CANON LAW PERMITTED ABUSE PRIESTS ESCAPE

Geoffrey Robertson QC calls for end of church law and chides UK government for recognising Vatican's sovereignty in book published today

The system of law operated by the Vatican has allowed serious sex offenders to escape punishment and must be abandoned, says a prominent lawyer.

According to Geoffrey Robertson QC, whose book The Case of the Pope is published today: "Canon law has been allowed to trump criminal law in countries throughout the world. This is a very serious matter‚ the pope through his pretensions to statehood refuses to acknowledge that child sex abuse is a serious crime as well as a sin.

"The Catholic church must abandon canon law as a punishment for priests who commit crimes."

The church's form of law, Robertson argues, "has no public hearings, no DNA test facilities, no enforcement mechanism, and the most severe punishments – excommunication or an order to return to the laity (without entry on a sex offenders' register) – bears no comparison with the sentences of imprisonment or community service that can be expected under criminal law."

He describes the penalties as "derisory", with those found guilty of molesting children required to undergo "chiefly spiritual exercises".

Robertson also argues that the pope cannot legally be considered a head of state and, therefore, covered by diplomatic immunity. The lawyer is highly critical of the British government, which he accuses of failing to understand the international law surrounding sovereignty.

The UK is one of several countries that recognises the sovereignty of the Vatican and the Holy See based on the 1929 Lateran treaty signed by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

"This is nonsense," Robertson told the Guardian. "The Lateran treaty says nothing of the sort, and even if it did the UK would not be bound, since it was not a party.

"The Lateran treaty cannot serve as a credible or creditable basis for the Holy See to claim statehood. The grant of 108 acres – the size of a large golf course – was not pursuant to any international treaty, but rather the unilateral declaration of one sovereign state."

Neither city nor See was ever accepted as a member of the League of Nations, and their offer to join the United Nations in 1944 was rejected "with some derision" by the then US secretary of state, Cordell Hull, Roberston said. "Yet this is the rock on which the Holy See still stands for its sovereignty and statehood."

The law, set out in the 1933 Montevideo Convention on defines states as entities with a permanent population and a defined territory.

Robertson said: "The most dimwitted tourist in St Peter's Square can recognise that before him stands not a state, but a palace with a basilica surrounded by museums and gardens."

The claims come amid growing calls from campaigners for the pope to be arrested for crimes against humanity when he arrives on Monday to begin the first papal visit to Britain in nearly three decades.

Today it emerged that the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, will be among the senior politicians and religious leaders presented to Benedict XVI by the Queen at Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh. There are no plans for David Cameron to attend.

The Vatican has been accepted as a party to international treaties, including the statue for the international criminal court. Robertson argues that even if the Vatican is considered a state, there is still the possibility of an arrest for crimes against humanity under the jurisdiction of the court.

Report in The Guardian, September 7

IRISH INTERCHURCH RESOURCE ON INTEGRATION AND INTER-CULTURALISM

Tomorrow September 8, leaders of the Christian Churches in Ireland will meet in Belfast City Hall to launch a new resource document aimed at promoting the integration of immigrants into church and civic life in Ireland.  

The document, Irish Churches' Affirmations on Migration, Diversity and Interculturalism, is being issued by the Irish Inter-Church Meeting, which represents fifteen Christian Churches on the island of Ireland, including the Roman Catholic Church and Churches of the Protestant and Orthodox traditions.

Adrian Cristea of the Inter-Church 'Parish-Integration Project', which drafted the document, said: "The face of Ireland, north and south, has changed very rapidly in recent years with the arrival of migrants from a large number of countries. We now have a population that includes people from Eastern European, Asian and African countries, and who come from many different faith traditions. As a result, the promotion of integration and the recognition of the richness that comes with diversity have become important issues for Irish society and Irish Churches."

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Rt Rev Dr Norman Hamilton added, "For many people moving to a new country the one thing that makes them feel at home is finding fellow Christians to join with in worship and fellowship. Over the last few years many of our congregations have been experiencing an influx of new members from around the world. It is timely to have this new document that lays the foundations to create vibrant Christian communities that are enriched from the sharing and interweaving of the various traditions and cultures that are now joining together."

Welcoming the publication of the document, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, said: "Christian Churches face the challenging but exciting task of welcoming and including new members who have a different language, different cultural backgrounds, and different experiences and expectations of church membership. In facilitating participation in church and local community life, Churches play a vital role in supporting and promoting the integration of ethnic minorities."

Archbishop Martin noted that the new document sets out ten 'Affirmations' - specific commitments on the part of the Churches of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting to promote integration and interculturalism. The Affirmations include commitments by the Churches to: "recognise and appreciate cultural and ethnic diversity as gifts of God'; "foster faith communities where the rights of each person are respected"; "explore and adopt" ways of worship and systems of administration that respond to the diversity of the Church membership; challenge racism and xenophobia; defend the rights of migrants and advocate for the provision of appropriate services to meet their needs.

Recognising the fact that in recent years, many 'migrant-led Churches' have been established throughout the country, the Affirmations commit the longer-established Churches to "foster co-operation and collaboration" with the 'migrant-led Churches' in providing pastoral care and support to migrants.

Mervyn McCullagh, Executive Officer of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting said that an important feature of this initiative was that all the member Churches had been invited to report in twelve months time on their progress in implementing measures in line with the Affirmations.

NEW BID TO ABOLISH ANTI-RC ACT OF SETTLEMENT

The former Northern Ireland MP, John Taylor - Lord Kilclooney of Armagh, in a letter to The Daily Telegraph yesterday, September 6, stated, “Many Roman Catholics are great loyalists, but there can be a problem when they have to make a choice between loyalty to the United Kingdom or to the Vatican.

“Loyalty to the Vatican state is the priority for many Roman Catholics. The King of the Belgians rather than give royal assent to social legislation passed by the Belgian parlament. If that can happen in a Roman Catholic country, one can envisage even greater constitutional problems in a country which is by majority secular or Potestant”.

A bid to reverse the coalition government’s refusal to include abolition of the Act of Settlement within the Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill has been mounted by an SNP MP ahead of the visit by Pope Benedict XVI later this month.

The Scottish Nationalist MP for the Western Isles, Angus MacNeil, rounded on the Deputy Prime Minister after receiving a parliamentary answer advising that the coalition had no plans to end the discriminatory rules of succession.

Now, by building on the public consultation over the Freedom Bill, which was launched by Deputy Prime Minister and appealed for nomination of “laws you would like to remove or change because they restrict your civil liberties”, Mr MacNeil hopes that the government can be made to think again.

Mr MacNeil declared: “The Act of Settlement represents clear institutional discrimination against millions of our fellow citizens, and the coalition government’s refusal to consider its repeal is lamentable.

He continued: “Nick Clegg has lauded the Freedom Bill, and fancies himself as a great reformer, but his words are not matched by actions or even intentions. There is no better example of an outdated law that should be removed from the statute book and, with Pope Benedict visiting in juts a few weeks, we need to put this on the agenda.

“This is an issue of cross-party and cross-faith concern. The Act is state sectarianism and has no place in a modern society.

“The Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government and Catholic church in Scotland have long called for this institutional discrimination to come to an end to send a signal to society as a whole that religious discrimination of any kind and at any level is unacceptable.

“Changing the Act of Settlement allows us to deal with a fundamental issue of discrimination; it enables us to state clearly that discrimination is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in a modern country.

“The UK Government must act to bring forward real reforms and end institutional discrimination however high up it is,” concluded the MP.

US ANGLICANS URGED TO STUDY COVENANT

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson and Executive Council member Rosalie Simmonds Ballentine are calling on all Episcopal congregations to engage in discussion of the proposed Anglican Covenant at some time during the next two years.

The Episcopal Church leaders suggested in a Sept. 3 letter that congregations consider organizing a discussion group on the covenant during Advent (2010 or 2011) or Lent (2011 or 2012) or at another time before General Convention in 2012.

"In order for General Convention to reflect the mind of the whole church, the bishops and deputies who participate in General Convention need to know the thoughtful and faithful reactions of the many and varied faith communities represented in this church," the church leaders said.

A covenant first was proposed in 2004 as a way for the Anglican Communion to maintain unity amid differing viewpoints, especially on issues of human sexuality and biblical interpretation.

Executive Council, at its June 2010 meeting, approved and commended the Anglican Covenant study guide, which can be downloaded from the Episcopl Church web site.

The study guide suggests questions for congregations to consider, such as: In what ways does the covenant strengthen the corporate life of the Episcopal Church and the common life of the Anglican Communion; and what are the positive and negative consequences of signing on to and living into the covenant?

The church leaders noted in their letter that, if congregations engaged in this discussion and submitted their comments in the coming church year, it would enable the Executive Council Task Force, which Ballentine chairs, "to reflect the church's initial response to the final draft of the Anglican Covenant, and to be included in Executive Council's Blue Book Report to the 77th General Convention." The Blue Book – which includes reports and proposed resolutions from the church's committees, commissions, agencies and boards – is published several months before each General Convention.

From a report by Matthew Davies, for Episcopal News Service, September 03, 2010. 

www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_124323_ENG_HTM.htm

www.anglicancommunion.org/commission/covenant/docs/index.cfm

US BISHOP RETURNS TO DIVIDED DIOCESE

The Standing Committee of a diocese in Pennsylvania says they have lost trust in their bishop who covered up the sexual offences of his brother.

Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania Bishop Charles Bennison returned to the diocesan offices in downtown Philadelphia Aug. 16 amid continued calls for his retirement or resignation.

"We do not believe that Bishop Bennison has the trust of the clergy and lay leaders necessary for him to be an effective pastor and leader of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, nor that he can regain or rebuild the trust that he has lost or broken," the diocesan Standing Committee said in a letter posted to the diocese's website in the late morning. "We believe that it would be in the best interest of the diocese that Bishop Bennison not resume his exercise of authority here."

Bennison is due to meet with Assisting Bishop Rodney Michel on the morning of Aug. 17. Standing Committee President Glenn Matis, Standing Committee Secretary Arlene McGurk and committee member the Rev. Ledlie Laughlin plan to meet with Bennison in the afternoon, Matis told ENS.

The bishop did not answer an Aug. 16 Episcopal News Service request for an interview.

Bennison, 66, said Aug. 5 that he planned to continue to serve the diocese as its bishop. He noted during a news conference that church canon allows for a bishop to serve until age 72, and said that he will continue as bishop "if it seems appropriate and in the best interest of the church" until that time.

Bennison's return to office was prompted by the church's Court of Review for the Trial of a Bishop's decision overturning a lower court's finding that the bishop ought to be deposed (removed) from ordained ministry because he had engaged in conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy. The review court agreed with one of the lower court's two findings of misconduct, but said that Bennison could not be deposed because the charge was barred by the church's statute of limitations.

The review court said that Bennison failed to respond properly in the mid-1970s when he was rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Upland, California, and learned that his brother, John, who worked initially as a lay youth minister in the parish, had been having a sexual relationship with a member of the youth group that began when she was 14 years old. John Bennison was later ordained a priest but deposed in 1977 for an unrelated offense. He was restored to the priesthood in 1980, but was forced to renounce his orders again in 2006 when accusations of his abuse became public.

The Standing Committee said in its Aug. 16 letter to the diocese that "we grieve the pain endured by the victim of abuse, and by her family; our prayers are with her and with all who suffer."

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori inhibited Bennison in October 2007 from exercising his ordained ministry when the church's Title IV Review Committee formally accused him of the inaction. The inhibition expired with the review court's decision.

The Standing Committee, which had been the ecclesiastical authority in the diocese during Bennison's inhibition, has been at odds with Bennison since the mid-2000s over concerns about how he managed the diocese's assets and other issues. More than once in the past it has called for Bennison's resignation.

By Mary Frances Schjonberg, August 16, 2010 for Episcopal News Service.

CHRIST CONDEMNED THOSE WHO ABUSED ‘CHILDREN’

As another priest was sentenced for child abuse in Ireland yesterday, 2nd. September, 2010, see BBC Northern Ireland web site - Peter Saunsers, writing in the series, Five Minutes with the Pope in The Tablet, states:

“I was abused by a family member and two Jesuit priests at the school I attended. Most of us internalise the shame, guilt and pain that accompanies child abuse. This is a crime like no other where the victim is left feeling they did something wrong. Such is the deception and cunning of abusers. Our Lord Jesus made it clear that he condemned those who abused children: "It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble" (Luke 17:2).

“As you know, children are mostly at risk from people who are close to them. Child abusers gravitate to places where they have easy access to children. The Church that we are a part of attracts child abusers because it has a history of protecting offenders and denigrating victims. We know that God hates his house being used as a den for robbers, so we need to stop allowing child abusers to steal the lives and innocence of our children.

“Together the Catholic Church and National Association for People Abused in Childhood could really change the world by shining a light on a place which for many is murky and grim. God created a beautiful place for his children and yet for thousands of years we have stood aside, made excuses and covered up the appalling things done to our children.

“Christ is returning. Let us do what we can to lead the world out of darkness”

The Tablet  of 2nd.Sept. 2010.

www.thetablet.co.uk/article/15190