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

Full Moon and Lunacy.

Someone made a comment on the beauty and largesse of last nights full moon. And the apparant increase in 'loony' behaviours......

I think the Power psychology of the Society we live in has a LOT more to do with the emergence of 'madness'  - or psychological dsuress - than any other single factor.

And, as we know, the Society and it's Institutions likes to distract us from that realisation as much as possible.

Hows' this for 'madness' :

I find the way the media are talking about the dieing, the shredding of lives, is really, really grim. It's prices of bombs, numbers of planes, maps, graphics and plans, it's fbreathless ootball reporting, ainterviews with 'players', managers and fansd; a make believe make over of ugliness and studpity that is all the more apalling by virture of the fact that it is 'showbusiness'.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

Empathy is absolutely knowledge based.

I spotted some comments on Facebook,  about a Picture, from the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, of a billowing fire and smoke cloud and firefighter’s  water spouts that were taken as tusks, red eyes, in the flames etc etc that ‘looks like’ an ‘angry’  Elephant.

There had been a few previous comments all of the same tone as the ones in bold type, so I chimed in…. and was deleted from that persons list….  within 30 seconds of making the last comment, which is fine…

>That one is even frightful! There are so many problems with purity in Japan... It is a cleansing

> Yes Mother Earth is certainly doing all this...Shri Mataji did say that all the natural disasters would stop when people turned to a spiritual life and came into ballance...

look! to us they appear as natural disaster to the Earth they are part and parcel of living processes... to tie them into Spiritual beliefs (invented spiritual beliefs) and judgement is simply rude...

The Cui Bono Logic test for BELIEF ( things that one reads about yet cannot test or prove) - ASK "who benefits if I believe this?" and "Who benefits if I reject this?" and "Who benefits if I keep an open mind on this?" then assess all the possible benefits.

> I feel sorry for them, even if they are blind, they must be so scared... it really is time now for the people of the world to sit up and take notice of the truth, and stop the accelerated head on collision with our own destruction... I was told today that in Japan they are very materialistic and into the acquisition of material things, blinded to spiritual life, I wonder where in the world will be hit next? in the run up to 2012

that's about the ugliest thing I have ever read - that the 'materilaism' of the Japanese people brought this upon themselves.... it's akin to saying that I chose to be beaten, sexually assaulted and psychologically tortured in my childhood to learn a lesson, or that Rapists are in fact Teachers and Women need to learn the lessons.

Your sympathy is devoid of empathy and betrays a Hubris...

----------------------  the other person deleted me within 30 seconds!  ------------

What I find, time and time again, is that believers of all kinds can demonstrate a callousness that is quite possibly one of the 9 wonders of the World.....

We KNOW that earthquakes come in cycles.

To ascribe the Earthquake to a Judgemental God (on whose side one is) and to emote 'sympathy' for those 'poor people' who have drawn it upon themselves due to their 'materialism' is actually very ugly.

This is the same kind of thinking or psychology that can hit a child and tell the child that "This is for your own good" and rationalise or justify all kinds of violence, in a good cause.

I also realise that I 'triggered' the person who deleted me, and pretty much shoved that persons attitude into his or her face, big time...

I could have been more subtle, and tried to slowly get him or her to think about it .... but some days I am just not in the mood.

However it serves my own purpose to illustrate the dangers of belief.

The Rapture.

The dangers of believers.

Lethal Homophobia.

The link between belief and lack of empathy.

"She was aksing for it!"

The link between knowledge and empathy.

"I know how you feel!"

Empathy is absolutely knowledge based.

"I know how you feel!"

And the biology proves it is so :

http://www.parentingscience.com/empathy-and-the-brain.html

And of course the honest person who wishes to be helpful would say "I don;' know how you must feel, but can you talk about it?"

And underneath all of this is Power Relationships - the believer wants to retain Power over the situation, over the other person, rather than face their own powerlessness.

That is, simply put, selfish!

That's what makes this so, so ugly to me.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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