Papal ally accused of 'ritual beatings'

[IndianaGreen]

Source: The Independent (UK)

Papal ally accused of 'ritual beatings'

German bishop accused of hitting child with carpet beater at church-run home

By Tony Paterson in Berlin

Thursday, 1 April 2010

The child abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church widened yesterday as a leading German bishop personally appointed by Pope Benedict was accused of ritually beating and punching children at a church-run home during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Five former residents of the St Josef's home in Bavaria submitted written statements to Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper claiming the Bishop of Augsburg, Walter Mixa, a controversial conservative churchman appointed by the Pope in 2005, used to hit and degrade them during punishment sessions at the home.

Bishop Mixa's diocese yesterday rejected the allegations as "absurd, untrue and obviously invented in order to defame the bishop".

The allegations emerged as the Vatican prepares a legal defence it hopes will shield the Pope from a lawsuit in the US seeking to have him answer questions under oath related to an abuse scandal. Court documents obtained by the Associated Press show that Vatican lawyers plan to argue that the Pope has immunity as head of state and that American bishops who oversaw abusive priests were not employees of the Vatican. The Vatican is trying to fend off the first US case to reach the stage of determining whether victims have a claim against the Vatican for allegedly failing to alert police or the public about Roman Catholic priests who molested children.

In Germany, Hildegard Sedlmayr, 48, a former resident of the home in the Bavarian town of Schrobenhausen, where Bishop Mixa was a priest, told Süddeutsche Zeitung that at age 15, the bishop dragged her from her bed and punched her repeatedly on the arm.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/papal-ally-accused-of-ritual-beatings-1932764.html

---

That moron from the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, was on CNN today insisting that homosexuals were to blame for all of the abuse cases in the church.

:puke:

[SpiralHawk]

1. Holy Shit - ecclesiastical malfeasance without end

[roguevalley]

11. honestly, they need to be arrested. anyone else would be in jail.

[ShortnFiery]

2. You misinterpret this ... these acts were just gestures of good will ... a wish for an Opus Dei.

:evilgrin: :sarcasm:



http://www.americamagazine.org/content/articles/martin-opusdei.cfm

http://www.odan.org/

In 1982 Pope John Paul II granted Opus Dei the status of “personal prelature,” a canonical term meaning that jurisdiction covers the persons in Opus Dei rather than a particular region. In other words, it operates juridically much as religious orders do, without regard for geographical boundaries. This unique recognition—it is the only personal prelature in the church—demonstrated the high regard in which it is held by John Paul II as well as Opus Dei’s standing in Vatican circles. But it also prompted critics to ask why a professedly lay organization would need such a status. Today Opus Dei counts 77,000 members (including 1,500 priests and 15 bishops) in over 80 countries.

/snip

“The suffering I went through when I left,” says Ann, “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

If ODAN is alarmed by Opus Dei, Opus Dei is alarmed by ODAN. “Let me stress that no one is ever counselled not to speak to their parents.” said Bill Schmitt. “Please keep in mind that some parents do not accept the faith or have had ‘other’ plans for their son or daughter. I do not need to point out to you that the methods these people use are highly objectionable. But we have not pressed this.”

Mrs. DiNicola responded that she would have been powerless had her daughter decided to stay in Opus Dei: “We certainly weren’t going to hold her physically.”

[Walk away]

3. Someone should look into Bill Donohue's past.

He seems to have a lot of child rapists as friends. What do you think they all have in common besides covering up the sordid crimes of the church?

[RKP5637]

4. I saw this hothead "That moron from the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, was on CNN today

insisting that homosexuals were to blame for all of the abuse cases in the church."

What a blunder bust he is... IMO the catholic church needs to go back and rethink/update its purpose and mission in the 21st century. To me they cause quite a bit of unhappiness, always have IMO. This guy is dreaming up anything he can to make them look oh, so innocent and righteous. Sickening...

[defendandprotect]

7. Donahue is a sick man.... "Hetereosexuals are 100X more like to sexually abuse children ...

than homosexuals" --

[felinetta]

5. Jail the criminals and shut down the Catholic church.Religion is the root of all

evil: wars and abuse.  I'm sick of hearing about religions. 
This is the 21st century. Stop talking
crap!

[goclark]

6. Jail the Criminals ~ Yes!

I am Christian and IMO, you are painting with a very broad brush.

[Christa]

28. + 1

Welcome to DU, Felinetta. I hope we see much more from you.

[defendandprotect]

8. Not unlike the Catholic run government schools for Native Americans . . .

beatings, hangings, kidnappings, sexual abuse of every kind -- murder.

[Proletariatprincess]

9. The abuse that is coming to light now is just the tip of the iceberg.

For centuries, women and young girls have been abused with little or no recognition of the suffering caused. Somehow, these crimes have been considered trivial because females of all ages are held in such low regard that the actions of the male clergy is hardly considered a sin and certainly not a crime. Nuns are certainly not exempt from such abuse and now there are reports, mostly from Africa, that nuns are force fed contraceptive pills or even forced to have abortions. Convents have been designated to serve the sexual needs of the priests to avoid HIV infection in some areas. Nuns, who have given birth, are forced out of the Order and suffer disgrace and poverty forcing them, irony of irony, to become prostitutes to sustain themselves.
It seems to be a truism that what ever abuse an hierarchy perpetrates on men and boys, it has already done worse to women and girls. Of course, they were probably asking for it......:grr:

[Shallah Kali]

10. Vatican confirms report of sexual abuse and rape of nuns by priests in 23 countries

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vatican-confirms-report-of-sexual-abuse-and-rape-of-nuns-by-priests-in-23-countries-688261.html

The US article was based on five documents, which senior women from religious orders and priests have presented to the Vatican over the past decade. They describe a particularly bad situation in Africa. In a continent devastated by Aids, nuns, along with early adolescent girls, are perceived by some as safe sexual targets. The reports said that the church authorities had done little to tackle the problem.

The Vatican reports cited countless cases of nuns forced to have sex with priests. Some were obliged to take the pill, others became pregnant and were encouraged to have abortions. In one case in which an African sister was forced to have an abortion, she died during the operation and her aggressor led the funeral mass. Another case involved 29 sisters from the same congregation who all became pregnant to priests in the diocese.

The reports said that the cultures in some African countries made it almost impossible for a young woman to disobey an older man, especially one seen as spiritually superior. There were cases of novices who applied to their local priest or bishop for certificates of good Catholic practice that were required for them to pursue their vocation. In return they were made to have sex. Some incidents of sexual abuse allegedly took place almost within the Vatican walls.

snip

More recently, in 1998, Sister Marie McDonald, mother superior of the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa, put together a paper entitled The Problem of the Sexual Buse of African Religious in Africa and Rome.

She tabled the document to the Council of 16, made up of delegates of the international association of women's and men's religious communities and the Vatican office responsible for religious life. She noted that a contributing cause was the "conspiracy of silence".

When she addressed bishops on the problem, many of them felt it was disloyal of the sisters to send reports.

"However, the sisters claim they have done so time and time again. Sometimes they were not well received. In some instances they are blamed for what happened. Even when they are listened to sympathetically nothing much seems to be done" One of the most tragic elements that emerges is the fate of the victims. While the offending priests are usually moved or sent away for studies, the women are normally chased out of their religious orders, they are then either to scared to return to their families or are rejected by them. they often finished up as outcasts, or, in a cruel twist of irony, as prostitutes, making a meagre living from an act they had vowed never to do.

[dogfacedboy]

12. The RC church has become more trouble than it's worth...

This archaic cult's hierarchy has been a cancer on the Earth for way too long.
The Vatican; the pope; it all has to go.

[Proletariatprincess]

35. K & T!!!!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

13. Pope-appointed bishop accused of ritually beating orphaned children

Source: The Raw Story

The child abuse scandal rocking the Vatican grew yet again Wednesday when former children in a German orphanage submitted written statements that a German bishop habitually beat them.

The Bishop of Augsburg, Walter Mixa, was a controversial conservative churchman appointed by Pope Benedict in 2005 and has been called his friend.

According to the statement, Mixa used to hit and degrade the children repeatedly during sessions of punishment at the Catholic orphanage. Among other details, Mixa is accused of using a carpet beater on the bare behinds of victims as he screamed: 'Satan is in you and I must drive him out.'

A controversial figure in the Catholic church, Mixa previously explained that the liberation movement deserved a 'significant' part of the blame for pedophilia scandals in the church.



Read more: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0331/popeappointed-bishop-accused-ritually-beating-orphaned-children/

---

[Proletariatprincess]

14. creep.

[keroro gunsou]

15. dumbass

fits better. and my family wonders why i think that the RCC is worse than the freakin' mafia.

[defendandprotect]

16. Ah . . . "bare behinds" . . .!!! Think "Satan was in him" . . . !!

The sexual insanities and perversions and violence of the RCC are

spilling out --

[zbird]

17. He bears a striking resemblance to Cheney.

[Gman]

18. "...the liberation movement deserved a 'significant' part of the blame for pedophilia scandals..."

This dirt bag is a friggin' conservative and he wants to smear those more liberal than he is, hence the reference to liberation theology. Absolutely typical right wing response. When you get caught, find some liberals and say you're not as bad as they are. Typical conservative smear anyone in smearing distance when your own ass is in a crack and never show remorse, never apologize.

[CoffeeCat]

19. Gross and disgusting...

...shameful and sickening...horrible and shocking...pathetic and corrupt.

At least this institution is consistent.

[ShockediSay]

20. Itwas monetary corruption thatled to the Reformation andthe Inquisition.

Then the Catholic church decided to enforce celibacy.

Then the Catholic Church institutionalized pedophilia.

Byline
Born and Raised Catholic, and Long Gone in favor of the Word
of the Bible {which by the way has no real serious basis for a Pope,
except maybe as some kind of Anti-Christ.}

[Shining Jack]

21. K&R

What disgusting sadistic perv ! :grr:

[DesertFlower]

22. a f-----g sadist.

someone should beat "satan" out of him.

[rkennedy_68]

23. seriously

what a damn creep

[alp227]

24. RITUAL BEATINGS? Medieval mentality indeed. eom

[gtar100]

25. "sessions of punishment" !?! WTF!

So was it scheduled on Tuesdays?

This sick fuck of a human has probably been piously sitting in front of the church for years extolling the mercies of God Almighty.

The Catholic church needs to be taken from these right wing, authoritarian jackasses. All the potential that the Catholic community has is going to waste because of power-hungry, selfish sociopaths who put themselves into positions of authority. Government, business, and church - it happens in each one of them. The demented come to prey upon the innocent, as if life was for them alone. We've got to take these institutions away from these kinds of people. We've got to get better at recognizing their deceptions.

[Hekate]

26. It's pretty much crystal clear that this criminality goes right to the very top

These unholy bastards blame everyone but themselves for their crimes: the permissive culture of the US, liberation theology, American nuns who took Vatican II to heart and started thinking for themselves, the news media, and above all, children. Innocent, vulnerable, and helpless children.

I'm finding it a little hard to breathe...

Hekate

[wake.up.america]

27. A very good friend of mine recalls a beating he received ...

from a priest in Lenggries after going to confession at an early age. Not knowing exactly what to say at the mandatory confession , he merely repeated what he read of a confession elsewhere. He received a left hook through the opening, then received viscous kicks for his troubles.

[Odin2005]

29. RITUAL BEATINGS!?!

:puke:

[IndianaGreen]

31. Self-flagellation is part of Opus Dei daily ritual

Opus Dei infiltrated the Vatican during JPII's reign. JPII's private secretary was a member of Opus Dei.

[Odin2005]

33. Eww! that is some major mental illness going on there!

[Shallah Kali]

34. John Paul II practice self-flagellation -

Pope John Paul II's Penitential Practices: The Opus Dei Connection
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/2/8/111156/1482

Following the recent revelations that Pope John Paul II engaged in penitential practices including self-flagellation and sleeping on the floor with his arms outstretched, I posted a reflection at the Open Tabernacle blog site about the implications of these revelations for Catholic spirituality today. The report about these penitential practices appears in a recently published book prepared to support the canonization of John Paul. The book notes that its information depends on eyewitness testimony by over 100 people who knew John Paul.

As a supplement to what I posted about Pope John Paul II's penitential practices, I subsequently posted a piece about connections between these practices and a powerful secretive right-wing Catholic organization called Opus Dei. The following is an edited version of that Open Tabernacle article.

Since not all readers may be aware that there is at least one group in the contemporary Catholic church which encourages its members to whip themselves, to wear cilices, and to sleep on the floor or on boards, I'd like to draw attention to the important body of literature that has developed to study and critique Opus Dei's penitential practices in recent years. It's also significant that John Paul II was closely connected to Opus Dei and actively promoted and protected this controversial religious group--about which more below.

It's clear to me from the response to the revelations about John Paul's practice of self-flagellation that this is a topic which elicits strong attention among Catholics and others interested in the spiritual life today. Cindy Wooden's summary of the story of JPII's penitential practices at the National Catholic Reporter website has attracted a thread of lively commentary, most of it strongly critical of the use of practices of self-mortification such as whipping oneself in the contemporary church.


Much more at the link......

[lunatica]

30. Why stop at one form of abuse, er, discipline

Beating children is a long standing authoritarian virtue. It's seen as a form of disciplining children to make them good Christians, good Consumers, good Citizens, good workers, good followers, and it's a family value which is far older than what we liberals think are good parenting skills.

When Republicans talk of family values this is part of what they mean in their world view. Authoritarianism. It's where the father is the head of the family to be obeyed in all things (the father also being the government). It prevails in much of the world.

[harry_pothead]

32. If I were a catholic, I would have five words to say about this:

"I...Hereby...Renounce...My...Catholicism."

[closeupready]

36. How depraved IS the Catholic Church? Just when you thought you'd heard it all,

they really are shown to be the monsters we feared. :mad: