Current Affairs Only in Murica - non-shootin, non Trump News
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summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Jeez, hope nobody was hurt
Lost myself for hours at a time watching tornado videos on YouTube. Insane how powerful they are.
The video from storm chasers can be amazing as well as being downright nuts - bet that was one of them in the black car just driving down the road to get a closer look at that colossus!
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
The sheer gall of them.
The St. John's Church Food for the Poor Program in Worcester (Kiernan Dunlop).
It’s been 20 years since Boston Globe journalists broke the news of widespread child abuse within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who represented the survivors in their claims against the diocese, said he doesn’t think things have improved much since then.
“The Catholic Church has not changed its way,” Garabedian told MassLive this week, “The change is coming from outside the Catholic Church because of the work of proud clergy sexual abuse survivors, advocates, and attorneys.”
Garabedian said that for centuries the church has put up protective walls which prevented real change, and any programs the church has put in place have not affected any change.
The Catholic Church has faced renewed scrutiny in Massachusetts after the Diocese of Worcester announced it would be placing food pantry director William “Billy” Riley on leave while it investigated claims of “illegal activity involving adults.”
The diocese has confirmed that they’ve received three complaints against Riley.
The news broke when a local nonprofit working to end the sex trade, Living in Freedom Together, released a statement referencing allegations against Riley.
“Prostituted women should not have to have their bodies purchased and violated to access basic resources, including food, in our community,” its statement read.
When MassLive asked Diocese of Worcester Bishop Robert Joseph McManus’ office for an interview about what the church is doing to protect the vulnerable people that use its services, the Bishop said he was not available.
MassLive also reached out to Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s office. O’Malley, who oversees the Archdiocese of Boston, was touted by The Atlantic in 2019 as the “Church’s fixer on sexual abuse” who has spent his life “cleaning up after pedophile priests and their apologists.”
O’Malley’s office first told MassLive to contact McManus’ office saying the Diocese of Worcester is separate from the Archdiocese of Boston. When MassLive explained, both in voicemails and emails, it wanted O’Malley’s insight on why allegations like those against Riley are still coming to light, his office did not respond.
The Diocese of Worcester does have a “Healing & Prevention” section of its website where is states, “it is the role and responsibility of the Diocese of Worcester to implement the Policy of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”
The charter was first issued in June 2002 “to address the allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and includes, “guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability, and prevention of future acts of abuse.”
In February 2019, Pope Francis held a summit related to the sexual abuse of minors in the church, called “Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church.”
Garabedian said Pope Francis has been saying all the right things when it comes to addressing sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, “but there is no action to follow up his words.”
The Diocese of Worcester has a video of McManus discussing the summit after it happened in 2019 on its “Healing & Prevention” webpage.
“Once you listen to the victims, you just become convicted in your conscience that this issue has to be addressed and has to be stopped,” McManus said.
McManus said at the summit, bishops were instructed on the nature of child sexual abuse and how hurtful it is.
On the diocese’s website its says it has a mechanism to respond to accusations of sexual abuse and a Diocesan Review Committee.
There is a link on how to report abuse confidentially, listing a phone number, email, and physical address where reports can be made to Judith Audette, the victim assistance coordinator for the diocese.”
The members of the Diocesan Review Committee include 12 people who don’t work for the diocese and 10 who do, including McManus.
Those outside the diocese include two retired members of state police forces, a trauma specialist, a child sexual assault specialist and a psychologist.
“I would say unequivocally that the Diocesan Review Board, from my perspective as a bishop, is one of the more important ones because I sit there and listen to people like Judith or others,” McManus said, “They have secular knowledge in these areas that certainly I don’t. I never heard the word pedophilia before I was ordained a priest.
While much of the abuse that has happened has been perpetrated by Catholic Church clergy and its lay employees has related to minors, the allegations in Worcester are coming from adult women.
“There is no area of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church that could surprise me at this point,” Garabedian, who has represented survivors for decades, said, “I’ve seen, unfortunately, cases with regard to both genders and sexual abuse of all types.”
Robert Hoatson, a former priest of 11 years who says he was fired for helping victims of sexual abuse, held a protest outside of the St. John’s Food for the Poor Program on March 17.
Hoatson said cops were called about his protest, but he was allowed to stay as long as he remained on the public sidewalk.
He said he came out to protest, because “that place should be closed if their director is sexually abusing people.”
While Riley has been put on leave, the diocese has said that they put an interim director in place and the St. John Food for the Poor Program continues to serve its clientele six days per week “to assure continued food stability.”
Hoatson said he thinks the church is still facing allegations of sexual abuse because “the church still has no accountability
“[There’s] no accountability system in the church, on anybody, you know priests are not held accountable, bishops are not held accountable, and the supervisors don’t hold anybody accountable from the Pope on down,” Hoatson said.
Both Hoatson and Garabedian raised that survivors of church sexual abuse from the 90s and early 2000s are just coming forward with their stories now.
“They’re at the age where they can start to talk about [the abuse],” Garabedian said.
It sometimes takes victims decades to come forward about the abuse because the harm has been so great, according to Garabedian.
“They feel so ashamed,” he said.
In order for the Catholic Church to affect real change, Garabedian called on the investigations into sexual abuse to be completely independent and he called for the church to be more transparent, open, and honest. He also called on survivors to report directly to police.
The Diocese of Worcester announced on March 18 that they retained Attorney Robert J. Hennigan Jr to investigate the claims against Riley.
The Diocese said Hennigan has “no professional or advisory affiliation with the Diocese of Worcester.”
LIFT has questioned the integrity of an investigation paid for by the church.
Hoatson said he believes the Catholic Church needs to be democratized in order for the sexual abuse situation to truly be dealt with.
“The church is a monarchy, an absolute monarchy,” Hoatson said, “You can’t have one man running a nearly billion member institution, it can’t happen. And right now, the only people who have authority are those to whom he gives authority? Well ... it has to be more democratized.”
McManus said the summit at the Vatican acknowledged there had been a lack of accountability for higher-ranking clergy members.
He specifically mentioned Theodore McCarrick a former Cardinal who was laicized in February 2019 following allegations of sexual misconduct towards boys and seminarians.
McCarrick’s actions raised the question, why aren’t the Bishops and the Cardinals and the Archbishops subject to the same type of review and penalties for not reporting sexual abuse or handling these cases properly, according to McManus.
“So I think that has to be addressed,” McManus said back in 2019.
There is a number on the diocese’s website to call in order to report sexual abuse by a bishop and an option to make a report online.
Garabedian said he’s working with just as many survivors of sexual abuse today as he was 20 years ago.
“The right to sexually abuse within the Catholic church is so great that society must amend its criminal and civil laws in order to prosecute, and protect innocent survivors,” Garabedian said.
Those fighting church sexual abuse weigh in on accusations in Worcester
It’s been 20 years since Boston Globe journalists broke the news of widespread child abuse within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who represented the survivors in their claims against the diocese, said he doesn’t think things have improved much since then.
“The Catholic Church has not changed its way,” Garabedian told MassLive this week, “The change is coming from outside the Catholic Church because of the work of proud clergy sexual abuse survivors, advocates, and attorneys.”
Garabedian said that for centuries the church has put up protective walls which prevented real change, and any programs the church has put in place have not affected any change.
The Catholic Church has faced renewed scrutiny in Massachusetts after the Diocese of Worcester announced it would be placing food pantry director William “Billy” Riley on leave while it investigated claims of “illegal activity involving adults.”
The diocese has confirmed that they’ve received three complaints against Riley.
The news broke when a local nonprofit working to end the sex trade, Living in Freedom Together, released a statement referencing allegations against Riley.
“Prostituted women should not have to have their bodies purchased and violated to access basic resources, including food, in our community,” its statement read.
When MassLive asked Diocese of Worcester Bishop Robert Joseph McManus’ office for an interview about what the church is doing to protect the vulnerable people that use its services, the Bishop said he was not available.
MassLive also reached out to Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s office. O’Malley, who oversees the Archdiocese of Boston, was touted by The Atlantic in 2019 as the “Church’s fixer on sexual abuse” who has spent his life “cleaning up after pedophile priests and their apologists.”
O’Malley’s office first told MassLive to contact McManus’ office saying the Diocese of Worcester is separate from the Archdiocese of Boston. When MassLive explained, both in voicemails and emails, it wanted O’Malley’s insight on why allegations like those against Riley are still coming to light, his office did not respond.
The Diocese of Worcester does have a “Healing & Prevention” section of its website where is states, “it is the role and responsibility of the Diocese of Worcester to implement the Policy of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”
The charter was first issued in June 2002 “to address the allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and includes, “guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability, and prevention of future acts of abuse.”
In February 2019, Pope Francis held a summit related to the sexual abuse of minors in the church, called “Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church.”
Garabedian said Pope Francis has been saying all the right things when it comes to addressing sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, “but there is no action to follow up his words.”
The Diocese of Worcester has a video of McManus discussing the summit after it happened in 2019 on its “Healing & Prevention” webpage.
“Once you listen to the victims, you just become convicted in your conscience that this issue has to be addressed and has to be stopped,” McManus said.
McManus said at the summit, bishops were instructed on the nature of child sexual abuse and how hurtful it is.
On the diocese’s website its says it has a mechanism to respond to accusations of sexual abuse and a Diocesan Review Committee.
There is a link on how to report abuse confidentially, listing a phone number, email, and physical address where reports can be made to Judith Audette, the victim assistance coordinator for the diocese.”
The members of the Diocesan Review Committee include 12 people who don’t work for the diocese and 10 who do, including McManus.
Those outside the diocese include two retired members of state police forces, a trauma specialist, a child sexual assault specialist and a psychologist.
“I would say unequivocally that the Diocesan Review Board, from my perspective as a bishop, is one of the more important ones because I sit there and listen to people like Judith or others,” McManus said, “They have secular knowledge in these areas that certainly I don’t. I never heard the word pedophilia before I was ordained a priest.
While much of the abuse that has happened has been perpetrated by Catholic Church clergy and its lay employees has related to minors, the allegations in Worcester are coming from adult women.
“There is no area of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church that could surprise me at this point,” Garabedian, who has represented survivors for decades, said, “I’ve seen, unfortunately, cases with regard to both genders and sexual abuse of all types.”
Robert Hoatson, a former priest of 11 years who says he was fired for helping victims of sexual abuse, held a protest outside of the St. John’s Food for the Poor Program on March 17.
Hoatson said cops were called about his protest, but he was allowed to stay as long as he remained on the public sidewalk.
He said he came out to protest, because “that place should be closed if their director is sexually abusing people.”
While Riley has been put on leave, the diocese has said that they put an interim director in place and the St. John Food for the Poor Program continues to serve its clientele six days per week “to assure continued food stability.”
Hoatson said he thinks the church is still facing allegations of sexual abuse because “the church still has no accountability
“[There’s] no accountability system in the church, on anybody, you know priests are not held accountable, bishops are not held accountable, and the supervisors don’t hold anybody accountable from the Pope on down,” Hoatson said.
Both Hoatson and Garabedian raised that survivors of church sexual abuse from the 90s and early 2000s are just coming forward with their stories now.
“They’re at the age where they can start to talk about [the abuse],” Garabedian said.
It sometimes takes victims decades to come forward about the abuse because the harm has been so great, according to Garabedian.
“They feel so ashamed,” he said.
In order for the Catholic Church to affect real change, Garabedian called on the investigations into sexual abuse to be completely independent and he called for the church to be more transparent, open, and honest. He also called on survivors to report directly to police.
The Diocese of Worcester announced on March 18 that they retained Attorney Robert J. Hennigan Jr to investigate the claims against Riley.
The Diocese said Hennigan has “no professional or advisory affiliation with the Diocese of Worcester.”
LIFT has questioned the integrity of an investigation paid for by the church.
Hoatson said he believes the Catholic Church needs to be democratized in order for the sexual abuse situation to truly be dealt with.
“The church is a monarchy, an absolute monarchy,” Hoatson said, “You can’t have one man running a nearly billion member institution, it can’t happen. And right now, the only people who have authority are those to whom he gives authority? Well ... it has to be more democratized.”
McManus said the summit at the Vatican acknowledged there had been a lack of accountability for higher-ranking clergy members.
He specifically mentioned Theodore McCarrick a former Cardinal who was laicized in February 2019 following allegations of sexual misconduct towards boys and seminarians.
McCarrick’s actions raised the question, why aren’t the Bishops and the Cardinals and the Archbishops subject to the same type of review and penalties for not reporting sexual abuse or handling these cases properly, according to McManus.
“So I think that has to be addressed,” McManus said back in 2019.
There is a number on the diocese’s website to call in order to report sexual abuse by a bishop and an option to make a report online.
Garabedian said he’s working with just as many survivors of sexual abuse today as he was 20 years ago.
“The right to sexually abuse within the Catholic church is so great that society must amend its criminal and civil laws in order to prosecute, and protect innocent survivors,” Garabedian said.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Subtle and tasteful must mean something different in Appalachia. lol
TN Toffee
Player Valuation: £25m
For someone who likely doesn't believe in evolution, that depiction of Jesus certainly looks not quite fully evolved.
Rook
Player Valuation: £80m
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Perfect for the beach.
I love the Amtrak trains but they are more suited for people holidaying than needing to get from A to B. Was there not rumours of airlines scuppering improvements in the train lines?
Sure there has been ongoing talk for decades now of a high speed line between LA and SF which would be amazing. Likely will never happen either. Mad country.
Martin Alvito
Player Valuation: £50m
Flashy Brooklyn pastor and his wife robbed of more than $1 million in jewelry while preaching, NYPD says
A flashy Brooklyn pastor known for wearing designer outfits and extravagant jewelry was robbed along with his wife of more than $1 million while he was preaching at church Sunday, police said.
www.cnn.com
I have so many questions:
1) Where did the funds for the $1 million in jewelry come from? There were 25 congregants present. He has a huge Instagram following, but there are no signs of the usual methods of monetizing a following on the account. I don't get it.
2) If the funds came from the ministry, why would people give money to a man and his spouse that are wearing $1 million in jewelry?
3) Why would you acquire and wear $1 million in jewelry, but not pay for security?
4) Was the jewelry insured? If so, is it possible that this is a semi-sophisticated insurance scam? The pastor did five years in the clink for a multi-million-dollar fraud, and could be in on the heist.
This is one of those Rorschach blot stories where there's just enough information to support almost any narrative someone wants to attach to it.
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