mulkearns during time he served as priest in Australia. In my opinion, he also served to protect. Mulkearns was given authority to handle Australia's most notorious pedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale.

Pell described Mulkearn's dealing with Ridsdae as 'catastrophic' for the church and suggested that he be part of a tribunal to hear the cases of 'negligent' bishops. Pell also admits that he had 'made mistakes in often believing the priests over victims who alleged abuse.' A damn pedophile sympathizer if you ask me.

The deeply Catholic town in Australia's Victoria state has been devastated by disclosures about the huge number of abuse victims, scores of whom have killed themselves in a cluster of abuse-related suicides unseen anywhere else.

The town has the highest suicide rate among men in Australia and many claim that the excessive drinking and violence expressed are due to these very abuses. After the first night of testimony, David Ridsdale, nephew of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, remained unimpressed at the lack of movement on the issue.

"Words are one thing. Actions are another," he said, in calling for a church-funded compensation scheme that addresses the fact many survivors are so traumatized by their abuse that they cannot support themselves financially.

Pell himself has long denied involvement in transferring Gerald Ridsdale from the Ballarat presbytery in a motion to protect his image and also denies trying to buy his abused nephew's silence. At that time Pell indicates there were no suspicions to Gerald Ridsdale's incompetency as priest.

Pell said he had heard "one of two fleeting references" to "misbehavior" by Christian Brother Edward Dowlan at St. Patrick's College in the 1970s "which I concluded might have been pedophilia activity."

I guess bathing suits were optional at the time, as long as you were in good company. If this didn't raise his suspicion, I'd suspect he shares the same distorted mind as his fellow pedophiles.

Pell also testified that had had been aware of clerics kissing boys and of swimming naked with boys at the end of term.

While Pell defends his actions, he also expresses regret after meeting with victims and their families who are seeking compensation, saying he and the others have 'failed in their moral and pastoral responsibilities.'

Anthony Foster testified at an earlier inquiry that when he and his wife sought compensation over the abuse their daughters suffered, Pell showed a "sociopathic lack of empathy."

The family's daughter was repeatedly raped by priest Kevin O'Donnell and committed suicide. The younger sister who was raped by the same priest, began binge drinking, was struck by a car while intoxicated and is now severely disabled. How sad...

This is the third time that the Australian cardinal and top financial adviser to Pope Francis has testified about the abuse scandal and what makes this time special is that he's doing it remotely from the Vatican in a room full media attention.

The commission, which is more than halfway through a 435 million Australian dollar ($300 million) government-authorized probe into how all Australian institutions dealt with abuse, agreed to let Pell testify from Rome because he was too ill to travel.

Hopefully this gets the ball rolling in the right direction instead of being kicked around like a hot potato. As a reminder, The Royal Commission has no power to file criminal charges, but they can note in their report whether they believe someone has broken the law. Not only have they broken the law, they've desecrated the lives of innocent children, robbing their chances to know life as it should be. Disgusting...

One of Pope Francis' top advisers acknowledged Sunday that the Catholic Church "has made enormous mistakes"

Yes like allowing this rubbish to be covered up for decades...

Not wanting to go off topic but this is another example of why Children and the Catholic church should never mix, you say its a sin to use contraception then you treat the kids that are born into a already stretched family like this..

www.dailymail.co.uk... tml



I hope the lot of them burn in hell, I am a Athiest so hell doesnt not exist to me but if it did people like this would be the type of candidate that goes there..... Absolute scum....


RA

a reply to: eisegesis

Could this be the end of the Catholic Church?

I have some things to say, but........

A mens club that 'keeps little boys around'. How could the rest of the world be that foo;ed to not recognize whats been going on?

Because we give them our trust implicitly, they're men of God after all.

Not just Catholics either. Where better for a pedophile to hide than in Sunday school or church camp, boy scouts, etc?

a reply to: eisegesis

Other religions have their own share of scandals, but this scandal with the Catholic church is pretty bad.

a reply to: eisegesis

Making an mathematical error is a mistake. Allowing the centuries old practice of child sexual abuse is CRIMINAL. Provide each victim with the justice due them.

And the Pope says Trump isn't Christian?.. I'm pretty sure the Lord frowns upon abusing innocents in any way.

a reply to: crappiekat

Well I personally know of another pedophile priest being hidden by the diocese of Auckland in New Zealand. This scandal is ongoing to this very day.

I am not sure if I can name the priest involved (maybe a mod can pm me and let me know if it's okay) but he was our parish priest in Ngatea, and also spent time in Matamata among other places.

I was approached by a diocesan 'taskforce' in about 1991 or 1992 because some of his victims had come forward and the church was wanting to hush it up. I was asked if I had been abused (no) because myself and family were being 'groomed' by him to gain access to myself (this is very true and I was aware of it, often joking about it with my friends at school)

There was talk of 'financial assistance' from the church, but as he had not done anything sexual to me, all talk was quickly retracted. I was then told that I had to 'forgive' Father X I was also asked to keep quiet 'to help the other victims by not bringing their pain into the media'

At the time I was 18 and had just suffered a major nervous breakdown, caused in no small part by this rogue priest's shenanigans so I was vulnerable (pretty sure they knew that) so I just complied and shut up.

I have corresponded with the Bishop about the matter since that visit and pretty much got told to 'go away' because Father X says he did nothing to me.

So....

As you can see the church is still guilty of these crimes. This man walks free to this day, not being held to account to the same law as everyone else has to answer to.

And that makes me sick to my stomach.

Obviously not the House of The Lord.

More like Satan's brothel.

How about a billion dollars from the church to each raped kid? If it puts them out of business, well, can that possibly be a bad thing?

a reply to: markosity1973

I converted to catholicism when I married. I raised my two boys in the catholic church. I have sat and broken bread with a handful of priests. I have shared classrooms with priests, to teach our children about the catholic church and what it stands for.

I feel very betrayed. I feel a whole part of my life was a lie.

I am sorry that you have been betrayed. My heart truly goes out to you. I feel as though I am guilty of hurting you because I have stood behind the church and have preached to children that the catholic church was a place they could feel safe.

I'm am sorry. I was wrong.

...and Pell is continuing the trend of the 'scandalous response'...

Å99

a reply to: crappiekat

You have nothing to apologise for

I rationalise my experience like this;

It's the (some, not good people like yourself) people in the faith doing this, not catholic belief itself.

I am upset at the church hierarchy that hides these people, not the parishioners. We are all victims of a system that we thought we could trust.

What concerns me more about my story is that when I was quite young (about 8) my parents wanted me to be an altar boy. I remember another boy my age was one and we became 'church friends' - we only saw each other at mass on Sundays.

I remember him telling me that Father X had shown him a 'special way' to receive holy communion. He was quite excited about it and was excited that I might become an altar boy too. He wanted Father X (different priest from the first one BTW) to teach me too.

As a kid I was fascinated and wanted to know. As an adult I now know that that poor child was a victim of sexual abuse. It really upsets me to know that my mate had his innocence stolen like that.

That's what children do. They are little pleasers. They are curious.

I do not believe there were bad things going on in my parish. But who knows.

At my age, I thought I would be more settled in my life. Have real answers about things.

Some day's I feel good about my faith and other day's, I want to run as far as I can away from it.

originally posted by: crappiekat
At my age, I thought I would be more settled in my life. Have real answers about things.

Some day's I feel good about my faith and other day's, I want to run as far as I can away from it.

Well, as I say to my mother who ended up divorcing my father and running off with a Jehovah's witness (She's not with him now);

The catholic faith itself is a wonderful, rich and vibrant system of belief, don't be ashamed of it. You know the bad parts of it, so help expose and rid the church of them from within and help it become the system you put your faith in once again. Besides ironically, exactly this was predicted at Fatima anyway.

I don't go to church any more (not welcome because of my sexuality) but I still pop into empty churches and light the odd candle and say a little prayer. Syria is my favourite thing to bug God about at the moment.

After all my experiences I know that in many ways I was fortunate. I never did become an altar boy - my family moved to a new parish in a new town about the time it was going to happen. The other priest never did anything sexual to me, (he was inappropriate though = there was hugging among other things) but I knew my sexuality by then anyway.

I have also seen the other wondrous and miraculous side of the church. I have been to Medjugorje back in 1993 and experienced the miraculous events there myself. I've spoken about my experiences in the past in other threads.

I am glad that you have had some positive experience's.

As I stated, I spent many years of my life learning and teaching others.

I am hurt and angry. I feel as though I have been lied too. And if I catch you lying about one thing, what else have you lied to me about.

When I moved to where I live now, I joined a new church. There is alot of (Old catholics) they liked me at first, but then when they found out I was Divorced and that I wasn't planning on donating alot of money, they dismissed me. Ignored me. Didn't have time for my questions.

Part of me say's that is the wrong way to think. Then the other part of me says, trust your judgement. Stay away.

originally posted by: intrptr

Not just Catholics either. Where better for a pedophile to hide than in Sunday school or church camp, boy scouts, etc?

That's quite right. Baden Powell himself was a pedophile; He had a passion for photographing young naked teens and sharing them with his circle of friends.

articles.latimes.com...

Catholicism however has a lot more to answer for in terms of sexual abuse. We're talking about a system that affects roughly 1.2 billion people here. It's sheer size means that many have been able to hide in the shadows for far too long.

originally posted by: crappiekat
I am glad that you have had some positive experience's.

There is alot of (Old catholics) they liked me at first, but then when they found out I was Divorced and that I wasn't planning on donating alot of money, they dismissed me. Ignored me. Didn't have time for my questions.

Part of me say's that is the wrong way to think. Then the other part of me says, trust your judgement. Stay away.

My mother doesn't go to church any more. She now states that if you ask her what church she is from, she will answer 'all of them'

If you are being treated like that by the congregation, then follow your heart. God is not just trapped in a little tabernacle tucked away behind the altar. He is everywhere. He alone is the one who gets to pass judgement on us, so stuff all the haters I say and be the best person you can be.

My life philosiphy now; 'Live and let live, do so in humility and unselfishly'

I'm pretty sure Jesus would give a thumbs up to that

a reply to: markosity1973

Yes, I think he would too.

I have not given up on him.

I like your Mom's answer. I may just use that one someday.