S
Sarah_Jane
Guest
It spells out to bishops the church’s position on a number of matterswhich canonical crimes fall under the CDF’s jurisdiction, ranging from celebrating the eucharist with a non-Catholic to sexual abuse by a cleric ‘with a minor below the age of 18 years’. Ha! Fooled you, didn’t we! You thought this document was about the sex abuse scandal (which hadn’t yet broken out in the U.S.) and how to cover it up, when really it was simply a clarification of which crimes the CDF has jurisdiction over! Ratzinger’s letter states that the church can claim jurisdiction in cases where abuse has been ‘perpetrated with a minor by a cleric’ and thus prevent the state from doing diddly about them–Not! It says that the CDF has jurisdiction over these cases as far as church law is concerned, saying nothing about what civil courts may do.
The letter states that the church’s jurisdictiontime that the CDF has to hear the case before its competence expires ‘begins to run from the day when the minor has completed the 18th year of age’ and lasts for 10 years. Which says nothing about how long the secrecy lasts, despite what we said in the second paragraph, and which is actually an increase in the amount of time that one normally has to file a complaint, which is normally only three years SEE CANON 1362 §1].
It orders that ‘preliminary investigations’ into any claims of abuse should be sent to Ratzinger’s office (Yes! He really said that! “Send them to my office! Don’t send them to anybody else. Send them to me only. Only I am to see them. Me. Me. Me.”), which has the option if it feels like taking the afternoon off of referring them back to private tribunals in which the ‘functions of judge, promoter of justice, notary and legal representative can validly be performed for these cases only by priests’–it being, of course, a bad idea to let priests be judged by “a jury of their peers.”
‘Cases of this kind are subject to the pontifical secret,’ Ratzinger’s letter concludes. Breaching the pontifical secret at any time while the 10-year jurisdiction order is operating carries penalties, including the threat of excommunication.
The letter is referred to in documents relating to a lawsuit filed earlier this year against a church in Texas and Ratzinger on behalf of two alleged abuse victims whose lawyers are obviously incompetent. By sending the letter, lawyers acting for the alleged victims frivolously claim the cardinal conspired to obstruct justice.
Daniel (“I’m too incompetent to address this matter”) Shea, the lawyer for the two alleged victims who discovered the letter, said: ‘It speaks for itself. You have to ask: why do you not start the clock ticking until the kid turns 18? It’s an obstruction of justice.’
Canon law expert John Q. Obvious pointed out that the “clock” of when the complaint can be filed does not start “ticking” when “the kid turns 18.” The “kid” can bring an action against the priest even if he is under 18 years of age. What the norms do is guarantee that he has until he is 28 to bring the action so that he isn’t forced to bring the action while he is still a child in order to get it heard.
Father John Beal, professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America, gave an oral deposition under oath on 8 April last year in which he admitted to Shea who used thumbscrews to wring the tearful and much-resisted admission out of him that the letter extendedclarified the church’sCDF’s jurisdiction and “control” (Dum! Dum! Dum!) over sexual assault crimes in terms of he Church’s internal law.
The Ratzinger letter was co-signed by Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone who gave an interview two years ago in which he hinted at the church’s opposition to allowing outside agencies to investigate abuse claims.
‘In my opinion, the demand that a bishop be obligated to contact the police in order to denounce a priest who has admitted the offence of paedophilia is unfounded,’ Bertone said. </guilt by association smear>
to be continued…
The letter states that the church’s jurisdictiontime that the CDF has to hear the case before its competence expires ‘begins to run from the day when the minor has completed the 18th year of age’ and lasts for 10 years. Which says nothing about how long the secrecy lasts, despite what we said in the second paragraph, and which is actually an increase in the amount of time that one normally has to file a complaint, which is normally only three years SEE CANON 1362 §1].
It orders that ‘preliminary investigations’ into any claims of abuse should be sent to Ratzinger’s office (Yes! He really said that! “Send them to my office! Don’t send them to anybody else. Send them to me only. Only I am to see them. Me. Me. Me.”), which has the option if it feels like taking the afternoon off of referring them back to private tribunals in which the ‘functions of judge, promoter of justice, notary and legal representative can validly be performed for these cases only by priests’–it being, of course, a bad idea to let priests be judged by “a jury of their peers.”
‘Cases of this kind are subject to the pontifical secret,’ Ratzinger’s letter concludes. Breaching the pontifical secret at any time while the 10-year jurisdiction order is operating carries penalties, including the threat of excommunication.
The letter is referred to in documents relating to a lawsuit filed earlier this year against a church in Texas and Ratzinger on behalf of two alleged abuse victims whose lawyers are obviously incompetent. By sending the letter, lawyers acting for the alleged victims frivolously claim the cardinal conspired to obstruct justice.
Daniel (“I’m too incompetent to address this matter”) Shea, the lawyer for the two alleged victims who discovered the letter, said: ‘It speaks for itself. You have to ask: why do you not start the clock ticking until the kid turns 18? It’s an obstruction of justice.’
Canon law expert John Q. Obvious pointed out that the “clock” of when the complaint can be filed does not start “ticking” when “the kid turns 18.” The “kid” can bring an action against the priest even if he is under 18 years of age. What the norms do is guarantee that he has until he is 28 to bring the action so that he isn’t forced to bring the action while he is still a child in order to get it heard.
Father John Beal, professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America, gave an oral deposition under oath on 8 April last year in which he admitted to Shea who used thumbscrews to wring the tearful and much-resisted admission out of him that the letter extendedclarified the church’sCDF’s jurisdiction and “control” (Dum! Dum! Dum!) over sexual assault crimes in terms of he Church’s internal law.
The Ratzinger letter was co-signed by Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone who gave an interview two years ago in which he hinted at the church’s opposition to allowing outside agencies to investigate abuse claims.
‘In my opinion, the demand that a bishop be obligated to contact the police in order to denounce a priest who has admitted the offence of paedophilia is unfounded,’ Bertone said. </guilt by association smear>
to be continued…