The Association of Catholic Priest has strongly protested against Cardinal Timothy Dolan's visitation report on the Irish College in Rome.
The report recommended that priests on the staff at the college's seminary be replaced.
According to the Irish Times, the association called on Ireland’s four Irish archbishops, trustees of the college, and bishops of the priests concerned, “to publicly repudiate this report in the strongest possible terms and to support the priests involved in seeking to restore their reputations."
They protested “in the strongest possible terms against the methodology and conclusions” of the Cardinal's report, saying it had “effectively destroyed the reputations of priests, who have given lifelong service to the Irish Catholic Church, without giving them a right of reply to the allegations made against them."
They also found it “unacceptable that a report to the pope, on a sensitive issue, should be conducted in such an incompetent fashion” and said “no court of law would treat people in such a way."
The four Irish priests at the college, “as clerics, are entitled under Canon Law to their good name. Canon 220 states that ‘No one may unlawfully harm the good reputation which a person enjoys . . .’,” they said, while “civil law also protects a person’s good name through the laws of libel.”
They said it was “ironic ... that it was precisely the failure of church superiors to follow either canon or civil law in abuse cases which led to the Apostolic Visitation in the first place."
The Cardinal's report not only undermined the reputation of priests who had not been given a right of reply, it also undermined “the credibility of the whole visitation process.”
They said it was “disturbing, indeed frightening” that “what a draft response from the four Irish archbishops called ‘a deep prejudice’ appears to have ‘coloured the visitation’ from the outset and ‘led to the hostile tone and content of the report’.”
The judgment of the four archbishops seemed “vindicated in the clear efforts made by Cardinal Dolan’s team to find evidence to support the college’s “gay-friendly” reputation.
While the report did not find such evidence, it still persisted in giving a detailed account of specific allegations and then went on to state that it did not find any evidence to support same.
It begged “the question as to why such detail is included in the report."
The Cardinal's conclusion that “the overwhelming majority of the seminarians are committed to a faithful, chaste lifestyle” did “not justify the detailed, even prurient reporting and naming of individuals and accusations.”
If the accusations were not substantiated, “why not just say so? Is this just incompetence or perhaps homophobia?
“A charge of the latter could easily be justified as a result of the ‘coloured’ thinking that produced this report.”
It was “very disappointing, on a number of levels, to have to conclude (as the evidence of this report suggests) that the Apostolic Visitation had very little to do with child protection but was effectively part of an ongoing process of remaking the church in accordance with current Vatican thinking.”
They concluded “that the injustice perpetrated on four Irish priests is completely unacceptable” and that the incompetent approach of those entrusted with such a delicate task was “disquieting”.
They said there was a strong possibility that the report’s findings “were decided before the evidence was gathered."
6 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Maureen Hawkins | Mar 19, 2013, 05:59 PM EDT
This is from the same sex-obsessed Curia that reprimanded American nuns for caring for the poor when they should have been out stirring up misogynic & homophobic hatred. We need to remember that those in charge of the Church today are products of the 1950s--the Church I left because the priest gabbled full-speed through the Latin Mass in 15 minutes or less in order to have a 1/2 hour to condemn pre-marital sex and another 1/2 hour for the Angelus and rosary. It was (and, unfortunately, is again) a Church that had nothing to do with Christ & everything to do with some heavy-duty Oedipal hang-ups.
KatieMurphy | Jun 18, 2012, 11:37 PM EDT
Dolan ran the Milwaukee diocese from 2002 to 2009. I have a number of links that indicate he shielded molesters from view, and "cooked the books" to hide the money in funeral trusts. To hide it from people seeking Just recompense re their or their childrens molestation...................... Long ago as a child, i was taught - "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when re practice to deceive.".......... .....To Citizen Why - re the one priest they ordained, the problem is the church in general is getting a lot of priests from Africa. Many are under a lot of islamic culture, and will be ever worse on our gay friends and neighbors then the str8 priests..........Also there is a culture in Africa where (again islamic) the woman is second class, its taboo to dare to go against the husband.....Instead of fixing the churches unmarried priest situation, we'll end up with more control extremism especially re the poor nuns / sisters who are now being investigated by u know who........As the CDF - is it going to change its initials to the department of state security - the KGB? The church hates the commies but seems to learn from them when convenient.
CitizenWhy | Jun 18, 2012, 09:37 PM EDT
More and more Dolan will be revealed as a superficial windbag thinking he can get by on twinkly charm and flattering the vainglorious power elite in Rome. Thank God his archdiocese could ordain only one priest this year, and that priest not even a US citizen.
RobertHartley | Jun 18, 2012, 01:12 AM EDT
Hasn't it been all this secrecy in the Vatican, in dioceses, in the church that has brought down this monumental sex abuse catastrophe upon the pope and his cardinals, bishops, priests, etc. Where is this so called transparency that we hear brooded about by church mouth-pieces, who by their further lies hope to cover up this clerical coal fire forever raging underground? Dolan is not to be trusted, He is not is own man. He has sold his soul for a red hat, a capa magna and a pot of Jacob's stew. He will fudge the truth, dissimulate, engage in mental reservations, all to preserve his inglorious image and the image of the Cult that provides him the idolization, prestige, vanity and narcissism he believes he deserves.
eiriamach | Jun 17, 2012, 01:25 PM EDT
Oh the ironies are many! One striking irony is Cardinal Dolan's reason for his "no comment" on the reaction of the Irish bishops. Unlike the Irish press and bishops, HE will not breach confidentiality by speaking about his Top Secret report on the Irish College in Rome! Card. Dolan said, "While obviously others do not consider themselves bound by the promised confidentiality -- so necessary and understandable to assure a fair and honest gathering of information requested by the Apostolic See -- I certainly do." As with the child abuse tragedies and the investigation of the American sisters, the secrecy of bishops, and the resulting lack of transparency in the process, is the PROBLEM! Status quo: no change.
Portia777 | Jun 17, 2012, 11:19 AM EDT
"Down with that sort of thing" Father Ted comes to mind