PATSY MCGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent
One of Ireland’s leading child abuse campaigners has issued an open letter calling on Pope Benedict to visit Ireland and spend seven days in repentance here.
Christine Buckley, of the Aislinn Centre in Dublin said he should do so also to assist Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in a “major spring-cleaning” of the Irish Catholic church.
While he is here, Pope Benedict should invite abuse survivors to tell him directly “their harrowing tales in the presence of those responsible for their suffering or the leaders of those organisations that were responsible,” said Ms Buckley, who spent time as a child in the Goldenbridge orphanage in Inchicore
“I am utterly dismayed at your apparently apathetic approach to heinous acts of depravity perpetrated on children by priests, nuns, Christian Brothers and members of other religious orders as outlined in the Ryan and Murphy reports and covered up by Cardinal Desmond Connell and the bishops mentioned in the Murphy report,” she said in her letter.
“Following the Ryan report you met Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin for 30 minutes,” she said. “In God’s name Pontiff what aspects of that five-volume report did you have time to discuss given the brevity of that meeting?”
She said the former Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray wasn’t so privileged. “He travelled to Rome to hand in his letter of resignation. He never laid eyes on you; instead he had to wait seven days to meet your stand-in- the Protector of the Faith, Cardinal Re.”
That, she felt illustrated three things.
“Not alone are you detached from the laity but you are equally detached from your religious leaders who govern in your name. It reaffirms what we have known for a long time – that the protection of Church assets is paramount over the slaughtering and raping of children by the holy men and women.
“Is it any wonder that Cardinal Desmond Connell behaved in such a flawed manner?” she asked. “How could such a man advise archbishops, bishops, priests, Christian Brothers and nuns when there was no moral leadership from Rome?”
Cardinal Connell, she said, should have no further involvement in church matters here or in Rome and that “all bishops mentioned in the Murphy report should have stood down on the day the report was published”.
Addressing the Pontiff directly, she said: “Pope Benedict it is time that you came to Ireland . It is time that you listened to the pain of all victims of abuse. In addition you have a responsibility to the laity. Many feel betrayed and confused particularly those who have worked tirelessly and voluntarily for the good of the Church.
“Just as we as children slaved in institutions to produce wealth for the religious orders, so too did many laity who raised millions of euros over the years to swell the coffers of the Catholic Church and spread its influence around the world
“Now you should spend seven-day repentance here – that is the time that the former Bishop Donal Murray had to wait to meet the Protector-of-the-Faith, Cardinal Re.”
She said Benedict had sent Dr Martin back to Ireland to clean up the church image. “Now it’s time, Pope Benedict, that you also came to assist in this major spring-cleaning. Come to Dublin and Armagh and invite survivors to tell you directly their harrowing tales in the presence of those responsible for their suffering or the leaders of those organisations that were responsible.
“This is the least you should do Pontiff. Donal Murray’s resignation has at last shown that bishops are beginning to see some sense of accountability. Now our young people and others in positions of responsibility need to see that this accountability goes all the way to the top.”
She concluded by saying she awaited the Pope’s response.
The Roman Catholic Church ought to be disbanded, it’s great wealth made over as reparations for it’s crimes, and it’s leadership imprisoned for life; for knowingly abetting the systematic abuse of children; for cowardice and avarice; for their policies in Africa; if Christianity has any meaning, that is …
Of course Organised Christianity has no meaning, it’s just a fairy tale, a fig leaf for power.
Empathy and compassion are natural human qualities which run counter to all forms of Power OVER others, and the natural empathy of the natural child is the greatest enemy of power…. from Powers perspective that is, for the natural child thinks not of enemies…. the natural child feels the truth of experience, and it’s meaning is clear….
I know this from bitter experience.
These facts apply as much to the Irish Government and Civil Service as to the Roman Catholic Church.
Until we face the terrible truth that our society is founded upon telling children WHAT to think, back by sanctions for any dissent, these issues will ever remain the bread and butter of society…
Kindest regards
Corneilius
do what you love, it’s your gift to universe
When someone like Christina Buckley, although she might mean well, invites the Pope to Ireland it puts a weapon into the hands of the Vatican’s Irish PR machine. All they have to do to get Herr Ratzinger here is to spin it to look like his visit had the approval of the victims. They will trumpet this angle as the reason for the visit, parade a few victims, mouth some pious apologies and satisfy the flock members. The wavering devotees will get a loyalty boost from all the pomp and ceremony and pious lies.
You don’t have to fool all the people all the time.
You only have to fool enough of them.
Dear Paddy, only in Dec 09 did I write to Irish PM, COMPLAINING OF POWERS OF IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH, AND THE OTHER COMPLAINTS OF MY PATERNAL ANCESTORS NORMANS, My mother was a closet Jew for which I paid the price for protecting my pregnant mother, from local Police Sgt Cody, in the fight I received, a broken nose, many cuts to my face, a night in the lockup in Carlow at 3yrs of age, a criminal record and 14 years in convents & Artane, no visitation rights were granted to my family, even took my little sister from my mother at 24hrs old, we were farmers from Castledermot, Co Kildare R
To whom it may concern,
If the pope (RAT)has not got the decency to apologise for what happened in the Ryan report and the Murphy report to the survivors in Ireland, England, Australia, Canada and any other part of the world that we do not know of yet to Hell with him and His ‘pedo’ friends. In my opinion he has taken the same stand as his predecessor in world war2. He is treating the Irish survivors the same way that the Jews were treated by his old colleagues in the German army. The Vatican knew what was going on in the second world war when it came to mass murder of the Jews,just like they did when children were being abused in Ireland. The Vatican does not give a dam and his apology would not be accepted by me or any of the survivors that I am in contact with.
Hello Paddy
Just to let you know I looked into the possibility of a Citizens Arrest…it does not hold much strength in its own ordinary right. There was a case recently near Shannon in which an anti war campaigner made a citizens arrest of some american soldiers in uniform walking along the roadway near Ennis. Gardai treated this matter as a joke although in fact it is a very serious matter but then again this is Ireland.
I think what would help would be more investigation and exposition of his role in the Crimens Solicitatis document under the spot light of international TV. America is a place where he could be arrested
P.S. I often wondered if Steven Spielberg could lend his brilliant talent to make a film on the Irish Gulag system. He did a brilliant job with Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan.
Enjoy the Holiday Paddy.
RB
I absolutely agree if the Rat in the Vat comes near Ireland he should most definitely be arrested and to hell with his “diplomatic immunity”.
Its hard for people who continue to have an inherent belief in religion to bring their mind to the ghastly truth of the nature of the Vatican. Some how many people, abused, unabused, religious and ordinary wish that the reality of nature of the Vatican could be confined in some way (e.g. Irish clerics only) such as to limit the all shattering truth that it is rotten from the core and from Ratzinger himself. I feel I was luck to have grasped this at a young age before ever being abused.
I also believe that every person has the right to express their private wishes and hopes and worries within what ever means they choose provided that it is not self damaging or that it is not a religion produced by a criminal organisation.
Ratzinger is planning a trip to England in September 2010 to try to negotiate a deal to
hive off disaffected Anglicans. It appears he will have to negotiate with the Queen of England as head of the Church there. It is understood that he will not be visiting Ireland. As a German, he is likely to be a person not acquainted with the extent of the Irish Diaspora and it huge influence in the English speaking world and in Europe also.
ON a population scale basis, he possibly attached little importance to the Irish reports and therefore may entirely underestimate the need to react intelligently. By the time he gets around to visiting England he may well have found that the whole Irish dimension has blown up in his face and that he finds himself short on welcomes there. He may well in fact be finding his international status in 9 months time to more akin to that of Robert Mugabe.
Personally, I dont want to see this arch thug, Ratzinger, come to Ireland on some kind of PR exercise nor do I wish to see an attempt on his life in Ireland or England.
This would be grosely counter productive.
I do hope he can stay in office because he is the best possible man to destroy vaticanism by digging his heels in against the survivors and public in general. He is ensuring that ordinary catholics who are deeply appalled will entirely loose faith whe they see his ongoing indifference and callousness in preserving such a vile organisation.
The longer he stays, the weaker the church will be and when the final push comes, it will keel over and permanently collapse like a pack of cards.
I for one will be writing to Bucklingham palace not to entertain this thug
The Springtime could see a few interesting changes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K08akOt2kuo
This is the same Herr Ratzinger who used his position as a head of State to avoid answering charges of covering up child abuse in the US by using his diplomatic immunity. If he even comes near Ireland he should be arrested.
Paddy
Is Christine Buckley stark raving mad? The Pope made the rules for the religious cults to cover up the abuse of children by the Orders.
He should be taken to court in Ireland and charged like any other criminals. Give him some of the treatment we got when we were taken to court as infants and sentenced to 14 years in Goldenbridge
May
The Pope? Reptilian perhaps!
God forgive me but just look at those cold blue eyes.
God forgive you.. that’s all I can say.
Anne
It must be hammered into the Irish that the Vatican is a foreign state which occupies Ireland and controls it’s schools and hospitals, It has unlimited access to Irish children. Can we really call ourselves a republic when we are not masters in our own house?.
Should Ratzinger even show his face in The Republic then he should be arrested for collusion to crimes of the worst sort. He was privy to information about the mass rapes of Irish children and withheld it from the Irish authorities. He could have used the diplomatic channels of the Vatican State the channels he referred the Irish government to use when refusing to hand over information to the Murphy inquiry. I do not invite enablers of sexual deviants into my house.
Is Christine Buckley insane? Maybe so, after her tragic childhood (in Goldenbridge). I mean, if she doesn’t know after that terrible childhood experience of hers that the Pope et al, and all their admirers and supporters, are INSANE – as Portia (above) said, these people are incapable of normal human feelings.
Seems to me Ms. Buckley could do with a LOT more counselling…
Christine, the Pope and his ilk ARE UNABLE TO FEEL what humans feel.
It took me years to realise this fact.
You could put 10,000 abused human beings in front of him to tell their truth till the cows come home, but you wont see the Pope and co shed a tear or squirm.
They are devoid of human emotion and that is why they committed the atrocities thy did and allowed them to be committed.
This has been going on for eons- as you can see from here,
Iron Spider:
The iron would usually be heated to red-hot and then used to slowly rip the breasts from the body. It would be used for such crimes as heresy, adultery, self-induced abortions, blasphemy and other “hideous” crimes.
http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/murderers.htm
Also, the best way to win is to ignore the Patriarchal Catholic Cult and do not feed it any of your valuable energy- as you are simply feeding the gremlins- and they know it.
The future
The positive aspect of the self de-destruction of Right Of Place is just that. More opportunists will be exposed too along with them from other mushroom groups of the same ilk, and as it should be. Their small carnival of supporters will either have woken up by then and joined us or found it had all passed them by. Even as I write there are those willing to take up the mantle from Noel Barry not for us but only for themselves. Let them, for soon there will be nothing left to fight about.
The agenda that I propose for our future is all about transparency, accountability, and integrity. These attributes should be the driving force that will shield us, guide us through, and within it’s strength will come victory. Corruption is a weakness and does what it says on the tin and in time for all circumstances has to be thrown out or will pollute everything. For us, if we are spied on it will not matter, if we sit with persons against us it will not matter, if our phones are tapped it will not matter, for if we stick to our guiding principles we will have nothing to hide. This is not to say that we must not be cautious in our affairs or fail to keep our cards close to our chest. I have no doubt that this is a war and you must not doubt it too, after all is their any surprises left in how low our enemies will go inside or outside the tent.
The currency of anger and rage has no value unless it is converted into constructive action, and anything less delays if not destroys our aims. This is a key component and must be part of our future discipline like never before. What are our aims?
They are simply to demand just compensation for the violation of our constitutional rights as victims of institutional abuse. That compensation to be sought for all victims under one umbrella organization with disregard and non-recognition of all other groups. To stop all funding from whatever source for those groups. To convert any compensation trusts, properties ,or otherwise that is held by government or religious orders into liquid assets for all members, and for it be divided equally among them whatever their circumstance.
The nature of these aims is to empower us as members to decide for ourselves if we need counseling or not, further education or not, or even if we want to play tin-whistles. Anything less is to discriminate against individual members and continues the abuse that they have already suffered as children.
We all want to go home and not have to re-visit these dark passages of our lives or for the rest of them. We just simply fought the wrong fight and put our expectations too high on the shoulder of people so low. Knowing better now will make us stronger but we must act on its wisdom.
If you agree with the abiding principles and aims of the above, post on Paddy or post on me. Your response determines the next move and then we get down to the hard work.
Barry Clifford
EMAIL: bgclifford@iol.ie
With respect to Ms Buckley, the last thing I want to see is the Pope in Ireland. Bear in mind this is the gentleman who’s job it was prior to becoming Pope to find ‘hiding places’ in the Vatican for know child abusers.
I don’t want to see him set foot on Irish soil not for 7 seconds.
Paddy