Almost 1,700 priests and clergy accused of sex abuse are unsupervised

An Associated Press investigation found that those credibly accused are now teachers, coaches, counselors and also live near playgrounds.

Roger Sinclair was removed by the Diocese of Greensburg in Pennsylvania in 2002 for allegedly abusing a teenage boy decades earlier.Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office / via AP

Oct. 4, 2019,

By Claudia Lauer, Associated Press and Meghan Hoyer, Associated Press

Nearly 1,700 priests and other clergy members that the Roman Catholic Church considers credibly accused of child sexual abuse are living under the radar with little to no oversight from religious authorities or law enforcement, decades after the first wave of the church abuse scandal roiled U.S. dioceses, an Associated Press investigation has found.

These priests, deacons, monks and lay people now teach middle-school math. They counsel survivors of sexual assault. They work as nurses and volunteer at nonprofits aimed at helping at-risk kids. They live next to playgrounds and daycare centers. They foster and care for children.

The Catholic Church and Sexual Abuse, Then and Now

ORIGINS
Current Events in Historical Perspective
Published by the History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

by WIETSE DE BOER 

Graffiti in Lisbon, Portugal of a priest chasing two children, from 2011.Editor’s Note:

For more than two decades, the Catholic Church has been reeling from sexual abuse scandals. Stories of predatory priests have emerged around the world. While some have attributed the abuses to problems in contemporary society, this month historian Wietse de Boer takes a much deeper look. He argues that the way the Church has responded to these outrages has its roots 500 years ago when the Catholic Church faced its first major crisis of sexual abuse.

The Bad Popes

Wikipedia

The Bad Popes is a 1969 book by E. R. Chamberlin documenting the lives of eight of the most controversial popes (papal years in parentheses):

15 Of The Most Absurd And Unforgivable Things The Catholic Church Has Ever Done

Ranker

Lea Rose Emery / Updated May 6, 2020

It’s hard out here for a pope. See, when it comes to religious history, the list of Catholic Church transgressions makes for pretty uncomfortable reading. Despite exalting virtue and kindness in its teaching, church leadership has spearheaded a long history of outright unforgivable Catholic actions.

You might remember some of these improprieties from school – the Inquisition, Joan of Arc, and the trial of Galileo should all ring a bell. But not everything here is medieval. Though Vatican violence goes way back, a number of disturbing episodes are from recent history. Some of this repugnant behavior comes from popes, some was church-endorsed, and some, most unsettlingly, was just straight-up regular church practice.

Dark church history contains scandal after scandal rife with every vice and taboo you can imagine. When the church was at the height of its power (at which point it was the most powerful organization in the Western world), it’s safe to say everything went to its head. Combine that with church leaders seeming to stubbornly resist adapting to changing morality and you’ve got a whole lot of unforgivable moments on your hands. 

Catholic Church Corrupt To Its Core, Says Survivor

npr / Faith Matters

In the decade since The Boston Globe broke the story about the cover-up of pedophile priests in the Boston Archdiocese, countless Americans have shared their stories of clergy abuse. Bob Hoatson is a former priest who was abused as a teen by church leaders. He speaks with host Michel Martin. (Advisory: This segment may not be suitable for all audiences.)

Protests and celebrations take place worldwide ahead of International Women’s Day

EURONEWS

By Katy Dartford with AP, AFP, EBU  •  Updated: 07/03/2021

French women’s rights activists gathered in Paris on Sunday to protest against sexism and sexual violence ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8.

Women’s groups have also called for a “feminist strike” on Monday to advocate for more equality and women’s rights in all parts of life.

Women’s day: Mexico barrier turned into women’s memorial

BBC / NEWS

Women’s groups have turned the metal fencing into an impromptu memorial for the victims of femicides

Fencing erected to protect Mexico’s National Palace ahead of a planned march to mark International Women’s Day has been turned into a memorial.

The names of hundreds of victims of femicides – murders of women because of their gender – have been painted on the metal fencing.

The three-metre-high (9.8ft) barrier was put up to protect the palace “from vandalism”, the government said.

Bosnian Anti-Fascists Rally Against Controversial WWII Church Service

Balkan Transitional Justice

Nedim Derisbegovic / May 16, 2020

Some 5,000 people joined an anti-fascist march in Sarajevo in protest against a Catholic mass to commemorate the killings of Croatian Nazi-allied troops and civilians by the Yugoslav Partisans at the end of World War II.

Police said 5,000 people attended an anti-fascist march in central Sarajevo on Saturday against the holding of a Catholic mass which opponents claim glorifies people involved in crimes committed by Croatia’s WWII-era Nazi-allied Ustasa regime.

‘We WERE complicit in Nazi crimes’, German branch of the Catholic Church admits in ‘confession of guilt’

Mail Online

By CHRIS DYER FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 1 May 2020

• German branch of the Catholic Church admits it did not denounce Nazi crimes
• New report states that Catholic bishops ‘made themselves complicit in the war’
• It states they didn’t share ideology but helped support ‘soldiers and the regime’
• Vatican defenders say Church used diplomacy and hid Jews during Holocaust

The Catholic Church in Germany has admitted making itself ‘complicit in the war’ by not opposing the Nazi regime, a new report reveals.

For decades the Catholic Church has been accused of staying silent over the crimes of the Nazis and even acting to ‘bolster’ the Third Reich.

In response, the Church has long defended World War II’s Pope Pius XII and avoided saying the ecclesiastical institutions failed.

But a new report from the council of Catholic bishops in Germany describes how bishops ‘made themselves complicit in the war’ by not clearly opposing Adolf Hitler.

It also says that bishops did not share the Fuhrer’s racial ideology, but they still helped support ‘both soldiers and the regime’.

The report into the role of bishops between 1939 and 1945 states hundreds of priests accompanied the Wehrmacht on the front-lines to offer spiritual guidance, according to The Times. 

+7

In ‘confession of guilt,’ German Catholic Church admits ‘complicity’ with Nazis / BISHOPS ‘GAVE SUCCOR TO THE REGIME PROSECUTING THE WAR’

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL / By TOI STAFF 2 May 2020

After decades of ambivalence, document prepared by clergy says hundreds of priests gave spiritual guidance to Hitler’s soldiers on front, ‘lent war an additional sense of purpose’

Pope Pius XII blesses faithful at the Vatican, March 4, 1949. (INTERCONTINENTALE / AFP)

In a new report after decades of ambivalence, Germany’s council of Catholic bishops has finally admitted to the church’s complicity in the actions of the Nazi regime during World War II, The Times reported Friday.

The 23-page document by the council reportedly states, “Inasmuch as the bishops did not oppose the war with a clear ‘no,’ and most of them bolstered the [German nation’s] will to endure, they made themselves complicit in the war.”