Abusive Anti-Gay French Priest Tony Anatrella Sanctioned by Vatican; Survivors Say They Expected More

"Catholic Church Tells Bishops They Are Not Obliged to Disclose Child Sex Abuse: Report," 
Time (11/2/2016)

Earlier this week, the Catholic archdiocese of Paris announced that after investigation of charges made against influential French priest Tony Anatrella, a previous sanction of Anatrella remains in place and and he continues to be banned from celebrating Mass publicly or hearing confessions. He is also forbidden from continuing his work as a psychotherapist.

It's Still Going on — Cover-Up of Abuse Is Still Going on — and Catholics Know This, Do not Trust Their Bishops, and Are Withholding Money

Since some of us recently had a discussion here about Catholics withholding donations to parishes and Catholic institutions because many Catholics see their money put to uses that disgust them, including covering up clerical abuse of minors, I thought I'd draw your attention to this recent article by Brian Fraga. As he reports, Catholic donations to parishes and Catholic institutions in the U.S. are dropping because many Catholics believe their donations have been abused, in particular, to cover up clerical sexual abuse of minors. Fraga writes,

Ruth Krall, Looking Slant: Oppressive Ideologies and Belief Systems (2)

Ebola: Transporting a Sick Child to a Care Facility

This is the second part of Ruth Krall's essay "Looking Slant: Oppressive Ideologies and Belief Systems." The first part is here, and that link also points you to links to three previously published essays in the same series, which Ruth has entitled "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." This current essay follows on the three preceding essays, in which Ruth which hypothesizes the endemic natural of religious and spiritual leader sexual abuse of followers. The current essay continues this theme by asking what might be the role played by various ideologies in establishing institutional climates that faciliate abuse and then cover it up. 

Because this posting is a continuation of the first half of "Looking Slant: Oppressive Ideologies and Belief Systems," footnote numbers start at the point at which footnotes in the first part of the essay left off in the previous posting. Ruth's essay follows:

Michael Sean Winters Asks, "Can the Church Round the Corner in 2019?": My Response

"Can the church round the corner in 2019?" Michael Sean Winters asks in an end-of-year reflection published today. I consider that question, and have to admit: I find my imagination faltering.

"Scapegoating Gay Priests and Pining for a World in Which Most Catholics Agree with Church Teaching on Birth Control Is No Way to Confront the Abuse Crisis"

It needs to be said again: the call of some Catholic pastoral leaders and of some sectors of the church for "purification" & acts of penance (not to mention, showy reactionary piety) in response to the abuse crisis is embedded in analysis targeting queer people. /1

— 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖 𝙳. 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚎𝚢 (@wdlindsy) November 25, 2018

Paris Archbishop Upholds Sanctions Against Vatican "Expert" on Homosexuality, Msgr. Tony Anatrella

A tidbit of news that should not escape our notice as Vigano et al. try to stage a coup toppling Pope Francis, with overt allegations that he has protected a "homosexual network" of church dignitaries who are responsible for the abuse crisis:

As Papal Visit to Ireland Nears, More Commentary on Abuse Crimes in Church: Cover-Up Directed from "Central Command and Control, Which Is the Vatican"

This is powerful! : Names of 796 Tuam Babies written on white sheets and brought to Galway church #Stand4Truth (via @thejournal_ie) https://t.co/IGQFluADTF

— Colm O'Gorman (@Colmogorman) August 17, 2018

Gerry Moriarty, "Pope Francis should cancel Irish visit, says Belfast priest":

Now This: Wuerl Withdraws from World Meeting of Families

Now there's this: as Patsy McGarry reported several hours ago, Cardinal Wuerl has withdrawn from the World Meeting of Families:

A Cardinal who was heavily criticised for his handling of child sexual abuse allegations in the Pennsylvania grand jury report has withdrawn from a scheduled appearance at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin next week, it has been confirmed. 

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, was due to give the keynote address, entitled “The Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World,” in the RDS at 2.30pm next Wednesday. 

No reason has been provided for the decision.

On criticisms of Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty International Ireland of plans for Wuerl to offer a keynote address on families, see my posting earlier today. 

Colm O'Gorman on Wuerl as Keynote Speaker in World Meeting of Families: Will Speak on "Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World"

Read this. This man reappointed known serial child abusers to ministry. Cardinal Wuerl will give the keynote address in the RDS at 2.30pm next Wednesday afternoon, on “The Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World”. #Stand4Truth https://t.co/5Lp14NqlAc

— Colm O'Gorman (@Colmogorman) August 18, 2018

Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, comments this morning on what the Pennsylvania report tells us about Cardinal Wuerl, and about Wuerl's upcoming address on the "welfare of the family" at the World meeting of Families. He also reminds us of who made Wuerl a cardinal — Benedict XVI, who had previously headed the CDF, to which all cases of clerical sexual abuse are required by church law to be reported. So that Benedict had full knowledge of what Wuerl had covered up when he made Wuerl a cardinal:

More Commentary on Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, as Vatican Sends Thoughts and Prayers

Elizabeth Bruenig, "Evil walked the earth in Pennsylvania":

That there should be mass defrockings is obvious. That there should also be a swath of criminal convictions also seems beyond question….Evil is real, and it walked the earth in Pennsylvania. It entered through our church doors.

Valuable Commentary on Pennsylvania Report: "Spokesperson for the Vatican Reached Wednesday Morning Said It 'Has No Comment'"

Valuable commentary I've read in the past two days about the Pennsylvania grand jury report:

James Alison on Homosexuality Among the Clergy, the Anatrella and McCarrick Stories, and the Trap of Clerical Dishonesty

Someone else who understands and has recently commented on the significance of the Anatrella (and McCarrick) story for those trying to revive the gay-bashing "lavender Mafia" theme about gay clergy and gay bishops in the Catholic church: the gay priest-theologian James Alison. Here's his recent commentary in The Tablet, entitled "Homosexuality among the clergy: caught in a trap of dishonesty":

The Bigger Picture in Sexual Abuse Stories Inside One Institution After Another: How Does Everyone Know, but Nothing Happens?

There's a recurring pattern here, isn't there, as if each individual story — spanning different faith communities and other institutions that are not faith communities — is part of a larger story? What is that larger story, and what can those of us concerned to shift this narrative do, so that fewer hapless human beings are victimized in this way within faith communities or other institutions?

Philippe Lefebvre Explains How Anatrella Held On So Long: "If You Are Scared Yourself, You Send in the Dogs. And Anatrella Said Things That Conservative Catholics Like to Hear"

Here's another piece of valuable commentary to which MarkWilliam has pointed us, which places the current hot attempt of those defending the Vatican's "gay expert" Msgr. Tony Anatrella to knock down the ecclesiastical censure of Anatrella and rehabilitate him. This article, entitled "The Secrets of the French Church’s 'Gay Expert', Tony Anatrella," is by Cameron Doody with Hendro Munsterman of Nederlands Dagblad, who has written about Anatrella in that publication.

Anatrella and the Homophobic Catholic Two-Step: Footnote to This Morning's Posting

In what I posted earlier today about the Tony Anatrella story, I mentioned to you that MarkWilliam had offered to translate for us an article about this story from the Italian publication Avvenire. Mark has now posted his translation of that article, entitled "Abusi, la difesa di monsignor Tony Anatrella," by Luciano Moia. Mark's translation is here.

Ecclesiastical Censure of Tony Anatrella: "All Those Religious Officials with Responsibility to Hear This Case in Paris and Rome Have Known the Facts about Anatrella for at Least Two Decades"

In comments here in the past two days, Sarasi and MarkWilliam both noted that they had not seen news* of the recent censure of the influential French monsignor-psychotherapist, Tony Anatrella, who has been relieved of clerical duties after church officials decided multiple allegations that he sexually assaulted men coming to him for "reparative" therapy are credible. As I noted in response to both Sarasi and MarkWilliam, I myself saw little news about this in English-language publications when it happened several weeks ago. I knew about the ecclesiastical sanction of Anatrella because a Facebook friend of mine in Montréal shared with me a statement Philippe Lefebvre made when this took place.

Mary McAleese on Catholic Church As "Primary Global Carrier of the Virus of Misogyny" and on Theology Denying Ordination to Women as "Pure Codology"

This is really Sarasi's post and not mine. In the past two days, she has provided a wealth of links to commentary about the stellar address former Irish president Mary McAleese gave in her opening address to the Why Women Matter conference in Rome this week. I'm simply passing on to you now links Sarasi has gathered and generously shared.

"A Living Symbol of the Catholic Church's Tolerance for the Sexual Abuse of Children": Cardinal Law's Legacy Remembered (2)

Cardinal Law was an evil person.

The fact he’s getting a full dignified funeral while the Catholic Church would certainly deny me one for being in a relationship with another man is really all you need to know about how deplorable it has become. https://t.co/8EFjp3kSg6

— Kayle Clark 🏳️‍🌈 (@kaclk) December 20, 2017

"A Living Symbol of the Catholic Church's Tolerance for the Sexual Abuse of Children": Cardinal Law's Legacy Remembered

I don't want to see a single reference to Cardinal Bernard Law's death that doesn't reference his central role in exposing children to pedophile priests. His actions were as damaging as those priests, and he should have died in jail.

— Robert Merriman (@RobertHMerriman) December 20, 2017

For the New Civil Rights Movement website, David Badash gathers a thought-provoking compendum of responses to news of the death of Cardinal Bernard Law, whose legacy will be summed up by his protection of priests abusing minors, by the lies he told to accomplish that end, by his hunger for ecclesiastical power and power in the secular realm and how he used that power to harm others. As one thinks about this life and that legacy, it's hard not to hear gospel verses ringing in one's ears — about how we'll be judged at the end of our lives according to how we dealt with the least among us; about how what we whisper in the dark will be shouted from the rooftops; about how the crops we reap will be from the seeds we have sown.

Religion (and Politics) Stories in the News: Evangelicals, White Supremacist Marches, Callista Gingrich, Knights of Columbus, Jim Bakker and Antichrist

Some things I have been reading/listening to/sharing in the past few days, which may interest many of you: