So I read today that some brainstorming conference by Catholic clergy in Germany has recently figured out that by dissing divorcees and women, they are kind of ruling out 75% of the population right there, and that this might be among the things responsible for the decline of their reprehensible little cult.
So what’s the earth-shattering suggestion: Continue reading
This is good news for victims of Catholic sexual abuse, and not so good news really for the club of pedophilia enablers and obfuscators that is the Roman Catholic Church.
I haven’t seen or read much coverage of this recent refusal of the UK’s Supreme Court to even allow hearing the church’s challenge that clerics are not “akin to employees”, thereby slamming shut the door on a potential way for the Church to avoid compensation claims against the organisation itself rather that single offenders:
Lawyers for the trustees of Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust had appealed against a decision in the court of appeal that they had a duty to compensate a young girl for alleged beatings inflicted by a nun and sexual abuse perpetrated by a priest as long ago as the 1970s – if the facts of the abuse were established.
But in a statement issued this week, the supreme court said it had refused permission to appeal “because the application does not raise an arguable point of law of general public importance”. It believes the issue has now been settled.
Lawyers for the diocese have conceded they cannot take the case to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg and consequently the court of appeal’s ruling becomes definitive.
The term of contention here is “vicarious liability“:
Vicarious liability is a legal doctrine that assigns liability for an injury to a person who did not cause the injury but who has a particular legal relationship to the person who did act negligently. It is also referred to as imputed Negligence. Legal relationships that can lead to imputed negligence include the relationship between parent and child, Husband and Wife, owner of a vehicle and driver, and employer and employee. Ordinarily the independent negligence of one person is not imputable to another person.
Essentially, the Church really wants to claim that its sex offenders are not its employees, but some kind of sole trader with no connection to the organisation that paid their salaries and supplied them with the robes they wore while getting sucked off by underage teenagers. It is good to know that this legal avenue is now closed to them, at least in Europe.
Commenting on the decision, Keith Porteous Wood, of the National Secular Society, said: “It is hard to exaggerate the importance of this case : it will almost certainly become an international precedent, opening the door to financial liability against the church for tens of thousands of victims of abuse, worldwide.
“Evidence abounds of the shameless lengths to which the church has stooped for decades to evade financial responsibility for widespread abuse of children in its care. To have fought to evade liability for admitted abuse is both morally repugnant and a continuing blatant breach of the church’s obligations under the UN convention on the rights of the child.”
Quoted for truth.
I’m sorry, what? Remind me, what kind of sexual conduct apart from no conduct at all is supposed to be the Catholic standard again? At least officially, and ever since it was decreed in CE 1139 at the Second Lateran Council, and last reaffirmed in Canon Law in 1965? To this day, with the exeption of so-called permanent deacons, who are allowed to marry and then not obliged to celibacy if they are married when ordained as deacons, all Catholic clerics have to live a celibate life, and that includes anything from “impure thoughts”, to masturbation, to sex with other people, be they male or female or whatever.
So I’m really confused over the media coverage of this latest admission of sexual misconduct by a high-ranking Catholic priest in Scotland:
O’Brien – who steps down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh – initially denied the allegations, which date back to the 1980s.
“To those I have offended, I apologise and ask forgiveness,” he said in Sunday’s statement. “To the Catholic Church and people of Scotland, I also apologise.
“I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland.”
He confirmed in his resignation statement that he will not take part in the papal election conclave, which has been overshadowed by controversies surrounding O’Brien and other cardinals caught up in sex scandals.
He had been due to resign on his 75th birthday later this month but said on Monday that the pope had decided it should take effect immediately.
The allegations include claims that one priest received unwanted attention from O’Brien after a late-night drinking session, Britain’s Observer newspaper reported last month.
Another priest reportedly claims that O’Brien used night prayers as cover for inappropriate contact.
Seems to me that late night drinking sessions and night prayers as opportunities to get laid may not have been what Jesus would have had in mind, or the Second Lateran Council for that matter. But admittedly, the standards expected from members of the Catholic clergy could hardly fall any lower than what they already are, so this latest news really comes as no surprise anymore. How handy that the allegations will be handled internally by the Catholic Church, and only after the new Pope has been elected. It remains a fact that if you are a sexual predator, your best chance of going free is to join the Catholic Church.
