Ceremonial ashes burn 73 Redditch pupils at Mass

At least 73 pupils at a Catholic school have suffered forehead burns from ceremonial ashes applied during Mass.

St Augustine's Catholic High, in Redditch, said 16 members of staff and the chair of governors were also affected by the Ash Wednesday Mass.

First aid was provided and some parents took their children to emergency hospital departments.

The school said it was "dismayed" and was investigating what happened during Mass.

A priest was drawing ash crosses on pupils in year nine and 11 when some of them began complaining of discomfort.

The ashes were being analysed by external experts, the school said.

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Sexual Abuse of Nuns: Longstanding Church Scandal Emerges From Shadows

ROME — The sexual abuse of nuns and religious women by Catholic priests and bishops — and the abortions that have sometimes resulted — has for years been overshadowed by other scandals in the Roman Catholic Church.

That seemed to change this week when Pope Francis  publicly acknowledged the problem for the first time.

“I was so happy,” said Lucetta Scaraffia, the author of an article denouncing the abuse of nuns and religious lay women by priests that was published this month in a magazine, Women Church World, which is distributed alongside the Vatican’s newspaper.

Speaking from her Rome apartment, which she said had essentially been converted into a television studio full of international reporters, Ms. Scaraffia said, “Finally, now many women will have the courage to come forward and denounce their abusers.”

CONTINUE READING

Plus a... discussion I had with someone about this: 

Them:  Yes and no. I understand but it's like talking to a lawyer. Some places are confidential. If you don't have that, the person may not say anything in the first place. If they've told you confidentially, you can then try and persaude them to do the right thing.

Me:  That's a nice sentiment, but lawyers (and psychologists) still have to report crimes or intention to commit crimes, especially ones that endanger other people, ESPECIALLY especially when it's children. So... fuck religious confessional confidentiality. If children's lives and health are at risk ESPECIALLY fuck religious confidentiality

Them:  But what if that person then doesn't say anything, never goes for help to anyone because there's nowhere they can go to ask what they should do? If they go to a priest it's likely because they want help in not doing it.

Me:  There is literally no scenario where you're going to convince me a Priest should ignore a confession of child abuse for the peace of mind of an abuser

Them:  It's not for the peace of mind of the abuser. It's about, whether that abuser goes for help vs doesn't. Either way the information is not reported.

Me:  It is ENTIRELY for the peace of mind of the abusers, they get to know they can go to this place, tell someone about their sick behaviour and NOT GET REPORTED. They know that, they abuse it. It says in the article itself that abusers have routinely confessed and gone on to abuse again and confess again. Catholic confession gives them the insane and sick idea that if they confess and repent they can be forgiven. The simple fact that abusers go to their Priests should make it MANDATORY for the Priests to alert the authorities, much like teachers have to when we are alerted of abuse or possibility of abuse. Just because you think some hypothetical abuser may perhaps maybe go on to seek help after a confession is in no way shape or form a justification for Priests keeping silent when they discover abuse.

Them:  But sometimes when someone is mentally ill or sick, if there's someone they can go to, that help can point them the right way. To confess, to go to the police, to start to stop it. With nowhere to go, the problem isn't solved, it just stays silent. That doesn't make the children better off. It may even make things worse. It's not the final solution. But it can be a first step.

Me:  Yeah, hello, it's 2017, Priests have had hundreds of years to try the 'encourage them to get help' thing, and it HASN'T WORKED. Like I said, these people go to Priests to confess, get absolved, then go and do it again. And again. You seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that people actually go to confession seeking help, when it's actually about being absolved of their sins, so they can stop feeling guilty. This whole line of thinking is especially useless when we know that a rather hefty percentage of the Priests themselves are in fact abusers and have been involved in covering up their own and other people within the Church's abuse.

Them:  Heh, I think we must agree to disagree.

Me:  Right. Because I think someone who is told 'I'm sexually abusing my child' should go and tell the authorities, rather than simply 'encouraging them to get help' while the abuser continues to abuse the child. In your scenario, the only ones that get hurt are the children/victims. The Priests get to sit back and congratulate themselves for 'helping', the abusers get to continue their abuse free of guilt or arrest, the children get to... what...? Oh yeah... continue to be abused or continue to suffer in silence without getting the help THEY need because nobody knows about it, because the Priests won't go and tell anyone. But sure, let's agree to disagree.

---

Good lord I hate people sometimes. ‘Heh’ ... fucking what.

TW: RAPE, CHILD ABUSE, CHILD MOLESTATION, CHILD RAPE, INFANT ABUSE, CHILD SEX SLAVERY, CHILD TRAFFICKING, SEX TRAFFICKING.

THIS ARTICLE IS A DISTURBING READ. DO NOT READ IF YOU FEEL YOU NEED TO KEEP YOURSELF SAFE. I WILL SUMMARIZE BELOW.

This is absolutely disgusting. And once again it’s coming from the Catholic Priesthood. Thankfully they got the guy before he managed to do anything, but the simple fact that he tried, that he had actual plans to do it... Disgusting. And only 15 years, too, because he entered a Guilty Plea. Ugh. 

~M

HE DIDN'T KNOW. IN THE 1980'S. THAT IT WAS ILLEGAL. TO RAPE CHILDREN.

I CAN'T WITH THESE RIDICULOUS EXCUSES FUCKING FOR HUMAN BEINGS.

A young woman lies on the floor of a candlelit room, screaming and sobbing. Surrounding her in a circle, are other members of her community, her pastor, a few of her friends, girls from her Sunday school choir. They begin chanting and praying, banging on the walls of the building. A teacher from her school approaches her, and presses a Bible to her forehead as she twitches. A collective murmur begins: “I cast you out, in the name of Jesus.” This was one of perhaps 100 exorcisms I have witnessed. On that occasion, I was 23 and I was at work, on just another research trip into the world of apocalyptic belief—and what lies underneath it. I fell in to my academic field purely by accident, when an old roommate lent me a novel about the Rapture, telling me, “It’s a good read, if you ignore the religious stuff.” For better or for worse, I didn’t take her advice.

Jim, a terrified Irish man, brings disturbing news. He warned Cork's 96FM listeners that none-other than Satan Himself guided the Irish people in their overwhelming Yes Vote for marriage equality on Friday — and now Ireland will pay the price. "The victory of the Yes side in the same-sex referendum was not the people's victory, it was Satan's victory," began Jim's post-referrendum analysis. "God gave us a test, a chance to show the world we belong to him before he corrects the world, probably before the end of the year." Jim went on to warn that this "correction" will come in the form of a divinely-targeted, anti-sodomitic asteroid.

A senior Vatican official has attacked the legalisation of gay marriage in Ireland. The referendum that overwhelmingly backed marriage equality last weekend was a “defeat for humanity”, he claimed. “I was deeply saddened by the result,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said at a conference in Rome on Tuesday night. “The church must take account of this reality, but in the sense that it must strengthen its commitment to evangelisation. I think that you cannot just talk of a defeat for Christian principles, but of a defeat for humanity.” ‘Ireland might just have become a great little country in which to be gay’ Read more The remarks by the Vatican’s top diplomat, who is seen as second only to the pope in the church’s hierarchy, represent the most damning assessment of the Irish vote by a senior church official to date.

The Pope has personally met with France’s proposed ambassador to the Vatican – to tell him his appointment will be blocked because he is gay.

I think Tumblr ate this message, and I’m really annoyed, but I copied it before posting it, so let’s try agzin.

—-

(Part 2) I am planning on denying my confirmation, as I do not want to publicly proclaim a false belief. However, I am very scared about how my very religious family will react. I am scared that they might threaten to kick me out. What should I do?

—-

Honestly? If you’re worried about how your parents may react, you may be better off just going through the motions until a time when you can actually be truthful - for example, a time when you are not living with them and dependent on them.

I say this a lot here, but if you are living with your family and you are dependent on them, and it is likely they will react badly? Keeping it to yourself until you are no longer dependent on them is the best bet.

UNLESS you have the means to provide for yourself, for instance a sympathetic family member or friend who will take you in, if you’re kicked out.

It boils down, in this instance to:

1. Deal with publicly proclaiming something that, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t matter. (Yes it may be lying, but it’s a lie to keep yourself safe)

Or

2. Deal with your family’s reactions, in the knowledge that you are scared they may kick you out. (If they’ve worried you enough to be scared of this, I would not recommend this option)

On another note, I read a few posts about atheists going through this, who basically chose amusing Saint’s names to give a hint at their non-belief. Thomas, for example, or even Judas. You can always take that opportunity to have a little fun.

Tl; Dr - if you are worried that you’ll get kicked out, just go through the motions.

I hope this helped. And if there are any readers who can give advice, please get in contact.

~M

THE IMAGE OF Pope Francis is that he is a breath of fresh air, more progressive on social issues than his predecessor and a kinder, gentler pope. But when the facts are examined, you see that he is none of these things. There is an enormous disconnect between who the pope really is in terms of his policies and his public relations image, as crafted by the Vatican’s PR man, previously with Fox News. The current PR mission is all about reversing the incredible decline in fundraising under the last pope from the U.S. Catholic Church in particular. Pope Francis has made any number of statements that seem to indicate change and progress that are not reflected in policy. In fact, in the wake of such comments from Pope Francis, the Vatican often makes a point to explicitly state that no church policy has changed. While the pope transmits a populist vibe—particularly about the economy— he is an old-school conservative who, despite his great PR, maintains nearly all of the socialpolicies of his predecessors and keeps up a hardline Vatican “cabinet.” He has done virtually nothing to change the policies of the church to match his more compassionate rhetoric. People excuse the pope, claiming that he doesn’t have much power to make changes, but this simply isn’t true. Further, it is ludicrous to suggest that a man who denies comprehensive reproductive health care (including all forms of birth control including condoms and abortion) and comprehensive family planning is a man who cares about the poor of this world. The bigotry of homophobia and sexism cloaked in religion are still bigotry and sexism. By giving to the church, American Catholics aren’t supporting “progress,” they are supporting oppression and in this way are complicit in the bigotry, sexism, and oppression of the church.

*is reminded of Pope's presence in Myeongdong - decides to avoid Myeongdong, in order to avoid being arrested for, for example, throwing obsenities at the man*

Fuck you, Irish politicians, fuck, you 

Atheist Experience

Of course it did. 

The Tablet (Catholic magazine)