Catholic church lawyer details cover-up claims on sex abuse

[cbayer]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0715/Catholic-church-lawyer-details-cover-up-claims-on-sex-abuse

Jennifer Haselberger, the highest-level official from a US diocese to make claims of a cover-up, is a canon law expert educated at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. She alleges a cover-up is happening right now in Minnesota.

By Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer JULY 15, 2014


Jim Mone/AP/FileView Caption

A canon lawyer alleging a widespread cover-up of clergy sex misconduct in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has made her most detailed claims yet, accusing archbishops and their top staff of lying to the public and of ignoring the US bishops' pledge to have no tolerance of priests who abuse.

Jennifer Haselberger, who spent five years as Archbishop John Nienstedt's archivist and top adviser on Roman Catholic church law, also charged that the church used a chaotic system of record-keeping that helped conceal the backgrounds of guilty priests who remained on assignment.

Haselberger said that when she started examining records in 2008 of clergy under restrictions over sex misconduct with adults and children she found "nearly 20" of the 48 men still in ministry. She said she repeatedly warned Nienstedt and his aides about the risk of these placements, but they took action only in one case. As a result of raising alarms, she said she was eventually shut out of meetings about priest misconduct. She resigned last year.

"Had there been any serious desire to implement change, it could have been done quickly and easily with the stroke of a single pen," Haselberger wrote in the affidavit, released Tuesday in a civil lawsuit brought by attorney Jeff Anderson. "The archbishop's administrative authority in his diocese is basically unlimited."

more at link

[AuntPatsy]

1. That continues every where, recently a priest here in my town was recently found to be following in

many of his brothers past times, what was done? He has since left the building so to speak...

Sometimes I just have no faith in the whole of humanity and it honestly saddens me, I used to believe, what I used to believe was the good in everyone...

Knowledge is not always power...

[cbayer]

2. What has happened here is very, very sad.

We can only hope that it will get lots of sunshine and never happen again.

[trotsky]

3. We could also help dispel the notion that the RCC holds any kind of moral authority.

Or their belief that their priests and hierarchy are above secular law.

[cleanhippie]

4. Fat chance. Haven't you heard? There's a new and improved Pope running things now.

He says all kinds of great things, and that should be enough.

[AuntPatsy]

5. The history teaches us that even though it appears things have changed it's obviously

An self informed illusion nothing more...

[Htom Sirveaux]

6. The article should have given more prominence to the fact that

the archbishop who created the national plan that was supposed to protect children from further sex abuse wasn't even following said plan in his own home diocese.

That does not bode well for the efforts of other dioceses.