Tags: Catholic Church
IICSA's Ealing hearings showed the Catholic Church can't be trusted to police itself
Posted: Mon, 25 Feb 2019 by Keith Porteous Wood
An inquiry has highlighted the Catholic Church's lamentable failings over child abuse at an abbey and school in west London. Keith Porteous Wood says the episode has shown the need for mandatory reporting of abuse. Read More »
21 steps the pope would take if he was committed to tackling child abuse
Posted: Fri, 22 Feb 2019 by Keith Porteous Wood
As the Catholic Church unveils another inadequate plan to tackle child abuse, this open letter from Keith Porteous Wood highlights some steps the pope could take if he was committed to taking effective action. Read More »
Catholic abuse scandals: why self policing always fails
Posted: Mon, 04 Feb 2019 by Richard Scorer
The IICSA inquiry has turned its attention to child abuse at two Catholic schools. Abuse lawyer and NSS vice president Richard Scorer delivered the following opening statement on behalf of several victims. Read More »
The pope's empty words and meaningless gestures won't tackle clerical abuse
Posted: Mon, 07 Jan 2019 by Keith Porteous Wood
One of the pope's Christmas messages urged clerical abusers to hand themselves in. Keith Porteous Wood asks how effective it will be in bringing perpetrators to the courts and assesses the pope's progress over abuse. Read More »
Time to end criminality and cover-up in the Catholic Church
Posted: Mon, 12 Nov 2018 by Richard Scorer
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has turned its attention to abuse in the Catholic Church's archdiocese of Birmingham. Richard Scorer delivered the following opening statement on behalf of several victims.
I represent 29 victims of sexual abuse... Read More »
The Catholic Church’s record on abuse demands accountability, not more meaningless apologies
Posted: Fri, 24 Aug 2018 by Keith Porteous Wood
As the pope prepares to visit Ireland, NSS president Keith Porteous Wood says the international community must confront the Vatican over its shameful record on child abuse and demand action to bring secular justice.
Forty years ago, mass attendance per capita... Read More »
Child protection must come before the reputation of institutions like Ampleforth and Downside
Posted: Thu, 09 Aug 2018 by Richard Scorer
Richard Scorer says a damning report on two leading Catholic schools' approach to safeguarding is a reminder of the need for a law mandating the reporting of suspected child abuse to the secular authorities.
At the end of 2017 the Independent Inquiry into Child... Read More »
The seal of the confessional and child abuse: a religious privilege too far
Posted: Mon, 25 Jun 2018 by Richard Scorer
Some clerics want exemptions from reporting requirements on abuse when it's revealed in the confessional. Accommodating their demands would undermine efforts to tackle child abuse, says Richard Scorer.
The controversy over the seal of confessional in clerical... Read More »
Sturgeon’s praise for Catholic schools will exacerbate Scotland’s tribal divisions
Posted: Wed, 28 Feb 2018 by Neil Barber
Catholic schools are no remedy for a society facing ingrained sectarian division, writes Neil Barber. In praising them Scotland's first minister has shown a willingness to sacrifice social cohesion to reach a block vote.
Often referred to as "Scotland's shame",... Read More »
Only reform of the law can tackle the Church's temptation to cover up abuse
Posted: Fri, 15 Dec 2017 by Richard Scorer
Richard Scorer reflects on three weeks of damning evidence at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. He says mandatory reporting of institutional abuse is necessary to prevent churches from covering it up to protect their reputation.
For the past... Read More »
Abuse Inquiry to investigate Benedictine institutions
Posted: Tue, 24 Oct 2017 by Richard Scorer
An upcoming hearing of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse will be an opportunity to examine the reality behind the Catholic Church's claims that it has transformed its approach to child protection, says Richard Scorer.
At the end of November, the... Read More »
The legacy of decades of abuse in a Catholic children's home
Posted: Thu, 21 Sep 2017 by Mark Boules
Hundreds of children died at Smyllum Park, a home in Lanarkshire run by the Catholic Church between 1864 and 1981. As an order of nuns considers selling the land, calls for a memorial are mounting. Mark Boules reflects on what is left after decades of abuse... Read More »
Cardinal Murphy O'Connor's cover-up of child abusers must be a lesson to the Catholic Church
Posted: Fri, 08 Sep 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the former Archbishop of Westminster, died on 1 September. NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood seeks to set the historical record straight with this alternative obituary. This piece was originally published on Conatus News. It... Read More »
Ireland’s hospitals: some welcome secularisation
Posted: Fri, 01 Sep 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood detects a long-overdue and decisive turn towards secularism in publicly funded healthcare in Ireland, an area in which the Catholic Church has until now been predominant.
The Catholic Church in Ireland has, until recently,... Read More »
The confessional shouldn’t shield child abuse from reporting
Posted: Wed, 16 Aug 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
The Australian abuse commission is right not to exempt the confessional from reporting obligations, and its rigour should provide a model to reverse the backsliding already all too clear in the UK, argues Keith Porteous Wood.
Should priests be legally bound... Read More »
Irish National Maternity Hospital: “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries!”
Posted: Mon, 05 Jun 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
The determination to give a hospital to a disgraced religious order, in spite of public outrage, is the very antithesis of secularism. But the episode has prompted calls for fundamental changes in the relationship between church and state, writes Keith Porteous... Read More »
The Catholic Church’s abuse scandal shows no sign of abating
Posted: Mon, 15 May 2017 by Richard Scorer
After forty years the Catholic Church is still more interested in protecting itself and its clerical culture than in truly eradicating child abuse, writes Richard Scorer.
"Organisational culture is a powerful force that guides decisions and actions. Leaders... Read More »
The Catholic Church in Scotland is still playing the victim card to stifle criticism
Posted: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 by Alistair McBay
There is some lingering anti-Catholic bigotry in Scotland, writes NSS vice president Alistair McBay, but the Church is playing victim while supporting a segregated education system which can only worsen prejudice.
"As one brought up a Catholic, I know only... Read More »
Who is running Ireland – the Government or the Church?
Posted: Mon, 27 Mar 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
The reach and power of the Catholic Church has waned considerably in recent years in Ireland. But there are troubling signs that its undue influence over the country is returning, writes Keith Porteous Wood.
It is difficult to envisage now, but when the UK... Read More »
Mass grave full of children's remains at Catholic home reveals atrocities on a massive scale
Posted: Tue, 07 Mar 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
With the latest revelations about human remains in an Irish Mother and Baby home, Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, seeks answers about how such atrocities could have happened on such a scale, and what can be done now.... Read More »
The new UN Secretary General must not allow religion to override human rights
Posted: Fri, 21 Oct 2016 by Keith Porteous Wood
UN Secretary General designate needs to ignore Catholic pressure to row back on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights and Gay Rights, writes Keith Porteous Wood.
The former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has been officially appointed as the next... Read More »
Religious privilege undermines abuse victims’ access to justice
Posted: Mon, 22 Aug 2016 by Richard Scorer
Richard Scorer, a specialist child abuse lawyer at Slater & Gordon draws attention to organisations seeking more lenient treatment over child abuse-connected matters because they are religious and makes the case for no concessions being given.
Which is... Read More »
Invisible power: how the Catholic Church influences Italian politics
Posted: Thu, 26 May 2016 by Stefano Bonino
Italy's bill on civil unions is an important landmark in the history of successful and unsuccessful attempts by the Vatican to influence Italian politics, writes Stefano Bonino.
The last country in the European Union to recognise civil unions for same sex-couples,... Read More »
Spotlight: This hard-hitting film salutes the journalists who exposed the power of a deeply corrupt institution
Posted: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 by Keith Porteous Wood
Keith Porteous Wood previews Spotlight, the hard-hitting film which depicts the Boston Globe's investigation into the cover-up of child sex abuse by the Catholic Church.
Spotlight, a film released this Friday (29 January), follows the Boston Globe's dogged... Read More »
Catholic hierarchy stand by while nuns’ orders seek to obstruct justice for their abuse victims
Posted: Mon, 06 Jul 2015 by Keith Porteous Wood
Following the failed attempt to obstruct the historic child abuse inquiry in Scotland, Keith Porteous Wood exposes the continuing reluctance of the Catholic Church to face up to and pay for its crimes.
Two orders of nuns have sought and failed to frustrate... Read More »
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