John Paul II - His Early Years

Before he became the Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of St. Peter, Prince of Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Sovereign of Vatican City and the only pope featured in a comic book -- Marvel doing the honor in 1983 -- Pope John Paul II was Karol Jozef Wojtyla.

Friends in Wadowice, a town of 8,000 Catholics and 2,000 Jews 35 miles southwest of Krakow, called Wojtyla "Lolek." Lolek was born in 1920, the second son of Karol Wojtyla (voy TIH wah) Sr., a retired army officer and tailor, and Emilia Kaczorowska Wojtyla, a schoolteacher of Lithuanian descent.

The Wojtylas were strict Catholics, but did not share the anti-Semitic views of many Poles. One of Lolek's playmates was Jerzy Kluger, a Jew who many years later would play a key role as a go-between for John Paul II and Israeli officials when the Vatican extended long-overdue diplomatic recognition to Israel.

Kluger told The New York Times that he spent many afternoons sitting in the kitchen next to the Wojtylas' coal stove listening to Lolek's father tell stories about Greece, Rome and Poland.

Lolek, in turn, went to the Klugers' 10-room apartment overlooking the town square and listened to music performed by a string quartet composed of two Jews and two Catholics.

"The people in the Vatican do not know Jews, and previous popes did not know Jews," Kluger told the Times. "But this pope is a friend of the Jewish people because he knows Jewish people."

Indeed, Wojtyla became the first pope to visit a synagogue and the first to visit the memorial at Auschwitz to victims of the Holocaust. In ending the Catholic-Jewish estrangement, he called Jews "our elder brothers."

Not A Happy Childhood

John Paul II is possibly the most athletic Pope in history. In his youth, he played soccer as a goal-keeper, took daring swims in the flooded Skawa River, and enjoyed skiing, hiking, mountain climbing and kayaking

As a schoolboy, Wojtyla was both an excellent student and an athlete who skied, hiked, kayaked and swam in the Skawa River. But death hovered over the family, making itself felt first when an infant sister died before Lolek was born.

It struck again in 1929 when his mother died of heart and kidney problems, just a month before Lolek's 9th birthday. And when he was 12, Lolek's 26-year-old brother Edmund, a physician in the town of Bielsko, died of scarlet fever.

Lolek, himself, had two near-misses with mortality in his youth. He was hit once by a streetcar and again by a truck in 1944 while a college student. The injuries left the otherwise robust pope -- 5-foot-10 1/2 inches, 175 pounds in his prime -- with a slight stoop to his shoulders that is particularly noticeable when he is tired.

"The pope's youth wasn't happy," Father Joseph Vandrisse, a former French missionary and now a journalist, told TIME magazine. "He has meditated a lot on the meaning of suffering..."

Even as an adult he has been beset by physical difficulties, including a dislocated shoulder, a broken thigh that led to femur-replacement surgery, the removal of a precancerous tumor from his colon and an attempt on his life by a gunman whose two bullets wounded the pope in the abdomen, right arm and left hand.

Lolek and his father lived in a Spartan, one-room apartment behind the church, and the father devoted himself to raising his son. He sewed Lolek's clothes and had the boy study in a chilly room to toughen him and develop his concentration.

"He tried to develop the same discipline in his son that he instilled in his soldiers," one of Lolek's childhood friends told People magazine.

But the father didn't forget about play. A friend remembers entering the Wojtylas' apartment and finding father and son playing soccer with a ball made of rags.

Poetry, Religion & Theatre

Wojtyla's passions in those early years were poetry, religion and the theatre. After graduating from secondary school in 1938, he and his father moved to Krakow where he enrolled at Jagiellonian University to study literature and philosophy.

He also joined an experimental theater group and participated in poetry readings and literary discussion groups. Friends say he was an intense and gifted actor, and a fine singer.

After the Germans invaded Poland, he escaped deportation and imprisonment in late 1940 by taking a job as a stone cutter in a quarry.

A few months later, in February of 1941, Wojtyla's 61-year-old father died, leaving his dream of seeing his son commit to the priesthood unfulfilled. The pope has said that his father once told him, "I will not live long and would like to be certain before I die that you will commit yourself to God's service."

It was another 18 months, however, before Wojtyla began studying at an underground seminary in Krakow and registered for theology courses at the university.

He continued his studies, acted and worked in a chemical plant until August of 1944. But when the Germans began rounding up Polish men, Wojtyla took refuge in the archbishop of Krakow's residence, and remained there until the end of the war.

He was ordained in 1946 in Krakow, and spent much of the next few years studying -- he earned two masters degrees and a doctorate -- before taking up priestly duties as an assistant pastor in Krakow in 1949.

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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

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John Paul II - 1978 - 2005

Less than eight months after his 1978, Karol Wojtyla returned to Poland as Pope John Paul II for nine cathartic days.

Huge, adoring crowds met him wherever he went and were an acute source of embarrassment to the communist government.

Officially, the country was atheistic; it was also suffering from food shortages. The pope added to the authorities' discomfort by reminding his fellow Poles of their human rights.

"His secretary told me that was the great moment," says Robert Moynihan, editor and publisher of the magazine Inside the Vatican.

"There was a crowd of one million people, and he told them 'You are men. You have dignity. Don't crawl on your bellies.' It was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union."

In the winter of 1999, the pope flew to Mexico and the United States and celebrated Mass for millions of people. His visits to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Des Moines, Chicago and Washington took on the trappings of major holidays. The cities threw open their arms in a welcome that Current Biography said was of "staggering, unprecedented magnitude."

"...private citizens, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, flocked by the millions to glimpse the Pope," it reported. "It was only a few short years ago that such mass forgetfulness of sectarian difference would have been unthinkable (and, politically, suicidal) in the United States."

Although he draws enormous crowds, sometimes in the millions, whenever he gives public appearances, the pope's health is slowly deteriorating.

In January 2001, one of his doctors publicly acknowledged that the pontiff is suffering from Parkinson's disease. For years the pope has shown symptoms of Parkinson's -- shaking and a general unsteadiness -- although the Vatican has never officially said he has the disease.

Vibrations in the Air

Pope John Paul II may be the only Pope whose life was portrayed in a comic book. In 1983, Marvel Comics published a Pope biography.

There was more to it than forgetfulness, for John Paul has displayed that charisma during more than 170 visits to over 115 countries over the past 20 years. And as Time noted in naming him Man of the Year in 1994, he generates an electricity "unmatched by anyone else on earth."

In his book "The Making of Popes 1978," Andrew M. Greeley offers a close-up of the pope working a crowd: "His moves, his presence, his smile, his friendliness, his gestures ...have pleased everyone... He is great with crowds -- shaking hands, smiling, talking, kissing babies."

The Los Angeles Times reported that Poles waited for hours to see the Pope when he returned in 1997. At his appearance, the crowds grew silent, "some falling to their knees and weeping as John Paul parts the crowd on a path to the altar."

"Such an incredible moment," Krzysztof Gonet, mayor of Nowej Soli, told the Times. "You can feel the vibrations in the air." Not only is he the most traveled pope in history -- he speaks eight languages, learning Spanish after he became the pope -- he also has been quick to use the media and technology to his advantage. In the early years of his papacy, he steered the Vatican into satellite transmissions and producing video cassettes.

While other popes stayed close to Rome, remote and seemingly unapproachable, John Paul's wide-ranging appearances -- enhanced by an actor's sense of theater -- became worldwide news events.

When the pope visited Cuba in January 1998, hard-line Cuban leader Fidel Castro set aside his drab olive fatigues and put on a business suit to welcome him.

Castro also attended a number of functions for the pope and escorted the frail Holy Father with almost touching deference.

World Is His Business

John Paul II was by papal standards a comparatively young man when he was elected in 1978. He was only 58, making him the youngest Pope in 132 years.

Not content with tending merely to church affairs, John Paul has made the world's business his business -- especially in regard to human rights.

"His great hope is to awaken the entire world to the dignity and responsibility of defending human rights," Cardinal Roger Etchegaray told the Washington Post.

His criticism of such dictators as Alfred Stroessner in Paraguay, Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines encouraged opposition movements that eventually brought down those governments.

His support for the Solidarity movement in Poland -- priests concealed messages from John Paul to imprisoned union leaders in their robes -- was a key to the downfall of communism in Poland. When a Turk named Mehmet Ali Agca shot the pope twice in an assassination attempt in 1981, Agca first told the authorities that he was acting for the Bulgarian intelligence service.

The Bulgarians were known to do the bidding of the KGB, but Agca later recanted that part of his confession. It didn't matter to the pope who was responsible, and later he visited Agca in his cell and forgave him. The astonished Agca said, "How is it that I could not kill you?"

But the pope hasn't played favorites, and the West has come in for its share of criticism, too.

During that first triumphal visit to the United States, he warned his hosts about the dangers of materialism, selfishness and secularism, and suggested lowering the standard of living and sharing the wealth with the Third World.

The message didn't play well, and still doesn't. But that hasn't stopped the pope from insisting that materialism -- he regards capitalism and communism as flip sides of the same coin -- is not the answer.

"This world," he says, "is not capable of making man happy."

Prayer and faith can make man happy, he believes, and he leads by example. Indeed, he is so often in prayer that he is said to make his decisions "on his knees."

He has been found kneeling on the ground in the middle of winter before a statue, and deep in prayer with his head resting on an altar.

Even when not interacting with others, he has been seen moving his lips, apparently in prayer.

'A culture of death'

Pope John Paul's papacy has not been without conflict.

Buddhist priests boycotted a trip to Sri Lanka after he described their religion as a largely "atheistic system."

After the visit the Pope tried to make amends, by declaring he had "profound respect and sincere esteem" for Buddhism, but the tensions still persisted.

The Catholic church John Paul II inherited in 1978 was in shambles.

Reforms begun by the Vatican Council II shook the church to its foundation, and the tumult within the church could be compared to the turmoil in the outer world during the 1960s' era of peace, love and protests over the war in Vietnam.

"The church went through a tremendous crisis," says Moynihan. "It knocked the church to its knees. It lost one-third of its priests and a tremendous number of nuns."

John Paul II embarked on nothing less than a restoration of the church, one grounded in its conservative tradition. His rejection of contraception and abortion has been absolute and unbending, and his almost dictatorial manner has not always played well.

People magazine observed that the pope -- who has had no qualms about silencing those within the church family who disagree with him -- is "more given to self-discipline than self-doubt."

"It's a mistake to apply American democratic procedures to the faith and truth," the pope has said. "You cannot take a vote on the truth."

Hans Kung, a liberal Catholic theologian who has crossed swords with the pope, told Time, "This Pope is a disaster for our church. There's charm there, but he's closed-minded."

The Economist magazine reported that another troublesome theologian, Bernard Haring, compared the questioning he underwent at the Vatican "to the treatment he once received under Hitler."

Margaret Steinfels, the editor of the Catholic magazine Commonweal and a more moderate critic of the pope, accuses him of polarizing issues. In his opposition to contraception, abortion and euthanasia, for example, he has accused the industrialized world of fostering "a culture of death."

"I don't deny that there are many problems in the U.S. and the West," she said, "but I don't think that calling it a 'culture of death' and the church the 'church of life' is a useful way of dealing with things. I disagree with his metaphors."

The pope also has confounded Steinfels and many others with his insistence that church doctrine prohibits the ordination of women. In affirming his position in a letter to bishops in 1994, he wrote in uncompromising fashion, "this judgment is to be definitively held by all the church's faithful."

'A man of integrity and prayer'

"A nation that kills its own children has no future."-The pope's reaction to the liberalization of the abortion law in Poland in 1996

The pope has often explained himself with dense, closely reasoned and deeply philosophical encyclicals. His encyclicals, letters and other writings fill more than 150 volumes.

"It's first-rate prose, and work that will last," says Jude Dougherty of Catholic University in Washington, D.C. "Trouble is, they're not all that easy to read. His book is a very good document, too."

In 1994, the pope wrote answers to written questions posed to him by Italian journalist Vittorio Messori. Messori then edited them into "Crossing the Threshold of Hope," a book that became a best-seller in many countries.

Many observers say John Paul's record is mixed. Although the church has expanded in Africa and Latin America -- the latter accounts for about half of the estimated one billion Catholics -- it has lost followers in the industrialized world, including Poland.

His inflexibility on issues with international ramifications -- birth control in Africa, for example -- has drawn strong criticism.

"The church's refusal of condoms even for saving lives is absolutely incomprehensible," French journalist Henri Tincq told Time. "It disqualifies the church from having any role in the whole debate over AIDS."

Nevertheless, said Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the Catholic magazine First Things, "This pope has the church in a stronger position than it's been in since the Protestant division in the 16th century. When has the Catholic church had as much respect as it does today?"

It is doubtful there has ever been a pope who has so successfully translated his strength, determination and faith into such widespread respect and goodwill. In a world of shifting trends and leaders of questionable virtue, John Paul II has been a towering figure at the moral center of modern life.

"This is not a pope who looks at the public opinion polls," says Father Thomas Reese, editor of America magazine and author of the book "Inside the Vatican."

"He says what he thinks is right and wrong from conviction. And that's why people admire him. He's a man of integrity and prayer, even if they don't agree with him."

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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

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Pope John Paul II dies in Vatican

Pope John Paul II, the third longest-serving pontiff in history, has died at the age of 84.

The Pope died in his private apartment at the Vatican at 2137 local time (1937 GMT) on Saturday, surrounded by his closest Polish aides.

Many thousands of people gathered in Rome's St Peter's Square to pay tribute to the pontiff, while church bells throughout the city began tolling.

The Pope had suffered worsening health problems including a heart condition.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said a mass was held at his bedside by senior officials before his death, at 2000.

The Pope then received the Viaticum, a Catholic rite for the sick and dying.

Long applause

The Italian government has declared three days of mourning.

The Pope is to lie in state in St Peter's Basilica from Monday afternoon, the Vatican said.

The funeral date has not been set but it is not expected before Wednesday.

Pope John Paul II died after suffering from heart and kidney problems and unstable blood pressure.

Minutes after his death, the Vatican issued a brief statement to confirm the news, adding that procedures to be carried out in the event of the death of the Pope had been set in motion.

The Pope's death was immediately announced to the crowds gathered in St Peter's Square.

The news was met with long applause, an Italian sign of respect, followed by several minutes of silence as the crowd took in the news.

"Our Holy Father John Paul has returned to the house of the Father," senior Vatican official Archbishop Leonardo Sandri said.

The BBC's Peter Gould, at the Vatican, says people in the square stood in groups, comforting one other.

In the Pope's native Poland, people fell to their knees and wept as the news reached them.

Tributes have been coming in from political and religious leaders in other parts of the world.

US President George W Bush said the world had lost a champion of freedom.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was deeply saddened by the death of a Pope whom he described as a tireless advocate of peace.

The Cardinal Chamberlain of the Roman Catholic Church, Eduardo Martinez Somalo, is now in charge.

He has to seal the papal apartments and summon the cardinals from around the world to elect the Pope's successor.

The cardinals, many of whom are already on their way to Rome, must meet no more than 20 days after the Pope's death to choose a successor. A preliminary meeting has been arranged for Monday morning.

Breathing trouble

The Pope's condition deteriorated suddenly on Thursday night with a high fever caused by an infection of the urinary tract.

He had been suffering from breathing troubles, exacerbated by the progress of Parkinson's Disease, an incurable condition from which he had been suffering for nearly a decade.

He appeared briefly at the window of his Vatican apartment on Easter Sunday to bless the faithful, but was unable to speak.

It was the first time during his 26-year pontificate that the Pope had delegated the main Easter ceremonies to his cardinals.

Polish-born Karol Wojtyla became Pope in 1978, taking a conservative stand on issues like abortion and contraception.

He was the most widely travelled pontiff and visited more than 120 countries during his 26-year papacy.
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce

Funeral of Pope John Paul II

The funeral of Pope John Paul II was held on April 8, 2005, six days after his death on April 2.

The funeral was followed by the novemdiales devotional in which the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches observe nine days of mourning.

On February 22, 1996, Pope John Paul II introduced revisions to the centuries-old ceremonies surrounding papal death, repose and burial. The revisions enacted through the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis applied to his own funeral.

Pope John Paul's funeral brought together the single largest gathering of heads of state in history, surpassing the funeral of Winston Churchill.

Coinciding with the funeral in Vatican City, archbishops and bishops at cathedrals throughout the world celebrated memorial Masses for grieving Catholics.

In a historical rarity, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christian leaders, as well as leaders in Judaism and Islam, offered memorials and prayers of their own for their congregants sharing in the grief of Catholics.

At the funeral itself, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I attended from the honorary first seat in the sector reserved for delegations from churches not in full communion with Rome; this was the first time an Ecumenical Patriarch attended a papal funeral since the Great Schism.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was present at a papal funeral for the first time since the Church of England broke with the papacy in the 16th century.

Also for the first time ever, the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church, Patriarch Abune Paulos attended a papal funeral.

It is thought that billions of people had watched the funeral either through actually being in Vatican Square, watching it on television live, or watching a taped version or replayed version later that day.

The latter may be particularly true in the United States, where the funeral happened early in the morning and on a weekday.

It is unknown whether the funeral of the pope was the most watched event in history; if so, it would overtake another funeral to hold that spot, that one being the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The Vatican welcomed some four million visitors during the memorial week, which cost an estimated six million euros.
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

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John Paul II - Internment

The people of Poland had wished for the heart of Pope John Paul II to be removed from his body and transferred to Wawel Cathedral to be buried alongside the greatest of Poland's monarchs.

Cardinal Martínez Somalo said that the request would not be obliged.

An underground grotto beside the former shrine of the now glass-entombed and preserved body of Blessed Pope John XXIII was chosen for the interment of Pope John Paul II.

He was lowered into the vacant tomb that once held the remains of Blessed Pope John XXIII, who was moved by Pope John Paul II to the main floor of the basilica after his beatification.

The College of Cardinals decided to keep the Pope beneath the altar of St. Peter's Basilica, citing the possibility of future beatification and canonization into sainthood.

Pallbearers took the coffin through the Door of Death on the left side of the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. At that point a single bell tolled.

The pallbearers took the coffin down the stairs near the statue of Saint Longinus at the base of the canopy of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

They lead down to the grottoes, a cemetery underneath the Basilica where Saint Peter is believed to be buried.

After pacing through the low ceilings and long corridors, the pallbearers stopped at the crypt of Pope John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II was buried in this simple underground crypt according to his wishes.

Cardinal Martínez Somalo then presided over the Rite of Interment.

It was a private service witnessed only by the highest-ranking members of the College of Cardinals.

As is custom, Pope John Paul II was entombed in three nested coffins.

The cypress coffin was sealed and tied with three red silk ribbons. The cypress casket was lowered into a larger solid zinc (traditionally lead) casket, which was soldered shut.

This coffin was adorned with three bronze plaques: a simple cross at the head of the coffin, a middle plaque with the Pope's name and the length of his life and pontificate, and a third with Pope John Paul II's personal coat of arms at the foot.

The zinc casket was finally lowered into a larger walnut (traditionally elm) casket, bearing three identical plaques, which was shut with nails of pure gold.

The middle plaques bear the following statement in Latin:

CORPUS IOANNIS PAULI II P.M.
VIXIT ANNOS LXXXIV MENSES X DIES XVECCLESIAE UNIVERSAE PRAEFUITANNOS XXVI MENSES V DIES XVII

English Translation:

Here lies the body of John Paul II, Pontifex Maximus

He lived 84 years, 10 months, 15 days

He presided over the whole Church26 years, 5 months, 17 days

The unified coffin was lowered into the ground, as the Pope requested, and covered with a plain stone slab featuring his name and dates of his pontificate.


Pope John Paul II asked that his burial be like that of Pope Paul VI, not in an elaborate sarcophagus and ornate aboveground tomb, but in "bare earth."

Cardinal Martínez Somalo ended the Rite of Interment with the words,

"Lord, grant him eternal rest, and may perpetual light shine upon him."

Those present sang "Salve Regina" or "Hail Holy Queen."

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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

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John Paul's longtime secretary remembers pope on eve of anniversary of death

The longtime private secretary of Pope John Paul said Tuesday that he'll never forget his last moments with the late pontiff.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz made his remarks at a ceremony in Rome on the eve of the third anniversary of John Paul's death on April 2, 2005.

"I can't forget his last goodbye, when he took my hand and I kissed his for the last time," said the cardinal, who was for four decades the closest aide to John Paul.

"This goodbye will stay with me forever."

John Paul died after a nearly 27-year pontificate.

Shortly afterward, Pope Benedict put him on the fast track for possible sainthood, waiving the customary five-year waiting period.

Benedict is due to preside over a Mass on Wednesday marking the anniversary of John Paul's death.

Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the church official spearheading the cause to make John Paul a saint, said this week that he had finished a report analyzing documentation to support the canonization process.

The report summarizes the documentation about John Paul's life and virtues that had been gathered since his death, including testimony from witnesses and the late pontiff's own writings.

"We need to be patient and optimistic," said Oder, who was also attending Tuesday's ceremony.

The Vatican's complicated saint-making procedures, which can include the weighing of favourable and unfavourable information, require that a miracle attributed to the candidate's intercession be confirmed before beatification.

A second miracle is necessary for canonization.

John Paul's process is going ahead quickly, with milestones reached at nearly every anniversary of his death.

Last year, the investigation into John Paul's life and virtues was officially closed, and French Church officials turned over to the Vatican documentation about a purported miracle attributed to his intercession.
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

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Archbishop: Priesthood a Vocation, Not a Job

The priest is not an employee, but rather a consecrated person chosen by God to serve mankind, says the secretary for the Congregation for Clergy.

Archbishop Mauro Piacenza described the priesthood in this way in L'Osservatore Romano earlier this month.

"The priest cannot be plentifully fulfilled if the Eucharist is not truly the center and the root of his life," the prelate said, affirming that the priest's daily efforts must be an "irradiation of the Eucharistic celebration."

As the Gospel account of Christ's washing of the feet testifies, the priest's task is found in unconditional surrender, Archbishop Piacenza said.

"The priest does not belong to himself. He is at the service of the people of God without limits of schedules or calendars."

"The people are not for the priest, but the priest is for the people, in its totality, without ever restricting his service to a small group," the prelate added.

"The priest cannot choose the post he likes, the work methods he considers easiest, the people he considers most likable, the schedule that is most comfortable, the diversions -- even legitimate ones -- when they take away time and energy from his own specific pastoral mission."

Moreover, even acting in the world, the priest is nevertheless not "assimilated in the world […] ceasing to be transforming leaven," Archbishop Piacenza continued.

"Faced with a world anemic from the lack of prayer and adoration, of truth and justice, the priest is above all a man of prayer, of adoration, of worship, of the celebrations of the holy mysteries, 'before man in the name of Christ.'"

A testimony

The Vatican official said the priest's commitment is "testimony, understood in its etymological sense as martyr […] in the renewed consciousness that Christ, ordinarily, comes to us only 'in the' Church and 'from the' Church, which prolongs his presence in time."

The Church, he said, is "transcendent and mysterious" and "only if it does not deny its own supernatural identity […] can it authentically evangelize the 'natural' realities. […] The Church has the 'negative' task of freeing the world of atheism and the 'positive' [task] of satisfying the indelible need that man, consciously or unconsciously, has of fulfilling himself, that is to say, of holiness."

For this, the priest should "respond to the burning thirst of a humanity always seeking," and to sow a restlessness that is "the holy fear of God."

At the same time, Archbishop Piacenza added, the current vocational crisis can be served by opening the "vast horizons of the whole picture of following Christ," while attempts to reduce the identity of the priest and pastoral ministry brings "everything to languish along the path of a progressive drying out."

It is the light of the configuration of the priest with Jesus Christ that helps to understand the promises of obedience and chastity lived in celibacy, in the commitment to a path of detachment from things, situations and from themselves, he said.

At the altar

The archbishop highlighted that "chastity guarantees the spousal dimension and the great paternity" and recalled that "in all of this there are not 'no's' but a great, liberating 'yes.'"

"The priest never goes into identity crisis, nor loneliness, nor cultural frustration if, resisting the temptation of losing himself in the anonymous multitude, he never descends -- regarding intention, moral uprightness and style -- from the platform of the altar of the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ," the archbishop contended.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged, faced with "an ever more notable disintegration of the links between persons, in every social environment […] we cannot think that the figure of the celibate priest will not suffer the backlash of these countless solitudes."

For this, the archbishop concluded, there is a "need of priests who know how to show the fruitfulness for communion and for the community of their virginal 'solitude.'"
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

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Hong Kong cardinal resumes pastoral work after pacemaker operation

Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, 76, has been released from a hospital and has resumed pastoral duties after surgery to implant a pacemaker.

The Chinese newspaper Apple Daily reported today that there was no angioplasty involved in the procedure.

The report said the cardinal had attended hospital for a standard checkup on March 20 and was admitted to the hospital the following day with an irregular heartbeat. He spent Easter in the hospital.

The Shanghai- born prelate was named a bishop and coadjutor of Hong Kong in 1996. He became bishop of Hong Kong in 2002 and was named a cardinal in 2006.

On January 30, Pope Benedict XVI named Auxiliary Bishop John Tong Hon of Hong Kong as coadjutor bishop of the diocese.

As coadjutor, Bishop Tong, 68, will succeed Cardinal Zen upon his retirement or death.
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

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Vatican sets to making Kosovo Catholic

The Vatican's missionaries got down to their plans to convert Kosovars in Catholicism, an article published in the Profile magazine reads.

It cites Kosovo Catholic bishop Dode Gjergji speaking before European democratic parties' officials in Brussels as he called Kosovo Muslims Islamized Catholics converted in Islam by terror.

Later in the American Congress he stressed again that absolute majority of Kosovars were "pro-Christian" and thus were "pro-European and pro-American."

Catholicizing Kosovo with its 3% of Catholics, its "cultural baptism" (this is how Gjergji calls his mission in the region) will provide Pristine with "a European ID card" and calm down European public opinion concerned with Islamic intervention in the continent, the author says.

"It's quite evident that Vatican has actively participated in the anti-Serbian game throughout Yugoslavian history thus fulfilling its global task of proselytism in the East of Europe," the article reads.

Its author claims that "these longstanding plans made use of historical situations, wars and cooperation with Tito's totalitarian regime. Yugoslavia only formally was hostile to pontificate as if preventing the latter from execution of its old missionary plans."

In the first half of the 20th century Vatican signed the Concordat with the government in Belgrade which declared the kingdom of Yugoslavia a state of mission. No other European state allowed Vatican to impose such definitions after World War I, the author notes.

After Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito died, Vatican was one of the first to back up Yugoslavia's separatism and formation of independent Catholic republics in 1980s.
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce

Sexual abuse lawsuit targets priest Stockton diocese has cleared

The Southern California law office of John C. Manly filed a lawsuit in San Joaquin County on Friday against an unnamed Catholic diocese, parish, school and priest on charges of childhood sexual abuse. The lawsuit is seeking an unspecified amount of money for actual and punitive damages on behalf of an unnamed plaintiff.

"I'll confirm on the record that it's against the (Stockton Diocese) and Father (Michael) Kelly," Manly said in a phone interview Monday.

"As of this moment, the diocese has not been served with any papers, so we have no comment," said Stockton Diocese spokeswoman Sister Terry Davis.

Diocese attorney Paul Balestracci said the lack of names is not unusual.

"In lawsuits in childhood sexual abuse cases where the plaintiff is over 26 years old, the defendants have to initially be named as Doe," he said. "The plaintiff has to go through certain steps (before defendants are named). I don't know how long it will take. We're just interested in the truth."

Kelly's attorney, Thomas Beatty, said he expects the defendants' names to be added and responses to be filed in the next 60 to 90 days. The lawsuit came two weeks after the 58-year-old priest was reinstated by the diocese after a monthslong investigation into the sexual abuse allegations. He was on administrative leave during the probe.

"I think the lawsuit was speeded up and filed as a direct consequence of the investigation that fully exonerated Father Kelly," Beatty said. "He was fully investigated by the bishop after the claim that came in six or seven months ago. We'd heard nothing from the plaintiff. In fact, the plaintiff's attorney refused to let us talk with the person, who claimed to have regained his memory.

"Naturally, (Kelly is) upset. It's so hard to deal with a situation that's patently false."

But Manly said the diocese "never asked me" about talking with the plaintiff. "If they had, why would I want the plaintiff to talk with them? My experience has been they are really not interested in finding the truth and protecting their victims."

The lawsuit says the plaintiff, confirmed by Manly to be a male, was born May 29, 1974, and is on active duty in the U.S. armed forces.

Although Manly won't release many specifics, he said, "I would describe him as a young father, an officer in the military, someone that you'd be proud to have live next door to you. Someone who is intelligent, ethical, intellectual, but terribly injured (because of the alleged abuse).

"I've interviewed him and met with him at length. I don't file cases where in my heart I don't believe in my client. My prediction is this case will go to trial."

The lawsuit says the abuse happened "from about 1982 through 1985," when the plaintiff was a student at a parochial school. The priest, called DOE 4, is said to have befriended the family to the extent of baby-sitting the plaintiff, and to have sexually harassed him by "rubbing plaintiff on his back, shoulders, chest and stomach; tickling plaintiff in a sexual manner; talking with plaintiff about sexual matters; ... walking around naked in front of plaintiff; ... giving plaintiff a bath; ... and hugging plaintiff in a sexual manner," as well as talking to the plaintiff about their genitals. Sexual abuse and molestation also occurred, the lawsuit claims.

Although the statute of limitations has expired on such lawsuits, Manly said, this case is an exception because of the plaintiff's repressed memories of the abuse, which, he said, were recalled in the spring of 2006. He said it also is an exception under the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act, which the lawsuit says means military service can't be counted against a person bringing actions to court or other agencies.

Manly, who said Catholic sexual abuse cases make up about 60 percent of his caseload, said he couldn't put a price on the damages sought. "How do you put a number on your first sexual experience (as) a little boy with a priest?" he asked.

That kind of comment doesn't sit well with the other side.

"The charges are vigorously denied," said Kelly's attorney, Beatty. "There was a complete, thorough, expensive investigation by outside parties for the diocese. There's just no truth to these allegations."

Kelly, an Irish native, joined the Stockton Diocese in 1973. Among other duties, he served as an associate priest at Our Lady of Fatima in Modesto from 1973-79, an associate at St. Bernard's in Tracy from 1979-1984, an associate at the Cathedral of Annunciation in Stockton from 1984-1987, pastor at St. Patrick's in Sonora from 1987-1997, parochial vicar at St. Jude's in Ceres from 2003-04, and pastor at St. Joachim in Lockeford from 2004 to the present.
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce

Vatican looks to assuage Jews' anger over controversial prayer

The Vatican is expected to issue a statement next week in which the Catholic Church will make it clear that the resumption of the use of an old Latin prayer by Pope Benedict XVI during mass on Easter Sunday last month is not an attempt.

Some Jewish groups regarded this development as a resumption of missionary efforts among Jewish communities.

The Chief Rabbinate of Italy, as well as the leadership of German Jewry, announced that they are cutting off ties with the Catholic Church until the wording of the prayer was changed.

The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, which concluded in 1965, decided that the Jews should not be blamed for killing of Christ and initiated prayers in local languages, rather than the Latin that was customary until then.

About a year and a half ago, Benedict XVI announced that Catholic communities could resume use of the traditional Latin mass if they so wished.

The decision angered many Jewish groups because the Latin wording of the Easter mass included a line that called on God to "shed light into the eyes" of Jews so that they would recognize Christ as the messiah.

Some Jewish groups regarded this development as a resumption of missionary efforts among Jewish communities.

The Chief Rabbinate of Italy, as well as the leadership of German Jewry, announced that they are cutting off ties with the Catholic Church until the wording of the prayer was changed
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce

Catholics-Orthodox pledge to work closely in Russia

A working group of Russia’s Catholic and Orthodox churches has pledged to counter “media provocations” that could damage mutual relations.

“Group members stressed the importance of exchanging information - they also noted an improvement of the climate, as shown by mutually friendly statements made about the faithful on each side,” said Catholic and Orthodox representatives in a statement released on March 28.

“The information climate can and should improve even further if unfriendly statements are avoided and if both sides oppose the provocations of certain media which seek to aggravate Orthodox-Catholic ties.”

The group, chaired by Fr Igor Kovalevsky, secretary-general of the Russian Catholic bishops’ conference, and Russian Orthodox Fr Vsevolod Chaplin, vice chairman of the external relations department of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, released the statement after the meeting in the city of Vladimir.

It said Catholic and Orthodox representatives would ensure “maximum openness and interaction” in joint youth work, as well as “constant monitoring” of Catholic orphanages, which previously have been accused of “converting” Russian Orthodox children.

It added that the six-member working group - launched in 2004 during a visit by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity - had acknowledged the “kind mutual relations” existing in Vladimir, where Catholic and Orthodox clergy co-operate on charitable and cultural projects.

Interchurch ties have been strained in Russia since a demand in December last year by Orthodox Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s office for external relations, for downgrading the Catholic Church’s four dioceses in Russia. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce

Abuse was common in religious orders

While the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland reached a $56.4 million global settlement in 2005 with the victims of childhood sexual abuse by its priests, one religious order opted for a different tactic.

The Salesians of St. John Bosco, whose Western Province is based in San Francisco, has been the most aggressive church group fighting lawsuits against its priests, said Rick Simons, a lawyer who handled many cases against the diocese and religious orders.

The order said one victim fabricated stories and had other cases dismissed -- not because its priests didn't commit abuse, but because the Salesians didn't have "notice" of the abuse, Simons said.

For the order to be held liable in a civil trial, they had to know that abuse was occurring and not take preventive action, according to California law.

"They are far and away the worst," Simons said of the Salesians. "They are the largest order, but they are also the absolute worst when it comes to taking responsibility for what happened in the past and for trying to locate and identify both perpetrators and victims. They have shown really no sense of responsibility for this issue at all."

Salesian officials said in a statement that in the vast majority of cases, they were unaware of allegations against their priests and that the order has strict policies in place to ensure children in their care are safe.

Religious orders operating within the diocese, such as the Salesians, accounted for 40 of the 64 clergy members accused of abuse -- more than 60 percent -- an examination of thousands of court documents has found.

Two additional religious order priests were reported to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, but they could not be independently verified through court records.

These orders, operating independently from the diocese, saw the same widespread problems of abuse, denials and cover-ups that plagued the diocese itself.

In many cases, the orders were worse. Court records revealed:

Clergy members from 11 religious orders within the diocese were accused of abuse.

Salesian personnel files contained no record of complaints for multiple priests known to have committed abuse, including one convicted of a felony for child molestation.

The Salesians allowed one priest to continue working with children while his civil trial took place in 2006; he was removed after a jury awarded his accuser $600,000. The order also promoted and moved another priest in the 1970s after a complaint arose.

Another order, the Dominicans, simultaneously housed at one Oakland monastery seven priests known to have committed abuse.

Nine Salesian priests and brothers who served at Salesian High School in Richmond were accused of abuse. Six were accused at the school -- the largest number at any school or parish in the diocese -- and three at other locations outside the diocese.

The Salesian order "acknowledges that mistakes were made in the past in the handling of some individual cases and wishes that these isolated incidents could, and should, have been handled differently," according to a statement released by the order. "These incidents have no relationship with the present or future of the Salesian Society or any of the schools associated with the Society."

Religious orders are part of the Catholic Church family, but they operate independently. The orders within the Oakland Diocese that had priests accused of abuse -- including the Salesians, Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Christian Brothers and six others -- do not answer directly to the Bishop of Oakland, as diocesan priests do.

The religious orders have separate systems of governance. Nearly all order priests are supervised by a provincial office instead of the diocese. The orders also have national and international governance systems that are distinct from the larger Vatican hierarchy.

Because of this, some reforms made by the diocese weren't implemented by the orders.

When Bishop Allen Vigneron held services from 2004 through 2006 apologizing for 12 priests within the diocese who had committed abuse, none of the orders' accused priests or brothers was named.

"They (religious orders) did not give permission for their names to be used," said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, a diocese spokesman. "Members of religious orders who have been accused are the responsibility of the religious order."

Absence of information

When Joey Piscitelli began his freshman year at Salesian High in the early 1970s, he was befriended by the Rev. Stephen Whelan. But quickly, Whelan's friendliness went too far, as the priest masturbated in front of Piscitelli and molested him several times at the Salesian Boys Club, Piscitelli testified in a court deposition and lawsuit.

Piscitelli sued the Salesians in 2003, but Whelan and Brother Sal Billante, who Piscitelli said watched once as Whelan masturbated, said Piscitelli made the whole story up. During the trial, Whelan remained an associate pastor at Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, celebrating Mass, helping at a boys and girls club and contributing to a weekly online column, "Ask the Fathers.''

Only after a jury awarded Piscitelli $600,000 in 2006 was Whelan removed from ministry. But the Salesians have appealed the case -- one of the few in the diocese that went to trial -- and it will be decided by the appellate court in the summer, Simons said.

While Piscitelli successfully sued the Salesians, two accusers of the Rev. Richard Presenti had their lawsuits dismissed.

Presenti worked in the infirmary at a Salesian boys camp in Middleton, attended by students from the Richmond high school. There, according to allegations in a lawsuit, Presenti masturbated and had oral sex with boys who stayed overnight in the infirmary.

That lawsuit and another naming Presenti -- by accusers who said they were abused in 1962 and 1972 -- were dismissed by a Los Angeles appeals court in January because the plaintiffs could not prove the Salesians knew Presenti posed a threat.

Presenti admitted in a 2005 deposition to molesting the accuser and two other boys between 1970 and 1973, though he denied the 1962 molestation, Simons said.

When the victim from 1972 complained to another priest at the camp shortly after the abuse occurred, the Rev. Harry Rasmussen, a priest in the Salesian provincial office, was called in to investigate, court records show. Rasmussen visited the victim's family, who asked that Presenti be removed from Salesian High School, according to the records.

One year later, Presenti was transferred to St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower and promoted to school principal.

Rasmussen testified in a deposition that he didn't tell anyone in Bellflower about the complaint against Presenti and that no record explaining the reasons for the move was placed in his personnel file.

"I'm not sure I knew it was a crime," Rasmussen testified regarding the abuse.

Simons said the Salesians were able to hide behind a legal defense of "no notice" because no record of the child's complaint or Rasmussen's investigation was created.

"You have a guy like Father Presenti, who everyone agrees was the subject of a report in 1972, who everyone agrees had the order come out and inquire about it, and yet there isn't so much as a handwritten note in his personnel file," Simons said.

Salesians lawyer Steve McFeely said that the Salesians were simply following the law in fighting the cases because such notice was required for clergy lawsuits.

But Simons said the records kept by the Salesians were severely lacking.

"We don't have any way to know whether that was because as a practice, at the time these events were occurring, they never put anything in writing, or whether it was because whatever was put in writing is gone or taken out," Simons said. "But the absence of that information allowed the Salesian order to hide behind the legal defense of no notice."

The Salesians said in a statement that they never shifted alleged abusers or tried to hide their actions and that they did not know about most cases of abuse. The order declined to comment on details of cases and refused requests for interviews with Salesian officials and accused priests.

'Denial, denial, denial'

In the case of Billante, notice wasn't an issue after a 181-count criminal indictment was filed against him in 2002. Police arrested the Salesian on suspicion of masturbating, orally copulating and sodomizing several children younger than 14 in San Francisco, but the charges were thrown out after the Supreme Court in 2003 overturned a California law extending the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse.

According to Billante's own estimate in a 2004 deposition, he had sexual relations with about 15 children during his time at Salesian High School and Corpus Christi in San Francisco. The police report on which his indictment was based said he molested at least 24.

In 1989, Billante was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison for child molestation, serving four years at San Quentin before being released.

The Salesians settled two lawsuits involving three victims naming Billante, in which he was accused of taking pornographic photographs of boys, Simons said.

The Rev. Bernard Dabbene, who served as principal of Salesian High School in the late 1970s, was arrested in 2000 when he was found in a car in San Francisco with a 17-year-old boy, both with their pants unzipped, according to police reports.

In a plea deal, prosecutors dropped felony charges, and Dabbene pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor child molestation, on condition he undergo rehabilitation and register as a sex offender.

George Stein, who accused Dabbene of committing abuse in 1959 at what was then the Salesian seminary in Richmond, wrote a letter in 2003 to Dabbene and the Salesian provincial, the Rev. Nick Reina, asking for a letter of apology from Dabbene.

"I can truthfully say I have no recollection of ever having hurt you or others during my assignment at the seminary," Dabbene wrote in response. "Nevertheless, I wish to sincerely and deeply apologize if I ever did anything to hurt you or anyone else."

Michael Perry, who entered the Salesian seminary in the late 1950s but left before becoming a priest, said abuse was so widespread at Salesian High School that at a recent 40th high school reunion, nearly half of those attending who he talked to said they had been abused, including himself.

Perry filed a police report in 2002 against Brother John Vas and the Rev. Larry Lorenzoni in which he accused the priests of committing abuse at Salesian and a Watsonville seminary school. Charges were not filed against Vas or Lorenzoni because of the 2003 Supreme Court ruling.

Vas' wife of 38 years, Edna, said in a phone interview that her husband "has said that these accusations, as far as he can remember, never took place."

Perry, who now works as a sex therapist in Los Angeles, said he wasn't interested in suing the order.

But he said he was troubled by the response he received from the Rev. Nick Reina, who was then superior at the Salesian provincial house.

Reina said in an e-mail, "From my limited knowledge of the law concerning past abuses, I know that it had to be something that continued over time, that it involved some kind of penetration and another person who can either verify that it happened or another person to whom it happened."

When Perry later offered to provide sex education for the order, something he's professionally trained to do, he said the Salesians told him they were not interested.

"The Salesians are not terribly interested in fixing it. The core issue is their whole culture and being in denial about any sexual abuse at all," Perry said. "Weeding out a couple of predators after the fact is not the answer. It's all denial, denial, denial."

St. Albert's Priory

Other orders also had accused clergy serving in the diocese .

While no reports of abuse occurred at St. Albert's Priory, an Oakland monastery run by the Dominican Order of Catholic Priests, seven priests accused of abuse were housed there in 2004.

In all, nine accused priests have served at St. Albert's.

As first reported by ABC7 in 2004, the Dominicans moved abusive priests from the Western United States to St. Albert's without telling neighbors or the schools nearby.

One former seminarian told ABC7 he was instructed in 2002 that "the young men training to be priests should tell no one" about the abusive priests coming to St. Albert's.

Of the seven priests at St. Albert's in 2004, only one had been accused of abuse within the diocese. The others were transferred in from Southern California, Oregon and Idaho.

"When we learned of an alleged instance of abuse, we took immediate steps to ensure that no children were in danger and undertook a thorough investigation to determine whether the allegation was credible," the Western Dominican Provincial said in a statement after the ABC7 story.

Most of the priests accused of abuse arrived at St. Albert's in 2003, according to ABC7. Several, such as the Rev. Terrence Reilly, who was called a "serial pedophile" in a Los Angeles lawsuit, had multiple complaints against them.

Roberto Bravo was a priest at St. Albert's who had been accused of abuse at Antioch's Holy Rosary parish. He was investigated in 1999 after reports of inappropriately touching six teenage girls, but the case was dropped when the girls refused to testify, according to ABC7. Bravo left the order and St. Albert's in 2005.

The Rev. Leo Tubbs, who was accused of committing abuse to a teenage boy about 20 years ago, took an unauthorized, unaccompanied trip to Thailand, despite having restrictions placed on his movement while living at St. Albert's, according to a statement released by the order.

The order said the abusive priests were placed in St. Albert's because they wouldn't have to interact with the public, and more than 40 Dominican priests lived there, providing the abusive priests with supervision and support, according to a Dominican news release.

A Dominican provincial official said the order is not discussing any issues of sexual abuse with the media and refused to comment for this story.

Franciscans

For the seven accused Franciscan priests, abuse was reported in other dioceses either before or after they served in the East Bay. Four served in Oakland at St. Elizabeth's parish, which includes St. Elizabeth's High School.

Three of the seven Franciscans -- the Revs. Chris Berbena, Mario Cimmarusti and Martin McKeon -- were accused of abuse in Santa Barbara. Berbena and McKeon were part of a $28 million settlement, which included 25 victims and eight priests, reached by the Franciscans in Santa Barbara.

Berbena left the Franciscan order to become a diocesan priest in 1997. Last month, the Diocese of Oakland returned him to active ministry after a review board determined the single accusation against him in Santa Barbara could not be substantiated.

In Tigard, Ore., the Rev. Melvin Bucher failed a lie detector test in 1993 about having sex with minors, according to the Oregonian newspaper. Bucher was sued in 1994, but the case was not settled until it was about to go to trial in 2001, just a year before the priest scandal broke in Boston.

Bucher came to St. Elizabeth in 1974, five years after he left Tigard, according to church records.

The Franciscans also had priests accused of abuse in Idaho, Arizona and Portland, Ore., who served in Diocese of Oakland parishes, according to court and church records.

Other orders

Eight other religious orders each had at least one priest accused of abuse serving in the Oakland Diocese.

At De La Salle High School in Concord, three Christian Brothers were accused of abuse. The order reached a $6.3 million settlement in a 2004 case involving three victims and three brothers serving at De La Salle.

One victim said he was abused on a school-sanctioned ski trip, another said a counselor abused him at a Napa retreat center, and a third said a counselor repeatedly abused him off campus.

The third victim, who said he was molested by Brother Joseph "Jesse" Gutierrez, was given $4 million in the settlement.

The Christian Brothers had transferred Gutierrez to Concord from Berkeley, where he'd had relationships with students that had "sexual overtones," according to a 1968 memo by the order's provincial, Brother Bertram Coleman.

A fifth Christian Brother, Brother Francis Verngren, was accused in a 2003 lawsuit of molesting a child more than three decades earlier at St. Mary's High School in Berkeley, where Verngren had served as principal.

Simons said the Christian Brothers, unlike the Salesians, were quick to settle their cases and move forward.

"They recognized what had occurred and recognized something that should never occur again and took steps both within the administration and with victims to try and heal and prevent," Simons said.

At Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, a man who is serving a 15-years-to-life prison sentence for murdering his wife in 1983 has accused two Congregation of Holy Cross clergy members of abuse.

David Dutra said he was abused by Brother Donald Eagleson and the Rev. Gordon Wilcox as a Moreau student in the early 1970s.

Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh came under fire in 2005 when it was revealed he had suspended Eagleson in 2002 after learning of the suspected abuse but didn't tell the parish's congregants, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Eagleson died of leukemia in 2004.

One other Holy Cross brother was accused of abuse: Brother Lawrence O'Brien, who served at Moreau in the 1970s and '80s, was sued in 2004.

The lone Jesuit accused of abuse in the Diocese of Oakland was the Rev. Jerold Lindner, who was named in a 2003 lawsuit by a girl who said he molested her at Corpus Christi in Piedmont while he was serving at St. Ignatius Prep School in San Francisco.

The lawsuit contends that from the 1950s to the 1980s, Lindner "abused and molested his 5-year-old nephew in Arizona and Berkeley," "sodomized and molested two brothers, ages 4 and 7," "orally copulated and sodomized his 11-year-old nephew" and "molested three nieces."

Lindner has been accused by 10 men and women in Southern California, Phoenix and the Bay Area, the Los Angeles Times reported. Lindner has denied the allegations, but he was part of a secret $625,000 settlement in 1997, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The son of a founding member of St. Alphonsus Liguori parish in San Leandro said he was sodomized when he was 5 years old by Redemptorist priest Cornelius Leehan. But when Russ Marley told his father he was abused, he was instructed to "tell no one," Marley said in 2004, the year he sued the diocese.

Accused clergy members from four other orders -- Society of Precious Blood, Society of the Divine Word, Society of Mary and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate -- also served in the Diocese of Oakland.

Moving forward

When Piscitelli's lawsuit is resolved later this year, his legal battle with the Salesians will end, but the Martinez resident plans to keep fighting.

Piscitelli is the director of the Northern California office of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support and advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse.

He said victims of sexual abuse continue to come forward, and he wants to continue to help them.

On Feb. 28, Piscitelli held a news conference with a woman who says she is a victim of Brother John Vas. Rose Harper, 54, contacted Piscitelli after seeing news stories about the Presenti lawsuits.

Harper said Vas molested her at the school when her brother was a student. Her parents volunteered at the school and took her along, and Vas "would just follow me," she said.

Edna Vas said her husband has no recollection of Harper's allegation.

"Victims are constantly coming forward -- slowly," Piscitelli said. "I'm seeing that when there is publicity, and they read books and newspaper articles, there's people who are ready to come out who were molested 25 years ago. The average person who was molested, they get little reminders here or there, and they're not ready to surface for years."

In addition to his work with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Piscitelli is writing a book about his experience, "Destruction of a Catholic: My Battle with the Salesian Society and Cardinal Levada."

Piscitelli said he has a nearly complete manuscript -- all that's left is the ending.

"The book would be incomplete" if it were published before the Salesians' appeal is resolved, Piscitelli said. "If I win, it'll lift a great burden. It's like a David and Goliath thing. I beat the monster.
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce

Catholic group seeks ads on clergy sex abuse

The worst of the clergy sexual abuse crisis may be over in Massachusetts, but the Boston-based Voice of the Faithful sees a nationwide cancer on the Catholic Church that it plans to advertise during Pope Benedict's weeklong visit to the United States later this month.

VOTF President Dan Bartley told members in an e-mail Monday that $51,000 has been raised so far, almost enough to buy a full-page ad in the New York Times. But he added that there is just one day left before the advertising deadline, and the group would also like to take out ads in other national newspapers, such as USA Today.

VOTF communications director John Moynihan told The Standard-Times that the abuse scandals have dropped off the screen in many places. "Being off the newspaper page, it is no longer in front of people's eyes," he said.

But the proposed advertisement points out that legal settlements in the United States alone totaled $617 million and now exceed $2.3 billion worldwide.

"Equally troubling is the fact that our leaders contributed to this terrible toll," it reads.

The group said it wants more accountability from the bishops, many of whom it says are still in their positions despite aiding and abetting clergy abuse through transfers and cover-ups of priestly abuse.

"Many Catholics know too well the human suffering and financial costs associated with the global clergy sexual abuse crisis," the ad states. "By 2004 in the U.S. alone, more than 4,300 priests were alleged to have abused almost 11,000 young people between the years of 1950 and 2002."

Not only does the group seek to remove offending bishops, it wants the church to open up its administration to lay accountability, citing surveys in which 85 percent of dioceses reported embezzlements within the last five years.

"Every parish and diocese would have fully engaged finance committees providing independent perspectives to pastors or bishops," it proposes.

The Diocese of Fall River was the epicenter of the first major scandal, involving the late James Porter, a former priest who became one of the first brought to trial. That experience caused then-Bishop Sean O'Malley, now Cardinal O'Malley, archbishop of Boston, to meet with victims, settle claims and put safeguards in place, although not to the satisfaction of everyone.

His reward was to be assigned by Pope John Paul II to clean up the mess in the Boston archdiocese left by Cardinal Bernard Law, who was transferred to the Vatican.

While Cardinal O'Malley continues to meet with Voice of the Faithful on occasion, his successor in Fall River, Bishop George Coleman, has largely avoided the group. There has not been a meeting between representatives of the diocese and the group "in quite some time," according to diocesan spokesman John Kearns.

In fact, said Mr. Moynihan, the SouthCoast area Voice of the Faithful chapter has largely dissolved. There is an active group within the diocese on Cape Cod, but its issues have generally been with the Boston archdiocese since the beginning.

He said interaction with Voice of the Faithful and local bishops varies widely across the country. Communication is especially good in Boston and New York and about a dozen other dioceses, he said.

"In the diocese of St. Petersburg, we jointly sponsored a day of atonement in which the ceremony was presided over by the vicar general," said Mr. Moynihan.

But where the pope is concerned, he said, "We don't think he understands what's happening in the U.S. church. We want to call his attention to reality."

Pope Benedict's visit is scheduled from April 16-20.
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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce