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VATICAN TO DEFROCK MC CARRICK NEXT WEEK

By Philip Pullella

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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Vatican officials will meet next week to decide the fate of disgraced former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick over allegations of sexual abuse, Vatican sources said on Friday.
Vatican sources told Reuters last month that McCarrick will almost certainly be dismissed from the priesthood, which would make him the highest profile Roman Catholic figure to be defrocked in modern times.
Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the Vatican department that will rule on the case, met Pope Francis on Thursday, according to a public Vatican schedule.
The Vatican did not say what was discussed but one source said it was likely that Ladaria briefed the pontiff on the final stages of the McCarrick case. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
Francis, who will have to sign off on any dismissal decision, wants the McCarrick case over before heads of national Catholic churches meet at the Vatican from Feb. 21-24 to discuss the global sexual abuse crisis, three Vatican sources told Reuters last month.
In July, McCarrick, 88, became the first Catholic prelate in nearly 100 years to lose the title of cardinal. The allegations against him date back to decades ago when he was still rising to the top of the U.S. Church hierarchy.
McCarrick, who rose to be a power broker in the American Church as Archbishop of Washington, D.C. from 2001 to 2006, is living in seclusion in a remote friary in Kansas.
He has responded publicly to only one of the allegations, saying he has “absolutely no recollection” of an alleged case of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy more than 50 years ago.
He has not responded publicly to separate allegations by several priests and ex-priests who have come forward alleging he used his authority to coerce them to sleep with him when they were adult seminarians studying for the priesthood.
McCarrick has already received one of the most severe punishments short of defrocking. When the pope accepted his resignation as cardinal last July, he also ordered him to refrain from public ministry and to live in seclusion, prayer and penitence.

The Vatican summit later this month offers a chance for Pope Francis to respond to criticism from victims of abuse that he has stumbled in his handling of the crisis and has not done enough to make bishops accountable..
Recently, the Church also has come under scrutiny over sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops. On Tuesday, Francis publicly acknowledged such abuse for the first time.
Speaking to reporters on the plane returning from a trip to Abu Dhabi, Francis used the term “sexual slavery”, but the Vatican later sought to clarify his remarks, saying in a statement that he meant “manipulation or a type of abuse of power that is reflected in sexual abuse.”
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Frances Kerry)

PAT SAYS

McCarrick should be defrocked and thrown off church property.

But he should also go to jail.

A new section of canon law should be introduced mandating the defrocking and jailing of any cleric, of whatever rank, for sexual abuse or covering up sexual abuse.

Nothing else will suffice.

If Francis does not do this then he is an international criminal

62 replies on “VATICAN TO DEFROCK MC CARRICK NEXT WEEK”

Totally agree. All abusers and cover up merchants should immediately be expelled and all information regarding them should be passed to the civil authorities. Substantial compensation should be paid to victims. It’s way past time these filthy scum should be sent packing and not one brown cent should be paid for their future upkeep. Let’s just wait and see what happens. Not just tokenism with the expulsion of mccarrick required. Every bloody one of those involved and that involves the Irish cardinal, should be out on their ear

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So easy for you Pat to dish out your merciless judgment. McCarrick will be defrocked and it is an ignominious way to end your life. While justice both civilly and canonically must be seen to be done, leading a merciless band of cheerleaders is not at all helpful for survivors. Hopefully they may find some solace in this event but their lives will be forever overshadowed by their abuse. Let the courts decide judgment and ultimately, as God’s people, we each await his mercy. He is a just God, not the vindictive God you preach.

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I think Pat Buckley has experienced this treatment from the Church and he should know all about it. He wasn’t even a Cardinal.

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Knowing how the Irish church works McCarrick will probably be announced by the nuncio as the next archbishop of Dublin 😂

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Pope Francis needs to be definitive and dispense with theological language or legalese. In Ireland, our shepherds should follow this example if they are to gain and retain any smidgen of respect. I just think of the cover-up that has gone on in Galway the last few months, hinted at here several times.

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Tell us about Galway. If the Church won’t let us know what is going on, it seems perfectly right that blogs like this should be able to tell us. Freedom of speech and the press and all that !

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It’s a shocking situation. I wish Pat would come. A priest reported a safeguarding issue about another priest that was reported to him. The priest that the safeguarding issue concerned, along with his housekeeper, made up false allegations about the other priest. That priest has been ostracised and I heard he was told to cover it up. Meanwhile, the other priest is parading around the place feeling invincible and is even saying Mass in the Cathedral. In a previous life, he belonged to a congregation that was only too delighted to dump him on Galway. He has caused Hell everywhere he has been.

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Our Red friend , R, Has always been a childish gossiper.
Is that the nature of the safeguarding …? Can’t be for just making up lies. I don’t understand fully the circumstances . Can you explain more. Please.

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The Reds are right and good at dumping their problems and “mistakes” on dioceses.

They have also taken a great big dump upon Down and Connor with another one of their rejects who should never have been ordained, because a fellow novice complained about his “advances”.

But they ordained him anyhow, ignoring the complaints and parishes in D&C have suffered and are suffering; because (a) the Reds take no responsibility for their mistakes and (b) the hapless Noel Treanor is like a lamped rabbit, in his inability to take appropriate action and sack this creature.

This particular Galway ex Red is as mad as a box of rocks.

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He has caused Hell in every parish in Galway he has been and in the hospital. He cries in houses in the parishes as he fabricates stories about the priests he works with. He accused a parish secretary of witchcraft. He and his evil housekeeper have destroyed that poor priest that made the safeguarding report. Martin Drennan and the Redemptorists should hang their heads in shame, and Brendan Kelly and the diocesan secretary for covering up his misdeeds.

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He’s good at the crying alright that boyo. He’s stark raving mad and a complete hysteric. A very dangerous individual who fabricates stories at the drop of a hat.

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They wanted him out of ministry I’d say, but he found a willing subject for his manipulative wiles in Martin Drennan.

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McCarrick will probably be defrocked / laicised, but will continue to be looked after by the Church, probably where he already is, until he goes to his eternal reward. I’ve no problem with that. Do we want to be merciless ?
As for criminal prosecution, I suspect that any crime he has committed ( i.e. underage sexual abuse) is probably beyond the statute of limitations in the US and so he probably will not be prosecuted criminally and will avoid jail He wouldn’t get off over on this side of the Atlantic where we have no statute of limitations on such crimes. Just a few years ago a man was prosecuted and imprisoned at age 100 for 7 years for crimes like this he 50 years previously. He will no doubt die in prison. McCarrick is a lucky man.
But, I do wonder if he is being made a bit of an exemplary scapegoat (even though he may deserve it) in Francis’ rush to appear to be doing something decisive. It all does look a bit political and timely, so that Francis can come out looking good on time for whatever next meeting on this issue he is about to host. Francis does act like a bit of a puppet to the issue of the moment. He lacks substance and gravitas, and doesn’t consider what he is saying or its weight. He’s a bit of light weight, I think. Hey ho, we are where we are.

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MY SPELLING MISTAKES

Why does it matter so much if someone makes a spelling mistake or typo on here?
Plenty of good spellers are horrible people.
Plenty of bad spellers are very good people.
In my own case I often write part of my blog on my smart phone which has a small key pad and I have large fingers.
Its no big deal 😃

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By Post Author

@9.52
How would you know? You are talking “caca”, as Francis would say. He is a snake, a big, fat, Argentinian snake.
You know when a child draws a snake he draws it with a forked tongue? Well, that’s what snake Francis has – a forked tongue ( among many other things ).

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IICSA continues to peel back some of the layers of connivance and obstruction on behalf of the Church in sexual abuse crimes committed by members of the clergy. Just last week, IICSA focused on another English Benedictine monastery, Ealing Abbey, and in particular the activities of a past abbot, Laurence Soper. Not to mention uncovering the criminally inept way in which the recently resigned abbot Shipperlee refused to report matters that should have been reported to the police – because he simply could not believe them himself, and therefore discounted them. We have already seen other members of the hierarchy hauled in front of IICSA an put on oath and, frankly, humbled as they were confronted with their past actions – mostly denial, coverup and a cultural lack of appreciation of the wrong doing that was being committed on their watch.
The forensic gaze of IICSA this week was cast beyond the Benedictine abbeys and English dioceses, to further shores, in particular the Vatican.
1. IICSA is aware, as were the police, that Soper, a fugitive from justice hiding in the Balkans, had access to money, hundreds of thousands of pounds of money, which was deposited in his Vatican Bank account. It is said that, being posh and chipper, this was family money. He accessed this money regularly during his years on the run in order to sustain himself. The Vatican Bank will have known where these bank drafts were being sent and yet, as the police said: “At every turn, those spoken to within the Catholic Church claimed not to have any actionable information or intelligence about Soper. This was somewhat frustrating… it is clear the information was there to be discovered and disclosed if there had been an appetite to do so.” So, notwithstanding all the words about wanting to prevent and stamp out child abuse, the Vatican through its bank was helping a wanted child abuser to avoid justice while on the run while financially equipping him and supporting him. (see: https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/11348/nuncio-criticised-for-undermining-pope-on-child-abuse). There are shades of Birmingham Archdiocese continuing to send money to James Robinson in the USA when he was a wanted fugitive from justice, but not thinking to let the police who were looking for him know where he was !
2. The net is cast wider to the Papal Nuncio, who has been ordered by IICSA to produce documentation between the Nunciature and the Vatican on Soper’s and other cases. The Papal Nuncio is refusing to reply to these legitimate requests, and is expected to claim diplomatic immunity in this matter. The mood music is that IICSA, which has statutory powers, is expected to deem him in defiance of IICSA and the law of this country. This will bring IICSA and the authorities in GB in to conflict with the Vatican. One side (IICSA) is trying to get to the truth. The other side (Vatican) is prevaricating, obfuscating and twisting and turning in order to frustrate the truth. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
The optics of this are not good for the Church, the Vatican or anybody else who is trying to frustrate the pursuit of truth and justice. And all this in spite of the fine words of Pope Francis about zero tolerance, and bringing the light of truth and justice to this issue. It’s all well and fine to spout these fine sentiments, but the reality still seems to be that the Church will continue to cover stuff up when it suits its purposes. Indeed, it modus operandi of preference is to cover up when it can and only give away anything or anyone when they absolutely are forced to do so.
Expect trouble ahead !

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@9:12am I would like to believe that IICSA and HMG will pursue and prosecute this to the fullest extent possible and will gladly be proved wrong but I am not holding my breath and suspect the upper echelons on all sides, members of the legislature who love all the chivalric orders and dressing up and the church who are only too happy to indulge as a means of courting influence will be waiting and expecting the light of publicity to gradually fade until it drops off the popular radar, apart from the poor victims / survivors of course for whom it will never disappear and justice will have evaded them again.

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Let’s hope not. i think the momentum is too strong for it all to be brushed under the carpet. I have confidence in IICSA to shine a light on some important things. They may not then be able to carry through legislation and culture change – that will come down to Government and the Church, and yes, I suppose they may try to fudge the issue. But, the important thing is that these issues have been brought out in to the open, and we know about them. It is then for us to make sure that what you suggest might happen does not happen, by pestering, badgering our Church leaders and Government ministers, keeping the pressure on, and not taking no for an answer ! I live in hope.

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Well argued and irrefutable. Indeed how did Soper help himself to £120,000 without anyone noticing? He could have had access to a private bank account which wouldn’t surprise me. I knew an ex monk of Douai who had no intention of closing his private bank account as required at Solemn Profession, but used it to finance all those little extras. Can somebody list the names of the so called community at Farnborough as for years it had been my Lord Abbot + one?

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The comment about monks with bank accounts indicates one thing – that some men make solemn vows who don’t give a damn about the meaning of them.
Of course religious may require access to money at times, such as being away from the monastery or studies, which would require access to funds in amounts impractical to carry as cash.
But seriously, keeping hold of your bank account to bolster your quality of life as a monk shows you’re not really interested.
If I may draw a rather extreme parallel, it would be like being celibate but carrying a condom!

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The aspect of not gaving a personal bank account also applies to bishops; in return the church is supposed to look after all material needs. But that doesn’t happen either.

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‘Let he who is without sin…’ I await a plethora of defense lawyers joining today’s conversation to….umm…defend McCarrick 😂

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There is no defence for McCarrick. So, I doubt if many will be defending him here. The question is what this whole episode tells us about the Church, its practices, its culture. As I see it:
1. McCarrick was known about for many decades by others in authority, but they chose not to believe it or to not act on it, and therefore he was allowed to continue and to progress. A highly clericalism culture in the Church allowed them him and them to get away with this. Those people should be made to explain themselves and be made accountable.
2. McCarrick should be laicised and then live out his days quietly in prayer and penance. He should count himself lucky that, at least so far, he is not criminally liable, otherwise he could end up in prison for the rest of his days.
3. McCormick’s guilt and laicisation should not, however, be the cause for completely filleting him. There has to be a degree of mercy in Christian life, even if he showed little mercy to his victims. So, a merciful judgement should be made on McCarrick with the opportunity for him to repent and to do penance, and then to face his judgement before God who will be the final judge and arbiter of McCormick’s life.
4. Dealing with McCarrick as an exemplary case, as Francis appears intent on doing in short order, should not be seen as letting the Church off the hook. They are only acting now late in the game, but there are many more cases in which they are dragging their feet with all sorts of excuses. 0912 gives us a case in point, namely Soper, IICSA and the Nuncio. So, pressure should be kept on Francis and the Church to come clean about every case, and to come up with effective ways of changing the clerical culture of the Church, which is so often at the root of this malaise. See https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/screening-service-reflection-are-mount-angels-antidotes-clericalism for a report on one seminary attempting to put clericalism to bed. How effective this is will only be seen in decades to come.
5. I still have a sense of a Church that is floundering around uncertain what the problem is and how they should deal with it. It does not inspire confidence. The leadership seems to be woefully inadequate and ineffective.

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11:30, can you prove you are Magna Carta? Difficult, given that one of the people or bots who post as Magna Carta says that Magna Carta isn’t real!

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Numbskull Magna, check my avatar: its blue, not green, and is a different design from yours.

Now check my posts on previous blogs: ALL blue, and ALL with the design of my avatar here.

You’re not the brightest, are you?😆

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Actually MC, ‘Let him who is without sin…’ Whichever one of you is posting today isn’t the brightest.

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So McCarrick may loose his skirts.
All window dressing. If one is guilty of a crime one pays the appropriate penalty hi. Concentrate on rooting out other offenders instead all this cap and gown schtuff which is a bawl of poooo but

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Pat you’re blog and Ministry is dead in the water, you like many other’s including myself have very little to offer society anymore!
It’s way past the point of rescue with the same old rhetoric from the few poisonous bloggers!
It’s time to reinvent you’re ministry and become more Christ like with a love of other’s, even your enemies cause all our times are running out on this earth, our Creator is close at hand.

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Well observed, you seem to be a small man that professes to have intellectual observation.
Well done you🤡🤡🤡. Is that all you have to offer then you are well dead in the water!

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9.21: I agree with you. I am a priest and I know that I have to totally renew my way if ministry and service. I’ve not always towed the official approach of the institutional Church but every day I have to rethink my life and the relevance of what I do. Thankfully I know my need of God’s grace but I’m also very conscious of the challenges to be relevant in an increasingly secular society. Thankfully too I am surrounded by good people. I feel strongly that Pat’s ruminations, commentary, opinions and vindictive, vengeful and constant merciless judgments about other clerics has done absolutely nothing to effect real, meaningful renewal. Quite frankly he is tiresome at this stage and is as bad as the clerics he despises. No inspiration ever!

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Well observed, you seem to be a small man that professes to have intellectual observation.
Well done you🤡🤡🤡. Is that all you have to offer then you are well dead in the water!

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It’s about time that this church stopped playing at religion and started both preaching and practising christianity

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Well, that’s a rum list of so called monks at Farnborough. Dom Stephen Darlington has not set foot in the place for donkey’s years, and who else are the others?

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The line-up of titles/prefixes is bizarre. Apart from the abbot there are Rev Dom (2); Rev (1); Dom (3); and Brother (3).

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Not that bizarre when you know you get Dom at profession. The Rev Doms are professed monks who are priests. The Doms are professed monks who are not priest. The Rev (must be a diocesan priest) and the Brs are novices.

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12:57 It’s the case of the Rev who is not a Dom which is curious. And, it doesn’t follow that he is obviously a diocesan priest. He could be a deacon or a priest, and a religious or a diocesan.

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What’s all this about a sister o donoghogue who’s report on sexual abuse was ignored back in 95…in the Times

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Proves the CDF are the biggest bunch of hures. Many a good man has been taken out of ministry because of these contradicting dirty feckers

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