https://www.christianpost.com/news/jrr-tolkien-son-uk-inquiry-catholic-church-mishandling-child-sex-abuse-allegations-228477/
JRR Tolkien's Son Part of UK Inquiry Into Catholic Church Mishandling Child Sex Abuse Allegations
The top Roman Catholic archbishop in the U.K. is set to face pressing questions over the way the church has handled child sex abuse allegations, including over the clergy son of JRR Tolkien.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, is set to be questioned this week by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, The Telegraph reported.
The investigation will look into how major British institutions tackled sex abuse claims, with the Catholic Church attracting major controversy for relocating abusing priests in dioceses around the world.
Nichols' former Archdiocese of Birmingham is set to be examined, including how it handled allegations of abuse against Father John Tolkien, the son of famous author JRR Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit fantasy novels.
Senior church officials are being blamed for allowing Fr. Tolkien, who died in 2003, to continue working as a priest despite an alleged victim coming forward against him years earlier.
The man, Christopher Carrie, accused the priest of sexually abusing him twice in November 1956, when he was 11-years-old.
As BBC News reported back in 2003, the Archdiocese of Birmingham awarded Carrie £15,000, or nearly $20,000 USD, in an out-of-court settlement.
Fr. Tolkien had denied the allegations, and a police investigation launched against him in 2001 was discontinued, as the Crown Prosecution Service found him to be too ill to be charged. The priest died two years later at the age of 85.
Carrie, a father of two, said at the time that the church needs to answer for protecting Fr Tolkein.
"Although Father John Tolkien is now dead, and cannot harm any more children, that does not exempt the church from responsibility or liability.
"I am satisfied that the settlement is substantial enough to recompense me for some of the wrongs committed," he continued.
"More importantly, I hope the coverage given to the case may encourage other victims of sexual abuse to come forward."
Carrie further revealed that church officials had promised him in 1993 that Fr. Tolkien was set to shortly retire as a priest, but he continued actively officiating in church services at least until the mid 1990s.
The scandals rocking the Catholic Church have been felt worldwide, including in the U.S. A Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed in August how 301 priests abused over 1,000 children over the past several decades, with church hierarchy shielding the perpetrators.
"Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing. They hid it all," said at a press conference Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Pope Francis has scheduled a major four-day conference on the clerical sexual abuse crisis with his top bishops in Rome for February 2018. The meeting, believed to be the first of its kind, comes following the pontiff's condemnation of the clergy who have been committing abuse, and vow that the Catholic Church will do better.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/11/britains-senior-catholic-faces-questions-churchs-handling-child/
England's most senior Catholic clergyman faces embarrassment this week when he appears before an inquiry to answer claims he ignored child sex abuse allegations against his priests, including the son of JRR Tolkien.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, is to give evidence in person to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which is investigating how a number of key institutions in Britain handled sex abuse claims.
Never Charged!
Fr. John Tolkien? Son of RR Tolkien? Another Child of Famous Elite Involved In Sexual Abuse of A Child
Pizzagate Related because Sexual Abuse by Another Priest Upon a Child
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NOMOCHOMO ago
Damn it. Now I have to side-eye JRR Tolkien too?
Hobbits look like children, and are often mistaken for kids in the books.... They're constantly being recruited by Gandalf, an old-ass wizard.
The ring keeps them from aging.
Anybody think Tolkien Mythology might have been a proto-MK-Ultra style normalizing of close relationships between unrelated young and old?
carmencita ago
I was never into Tolkien but knew some in the past that were. From the sound of your description of keeping Children from again, I think that sounds like every pedo's dream. Sounds kind of like being on magic mushrooms too.
Angelis_Solaris ago
This is laughable to the point of utter dismissal. That's nothing like Tolkien's works, if you haven't read them, don't criticize them. You're making it sound like Lewis Carroll or something. I've read both and they're nothing alike.
carmencita ago
I never mentioned Carroll or that they were alike.
Angelis_Solaris ago
What you said was reminiscent of Carroll and that's why I brought it up. That's what it came across as, to me. That's why I said it was "laughable," not that anyone should be laughing at it but just that it is absurd to jump prematurely to conclusions. I guess I got too angry since Tolkien's works have inspired me in the pro-Christian direction more than any other work I've ever read, and I've read all the products of his fantasy writings. There is no way a pedophile could produce what he produced, I don't think anyone with evil intentions could produce such a Godly work. It's comparable to C.S. Lewis' works in many ways, though arguably better.
YogSoggoth ago
You might become disappointed in your childhood heroes here. Take that to the bank.
Angelis_Solaris ago
No need to deposit something that doesn't clearly exist.
YogSoggoth ago
It has been my experience, in my short time on this planet, that the real heroes were everyday common people. Most of them are dead, sadly. They are my rock.
carmencita ago
That's why I said that it was either family or maybe in school, a teacher, or priest. An authority figure. It should always be left open at the beginning. This needs further research. Into his and his son's background.
Angelis_Solaris ago
Go to "Of Sorcerers and Men" by Michael Drought for a good start into Tolkien and his motivations. It's a great source since Michael Drought has read the Lord of the Rings 47 times and studied most of Tolkien's personal writings (which are innumerable)
carmencita ago
Thank You.
NOMOCHOMO ago
Micah 7:5: Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms
Psalm 146:3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
NOMOCHOMO ago
"laughable to the point of utter dismissal"
Appeal to Ridicule
Angelis_Solaris ago
I didn't mean it like that. It really is laughable, I was being serious. It was an asinine and careless comment of baseless accusation, literally baseless. They haven't even read any of his works.
NOMOCHOMO ago
I have read his works, and do find them inspirational.
But the Bible says repeatedly:
Psalm 118:8-9: It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.
Angelis_Solaris ago
Yes you're right about that.