ECA GLOBAL NEWS
ECA IN ARGENTINA 2019 HIGHLIGHTS
Much Gratitude to the Argentina Planning Team
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Our congratulations and gratitude to the joint Argentina-ECA planning and action team for an amazing week of success in Argentina. The team involved 18 members: 13 Argentine and Latin American survivor leaders and human rights lawyers, 4 members from ECA, and the Co-Director of BishopAccountability.org. Read and view the extensive press stories and coverage of the week below, along with other survivor led events and actions.
Thanks to the team's great collaboration, their ambitious goals for the Argentina mission were met and exceeded: six (6) press events and public actions, which were extensively covered in both the local and international media; gatherings and meetings with survivors and families; and ongoing strategy and planning sessions for future collaborative efforts with ECA on goals developed and determined by Argentina survivors,
lawyers and activists.
The week successfully and dramatically elevated the issue of clergy abuse in Argentina and its global significance, highlighting the country's heroic survivors and activists and the hidden extent of abuse and cover-up in that country. A significant focus was the involvement and responsibility of Pope Francis in abuse cases while in Argentina and the continuing failure of his home country to enact zero tolerance. The week also
provided an important opportunity to bring to public attention the issue of the Papal Concordat between Argentina and the Holy See, an international legal agreement currently being used by the church to actively block prosecution of clergy offenders in Argentina and withhold crucial evidence needed for criminal and civil justice. Argentina survivors, human rights lawyers and activists drafted new legislation during the week to reform the Concordat. During the week ECA also joined Argentina
survivors in helping to launch a new country wide survivor led organization.
Survivors came together during two unforgettable sessions to share their stories and organize the next stage of their work and struggle. The week truly brought Argentina survivors and activists into a global network of mutual collaboration and support, laying the groundwork for several important future initiatives and efforts, including documenting Argentina's most significant cases of human rights violations for presentation
to the UN Committee on Torture.
The Planning Team for Argentina:
Julieta Anazco, Argentina Survivor/Founder, Iglesia Sin Abusos, ISA
Sebastian Cuattromo, Argentina Survivor/Founder Adultxs por los derechos de la infancia
Julio and Adriana Frutos, Argentina Activists, Iglesia Sin Abusos, ISA
Juan Manuel Lavado, Attorney, Xumek, Argentina Human Rights firm
Sergio Salinas, Attorney, Xumek, Argentina Human Rights firm
Juan Pablo Gallego, Argentina Attorney
Anne Barrett Doyle, BishopAccountability.org, USA
Peter Isely, Survivor/ECA Founding Member, USA
Tim Law, ECA USA President, Lawyer/Board Member, USA
Denise Buchanan, Survivor/ECA Founding/Board Member, Jamaica
Simone Padovani, ECA Founding Member, Italy
Francesco Zinardi, Survivor/ECA Founding Member, Italy
Fran Carrasco, Survivor, Red de sobrevivientes de Abuso Eclesiastico de Chile
Eneas Espinoza Gallardo, Member, Red de sobrevivientes de Abuso Eclesiastico de Chile
Cristina Paredes, ECA Assembly Member, Mexico
Rodrigo Rosales, Graphic Artist, Mexico
Mariam Lewin, Argentina Journalist
Special Thank You to Photographer: Gabriela Hernandez, Argentina
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More Pictures
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Sebastian Cuattromo, Argentina Survivor/Founder,
Adultxs por los derechos de la infancia
"As adult survivors of the crime of sexual abuse and as representatives of our collective association, we are happy to have met new colleagues who, like us, have the conviction to fight to end the sexual abuse of children in the world. It was a great pleasure...
Hopefully we can continue to work together for justice for survivors and for the protection of today's children."
Sebatián Cuattromo and Silvia Piceda
Founding members of the Civil Association “Adults for children´s rights”
Julieta Anazco, Argentina Survivor/Founder,
Iglesia Sin Abusos, ISA
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Survivor-activists of clergy abuse deliver letter to Argentine Ambassador to the Holy See
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Argentine survivors, human rights activists and attorneys joined with ECA and BishopAccountability.org for a series of events over 6 days to shine the light on the growing clergy sexual abuse crisis in Argentina.
The first event was in Rome on April 29, 2019.
APRIL 29, ROME, ITALY — Representatives of Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), a global network of prominent clergy abuse survivors, activists, and organizations, met in Rome with a representative of the Argentine embassy to the Holy See. The survivor-activists want the Pope to enact “true zero tolerance” in Argentina for sex abuse by priests and cover-up by bishops. Argentine bishops, have also requested that Pope Francis come to Argentina. Pope Francis has
not returned to his homeland in the six years of his pontificate.
Leading the meeting to the Argentina Embassy in Rome was the ECA representative Francesco Zanardi, the president of Italy’s oldest and largest organization of survivors, Rete L’ABUSO. Zanardi delivered a letter from the global network urging Ambassador Pfifter to:
— Immediately direct Argentine bishops and religious superiors to enact true zero tolerance in policy and practice;
— Launch investigations of active Argentine bishops who have shielded predator priests;
— Amend the 1966 Concordat between the Holy See and Argentina so that bishops can no longer invoke it to withhold information about child sex crimes from civil authorities.
The letter is co-signed by a prominent leader of survivors in Argentina, Julieta Anazco (Iglesia Sin Abuso).
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Ad Limina visit of Argentina bishops with Pope Francis
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Pope Francis meets with bishops from the Argentine episcopal conference at the Vatican, May 2, 2019. The bishops were making their "ad limina" visits to Rome to report on the status of their dioceses, pray at the tombs of the apostles and meet with Vatican officials. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
MAY 2, 2019. ROME, ITALY.
Argentina survivors, human rights activists and attorneys joined with International activists during the period when bishops from Argentina were meeting with Pope Francis for their quinquennial visit (5 year) ad limina.
The ad limina apostolorum or simply an ad limina visit, means the obligation of residential diocesan bishops and certain prelates with territorial jurisdiction are required to meet with the Pope to report on the state of their dioceses or prelatures.
It is a formal trip usually made together by all bishops from a single region or Catholic bishops' conference to discuss with the Pope issues specific to their regions. It is separate from other trips a bishop might make to the Vatican, such as to attend a synod.
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Argentine Survivors and Activists join with International groups to fight clergy abuse
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MAY 2, 2019. BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
WHAT
Responding to the invitation by Argentina's largest organization of survivors, ECA, a global network of prominent clergy abuse survivors and activists, along with the world's leading research organization on clergy abuse, joined together holding signs and childhood photos outside of Hogar Sacerdotal de Bs As Mons. Mariano A. Espinosa.
The purpose was to:
-- Call on true zero tolerance in the Argentine church and urge Pope Francis to return to Argentina and implement it.
-- Demand that Argentine bishops write zero tolerance into church law and practice.
-- Call on Argentine bishops to immediately remove all known sex offenders from ministry and publicly identify them.
-- Insist on transparency, calling on Argentine church leaders to release their secret abuse files.
-- Name five Argentine bishops who should be investigated for concealing or ignoring abuse.
-- Call for an immediate change to the 1966 Concordat between the Holy See and Argentina.
-- Call on Argentine victims to come forward, seek help from their fellow survivors, and continue to demand justice.
WHO
-- Three Argentine survivor-whistle-blowers of historic importance. Each came forward early, and each tried to meet with Pope Francis and was rebuffed.
-- Founding leaders of ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse), an international network of prominent survivors and activists from 5 continents and 29 countries. ECA led the global survivors’ protests in Rome during the Pope’s clergy sexual abuse February summit and met with top Vatican officials.
-- The co-director of BishopAccountability.org., the leading global research organization that tracks abuse cases worldwide, including in Argentina, and is based in the U.S.
WHY
At the historic papal summit on clergy abuse in February, Pope Francis called for a “global war” against clergy sex offenders and cover-ups, repeatedly promising that zero tolerance would be enacted under his papacy.
In the Pope's home country, however, true zero tolerance does not exist in policy or practice. It is being actively opposed by bishops: priests with substantive allegations are in ministry, bishops who have covered up sex crimes remain in power, and church officials continue to obstruct criminal investigations.
In his six years as Pope, Francis has not acknowledged the plight of Argentine victims, to whom he has a special responsibility. They are his fellow citizens whose human rights have been violated. Yet they are routinely treated with hostility or neglect by church officials. They are forced to seek justice through a church-controlled system that acts in secrecy and is unaccountable to Argentine law.
For many years, Pope Francis was Argentina's most powerful church official. As Buenos Aires archbishop, he was secretive and dismissive of allegations against his priests. According to the Wall Street Journal, Bergoglio identified only two alleged priest offenders to the Vatican during his 14 years as archbishop. He also appears to have never met with victims.
The three survivor-leaders featured at this news conference each tried to meet with Cardinal Bergoglio at a critical point in his or her fight for justice. All three of them, they say, were rebuffed or ignored.
If Pope Francis cannot enact and guarantee zero tolerance in his home country, to which he has a deep and intimate relationship and familiarity, his self-declared “war on abuse” will continue to falter, the crisis will deepen, children will remain at risk, and survivors will not see justice.
SPEAKING AT THE EVENT FROM ARGENTINA:
-- Julieta Anazco, survivor and Founder (I.S.A.), Iglesia Sin Abusos
-- Gabriel Ferrini, survivor of abuse by Padre Rubén Pardo and first victim to win a civil case against the Catholic church
-- Sebastián Cuattromo, survivor, and founder of Adultxs por los Derechos de la Infancia
-- Juan Manuel Lavado, Attorney, Xumek, Argentina Human Rights firm.
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Collaborations with Attorneys
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MAY 3, 2019. BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
– Meeting with Attorney Juan Pablo Gallego, lawyer for victims of Fr. Grassi.
Survivors and attorneys in Argentina have asked ECA and Bishop Accountability to continue to work with them on a number of initiatives that they are undertaking. A petition was started by them to amend the Concordat.
Of the lawyers we worked with, one is on the compliance committee of the UN Rights of the Child and another is on the UN Committee Against Torture. In the UN Committee Against Torture, they have asked ECA for assistance in helping them to compile a report for submittal to this committee with the assistance of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).
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Juan Manuel Lavado, Attorney,
Xumek, Argentina Human Rights firm
Juan Pablo Gallego, Attorney
Likely number of Clergy Abuse victims in Argentina is more than 15,000
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MAY 5, 2019. METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL,
San Martín 27, C1004 CABA, ARGENTINA.
A new NGO of Argentine abuse victims, joined by two global groups, held a vigil Sunday May 5 to protest the church’s “systemic and widespread concealment” of child sexual abuse by Argentine priests.
Pointing to church abuse data disclosed in other countries, the groups say that only a small fraction of the actual number of clergy abusers in Argentina has been made public.
In Argentina, 96 priests, brothers and nuns have been publicly accused of child sexual abuse, according to new research published recently by BishopAccountability.org, the leading organization tracking the Catholic abuse crisis worldwide. See the new Argentina database here:
As shocking as they are, these public cases are just the “tip of the iceberg,” the groups say. Extrapolating from numbers of accused clergy released by church authorities in Australia, Germany, Ireland, and the United States, the groups estimate that the actual number of abusive clergy in Argentina is 1,302.
This means the likely number of victims in Argentina since 1950, based on the offense rate of typical adult sex abusers, is over 15,000.
https://religionnews.com/2014/01/09/startling-statistics/
In response to the crisis, Argentine survivors and activists are launching a new NGO,
I.S.A.: Iglesia Sin Abusos.
Survivors also demanded that the Concordat between the Argentine government and the Holy See be amended in cases of child sex crimes by clergy.
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MAY 5, 2019. BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
Argentine Survivors and Survivor-Activists launched a new Argentine NGO, shared stories and discussed issues and strategies to bring justice to victims of sexual abuse in the church and Argentine state.
MORE PICTURES
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MAY 6, 2019. MENDOZA, ARGENTINA
-- Mendoza Meeting with Mothers of Provolo victims at Xumek Headquarters, and Demonstration in Mendoza with hearing-disabled Próvolo survivors - Colectivo por la Restitucion de Derechos a Sobrevivientes del Provolo at Arzobispado de Mendoza, San Juan, M5500 Mendoza.
-- Leaders of BishopAccountability.org and Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), were joined by hearing-disabled victims who were abused at the Próvolo Institute for the Deaf in Lujan de Cuyo.
-- We had a special, heart-warming moment when Daniel Sgardelis, the first victim of the Próvolo to present himself before justice in La Plata city, called a friend's phone to be a part of the protest in Mendoza and he presented a sweet and supportive sign language message to all of us who were at the demonstration.
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Daniel Sgardelis
on video-chat with us in Mendoza
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MAY 7, 2019. LA PLATA, ARGENTINA
Press Conference with Provolo victims + Strategy/Media Session with Survivors.
Provolo victims have asked us to help them get to Rome to meet with the Pope and a Go Fund Me Campaign is being considered for this effort. They have asked the Argentine Ambassador to assist in arranging the meeting.
The Planning team for Argentina was a typical ECA collaboration involving numerous individuals and groups, within Argentina and from other countries.
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Argentine Survivors and Activists join with International groups to fight clergy sexual abuse
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Argentina survivors of ecclesiastical sexual abuse, human rights activists and attorneys join with international survivors and activists to champion the modification of the Concordat - the Church-State relations in Argentina - to facilitate justice for victims.
Over 900 signatures so far!
READ AND SIGN THE PETITION NOW!
CONCLUSION
Every survivor of clergy sexual abuse is a global survivor of clergy abuse.
Every case of clergy sexual abuse is a global case of clergy sexual abuse.
Let's continue to work together to end this global clergy abuse crisis.
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Zero Tolerance + Zero Cover Up = Truth and Justice
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BE AN ECA SOCIAL MEDIA AMBASSADOR
ECA’s Social Media Ambassadors Program is an exciting and easy way FOR YOU to get involved with ECA and to encourage existing members who know and love the mission of ECA to spread the word about ECA globally.
ECA will utilize Social Media Ambassadors to direct strong social media campaigns and ECA messages to target specific regions and issues relating to the sexual abuse of children by clergy.
ECA has a number of campaigns in the pipeline and we need you to get involved. Together we will #EnditNOW!
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