OPEN LETTER TO POPE BENEDICT XVI ON BEHALF OF MARIE COLLINS, ONE IN FOUR, ANDREW MADDEN
Dear Pope Benedict,
As the Irish bishops gather in Rome for their meeting with you, we are writing to ensure that the voices of the survivors of abuse by Catholic priests have a place in your deliberations.
The distress, anger and frustration experienced by survivors since the publication of the Report of the Commission of Investigation into Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin (the Murphy Report) is enormous. Many who have suffered throughout their lives from the impact of sexual abuse by priests in childhood now realise, having read the Report, that their pain and suffering could have been avoided if senior churchmen and the civil authorities had acted properly in response to complaints received from earlier victims.
Survivors find in incomprehensible that the Vatican and your representative in Ireland, the Papal Nuncio, saw fit to hide behind diplomatic protocols to avoid co-operating with the Murphy Commission.
Bishops Donal Murray, James Moriarty, Eamon Walsh, Raymond Field and Martin Drennan were all bishops in the Archdiocese of Dublin during some of the period investigated by the Commission. When the Report was published each of these Bishops attempted to remain in office by insisting that the findings of the Report did not warrant their resignations. They initially took no responsibility for either their actions or their failure to challenge a culture of cover up which they instead became a part of. Since then Bishop Murray has resigned and his resignation has been accepted by you. We understand that Bishops James Moriarty, Eamon Walsh and Raymond Field have offered their resignations too, which we urge you to accept without any further delay. We would also urge you to remove Bishop Martin Drennan who still refuses to accept any responsibility for his part in supporting a culture of cover up during his time in Dublin.
The core finding of the Murphy Report was that the sexual abuse of children by priests was covered up by the Archdiocese of Dublin and other Church authorities over much of the period 1975 – 2004. Furthermore it found that the Dublin Archdiocese’s pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the perseveration of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities.
This finding was rightly accepted by the Irish Catholic Bishops in their December 2009 statement where they said that they were shamed by the extent to which child sexual abuse was covered up in the Archdiocese of Dublin. They also said that they recognised that this indicated a culture that was widespread in the Church. We also now request that other bishops throughout Ireland who engaged in this culture of cover up in their own dioceses should resign from their positions instead of waiting to see the extent to which they are criticised in any future Reports should the Commission of investigation be expanded to include their dioceses.
Responsibility for child protection properly rests with the civil authorities. We ask you now to instruct the Irish bishops to comply fully with civil child protection guidelines, including the mandatory reporting of all concerns or complaints to the civil authorities for investigation.
The lives of thousands of Irish people have been devastated by sexual abuse by priests. We ask you to write, not only to Irish Catholics, but to all people of Ireland, accepting fully the harm that has been caused by the acts of omission and commission of the Catholic Church and its priests and bishops in Ireland.
Yours sincerely,
Marie Collins, survivor of Clerical Abuse, Maeve Lewis, One In Four, Andrew Madden, survivor of Clerical Abuse
The Best Easter Message
(open letter to Pope Benedikt XVI)
Dear Pope Benedikt XVI
It is about time you have your coming out: You could do Humanity the greatest service by admitting you are gay. Ask the world to make an annual celebration out of it, like the Street Parade, and you will create the greatest Easter event of the planet.
While the first event obviously has to happen in Rome, you can have it rotate around the world like the Olympics. I’d suggest Athens as the next location – to help the Greeks a bit out of their economical crisis.
Your coming out will be the catholic event of the third millennium: A turning point in the catholic church from anti-humane dogmatism to humane realism. After your coming out, everything else will follow without any additional effort, because the time is ripe.
If you are not gay: Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter: The world will not expect too much from a ninety-something year old. A few kisses will do – business as usual. Being the head of such a big ideological organisation, you have certainly learnt to deal with the relativity of truth, so that shouldn’t be a problem either.
God will not grant you much longer. What better can you do than releasing the sexual tension Catholicism has been abusing the world with for too many years?
The full title of the Pope is The Holy Father Pope. If you do Judaian Numerology whereby you place numbers 1 to 9 with alphabet the numbers 6 represent FOX. Now in the Revelation a Wise man, myself places the number of the Beast of Rome 666. so transfer the Alphas for numbers and in the Popes title you have 666. Also in the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Bishop of Rome, The Holy Roman Emperor, Parochial Father, Father, Father. Very interesting as Miracle deception Jesus did not Cry my two sons especially the new one did not cry. Not by God actuality but inspiration of observation and looking at his Body Language requests for Feeding and Pick up to Hold. My First Son remove after ten days after I mentioned this. My Second Son now 8 months old spoke his first words in a month and sentence a week later. Better Communication and Sound Psychological development, Body and Internal organ development as well as Immunity. The Frankincense Gold and Myrrh of the 3 Wise Men. An ancient way of placing Roman Value on a Teaching. Children would have more Peacefull Thinking and rationality and less likely to suffer Severe Psychological Conditions cause by Later Life Traumas. The deception means people do not realise that leaving a child crying build the negative brain Chemistry that in later life can over Load eg Road Rage, Depression etc…
I would have said something like Mr. Pope.
Personaly I would have addressed the letter Mr Ratzinger,
Well, it certainly was not my intention to “patronise,” and my apologies if I came across that way. I was only trying to help build a more effective case for reparations, having helped with advocacy efforts in many countries in the past. I wish you Godspeed!
Dear Mr Burke.
You appear to patronise. Yes’ of course there is protocol we must follow. However in a Democratic Society we are allowed freedon of thought etc. When I respect a person they automatically know it, when in the last decade has the Vatican or Catholic Church shown any remorse or Respect to the Survivors of Child Abuse in Ireland, until apparently today. We have been told one earns RESPECT. You should read between the lines and feel the pain and hurt still being felt beneath the surface by Survivors and the Author. Addressing the letter “Dear” is granting more dignity than we have been shown.
Kathleen O’Malley.
Hi, Hanora-
I wasn’t really asking for “respect,” I was just trying to say that if you are going to bother to write a letter to ask someone for something, it is not really a good idea to begin the letter with the equivalent of “Dear Jerk…”. Decide what the purpose of the letter is before you write it. If you want to insult the pope (or, far more likely, his staff), that is your right. However, if you are actually asking for large sums of money, you might consider a different approach. That’s all.
For Ed Burke – I know you’re trying to be helpful here but RESPECT is earned and Ratzinger has yet to prove his mettle!
With regard to the open letter style, how come our GREAT GROUP LEADERS could not have accommodated ALL the survivors by adopting the openness, honesty and transparency of Madden, Collins and One in Four.
We have much to learn!
Kathy: yours 10.02.10
Unfortunately I don’t know what the Raftery play is about – but if I’m any judge of these things it will probably be about illicit sex in the cloister. You can be fairly sure it won’t be about political and judicial corruption.
You ask what the Johnson play achieved. Well, it doubtless sent the Abbey theatre audiences home with a warm glow of self-righteous satisfaction. It gave them permission to pretend that their courts were standing up for the rights of the little delinquents in Killarney prison and that any nasty cleric who dared to hurt the inmates would be dealt with by Ireland’s scrupulously fair judges. It reassured them that God was in his heaven, judge Johnson was on his bench and all was well with the world. It served only to exacerbate the oppression of the child prisoners.
Richard Johnson Snr spent many years as a District Court judge in Kerry (at least 17 years, I think). I don’t know how many children he sentenced during his career. But we are told that children were being dragged into his court “every day” and that he sentenced them on the word of the I/NSPCC alone. If he sentenced only 100 children a year (say), then in 17 years he sentenced 1700 children. So he was a fairly prodigious desk criminal.
I’ll mention just one case that came before Justice Johnson in the late 1940s. This is the case of the O’Hara family (a pseudonym) from Co Kerry.
There were seven O’Hara children. The eldest, a girl, was 12 and the youngest was a babe in arms when the father died. The stricken family owned some land and the mother was able to support the children. The mother found a boyfriend who helped support the family and he would sometimes spend the night at the family house.
The local parish priest took it into his head that the mother was “living in sin” and decided to do something about it.
The Garda (Irish State police) and the NSPCC kept watch on the O’Hara family home, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. The State police, accompanied by an NSPCC inspector, conducted a dawn raid on the house knowing that the boyfriend was there. The mother and children were dragged up before Justice Johnson Snr. All the children were charged under section 58(1)(g) (“found residing in a house used by a prostitute…”). On hearing that the mother was “living in sin” the judge found all seven children guilty as charged and sent them to prison (Killarney “industrial school”, Co Kerry, operated by the Sisters of Mercy).
Within the prison, the siblings were separated by gender (four boys and three girls). On reaching the age of 10, each of the boys was decanted in turn to the Christian Brothers prison at Tralee, Co Kerry. The children all served the full stretch (to the age of 16). The eldest girl subsequently spent time in a Magdalene laundry because the nuns took exception to her “wilfulness”. The siblings grew up estranged from each other and from their mother. Even after the mother married the boyfriend the State refused to release the children into her custody.
Note carefully: None of the family had committed any crime. There was no family poverty. There was no suggestion of child neglect. The evidence given in court was that the children were being exposed to immorality in as much as the mother was “living in sin”.
The current propaganda being put about by the Abbey Theatre and Richard Johnson Jnr is that Johnson Snr was a humane man who was deeply concerned about the suffering of the child prisoners and anxious to preserve the unity of the family.
Had Justice Johnson had a shred of humanity and had he for once decided to honour his oath of office to uphold the law and the Constitution, he would have dismissed the case against the O’Hara family. He would have told the State police, the NSPCC inspector and parish priest that Mrs O’Hara’s lifestyle was none of their business. He would have warned this gang of hoodlums that if they ever persecuted the family again they would find themselves on a charge. Instead, he chose to join forces with the gang of persecutors.
Why was the full might of the State used to destroy this family? It was simply because the mother’s lifestyle offended against State ideology. She had committed a political crime. She had failed to live up to the State’s model of Irish motherhood as ordained by the Fenian religious fanatics who were running the country. There is also the matter of the NSPCC inspector’s bounty. That was certainly an incentive. For procuring the seven children, he would have received sum of about £50 (about £1000 at present rates) from the jailors. The ‘cruelty man’, the bent policeman, the witch-finder parish priest and the corrupt justice Johnson could have had a few good nights out on that money. The jailors would soon recover the bounty money in capitation grants and by exploiting the labour of the children. Everyone was a winner, except of course the O’Hara family.
This case is typical of many and it goes to explain how and why Ireland’s child prisons were kept crammed to the rafters with child slaves.
In Stalin’s days, any Soviet citizen whose lifestyle deviated from the Soviet ideal could find themselves condemned to the gulag by an OSO court without trial. Ireland, like Stalin’s Russia, was a police State where the rule of law meant absolutely nothing. State ideology ruled. As soon as the British departed Southern Ireland in 1922 the political gangsters who came to power threw the concept of the rule of law out the window.
The State, the State police, the State judges, the I/NSPCC and the parish priests are all essentially exonerated by the Ryan report for their roles in the persecution of Ireland’s child prisoners. Ireland’s corrupt politicians and judges, aided by compliant academics and media personalities, are now desperately pretending to the world that a few rogue religious jailors were alone responsible for the persecution of the country’s child prisoners. Johnson’s play is being staged in order to propagate the Ryan myth that the judges (and by extension the Irish public) had no hand in Ireland’s child prison scandal.
The human rights crimes committed by the State against the children are repeatedly represented as nothing but a clerical a sex scandal – an everyday tale of monks who couldn’t keep their hands off boys’ bums and frigid nuns who took out their sexual frustrations on young girls. It seems that the Irish public have developed an unhealthy appetite for child sex stories. The suffering of the State’s child victims is now to be presented by the Abbey as light entertainment for Dublin’s prurient theatre goers. And this, while the State’s victims continue to bear the stigma of criminality imposed upon them in childhood by the kangaroo court judges.
The tragic irony is that the victims will probably flock to see this piece of State propaganda, persuaded that it somehow vindicates them. If they had any grasp of what was done to them in childhood by the State and if they understood how the State is still denying them the justice to which they are entitled under the Constitution, they would stand outside the Abbey theatre protesting against the obscenity of it all and demanding their civil rights.
And pigs might fly.
Jim Beresford, former Artane child prisoner 14262, Huddersfield, England
jim.beresford@btinternet.com
Barry, I think it’s disgusting that The Education/Finance Board are holding money which belongs to survivors, what we have earned/suffered for! How many survivors do you know of that have actually applied to do courses? No disrespect but most of us are getting on in life and I think, for me personally, it’s a little too late for that!
Computers are essential for communicating, learning, and perhaps reaching out to other survivors from the comfort of your own home-if your lucky enough to have one! and that is where we should have the choice.
TO THE CHURCH,GOVERNMENT,EDUCATION FINANCE BOARD AND ALL THE OTHERS WHO HAVE CONTROL OF US STILL-GIVE US OUR MONEY!!! LET US DECIDE!!
See you in Dublin Barry
Regards…Anne.
Mary Raftery play at the Abbey.
I am left wondering how many children Judge Johnson had sentenced to the Industrial School without legal representation on the word of the NSPCC and ISPCC before 1961 and how many Children did he then went on to have committed without legal representation afterwards??. What did he achieve by his play? As the NSPCC and the ISPCC played a big part in our committals for a bounty did they ever visit any child or check out the Industrial Schools or the conditions that they continually sent children too, after all they continued to send young children to these institutions for decade after decade.
“Responsibility for child protection properly rests with the civil authorities. ”
This is true in law, but HSE child protection squad treats abused children in just the same way as the Catholic church did.
Not all social workers behave like the Church men of god, but many do, still believing that children are evil shitbags who tempt paedophiles etc.
The very same secrecy is applied in family law courts- run by the Jesuits.
Nothing has changed and many families have the proof in paperwork from the courts, where Judges ORDERED children to live with abusers.
HSE child protectors were trained by the old Catholic cult boys and girls, so of course the abuse is allowed to continue generation after generation.
After all abuse and violence is what keep the old cogs of the patriarchal system turning.
Abuse and violence create wealth and power for the patriarchs over the victims.
Paddy, it is the entire patriarchal system which needs to be investigated and Judges, lawyers, social workers etc need to be TRAINED IN THE WAYS OF LOVE AND PEACE.
The state servants are our servants, and not servants of the Patriarch.
They are supposed to be answerable to us- the people, after all we pay their salaries to do the right thing re child abuse.
We are not stupid. We know the price on each child’s head.
We know the propaganda scams of making public one case or two of child abuse prosecution to make it appear that HSE is doing its work, but in seccret it is torturing children and using ECT to scare them and shut them up.
I see no difference in the Catholic Church and HSE.
All from the same mould.
Some suggestions (if it is not too late):
1. Generally, this is well done.
2. It would help to suggest (via a list) action steps beyond “accept responsibility” (which is pretty vague).
3. In the opening, it would be better to address him as “Most Holy Father” or “Your Holiness” rather than “Dear Pope Benedict.” (I think these are correct. Double check this). Whether you are angry or not, you are writing to a world leader seeking his help on a vital issue.
4. It is far more accurate (and actually a better advocacy point) to speak of the “Roman Catholic Church,” not just “the Catholic Church.”
Hope this helps!
In light of this horrific abuse among the Catholic priests, I find honest the view of a small group in Germany called “The Free Christians for the Christ of the Sermon on the Mount in All Cultures Worldwide.” They have taken the Catholic Church to task and have filed a lawsuit against the Archbishopric of Freiburg as representing the Catholic Church, enjoining it from continuing to call itself “Christian.” Their arguments are sound and quite valid and available for study. The pervasive child abuse of clerics within the church is one reason why they do not want to remain silent any longer on the, as they put it, “brazen labelling fraud,” with which “Christ is mocked and His name abused to such an extent.” Perhaps your readers would like to check them out: http://www.christ-or-church.de