Catholic Church involved in ANOTHER cover-up the abuse of MENTALLY DISABLED children!

[cleanhippie]

New evidence has emerged indicating that the Catholic Church in Adelaide sought to cover up a police investigation into abuse of intellectually disabled children at one of its schools.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-26/four-corners-child-abuse-claims/2942602

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A second report about the story...

The story from Australia concerns the Catholic Church, which, according to this report, sought to cover up a police investigation into abuse of children with learning difficulties at one of its schools – St Ann’s Special School in Adelaide

Twenty-year-old documents have revealed the church received legal advice telling it to avoid mentioning in writing charges of sexual abuse against a volunteer bus driver at St Ann’s Special School in Adelaide.

The bus driver, Brian Bertram Morris Perkins, 71, worked at the school from 1986 to 1991 and not only abused students himself but introduced them into a ring of paedophiles.

The draft severance letter to the bus driver tells him that there will be no need for him to attend the school premises, but there is no mention or suggestion why his services are no longer needed.

And, unbelievably, it also said that his:

Contribution as a volunteer bus driver for disabled students has been appreciated.

http://freethinker.co.uk/2011/09/28/a-tale-of-two-cover-ups/

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How many children have to be raped and abused before people wake-up to the fact that this institution is a HAVEN for pedophiles and is run by men who feel that protecting the church, and themselves, is more important than the children in their care?

Can any Catholics here please explain how you can continue to support this organization? Anyone?

[CoffeeCat]

1. The behavior of the catholic church is so evil...

...and so depraved. Each story is more evil, disgusting and debased that the previous one.

It's so off the charts and so hypocritical and sick--that I feel the only solution is for Mel
Brooks to write, direct and produce a musical comedy about this. It's the only way to really
get across how utterly inhumane and SICK this institution is.

If there was a big insurance company or a multinational bank that had done these things--they
would have been shut down and burned to the ground.

But it's a church--A CHURCH!!!--doing these things.

The behavior of this "church" and all of the people who continue to support it--are one of
the most vulgar and totally fucked up crimes against humanity the world has EVER seen.

Sexual abuse is a death sentence for many children. Many have committed suicide and others
develop mental illness and emotional disabilities that are never healed. How many children
have died or lead lives that are forever damaged because of this "church"? The numbers, no
doubt, are in the tens of thousands, if not more.

It's just so awful and I am sad for our entire species that this CONTINUES.

[cleanhippie]

2. You are rtight. For some bizarre "reason", churches and religion get special treatment.

And because of that "special" treatment, when priests rape children and the institution hides and protects them, it makes it even more egregious.

And what makes matters even MORE despicable, is how so many adherents to the faith whitewash, or ignore, or DEFEND their church and continue to support that evil institution, and that can be seen RIGHT HERE ON DU!!!!!


It turns my stomach to think about it.

[chaplainM]

9. You left out "...and attack the ones who report child rape." nt

[cleanhippie]

19. You are right. Thanks for the addition.

[ChadwickHenryWard]

3. Is anybody surprised by this?

These scandals are so pervasive and so constant that they hardly seem remarkable anymore. It's almost as though this kind of behavior is to be expected at this point. The problem was exposed long ago but the news of abuses just keeps coming. Nothing is ever done about it. Have we just come to accept the RCC as an organization that covers up crimes?

[cleanhippie]

4. The only thing that surprises me is that so mane believers continue to support this horrible

institution.

And many of its defenders can be found right here in DU.

But they stay curiously absent when these obvious un-defendable stories like this come out...

[ChadwickHenryWard]

7. Well, what do you want them to say?

There's precious little they can do to defend it at this point. The institution is guilty of some pretty enormous crimes, and no improvement or rectification ever seems to occur.

[cleanhippie]

12. To stop supporting the institution that protects child-rapers.

To stop giving money, to stop defending....

[Thats my opinion]

5. Please name me anyone or any group that supports this sort ofd thing. s sort of thing. m

To claim that there are those who support ungodly and inhuman stuff if to try and paint the whole religious movement with evil. It is an old DU tactic and is also despicable.

[cleanhippie]

6. Are you saying that the RCC as an institution has NOT protected the child-raping priests?

Are you saying that by trying to whitewash the issue with "Please name me anyone or any group that supports this sort ofd thing" is NOT enabling the practice to continue?

Are you saying that this issue should NOT be brought into the light of day and dealt with AS THE CRIME THAT IT IS?

No? That's not what you are saying? Then just WHAT are you saying?

[trotsky]

8. Why do you use the word "ungodly" here?

Do you realize that word may be offensive to non-believers? Do you care?

[chaplainM]

10. Not me

Everyone is ungodly. Because there's no god.

[laconicsax]

15. C'mon trotsky...

You know that http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Thats%20my%20opinion/11">none of us would want to live in a society without some sort of an ethical sensitivity based on solid religious faith.

It logically follows that ungodly things are inherently bad or undesirable.

[ChadwickHenryWard]

11. The Roman Catholic Church.

The Church has exhibited criminally complacent and obfuscatory behavior at all levels of authority, up to and including the current Pope. It has been revealed again and again that when accusations like the above are made, they are met with attempts to shield the accused from law enforcement, to conceal the crimes from the communities affected, and to move the accused to a new parish where the accusations are unknown, often exposing new potential victims to the perpetrators of abuse and rape. Very rarely have those accused that wear the collar been defrocked or excommunicated, punishments that they have not withheld in the past from those accused of having consensual sex with an adult male, or of ordaining women.

All together, this constitutes a lack of willingness to take appropriate action to prevent further abuses and bring perpetrators to justice. These are not isolated incidents; credible accusations go back as far as the 1960s, and internal documents show that the Church recognized the problem as much as a decade earlier. Accusations have been made all around the world, and have been referred to all levels of authority within the Church, including the global leadership. This failure to respond appropriately constitutes a pervasive and systemic policy of complicity in these heinous crimes. Further, this persistently lax enforcement can be argued to create a culture of licentiousness, where potential abusers or child rapists know that their crimes will not be met with proper punishment. This, combined with the practice of moving suspects to new, oblivious communities and failing to prohibit them from working with children there, could easily be said to be promotion of the abuse and rape of children.

The Church can use all the condemnatory language in the world, but their actions speak contrarily. They have been criminally complicit in a worldwide series of abuses.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

13. Anyone who continues to support the organization is complicit

That includes members who continue to support the church with their energies, money and apologia. The individuals themselves support the "ungodly and inhuman stuff".

[rug]

14. Does it also include old ladies who attend daily Mass?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

16. Yes, if they're providing money to the church

ANYONE who continues to do so is complicit.

[rug]

17. Does it include chaplains in Afghanistan?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

18. I think I've answered that question

ANYONE who provides support is abetting the underlying crime.

[rug]

20. Then the answer is as flat and broad as it is wrong.

[trotsky]

24. Why is it wrong? n/t

[darkstar3]

26. I'd like to know that myself.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

27. It's flat and it's broad. Okay.

What the hell does that mean?

It's a pretty simple concept: if you provide financial support for an organization, and that organization commits atrocities, you either stop your support, or you continue the support, thus becoming complicit in the actions of the organization.

[laconicsax]

29. I have a minor quibble with that...

Add the word "voluntarily" after "you" and before "provide."

The voluntary nature of the support cannot be stressed enough.

[cleanhippie]

25. Good luck getting that message through.

Like any other cult, its members will defend even the worst actions of the cult, as long as it preserves the cult.


As you can see by the replies, protecting the church is the most important thing...

[skepticscott]

23. You either condemn it or support it

and your first reaction is not to condemn it wholeheartedly, but to try to soften things and make it seem like it wasn't so bad, because no "true" Catholics support it.

[ButterflyBlood]

21. It was pretty clear to me as a kid the Catholic Church was not doing God's will

I could follow Jesus or I could follow the Pope, but not both. All because of stuff like this, and we'll keep learning about it. Just more evidence that I made the right choice.

[skepticscott]

22. Well, I'm sure if the Pope just apologies

and asks for forgiveness, then everything will be hunky-dory. Because that's what really matters, isn't it? Not the horrible crime, but the well-crafted, PR-vetted, media-sucking apology.

[laconicsax]

28. It was the 60s, everyone else was doing it, no one knew it was wrong, etc.

[Centrist2011]

30. Oh dear.

The Rape Church strikes again!!!!