NationStates Jolt Archive

ENN: Capital Punishment for 3 Catholic Priests

Zergandol, Uldune: 31 January
An Ulduni Top Administrative Hearing Committee today handed down a capital sentence for the Catholic Priests known as the Zergandol Three, based on over fifty evidential submissions and testimonies that the three have sexually abused or exploited dozens of Catholic youth in their parishes.

The three priests, Father Miglach Hermtine, Father Karven Stonehand, and Father Hjirlik Varni; were immediately deprived of their Effrenati citizenship, and will remain in custody for one year while they attempt to find asylum. If by the end of the year, no nation has agreed to receive the three as citizens, they will be subjected to lethal injection.

Varni Stilgatch, spokesminion for the Catholic Upbringing Survivors’ Society Special Interest Group (Motto/Philosophy: “A Catholic upbringing is a toxic upbringing!”) announced that the SIG plans to hire the Kyth Detective Agency to begin immediate investigations of forty-seven other suspected pedophile priests, and to request Administrative Hearings for all of them as soon as sufficient evidence is gathered. “It’s about time the real nuisance value of these “priests” is understood in Effrenata, and if the Church won’t handle the matter with appropriate firmness, we’ll see that the civil bureaucracy deals with them!”

A spokesminion for Cardinal Krjstian Vilharna, the Number One Catholic in Effrenata, said that the Church would be appealing the hearing decision to the Pest Control Board, and seeking guidance from the Vatican on negotiating with civil authorities. Porval Atkinsson, Chair of the Didactus Dei Special Interest Group, the Church’s officially designated SIG, (Motto/philosophy: “The Church has an answer for everything.”) has signified their intent to introduce new Administrative Rules preventing government bureaucracies from intervening in Church matters. “This is an issue we are prepared to pursue right up to the Article Review Board, if necessary. It strikes at the freedom of every Effrenati faith to deal with their own problems internally, and Effrenati freedom of religious faith is one of the bedrock Articles of our Confederacy!”

However, the SIG Devout Catholics for Reform, (Motto/philosophy: “Let the lay people decide!”) has indicated that it supports the Zergandol decision. “If the Church hierarchy won’t deal with this appalling problem, we need reform from within. It’s the only way to ensure that the civil bureaucracy butts out of church business—we have to be responsible for protecting Catholic youth, or they have every right to intervene,” said SIG Chair Marya Ermetyne at a news conference in Zergandol today. “However, we will also be filing an official protest to the Pest Control Board on the unwarranted severity of the decision. We believe the healing process must start by healing these priests, and allowing them to work for reconciliation within the Church.”

While Effrenata’s Catholic population is comparatively small (20% of Effrenati have identified themselves as Catholic in the most recent census,) the Church’s influence among the Upper Ten Thousand, particularly the neo-Frenish and Svaldi districts, is considerable. The membership of Catholic-affiliated or –identified SIGs has soared in recent months as the disturbing sexual abuse and exploitation scandals have surfaced in region after region. The Zergandol Three represent only the first to make their way through the Administrative Hearing process, but Hearings are pending on at least eleven more clergy.

(OOC: Information on Effrenata here: http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=113835&highlight= )

In the Consistory of the Orado Cathedral, the seat of Cardinal Krjstian Vilharna, three clerks were busily preparing copies of a formal appeal from the Archbishop to friendly Catholic nations:

To my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, in the Unity of the Holy Church, I send this solemn appeal:

The Administrative Hearing Committee of Zergandol has just invoked the death penalty on three Diocesan priests, in connection with child maltreatment charges-- charges which the Church was already in the process of investigating and dealing with.

As you may be aware, the Effrenati death penalty contains the "escape clause," which permits the condemned one year to find a nation outside of Effrenata which will receive them as citizens.

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to provide asylum for these Priests. While they may indeed have committed grevious offenses-- Offenses which are not, I might add, condoned or tolerated by the Effrenati Church-- these offenses certainly do not merit the punishment of death, especially as the Church investigation is as yet incomplete, and we do not have a clear picture of what happened, or what is the best procedure to handle it in accordance with the well-being of Holy Mother Church.

It appears that elements of the Effrenati population hostile to our Church intend to embark upon a crusade of persecution, potentially stirring up the population to demand anti-Catholic Administrative Regulations, and other negative consequences. We appeal to you also to request that your governments protest this persecution in the strongest terms to the Effrenati government, in order that they may understand the Universal and Transcendant nature of our Holy Church, and refrain from actions which might restrict the ability of the Church to serve the needs and interests of all Catholics.

Fraternally in Christ,

The Most Eminent Krjstian F.X. Vilharna,
Cardinal of Effrenata

The three priests were in adjacent cells in the Zergandol Detention Facility's Death Row cellblock.

Father Miglach Hermtine, in the center of the three cells, paced the floor angrily.

It was bad enough being in a common jail, but on death row? For alleged "offenses" committed nearly twenty years ago, when he'd been in his twenties?

The death row cells were arranged in two tiers around a square recreation area in the center, overlooked by the guard post which occupied one wall of the second tier. Only a few of the cells were occupied. Effrenata's Administrative Hearing Committees and Criminal Tribunals regularly applied the death sentance for Class I and II Nuisances, but most of the condemned managed to take advantage of the escape clause, finding asylum in other countries.

Especially the killers. For some reason, some countries were always willing to accept a few more psychopathic murderers. It was a mystery to Father Hermtine.

So at the moment, aside from a couple of Telemarketers (nobody wanted those,) and one Litterer (who claimed he was going to work out a deal with Wienerdoglandia,) the three priests had death row to themselves.

A representative from Cardinal Vilharna had assured them that the Church was making an appeal on their behalf for asylum among the Catholic nations of the world, and working to generate remonstrances with the Effrenati government bureaucracy. But Father Hermtine wasn't sure how much traction that would gain. Effrenata tended to mind its own business, staying entirely neutral in world affairs, and he didn't know that the Effrenati Church had sufficient friends to tap in a crisis like this.

Perhaps they deserved punishment... at any rate, Father Hermtine was quite sure that Father Stonehand had been a serial altar-girl abuser right up through last year. But that was partly the Bishopric's fault. They'd had complaints, and kept right on assigning Stonehand back into Diocesan assignments.

But Stonehand needed help, not a lethal injection. There was no way that any of the priests could make amends and start healing themselves and the Church if they were killed... or even just exiled.

Father Hermtine frowned to himself. Making up his mind, he sat down at the spartan writing desk in his cell, and began to write.

"Most Reverend Eminence--

Upon consideration and prayer, I would most respectfully request that the Church consider allowing me to remain in Effrenata, pending the appeal to the Pest Control Board, rather than seeking asylum elsewhere. My spiritual mission is here, my home is here. I truly believe that God has a purpose for me here.

your most obedient son in Christ,
Miglach Hermtine, O.P."