Friday, March 8, 2013

Two Cardinals' lists to reflect upon...


Cardinal Ranjith
A positive news to start with: Cardinal Prospero Grech is to deliver one of the meditation sessions at the beginning of the conclave, which will start on 12 March in the afternoon.

The Blog Catholic Church Conservation has listed the following cardinal electors who have either celebrated or at least assisted at the Tridentine Mass:

  • Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, born in 1947, 2005-2009 Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal since 2010 (Tridentina Malta note: Cardinal Ranjith - apparently the most papabile of traditional oriented cardinals).
  • Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien, born in 1938, former Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh and Primate of Scotland, Cardinal since 2003 (will be absent because of 'inappropriate sexual acts').
  • Cardinal Franc Rode, Lazarist, born in 1934, former Archbishop of Ljubljana, em. Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Cardinal since 2006.
  • Cardinal John Tong Hon, born in 1939, Bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal since 2012.
  • Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, born in 1945, former Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal since 2006.
  • Cardinal Luís Martínez Sistach, born in 1937, the Archbishop of Barcelona, ​​Cardinal since 2007.
  • Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, born in 1948, former Archbishop of Saint Louis, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, Cardinal since 2010.
  • Cardinal Francis Eugene George, Oblate of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, born in 1937, Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal since 1998.
  • Cardinal William Joseph Levada, born in 1936, former Archbishop of San Francisco, em. Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal since 2006.
  • Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, Capuchin, born in 1947, Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal since 2006.
  • Cardinal Donald William Wuerl, born in 1940, the Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal since 2010
  • Cardinal Philippe Xavier Ignace Cardinal Barbarin, born in 1950, Archbishop of Lyon and Primate of the Gauls, Cardinal since 2003.
  • Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, born in 1944, Archbishop of Bordeaux, Cardinal since 2006.
  • Cardinal André Armand Vingt-Trois, born in 1942, Archbishop of Paris, and Primate of France, Cardinal from 2007.
  • Cardinal Ennio Cardinal Antonelli, born in 1936, former Archbishop of Florence, former President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal since 2003.
  • Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, born in 1943, Archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal since 2007.
  • Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, born in 1938, Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal since 2006.
  • Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, born in 1935, the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo, former Prefect for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, Cardinal since 2010.
  • Cardinal Angelo Scola, born in 1941, former Patriarch of Venice, Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal since 2003.
  • Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, born in 1933, former Archbishop of Gudalajara, Cardinal since 1994.
  • Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, born in 1939, Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal since 2006
  • Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, born in 1950, Archbishop of Warsaw, Cardinal since 2010.

Another group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) published a far less edifying list dubbed the "Dirty Dozen". Some of the cardinals mentioned above feature (alas) below too. According to this group:

"The following twelve papal candidates are the ones that we are most worried about becoming the next pope. These twelve were chosen based exclusively on their actions and/or public comments about child sex abuse and cover up in the church. Sources include mainstream media accounts, legal filings and victims’ experiences."

  • Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, Mexico
- He blamed the media for “attacks on the church,” alleging “over-reporting” of church sex cases.

- He claimed that there are no “documented” cases of abuse against minors in Mexico.

- He also repeatedly minimized and concealed multiple child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Nicholas Aguilar Rivera who traveled between his native Mexico and the Los Angeles archdiocese, molesting kids in both places. Aguilar Rivera’s current whereabouts are unknown.

  • Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, Honduras
- He said much of the U.S. media was anti-Catholic and that the major networks and newspapers "made themselves protagonists of what I do not hesitate to define as a persecution of the church."

- He also opposes bishops turning allegations of clerical sexual abuse over to civil authorities for investigation and possible prosecution. "I would be willing to go to jail before harming one of my priests -- I am not a policeman," he said.
  • Cardinal Timothy Dolan, New York
- In August of 2011, Dolan took minimal steps against Fr. Jamie Duenas, who repeatedly abused a teenage girl who worked for him and was arrested. Instead of helping the police or the victim, Dolan attacked the victim on his official website for going back to work after the first assault.


- That same year, Dolan kept silent for nine months about the case of Brother Lawrence Gordon, an assistant principal who had child porn on his computer. Such delays and secrecy give predators ample time to potentially destroy evidence, intimidate victims, discredit witnesses, threaten whistleblowers, and fabricate alibis.


- Internal church documents released by a judge last summer show that Dolan devised a secret plan to pay pedophile priests $20,000 each to quietly leave the ministry. Some of the clerics went elsewhere, but Dolan warned no one. At least 12 priests are known to have gotten payouts.

- In 2007, Dolan publicly and vehemently denied paying off offender priests after it was discovered that one notorious priest child sex offender, Fr Franklyn Becker, was given money.
  • Cardinal Angelo Scola, Italy
http://images.ara.cat/mon/europa/ANGELO-SCOLA_ARAIMA20130211_0184_1.jpg
Cardinal Scola - hero or villain?
- In 2010, when Pope Benedict’s role in the sex abuse and cover up crisis was questioned in news accounts, Scola publicly called the coverage an “iniquitous humiliation.”

- In a 2010 homily delivered at St. Peter’s Basilica, Scola refered to the clergy sex abuse crisis, offered no apology to victims and shifted blame and minimized church wrongdoing by stressing that pedophilia “concerns different environments and different categories of persons” outside the church.

  • Cardinal George Pell, Australia
- He claims that church has been a victim of “smears” in the media about child abuse, there are no cover ups, and that it is untrue that the church officials are “inefficient” in handling child abuse cases.

- He worked to secure a court file in which it allegedly states that Pell was present when a boy spoke up about being raped by a priest. Pell called the victim’s statements "irresponsible and untrue."

- Pell does not believe that the royal commission investigating clergy sex crimes and cover ups needs to take place.

  • Cardinal Dominik Duka, Czech Republic
- He claimed that reporting about the abuse of kids in Irish schools was an attempt to “push the church from its position in the upbringing and education” of children

- He also claimed that only 10% of accusations against priests are proven.

  •  Cardinal Tarsicio Bertone, Italy
- He does not believe that a bishop should be required to report a priest who has been accused of sex abuse, saying “if a priest cannot confide in his bishop for fear of being denounced it would mean there is no more liberty of conscience.”

- He blames the child sex abuse epidemic on the “homosexual infiltration” of the clergy.

  • Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Washington D.C.
- In 2010, he refused to take action about Fr. Walter Salisbury – a priest who had been convicted twice of abusing children – who was quietly sent to Maine and continued working there, without any warning whatsoever to parishioners and the public.

- In 2004, he refused to help warn West Virginia families about an abusive Pittsburgh priest (Fr. Jack Hoehl) who was practising in that state as a counsellor.

- He refused, in two dioceses, to take the simple public safety step of posting the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused priests on his diocesan websites. (Some 30 US bishops have done this.)

  • Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Quebec, Canada
- He gave a homily dedicated to clerical sex abuse, talking about the need to open pathways for victims to come forward, but reportedly refused to meet with victims.

- He claims that church’s abuse response should be a model for others.

- He was involved in the recent Cardinal O’Brien resignation, allegedly brokering the deal, which perpetuated the unhealthy practice of essentially letting wrongdoers determine their own punishment (instead of church supervisors clearly and publicly sanctioning those who commit or conceal misdeeds).

  • Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Boston
- In 2008, a national church panel found that, for the second year in a row, O’Malley was violating the US bishops’ child sex abuse prevention policy. According to other church officials, O’Malley was refusing to train all kids in his archdiocese how to avoid or stop being victimized. O’Malley also failed to discipline a single individual on his staff for this violation.

- In 2006, in a case with disturbing parallels to many earlier Boston pedophile priest cases, O’Malley moved very slowly in the case of a prominent Catholic hospital official who faces multiple allegations of sexually harassing employees.

- Under O’Malley’s watch, the archdiocesan abuse policy was revised, eliminating a provision that required the immediate removal of accused priests, and severely limited survivors’ access to archdiocesan files about their cases. Also, under O’Malley’s leadership, the archdiocese “cleared” a very high percentage of accused priests (45%, whereas most diocese have a 10% clearance rate), and has also failed to rule on at least 15 cases.

- O’Malley was one of the last US bishops to post the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics on his website, and when he did, he disingenuously left off roughly one third of the priests – those who worked for religious orders.

  • Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Argentina
- Sandri is closely tied to the controversial Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was a staunch and disingenuous supporter of Fr. Marcial Maciel.

- In 2004, at a basilica in Rome, Sandri also read a letter publicly supporting Maciel and spoke of his allegedly good works.

- Sandri remains a consummate Vatican insider. He's spent roughly 40 years there.

  • Cardinal Peter Turkson, Ghana
- He recently claimed that there were few child molesting clerics in Africa because they didn’t tolerate gay people there.

1 comment:

  1. I am not a Sean O'Malley fan, but fyi, he has been cleared of all complaints.

    ReplyDelete