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February 2008 ArchivesTime to get the full picture on vocations Independent.ie THE vocations crisis facing the Catholic Church in Ireland is now so bad even 'The Times' in Britain has cottoned on to it. It carried a report about the crisis, or rather the catastrophe, on Wednesday. What a... Further 'Significant Finds' in Jersey Care Home by Caroline Gammell, Aislinn Simpson in St Martin, Jersey, Tom Chivers and agencies Daily Telegraph 28 February /2008 Jersey police investigating the former children's home at the centre of a major child-abuse investigation have said that they have "a... JERSEY SCANDAL AND THE BBC: Home 'Forever Linked to Darkness'JERSEY SCANDAL AND THE BBC: Home 'Forever Linked to Darkness' This is the BBC once known for its fairness and objectivity: "More than 160 people who claim to have been abused at Haut de la Garenne' have now spoken to... KATHY'S REAL STORYKATHY'S REAL STORY: Feud Between Warring Authors Set To Hot Up Irish Post, 20 February 2008 by Fiona Audley [ 'Kathy's Real Story' is being released in the UK shortly. ] A controversial book penned by an Irish journalist claims... JERSEY CARE HOME SCANDALJERSEY CARE HOME SCANDAL: 'Possible Suspects Had Positions of Authority' Daily Telegraph, 27 February 2008 by Caroline Gammell, Aislinn Simpson and Lucy Cockcroft, in St Martin, Jersey [ This sounds remarkably like allegations about Letterfrack i.e. that "Top People" were... Police Excavate Bricked-up 'Colditz' Cellar at Ex-Children's Home in Jersey Police Excavate Bricked-up 'Colditz' Cellar at Ex-Children's Home in Jersey amid Fears it Hides a Mass Grave Evening Standard, London, 27 February 2008 [ Allegations of murder and mass murder were made against the Christian Brothers at Artane and... Minister Sacked After Exposing 'Child Abuse' (Jersey, UK) Dominic Kennedy,The Times, September 13, 2007 Jersey's Health Minister was sacked after he blew the whistle on a harsh punishment regime in a home where children as young as 11 were kept in solitary confinement. Stuart Syvret, the island's... THE MANY LIVES OF COLM O'GORMAN Child Abuse Victim; Head of victim's organisation 'One in Four'; Progressive Democrat Senator; PD Dail candidate; expressed interest in leading PDs; now Executive Director of Amnesty International (Ireland). Colm O'Gorman's Career Curves, Phoenix Magazine, February 22 - March 6... COLM O'GORMAN: Finding the Rights Path Sunday Business Post, 17 February 2008 Amnesty's new executive director in Ireland aims to put human rights back on the agenda, writes Martha Kearns. Colm O'Gorman's office is stark. A lonely plant, sent by a friend that morning, sits... PIERCE BROSNAN AND THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS [ This is another case where a "celebrity" tells lies about the Catholic Church - once again the Christian Brothers even though Pierce Brosnan never attended a school run by the Christian Brothers! I don't think Brosnan himself has... Appeal against conviction for false accusation fails Fri, Feb 22, 2008 The Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a man against his conviction for falsely accusing a priest of child sexual abuse. Paul Anderson (34), Crumlin Park, Crumlin, formerly of Fatima Mansions and... Disgraced bishop to reinvent himself as a 'spiritual guru' Brendan Comiskey fled Wexford in the 1990's for America, where he received treatment for his alcoholism Independent.ie By John Cooney Friday February 22 2008 A BISHOP who sensationally resigned his post in 2002 over his failure to control paedophile... Wal-Mart Apologizes to Muslim Woman (Utah, USA) 19 February, 2008, Associated Press [ This nonsensical act by Wall-Mart will have the same effect as apologies by religious orders and the State in Ireland to alleged victims of child abuse i.e. it will encourage a "victim" culture... Duke Lacrosse Players Sue School, City [North Carolina, USA] by Mike Baker, Associated Press Writer, 21 February 2008 [ This false rape scandal is a kind of American equivalent of the Nora Wall case in Ireland. The three students of Duke University were thrown to the wolves by... BRIAN McFADDEN AND THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS Like Amanda Brunker **, Brian McFadden is a Z-list celebrity who tries to raise his profile by making false sex allegations against the Catholic Church. The false allegations witch-hunt has long since broadened its focus from the Church to... IRISH TIMES-LETTER PAGECONSCIENCE AND CATHOLIC CHURCH Madam, - Des Cryan (February 14th) does your readers a service in bringing the writings of Fr Se?n Fagan to their attention. Reading his letter, I was reminded of the stark contrast between the church leadership's... Church crisis as number of priests to drop 66pc in 20 yearsIndependent.ie By John Cooney Thursday February 21 2008 'It is impossible to argue with these statistics, and the situation really is very grave' The Catholic Church in Ireland faces a catastrophic drop in the numbers of priests over the next... House dispute involving author is settled Mary Carolan Wed, Feb 20, 2008 A dispute in which the author of a controversial best-selling book claimed she was entitled to remain in her parents' home in Dublin for life has been settled at the High Court on... Final chapter as father's will honoured Independent.ie By Dearbhail McDonald Wednesday February 20 2008 IN the end, Oliver O'Beirne will have his last wishes honoured. Before he died in 1997, the father-of-nine made a will stipulating that his family home should be sold and the... Author finally agrees to sell home of her 'abuser' Kathy O'Beirne, whose allegations of sexual abuse against her late father in her autobiography, 'Kathy's Story', upset her siblings, with writer Michael Sheridan outside the HIgh Court Independent.ie By Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor Wednesday February 20 2008 Controversial author... Reply to Bruce Arnold article in The Irish Independent. Right of reply in The Irish Independent first given and then refused. Email to Hermann Kelly from Irish Independent on Jan 7, 2008 "Hermann: Do you want to submit a piece. Assuming all present and correct we would be... WAS HITLER A CHRISTIAN? Recent attacks on the Catholic Church by people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchins have been accompanied by claims that all evil in the world is caused by religious belief. Thus the replacement of religion by science would lead... Cleric wrote letter of support for sex offender By Se?n McC?rthaigh A SENIOR cleric, who was forced to retire as head of a religious order in 1994 over his role as superior of the infamous paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth, has recently provided a character reference to... Brain Is Not Only Organ With Which Poets Think If O Searchaigh was a dustman, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, writes Eilis O'Hanlon, Sunday Independent, 10 February 2008 [ Eilis O'Hanlon points out that the documentary film about Cathal O'Searcaigh in Nepal was shown at a... CATHAL O'SEARCAIGH: Hanafin Stands Over Visa Help for Nepal Teen Irish Independent, Monday, 11th February, 2008 [ With enemies like this Cathal O'Searcaigh does not need friends. This is the kind of repulsive story that will discredit critics of O'Searcaigh and ensure that the REAL reason for questioning his... CATHAL O'SEARCAIGH AND HIS CRITICS [ When journalists start screaming insults at an alleged "child abuser" I am usually skeptical. In the case of Cathal O'Searcaigh, what he did was probably not illegal but was certainly immoral i.e. going to Nepal and having sex... Cardinal's 'martyrdom' may have a final twistIndependent.ie By JOHN COONEY Tuesday February 12 2008 WHEN the Pope as the sovereign head of the Catholic Church creates a cardinal, the newly ennobled Prince of the Church vows to die a martyr in the defence of his faith,... Church hasn't learned a thing Last week, the Catholic Church criticised the Government for the lowering of value added tax from 21pc to 13.5pc on packets of condoms. In the same breath, Cardinal Desmond Connell had applied to the High Court to restrict diocesan... Connell withdraws bid to stop files examined Monday, 11 February 2008 12:50 Counsel for Cardinal Desmond Connell has withdrawn his bid to stop the Government-appointed commission examining diocesan child abuse files. The move comes 11 days after Cardinal Connell got an injunction against the commission preventing... New International Heritage Centre New International Heritage Centre A new International Heritage Centre at Mount Sion, which will do justice to Blessed Edmund Rice and to the work of his two worldwide Congregations, will be officially opened on Friday February 8th by the... Ahern praises work of religious as he opens Rice centre Ciar?n Murphy Sat, Feb 09, 2008 Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday praised the work of Ireland's religious congregations "whose members devoted themselves to the education and care of those who could not provide for themselves". Mr Ahern was speaking in... How Cardinal became a magnet for controversy Independent.ie By David Quinn Friday February 08 2008 Last week I turned down probably a dozen requests from various TV and radio programmes to discuss the latest Cardinal Desmond Connell controversy. There were two reasons for this. One was... CARDINAL CONNELL WAS PREPARED TO GO TO JAILA) 'THE IRISH CATHOLIC': CARDINAL CONNELL WAS PREPARED TO GO TO JAIL by Garry O'Sullivan, Editor, 'The Irish Catholic', 7 February 2008 Cardinal Desmond Connell signalled he was prepared to go to jail, rather than allow privileged diocesan files to... CLOSURE OF MADONNA HOUSE BY SISTERS OF CHARITY (1995) In her book "Suffer The Little Children" Mary Raftery criticises the Sisters of Charity for closing Madonna House in 1995 (see section A below). This is rather curious given the fact that she demonises the religious orders in general... 'Irish Catholic' criticises Dr Martin Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent Thu, Feb 07, 2008 Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has been criticised in the Irish Catholic newspaper for his handling of the controversy surrounding Cardinal Desmond Connell's legal case over privileged documents. An editorial in the... Cardinal willing to go to jail rather than release filesIndependent.ie By John Cooney Religion Correspondent Thursday February 07 2008 Cardinal Desmond Connell has told friends that he is prepared to go to jail rather than release confidential diocesan files. The cardinal is said to have told friends in Rome... Church's actions are disturbingIndependent.ie Last week it felt as if we were taken back in time by the behaviour of the Catholic Church. While the Church's reaction to the reduction in VAT on condoms was as disappointing as it was expected, its behaviour... The Pope is right, all that matters is finding truth Cardinal Connell and Archbishop Martin who are struggling to work out how best to proceed in handling sensitive files Independent.ie TWO years ago, in an address to Ireland's bishops at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI called on the Catholic... How bishops formed strategy to fight claims of child abuseIndependent.ie By Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor Wednesday February 06 2008 Legal advice obtained by the Archdiocese of Dublin was circulated to every bishop in Ireland to help dioceses negotiate insurance policies to protect them from child sex abuse claims. Access... Connell's actions drowning out words Independent.ie Perhaps the most serious consequence for Cardinal Connell arising from his High Court action is that, given his earlier promises of his intent to co-operate fully with the enquiry, all previous statements on the subject must now be... MADONNA HOUSE AND THE SISTERS OF CHARITY [ Madonna House which was run by the Sisters of Charity closed down in 1995 amid a torrent of allegations about child abuse and demands for "compensation". I think that only ONE person was ever convicted of a criminal... Brothers founder Rice honoured with visitor centre By Conor Kane THE dream to turn one of Waterford city?s most historic sites into a place of pilgrimage with a visitor centre of international standard becomes reality this Friday. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will officially open the Edmund Rice... Division between Church's top men turns into a gaping chasm Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin in a reflective mood yesterday at Dublin City University, has now instructed lawyers to represent his interests Independent.ie THE state inquiry investigating the handling of complaints of child abuse by priests in the Dublin... Archbishop pleads with Connell in row over abuse files Independent.ie By John Cooney and Dearbhail McDonald Tuesday February 05 2008 ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin flew to Rome at the weekend and made a dramatic face-to-face plea to Cardinal Desmond Connell not to block the publication of secret Church files.... High Court to hear cardinal's legal challenge Ruadh?n Mac Cormaic Mon, Feb 04, 2008 A High Court hearing is due to take place today into proceedings taken by the former archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, to prevent documents handed over by his successor from being... So much for Church 'remorse' over the sex abuse scandalIndependent.ie There are occasions when I genuinely despair of the direction our society is headed. Within the past seven days, the Government has sentenced the family of an autistic child to a future of bankruptcy; a cache of secret files... Pervert priests can't be let hide behind privilegeIndependent.ie Really, just when you think that you're out, they pull you back in again. That must be how Archbishop Diarmud Martin has been feeling these past few days after his laudable and widely commended attempts to provide full disclosure... Bishop Casey still in limbo Independent Vatican has yet to decide his fate two years after return to Galway By Brian McDonald Monday February 04 2008 Two years after returning to Galway, Bishop Eamon Casey is still being refused permission by the Church to... Abuse files at centre of 2003 rowIndependent.ie Cardinal Connell involved in legal tussle over same confidential information five years ago By MAEVE SHEEHAN Sunday February 03 2008 THE CONFIDENTIAL files on child abuse that Cardinal Desmond Connell is attempting to withhold from a government inquiry were... Brothers eye ?40m windfall as council backs down over zoningIndependent.ie By JIM CUSACK Sunday February 03 2008 The Presentation Brothers religious teaching order is looking at a ?40m-plus property windfall after succeeding in a legal action to stop Dun Laoghaire council from zoning land belonging to one of its... Call to seize secret church abuse filesVictims urge judge to demand access to archives Henry McDonald, Ireland editor Sunday February 3, 2008 The Observer An Irish judge has been urged to seize confidential church files on child abuse which have led to a dispute between two... Christian Brothers honour founder Independent.ie By Dara deFaoite Saturday February 02 2008 A TEAM of forensic scientists have carried out an in-depth, CSI-style reconstruction on mortal remains of the founder of the Christian Brothers. The life-like results form the centrepiece to a new... Commission of inquiry into child abuse: the background Sat, Feb 02, 2008 In March 2006 the Government established a commission of inquiry to investigate the handling of allegations of child abuse against priests between January 1st, 1975, and May 1st, 2004. The inquiry, under the leadership of... Who now speaks for the Church? Sat, Feb 02, 2008 The two senior churchmen have dramatically different approaches to the scandal, writes Mary Raftery The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, issues periodic public statements updating the statistics on priests against whom allegations of child sexual... Lawyer-client privilege question often involves conflicting rights Sat, Feb 02, 2008 The High Court must decide who the client was in the case being taken by Cardinal Connell, writes Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Editor The protection of communications between a client and his or her legal... Sex abuse victims react angrily to legal move Sat, Feb 02, 2008 Victims of clerical child sex abuse have reacted angrily to attempts by the former archbishop of Dublin Cardinal Desmond Connell to prevent legal documents from being handed over to a Government inquiry. Carl O'Brienand Genevieve... RICHARD DAWKINS WORLD (or "Dawkins and Child Abuse") by Mike Gene website http://www.idthink.net/back/dawkins/index.html This page is not completely in character for this site. Nevertheless, Prof. Richard Dawkins is such a Big Player in this overall debate that some aspects of his extremism beg for comment. As such,... "Betrayal of Trust" - Chris Moore and the Fall of the Reynolds Government (1994) Chris Moore's book "Betrayal of Trust - The Brendan Smyth Affair and the Catholic Church" was published about April 1995, five months after the fall of the Fianna Fail/Labour coalition led by Albert Reynolds (November 1994). Chris Moore is... Cardinal is accused of abuse files cover-up Cardinal Desmond Connell who yesterday secured an interim injunction restraining Dublin Diocesan Commission of Investigation from examining sex abuse files to decide whether they attract legal privilege or a duty of confidentiality. Independent.ie By Dearbhail McDonald and John Cooney... Cardinal brings court challenge over documents Cardinal Desmond Connell claims the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation actions on the documents are outside its terms of reference and breach his constitutional rights. Photograph: The Irish Times Mary Carolan Fri, Feb 01, 2008 Cardinal Desmond Connell has... |