TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Citizen
SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
Today, dozens of people were expected to ask a federal bankruptcy judge in Tucson to reconsider their rejected claims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.
More than 60 claims were turned down by a panel the judge appointed to review them as part of the process to reorganize the operation of the Diocese of Tucson under Chapter 11 bankruptcy law.
In all, 103 claims were received. The panel has set up a ranking system for paying victims.
The diocese has agreed to pay at least $15 million to victims of abuse by its clergy in its effort to move beyond the pedophilia scandal that has tainted the church here.
The diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection Sept. 20, 2004, in the face of mounting new claims of sexual abuse following a $14 million clergy sex abuse settlement reached in civil court in 2002.
As the reorganization effort under Chapter 11 got under way, federal bankruptcy Judge James Marlar named a panel of lawyers and sexual abuse victims to the "tort claims committee." It is that panel that has been reviewing the abuse claims filed by the court's April 15 deadline.
Jun 30 2005
BRITAIN
ic Coventry
By Steve Chilton
A Coventry man who was repeatedly sexually abused when he was a child by a city priest, was today awarded a record £700,000 in compensation.
The victim, known as Mr A, was abused for years by former Catholic priest Fr Christopher Clonan.
The award which was announced by a High Court judge is a UK record for a sex abuse case involving a priest. Costs will also be awarded to Mr A, sending the bill to the Catholic Church to more than £1 million.
The victim, now 34, was brought up in the Coundon area. He was abused by the priest from about the age of seven, and the assaults continued into his late teenage years.
The abuse, including rape and other serious assaults, was carried out in Coventry at Fr Clonan’s room at Christ the King Church, the priest’s nearby home, and his second home in Ireland.
BRITAIN
ic Coventry
Jun 30 2005
By Steve Chilton
The man who today was awarded record damages for being sexually abused by a Coventry priest began his campaign for justice 13 years ago - by telling his story to the Evening Telegraph.
The police had been foiled in their attempt to arrest Fr Christopher Clonan - he had fled and was never to be see again in this country - and the then 22-year-old was gripped by anger, despair and frustration.
His account of the abuse he suffered from the age of about seven through to his late teenage years was all the more chilling for its soft-spoken delivery. But when the memories became too painful, Mr A a tall, good-looking man dressed in denims, would explode in anger.
He told how the abuse started with fondling when he was just an ordinary kid with Irish parents living in the Coundon area, where Christ the King Church and social club was and still is, at the heart of the community.
He was groomed by the assistant parish priest by being given pocket money for odd jobs at the church and club.
BRITAIN
U.TV
Father Christopher Clonan's whereabouts has been the source of as much speculation in recent years and filled as much newspaper copy as the progress of the child abuse legal claims against him.
But the mystery ended in May last year when West Midlands Police confirmed that the man known to neighbours in a quiet Melbourne suburb as Christie Oliver was the fugitive priest and that he had died in 1998.
Born in Clonard, Co Meath, Christopher Oliver Clonan had been a part-time builder and property developer before entering the priesthood and being posted to Christ the King church in Coundon, Coventry, in the 1970s.
Because of his former trade, he became known as "Father Fix It" for his skills in church construction schemes.
But the priest, who was known to swear like a trooper and have a weakness for whiskey and cigars, became embroiled in an altogether different project, abusing young parishioners and altar boys.
UNITED STATES
Newsday
BY GENE SEYMOUR
STAFF WRITER
July 1, 2005
The level of intimacy achieved in "Twist of Faith" is so unsettling and deep that one wonders how it could have possibly been achieved. It is one thing to hear adult victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests speak out in uneasy voices on TV and radio. It is yet another, far more potent thing to be allowed into a victim's home, life and struggle to come to grips with what happened.
The central figure in Kirby Dick's festering sore of a documentary is Tony Comes, a firefighter living in Toledo, Ohio, with his wife and two children. Comes is the kind of man you'd like to be when you grow up: cool, honest and devoted to his family. Yet beneath his resolute exterior, Comes is tormented by what happened to him as a teenager when he was molested by a local priest who invited kids to his lakeside home for weekend parties.
Only Comes' parents and his wife knew about the incident before he decided to go public in 2002, the same year allegations of similar sexual abuse by Catholic priests surfaced nationwide. Matters became even more urgent for Comes when his abuser, who had left the priesthood but taught in a public school, moved to a house five doors away from him.
Filmmaker Dick, whose previous work includes 2002's "Derrida" and 1997's "Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist," helped his project by allowing the Comes family to videotape themselves. This may have been the only means through which Comes and his wife could articulate the complex effects of Tony's legal battles with the church, his own psychological struggle and its impact on his marriage. (Even their counseling sessions are taped.) The most poignant scenes, not surprisingly, involve his children; not just when he has to tell them what happened to their dad as a boy, but when he faces his own violently conflicted feelings toward his daughter's first Communion.
BRITAIN
U.TV
The Catholic Church could be forced to pay out millions of pounds after the High Court today awarded damages to a man who, during his childhood, was sexually abused by a priest.
The man, now 35, was abused for more than 10 years between the ages of seven and 18 by Father Christopher Clonan, his parish priest at Christ The King Church in Coventry.
The man now suffers from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder and was awarded more than £600,000 in compensation by the High Court in Manchester today.
Lawyers for the claimant, known as `A`, said the ruling against the Archbishop of Birmingham and the Trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church was "a landmark decision".
It was the first case against the Catholic Church to reach a British court, with all previous complaints having been settled at an earlier stage.
With legal costs expected to spiral to more than £400,000, the total fee will be more than £1 million - thought to be the biggest award of its kind in the UK.
Today`s ruling means that Clonan, who fled to Australia where he died in 1998, has cost the Church nearly £1.5 million.
TUCSON (AZ)
KVOA
A bankruptcy judge on Thursday tossed out more than two dozen sex abuse claims seeking compensation from the Catholic Diocese of Tucson while approving 20 compromise settlements.
Only about 23 claims are now still unresolved in the bankruptcy case.
Judge James Marlar also heard testimony from three people who filed claims, two in open court, though the claimants were identified only by their claim numbers, and the third in a closed courtroom, but did not rule immediately on their validity.
One woman who filed a claim tearfully recounted how her now-dead husband allegedly had been molested during the early 1950s, when he was 12, by a priest in Miami, Ariz.
Warren Stapleton, an attorney for a court-appointed tort creditors committee, told the judge he was not discrediting the allegations but asked the judge to throw out the claim because the statute of limitations had expired by the time her husband was 23.
TANZANIA
Xinhua
DAR ES SALAAM, June 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The trial of a Roman Catholic priest charged with sexual offenses involving a 17-year-old boy has been set to start on July 21 in Dar es Salaam.
Decision on the starting date of the trial was reached after a closed-door preliminary hearing at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam, according to local English newspaper The Guardian.
At least eight witnesses are expected to be summoned in to testify and these include the boy's parents, police officers who detained the accused priest, Sixtus Kimaro, and the boy's teachers.
BRITAIN
Sun Online
By PETE BELL
Sun Online
CATHOLIC Church leaders have been ordered to pay over £600,000 compensation to a man after a priest sexually abused him as a child.
The man, identified in court as "A", was abused over a ten year period from the age of seven by paedophile Father Christopher Clonan - his priest at Christ The King Church in Coventry.
The award was made today in Manchester after the High Court heard the man, now 35, suffers from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder. He has lived in a mental home since 2000.
The sick priest escaped justice by fleeing Coventry in 1992. Police are now convinced he is dead.
Compensation - mostly for loss of past and future earnings - was awarded against the Archbishop of Birmingham and the trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church.
Archdiocese of Birmingham spokesman Peter Jennings said the church hoped the settlement would bring an end to the "distress and anguish" the victim has suffered.
BRITAIN
Scotsman
By Hugo Duncan, PA
A man who was left psychologically damaged after being systematically abused by a parish priest for ten years was awarded more than £600,000 in compensation today.
Lawyers acting for the victim of Father Christopher Clonan said they hoped the award – thought to be the biggest of its kind in the UK – would force the church to offer “realistic compensation” to other victims.
The 35-year-old man, who now suffers from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder, was abused between the ages of seven and 18 by Clonan, his priest at Christ The King Church in Coventry.
The claimant, known as A, was awarded £635,684 by the High Court in Manchester after bringing a case against the Archbishop of Birmingham and the trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church.
After today’s judgment, ‘A’s legal firm, Wokingham-based Clifton Ingram, said they knew of at least eight other victims.
They claim the church failed to act against Clonan for years after the abuse allegations were first raised.
BRITAIN
Science Daily
MANCHESTER, England, June 30 (UPI) -- A British man who was sexually abused as a child by a Roman Catholic priest was awarded a record $1.1 million in damages by the High Court Thursday.
The man was abused by the Rev. Christopher Clonan from the ages of 8 to 18. Now 35, he suffers from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder and requires constant care.
Clonan committed the abuse while working in Coventry under the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church. He died in Australia in 1998 while on the run from British police.
High Court Judge Christopher Clarke said the abuse had been regular -- between one and three times a week.
He awarded $1,147,282 against the Archbishop of Birmingham and the trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese, who admitted legal liability for "failing to prevent these activities."
By DEBRA LEMOINE
dlemoine@theadvocate.com
Florida parishes bureau
AMITE -- Three children are the victims at the center of a child-sex ring operating out of a Ponchatoula church for five years, a sheriff's detective testified in court Wednesday.
What is missing from the court case as it stands are the allegations of occult activity as the motive for the sexual abuse of children and animals, he said. No physical evidence of the occult, such as pentagrams drawn on the floor and spell books were ever found, Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's Detective Mike DePhillips told the court.
"You heard today that they couldn't find any evidence of the occult, so that is a dead issue," said Assistant Public Defender Reginald McIntyre, who represents defendants Paul Fontenot and Patricia Pierson.
Prosecutor Don Wall confirmed after the hearing that the occult element won't be a part of the state's case.
Instead, the case is based mostly on statements made by the three children -- one girl and two boys -- who repeatedly were raped by, or forced to engage in various sex acts with, most of the defendants at least twice a week from 2000 to 2001 at Hosanna Church and a home of three of its members, DePhillips said. There is at least one other victim who wasn't mentioned in court.
PORTLAND (OR)
Portland Tribune
BY Todd Murphy Issue date: 06/29/05
The Tribune
The pastor of a St. Johns church ignored evidence of sexual abuse by one of the church’s employees, then fired two other church employees who had told him of the alleged abuse, according to a civil lawsuit filed last week in Multnomah Circuit Court.
The two church employees were fired and evicted from their church-owned house after they waited in vain for the pastor of the First Baptist Church of St. Johns to report the abuse to police, then filed a police report themselves, the lawsuit complaint says. The church employees’ two daughters, then ages 14 and 17, were among four girls alleged to have been sexually abused by the church employee in 2003.
The lawsuit complaint outlines what it asserts was a litany of actions that Pastor Daniel Pulliam did not do to properly report and investigate the alleged abuse — and what he did do to punish the two church employees and their daughters for bringing the charges forward. Portland police now are investigating the abuse; no charges have been filed against the church employee, who left his job and Portland after being accused of abusing the four girls.
NASHVILLE (TN)
Nashville Scene
By John Spragens
Gentlemen: It is 4:00 am and I could not sleep because I had another one of those nightmares. I thought I would take the time to share with you why."
That's how David Brown began the six-page letter he wrote to church officials in the early morning hours of June 4 of this year. He wrote it in an attempt to explain himself, to force three men from the Catholic Diocese of Middle Tennessee to understand what he had been going through, in stages, for almost a half-century now: the sleepless nights, the manic temper, the fear of intimacy, the shudder he feels when he remembers stale, smoky breath and scratchy whiskers rubbing against his face. The list goes on.
Brown didn't think he would send the letter—he never even planned to write it in the first place—but suddenly, it just made sense: dredge up the deepest, most painful memories and force himself, and others, to deal with them. Let a lawyer and two priest administrators know how it feels and smells and sounds to be 15, a lanky, trusting high school sophomore, and to lose your virginity—involuntarily—to a grown man. One you trusted. He wanted to explain what it's like to deal with the shameful stigma that, left to fester, turns into an angry, hurtful silence and haunts you for a lifetime.
The letter's three recipients, like most people, were probably never sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest. At least they're not saying so if they were. So they probably can't imagine what it would be like to go through such a terrifying experience. Who could?
But unlike most people, these men are used to dealing with this situation. They work for an organization that has employed multiple sex offenders over the past five decades. The Diocese of Middle Tennessee, like many offices of the Catholic Church nationwide, has seen its former priests investigated by law enforcement officials. It is currently fighting a lawsuit from two plaintiffs who claim they were molested by a former clergyman in Nashville who had left the priesthood.
IOWA
THonline
by MARY NEVANS-PEDERSON
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Victims of sexual abuse by Iowa Catholic priests and nuns gathered together with supporters Friday and Saturday to talk about the church's crisis and how it is being handled - or, as some said, mishandled.
The "Weekend of Hope and Understanding" in Iowa City is one of only a few such gatherings that have been held since the sex abuse crisis broke more than three years ago, according to the national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"This is historic stuff - an independent, grass-roots coalition of lay groups addressing these issues," said David Clohessy, who said he repeatedly was abused by his local priest beginning when he was 12. The conference was sponsored by four eastern Iowa lay groups formed to deal with the sex abuse crisis by supporting victims and pushing for local church reform.
Clohessy described how he thinks the church, especially bishops who are on the front line of the crisis, should respond to ever-emerging claims of sexual abuse of children at the hands of clergy:
* Accused priests should fight fair and defend themselves, but not attack or intimidate their accusers;
* Bishops should release and permanently post the names of all credibly accused priests;
* Bishops should visit every parish in their diocese to encourage those who were abused to come forward ("lost sheep campaign");
* Lay and ordained Catholics should work to have the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits changed to allow for sexual abuse cases from long ago to be heard.
VIRGINIA
WAVY
(AP) - Two Virginia circuit court judges have ruled only individuals - not corporate entities - can be held financially liable for child sexual abuse, a blow to victims hoping to sue their abusers' employers.
The rulings concerned separate cases in Norfolk and Richmond, both listing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond as a defendant.
One involved Steve Kopalchick of Hopewell. Now 52, Kopalchick claimed two priests at St. James Catholic Church in Hopewell molested him while he served as an altar boy there in the 1960s. One of the men has since died; the other lives overseas and suffers from Alzheimer's.
Kopalchick filed a $5 million suit in Richmond Circuit Court in 2003.
The June 8 ruling concerns churches, schools and corporations.
COLUMBUS (OH)
ChannelCincinnati.com
POSTED: 12:03 pm EDT June 29, 2005
UPDATED: 12:21 pm EDT June 29, 2005
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether to allow lawsuits claiming the Archdiocese of Cincinnati failed to warn victims of sexual abuse by priests.
Trial courts in Cincinnati and Shelby County threw out the lawsuits, saying the victims waited too long to file them.
The law says lawsuits over sexual abuse of a minor must be filed within one year after reaching age 18.
But the victims say the time limit should not apply because they only learned in 2002 that there were other victims and the church knew about them.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Beacon Journal
CARRIE SPENCER
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to consider whether the deadline has passed to file sexual abuse lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Several lawsuits by people who said they were abused as children have accused the Roman Catholic archdiocese and Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of negligently hiring the priests, hiding the abuse and inflicting emotional distress.
Most were thrown out based on state laws setting deadlines for filing complaints over sexual abuse of a minor. The limit is one year after turning age 18 for reporting the abuse itself, two years for claiming someone failed to protect against the abuse and five years for alleging a pattern of corrupt activity.
But the 3rd Ohio District Court of Appeals in March ruled that a case should go forward against Thomas Hopp of Cincinnati. The Shelby County court agreed that the time limit should begin running from 2002, when Hopp was removed from the ministry and the victim learned the archdiocese knew of other victims.
The appeals court agreed the victim should get the chance to prove he had no reason to know the archdiocese and Pilarczyk were negligent in allowing the abuse to continue.
COLUMBUS (OH)
WCPO
Reported by: AP
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: 9News
6/29/2005 9:49:17 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court today agreed to consider if a man waited too long to sue the Archdiocese of Cincinnati claiming it failed to stop a priest he says abused him as a boy.
The law says lawsuits over sexual abuse of a minor must be filed within one year after reaching age 18. Negligence claims must be filed within two years.
But the unnamed victim says the time limit should start counting from 2002.
That's when he learned were other victims and the church knew about them.
A Shelby County appeals court agreed.
NEW YORK
Poughkeepsie Journal
By Anthony Farmer
Poughkeepsie Journal
In 2002, during the growing sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church, state legislators pledged swift approval of a new law that would punish church officials who try to cover up such acts by fellow priests.
Three years later, a law still isn't in place and it could be well into 2006 before lawmakers get a chance to approve one.
Bills introduced by Sen. Steve Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, and Assemblyman John McEneny, D-Albany, would add members of the clergy to the list of occupations required to report suspected abuse against children. Clergy would then have to report sex abuse of children by priests and other clergy to authorities.
Each legislator's bill has been approved in their respective houses, but McEneny and Saland are at odds over differences in the two bills.
The main sticking points arise over how abuse is defined and to what extent social workers and other counselors would be required to report what they learn about teenagers' sex lives.
A leader of a group representing victims abused by priests said there's no reason the state shouldn't have the law in place. The bills vary only slightly and the differences should be able to be worked out, said Mark Lyman, co-director of the Capital Region Chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
TACOMA (WA)
The News Tribune
STEVE MAYNARD; The News Tribune
Published: June 30th, 2005 12:01 AM
The Catholic Diocese of Sacramento agreed Wednesday to pay $35 million to settle 33 claims of sexual abuse by priests, including 16 against Tacoma priest Mario Blanco.
The plaintiffs will receive an average of $1.1 million, making it one of the largest clergy sex abuse settlements by the Catholic Church, per plaintiff, in the nation.
Tony Cano and 15 others accused Blanco of molesting them more than three decades ago. Blanco denies the accusations.
For Cano, 46, and his family, the church was always a shelter. His mother was raising five children and gleaned her strength from the Catholic Church, he said.
She was thrilled when Blanco, who served mainly Spanish-speaking parishes in the Sacramento Diocese from 1969 to 1973, took an interest in her son. He taught Cano music and helped him start a band.
Although Cano, then a preteen, joked with his friends about never wanting to ride in the front seat of Blanco’s car, he couldn’t bring himself to tell his mother of the abuse. He couldn’t shatter her faith in the church, he said.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
Contra Costa Times
By Randy Myers
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
SACRAMENTO - Clergy sex abuse victims and their loved ones huddled Wednesday afternoon outside the county courthouse as lawyers announced that the Diocese of Sacramento had agreed to pay $35 million to settle 33 claims.
"It's time for the suffering to end and the healing to begin," said lawyer Jeff Anderson at the Sacramento news conference. He praised the victims for their courage in coming forward.
Settlement amounts in the Sacramento cases range from $400,000 to $4.2 million. Because some plaintiffs wish to remain anonymous, individual amounts were not disclosed. The Sacramento Diocese has no other pending abuse cases.
Earlier in the day, the Santa Rosa Diocese said it would pay $7.3 million to eight plaintiffs, bringing its total settlements to $10.6 million.
The news of the Sacramento settlement came moments before the first civil trial in that diocese was to begin.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
Mercury News
JENNIFER COLEMAN
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - Two Northern California Catholic dioceses agreed to pay more than $42 million to settle 41 clergy sex abuse claims, resulting in the dismissal of all but one lawsuit against the two organizations.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento agreed Wednesday to pay $35 million to 33 victims just "two minutes" before a jury trial was set to begin in one of the cases, attorney Larry Drivon of Stockton said at a news conference in front of the Sacramento Superior Courthouse.
"I don't think it's a coincidence that the diocese has finally found its pastoral side the morning of the trial," Drivon said.
Also Wednesday, the Diocese of Santa Rosa announced it will pay $7.3 million to eight plaintiffs. The settlement is in addition to a $3.15 million agreement reached last month with Roberta Saum, now 44, who claimed former priest Donald Kimball sexually abused her for several years starting when she was 15.
The settlements are "an acknowledgment that what happened to us was really horrible," Saum said at the news conference.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
New York Newsday
By Eric Bailey
Times Staff Writer
June 30, 2005
SACRAMENTO — Marking another turn in the Roman Catholic Church's nationwide sexual abuse scandal, two Northern California dioceses Wednesday announced $45.6 million in legal settlements with dozens of alleged victims of molestation by priests.
The Diocese of Sacramento will pay $35 million to 33 people who said they had been sexually abused decades ago. Leaders in the Diocese of Santa Rosa agreed to legal settlements totaling $10.6 million for nine parishioners.
Church officials expressed remorse for the past wrongs of priests, and offered to meet with the victims to offer apologies as well as spiritual and emotional support.
"I ask their forgiveness for the grievous wrongs done to them and pray that this settlement today helps bring them peace and closure," said Bishop William Weigand of the Sacramento Diocese.
The settlements follow hefty cash payouts in clergy sexual abuse cases nationwide.
In January, church officials in Orange County agreed to pay $100 million to 90 victims. Earlier this month a Kentucky diocese announced that it would pay $120 million to 100 alleged victims of child molestation. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles remains in negotiations to settle 544 claims by alleged sexual abuse victims.
More than 10,000 people nationwide have accused about 4,400 Catholic priests of sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002, according to church officials. California has 1,000 molestation claims.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
Twist of Faith, the Academy Award-nominated documentary that focuses on a Toledo man’s allegations that he was sexually abused by a local priest, ought to be shown in churches and schools of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo, two leaders of the group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, wrote yesterday in a letter to Bishop Leonard Blair.
The letter by Barbara Blaine, founder and president of SNAP, and Claudia Vercellotti, its Toledo chapter coordinator, asks the bishop to “take action to allow Toledo’s Catholics to view the film. Can you please make churches and schools available to show the documentary film about sex abuse of [a] boy growing up in the Toledo diocese?”
The letter followed the decision by the Maumee Indoor Theatre and the city of Maumee, which owns the building, not to offer a public screening of the documentary. Theater and city officials said it was a business decision unrelated to the film’s content.
The film, which features Toledo Firefighter Tony Comes and his lawsuit against the diocese, premiered to an invitation-only audience Monday at the Maumee theater. About 500 people attended, Ms. Vercellotti said. It was broadcast Tuesday night on HBO.
A statement from the diocese said the bishop was out of the office “and will receive the letter upon his return to the office later this week.”
BRITAIN
Telegraph
(Filed: 30/06/2005)
A man who was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest during his childhood has been awarded more than £600,000 compensation.
The man, now 35, was abused over a 10-year period between the ages of seven and 18 by Father Christopher Clonan, his priest at Christ The King Church in Coventry.
Father Clonan is believed to be dead
He now suffers from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
He was today awarded £635,684 by the High Court in Manchester.
The compensation was awarded against the Archbishop of Birmingham and the trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church.
The claimant, known as A, was abused between 1977 and 1988 but did not realise that anything was wrong until 1992, when "his life fell apart".
MAUMEE (OH)
Toledo Blade
By RYAN E. SMITH
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Twist of Faith, the Academy Award-nominated documentary set in Toledo, will not get a regular public showing at the Maumee Indoor Theatre despite inquiries by its distributor about screening it there.
The film's director and others say the decision raises questions of censorship.
Not so, say officials at the theater and the city of Maumee, which owns the building. They said yesterday it was a financial decision and had nothing to do with the film, which is about the sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic church.
The documentary, chronicling the lawsuit of Toledo firefighter Tony Comes against the Toledo Catholic Diocese for years of alleged rape and molestation by a local priest, premiered to an invitation-only crowd at the Maumee theater on Monday. It aired on HBO last night.
About a week earlier, Great Eastern Theater Co., contract manager for the site, was approached about showing the movie for perhaps a week. It consulted with the city and ultimately agreed to pass, according to city and theater officials.
"We were extremely excited to be able to play the premiere, but a little bit leery of playing it for a whole week," said Jim Walter, president of Great Eastern. He said other movies were already booked, and showing Twist of Faith would have diminished revenue.
MAUMEE (OH)
WTOL
MAUMEE -- A Toledo firefighter who is the subject of an HBO documentary called "Twist of Faith" is outraged after the city of Maumee decided not to show the Academy Award-nominated movie any longer. The Maumee Indoor Theater has pulled the film after just one showing to a sold-out audience. Tony Comes calls that a slap in the face to him and others who have been sexually abused by priests.
Toledo firefighter Tony Comes is grateful the city-owned Maumee Indoor Theatre agreed to premiere the HBO documentary "Twist of faith." It details the sexual abuse Comes suffered as a teen at the hands of Toledo Catholic priest Fr. Dennis Gray. "[Monday] night was a watershed moment," Comes said, saying the healing and dialogue had begun.
That's why he can't believe the city of Maumee decided to not extend the film's run past one day. "The manager's words were, 'The film will not be shown in the city of Maumee, because of the content.' I'm blown away, absolutely blown away," said Comes.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
June 29, 2005
An alleged sexual assault victim of William "Little Pebble" Kamm had said in 1997 she could not fulfil her calling to be one of his "queens" because she didn't want to share him, the District Court has heard.
Maria Louisa Bos, 27, a member of Kamm's Order of St Charbel, based near Nowra, said the alleged victim, who had left the property but had come back, had said she "wanted to seek his forgiveness because she had done something wrong".
Ms Bos was called by Greg Stanton, defending Kamm, 53, who is being tried before Judge John Williams on four charges of aggravated indecent assault and one of aggravated sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl.
UNITED STATES
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Reviewed by Carolyn See
“Sexual molestation of children, particularly of boys by men, is a silenced plague in our culture, because men can’t be victims; they can’t admit it has happened to them and we can’t admit it has happened to our men.” This quote comes not from “The Tricky Part” but from “Never Let Me Go,” by Chuck Rosenthal, published last year. Both are marvelous, courageous and above all thoughtful memoirs by middle-age men who have chosen to share the complex tales of their abuse as children – of how it affected them as they tried to grow up, tried to be good and decent men. Both take place in a Catholic context. Both are ridden with despair and guilt and with sad, choked affection.
The cover picture of “The Tricky Part” is almost too much to bear. It shows little Marty Moran standing up in a kayak, out on a camping excursion. He holds his paddle above his head in a gesture of triumph; he’s smiling to beat the band. He’s wearing a life preserver, but his emotional life already has been destroyed; he’s on this trip with Bob, an unmarried 30-year-old pedophile who used to be a Catholic camp counselor and may once have been a seminarian. Marty’s parents have approved this outing with Bob – as they will continue to do for years – and by the time he’s 15, Marty will have learned more about coercion, sex, illicit excitement, deceit and sorrow than most people will in a lifetime. All this happens against a background of suffering plaster saints, a great-aunt who is a contemplative nun and a mother whose idea of small talk goes something like this: “I can tell you one thing. ... I’d rather find out one of my children was dead than homosexual.”
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald
29.06.05 4.00pm
A day after former Christian Heritage party leader Graham Capill pleaded guilty to a raft of child sex charges, the new leader of the party says Capill is also guilty of the worst form of hypocrisy.
Capill, 46, yesterday pleaded guilty in Christchurch District Court to rape, unlawful sexual connection, and three counts of indecent assault against two girls under 12.
Earlier this year he pleaded guilty to indecent assault against another girl. ...
For one of the girls, being sexually abused by Capill was her earliest childhood memory.
For the other, Capill was the minister at the Christian college she attended and the groping began when she was eight, offending which eventually ended in rape.
The two girls knew each other but the alarm was not raised until on the day of the second victim's wedding.
The first girl was her bridesmaid and while getting changed out of her outfit, Capill barged into the room despite being told not to.
OREGON
Salem Statesman Journal
June 29, 2005
A St. Paul man who has worked as a pastor and a teacher was sentenced to 19 years and two months in prison Tuesday on charges that he sexually abused a daughter he adopted from Russia.
David Charles Gilmore, 40, pleaded guilty in Marion County Circuit Court in April to the seven counts of unlawful sexual penetration. The incidents involving the 9-year-old child stretched over a two-year period.
Gilmore and his wife have four biological children and three children adopted from Russia. The children range in age from 1 year to 12 or 13 years old and are living with their mother.
Before his arrest, Gilmore was a teacher at C.S. Lewis Christian School in Newberg and at St. Paul Elementary School. He also taught piano lessons.
He previously was the senior pastor at the Marcon Friends Church and an associate pastor at the Newberg Friends Church, both in the Newberg area.
TUCSON (AZ)
azcentral.com
Associated Press
Jun. 29, 2005 12:00 AM
TUCSON - A court-appointed committee has objected to dozens of sexual abuse claims filed in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's bankruptcy case.
Out of 103 claims that have been filed, settlements have been approved for 30, and 68 will be argued during a hearing scheduled Thursday before Judge James M. Marlar. The other five are expected to be negotiated.
"We've been sitting here today talking about what to expect. It's a little uncertain. Some people who have filed very strange claims will probably show up," said C. Taylor Ashworth, a Phoenix bankruptcy attorney who represents the court-appointed tort creditors committee. advertisement
"They are not people alleging they were sexually abused as minors," Ashworth said.
"They are people that have filed claims that have nothing to do with the diocese. There will be a handful of those, and then there will be five or six that just really didn't seem to have good cases."
VIRGINIA
Washington Post
By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Page B04
Two Virginia Circuit Court judges have ruled that victims of child sexual abuse cannot sue the employers of their abusers when the victims file civil lawsuits years later as adults.
The June 8 rulings came in two separate cases in Richmond and Norfolk and were victories for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond, a defendant in both lawsuits.
Practically speaking, the rulings mean that churches, schools, corporations and other institutions cannot be held financially liable for abuse by an employee when a victim seeks damages years later. The judges cited a 1994 state constitutional amendment in issuing their opinions, the plaintiffs' attorneys said.
"Unless the individual perpetrator has significant assets, [abuse victims] have no realistic expectation of being compensated," said James C. Lewis, an attorney for the plaintiff in the Norfolk case.
TUCSON (AZ)
KOLD
TUCSON, Ariz. A court-appointed committee is objecting to dozens of sexual abuse claims filed in the Catholic Diocese of Tucson's bankruptcy case.
Settlements already have been approved for 30 claims. Sixty-eight others will be argued during a bankruptcy court hearing on Thursday, with the remaining five claims expected to be negotiated.
The diocese sought Chapter Eleven reorganization protection in the face of litigation stemming from alleged sexual abuse by priests.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Columbia Daily Tribune
Published Tuesday, June 28, 2005
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A former St. Louis priest recently released from prison after sexual misconduct convictions were overturned faces a new sexual abuse lawsuit.
Tony Pettus of south St. Louis claims in the lawsuit filed yesterday that he went on a camping trip to Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park, in southeast Missouri, in 1970 or 1971 with priest James Beine and six boys from St. Andrew’s parish in St. Louis. Pettus said he awakened to find the priest touching his penis.
Attorney Ken Chackes said Pettus was about 11 at the time. The lawsuit claims he has suffered psychological damage as a result of the incident. The Archdiocese of St. Louis and Archbishop Raymond Burke also are named.
Beine, 63, was released from the Farmington Correctional Center on June 2 after serving more than two years for allegedly exposing himself to children in a boys bathroom at a St. Louis grade school where he was working as a counselor.
SIOUX CITY (IA)
Sioux City Journal
By Nick Hytrek Journal staff writer
A judge has dismissed a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Sioux City and a former priest, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired.
District Judge Duane E. Hoffmeyer ruled that Daniel Nash did not file the lawsuit against the diocese and the Rev. George McFadden within the required four years after realizing he had a case in 1996. Nash, 47, now living in Ithaca, N.Y., filed the suit in April 2004 in Woodbury County District Court
Nash, a Jefferson, Iowa, native, said he began remembering the abuse in 1996, which occurred from 1969-72 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Jefferson when Nash was in fifth, sixth and seventh grades.
Nash had argued that since he began remembering in 1996 that he had been sexually abused, a mental condition had prevented him from exercising his legal rights to file suit and his time limit should be extended.
Hoffmeyer said Nash failed to show he suffers from a mental condition that would have prevented him from taking legal action. Prior to filing suit, Nash had contacted at least six attorneys since 1996 about his case, Hoffmeyer said, before Sioux City attorney Scott Rhinehart agreed to represent him.
Rhinehart has said he plans to appeal Hoffmeyer's ruling.
BRITAIN
Christian Today
Posted: Wednesday, June 29 , 2005, 7:41 (UK)
A report released by the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults has revealed that allegations of child abuse that have taken place in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales have increased by 50 percent last year.
The third annual report recorded 62 allegations of abuse in 2003, but this jumped to 100 last year. The 100 incidents involved 153 victims. There were 111 cases of sexual abuse, 14 of physical abuse and 11 of child pornography.
Over half the incidents of alleged abuse took place last year involved priests, while the rest were charged against employees, volunteers and parishioners. Out of the 17 incidents that involved priests, 10 were regards to sexual abuse.
The Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, who chairs the child protection management board, responded to the figures. Speaking to Times, he admitted that he was disappointed with the religious people who are involved in these scandals.
"As a bishop I am always upset when a priest or religious or someone who has been trusted with a role within the Church misbehaves in a particular way. What upsets me far more is the abuse of youngsters."
BRITAIN
Scotsman
By Nick Allen, PA Chief Reporter
Child abuse allegations in the Roman Catholic Church rose significantly last year in England and Wales.
There were 100 alleged incidents reported in 2004 – up from 62 in 2003. The 100 incidents involved 153 alleged victims.
Most of the allegations reported last year were historical and were said to have taken place in the 60 years before 2004.
Of those said to have taken place last year, 10 involved allegations of sexual abuse by priests.
DALLAS (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Associated Press
DALLAS - A grand jury impaneled by the Dallas County District Attorney's Office said Monday it found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the way the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas handled reported cases of sexual abuse.
The grand jury was impaneled to help determine if Catholic Bishop Charles Grahmann and his staff had received allegations of abuse by clergy members that weren't reported to law enforcement.
The DA's office declined to discuss further details.
A telephone message left with the diocese wasn't immediately returned to The Associated Press, but Grahmann said in a story posted on the diocesan newspaper's Web site that he was pleased the investigation was over and that it confirmed the diocese's position that there was no wrongdoing.
HOLYOKE (MA)
Republican
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
HOLYOKE - Organizers of today's open house for the recently created first-of-its-kind clergy sexual abuse Victim Resource Center hope professionals who help abuse survivors will attend the event.
"We'd love to see some attorneys, therapists some mental health agencies and even someone from AA," said Shauna L. Lozada, a case manager and center coordinator.
The center, which will be open to the public 4-6 p.m., was created with a one-year $50,000 grant from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in the wake of the diocese's $7.8 million settlement last summer with 46 alleged clergy abuse victims.
The center serves as a referral center for abuse survivors needing help with things like housing, employment, therapy, substance abuse, emergency food and financial assistance.
"Many people don't know about the center and what it does. We hope the open house informs service providers what we are all about," said Lozada, adding that the center identifies agencies that can help abuse survivors with specific needs.
IOWA
Des Moines Register
By CLARK KAUFFMAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
June 28, 2005
An Iowa judge has dismissed a sexual abuse lawsuit brought against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City.
Daniel Nash of Ithaca, N.Y., sued the diocese in 2004 , claiming that he had been sexually abused by the Rev. George McFadden between 1969 and 1972 , when McFadden was pastor at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Jefferson.
Last week, on Nash's 47th birthday, District Judge Duane Hoffmeyer dismissed Nash's lawsuit, saying the statute of limitations had expired.
Under Iowa law, victims of childhood sexual abuse have four years from the time they first recall the abuse to file a lawsuit. The Iowa Supreme Court has said that the time period can be extended in cases where a mental disability has made it impossible for the victim to understand his or her legal rights.
By Nash's own admission, he began recalling the alleged abuse in the spring of 1996 and, over the next eight years , he contacted several attorneys in hopes of having them take his case.
Nash also reported the alleged abuse to two Des Moines Register reporters, which led to a news story in 2002 .
However, Nash didn't file his lawsuit against the diocese and McFadden until April 2004 - eight years after his first recollection of the alleged abuse. His lawyers argued that Nash's mental condition rendered him unable to pursue a case.
"The bare facts of the record before the court contradict this assertion," Hoffmeyer ruled. "Nash has admitted himself that he was aware he may have a claim against McFadden and/or the diocese and that he sought the counsel of at least half a dozen attorneys across the country."
DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
11:52 PM CDT on Monday, June 27, 2005
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill announced Monday that he will not bring charges against local Catholic leaders over their handling of sexual misconduct allegations.
A special grand jury impaneled in February "has found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of the diocese or its officials," the district attorney said in a news release.
Mr. Hill would say little about the five-month investigation, citing state laws on grand jury secrecy.
"We conducted a very thorough and intensive investigation," he said through spokeswoman Rachel Horton.
Dallas Bishop Charles Grahmann, who recently testified before the grand jury, said the announcement vindicates church leadership.
"I am pleased that the investigation has been concluded and the findings confirm our position that there has been no wrongdoing by the Diocese of Dallas or its officials in reporting cases of child abuse," he said, according to a bulletin posted Monday evening on the diocesan newspaper's Web site.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By Robert Patrick
Of the Post-Dispatch
06/27/2005
James Beine, the former Roman Catholic priest freed from prison this month by the Missouri Supreme Court, was sued Monday by a man who said Beine abused him more than 30 years ago.
Tony Pettus' lawsuit says Beine molested Pettus in the early 1970s, when the priest took Pettus and five other boys camping at Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park.
Beine forced Pettus, who was then about 11 years old, to touch Beine's genitals, according to the suit, filed Monday morning against Beine, the St. Louis Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Archbishop Raymond Burke in St. Louis Circuit Court.
In interviews Monday and earlier this year, Pettus said he had gone on the trip with a friend who was a member of St. Andrew's parish in Lemay.
"When bedtime came, I didn't have nowhere to sleep, so I had to sleep with him" in his tent, Pettus said. He said he was prompted to come forward by news of Beine's release.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff | June 28, 2005
There's something ordinary and familiar about the sexual abuse scenario in the HBO documentary ''Twist of Faith." A Toledo priest takes boys to his lakeside cottage for weekends of spiritual guidance, plies them with booze and adult freedoms, and inflicts himself on them at night. The next day, and the next month, and the next year, the boys block out the pain and the shame; decades later, of course, the pain and the shame erupt.
It's the classic story we've been hearing in the news for years now, and, from sheer repetition, it has taken on an almost boilerplate quality. It's so commonplace, it has begun to lose its emotional resonance in the telling. That's one of the valuable gifts of ''Twist of Faith," which premieres tonight at 10. It once again personalizes the priest abuse scandal, particularizing the tragedy so vividly that you can't forget just how profoundly it lays siege on its victims' lives.
As the movie follows Tony Comes, a 30-something Toledo firefighter burning with rage about his early molestation, it doesn't let you vague out on the cruelty and long-term harm of the crime. It is too fiercely specific to shake off.
SPOKANE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE -- More than a dozen lawyers argued yesterday over the size of the money pot that will be available to alleged victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the Spokane Diocese.
The lengthy hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court will produce a key decision in the case of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because of the large number of abuse lawsuits it faces.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams said she will rule in the next four to six weeks whether some of the 82 parish churches, 16 parochial schools and other assets in the Eastern Washington diocese could be sold to settle lawsuits.
The Spokane Diocese contends that the Catholic bishop does not own the parish assets, but only holds them in trust for parishioners. Lawyers for the victims disagree.
While questioning diocese lawyer Shaun Cross, Williams said her reading of state law seems to indicate the diocese owns the parishes.
UNITED STATES
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John Grogan
Inquirer Columnist
I was having lunch recently with an area priest with whom I am friendly. When the topic of the clergy child-abuse scandal came up, the pain on his face was palpable.
The embarrassment, the anger, the shame and sense of betrayal.
It was as though, just by mentioning it, I had sucker-punched him.
This priest is a good and decent man. He's reverent, not self-righteous. He toils quietly at his vocation in the hopes of leading the Catholics he reaches toward a happier, holier life.
He is a man of fairly intimidating build, and my clear sense as we sat over brats and beer talking about abusive priests and the hierarchy that for so many decades enabled them was that he wanted to... kick somebody's butt. I mean that literally.
And it wasn't the media's backside he wanted to kick for publicizing the long-hushed scandal. Or lay Catholics for asking hard questions. Or even the comedians for their cruel jokes.
It was his fellow priests he wanted to clock for sinning so horribly, so criminally, so repugnantly. And his Church leaders who failed to take decisive action when they could have and should have.
The Catholic Church, here in Philadelphia and across the nation, failed miserably toward that end. Every institution has its misfits. There are corrupt cops and lecherous coaches and pedophile scout leaders and, yes, unethical journalists. But the measure of a great institution is not the behavior of its aberrant members but how it deals with that behavior.
SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times
By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic
The numbers are staggering: thousands of accusers filing claims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, millions of dollars paid in settlements across the country, countless families devastated by the crisis within their church. But for his documentary "Twist of Faith" (airing at 10 tonight on HBO), Kirby Dick wanted to tell just one story: of a victim turned survivor.
Dick, a longtime documentary filmmaker ("Derrida," "Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist") who brought "Twist of Faith" to the Seattle International Film Festival last month, said he had been following the stories of abuse and cover-up within the church as they unfolded in recent years. "I was horrified," he said, "but also struck by the fact that it was really hard to see the story behind these horrific facts and figures."
To find the one subject on which to base his film, Dick contacted numerous chapters of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. He was put in contact with representatives in Toledo, Ohio, who led him to Tony Comes. A handsome, then-33-year-old firefighter with a wife and two young children, Comes had just made the decision to go public with his accusations against Dennis Gray, a priest and religion teacher at Comes' high school.
SCRANTON (PA)
Times Leader
By MARK GUYDISH
mguydish@leader.net
While announcing deep administrative budget cuts recently, the Diocese of Scranton noted that fewer churches are meeting goals in a key fund drive: the Diocesan Annual Appeal. Officials also insisted the financial crunch is not because of the priest scandals plaguing the church locally and nationally.
A deeper look shows that, although individual parishes have missed goals, the diocese overall still consistently meets its mark.
Money from the Appeal pays for a variety of diocesewide services, including the newspaper and television stations, schools, support for retired clergy, and social services. Diocese Spokesman Bill Genello said the goal has risen each year, from $3.5 million in 1999 to this year’s $4.4 million. As the overall goal goes up, so do the goals for each parish.
According to the June 23 issue of the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Light – which, because of budget cuts, will be published every three weeks instead of every two – 66 percent of parishes in the 11-county diocese met their goals in 1999; 41 percent did so this year.
But that’s an incomplete picture. Genello said that although fewer parishes meet individual goals, the overall goal has been exceeded each year since 1999. This year, the diocese topped the goal by at least $23,000. Genello added, however, that this year’s Appeal actually raised about $62,000 less than last year’s.
Genello said it’s difficult for the diocese to know if the sex scandals have caused a decline in appeal donations, but added that anecdotal evidence suggests that’s not the case.
HOLLYWOOD (CA)
Canton Repository
By Shawn Hubler Los Angeles Times
HOLLYWOOD -- “Twist of Faith,” the moving Oscar-nominated documentary debuting Tuesday on HBO, opens with the words “Toledo, Ohio,” and the taped deposition of a priest.
The Middle American town, the beefy, small-mouthed cleric -- the images are haunting, and they’re meant to be, for they also haunt Anthony Comes, the firefighter, father, husband, hometown guy and working-class Roman Catholic who is at the heart of this documentary and who, as it turns out, has just learned that his brand new dream house is five doors down from the parochial high school counselor who he says molested him when he was 14.
What follows is a riveting and heartbreaking account of one man’s journey into the thick of what most Americans now know as the “pedophile priest scandal” -- media shorthand for a human trauma that has tended to be framed as particular to Catholics.
In fact, as the documentary shows to grim effect, the emotional core of what happened to so many families is far more widespread.
TOLEDO (OH)
WTOL
TOLEDO -- A Toledo firefighter is baring his soul to the world in a new film about victims of clergy sexual abuse. The Academy Award-nominated documentary, "Twist of Faith" debuted in our area Monday night at the Maumee Indoor theatre.
It opened with a montage of Toledo landscapes mixed with images of priests. It was peaceful almost serene, until you hear Tony Comes' story. In the film, the 35-year-old Comes details the sexual abuse at age 14, that occured at a lakeside cottage.
Comes and a group of other young boys were sexually abused by Toledo Catholic priest Dennis Gray in the 1980's while Gray was a counselor at Central Catholic High school. Film director Kirby Dick was drawn to Tony's story. "We came out and met with him and immediately we were struck by his charisma, his honesty, his emotional quality and we started shooting the same day we met him," said Kirby.
The film chronicles Tony's legal battle with the Toledo Catholic Diocese and the toll it took on his family, particularly his wife Wendy. "He really is a different person. It's like he's uncomfortable in his own skin," she said in the film.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
The News Tribune
JENNIFER GARZA AND STEVE MAYNARD; The Sacramento Bee The News Tribune
Published: June 28th, 2005 12:01 AM
SACRAMENTO – A Tacoma priest will be at the center of a civil trial in Sacramento Superior Court scheduled to start Thursday for child sexual abuse alleged to have happened three decades ago. If the case isn’t settled this week, it could be one of a handful of sex abuse cases against the Catholic Church to go to trial.
Francisco Chavez says he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by the Rev. Mario Blanco from about age 5 to 13. Chavez’ attorney describes the priest, now working as a schismatic in Tacoma, as a “predator.”
“It’s not true,” said Blanco, after celebrating Mass on Sunday at Our Lady Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church. “It’s a sin. I cannot do it.”
Blanco served in the Sacramento diocese from October 1969 to April 1973 and was later dismissed following allegations of misconduct. A talented musician, he was a popular priest who served at predominantly Latino parishes. The priest floated among several Spanish-speaking congregations where he started youth bands.
The trial is the first in the Sacramento Diocese since the state of California temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for filing sex-abuse claims in 2002. The diocese is dealing with 31 plaintiffs who say they were sexually abused by clergy; 16 of them are allegations against Blanco. The diocese previously settled two lawsuits involving the priest.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Patricia O’Leary Engdahl, who has directed the Office of Healing and Prevention of the Catholic Diocese of Worcester since its inception in 2002, is leaving that position to become director of the Molly Bish Center for the Protection of Children and Elderly at Anna Maria College.
Raymond L. Delisle, spokesman for the diocese, said yesterday Ms. Engdahl is leaving the job with the diocese but he had no information on who will replace her. Her appointment at Anna Maria, a Catholic college in Paxton, takes effect July 18.
Ms. Engdahl, a lawyer and former assistant district attorney in the office of John J. Conte, was hired by the diocese when the office was created in June 2002, about the time the American bishops adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
Working with Frances Nugent, a licensed social worker, the office was involved in giving assistance to victims claiming clergy sexual abuse and in administering the programs aimed at rooting out clergy, church workers and volunteers who might pose a threat to young people. Her office was involved in doing criminal records checks of everyone working or volunteering in the diocese.
“We’re delighted to have her,” said Shelley Finn, Anna Maria spokeswoman. Ms. Engdahl replaces Sarla Chand, who left to take another job.
William D. McGarry, Anna Maria president, said the center was formed more than a year ago with the help and encouragement of John and Magdalen Bish, parents of Molly A. Bish. Ms. Bish, 16, was abducted from her lifeguard job in Warren five years ago and slain. Her killer has not been found. Mr. McGarry approached the Bishes and asked them to support such a center, he said. They not only supported the effort but became active participants. “They are wonderful people,” he said.
BRITAIN
The Times
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
ALLEGATIONS of child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church increased by 50 per cent in England and Wales last year.
But of 153 reported incidents of abuse, 116 took place in the 60 years before 2004 and involved abusers who have since died.
The increase in allegations of abuse from 62 in 2003 to 100 last year was disclosed in the third annual report from the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults.
The 100 incidents involved 153 victims. There were 111 cases of sexual abuse, 14 of physical abuse and 11 of child pornography.
Of the 37 incidents of alleged abuse that actually took place last year, 17 involved priests and 10 of these concerned sexual abuse.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Turning the church into a real communion means making better use of the church's consultative structures, Archbishop V. James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, Manitoba, said June 24 in an address in Washington.
Implementation of parish and diocesan councils, priests' councils and synods in the church "has been uneven and frustration is evident at every level," he said.
To make such structures work, he added, openness and commitment are needed on the part of bishops, priests and laity.
On the leadership side, he said, "communion can hit a brick wall in an authoritarian, autocratic or frightened leader. The laity can feel quite paralyzed."
On the side of the laity, "sitting on the fence, shooting from the bushes, cynical bystanding are not options for serious Christians," he said. "Fear and cynicism must give way to trust. Generous collaboration is called for from all."
Archbishop Weisgerber, a former general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and current co-chair of its Sexual Abuse Review Committee, delivered the eighth annual lecture of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative. His address, on "Building a Church of Communion," was given at The Catholic University of America.
MARYLAND
The Jeffersonian
06/27/05
By Jennifer Przydzial
A former Roman Catholic priest who was a chaplain at Calvert Hall College High School from 1982 to 1993 has been formally charged with sexually abusing a student, according to Baltimore County police.
Jerome Toohey, 59, of Lutherville, was accused in December of sexually abusing a former student from 1987 to 1989, according to charging documents.
On May 26, those accusations led to three charges being filed against Toohey - child abuse, a third-degree sex offense and perverted practice.
The first offense carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment and the maximum for the other two is 10 years imprisonment. The perverted practice charge could also result in a $1,000 fine, according to the documents.
Late in 2004, a former Calvert Hall student contacted the Archdiocese of Baltimore and alleged he had been abused by Toohey, according to the charging documents.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Belleville News-Democrat
JIM SALTER
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - A former St. Louis priest recently released from prison after sexual misconduct convictions were overturned now faces another sexual abuse lawsuit.
Tony Pettus of south St. Louis claims in the lawsuit filed Monday that James Beine forced Pettus to touch his penis in 1970 or 1971 while Beine took children from St. Andrew's parish on a camping trip in southern Missouri. Pettus was not a member of the parish but was invited along by a friend.
The lawsuit did not say how old Pettus was at the time, but said he was a minor. It claims that as a result of the incident, Pettus has incurred expenses for medical and psychological treatment. The Archdiocese of St. Louis and Archbishop Raymond Burke are also named.
Beine, 63, was released from the Farmington Correctional Center June 2 after serving more than two years for allegedly exposing himself to children in a boys' bathroom at a St. Louis grade school where he was working as a counselor.
The Missouri Supreme Court ordered Beine's release in May after ruling the state's indecent exposure statute was unconstitutionally vague. On the day of his release, Beine said, "I knew that time would tell. I never committed any of these crimes."
FORT WORTH (TX)
Tyler Morning Telegraph
ASSOCIATED PRESS June 26, 2005
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese's decision to release the names of eight priests accused of sexually abusing children has raised more questions than it answered, victims and their advocates say.
The victims want the church to release details such as how many times each priest was accused and whether any of the allegations have been substantiated. But others, including priests, worry that releasing the accused men's personnel files would only cause more pain.
Diocese officials are fighting in court to keep details about the allegations secret.
In an attempt to gain access to the accused priests' files, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Dallas Morning News have intervened in a clergy abuse lawsuit the diocese settled this year for $4.15 million.
One priest's files were made public as part of the lawsuit, but a judge ordered the files of the other seven sealed. A hearing on whether the files must be released is scheduled for Wednesday.
CANADA
Vancouver Sun
June 26, 2005
A Canada-wide warrant has been issued by Delta police for Tsawwassen youth pastor Brad Firth, who is wanted on child-pornography charges.
Firth, 38, is currently in a Mexican jail. He was arrested on allegations of sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy at a Bible camp four years ago.
Canadian border posts have been alerted, to stop Firth from entering Canada undetected should he be released by Mexican authorities, said police.
Const. Kim Petruka, Delta police spokeswoman, said Firth has been charged with one count of possession and one count of accessing child pornography after an investigation in November.
He faces up to five years in prison on both charges.
"Two charges have been approved by Crown counsel," she said. "We seized a variety of images, including electronic images. There were numerous images."
When Delta police launched their investigation in November, they said "questionable materials" had been found in Firth's church office.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Hector Becerra, Times Staff Writer
Leaders of the Hare Krishna faith last week began carrying out the terms of a $9.5-million settlement that closes the books on a long-running child abuse scandal.
Under the plan, the International Society of Krishna Consciousness organization has filed for bankruptcy in Los Angeles while it determines how to compensate 535 former students who say they were abused in the 1970s and '80s by adults at boarding schools run by the society.
The settlement covers abuses at Krishna temples and schools across the United States and India that resulted in a 2001 class-action lawsuit.
Some Hare Krishna devotees and gurus, including at least one in Los Angeles, were subsequently convicted of child abuse, and others were barred from visiting temples, said Anuttama Dasa, spokesman for the society.
The Krishnas also closed all the boarding schools in the United States, where much of the abuse allegedly occurred. Last week, the organization began paying off attorneys, accountants and others involved in the case, a first step in eventually making payments to the alleged victims.
IOWA CITY (IA)
WOI
IOWA CITY, Iowa Victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests said the church and individuals confronted with allegations should not intimidate their accusers and should "act as Jesus would."
The remarks were included in a two-day "Weekend of Hope and Understanding" conference in Iowa City.
The conference was held Friday and Saturday.
David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says there should be a zero tolerance policy in terms of sexual abuse of children by priests.
When accused, he says priests should defend themselves without attacking their accusers.
The goal of the conference, according to event organizers was to encourage victims of sexual abuse by priests to come forward and to get support from other Catholics and fellow survivors.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
ABC 7
LOS ANGELES (CNS) — A man who handcuffed himself to Cardinal Roger Mahony's chair during services today at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels was later arrested by police.
The man — who is an alleged victim of sexual abuse by a clergyman — was taken into custody, apparently on a misdemeanor count of disrupting a religious service, said Tod Tamberg, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The man — whose first name is Jim — was taken into custody without incident, Tamberg said. There were no injuries.
The incident occurred as about 3,000 people attended Mass this morning at the downtown cathedral. An estimated 200 demonstrators were outside the cathedral at the time to protest what they say is Mahony's continuing cover-up of sex abuse crimes in the church.
This morning's demonstration outside the cathedral was organized by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
CANADA
Washington Post
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, June 27, 2005; Page A09
STEPHENVILLE, Newfoundland -- In the hardscrabble fishing villages of this remote island, the Rev. Kevin Bennett was "like a god. He was more important than a cop," and more feared than parents, recalled a former altar boy, who was one of his victims. Dozens of boys kept Bennett's secret as he ordered each into his bed to fondle and rape them.
Now, 16 years after the priest was publicly accused and sent to prison, a $10.5 million settlement reached last month over the sexual abuse claims of 39 former altar boys is causing the Catholic diocese here to prepare to put its churches, parish halls and priests' homes up for sale.
Catholic villagers across this huge, poor swath of western Newfoundland are learning the long reach of these priestly abuses, some committed decades ago. They might lose the tiny parish chapels and meeting halls where relatives and neighbors have long been christened, married, celebrated and buried.
"We always thought we owned the church," said Theresa LaCosta, 78, who lives down the hill from Our Lady of Fatima Church in Piccadilly, a cluster of poor homes with rich views of the emerald hills that plunge into St. George's Bay. She said her husband, now deceased, had badly hurt his back while helping to lay the church foundation. "He had to stop fishing because of it. Now they are going to take the church away?"
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By MARIE ROHDE
mrohde@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 26, 2005
Father Thomas Doyle, a priest who was part of the Vatican diplomatic corps 20 years ago when he warned the Catholic hierarchy that they needed to deal promptly with what was to become the sex abuse scandal, said Sunday that the fallout from the scandal is far from over.
"The epicenter is California," Doyle said. "One diocese just paid out $36 million, and the Diocese of Orange paid out $110 million. When Los Angeles bursts, it will make Boston look like an altar boys' picnic."
Doyle, a Dominican priest born in Wisconsin who holds a canon law degree, spoke at a meeting of the local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a national group that formed in response to the scandal. Nearly 300 attended the meeting in the basement of St. Matthias Catholic Church at 9306 W. Beloit Road.
After the first sex scandal hit in Louisiana in 1984, Doyle was one of the authors of a report that urged America's bishops to minister to abuse victims, form a national crisis intervention team and research the impact of the abuse on the victims. He labeled the report as confidential, sure that the bishops would deal with it promptly.
"It was scuttled," said Doyle, who was an aide to the pope's top diplomat in Washington, D.C., at the time. "I was never contacted by any of the bishops after that."
IOWA CITY (IA)
Sioux City Journal
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests said the church and individuals confronted with allegations should not intimidate their accusers and should "act as Jesus would."
The remarks were included in a two-day "Weekend of Hope and Understanding" conference in Iowa City.
David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said there should be a zero tolerance policy in terms of sexual abuse of children by priests.
When accused, he said priests should fight fairly.
"If you're accused, you will act as Jesus would," Clohessy said Saturday. "You will defend yourself, but you will not attack your accuser."
The goal of the conference, according to event organizers Iowa City Call to Action and Concerned Catholics of the Davenport Diocese, was to encourage victims of sexual abuse by priests to come forward and to get support from other Catholics and fellow survivors.
"It's just to listen," said John Whiston of Concerned Catholics. "You don't really understand what this means unless you hear it in person. The only way we can deal with (thoughts of fear and shame) is to tell them the truth."
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By David Pierson, Times Staff Writer
A man protesting the Los Angeles Archdiocese's handling of the clergy sexual abuse scandal was arrested Sunday after he handcuffed himself to the chair used by Cardinal Roger Mahony during 10 a.m. Mass.
The incident happened while Mahony was standing a few feet away at the altar and had just delivered a homily to 2,500 congregants about how the archdiocese is dealing with the controversy.
The protester, James C. Robertson, 58, of Mount Washington, was part of a group of about 200 victims and their supporters who had demonstrated outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels by tying crime scene tape around themselves and the church's perimeter.
The protesters — from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP — staged the demonstration to commemorate clergy sex abuse victims who have committed suicide and to demand the archdiocese release all the names of clergy who molested children over the years. Leaders of the group said they neither authorized nor had prior knowledge of Robertson's actions.
The archdiocese has released the names of 211 of the 244 priests identified as accused abusers. Mahony has declined to name the remaining 33 priests because they have requested protection under privacy laws.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Monterey County Herald
Posted on Mon, Jun. 27, 2005
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A 58-year-old man was arrested Sunday after he handcuffed himself to Cardinal Roger Mahony's chair during a service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to protest the church's handling of allegedly abusive priests.
Several thousand people were attending Mass about 11 a.m. when James C. Robertson walked toward the altar and handcuffed himself to the chair, police said.
Mahony, who was delivering the homily about 15 feet away, continued with the service.
After police arrived, Robertson was released from the handcuffs and arrested without incident, officer Grace Brady said.
He was arrested for misdemeanor investigation of disturbing a religious ceremony and released.
GEORGIA
Covington News
BY Brittany Edwards
For each of the 73 registered sex offenders in Newton County, there are an untold number of silent victims living in the community.
Adopt-A-Horse, an innovative organization new to Newton County, seeks to transform local victims into survivors by teaching them rewarding life skills.
“For the 30 percent who speak out against their abusers, 70 percent don’t come forward,” said Dennis Horion, founder and survivor. “We’re trying to promote a healthy lifestyle choice and give victims a voice.”
To offset the negative impacts of child molestation in Covington, the foundation allows victims the opportunity to partake in competitive sports and recreational retreats, along with support group counseling. ...
As a survivor of the Catholic Church scandal, Horion has been actively pursuing this project since August 2003. For the past 20 months, Horion has worked to organize survivors of sexual abuse.
UTAH
Toledo Blade
By CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI
BLADE STAFF WRITER
PARK CITY, Utah — “I can’t let anyone know I am going through this right now.” Filmmakers Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt heard that a lot. When they first came to Toledo in 2002, they had decided to make a documentary about the sexual abuse allegations in Catholic dioceses around the country — initially in Boston and eventually, Toledo.
With the backing from HBO and a heralded track record as documentarians, they first met with a number of survivors in northwest Ohio. The response was receptive, they say, but hesitant.
Then abuse victim Tony Comes came forward, and they had the sort of story (first reported in The Blade) that any decent screenwriter would consider shamelessly contrived — if it weren’t true. Comes, a Toledo firefighter, filed a lawsuit against the Toledo Catholic Diocese alleging that former priest Dennis Gray sexually abused him repeatedly in the early ’80s.
What helped prompt the suit was, incredibly, the fact that Comes and his wife Wendy had moved into a neighborhood where Gray happened to live.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By MIKE KELLY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
For almost 20 years, Toledo fireman Tony Comes carried around a painful secret from his past: Starting at the age of 14, he says, he had been repeatedly molested by a Catholic priest — a religion teacher at Central Catholic High School and a friend, someone he’d known and trusted.
Comes’ shame, anger, and embarrassment had been bottled up inside ever since, even as he grew into a seemingly well-adjusted, gregarious adult, got married, and had two children of his own with wife Wendy. He still had occasional nightmares about his teenage abuse, which he’d confided in his wife, but no one else.
Then, three years ago, as reports of sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church were becoming headline news in Boston and elsewhere, Comes’ unsettling memories resurfaced and began to eat away at him anew.
But what really shattered his attempts to keep his painful past buried was his family’s move into a new neighborhood, and the horrifying discovery that the man who he says molested him — Dennis Gray, by then no longer a priest — lived just five houses away.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By Darren Barbee
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - He woke up groggy, his two front teeth shattered, blood on his bathroom floor.
He cannot remember what pills he took trying to end his life last year. He had attempted suicide two other times as well, desperate and angry about being abused by Monsignor James Reilly when he was 11, he said.
"It was just this feeling that I was alone, that I was the only one, not being sure there were others," said the 42-year-old Arlington man, who asked not to be named.
Now he feels twice betrayed by the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese because officials waited three years to tell him that at least three other men had accused Reilly of sexual abuse.
Reilly was one of eight priests the diocese named this month as having been accused of sexually abusing children. But releasing only the names has raised more questions than it answered, victims and their advocates say. The diocese continues to withhold information such as how many times each clergyman has been accused and whether the allegations have been substantiated.
But others, including priests, are concerned that releasing the files of the accused men would only cause more pain.
One woman who says she was a victim said that she was treated honorably and that she trusts the diocese to tell the truth.
But conflicting information about the priest she accused, the Rev. Joseph Tu Ngoc Nguyen, highlights the confusion after the release of the names.
01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, June 25, 2005
BY RICHARD C. DUJARDIN
Journal Religion Writer
You might say that the Rev. Charles P. Barnes is no stranger to difficult and even messy issues.
In one early assignment, in Gloucester, Mass., in the 1970s, he arrived after the church had burned down and the congregation had become severely divided over issues related to the fire and to the rebuilding.
Years later, he became senior pastor to a large church in Melrose, Mass., in the midst of an identity crisis. Having lost much of their original congregation, members were no longer sure what kind of church they wanted to be.
But the 57-year-old preacher's son, who last month was officially installed as the new conference minister for the 34 churches making up the Rhode Island Conference of the United Church of Christ, says there are probably few tasks that are as painful as those involving helping a church torn apart by clergy misconduct. ...
Since then, however, Mr. Barnes has found through experience that clergy misconduct can take many forms.
"It could be anything from a very sad, unhappily married pastor who has an affair, to a pastor who is fiscally under stress and who has just been given some money to take back to the church," he said in his first wide-ranging interview since his being installed here in May.
He observed that he had to deal with one particularly messy situation in Kentucky-Indiana where the male spouse of the conference minister, himself an ordained minister, was accused of sexually harassing some of the women clergy and staff.
He thinks the UCC now does a good job in its handling of clergy who "mess up."
NEW BRAUNFELS (TX)
San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted: 06/25/2005 12:00 AM CDT
Roger Croteau
Express-News Staff Writer
NEW BRAUNFELS — The former senior pastor at this city's largest church tried to break up the marriage of two church members, then engaged in a sexual relationship with the woman, according to a lawsuit against the church filed Friday in San Antonio.
Pastor Mike Fehlauer resigned from the 4,000-member Tree of Life Evangelical Church in March and reportedly now lives in Colorado. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
In a stunning hourlong sermon delivered in April by Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-memberAbuse Tracker Association of Evangelicals, church members were told Fehlauer had admitted to "sexual misconduct" with a married woman and resigned at the urging of Tree of Life officials.
At the time, the woman, Angela Benson, told the Express-News the church "as a whole, handled the situation with integrity, graciousness and did a wonderful job."
But she's changed her mind, accusing the church of treating Fehlauer like he was the victim by giving him $60,000 to relocate, while offering her family nothing.
She and her husband, Steve Benson, claim the church was negligent in hiring and supervising Fehlauer, who they say had a well-known history of sexual addiction. The suit seeks unspecified compensation for medical costs,
BURLINGTON (KY)
ChallengerNKY
BURLINGTON - A judge postponed a decision whether to approve a proposed $120 million class-action settlement over sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Northern Kentucky.
A hearing scheduled for Thursday is now set for July 5. Neither the diocese nor the plaintiffs requested that Judge John W. Potter of Louisville delay the hearing.
The delay came two weeks after Potter, a retired Jefferson County circuit judge appointed 18 months ago as a special judge in the Boone County case, ordered attorneys rewrite the public notices of the settlement.
Potter took issue with the references to a $120 million settlement, saying the church did not have that amount on hand and he wanted the notices to specify that.
UNITED STATES
The Tidings
By Jerry Filteau
As they have been at every U.S. Catholic bishops' meeting since June 2002, clergy sexual abuse of minors and the protection of children from such abuse were a significant part of the June 16-18 meeting in Chicago of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Major items on this June's agenda were approval of revisions of the 2002 "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" and the related "Essential Norms" implementing the charter legislatively. The bishops adopted those documents by respective votes of 229-3 and 228-4.
As a legislative text the norms still need Vatican approval. But Vatican rejection seemed quite unlikely since the final version approved by the bishops had only four minor variations from the draft jointly developed by U.S. and Vatican officials: a correction of a typographical error, the addition of a missing canon law reference and two minor editorial changes intended to clarify the meaning of the text.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Republican
Sunday, June 26, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - The judge overseeing the consolidated clergy sexual abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has decided to preside over the diocese's legal action against its insurance carriers.
In accepting jurisdiction, Hampden Superior Court Judge John A. Agostini wrote that he will try to expedite the process.
Before Agostini accepted jurisdiction, lawyers involved in the suits expressed concern that if the declaratory judgment action against the diocese's seven insurers ends up in another judge's court, then it could slow down the process. They wanted Agostini to preside over the litigation because he is familiar with the suits.
The process will take longer because one of the insurance carriers, Home Insurance Co., is insolvent. The diocese is taking legal action against the state-run Massachusetts Insurance Insolvency Fund, which covers partial liabilities for insolvent companies.
Meanwhile, as the diocese seeks to have the court determine its insurers' monetary obligation in clergy abuse claims, Agostini has extended a stay halting further action on the suits.
There are 14 unsettled suits and 16 or so unsettled claims that were made directly to the diocese without a lawsuit filing.
UNITED STATES
The Tidings
By Jerry Filteau
When the U.S. bishops overwhelmingly approved revisions in the charter and norms to protect children and deal with clergy sex abuse June 17, they did not weaken either document, Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis told reporters at the final press conference of the bishops' spring meeting in Chicago.
The archbishop, who has headed the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse for the past three years, said the bishops continue to have a "zero tolerance" policy on such abuse. He said their policy follows the principle enunciated by the late Pope John Paul II that there is no room in the priesthood for those who would abuse children.
The bishops approved revisions in their "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" by a 228-4 vote and changes in the "Essential Norms" implementing the charter legislatively, 229-3.
IOWA
Iowa City Press-Citizen
By Rob Daniel
Iowa City Press-Citizen
It was a matter of what the bishops of Catholic dioceses across the United States should do, the national director of a network of survivors of sex abuse by Catholic priests said.
If David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, were the bishop of a diocese, and the 60 or so people sitting in front of him were priests, there would be a "zero tolerance" policy in terms of sexual abuse of children by priests. He said he would go after priests who do not report abuse by other priests and he would push for priests who were accused of molesting children to fight the accusations fairly, without resorting to intimidating their accuser.
"If you're accused, you will act as Jesus would," Clohessy said Saturday. "You will defend yourself, but you will not attack your accuser."
The remarks were part of "A Weekend of Hope and Understanding," a two-day conference held Friday and Saturday in Iowa City at Faith United Church of Christ and the Iowa City Public Library. The goal of the conference, according to event organizers Iowa City Call to Action and Concerned Catholics of the Davenport Diocese, was to encourage victims of sexual abuse by priests to come forward and to get support from other Catholics and fellow survivors.
BREWER (ME)
Bangor Daily News
Saturday, June 25, 2005 - Bangor Daily News
BREWER - Religious educators are on the front lines in the Roman Catholic Church's effort to prevent sexual abuse from happening in parishes again.
About 25 parish catechetical leaders for Catholic churches in Penobscot, Somerset, Waldo and Hancock counties gathered earlier this week at St. Teresa Catholic Church to learn more about the Child Lures Prevention program, the educational tool they will use to teach children, parents and parishioners to prevent, recognize and report the sexual abuse of children.
"This program gives children a good self-image by helping them realize their own dignity and self-worth," Sister Catherine Green, a regional resource coordinator for the diocese, said Thursday, as she led the training session in Brewer.
The program was created by a Vermont man more than 20 years ago. The curriculum is designed for children in kindergarten through grade 12 to increase sexual abuse awareness and prevention. Designed to be used in public schools, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has modified it slightly so it can be utilized in a religious setting.
AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser
26jun05
ADELAIDE'S Anglican Archbishop-elect has backed a national program to weed out any pedophile priests or lay workers when he takes up office.
He has also vowed to provide the same leadership on the issue of child sexual abuse which has seen his existing diocese Gippsland, in Victoria, become one of the most proactive in Australia.
First, however, Bishop Jeffrey Driver wants to better understand the issues affecting his flock.
"I want to loiter with intent around the diocese," he said.
"Dealing with child abuse issues has taken a fair bit of my time in Gippsland and it will be a high priority for me in Adelaide."
NASHVILLE (TN)
WVLT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. The plaintiffs suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville over alleged molestation by a former priest say the church is trying to hide many of its assets.
The suit was filed by two men who say a former Nashville priest repeatedly molested them in the early nineties when they were boys.
The diocese has contended it isn't responsible for crimes that occurred years after the priest left the church.
Motions filed by the plaintiffs this week claim that diocese lawyers have previously said individual parishes belong to the diocese but now contend the parishes are independent financial entities.
DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
10:13 PM CDT on Friday, June 24, 2005
By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News
Attorneys for former priest John Salazar grilled a 20-year-old Amarillo man Friday over charges that he sexually assaulted him in September 2003 while he was too intoxicated to resist.
Beau Villegas spent more than two hours on the witness stand Friday, mostly under cross-examination. Attorney Leigh Demasi challenged Mr. Villegas' account of what happened inside an Irving hotel after a wedding party the two men attended.
Ms. Demasi noted that the Amarillo College student had written that he had been too inebriated to recall details of what happened in his earliest statements about the attack. But in later accounts, as well as his testimony Thursday, he described the events in great detail, she said.
Mr. Villegas said that he was embarrassed and didn't want to remember all of the details. He said he drank at least 10 beers and three mixed drinks and had vomited several times the night in question but said he had a high tolerance for alcohol.
Ms. Demasi also questioned why Mr. Villegas entered Mr. Salazar's hotel room despite his earlier testimony that he had been "appalled" that weekend with what he thought were sexual advances from Mr. Salazar.
AMITE (LA)
Denton Record-Chronicle
08:12 PM CDT on Friday, June 24, 2005
Associated Press
AMITE, La. – A minister and six of his followers, including a former sheriff's deputy, were charged Thursday with aggravated rape in a case that has included accusations that children and animals were sexually abused.
A grand jury indicted Louis Lamonica, 45, who was the pastor of Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula, on six counts of rape.
Four counts each were brought against former Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's deputy Christopher Blair Lab