Posts Tagged ‘Dr Pravin Thevathasan’

A glowing review for the CTS booklet on the sex abuse crisis

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The Faith Movement was founded in 1972. It aims to “offer a new synthesis of science and the Catholic faith as proclaimed by the Church’s teaching authority (Magisterium)”.

As part of that work, they publish a magazine and online articles and reviews. They recently reviewed The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis from CTS, and were full of praise.

The review begins:

“Few issues are as continually being put before us as the tragic clerical sex abuse crisis that has ravaged the Catholic Church in recent decades. As a consequence there is no need to explain either the importance or relevance of the topic of this CTS booklet. What does need to be commented on, however, is the impressive ability of this booklet to do justice to this topic in just 70 small pages.”

It draws attention to the efforts made by the author, to present the moral, psychological and pastoral facets of the problem, while not alienating the lay reader. All in order that this tragedy of sexual abuse that has struck the Church should not happen again.

You can read the rest here.

The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis is available from the CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

Do839 Norms Concerning the Most Serious Crimes - The Norms of Canon Law dealing with crimes of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy have been published here in a comprehensive and updated form, in a document.
DO768 Safeguarding with Confidence – The Cumberlege Commission believes that much progress has been made since Lord Nolan reported, and that the Church is now a safer place; however, it states that there remains room for improvement, and this report makes a number of recommendations
DO849 Priest, Minister of Divine Mercy – This document from the Congregation for the Clergy is a call to rediscover the indispensible value of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and of Spiritual direction, as the vital tools needed for all Christians to answer the call to holiness.
Monday, 30 July 2012 14:26

Clerical sex abuse conference: A journey towards hope

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Towards Healing and Renewal the conference on clerical sexual abuse organized by the Gregorian University in Rome, and actively supported by the Vatican, has been the subject of coverage across the Catholic world and beyond.

The prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) recently addressed the delegates from across the world:

“The past decade has revealed, on the one hand, the inadequacy of an exclusively canonical (or canon law) response to this tragedy, and on the other, the necessity of a truly multi-faceted response.”

The role of the Vatican in general and the CDF in particular, is sometimes in need of clarifying, as Dr Pravin Thevathasan says in his report for CTS, The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis:

“It is important to note two points when referring to current-day procedures within the Church for dealing with sexual abuse:

(1) The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) did not have jurisdiction over sexual abuse cases until 2001.

(2) Nothing in canon law prohibits an alleged case being reported to the police. But canon law does give a wide range of discretion to individual bishops who have to operate in a variety of countries with very different legal systems For example, internal rules within the Church in England and Wales oblige bishops to report to the police or social services all allegations of abuse.

The Church does not see canon law as replacing or superseding civil or criminal law.”

Explaining and reiterating these things in simple terms as the report does, can surely help in the process of healing that the Holy Father has called for.

Cardinal William Levada concldued:

“It bears repeating that the abusers are a tiny minority of an otherwise faithful, committed clergy. Nevertheless, this tiny minority has done great harm to victims, and to the Church’s mission of bringing Christ’s love to the world of today.”

The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis is available from the CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

Do839 Norms Concerning the Most Serious Crimes - The Norms of Canon Law dealing with crimes of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy have been published here in a comprehensive and updated form, in a document.
DO768 Safeguarding with Confidence – The Cumberlege Commission believes that much progress has been made since Lord Nolan reported, and that the Church is now a safer place; however, it states that there remains room for improvement, and this report makes a number of recommendations
DO849 Priest, Minister of Divine Mercy – This document from the Congregation for the Clergy is a call to rediscover the indispensible value of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and of Spiritual direction, as the vital tools needed for all Christians to answer the call to holiness.
Wednesday, 08 February 2012 12:33

Vatican’s response to Cloyne Report: CTS author comments

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Rome has released a document detailing its observations on the Cloyne report into clerical sexual abuse. As the author of The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis Dr Pravin Thevathasan explains, it clarifies some points and raises some questions about recent comments by the Irish Prime Minister.

“The Vatican response to the Cloyne Report is both balanced and sensitive. There is no attempt to play down the crime of sexual abuse. Among its conclusions, it notes that when Irish Prime Minister Edna Kenny claimed that the then-Cardinal Ratzinger had said ‘standards of conduct appropriate to civil society…cannot be applied… to the Church,’ Cardinal Ratzinger was most certainly not alluding to the crime of sexual abuse. The quote comes from the instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian and it quite simply means that revealed truths cannot be arrived at by means of democratic consensus. For example, the Pope is not obliged to condemn Humanae Vitae even if the majority of Catholics choose to ignore it. One cannot help but reach a view that Kenny’s outburst was not after all based on righteous anger.

The Vatican response makes it clear that the reason why formal recognition was not granted to the 1996 policies of the Irish bishops was because the bishops did not ask for it. It also notes that in Cloyne there was a failure to apply Church policy and to follow canon law. The response also says that the now famous letter of Archbishop Storeo in no way attempted to protect predator priests. The Church does not see canon law as replacing or superseding civil or criminal law.”

The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis is available from the CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

Do839 Norms Concerning the Most Serious Crimes - The Norms of Canon Law dealing with crimes of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy have been published here in a comprehensive and updated form, in a document.
DO768 Safeguarding with Confidence – The Cumberlege Commission believes that much progress has been made since Lord Nolan reported, and that the Church is now a safer place; however, it states that there remains room for improvement, and this report makes a number of recommendations
DO849 Priest, Minister of Divine Mercy – This document from the Congregation for the Clergy is a call to rediscover the indispensible value of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and of Spiritual direction, as the vital tools needed for all Christians to answer the call to holiness.
Wednesday, 07 September 2011 12:51

Cloyne Report: Irish PM is 14 years behind the times, says CTS author

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CTS author Dr Pravin Thevathasan gives us his thoughts on the Cloyne report and accusations of narcissism made by the Irish Prime Minister against the Vatican.

The Cloyne Report is rightly critical of the then Bishop of Cloyne and the Vicar General, who both took a “pastoral” approach to the problem of sexual abuse, an approach that simply does not work.

The Report is also critical of a 1997 Vatican letter. I discuss the letter in my CTS booklet The Catholic Church & the Sex Abuse Crisis and I try to show that the letter was an advisory statement cautioning the Irish bishops to follow canon law in order to ensure that a guilty priest is brought to justice by means of due process. In 1997, there was an admitted bias in favour of the rights of accused priests, a bias that does not reflect the views of the Vatican today. There was also then a degree of reservation regarding mandatory reporting, a reservation not limited to the Church as not even the Irish legislators were able to agree on mandatory reporting.

It must also be noted that nowhere in the letter is there any suggestion that bishops should protect predator priests. Nowhere in the letter was there a statement that victims should be discouraged from going to the civil authorities.

I have read works on the sex abuse crisis, both by Catholics and by those who are frankly hostile to the Church. The crisis can be summed up in one word: worldliness, an unholy contempt for the values of the Gospel. It is vitally important for those in authority to teach with renewed fervour on matters of faith and morals.

There have been some surprising developments in the light of the crisis. Some have argued that the new liturgical translations should be abandoned. Others have called for women to be ordained to the priesthood. There is in some circles a concerted campaign to rid the Church of Her teaching authority.

Most recently, came the call by some for the seal of confession to be violated but it is ridiculous and will not happen. It would also be of little benefit to victims of abuse who typically report their traumatic experiences outside of the confessional. Prime Minister of Ireland Enda Kenny has said that the inability of the Church to respond to the crisis shows a culture of dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism at the Vatican. Kenny fails to distinguish between the Vatican of 1997 and the Vatican of today. It also needs to be noted that Church policy on sexual abuse was stricter than that of the Irish government and that the Vatican took action to investigate abuses in Cloyne before the government. In my booklet, I have cited statistics showing high rates of non-clerical sexual abuse in Post-Christian Ireland. What is Kenny going to do about the dysfunction and narcissism in Ireland today?

So what is the way out of the crisis? Certainly safeguarding procedures need to be evaluated. But the real remedy is Eucharistic Reparation. The crisis is a spiritual one and a spiritual remedy is needed.

The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis is available from the CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

Do839 Norms Concerning the Most Serious Crimes - The Norms of Canon Law dealing with crimes of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy have been published here in a comprehensive and updated form, in a document.
DO768 Safeguarding with Confidence – The Cumberlege Commission believes that much progress has been made since Lord Nolan reported, and that the Church is now a safer place; however, it states that there remains room for improvement, and this report makes a number of recommendations
DO821 Priesthood Today – Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue takes the opportunity of this ‘Year for Priests’ to re-examine the role of the priesthood today.
Tuesday, 02 August 2011 12:09

The Abuse Crisis in Ireland: The Holy Spirit & repentance are key to the Church’s recovery – Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor

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One of the places to be hit hardest by the sex abuse crisis is Ireland, with 381 claims of sexual abuse made between 1914 and 1999. Now the first stage of a Vatican investigation into the problem in Ireland has been concluded, according to Vatican Radio.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor is one of six Catholic Church leaders appointed by Pope Benedict to lead an investigation into the causes of abuse within Ireland’s major dioceses and religious congregations. On Monday, the Vatican announced that this so-called “apostolic visitation” has concluded its first stage and that the initial reports have been submitted to Vatican officials.
He spoke to Vatican Radio, telling them that the Church in Ireland will be renewed if the right steps are taken:

“The Church is always being reformed and renewed and that will happen in Ireland too. The Church in Ireland needs our prayers, prayers for the gift of the Spirit, for a renewal of life, and for grace.”

You can listen to the interview here. In it, the former Archbishop of Westminster also points out the historic role that the Church has, and has had in the past, in caring for and educating children.
In the CTS report, The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis, Dr Pravin Thevathasan pays special attention to the problem in Ireland, explaining that two reports were released on this issue in 2009:

“The first of these was the Ryan Report which gives details of six decades of physical, sexual and psychological abuse perpetrated on children in Ireland’s residential institutions run by fifteen religious orders. The second report, the Murphy Report, is a government inquiry into abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin from 1975 to 2004.

“Once again we see two evils: the evil of sexual abuse and the evil of abusive priests being protected by the bishops.”

May we keep this nation – which, as the Cardinal points out, has done the Church so much good and given her so many missionaries – in our prayers at this difficult time.

The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis is available from the CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

Do839 Norms Concerning the Most Serious Crimes - The Norms of Canon Law dealing with crimes of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy have been published here in a comprehensive and updated form, in a document.
DO768 Safeguarding with Confidence – The Cumberlege Commission believes that much progress has been made since Lord Nolan reported, and that the Church is now a safer place; however, it states that there remains room for improvement, and this report makes a number of recommendations
DO821 Priesthood Today – Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue takes the opportunity of this ‘Year for Priests’ to re-examine the role of the priesthood today.
Wednesday, 08 June 2011 15:30
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