Hanifin to cut lone parent allowance

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin made a royal sweep down the stairs to announce to the nation that lone parent allowances are to be phased out.

It’s not a financial issue she glibly lied; it’s a social policy issue. She gave three reasons for this new ‘social policy’.

The child of a lone parent is four times more likely to be in poverty than in any other family.

The lone parent herself is most unlikely to take up full time employment because she becomes quite attached to the social welfare payment.

The payment mitigates against stable relationships and marriage.

Am I getting over sensitive or is this an incredibly arrogant and patronizing attitude towards those receiving welfare allowances?

Longford cathedral

Although I have long ago left my Catholic roots behind I was sad to see the destruction of Longford cathedral.

The building played a leading role in my youth and religious indoctrination. I was baptized, received Holy Communion and was confirmed in the building, I also served as an altar boy there for a number of years.

It’s always sad to see such fine architecture and art destroyed but it must also be a great shock for those who are still faithful to the Catholic Church. My elderly aunt and uncle live near the cathedral and are shocked at its destruction.

One of my brothers worked on the staff and some years ago gave me the ‘royal tour’ from the crypt to the top of the steeple.

Clearly, all records held in the cathedral will have been destroyed, including mine, but I would be amazed if the precaution of making copies wasn’t taken.

The disgusting disease of religion

The disease of religion

Jawad Zeiniddine, a one-year-old Lebanese Shiite Muslim boy wearing a headband with the name of Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Imam Hussein, joins adults in a self-flagellation ritual during which they cut their scalps with blades to mark the religious mourning event of Ashura in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh.

Ashura commemorates the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Imam Hussein in Karbala, a holy shrine city in modern-time Iraq. Getty Images

We can safely assume that the tears running down the face of this one year old child are tears of fear and pain and not tears of mourning for some long dead relation of Mohammed.

This is the kind of thing that creates a soceity where the rape of children by priests is acceptable.

CRH – Immune from the law in Ireland?

I see Poland’s competition regulator has imposed a massive fine of €26 million on CRH for alleged price fixing and other anti-competitive behaviour (Irish Examiner).

In 1994 the European Commission ruled that CRH was part of an EU wide cartel involved in fixing prices and two years later UK authorities fined the company for similar activities.

Notice that all this law enforcement against CRH took place outside Ireland. The company is never subject to such indignity from so called Irish enforcement authorities.

For example, over 100,000 tons of waste was dumped illegally on a CRH site near Blessington Co Wicklow over a ten year period up to 2001.

The company denied all knowledge of the illegal dumping and, of course, they were believed. The DPP decided to take no action.

The most notorious case involving CRH was the revelation that Haughey’s criminal bagman, Des Traynor, operated the illegal Ansbacher bank from the head office of CRH for years.

This criminal bank, which the Central Bank and Financial Regulator knew about, funded the criminal Haughey for years along with several others from the Golden Circle.

When the mafia operation was revealed CRH denied any knowledge of what had gone on despite the fact that eight of its board members held Ansbacher accounts.

Needless to say, no action was ever taken against CRH or its board members – the very idea!

Skulking around the back streets of Rome

The grotesque farce that is the response of the Catholic Church to the holocaust of child abuse continues.

While the bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray, skulks around the back streets of Rome Archbishop Martin and Cardinal Brady hold talks with the Pope, leader of the most ruthless, most corrupt religion in history, on how best to avoid accepting responsibility for the crimes of their church.

We know it’s all just cowardly, self serving posturing because even a five year old child would know instinctively that a great wrong had been committed, a wrong that required instant justice.

Fuck you – Bertie

“Fuck you” said Green TD Paul Gogarty to Labour TD Emmet Stagg during a hot budget debate in the Dail.

The Irish Independent provides a full list of words that are prohibited in our (corrupt) parliament.

• Brat, acting the brat
• Buffoon, buffoonery
• Chancer
• Communist
• Corner boy
• Coward
• Fascist, fascist minister
• Gurrier
• Guttersnipe
• Hypocrite, bloody hypocrites, hypocrisy, etc
• Rat
• Scumbag
• Scurrilous, scurrilous speaker
• Yahoo

In a way this list makes sense because it reflects a reality that our incompetent and corrupt politicians would prefer to ignore. Take the chancer Bertie Ahern for example.

While the most severe budget in the history of the state was being debated he was traveling around Kerry promoting his rag of a book.

To ensure the comfort and safety of this hypocritical scumbag the screwed taxpayer is forced to provide him with a limousine, driver and two bodyguards.

Consequences of religious indoctrination

The first letter below is from a Mr. Lavery whose mind has been so warped by religious indoctrination he seems to believe that the actions of child rapists and their protectors can be dealt with by an apology and a day of repentance.

The second letter (in response) is from the victim of a child abuser who was abused because people who have been indoctrinated cannot tell the difference between right and wrong.

Report ‘smeared all the religious in Dublin’

Your front page headline quoting Marie Collins, ‘Nothing has changed’ since the release of the 720-page Murphy report is ridiculous beyond belief (December 2).The report has overtly and covertly smeared every priest, brother and nun in the Dublin archdiocese for the past generation.

Is that not a change? I am at a total loss as to what those people who claim to have been sexually molested by members of the clergy want that they have not already been given.

Should there be an investigation into every diocese in the entire island – will it stop then? Should investigations be held in every country in the world that has a Catholic presence? Should the Pope be removed from office? And/or should every person who claims to have been molested in any fashion be paid €100,000 or more?

It is time for all of us to condemn the atrocities that were committed by members of the clergy – which has already been done umpteen times – and then ask for a national day of repentance and reconciliation. Revenge is not a virtue, it is a vice. The Irish people have been given their pound of flesh. Enough have suffered – both those who were molested and the innocents whose names and reputations have been smeared for life.

Vincent J Lavery
Coliemore Road
Dalkey
Co Dublin

I resent suggestion that I or other abuse victims are out for revenge

I WISH to respond to Vincent Lavery’s letter (December 7) in which he said my comment that “nothing has changed” since the publication of the Murphy report was “ridiculous beyond belief”.

If Mr Lavery had read my comments he would know that they referenced the reaction of the Catholic Church leadership. I found that we got yet more apologies — “for the umpteenth time”, to quote Mr Lavery — for the actions of the abusers, etc, but not one leader stood up and addressed the key finding of the report (1.15) in relation to the leadership of the Dublin archdiocese:

“The Dublin archdiocese’s preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the state.”

If expressing my disappointment with lack of a response on this issue is “ridiculous” in Mr Lavery’s mind, then I can do nothing to change it.

I am bemused as to how he could have read the Murphy report and come to the conclusion that it “smeared every priest, brother and nun in Dublin”.

The commission was critical of the men specifically shown to have been abusers and their superiors also specifically shown to have knowingly moved these men into new parishes to abuse more innocent children. The report most certainly did no smear the innocent. My heart goes out to the good priests, nuns and brothers who are doing wonderful work in their communities and have found themselves let down by their leadership.

I resent the suggestion that I or other victims are out for “revenge”. I have worked tirelessly for years to have the child protection measures within the church improved and to ensure that the truth of the protection of abusers by the leadership be revealed. Not to get revenge for anything but to try and ensure that the leadership of the Catholic Church could assess their mistakes and in so doing not repeat them in the future. My only aim has always been to make children safer.

I find Mr Lavery’s reference to “those people who claim to have been molested” in context of his reference to me by name. I never “claimed” to be molested. I was seriously sexually molested by a Catholic priest as a child. He pleaded guilty to his actions in a court of law and went to jail.

As for victims looking for €100,000 or more, I claimed and received £30,000 in relation to medical expenses over a period of 35 years for hospitalisations, doctors and medication to treat the illness caused by my abuse. I gave the archdiocese receipts and documentation backing every pound of this claim. I never claimed a penny for my destroyed life as money can never give you those years back. In answer to Mr Lavery’s question what do “those people” (abuse survivors) want? We want the truth to be known and hope that this will save many innocent young children from the same suffering that we endured. There are abusing men and women in every walk of life and the Catholic Church is no different to any other organisation in that unfortunate fact. What has shocked so many people is that their superiors acted in a way that left children in danger in order to protect the institution and not turned these criminals into the hands of the law.

There is a saying that there are “none so blind as those who will not see”. I will pray that Mr Lavery at some time comes to understand that these reports are not attacks on the Catholic Church. They tell the truth and no one should fear the truth. If the church leadership in Ireland can embrace the truth and work towards a better future it will be time for me and others to welcome the change.

Marie Collins
Firhouse
Dublin

Satan made me do it?

Letter in Irish Examiner.

Guilty churchmen were ‘corrupted by Satan’

HOW could men who were supposed to be dedicated to God and to the welfare of God’s children sink to the level of betraying their God and destroying innocent children, doing them almost irreparable harm?

I believe the answer, simplistic though it may seem to some, is that these men allowed Satan to corrupt their very selves by neglecting humble and sincere prayerful contact with God, a vital part of their priestly training.

Christ gave the example of frequent prayer to God as vital in the continuous battle with Satan. He warned his future first Pope, Simon Peter, that Satan was the dangerous enemy who would strive to destroy him and the church. “Simon, Simon, behold Satan demanded to have you that he may sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again strengthen your brothers.”

St John, in his gospel, relates very dramatically how Satan and possessed the heart of Judas, a priest of Christ, corrupting him so that he went out to betray the Son of God. In his evil endeavour in corrupting numbers of priests throughout the world, Satan strives thereby to destroy the church.

The priests who betrayed their vocation must firstly have themselves cut off contact with their God in the discipline of humble and sincere prayer, which is a vital part of every priest’s daily life. Like every person in Ireland, but particularly as a priest, I am shocked, humiliated and devastated by the horrible events as depicted in the Murphy report and I pray every day for all the people who as innocent children were so terribly harmed and wounded, and I pray God’s forgiveness for those who inflicted the harm and suffering.

St Peter, following the warning of Christ himself, admonished the early church. “Be sober, be watchful, your adversary the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.”

Alas, Satan in his wiles infiltrated the minds of church leaders who opted for worldly wisdom as opposed to divine wisdom in deciding to save the church from scandal as they saw it, rather than protecting God’s innocent children.

The way forward for all, but especially for those in authority, is a renewed and continuous dedication to following Christ in the example of his own life and through putting into practice the prescriptions he gave us in his Sermon on the Mount.

All this can only be achieved by humble, continuous and sincere contact with Christ in prayer.

Fr Con McGillicuddy
Grace Park Road
Drumcondra
Dublin 9

The most bizarre hypocrisy

Cardinal Connell explained the concept of mental reservation to the Murphy Child Abuse Inquiry as follows.

Well, the general teaching about mental reservation is that you are not permitted to tell a lie.

On the other hand, you may be put in a position where you have to answer, and there may be circumstances in which you can use an ambiguous expression realising that the person who you are talking to will accept an untrue version of whatever it may be – permitting that to happen, not willing that it happened, that would be lying.

It really is a matter of trying to deal with extraordinarily difficult matters that may arise in social relations where people may ask questions that you simply cannot answer. Everybody knows that this kind of thing is liable to happen.

So, mental reservation is, in a sense, a way of answering without lying.

I’m going to treat this concept with the absolute contempt it deserves. At no point am I going to give it even a smidgen of credibility because to do so would damage my own credibility and insult my intelligence not to mention the intelligence of readers.

Unfortunately, and incredibly, this bizarre and corrupt Catholic teaching has been treated as a matter worthy of discussion by much of the Irish media over the past week or so.

I want to be absolutely clear here – anybody, with even the smallest self respect for themselves or their profession, should have reacted to this corrupt concept with total and absolute derision.

People like Cardinal Connell and Archbishop Martin, both of whom apparently fully accept the corrupt concept as perfectly reasonable and normal, should have been publicly derided when they spoke in defence of this corrupt concept.

I’ve already said that Archbishop Martin is a dishonest, sly defender of an obnoxious religion and a recent interview on the scandal confirms my view (This Week).

This man’s aim is the very same as that of the bishops who decided that the good name of their (corrupt) church was more important than saving children from rape.

Right throughout the interview he dissembles and evades,refusing to make any direct criticism of his church or any of those responsible for putting children in danger.

Asked what should happen to those named in the report Martin replied that they should be given the chance to give their side of the story in the court of public opinion.

The interview is worth quoting at length to demonstrate how far this so called priest is prepared to go to defend his corrupt church.

Do you think that’s satisfactory?

Public opinion can be sharper than the sword of the law.

How is that to be measured?

It will be measured by the way public opinion acts. Public opinion can act in a way that is lynch law or it can act in a way that the citizens of the country are able to express their…

Has the church no mechanism to act?

I don’t have that authority, I think in the past the resignations have come from those who, they resigned.

On mental reservation:

Mental reservation is where you make a declaration and it’s not untrue but you don’t necessarily tell the entire truth. I’m told that this is precisely the mechanism that was used to take the oath of allegiance at the beginning of this state.

On O’Connell’s evidence regarding mental reservation:

He said he cooperated but what he didn’t say was he had cooperated fully.

I saw that, that isn’t mental reservation.

What is it?

That’s being scarce with the truth.

A lie?

A lie, I won’t go into the intention of somebody, it could be a comment that was made afterwards. It was a comment of somebody else on the action of…

Isn’t the idea of mental reservation to give somebody the opportunity to take things up the wrong way?

It is but a sharp investigator should be able to notice those things. (So the victims who approached the liar Connell for help and comfort didn’t have much hope).

Have you used it?

Have you anything to declare? We all use mental reservations.

Was Desmond Connell right to use it in the context in which he used it?

The question there about cooperating fully, I think it was somebody else actually who said that.

(He doesn’t have the courage to simple say that Connell is a liar).

There was a specific example where he used the were and are, it was a difference of tense to avoid telling the full truth. Was it right to use it in that context?

If there was a deliberate attempt to hide the truth it was not right but I can’t judge exactly what was going on in a man’s mind at that stage, it would be unfair to do that.

This is the man who is almost universally praised for his response to the child abuse holocaust. He simply doesn’t have it in him to make any serious criticism of his church or any of the ruthless perverted criminals who populate its ranks.

If Martin was the man he likes to portray himself as he would, after learning the full horror of what had happened, have ripped off his collar and threw it in the gutter.

I agree completely with Richard Dawkins when he says that religious indoctrination amounts to child abuse.

In my opinion Cardinal Connell’s response to the wholesale rape of children stems largely from the psychological damage inflicted on him by religious indoctrination.

Archbishop Martin’s defence of his corrupt church is also an indication of psychological damage caused by religious indoctrination when he was a child.

The only difference between these two men and the terrorists who flew planes into the twin towers is one of degree; both actions resulted in massive suffering to innocent human beings.

It is an absolute certainty that that suffering will continue until such time as the Catholic Church is destroyed.