African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic STD's ... - Blackherbals.com

Continued from page 35 – 125 Priests, Lay Clergy involved
in Sex Abuse Cases
site of Swissinfo, a nine-language news and information
platform produced by Switzerland s Public Broadcasting
Corporation, the Catholic Church in this touristy Alpine
nation has released new details of sexual abuse
committed by priests and pastoral workers over the past
60 years.
Swissinfo states: Overall, 146 victims came forward to
report abuse to Swiss dioceses in 2010 the first year in
which detailed statistics have been presented by the
church. The abuse was carried out by 125 priests and lay
clergy, an expert commission of the Swiss Bishops
Conference said on Thursday (September 15). The
statistics broke down in more detail who the victims and
perpetrators where and when the incidents had taken
place since 1950. Abuse ranged from sexual harassment
to rape. Most of the victims were teenage boys (25 per
cent) and adult men (23 per cent). Another 20 per cent
were children aged below 12 years. Half of the incidents
were carried out by parish priests and 26 per cent by
ordained men.
The official Swiss website had maintained, Most of the
abuse happened between 1950 and 1980. Ten per cent of
cases took place during the past decade. Confirmation of
the abuse first came to light more than 16 months ago
when the church announced cases reported from
January-May 2010.
Although the Catholic sex abuse cases in nations like
Canada, Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom,
Mexico, Belgium, France, and Germany etc have
received significant media attention since the 1980s,
after Father Donald Roemer of the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles had pleaded guilty to felonious sexual abuse of
a minor, most television channels and newspapers on the
planet are now using the harshest possible language
against the church and the clergy while reporting these
incidents.
Had all been well at the Vatican and had the followers of
Christianity been happy with their religious leaders, the
CNN would not have aired these words in its September
16, 2010 report when the Pope was about to start his visit
to Britain: There has already been widespread outcry
over the estimated 12 million pounds ($18.7 million)
British taxpayers are having to pay for the visit, though
Christopher Patten, the Prime Minister s representative
for the papal visit, has pointed out that one day of last
year s G-20 summit in London cost 20 million pounds.
Criticism has also focused on the armed police squads
needed to protect a religious figurehead previously
targeted by attackers. Along with anger about the
Vatican s response to child and sexual abuse, there is
criticism over the pope being granted a state visit, given
the Catholic Church s attitudes towards gender equality
and homosexuality.
The CNN had further reported on September 16, 2010:
British people feel overwhelmingly that the Pope has not
done enough to punish priests who abuse children. Three
out of four British people and two out of three Catholics
in the country say he should do more to punish the
abusive clergy.
Till date dozens (if not hundreds) of the accused priests
have been forced to resign in every nook and cranny of
the globe. Many of these priests, whose crimes fell within
statutes of limitation, are languishing in jail. Some have
been defrocked. (Reference: The New York Times of
August 31, 2006).
For example, Bernard Francis Law (born 1931), Cardinal
and Archbishop of Boston had resigned after Church
documents were revealed which suggested he had
covered up sexual abuse committed by priests in his
archdiocese. On December 13, 2002, Pope John Paul II
had accepted Law s resignation as Archbishop and had
posted him to the American Catholic church in Rome.
(Reference: The New York Times of May 28, 2004).
Similarly, James Porter (1935-2005) was a Roman
Catholic priest who was convicted of molesting 28
children. He had admitted sexually abusing at least 100
children of both sexes over a period of 30 years, starting
in the 1960s. (References: The Boston Globe of April 13,
2004 and NBC News Channel report of February 11,
2005).
In 1995 Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer had to resign
from his post as Archbishop of Vienna, Austria, over
allegations of sexual abuse, although he remained a
Cardinal. (Reference: The BBC report of April 14, 1998)
On April 7, 2010, it was revealed that a former bishop of
the Norwegian Catholic Church, Georg Muller, had
confessed to the police in early January 2010 that he had
sexually abused an under-age boy 20 years earlier. Muller
was made to step down as a bishop in July 2009.
(Reference: Reuters report of April 7, 2010).
Various lawsuits against the custodians of the church
have been filed in the United States and Ireland etc till
date, whereby plaintiffs have alleged that some priests
had sexually abused minors and that their superiors had
conspired to conceal and otherwise abet their criminal
misconduct.
Some had even accused the incumbent Pope for covering
up complaints against his subordinate colleagues.
-36- Traditional African Clinic October 2011
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