Showing Tag: "abuse" (Show all posts)

Church should keep it simple - report any abuse concerns to the HSE and Garda

Posted by Mc Camley on Tuesday, May 8, 2012, In : Church in Ireland

At the risk of labouring the point, the recent Brady affair must seriously call into question the whole approach to child abuse reporting adopted by the Church.

My parish in Drogheda has a Parish Safeguarding Representative to whom one reports abuse. He or she forwards any complaints they receive to Diocesan Designated Liaision Person. He then forwards complaints to An Garda and/or the HSE. He is assisted by the Advisory Case Management Committee.

The State document, Children First, sug...
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"Where there's smoke, there's fire."

Posted by Mc Camley on Thursday, December 1, 2011, In : Church in Ireland

Where there's smoke around the Church, there's Patsy McGarry furiously rubbing two sticks together.

Why do people take an instant dislike to Patsy McGarry? It just saves time.

Patsy writing in the Irish Times about the six reports published yesterday can find so little in them to support his usual rant that he resorts to going back to the Murphy/Dublin Report and Cardinal Brady's involvement with the Brendan Smyth affair.

In Raphoe I can't see what Bishop Boyce is supposed to have done or fail...

Just curious.

Posted by Mc Camley on Wednesday, November 30, 2011, In : Church in Ireland

So reports are published today of reviews which were carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC), covering Derry diocese, Dromore, Kilmore, Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Tuam and Raphoe.

Needless to say the headlines will not be based on the fact that most reviews were positive but on the negative comments about Raphoe.

You can read them here: Raphoe, Derry, Dromore, Kilmore, Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Tuam.

The RTE spin seems to be on the low number of c...
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One rule for priests, another for bishops

Posted by Mc Camley on Wednesday, October 5, 2011, In : Church elsewhere

When an allegation of abuse is made against a priest he is forced to "stand aside". This is a polite way of saying "you've 24 hours to get out of the presbytery, good luck finding somewhere to live and an income and we might see you back in two years time after the investigation". This can follow a single anonymous telephone call.

When an allegation of abuse is levelled against Bishop Zubik of Pittsburg he comes out fighting with an emphatic denial. That's fine, the claim looks very flakey ...
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Cloyne for Dummies

Posted by Christopher Mc on Friday, July 29, 2011, In : Church in Ireland

Here is an excellent guide to the Cloyne Report - calm, reasoned, comprehensive - but enough about me.

He calls himself the Thirsty Gargoyle. Follow some of his links. This one on mandatory reporting makes the point that based on reported figures for child abuse there are some 360,000 Irish people who have failed to report abuse about which they have knowledge.

Hat tip to my friend James in Sweden for sending me the link.
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Our Sacrament - Our Seal

Posted by Christopher Mc on Tuesday, July 26, 2011, In : Church in Ireland

Really I've been too angry to write for last few weeks, at Bishop Magee, the cowardly culprit of Cloyne, who dropped the ball long after everyone else knew the score; at Enda Kenny, whose opportunistic and disgusting attack on the Holy Father was clearly prompted by, and probably written by, dissenting Catholic priests - Fr Tony Flannery perhaps; at the other Irish bishops who have rushed to Lourdes, Spain, America etc rather than rushing to defend the Holy See.

My wife has been doing the he...
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Wigs on the Green

Posted by Christopher Mc on Tuesday, July 5, 2011, In : Current affairs

This will be a story worth watching - coverage from the Irish Times:

A priest who claims he was libelled in a recent RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme concerning alleged abuse of children and teenagers in Africa by Irish missionaries will apply later this week for a High Court order aimed at having RTÉ speedily provide its defence to his claim.

Fr Kevin Reynolds, a member of the Mill Hill Missionaries and acting parish priest of Ahascragh, Co Galway, says he is prepared to undergo a pa...

As Dirk Gently once said

Posted by Christopher Mc on Thursday, June 2, 2011, In : Current affairs

I fear some people have misunderstood my expression of sympathy for David Norris. And in a funny way it proves my point, which was that it is almost impossible to discuss any aspect of child abuse. Attempting to examine any sense of context, explanation, clarification, differentitation immediately turns you into a paedo supporter.

Why are the differences important you might say. Who cares if the abuser is abusing a fifteen year old rather than an eight year old? And people have said that t...
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My "I agree with Nick" moment

Posted by Christopher Mc on Tuesday, May 31, 2011, In : Current affairs

Okay, I will say this only once, I hope - I have some sympathy for David Norris. There, I've said it, that wasn't so hard.

He is being attacked because of an interview he gave to Magill magazine back in 2001. You can read the full Magill article here: Page One, Page Two, Page Three.

The Indo covers the story reasonably well here. The gist, as presented, including by people like me who would sooner vote for Ratko Mladic than David Norris, is that he said some things back in 2001 that can read...
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Reading the news

Posted by Christopher Mc on Monday, May 30, 2011, In : Current affairs

Someone was complaining to me this morning that it was disgraceful that the Catholic Church was still able to wield so much power, that it could continue to block prosecutions arising from the Ryan Report into abuse in industrial schools.

News organisations, including the Irish Times, are reporting, that no one has been prosecuted over the discoveries made by the Ryan report. It seems from a written submission to the United Nations Committee on Torture, that 11 files have been forwarded to th...
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Visitation revisited

Posted by Christopher Mc on Thursday, January 13, 2011, In : Church in Ireland

Okay so I promised some follow up to last night's post on the meeting in Drogheda with Cormac Cardinal Murphy O'Connor.

The event was not highly publicised. I read about in the Irish Times the day it was to take place. There was little publicity in Drogheda. I decided to go at the last minute as it wasn't the best night. My Companions of Carmel group were meeting at nine o'clock. I was walking up West Street about ten minutes before kick off. The RTE satellite van was parked near the D...