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Showing posts with label clerical sex abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clerical sex abuse. Show all posts
Right Wing Watch ðŸ‘€ Mike Bickle, a major figure within the dominionist Pentecostal wing of American Christianity, has been accused by multiple women and former colleagues of sexual and spiritual abuse stretching over several decades. 

Peter Montgomery 

In reporting the allegations, Religion News Service called Bickle “one of the most influential charismatic Christians in the United States and a leading figure in the so-called New Apostolic Reformation.”

Bickle is founder and leader of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, which is at the center of a global movement of 24-hour prayer and worship centers. 

Thousands of young people raise money to support their involvement in IHOP, which is intertwined with End Times prophecy and support for right-wing politicians and policies.

Bickle has had a major influence on other dominionist leaders, including Charisma publisher Steve Strang. In 2019, Bickle appeared on Strang’s podcast and declared that attacks on former President Donald Trump and the right-wing by the “militant left” is “a demonic attack coming against the Word of God.”

In October, former IHOPKC leaders who brought the accusations to the attention of current ministry officials said they had tried to address the allegations with Bickle personally, and that he had not only rebuffed them . . . 

Continue reading @ Right Wing Watch.

Dominionist Leader Mike Bickle Faces Multiple Sexual Abuse Allegations

Hemant Mehta ✒ Southern Baptist Convention leaders say they will “fully and completely cooperate” with the investigation.

Why pace yourself when you can sprint? The Department of Justice, during a surprisingly busy week, is now investigating the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, for sexual abuse. That’s according to the SBC leaders themselves, who announced on Friday that an investigation was taking place and that they’d fully cooperate.

If you’re wondering what the hell is going on, it helps to go back to 2019, when the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News published their first article resulting from a six-month-long investigation into Southern Baptist churches. They found that, over the previous decade, more than 250 staffers or volunteers had been “charged with sex crimes” against more than 700 victims.

That included malfeasance with the International Mission Board, the SBC’s missionary arm with an annual budget of over $158 million (the result of tithe money from SBC member churches) and 3,600 members. The reporters found that several members of the IMB were credibly accused of abuse and several other members of the IMB helped cover it all up.

Continue reading @ Only Sky.

Feds Are Investigating The Southern Baptist Convention For Sexual Abuse

Sunday Times ✒ Rather than report priest’s abuses, officials sent him to a private clinic for treatment.

Jonty Sutherland
Emily Kent Smith 
Catherine Pepinster

The report from late 2008, provided to officials at the Catholic Church, was damning. A priest had shown personality traits and behaviour consistent with sexual “sadism” and “voyeurism”, it concluded.

In the weeks before the findings, a man had approached the Archdiocese of Birmingham to speak out about Father Joseph Quigley. He wanted to make the church aware of his relationship with Quigley when he was aged 16 or 17, in the early 1990s. Over several years, the then sixth-former was told to “strip” during meetings and encouraged to perform sex acts in front of the priest.

Officials from the church heard the man’s account before asking Quigley to provide his side of events. It was agreed that Quigley, now 56, would be sent to a clinic in Manchester for treatment.
 
The police were not officially notified, although church officials say advice was sought from a member of its safeguarding commission, who was a police officer. 

Continue reading @ Sunday Times.

Church Knew Of Sex‑Sadist Priest Joseph Quigley Years Before Police

New York Times ✒ The former pope was fast-tracked for canonization immediately after his death. But a tarnished legacy in dealing with the church’s sex abuse scandals has left critics to wonder whether it was too fast.
Jason Horowitz

At the funeral of Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Square, banners rose from the sea of mourners reading “Santo Subito,” or “Saint at Once.”  

... Days after his death in 2005, cardinals eager to uphold his conservative policies had already begun discussing putting him on a fast track to sainthood while devotees in Rome and beyond clamored for his immediate canonization, drowning out notes of caution from survivors of sexual abuse and historians that John Paul had persistently turned a blind eye to the crimes in his church.

Now, after more than a decade of doubts, his reputation has fallen under its darkest cloud yet, after the very Vatican that rushed to canonize him released an extraordinary report this week that laid at the saint’s feet the blame for the advancement of the disgraced former prelate Theodore E. McCarrick.

Continue reading @ New York Times.

Sainted Too Soon? Vatican Report Cast John Paul II in Harsh New Light

Age ✒ A three-year research project into paedophile Catholic clerics in Victoria has identified 16 child sex abuse networks operating over six decades involving 99 priests and Christian Brothers.


The investigation found that clergy paedophile rings shared patterns of behaviour with criminal gangs, the Mafia, terrorist cells, corrupt police, drug dealers, money launderers and price-fixing cartels ...

The research showed their abuse was facilitated and reinforced by church hierarchy ...

The researcher, Sally Muytjens, spent more than three years investigating "dark networks" of paedophile clergy in Victorian dioceses. She published the research late last year, receiving a doctorate from Queensland University of Technology.

Muytjens’ research found the largest and most active dark networks were at schools including St Alipius in Ballarat and Salesian College, Rupertswood, and orphanages including St Vincent de Paul’s in South Melbourne and St Augustine’s in Geelong.

One of the worst offenders, convicted paedophile and former Christian Brother Edward "Ted" Dowlan, was active in five of the 16 dark networks, she found.

Her study also identified Christian Brother Rex Francis Elmer as a member of two paedophile networks.

Continue reading @ Age.

Study Identifies 16 Child Sex Abuse Rings In Victorian Catholic Church

ABC News ➠ Queensland priests are being compelled to break the seal of the confessional to protect children.

 
Priests in Queensland will now be compelled to break the seal of confession to report child sexual abuse or face three years in jail.

Key points:

  • The law was passed with the support of the Opposition
  • It enacts a recommendation of the child sexual abuse royal commission
  • Police Minister Mark Ryan says it will help protect vulnerable children

New laws passed through Queensland Parliament will force members of the clergy to report known or suspected cases of abuse to police.

The legislation means religious institutions and their members are no longer able to use the sanctity of confessional as a defence or excuse in child sex abuse matters.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said the laws would ensure better protection for vulnerable children.

"The requirement and quite frankly the moral obligation to report concerning behaviours towards children applies to everyone everyone in this community," he said.

"No one group or occupation is being singled out.

"Child protection is everyone's responsibility."

The laws apply to information received from now, even if it relates to abuse that occurred in the past.

Continue reading @ ABC News.

Queensland Passes Law To Jail Priests For Not Reporting Confessions Of Child Sexual Abuse

From The Tablet in November   ➤ a piece on a Catholic Cardinal Spelling Out Shocking Reality Of Clerical Sex Abuse.


By Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

The cardinal was delivering a lengthy, detailed lecture on clerical sex abuse at the University of Vienna.

Clerical abuse is a “massive reality” in the Church caused among other factors by “closed systems” and the overinflated authority of priests, according to Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.

In a 50-minute lecture at Vienna University, one of a weekly series the University is holding on “The Sexual Abuse of Minors: Crime and Responsibility” in the winter semester, Cardinal Schönborn described in detail how, after listening to abuse victims over the past 20 or so years, he had come to the conclusion that clerical spiritual and sexual abuse – but above all the abuse of clerical power – was a “massive reality” in the Catholic Church.

The cardinal said:

I am not speaking on this painful subject as an expert but as someone who has repeatedly been confronted with abuse and who has learnt a great deal about it – but certainly not enough. That is why, as a first step, I am going to relate – quite unsystematically – what I have learnt about abuse and then try to sum up what must be done about it.

Continue reading @ The Tablet.

Schönborn Spells Out Shocking Reality Of Clerical Sex Abuse

From Newsweek a report on an Australian politician calling for warning signs to be displayed by Catholic Churches. 

Melbourne City Council member Nic Frances Gilley has introduced a proposal to require Catholic churches to comply with the province of Victoria's new mandatory abuse reporting laws or have signs posted outside warning parents that the houses of worship might pose a danger to children.
The Age reports that Gilley is requesting the state "write to all churches and places of worship requesting assurances that all staff and associates will abide by the law of mandatory reporting," and if they do not provide those assurances the state should erect appropriate signage.
In September, Victoria passed the Children Legislation Amendment Act 2019, which added religious leaders to the list of individuals who are legally mandated to report child abuse to the authorities when they learn about it. That list already included police, teachers, nurses, midwives and other occupations.

Continue reading @ Newsweek.

Politician Wants Catholic Churches To Post Signs Warning Children Of Danger

From the Irish Times a Magdalene survivor claims ‘I was raped by a priest. I want to tell my story. It is with me always’. By Trevor White.

 
Seven years ago a small red exercise book was put on display in the Little Museum of Dublin. A sticker announces its purpose: “Laundry Lists Writing-In Book.”

The artefact was ignored by most visitors, which is hardly surprising. At first glance the contents are innocuous, for the copybook contains only a list of names: of families, companies, schools, clubs, religious orders and State institutions. They were clients of the largest Magdalene laundry in Ireland.

In the museum, small objects are used to tell a larger story – about Dublin, about Ireland and about the large, very odd family to which we all belong. But in trying to record our complex shared history, we also want to be inclusive. Some visitors are religious, others are not. Most people come to be entertained as much as educated.

Continue reading @ The Irish Times. 

Magdalene Survivor Raped By A Priest


From Atheist Republic the curious tale of one cleric's method of exorcism. 


Photo Credits: Wikipedia

The Rev. Dr. William Weaver, a Presbyterian minister, has been credibly accused of using oral sex during exorcisms to extract “evil spirits” from men. Actually, the minister who served as pastor at Linden Presbyterian Church for nearly 40 years and also held several public roles, including chaplain for a county police department, was using oral sex as a 'healing method' to get rid of evil spirits from troubled men.

Weaver, 69, was scheduled to face his three accusers during an internal church trial… He was accused by the church of “multiple acts of idolatry and sexual misconduct.”

The church charges have no bearing on the secular government’s civil and criminal courts. No public charges have been filed against Weaver. The men said they did report the sexual encounters to authorities, but the Union County Prosecutor’s Office said they could not confirm nor deny information regarding this matter.

As The Daily Mail reports, the men say he would have them undress, lie flat on their backs naked and balance stones and coins on their bodies, telling them not to move while he performed oral sex on them.

The trial was scheduled after the men alerted the Elizabeth Presbytery, which oversees 41 Presbyterian churches in Somerset, Hunterdon, Middlesex and Union counties.

One of accusers, William Weist, says he went to Weaver for counsel after watching his girlfriend's son drown in a boating accident. He was in his 30s at the time. Their sessions grew increasingly sexual every time, he said; until Weaver convinced him there was an evil spirit inside him.

Weist Wrote: 

I felt uneasy, but I took his word that this was necessary. It wasn’t long before he had me remove my shoes, place gemstones on my ankles and take my shirt off as well. This time was different as the only way to get it fully out was for him to draw it out with his mouth. I was so afraid and scared. When it was over, he showed me what looked to be a tiny metal ball and said that was what he got out of me.  


Interesting thing about this case is that the men were all of age when they say the alleged encounters happened and because they consented to them, there are no grounds for criminal action. The only punishment may be expulsion from the Presbyterian ministry.

As My Central Jersey reports, the Presbytery determined, through an investigating committee “that there are probable grounds or cause to believe that an offense was committed by the accused,” according to the official church charges. If Weaver was found at the religious trial to have violated church rules, the most punishment he would have faced would have been expulsion from the Presbyterian ministry. 

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Presbyterian Minister Accused Of Using Oral Sex During Exorcisms

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