SOME PRIESTS WANT IRISH GOVERNMENT TO PAY THEIR CHURCH HEATING BILLS!

I have zero sympathy with these freeloading, clerical parasites.

The sooner Ireland is rid of these wealthy scroungers and moochers, the better. Like.

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Well I don’t think they’ll be demanding Protestant heating bills be paid, in contrast to yesterday’s comments.
I don’t think religions should be charities except where there is direct practical support like homes, etc, so I actually think the government should be taking more money off them than they are now.

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John Keenan spent THOUSANDS on a Synod and all it has done is gather dust on a shelf.
Nothing came out of it except report and of course they were copied to the Vatican.
But Paisley Dioceses still in debt , too many parishes.
Total waste of money and really does Ireland have five years to gather reports.
The new Archbishop of Dublin Dermott Farrell will be retiring the time it take to implement the Synod and Dublin does not have all that time to spare.
And the Papal Nuncio will likely be away as they usually only do five year stints maybe Archbishop Okolo plans to stay.
Poor Archbishop Eammon Martin will not get a red berretta while a Synod is ongoing.

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‘Jesus won’t forget this’: Catholic Church sued over alleged abuse by late Father Joe Doyle

By Cameron Houston and Chris Vedelago
April 30, 2023 — 5.08pm

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is being sued over the alleged sexual abuse of two school students in the 1970s and ’80s by a priest who was found by the church to be a paedophile in 2005 and continued to perform clerical duties for more than a decade.

Father Joseph Doyle, who died in 2021, has been accused of sexual abuse by two former students of Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Bayswater, where he served as parish priest for 37 years until his abrupt departure in 2005.

Father Joseph Doyle, who died in 2021, is the subject of legal action by two former students of a Bayswater school.

Doyle allegedly molested and raped an 8-year-old boy in 1979 after promising to make him captain of the school’s football team, according to a writ filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria against the church late last year.

It is alleged in court documents that Doyle said, “Jesus won’t forget this”, when the boy attempted to spurn his sexual advances. On another occasion, Doyle is accused of exposing himself to the student while administering the sacrament of confession.

In a second lawsuit against the church, filed last month, Doyle is accused of raping a year 5 girl in the presbytery after befriending her parents in 1989. He allegedly “groomed” the girl by asking her to sit on his lap at the parish school.

RELATED INFORMATION FOR SURVIVORS:

Please note that the state government has announced a redress scheme for Victorians abused in institutional care.

Child abuse
‘A long time coming’: Victoria announces redress scheme for children abused in institutional care

“Following the abuse, Doyle informed the plaintiff’s parents that she had been a ‘naughty girl’,” according to the statement of claim.

Maurice Blackburn lawyer John Rule, who is representing both plaintiffs, accused Doyle of grooming families before preying on their children.

“He wasn’t satisfied with sexually abusing kids, he had to psychologically torment them as well.

“Doyle tore apart so many lives and got away with it. He was allowed to retire quietly by the church without his parish knowing why. The police weren’t notified of his offending and he was able to keep his luxuries and allowances,” Rule said.

Rule said he was concerned the church could request the court to grant a permanent stay in the case because of the time that had elapsed since Doyle’s alleged offending.

“We have seen a rise in defendants using permanent stay applications in historical abuse cases to try and snuff out client’s rights,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne said it would be inappropriate to comment while the matter was before the court, including commenting on whether the church would apply for a permanent stay order.

The lawsuits make numerous allegations about the church’s negligence in how it managed Doyle and its failure to adequately respond to repeated allegations of child sexual abuse made against him.

This included “creating a culture within the Archdiocese which tolerated sexual abuse by reason of the lack of investigation of allegations of abuse, lack of punishment of priests for sexual abuse and demonstrating a willingness to forgive priests for abuse without referral to Victoria Police”, according to one of the statements of claim.

In 2005, the church’s independent commissioner, Peter O’Callaghan, QC – who investigated claims of child sexual abuse on behalf of the Melbourne Archdiocese – found Doyle had abused two boys during the 1970s.

However, O’Callaghan’s report on the abuse was never referred to police.

Catholic Church ordered to make historic sex abuse compensation payout

Catholic Church ordered to make historic sex abuse compensation payout
A victim of historic sex abuse by a WA priest has been awarded a massive payout.

Doyle was banned from practising as a priest by order of the Archdiocese and the Vatican – known as the withdrawal of faculties – which prevented him from conducting mass, last rites, blessings, weddings or funerals. He was also removed from his position in the Bayswater parish that year.

But the church kept the reason for Doyle’s sudden departure a secret from parishioners for more than a decade, with then vicar-general Bishop Les Tomlinson telling the congregation in 2005 that Doyle had simply retired.

Bishop Les Tomlinson (fourth from left) with Joseph Doyle (far right), photographed more than five years after the Melbourne Response ordered Doyle to stop acting as a priest.
Father Doyle’s disappearing act: how a paedophile priest hid in plain sight
The abuse findings were only publicly acknowledged by the church after the cover-up was exposed by The Age in 2016. The Archdiocese also issued an apology for its actions in concealing Doyle’s offending and the real reason for his departure.

Despite the order banning him from acting as a priest, Doyle continued to provide pastoral care to parishioners for more than a decade with the apparent complicity and silence of church authorities.

This included delivering mass alongside Bishop Tomlinson at a church in Mansfield in 2012.

Despite his disobedience, the archdiocese continued to financially support Doyle and claimed to be powerless to stop him from violating the terms of his ban.

“Joe has been pushing the boundaries. I think he is in denial about the seriousness of what has happened, and I suspect that this playing down of the seriousness may be shared by some of his confreres,” Archbishop Hart wrote in 2013 in a letter obtained by The Age in 2016.

“I have acted with the strongest resolve in these matters, but Joe has been particularly difficult.”

If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

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NZ survivors want action and write to Pope
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests – SNAP NZ – has written to Pope Francis urging him to instruct the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference to initiate an urgent, independent and transparent review of the National Office of Professional Standards and its principles and procedures document, A Path to Healing.
SNAP’s unhappy letter to Pope Francis follows the New Zealand Government’s exclusion of faith-based survivors from early compensation pay-outs and a failed appeal to the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference.
The Government wants faith-based institutions to continue with their own redress schemes.
Abuse survivor and spokesperson for SNAP, Dr Christopher Longhurst says it is his opinion that victims and survivors in New Zealand were not being treated justly under the Catholic Church’s redress scheme.
However, Steve Lowe, Bishop of Auckland and Secretary of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference, counter’s Longhurst’s opinion saying the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and congregational leaders have listened to survivors through the inquiry hearings and implemented changes.
Lowe, in a statement, told CathNews that the New Zealand Government is in the process of forming an independent redress scheme for survivors of abuse in state and faith-based institutions and that the scheme follows on from interim recommendations made by the NZ Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
He says the Church is continually updating and improving the complaints and disclosure processes to help survivors of abuse and will continue to engage actively on improvements throughout the remaining time of the Royal Commission and beyond.
Lowe says that the Church recognising the introduction of this scheme will result in significant changes to the Church’s National Office of Professional Standards and A Path to Healing.
Longhurst remains unhappy.
He says he wrote to Cardinal Dew in November 2019, to the New Zealand Bishops Conference and even to the Pope’s representative, Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa, but his group is being ignored.
Following his unsuccessful bid to attract their attention, Longhurst accuses the Church of both a lack of integrity and competence to deal with the matters.
He alleges that while publicly the leaders of the local Catholic church extend an “open hand to the hope of healing”, behind closed doors they traumatise survivors a second time by violating their own procedures. He accuses the director of the National Office of Professional Standards of falsifying the review report of an independent director.
Writing to the pope, Longhurst says:
“Most sadly, we are being harmed by the very Church office set up to provide healing, the Church’s National Office for Profession Standards, tasked with administering Te Houhanga Rongo – A Path To Healing (APTH).
“Sadly, for some time now, NOPS officials have been breaching APTH’s very principles and procedures in managing complaints cases.
“In one case, the NOPS director even falsified the review report of an independent investigator.
“Consequently, abuse survivors are not only being denied the promised compassionate and fair response but also re-traumatised by the very office set up to provide a path to healing,” Longhurst says in his letter.
Reuters says it is uncertain if the Pope has yet seen the letter.

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