When Pope Francis talked to reporters during his flight from Sweden to Rome on Tuesday, he said he believes women will be banned forever from becoming priests in the Catholic Church. He had been in Sweden, one of the world’s most secular countries, to visit the very small Catholic community that is mostly made up of immigrants, and celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Progressive Sweden has the world’s first lesbian bishop, Eva Brunne of the Church of Sweden, and allows same sex marriage for everyone.

Pope Francis has worked toward making the Catholic Church less judgmental and more open-minded when it comes to LGBT rights and did set up a commission in August to look into the concept of female deacons. But he’s not open to the concept of female priests.

“I want to see women priests in the Catholic Church and I know that there are many Catholic women who are well-educated and would be excellent priests,” said Sweden’s first female Lutheran Archbishop, Antje Jackelén to AFP during the Pope’s visit.

When leaving the country, a female Swedish journalist asked him whether he thought the Catholic Church should allow women as priests in the future. His answer was: “St. Pope John Paul II had the last clear word on this and it stands, this stands.” When the journalist asked again, “But forever, forever? Never, never?” he answered that he believes it is going “in that direction.”

Sweden won’t be impressed – Pope says he believes ban on female priests is forever https://t.co/hlaqCEhbp8 via @ReutersUK

— Alistair Scrutton (@aliscrut) November 1, 2016

The Catholic Church had always had the tradition of male-only priests, but in 1994 Pope John Paul put down in writing that women are not welcome in the priesthood, which is the document Francis was referring to. The common argument against female priests is that Jesus only ordained men as his apostles. But opponents of this view say that was only because he was following the customs of that time.

I don’t have a nuanced view on this. Just deep disappointment. Pope Francis: Ban on Female Priests Likely to Endure https://t.co/UaSWLtsnWr

— Joel Garza (@JoelRGarza) November 1, 2016

Many people who see Pope Francis as the liberal Pope who has modernized the church are disappointed with his statement and hope that a future pope will feel differently.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Pope Says Women Will be Banned from Catholic Priesthood Forever appeared first on Law Street.

Kimberly Miller, a nun from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attended a book signing on November 7. After the event, the bookstore owner gave her some leftovers and a bottle of wine to bring back to the convent. That night, Miller took an Ambien, and had a glass of wine before going to bed. Little did Sister Kimberly know, her night had just begun.

She woke up the next day in New Jersey with a half-empty bottle in the back of her car and a blood alcohol content of .15, nearly double the legal limit. She had driven for almost an hour across state lines into New Jersey, and backed into a car repair shop before eyewitnesses called the police. When she was arrested for driving under the influence, she claims to have no knowledge of the incident.

Miller was hoping that her “Reverend Jekyll and Sister Hyde” experience might lessen her punishment–after all, she wasn’t even aware of the fact that she was driving at the time. In court, her lawyers argued that Miller experienced “pathological intoxication,” and never intended to drive drunk. Pathological intoxication is the phenomenon where a person’s personality and behavior drastically change after they consume alcohol, and it is a rare legal defense used to excuse a person from their drunken behavior. Typically, the defense is invoked when a person becomes exceedingly violent or impulsive after consuming a small amount of alcohol, while the nun’s experience involved her knowing consumption of Ambien. The defense must show that the condition’s effect was as strong as a mental illness would be in an insanity defense.

The presiding Judge Martin Whitcraft found that considering that Ambien has been on the market for over 16 years, a person consuming the medicine should reasonably know that its side effects worsen when paired with alcohol. The prosecutor drew attention to the specifics of the law, showing that the statute made no mention of intent–if you drive drunk, it’s your fault, whether or not you intended to do it.

Judge Whitcraft found the nun’s story to be unbelievable at best, saying “I find the defendant’s testimony less than credible. She testified that this wine was placed in the back seat by two sober, reasonable people.” Ultimately, Miller was found guilty of her DUI, but had the lesser charges against her dropped. Her license was suspended for 90 days, and she was placed on leave from her teaching position.

Sean Simon

Sean Simon is an Editorial News Senior Fellow at Law Street, and a senior at The George Washington University, studying Communications and Psychology. In his spare time, he loves exploring D.C. restaurants, solving crossword puzzles, and watching sad foreign films. Contact Sean at SSimon@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Drunk Driving Nun’s Ambien Defense Fails appeared first on Law Street.

Pope Francis has received accolades from around the world regarding his message of tolerance and his commitment to opening the Catholic church to populations that were historically excluded. However, there is a shadow hanging over his tenure that has yet to be fully addressed: decades of sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests that have come to light over the past decade.

Pope Francis has publicly condemned the perpetrators but has also been criticized for not doing more to renounce the culture of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse. This weekend, one of Pope Francis’ most trusted advisers, Cardinal George Pell, former Archbishop of Sydney, was asked to reckon with the consequences of participating in that culture. In Rome, Pell is known as the Secretariat of the Economy and has led sweeping reforms of the traditional Vatican system but in the city of Ballarat, Australia, Pell has become a household name for a much more sinister reason.

Pell provided testimony in Rome this weekend regarding an alleged cover-up of a sexual abuse scandal in Australia. Victims of clerical sexual assault claim that Pell knowingly let pedophile priests escape legal punishment and continue to assault numerous children throughout Australia. One of the most chilling examples of abuse comes from Ballarat, a town where dozens of survivors have stepped forward over the past five years, after decades of abuse. Read on for an introduction to the Ballarat abuse scandal.

Abuse in Ballarat

Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia. As of May 2015, 14 Catholic priests have been accused of sexual abuse. Survivors provided testimony in 2015, citing abuse that spanned from the 1960s to the 1990s. Multiple abuse victims from Ballarat committed suicide before they ever saw their day in court, but those who did presented names, dates, and precise details about their abusers. The most prolific offender was Gerald Ridsdale, who was accused of over one hundred acts of abuse. Ridsdale pleaded guilty in 2006 to 35 charges of assault but many victims felt that his sentence of a maximum of thirteen years in jail was too lenient.

Cardinal Pell has been accused of moving Ridsdale from parish to parish for two decades rather than reporting his activities to law enforcement or removing him from the Church entirely. David Ridsdale, who was abused by his uncle, has stated that he attempted to speak about his abuse in 1993 but was silenced by Cardinal Pell. After David Ridsdale reported his uncle, Pell allegedly replied “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.” Pell has stated that he never bribed either Ridsdale or his family, but that accusation was bolstered by testimony from another witness who cited Pell brushing off a report of sexual abuse at St. Patrick’s College. The Royal Commission that is overseeing the abuse cases in Ballarat has discovered that abuse committed by several other priests was reported to their superiors but each time, the abuse was ignored and the priests were either moved to different parishes or sent on “treatment” trips.

Pell was summoned to give evidence in Melbourne earlier this year, but his legal team declared he was not healthy enough to fly and instead organized a video-conference from Rome. Upon realizing that Pell would not be coming to Australia, a national crowd-funding campaign was launched to fly Australian sexual abuse victims to Rome to speak with Pell face-to-face. The campaign raised over $200,000 in a matter of days, which paid for the travel expenses of 14 victims and their advisors. The stage was set for a significant confrontation between the upper echelon of the Catholic hierarchy and the survivors whose stories were denied for most of their lives.

Controversial Coverage 

The controversy over Pell has led to significant rifts in public discourse. Columnist Andrew Bolt, who calls himself a close friend of Pell, wrote a piece earlier this month claiming that Pell is an innocent man who has become the target of a national “witch hunt.” Bolt argues that public opinion has turned harshly against Pell, who he considers to be an advocate for sexual abuse victims. Bolt describes how Pell has met with abuse victims in the past and how, in 1996, Pell founded the Melbourne Response initiative, which was tasked with investigating sexual abuse allegations made against priests.

However, questions have been raised about how independent the Melbourne Response has been during its tenure, especially after a controversial “60 Minutes” interview (featured below) that explored Pell’s involvement in the Ballarat cases. Bolt also accused reporter Lucie Morris-Marr of launching a smear campaign against Pell after she reported that police were investigating reports that Pell himself had abused children. Morris-Marr defended her story, arguing that she published the piece after a thorough investigation with no intention of libel. Multiple news outlets picked up Morris-Marr’s piece, which led the Victoria police to announce a crackdown on leaking information to the media, even though the police have not formally acknowledged if they are investigating Pell for abuse. Cardinal Pell denied the allegations, but as press attention shifts towards his testimony in Rome this weekend, they may resurface in the coming days.

Pell has not yet been formally charged with obstructing justice or failing to report abuse but there are already calls for his resignation. Victims of the Ballarat abuse scandal have already named the priests who assaulted them and some, such as Ridsdale, have already received sentences, but many argue that the rift between these survivors and the Catholic Church will not be truly healed unless Pell is asked to accept responsibility for his failure to remove these priests.

Other Vatican Controversies Over Abuse

Ballarat is not the only parish where reports of sexual abuse have allegedly been swept under the rug. In 2011, a 1997 letter from Vatican leadership was released to the public.  The letter told Irish bishops not to report suspicions of child abuse to the police, but instead to handle abuse as they saw fit under canonical religious law. The letter came as a response to a 1996 initiative of “mandatory reporting” that Irish priests enacted to identify sexual abuse within the church.

There is also criticism over a recently released Vatican document that holds that even though bishops should be aware of local legal procedures, they are not obligated to report clerical child abuse to law enforcement. The document was part of training program for new bishops and was written by Tony Anatrella, a consultant to the Pontifical Council on the Family. The Guardian reports that

While acknowledging that ‘the church has been particularly affected by sexual crimes committed against children,’ the training guide emphasizes statistics that show the vast majority of sexual assaults against children are committed within the family and by friends and neighbors, not other authority figures.

Anatrella’s training document was published just a few days after Peter Saunders, a British victim of abuse serving on the papal advisory commission on clerical sexual assault, was forced out of his position via a vote of no confidence. The vote of no confidence came after Saunders was accused of being difficult to work with and too familiar with the media. The commission announced publicly that Saunders would be taking a leave of absence but Saunders told the press that he had no knowledge of that decision and that he refuses to step down unless Pope Francis officially asks him to. Saunders has been critical of the commission since it was formed two years ago, but as one of two survivors appointed to the commission by Pope Francis, his presence was considered an important victory for victims who want to participate in the discussion. His removal, whether or not it gets Pope Francis’ stamp of approval, may be viewed as a significant step backward in creating open dialogue and building trust between abuse survivors and the bureaucracy of the church.

Conclusion

The sexual abuse that Catholic priests engaged in for decades around the world is a heinous crime not only in its nature but because of the sheer scale on which it was committed. It is not only the priests who abused children who must be held accountable in court, it is also their superiors who ignored allegations of sexual assault over extended periods of time. The last decade has seen a sharp rise in victims coming forward, sharing their stories and formally testifying in court about their experiences, which will hopefully hold the Church accountable for its actions. As Pope Francis tries to usher in a new brand of Catholicism, investigations like the Ballarat case serve as a constant reminder of exactly how much reform is still needed to redress the past crimes. Pell’s testimony in Rome this weekend may not have deviated from the statements he made last year during the investigation conducted by Australia’s Royal Commission but the attention that the conference has garnered has put Pell in the spotlight, not just in Australia, but on the world stage.

Resources

New York Times: After Criticism, Pope Francis Confronts Priestly Sexual Abuse

New York Times: Vatican Letter Warned Bishops on Abuse Policy

LA Times: Catholic Sex Abuse Hearing Will Take Place in the Dead of Night in a Hotel in Rome

The Age: Ballarat Abuse Survivors Head to Rome to see Cardinal George Pell Give Evidence

The Age: Victoria Police Refer Leak of Investigation into Cardinal George Pell to IBAC

ABC: Child Abuse Sex Inquiry: Bishop Paul Bird Denies as Many as 14 Ballarat Priests Involved in Abuse as Hearings Wrap Up

The Guardian: George Pell Tried to Bribe Abuse Victim, Royal Commission Hears

The Guardian: Ballarat Priests Involved in Child Sex Abuse sSent on ‘Treatment’ Trips, inquiry told

FT: Australia Clerical Sex Abuse Victims Travel to Rome

Herald Sun: Cardinal George Pell is the Victim of a Vicious Witch Hunt

News.Com.Au: 60 Minutes Reporter Tara Brown Digs Deep into George Pell’s Melbourne Response

Reuters: Critic of Vatican Refuses to Step Down from Sex Abuse Commission

Jillian Sequeira

Jillian Sequeira was a member of the College of William and Mary Class of 2016, with a double major in Government and Italian. When she’s not blogging, she’s photographing graffiti around the world and worshiping at the altar of Elon Musk and all things Tesla. Contact Jillian at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com

The post Reckoning in Rome: A Look at the Ballarat Abuse Scandal appeared first on Law Street.

Good news for those who are both gay and have Irish pride: next year, New York City will allow LGBT groups to march in the St. Patricks Day parade with their own banners. Previously, there had been a ban on allowing gay groups to join in the famous event, which is the biggest in the world. The ban wasn’t specifically on LGBT people — they were allowed to march as long they were with other groups and weren’t carrying any sort of banners marking them as gay — but this was still clearly discriminatory.

The ban on gay groups marching in the parade was causing a lot of problems for the organizers — liberal Mayor Bill de Blasio did not want to march as long as the ban was in place, and Guinness refused to sponsor. Heineken withdrew its support as well. Other businesses have also threatened to take away their support if action was not taken.

Somewhat surprisingly, the decision was actually met without protest from many Catholics. In recent years, the Catholic Church has begun embracing LGBT people as individuals, while still standing against the possibility of gay marriage on an institutional level. The allowance of gay groups at the parade is another example of that shift. As the always delightful Stephen Colbert points out, everyone’s pretty much on board with the new rule:

Cardinal Timothy Dolan will actually be the grand marshal for next year’s parade, and he’s given his full support to the change in policy, stating:

My predecessors and I have always left decisions on who would march to the organizers of the individual parades. As I do each year, I look forward to celebrating Mass in honor of Saint Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland, and the Patron Saint of this Archdiocese, to begin the feast, and pray that the parade would continue to be a source of unity for all of us.

The decision was mostly welcomed by the gay community. It was called a good small step by the Staten Island LGBT Community Center, whose communications manager Emilie Tippens said she hoped for a ripple effect to emerge in other circumstances where LGBT people face discrimination. However, the move did receive some ire from members of the LGBT community. Gay leaders claim that the parade rules were changed not because the organizers actually realized the error of their ways, but because they were forced to by financial and publicity concerns. As a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, Fed Sainz, explained:

In one of the world’s most diverse and inclusive cities, not to allow gay people to march was becoming an anachronistic decision that they could no longer reasonably justify.

While that may be true, it is still a good thing that gay groups will be allowed to march in the parade. The parade is a big draw, and a massive celebration, and for anyone to be restricted is truly a disservice.

—

Anneliese Mahoney (@AMahoney8672) is Lead Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [DonkeyHotey via Flickr]

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade to Finally Include LGBT Groups appeared first on Law Street.

St. Patrick’s Day is next week, but the celebrations are already beginning in a lot of places around the United States. Beginning in revelry, that is, and ending in arrests. At the University of Massachusetts, Amherst last weekend, 73 people were arrested at a premature “Blarney Blowout.” Four officers were injured in the process of trying to shut down the party, which consisted of about 4,000 people. There were drunken fights, people throwing broken bottles, sexual assaults, and property damage.

UMass Amherst isn’t the only university that traditionally has a St. Paddy’s Day-inspired problem. Penn State University has an informal State Paddy’s Day each year, and it’s much in the same vein. It’s usually around the first weekend in March, and has been an annual celebration since 2007. It’s gotten so bad that the University has started to offer money to restaurants and bars to not open, or at least to not sell booze.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is having problems this year as well. Neither the University nor the Police have yet released how many students were arrested, but a University spokesman assured the press that the violators will be punished appropriately.

For years, St. Paddy’s day has been associated with drunken revelry, especially throughout the United States. But how and why? After all, it is named after Saint Patrick, and was originally a Catholic feast day. How has that turned into this?

And how many people actually know the real history of the holiday?

It is believed that St. Patrick was originally a slave taken from Britain to Ireland. He eventually escaped and became a cleric, followed by a Bishop. March 17 is his feast day and is thought to be the day of his death. Many St. Patrick’s day symbols also have religious significance. For example, the shamrock was used it to illustrate the idea of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in Catholic theology. Others have evolved over time. For example, the color green didn’t become associated with St. Patrick’s Day until the 19th century. Traditionally, St. Patrick’s color was blue. And St. Patrick’s Day parades were never really a thing in Ireland, the first one of those was actually in Boston.

Of course most of the people celebrating St. Paddy’s day wouldn’t be able to tell you that, although not for lack of trying. Here are some drunk people trying to answer St. Paddy’s day questions. They do a fabulous job.