Bad Doctors and Bad Priests

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Doctors are held to a higher standard than priests are. The National Post reports: 

A surgeon who engaged in sexual acts with four women who came to him for weight loss surgeries, including twin sisters, had his licence revoked today.
Dr. Jacobo Joffe, who practiced out of Scarborough Grace hospital, pleaded no contest to allegations of sexual abuse and dishonourable conduct.
Dr. Joffe, 59, had sex with four patients at the hospital and his office between 2001 and 2007, and also instructed two of the patients to take illegal drugs during their sexual encounters.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario revoked Dr. Joffe’s certificate of registration, and ordered him to appear before the discipline committee again to be reprimanded, as is mandatory in sex abuse cases.
‘‘[He] took advantage of the patients’ vulnerability,” said prosecutor Carolyn Silver.

Notice that the victims were adults, and the time between crime and punishment was short.

In 1913 Father Hans Schmidt killed his pregnant housekeeper-mistress. Even then newspapers commented that medical and legal professions were far more vigilant than churches were in keeping out charlatans and criminals.

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Thefts Old and New

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In Montreal Concordia University has managed to have five paintings owned by Max Stern and stolen by the Nazis returned to their rightful heirs. When Stern was in Nazi Germany before he could flee, the Nazis forced him to sell some of his art to an “Aryan” dealer and then confiscated the rest after he escaped to Montréal.

The director of the Montreal restitution project explained in the Globe and Mail:

“One of the challenges we have is that, unlike the United States, which recognizes a forced sale as being equivalent to a theft, here in Germany and in other countries, they haven’t yet developed an art law position that is as clear as the Americans.”

Europeans have dragged their feet for decades about returning goods stolen by the Nazis. They have been reluctant to make even that small compensation to the victims of the Holocaust and their families. European museums are full of works stolen from murdered Jews, just as Swiss banks profited from the accounts of Holocaust victims.

It is always easy to tolerate injustices done to others.

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Take My Money – Please

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We have reached the point where investors will pay the US government to keep thir money safe – Treasuries are paying a negative interest rate. It has been about 70 years since this happened last.

The whole world has a touching faith in the US dollar – I hope these true believers are in the right church.

 

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Off-Shore Tax Oasis – Off the Shore of the Tiber

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Catholic Democrats complain about tax reductions – Americans are undertaxed, they say. Pope Benedict has criticized off-shore banks as a source of the financial crisis But in Kaiman and Abel, Timothy Ridley, the former head of a bank in the Cayman Islands, points out 

Der Vatikan hat selbst 1929 einen Deal mit Mussolini geschlossen, wonach er de facto zur Steueroase wurde. Es steht in den aktuellen Yellow Pages der EU: ‘Bürger des Vatikans zahlen keine Steuern.’ In Italien genießt die katholische Kirche jede Menge Steuervorteile. Erst 2005 hat die Regierung Berlusconi die Kirche von allen Steuern auf die meisten ihrer Immobilien befreit.”

Die Überschrift von Ridleys Artikel ist “Matthäus, 7:3”. Dieser Vers des Evangeliums lautet: Warum siehst du den Splitter im Auge deines Bruders, aber den Balken in deinem Auge bemerkst du nicht?

In 1929 the Vatican itself had concluded a deal with Mussolni, by which it became a dde facto tax oasis. In the current Yellow Pages of the European Union it says: “Citizens of the Vatican pay no tax. In Italy the Catholic Church enjoys many tax advantages. In 2005 the government of Berlusconi freed the Church of all taxes on most of its real estate.

The headline of Ridley’s article’s is Matthew 7:3. This verse of the Gospel reads ‘”Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye, but you don’t notice the beam in your own eye.

As I walked around Rome on recent visits, I noticed how many buildings outside the Vatican bore signs that indicate they were extraterritorial (i.e., tax free). Hoteliers in Rome are sore about this. The Vatican and religious orders run hotels which are exempt from real estate taxes and use as employees religious who are exempt from minimum wage laws and other employment regulations. Unfair competition?

 

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Sunny von Bulow

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Sunny von Bulow died yesterday. She had been in an insulin coma for almost 28 years. Her second husband, Claus von Bulow, was convicted in one trial, but after employing Alan Dershowitz, was acquitted in a second trial of attempting to murder his wife.

The articles on her death do not mention the curious involvment of the the sexually abusive Rev. Philip Magaldi, who perjured himself in an attempt to exonerate Claus von Bulow. Magaldi has gone to face a higher court of justice, but Claus  awaits his turn – he is still alive in London.

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Enlightened European Attitudes

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Some Americans praise the more sophisticated European attitude to sexuality. The fuss about the Palin pregnancy, or about Clinton’s affairs, would be unimaginable in Europe.

The Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States is heavily influenced by Europe: rising stars among the priesthood were educated at the North American College or at other European seminaries to pick up the attitudes of Romanita. They may also have picked up other European attitudes, which may explain why they let sexually abusive priests continue to abuse children for decades.

The Spanish newspaper ABC has a story about Marcelino Fernández Arnaiz. Three days after getting out of prison, he was suspected of immediately abusing a six year old girl. It was not his first time in prison: he had previoudly been jailed for sexual abuse in 1980, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1999, 2000, 2002  and 2003. Every time he got out, he reoffended. Spain has become, like the Catholic Church, a forgiving community for pederasts where everyone gets a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth…chance.

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Papal Words But No Papal Deeds

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The Pope said the right words in Australia: 

 

“Dear friends, may this celebration, in the presence of the Successor of Peter, be a moment of rededication and renewal for the whole Church in Australia!

“Here I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this country. Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured and I assure them that as their pastor I too share in their suffering.

“These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation. They have caused great pain and have damaged the Church’s witness. I ask all of you to support and assist your bishops, and to work together with them in combating this evil. Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice. It is an urgent priority to promote a safer and more wholesome environment, especially for young people.

“In these days marked by the celebration of World Youth Day, we are reminded of how precious a treasure has been entrusted to us in our young people, and how great a part of the Church’s mission in this country has been dedicated to their education and care.

“As the Church in Australia continues, in the spirit of the Gospel, to address effectively this serious pastoral challenge, I join you in praying that this time of purification will bring about healing, reconciliation and ever greater fidelity to the moral demands of the Gospel.”

I would feel better about this is these words had not been added at the last minute. According to John Allen, “The pope’s direct apology was a last-minute addition to his prepared text.”

 

There is still no indication that bishops will suffer any consequences if they choose to tolerate abuse and to make hard-hearted remarks about victims (see below).

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Our Bishops – Who Will Take Away Their Hearts of Stone?

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Bishop Fisher, the youthful bishop who is the organizer of World Youth Day, has demonstrated by his remarks what bishops really think. We learn from this article and this article  in The Age:

The bishop organising World Youth Day, Anthony Fisher, made the remarks in response to questions about two Melbourne women who were repeatedly raped by priest Kevin O’Donnell when they were pupils at Sacred Heart Primary School in Oakleigh from 1988 to 1993.

Abuse by priests has traumatic and sometimes fatal consequences:

Emma Foster committed suicide this year, aged 26, after a long battle with drug addiction, while Katherine drank heavily before being left disabled when hit by a drunk driver in 1999.

But such trivialities do not deter the relentlessly upbeat Bishop Fisher:

The case was detailed on ABC’s Lateline on Tuesday, but Bishop Fisher told the World Youth Day daily media briefing that he had not seen the program. “Happily, I think most of Australia was enjoying, delighting in, the beauty and goodness of these young people … rather than dwelling crankily, as a few people are doing, on old wounds,” he said.

I had hoped that perhaps that Pope Benedict has a human heart. But perhaps not:

The head of the Vatican’s press office has moved to pour cold water on expectations the Pope will offer an apology for clergy sex abuse while in Australia.

Reverend Federico Lombardi said he believed Pope Benedict XVI had not given a commitment to apologise to victims of abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, or to their families.

Any reference to the abuse issue by the Pope may also come in the form of a “statement” only, Rev Lombardi said.

“There is a problem understanding the meaning of apology,” he told reporters, through an interpreter, in Sydney.

“I do not recall that he (the pontiff) declared that he would make an apology, but I do not know, perhaps I did not understand properly.

“So, I would suggest that you keep following what the Holy Father says. If the apology happens, all the better. But I would not anticipate that the Holy Father would give an apology.”

Such are our shepherds.

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Lying Bishops and Tangled Webs

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As a young man in Australia Anthony Jones was forcibly molested by the Rev Terence Goodall. Jones made a formal complaint to the church, which ordered an investigation. Australian Lateline reports

 

While the report says that Father Goodall raised the issue of an element of consent, the investigator recommended that Anthony Jones’ allegations be sustained without qualification. The report, as well as a number of other documents, was referred upwards to the desk of Archbishop George Pell. And it was the Archbishop who would eventually respond to Anthony Jones about the outcome.

But the letter George Pell wrote to Anthony Jones differed markedly from the investigation’s findings.

The Archbishop wrote: “After examining all of the material, Mr Murray provided me with a report, and he has recommended that the allegations of inappropriate behaviour against you be found to be substantiated. However, as no other complaint of attempted sexual assault has been received against Father Goodall and he categorically denies the accusation, Mr Murray was of the opinion that the complaint of attempted aggravated sexual assault cannot be considered to have been substantiated. 

But Pell was lying; on the same day he wrote and signed another letter: 

But what the Archbishop wrote was not true. On the same day George Pell signed a letter to another man who had claimed that when he was just 10 or 11 years old he’d been attacked by Father Goodall. In a letter to that victim, which was put into evidence in the District Court in 2006, George Pell accepted his complaint.

LETTER FROM GEORGE PELL TO ABUSE VICTIM: After examining all of the material, Mr Murray provided me with a report in which he recommended that the complaints of inappropriate behaviour with altar boys and of indecent assault of you when a young be found to be substantiated.” 

 

And now, according to the West Australian, Pell is compounding the lie: 

But Cardinal Pell, in response to the Lateline program, denied he had misled Mr Jones.

“The letter to Mr Jones was badly worded and a mistake – an attempt to inform him there was no other allegation of rape,” Cardinal Pell said in a statement.

“However, I signed both letters of February 2003 mentioned in the ABC’s Lateline program, and any fault in the drafting was mine.

“In a subsequent letter soon after the February 2003 letter, I expressed my sorrow at what Mr Jones had suffered and offered to meet him.

“There was no attempt to mislead him. I apologise for the confusion caused to Mr Jones.”

Just the thing to set the tone for World Youth Day. Pope Benedict has apologized for priest who abuse; when will he apologize for and remove bishops who lie?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Death of the Wicked

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Rod Dreher has a post apologizing for his delight in the prompt death of the wicked.

 

I have been watching a DVD of the interrogation of Rev. Ryan Erickson, who murdered two men in cold blood to cover up his sexual abuse. The detectives cornered him in lies, and he knew the game was up. Shortly after that, at the end of 2004 he committed suicide rather than face humiliation, jail, and what happens to young homosexuals in jail.

 

I felt some pity for the SOB. Our response when we see a person or even an animal cornered and about to be killed is often pity, even if we know the death is necessary.

 

This basically good human response creates problems at murder trials. The jury and the public see the accused badgered and hunted; they tend to forget the absent murder victim.

 

Earthly justice is necessary and even desired by God – who has given the civil power the sword for a reason. But somehow we hope, after all the demands of justice are satisfied, that the last word will be spoken by mercy.

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Hugo Chavez as Henry VIII

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I doubt that this will go anywhere, but it should provide some entertainment for a while.

 

The Miami Herald reports:

 

A church modeled in part after one in Miami but with a ”revolutionary” spirit that praises Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is now at the center of a religious and social controversy in Venezuela.

Although it has adopted many of the symbols and rites of Roman Catholicism, the new Reform Catholic Venezuelan Church departs from traditional belief in some key ways.

For example, reformists consider that ”homosexuality and bisexuality are not sins in and of themselves.” Divorce is allowed and priests do not take vows of chastity. 

The new church uses the language of liberation theology: 

According to its leaders, the reformist church seeks to establish an institution that is “inclusive, participatory and with a strong Bolivarian spirit that recognizes Jesus Christ as the Lord of History. He is present in the revolutionary process that is occurring in Venezuela.” 

This is not the first time politicians in Venezuela have tried this trick: 

Attempts to establish churches with political motivations are nothing new to Venezuela. In the mid 1940s several government leaders who had declared themselves anti-clerical decided to establish a Catholic Apostolic Church of Venezuela, by forging the ordainment of a bishop. 

I wonder how Catholics who agree with the new Church’s agenda will react?

 

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More on Accusations Against Walesa

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 The new book by Slawomir Cenckiewicz and Piotr Gontarczyk that claims Walesa worked for the Communist secret police until 1976.

 

Der Spiegel interviewed Cenckiewicz: 

 

SPIEGEL: This Monday your book “The Security Service and Lech Walesa” comes out. It has already sparked an intense debate. In it, you and your co-author Piotr Gontarczyk claim that the hero of the Polish reform movement collaborated with the secret police in the 1970s. Do you have proof?

Cenckiewicz: We provide clear evidence in our book including registration cards, notations, notes from the secret police and reports from the so-called informant “Bolek.” There’s positive proof that Lech Walesa was registered with the secret police under that code name between 1970 and 1976.

SPIEGEL: Walesa has emphatically denied that, and says the Bolek file is a forgery. How can you be sure the secret police didn’t fabricate the documents to paint the union leader in a bad light?

Cenckiewicz: We know the secret police’s methods, and the way the archive and registry were run — that’s how we know. We’ve also found evidence from the Bolek file cited in other files.

SPIEGEL: Those could also have been forged.

Cenckiewicz: These files still had their original seals and it could be proven that they hadn’t been opened since the 1970s. Manipulation is out of the question.

SPIEGEL: Assuming for a moment that Walesa was in fact Bolek as you allege, how much damage did he do?

Cenckiewicz: We describe the fate of people who Bolek informed on. We’ve come across seven such stories. The rest were destroyed or stolen from the files. But it’s clear that Bolek informed on more than 20 people who were later harrassed or oppressed.

 

 

As president Walesa sought to sanitize his file:

SPIEGEL: The other major claim in your book is that Walesa tried to clean out his file when he was president of Poland in the early 1990s.

Cenckiewicz: For me that’s the saddest chapter. He was the first freely elected head of state since World War II, but he used his office to remove incriminating secret police files.

SPIEGEL: Walesa has also strongly denied this accusation. What proof do you have that he did this, or at least ordered it done?

Cenckiewicz: Some of the documents have his signature, a date and the note “I have borrowed this file.” Others have the signature of some of his closest co-workers, for example former Interior Minister Andrzej Milczanowski, requesting the documents on his behalf. Walesa endorsed the request. Later it turned out some of the files were returned incomplete. The new, post-Communist secret service took note of that.

 

 

 

 

 

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Lech Walesa – Communist Informer?

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According to Der Spiegel’s “In the Hell of the Files,” a book in Poland, The Secret Police and Lech Walesa, claims that Walesa, after his first arrest in 1970, agreed, under the code name of Bolek, to inform on his follow workers in Gdansk, and received 13,000 zlotys, about two months pay, for his work.

 

Walesa, founder of Solidarity and Nobel Prize winner, denies it and says the secret police files are false.

 

The national conservative paper Rzeczpospolita, which has also reported on the sexual misconduct of Archbishop Juliusz Paetz, has printed a preview of the book by Slawomir Cenckiewicz und Piotr Gontarczyk of the Institute of National Memeory (IPN).

 

In 1992 the conservative government presented a list of 66 prominent Poles who had cooperated with the Communists, and Walesa was on that list.

 

But the Polish secret police had destroyed many of their files as Communism was falling, and it was impossible to determine what these men had done. Such accusations were used as a weapon to destroy political foes. The lustration or cleansing of Polish society from Communism became a farce.

 

The files were sealed, and liberals such as Adam Michnik want them to be sealed forever.

 

The Institute of National Memory has custody of the remaining files of the secret police, and the new book is based on those files.

 

Cardinal Paskai of Hungary betrayed his priests to the Communists; and Paetz is suspected of being a Communist informer in the Vatican.

 

Until the generation of Europeans who might have collaborated with the Communists dies off, the suspicions and accusations will be an open wound on the new democratic societies.

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