Limerick PP & Gay Sauna (7)

We must apologise to you all for not having and further updates since last posting and indeed for missing the end of January posting but this was more to do with legal correspondence than anything else.

Now that it has been taken care of, we are in the process of compiling a posting which should be of interest to you all in relation to this sorry saga and especially in relation to the characters involved.

This should be up for viewing in the next few days and will be flagged in advance.....

It just goes to prove that irrespective of the misuse of parishioners money to fund legal action and other threats and attempted intimidation, this story shall not be prevented from being publicly aired!!!

Retired Cardinal Edward Egan Faces Criticism For Taking Back Abuse Apology

Retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan is facing criticism from representatives of clergy sexual abuse victims for a recent interview in which he said he regretted apologizing for the priest abuse scandal in 2002 when he was bishop of Bridgeport.

In the interview with Connecticut Magazine, Egan said "I don't think we did anything wrong" in handling abuse cases. He said he was not obligated to report abuse claims and maintained he inherited the cases from his predecessor and did not have any cases on his watch, according to the magazine.

Clergy in Connecticut have been required to report abuse claims to authorities since the early 1970s, according to attorneys who represented numerous abuse victims.

"Egan never did so and his failure to do so constitutes a violation of the law," said the attorneys, Jason Tremont, Cindy Robinson and Douglas Mahoney.

Telephone messages were left with church officials in New York and Bridgeport.

Egan, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 2007, was Bridgeport bishop from 1988 to 2000. The Bridgeport diocese has paid out nearly $38 million to settle abuse claims over the years involving allegations by more than 60 people who said they had been molested by priests.

In court documents unsealed in 2009, Egan expressed skepticism over sexual abuse allegations and said he found it "marvelous" that so few priests had been accused over the years.

In the recent interview, Egan was asked about a letter he wrote to parishioners in 2002 saying "if in hindsight we discover that mistakes may have been made as regards prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry."

"First of all I should never have said that," Egan responded, according to the magazine. "I did say if we did anything wrong, I'm sorry, but I don't think we did anything wrong."

Egan said in the interview that he sent accused priests to treatment

"And as a result, not one of them did a thing out of line. Those whom I could prove, I got rid of; those whom I couldn't prove, I didn't. But I had them under control."

Egan also said he was not surprised that "the scandal was going to be fun in the news, not fun but the easiest thing to write about."

As for reporting claims to authorities, he said, "I don't think even now you're obligated to report them in Connecticut."

"I sound very defensive and I don't want to because I'm very proud of how this thing was handled," Egan said.

At another point, Egan said, "I believe the sex abuse thing was incredibly good." Asked if he meant because it resulted in positive changes, he responded, "Good that ... the record, I think, is an excellent record."

Egan's statements describing the scandal as "fun" for the news or "incredibly good" shows he's out of touch, the attorneys said.

"For the cardinal to `take back' his apology is just another slap in the face of every victim who has endured the physical and emotional upheaval and betrayal of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a priest," the attorneys said.

The attorneys said their clients included victims who were abused by priests while Egan was Bridgeport bishop. In 1989 and 1993, abuse victims complained to the diocese but no action was taken, they said.

Egan also welcomed a priest back into the diocese in 1990 who had been accused of biting a young male's penis decades earlier, according to the attorneys.

Egan transferred priests subject to complaints and allowed priests with complaints against them to continue to practice, the attorneys said.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests called Egan "obviously unrepentant, self-absorbed and painfully dismissive of the abject suffering of tens of thousands of deeply wounded men, women and children who have been sexually violated by priests, nuns, bishops, brothers, seminarians and other Catholic officials. We can't help but believe that many other prelates feel exactly as he does but are shrewd enough to avoid saying so outside of clerical circles."

SNAP urged other American Catholic officials, especially in New York and Connecticut, to publicly rebuke Egan.

Priest sex trial: Church pledges support to scandal-hit parishes

THE head of the Roman Catholic church in the West Midlands has spoken out about the "horrendous" sexual abuse committed by a former priest.

Bede Walsh has been found guilty of carrying out 21 sexual offences against eight boys when he served as a priest in churches across the Archdiocese of Birmingham, including in Cheadle.

After finding Walsh guilty of 18 charges of indecent assault and one serious sexual offence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Monday, the jury yesterday finished its deliberations to convict him of a further two counts.

Walsh, aged 58, will be sentenced on March 9 and has been warned a lengthy sentence is "inevitable".

The Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, yesterday said the "horrific" case had "shocked and appalled" him.

Walsh has not been able to work in the community as a Catholic priest since 2004 and will now be defrocked.

A special parish visit will be made to St Giles', in Cheadle, to speak to parishioners and offer support on Sunday.

Archbishop Longley said in a press conference in Birmingham: "I wish to make clear that Bede Walsh has not been in active ministry as a Catholic priest since 2004, before any of the allegations associated with this conviction were made. Because of the seriousness of the offences committed by Bede Walsh, I will begin immediately the process of laicisation, which will lead to his removal from the clerical state. This is an horrific case which has shocked and appalled me, and it has cast a shadow over the lives of many people: victims and their families, fellow priests, and also the people of the parishes where he has served."

Walsh was arrested for making and possessing indecent images of children in 2004 and convicted the following year.

His first two victims made their complaints in 2006 and the rest came forward between 2008 and 2011.

Walsh was charged with 27 counts of sexual abuse on boys aged between eight and 16 in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

He was acquitted of six of the charges during his 10-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

Archbishop Longley thanked the victims for their courage in bringing Walsh to justice.

He said: "These are horrendous crimes, and I first want to express my deep sense of shame at what has taken place. It is the most serious betrayal of trust. I also want to express my profound sorrow, and deep regret to each of the victims, then children, now adults, for the abuse perpetrated by Father Bede Walsh, whom they and their families trusted as a priest."

In a direct message to the victims of the offences, Archbishop Longley said: "I thank you for the courage that you have shown in giving evidence to the court in order that these crimes might be brought into the light of day.

"I realise that this has been an indescribably difficult and distressing time for you, your families and friends. I recognise these crimes can cause deep and lasting damage. It is my sincere hope that as a result of this conviction, and with the help of God, you will now be able to begin to take up again the rebuilding of your lives."

Archbishop Longley added: "My thoughts and prayers are with each of you and the members of your families at this particular time. My door is open to you, and I am willing to meet with you, individually or with members of your families. It is right that you have the chance to tell me how the actions of Bede Walsh have affected you, and I am ready and willing to listen."

Archbishop Longley also stressed the Archdiocese of Birmingham has worked closely with the police, will continue to do so and has policies in place relating to child protection.

The Catholic Church declined to say anything other than that contained in the prepared statement and did not answer questions asking why Walsh was not defrocked after his first conviction.

One church-goer said: "It is impossible to comprehend that Bede was still classed as a priest up to this week. He may have lost some of his duties but he was not de-robed even after the disgrace of his first court case. There has been a lack of leadership from outside of the parish. People are confused; was something already known by the powers that be in the diocese when he left Cheadle in 1999? Was he being looked after by the Church? He was always an eccentric man, but he had the town eating out of his hand. He had his own sweet shop and ran his own children's disco and no-one ever batted an eyelid. What a complex person that in one moment he might pull off a remarkable act of charity or preach so eloquently from the Bible, while in the next who-knows-what was going on behind closed doors."

Vatican sex crimes prosecutor warns bishops

Bishops must follow the Catholic church's laws and standards when dealing with priests who sexually abuse children or face possible church sanctions for negligence, the Vatican's sex crimes prosecutor said Wednesday.

Monsignor Charles Scicluna spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a Vatican-backed symposium on clerical sex abuse that is designed to help bishops around the world craft guidelines to protect children and keep pedophiles out of the priesthood. 

Priests and bishops from 110 dioceses and 30 religious orders are attending the four-day workshop ahead of a May deadline to submit their guidelines for review by the Holy See.

Survivors of clerical abuse, government investigations and clerics themselves have long blamed bishops for failing to report abusive priests to police and failing to apply church law to sanction them internally. 

Victims' groups have denounced the lack of accountability of bishops who were never punished for having moved priests from parish to parish where they could abuse again.

Scicluna, the promoter of justice in the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said it was "unacceptable" for bishops to ignore church law and standards to deal with abusers and said canon law provides for sanctioning bishops who do — including being removed as bishop.

The law, however, is not commonly applied — at least as far as sex abuse cases goes. In fact, there is no known, recent case in which a bishop has been forcibly removed for having mishandled a case of an abusive priest.

"It is a crime in canon law to show malicious or fraudulent negligence in the exercise of ones duty," Scicluna said. "I'm not saying that we should start punishing everybody for any negligence in his duties. But ... it is not acceptable that when there are set standards, people do not follow the set standards."

He allowed, however, that only the pope can remove a bishop and it's not something that happens every day. Theologically speaking, bishops are very much masters of their own dioceses. 

But Scicluna said ecclesial accountability needed to be "further developed" through application of existing church law.

"What we need to do is to be vigilant in choosing candidates for the important role of bishop, and also to use the tools that canonical law and tradition give for accountability of bishops," he said. "It's not a question of changing laws, it's a question of applying what we have."

While the church has been slow to sanction high-ranking prelates who fail to report abusers, civil law has begun to pick up the slack.

In the United States, a church official is facing trial in Philadelphia on alleged child endangerment and conspiracy charges for allegedly failing to protect children from pedophile priests in his care in the diocese. 

Monsignor William Lynn, who served as secretary of clergy in the Philadelphia archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, was the first U.S. church official ever charged over accusations of administrative failings in the priest-abuse crisis.

Subsequently, in Kansas City, Missouri, Bishop Robert Finn was indicted in October for allegedly failing to report suspected child abuse involving a priest who was later charged with possessing child pornography.

Both men say they are innocent.

Scicluna said where bishops fail to do the right thing, the pope's ambassadors to individual countries hear directly from victims of abuse and report back to Rome. 

Papal nuncios, he said, "have the duty also to listen to the people in order to convey the concerns of the local church to the Holy Father."

Scicluna addressed the symposium Wednesday morning, denouncing the "deadly culture of silence or 'omerta'" that still surrounds clerical abuse in much of the world.

"No strategy for the prevention of child abuse will ever work without commitment and accountability," he said.

Advocates for victims have dismissed the symposium as a farce, saying the only way children will be safe is if the Vatican releases the names and files of known molesters.

On Tuesday, psychologists told bishops at the conference they should listen first to the victims, because priests who rape and molest children lie when confronted with an accusation but victims usually tell the truth.

The symposium, held at the Pontifical Gregorian University, wraps up Thursday with the unveiling of an online resource center for best practices to fight abuse.

Symposium is at www.thr.unigre.it

Sexual abuse silence "deadly" for Church: Vatican official

Hiding behind a culture of "omerta" -- the Italian word for the Mafia's code of silence -- would be deadly for the Catholic Church, the Vatican's top official for dealing with sexual abuse of minors by clergy said Wednesday.

Monsignor Charles Scicluna made the unusually forthright comment in his speech to a landmark symposium in Rome on the sexual abuse crisis that has rocked the Church in the past decade.

"The teaching ... that truth is at the basis of justice explains why a deadly culture of silence, or 'omerta,' is in itself wrong and unjust," Scicluna said in his address to the four-day symposium which brings together some 200 people including bishops, leaders of religious orders, victims of abuse and psychologists.

Rarely, if ever, has a Vatican official used the word "omerta" - a serious accusation in Italian -- to compare the reluctance of some in the Church to come clean on the abuse scandal with the Mafia's code of silence.

"Other enemies of the truth are the deliberate denial of known facts and the misplaced concern that the good name of the institution should somehow enjoy absolute priority to the detriment of disclosure," Scicluna said.

Victims groups have for years accused some bishops in the Church of preferring silence and cover-up to coming clean on the scandal, which has sullied the image of the Church around the world, particularly in the United States.

"No strategy for the prevention of child abuse will ever work without commitment and accountability," Scicluna told the symposium at the Jesuit Pontifical Gregorian University, called "Towards Healing and Renewal."

Scicluna, a Maltese whose formal title is "justice promoter" in the Vatican's doctrinal department, is the Vatican's point man for dealing with cases of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

The symposium's participants are discussing how the Church can become more aware of the problem, make a commitment to listen to victims and prevent future cases of abuse.

Groups representing abuse victims say the Church must do much more to own up to the past, when known pedophile priests were shuttled from parish to parish instead of being defrocked or turned over to authorities.

It must also make greater efforts to prevent future cases, they say, accusing the Church and the Vatican of a cover-up.

COOPERATE WITH AUTHORITIES, BISHOPS TOLD

The message from Scicluna and other Vatican officials who have addressed the symposium is that local Church officials must cooperate with civil authorities according to local law in cases of suspected pedophilia.

The scandals have led to costly legal action, are blamed for an exodus of believers in some European nations, including the pope's native Germany, and have damaged the Church's moral standing in hitherto staunchly Catholic states, such as Ireland.

An association for victims of abuse dismissed the conference as "window dressing" and said the Vatican should hand over documentation of abuse to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

"After years of promises, meetings and empty apologies, the Vatican cannot do the simplest, cheapest and most child-friendly action possible: make public decades of secret files on clergy sex offenders and enablers," said Joelle Casteix from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Tuesday, an Irish victim of clerical abuse bluntly told the symposium that guidelines on how to root out pedophile priests and protect children needed to be backed up by penalties for bishops who fail to implement them.

Marie Collins said rules without sanctions were too easily ignored and cases were often swept under the carpet, allowing pedophiles to carry on molesting children.

The Church in her native Ireland was one of the hardest hit by the sexual abuse scandal.

Last July, the Vatican took the highly unusual step of recalling its ambassador to Ireland after Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused the Holy See of obstructing investigations into sexual abuse by priests.

The Irish parliament passed a motion deploring the Vatican's role in "undermining child protection frameworks" following publication of a damning report on the diocese of Cloyne.

The Cloyne report said Irish clerics concealed from the authorities the sexual abuse of children by priests as recently as 2009.

In November, Ireland closed its embassy to the Vatican, ostensibly for economic reasons.

God is present even when he is “apparently silent”, says pope

Even though he may “appear silent”, God “is present”. For this reason, we should still turn to him with our “daily crosses” and those of our brothers and sisters, said Benedict XVI as he spoke about the prayer of the dying Jesus to 6,000 people present for today’s general audience in the Vatican.

At the end of the meeting, the pope expressed his sympathy for the people in parts of Europe hit by a recent cold snap, urging everyone to reach out to them. “In recent weeks,” he said, “a wave of cold and frost has swept some regions of Europe causing great inconvenience and considerable damage. I wish to express my closeness to people affected by this intense bad weather, while I invite prayers for the victims and their families. At the same time, I encourage solidarity so that those who are suffering from these tragic events are generously supported.”

Before this appeal, Benedict XVI spoke about Mark and Matthew who describe Jesus’ last hours. “Eloì, Eloì, lemà sabactàni? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” are his last words. The two Evangelists cite the prayer of the dying Jesus, not only in Greek, which is the language in which they wrote the story, but also in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic. Hence, not only did they pass on the content but also the sound of the prayer that left Jesus’ lips.”

They refer to “the attitude of those present at the crucifixion”. In the structure of the biblical story, “Jesus’ cry comes after a three hours, between noon and 3 pm, when darkness prevailed over the land. These three hours of darkness followed a period of three hours that began with the crucifixion.”

In those first three hours, “people mocked him, showing their scepticism and asserting their non-belief”. Even “some priests and scribes” were among them, as were those who were crucified with him. In the next three hours, “as it covered all the land, darkness prevailed with no reference to people or words. As Jesus approached his death, darkness ruled the land. Even the cosmos took part in what was happening as darkness enveloped people and things. However, even in this moment of darkness, God was present and forsaking no one.”

“Darkness is an ambivalent symbol in the Bible. Whilst it is frequently a sign of evil’s power, it is also a sign of a mysterious divine presence that can overcome darkness. In Jesus’ crucifixion scene, darkness envelops the land. The Son of God immerses himself in the darkness of death to bring life with act of love.”

“Faced with darkness descending upon everything in the moment of death, with the cry of his prayer, Jesus shows that, together with the weight of suffering and death in which God appears to be absent and to have forsaken us, He is certain of the Father’s closeness, that He approves of this supreme act of love, of giving Oneself, even though, unlike other times, he does not hear the voice from up high.”

What does the cry “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” mean? “In this prayer is there not the awareness that one has been abandoned? Does he doubt his mission, or the Father’s presence? As the opening verse in Psalm 22, the words that Jesus spoke to the Father allow the psalmist to convey to God the tension that exists between the sense of loneliness and the awareness that God is present among his people.”

“Is crying out the words of the Psalm, Jesus is praying in the moment of man’s final rejection, the moment when he is forsaken. With the psalm, he is praying, aware of the presence of God the Father, even at this hour when he feels the human drama of death. Yet, we may wonder. How can so powerful a God not intervene to save his Son from such a terrible ordeal? It is important to understand that Jesus’ prayer is not the cry of one meeting death with despair, nor is it the cry of one who knows himself to be abandoned. At that moment, Jesus makes his own Psalm 22, the psalm of the suffering people of Israel, and in this way, not only does he take upon Himself the punishment of his people, but also that of all men who suffer from the oppression of evil. At the same time, he brings all of this to the heart of God himself in the certainty that his cry will be heard in the Resurrection. The cry of the ultimate ordeal is also the certainty of God’s response, certainty of Salvation, not only for Jesus, but for the ‘multitudes’ as well.”

In his final moment, Jesus lets his heart express his pain. At the same time, through him, the Father’s presence can be felt and the consent to his plan for humanity’s salvation can be given. “As always, we are once again faced today with suffering and God’s silence, which time and time again we express in our prayers. However, the Resurrection, God’ response, remains relevant in today’s world. He has taken on himself our suffering in order to help us carry it, thus giving us steadfast hope that it will be overcome.”

Vatican body has dealt with 4,000 child sex abuse cases in past decade

THE HOLY See’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has had to deal with more than 4,000 cases of sexual abuse of minors in the past decade, according to its prefect, US Cardinal William Levada.

He was speaking at a symposium in Rome, “Towards Healing and Renewal”, which opened yesterday and was addressed by Irish clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins.

Cardinal Levada told the symposium, being held over three days in the Pontifical Gregorian University, that the number of cases of sexual abuse of minors reported to the CDF in the past decade had revealed, on the one hand, the inadequacy of “an exclusively canonical response to this tragedy and, on the other, the necessity of a truly multifaceted response ...”

Bishops from more than 100 countries as well as 32 heads of religious orders have gathered for the event, which is intended to help churchmen understand the need for and then develop that “truly multifaceted response”.

In Rome, where until recently it was not uncommon to hear senior Vatican figures dismiss the clerical sex abuse crisis as “an Anglo-Saxon problem”, this may well be a ground-breaking event.

Cardinal Levada indicated something of the spirit of the week when addressing the victims of clerical sex abuse, saying: “For many if not most victims a first need is to be heard, to know that the church listens to their story of abuse, that the church understands the gravity of what they have suffered, that she wants to accompany them on the often long path of healing ...”.

While acknowledging the complexity of the issue, Cardinal Levada did however defend the church’s response, pointing out that John Paul II’s 2001 Motu Proprio “ Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela ” instigated a “co-ordinated response” by instructing all abuse cases be reported to the CDF.

Cardinal Levada praised Pope Benedict not only for his role as prefect of the CDF in 2001 in framing that Motu Proprio but also for supporting the approval of “Essential Norms” on child protection in the US church, adding: “But the Pope has had to suffer attacks by the media over these past years in various parts of the world, when he should rather have received the gratitude of us all, in the church and outside it ...”

In an address entitled, “Listening, Understanding and Acting To Heal and Empower Victims”, Ms Collins outlined the pain and trauma of having been abused by a priest as a 13-year-old but also of having been blamed when she finally found the courage to tell her story, more than 30 years later.

“I was treated as someone with an agenda against the church, the police investigation was obstructed and the laity misled. I was distraught,” she said.

The best of her life began 15 years ago, she said, when her abuser was finally brought to justice. 

Since then, she has worked with the church to help improve itss child protection policies while working for justice for survivors.

No one listened to me, abuse victim Marie tells bishops at summit

Church guidelines on how to root out paedophile priests and protect children need to be backed up by penalties for bishops who fail to implement them, Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins told a Vatican symposium on clerical abuse Tuesday.

She said rules without sanctions were too easily ignored and cases were often swept under the carpet, allowing paedophiles to carry on molesting children.

The symposium is aimed at compelling bishops to create tough policies to protect children and root out paedophiles from the priesthood.

"I would hope that internally there could be some ecclesiastical penalty for a bishop who may not follow the guidelines," the 65-year-old campaigner said at the gathering in Rome. "You obviously have civil law as well, but I am talking more on the church side."

The Vatican sent a letter to bishops last year telling them that they must make it a global priority to tackle the sexual abuse of children by priests and every diocese must draw up its own guidelines in line with local criminal law.

The four-day meeting this week has brought together more than 200 bishops and church leaders to discuss how the church can become more aware of the problem, make a commitment to victims and prevent future cases.

Ms Collins, the only victim attending the conference, spoke in detail about the abuse she suffered at the hands of a priest when she was 13 and how it damaged the rest of her life.

Ms Collins, who was assaulted by a hospital chaplain, told the bishops she had endured multiple hospitalisations later in life for anxiety and depression. She told how the church's response to her abuse -- refusing to believe her and taking the word of the priest -- devastated her.

"I was treated as someone with an agenda against the church, the police investigation was obstructed and the laity misled. I was distraught," she said.

Distraught

In 1996, Ms Collins went to Dublin's then archbishop, Cardinal Desmond Connell, with her story, knowing that the Irish bishops had just adopted a tough new policy to report abusers to gardai. She said Dr Connell told her he didn't have to follow the church guidelines.

Eventually, the priest, the Rev Paul McGennis, was prosecuted and jailed. He was also sentenced twice more for molesting other children.

"The fact that my abuser was a priest added to the great confusion in my mind," she said. 

"Those fingers that would abuse my body the night before were the next morning holding and offering me the sacred host."

She said when she tried to warn church leaders about the priest she was ignored on several occasions despite existing church rules on child safety, and he went on to molest others.

"These men can abuse for their whole lifetime, leaving behind them a trail of destroyed lives," she said.

"Coming from a country where guidelines are ignored, I am conscious that as well as having them written down you must have some way of making sure they are implemented."

Psychologists told the assembled bishops that priests who rape and molest children usually lie when confronted with an accusation, and that the church should listen to victims.

Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, a psychologist who for a decade ran a US treatment centre for abusive priests, told the conference that just like alcoholics or drug addicts, sexually abusive priests lie when confronted with allegations. They manipulate, they con, they deny.

As a result, he said, trained civil authorities, not bishops, should determine whether an allegation is well-founded.

Even if prosecutors don't proceed with a criminal case, either because too much time has passed or evidence is lacking, bishops should form an advisory panel of law enforcement, mental health and canon law experts to investigate and decide how to proceed, Msgr Rossetti said. 

"When the church listens first to victims, as Pope Benedict repeatedly has done, we learn the truth," he added.

FG turns to prayer in effort to reverse embassy closure

IT WAS all one-way traffic at last week’s Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting when Deputies and Senators discussed a motion from Sligo TD Tony McLoughlin calling on the Government to consider a review of its recent decision to close the Vatican embassy.

There wasn’t a dissenting voice among the 35 speakers, all of whom spoke in favour of the motion. 

Lucinda Creighton and Michael Noonan spoke strongly in favour of the review, while Tipperary’s Noel Coonan described the closure as stupid.

Making reference to the Minister for the Environment, who had left the room, he added: “Cute old Phil must have kissed the Cabinet that day because there was nothing cute about that decision.”

But it was Tom Barry of Cork East who unwittingly provoked the biggest reaction of the evening. Given the overwhelming support for the motion, Deputy Barry thought he might bring the Vatican discussion to a speedy end with a little joke.

“I think we’ll finish now with a decade of the rosary – I hope you all know your prayers.”

Whereupon Peter Mathews of Dublin South jumped up and whipped a pair of brown rosary beads out of his pocket, and with his arm high in the air, swung them around his head like he was about to lasso a calf.

They weren’t expecting that.

Quinn wants orders to pay more

THE MINISTER for Education is to write to the 18 religious congregations, which ran residential institutions where children were abused, asking them to contribute more towards the €1.2 billion bill for compensating victims.

The letter from Ruairí Quinn follows questions put to Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil yesterday about the status of the payment of compensation by the congregations.

In 2009, the Ryan commission published its finding that children put into State care in religious-run residential institutions had suffered systemic abuse. 

Under the 2002 indemnity agreement, the congregations agreed to provide a contribution of €128 million to those abused, comprising cash, property and counselling services.

The final cost of the response to residential institutional child abuse, however, has since been estimated to be in the region of €1.36 billion. 

The Government said last year that it believed this should be shared on a 50-50 basis, between the taxpayer and those responsible for managing the institutions where the abuse took place.

Last July, Mr Quinn expressed his disappointment at the level of contributions offered by religious congregations to meet costs of the compensation, saying that offers from the religious congregations to date had fallen far short of the amount needed.

The department said that the letter had already been in train, before the questions received by the Taoiseach, and that the correspondence was “the official expression” of what Mr Quinn had asked of the congregations last summer.

A spokeswoman confirmed that the letter would be sent in the next fortnight.

TD apologises for vetting scheme on church 'deference'

A LABOUR backbencher has apologised for his apparent support of a proposal that senior public servants be screened to ensure they do not show “inappropriate deference” to the Catholic Church.

It was reported that Aodhán Ó Riordáin, TD for Dublin North Central, supported the proposal made by party activists in his constituency. 

He was reported to favour bringing a motion on the issue to April’s Labour Party conference.

Catholic commentators had claimed the TD’s support of the proposal was evidence of anti-Catholic bias in the Labour Party.

Last night, Mr Ó Riordáin said the recommendation, one of 17 in a report by the local Labour constituency council, “escaped my notice” when it was first presented to him.

“I admit it, I didn’t read it,” he told The Irish Times. “I do not support or endorse this recommendation in any way and it will not appear in any motion at the National Labour Conference in April.”

He supported the thrust of the report, he continued. “I believe a discussion about the relationship between all churches and the State is now necessary as we reassess all that has gone wrong in our nation over the last number of decades.

“Such a debate should be constructive and respectful. This one unfortunately worded recommendation in the Clontarf report has not helped in that regard.”

The document, Illegal Religious Discrimination in National Schools in Ireland, looks at the church’s role in primary schools.

It claims enrolment policies which give priority to Catholic children are discriminatory, and that “Catholics first” policies should be abolished.

The controversial recommendation states: “All senior official appointments in State bodies which are likely to have to deal with the Catholic Church should be screened to ensure that they will not show inappropriate deference to the Catholic Church.”

Mr Ó Riordáin, a brother of senior Labour Party adviser Colm Reardon, said he had been contacted by “embarrassed and discomforted” party colleagues over the matter.

“The reports suggest that I support religious screening of entrants into the Civil Service. I most certainly do not.”

He said the drafters were trying to address the 2009 Ryan commission report on clerical sex abuse, in which then minister for children Barry Andrews said in a foreword that “the idealism of the [1916] Proclamation was suffocated by undue deference to religious orders and misplaced trust in certain persons in positions of authority”.

Mr Ó Riordáin continued: “We all strive to live and work in a democratic republic with civil and religious liberty for all . . . I apologise if any unintended offence has been caused.”

Gilmore's 'not an inch on Vatican' sparks crisis

THE Government has been plunged into its first crisis after Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore categorically rejected Fine Gael calls to reverse the decision to close the Irish embassy to the Vatican.

The astonishing row over the Vatican embassy comes on the heels of a series of spats between the coalition over cuts in the Budget, which have led to a significant deterioration of relations between FG and Labour in recent weeks.

Speaking exclusively to this newspaper, the Labour leader has delivered an unequivocal rejection to his coalition partners, saying "no, the decision will not be reversed. It was a government decision".

"I have set out the position as to why it was necessary to do so. It was one of three embassies we closed. Like everyone else, the Department of Foreign Affairs had to cut its cloth to measure."

Mr Gilmore's rejection of the demands from within Fine Gael puts him at odds with reported commitments from Taoiseach Enda Kenny to review the embassy closure. 

Junior FG minister Lucinda Creighton yesterday said the embassy could be re-opened within two years.

Discontent about the Vatican embassy closure led to a series of dramatic, and sometimes farcical, clashes at a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting last week. 

During the meeting, over half the TDs called for the re-opening of the embassy.

One of the most surreal moments saw TD Peter Mathews brandish a set of rosary beads at the "secularist members of the party". 

The meeting became so heated that senior ministers Michael Noonan and James Reilly had to intervene to calm the mood.

Mr Noonan stressed "Enda's credentials as a sound Catholic" and at one point claimed that "he is a better Catholic than myself".

Fine Gael figures were united in the demand that the Vatican embassy would be re-opened and soon.

The clash of ideologies between the parties has intensified since Budget day, and with such strong division lines being drawn between the parties on "non-critical" issues like the Vatican embassy, several senior ministers have now begun to question the ability of the Government to last the full term.

A senior Fine Gael figure told the Sunday Independent: "I can see us getting one more Budget through, but I can't see us getting a third one through such is the feuding and in-fighting going on at the moment."

Mr Gilmore, as Foreign Minister in the eye of the storm, made it clear that despite the Fine Gael calls, the decision to close the Vatican embassy is final.

"We have appointed a secretary-general in my department as ambassador as a non-resident. He will service it from Dublin. The decision to close the embassy and not to have an ambassador in residence is not going to be reversed," he added.

And Mr Gilmore is not alone in his opposition to such a review. 

Labour Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin has this weekend also ruled out any reversal of the decision.

Mr Gilmore denied that the decision to close the embassy was related to his Government's criticism -- a criticism led by Taoiseach Enda Kenny -- of the Vatican's role in the Cloyne Report into child sexual abuse or that it was part of any "anti-Catholic" agenda within his own party.

He also said that if the Vatican relaxed its rules to allow countries to use their embassies to Italy to also facilitate their relations with the Holy See, then the matter could be re-examined.

"The other issue that comes into play here is the refusal of the Vatican to allow countries to use their embassy to Italy as their embassy to the Vatican. So we have had to maintain two residences, two staffs. If the Vatican relaxes its view on that then we can relook at the arrangements then."

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Mr Howlin also rejected any suggestion of reversing the decision to close the embassy.

"It was a government decision, taken by all of Government in the context of the Budget, so it doesn't arise."

The closure of the Vatican embassy, cuts to small rural schools and cuts to various welfare benefits are the central issues in the war between the two coalition partners.

At the heated Fine Gael meeting, Mr Kenny reassured Fine Gael backbenchers that the decision to close down Ireland's Vatican embassy would be reviewed.

Mr Kenny told the meeting of his personal good relations with the Catholic Church.

"The real threat to the Government is that rows between the alternative sets of back-benchers will spark a political crisis that can only be resolved by an election," one minister said of the dispute.

Dublin Labour TD Aodhan O Riordain apologised for his apparent support of a proposal that senior public servants be screened to ensure they do not show "inappropriate deference to the Catholic Church".

He claimed the proposal came from within his constituency organisation and he did not read it before submitting it for inclusion at the party's upcoming conference. 

His apparent support for such a proposal drew the ire of party colleagues.

Eucharistic Congress to draw crowds 'when we need it most'

When it was last held in 1932 there were a million people in Dublin's Phoenix Park -- when it takes place this summer, the organisers will be happy if the final rally at Croke Park has 82,000.

"We never aimed for those kind of numbers," said Fr Kevin Doran, secretary general of this year's Eucharistic Congress, "on health and safety grounds alone those kind of numbers would be out."

But Fr Doran believes that there are similarities between 'then and now' in the Congress, which will see the RDS filled with 25,000 people daily from June 10 up to the closing ceremony in Croke Park on Sunday, June 17.

"The perception might be that 1932 was triumphalism and a different style than we would think was appropriate today, but it did bring people together after the horrors of the Civil War, so it was a time of healing," said Fr Doran.

"As we all know we are again going through difficult times and with the angst that there is today it's not a great time for many people. It probably wasn't a great time then either, so the best time for a Congress such as this is when you need it most."

Fr Doran believes that the Congress will be "a cross between a U2 concert, an All-Ireland and the Horse Show" and says it will bring an economic benefit to the country.

With 35 full-time staff and 1,000 volunteers, the Congress is one of the biggest events in Dublin this year and is expected to bring in a mini-boom.

People arriving from overseas will be greeted at the airport and given a briefing on Dublin and how to get around the city. 

Many of those coming for the Congress will also be put up by local families.

Fr Doran said that while much of the attention would focus on the bigger events there would be a full programme for the week of the Eucharistic Congress.

Paedophile O’Grady will soon be free once more

Paedophile priest Oliver O’Grady will be almost 70 when he emerges from his latest stint in prison in, at most, three years. 

It is every parents’ nightmare that men like him walk our streets at all.

O’Grady’s current sentence, into which he is just a few days, is for possession of a huge haul of images of child abuse, some involving infants as young as two, which he had hoarded away on computer files.

However, unlike many others who have passed through the courts for the stockpiling of such material, O’Grady has form for not just viewing the abuse but also perpetrating it against young victims.

The Limerick native served seven years for molesting two brothers while in the US. He later admitted to molesting as many as 25 children while a parish priest in California.

What is chilling and will instil even more fear and anger in parents is that O’Grady has admitted he is still a danger to children and that he is still aroused by them. He made that confession to a US filmmaker in 2005. 

The resultant documentary, Deliver Us From Evil, showed him leering at children in a Dublin playground. He described the production as "the most honest confession of my life".

The film featured a videotaped deposition as part of a lawsuit raised by some of his victims. During that, O’Grady described intricately how he would try to gain the children’s confidence. 

He started off by hugging the child. "The hugging starts off and then I might just drop my hands, all the time looking for permission. If I wasn’t getting a resistance, that was allowing me to go further and further."

He even said that he did not think his victims liked being sexual with him but, at times, they tolerated it.

"If children were dressing or undressing after having a swim or something like that, there might be indications that I might interpret as a sort of flirtatious action," he said.

O’Grady returned to Ireland in 2001 after serving his seven-year sentence. For much of the past 11 years, even though he was on the sex offender’s register here, his exact location was not well known for much of the time. Initially he was understood to be living in the Mid-West. 

In 2007, it emerged he had moved to Phibsboro in Dublin.

Then reports emerged that he had moved to the Netherlands and was working as a Church volunteer in the city of Rotterdam.

He had been living under another name, but parishioners recognised him when Deliver Us from Evil was aired on Dutch television. In fact it was while returning to Dublin from the Netherlands in Feb 2010 that O’Grady’s perversion came to the attention of authorities once more.

After he left his laptop on the plane, it was put in the lost property department by staff. 

Aer Lingus rules state that if lost property is not claimed within three months, the worker who found it is allowed to keep it. 

When a staff member claimed possession of the computer and examined its contents they found the hundreds of shocking images of children being abused and called gardaí.

Officers went to the hostel where he was staying and he showed them to a locker containing several USB devices and an external hard drive. 

He also told them about more computer equipment in a storage facility in Tallaght. All the devices contained the illegal files. 

 

News that he was back behind bars was greeted with relief by former victims and support groups in California, though some argued that, given the risk to children in the future, he should never be released.

As news of the sentencing broke there, Barbara Blaine, the president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, described O’Grady as "one of the most notorious serial child molesting Catholic clerics in California history".

"Oliver O’Grady sexually assaulted boys and girls in and around Stockton for years," she said.

"He clearly remains a danger to kids. We hope he’s put behind bars for the rest of his life."

Timeline of abuse and travels

* 1971: Limerick native Oliver O’Grady leaves seminary in Thurles and travels to the US where he takes up ministry at St Anne’s Church, California.

* 1976: Allegedly admits molesting a young girl he had met at a summer camp. Sends a letter of apology to the bishop for his actions.

* 1984: Tells his therapist he fondled a nine-year-old boy. The therapist alerts child welfare officials, and police open an investigation, but charges are dropped.

* 1993: O’Grady is convicted on four counts of lewd and lascivious acts on two brothers.

* 1998: A jury awards one of O’Grady’s victims $30m (€22.8m), which was later reduced to $7m.

* 2001: O’Grady returns to Ireland to live in the Mid-West.

* 2005: Gives a 15-hour videotape deposition of his actions, admitting he "groomed children".

* 2005: O’Grady meets with writer Amy Berg in Dublin to film "his most honest confession". Believed to be living in the West of the country.

* 2007: Moves to Phibsboro but is later tracked down to Rotterdam.

* Feb 2010: A laptop is found on an Aer Lingus flight from the Netherlands with images of child abuse.

* Jan 2011: O’Grady is sentenced to three years in prison.

Vatican embassy may reopen within two years, says Creighton

IRELAND will reopen its embassy to the Vatican "within the next year or two if economic conditions allow", European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton has predicted.

The Cabinet decided in November to close the embassy on the recommendation of Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore, who cited economic grounds as the reason.

The move has led to significant opposition from Fine Gael backbenchers, who say they have been receiving extensive complaints from constituents about it.

Ms Creighton is among those to have expressed a desire to see the embassy re-open, despite the fact she is the junior minister in Mr Gilmore’s department.

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, she was careful not to criticise Mr Gilmore but again reiterated her belief that the embassy would be reopened within the Government’s term.

"My ministers at Cabinet agreed to this decision, so I won’t lay the blame at Eamon Gilmore’s door," she said. "I think it will reopen, not in the short term but I think within the next year or two if economic conditions allow."

The Irish embassy to the Vatican was based in Villa Spada, a historic building owned by the State.

The Vatican embassy was entirely separate to Ireland’s embassy to Italy, which was located in rented accommodation in Rome.

As a result of the decision to close the Vatican embassy, the Government decided to move the Italian embassy to Villa Spada to save money. However, the ambassador to Italy cannot double up as the ambassador to the Vatican because the Holy See does not permit a "joint servicing arrangement".

However, in the Seanad this week, Mr Gilmore signalled that the Vatican might be willing to show "some flexibility" on the issue.

"What I would like to have been able to do would have been to combine the embassy in Italy and the embassy in the Vatican.

"The Government has decided to appoint the secretary general of my department, David Cooney, to be the ambassador to the Holy See and to service that mission from Dublin.

"There are some indications that the Vatican may be willing to show some flexibility with regard to the co-location of embassies and offices and then we will continue to explore those possibilities.

"If circumstances improve, we can re-examine the position, but at the moment, the position is as it is and we do not have a resident ambassador to the Vatican."

Ms Creighton expressed the hope that an arrangement with the Vatican could be reached: "It may not be on the same scale as previously existed... We have moved our ambassador to Rome into the Villa Spada.

"I don’t think that we’d be decanting him from the Villa Spada to reinstate an ambassador but I think that we can come to an arrangement where we can put an ambassador on behalf of the Irish Government and the Irish people back into the Vatican."

She acknowledged that the relationship between Ireland and the Vatican had been "pretty frosty" of late but said both sides would have to be involved in the repairing of relations.

"It’s no secret that it was pretty frosty in recent times but I think that rebuilding of relations has to happen on both sides.

"Clearly in relation to Cloyne, there are a lot of question marks over how the Vatican handled it... The Taoiseach expressed very well on behalf of the Government our view on that.

"I think the Vatican has a task in terms of rebuilding relations with the Irish state and the Irish people. The Government also has a role to play in rebuilding relations with the Vatican."

She expressed her hope that Pope Benedict would visit Ireland for the Eucharistic Congress in June.

Mr Gilmore has already made clear that the Government would "respond positively" if the Pope indicated he wished to visit.

"The Tánaiste, on behalf of the Government, has said that he would love to issue an invitation," said Ms Creighton. "If the Pope is inclined to come, the Government will issue an invitation."

Asked if she believed it likely that the Pope would visit, she said: "I hope so. It is kind of tight in terms of timing. But if not, I hope that there will be some other opportunity in the next year or two where there might be time."

Rooney quit over ‘culture of secrecy at Goal’

A culture of secrecy and resistance to reform at senior management level fed into Fran Rooney’s negative experience at Goal prior to his quitting the board last December.

Although the treatment of the board’s former chairman, Ken Fogarty, by chief executive John O’Shea sealed his decision to resign, Mr Rooney said both had a "very negative experience at the manner in which operations are managed". 

Neither could satisfy themselves that public funds were being "properly and efficiently dispensed".

This was largely because information they had requested to demonstrate how operations were run was not forthcoming.

Their departure brought to seven the number of directors who had resigned from the board last year. 

Mr Fogarty left in November, after Mr O’Shea said he had no confidence in him, and Mr Rooney followed suit in disgust. 

Both had been involved, at Mr O’Shea’s behest, in designing a blueprint to overhaul Goal’s legal structures and improve corporate governance.

Mr Rooney said they had difficulty in getting agreement to introduce any changes including:

* Introducing an audit committee which would report to the board, replacing the finance committee reporting to Mr O’Shea.

* Introducing a remuneration committee to determine top level salaries, to be approved every year.

* Bringing in a human resource specialist to assist the board in appointing a HR director. Mr Rooney said that this suggestion was "totally opposed".

Mr Rooney said Goal’s work was "very laudable" but "the other side of the equation is that people donate money and they are entitled to feel it is properly and efficiently dispensed and we couldn’t satisfy ourselves that this was the case".

Last night, Goal chairman Pat O’Mahoney said: "In the spirit of openness, I would welcome any specific proposals from Mr Rooney to me, or indeed any other interested parties, in order to ascertain if there is anything that has not been already addressed and agreed in Goal’s constructive interaction with the Department of Foreign Affairs to date."

The department’s overseas aid arm, Irish Aid, gives grants to Goal and monitors its performance. 

In its latest audit, Irish Aid raised concerns about the board’s oversight role in ensuring accountability at top levels.

The audit also questioned the board’s organisational risk assessment and strategic planning skills.

It referred to a "serious fraud" in Malawi, where almost €90,000 in funds went missing.

However, Mr O’Mahoney said Goal had acted "firmly and decisively" when the fraud was discovered, with four men arrested and now awaiting trial.