Catholic Church Selling Carbon Credits

A Religious Organization in the Carbon Credit Market

Amplify’d from www.benzinga.com

A Religious Organization in the Carbon Credit Market

by Benzinga Staff

NICOLET, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - April 20, 2011) - Les Soeurs de l'Assomption de la Sainte Vierge announce today the sale of 9,358 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Carbon Credits) to L2I Financial Solutions. By selling their Carbon Credits, les Soeurs de l'Assomption de la Sainte Vierge are writing an important chapter in the history of the Roman Catholic Church by becoming the first religious organization recognized by the Vatican to sell Carbon Credits. The proceeds of the sale will contribute to the preservation and valorization of the religious and cultural heritage developed by the Congregation since its foundation in 1853. The GHG reductions traded are the result of an energy switching project as well as the implementation of energy efficiency measures. The Congregation has modernized the heating system in the main building and in the nursery by implementing geothermal energy as a replacement to the light oil system. The geothermal project implementation has necessitated the drilling of 88 wells, which makes it one of the most important private geothermal projects in the Province of Quebec. It has also allowed a significant reduction of light oil consumption. "Since its foundation, our Congregation pursues a mission of educating the youth. Our approach of teaching is holistic and it includes instruction as well as civism. By investing in the environment, we wish to leave a better world to future generations" explains Sister Huguette Moreau, responsible for the project. The Carbon Credits were sold to L2I Financial Solutions, who sold them to the Greening Canada Fund afterward. The Greening Canada Fund purchases community-based Canadian Carbon Credits for its investors, who include BMO Bank Financial Group, TD Bank Financial Group the law firm Stikeman Elliott, LLP. About les Soeurs de l'Assomption de la Sainte Vierge (www.sasv.ca) The Congregation des Soeurs de l'Assomption de la Sainte Vierge was founded in 1853. It is an autonomous Congregation that reports directly to the Vatican in Rome. It was constituted as a moral person under the Law Constituting the Congregation les Soeurs de l'Assomption de la Sainte Vierge (Private Bill number 107). The Congregation has a mission to educate the youth and to promote culture and arts such as visual arts and music. For many decades, les Soeurs de l'Assomption de la Sainte Vierge have accomplished their mission by operating and teaching at the Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption College, a private school for girls located in Nicolet, Qc. The Congregation has its mother house in the province of Quebec and pavilions in 5 countries : Canada, United States, Japan, Brazil and Ecuador. About L2I Financial Solutions L2I is a leading player in the field of alternative financing, climate and environmental finance. L2I designs, develops and delivers innovative and sustainable financial solutions for established or rising small and medium size companies that are key players of the low carbon and knowledge based economy. www.solutionsl2i.com About the Greening Canada Fund (www.greenpoweraction.com) The Greening Canada Fund, managed by Green Power Action, is the first ever voluntary carbon emissions reduction aimed exclusively at large Canadian corporations. The Fund engages in carbon-smart community investing to obtain blue-chip, high quality carbon offset credits from across Canada. The fund was launched in 2009 as an initiative of CivicAction, and includes investors such as BMO Financial Group and TD Bank Financial Group and Stikeman Elliott, LLP, leaders in corporate environmental sustainability. About Green Power Action (www.greenpoweraction.com) The Greening Canada Fund is the first in a series of carbon-smart community investment innovations developed and managed by Green Power Action. As Canada's predominant buyer of high quality social credits, we provide alternative investment solutions for organizations that want to manage their environmental impact, whether for voluntary or compliance purposes. Read more at www.benzinga.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bzuto

The Georgia Guidestones

Amplify’d from www.radioliberty.com

The Georgia Guidestones

On one of the highest hilltops in Elbert County, Georgia stands a huge granite monument. Engraved in eight different languages on the four giant stones that support the common capstone are 10 Guides, or commandments. That monument is alternately referred to as The Georgia Guidestones, or the American Stonehenge. Though relatively unknown to most people, it is an important link to the Occult Hierarchy that dominates the world in which we live. The origin of that strange monument is shrouded in mystery because no one knows the true identity of the man, or men, who commissioned its construction. All that is known for certain is that in June 1979, a well-dressed, articulate stranger visited the office of the Elberton Granite Finishing Company and announced that he wanted to build an edifice to transmit a message to mankind. He identified himself as R. C. Christian, but it soon became apparent that was not his real name. He said that he represented a group of men who wanted to offer direction to humanity, but to date, almost two decades later, no one knows who R. C. Christian really was, or the names of those he represented. Several things are apparent. The messages engraved on the Georgia Guidestones deal with four major fields: (1) Governance and the establishment of a world government, (2) Population and reproduction control, (3) The environment and man's relationship to nature, and (4) Spirituality. In the public library in Elberton, I found a book written by the man who called himself R.C. Christian. I discovered that the monument he commissioned had been erected in recognition of Thomas Paine and the occult philosophy he espoused. Indeed, the Georgia Guidestones are used for occult ceremonies and mystic celebrations to this very day. Tragically, only one religious leader in the area had the courage to speak out against the American Stonehenge, and he has recently relocated his ministry. THE MESSAGE OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES 1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature. 2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity. 3. Unite humanity with a living new language. 4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason. 5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. 6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court. 7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials. 8. Balance personal rights with social duties. 9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite. 10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature. Limiting the population of the earth to 500 million will require the extermination of nine-tenths of the world's people. The American Stonehenge's reference to establishing a world court foreshadows the current move to create an International Criminal Court and a world government. The Guidestones' emphasis on preserving nature anticipates the environmental movement of the 1990s, and the reference to "seeking harmony with the infinite" reflects the current effort to replace Judeo-Christian beliefs with a new spirituality. The message of the American Stonehenge also foreshadowed the current drive for Sustainable Development. Any time you hear the phrase "Sustainable Development" used, you should substitute the term "socialism" to be able to understand what is intended. Later in this syllabus you will read the full text of the Earth Charter which was compiled under the direction of Mikhail Gorbachev and Maurice Strong. In that document you will find an emphasis on the same basic issues: control of reproduction, world governance, the importance of nature and the environment, and a new spirituality. The similarity between the ideas engraved on the Georgia Guidestones and those espoused in the Earth Charter reflect the common origins of both. Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon, was recently quoted as referring to the American Stonehenge, saying: "I want people to know about the stones ... We're headed toward a world where we might blow ourselves up and maybe the globe will not exist ... it's a nice time to reaffirm ourselves, knowing all the beautiful things that are in this country and the Georgia Stones symbolize that. " (1) What is the true significance of the American Stonehenge, and why is its covert message important? Because it confirms the fact that there was a covert group intent on (1) Dramatically reducing the population of the world. (2) Promoting environmentalism. (3) Establishing a world government. (4) Promoting a new spirituality. Certainly the group that commissioned the Georgia Guidestones is one of many similar groups working together toward a New World Order, a new world economic system, and a new world spirituality. Behind those groups, however, are dark spiritual forces. Without understanding the nature of those dark forces it is impossible to understand the unfolding of world events. The fact that most Americans have never heard of the Georgia Guidestones or their message to humanity reflects the degree of control that exists today over what the American people think. We ignore that message at our peril. Copies are available for researchers from Radio Liberty.

The Age of Reason was a book written by Thomas Paine. Its intent was to destroy the Judeo-Christian beliefs upon which our Republic was founded.

The hole that you see in the stone was drilled in the Center Stone so that the North Star could be visualized through it at any moment. This was one of several requirements stipulated by R.C.Christian for the building of the American Stonehenge and reflects his obsession with the alignment of the stars, the sun, and the moon. Occultists often worship the alignment and movement of heavenly bodies as part of their religious ceremonies Read more at www.radioliberty.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bzu3j

'Frontline' Alaska clergy sex abuse

PBS TV show 'Frontline' covers Alaska clergy sex abuse

Amplify’d from newsminer.com

PBS TV show 'Frontline' covers Alaska clergy sex abuse

Mary Beth Smetzer / msmetzer@newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — “The Silence,” a 30-minute program documenting one of Bishop Donald Kettler’s journeys of atonement across the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese will be the lead story on Frontline, PBS’s public affairs program, at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The documentary focuses on Kettler’s trip in early December to the village of St. Michael on Alaska’s western coast, where a generation of Yup’ik children were molested by Catholic clergy and workers. The Bishop’s trips to apologize to abuse victims in the many churches where abuse took place were mandated by the diocese’s 2010 bankruptcy settlement. The documentary is heart-wrenching and difficult to watch as the victims — now adults — detail how they suffered as children. Their pain as powerless children is still vivid in their faces as they talk with the bishop, telling of abuse by George Endal, a Jesuit priest, and Joseph Lundowski, purported to be a Trappist monk, during the 1960s and 1970s. A public service announcement will precede the program because of the graphic nature of the dialogue, said producer Tom Curran, who grew up in Anchorage and Fairbanks. Curran left Alaska with his family at age 11, in 1974, returning as an adult to work as a cameraman on seven Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Races. “I felt privileged to spend some time in the villages and had a deep respect for the people there who were always so nice and friendly and welcoming,” he said. Curran said he was shaken and haunted by the sexual abuse stories that began coming out of Alaska in the past decade. “There was a real pull to tell the story of what happened there and why it happened, and that is what pulled me in initially,” he said. Curran contacted the Fairbanks Diocese, and arrangements were made to travel with the Kettler to one of the dozens of small communities where the bishop conducted listening sessions with abuse survivors. In the year since Kettler began his journey of atonement, he has visited and apologized to sexual abuse victims in 30 communities including Fairbanks and Anchorage, and he has a half-dozen more to go. It has been an exhausting year for Kettler, a secular priest who arrived from South Dakota and was ordained in 2002 to head the missionary diocese which historically has been led by Jesuit bishops. Throughout his travels, Kettler said he keeps asking himself how much healing is happening within the talking circles and healing services. “The answer that comes most often is that if we can get people to talk about what has happened to them, healing can begin,” he said. “If people who have been abused can come together and share it with others that have been abused and share that, it seems to be the most important thing,” he said. Kettler said he also realizes that his travels to meet and talk with abuse survivors are only a first step in the healing process. “I want to continue it. I need to hear locally from villages, and survivors and church personnel to hear what they feel is the important next step, and what would be most effective,” he said. Kettler is the first Catholic bishop in the United States to travel and personally apologize to sexual abuse survivors, Curran said. “Given the additional scandals unfolding in Philadelphia and Chicago at present, this is a timely film nationally as well,” he said. A screening at Bear’s Tooth in Anchorage at 8 p.m., April 28, will be followed by panel discussion. Panel members include Curran, abuse survivor Elsie Boudreau, canon law expert Patrick Wall, trauma expert Dr. Gretchen Schmelzer, elder Max Dolchok, elder and healer Rita Blumenstein, and reporter Mark Trahant. Contact staff writer Mary Beth Smetzer at 459-7546.

similar stories Jesuits settle clergy abuse claims in Alaska, Northwest U.S. for $166 million | 26 days ago by Donna Gordon Blankinship / Associated Press Fairbanks Daily News Miner Copyright 2011 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. All rights reserved. Priest an unlikely ally to sex abuse victims | 3 months ago by Dinesh Ramde / Associated Press Fairbanks Daily News Miner Copyright 2011 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. All rights reserved. Northwest Jesuits formalize bankruptcy plan after abuse settlement | 15 days ago by The Associated Press Fairbanks Daily News Miner Copyright 2011 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. All rights reserved. Alaska prisoner accused of inmate sexual abuse | 6 months ago by The Associated Press Fairbanks Daily News Miner Copyright 2011 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. All rights reserved. Alaska teacher charged with sex abuse | 3 months ago by The Associated Press Fairbanks Daily News Miner Copyright 2011 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. All rights reserved. Read more at newsminer.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bztuk

Vatican fails pedophile response test

Amplify’d from fullcomment.nationalpost.com

Vatican fails the pedophile response test, again

Araminta Wordsworth

Belgium's Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe during an interview with Belgian television

REUTERS/VT4

Full Comment’s Araminta Wordsworth brings you a daily round-up of quality punditry from across the globe. Today: While Pope Benedict frets about the words being used in the mass and muzzling an uppity American nun, legions of Roman Catholic clerical pedophiles are being allowed to get on with it.

What will it take for the Church to root out the  priestly predators?

The case of Roger Vangheluwe, the former bishop of Bruges, is the latest dispiriting example of the Vatican’s failure to get the point. On Thursday, he admitted on television he had sexually abused two of his nephews, though he did his best to downplay the seriousness of his acts, insisting he was not a pedophile.

“It began as a kind of game with this boy,” said the 74-year-old. “It was never a question of rape, or physical violence. He never saw me naked and there was no penetration.”

“I don’t in the slightest have any sense I am a pedophile. I don’t get the impression my nephew was opposed, quite the contrary,” he added although he also admitted, “I knew it wasn’t good, I confessed it several times.”

No one in the family seemed very concerned, he claimed. Vangheluwe also admitted he gave one million Belgian francs to one of the boys, but not to pay him off, you understand. It was to enable him to buy a house.

The punishment for the most senior Catholic cleric to admit to abuse? —  “spiritual and psychological treatment” at a cushy retreat in the Loire Valley in neighbouring France. And in a slap on the wrist with a wet noodle, he’s also been told he can no longer perform the duties of a priest in public.

Belgians — clerics and lay people alike — are “stupefied” by the latest revelations.  Yves Leterme, the Belgian Prime Minister, said his remarks “go beyond the boundary of what is acceptable. “The Church must assume its responsibilities — this cannot go on.”

“I think it is astonishing how this man does not feel any guilt, does not show any guilt,” Christine Mussche, a lawyer for victims of sexual abuse, told The New York Times.

“He’s saying that the victims also enjoyed this and there is not feeling of regret at all. It is terrible for the victim — one year after this emerged — that he doesn’t feel any normal regret.”

That sentiment was echoed by Karine Lalieux, the Belgian legislator who recently led a parliamentary committee on sexual abuse. “I say it’s sickening, disgusting,” Ms. Lalieux said. “Mr. Vangheluwe has not understood that he has committed crimes, he has minimized and relativized his crimes. I think of the victims and of their suffering.”

Words like disgusting and appalling echo through the comments of Belgian media. “How can this man dare appear on television?” asks Paul Geudens in the Flemish newspaper the Antwerp Gazette, who says his hair stood on end listening to the ex-bishop.

“ ‘Here everything is fine. Love and kisses from sunny France,’ that’s the message we’re getting from Vangheluwe … For the love of God, how can such a person ever have been a bishop? His place is not in an abbey in France, but in a cell in a psychiatric establisment.”

Writing in the French-language  newspaper Le Soir, Jurek Kuczkiewicz wonders why the disgraced prelate was comfortably housed by the papal nuncio in Brussels before the Vatican announced its decision this week and hastily shipped him out of the country.

“As if the announcement of his punishment could obliterate the astonishing news that a pedophile was the nuncio’s guest while awaiting a ruling from Belgian and Vatican legal authorities … the temporary hosting of a ‘lost sheep’ must have posed serious logistical and moral problems for the Catholic Church. But surely there was a more appropriate lodging in between leaving him homeless — quite contrary to Christian charity — and housing him in a comfortable embassy protected by diplomatic immunity? Perhaps the Church hoped in this way to keep him under control. But one can’t help thinking if the nuncio wants to take in the unfortunate, there are many more worthy people sleeping on the streets.”

compiled by Araminta Wordsworth awordsworth@nationalpost.com Read more at fullcomment.nationalpost.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bzttz

Priest paid for young girls' abortions

Priest who paid for young girls’ abortions acquitted by bishop

Amplify’d from www.lifesitenews.com

Priest who paid for young girls’ abortions acquitted by bishop

by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

Fr. Manel Pousa

BARCELONA, April 19, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Catholic priest who financed the abortion of two young girls in his care will not be excommunicated nor otherwise punished, the Archdiocese of Barcelona declared yesterday on behalf of Cardinal Archbishop Lluís Martínez Sistach.

The archdiocese also claims that it has support for its decision from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which it says ruled in favor of the priest in 2009.

Fr. Manel Pousa, who boasts that he has paid for abortions and has blessed homosexual unions, was tried last month to determine if he had earned an automatic or “latae sententiae” excommunication from the Catholic Church.

According to the law of the Church, canon 1398, anyone “who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication.” Pope John Paul II added that “The excommunication applies to all of those who commit this crime knowing the penalty, including those accomplices without whose cooperation the crime would not have been produced,” in his encyclical letter “The Gospel of Life,” in 1995.

However, the tribunal assigned to examine the case concluded “with the proper certainty” that “the aforesaid priest has not incurred the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae established by canon 1398, for not having been in agreement with the intention of procuring the abortion and for not having a principal complicity in the abortions, which were completely decided upon and brought about by two girls in a very precarious economic situation,” according to the archdiocese.

Pousa claims that the girls whose abortions he financed, would have killed their unborn children anyway, so he decided to “commit a lesser evil to avoid another greater (evil)” and ensure that the abortion would be done in safety. A similar argument is made by Planned Parenthood to justify the legalization of abortion worldwide.

Moreover, the archdiocese goes on to reveal that the Pousa case had already been brought before the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), led by Cardinal William Levada, in 2009.  Following his initial admission in 2008 that he had financed abortions, the CDF ruled that “this dicastery, after having examined the responses that have been sent, considers that the Rev. Pousa does not appear to have incurred any canonical penalty” according to the archdiocese, which points to the decision in order to justify its own.

In addition to his cooperation in abortions and homosexual unions, Pousa endorses the creation of priestesses in the Catholic Church, rejects clerical celibacy, and admits to having a girlfriend with whom he claims to have a celibate relationship. However, Pousa has only been charged for his cooperation in the killing of two unborn children, and has now been acquitted twice. He characterizes those who criticize his behavior as members of the “extreme right.”

According to the archdiocese, Cardinal Sistach “reiterates to Mn. Pousa that his work which he does at the service of the poorest and most marginalized of the society be done always in accordance with the teaching of the Church, with its social doctrine, and respecting every human life from its conception until its natural death.”

Pousa will continue to lead a Barcelona-area parish.

Contact information:

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI benedictxvi@vatican.va

His Eminence Marc Ouellet Prefect, Congregation for Bishops Piazza Pio XII 10 00193 Rome, Italy Europe phone: 011-3906-6988-4217 fax: 011-3906-6988-5303

His Eminence Mauro Piacenza Prefect The Congregation for the Clergy Piazza Pio XII 3 00l93 Rome, Italy Europe phone: 011.3906.69.88.4l.5l Fax: 011.3906.69.88.48.45 www.clerus.org

Cardinal William J. Levada. Prefect for The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” Piazza del S. Uffizio ll 00l93 Rome Italy Europe phone: 011.3906.69.88.33.57 phone: 011.3906.69.88.34.13 fax: 011.3906.69.88.34.09 email: cdf@cfaith.va Read more at www.lifesitenews.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bzttc

New charge: Belgian Bishop Vangheluwe

Belgian prosecutors weigh new charge against Bishop Vangheluwe

Amplify’d from www.catholicculture.org

Belgian prosecutors weigh new charge against Bishop Vangheluwe

Prosecutors in Belgium are reportedly weighing the possibility of filing criminal charges against Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who has now publicly confessed to sexual abuse of two of his nephews.

The bishop, who resigned his post as head of the Bruges diocese last year, inflamed public opinion in Belgium last week with a television interview in which he suggested that the abuse was not a serious offense. Although the statute of limitations would appear to shield him from criminal charges, prosecutors are considering some other means of forcing Vangheluwe to face charges.

Bishop Vangheluwe has been suspended from ministry, left Belgium, and was undergoing psychological evaluation, at the direction of the Vatican. Shortly after his controversial television appearance he left the French monastery where he had been lodged.

Prosecutors are also likely to press an investigation into the possibility that other Belgian prelates were aware of Bishop Vangheluwe's misconduct before it became public last year. The head of an independent body charged by the Belgian hierarchy with the investigation of abuse complaints said last year that Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the retired Archbishop of Brussels, had been aware of the abuse since 1996. Cardinal Danneels denied that charge.

Tensions between the Belgian hierarchy and public prosecutors reached a peak last June 24, when police raided the offices of the bishops' conference and the residence of Cardinal Danneels. Church officials bitterly protested the raid, and a Belgian court eventually ruled that it was illegal.

Prosecutors considering new pedophilia charge against former Belgian bishop (AP) Belgian bishop will not face criminal charges for abuse (CWN, 4/11) Read more at www.catholicculture.org

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bztsp

Amplify’d from www.nytimes.com

Chile: Evidence on Priest Seized

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

The police in Santiago have raided the home and offices of a lawyer representing a Roman Catholic priest found guilty by the Vatican of sexually molesting boys. The authorities seized documents related to the church case for a criminal investigation, a police spokeswoman, Lorena Quiroz, confirmed Tuesday. A judge ordered the raid after Juan Pablo Bulnes, the lawyer for the priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, above, refused to turn over documents. Mr. Bulnes on Tuesday called the action an “abuse” of his right to lawyer-client confidentiality. He said Chile’s bar association has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the seizure. An appeals court voted last month to reopen a criminal case into charges of sexual abuse after the Vatican found Father Karadima guilty of abusing minors. The Vatican ordered the priest to retire to a “life of prayer and penitence.” He has appealed the Vatican’s decision. Read more at www.nytimes.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bzts5

Book exposes Rome gay priest scene

Amplify’d from www.google.com

Italian book exposes Rome gay priest scene

ROME — A new book due out later this month claims to reveal a flourishing gay scene for priests in Rome -- a thorny issue as the Catholic Church imposes chastity on its clergy and condemns homosexuality.

Investigative journalist Carmelo Abbate's book "Sex and the Vatican: a secret journey in the reign of the chaste" will come out in Italian and French and includes anonymous testimonies from priests and undercover reporting.

"Priests of all nationalities divide their time between Via della Conciliazione (the main road leading to St. Peter's basilica) and the party scene of Rome by night," the book's editors Piemme said in a press release.

The book also documents heterosexual relations between priests and lay women and the existence of children of priests.

Abbate has said he is not anti-clergy but aims to break the culture of secrecy surrounding the sex life of priests.

An article he published in Panorama magazine last year created a scandal.

The diocese of Rome in response to that article said it was "determined to investigate rigorously any type of behaviour that shames the priesthood."

Asked about Abbate's new book, the Vatican declined any comment.

A spokesman for the influential Italian bishops conference said: "We can't react to all books that speak badly of the Church."

The Vatican does not deny that there are gay priests and has said there should be tougher rules against homosexuality in seminaries.

Vatican expert Marco Tosatti said that some priests "can also have homosexual tendencies but remain chaste and pious."

Italian book exposes Rome gay priest scene AFP - 1 day ago Read more at www.google.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bztrv

Documents Reveal Priest’s Abuse Victims

Amplify’d from www.santiagotimes.cl

Seized Documents Reveal Priest’s Abuse Victims

Written by Phil Locker

Light shed on Karadima case as judge has police raid lawyer’s office; former Archbishop Errázuriz agrees to testify to judge

Santiago judge Jéssica González late last week ordered plainclothes policemen to raid the office of Juan Pablo Bulnes, the defense attorney for Father Fernando Karadima, the upscale Catholic Church priest accused of sex abuse.  Bulnes defended Karadima during the Vatican’s investigation into Karadima’s misbehavior, but refused to hand over Vatican documents revealing the victims’ identities.  The Vatican in February ruled that Karadima was guilty of abusing two minors, prompting Chile’s judiciary to reopen its own criminal investigation into the Karadima case. The police confiscated Vatican documents in Bulnes’ office relating to the Church’s investigation into Karadima’s behavior, prompting concerns by the Church that Judge González had overstepped the bounds that normally separate Church and civilian court proceedings.  One of the documents confiscated by the police was the Vatican’s decree condemning Karadima. The seized document mentioned two people belonging to the El Bosque congregation during the 70s, who are now both older than 40. Both are identified as victims, among “others,” whose identities remain unknown. González, who worked with the Special Police Operations Brigade in obtaining the documents, also seized a report from Church legal counsel Fr. Fermín Donoso about Karadima’s appeal to the Vatican and several declarations, including one from Karadima himself. Judge González told press that the objective had been to “recover records and get some background that is important to the investigation.” Defense attorney Bulnes was upset with the police action. “They took all of the papers and a disc,” said Bulnes, “and was a violation of professional secrecy.” The judge’s decision triggered debate in Chile’s Bar Association, whose board of directors unanimously condemned the raid and announced it would consider more drastic measures. Ricardo Ezzati, the Archbishop of Santiago, however, said that the issue is “certainly very delicate (…) secrets are one of our rights as humans,” but also acknowledged  that the judge was just “doing her duty.”   The Archbishop also announced on Saturday that the former Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, was now prepared to make a statement to criminal investigators. During Errázuriz’s time as Archbishop, victims of Karadima came to him, but he never made these concerns public. Ezzati, however, said that in Errázuriz’s declaration the former Archbishop would have to be careful to defend the victims’ privacy: “There are certain things that people trust a priest or a bishop with under certain conditions. I think these conditions are a human right and we have to respect them.” One of Karadima’s identified victims, José Andrés Murillo, told Radio Cooperativa  on Saturday that “anything that will clarify the facts is going to help (…) if this means that Cardinal Errázuriz has to make a statement, then it seems essential to me.” SOURCES: EL MERCURIO, LA TERCERA, RADIO COOPERATIVA By Phil Locker ( editor@santiagotimes.cl This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) Copyright 2011 – The Santiago Times Read more at www.santiagotimes.cl

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bztr9

Vatican abuse report due by Easter

Amplify’d from clericalwhispers.blogspot.com

Vatican abuse report due by Easter

THE Vatican inquiry team sent to Ireland by Pope Benedict XVI as part of church sex abuse investigations is set to report to the pontiff by Easter.

Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, said the "apostolic visitation" has completed its work. The investigation, which began in March 2010, has already met with abuse victims and bishops. The Vatican group’s purpose is to examine whether the processes in place to deal with abuse are effective. The imminent conclusion of the investigation emerged as it was revealed 50 new alleged clerical sex abuse victims have come forward to make allegations against nine more Dublin archdiocese priests since the 2009 Murphy report. Figures released by the archdiocese have confirmed that since November 2009 almost a dozen previously unknown potential abusers have been implicated in the scandal. Before the publication of the report — which gave shocking details of long-standing abuse and attempted cover-ups in Dublin by some clergymen — 520 people had made formal complaints of abuse by 84 priests since 1941. However, in the 18 months since the publication, a further 50 people have come forward alleging abuse — a figure which implicates nine more priests. In addition, "suspicions" have been raised over two more priests not currently the subject of complaints, raising the overall figure to 11. There has been no change in the number of Dublin-based priests or those from other dioceses to hold an appointment in the capital who are the subject of complaints (60); those from other dioceses who performed some work in Dublin (9) since the Murphy report. A total of 10 Dublin-based priests or ex-priests have been convicted or have cases pending in the criminal courts and two non-diocesan priests who served in Dublin have also been convicted in relation to sex abuse. In addition, 172 civil actions have been taken by alleged victims against 44 of the archdiocese’s priests. A total of 117 have been concluded, 55 are ongoing, resulting in €9.3 million worth of settlements and €4.2m in legal costs for those involved. The figures emerged as the archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and the archdiocese’s child safeguarding and protection office (CSPS) launched the diocesan policy for child safeguarding and protecting children. Dr Martin said the policy will bring together a series of long-established practices and procedures in the archdiocese to ensure the safety of children. While the Dublin archdiocese has recently been proactive in this task, other dioceses in the rest of the country have been criticised by some alleged victims for failing to pass on complaints. Abuse survivor Andrew Madden said while he welcomed the Dublin archdiocese’s commitment to preventing further abuse, "nothing short of this standard is acceptable from any diocese in the country". Source Read more at clericalwhispers.blogspot.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bztqw