‘Suffer the little children.’ How the Vatican’s good old boys protected Ireland’s most notorious pedophile priest, Father Tony Walsh.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
We have been accustomed for years now to the steady
drip, drip, drip of stories of pedophile priests — known,
protected, unrelenting, sickening. The drill goes something
like this:
First, the abuse.
Then the denial.
Then the acknowledgement.
Then the settlement.
Then the cash payments.
Then the (ordinarily too weak) promises
of new oversight and reform.
Surely, there could be nothing new under this cloud.
Think again…. for now you will meet (then Father)
Tony Walsh… a priest with a penchant for impersonating
Elvis… and a rapacious sexual appetite rivaling Don
Giovanni. But this is not so much a story about Tony Walsh
as it is the tale of how the Vatican, knowing much and
fearing more, winked for nearly 20 years at  a man known
to many as Ireland’s most predatory pedophile priest.
This is the Rosetta Stone of pedophile priest stories…
for understanding this, reveals all.
The joy boy of Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot is part of Dublin. It is grim, poor, but
fertile for those seeking the very young and winsome,
for they are omnipresent and without voice or influence,
the choicest morsels, available, helpless.
These were tailor-made for Father Tony  Walsh. As such, he
lost no time making good use of them when
he took up this parish in 1978. He molested his first
boy there just two days after he started. It was simple
and oh so easy. He knew he was on to a very good thing.
Father Tony honed his approach and his solicitation
skills. He toured as Elvis in a traveling Catholic song-and-dance
production. He ran the Boy Scouts (de rigueur for pedophile
priests) and brought boys to the Dublin seminary,
Clonliffe College. Through such means, an embarrass
du choix, he kept a steady flow of what he desired while
keeping up appearances so that those who would not see
would have no grounds for suspicion. It was all very well
organized, cynical, loathsome.
Bit by bit, the story of Father Tony seeped out.  Ballyfermot
was rife with noisome rumors. So much incessant seduction
spurred an avalanche of saucy tales, which lost nothing in the
telling, not least because they were true.
This went on for 19 years, between 1975-2004 by which
time the matter was widely known, conspicuous, flagrant.
Yet Father Tony continued to work his cynical magic
with the boys of Ballyfermot. He had a system that worked,
and he enjoyed it accordingly while his superiors discussed,
dithered, procrastinated… then postponed, delayed, and discussed
some more. It was the Catholic version of Dickens’ Circumlocution
Office… and, of course, was perfectly created for Father Tony
Walsh. He was one of the boys, he was inside the charmed
circle… he had protection, tolerance, cover, right up to
and including his eminence Cardinal Desmond Connell, Archbishop
of Dublin, Primate of All Ireland.
What did his eminence do?
Over time, stories like those of Father Tony and his ilk
became general knowledge; so general that even the Primate
of All Ireland was forced to pay attention. But he moved too
little too late so that reformers, despairing of Church-lead
reform, turned to the Irish government instead. The findings of the
state-ordered investigation shocked the nation and raised profound
questions about how so much abuse could have occurred
with so little and so ineffective response.
Item: Church officials knew of widespread abuse.
Item: Church officials shielded the perpetrators and
ensured that abuse cases be treated internally,
which meant they were not treated at all.
Item: No abuse cases or sexual crimes were reported by
the Church until the mid-1990′s. Not a single one.
And what of blissful Father Tony Walsh?
Investigators focused their attention on 46 priestly abuse
cases occurring between 1975-2004. Of these cases,
all heinous, the most flagrant of all was Father Tony Walsh,
who in his Elvis impersonations gave a whole new meaning
to “Love Me Tender…”
He was, the investigators concluded, “probably the most
notorious child sexual abuser” of all… a man who knew the
system well, knew that he was shielded from repercussions,
and took full advantage of his superiors’ penchant for
shuffling, disregarding, and willingness to tolerate any
abuse, no matter how young the victim or revolting the
act. The man, the abuser, was a priest, elect of God,
and that was enough. It was a passport to mayhem.
But the luck of Father Tony Walsh was even now not
exhausted. In the report of the state-ordered investigation
the chapter on Father Tony was excluded. Why? Because
his criminal case was then before the courts and his
rights must be protected. Indeed.
However, at long last, the case of Father Tony was heard
in all its lurid, sordid, riveting detail. The nation watched, angry,
sorrowful, wondering how so many could have done so
wrong for so long. How parents and teachers, how priests
and cardinals could have known so much and done so
little… creating the fetid environment in which Father Tony
et al had flourished. How could this have happened in Ireland,
to all its good people? How?
Tony Walsh, no longer a priest, was convicted and convicted
yet again. First he was convicted of a May, 1994 assault on
a boy in a pub restroom following the funeral of the boy’s
grandfather. Then, later, he was convicted of sexually
assaulting several more boys, receiving a further 10-year
sentence.
In its wisdom the court saw fit to reduce this sentence,
giving Tony Walsh instead a term of just 6 years. Just
six years, after a lifetime of abuse and assault.
And what of the victims, all young, all innocent susceptibility?
Who is to reduce their term by 40 percent, or by any
number? Who can eradicate Father Tony Walsh from
their minds and lives by even a moment? Who will be
there for them when devastating memories surface and
terrorize in depth of night? For they who needed the most help,
got the least… to the shame of all Ireland and all its holy clerics and
princely potentates who are hereby sentenced to remember and
regret.

Four things successful business people will do today…that you won’t!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Friend, let’s get one thing straight from the get-go. Successful people are going to do things today that you won’t. Read this, and you’ll discover what they are.
1) Successful people don’t just let today happen…. they plan for today… yesterday!
What did you do before you left your office yesterday? If you’re successful, you planned your success for today, determining your clear objectives and laying out the documents, materials, and other things you need.
In other words, you knew what you’d need, and you had it readily at hand so you could, without special effort, pick up first thing today what you so carefully planned…. yesterday.
Organization, a constant focus on time management and efficiency, not caffeine , are what the successful bring to the table. They cannot and do not consider yesterday concluded… until it is organized as the spring board to a successful today.
2) Email a stupendous offer just before you leave your work.
Want to walk in tomorrow to sales? To lots of great prospect leads?
Then email a terrific offer BEFORE you leave.
Most people, bushed, fatigued, tired, upon leaving their offices are contemplating the pleasures of the rest of today. But not the successful.
Successful people are mad keen on organization and efficiency… and constant bank account pleasing cash flow. They know that today’s dollars are the result of yesterday’s offers. Successful business people force themselves to stay, no matter how tired they are, no matter how pleasurable the day’s forthcoming events, until they have crafted the stunning offer that ensures cash flow throughout the hours they are not present.
This offer must be a lollapalooza… the best yet.
As I write, much of the United States, much of the rest of the world is mired in an anaemic economic recovery that is, at best, just limping along.
Yet, by staying focused at all times on the main event, successful business people will flourish and achieve even the most ambitious of business and financial goals.
The key is having cash readily at hand…. and the means to generate more…. at will.
This means offers, better offers, the best offers, never-ending offers.
Because you will be tired at the end of the day, craft your end-of-day offers earlier. To ensure that it delivers the big success you insist upon, shape that offer when your mind is fresh and your abilities keen. Aim to make your offer better than you have ever made before; aim to make it a stunner, head turning, a cash gusher.
What the most successful business people know is that cash is king, especially when other people, people who do not have and do not use such offers, don’t have it. If you focus as on your #1 Priority the shaping and constant sending of eye-popping offers you will have the cash, and thus the freedom, your less focused and clever colleagues lack and will always lack.
3) Call three prospects who have been hanging on the fence, uncertain about buying, and tell them you have the talking turkey offer of all times… if they will act now.
Offers come in many shapes and sizes… but one thing they all have in common is the “act now” factor. Offers to work must have deadlines… and the very best offers mean prompt, immediate response… no dithering allowed.
Most people, you see, even most business people, dither, offering excuses when decisive action is called for. In fact most people are not decision makers; rather, they are decision avoiders. The offer is made for such people, for only a truly superior offer will get these torpid ones to act at all, much less act on your speedy schedule.
Now, be honest. Did you, before leaving your office yesterday, call at least three people with a special, once-in-a-lifetime, knock ‘em, sock ‘em offer?
Or did you just turn off the lights and lock the door?
Want money?Then outline a “for my best customers” offer… and call them to discuss it. (You may also use email to send the offer… but never expect such an email to close the deal. For that the phone is the key).
Pick up the phone, I say, and, upon reaching these prime (if delaying) prospects, verbally embrace them, “Mary, you and I have been in contact for many years. I was thinking of you and wanted to make you a spectacular offer. Have you got a minute?” Then deliver the offer of offers, tellingly delivered, resoundingly delivered, convincingly delivered. This is a Special Offer…. for a Special Person. Deliver it accordingly.
4) Select 5 customers and give them a special unexpected gift.
People have always liked and will always like to get presents. It makes us feel wanted, warm inside. The most important people in your business are your customers; we all know that. However, what have you done lately to warm the cockles of their hearts? Not much, right? Change that today.
Pick a few customers, 5 is a good number, and give them a special gift, report, some free product, any kind of emolument… something that says simply, honestly, “I value you!” Then send it out.
Your customers will be pleased, gratified, impressed. No wonder. In our busy world, too few take even a little time to do the right thing; that thing that identifies you as a quality individual, well deserving of such customers. Out of the enhanced good will such valued offerings engender will come business, lots of business. You deserve it.
Are you going to be the business success you say you want?
You now know what to do. The question, therefore, is whether you will do it,and when.
24 hours from now, as you reflect upon this day, you will know just how successful you will be, based on what you have (or have not) done. It won’t take any longer than that to see how well you’re going to do. You see, now as always, the success you get (or forego) will be upon the actions you take and how well you do them. In short, it’s all about you.
Bon voyage.