Don't ring me...!

I am still quite bemused why Premier christian radio still phone me up for comments when there is yet another ridiculous and in this case, quite offensive, PR stunt coming from the vatican.They are talking of course of the pope’s insulting idea to meet with “victims” 

Interviewer” What do you think about the popes statement that he is prepared to meet with half a dozen “victims”

Me: “Utterly ridiculous, another in a long line of meaningless PR stunts” 

Interviewer: “ What good do you expect to  come  out of such a meeting?”

Me: None whatsoever, apart from whatever publicity the vatican can muster for themselves , it will do NO good to survivors, and can only benefit the vatican”

Interviewer : What do you think of the pope likening child abuse to performing a black mass”

Me: I wonder which century he thinks he is living in”

Interviewer :“But don’t you think his likening it to satanic practice significant?”

Me:” I would be happier if he recognised that the rest of the world view it as a crime against humanity!”

Interviewer:” What else could he do? 

Me:” Everything he has been TOLD to do by hundreds of lawyers, thousands of survivors loads of activists and now TWO U.N. committees! Simple!”

Interviewer:” He did say there would be zero tolerance for clergy abusing children”

Me:“So what does he want brownie points for catching up with everyone else! There isn’t a  decent person on the planet who would suggest anything but zero tolerance!”

Interviewer: “Don’t you think it is good that he is “reaching out” ?

 Me: “Reaching out! reaching out! what are you talking about! When hundreds of thousands of clergy abuse victims have been SCREAMING OUT for decades? and they have been dismissed, disregarded, lied about, abused over and over again! What the hell do they know about “reaching out”! We don’t want them to “reach out” we want them to be held to account! 

Interviewer: “What would you say if you were invited to go?” 

Me: NO !

Interviewer:”But if you were invited what would you say to the pope?”

Me: It wouldn’t happen because I wouldn’t go!”

Interviewer : But just imagine you did go?” 

Me: I cannot imagine anything worse, I simply would NOT be there! 

Interviewer:  “:But there will be some victims who will go”

Me:” Yes you are absolutely right, there will be some hand picked ”victims” who are still in the grip of the church, or  naively imagine they have some clout, but they will be used and abused again,even if we ever get to know who they are! and they will remain just that -Victims 

You would not catch a SURVIVOR  going anywhere near them!

Interviewer : Well thank you very much for taking the time to tell us your thoughts”

Me: “My pleasure”

Me: Away from the radio “What the f... do they still ring me for? I never say anything they want to hear!

And which part of “We won’t dance to the tune of this  narcissistic criminal organisation” do they not understand?

I am being told that “victims” are divided about this visit!

Well "victims" may be   SURVIVORS are not!

More insults!!!!!

It is rare that I scream abuse at the radio these days, maybe I am growing up?

But I have just heard the report that the pope is prepared to meet “victims” of clergy sexual abuse! That radio took a beating!

How many more INSULTS can this pope throw at us!

Yet again he has come out with an offensive, meaningless gesture after the UN committee has slammed the vatican for their appalling attitude to handling child abuse!

He says he will meet with six “victims”, say a mass with them and then meet with them afterwards 

WHAT!

How much more nonsense can he come up with!

Here is the thing!

WE DON”T WANT TO MEET YOU! We do not see you as some sort of deity or celebrity- you are the head of an organisation which has been responsible for the destruction of thousands of lives!

It is YOU who should be begging to meet with the hundreds of thousands of abuse SURVIVORS worldwide, and listen to their instructions! You need to do ll of the things the UN are telling you to do, you need to open up to independant secular scrutiny and SHUT UP!

You are no longer in charge!

The “victims” will be hand picked, from those who are still in the grips of your church, they will be used and abused for photographs and PR,or we will probably never know their names, and  they will be INEVITABLY damaged even further.

The rest of us - the MAJORITY of survivors don’t want anything the hell to do with a church which has disregarded and dismissed us for decades.

These meaningless, empty, useless  PR DEMONSTRATIONS are OFFENSIVE!

He says he  will have zero tolerance to clergy abuse crimes, likening them to “Devil worship” or performing a “Black Mass”

What century is he living in? Are we supposed to be impressed by these words?

These are CRIMES! they are acts of torture, and are human rights violations.

They cause  physical and permanent BRAIN DAMAGE,and shorten life spans, and that damage can be passed on to the next generation and the next.....

So as I sit here screaming at the TV and radio with my nine  life threatening or life limiting disorders , my distorted life path, a shortened life span the last thing I need slimy duplicitous, unfeeling arrogant PR man standing up on his pedestal hurling yet more abuse and insults at me and my brave justice deprived fellow survivors.

It is time to get ANGRY at being constantly insulted and abused.

Victory in Geneva!

Report from Geneva

May 2014

The Holy See's investigation by the UN Committee against torture and Inhuman and degrading treatment.

Sue Cox

Survivors Voice -Europe  are delighted by the outcome of the report against the Holy See after making our submission to the UN Committee Against Torture and degrading and inhuman treatment,(CAT)

This is the second time we have submitted evidence to the UN , the first being the committee for the Rights of the Child which resulted in a similar victory for justice in February this year.

But once again we hear the vatican shouting from the rooftops that they have NOT been found in violation of the UN convention against torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, despite the exact opposite being true.

It beggars belief that they still employ these PR tactics.

To begin with they tried to NOT be questioned at all about sexual abuse of minors by their clergy! saying it was not part of this committee’s remit.That was firmly rejected!

After churning out the same old chestnut that “they are only responsible for the people in the square mile of vatican city”, and seeing that soundly and categorically rejected by the UN committee,  they very quickly resorted to their usual default position of lying through their teeth.

Even before the UN announcement, they put out a statement saying they had NOT been found in breach of the convention, then when the announcement to the contrary was made public, they complained  that their violation of the convention, and the categorising of childhood clergy abuse as torture and inhuman and degrading treatment was only “implied”!

We already  know that they lie, having witnessed them for decades, and having witnessed their performances in Geneva, we also now know that they have distorted hearing and vision too ! 

How desperate must these people be to defend the indefensible that they will even totally misreport and misrepresent the findings of a specialist UN committee!

I am told by my Italian colleagues that there is little reporting of the UN findings in Italy, (no change there! ) But what IS being reported is an absolute reversal of the findings!

They are claiming black is white as usual, and I guess you can’t expect much else from a narcissistic organisation which is gradually having a spotlight shone on every one of their  dark and sinister corners.

So let me put the record straight! 

1.The UN committee against torture and inhuman and degrading treatment made it crystal clear that the Holy See were found to be in violation of that convention. They even went as far in their report specifically about the Holy See to detail  their clear definition of torture.

The committee recognises child sexual abuse and sexual abuse of adults by priests as acts covered by the convention against torture and inhuman and degrading treatment.

3/ They criticised the fact that the Holy Sees report to them was 9 years late!

4/ The HS tried to argue that it relates only to the square mile of the Vatican City. The committee rejects that argument – it applies to RC priests and clergy worldwide.

5/The HS has tried to place time limits on dealing with these complaints. The committee says there are no time limits.

6/ The HS is criticised for resisting the principle that all allegations should be reported to the police. They have not named or detailed the priests who they say they have disciplined, or shown their whereabouts now.

7/The HS is criticised for not providing the data relating to the number of reports of abuse throughout its church.

8/The HS is criticised for harbouring criminals – Father Joseph Jeyapaul, Father Peter Kramer, and Archbishop Josef Wesolowski were named, but there are many more.

9/ They are criticised for encouraging an Australian Bishop to withhold documentation from the New South Wales Australian inquiry.

10/The committee says the HS cannot be trusted to deal with complaints and recommends an independent complaints mechanism.

11/ It criticises the lack of constructive approach to compensation namely failing to contribute to the Magdalenes scheme in Ireland.

They have a year to go back to the committee to show what changes have been made, in the same way they have to report back to the committee for the Rights of the child to show that they have complied with their recommendations.

Make NO mistake, childhood clergy sexual abuse of children and vulnerable people IS clearly defined as torture, and degrading and inhuman treatment as defined by the UN convention, and is recognised as such not only by that committee at the UN but by every thinking human being on the planet.

The fact that the Holy see has the sheer audacity to deny this is mind boggling, and really shows them in their true light.

I hope that these findings will now open doors to further  legal actions.There can be no statute of limitation for cases of torture.

I hope also it opens the door to criminal proceedings in the International Criminal Court and the court of Human Rights.

I would encourage EVERY survivor of these criminals to bombard those courts with their own complaints ,and recognise that now they do have absolute right to redress.

I would also ask my Italian, Polish, Russian, French,German speaking colleagues in who’s countries reporting is “sparse”  to translate this and circulate it freely!

Open wounds

I am a tough lady, it could be said that I have a hard edge, and that may well be true, I have had a hard life and it has left inevitable residue! I am a fighter because I have HAD to be!

But there are days when I don’t want to be me.

There are days when I can’t bear to think about things and there are days when I just want to curl up in a ball and hide.

Today  is one of those days. 

I think always have a reaction to things like the UN report,regardless of a good outcome. Having submitted evidence  to the committee against torture,  and then hoping that justice and decency will prevail. 

Watching and waiting, and then getting the result, seems like a fairly inoquous pastime to most I am sure.

But to those of us who have lived through this  it is so emotive, so painful, writing the words and seeing the reality on paper,  re- living events,re-opening wounds, being acutely of what has been lost, the stark reality of having a damaged brain, a distorted life  path, being pretty much an alien in  a world that I so badly had wanted to belong to.

I am not usually given to self pity, and I am not giving in to it now ,I just feel a bit  raw and vulnerable, in need of a metaphorical "warm blanket" wrapped around me and for it all to go away.

I hate what the church did to me and people like me, I hate what they have by extension done to my children, and grandchildren. I hate the lies they feed people, the narcissism and the arrogance, I hate the waste of lives and the lost potential,the inability to form relationships, the mistrusts,  the suicides, the mental illnesses , the addictions, the violence, the tears.

But most of all I hate knowing that they simply do not give a shit! 
I hate their defensive  responses to the justified criticisms of UN committees.
I hate them using every angle to wriggle out of their responsibilities, their flagrant disregard for the people they have destroyed, the trivialising of this crime against humanity.

I felt sacrificial after I was abused, and that has been my default mindset for nearly sixty years. 

Thank F... for decent human beings, and for other "aliens" like me, without each other I think we would be lost.
And “yes”  in answer to the question I am so often asked - I DO hate the church!
So today is a day to lick my wounds, shed a few more tears , feel a bit  fragile, hope that a few of you out there are sending me a hug,  and tomorrow to get back in the fight!

Interview on the religious radio today:

Interviewer "There is no evidence that I have 

seen to support the claims of abuse on that 

scale, everything sent to the UN is anecdotal"


Me: There are hundreds of thousands of 

abused people who have no vested 

interested in anything but the truth! and while 

we are on the subject of anecdotes, Your 

whole bloody religion is "anecdotal" I have 

yet to see any real evidence to support it!

PRESS RELEASE

1. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHILD ABUSE RECORD UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT AT THE UNITED NATIONS

UN convention against Torture - REPORT DUE FRIDAY 23RD MAY 2014

The UN committee against torture will report on Friday on the Holy See's record on torture.

During exchanges on 5th and 6th May 2014 members of the committee against torture repeatedly pressed the Vatican representative on it's record on child abuse.

The committee are likely to recognise the sexual abuse of minors and women by clergy as torture within the definition of the convention.

Committee members accused the Holy See of having effectively allowed child abuse by clerics to go unpunished with weak systems of investigation, punishment and high level failures to report allegations to the police. 

Since 2001 the Roman Catholic Church has been engulfed in child abuse scandals in almost every country worldwide involving not only abuse by priests but also Bishops and the Vatican covering up child abuse.

Critics of the church accuse it of covering up child abuse and fostering an environment in which priests feel able to abuse children without fear of being turned in to the police. Non governmental organisations such as Survivors Voice-Europe based in the UK and SNAP from the US gave evidence to the committee regarding these issues.

Holy See representatives responded by failing to properly answer most of the questions posed by the committee and putting forward an argument that it's obligations under the convention are confined only to the small area of land in Rome known as the Vatican City. This assertion was unanimously dismissed by the committee.

Sue Cox of Survivors Voice-Europe commented: 

"I represent hundreds of survivors of child sexual abuse and gave evidence this Torture committee and earlier to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. 

The response of Vatican representatives has been truly shameful. They have displayed no regret and have tried to lie their way put of the many awkward questions put to them by this committee of world renowned experts.

Francis has an opportunity to change church rules and culture but the signs are not good. Rather than engage with the UN and heed its criticisms he has tried to defend the indefensible. I hope the UN will take action to shame the church into action."

David Greenwood, child abuse solicitor with Switalskis Solicitors and children's rights campaigner with www.stopchurchchildabuse.co.uk commented: 

"Rules promoted by successive Popes require secrecy when dealing with child abuse allegations. This protects abusers from the police. Priests have been moved between dioceses and countries to avoid detection. This has led to a culture in the church in which priests feel able to abuse children without fear of being reported to the police. 

“The church has taken no practical steps to improve child protection and has ignored its UN obligations. The disingenuous response given to the committee illustrates the church's lack of respect for the UN committee and child protection generally.

“The UN committee has the power to take action and thousands of victims of abuse worldwide are hoping for UN action against the Roman Catholic Church."

For more information contact the following delegates who made submissions to the UN hearings:-

Sue Cox -0781 3808026 or sue.cox@survivorsvoice-europe.org

David Greenwood 07712 304880 or david.greenwood@switalskis.com

Sue Cox 

Survivors Voice Europe

How many will stand and be counted!

As Always John B from Australia strikes a real chord! read this, and then his update below! It would be very interesting to do a similar poll here in Europe!
Sue X



For those who make the claim that there are many Catholic priests, nuns and laity trying to do the right thing.

From our experience of dealing with clergy from across Australia we have calculated the following number of proactive clergy willing and able to assist victims/survivors. If you can add to these numbers please contact me so we can update these figures.

Of the 3126 Catholic priests we have been made aware of 3 who have provided assistance to known victims/survivors.

Of the 5,001,624 Catholics we have found several who claim to be willing to assist yet we have been unable to bring one of these events to fruition.

Of the 64004 religious Catholic sister we have been unable to locate any willing or able to assist known survivors/victims.

Of the 1080 religious Catholic brothers we have been unable to locate any willing or able to assist known survivors/victims.

rgds

JohnB

We would like to thank the anonymous Catholic who pointed out that one of our figures was incorrect - please refer below to "6400 religious Catholic sister" - we incorrectly showed that number to be 64004 and missed the "s" in the word 'sisters'; despite our request for assistance for more than 300 known victim/survivors in need we were unable to add any additional figures to our tally as a result of this conversation; it seems that many members of the laity according to our caller still hold the view of George Pell in that survivors/victims and in particular those who speak out are and remain the enemies of the Catholic church and added to that we are considered to be enemies of our own country.

A response from the USA from a globally known advocate for survivors emailed to inform us that they were unaware of any individuals in the US that would meet similar criteria over there perhaps with the exception of selected members of several "Support" groups.

One response from Australia explained her own situation and how she has been able to obtain a degree of financial support for herself and her children (fathered by Catholic clergy) in return for "favors" while explaining that she is aware of others in similar situations.

JohnB