(Source: shutupandsmile-x)
we hold on so tightly to things that hurt us, we lack grip when it comes to moments or people that make everything worth it. we then sit and complain lamenting about our fate and how people always seem to walk in and out of our lives. using our hearts as revolving doors.
This. Right now.
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York authorized payments of as much as $20,000 to sexually abusive priests as an incentive for them to agree to dismissal from the priesthood when he was the archbishop of Milwaukee.
Questioned at the time about the news that one particularly notorious pedophile cleric had been given a “payoff” to leave the priesthood, Cardinal Dolan, then the archbishop, responded that such an inference was “false, preposterous and unjust.”
But a document unearthed during bankruptcy proceedings for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and made public by victims’ advocates reveals that the archdiocese did make such payments to multiple accused priests to encourage them to seek dismissal, thereby allowing the church to remove them from the payroll.
A spokesman for the archdiocese confirmed on Wednesday that payments of as much as $20,000 were made to “a handful” of accused priests “as a motivation” not to contest being defrocked. The process, known as “laicization,” is a formal church juridical procedure that requires Vatican approval, and can take far longer if the priest objects.
“It was a way to provide an incentive to go the voluntary route and make it happen quickly, and ultimately cost less,” said Jerry Topczewski, the spokesman for the archdiocese. “Their cooperation made the process a lot more expeditious.”
Cardinal Dolan, who is president of the national bishops’ conference and fast becoming the nation’s most high-profile Roman Catholic cleric, did not respond to several requests for comment.
A victims advocacy group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, sent a letter of protest to the current archbishop of Milwaukee on Wednesday asking, “In what other occupation, especially one working with families and operating schools and youth programs, is an employee given a cash bonus for raping and sexually assaulting children?”
Bill Murray slurs us through a preview of Moonrise Kingdom
I nominate Bill Murray for best human.
(Source: amychalifoux)
US and EU Derailing Ten-year Process to Create Health Research & Development Convention
The US and European Union delegations to the World Health Assembly are currently blocking efforts to move towards a binding convention on health R&D aimed at filling critical medical gaps for people in developing countries. MSF urged the US and European governments, who are leading the developed country effort, to stop obstructing a process that has been 10 years in the making and has broad support from developing countries.
MSF called on developing countries to continue efforts to progress towards a convention. Such a convention would require all governments to contribute financially to support R&D in key priority areas and would crucially separate—or de-link—the cost of R&D from the price of medical products, so that these are made affordable.
Photo:The new MenAfriVac vaccine. 2012 © MSF
We learned something new today. Er.
(via)
This is disgusting. Religion has no place in politics. Atheists are best suited to run office.