John Magee, Bishop of Cloyne has resigned, the Vatican announced today, according to the New York Times. It's been reported that the Vatican's own investigator found that Magee was involved in the cover-ups that protected Irish priests in his diocese and failed to notify the Garda (police). Evidently, an Irish government investigator says that Magee even obstructed their investigations of two pedophiles. The BBC has a lot more interesting information about this valuable and treasured member of the Irish Catholic church.
Bishop Magee, who is 73, was actually secretary to three popes. The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSC), an entity separate from the church and therefore, it seems, willing to point out its deficiencies on occasion. NBSC had some rather damning things to say about Bishop Magee's handling of two cases of sex-abusing priests according to the BBC.
Anyway, I've been checking out the website for the NBSC. They have an established guideline booklet called Standards and Guidance. I'm really hoping they send a copy to the Teflon Pope.
Anyone not sick of the entire business should definitely take a stroll through the pages of The Irish Catholic wherein one columnist, Garry O'Sullivan congratulates Irish Bishops for having succeeded in doing what centuries of persecution have failed to do: drive people away from the Catholic church.
As an advocate for abused children, and someone who is half-Irish and whose grandparents stopped going to church for unrevealed reasons, I guess I'm just obsessed with the issue at this point. The systematic abuse, over many decades, and the cover-ups, of these pedophile priests is just beyond upsetting to me. In my mind, Hieronymous Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights appears to be iconographic of the moment. The thought of most of the adults in the central and right panels, being replaced by children though is rather disturbing, is it not?
The Catholic church has long held that life is so sacred and that the unborn fetus is to be protected at all costs.
The Catholic church has long held that life is so sacred and that the unborn fetus is to be protected at all costs.
If only they'd held the same philosophy once our children were actually here...
Well the font is all messed up on this post and I will have to fix it later. Just loving Blogger this morning. Apologies to anyone who can't distinguish links properly.
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