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Women Abused By Clergy Speak Out

Currents News Staff

“And it was like automatic, you know. He wanted to go to the end to ejaculation. And I was just like an object for him, and I had the feeling and he did this a lot of time,” said Lucie.

Lucie is not her real name. She says she was abused by a priest. So does Liene Moreau and Laurence Poujade. None of their alleged abusers have ever faced trial. This is the story of the broken women of St. John. The order of the contemplative sisters of St. John was founded here at Saint-Jodard by Father Marie Dominique Philippe, who preached for the physical expression of affection.

“It was long after his death that the order recognized that he’d been guilty of sexual abuse. But for years there were rumors about other priests and other victims within the order,” Melissa Bell, Saint-Jodard, France.

Lucie was 18 years old and preparing to become an oblate, a lay person consecrated within the church when she says the abuse began.

“You can be 18 or 16 or 20. When you when you have not experienced sexuality and you have suddenly in front of you the sex of a man. It’s just a shock,” she said.

It took Lucie 15 years to be able to talk about it. She then says the church wouldn’t listen. In the criminal courts, the statute of limitations had expired. The Vatican now says it is investigating allegations made by several women against Lucie’s alleged abuser. He was removed from the community 10 years ago, but even now it is the strength of her faith that makes it so hard to take in.

“He’s a priest. He’s a father. He’s near God. He’s like God. He’s the Christ is living in him. He cannot do something like this. I think the worst was to talk. It broke me. It broke my body. In fact. I preferred to have been shot by a gun, or if I have just a leg handicap It’s okay. I can live my life. But here it’s a murder inside of your heart and of your soul, because it’s about faith also. So it’s like something is dead in me,” she said.

Liene was a novice when she was abused. The order of St. John’s says that her alleged abuser, Father Marie Olivier, is now being investigated by the Vatican. He declined our request for comment. Liene only began to put a word on what had happened to her two years ago and by then it was too late to take to the criminal courts.

“The psychological abuse was worse than the sexual abuse. It’s my inner life. He took my dignity, my femininity. All that I was,” she said.

Liene says the abuse went on for 15 years. In the letters she shows us, Father Marie Olivier suggests discretion, adding that his crazy love for her comes from Jesus. We reached out to the Vatican. Its spokesman wouldn’t comment on any specific allegations but did confirm that several clerics belonging to the congregation of St. John were being investigated. Laurence is a former nun who now heads a victim’s organization.

“We are talking about victims who don’t speak out. But what about those who went straight to psychiatric hospitals? What about those who mutilated themselves? I know one case, her parents called me to tell me that she had cut out her own tongue. What can you say? What happened for a victim to do that,” said Laurence.

Not all of the abuse took place here, but the order says that over the course of the last 45 years five priests have been found guilty of sexual abuse in civil courts with three under investigation. Furthermore, two priests have been found guilty of abuse in church courts.

French authorities wouldn’t comment, but the order of St. John gave us a statement, saying that it accepted that errors had been made in the past in the handling of cases of sexual abuse because of a lack of awareness of the suffering caused to the women.

We did try and ring the bell here at the Order of St. John but no one would speak to us on camera. What matters though now is that the order has recognized that there are victims other than those of the founder. Now that acknowledgment came just after Pope Francis had lifted the lid on what he called sexual slavery within the Order of St. John. So what did the Pope’s words mean for the victims?

“Well it was like a bomb,” said Lucie

“It’s a new beginning,” added Liene.

The Pontiff’s recognition may come late, but it does put words on a trauma that for so many had until now been unspeakable.

Breaking The Code of Silence

Currents News Staff

One of the Vatican Abuse Summit’s organizers is saying the code of silence must be broken because only the truth will set the Church free.

Joining Currents News to dig into what’s on the summit’s agenda is the world’s top Vatican expert and the Editor of Crux, John Allen.

Currents News for Tuesday, February 19, 2019

On the newscast: An exclusive report about a young girl prevented from attending her beloved school, in the last days of her life; Hundreds turn out for a memorial to honor a fallen NYPD detective; A firestorm in Haiti is fueled when a teenager is cut down during violent protests against the government; Pope Francis is about to begin the long-awaited summit on clerical sex abuse.

Today’s top news from the Catholic perspective anchored by Liz Faublas. Currents News airs Monday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. EST on NET-TV (netny.tv)

Mom Fights for Better Busing in Honor of Late Daughter

By Emily Drooby

Sally Kabel loved going to school.

“She loved being with other kids, she loved having peers,” her mother Nicole Kabel explained.

Sally spent most of her life fighting leukemia and the devastating side-effects she experienced from treatment. Her mom said there was one place where Sally got to feel like a typical kid. “She didn’t get a lot of normal experiences, simply getting her to be a child in school with other children, was a tremendous accomplishment,” said Nicole.

That is, when she could get there.

For weeks Sally couldn’t, barred from riding the school bus because of bureaucracy. At first the issue was that Sally didn’t have a nurse, a requirement for medically fragile students.

When she got a nurse, the official coding was wrong, so the nurse couldn’t get on the bus. They were running into issues with the child having a car seat.

Sally’s family did everything they could to get the five-year-old to her classroom: running up expenses by driving her to her Manhattan school from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, while also spending hours on the phone with both the Department of Education and the Office of Pupil Transportation to get her back on the bus.

That worked eventually, but only for one year. “It was extremely frustrating,” Nicole recalled.

When Nicole went to sign Sally up for the 2018 school year’s buses, all of the changes she worked so hard to get were gone. She geared up to fight again, but the issues weren’t resolved in time for the new year.

“The school year started I think on September 7 this year, and Sally passed away on September 19,” she said.

Nicole was heartbroken that her then six-year-old missed out on going to the school she loved, in the last weeks of her life.

“I looked at my husband and I said, I am so angry, I am so angry that she didn’t get to go to school and have that joy this past week,” she said. “She fought so hard to be there, and I worked too hard to try and get her there and she didn’t get to go. And the bureaucracy behind that to me is an unforgivable thing.”

Nicole also furious at the lack of support from both the Department of Education and the Office of Pupil Transportation, at rarely getting anyone to answer the office phone, at getting a different person whenever she did get through and at losing out on valuable time with her daughter because she was cutting through red tape.

Now she’s making sure this doesn’t happen to other families.  “They failed her, and they fail so, so many kids, so, so many kids,” Nicole said.

She shared her struggles during an October hearing of the New York City Council’s Education Committee. Her story shocked lawmakers and inspired change.

New York City Councilman Justin Brannen covers the Kabel’s Brooklyn neighborhood has known the family for years because of the struggles they’ve endured with Sally’s illness.

His office currently drafting a bill that would create what he calls a concierge within the Department of Education, someone to ensure special cases like Sally’s don’t get lost.

Councilman Brannan, said, “I think it’s a no brainer of a bill, it has a lot of support. I think once we get it moving, it will become real, and that’s really because of Nicole and the Kabel family.”

Brannan’s office hopes to have the bill introduced by the end of February.

Bishop Accountability Seeks to Publish Names of Accused Priests and Heal Victims

Currents News Staff 

One element to calling the Summit on Sexual Abuse has been the release of names of accused priests and bishops. One organization believes this is the key to uncovering the abuse and finding healing for victims.

Survivors’ accounts, a database of accused priests, and files on bishops are just the beginning of the information Bishop Accountability has gathered on the abuse crisis.

Besides the revelations, the website’s co-director says it also is a relief for victims.

“When they go on our website and see their perpetrators name, immediately, they realize it wasn’t them, you know, that there was someone else who in that it was the perpetrator who’s to blame not them,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of Bishop Accountability.

Doyle is an expert and research analyst on cases of abuse worldwide, but has extensively studied the United States.

“I have always said that the ultimate act of compassion by a bishop is to release the names of credibly accused priests. I’m glad Brooklyn diocese finally did so. But I am horrified to see the number of names on that list. I know it’s by no means a complete list,” she said.

While here in the Vatican, Bishop Accountability is trying to share the truth and names of the priests or bishops have been accused not only of abuse, but also cover-up.

This information comes from their research and also from reports many journalists have started over the years. It’s a very serious matter they believe is not being taken as so here in the Eternal City.

Their research also shows that the United States is one of the only countries with a push for “zero-tolerance,” an idea that has not been spoken about much this week leading up to the Summit.

Death of Haitian Boy Inflames Anger At Government

By Dennis Sadowski

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic Relief Services operations began returning to normal following more than a week of unrest by Haitians frustrated by government corruption and high inflation.

“Today we started on time,” Christopher Bessey, CRS country representative in Haiti, told Catholic News Service Feb. 19 from his office in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. “It was a really good sign. I thought that all indicators were that this was going to be the case for some time to come.”

All but four of the agency’s non-Haitian staff left the Caribbean nation following onset of violent protests Feb. 7, Bessey said. He was unsure when they would be able to return.

“Our focus will be in looking how to bring back staff who left the country as soon as feasible and as soon as we’re somewhat certain that they will be able to come back without having to leave again,” Bessey said.

CRS also employs about 250 Haitians in three offices throughout the country. They were assessing the situation in various locales to determine how soon they could resume full operations.

“We’re making sure it’s safe to get out to the field,” he said.

Demanding the ouster of Haitian President Jovenal Moise, protesters shut down the capital and other cities for more than a week by blocking roads with burning tires, cinder blocks and makeshift fencing. Police clashed with protesters, leading to at least nine deaths.

The protests were the latest in a series against the Moise administration and the wider government.

Warnings against traveling to Haiti by the governments of the United States and Canada remained in place Feb. 19 despite a tense calm across the country.

Demonstrations erupted in July over a 40 percent hike in fuel prices. A 2017 report by the Haitian Senate alleged that dozens of government officials and corporate officials embezzled $2 billion from Petrocaribe, a reduced-price oil aid program offered by Venezuela to several Caribbean nations. Funds under the program were designated for health, education and social programs as well as infrastructure development.

Haitians’ anger also has been fueled by a social media campaign accusing several presidential administrations of misappropriating billions of dollars in aid since the country’s devastating January 2010 earthquake.

In the meantime, Haiti’s currency, the gourde, has been weakened, making the cost of goods more expensive. Other than food, Haiti must import nearly all basic commodities.

Bessey said CRS has joined other nongovernmental agencies in working to strengthen the Haitian government’s ability to respond to the country’s high rate of poverty let alone any natural disasters that occur. The NGOs also are working with families to boost resiliency during a time of high inflation and normally difficult living conditions.

Investments in small enterprises that meet local needs and are not as susceptible to outside economic forces also are underway, he said.

Such efforts, he explained, will allow families and individuals to “bounce back in a more sustainable way.”

ISIS Stronghold Leaves Deep Wounds As Christian Woman Protects Muslims

Currents News Staff

The years of darkness and brutality of the self-proclaimed Islamic State have left deep wounds that will take time to heal, especially among the Yazidi and Christian communities. For months, Pascale Warda, a Christian and former Iraqi minister, has been listening to and compiling the testimonies of the torture suffered, especially by women.

“Christian girls and women were with them and most were tortured. All the thing we have heard they did to Yazidis they also did to Christians, just the Christians were less in number than Yazidis,” said Warda.

Hundreds of these women are still missing. Some have been rescued from the last remaining strongholds of ISIS. The terrorists have almost been defeated by the military. However, there is still fear they will return to attack again if the jihadist mentality is not fought at the root.

“That spirit exists already. Muslims who do not see their neighbor like brothers, like citizens, like partners in the same land and with the same rights, could do this at any time,” said Warda.

In 2017, the city was liberated from the grip of extremists. However, the return of Christians is slow since Mosul is still practically in ruins.

Warda calls for a political compromise in which the rights of all Iraqis are respected and recognized.

“We have to respect this cohabitation, this coexistence, this brotherhood. This is because we feel we are brothers. During Daesh, I, a Christian from Baghdad, received Shiite and Sunni Muslims in my house to protect them and not let them be killed,” she said.

Memorial Honors Fallen Detective

By Tim Harfmann

All day long, Richmond Hill, Queens residents stopped by the 102nd NYPD precinct to pay their respects to Detective Brian Simonsen. “All these guys are such good guys. These guys lookout for the community so much. And it was so heartbreaking to hear that,” said Justin Sarabjeet, a local resident. Flowers, candles, and balloons were part of the growing memorial. Haydee Venn stopped to pray. “This is very painful for the community, especially for me, because we have a lot of respect for the officials,” said Venn, who remembered seeing Simonsen around the community he served. “He was a very nice, very nice person. He listened to the people,” said Venn.

The 42-year-old was a 19-year veteran of the department. A Mass of Christian burial will be held February 20th at 10 a.m. at Saint Rosalie Church in Hampton Bays, Long Island.

The loss hits the Richmond Hill community especially hard. Father Christopher Heanue ministers to Catholics at Holy Child Jesus Church, located blocks from the precinct. “As a priest, you feel a sense of fatherly care, pastoral care that you should have for your local precinct.”So Father Heanue and other worshipers escorted students from the parish’s Catholic academy to the memorial, leaving cards and flowers. “It was difficult to see that it was so close, and then to hear that it was a police officer from our own precinct — in our parish boundary — was difficult to hear, as well,” said Father Heanue. “Years ago, the policeman was your friend. We don’t get that as much anymore. We’d say, ‘good day, officer. Good morning, officer. Nice day.’ We want the kids to realize that the police are your friends, and look at the tremendous sacrifice that they do make,” said Maria Turner. She is a parishioner at Holy Child Jesus Church.

Detective Simonsen was shot by friendly fire on February 13th while responding to reports of an armed robbery at a T-Mobile store in Richmond Hill. Residents said they’ll never forget Simonsen’s sacrifice. “Somebody gave their life to protect someone in this neighborhood, a store owner in this neighborhood,” said Turner. “This community is standing behind them 100 percent,” said Sarabjeet.

Holy Child Jesus Church will honor Detective Simonsen with a Memorial Mass on Saturday, February 23rd at 5 p.m. The church is located at 111-11 86th avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens. The Simonsen family asked people to donate to the Healing Haven Animal Foundation in lieu of flowers. You can go online to healinghavenaf.org and click on the donate button

Cardinal Dolan Reaffirms Commitment to Helping Expectant Mothers

Currents News Staff

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan is vowing the Church will do everything it can to help pregnant women so that no mother-to-be ever thinks abortion is her only option.

During a press conference Monday, Dolan was joined by the Sisters of Life and other organizations who provide services to expectant moms.

Dolan assured the women that the Archdiocese is here to help, saying “any pregnant woman can come to this Archdiocese of New York, to its parishes and facilities, and we will do all in our power to assist you. To welcome you. So that you never have to feel that you have no other alternative except an abortion.”

The Archdiocese does not ask about marital status, immigration status, or even religious affiliations for women seeking help.