Letter to Media : The 'Troubled' Church

To the Editor,

Regarding an editorial in the Irish Independent, dated May 12th, entitled "A New Day of Shame for Troubled Church" your opening line was as follows: "FEW institutions have taken as severe a battering as the Catholic Church"

I would like to point out that the 'battering' the Church has taken is nothing compared to the harms, assaults, batterings, humiliations that so many children have suffered for such along time.

Let it be that that is NEVER forgotten or minimised in any way, wittingly or unwittingly.

The willingness, of The Church as an Institution, and of it's officials, even still, to mask and deny, to obstruct and suppress the truth says it clearly.

The recent audit of their Child Protection process which revealed that over 290 cases were obscured from view reiterates what I am saying.

If the ethics of Jesus were at all alive in The Church, (and elsewhere) there'd be whistle blowers aplenty, bringing forth evidence so that the accounting was well under way, and Survivors would find comfort and succour in that the necessary steps towards Restorative Justice were being taken.

Kindest Regards

Corneilius Crowley

This letter is in response to an editorial in The Irish Independent, dated May 12th, entitled "A new day of shame for troubled church"

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/editorial/a-new-day-of-shame-for-troubled-church-2644552.html

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Belgian Bishop claims abuse was 'a little game'

In an interview that aired Thursday last, Roger Vangheluwe, the former bishop of Bruges, spoke of his sexual abuse as "a little game," that involved fondling, but no "rough sex."

Huffington post and others reported on this.

These are my comments on the article, the dynamics of the sociopathic ex-Bishop and the current Belgian Bishop of  Tournai's comments to the press, and the dynmaics of Sociopathy in general.

Guaranteed, the former Bishop is lying. Attempting mitigation. He is also revelling in the attention. What it reveals is the sinister intent to manipulate, a sociopathic trait that makes people like him extremely dangerous. Indeed the world of celebrity politics is a world of sociopathy, charm, charisma, bluster, image.

However the comments made by the Bishop of Tournai reveal more of the Institutional Sociopathy of the Catholic Church.

Quote from the Huffington Post article : Guy Harpigny, the bishop of Tournai, said that, at a time when the church is reaching out to abuse victims, "along comes a former bishop who says it was only little games. This man is either sick, or it is a normal reaction from a pedophile." - 

This is another example of the sociopath at work. 

The Church is NOT reaching out to survivors and has in fact been engaged in a long term full scale offensive AGAINST survivors for many, many years, and has shown no signs of relenting. 

Pedohiles are not sick, they ARE nasty. Their actions are 100% Volitional. There is no reliable scientific evidence that supports they claim often made of the existance of some primary, uncontrollable urge.

Whilst it is important to understand the dynamics of abuse in that abuse is perpetuated through the generations by the denial of perpetrators, and by the lack of resolution of childhood trauma that is generalised throughout society, that dynamic is largely the result of the way in which Power is transmitted through Society, as Alice Miller and others such as David Smail, Carl Rogers, R D Laing and Noam Chomsky have pointed out, and it cannot ever be used in any way to mitigate the volitional reality of those actions that cause so much harm.

Thus the hint at 'sickness' is a deflection. An attempt to avoid responsibility. And as such, all attempts at avopiding responsibility for one's actions are immature, narccisstic and thus extremely dangerous.

It is how pedophiles react. It is how Tony Blair reacts to accusations that he is a murderer. It is how sociopaths react to being uncovered. I know this because, it is how I reacted, when as a parent I bullied my own children, slapped them, coerced them. And I had to face the full reality of my behaviour as being 100% volitional in order to deal with it. And deal with it I did.

Guy Harpigny's comments are designed to distance the Church from the comments made by Roger Vangheluwe, and to deflect attention from the Institutional Sociopathy which is well understood, well researched and absolutely at the core of this issue. Sociopaths will of course turn on each other of they cannot close ranks.

There are also degrees of Sociopathy.  The recent story of Irish Gardai joking about rape, and the actions of Dublin County Council Officials and others with regard to the avoidable and tragic death of Rachel Peavoy, and their behaviour and evidence given at the Coroners Inquest, are part of the generalised Sociopathy that Power Institutions and those who inhabit them rveal, time and time again. Likewise the refusal of the Irish DPP to prosecute a Priest who was accused by ten women in North Cork of serious sexual assault, which was only moved on after public pressure by a number of campaigners who made the matter public, and took it to the streets, in spite of legalistic threats by the DPP intended to deflect their efforts..

The willingness to avoid responsibility, to mitigate the adverse affects of their behaviours, to use manipulative mechanisms to deflect accountability ar all part of the Sociopathic mind-set.

This is something we all have to get to grips with.

And this report into Indigenous Residential/Boarding Schools systems looks how these systems were replicated all over the world, in many, many countries, for a long, long time.  The patterns of abuse of children show that there was awareness and a consistent policy of denil and cover-up, over such a long time, that suggest the abuse was intentional, was allowed as a process of destroying cultres by destroying their children. 

What is important to note is that these systems have not all been closed down, and where they have, we see a consistent pattern of increased Social Services 'interventions' targetting those populations that had previously been the targets of the Residential School Systems, with children being removed from their families and placed in care, into fostering or adoption programs, which turn out to be equally traumatic. This practice has been given a name. Psychopsema [psy•cho-pse-ma]


It's a clearly documented worldwide pattern : this is something we all have to get to grips with.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Forgotten Australians : A letter to Australian Senators

preamble: 

 

Survivors of Institutional Abuse are an international community.

Committed to seeing that full Justice is served, we co-operate and seek to inernationalise our efforts. We support each other across borders, oceans, moutain ranges, laguage barriers, creeds, skin colour and culture. We seek to ensure that no Survivor community is isolated. This is not an issue that pertains to any one country in isolation. 

The crimes and the perpetrators are international in scope, and so the response to their abuses  and to their cover-ups and with regard to all failings with in serving Justice, Reparation and support for recovery must likewise be International.

This is the just one of many such letters, seeking to remind those in positions of responsibility, that they are being observed, locally and internationally, that their responses to the testimony of witnesses and to the demands for Justice, demanded not only by Survviors, but also by their relatives and advocates, and by the Law itself to which all must submit, are being carefully scrutinised, documented, compared and evaluated for efficacy.

In the case of Crimes Against Humanity, the Nuremburg principles apply. Diplomatic Immunity does not exist where Crimes Against Humanity have been committed. All member States of the United Nations General Assembly, bar two - USA, Somalia, - have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child and are bound under Law by this convention. Breaches of it's principles are crimes. The Institutional Abuse of Children is a Crime Against Humanity, and whilst it is not yet defined thus at the United Nations, the UNCRC binds all to it's principles.

Many hundreds of millions of Parents are deeply concerned about these issues. This is a public process, and as such it is designed to inform the wider public, the media and all other interested parties. This process is designed to gather momentum and support for the full accounting and exposure of those Institutions culpable of such abuses to the full force of the law, to the fullest force of the publics concern. It is designed to publicly evaluate the response of Governance to the issues.

THE LETTER:

TO THE HONOURABLE THE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

I am writing to you because I am a concerned citizen of Ireland, and also a World Citizen, and a Survivor of Catholic Residential School Abuse.

I wish to draw to the attention of the all Australian Parliamentarians the following :

Having studied the matter in some detail, I understand that the Forgotten Australians Enquiry did not uphold all of its stated terns of reference. The result being, the enquiry did not get to the bottom of ALL problems and cases of child neglect, including but not limited to - clergy abuse, institutionalised neglect and agent abuse.

This is pattern that is well documented, and is sadly replicated in Ireland, Canada and many other States where Survivors have come forward to give heart rending testimony to the abuses they have suffered, often decades after the abuse occurred. This delay in coming forwards is well understood in therapeutic and clinical practice.

The shame, fear, confusion, dissociation and distress that affects Survivors make coming forwards extremely difficult, and with the generalised unwillingness of culpable Institutions, individuals and others concerned – insurance companies, faith groups, communities, Police Forces, News Media etc - to hear these testimonies, to face the full truth and meaning of these testimonies, those effects are compounded.

Accordingly victims of this abuse remain unable to access proper legal redress. Also certain departmental faults leading to abuse remain unattended. The eventual findings of the Forgotten Australians enquiry was not on all of the points of reference nor was it on all the topics based on the evidence provided

I therefore call on all Australian Parliamentarians, men and women of good heart, men and women of integrity, parents and others, that you proceed as follows:

Open an Independent and verifiable Enquiry which will allow all evidence of child neglect, institutional neglect or other agency neglect to be bought to an Enquiries attention.

If not an Enquiry, then I ask that you request that a government body with the authority to receive and investigate all evidence of child abuse and provide feedback to the Federal Government be so instructed.

I am requesting that the Australian Parliament to be made aware that many cases of child abuse/neglect have gone un-investigated because certain terms of reference of previous and existing Enquiries were not upheld.

I am requesting that all efforts be made to do this. I urge you to take a determined stand on this issue, so as to verify the public’s perception that Justice is for all, that Justice is at the heart of good Democratic Governance, that the prevention of re-traumatising of Survivors (due to any failure to fully investigate abuses) is ensured and that the prevention of further abuses is also ensured by all those whose responsibilities with regard to Governance and Justice is underwritten by taxes, by the electoral franchise and by our common trust, which is key to the conduct of any decent Society.

I look forwards to hearing from you in the very near future.

Yours sincerely... etc

Corneilius Crowley

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Launch of Survivors Voices, Europe @ Conway Hall 26th March.

I attended the launch event for Survivors Voices Europe @ Conway Hall, London on Saturday March 26th.

http://survivorsvoice-europe.org/

“Survivors Voice Europe is the European liaison of Survivors Voice USA, the non-profit organisation founded by clergy abuse survivors Bernie McDaid & GaryBergeron. 

Survivors Voice is an international community of men and women who were abused by Catholic clergy in their childhood, and despite suffering the worst betrayal of body and trust, have found that in connecting with each other and sharing their experience, strength and hope, they can soar above their abusers and find empowerment.”

I was there, got the T-Shirt, had my photo taken by Silvia Amodio  for her “Out of the shadows” project and I met the founders, Sue Cox, Ton Leerschool, Bernie McDaid & Gary Bergeron. I also met Dr Tommaso Dell’Era from Italy, a former member of Opus Dei and a survivor..... and who is a whistle blower, who has written a book on the Opus Dei. He was travelling with Ton and Sue, and is part of Survivors Voice Europe.

Also present was the one of the organisers of the Protest The Pope Rally of last September, Marco Tranchino.

There was about 35 people in attendance, whilst hundreds of thousands were distracted by a useless protest organised by the TUC who refuse to call a general strike.

I met other Survivors, and the integrity and empathy was clear.

Those who spoke, who are Survivors, made a lot of sense to me. Their experience and commitment, courage and warmth was clear from the moment I locked eyes with each.

Sue Cox opened the event, and introduced each of the speakers. She spoke of her experience since last September’s “Protest The Pope” rally. She has been working as a counsellor for many years, and it was only last year that she came out and spoke publicly of her own abuse experience. She was surprised with the attention she has received, gladdened of the support and appalled at the BBC and UK Governments support for the Pope. Sue spoke movingly of the effects of the abuse,  that for years delivered self hatred, fear, insecurity.

Sue then introduced Ton Leerschool, who is Dutch, and who has been working with Gary and Bernie and Sue over Skype for the past two years or so. Ton is a Survivor. He is the lead European co-ordinator for Survivors Voices. Unfortunately I cannot recall of his presentation, other than to  say that I was moved by his clarity and commitment.

Sue then introduced Bernie and Gary, and presented them with some commemorative glass 'awards'. Bernie spoke, and he was clear as a bell. He described his initial experiences of coming out and how he felt betrayed by the process he went through as he took the Church to court, and especially the aftermath, as he made efforts to speak to various Church and Vatican Officials.

He even journeyed to Rome, where with Sue and others, they tried to gain an audience with Vatican Officials. For days they attempted to get an audience, and each day as they would leave the Vatican buildings, the Swiss Guards would question them to see if they had met with anyone, because 'they had a bet going on it!'.

They held vigils in Rome with Survivors who are deaf and mute, who were abused by Priests in 'special schools'. They also participated in a day of witness in which these 'voiceless' people, with out sound, told their stories. Sue had also spoken of these events, and had noted that the sign language they used was graphic and clear, and profoundly shocking, and that she was deeply moved by their bravery. Many tears were shed during those days...

Bernie said it was really clear that these people - Church Officials - did not care one whit for the Survivors, for the children and that they were, and remain utterly arrogant and committed to retaining their Power and Status. Bernie noted that he did not understand WHY so few people are capable of understanding what the systemic abuse by clergy really means, and why so few are willing to confront the Church, over the abuse and the cover-ups.

Gary followed on from Bernie, and he spoke of his own experience in telling his story, to his family and to the world. He spoke of how he had, on the face of it, the 'perfect life' - good job, plenty cash, two marriages ... and than spoke of how he took a good look one day and realised that he had lived in 23 places in 22 years, that he had in fact been running away all his life. He spoke of the struggle to bring his abusers to justice, of how after he spoke out, many more Survivors came forwards.

He also found out that his 78 year old father had also been sexually abused by a priest as a child. He spoke of his desire to see that his children are saved from a similar fate. He spoke of how it came as a shock to him, to find that the man he had seen as a rock in his life had kept that terrible secret all those years, and noted that the keeping of such secrets is very much a part of what enables the abuse culture to continue.

He spoke about his commitment to the work of confronting the Church, and all Institutions and people that sexually abuse children, not for himself, but for all the children alive today and those who are yet to come to this life.

At this point we took a break.

After the break, Tomasso spoke of his experiences at the hands of Opus Die, who recruited him at age 14. He spoke of how this had been banned by the Vatican, yet Opus Die managed to 'get around' this ban, by duplicity. Tomasso described in some detail the psychological machinations employed by Opus Dei on the young people they recruit,  the pecking order of hierarchy, the 'love bombing at the beginning, the slow and steady grooming of their recruits in ever more intense levels of abuse and control and he showed examples of the tools they use for 'mortification of the flesh'. His book is in Italian, and has yet to be translated into English and other languages. He's a brave and compassionate man, and no fool. I really took to him. We recognised in each other the 'elite' training backgrounds we shared.

Next up was Peter Thatchell, and strangely his speech was to me dry, almost perfunctory. Perhaps it was the lack of people in the room .... I know as a performer that it is sometimes the case that we become used to the energy of a crowd, so much so that when that energy is not present, we are diminished. That was not he case for any of the previous speakers. Peter Thatchell is well respected for his Human Rights work, and has been on that road for over 30 years.... His words lacked the vitality of those who speak of their own experience, and were to be disappointing. He apologised for not staying for he had to leave directly after his presentation to attend the TUC protest and speak there.... 

I almost approached him to ask that he mention this gathering at the larger, but held myself in check, as the next speaker was starting his presentation.

Keith Porteus Wood is the National Secular Society's Executive Director, and he spoke of his organisations commitment to supporting Survivors, and Survivors Voices in particular. He spoke of his own long standing actions in Europe, to request that the EU Parliament deal with the fact that the Vatican is in breach of the Convention on the Rights of The Child, on six different points, an international treaty, ratified by all member states of the United Nations General Assembly, bar USA and Somalia....

He mentioned that this is important, because these breaches are criminal offences, and for which the Pope as fiduciary head of The Vatican, The Holy See and The Catholic Church is personally liable. The same principles that applied at Nuremburg apply to the Vatican and all it’s officials with regard to Crimes against Humanity.

The last person to speak was a Solicitor who specialises in Child Abuse cases, David Greenwood. I found his presentation a little dry, and he appeared to be ill-informed about the efficacy and intent of the Redress process in Ireland, for he called for similar efforts, as part of a wider judicial effort, which elicited comments from myself and from others in attendance who had actual experience of that process, which interrupted his presentation and threw him somewhat.

We who had commented spoke to him afterwards, to help him get clear about this illusion of the ‘response; by Church and State. If he works with us, he will learn. We will see.

There was no time for any Q&A session, as the event had started late – traffic in London was dreadful that day and people were still attempting to get to the event. And as the hall had to be cleared really quickly to prepare for the next use of the hall, there was precious little time to socialise.

I spoke briefly with Sue, Gary and Bernie outside as they were loading up their car to leave, in the cold bitter wind. The connection has been made, and the work will progress. In spite of the low attendance, I am glad the seed has been planted, that I attended and that I have met these fine people.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Letter to Media concerning Patronage of Irish Schools :

http://www.independent.ie/education/latest-news/church-shocked-by-quinn-plan-for-schools-2598203.html

To the Editor

In a recent article published in the Irish Independent "Church 'shocked' by Quinn plan for schools"  about the Irish Minister For Educations setting up of a forum to examine the sponsoring and patronage of Schools in Ireland, Dr John Murray, director of pro-family organisation The Iona Institute, was quoted as follows: "While we welcome the setting up of this forum, we call on the minister to respect the autonomy of whatever number of Catholic and other denominational schools remain after this process is completed.

"This means guaranteeing the admissions policy of those schools, their employment policy, and also that they can teach whatever is compatible with their beliefs."

As a Survvior, as a parent and as a long-time advocate of the Rights of Children, I find it utterly repugnant that Religious Belief is in any way imposed upon children.

The recent deposition by German Lawyers to the International Criminal Court charging Pope Benedict with Crimes Against Humanity cited Baptism of Defenceless Children and the consequent imposition of the Doctrine of Original Sin as one of the three actions they determined as  Crimes Against Humanity.

They consider these actions as a psychological imposition upon the child. Others have called it the colonisation of the childs mind.

It is time that The Catholic Religion accepted that entrance into their Faith must be a conscious choice, not an imposition by parents or the Church. Children are not the possessions of their Parents, to do with as they will. Their souls are not the posessions of the Church, as held in days of old, when Papal Bulls mandated the actions of Colonial Power.

If the Catholic Religious are confident of their Faith, then their example, in their behaviour towards people and Society, ought to be enough to guarantee continued support and participation.

Sad to say their example thus far fails in all respects to honour the rights of the child, the rights of Survivors and the meaning and intent of the Sermon on The Mount.

Yours sincerely

Corneilius Crowley

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

On recent developments re: The Irish Residential Schools Abuse story

On recent developments re: The Irish Residential Schools Abuse story, Statuary Funds, Cover-ups and a few words to the incoming Irish Government

To whom it may concern.

There are many problems that we as Survivors face, problems are individual and collective.

This means that there are individual solutions and collective solutions. It's not an either/or situation.

These problems are the after effects of the abuse we suffered, which are physical and psychological trauma.

The effects of not having been able to tell others, be they family, friends or support services about our experiences. Loneliness, isolation, fear.

The effects of denial or mitigation or dismissive-ness of our community when we do speak out. Anger, fear, isolation, paranoia.

The effects of holding our wounded-ness for so long, that we develop secondary psychological problems.

The effects of being unable to hold long term relationships, jobs and careers.

The effects of not being able to trust others.

The effects of knowing that the abuse was and is being covered up, the story and history being 'managed' to protect both Church and State and other bodies who held and hold responsibility.

The effects of knowing that abuse is still common, that others are being abused, even to this day, and that the roots of the abuse are not being addressed, and in spite of evidence and plenty of very good scientific understanding (out of which healthful practices have emerged to prevent further abuse) the media and State and Church still avoid promoting these learning’s.

None of these will be resolved by money alone.

They will be resolved by providing adequate support for:

Telling the truth : open forums to tell our stories, open forums to examine who abused, who cover-ed up and why they covered up; criminal prosecutions for all abusers, and detailed inquiries into the actions of all those who covered up, for whatever reason, so that the dynamics of cover-up are understood, so that 'good' people who cover-up understand the impacts of their actions and understand that they must not cover-up.

Providing for our health : by providing best possible health care, best possible community interaction and understanding of the issues and dynamics of abuse.

Providing for our sustenance : Pensions separate from all other benefits are a useful idea.

Prevention: This is REALLY important. Apart from child protection legislation with real teeth, there needs to be a wider understanding of the dynamics of abuse, within families, and within all situations where adults have responsibility and power over children. Schools, care systems, sports training, etc etc.....

There also needs to be a wider understanding of the dynamics of intergenerational trauma patterning, which is how adverse behaviour patterns are passed from generation to generation in spite of peoples best efforts as they 'cope' with the effects (above) of abuse without proper support or understanding.

For all of this there needs to be State Funding of appropriate organisations (led by Survivors, informed by Survivors) PLUS awards to individual Survivors, not as compensation or reparation, but as offers of genuine support, to nurture Survivors for what remains of our lives.

These are my thoughts on this at this time.

Finally let me say this : we have seen how two prominent Survivors, from different perspectives, have in the very recent past, engaged in public disputes that have revealed unresolved behaviour patterns : That one of these Survivors should label and judge other Survivors in adverse ways (from a position of being one who offers 'care' ) speaks of the profound misunderstandings that still dominate the discourse, speaks of the ways in which wounded people can re-wound others, and can be manipulated or 'triggered' by those who perceicve that they have the 'most to lose' in all of this - The State and The Church.

That ANYONE sees it thus - that they have something to lose - speaks volumes of the psychology of the inadequate responses to the abuse story.

There is still so much to do in all of this.

Kindest regards

Corneilius Crowley

London

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

On, Survivors, Helpers and Missionaries…..

There are so many causes and so many people in need, and so many people who wish to help.

And yet progress is incredibly slow. 

More than 100 years after the first public awareness campaign of the criminal and brutal abuse (a word that does not do justice to the realities – it’s more akin to torture) of children in Institutional settings, we are still struggling to come to terms with practices that are ancient and deeply embedded in the Dominant Culture. 

Oliver Twist was the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse. Shock and horror followed, yet fundamental change did not. 

The highly organised Aboriginal Residential School Systems that were instituted in Law by the British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand,  African, Asian,  North and South American Governments and the Churches all started at this time.

Residential Schools, where the children of colonised cultures children were forced into Institutions to be ‘trained’ or ‘assimilated’ are at least 500 years old. There are threads of these kinds of mechanisms dating back to the Roman Empire.

Children today are still forcibly removed from their families and placed in Institutional ‘care’, often on the most spurious of grounds, and are still suffering from the adverse affects of ‘helpers’, some of whom are genuine, some of whom are predators. The damage from such 'mistakes' may never be repaired.

And still the stories, that is to say the evidence of living Survivors, and the historical record, is routinely ignored, dismissed, denied, suppressed. 

Survivors are targeted, intimidated, manipulated, hospitalised in psychiatric wards and marginalised. Not least by those who are responsible for those systems of ‘care’ that have harmed so many children. Or their supporters.

There can be no statute of limitations when a child’s life is destroyed thus, for the sentence of pain, confusion, shame, fear last the entirety of the life of the adult that child becomes, and is often passed on as a silent legacy through their chidlren and their families in what is known as intergenerational trauma pattering. "The sins of the fathers.........." means more than most understand, and those who do understand what this means take opposing views; one side sees it as an essential tool of power, the other as an essential understanding to break the cycles of abuse and neglect.

All too often those who seek to help the Survivors are themselves embedded in the ideologies and beliefs of the system and unwilling to confront the realities of that system in a meaningful way. They are funded and given legitimacy by those Institutions most culpable for the abuses Survivors survived. They have internalised the system to such a degree that to confront the system means confronting their own sense of identity. And time and again, when Survivors bring this up, the Survivors are called 'trouble makers' or worse....

All too often helpers get in the way of the Survivors, and are co-opted by the Societal power flows so as to protect those Powers.

All too often, helpers become frustrated with those they seek to help – because they do not understand that the affects of abuse and neglect are life long, that they recur again and again, and all too often the helpers claim that those they seek to help are ‘their own worst enemies’.

Catholics who want to help Survivors yet refuse to confront the realities of Catholic Institutional Power are caught in a vice, trapped in a conflict of interest, and in most cases the Survivors, the children are the losers, and the loss is immense : one’s natural expectation of a life that is loving and loved, healthy and nurturing. 

Psychologists and Social Workers who limit their purview such that Society and the Establishment (Power) are not identified as the drivers of distress that they are; who sustain the myth that it is all in the mind of the person in distress and if only that person can properly ‘manage’ their mind, then all will be well and the person can re-integrate into a toxic Society, get a job and ‘have a life’ – and on whose terms?

Psychiatrists, who claim that distress and adverse behaviour is genetic, and news media that repeat this inaccurate and damaging 'theory' when it is obvious and known scientifically that this is not the case at all, and who prescribe pharmaceuticals as the means to a management system, managing the symptoms of distress that will not abate precisely because the locus of distress is ignored.

People of  Faith, who subscribe to the presence of supernatural demons causing adverse behaviour in human beings, who deem that if only those demons can be exorcised the health will return, and who therefore diminish the human agency at the heart of all abuse.

Conspiracy Theorists who claim that Reptiles, Aliens and other entities are controlling the human race in adverse ways, and in so doing absolve real human beings of real and material responsibilities, and worse stimulate unreasonable fear in many, many people.

Technocrats who posit technological solutions to the problems of Civilisation which do not include the leaving of lands as yet ‘unexploited’ to the peoples (and animals ) that dwell therein, whose cultures are now understood to be both sustainable, healthy in physiological and psychological terms, whose societies are as diverse as the habitats they have emerged from, and the return of those lands already taken, for remediation according to the wisdom of experience of those ancient, ancient cultures.

In all these cases, the helpers ‘sense of identity’ replaces their ‘sense of self’. The external is governing the internal. And thus they are unable to respond accurately, appropriately to the realities of Survivors, Aboriginal Peoples, the Environment.

Too many operate under the false assumptions of the Society they were born into, and conditioned by; too many say “If only they could be more like me, us, if only they could find a way to ‘fit in’!”

The helpers and Missionaries are NOT always helping as much as they would like to believe. 

The well-meaning MUST face the realities. They must face their own culture and confront it at every turn.

Thus they will leave the space open for those who suffer to help themselves.

Nature is a self healing process. Self healing demands that those who wish to help get out of the way. Giver space to that which needs to grow.

Both Ivan Illych and Paolo Friere have written profoundly, and with great clarity, empathy and honesty on the issue of helpers and missionaries, and their works do a far better job on this issue than I do here... 

Alice Miller too has written extensively, and with clarity on this crucial matter, of the helper, the 'enlightened witness'.

"Q.: What kind of therapist, do you feel, is adequately trained to deal with the adult who has been damaged as an early child?

 
AM:. In my opinion, only therapists who know well of the painful stories of their own childhoods can respectfully and effectively deal with the suffering of their patients. They will not preach them forgetting and forgiveness out of their own fear; they will know that ALL of their patients suffer from the effects of the denial of having been beaten, humiliated or even tortured."

 So too David Smail....

"Having spent my working lifetime in the British National Health Service, I have found that only a minority of patients enter my office feeling themselves subjectively the moral equal of their peers. In addition to the distress that brings them there, most people are apprehensively expecting to be judged. 

This, when you think about it, is an unusual state of affairs for someone consulting a professional adviser. For example, even though you expect a lawyer to be wiser than you in the ways of the law, you do not anticipate when consulting one that you will be treated as a morally inferior being, and any lawyer who treats clients as such is unlikely in the long run to prosper."

And yet, the evidence is that helpers do assume this superiority, time and time again. 

With disastrous results for those they purport to help.

I will be writing more on this. I will be presenting evidence and so will others around the world.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Irish Bishops : Symbolism or Action?

This is a letter I sent out today to Irish and UK Media.

To the Editor,

Regarding the THE CATHOLIC Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston Seán O’Malley, who washed the feet of a carefully selected group Survivors of clerical child sex abuse in “an act of humble service” at Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral, this Sunday February 20th.

This is nothing less than a Roman Catholic Version of 'green-washing'; only direct action by the Church to hand over to the Public Prosecutor all abuser priests, all files relating to allegations made by Survivors, all files related to the Churches private canonical 'investigations' (redacted as required to protect the interests of Survivors, subject to their approval), all files related to various private agreements between the Church Officials and State, Health and Welfare Officials, and Police Officials, and to offer up their wealth and resources to help Survivors, and finally and importantly to let Survivors speak out, as freely as required, that and nothing else.

Action is required, not symbolism. Once the action has been complete, let the symbols of that action be created to inspire a future where the rights of the child, as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on The Rights of The Child, are, in material terms, at the very heart of our Society.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Here's a  video of The Silent Protest by Survivors outside the Catherdral in Dublin, after the Mass...

The Letter was published in the Irish Independent on 27th February 2011... 

Kevin Annet, UK speaking tour and The ITCCS

My dear friends, Happy Spring!

May the joys of the season of budding-ness flow freely for you.

This is a time of renewal.

Here's an event I feel happy to support. There will be more like this, I think.

This month February 2011, Kevin Annett, arrives in Europe to speak about his work, and to advocate for those whose voices have need of hearing.

He will be touring, with readings from his new book, screenings, meetings, lectures, radio shows and more, in Britain and in Europe for the next month.

_______________________________

 Weds 23th Feb 7.00 pm

http://www.housmans.com/events.php

'Canada's Genocide: One Man's Journey to Uncover the Truth’

with Rev. Kevin Annett

Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, King’s Cross,

London, N1 9DX

_______________________________

Sat 26th Feb 11.30am - 1.00pm

http://www.bpec.org/

 Brighton Peace & Environment Centre - book signing and demo

 39-41 Surrey Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3PB

_______________________________ 

Sat 26th Feb 2.00-4.00pm

 Earth and Stars (pub) - lecture

26 Windsor Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1RJ

_______________________________

Fri 11th March 7.30pm

 Quaker Meeting House

21 King Street, Hereford HR49BX

_______________________________

Sat 12th March 2.30pm to 6.00pm

 Crown Hotel

 43 Lime Street, Liverpool, L1 1JQ

_______________________________

Wednes 16th March 5.30 - 8.30pm

 Bosworth Independent College

 Queen's Building

Barrack Road

Northampton

NN2 6AF

_______________________________

Fri March 18th 7.00pm-10.00pm

 SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), UCL

 Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Kevin learned about the Canadian Indian Residential School System whilst he was a start-up Pastor for a small community near Vancouver, Port Alberni.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system

He learned it from the Survivors themselves, and followed that up with a detailed review of all historical documents on the matter, and found that yes, indeed, their harrowing stories were more than common: ubiquitous.

He started to speak out about the matter, in the spirit of true remorse at what his own culture had done to another, in the spirit of empathy and compassion and found there was little support from his Church. The United Church of Canada... or from The Canadian State.

The Church, as an Institution, was deeply implicated in the materialisation of that hidden history, and the hiding of the history itself today. As was the State. This whole system of residential 'care' for the purposes of 'assimilation' of the Indian' was all legislated for, by statute, and funded by State and day to day operations were handed to Orders of Priests, Clergy and Laity,

He turned his research into a book, which he self published. It was removed from Canadian Libraries, and Colleges and is now available on-line.

This following is a document that is partly foundational, in that it lays out the philosophy, the key thinking, the cold rationalisations, the preposterous assumptions, the abject justifications for these systems of 'assimilation'. This Document originated in the USA, though it forms part of a body of work that was a world-wide process.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4929/ 

"Beginning in 1887, the Federal US government attempted to “Americanize” Native Americans, largely through the education of Native youth. By 1900 tens of thousands of Native Americans were studying at almost 150 boarding schools around the United States."  They were sent there under duress.

Kevin continued to work as a Pastor, and to share what he knew, to build awareness, to remove the veil, expose the lies. He met and continues to meet resistance, and sometimes extreme hostility, not least from the United Church of Canada.

For being truthful and honest.

He made a documentary about the Canadian Indian Residential School System, the reveal and expose, the stories of survivors, the documented proof of those stories.....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6637396204037343133# - UNREPENTANT

"documentary reveals Canada's darkest secret - the deliberate extermination of indigenous (Native American) peoples and the theft of their land under the guise of religion.

This never before told history as seen through the eyes of this former minister (Kevin Annett) who blew the whistle on his own church, after he learned of thousands of murders in its Indian Residential Schools..."

***Best International documentary - 2006 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival

***Winner: Best Director for and International Documentary - 2006 New York International Film Festival.

Kevin's work is part of a worldwide net-work of Survivors and their Advocates, who are a diverse population, spanning Nation States, creeds, cultures, all with a common story, and a common wisdom, the wisdom of experience, which by being heard, informs and heals.

It matters not which Institutions or which people are those who act in such a clearly mediated and abusive manner, what matters is that where ever it has occurred, it must be addressed, and where it is still occurring, it must end - and it cannot be said to have ended until full restorative justice, with all that that naturally entails, is actively and materially seen to be done.

http://www.restorativejustice.org/

I hope you have time to explore this matter, as a friend to all people .....

May the spring be auspicious, and may a new flowering of honesty and empathy prevail amidst the noise.

Kindest Regards

Corneilius

do what you love, it's your gift to universe

In June, 2010, the The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) was established. Drawing on the work of advocates and Survivors from Canada, the USA, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Australia it will start the process of addressing these matters as a world-wide unified campaign.

The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State - http://itccs.org/about/

It's 5 basic principles are:

1. Full reparations for survivors,

2. Full disclosure of the crimes,

3. Repatriation of the dead,

4. Criminal prosecution of those responsible,

5. Preventative measures to ensure that the crimes against children end.

----------------------------

And it's coming to London, this September, 2011.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Regarding the news media reports on Monday the 14th of February 2011 about the Church's potential collapse in Ireland.

To the editor,

Regarding the news media reports on Monday the 14th of February 2011 about the Church's potential collapse in Ireland.

If the Church had put up it's hands, had opened up and allowed those abuser priests to be brought to justice, and had offered to make Restorative Justice a material reality for all Survivors, the Church would have become a 21st Century Hero Institute.

Instead the Church denied, covered up, blamed others, engaged in crisis management and intimidated those who pursued legal course of justice, Survivors and their advocates alike, employing techniques they KNEW would re-traumatise Survivors just to knock them down, or throw them off balance.

This is a criminal act in and of it self, pouring more salt on the already unspeakable wounds inflicted on Survivors.

For this is deserves to be utterly dis-established, its wealth taken in it's entirety to provide material support for all Survivors. Not as an act of revenge, but as an act of Restorative Justice. No survivor that I know of wishes harm to anyone.

Those State Governments and Institutions that have co-operated with the Church, or denied their own involvement must also shoulder their portion of the responsibility.

Those of Faith can continue to practice their Faith at the grass roots whilst assisting in the processes that will bring true Restorative Justice if they wish for their Faithfulness to be taken seriously.

If they don't, are they in danger of denying the teachings of Jesus?

What would Jesus do?

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Ireland, the World : Litany of Abuse, Litany of Shame : more to come

Ireland, the World : Litany of Abuse, Litany of Shame  

Here are links to on-line copies of the reports thus far from investigations of Institutional Abuse in Residential Schools, clergy abuse in parish's in Ireland.

• Communique At Beginning Of Apostolic Visitation To Ireland
• Vatican Response (12/12/2009)
• Dublin Report - Part 1 (Beginning)
• Dublin Report - Part 1
• Dublin Report - Part 2
• Dublin Report - Appendices
• The Ryan Report (In Totality)
• The Ryan Report - Executive Summary
• Ferns Report (in Totality)
• Ferns Report - Executive Summary
• The Murphy Report Part 1
• The Murphy Report Part 2
• The Murphy Report Chapter 19 Father 'Jovito'

There are  26 dioceses in Ireland, and reports for three have been completed, with two having been released to the public domain. A third has been completed, but has yet to be released. 

   

This is the tip of the iceberg, not just in Irish terms, but also in worldwide terms.. these patterns of abuses have occurred in Canada, United States of America, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Australia where there are ongoing investigations, and in many, many other countries, in particular those lands colonised by the European powers during the last 400 years.

Strategy

These abuses also include the world-wide 'assimilation' processes of the 19th and 20th Centuries in Colonised lands, aimed at undermining the traditional cultures of the colonised, whereby Native Aboriginal children were taken by force under the juridstiction of Law and placed in Residential Schools, to be educated in the ways of the Colonist.  
 
There is clear evidence, well documented, of legislated processes whereby Aboriginal Children were taken from their families and forced into residential schools, evidence from the USA, Canada, Australia and many, many other places... 

What those children, so many, went through!

Here's a propaganda film from the 1950s in Canda concerning these Residential Schools 


Here's one of the foundational documents outlining the philosophy behind these programs.

What I am describing here amounts to a world wide, and long-term, intergenerational pattern of systemic Institutionalised abuse, with clear political and economic aims, and, subsequently as the facts have been revealed, a world wide pattern of cover-up - an a cover-up that is tactical, mediated, strategic; that reveals a clear intent, and worse a clear understanding of the vulnerabilities of Survivors, vulnerabilities which are exploited to protect the Institutions and individuals involved in abuse, neglect or denial.   

What trauma did those children suffer? What of their families and communities? Why? What of  the Poor, those people who have little, whom nobody wants to be,and  yet so many are, so many?

Tactics

This exploitation of Survivors known vulnerabilities can often re-traumatise, and that in and of itself is a criminal act, in that the exploitation is intentional, mediated, known, understood in terms of it's potential effects. 

There are many cases where questioning by defendants adversarial legal teams and investigators is directed not at the issue, but at the person, in what are attempts to trigger the claimant.  

One example that occurs all too frequently is that survivors of pedophile priests are asked, during cross examination, whether or not the priest in question was circumcised! 

In most cases, this is difficult to determine in an erect penis, especially if the survivor is young, and considering that usually such an assault involves huge amounts of stress..... (a common response in situations like this is for the victim to shut of awareness, to look away, anything to not have to face the full impact of the situation.)

This of course is understood by the defendant legal team, and thus the questioning of this sort is a tactic to try to 'punch holes' in the witness testimony. Any hesitation on the wintesses part could then be used to undermine the reliability of the witness, in the court.

At the very least this is cruelty. It re-traumatises the Surivor. As this video shows clearly. 

It is certainly an utterly repugnant practice, though common in criminal and civil actions in courts all over the world. It is called 'destroying the witness'. 

This pattern of exploitation of claimants vulnerabilities is similar in nature to the approach and methods of errant Corporations and Banks. They use their resources to tie people up in courts, in order to drive the claimants towards 'out of court' settlements which usually demand secrecy or silence on the matter therefater, which block further civillitigation, and criminal prosecution and which the defendant can use to to deny the original charges.

There are examples of this kind of exploitative behaviour from Social Services as well. 

Alternatives

And it doesn't have to be this way. Empathy is not an airy-fairy hippy dippy concept. It certianly can and should be integrated into any process of restorative justice, and can be taught to those involved the the administration of restorative justice (which is the prime responsibility of The State, and should be the primary concern of The Vatican). And it certainly ought to be the bed-rock of ALL social services training. And school-teaching for that matter. Certainly the Police could also benefit from it.

There is NO excuse for the apparant lack of empathy on the part of State or Vatican in this matter. They certainly cannot claim that they are unaware of these dynamics as the professionals and researchers who have helped develope the understandings concerning empathy and restorative justice have communicated, in very clear terms, with the Vatican and most, if not all Justice and Health System Ministeries around the Earth.

Something inspiring to listen to :

Here's a revelatory radio show, from Why Radio at Radio Times : "As the worldwide call for accountability grows louder, we talk about what state and federal governments can do to protect children against sexual abuse by clergy. Our guests are law professor Marci Hamilton and Sister Maureen  Paul Turlish, an educator and victims advocate".

The discussion is amazingly clear, compassionate and honest. Utterly unflinching. Highly reccomended.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe