A message from SNAPDFW’s facilitator, Lisa Kendzior
Acknowledge your courage
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It takes courage to acknowledge that we’ve been abused and it is not easy to even admit it to ourselves. Just browsing this website is a big step.Know that you are not alone!
If you’ve been victimized by clergy, please know that you are not alone. You can get better. You can reach out to others who’ve been hurt just like you have.
Together, we can heal one another.
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Ratzinger delays defrocking of convicted pedophile priest for 2 years in signed letter; for" the good of the Universal Church"
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In a signed 1985 letter received by the NY Times, Joseph Ratzinger, later Benedict XVI, ordered delaying the defrocking of an Oakland, California priest convicted of pedophilia in 1978. The priest was finally defrocked in 1987. "Bishop Cummins had first petitioned the doctrinal office to defrock Mr. Kiesle in 1981. He also wrote directly to Pope John Paul II. Cardinal Ratzinger requested more information, which officials in the Oakland Diocese supplied in February 1982. They did not hear back from Cardinal Ratzinger until 1985, when he sent the letter in Latin suggesting that his office needed more time to evaluate the case." -- NYTimes, 09 April 2010.
According to records published today by the NYTimes, Kiesle was convicted of sexually abusing young boys between the ages of 11 and 13 in 1978. His bishop wrote the Vatican to have him defrocked -- which Kiesle himself demanded -- in 1981. Ratzinger responded in 1985, and Kiesle was defrocked in 1987.
Here are longer excerpts, followed by a link to the entire article and to SNAP's response.
"In August of 1978 he was arrested by the police and charged with having taken sexual liberties with at least six young men ranging from eleven to thirteen years of age during the period of November 1977 through May 1978. When he appeared in court, Father Kiesle pleaded "nolo contendere" (no contest) to the charges."
... "Given all the circumstances surrounding this case and Father Kiesle's irrevocable decision to leave the active ministry, it would seem to me most prudent that his petition be granted.
"Therefore, since all of these things are attested to in the Acts of the case, it is our opinion that this case should be submitted to you with the petition that Father Stephen Kiesle be relieved of all of the obligations of the priesthood."
-- John S. Cummins, Bishop of Oakland, 19 June 1981.
"This court, although it regards the arguments presented in favor of removal in this case to be of grave significance, nevertheless deems it necessary to consider the good of the Universal Church together with that of the petitioner, and it is also unable to make light of the detriment that granting the dispensation can provoke with the community of Christ's faithful, particularly regarding the young age of the petitioner. "
-- (signed) Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, November, 1985.
Kiesle was defrocked in 1987, 2 years after Ratzinger's reaction to the case, and 9 years after Kiesle's conviction as a pedophile.
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Guardian commentator claims pope has no diplomatic immunity from prosecution for "crime against humanity"
A British news commentator, writing in the Guardian this week, claims that the Vatican, and the pope can no longer ignore international law, which now counts the widespread or systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity. Therefore, the claim of the Vatican to be a state – and of the pope to be a head of state and hence immune from legal action – cannot stand up to scrutiny.But the commentary goes even further, suggesting that the diplomatic immunity of the Vatican "state" itself is in question.
Former Bush administration lawyer John B Bellinger III, in 2005, had certified that Pope Benedict the XVI was immune from suit "as the head of a foreign state" when the pope and his entourage came to America. Bellinger is now notorious for his defence of Bush administration torture policies. His opinion on papal immunity is even more questionable. It hinges on the assumption that the Vatican is a state.
"But the papal states were extinguished by invasion in 1870 and the Vatican was created by fascist Italy in 1929 when Mussolini endowed this tiny enclave – 0.17 of a square mile containing 900 Catholic bureaucrats – with "sovereignty in the international field ... in conformity with its traditions and the exigencies of its mission in the world."
Read the full story in the Guardian.
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"The pope’s reluctance to take a firm stance on sexual abuse by priests is expanding into a crisis for the Catholic Church and fueling outrage over his papacy. Some Catholics are now even calling on Benedict, who has committed a series of gaffes since becoming pope in 2005, to resign." -- German Newspaper Der Speigel 06 April 2010
Read this explosive and detailed 7 segment critique of the current papacy on the Der Speigel Germany website.
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A theology teacher at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX has been sent to Rome following a "credible" accusation of sexual molestation of a minor woman.
Read the whole story in the San Antonio Express-News.
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Pope Benedict and the Vatican have come under growing criticism as allegations of clergy sex abuse have spread across Europe. Some of the cases have raised questions about whether Pope Benedict did enough to root out pedophile priests under his watch before he became pope.The renewed scrutiny has Bernie McDaid and another abuse victim who attended the 2008 meeting with the pope re-examining its meaning and lasting impact.
Read the full AP story from March 28 in the Ogden Standard.
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Senior British lawyers question pope's immunity to prosecution; protests grow over $22 million cost to British taxpayers of pope's upcoming trip
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Senior British lawyers are now examining whether the pope should have immunity as a head of state and whether he could be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction for an alleged systematic cover-up of sexual abuses by priests.Read the full story in today's Washington Post.
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The Huffington Post reports today that in an Easter Sunday interview with Ian Masters on KPFK Los Angeles earlier today, Catholic author and former Paulist priest James Carroll (Practicing Catholic; Constantine's Sword; Toward A New Catholic Church) calls for all Catholics begin acting as if the reforms of Vatican II are reality.Carroll calls on Catholics to break ranks with what he calls a "corrupt, pope-centered clerical system" at the root of the clergy sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
Hear the entire 3 part, half-hour interview at the Website of The Huffington Post.
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by Thomas P. Doyle, J.C.D., C.A.D.C.
Holy Thursday, April 1, 2010
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The reports that Pope Benedict had mishandled a clergy sex abuse case when he was archbishop of Munich have sharpened the focus of international attention on the Pope, the Vatican and the seemingly perpetual problem of clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church. This revelation coincided with what some believed might be the culmination of the furor in Ireland by the pope’s Pastoral Letter to the Irish People. Questions about the Munich case and the mixed reception of the papal letter have guaranteed that critical interest will intensify rather than recede.First, a brief summary of what I suspect happened in Munich back in 1980. The priest in question was credibly accused of sexually molesting two minors. His bishop arranged for him to go from his home diocese, Essen, to Munich, to receive treatment. Read More...
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Dear Friends,
I’m excited to report that we have a great turnout for our Day of Rest and Relaxation this Saturday. I assure you that you will be glad you signed up.This professionally-facilitated day has been developed to honor YOU and meet you where you are in your healing. It is not structured like an ordinary support group meeting. You can share as little or as much as you are comfortable. There are many of you who haven’t come to a support meeting. You just might find this Saturday’s event an easier introduction to SNAP DFW as there will be several brand new attendees. Moreover, I would really like to meet you.
I will be very happy to welcome you all, both survivors and those with loved ones who were abused. Let's all have a great day honoring each other and our fellow survivors everywhere.
Lisa Kendzior
SNAP DFW
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Adding insult to injury, defensive pope trivializes outcry over pedophile priests as "petty" in Palm Sunday sermon; SNAP responds
"Contrary to what a few in Rome are saying, we are not "ignoble," "despicable" or engaging in "petty gossip." We are men, women and children who are in deep pain, having been raped, sodomized and assaulted by Catholic clergy and often betrayed by Catholic officials. Our trauma - past and present - should never be trivialized by anyone, much less by those who profess to be caring shepherds." -- Barbara Blaine, SNAP President
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Preaching to those gathered in St Peter's square during a Palm Sunday service, the pope, trivialized the global cries of the sexually abused victims of Roman Catholic priests and of the hierarchy that protects them, saying he would not allow himself "to be intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion".[ view entry ] ( 366 views ) | permalink
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Former San Francisco archbishop William Levada, who now heads Ratzinger's former Vatican office once know as the Inquisition, is accused of sitting on clergy sex abuse reports by 67 deaf men and women for months until pressured by news media. The Italian case has eerie echoes of the investigation of a Wisconsin priest accused of molesting some 200 deaf boys.Read the full CBS/AP story and Clohessy's response issued earlier today.
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The BBC has raised the question of whether Pope Benedict XVI/Joseph Ratzinger should resign over the snowballing paedophile priest scandal in the Catholic Church. In theory, there is nothing to stop Benedict from simply drafting a letter of resignation to hand to the College of Cardinals, the electoral body of bishops who elected him.
Under Roman Canon Law, the only conditions for the validity of such a resignation are that it be made freely and be properly published.
Ratzinger's predecessors Gregory the XII and Benedict XIII resigned the papacy. And there is speculation that during WWII, Pius XII drafted a letter of resignation should he be imprisoned by the Nazis. But the records of the wartime popes remain locked down in the Vatican to this day.
Read the article by the BBC Vatican correspondent.
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