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Catholic Church Hierarchy Under Fire for Heresy and Rape of Nun

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By The Independent. An Indian nun who says a bishop raped her 13 times and was urged by church officials to keep silent about it has been told the case is going to trial.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who maintains his innocence, will be charged and face trial by a special prosecutor on accusations of rape and intimidation, police said. . .

The church acknowledged the accusations only after five of the woman’s fellow nuns mutinied and publicly rallied to her side to draw attention to her year-long quest for justice, despite what they described as heavy pressure to remain silent.

The case is part of a larger problem in the church that Pope Francis addressed on Tuesday for the first time after decades of silence from the Vatican. He acknowledged that sexual abuse of nuns by clerics was a continuing problem.

At a time when church attendance is low in the West, and monasteries are being closed across Europe and America, the Vatican increasingly relies on places such as India to keep the faith growing. (Read more from “Catholic Church Hierarchy Under Fire for Heresy and Rape of Nun” HERE)

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Former Cardinal Issues Manifesto in Thinly Veiled Attack on Pope

By Reuters. A cardinal who was sacked from a senior Vatican post by Pope Francis has written his own “Manifesto of Faith,” in the latest attack on the pontiff’s authority by a leading member of the Church’s conservative wing.

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, 71, a German who was the Vatican’s doctrinal chief until 2017, issued the four-page manifesto on Friday via conservative Catholic media outlets.

He said “many bishops, priests, religious and lay people” had requested it. He did not say how many and why he was issuing it now. . .

Mueller said he wrote it “in the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the faith”.

He said some Church leaders “have abandoned the people entrusted to them, unsettling them and severely damaging their faith”. He warned against “the fraud of (the) anti-Christ”. (Read more from “Former Cardinal Issues Manifesto in Thinly Veiled Attack on Pope” HERE)

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Report: Women Speak of Nuns Allegedly Sexually Abusing Them When They Were Kids

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. . .CBS News broadcast a segment with reporter Nikki Battiste in which Battiste detailed instances of nuns abusing children. The segment began by noting an organization titled The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). . .

A former nun who works with SNAP, Mary Dispenza , said by working with SNAP she periodically heard of instances where nuns abused children sexually, noting that since a grand jury named hundreds of priests who were pedophiles in Pennsylvania, at least 18 people informed her that they had been subject to sexual abuse by nuns.

Dispenza told CBS News, “The demands of chastity and celibacy are unrealistic demands for many of us.” She recalled her own experience when a superior told her to come to her room: “I knelt down right next to her and she kissed me all over softly, my face … and I want to say, ‘Oh but it wasn’t bad,’ but it was. And I’ve carried it with me until today.” When Battiste asked her why there had not been news about abuse by nuns before, Dispenza answered, “A lot has to do with the culture of nuns which are, they are very, very private by nature.”

Battiste interviewed a woman named Trish Cahill, who spoke of her alleged abuse when she was 15. Cahill said she told a nun named Eileen Shaw at a convent in New Jersey her dark secret: that her uncle, a priest who had since died, had allegedly sexually abused her from the time she was five years old. Cahill said of Shaw, “I would have done anything for her. I would have died for her. She gave me everything that was lacking that I didn’t even know I was lacking. I was so broken. She filled in all those pieces.”

But Cahill alleged Shaw was “grooming” her, utilizing drugs and alcohol while she initiated a sexual relationship with her. Cahill remembered, “I’m with my friends during the day. And I’m with this pedophile nun on the evenings and on the weekends, and in the summer.” In 1994, Cahill reported Shaw’s actions to the sisters of charity of St. Elizabeth, which settled with her out of court for $70,000. She said, “They had canon lawyers on retainer just for people like me. Shut her up, pacify her, tell her you love her and you’ll pray for her, and send her on her way.” (Read more from “Report: Women Speak of Nuns Allegedly Sexually Abusing Them When They Were Kids” HERE)

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Catholic Church in Illinois May Have Hidden Hundreds of Complaints of Sexual Misconduct

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The Catholic Church in Illinois, which includes the Chicago Archdiocese, may have hidden hundreds of allegations of sexual misconduct made against priests and other members of the clergy, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a press conference late Wednesday. . .

“Madigan opened an investigation into the issue in Illinois in August after a grand jury report revealed widespread clergy abuse in Pennsylvania,” the news site continued. “The attorney general has been reviewing thousands of pages of internal documents released from each of Illinois’ six diocese as part of its investigation.”

Each diocese in Illinois has released a list of “credibly” accused members of the clergy, Madigan said, but those lists only include around 185 names, total, and don’t reference other priests who were accused of misconduct but were not “adequately investigated.” Each individual diocese, including Chicago, has its own definition of an “adequate investigation,” and there are no uniform rules for handling claims of sexual misconduct or reporting allegations to law enforcement. . .

The news comes on the heels of a separate report issued by the Midwest Province of Jesuits that claims at least 65 Jesuit brothers and priests across 12 states have been “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct, including 18 priests who operated within the Chicago archdiocese. “Half a dozen” of those priests were teachers at a Chicago-area prep school.

According to the report, one of those priests, Fr. Donald McGuire, was moved around several times over the course of four decades before being finally defrocked in 2007 — only after being convicted of bringing a minor across state lines for the purpose of having sexual contact. (Read more from “Catholic Church in Illinois May Have Hidden Hundreds of Complaints of Sexual Misconduct” HERE)

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The Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis Is Dredging up an Old Heresy

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Many Catholics were outraged last week when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops failed to take action to address the clergy sex abuse crisis. Almost as soon as the bishops convened in Baltimore, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the conference president, announced he’d received a letter from the Holy See instructing the conference not to vote on measures that would bring greater accountability to bishops. Instead, they were told to wait for a synod on the crisis that Pope Francis will host in Rome in February.

The news went down like a lead balloon. For some Catholics, it was more than they could bear. Melinda Henneberger, a columnist for USA Today and former Vatican correspondent for The New York Times, announced she was leaving the church. Addressing the bishops directly, she wrote: “After a lifetime of stubborn adherence on my part and criminal behavior on yours, your excellencies, you seem to have finally succeeded in driving me away.”

Henneberger doesn’t make an argument for why she’s leaving, she just says she’s had enough. Like several other Catholic journalists who recently left the church over the sex abuse crisis, her implication is that because so many bishops and cardinals are morally compromised, the church itself isn’t worthy of allegiance or affection.

Tempting as that conclusion might be, Henneberger and the others are giving in to an old heresy, which, like all heresies, keeps coming around in new guises. In this case, it’s a version of Donatism, the notion that for prayers and sacraments to be valid, the clerics administering them must be blameless. As a practical matter, Donatism presents the obvious problem that it’s impossible to find a blameless cleric.

But as a doctrine, it presents yet more serious problems. When Donatism began winning adherents in the fourth century, it drew the ire of Saint Augustine, who famously fought it by arguing that ministers of the sacraments were mere instruments of God’s grace, not its source, which is Jesus Christ. (Read more from “The Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis Is Dredging up an Old Heresy” HERE)

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Pastor of Chicago’s First ‘Gay’ Catholic Parish Was Found Dead Attached to ‘Sex Machine’

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The last pastor of Chicago’s first officially “gay parish,” Fr. Daniel Montalbano was found dead in his rectory bedroom hooked up to a “sex machine” in 1997, according to the pastor of Montalbano’s second parish in a recent video interview.

According to Fr. Paul Kalchik, the recently-removed pastor of Montalbano’s second parish, Resurrection, Montalbano’s room in Resurrection’s rectory had body-sized mirrors lining one of the walls, and two closets full of homosexual porn materials, which had to be carted out along with the sex machine and destroyed following the discovery of Montalbano’s body.

Fr. Montalbano had been the pastor of the “gay friendly” St. Sebastian parish until 1990, after a fire destroyed part of the interior the year before, leading to a permanent closing of the parish. The priest was then transferred to Resurrection parish. Two different homosexualist groups, Dignity Chicago and the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach of Chicago (AGLO), had used St. Sebastian parish for their meetings and activities with the blessing of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.

Montalbano was himself a “practicing” homosexual, according to Fr. Kalchik, and had hung a flag with the rainbow “gay pride” colors and a cross superimposed on it in the sanctuary during the Mass after he had first moved to Resurrection in 1991. The flag appears to have been taken from St. Sebastian parish, where it had been used by the LGBT groups there.

Fr. Kalchik made the remarks in an interview with Michael Voris of Church Militant published on September 26, following the priest’s expulsion from Resurrection parish in apparent retaliation for burning the LGBT flag, an act which Cupich had ordered Kalchik to cancel. (Read more from “Pastor of Chicago’s First ‘Gay’ Catholic Parish Was Found Dead Attached to ‘Sex Machine’” HERE)

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Opinion: Pedophilia Isn’t the Main Problem With Catholic Priests, Homosexuality Is

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The editorial board of the New York Times declared it had identified the source of “The Catholic Church’s Unholy Stain.” It names pedophilia and asks: “How have so many pedophiles been allowed into the priesthood?”

The question was purely rhetorical because the board had an answer ready. It cited the usual grounds: “the all-male priesthood and the celibacy imposed on Catholic priests; the elitism, careerism and clericalism of the church hierarchy; the lack of transparency or accountability among bishops.” Most damning is “the power a man of God has over a child.”

Every parent knows instinctively that sexual abuse of the young and vulnerable is an evil that cries out for punishment, swift and severe. Anything less mocks the harm done by abusive priests. Equally inadequate—and blameworthy—are expressions of sympathy for the abused that disguise the elephant in the rectory. The first responsibility is to call things by their right name. . .

To casual readers, duly angered, the Times’ charge sounds about right. More thoughtful ones, however, will hesitate over the word pedophilia. With few exceptions, sexual abuse by priests has been visited overwhelmingly upon pubescent boys, and young men, most often teenagers. This is pederasty, not pedophilia. And pederasty is endemic to gay culture. . .

Without intending to, the Times’ studied determination to ignore homosexual predation as the culprit parallels the Catholic Church’s dilemma. How is the hierarchy to work at “restoring trust, instituting accountability, and eradicating the cancer of sexual abuse” without acknowledging a subject inoculated from judgment by reigning opinion? (Read more from “Opinion: Pedophilia Isn’t the Main Problem With Catholic Priests, Homosexuality Is” HERE)

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Source: New York Subpoenas Every Catholic Diocese in the State

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The New York attorney general’s office has issued civil subpoenas to all eight of the state’s Roman Catholic dioceses, a law enforcement source told Reuters, as investigations into sexual abuse allegations within the Catholic Church gain steam across the country.

The unidentified source revealed these subpoenas were part of an ongoing investigation into dioceses’ review processes and potential cover-ups of alleged sex crimes committed by Catholic priests, Reuters reported.

“The Attorney General’s Charities Bureau has launched a civil investigation into how the dioceses and other church entities — which are non-profit institutions — reviewed and potentially covered up allegations of extensive sexual abuse of minors,” the attorney general’s announcement read.

New York is among the growing number of states across the nation that have begun investigations into claims and cover-ups of sex crimes in the church.

More have also begun to consider pulling secret and/or decades-old files from the dioceses for review as well, according to The Washington Post.

The Associated Press reported that following the issuing of subpoenas in New York, New Jersey announced a criminal task force Thursday that will look into the handling of abuse allegations in its seven dioceses.

“We owe it to the people of New Jersey to find out whether the same thing happened here,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. “If it did, we will take action against those responsible.”

The Post reported that New Mexico began its investigation this week, and Nebraska and Missouri may soon follow suit.

Last month, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the results of a grand jury report on a two-year investigation that uncovered records stating that, over 70 years, nearly 1,000 people, mainly children, had been sexually abused by over 300 priests in six of the state’s dioceses.

The shocking announcement has caused many in the church to demand criminal investigations. According to the statement by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, it compelled officials to take action in New York.

“The Pennsylvania grand jury report shined a light on incredibly disturbing and depraved acts by Catholic clergy, assisted by a culture of secrecy and cover ups in the dioceses,” Underwood said Thursday in her announcement.

“Victims in New York deserve to be heard as well — and we are going to do everything in our power to bring them the justice they deserve.”

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York, said it would be as cooperative as possible as the investigation moves forward.

“Not only do we provide any information they seek, they also notify us as well when they learn of an allegation of abuse, so that, even if they cannot bring criminal charges, we might investigate and remove from ministry any cleric who has a credible and substantiated allegation of abuse,” he said.

So far, the Diocese of Buffalo has agreed to cooperate with the investigation by the New York State attorney general or district attorney, Reuters reported.

Victim hotlines have been set up in New York and New Jersey to assist officials as the investigations begin. (For more from the author of “Source: New York Subpoenas Every Catholic Diocese in the State” please click HERE)

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Catholic Priests Arrested for ‘Lewd and Lascivious Behavior’ Next to Playground

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A pair of Illinois priests are facing criminal charges in Florida after police say they were seen engaging in oral sex inside of a car parked on the street earlier this week.

According to WFOR, Miami Beach police officers responded to the call Monday afternoon and caught the two men still engaged in the sexual act.

A police report states 30-year-old Edwin Cortez and 39-year-old Diego Berrio were “in full view of the public passing by on Ocean Drive and the sidewalk.”

The men were identified by authorities as Catholic priests living at the Mission San Juan Diego Parish in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights.

The two men continued the lewd act for a time after police arrived, appearing not to notice the officers’ presence.

“We observed the two males performing the sex act, the officer had to tap on the window to get their attention,” said police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez.

One mother playing with her child at a nearby playground said she was shocked not only by the brazenness of the alleged crime, but the occupation of the suspects.

“The fact that they are priests is above and beyond shocking,” said Candice Parker. “I don’t understand this kind of behavior. They’re supposed to be leading good example and they’re doing exactly the opposite.”

The Archdiocese of Chicago released a statement on Tuesday acknowledging the arrest and announcing the steps it took in response.

“Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, has removed Fr. Berrio from ministry and withdrawn his faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago, effective immediately,” the statement read. “The archdiocese will appoint an administrator for the Misión San Juan Diego as soon as possible.”

The archdiocese said charges against Cortez were relayed to his home diocese in Columbia, as well as confirmation that he “will not be granted additional faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago.”

For police, the suspects’ status in the Catholic church will have no bearing on the investigation.

“Their profession is irrelevant, in fact our trouble with this is that this is broad daylight, for anyone to see including children,” Rodrugez said. “There’s a time and a place for everything and this certainly was not the time and place.”

Both suspects are expected to face a misdemeanor charge of lewd and lascivious behavior. Cortez also faces an additional count of indecent exposure.

They were booked into jail after their arrests and have since been released on bond.

“It is our responsibility to ensure those who serve our people are fit for ministry,” the archdiocese said. “We take this matter very seriously and will provide updates as they become available.” (For more from the author of “Catholic Priests Arrested for ‘Lewd and Lascivious Behavior’ Next to Playground” please click HERE)

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Could the Catholic Church Face Federal Investigation Over Sex Abuse Cover-Up?

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By Townhall. According to a Pennyslvania attorney general, and if a national victims’ rights group gets their way, the federal government might soon be launching an investigation into the Catholic Church.

In a New York Times interview published Monday, Attorney General Josh Shapiro answered questions about Pennsylvania’s recently released grand jury report. The bombshell report, years in the making, implicated over 300 Catholic priests in the sexual abuse of over 1,000 children, over the course of decades.

The secret investigation began in 2016, before Shapiro was even sworn into office. He recalled being given the choice of whether or not to move forward with the case, saying “I made it clear I wanted the investigation to continue. I put the full force of our office into this investigation.”

During the course of the interview, the attorney general spoke out about Pope Francis, the Pennsylvania dioceses that attempted to shut down the investigation, and the attorneys general now following Pennsylvania’s lead, and potentially initiating their own respective investigations. . .

Passed by Congress in 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) allows prosecutors to go after not just individuals for an alleged crime, but organized groups as well. Prior to the passage of the law, there was little that could be done to address the unique problem of organized crime. (Read more from “Could the Catholic Church Face Federal Investigation Over Sex Abuse Cover-Up?” HERE)

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Is the Catholic Church Beyond Redemption?

By The New York Times. . .Reform must happen from within

You can’t possibly ask that every ordained member of the church resign. Catholicism is as much a culture as it is a religion. As hard and as terrible as it is, the only thing we can do is try to make it better and make sure it never happens again. When I say “we” I mean me, and you, and your priest, and the pope and everyone in between. Whether you’re going to be there to see it happen or not, it’s your choice. But this easy (and impossible) way out you’re asking for is unreasonable. — Ana Carolina, Brazil

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We should all stand up in the pews and speak. Letters to the nuncio are wasted paper. Prayers are misplaced energy as well. I sincerely hope there is a national commission, as there has been in Australia. If the civil authorities leave lay people to change this themselves, nothing will happen. We already know nothing will happen if we leave the church to reform itself. — Jennifer, Bronxville, N.Y.

(Read more from “Is the Catholic Church Beyond Redemption?” HERE)

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Horror Claims About Torture, Sexual Abuse and Murder in Catholic Orphanage

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By Daily Mail. Sickening claims about torture, sexual abuse and even the murder of children in a Catholic orphanage have resurfaced decades after the alleged events.

Public documents and witness interviews corroborate many details of the claims made by former residents of St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington, Vermont, according to a four-year investigation published on Monday by BuzzFeed News.

The new report comes as governments in the UK, Ireland, Australia and elsewhere grapple with decades-old reports of horror inside Catholic orphanages.

St. Joseph’s, which was run by the Montreal-based Sisters of Providence, closed down in 1974, and the allegations regard children who lived there from the 1930s through the 70s.

Key witness Sally Dale was the institution’s longest resident, growing up at St. Joseph’s from ages 2 to 23. In 1996, Dale gave a searing 19-hour deposition recounting the alleged abuse, including that she saw a nun throw a boy to his death from a window. (Read more from “Horror Claims About Torture, Sexual Abuse and Murder in Catholic Orphanage” HERE)

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Will More States Follow Pennsylvania’s Lead and Investigate Priest Sexual Abuse?

By USA Today. In wake of Pennsylvania’s sweeping and landmark investigation into Catholic clergy members’ sexual abuse of minors, some people want to see every Roman Catholic diocese in the country receive the same level of scrutiny.

One lawmaker has two reasons: Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Democrat from Muhlenburg Township, was abused by a priest in the Allentown Diocese when he was a child.

“I would love to see that happen,” Rozzi said of 50 states worth of investigations in an interview with WHYY-FM, Philadelphia, a day after Pennsylvania’s nearly 900-page grand jury report was released.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests also have called for every state’s attorney general to follow Pennsylvania’s lead and launch formal investigations into how U.S. bishops deal with victims and predator priests. (Read more from “Will More States Follow Pennsylvania’s Lead and Investigate Priest Sexual Abuse?” HERE)

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