Archbishop Emeritus of the Kumasi Arch Diocese Most Reverend Peter Akwasi Sarpong has taken a swipe at persons accusing the clergy especially priests of the Catholic Church of engaging in sexual intercourse indicating that it is not the worse form of sin.
In accordance with the doctrines of the church, ordained priests of the universal church are not supposed to engage in sexual acts as this could amount to flouting their vows of chastity and celibacy.
“Of course it is against their vows and it is inimical to the growth of the church. Obviously, how do you ask such a question, if it’s true would you like your priest to engage in such acts? My dear friends know that this is sinful and the priests who are doing it know that it is sinful it’s not approved by the church”, he revealed.
According to him, stealing money, oppressing people especially the poor and committing murder considered as sins of malice are worse than sexual sin which is regarded as sin of weakness.
He explained that catholic priests are human beings and are subject to any form of temptation but the focus over time has been directed at priests engaging in sex to the detriment of the others which is why it has gained prominence.
“I know that it’s not the only sin in the world, if you steal money it’s sinful, if you oppress people it’s worse than having sex. If you steal the people’s money it is worse than having sex. But there’s something about sexual abuse that attracts people and then they talk about the priest doing this the priest doing that. The priest is a human being, Judas was a priest he went and sold Jesus”
French Archbishop Philippe Barbarin attends a Good Friday mass in Saint-Jean Cathedral in Lyon, France, March 25, 2016.
The Roman Catholic cardinal-archbishop of Lyon said on Thursday he had suspended four priests accused of paedophile activities and said their cases were known to French judicial authorities.
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin said in a statement that the four had been working in the Lyon region in central France but gave no further details about them.
He also said other priests were the “object of special measures” without elaborating or saying how many were involved.
The Roman Catholic Church has been rocked in the past two decades by sexual abuse scandals involving its priests in a number of countries worldwide, including France.
Earlier this month police questioned Cardinal Barbarin for more than 10 hours over the activities of a paedophile priest, Father Bernard Preynat, in the early 1990s and why they had not been reported to the civil authorities.
Authorities placed Preynat under judicial investigation in January for his alleged sexual abuse of Catholic boy scouts in 1991. Preynat’s lawyer said he had admitted to sexually abusing the boys. He has been released from custody on bail.
Several victims of alleged paedophile abuse have filed complaints against Cardinal Barbarin for failing to report incidents to the authorities and for leaving accused priests in place.
Barbarin has denied any wrongdoing, but in a statement in April he acknowledged “errors in the management and appointment of some priests”.
New policy, which includes church workers and volunteers, intended as ‘safety net’ against allegations of sex abuse, but critics say move is ‘too little, too late’
The Basilica of Notre-Dame in the Place d’Armes in Old Montreal in Quebec, Canada.
Catholic priests in Montreal will be banned from being alone with children to provide a “safety net” against allegations of abuse.
Archbishop Christian Lepine has issued a decree to implement the policy, which also covers lay workers and volunteers.
According to the decree, the move was to “ensure the safety and integrity of the people to whom we bring the Gospel message and offer our pastoral care”. But, it added, it was also “to preserve the integrity, security and good reputation of God’s people”.
In an accompanying letter, Lepine said: “Recent events brought to light the horrific reality of abuse of minors and vulnerable people by members of the church. These intolerable situations have shocked and shaken the Universal Church as well as the entire population.”
Pope Francis and his predecessors had issued clear instructions that every Catholic diocese must take necessary measures to prevent the abuse of children and vulnerable adults, the letter said.
Implementation of the policy is to begin with a pilot project involving a dozen parishes from September, and will subsequently be rolled out across the diocese.
“Imagine if you are alone in a room and a child accuses you of hitting them, how will you react?” Sarrazin said. “Whether it’s true or not, you need a witness. Not being in the room alone with someone who is vulnerable is simply being prudent.”
But Carlo Tarini, representing survivors of abuse by priests, said the move was “too little, too late”, and the church was trying to protect itself from legal action.
In February, the church agreed a $30m settlement after around 150 people claimed they had been abused by the Clerics of St Viateur, who ran a school for deaf children in Montreal between 1940 and 1982.
The policy was dismissed as “window dressing” by David Clohessy of the US-based Snap (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).
“The single most effective step would be to publicly disclose and discipline every cleric who committed or concealed child sex crimes. That immediately protects children,” he said.
“We’ve literally seen hundreds of policies, procedures, protocols and pledges like this that sound good on paper but are virtually never enforced. So we are extremely sceptical.”
The new policy is thought to be unprecedented in the Catholic church, although the Anglican church in Australia has had similar guidelines in place since 2004, said Andrew Chesnut, professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
“Abuse victims in many countries have been demanding such a policy, in the case of Canada at least since 2007,” he said.
The new measures “provide safeguards for vulnerable children against the assaults of paedophile priests or other church workers. Given the volume of cases across time and place, it’s quite shocking that such measure[s] haven’t been adopted in all dioceses across the globe, if for no other reason than for the church to preclude future lawsuits which have cost it billions of dollars in Canada and the US alone.
“Despite its tardiness, the new policy in Montreal should be universally adopted, above all for the protection of children at Catholic churches and organisations.”
Globally, the Catholic church has paid tens of millions of dollars in compensation and costs relating to child sex abuse. An investigation by the National Catholic Reporter last year concluded that the US church alone had incurred costs of nearly £4bn.
The issue was the subject of a recent Hollywood movie, Spotlight, which chronicled the expose of abuse by Catholic priests by reporters at the Boston Globe.
St Patrick’s College Maynooth has denied the sabbatical announced this week by its president, Monsignor Hugh Connolly, is in any way linked to a row over a recent anonymous allegation of inappropriate behaviour by some seminarians.
A statement published on the college’s website said Msgr Connolly “has advised the staff of the Faculty of Theology of his plans to take sabbatical leave for the academic year 2016-2017”.
The sabbatical coincides with the last year of his tenure as president of the college and the national seminary, which currently has more than 60 men studying for the priesthood for the Irish Catholic Church.
The statement said Dr Connolly would remain as president until the completion of his statutory term in the summer of 2017 and he would continue to exercise some duties during the year.
It also stated the seminary president, who has served nine years in the post, intends to undertake theological studies in preparation for his return to the post of professor of moral theology, a position he held before he was appointed to the role of president of the college.
As the sabbatical begins in September, the current vice president of the college, Professor Michael Mullaney, will assume the duties of Msgr Connolly.
However, according to Bishop Pat Buckley, a cleric who is in dispute with the Church: “This sabbatical comes as the Maynooth gay scandal rages.”
Bishop Buckley asked: “Why not finish the last year of his term and then take the sabbatical at the natural juncture of leaving the presidency and going back to teach?”
He linked the departure of Msgr Connolly with a recent story in the ‘Irish Catholic’ newspaper, which said a letter outlining allegations of inappropriate behaviour by some seminarians in Maynooth had been sent to the Irish bishops and that St Patrick’s College was investigating the matter.
In his blog, Bishop Buckley claimed the national seminary in Maynooth and the Irish College in Rome “have been in deep trouble for decades – mainly due to the homosexual subculture that exists in both places”.
However, a spokesman for Maynooth told the Irish Independent Msgr Connolly first asked the trustees of St Patrick’s College Maynooth (SPCM) for a sabbatical period in May 2015. “Following his nine years as president, this request has now been granted and will take effect from September,” he stated.
Asked about the allegations of inappropriate behaviour, he said he was “not aware of any matter before the independent panel and chairperson”.
Clergy process into the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, ahead of the papal mass in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 26 September 2015.
The Catholic church in Pennsylvania has been accused of employing “mafia-like” tactics in a campaign to put pressure on individual Catholic lawmakers who support state legislation that would give victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their abusers.
The lobbying campaign against the legislation is being led by Philadelphia archbishop Charles Chaput, a staunch conservative who recently created a stir after inadvertently sending an email to a state representative Jamie Santora, in which he accused the lawmaker of “betraying” the church and said Santora would suffer “consequences” for his support of the legislation. The email was also sent to a senior staff member in Chaput’s office, who was apparently the only intended recipient.
The email has infuriated some Catholic lawmakers, who say they voted their conscience in support of the legislation on behalf of sexual abuse victims. One Republican legislator, Mike Vareb, accused the archbishop of using mafia-style tactics.
“This mob boss approach of having legislators called out, he really went right up to the line,” Vareb told the Guardian. “He is going down a road that is frankly dangerous for the status of the church in terms of it being a non-profit.”
Under US tax laws, organisations like churches that are classified as non-profit groups are not supposed to be engaged in political activity, though they are allowed to publish legislators’ voting records in some cases.
At stake in the contentious fight is a state bill that would allow victims of sexual abuse to file civil claims against their abusers, and those who knew of abuse, until they are 50 years old. Under current law, victims can only file suit until they are 30 years old. The proposal overwhelmingly passed the state lower house in a bipartisan vote in April but appears to have stalled in the state senate, where some believe it might not pass.
If it does pass and is signed by the governor, the legislation could cost the Catholic church tens of millions of dollars following a spate of abuse allegations in the state, including a devastating report released earlier this year by a grand jury that detailed how two Catholic bishops in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese covered up the abuse of hundreds of children by more than fifty priests over a 40-year period.
But it is the church’s personal targeting of legislators, rather than the legislation itself, that is drawing the most scrutiny, particularly among a small group of lawmakers who are both Republican and Catholic – and say they have steadfastly supported the church’s positions on other issues such as abortion and private Catholic schools.
A church bulletin called out Nick Miccareli for his support of a bill to allow victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their abusers.
Catholic lawmakers interviewed by the Guardian expressed dismay, shock and anger at the treatment they have received, particularly because they were targeted after the bill already passed in the lower house. All said they supported the legislation because they believed survivors of sexual abuse often needed decades to come to grips with the abuse they suffered.
One Catholic state representative named Martina White went on a local talk radio programme to describe how she had been “crushed” when she was disinvited to several planned events at local Catholic parishes because of her support for the bill.
Another representative, Nick Miccarelli, said he was baffled and upset when he learned that his support for the proposed legislation was included in his church’s bulletin under the heading “Just So You are Aware”, including information that he said was blatantly misleading about the nature of the bill.
“I’ve never had anything but good things to say [about my parish], so it was a heck of a shot, when you are out there telling people how much you think of a place, and that place doesn’t even give you a phone call before they print … something that was not an accurate statement,” he said. Miccarelli was angered by the bulletin’s suggestion that the lawmakers had sought to protect public institutions while targeting private ones like churches.
Rep Thomas Murt, who attends mass daily, told a colleague he was “devastated” when the priest at his church spoke about Murt’s support of the legislation, even as Murt was sitting in the pews. The priest’s discussion of the legislation went on for 40 minutes.
“Tom was really upset that no where did the priest mention the kids. Anyone who knows Tom knows he is extremely sincere on this issue. He just wants to do what is right,” the colleague said, asking not to be named.
Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles Chaput celebrates mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia on 18 February 2015.
Ken Gavin, a spokesman for Chaput, rejected claims that the archdiocese was attempting to “shame elected officials from the pulpit”.
Gavin said the Philadelphia archbishop had sent a letter explaining the church’s opposition to the bill to 219 parishes throughout the area, which had been read or made available during Mass.
“I am not aware of any situations involving a pastor lambasting an elected official and they weren’t directed to do so. I do know of many instances where pastors shared with parishioners how representatives voted on [the bill]. They shared knowledge that is already public,” Gavin said.
Chaput’s criticism of the bill is centred on claims that the Philadelphia archdiocese already has a “genuine and longstanding commitment” to abuse victims; that it is committed to protecting children now; and that the new law would only apply to churches and private institutions, but still make public institutions like schools and prisons immune from similar retroactive civil suits in abuse cases.
But the Catholic lawmakers who support the bill reject that claim as a red herring, because public institutions like schools receive some immunity from lawsuits in order to protect taxpayers. All said they had been deeply moved by the testimony of fellow legislator Mark Rozzi, who was raped by a priest when he was 13 years old and said the bill would offer victims some justice after years of being “stonewalled”.
Critics of Chaput’s strategy say the archbishop used the same tactics to successfully derail similar legislation in Colorado, where he previously served as archbishop. Joan Fitz-Gerald, the former Democratic head of the state senate in Colorado who had introduced the bill, recalled it was the most vicious and difficult experience of her life, with Chaput allegedly telling one of his lobbyists that he did not believe Fitz-Gerald would be going to heaven.
“He is the most vehement supporter of the secrecy of the Catholic church over pedophiles. He fights any authority over his own, even when it is a matter of criminal law,” Fitz-Gerald said.
One expert, Marci Hamilton, the chair of public law at Cardoza School of Law, said similar legislation that has passed in four other states, including California, has only been used by a relatively small number of victims.
“This is a way for the whole culture to say to survivors that they matter and that they are believed. Because when a survivor comes forward, in most states they are beyond the statute of limitations [to bring civil claims] and the message they get from the law is that what happened to you doesn’t matter,” she said.
Hamilton claimed that Chaput had been brought to Pennsylvania after helping to kill similar legislation in Colorado.
“It is clear they [the church] have bought into this strategy, which is to turn the church into the victim and to portray the victims as just seeking money and triangulating the parishioners against the victims, by saying the parish will go bankrupt and have to close schools,” Hamilton said.
Jamie Santora, the Republican legislator who several people said received the email from Chaput, declined to comment on the email specifically. But he acknowledged he had been accused by a high ranking church official of betraying his church.
“I don’t feel I did betray my church. Growing up Catholic gave me the ability to vote the way I did. To me that was the morally correct vote, by choosing victims over abusers,” he said.
Asked to comment, the spokesman for the Philadelphia archbishop said: “Elected officials are accountable to the people who elected them. There’s nothing odd in that. It’s how the system works.”
