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Amethyst · 2006-04-15 20:29:00

This Reuters news story is an interesting example of "history" shifting as consciousness and "winners" shift and change.

PRIEST FACES TRIAL IN NUN'S STABBING DEATH

Body of 71-year-old victim was found under altar cloth 26 years ago

Updated: 10:35 a.m. ET April 15, 2006

TOLEDO, Ohio - A 68-year-old Catholic priest goes on trial Monday in the stabbing death of a nun whose body was found covered by an altar cloth in a chapel 26 years ago.

The Rev. Gerald Robinson, charged with murder and facing a possible sentence of life in jail if convicted, has been on leave from his priestly duties since his arrest in 2004. He has pleaded not guilty.

The crime occurred in a hospital chapel in downtown Toledo on Saturday of Easter week in 1980. Investigators said the nun, Margaret Ann Pahl, 71, was strangled and then stabbed up to 32 times.

The investigation initially centered on Robinson, the hospital’s chaplain and a priest of the Toledo Catholic Diocese. He was not charged at the time and presided over Pahl’s funeral Mass.

Police reopened the case in 2003 and arrested Robinson in April 2004. The cold case squad said it suspected that blood spatters left at the crime scene matched a letter opener in Robinson’s possession.

After his arrest investigators said they believed a “ceremony” had taken place inside the chapel in conjunction with the slaying but did not elaborate. Robinson is the only one who has been charged.

Several events led to the case being reopened. In June 2003, an unidentified woman went to the Toledo Diocese seeking reimbursement for her therapy. She presented officials there with a letter claiming she was a childhood victim of clerical sexual abuse by Robinson, according to the Toledo Blade, which obtained a copy of the letter.

The woman claimed to be the victim of Satanic ritualistic sexual abuse perpetrated by a number of priests who were involved in a cult, the newspaper said.

Prosecutors said they were unaware of the letter until after the woman who wrote it gave a copy to Claudia Vercellotti, a Toledo leader of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests.

Vercellotti forwarded it to the Ohio attorney general’s office in September 2003, saying she thought church officials were not moving on it. The state office in turn sent the letter to Lucas County prosecutors, causing them to reopen the case in December of that year.

Police have said they asked the diocese to voluntarily surrender all documents in Robinson’s file but only got three pages.

In September 2004, the diocese was served with a warrant and surrendered over 100 documents. The diocese has consistently refused to discuss the case, citing a court gag order.

Robinson has not faced any criminal charges of sexual abuse.

Prosecutors expect the murder trial in Lucas County Circuit Court to last from three to four weeks.

Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

Amethyst

organic · 2006-04-15 21:15:23

Amethyst wrote:
This Reuters news story is an interesting example of "history" shifting as consciousness and "winners" shift and change.

Several events led to the case being reopened. In June 2003, an unidentified woman went to the Toledo Diocese seeking reimbursement for her therapy. She presented officials there with a letter claiming she was a childhood victim of clerical sexual abuse by Robinson, according to the Toledo Blade, which obtained a copy of the letter.

Prosecutors said they were unaware of the letter until after the woman who wrote it gave a copy to Claudia Vercellotti, a Toledo leader of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests.

Vercellotti forwarded it to the Ohio attorney general’s office in September 2003, saying she thought church officials were not moving on it. The state office in turn sent the letter to Lucas County prosecutors, causing them to reopen the case in December of that year.

A good example of "history" rewriting itself with a possible new ending. History in the making is never quite finished now is it?

Last edited by organic (2006-04-15 21:16:12)

organic · 2006-05-11 18:59:33

The verdict is in -

http://phoenix.cox.net/cci/newsnational … =D8HHN3VG0

Amethyst · 2006-05-12 02:49:12

What I find really interesting is the fact that the mainline news media is underscoring the religious ritual aspects of the killing. There’s an institutional aspect to this murder - as opposed to a lone psychiatric nut case of a priest - that clearly comes through in the news story.

**Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was stabbed 31 times through an altar cloth, with the punctures forming an upside down cross, and her killer then anointed her with a smudge of her blood on the forehead to humiliate her in death, prosecutors said.**

**Robinson, who wore his priest's collar throughout the trial, had no visible reaction as the verdict was read.**

And then there’s the official bishop’s response to the verdict as reported in the news story.

**"Let us hope that the conclusion of the trial will bring some measure of healing for all those affected by the case as well as for our local church," Leonard Blair, bishop of the Toledo Diocese, said in a statement. "The diocese has remained steadfast in the work of the Church and its ministries throughout this trial, and will continue to do so."**

Healing? What a bland minimalist statement. We’re talking about a priest that stabbed a nun in a satanic ritual murder at the altar. We’re not talking about couples going away to a Marriage Encounter weekend to heal or enrich their marriage. We’re talking about a priest who not only stabbed a nun at the altar but did so in the pattern of an upside down Christian cross. Once certain boundaries have been crossed there is no going back. “Healing” is not the appropriate response to this kind of behavior and church response. Withdrawing and leaving the church is.

Amethyst

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#26 2006-04-15 20:29:00

Re: Book by David Icke? ???

#27 2006-04-15 21:15:23

Re: Book by David Icke? ???

Amethyst wrote:

#28 2006-05-11 18:59:33

Re: Book by David Icke? ???

#29 2006-05-12 02:49:12

Re: Book by David Icke? ???

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