Rome Watch International

PRIEST JAILED FOR ABUSING YOUNG BOYS

The Roman Catholic Church has apologised to the victims of a priest jailed for seven years for abusing young boys at an orphan- age.

Father Eric Taylor was convicted at Warwick Crown Court on 16 charges of indecent assault and two charges of buggery on boys at the Father Hudson's home in Coleshill, Warwickshire, committed between 1957 and 1965.

The court was told Taylor, now 78, of Aston-By-Stone, Staffordshire, abused boys as young as six and then stood by as they were beaten by nuns for complaining about their alleged ordeals.

After the case, a joint statement issued by the Father Hudson Society and The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, read: "We wish to express our profound sadness and sorrow for the actions of Father Taylor for which he has been convicted."

"We deeply regret the effect of Father Taylor's actions and will offer counselling and ongoing support as appropriate to those concerned."

PRIEST GETS LIFE FOR ASSAULT ON ALTAR BOYS

Suspended Catholic priest Rudy Kos was sentenced to life in prison from claims of four former altar boys that they were molested about 1,350 times over five years. The scandal led to a record $119.6 million verdict against the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. The chief source of a 25-year decline in the number of priests is "required celibacy". "Forbidding to marry" is mentioned in I Timothy 4:3 of some, who would depart from the faith.

POPISH PARASITE

A defrocked priest was called "a sexual parasite" as he was found guilty in a Belfast court of repeated sexual assaults upon a young woman while she lay in a hospital bed, too ill to ward off his attacks. Gerard John McCallion, a former Cistercian monk who has already served time in jail after being found guilty of sexually abusing children in 1996, was given a

suspended jail sentence. His 27-year-old victim wept as he walked free from the court.

PRIEST JAILED FOR ATTACKS ON TWO BOYS

A 76-year-old Roman Catholic priest who admitted sex offences against two young boys was jailed for seven and a half years.

Father Gus Griffin had pleaded guilty at Dublin's circuit criminal court to four sample charges relating to offences committed between 1976 and 1983 against a 10-year- old boy and a teenager.

The charges against Griffin, a member of the Holy Ghost Order of the Priesthood who spent a number of years as a missionary in Sierra Leone, included rape, indecent assault and gross indecency.

After the case, Griffin's order said the priest had broken "a precious trust," placed in him by children, their families, communities and their congregations.

POPE'S VISIT HIT BY SEX SCANDAL

Roman Catholics angered by the Vatican's handling of a sex scandal in the church protested as Pope John Paul II entered the second day of a tour of Austria.

Although roads across central Europe were jammed by worshippers hoping to participate in an outdoor mass in St. Poelten, west of Vienna, the visit was marred by the Austrian church's biggest crisis in decades.

Members of We Are The Church, a group that wants to drop the requirement for priests to be celibate and allow women into the priesthood, were incensed by the choice of St. Poelten for the Pope's mass.

The diocese lies at the heart of the church's troubles: it is home to many of the alleged victims of Hans Hermann Groer, a former archbishop of Vienna, who resigned three years ago after being accused of molesting young clergymen.

Bishop Kurt Krenn of St. Poelten is the most prominent supporter of Groer, who is now living in a convent in Germany. A petition calling for Krenn's removal has been signed by

54,000 people and his opponents released hundreds of black balloons into the sky to symbolise their discontent.

Krenn outraged many Austrians by claiming that if there was sin in Groer, there was sin in his victims and they should also seek forgiveness. Just before the Pope arrived for his three-day visit, Krenn called for Groer to return to Austria.

Although the Pope was not expected to make any direct reference to the controversy during the visit - his first to Austria since 1988 - he urged Catholics in Salzburg to keep their faith in the church strong. An estimated 30,000 Austrian Catholics left the church last year. We Are The Church has collected 1.25 million signatures appealing for reform.

SEX ASSAULT PRIEST JAILED

An Irish priest, who sexually assaulted two altar boys, was given an 18-month prison sentence.

Father Patrick Maguire, 62, of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, admitted indecently assaulting the boys, who were brothers, in 1976 and 1977.

Kingston Crown Court heard that the incidents began when Maguire was posted to a hospital in Salford, Manchester in August 1976.

He befriended one of the hospital nurses who invited him to her home where he met her sons who later became regular altar boys.

Prosecutor Sarah Plesches told the court that the first incident happened when Maguire invited one of the boys to spend the night at his home.

Maguire's crimes went undetected for years until one of his victims reported the incidents to the police and Maguire was arrested. Judge Michael Hucker ordered that his name must stay on the sex offender register for 10 years.

THOSE WHO LOUDLY SHOUT "SHAME" AT ORANGEMEN PARADING BELFAST'S ORMEAU ROAD SHOULD MAYBE SHOUT "SHAME" AT THE PRIESTS OF ROME INSTEAD.

The Vatican was thrown into disarray when police raided the private apartments of Cardinal Giordano, the Archbishop of Naples, and warned him he was under investigation for "fraud, extortion and usury". Cardinal Giordano, 67, denied any wrongdoing and said that he had fought a lifelong battle against usury, or illegal money-lending. He insisted he would remain at his post "for as long as the Holy Father wishes me to".

Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the chief Vatican spokesman, said the Vatican had not been informed of the raid by the police, which was a violation of the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and the Italian state, under which police can enter church premises only "in cases of extreme necessity".

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, head of the Italian Bishops Conference, expressed confidence in Cardinal Giordano, saying he was "sure that every accusation against him will prove unfounded". But some Vatican officials said that it would be "better for the cardinal if he co-operated fully with the investigation". The cardinal is suspected of involvement in money-lending with his brother, Mario Lucio Giordano, a building contractor who has been under arrest, charged with organising an illegal money-lending ring charging rates of up to 400 per cent a year to people in the Naples area.

Police removed papers and computer disks relating to the diocesan accounts from the archbishop's apartments. The raid took place under the glare of television lights after the cardinal, protesting that he had "nothing to hide", had summoned the press.

Police said the investigation has been under way for more than six months and that some of the evidence against the cardinal came from the tape recording of telephone conversations between him and his brother. The cardinal admitted that he had given his brother a number of blank cheques, but said this was to "help him with his debts" when some of his building projects had failed. Cardinal Giordano also said that he had paid his brother's sons for building and decorating work.

However, according to the police, the archbishop opened an account four years ago at a branch of the Banco di Napoli used by his brother for illegal money-lending. Because Italian banks are reluctant to lend money, unauthorised money- lenders tend to fill the vacuum, despite severe penalties for "usury". The former manager of the branch, Filippo Lemma, has also been arrested for alleged complicity in the money- lending.

HA.RTFORD, Conn.-A campaign to have the Rev. Michael J. McGivney, the son of Irish immigrants and founder of the Knights of Columbus, proclaimed a saint has been officially set in motion by the Archdiocese of Hartford.

McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, the Roman Catholic fraternal organisation in New Haven in 1882, and if the process successfully results in the priest's canonisation, it would give the flagging morale of American priests a real boost, according to Hartford Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin.

"The untiring efforts (by McGivney) to provide for the spiritual and material welfare of his parishioners express the highest ideals of the priestly vocation," Cronin said at a December 10 ceremony officially kicking off the campaign.

Cronin's assessment was seconded by the Rev. Gabriel O'Donnell, a Dominican friar who is postulator, or leader, of the campaign to make McGivney a saint.

"Giving the sometimes negative view of the priesthood that one encounters today, Father McGivney would be a wonderful example of every parish priest," O'Donnell said.

Not counting missionaries martyred in North America during the colonial era, the church has proclaimed only four saints from the United States: three women who founded religious orders and a cleric, Bishop John Neumann of Philadelphia. A number of others have been proposed for sainthood.

Today, the Knights of Columbus counts nearly 1.6 million members In more than 11,000 councils throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the Philippines and several Latin American nations. It has $6.3 billion in assets from its insurance business and is a major source of philanthropy within the Catholic Church. The organisation reported contributing more than $106 million to charitable causes in 1996.

There are three steps to becoming a saint. The first is the Vatican's accepting that a candidate did indeed live a Christian life of heroic virtue and may be called "venerable".

Secondly, the pope beatifies the person, who is given the title "blessed" and declared to he worthy of imitation. This requires an uncontested miracle attributed to the candidate.

The third step, following the acceptance of a second miracle, is canonisation as a saint, a papal pronouncement, considered to be infallible, that the person lived a truly holy life. The person is placed on the church's universal calendar of saints - individuals who lived by the precepts of Jesus and now are with him in heaven.

RELIGIOUS ABUSE CHURCH HELPLINE BUSY

A Helpline set up by the Catholic Church for people sexually or physically abused by members of religious orders has taken more than 1,000 calls in its first year.

The Faoiseamh Helpline, sponsored by the Conference of Religious of Ireland, assisted 250 abuse victims during the year and arranged counselling for more than 80 of those who sought more direct help.

The helpline was set up by CORI to deal specifically with those who were abused by members of religious orders.

Faoiseamh co-ordinator Dorrie Mitchell said the level of calls tended to peak whenever a high profile abuse case was covered in the media

Extra telephone counsellors had to be arranged in the wake of the Fr. Brendan Smyth conviction last year, while other peaks followed the conviction of Kilkenny orphanage worker David Murray and the McColgan family's High Court action.

Ms. Mitchell said that while the faith of some of the callers had been damaged by the experience of being abused by clerics, many were anxious to restore their strong affiliation to the Church.

The Faoiseamh Helpline can be contacted from 11am to 5pm on Freephone 1800 331 234 from the Republic or at 0800 973 272 from the North and UK.

ROME'S ABUSIVE IRISH CLERGY

Since 1980, 23 clergy have been convicted in Ireland on sex abuse charges, 15 in the Republic and eight in the North. A further 15 cases are pending, two of which are in the North. Among the convicted are 12 diocesan priests, five religious order priests, two priests serving abroad whose offences were perpetrated in Ireland, and four religious brothers.

DUBLIN COURT TO HEAR NUN ABUSE CASES

More than 100 cases against an order of nuns are to be brought before the High Court in Dublin.

And they could lead to IR£3m compensation to orphans alleged to have suffered decades of severe abuse.

The cases are being taken against the Sisters of Mercy order following allegations of severe mental and physical abuse inflicted upon residents at the Goldenbridge Orphanage in Dublin.

"The cases range from straight-forward abuse to hospitalisation and serious psychological damage," orphanage survivor and campaigner Christine Buckley said.

Ms Buckley was responsible for highlighting the claims two years ago in an RTE documentary, and has long campaigned for justice and support for victims of the abuse.

Lay persons and nuns working at the orphanage over 30 years, until the 1970s, were accused of the abuse, which included repeated beatings, humiliating and degrading treatment, starvation and forced child labour.

The civil actions could cost the Catholic order up to IR£3m in compensation if the claims are substantiated and accepted by the High Court, where the cases are scheduled to be heard in the next few months.

The cases being brought before the Court are not about vindictiveness, but about "justice and fairness and Christianity" Bernadette Fahy of the Goldenbridge Support Group said.

Two years ago Gardai questioned the elderly nun at the centre of the allegations, Sister Mary Xavier, but no charges were brought.

A 5/30 World article praises good things about Habitat for Humanity but says:

"Habitat is the rate ecumenical effort that successfully unites conservatives and liberals ... Next month when the Jimmy Carter Work Project begins in Houston - more than 100 homes will be built - organisers expect Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Roman Catholics, and even Mormons to participate."

"We build houses to give hands-on demonstration of our belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ."

"The theology of the hammer binds us together in common ministry." (1/1/97 CC).

Rabbi Mordecai Waxman of Great Neck, N.Y., has become the first rabbi to be named a Knight Commander of St. Gregory by the Vatican.

Waxman, a long time leader in Jewish-Catholic dialogue, received the papal honour Tuesday (May 5) at a luncheon in Baltimore.

Waxman, 81, is chairman of the board of the National Council of Synagogues and is the spiritual leader of Great Neck's Temple Israel. He is a past chair of the Rabbinical Assembly, the umbrella group for Conservative rabbis.

The Order of St.Gregory the Great was established by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831 to honour citizens of the Papal States, then encompassing the west-central portion of the Italian peninsula around Rome. Today, the Order is conferred on persons who are distinguished by their personal character and achievements.

Although the first rabbi to receive the St. George award, Waxman is not the first Jew to be so honoured. At least four lay Jewish leaders have been named Knight Commanders of St. Gregory

The Vatican announced Wednesday (April 22) that there are now one billion Roman Catholics in the world.

The total includes an estimated five million Catholics in China and North Korea, where the figures are projections based on the number of Roman Catholics in those two nations prior to the installation of communist governments. The church has no official representatives in either nation.

The one billion figure - 995 million plus the estimated five million in China and North Korea - is for 1996, the last year surveyed. For 1995,the Vatican counted 989 million Catholics, plus those in China and North Korea.

Vatican City - House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his wife Marianne met Pope John Paul II for a private audience at the Vatican, May 30, during Gingrich's two-day visit to Italy.

Vatican City - Lebanese President Elias Hrawi met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, May 9, during a state visit to Italy.

Former Republican prisoner and unsuccessful Assembly Candidate for Sinn Fein, Martin Meehan, gave a reading at an open-air peace Mass in the Ardoyne district of Belfast. Mr Meehan is prominent in the Campaign for the Release of Terrorist Convicts.

So-called "Holy Water" (as it is called in Romanism) has been put to many uses through the years. One man poured it on his wife's head thinking it would convert her to Catholicism. The latest "miracle" of Holy Water was revealed by a Galway, Ireland, businessman, who won £200,000 (British currency) on a National Lottery. He claimed he ticked the "lucky numbers" after dipping his ballpoint pen in "Holy Water."

REPORTS HAVE IT THAT HUNDREDS OF PRIESTS AND CATHOLIC LAYMEN ARE TRYING TO DISCOVER THE CHURCH WHERE THE WATER WAS SO POWERFULLY BLESSED!