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




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On Anger, Reform and Diarmuid Martin in Ireland

Here's an article by John Allen, a reporter for the National Catholic Reporter, who met with Survivors outside the recent  Conference in Ireland, a the Jesuit Milltown Institute titled “Broken Faith: Revisioning the Church in Ireland. He listened attentively to what the survivors had to say, and was well informed, and cogniscant of much of the story. You can view that meeting here .

I read the article and the very first sentence drew the following response from me........

"Although the sexual abuse crisis has been devastating for the Catholic church everywhere it’s erupted, the meltdown in Ireland is fairly unique in scope and scale"

1. 'devastating for the church' : hmmmm compare that to the effects of the brutality and sexual abuse perpetrated upon those who Survived, and worse, on thos who did not Survive, whose pain was such that they committed suicide. And remember, that the Living Survivors are but the tip of the iceberg. There are many, many generations of dead who never spoke of their suffering, primarily because there was no one to hear it, no means to tell it such that it might have been understood or even believed.

2. 'erupted' : that's a violent word. It implies that the giving witness to what occurred was and is a violent act. That telling the truth is a violent act. What would Jesus say of this?

3. 'meltdown' again implies a catastrophe. How can the truth be considered a catastrophe, unless one wishes that the truth be suppressed?

4. "Ireland is fairly unique in scope and scale" : hmmm again, there are number of studies* of the world wide Residential Boarding School systems operated by the Church, set up by State Legislation, that show that the experience in Ireland is unique only in the most insignificant of ways. For example, there are or were no Aboriginal Residential Schools in Ireland. Just Industrial Schools for the poorest people.

It is also true that the sexual abuse of children occurred outside such Institutions, in Churches, Sacristies, Vicarages, Parish Halls, and even in the childrens own homes, and that this abuse was pretty widespread. In every country in the world where the Catholic (and other Religious denominations, to be fair) Church held some Power.

Thus even in the first sentence, the psychology of mitigation reveals itself.

Let me be clear here. This issue is a Societal issue. It is to do with the existence of Hierarchical Power, and the language and culture of violence that Hierarchical Power has always been associated with. While I will not mitigate in any way the responsibility of individuals or Institutions, I will not accept any analysis that stops short of the fullest acknowledgement of the truth of the matter.

The Dominant Cultures that comprise Industrial Civilisation are founded upon the Power to abuse and with that the ability and intent to mask that abuse, rationalise it or suppress awareness of it; be it by propaganda, indoctrination, by intimidation or by violence.

If Christianity - irrespective of what denomination, irrespective of it being evangelical, charismatic, ecclesiatic, had any moral or empathic compass,it would understand that Jesus was born into that same culture and spoke out, directly and with clarity, against that culture.

And the base of that culture's grip is this: the ability to abuse children, be it by gross and extreme acts which survivors are giving witness to or by the more subtle processes of indoctrination, propaganda and grooming which far too many people take as 'normal'.

The vast majority of pre-literate, 'uncivilised', aboriginal societies, which ranged in group size from small family groups to very large settlements, were and are empathic egalitarian societies, where the childs safety, well being and nurturance is paramount. They knew and know that the psychology of the future society is nurtured by how the society relates to and treats it's children, that empathy is the key to all healthy human relationships, and also key to a healthy relationship to the habitat, that empathy is key in an environment that has many variables, as do all natural environments, because empathy is responsive, rather than reactive.

The reactive nature of the Church Hierarchy speaks volumes. The fear that those who are of good heart who live within that Hierarchy must be very great indeed if thay feel they cannot speak out honestly and with passion against the crimes that have been committed within that Institution.

Diramuid Martin has a long, long way to go to meet the demands of empathic honesty. And the Institutions of the Christian Churches, and those of State Governance, even further.

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

*Here's a report prepared for the UN back in 1997 which is a brief comparative study of Indigenous Residential Schools operated by the Churches, legislated into being by State Governments, across the world.

Every continent apart from Antartica and the Artic has examples of this system, and in many places in Africa, South America and Asia, the systems and schools are still operating.

'Scope and scale indeed!

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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




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Martin: Church inquiry team to report to Pope by Easter

http://www.irishexaminer.ie/breakingnews/ireland/martin-church-inquiry-team-to-report-to-pope-by-easter-501326.html

My letter in response :

A chara,

"Diarmuid Martin said the apostolic visitation appointed to help the catholic church in the wake of the clerical sex abuse crisis, has completed its work."

Again, the focus is on helping the Church, not the Survivors.... Helping the Church to do what?

'Manage the crisis'. As any Survivor will tell anyone who cares to listen, or whose heart is strong enough to feel or sense what it is like to be a Survivor of childhood sexual abuse or brutality perpetrated by Clergy in Institutions of 'care', the focus on managment of 'the crisis' wounds, and re-wounds all Survivors, because it is fundamentally dishonest and not about the Christian values of compassion, healing and nurturance, but about the non-christian values of Power and Status.

That anyone, be they clerics or Government Officials, can stand by and not act rapidly in the best interests of the Survivors, is a profound indictment of our Society.

The sad truth is that if it were not for the voices of Survivors, this would remain a secret even still.

Where are the good people of Ireland? Where are the good Christians?


Kindest regards

Corneilius

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


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Garda Rape 'Jokes' and the Abuse of Power: An open Letter to Media and Dail Eireann

 A Chara,

I wrote about the pervasive abuse of power in November 2009, in a letter published in the Irish Times.

This is part of what I wrote:

“the problem is best described as the abuse of power, in all its forms, from the personal to the institutional, for control or profit. Resolving this will protect children, and much more, in the future. It is linked in essence to all struggles for liberty, and must be at the heart of and visibly resolved in any decent, healthy society that dares to call itself decent.”

That call remains as clear today as it was when it was published.

The recent reports of Gardai ‘joking’ about raping a protestor are yet another warning sign.

Time and time again, we are seeing people in positions of Power and Responsibility engage in behaviour that fundamentally undermines their right to that position of power, that denies the meaning of the word ‘responsible’, that breaks asunder the sacred trusts inherent in positions of responsibility, that indicates that the issues this ‘incident’ highlights are still largely unresolved, and furthermore, that places all of Irelands people at risk.

Ireland cannot call itself a decent Society, until the denial stops, until the work of honesty, integrity and of restorative justice is underway. This is a matter of duty of care.

This the people of Ireland must recognise, and if those in positions of power and responsibility will not act, then the people have to. Or we too lose all credibility amongst the children of Ireland.

Yours sincerely

Corneilius Crowley

etc etc..

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


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URGENT ACTION ALERT! Charges Against The Pope for Crimes Against Humanity!

Two German lawyers, Christian Sailer and Gert Hetzel, have applied to the ICC prosecutor, Dr. Luis Moreno Ocampo, to begin the prosecution of the Pope as a German citizen who is complicit in crimes against humanity.

READ THE CHARGES HERE


You can have a direct and real impact on the efforts to bring the Pope, Joseph Ratzinger, to trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Here's how:

To make this happen, as many groups, individuals and survivors of church crimes as possible must IMMEDIATELY write to Dr. Ocampo and ask him to pursue charges against the Pope by supporting the Sailer-Hetzel application. The Prosecutor will decide by May 15 whether or not to pursue criminal proceedings against Ratzinger.

You can have a direct and real impact on the efforts to bring the Pope, Joseph Ratzinger, to trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Here's how:

SEND A LETTER TO :


The Prosecutor
The International Criminal Court
Dr. Luis Moreno Ocampo
Maanweg 174
NL-2516 AB Den Haag
The Hague, The Netherlands

AND copy it to :



From these websites you will soon be able to go to the Spanish, Italian and French sites.

With my thanks, Do so before May 15! Have an impact!

We in The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) fully support these two German lawyers and their application at the ICC. We call upon all our affiliates and supporters in every country to contact the lawyers and the ICC Prosecutor and immediately support the application to prosecute the Pope.



While it may seem improbable to many people that the ICC will bring these charges forward, it is also true to say that that improbability is increased if we, the Surviviors, our families and all other empathic people who understand the issues, and genuinely care for the well being of Survivors, and of all future children do not act on this. The probability that this case will move forwards therefore depends upon a massive public pressure, based not on hatred, or alternative allegiance, but on a cool and honest appraisal of the facts of the matter.

To Christians, and others of Religious Faiths, I say this : What would Jesus do?  Would he protect the children or would he protect the Pope and The Church?


Kindest regards

Corneilius

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



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