404 Child Abuse Cases handled by Vatican in 2011

As a sign of transparency and its vigor in prosecuting such instances, the Vatican has reported that it handled 404 cases of child abuse in 1911

404 child abuse cases by clergy in 2011

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Wednesday, 29 Aug 2012, 09:43

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• For the benefit of Fr. Lucile ...
• Fuq Dan ghandu jitkellem is-suppost ...
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The policy of transparency pursued by Pope Benedict XVI concerning paedophilia in the Church has led to a "considerable" increase in the number of reports of child abuse by clergy according to the 2011 edition of the annual report "The activity of the Holy See" published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana at the end of July.

In 2011 the disciplinary office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith opened a total of 599 procedures, of which 404 concerned cases of abuse perpetrated by members of the priesthood against minors. This was fewer than in 2010 but considerably more than in the period 2005-2009, the volume said. The Congregation initiated a total of 37 judicial proceedings and 189 administrative proceedings in 2011. It also submitted to the Pope a request for the removal "ex officio" from the clerical state of 125 priests and for dispensation from priestly obligations for a further 135.

Native American Children Sexually Abused on Mission

With misgivings do I post this notice. I have been supporting St Labre Indian School in Montana for years and today I found this news which is very sad:

Catholic Monsignor Convicted for Cover Up

According to a posting today on Yahoo news



The first U.S. church official convicted of covering up sex-abuse claims against Roman Catholic
priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison by a judge who said he "enabled monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children."
Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, "helped many but also failed many" in his 36-year church career, Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said.
Lynn, who handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004, was convicted last month of felony child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery. Avery is serving a 2½- to five-year sentence for sexually assaulting an altar boy in church in 1999.
"I did not intend any harm to come to (Avery's victim). The fact is, my best was not good enough to stop that harm," Lynn said. "I am a parish priest. I should have stayed (one)."
Lynn's lawyers had sought probation, arguing that few Pennsylvanians serve long prison terms for child endangerment and that their client shouldn't serve more time than abusers like Avery. They plan to appeal the landmark conviction and seek bail while the lengthy appeals process unfolds.
The judge said Lynn enabled "monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children, to whom you turned a hard heart."
She believed he initially hoped to address the sex abuse problem and perhaps drafted a 1994 list of accused priests for that reason. But when Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua instead had the list destroyed, Lynn chose to remain in the job and obey his bishop — by keeping quiet — as children suffered, she said.
"You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong," Sarmina said.
The 61-year-old Lynn was acquitted last month of conspiracy and a second endangerment count involving a co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan. The jury deadlocked on a 1996 abuse charge against Brennan, and prosecutors said Monday that they would retry him.
In 1992, a doctor told Lynn's office that Avery had abused him years earlier. Lynn met with the doctor and sent Avery for treatment — but the church-run facility diagnosed an alcohol problem, not a sexual disorder. Avery was returned to ministry and sent to live at the northeast Philadelphia parish where the altar boy was assaulted in 1999.
Prosecutors who spent a decade investigating sex abuse complaints kept in secret files at the archdiocese and issued two damning grand jury reports argue that Lynn and unindicted co-conspirators in the church hierarchy kept children in danger and the public in the dark.
"He locked away in a vault the names of pedophile priests. He locked in a vault the names of men that he knew had abused children. He now will be locked away for a fraction of the time he kept that secret vault," District Attorney Seth Williams said of Lynn.
Defense lawyers have long argued that the state's child endangerment statute, revised in 2007 to include those who supervise abusers, should not apply to Lynn since he left office in 2004. They also insist he did more than anyone at the archdiocese to meet with victims, get pedophile priests into treatment and send recommendations to the cardinal.
"He did the best he could under absolute awful circumstances," lawyer Thomas Bergstrom said after the hearing. "If he wanted to play the game, he wouldn't have met with them at all."
Lynn was the first U.S. church official convicted for his handling of abuse claims in the sex scandal that's rocked the Catholic church for more than a decade. But he might not be the last.
Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City diocese face a misdemeanor charge of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse.
Both Finn and the diocese have pleaded not guilty and are set to go on trial next month.


YAHOO! NEWS7/24/12 Pa. monsignor gets 3-6 years in sex abuse cover-up - Yahoo! News
news.yahoo.com/pa-monsignor-gets-3-6-years-sex-abuse-154117156.html 2/2

"Protecting children has to be first and foremost," said Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests. "We're extremely grateful that the judge and the prosecutors did not give Monsignor Lynn special treatment because of his priestly status."

Pope Busts Argentine Bishop Frolicking on Beach with Beauty

Monsignor Burgallo in Mexico


 Fr Maciel with daughter close to him and with mistress [right] in Cotija, Michoacan, Mexico with consecrated members of his Regnum Christi Lay Movement

As reported the bishop resigned; blogger is not sure if he stopped being a priest -let's not jump to conclusions

He handed in his resignation today and it was accepted by the Vatican. It is not clear to this blogger whether he chose to resign or was 'asked to' by church authorities. 


remember the case of Fr. Maciel who stepped down from his leadership of the Legion of Christ, as superior general, after the investigation into his behavior was underway.

Stepping down as leader

After the reopening of the investigation in late 2004, Fr. Maciel stepped down as General Director of the Legion at the Ordinary General Chapter held in January 2005.^[10] Fr Alvaro Corcuera was then elected by the same General Chapter as the new General Director. [from Wikipedia]

The blogger does not what the bishop plans to do after he resigns from his post:
Does he continue to be a bishop?
If so, where will he be assigned?

 VATICAN CITY - The pope has accepted the resignation of an Argentine bishop photographed frolicking on a Mexican beach with a woman, one of several personnel changes announced Tuesday by the Vatican before the pontiff heads off for summer vacation.

Monsignor Fernando Maria Bargallo, bishop of Merlo-Moreno outside Buenos Aires, initially denied having had any improper relationship with the woman, whom he described as a childhood friend. But the 57-year-old Bargallo later decided to step down under the church rule that lets bishops retire before age 75 if they're found to be unfit for office.

Photographs of the encounter were broadcast on television last week and have been circulating on the Internet.

The resignation was one of several personnel changes announced Tuesday by the Vatican before the pope leaves next week for Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence in the hills south of Rome. The Vatican frequently announces a rash of personnel moves before the pope leaves town and the Vatican slows down for the summer.

Argentine Bishop Busted on Beach with Beauty

The author in his post priest hood years on vacation in Guatemala

See TV report

Sound  bad and looks bad but maybe we should take another look...

Auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires hit the headlines today when some very compromising photos appeared in the Latin American media

Take a look at photos. If you speak Spanish you can see short statement by bishop

 Then I will share some personal reflections.

I remember being on the beach with two pretty lady friends in Cancun and nothing  happened; i was a priest at the time and I did nothing inappropriate for them of for me. Of course, I don't think Fr. Maciel would have approved...our would he?

This is what Maciel did to his Seminarians: he Sanduskied them!

Testimonies from the trial

"I will have no Adulterous Priests in the Legion of Christ" (Marcial Maciel)

                                              Adulterous priest in Dublin pub March 2012


As I describe in my memoir(!) "Our Father Maciel who art in bed...." [book and Kindle]
Fr. Maciel confronted me one day in Mexico City, circa 1980, in the gardens of Quinta Pacelli, with that vehement accusation... I was then a 37 year old LC priest running the School of Faith in the residential Lomas de Chapultepec section of the giant metropolis; he was the Superior General of the order and was 60 years of age. a paragon of apostolic zeal and flawless customs.

Historic words, as we now know from later revelations.

Read how I 'defended myself' from that accusation at the time and how Fr. Maciel later apologized to me and why. I won that round with the Master of Deceit, but he won the battle, shipping me off to the Quintana Roo Mission two years later to teach me another lesson in humility ...