Banned priest Tony Flannery to break silence on fate of the Catholic Church

Fr Tony Flattery has been unable to celebrate mass publicly since his faculties were revoked in a Vatican crackdown on liberal views.

By Lorna Siggins

Banned Redemptorist priest Tony Flannery plans to question the survival of the Roman Catholic church at a public talk in Galway shortly before Easter Sunday.

Fr Flannery (77), who was suspended from public ministry by the Vatican in 2012, intends to give his views on whether “religious belief as we have known it can survive in modern Ireland”.

He also intends to pay tribute to Pope Francis for “freeing up discussion, areas of study and the search for the truth”.

The Redemptorist priest had been disciplined in 2012 for publicly expressing support for women’s ordination and same-sex marriage, and for expressing more liberal views on homosexuality.

Although he has been outspoken since his suspension and was profiled in a recent TG4 documentary, he has not given a public talk with a question and answer session in six years.

He says the talk he intends to give in the Clayton Hotel, Galway on March 27 was scheduled to be given in church property several months ago.

However, when the organisers learned that the ban imposed on him applied not only to speaking in churches but to speaking in “all church-owned property”, a new venue had to be found.

Fr Flannery says that in spite of his suspension, he has “studied and read” and has been contemplating “how best to address the falling attendances at Mass” and “the falling away in general from the Catholic faith”.

“If we take the traditional indications of the health of the faith as measured by the Catholic Church… then all the signs are that it is in serious trouble, and that the faith is in the terminal stage of ill health,” he says.

“Churches are emptying or are being frequented only by the older generation,” he says, noting that “seminaries are closing down, and priest numbers are declining rapidly”.

“There appear to be few, if any signs of new growth – but that is by no means the full story.

“We are living in a really interesting time in the [Catholic] church since the arrival of the papacy of Francis. Even in the 11 years since his appointment he has brought about a great deal of change,”he says.

“I have no doubt that the biggest legacy Pope Francis will leave from his time in charge is that he has freed up discussion, areas of study and the search for truth in the church – all of which had been seriously restricted for many centuries by rigid imposition of official teachings.

“The “pre-Francis” church had adopted the position that it had the full truth, and that it had nothing to learn from the world.

“Francis, on the other hand, realised that in order for the church to be relevant, it must engage with modern life, and be part of the debate about the future of the world and of people.”

He cites as examples of that attitude change “the extent to which Francis has engaged in the debate about the destruction of the environment and the necessity of facing up to climate change”.

Fr Flannery says all are welcome to his talk in Galway’s Clayton Hotel, Briarhill, on March 27, and will allow for a question and answer session.

Last year, the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) and Lay Catholic Group (LCG) called for him to be restored to the ministry and said he had experienced a “grave injustice”.

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Right-Winger Accuses Gay Dad of “Criminal Sexual Conduct”

— José Rolón is speaking out against a right-winger’s accusation that he is sexualizing his children by exposing them to LGBTQ culture.

José Rolón (left) – Photo: TikTok. Stew Peters – Video screenshot – StewPeters.com, via Instagram

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José Rolón, who has 150,000 followers on Instagram and over 500,000 followers on TikTok under the user name @nycgaydad, found himself bombarded with threats from right-wing users after conservative commentator Stew Peters tagged him in an Instagram video.

In the video, Peters called Rolón a “creep” and a “pervert homo,” and called for his public execution. He also accused Rolón of “criminal sexual conduct,” tagging the New York Police Department and urging them to investigate the gay widower.

“Some pervert homo has access to at least four kids around the clock all the time,” Peters said, misstating the number of Rolón’s children. “He can take them to drag conventions and then post the evidence, post pictures and videos of criminal sexual conduct … and somehow not end up in jail, or better yet, the gallows.”

The video has since been removed from the platform.

The “sexual conduct” Peters appeared to be referring to is a post in which Rolón took his children to RuPaul’s Drag Con and bought what he thought were rainbow-colored bracelets, only to realize that they were in fact cock rings.

Rolón made a video about the incident, saying he was “mortified” by his mistake. He also claimed to have spoken with the vendor, who he said tried to warn him but didn’t know how, because his children were so excited by the “bracelets.”

Peters expressed outrage that “this homosexual” takes his children to drag shows and allows them to see “cross-dressing wigs” in his closet

He aired a clip from one of Rolón’s videos, in which the children joked that they have rainbows and disco balls over their house.

Rolón was horrified by Peters’ commentary. “I just couldn’t believe the things that were coming out of his mouth,” he told The Advocate. “He tagged the NYPD and requested for them to investigate me for not only sex crimes, but also [for me to] be met at the gallows. That, to me, is the line that was [most] shocking. … This man is actually calling for my hanging in public.”

Rolón began getting threats and was deluged with negative comments accusing him of “grooming” his children by exposing his children to LGBTQ content.

In an Instagram video, he accused Peters of spreading “misinformation,” and called him a “D-list version of Tucker Carlson.” “It’s people like you that are destroying this country,” he says in the post.

Rolón told The Advocate he struggled with the idea of speaking out against Peters, but felt he needed to respond publicly to ensure his own children’s safety and dispel misconceptions about gay parents.

“In our community, we’re often faced with this question of do we ignore it so that we don’t give this person a voice, or make it so that people are aware of the kind of people that are out there spreading misinformation about our community,” Rolón said. “I made the decision to talk about it because I think it’s important.”

While Peters blurred the faces of Rolón’s children in his Instagram clip, he did not do so in the full segment on Rumble, a video-hosting platform popular among conservatives.

The full video, which runs more than 50 minutes and targets LGBTQ parents as unfit to raise children, covers a significant amount of time criticizing Rolón’s parenting and shows his children’s faces, without safeguarding their identities.

Rolón told The Advocate he is seeking legal advice and weighing whether to take legal action against Peters and Rumble for not blurring his children’s faces in the longer video.

He also noted that he has had to take measures, including changing his schedule to ensure only he can pick up his children from school in order to protect them.

“My kids were initially allowed to self-dismiss from their school, and they are no longer able to self-dismiss,” Rolón said. “It’s forcing us to be a little bit more vigilant and just take extra precaution. These are the things that our community is constantly having to deal with.”

Complete Article HERE!

‘It Erases Us’

— Sex Abuse Survivors Troubled By Washington Bill

By Hannah Albarazi

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign into law a bill that eliminates time limits for bringing child sex abuse claims in the future, but survivors say they are disappointed by an amendment stripping the bill’s retroactivity, saying the legislation doesn’t go far enough to hold abusers accountable.

The bill’s own author says it no longer expands access to justice for past abuses — only future ones. Fearing that the state itself could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in liability stemming from decades of negligent supervision, the Legislature struck language from the bill that would have allowed survivors of childhood sexual abuse to bring civil claims against individuals and institutions regardless of when the abuse occurred.

The overhauled bill doesn’t sit well for Seattle attorney Tim Law, who advocates for clergy abuse survivors around the world. The proposed legislation, H.B. 1618, “heavily favors institutions” and is “grossly unfair to survivors,” he told Law360 in an interview.

“There should be a window of opportunity for survivors to make their case, and without that it’s just a total giveaway,” said Law, who co-founded the nonprofit Ending Clergy Abuse.

But the Democrat-controlled state Legislature’s decision to not reopen a lookback window for survivors to bring timed-out claims came amid concerns that it could cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars and an opposition campaign by well-heeled tort reformers.

While at least 27 U.S. states have created temporary or permanent revival windows to allow survivors of child sex abuse to bring otherwise time-barred civil claims, the Washington Legislature has exhibited strong resistance to passing a bill that would allow survivors to bring claims related to past abuse.

No Looking Back

Currently, Washington’s civil statute of limitations on recovering damages from childhood sexual abuse begins tolling once the victim turns 18. The survivor then has three years from the abuse, or three years from when they discovered or reasonably should have discovered an injury caused by the abuse.

As statehouses across the U.S. pass laws allowing previously timed-out child sex abuse claims, State Rep. Darya Farivar, a Democrat, saw a need to bring Washington’s law up to date.

Farivar first introduced H.B. 1618 last year, but it stalled out in the state Senate. After being reintroduced in January, the House overwhelmingly adopted an amendment proposed by State Rep. Peter Abbarno, a Republican, that stripped the bill of its retroactivity. In its amended form, H.B. 1618 will only eliminate the statute of limitations for civil child sex abuse claims going forward.

In comments on the House floor, Abbarno said the amendment “substantively leaves the bill the same.”

Abbarno said the decision to amend the bill stemmed from the fiscal note provided by the state attorney general’s office, which estimated that it could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to defend its Department of Children, Youth and Families — which manages the state’s foster care system — against previously time-barred claims resulting from negligent supervision. He added that making the bill prospective-only would meet both policy and fiscal needs.

But speaking on the House floor in January, Farivar said the amendment means this bill is “not going to be able to expand access to justice for current survivors.” Nonetheless, on Jan. 25 she joined her House colleagues in unanimously passing the amended bill.

Survivors Speak Out

While some survivors of childhood sexual abuse offered their support for the bill during a public hearing held by the Washington Senate’s Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 22, many expressed disappointment with the bill being neither retroactive nor containing a lookback window for survivors to bring civil claims.

It’s not hard to find states that have reformed their statutes of limitations regarding child sexual abuse claims.

Civil statutes of limitations for some or all child sex abuse claims have been eliminated in more than a third of all U.S. states, and more than half of all states have passed some form of lookback window to allow survivors of childhood sexual abuse to bring civil claims that would otherwise be time-barred, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Child USA.

Washington resident Christene Hansen told the Senate Ways and Means Committee that her life was derailed at the age of 13 when a teacher began abusing her. She said that while she believes the bill “will inspire change in the establishments that are in place to safeguard our children,” she hoped the law would be applied retroactively.

The Washington State Association for Justice likewise urged the committee to pass the amended legislation, as did the Sexual Violence Law Firm.

But other advocates spoke out in opposition to the bill, saying its lack of retroactivity means those responsible for past abuses won’t be held to account and urged the Legislature to pass a bill that increases past and future survivors’ access to justice.

Sarah Pearson, a survivor of sexual assault and an advocate for survivors, told the Senate Ways and Means Committee in late February that she can’t support the bill as amended, saying that children deserve justice regardless of whether the abuse occurs before or after the bill takes effect.

The bill also lost support from Peter Isely, a survivor of childhood sexual assault and founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests who testified that the bill “must be changed and made retroactive.”

“It erases us,” testified Isely.

Michael Polenberg, vice president of government affairs at the victims’ services group Safe Horizon, pushed for the passage of New York’s Child Victims Act and Adult Survivors Act, both of which created lookback windows for survivors.

Polenberg told Law360 that while any effort to reform or eliminate the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse is a step in the right direction, he stressed that “bills should allow survivors who are outside of the current statute of limitations to seek justice as well.”

“This is why the Child Victims Act in New York was so impactful. The lookback window allowed over 10,000 lawsuits to be filed on behalf of previously time-barred survivors of childhood sexual abuse,” Polenberg said. “Similar measures to seek relief in court should be put in place for individuals who were sexually abused as adults.”

On Feb. 29, the Senate unanimously voted to pass the amended bill.

“Tip of the Iceberg”

In an interview with Law360 in late February, Farivar said it “was a deeply painful decision” to amend the bill to prospective-only, but she saw it as the only way to get support for the bill in the Legislature.

If the fiscal note is correct and the state would truly face such a steep mountain of liability under a retroactive bill, that is “egregious,” Farivar said.

But even without retroactivity, Farivar says her bill is “a really bold statement that we take recovery seriously, we know it’s not linear, we know that folks need time to come forward.”

“By giving folks that time to come forward and pursue justice on their terms, we’re going to be able to identify folks who are predators and folks who are protecting predators,” Farivar said. “That, in the long run, is going to fundamentally change what the landscape of abuse looks like in Washington and what justice survivors have access to.”

Farivar said H.B. 1618 “is really just the tip of the iceberg,” and that she’s continued to speak with advocates and survivors about how to push for legislation that allows for retroactivity or a lookback window.

“We’re not done,” she said, adding that she believes it’s important for institutions — including the government — to take responsibility for abuse that occurs on their watch.

Abbarno and the chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, State Sen. June Robinson, a Democrat, did not make themselves available for an interview with Law360.

Opposition to Lookbacks

Survivors’ desire to bring previously time-barred claims is at odds with the goals of the American Tort Reform Association, which voiced opposition to the original version of the bill.

Cary Silverman of Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP, speaking on behalf of ATRA, told Law360 in late February that “ATRA’s position is that every civil action should be subject to a finite statute of limitations, which is a key part of a properly functioning civil justice system in which courts can evaluate liability when records and witnesses are available.”

ATRA has been among the most outspoken opponents of efforts to end statutes of limitations on child sex abuse, voicing opposition in legislatures from Maine to Nevada. At least one of the states, North Dakota, has backed away from opening up a lookback window for sex abuse claims.

Silverman said ATRA “is particularly concerned with legislative proposals that retroactively revive any type of time-barred claim.”

“These proposals are especially problematic because businesses cannot go back in time to retain records already discarded, purchase more insurance, or decide not to enter an area with such an extreme liability risk,” he added.

However, Silverman said ATRA has not taken a position on Washington’s H.B. 1618 as it’s been amended.

H.B. 1618 now awaits Inslee’s signature. A spokesperson for the governor did not respond to Law360’s request for comment on the opposition voiced by survivors to the amended bill, and declined to speculate as to if or when the governor might sign the bill.

But survivors and their advocates say holding perpetrators and institutions responsible for past abuse is key to obtaining justice, and warned that rushing a bill into law that lets past abusers off the hook will only make it more difficult to pass stronger bills in the future.

“Once it passes, trying to get momentum next year to get a window becomes harder,” Law, the Seattle attorney and advocate for clergy sex abuse survivors, told Law360.

For survivors, he added, the law “sounds good, but it has no practical effect.”

Complete Article HERE!

Catholic chapel where two men celebrated ‘marriage’ now subject to deconsecration

— File under:  Insulated, monolithic, callous, tone deaf church power structure

Both the pastor of nearby San Bernabé parish in El Escorial, Fr. Florentino de Andrés, along with the Archdiocese of Madrid, anticipate the deconsecration of the chapel as a result of the ceremony.

By ACI Prensa

The private Catholic chapel where two Spanish men celebrated their civil “marriage” last weekend is subject to “canonical effects” and deconsecration, according to the Archdiocese of Madrid and a Catholic priest with jurisdiction in the area.

The Holy Trinity chapel, located on the grounds of the Finca El Campillo, a property used as a wedding venue in the town of El Escorial, was the scene of a celebration of the two men’s civil marriage last Saturday.

Cristina González Navarro, who owns the property, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that at the event inside the chapel “there was no priest” and that “a wedding wasn’t held,” but she refused to offer more details about what the ritual consisted of.

What is known, through images posted on social media, is that the chapel was full of guests and that the men, dressed in formal attire and holding hands, left the chapel walking down the aisle as a Catholic bride and groom do at the conclusion of a wedding ceremony for the sacrament of marriage.

According to photos on social media, some elements of the Catholic liturgy apparently were used during the ceremony, including an image of the Virgin of Hakuna by sculptor Javier Viver.

The two men exchanged rings and at one point knelt on white kneelers in front of the sculpture of the Virgin and before a cross made of two branches tied together.

On the shoulders of the men was draped a white cloth with blue stripes in a gesture similar to the one used in the veiling rite of the Mozarabic liturgy. In this Catholic rite, the wife’s head and the husband’s shoulders are covered and as they kneel they receive a blessing.

Statement from the Archdiocese of Madrid 

Father Florentino de Andrés, pastor of St. Bernabé parish in El Escorial, told ACI Prensa that the chapel has not been deconsecrated and that the ceremony was carried out without his knowledge. The priest was emphatic that “it was not with my permission.”

De Andrés also said that he will speak with the owners of the property to determine what took place and if confirmed as reported, he will call for the chapel to be deconsecrated.

The Archdiocese of Madrid also weighed in with a statement confirming that “it was not informed or consulted about the possibility of holding said celebration, being a unilateral act of the property [owners] that will have canonical effects in this regard. In no case is it permitted to perform a civil marriage within a religious venue.”

The Feb. 26 statement stressed that “family chapels can only be used for the purpose that the Church grants them,” and therefore “they cannot be a place for public religious celebrations, unless expressly authorized by the diocese.”

In addition, the archdiocese specified that “they cannot be used for commercial purposes or as places for civil celebrations of any kind. In fact, at the time [they were built] they were intended to be solely for the private devotional use of the family that owned it and in no case to be offered as an optional for-profit service of a company that plans social events.”

Beyond the controversy over the improper use of a Catholic church, those who own chapels that are located on private land are subject to ecclesiastical regulations (canons 1115 et seq.) for the correct use of these sacred places, as summarized by the Archdiocese of Madrid in its statement.

Complete Article HERE!

New Orleans man alleges he was trapped in a sex ring run by Catholic church

This 2012 file photo shows a silhouette of a crucifix and a stained glass window inside a Catholic church in New Orleans.

By

A New Orleans man who says he survived clergy abuse says he was trapped in a sex trafficking ring run by the Catholic church.

Richard Coon is telling his raw and emotional story for the first time in detail. He says his experience with sexual abuse was one compared to being in a sex ring.

A warning: some of the details he shared are graphic.

Coon said his story involves three men linked to the Catholic church who are now all dead.

Coon’s story involves allegations of rape, an extravagant vacation, drugs and a suicide attempt.

“There are so many victims that don’t have a voice,” Coon said.

Coon, 57, said he is giving his 10-year-old self a voice for the first time.

“I was just so confused because none of it made sense. None of it related to anything I was taught growing up in the church, I was such an active person in the church,” Coon said.

The Catholic Church was Coon’s life. Coon said he met his first accused abuser in the 1970s.

Coon said a high-ranking employee at a Catholic school befriended him and began grooming him.

Coon claims it started with touching and then progressed to oral sex. He said the abuse continued and escalated until he was 15 years old.

“It was so confusing to me because it really hurt, and I told him to stop,” Coon said. “I was hurting, I was crying, and he wouldn’t stop, and I couldn’t understand how a human would continue to assault a kid that was in pain. This is supposed to be someone I could trust. It just changed my life.”

While Coon’s life changed, he said he hid the trauma.

Coon says he channeled the pain into the sport of diving.

He said after he graduated high school, a priest approached him at an area pool.

“He introduced himself to me as a photographer and asked if he could take pictures of me diving for his portfolio. In return, I would get copies of all the pictures. I agreed to it. He also informed that he was a priest,” Coon said.

Coon said a new trust was formed again, and what he thought was a friendship started.

According to Coon, right before his 20th birthday, he was invited by the priest to attend a trip in the Caribbean.

Coon said he was still living with his parents and said he was allowed to attend because priests were on the trip.

While on the boat, Coon claims he was given drugs.

“They gave us these little squares of paper and told us to put them under our tongues,” Coon said. “I didn’t question him; he was a priest. I figured it was something to prevent us from getting sick. I did it, and it turned out to be LSD. I questioned to him on the boat, ‘How can you be a Catholic priest and live a gay lifestyle?’ It didn’t make sense to me; it was the opposite of anything I had been taught. His response was within the hierarchy of the Catholic church, there exists an elite secret society, and in that secret society it was made up of God’s most favorable men and that the highest form of love was between two men.”

Coon feels he was preyed on and, at the time, truly believed he was part of a secret society.

After returning home, Coon said he was introduced to ecstasy.

Coon said the priest invited him for a weekend stay at a rectory on the North Shore.

“In the middle of the night, I woke up, and he was naked in bed with me and was fondling me, and I said, ‘Stop what are you doing.’ He did stop, said he was sorry and left the room,” Coon said.

Coon said he was brainwashed and at one point and thought he was supposed to be in a relationship with a priest.

Coon said he was offered a tour at a seminary where he says he met a reverend and brought to a private suite.

“He comes up to me, puts his hands on my shoulders and starts kissing me. I was in shock. He led me back to the bedroom and started undressing me,” Coon said. “He lays me down, gets on top of me, and there was no penetration, and he went to put lotion on us. I felt assaulted and confused. I walked back to my car. As soon as I closed the door, I started screaming and crying. I felt like I had disrespected the church. I felt like I defiled the archbishop’s space.”

Coon said he continued to mask his pain, but it wasn’t enough. He says it got so bad he tried to kill himself.

“It was carbon monoxide,” Coon said. “I covered myself with plastic and took Valium to go to sleep and just hoped I didn’t wake up. At the very last minute, I sent a text out to the people I loved and the people I knew were there for me, and they came and saved me.”

Coon said he was able to get help and intense therapy. In December 2018, he said his therapist advised him to go to the police.

WDSU uncovered this report from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office when Coon came forward to report his alleged rape.

The JPSO record states Coon recalled 35 times when he said he was sexually abused by the man he met as a child in the 1970s.

According to the report in one in instance, he described Coon’s alleged abuser getting on top of him, pinning him down, with his arm across Coon’s neck and raping him. The report says Coon begged him to stop, and that was the last time Coon saw the man.

According to the report, the man Coon accused of raping him — who was 74 years old in 2018 — stated to investigators he does not remember if he touched any underage boys inappropriately.

According to the report, the man stated he did not rape anybody.

The report says that based on a lack of evidence, the case was closed without an arrest.

“It hurt, but at the same time, I felt like I had been heard. That’s a lot for someone that goes through this,” Coon said.

Coon has filed a civil claim against the Archdiocese of New Orleans, but what he wants most is for the bankrupt archdiocese to be transparent in releasing sealed and crucial records.

“Gregory Aymond decided to double down on the cover-up. I have no respect for him whatsoever,” Coon said. “He could have put this whole thing to an end by releasing the files. I think it’s a disgrace.”

In 2018, the archdiocese released a list of credibly accused priests, and Aymond says he’s committed to continuing to be transparent, but Coon says transparency has not happened.

Dioceses in other cities have released detailed records for the public outlining sex abuse allegations within the diocese.

“We should be one of those archdioceses where we are on the road to healing, and we are not, and it’s all because of Gregory Aymond. He needs to step down as archbishop. He says one thing and does another,” Coon said.

Coon said he finds some peace in knowing that his story is being told.

“It is very healing. One of the best things a survivor can do, and it’s monumental, is to tell the story and admit what happened to them. You are well on your way to healing if you are able to do that, and my voice was silenced for 3 1/2 decades. I didn’t feel like I could speak,” Coon said.

WDSU reached out to the Archdiocese of New Orleans for an on-camera interview regarding this story last week.

A spokesperson declined and said by phone they do not comment on pending litigation.

WDSU was told a statement regarding additional questions would be sent.

A spokesperson sent the following response, “Sorry, we have nothing to add.”

Complete Article HERE!