Tag: catholic

Predator Priests in Paradise

~ danbonbooks ~ Leave a comment

For many, thoughts of the South Pacific bring to mind lavish vacations on beautiful islands with miles of white sand beaches.  Given their exotic locale, islands in this region are very popular with diving enthusiasts, and have even become the venue of choice for “destination weddings.”

Sadly, they have also gained a much more sordid reputation for another reason … they are excellent places for the Catholic Church to hide predator priests.

According to a report in the NY Times (9/6/24), island nations in the South Pacific have become a repository for Catholic priests and missionaries accused of having sexually abused children.   In fact, more than 30 of these fallen clergy have taken up residence in Fiji, Kiribati, New Guinea and Samoa and, in at least 13 of those cases, their superiors knew that these men had been accused or convicted of abuse before being transferred to the Pacific.

In one particularly egregious case Julian Fox, the Australian head of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Melbourne, was moved to Fiji when it became known that a former student had accused him of rape.  Being in that island nation kept him out of the reach of Australian authorities, where he stayed for several years before taking an assignment at the Vatican.  Yes … that’s right … he took an assignment at the Vatican.

A decade after the initial accusations, Fox returned to Australia where he was convicted of abusing five children, some of whom he beat and violated with a pool cue according to media reports.

Similarly, Rodger Moloney, leader of a Catholic school dedicated to caring for disabled children in New Zealand, was reported in 1971, to have sexually abused a child.  Shortly thereafter, he took a position at the Vatican … yes … once again … a job at the Vatican.  He next worked in New Guinea in the 1980s and 1990s, before being extradited back to New Zealand where he was convicted of abusing five boys and sentenced to nearly three years in prison.

As an aside, when church leaders look for a place to hide a pedophile priest, an island in the South Pacific is an attractive option … good weather … scenic … large Catholic population … legal protection against extradition.  That said, consider how disappointed a disgraced prelate must be to find himself being “reprogrammed” at a remote facility in the desert of New Mexico, when he could have been sitting on a beach in the tropics.  

Michelle Mulvihill, a former nun and adviser to the Australian Catholic Church has been a staunch critic of those who have used the Pacific Islands as a “dumping ground” for degenerate priests.  In publicizing the transfer of pedophiles and pederasts into this remote locale, Mulvihill argues that Catholic leaders have used this region as a place to discard those people who they do not want to confront.

And … there it is.

Individual acts of depravity by Catholic clergy are reprehensible and unforgivable, and the perpetrators of such evil are beyond redemption.  There is a special place in Hell, though, for those church leaders … the Catholic elite … who have knowledge of the depraved actions of those in their charge, and who fail to hold those miscreants forcefully and publicly accountable.

Given the proclivity for church leaders to transfer dissolute clergy to these remote South Pacific Islands, one could understand if a Fijian Catholic were to declare:  madua ena lotu Kotolika.*

(*Translation: Shame on the Catholic church)

Apologia Lost

~ danbonbooks ~ Leave a comment

Since May, 2015, Pope Francis has spoken, repeatedly, of the words “please, thank you, and sorry” as being essential to repairing and reinforcing bonds.  The phrase “I’m sorry” in particular, he said, is the one which, when lacking, causes small cracks in relationships to become larger to the point that they become deep trenches.

Apparently, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, did not get the memo.

This became clear, recently, when Benedict addressed allegations that he disregarded the reports of four survivors of clergy sexual abuse when he was Archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.  While denying that he mishandled those accusations, he acknowledged his failure to assist those victims when they sought his help.  In asking for clemency, he added:  “I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church.  All the greater is my pain for the abuses and the errors that occurred in those different places during the time of my mandate.”

It is worth pointing out that Benedict’s comments lack the simple phrase … I’m sorry … that his successor, Francis, held as key to healing and mending brokenness.  This being so, one is left to wonder … don’t these guys talk to each other?

Benedict’s lack of personal remorse met with swift reaction. In New York, for example, Robert Hoatson, a priest for 45 years and co-founder of Road to Recovery, demonstrated in front of Archdiocesan offices carrying signs that read: “Pope Benedict: A Moral Failure.  Like All Church Leaders.”  When interviewed, he spoke for many disaffected Catholics in asserting that: “The Church is never going to change.  It’s corrupt to the core, from the Vatican down to New York City.”

To apologize, one needs to honestly hear what happened from the other person’s point of view and how it affected them. But those who believe the world revolves around them like, for example, the Princes of the Church, tend not to be interested in listening to others, particularly if they are being accused of doing something wrong.

Having, over the course of many years, learned this painful lesson, victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy have, long since, abandoned hope of receiving a sincere and meaningful apology from hierarchy of the Church.  

And as the recent intransigence from the upper reaches of the Vatican reveals, this is unlikely to change any time soon.

Hypocrisy Personified

~ danbonbooks ~ Leave a comment

When you have a moment,  look up the definition of the word hypocrite.  When you find it, do not be surprised to see, next to it, a picture of James Jackson.  For those unfamiliar with the goings-on in the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, Jackson is the now-suspended pastor of St. Mary’s Church who was arrested recently for a range of criminal offenses related to the possession and distribution of child pornography.

While despicable beyond words, what makes Jackson’s case even more breathtaking is his penchant for writing columns decrying sex abuse scandals perpetrated by “psychosexually dysfunctional” priests, and then publishing those works in the weekly bulletin at his church.  He even wrote about former Cardinal Timothy McCarrick, describing him as a “creep” who, while engaging in public good works, simultaneously led a sinful private life.

As it turns out, Jackson knows more than a little about that sort of thing.

Needless to say, every person facing criminal charges deserves the presumption of innocence.  Jackson’s defense attorney, though, has his work cut out for him.  First, a police task force Identified the IP address of a computer at St. Mary’s rectory as being actively engaged in viewing and sharing videos consistent with the sexual abuse of children.  Second, a search warrant at that rectory found a two-terabyte external storage device containing multiple videos of young children engaged in various sexual acts.  That device belonged to Jackson.

To assist with his legal bills, a group of parishioners set up a web site to collect funds and share their views about Jackson’s situation.  Many posts on that site are disheartening, as they suggest some sort of plot to discredit Jackson,  going on to describe him as a someone they trust unreservedly.  One hopes these assessments are accurate, for that is what countless other Catholic families said about their own parish priests only to learn, far too late, that they were sexual predators.  In case after case, those awful men ingratiated themselves into families while, at the same time, sexually abusing the children of those who trusted them.  Who, after all, would ever think that a Catholic Priest would commit such evil acts.

For our purposes, hypocrisy is defined as the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another, or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform.  By extension, then, a hypocrite is someone who practices hypocrisy.

In addition to being a disgraced Catholic Priest criminally charged with moral turpitude, James Jackson is, by definition, a hypocrite.

The Man Next Door

~ danbonbooks ~ Leave a comment

Our new neighbor seems nice.

He appears to be of retirement age and, though he moved in about a year ago, he keeps pretty much to himself.  Somebody said he came here to the Midwest from one of the New England states, and that he had spent a number of years in the Navy.  He lives alone.

A large American flag flies over his front yard, and he is frequently seen in his garage working with his large collection of tools.  He doesn’t socialize much, but he has a couple of buddies with whom he goes golfing and boating.  It’s nice to see retired guys enjoying life.

He must be a religious sort, for there is a statue of Jesus on his front steps and a sticker on his car reading: “I’m Catholic and I Vote.”  He volunteers at a nearby convent where he drives ailing nuns to medical treatment, and he recently began working with a local community theater group offering programs for adults and young folks.

There are many kids here on our quiet cul-de-sac, and we parents keep a close eye on them.  Our own children are well-mannered … when they are playing outside, they wave at our neighbor and say: “Hello.”  He always waves back at them.

We don’t know much about this fellow, but it doesn’t seem like we should be concerned about him.

Should we?

This “new neighbor” is not an actual person.  Instead, he is a composite of details unearthed by the Associated Press (AP) in a recent search for 1,700 disgraced former Catholic clergy living clandestine lives in unsuspecting communities across the United States.

In their exhaustive October, 2019, report, the AP located fallen clerics employed as school teachers, sex assault counselors, nurses and volunteers working with at-risk children.  Some of these individuals lived near playgrounds and day care centers and, since leaving the church, many have been charged with crimes including sexual assault and possession of child pornography.

And, most distressing, these individuals … each of whom had been removed following credible allegations of sexual abuse … were living in unwary neighborhoods absent supervision by the Catholic Church or notification to any government entity.

When asked about this sad state of affairs, Church leaders maintain that once a priest is dismissed there is no way to keep track of him.  But this is simply not true.

In November, 2018, for example, the Archdiocese of New Orleans released the names of 57 clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors over the years in southeast Louisiana.  In revealing the names of the abusers, the Archbishop said surviving former clergy on the list were notified that their names were about to be made public; he went on to note that efforts were undertaken to notify family members of deceased former religious as well.

It should come as no surprise that other Dioceses and Archdioceses have that same ability.  Consider, for example, the many accused clergy who continue to receive pensions or health insurance from the church … it has been suggested that dioceses should devise a system making those benefits contingent upon defrocked priests self-reporting their current addresses and employment

No longer can we allow Catholic leaders to assert that fallen clergy removed from ministry are not their problem.  The failure to monitor predator priests and report their presence in our communities is inexcusable for, as American author Dean Koontz warns:

Evil is no faceless stranger, living in a distant neighborhood. 

Evil has a wholesome, hometown face, with merry eyes 

and an open smile. Evil walks among us, wearing

a mask which looks like all our faces.