I always felt from the start that the heaviest cross Pope Benedict has to bear is the general attitude of MSM towards him and the Church which results not just in unfairness but in unprecedented character attacks. Then along came the new 'revelations' about ex abuses by priests - which were not exactly a secret to anyone, only now, there are formal reports that document the extent of the abuses - and he has since had that added cross to bear. These new facts disclosed about the situation in the Dutch Church only drive more nails into that cross. Thankfully, we can be sure he has the spiritual resources to cope with all that, and we must pray that God keeps him physically able as well.
However, I also see this news development as a much-deserved takedown for the Dutch Church which has been rather hoity-toity-high-and-mighty with respect (without respect, actually) to the Vatican and the Pope all these decades since Vatican-II, almost touting their ultra-liberal anti-orthodox practices as the 'future' of the Catholic Church. Another saint whose bones must be spinning wildly because of what his Dutch Dominicans have been doing to the liturgy is St. Dominic...
Here are three reports about this news development, each of them with their own slant...
Church-commissioned report on sex abuses
by Dutch priests from 1945-2010
December 16, 2011
In the Netherlands, bishops and religious superiors have expressed their “shock, shame and sorrow” at the abuse of minors and the practices described in the final report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, published on Friday.
The Commission, known as the Deetman Commission, investigated complaints of abuse between 1945 and 2010. Commissioned by the national bishops conference and directors of the KNR (the Conference of Dutch Religious) investigations revealed that mild, moderate and serious abuse of minors took place.
In a joint statement Church leaders have offered a "heartfelt apology" to victims” and stated: “The perpetrators are not the only ones to blame. Church authorities who did not act correctly and did not give priority to the interests of and care for these victims also share in this blame”.
The commission announced that a new complaints committee will be set up and it has also advised the bishops and the religious to appoint a single portfolio holder for safeguarding children. Conference president, Archbishop Wim Eijk, has assured that there will a group of four people, including at least one bishop, appointed to the committee.
The bishops and religious note in their statement; “Times nor circumstances can excuse the terrible suffering caused to children and their families” adding that the Dutch Catholic Church will “take all measures provided for under church and civil law when there is any suspicion of sexual abuse. The public prosecutor will be informed in accordance with Dutch law when there is any suspicion of a punishable offence”.
They conclude: “shoulder responsibility for providing help, restitution, openness and transparency for and toward the victims of sexual abuse and their families, now and in the future”.
[The main problem with the Vatican Radio report is that it does not mention the number of alleged victims - 20,000 - a figure that dwarfs all other national inquiries into such cases so far. Nor does it mention the number of priests to whom these crimes are attributed - 800 according to the reports below...]
Report slams Dutch
Catholic Church over sex abuse
By MIKE CORDER
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Dec. 16 (AP) — As many as 20,000 children endured sexual abuse at Dutch Catholic institutions over the past 65 years, and church officials failed to adequately address it or help the victims, according to a long-awaited investigative report released Friday.
The findings detailed some of the most widespread abuse yet linked to the Roman Catholic Church, which has been under fire for years over abuse allegations in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.
Based on a survey of 34,000 people, the report estimated that 1 in 10 Dutch children suffered some form of sexual abuse — a figure that rose to 1 in 5 among children who spent part of their youth in an institution such as a boarding school or children's home, whether Catholic or not.
"Sexual abuse of minors," it said bluntly, "occurs widely in Dutch society."
The findings prompted the archbishop of Utrecht, Wim Eijk, to apologize to victims on behalf of the Dutch Church, saying the report "fills us with shame and sorrow."
The abuse ranged from "unwanted sexual advances" to rape, and abusers numbered in the hundreds and included priests, brothers and lay people who worked in religious orders and congregations. The number of victims who suffered abuse in church institutions likely lies somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000, according to the probe, which went back as far as 1945.
The commission behind the investigation was set up last year by the Catholic Church under the leadership of a former government minister, Wim Deetman, a Protestant, who said there could be no doubt Church leaders knew of the problem. "The idea that people did not know there was a risk ... is untenable," he told a news conference.
Deetman said abuse continued in part because bishops and religious orders sometimes worked autonomously to deal with the abuse and "did not hang out their dirty laundry." However, he said
the commission concluded that "it is wrong to talk of a culture of silence" by the Church as a whole.
Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International in Ireland and a victim of clergy abuse, criticized the Dutch inquiry because it was established by the Church itself.
{O'Gorman - the victim who inspired and inflamed the vicious BBC documentary in 2005 that slandered Cardinal Ratzinger and the Church with absurd lies - is, of course, acting on Pavlov-reflex autopilot, speaking out without thinking: Shouldn't it be a point in favor of the Dutch Church - that it was willing to have the situation investigated by an independent commission. What difference does it make who orders it as long as the investigating commission is verifiably independent? In this case, no one has so far cast any doubt on the commission and its members!]
"It is the Dutch government that should be putting in place a meaningful investigation," O'Gorman said.
Even so, he said the report "highlights widespread abuse on a scale I think would be shocking to most Dutch people."
But O'Gorman added that "
the scale of the abuse is in and of itself not the significant issue. It is whether it was covered up and, significantly, this report suggests it was."
['The scale is not an issue'??? The man's statement shows he's really more about pursuing his vendetta against the Church than being concerned for his fellow victims! And it showcases the kind of victims' spokesmen that AP and the rest of MSM favor with 'equal time and space', if not more, than they give the Church whenever they report on this issue.]
Nearly a third of the Netherlands' 16 million people identify themselves as Catholic, making it the largest religion in the country, according to the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics for 2008.
The Dutch probe followed allegations of repeated incidents of abuse at one cloister that spread to claims from Catholic institutions across the country.
The investigating commission received some 1,800 complaints of abuse at Catholic schools, seminaries and orphanages. It then conducted the broader survey of 34,000 people for a more comprehensive analysis of the scale and nature of sexual abuse of minors in the church and elsewhere.
In one order, the Salesians of Don Bosco, the commission found evidence that "sexually inappropriate behavior" among members "may perhaps have been part of the internal monastic culture."
[Don Bosco's mortal remains must have been turning in his grave like a martyr on a spit since his Salesians in the Netherlands began misbehaving so shamefully. And what do the founder-saints in heaven do when the members of the orders they founded bring such shame upon the order? Apart from invoking the Holy Spirit to enlighten and purify the sinners, that is. They can't very well say to God, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" since God will forgive any sinner who sincerely repents, in any case....
Bert Smeets, an abuse victim, said the report did not go far enough in investigating and outlining in precise detail exactly what happened.
"What was happening was sexual abuse, violence, spiritual terror, and that should have been investigated," Smeets told The Associated Press. "It remains vague. All sorts of things happened, but nobody knows exactly what or by whom. This way they avoid responsibility."
The commission said about 800 priests, brothers, pastors or lay people working for the church were identified in the complaints. About 105 of them are still alive, although it is not known if they remain in church positions. Their names were not released.
Prosecutors said in a statement that Deetman's inquiry had referred 11 cases to them — without naming the alleged perpetrators. Prosecutors opened only one investigation, saying the other 10 did not have sufficient details and happened too long ago to prosecute.
The latest findings add to
the growing evidence of widespread clergy abuse of children documented in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Belgium and other countries, forcing Pope Benedict XVI to apologize to victims whose trauma was often hidden by church cover-ups.
In September, abuse victims and human rights lawyers, upset that no high-ranking Church officials have yet to be prosecuted, filed a complaint in the United States urging the International Criminal Court to investigate the Pope and top Vatican officials for possible crimes against humanity. The Vatican called the move a "ludicrous publicity stunt."
[By journalistic standards of fairness, the AP reporter was dutybound here to point out that the 'case' filed in the ICC does not even meet the minimum requirements for cases over which teh ICC has competence! But no, why would the AP bother mentioning a fact that supports the Vatican reaction that this is all a 'ludicrous publicity stunt'?]
An American advocacy group involved in that case, the Center for Constitutional Rights, called the Dutch findings "yet another example of the widespread and systematic nature of the problem of child sex crimes in the Catholic Church."
"If similar commissions were held in every country, we would undoubtedly be equally appalled by the rates of abuse," it said.
Archbishop Eijk said the victims in the Netherlands would be compensated by a commission the Dutch church set up last month and which has a scale starting at $6,500 (euro5,000), rising to a maximum of $130,000 (euro100,000) depending on the nature of the abuse.
O'Gorman criticized the church-established compensation scheme.
"It is simply not appropriate for the church to be the decider" of compensation, he said. "It is important the Dutch government recognizes its responsibility to ensure access to justice ... to all victims."
The New York Times had a different twist - with the headline 'Dutch Bishops Apologize for Abuse of Thousands', giving more importance to the apology than for the deeds being apologized for. Certainly not their wont when they are having to report on any papal or Vatican involvement in a sex abuse story...
Dutch bishops apologize
for abuse of thousands
By ALAN COWELL
December 16, 2011
LONDON — Roman Catholic bishops in the Netherlands said Friday they offered “sincere apologies” to victims of sexual mistreatment, hours after a report by an official commission said church officials had “failed to adequately deal with” abuse affecting as many as 20,000 Dutch children in Catholic institutions.
It remained unclear, however, whether the report broke significant new ground in a tortured debate over the relationship between sexual abuse and Roman Catholic institutions.
Based on a survey of 34,000, people, the report said that 10 percent of Dutch children had suffered from some form of abuse — a proportion that doubled to 20 percent among children who had spent some of their youth in institutions, irrespective of their affiliation.
Referring to the probability of minors being sexually abused in institutions rather than in any other location, the report said,
“it emerged that the risk was twice as high as the national average, but with no sufficient difference between Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic institutions.”
And, tacitly supporting an argument offered frequently by the Vatican, it said that the impression in media coverage “that sexual abuse of minors occurred primarily within the Roman Catholic church needs to be qualified.
“Sexual abuse of minors,” it said bluntly, “occurs widely in Dutch society.”
Terence McKiernan, the president of bishopaccountability.org, a not-for-profit Web site based in Massachusetts that seeks to collate documentation about the sexual abuse crisis, said the commission’s conclusions seemed puzzling.
“It seems they are saying that there’s no difference in instances” of abuse “between the Catholic situation and other institutions they examine,” he said in a telephone interview.
But anecdotal evidence in the report concerning two Catholic orders — the Brothers of Charity and the Salesians of Don Bosco — suggested “that the Catholic situation was worse than in other denominations.”
In the report, for instance, the commission found that “there is evidence that sexually inappropriate behavior towards members of the order” among the Salesians of Don Bosco “may perhaps have been part of the internal monastic culture.”
The Dutch commission, which described itself as independent, was established at the behest of the Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands in 2010 to investigate accusations of abuse since 1945. Its creation followed incidents at one cloister that inspired a series of accusations of priestly abuse at other institutions.
Its findings showed what some analysts said was one of the highest levels of abuse in a continent that has been forced to confront a steady stream of public disclosures about the behavior of priests and church workers toward minors.
Almost one-third of the Netherlands’ 16 million people profess Catholicism, making their faith the largest in the country, according to the country’s official statistics for 2008. The report said the Church’s response to accusations there in many cases “failed to take adequate action and paid too little attention to victims.”
Sexual abuse, the report said, “was covered up” and measures to prevent or punish it “were not taken in order to avoid any further scandal.”
“The scale of sexual abuse of minors in the Roman Catholic Church in the period 1945 to 2010 is relatively small in percentage terms, but is a serious problem in absolute numbers,” the report concluded. “Several tens of thousands of minors have experienced mild, serious and very serious forms of inappropriate sexual behavior.”
The report, which was published on the Web in English in summary form, said the commission had received some 1,800 reports of abuse at Catholic schools, seminaries and orphanages as it gathered evidence between March and December, 2010.
The commission then conducted a broader survey among 34,000 Dutch nationals aged 40 and over, finding that from 1945 to 1981 between 10,000 and 20,000 children were sexually abused in church institutions, with offenses ranging from inappropriate touching to “several thousand” cases of “serious abuse.”
The commission identified some 800 clergy and lay church workers named in complaints as perpetrators of abuse. Of them, 105 were still alive, but their status within the church was not clear. It did not identify them by name.
The latest charges added vivid testimony to the disturbing imagery of priestly abuse that have spread in recent years across Europe from Belgium to Ireland and Austria as well as in Canada and the United States, forcing Pope Benedict XVI to apologize to victims whose traumas were often hidden by church cover-ups. [Oh-oh. Doesn't this sound like an almost-verbatim repeat of a paragraph in the AP story above???? Yup! Here's the AP paragraph:
The latest findings add to the growing evidence of widespread clergy abuse of children documented in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Belgium and other countries, forcing Pope Benedict XVI to apologize to victims whose trauma was often hidden by church cover-ups.
Wim Deetman, a Protestant former education minister who led the commission, said the report showed that the extent of abuse could longer be denied. “The idea that people did not know it and administrators did not know it cannot be maintained,” he said, according to Reuters.
In a statement, the conference of Roman Catholic Bishops in the Netherlands said the abuse “fills us with shame and sorrow.” The bishops also said they were “shocked by the sexual abuse of minors and the practices detailed in this report.”
The report was published a month after the Dutch branch of the Roman Catholic Church announced a system to compensate victims with payments of up to $138,000.
The publication of the report could build further pressure on the Vatican.
In September, human rights lawyers and victims of clergy sexual abuse filed a complaint in the United States urging the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate and prosecute Pope Benedict XVI and three top Vatican officials for crimes against humanity for what they described as abetting and covering up the rape and sexual assault of children by priests.
The formal filing of nearly 80 pages by two American advocacy groups, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was the most substantive effort yet to hold the pope and the Vatican accountable in an international court for sexual abuse by priests.
Below is yet another example of media bias:
Left, the start of Google's headline summary of the news about the Dutch report; center and right, a page from Daylife's headline summaries with only one mention of the Dutch story - the rest, along with the three pages that preceded it being about the Christmas-tree lighting at the Vatican. Why do you suppose the Daylife editors chose to play down the Dutch story in favor of the Christmas-tree lighting? The Christmas spirit?
A 23-page English summary of the Deetmann Commission report can be found here:
http://www.onderzoekrk.nl/fileadmin/commissiedeetman/data/downloads/eindrapport/20111216/Samenvatting_eindrapport_Engelstalig.pdf
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/12/2011 20:15]