Het heeft een tijd geduurd maar hier dan iets van de achtergronden van ‘de weg naar verzoening’.
Echt close zijn we nooit geworden met de RKK, daarvoor is er een te grote afstandelijkheid, met woorden wordende slachtoffers nu wel gepamperd maar helaas hebben we niemand van de kerk gezien. Wij zijn wel naar hun pastorie / bisschopspaleizen / vergader plekken getogen ontmoetingen in de Tweede kamer maar er ontbrak iets: empathie.
Nadat we samen dit project deden kregen we wel meer begrip voor elkaar echter het doorbreken van de ‘zwijgcultuur’ zit ze niet lekker.
Zoals ik al in de documentaire zeg ‘er zijn conflicten en, dat zweet zal tot in de kleinste poriën, moeten worden uitgeperst’.
Sex and drug ring raided at apartment of high-ranking Vatican cardinal
(The Free Thought Project | Matt Agorist, Earth and Matters)
In 2014, Pope Francis admitted that “about two percent” or 1 in 50 Roman Catholic priests are pedophiles. He then promised solutions to the history of the church essentially condoning the horrid practice. However, in light of recent events, it appears the Pope is either unconcerned with or actually facilitating the abuse and hypocrisy of those within his holy ranks.
Within the last few weeks, scandal has plagued the Vatican as the third highest-ranking cardinal, George Pell, was charged with sex abuse against children in Austrailia. Now, on top of pedophilia, the Vatican can add drug running to its ever-expanding list of corruption.
The newspaper, Il Fatto Quotidiano — translated from Italian to The Face Daily — reported last week that Vatican police raided the apartment belonging to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Ironically, that department is charged with, among other things, tackling clerical sexual abuse.
The occupant of the apartment is alleged by the paper to be the secretary of Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and a key adviser to the Pope.
Coccopalmeria had reportedly just recommended the secretary, who was charged with running drugs, be promoted to bishop. That promotion is apparently on hold at this time.
During the raid, police allegedly walked in on a massive ‘drug-fueled gay orgy’ taking place, according to the report.
Also, as Il Fatto Quotidiano reported, the corrupt clergymen were able to use their church jurisdiction to transport drugs freely without worrying about the Italian police. The luxury cars driven by the traffickers all had license plates and official Holy See plaques that allowed them to move about freely without being worried about getting caught.
The alleged sex ring has been the subject of recent protests in the area by residents who say they heard and saw many unusual comings and goings of people at all hours of the night.
As the Pope preaches reform and claims the church is ridding itself of problem members, it appears, according to all the recent revelations, that the exact opposite is happening. And, it appears that it may even be deliberate.
According to a recent report out of the AP, Pope Francis has quietly reduced sanctions against a handful of pedophile priests, applying his vision of a merciful church even to its worst offenders in ways that survivors of abuse and the pope’s own advisers question.
It is no secret that the Vatican has been sweeping the issue of pedophilia under the rug for many years. In 2014, the UN issued a scathing report, blasting the Vatican for protecting pedophiles.
The U.N. committee’s main human rights investigator, Sara Oviedo, led the most intense grilling the Holy See has received on the issue, according to a report by The Associated Press.
Given the “zero tolerance” policy of the Vatican, she asked, why were there “efforts to cover up and obscure these types of cases?”
Sex, drugs, religion are an escape from reality.
After observing the sheer number of recent alleged crimes committed by members of the church, the answer to that question could be quite simple; corruption within the church is so rampant that cover-ups have become the norm.
Honderden amateursporters hebben ongewenst seksueel gedrag meegemaakt binnen hun sportclub, blijkt uit onderzoek van het tv-programma EenVandaag.
EenVandaag deed onderzoek onder 15.000 mensen die in verenigingsverband sporten of gesport hebben. Daarvan gaf ruim vier procent aan ongewenst seksueel gedrag te hebben meegemaakt.
Mea Culpa is vaak in beeld geweest bij EenVandaag. Doch in de begin dagen van het ‘klokkenluiden’, moesten wij vaak aantonen dat er enig bewijs was voor onze verhalen. Duizenden mensen hebben ons geschreven met de meest schrijnende en ook voor ons, soms ongelofelijke, bekentenissen. Nu blijkt dat misbruik een wijd verspreid fenomeen is waarmee niet iedereen meteen tot celstraf of gecriminaliseerd dient te worden. Daders in de kerk werden niet aangepakt, of werden overgeplaatst en gingen daar lustig verder.
Het tv-programma vond binnen twee weken 642 slachtoffers die te maken hebben gehad met seksuele intimidatie binnen hun sportclub. Zes op de tien hebben serieuze verbale intimidatie meegemaakt. Meer dan de helft, 57 procent, heeft te maken gehad met fysieke intimidatie. Dit varieert van ongewenste aanraking, wat in 47 procent van die gevallen voorkwam, tot ernstigere vormen van seksueel misbruik (14 procent), zoals het verrichten van seksueel getinte handelingen, aanranding en verkrachting.
Minderjarig
Ongewenst seksueel gedrag komt het vaakst voor bij teamsporten en contactsporten, en twee op de drie slachtoffers uit het onderzoek is minderjarig. Echt verschil tussen seksen is er niet: ongeveer de helft van de slachtoffers is vrouw, de andere helft man. Bij mannen lijkt het misbruik wel jonger te beginnen. Meer dan de helft, 57 procent, is jonger dan zestien jaar en een op de vijf zelfs jonger dan twaalf jaar. In 41 procent van de gevallen was de dader een trainer. Andere spelers van de club of teamgenoten waren bij 38 procent de dader en actieve leden van de club, zoals vrijwilligers en bestuursleden, bij 23 procent. Bijna de helft van de slachtoffers heeft met niemand over hun ervaring gesproken (in de kerk een hoger percentage). Een op de tien maakte melding bij de sportclub en slechts één procent deed aangifte. Leuk voor al die statistieken maar wat zegt het over ons? Mensen / dieren!
BBC Panorama has uncovered evidence of repeated cover-ups of historical sex abuse in Britain’s cadet forces.
Victims have spoken for the first time of senior cadet leaders covering up complaints, and pressurising families against going to the police.
Overseen by the Ministry of Defence, the cadets is one of the UK’s largest youth bodies with 130,000 members.
The MoD has paid more than £2m to cadet abuse victims, and says it has “robust procedures in place to protect cadets”.
According to Freedom of Information requests, in the last five years 363 sexual abuse allegations – both historical and current – have been made across the UK for the Army, Air and Sea Cadets.
Some 282 cases have been referred to the police and 99 volunteers have been dismissed.
Panorama’s seven-month investigation focused chiefly on uncovering a pattern of historical abuse – conducted by a number of different cadet leaders – in Glasgow, Birmingham and Hertfordshire.
‘Take it like a man
Media captionMartin: “I’ll never know who I should have been”
Martin was 12 when he was “systematically abused and raped repeatedly over many years” by his commanding officer Brian Leonard, at Tennal Grange cadet base in Birmingham.
He told Panorama: “You are trained to follow orders and you are trained to respect the officers and do as they tell you.
“That includes having to lie on the floor on a dirty blanket and just lie there and… take it like a man.”
Panorama has spoken to 10 men who were abused by Leonard in the 1980s.
Image captionMartin’s Commanding Officer Brian Leonard (right) died in 1996, having never faced justice.
Martin says: “The thing was it was so blatantly obvious, it was almost as if it was hidden in full sight.”
A girlfriend of one of the victims (who has chosen to remain anonymous) threatened to report Leonard to the police in 1987, but cadet officers pressured her to keep quiet.
The sergeant said he would take a statement from her, but warned her not to approach the police. No investigation into Leonard was ever carried out.
Leonard died in 1996, having never faced justice.
Parents pressured
Image captionTony’s attacker was not suspended, he was promoted and moved to another division
Tony was 14 when he joined Cheshunt Sea Cadets, in Hertfordshire, in 1979.
He said he woke to find his commanding officer Alan Waters at his bedside while he was on a weekend trip away.
Tony told Panorama: “I looked down and I was exposed… There was no doubt in my mind that he was touching me, no doubt in my mind whatsoever.”
Terrified of returning, he told his parents – whose complaints were met with a home visit from two Sea Cadet officers, in full uniform.
Tony’s parents were dissuaded from approaching the police by the officers and in return for not taking matters further, they were promised that Waters would be moved from looking after children.
Image captionAlan Waters held a title in a naval veterans’ organisation until March this year
But Panorama has discovered that he was not dismissed or even suspended – he was, in fact, promoted and moved to a division in North London where he was in charge of 10 Sea Cadet units.
What’s more, concerns by other members of the corps after this appointment were dismissed by the very top – the Captain of the Sea Cadets – who said the allegations were “thoroughly investigated” and “not proved”.
Waters was later convicted for separate child abuse offences in India in 2006 and placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
Panorama has found out that despite this, until March 2017 he held a title in a naval veterans’ organisation – as honorary secretary of HMS President Retired Officers Association.
‘Stuck in my mind’
Image captionJoe was plied with alcohol and assaulted at his commanding officer’s flat
Joe joined the Glasgow Highlanders Army Cadets in 1988 when he was 11. His Commanding Officer, John Fitzpatrick, would invite cadets to his flat, ply them with alcohol and sit them in front of pornographic films before bedtime.
Joe told Panorama: “I mean real hardcore stuff that I’ve never seen since I was in that guy’s company…
“Images that have stuck in my mind to this day… if anybody had put images like that near my kids, I’d want to kill them.”
On four occasions, Joe woke up to find Fitzpatrick sexually assaulting him.
Image captionFitzpatrick (left in the 1980s, right in 2016) was sentenced to two years in prison last year
Panorama has discovered that before Joe was abused, another cadet instructor – Gordon – had received complaints that Fitzpatrick had sexually assaulted another boy.
There were two young witnesses. Gordon went straight to the police, but instead of being congratulated his boss was furious.
Gordon told Panorama the boy’s parents defied pressure from senior cadet figures and told the police.
The case went to trial – but Fitzpatrick was found “not proven”. He was welcomed back into the cadets – taking up the position of CO again.
However, last year, Fitzpatrick was charged with lewd and libidinous behaviour against Joe and three other boys. This time the case was proven and he was sentenced to two years in prison.
The Birmingham case was one of the first cadet cases taken on by David McClenaghan, a child abuse solicitor from law firm BBK.
He told Panorama: “I have absolutely no doubt that the abuse in the cadets will mirror the other scandals like the Jimmy Savile case, like the abuse in the scouts, like abuse in the Catholic church.”
The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) says no sphere of society is immune.
But Napac’s chief executive Gabrielle Shaw said the figures obtained by Panorama indicated that people were now more confident about coming forward to report abuse.
She added: “The onus is now on institutions such as the armed forces to deal fully and promptly with reported allegations.”
The MoD told Panorama that today all adults who work with children undergo mandatory security and background checks, rigorous disclosure procedures and regular safeguard training.
A spokesman said: “We encourage anyone who has been a victim or knows someone who has to report it to the police.”
The Marine Society and Sea Cadets (MSSC) apologised unreservedly for any hurt in regard to the case of Alan Waters and said what had happened was “not reflective of our organisation today”.
