Paedophile rings

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A few things I want to say, one re publication bans, and the others regarding things in the news. Here goes:

(1)  Publication bans

Please please, if you attend a preliminary hearing or a trial, find out about the publication bans in place before you publish anything.

In sex abuse trials the name of, and anything which might identify, the complainant/victim is always under a publication ban.

In preliminary hearings all testimony and evidence is usually under a publication ban.  That means that anything which a victim says on the stand, or anything which a lawyer or judge has to say regarding the allegations, is under publication ban.  The same holds for any documents which are entered into evidence.

Sometimes even at trial all testimony and evidence is initially under a publication ban.

Whether or not you agree with the ban is not the issue.  The fact is that violating the ban can lead to criminal charges charges for you, and could cause trouble for me, but, more tot he point, it could jeopardize the trial.

If you’re not sure what you can or can not say, best to remain silent until you find out 🙂

(2) Will they never learn?

I must comment on this:

06 February 2013: “Newark archdiocese stands by ministry of priest accused of sex abuse” & related articles

Note that in 2009 the Newark Diocese quietly pawned Father Fugee off as chaplain at a hospital.  Given that there are children in and around hospitals I fail to understand why it was assumed that this is good spot to assign a child molester .  No matter they did it, as have countless other dioceses in North America.  I am not for a moment saying that every priest who is serving as a chaplain at a hospital is molester, but I do know it has become  one of the favoured locales for recyling.  Until such time as bishops cease the practice and defrock these men, all priests who serve as chaplains will be suspect.

I think it goes without saying that putting a molester in a hospital setting is willfully placing all children and young people who are either patients or visitors in that facility at risk.

That aside, I can not for a moment fathom the episcopal mind which deems the critically ill and dying would benefit by having a molester priest to provide spiritual direction in their time of spiritual need. There is something about this which has always struck me as sick.  From a purely spiritual perspective, it shows an appalling lack of concern for both the sanctity of the priesthood and the spiritual well-being of souls who are physically ill.

So, Father Fugee was caught.  The hospital found out about him and promptly got rid of him, and good for them.

Now the Diocese has decided that Father Fougee is well-suited to assist with continuing education and the on-going formation of priests!!

What pray tell does a child molester have to offer priests?  This is every bit as sick as trying to recycle him into a hospital.

How long does it take for these Church officials to realize that a man who molests is unfit to be a priest, anywhere?   These men are a disgrace to the priesthood. A disgrace!  Their very presence anywhere gives scandal.

So, the claim is that he won’t be around children.  Really?  He never meets laity who have children? Never?

Ridiculous!

Equally ridiculous – and very disturbing – is the fact that in 2007 the County prosecutor agreed to let Fugee off the hook and to remain in ministry so long as “he shall not have any unsupervised contact with or any duties that call for the supervision/ministry of any child or children under the age of 18…as long as he is a priest and/or employed/assigned within the Roman Catholic Church.”

And then, in 2009, after completing sex-offender counselling, the prosecutors dismissed all charges against him!

What is wrong with that prosecutor’s head?

And, of course the claim now is that in his new assignment Fugee does not have any unsupervised contact with children or youth.  And my question in turn is: Who’s monitoring Father Fugee 24/7?  There are priests molest children at the dining room table in the presence of their parents, and in a bedroom with the child’s parents sleeping in the adjacent bedroom.  Would we say that in those situations there was “supervised” contact?

And that once of common sense aside, here’s another:  who thinks the likes of this is fit to be a priest, anywhere?!!!

(3)  Paedophile rings

I posted a series of articles yesterday and today regarding the burgeoning paedophile ring scandal in England.  Here they are:

07 February 2013: “Elm Guest House: Priest Tony McSweeney is First Arrest in Politicians’ Child Sex Abuse Ring Investigation” & related articles

06 February 2013: 06 February 2013: Revealed: Face of boy abused in Elm House scandal as Catholic priest and head of boys’ home are arrested 

04 February 2013: “Elm guest house scandal: First victim of paedo guest house breaks his silence” & related articles

02 February 2013: Timebomb at Elm Guest House: Pop stars, a bishop and a top politician appear on a list seized by police investigating child abuse at the London hotel in the 1980s

I don’t know if you have noticed how quickly “authorities” of all stripes in North America tend to run from the very thought of such thing as a “paedophile ring.”  the same holds true for the mere notion that two or more priests or whom, ever “conspired” by passing a victim one to the other. I think I have seen the same thing in the UK, but I’m not as certain.  It certainly does hold true in Canada, and, witness the Cornwall Public Inquiry, great lengths are taken to ensure the public never gets the notion that such an entity could ever exist in this dear land.

Anyway, I read these articles and for reason can not stop thinking of Cornwall.  Prominent men, – da, da da.  Yes, of course it’s quite different, but what it does do is let us understand how things could have been kept quiet for so long.  When there are prominent people involved there are often ways and mean – and well-placed connections – which ensure that all is kept quiet, at all cost.

I have wondered often what would have happened had the CPI been armed with a mandate specifically geared to get to the bottom of the persistent allegations of a paedophile ring and cover-up involving prominent men in the community?

That, sad to say, didn’t happen.

I now hope and pray that this police investigation in England does what is should, and that those who should be held accountable for what happened at that guest house are charged, and that all those who participated in this atrocity in any way shape or form , whether dead or alive, are identified.

There has to be a reason child sex abusers are handled with kid gloves, does there not?  There has to a reason convicted molesters are allowed to roam freely and in virtual anonymity in most western countries, does there not?

What about the millstones?  Do these enablers who tolerate and treat with kid gloves truly not know about the millstone?

I’m dancing around here.  I know.  I’m dancing, and I’m trying to find words to say what I want to say.  Best perhaps I call it quits for now 🙂

(4)  $$$$$s

Look at the fallout from the sex abuse scandal and cover-up  in the Antigonish Diocese:

17 January 2013:  Antigonish, N.S.  Bishop Dunn to Glace Bay and area parishioners  re Pastoral Planning (read church closures)  

18 January 2013: Antigonish Bishop Brian Dunn re Pastoral Planning for Northside/Victoria Deanery (read church closures)

01 February 2013: Articles and letters re church closures in Cape Breton, N.S.  (Antigonish Diocese)

I wonder how much money will be fetched when all those churches go on the chipping block?

I feel for the parishioners – more betrayals atop betrayals atop betrayals.

Enough for now,

Sylvia

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1 Response to Paedophile rings

  1. Mike Fitzgerald says:

    I know what you want to say, but you are too good a person to say it in a public blog. Sylvia, i know everyone who reads here will get the gist of what you are referring to. It is a sad state of affairs, knowing that a lot of these cases are handled with “kid gloves”.
    There are a lot of old sayings that refer to this type of thing;
    #1) Birds of a feather flock together (think about it!)
    #2) When people fear government, there is tyranny; when government fears people, there is democracy.
    #3) Evil is present in the total abscence of good.

    I have never seen a crow flying with a flock of bald eagles, nor have I seen a Canada goose flying with a flock of starlings.
    It causes all of us to wonder what reasoning a judge would use to let these criminals off so lightly. Could it be something in the judge’s background, or in the Crown’s background, that causes this to happen? Is it perhaps financial influence? Perhaps we shall se in the time to come, eh? Mike.

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