PAUL KENNEDY, REPORTER: The hundreds who came to Emma Foster’s funeral last January were marking a life that had been blighted by a shocking crime.
She was repeatedly raped by a senior Catholic priest while she was just a primary school student. At 26, Emma Foster had committed suicide. She was just one of many victims of Melbourne priest Father Kevin O’Donnell.
ANTHONY FOSTER, FATHER OF ABUSE VICTIM: Emma was abused by the parish priest while she was at school, she was taken out of class, taken to a hall close to the school, where he raped her and this was early primary school between the ages of five to eight.
LETTER TO MR AND MRS FOSTER FROM THE LAWYERS FOR THE CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE, 31 AUGUST, 1999: “A realistic alternative to litigation that will otherwise be strenuously defended.”
LETTER TO MR AND MRS FOSTER FROM THE LAWYERS FOR THE CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE, 7 MAY, 2004: “They do not admit that Emma Foster and/or Katherine Foster were subjected to physical and/or sexual and/or psychological abuse while infants by Kevin O’Donnell.”
BISHOP ANTHONY FISHER, CO-ORDINATOR OF WORLD YOUTH DAY, 16 JULY, 2008: “Happily, I think most of Australia was enjoying [and] delighting in the beauty and goodness of these young people and the hope for us doing these sorts of things better in the future, as we saw last night, rather than dwelling crankily, as a few people are doing, on old wounds.”
…with, of course, one very obvious, 2000-year-old exception. Mind you, the addition of a suitable soundtrack can perform miracles:
*On a bizarro note, Gerard Henderson flogs the few thousand sneering secularists who read the Green Left Weekly and New Left Review with a wet lettuce leaf, condemning them for their hypocrisy in failing to maintain as many schools and hospitals as the Catholic Church (or, alternatively, covering up as many cases of sexual abuse): The sorry sport of Pope bashing, Gerard Henderson, Sydney Morning Herald, July 15, 2008.
“rather than dwelling crankily, as a few people are doing, on old wounds.”
What a cunt.
Why is it that the pseudo left think that Christian-bashing is ok? The same people that spew vitriol at the christian church and throw blame at their feet for any number of wrongdoings…seem to be oh-so-SILENT when it comes to any criticism of the dalai lama (feudal theocratic buddhism), or Islam (twenty virgins, female circumcision, kaboom) or judaiism (stern gang, genocide of the israeli arab population, chosen people my arse), cow worshipping hindus (train massacres, feudal caste system, untouchables).
The enemy of free thinking peoples everywhere is Organised Religion…of any shape of form. Those that think otherwise are hypocritical arsewipes. The wankers that poke fun at nuns are simply too gutless to point out the flaws of the other religions…for fear of being labelled racist or discriminatory.
All religions have done terrible things in the name of defending their fictional deity. An old German beer-drinker once coined the phrase…”religion is the opium of the people” — a device for keeping the masses stupid, confused, and fighting amongst themselves.
Just my two cents…stupid world “catholic” youth day!!!
Um… Not sure how yr comment relates to the post Dean.
On virgins:
Virgins? What virgins?
“It is widely believed that Muslim ‘martyrs’ enjoy rich sensual rewards on reaching paradise. A new study suggests they may be disappointed. Ibn Warraq reports”
Special report: religion in the UK
The Guardian
January 12, 2002
Ibn concludes:
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