Catholic Online
05/31/2006
Our Sunday Visitor (www.osv.com)
Last month's action taken by the Vatican against Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ, is both saddening and instructive.
In a May 19 statement, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) "invited" the 86-year-old Father Maciel to spend the remainder of his life in "prayer and penance, refraining from all public ministry." The restrictions were approved by Pope Benedict XVI.
The action comes after a long Vatican investigation into accusations of sexual abuse levied against Father Maciel by dozens of individuals, including several former Legionary seminarians, who charge the acts took place between 1943 and the early 1980s. Father Maciel and the Legionaries have consistently denied the charges.
The Vatican has said there will be no canonical trial of Father Maciel due to his advanced age. Given the circumstances, however, canon lawyers and other observers speculate that the CDF invitation amounts to a finding that at least some of the charges against the founder were credible. It is significant that the investigation of Father Maciel was reopened by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who as pope has approved the present restrictions despite the many affirmations of Father Maciel's position by Pope John Paul II and other Vatican officials.
IRELAND
San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
(05-31) 15:04 PDT DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) --
A Dublin jury convicted a Roman Catholic priest Wednesday of raping a 13-year-old girl.
During the six-day trial, the victim, whose identity was not make public, testified that Rev. Daniel Doherty raped her in a church sacristy twice in 1985.
Doherty, 48, had denied ever meeting the girl. He is expected to be sentenced in October.
Sex abuse scandals have jolted Ireland's Catholic Church, where nearly 90 percent of the country's 4 million residents identify themselves as Catholic.
IRELAND
Irish Examiner
31/05/2006 - 2:55:12 PM
The head of the Sisters of Charity has refused to apologise for the physical and sexual abuse of boys at St Joseph's Industrial School in Kilkenny in the early 1970s.
Sister Una O'Neill expressed regret and sorrow for the abuse while giving evidence to the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse today.
She also admitted that there were "system failures" which led to the abuse.
However, she refused to apologise because, she said, no members of the Sisters of Charity perpetrated the abuse, colluded in it or tried to cover it up.
RICHMOND (VA)
Catholic Online
By Steve Neill
5/31/2006
The Catholic Virginian (www.catholicvirginian.org)
RICHMOND, Va. (The Catholic Virginian) - Priests coming from foreign countries to serve in ministry in the Diocese of Richmond go through a criminal background check and the diocese takes several other steps designed to help them serve more effectively in the parishes to which they are assigned.
Father Mark Lane, Vicar for Clergy, recently told The Catholic Virginian that there are many procedures involved before an international priest arrives to take on a parish assignment. “The first thing we do is receive a letter from an international priest requesting an appointment in the diocese,” Father Lane said.
Asked how priests from outside the diocese might inquire about serving in Richmond, he pointed out that there are a number of Filipino priests serving in the diocese. “Filipinos talk with other Filipinos,” Father Lane said, adding that perhaps a Filipino priest who would inquire about serving in the Diocese of Richmond would normally mention in his letter that he has heard about “the quality of ministry in the diocese.”
“We also hear from international priests from email or telephone,” he explained. “There are numerous emails from international priests, some requesting temporary ministry in the diocese. “They may be studying here or they’re on sabbatical from their own diocese or from their religious community. Bishop DiLorenzo has contact with bishops and religious superiors of international priests who will be here for a set amount of time,” he continued.
COLUMBUS (OH)
ChannelCincinnati.com
COLUMBUS -- Adults who accuse priests of abusing them when they were children must follow two-year time limits for filing lawsuits despite the trauma of sexual abuse, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The law requires suing by age 20, which is two years after reaching adulthood, for allegations dating back to the person's childhood.
"Although we acknowledge the complex emotional issues of plaintiffs who allege that they have been the victims of sexual abuse, we are constrained by the law as it exists today," said the opinion by Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton.
The 5-2 ruling overturns a decision by an appellate court that revived the case of a 36-year-old "John Doe" who sued the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk and the former Rev. Thomas Hopp.
NEVADA
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
05/31/2006
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests asked St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and Bishop Joseph A. Pepe of Las Vegas on Tuesday that former Roman Catholic priest James Beine not be permitted to teach school in Nevada.
Beine was released from prison last June after the Missouri Supreme Court overturned an indecent exposure conviction involving his work at a St. Louis public school. Separately, a federal appeals court overturned a conviction on possession of child pornography. The Catholic church says it has paid more than $400,000 in civil settlements for molestation claims against Beine.
The revocation of Beine's teaching license was contingent on his conviction, according to his attorney, Larry Fleming. He said Beine's Missouri teaching license had therefore been reinstated. Illinois officials said Tuesday that a James Beine has a valid teaching certificate issued in St. Clair County.
Nevada officials could not confirm Tuesday what SNAP claimed was information that Beine applied there. Said Fleming, "He's not teaching now and doesn't intend to."
ISRAEL
Haaretz
By Yair Sheleg
At first glance, the police complaints lodged against Rabbi Mordechai Gafni constitute one more case of sexual exploitation. Once not so long ago, it was enough for a rabbi to be accused of a fraction of the number of the suspicions raised against Gafni for the walls to tremble. In our present era of progress, statements by two dozen victims can be airily dismissed until the legal system steps in (because a few of the women finally dared to complain) before the community leaders realize that they will not be able to continue enjoying the rabbi's "spiritual abundance."
At first glance this is an individual case, and the fact that a rabbi is involved is merely coincidental. Or not: Gafni has a friend, the co-writer of two of his books, named Rabbi Ohad Ezrahi. Ezrahi is a newly observant Jew who was once secretary to the extreme right-wing Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg. A few years ago he left his previous pursuits and established a commune based on the study of love and sex "in the spirit of the ancient myths" (including kabbala.) And within the rather small community of teachers of "Jewish Renaissance" (the revolution of non-observant Jews studying Judaism) in Israel, there are at least two other prominent teachers who had extensive extramarital relationships that caused a storm in their communities.
PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 31, 7:37 a.m.
By Brandie Meng
A Roman Catholic priest in Luzerne County has resigned after allegations of sexual misconduct involving two women years ago.
Monsignor J. Peter Crynes was most recently the pastor of Saint Therese Parish in Shavertown. The bishop of the Diocese of Scranton said the monsignor has moved out of the parish and is no longer involved in any church assignments. An investigation into the allegations continues.
Msgr. Crynes also served as assistant pastor at St. Patrick Church in White Haven and Holy Rosary Church in Scranton. He was administrator and pastor of Corpus Christi Church in Montdale from 1988 to 1994.
LAS VEGAS (NV)
KLAS
May 30, 2006 07:26 PM EDT
A former Catholic priest who was convicted of exposing himself to children may be in Las Vegas. James Beine was released from a Missouri prison on a technicality and now people abused by priests are warning the public about him.
A group called SNAP, which stands for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, wants to warn the Las Vegas Valley about James Beine. SNAP representatives say Beine is a horrific predator who has apparently moved to the Las Vegas area.
The group claims Beine, who was once a priest, is now trying to get his teaching credentials transferred from Missouri to Nevada.
They say three-dozen people have come forward claiming that they were abused by Beine over nearly thirty years. SNAP representatives are making an effort to alert the local Catholic Diocese and various school administrators about Beine and to be on the look out for him, and that he has gone by other names.
SHAVERTOWN (PA)
The Citizens Voice
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS
STAFF WRITER 05/31/2006
The pastor of a Back Mountain Catholic church has resigned in the midst of an investigation by the Diocese of Scranton into allegations of sexual misconduct.
Two women are accusing Monsignor J. Peter Crynes, pastor of St. Therese’s Church on Davis Street in Shavertown, of unnamed sexual offenses during one of his other assignments years ago, the Scranton Diocese said.
The women who made the complaints have been interviewed, offered counseling, and given an opportunity to discuss their situation with Bishop Joseph Martino, according to a statement from the Diocese of Scranton.
Crynes will also be given an opportunity to be heard. In the meantime, he has moved out of the rectory and the diocese is not giving him any assignments.
SHAVERTOWN (PA)
Scranton Times-Tribune
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS
STAFF WRITER 05/31/2006Email to a friendPrinter-friendly
The pastor of a Shavertown Catholic church has resigned in the midst of an investigation by the Diocese of Scranton into allegations of sexual misconduct.
Two women are accusing Monsignor J. Peter Crynes, pastor of St. Therese’s Church on Davis Street in Shavertown, of undisclosed sexual offenses during one of his other assignments years ago, according to the diocese.
The women who made the complaints have been interviewed, been offered counseling, and given an opportunity to discuss their situation with Bishop Joseph Martino, according to a statement from the diocese.
Monsignor Crynes has moved out of the rectory and the diocese is not giving him any assignments.
MARQUETTE (MI)
WLUC
A priest at St. Peter cathedral in Marquette has been removed from his position and is being sent back to India.
According to the Diocese of Marquette, Father Roy Joseph, the associate pastor at the cathedral and the Mission of Saint Mary in Big Bay, was relieved of his duties after a formal complaint was filed against him.
In a letter to parishioners at the cathedral and mission, Bishop Alex Sample said there was an incident of sexual exploitation with an adult female. Bishop Sample deemed the information to be credible.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
BELLEVILLE - Belleville Police Chief Dave Ruebhausen said Tuesday he will send a detective to meet with the head of a religious order about supervision of a 78-year-old defrocked priest who admitted molesting boys.
"This is a no-brainer," Ruebhausen said, adding that if anyone publicly admits to sexually abusing a child, "whether it be a priest, a policeman, a nurse, whatever, it doesn't matter. They need to be monitored."
While it was previously reported that the Rev. Real Bourque was required to sign a sheet before leaving his retirement home, the local head of the former priest's religious order, the Rev. Allen Maes, said Tuesday that he might have misspoken. He said Bourke is only required to inform a superior when he leaves.
Ruebhausen said he wants to know whether there are any other admitted child molesters living in Belleville like Bourque. Bourque told fellow clergy and a News-Democrat reporter that he sexually molested children decades ago.
JAMAICA
Jamaica Gleaner
published: Wednesday | May 31, 2006
ALTHOUGH THERE are no reports, many Jamaicans feel that the paedophilia scandal that has dogged the Catholic Church internationally is an issue locally, according to the findings of a Gleaner-commissioned poll.
Fifty two per cent of a sample of 1,008 respondents in 18 communities across the island's 14 parishes held this view, mainly in the parishes of St. Mary, St. Catherine, Westmoreland and Hanover.
Fourteen per cent of the respondents in the poll, conducted on May 13 and 14, said that the Church problems were not an issue in Jamaica. The margin of error is plus or minus three per cent.
In recent times, a series of allegations concerning the molestation of youngsters, especially young boys, by members of the Catholic clergy, surfaced in the international media. According to the reports, most cases of sexual abuse occurred in seminaries, schools and orphanages.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Vikas Turakhia
Special to The Plain Dealer
Recommendations for Martin Moran's memoir, The Tricky Part (Anchor, 304 pp., $14), must include caveats. There's little pleasure in reading about the sexual abuse of an adolescent at the hands of a 30-year-old; the book is disturbed and frustrated. But if you persevere, a compelling story awaits, as Moran documents his adolescent nights with a man he calls Bob Malo, his recovery and his struggle to accept himself as a homosexual despite his 1970s Catholic upbringing.
Malo enters Moran's life as a church camp counselor, but their boundaries shift when he asks the 12-year-old to help him fix up a ranch. While working, Malo builds the shy boy's pride -- his praise makes Moran feel included, as do their activities in his sleeping bag at night. The incongruity of being a "straight-A altar boy and a slut" excites Moran and stretches the relationship over three years. The author writes, "My own anger, whatever, wherever it is, feels lost or buried somehow in complicity . . . As if having wanted, allowed, has squelched any right I have to wrath or innocence."
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati's personnel director resigned Tuesday after coming under fire for hiring a felon to supervise their criminal background-check program.
Vince Frasher, a church employee for 19 years, also faces allegations of sexual misconduct made by the man he hired to run the program.
Frasher said in a letter to Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk that it was "in the best interest of all concerned" that he resign immediately. "Decisions and judgments I have made over the course of the past several years may have resulted in difficulties for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati."
Frasher's resignation comes as the archdiocese and Hamilton County prosecutors investigate his relationship with Alex Henties, the former supervisor of the background-check program. Henties, 32, has accused Frasher of abusing him while he was growing up in Montgomery.
WEST VIRGINIA
The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register
By ADAM TOWNSEND
The West Virginia Bar Foundation recently bestowed the honor of ‘‘fellow’’ upon a Marshall County Circuit Court judge, a Wheeling magistrate and a Wheeling lawyer.
Judge John T. Madden of Moundsville, Magistrate James E. Seibert of Wheeling and attorney John Preston Bailey of the Wheeling law firm Bailey, Riley, Buch and Harman received the honor recently in Charleston.
‘‘These lawyers are truly leaders in their community, not only as lawyers and judges,’’ said Thomas Tinder, executive director of the West Virginia Bar Foundation. ‘‘All of them are involved in a large array of community activities.’’ ...
Bailey has been the president of the West Virginia State Bar, the West Virginia State Bar Board of Governors, chairman of the West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, vice chairman of the city of Wheeling Charter Review Board, a member of the Diocesan Sexual Abuse Review Board for the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, a member of the Order of Coif, a member of the Order of Barristers, a member of the Moot Court Board, a member of the Ohio County Bar Association, a member of the West Virginia Trial Lawyer Association and a member of theAbuse Tracker Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
STONEHAM (MA)
Stoneham Sun
By Nadine Wandzilak/ Correspondent
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Inside St. Patrick’s Church last Friday evening, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, led prayers that asked for forgiveness for bishops’ and priests’ sins - including the failure to act - in connection with sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church.
"Forgive us for the sins against your children," attendees prayed in a litany of repentance, for the "loss of innocence, "the "hurts and pains born by parents and families" and "for wounds that may never heal," as the cardinal and about a dozen other priests and deacons lay prone, face down, from forehead to feet, on the floor in front of the altar.
The prayer service, part of a "Pilgrimage of repentance and hope: a novena to the Holy Spirit" in nine communities that experienced "an especially painful history of sexual abuse of children by priests," according to the archdiocese, is like Yom Kippur, a time of atonement, for the sin of clergy sexual abuse, O’Malley said during his 15-minute homily. "We need the gift of wisdom," he said, "to know how to avoid evil." Prayer and repentance are a prelude, he said, to acquiring wisdom.
KINGSTON TOWNSHIP (PA)
Times Leader
By DAVE JANOSKI djanoski@leader.net
KINGSTON TWP. – Parishioners at St. Therese’s Church in Shavertown left Mass in tears over the weekend after diocesan officials announced Monsignor J. Peter Crynes had resigned as their pastor amid allegations of “sexual misconduct.”
The alleged misconduct, reported by two women, happened before Crynes came to St. Therese’s 12 years ago, the Diocese of Scranton said. Crynes has been a priest in the diocese for nearly 40 years, serving mostly in Lackawanna County.
In its statement to parishioners during Saturday and Sunday Masses, the diocese left key questions unanswered, including the ages of the women when the alleged misconduct occurred, the date, location and character of the alleged misconduct and the nature of the investigation -- whether it was being conducted by the diocese itself or law enforcement.
Diocesan spokesman William Genello declined to fill in any of those blanks Tuesday.
Parishioners described Crynes, 64, as a kind, committed pastor who emphasized that members of the congregation had a calling to serve others inside and outside of St. Therese’s and expanded their opportunities to do so.
VERMONT
Times Argus
May 31, 2006
By Kevin O'Connor RUTLAND HERALD
The lawyer pressing 19 priest misconduct lawsuits against Vermont's Catholic Church says the statewide Diocese of Burlington is waging a "campaign of intimidation" against judges and potential jurors.
The diocese recently filed a motion in Chittenden Superior Court seeking to bar the judge who oversaw a record $965,000 sexual abuse settlement against the church from presiding over similar cases.
In response, lawyer Jerome O'Neill, representing the accusers, says the diocese's call for disqualification is not only groundless, but also part of a "power play" that aims "to interfere with judicial independence."
The church "hopes to make the presiding judge fearful of public criticism for ruling against the diocese, even if that is the ruling called for by the facts and the law," O'Neill said in court papers released Tuesday.
"With nearly 25 percent of Vermont's population as members of the diocese, the diocese undoubtedly hopes that any judge sitting on this case will have one eye on judicial retention in ruling on this case and every other case against it."
VERMONT
Burlington Free Press
Published: Wednesday, May 31, 2006
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
The attorney for 19 alleged victims of priest sexual abuse with cases on file in a Burlington court has accused the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of waging a "campaign of intimidation" by seeking to have the judge in the cases removed.
"Defendant diocese's motion is a bold attempt to interfere with judicial independence," attorney Jerome O'Neill wrote in his motion opposing the church's push to have Judge Ben Joseph step down. "It is part of a well-orchestrated public relations campaign designed by the defendant diocese to influence judges and jurors in its favor."
O'Neill said other parts of the intimidation campaign include Bishop Salvatore Matano's letter announcing his plan to put the diocese's 128 parishes in individual charitable trusts to protect them "from unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault."
DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News
By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
May 31, 2006
Attorneys for 29 men and one woman who have sued the Archdiocese of Denver, claiming they were molested as youths by two former priests, are expected to join church lawyers today in Denver District Court to discuss how to proceed with the cases.
The open hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Judge Joseph E. Meyer's courtroom.
In the routine process, plaintiffs and defendants hash out procedural issues such as organizing the witness list and whether it would be beneficial to consolidate similar cases.
All the lawsuits involve two priests, one dead, one defrocked, who are alleged to have abused the plaintiffs when they were growing up in the 1960s and '70s.
NASHVILLE (TN)
Catholic News Service
By Andy Telli
Catholic News Service
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) -- Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services said May 26 that the Vatican's visitations to U.S. seminaries and houses of formation are nearly complete, and he hopes the resulting reports will be released this fall.
"Bottom line, I think this visitation was most successful," Archbishop O'Brien said in a talk to the 2006 Catholic Media Convocation in Nashville. A former head of two seminaries, he was coordinator of the visitations for the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, which oversees seminary formation.
The objectives of the visitations, which were sparked by the sexual abuse crisis that hit the U.S. church in 2002, were to examine the criteria for admission of candidates and various aspects of priestly formation, including the intellectual formation of seminarians in the field of moral theology and the programs of human and spiritual formation aimed at ensuring they can faithfully live chaste, celibate lives.
"The hype to begin with led some to believe this was going to be a crusade ... to weed out immorality," Archbishop O'Brien said. "That's not what it was about."
Instead, he said, the objective of the visitations was to determine if seminarians were being prepared properly to live a chaste and celibate life.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Fox 19
May 30, 2006 04:13 PM EDT
A man who was at the center of the Church's latest scandal has stepped down.
The Cincinnati Archdiocese has announced the resignation of Personnel Director Vince Frasher.
Frasher found himself at the center of the scandal after reports were aired that Frasher hired convicted felon Alex Henties to perform background checks on prospective Archdiocese employees. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported today that Henties was convicted a week before his hiring.
Henties has accused Frasher of having a sexual relationship that began when Henties was young. Allegations that Frasher continues to deny. Frasher has been on administrative leave since the issue came to light. The Archdiocese says that they are conducting an internal investigation into the allegations and archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk says that he is cooperating with secular investigative authorities.
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported and Web Produced by: Laure Quinlivan
Photographed by: Phil Drechsler
Updated: 05/30/06 17:24:41
The man under fire since a Channel 9 I-Team report two weeks ago is resigning his position at the Archdiocese at Cincinnati.
Vince Frasher is the longtime personnel director at the Archdiocese. He's responsible for hiring and firing everyone who's not a priest, including all the teachers at Catholic schools.
The I-Team investigation found Frasher knowingly hired a criminal to do criminal background checks on Catholic volunteers.
Frasher hired Alex Henties to do the background checks, giving him access to the social security numbers of thousands of Catholics.
Henties is now serving two years in prison for a police chase and cocaine conviction.
LOWELL (MA)
Lowell Sun
By RITA SAVARD, Sun Staff
LOWELL -- Having the parish priest mentor your kids is a high honor for any working-class Irish Catholic family -- especially when the church is your reason for living.
Larry Finn's parents, Mickey and Ann, trusted Rev. Joseph Birmingham. While serving at St. Michael Church, the priest took a special interest in the Finn's 12-year-old son, taking him on ski trips and for rides in his gold Cadillac.
"He let me drive his car," Finn said. "He enjoyed letting me sit on his lap while he got aroused. ... He made me touch his privates, and he touched mine."
Finn was repeatedly violated by the priest. Now 46 and standing at the altar of St. Michael's, Finn finds himself returning to a place he has tried to forget since childhood. Looking out at more than 100 faces inside St. Michael's, Finn recounted his story of sexual abuse and innocence lost at the hands of Birmingham.
LOWELL (MA)
Lowell Sun
By RITA SAVARD, Sun Staff
LOWELL -- Dozens of bodies squeezing into the pews of St. Michael's fan themselves with paper prayer books.
In the stifling heat, they wait for Cardinal Sean O'Malley to lead them in a Novena to the Holy Spirit, a plea for forgiveness for the sins committed by pedophile priests and the bishops who hid the truth.
Out on the sidewalk, another congregation has gathered. It carries its own message for O'Malley: "Justice before prayers."
Since the Cardinal began his pilgrimage for repentance and hope on Thursday, the protesters have followed.
Some have been sexually abused by priests, others know victims, and some are just outraged by what they call a "dysfunctional system" that has yet to be held accountable for its actions.
When John Harris arrives with a sign marked, "Dirty Hands Cannot Heal," a couple of men holding up posters of their own say hello. No matter what brought them to St. Michael's, their purpose on the sidewalk unites them.
DENVER (CO)
National
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput is correct. It is inherently unfair, and bad public policy, when governments exempt themselves from lawsuits of a kind that can bankrupt their private counterparts engaged in exactly the same behavior.
In Colorado, the issue arose over a piece of legislation that as originally crafted would have lifted the civil statute of limitations on child sex abuse. A key problem with the legislation, argued Chaput, was that the state’s public schools would not be subject to its more punitive provisions. Instead, under its modified exercise of “sovereign immunity,” the state limits school district liability and requires that suits be filed within 180 days of the occurrence of the abuse.
“Some of the worst adult sexual misconduct with minors occurs in public institutions, particularly public schools,” wrote Chaput in First Things. “But in most states, those schools enjoy some form of governmental immunity. In other words, it’s far easier to sue a private institution, such as a Catholic diocese, than it is to sue a public-school district. It’s also a lot more lucrative since, even if governmental immunity were waived, public schools and institutions usually enjoy the added protection of low caps on damages (in Colorado, $150,000). For exactly the same sexual abuse in a public school and a Catholic parish, the difference in financial exposure is millions of dollars.”
MEXICO
National
By JASON BERRY
The small, dusty town of Cotija lies in south central Mexico, a region where the Cristero War (1926-32) saw some of its fiercest fighting. Cristero forces were a cross section of Catholics who rose against a Marxist regime that had been murdering priests with impunity. In 1932, when the Vatican helped broker a truce, Marcial Maciel Degollado was a boy of 12.
Cotija, the hometown of the Legion of Christ founder, has a retreat center for Regnum Christi, the lay wing of the order. A tomb for Maciel’s mother (whom he nominated for sainthood) is there. The town square has a statue of his late uncle, Bishop Rafael Guizar Valencia, who led a clandestine seminary during the Cristero war. Maciel, 86, had been in Cotija for months before the May 19 Vatican communiqué that stripped him of public priestly duties after a long investigation into charges of sexual abuse that shadowed him for many years.
The communiqué offered few facts. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “decided -- bearing in mind Maciel’s advanced age and his delicate health -- to forgo a canonical hearing and to invite the father to a reserved life of penitence and prayer, relinquishing any form of public ministry. The Holy Father approved these decisions. Independently of the person of the founder, the worthy apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ and of the association Regnum Christi is gratefully recognized.”
Benedict humiliated the most famous priest in Mexico and sent shock waves through the ranks of 60,000 Regnum Christi members in several countries. These lay folk meet in prayer groups, study Maciel’s writings and raise money. It was one of the reasons the Legion was indebted to Pope John Paul II, who championed Maciel. His words and image (with Maciel) were central to Legion fundraising.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Fox 19
May 30, 2006 10:18 AM EDT
New information has surfaced this morning about a convicted felon hired by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Tuesday morning's Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that Alex Henties was on probation in two states when he was hired by the archdiocese to perform background checks on prospective employees.
According to the Enquirer, court records show he was convicted of a felony just a week before he was hired.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Alex Henties was on probation in two states while he supervised the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's criminal background-check program.
Church officials say they were aware before hiring Henties that he had committed a theft and some other minor crimes in the 1990s. But they say they did not know about the more recent offenses.
The archdiocese fired Henties last year after he was arrested on drug possession charges.
Court records show that he was convicted of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in Hamilton County June 16, 2003 - one week before the archdiocese hired him as coordinator of the background-check program.
Three months after starting his new job, Henties was arrested again in Dearborn County, Ind., on drunken-driving charges.
Judges convicted him in both cases and sentenced him to probation for one year.
BOSTON (MA)
The New York Times
By KATIE ZEZIMA
Published: May 30, 2006
BOSTON, May 29 — Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley is leading a nine-day series of Masses and other services to acknowledge sexual abuse by clergy members in the Archdiocese of Boston and to pray for forgiveness and healing.
The series, which the archdiocese is calling "a pilgrimage of repentance and hope," is the first occasion on which Masses have been offered here to atone for the abuse of minors by priests since the church's sexual abuse scandal broke in January 2002.
The services started on Thursday and will be held at parishes that were served by priests accused of or convicted of sexual abuse. A crucifix from a shuttered parish touched by sexual abuse will be carried and displayed at each service.
"This is not just some pious exercise," said Barbara Thorp, director of the archdiocese's Office of Healing and Assistance Ministry, which has offered counseling to about 650 people who say they were abused by priests, as well as to their families. "We really do come humbly begging for God's help."
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By BETH MILLER
The News Journal
05/30/2006
Victims of child sexual abuse by an adult would have more time to sue for damages under a bill expected to reach the General Assembly today.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Greg Lavelle, R-Sharpley, and Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, would extend the time from two years to six years after the abuse occurs or to six years after the abuse is discovered to be the cause of a victim's emotional or physical damage.
NorthJersey.com
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
By MARIA ELENA SALINAS
When I heard the news that the Vatican had finally sanctioned Father Marcial Maciel after a decade-long investigation into allegations of sexual abuse, I could not help but think of Alberto Athie, formerly known as Father Athie.
Maciel -- one of the most revered yet controversial members of Mexico's Catholic Church -- is the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, an ultraconservative organization originally based in Mexico City and known for, among other things, its loyalty to the pope.
In the late 1990s, nine former seminarians accused Father Maciel of having sexually abused them between 1943 and the early 1960s. Their complaints fell on deaf ears. Maciel was particularly close to Pope John Paul II. The pontiff considered allegations against Maciel malicious.
The original investigation was halted by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, but the case was reopened in 2004. It seems that new, more credible evidence surfaced with the new investigation, and now, as Pope Benedict XVI, the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith has ratified a decision to ask Father Maciel to live a life of penitence and prayer, barring him from celebrating public masses.
Although Alberto Athie was never sexually abused by Maciel, he was a victim of the scandal that shook the church. His story, like the cases of abuse themselves, shows a dark side of the Catholic Church. As I recount in my book, "I Am My Father's Daughter," Athie once held highly respected positions within the Catholic Church in Mexico. He was an international coordinator for the Vatican's charity, Caritas. He also served as a leader in the church's commission for peace and reconciliation in the insurgent Chiapas region. But the confession of a dying man and Athie's search for justice led to the downfall of his promising career in the church.
AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser
By COLIN JAMES
30may06
THE Anglican Church in Adelaide began transferring property worth about $30 million to its charity, Anglicare, within 18 months of a church member being charged with pedophilia.
Victims of Robert Brandenburg have questioned why the 31 properties were transferred to Anglicare when the church was aware it could be facing possible claims for compensation.
Last night their lawyer, Susan Litchfield, said the victims could not understand why the Anglican Church was now cutting costs to cover a $4 million legal bill from Brandenburg's activities. "The victims have become confused when they have heard the Anglican Church is now borrowing money and has no insurance to pay for their claims when, only five years ago, it had assets worth $30 million," she said. Brandenburg committed suicide in June, 1999, after being charged in February of that year.
The Advertiser has been told by the Anglican Church and Anglicare that money from any sales of the properties cannot be accessed by the church for the Brandenburg payments because it is a separate legal entity with its own board of directors.
LOWELL (MA)
Lowell Sun
By RITA SAVARD, Sun Staff
David Lyko measures time through his trailer windows.
When sunlight streams in, he knows it's time to wake up. When it grows dark, it's time to sleep.
It's Saturday. But Lyko asks what day it is. He no longer keeps track of calendars or schedules. Days and nights blend together, like the succession of rings swirling around him from the Marlboros he chain-smokes.
For two years, Lyko's house on wheels carried him from one Wal-Mart parking lot to the next. He defecated in pizza boxes and went on binges during which his only food was beer. He was running, trying desperately to escape a childhood nightmare. Except the monster under his bed eventually caught up to him. And broke him.
The boogeyman was his childhood priest, the Rev. Joseph Birmingham -- the one man Lyko's parents always told him was his closest connection to God. Lyko was one of several altar boys at St. Michael Parish in Lowell who were fondled or raped by Birmingham. He was also one of the first to come forward about his molestation, helping to unveil decades of sexual abuse committed by priests and covered up by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
BOSTON (MA)
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
May 29, 2006
Father Robert Hoatson, who is suing the New York and Newark archdioceses and the Albany diocese, and who was the second priest to go on record about retiring Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's abuse of power while bishop of Metuchen, has criticized Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley's latest outreach to survivors of clergy abuse.
In an op-ed submitted to the Boston Globe, Hoatson wrote (slightly edited):
"Dear Cardinal Sean:
"May I please have your undivided attention? I am a priest, survivor of clergy abuse, and advocate for hundreds of clergy abuse survivors. For the past four years, I have traveled once a week from New Jersey to Boston and other parts of Massachusetts to work with those who were seriously damaged by priests and other religious.
"My purpose for writing is to ask you to cancel the nine prayer services planned for parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Boston and to stop sending letters of invitation for these events to survivors. While I applaud your efforts to foster reconciliation and repentance throughout the Archdiocese, I believe you still do not understand how to deal with survivors, their abuse, and our post traumatic stress disorder.
"When you were installed as Archbishop of Boston, you invited some survivors to attend. I accompanied two survivors into Holy Cross Cathedral that day. It took days of discussion and back and forth conferencing to help them reach the decision to set foot in a Catholic church. I prepared them for the possibility that they might not be able to endure being in the cathedral, around hundreds of clerics and regular Catholics, and actually be able to pray. For most survivors, prayer has become a near impossibility, since mere mention of God, the Church, priests, and prayer sets off their trauma once again.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
BY MARIA BARAN
News-Democrat
BELLEVILLE - Members of a group protesting sexual abuse by priests handed out fliers to parishioners leaving 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of St. Peter, protesting the presence in Belleville of a priest who is an admitted child molester.
Five members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests handed out fliers concerning The Rev. Real "Ray" Bourque, a defrocked and retired priest living in Belleville.
In the handout, members of SNAP criticized the most Rev. Edward Braxton, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville, for not removing Bourque from the St. Henry Oblate Retirement Home on N. 60th Street, where he has resided since 2002.
SNAP member Fred Carr caught up with Braxton outside of the church. He said Braxton declined to meet privately with members of SNAP because he had other appointments. Carr said Braxton told him he would deal with Bourque but not because of requests from the group or because of media attention.
DARIEN (CT)
The New York Times
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
Published: May 29, 2006
DARIEN, Conn., May 28 — The Bridgeport Diocese has said it first spotted financial problems at St. John Roman Catholic Church here in October, but the longtime pastor, the Rev. Michael Jude Fay, remained in control of the church's finances after that and continued benefiting from thousands of dollars in questionable outlays, church records show.
Among the church payments to Father Fay, who was forced to resign from the parish on May 17 amid accusations of misspending its money, was a $6,000 check in January. A note in the church's check register said it was a Christmas gift.
Diocese officials, including Bishop William E. Lori, have said that their first sign of trouble came when they noticed in October that St. John spending on travel, food and similar items had grown significantly from the previous fiscal year. The officials said they asked questions and eventually started an internal investigation that resulted in Father Fay's resignation.
The diocese has refused to provide details of its inquiry because a federal criminal investigation is under way, but it has said that Father Fay pursued a lifestyle unfit for a priest. A private investigator has accused him of using stolen church money for airfare, cruises, jewelry and limousine trips for himself or people close to him.
AUSTRALIA
The Sunday Mail
By Gary Hughes
29may06
THE victim of satanic ritual abuse by a Catholic priest has exclusively given his version of events to NEW.com.au's Gotcha blog, saying the church was aware of his allegations long before it agreed to pay him compensation.
The victim today said he was pressured into accepting the compensation and surrendering his legal right to sue the church after the Melbourne Archdiocese said it would otherwise stop paying for his trauma counselling.
Blog: Victim responds.
He also responded to doubts raised about his case, saying that he was not relying on "recovered" memory and had not undergone hypnotism as part of his treatment.
He said his Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other conditions diagnosed by one of Melbourne's leading psychiatrists were evidence that his story was true.
KENTUCKY
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY CHUCK MARTIN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
In an instant, Stan Chesley's face flushes red, his tone turns angry.
"Pardon me, sir," Chesley barks over the phone, standing in his 15th-floor office, downtown, overlooking the riverfront.
"Do you know who I am? Go to my Web site. Hello, sir?"
The conversation ends abruptly, as the man, Brian in Tucson - who obviously doesn't know who Stan Chesley is - hangs up.
Brian may regret that.
At 70, Chesley is still one of the most respected, if not feared, lawyers in America, a bulldog in a fine Brioni suit. He has won more than $350 billion for clients and untold millions in fees for himself.
The fame began 29 years ago today, when a horrific fire killed 165 people at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Ky. Then a relatively unknown personal-injury lawyer, Chesley filed suits on behalf of fire victims and their families against the club owners, a utility company and manufacturers of aluminum wiring, carpets and other products.
It was a novel approach for disaster litigation: Merging almost 300 cases into one class-action suit. But it worked. Chesley and other lawyers shared $50 million in litigation and settlements with clients.
Today, Chesley is still making news using the Beverly Hills formula. Early this year, he won $85 million for nearly 400 sexual-abuse victims from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington.
IRELAND
RTE News
29 May 2006 11:46
The Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise has confirmed that a priest in his diocese has taken administrative leave while an investigation takes place concerning a complaint of sexual misconduct.
RTÉ News understands the priest who was based in a parish in Co Longford has left his parish and cancelled a number of church engagements.
MIDDLETON (MA)
Salem News
By Martina Brendel
Staff writer
MIDDLETON — Hundreds of North Shore residents made a pilgrimage to St. Agnes Church on Saturday to beg forgiveness for the priest sex scandal at a service led by Cardinal Sean O'Malley.
The "pilgrimage of repentance and hope," which coincided with the Catholic Pentecost, is one of 10 O'Malley is giving this week in Greater Boston at parishes affected by the scandal. The series of services is an effort to heal his emotionally scarred archdiocese and draw disenchanted Catholics back into the fold.
Critics, however, derided the cardinal's visit and others like it across the state as a public relations ploy and a cynical attempt to gain more parishioners and replenish church coffers.
St. Agnes emerged as a flashpoint during the scandal when former youth director Christopher Reardon was found guilty of molesting more than 20 boys and the Rev. Jon Martin resigned amid allegations of complacency during the abuse.
BOSTON (MA)
Medical News Today
Main Category: Public Health News
Article Date: 28 May 2006 - 9:00am (PDT)
Dr. Robert Haddad, Caritas Christi Head, allegedly hugged and kissed women inappropriately, leered at women and in some cases phoned their homes late at night. He was eventually given the choice of either resigning or being fired. He opted for the resignation, which included benefits, plus ten-months' pay - a golden handshake of $830,000.
Dr. Hadded had previously been told off for sexual harassment and ordered to submit himself to sexual harassment snesitivity training. This did not happen as further allegations from women began to surface.
According to Dr. Haddad, there was nothing inappropriate in his behaviour.
Haddad had been head of Caritas for two years, and had managed to turn finances round from a $12 million loss in 2004 to a $26 million profit in 2005. He did this after implementing a series of measures which included layoffs and budget cuts. Some say Caritas hospitals now suffer from serious staff turnover rates.
SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Daily Herald
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY -- A court-appointed accountant in charge of the financial trust of a southern-Utah polygamist sect has filed a lawsuit accusing the church's leader of fleecing trust assets.
Bruce Wisan filed the lawsuit Friday in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court.
Warren Jeffs, the fugitive leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and former trustees Truman Barlow, Leroy Jeffs, James Zitting, William Jessop, the Corporation of the President and the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Fundamentalist LDS Church are named as defendants.
"We feel that they've taken things from the trust. Their actions have caused harm to the trust," Wisan said. "We want to pursue remedies for the actions that they've taken."
The United Effort Plan was established by church leaders in the 1940s, with members donating assets for the benefit of the community.
The trust holds an estimated $100 million in assets, most of it property, homes and other buildings in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, where most FLDS church members make their homes. The trust also has property in Bountiful, British Columbia, where the FLDS church also has an enclave.
Los Angeles Times
By Jason Berry, Jason Berry is coauthor, with Gerald Renner, of "Vows of Silence." He is directing a documentary based on the book's account of the Maciel saga.
May 28, 2006
ON MAY 19, Pope Benedict XVI disgraced one of the most powerful priests in the Roman Catholic Church, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the ultraconservative Legion of Christ. Benedict's decision to publicly discipline the priest came after an investigation into allegations that Maciel had sexually abused "more than 20 and less than 100 victims" in seminary, according to theAbuse Tracker .
On the face of it, the pope's "invitation" to Maciel to give up his public ministry in favor of a quiet life of "prayer and penitence" may not seem a terribly harsh punishment for an alleged serial sex abuser. But in doing so, Benedict did something extraordinarily unusual: He cast doubt on his predecessor's judgment.
The culture of apostolic succession invites each new pope to be exquisitely respectful of the popes who came before him. Historians now must scramble to explain why the late Pope John Paul II, who called for the church to atone for institutional sins by "the purification of historical memory," sheltered Maciel for years. Utterly ignoring the pleas of Maciel's victims that the priest be held to account, John Paul praised him instead. In late 2004, the pope celebrated Maciel for his "integral formation of the person" even as the sexual-abuse charges against him, dating from 1976, gathered dust in the Vatican.
In late 2004, the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who has since become pope, clearly distanced himself from the dying John Paul by ordering an investigation of the allegations against Maciel. Under Ratzinger, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has historically tried theologians who publicly questioned church doctrines, had been dealing with hundreds of cases of pedophile priests whose bishops wanted them laicized. Ratzinger wanted to move Maciel's case to the top of the list. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state, pressured Ratzinger to ignore a 1998 canon-law suit seeking Maciel's ouster. But Ratzinger realized that Maciel loomed as a potential scandal for the next pope. Sodano will soon retire.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Liz Kowalczyk and Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff | May 28, 2006
When Dr. Robert Haddad was president of Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center a few years ago, he would routinely kiss and hug female employees as he breezed into meetings and social gatherings, said a former manager who was present on many occasions. Finally, she decided to speak up.
``Bob, it makes me really uncomfortable to have the president of the medical center kiss women who are employees. It's inappropriate," she recalls saying.
He smiled and said people ``tell me that all the time," she recalled, but the hugs and kisses continued.
``He didn't listen," said the former manager, who remembers speaking to Haddad about the behavior on two occasions.
Looking back last week, after sexual harassment complaints led to Haddad's forced resignation as chief executive of Caritas Christi Health Care System, former executives said Haddad often ignored the counsel of others, even those who worked closely with him and wanted to be helpful.
DENVER (CO)
Denver Post
By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer
The 30 adults who have taken the state's largest religious institution to court face a difficult decision in the coming weeks.
They can make peace with the Catholic Church, take home a check and, most likely, never learn more about their alleged perpetrator. Or they can take their chances in court and possibly walk away with an even bigger payout and a stack of documents - or nothing at all.
By hiring a mediator to negotiate with plaintiffs who allege they were sexually abused as minors by priests, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput has proposed a solution that could save the church money and public embarrassment while giving accusers privacy, money to heal and a quicker resolution, experts say.
"It's a double-edged sword," said Matt Garretson, a Cincinnati lawyer who has brokered settlements with clergy sex-abuse victims in Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky. "A private process will give some victims peace. The downside is it allows a very bad situation to go without a full accounting or full accountability for what occurred."
OHIO
Toledo Blade
After all the damaging publicity the Roman Catholic Church has suffered because of errant priests either accused or convicted of sexual misconduct, you'd think the hierarchy would see the light. But you'd be wrong.
You'd think church leaders would be especially sensitive to any allegations of misdeeds by clerics and act immediately to resolve them. But no.
You'd think a diocese like Toledo that has had to bar 10 priests from the ministry would also be keenly aware of criticism that the church has put itself ahead of its flock in such unsettling matters.
But the case of the Rev. Robert Yeager places that assumption on its head. The diocese admittedly knew of sexual abuse allegations against the Toledo priest at least two years ago - maybe more. But Father Yeager has only now been removed from the ministry.
A church review board said it took that long it to find "specific information sufficient to conclude that the allegations [are] indeed credible."
Father Yeager was accused of molesting a boy nearly 30 years ago. It is not the only such allegation against the priest who served as principal and pastor at four high schools in the diocese.
NORTHERN IRELAND
The Sunday Times
Carissa Casey
THE Catholic church has defended a Northern Ireland priest who said the effects of child sex abuse were exaggerated.
The priest’s comments came in a judgment rejecting the request of Roisin Fry, a Belfast woman, for an annulment of her marriage. She blamed the breakdown of the union on damage resulting from her sexual abuse as a child by a priest.
But the priest stated that “there is undoubtedly a tendency to exaggerate” the effects of such abuse. It was later defended by Sean Brady, the archbishop of Armagh, who said the priest did not mean to offend but “was merely carrying out his duty to defend the bond of marriage”.
Fry, 47, a mother of three, was abused for three years from the age of 10 by a priest in Belfast in the early 1970s. The abuse stopped when the priest was moved to another parish.
BOSTON (MA)
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Mark Pratt
Associated Press
Boston- On the altar of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Cardinal Sean O'Malley prostrated himself alongside two dozen bishops and priests, praying that God would forgive the damage done by the Roman Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal.
The start of the multiday pilgrimage Thursday through nine parishes in the Boston Archdiocese was to be about hope, repentance and apologies to the victims in the abuse scandal.
But as news spread that Dr. Robert Haddad, president and CEO of the archdiocese's health care system, resigned early Thursday amid allegations that he had harassed more than a dozen female employees with unwanted hugs and kisses, some questioned if church leaders are still responding too slowly and too secretly to abuse claims.
"There are extraordinary and painful parallels," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
A DONEGAL woman who claims a priest raped her three times, made the allegations formally in a letter to the bishop in recent years.
Yesterday the woman told a jury at the Central Criminal Court that her best friend and her sister had both warned her not to go near the accused when she revealed earlier incidents in full or part to them.
The 48-year-old accused has denied three charges of raping the woman on dates in 1985 and one charge of indecently assaulting her in 1984.
The woman agreed with Gerry O'Brien defending, that she phoned the accused in 1990 and asked for money but denied she told him she was pregnant and wanted the money to have an abortion.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
A PAEDOPHILE priest who has already served a seven-year jail term for indecently assaulting nine boys was yesterday back behind bars.
Daniel Curran was also given an 18-month suspended sentence last year for indecently assaulting a tenth boy on two occasions while he was a priest at St Paul's parish in Belfast and chaplain of the local boy scouts. Jailing the 56-year-old for 14 months, Belfast Crown Court Judge Tom Burgess said he should be "returned to prison to reflect [on] the damage he has done" to his victim.
The judge ordered him to be listed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
Curran, from Bryansford Avenue, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault between 1977 and 1982.
IRELAND
One in Four
Irish Examiner
THE decision of the Law Society not to pursue a complaint of double billing against one of its members, in the case of a victim of child abuse who was made an award through the Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB), is very disturbing.
It has chosen to reject the claim made by the survivor of institutional abuse, who had been represented by the solicitor, that he billed her and the RIRB. Inexplicably, it has decided not to refer the matter to its own Disciplinary Tribunal for investigation, despite the fact it has seen fit to do so in previous cases.
The redress board was established four years ago to compensate those who were abused as children while in industrial schools, reformatories and various State institutions.
NEW YORK
New York Post
By DAREH GREGORIAN
May 27, 2006 -- A randy reverend who was having an affair with a parishioner to whom he was giving "marriage counseling" tried to tempt other female members of his flock as well, court papers charge.
The Rev. Thomas Tewell - who's being sued by former Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church parishioner Joseph Vione for carrying on trysts with his wife while he was supposedly counseling them - allegedly tried the same maneuver on others.
In court filings made public yesterday, Vione said that in 2002, three anonymous church members complained to a church official that Tewell "had exploited his position" at the East Side church "to prey on women to whom he was providing spiritual and marital counseling for the covert and clandestine purposes of surreptitiously engaging in illicit relationships."
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Sally Jacobs, Globe Staff | May 27, 2006
It was the summer of 1993, and Helen G. Drinan, the head of human resources for the Bank of Boston, was taking aim at a deeply cherished corporate tradition.
The annual executive golf getaway -- it had to go.
``I wanted to get rid of this golf tournament once and for all," Drinan declared. ``It was such a statement of tradition, hierarchy, top down, men at the top, everyone else working hard while the execs are off playing golf. Wrong symbol."
And so she got rid of it. Just months after Drinan was given the bank's top human resources position, she replaced the golf outing with a community service day: Dozens of senior executives spent the afternoon rebuilding a summer camp for needy children and scrubbing outhouses. They never returned to the links, at least not as a group.
SALEM (MA)
Eagle-Tribune
By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
SALEM — A 9-year-old boy was forced to answer questions from the admitted pedophile who confessed last year to molesting him, as the man's trial got underway yesterday in Salem Superior Court.
Kevin Curlew, 45, a former volunteer for the Mormon Church in Methuen, told police he has a sexual preference for prepubescent boys and warned them, "I should never be around children, period."
But yesterday, Curlew, acting as his own lawyer, stood just a few feet from the boy, now 11, trying to shake the child's credibility with jurors and suggesting the boy is lying because he cannot recall specific dates when the incidents occurred — even though Curlew has already confessed to both church officials and the police.
It's a scenario made possible after Curlew's first lawyer left the public defender's office and Curlew then decided to represent himself.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
Lisa Smyth
27 May 2006
A self-confessed paedophile was today branded despicable and repulsive by an Ulster sex abuse charity after he described raping a child as an "infatuation gone wrong."
Director of Nexus Institute Gar McAtamney said comments made by former church sexton William James McKillop before he was sentenced for the sexual abuse of two young girls proves he does not appreciate the gravity of his heinous crimes.
The Co Antrim pensioner was jailed for 12 years last week after admitting two counts of rape and five of indecent assault in a prolonged campaign of abuse on his two victims, beginning when they were six and seven-years-old and spanning almost two decades.
In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph the night before he was sentenced, 66-year-old McKillop of Islandboy Road, Ballycastle, complained about press reports on the attacks he committed.
"The Yorkshire Ripper didn't get the write up that I did," he said.
BOSTON (MA)
WCSH
Web Editor: Rebecca Stefansky, Associate Producer
Created: 5/27/2006 7:30:13 AM
Updated: 5/27/2006 7:31:12 AM
The state Senate has unanimously approved a proposal to eliminate the statute of limitations for sexual abuse crimes against children.
The amendment was added to the Senate version of the state budget. It was sponsored by Senator Stephen Tolman of Boston, who says sexual predators should not be allowed to hide behind a
technicality in the law.
But some victim advocates say the plan doesn't go far enough because it doesn't specifically include incest and some sex crimes against older teens.
Defense attorneys say eliminating statutes of limitations is generally a bad idea because it lets alleged victims lob allegations sometimes decades after the fact, when memories have faded and potential witnesses may be hard to track down.
DARIEN (CT)
The Connecticut Post
DANIEL TEPFER dtepfer@ctpost.com
A Roman Catholic priest accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a Darien church to support a lavish lifestyle with a male lover was in charge of reviewing sexual-abuse complaints against priests in the Diocese of Bridgeport, officials confirmed Friday.
Diocese Spokesman Joseph McAleer said the Rev. Michael Jude Fay was the only priest on the 10-member Sexual Misconduct Review Board.
"He is no longer a member, given his resignation from the parish, and removal of faculties during this investigation," McAleer said. He was referring to the suspension of Fay's priestly duties during the inquest.
But members of a parishioner group dedicated to making changes in the diocese, along with a lawyer who represents dozens of people who claim they were abused by priests, said the recent allegations against Fay raise questions about the credibility of the review board.
SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune
By Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 27, 2006
The first of more than 150 sexual-abuse lawsuits filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego are finally headed for trial after years of delay caused by legal challenges and a stalled mediation process.
Cases involving five former San Diego priests, in which eight men and women allege sexual abuse when they were children, were ordered to trial by a Los Angeles judge yesterday.
Barring settlement, the five cases are expected to come to light in a San Diego courtroom in the fall or next winter after a ruling by Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholz. He is overseeing nearly 600 sexual-abuse lawsuits filed against priests and their dioceses in Los Angeles and San Diego stemming from alleged acts dating back decades.
Fromholz ordered that trials commence in November for five Los Angeles abuse cases and was contacting San Diego court officials to see when the five San Diego cases could be scheduled and heard by a local Superior Court judge.
Hundreds of such cases have been either tried or settled across California and the nation for about $1.5 billion collectively. But cases involving San Diego and Los Angeles victims have languished as the two dioceses have pressed several legal challenges, including one that reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
MEXICO
Catholic Online
By Jason Lange
5/26/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
MEXICO CITY – Men who say the founder of the Legionaries of Christ sexually abused them when they were teenagers criticized the Vatican for what they see as its leniency toward their former mentor.
The Vatican recently asked 86-year-old Father Marcial Maciel Degollado not to exercise his priestly ministry publicly after investigating the claims made by nine former Legionary seminarians. At the same time, the Vatican said it would not begin a canonical process against Father Maciel because of his advanced age and poor health.
The Vatican said it decided to "call the priest to a life reserved to prayer and penance," but Father Maciel's accusers were pressing for a formal acknowledgment of his guilt, a conclusion that could only have come through a canonical process.
"That the church lets him off and invites him to meditate, that is not a legal process," said Jose Barba Marti, who said Father Maciel sexually abused him at the age of 16 in Rome.
Barba told Catholic News Service that the decision not to put Father Maciel on canonical trial – and subsequently defrock him – sends a dangerous message to other priests that "this isn't that serious."
CANADA
CBC News
Last updated May 26 2006 04:18 PM MDT
CBC News
It has taken nearly fifty years for Muriel Betsina to gain self-confidence after the physical and emotional abuse she recalls at the native residential school she attended.
There are still parts of her past she struggles with. "I didn't know what love is. I didn't know how to kiss my children, I didn't know," she told CBC News.
Events included a gathering of elders at the Nisga?a Valley Health Authority in Aiyansh, B.C.; an all-day commemorative walk from Blue Quills Residential School to Saddle Lake Healing Lodge in the St. Paul, Alta., area; and a social tea at BTC Indian Health Services in North Battleford, Sask., among many others.
NEW BEDFORD (MA)
Standard-Times
NEW BEDFORD — Our Lady of Fatima Parish, 4256 Acushnet Ave., is currently holding a "Novena to the Holy Spirit: A Journey of Prayer for the Repentance and Healing of the Church."
The Novena acknowledges in a particular way the sins of clergy sexual abuse.
The Novena will be offered at 7 p.m. daily through Friday, June 2, and will conclude at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 3 with the Vigil Mass of the Pentecost.
All people are invited to join them as they call upon the Holy Spirit to assist them as they work to bind up the wounds of abuse and restore the faith of their community.
These prayer services offer an opportunity to pray together for healing and renewal of the Catholic Church — not only rocked by scandal, but also facing new challenges in the infancy of the 21st century.
BOSTON (MA)
Milford Daily News
By Steve LeBlanc
Saturday, May 27, 2006
BOSTON -- A plan to lift the statute of limitations on criminal child sex abuse cases -- further fallout from the clergy sex abuse scandal -- won the unanimous backing of the Massachusetts Senate this week, but not everyone is cheering.
Some victim advocates say the plan doesn't go far enough because it doesn't specifically include incest and some sex crimes against older teens.
And defense attorneys say eliminating statutes of limitations is generally a bad idea because it lets alleged victims lob allegations sometimes decades after the fact, when memories have faded and potential witnesses may be hard to track down.
Sen. Steven Tolman, the sponsor of the budget amendment, said the crime of child sexual abuse is so heinous, the change is justified.
"Too many of these predators have been able to hide behind the veil of a technicality," said Tolman, D-Boston. "There should be no leeway for that type of crime."
COLORADO CITY (AZ)
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Colorado City, Ariz., Mayor Terrill C. Johnson was arrested on eight fraudulent vehicle registration charges Friday afternoon during a town council meeting.
The mayor of the Arizona town was taken into custody by deputies from Washington County, Utah, and the Colorado City town marshal's office - his own police force - on a warrant issued by Utah Judge James L. Shumate on April 13. ...
The town and the adjoining city of Hildale are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that practices polygamy. Church leader Warren S. Jeffs is wanted on sex crimes charges in Utah and Arizona for his role in arranging underage marriages. He made the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list three weeks ago.
The towns' marshal's office has been under fire by authorities about its willingness to carry out their duties when it involved members of the FLDS church. Johnson and Barlow are members of the FLDS church. Johnson has served as mayor of Colorado City since March. He took over as mayor after Richard Allred unexpectedly resigned from the post, with little notice or explanation. Ex-FLDS members in the community say they later learned Allred had been ousted from the faith.
ARIZONA
Los Angeles Times
By David Kelly, Times Staff Writer
May 27, 2006
Law enforcement agents in Arizona investigating charges of underage marriage and sexual abuse raided four houses simultaneously in Colorado City, a polygamist enclave on the Arizona-Utah border.
Investigators, in the unusual show of force, seized boxes of records and personal belongings of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have been indicted on a variety of charges, including sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy. Eight men are expected to stand trial in July.
The synchronized raids by four teams of law officers came Thursday, in the wake of increased public attention to allegations of mistreatment of women and children by members of the religious sect.
A series of Times reports two weeks ago detailed more than 50 years of slow and ineffective response by law enforcement and other public safety agencies in the face of widespread reports of abuse.
IDAHO
Herald
Associated Press
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - A Christian school teacher who played a version of strip poker during a camping trip with pupils broke no law, but the principal who may have delayed reporting the incident to police has been cited.
Lake City Junior Academy Principal Twila Brown was given a misdemeanor citation Tuesday under a state law requiring school officials to report suspected child abuse or neglect within 24 hours.
A parent complained that Brown was told that teacher Andy Armstrong, 42, played a game of "dirty Hearts" with five fifth- and sixth-grade pupils during a school-sponsored camping trip in April, but didn't notify parents or police for nearly a week.
Armstrong, a physical education and science teacher from Coeur d'Alene, was immediately suspended from the private Christian school and later fired.
Lahontan Valley News
By John DiMambro
Author Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" has become the Last Supper of the Catholic faith to some, the crucifixion of the New Testament to others, and yet the resurrection of quick-read, pulsating, compelling fiction to most. Some Catholics think that the book will prove to be the Sermon on the Mount turned upside down with feet in heaven, but head in hell.
It's so easy for many people to confuse being faithful with being religious. To me, having faith is simply believing in your chosen religion. I am also of the opinion that having an abundance of faith is not ensured by how many times you practice your religion. I believe it is how you live your life that is the pure practice of religion. Let me put it this way: I've met many people who have faith in God, but they seldom, if ever, attend Mass. Yet they treat people lovingly and live their lives with much gratitude. ...
Twenty-five years ago, my belief in all priests being the carriers of the Word of God was unconditional. Childlike in my confidence, I would have thought someone to be blasphemous had they thought otherwise. Then came the charges against Cardinal Bernard Law - the archbishop of the Boston archdiocese - in 2002. The diocese that for years schemed a cover-up of their sexual abuse, but then paid the devil with a sinfully high $150 million in legal settlements in the past three years for just the Boston archdiocese (no small wonder why they reported a deficit of $46.3 million for 2004 and 2005).
That's only one - get that? - one of 195 dioceses in the United States, which includes 146 Latin Catholic Dioceses, two Eastern Catholic Archdioceses and 15 Eastern Catholic Dioceses.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
News4Jax
POSTED: 4:27 pm EDT May 26, 2006
UPDATED: 7:20 pm EDT May 26, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The pastor accused of sexually abusing girls more than 30 years ago at a Westside church posted bond Friday.
Eighty-year-old Bob Gray, the former pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, was arrested and charged with capital sexual battery last week when two women came forward, saying Gray molested them while they were children attending a school associated with the church.
Gray appeared in court Friday morning for a hearing. He entered the courtroom using the aide of a walking cane.
Gray's age and physical health were two reasons his lawyer Hank Coxe suggested the judge set bond for the pastor. Coxe also argued that because Gray gave up his passport, the pastor would not be able to leave the country, and that the man was not a threat to the community.
"Each of these alleged allegations were 25-plus years ago, and the fact that Dr. Gray is now 80 years old -- so, I don't think any one can suggest that he's a danger," Coxe told the judge.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
May. 26, 2006 12:00 AM
Defense attorneys for suspended Monsignor Dale Fushek filed a motion Thursday to continue his scheduled June 2 trial on misdemeanor sex charges.
Attorney Thomas Hoidal wrote in his motion that he plans to challenge a ruling by San Tan Justice of the Peace Sam Goodman that denied Fushek a jury trial on all but an indecent-exposure charge.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
May. 27, 2006 12:00 AM
A defense attorney says he plans Tuesday to ask a higher court judge to order a Gilbert JP to hold a jury trial on all seven misdemeanor sex charges against a suspended Mesa priest, Monsignor Dale Fushek.
Attorney Thomas Hoidal said his petition for special action will be filed in Maricopa County Superior Court in reaction to rulings this week by San Tan Justice of the Peace Sam Goodman.
"The defendant will ask for a stay to allow the Superior Court to consider these issues before trial," Hoidal said. advertisement
Hoidal also has asked Goodman to delay Fushek's trial, scheduled for Friday while the special action is pending, saying the defense has not interviewed all witnesses and more time is needed for trial preparation.
BOSTON (MA)
KanasCity.com
DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press
BOSTON - For victims of clergy sexual abuse, the Boston Archdiocese's initial handling of sexual harassment allegations against its top health care executive had a familiar ring: multiple allegations, minimal consequence and secrecy.
"There are extraordinary and painful parallels," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Dr. Robert Haddad, president and CEO of the Caritas Christi Health Care System, resigned early Thursday amid allegations he harassed more than a dozen female employees by subjecting them to unwanted hugs and kisses.
His forced departure comes a week after a private reprimand from Cardinal Sean O'Malley. After learning of four allegations, the Caritas board supported the reprimand and ordered Haddad to take sexual harassment sensitivity training.
DARIEN (CT)
Darien News
BY BRIAN J. FOSTER
Parochial Vicar: Bookkeeper and I Secretly Hired Private Eye
The longtime pastor of St. John's Roman Catholic Church resigned last week at the request of the Diocese of Bridgeport, which alleged he stole exorbitant sums of money from the church. The Rev. Michael Jude Fay stepped down last week after a meeting with Bishop William Lori, who asked for Fay's resignation. The move came after the church's parochial vicar, the Rev. Michael Madden, and parish bookkeeper Bethany Derario used personal funds to hire a private investigator to probe Fay's alleged wrongdoing.
On Tuesday, Madden admitted hiring the investigator Vito Colucci Jr., who reportedly documented at least $200,000 in church money was used to pay for trips, dinners at upscale restaurants and limousine rides that Fay took as part of a relationship with another man. Bishop William Lori had appointed Madden acting administrator of St. John's after Fay resigned, but after Madden's admission to parishioners at a Tuesday morning Mass, the bishop said Madden asked to relinquish the role, and Madden is expected to take a sabbatical in the near future.
Lori has made several appearances at St. John's since Fay's resignation became public. Lori asked the priest to step down after a diocesan investigation found some of the church's bills had not been paid, along with other financial problems, spokesman Joseph McAleer said. During a Mass at St. John's on Sunday, Lori said he is "deeply sorry" the parish will have to undergo such "a severe test" in light of Fay's actions. "It is precisely in these moments of tension, disappointment, anger and sadness that the quality and capacity of our love is tested," Lori said during his homily.
DENVER (CO)
Press-Enterprise
By CHASE SQUIRES
The Associated Press
DENVER
Two years after mediators put a $1.6 million price on her pain, Joelle Casteix said she wasn't surprised to learn that Denver Catholic officials offered private mediation to people who say they were sexually abused by priests.
Casteix was one of 90 plaintiffs who settled with the Orange County, Calif., diocese in 2004 for a total of $100 million. She said she had been sexually assaulted by a teacher when she was a student in a Catholic high school.
But Casteix said more important than the money were the church documents she got in the settlement, which she said show the diocese knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it.
"I didn't care about the financial part," Casteix said. With the documents in her possession, "the church can't touch me now. The church can't say that I'm crazy."
BOSTON (MA)
WFSB
BOSTON -- A plan to lift the statute of limitations on criminal child sex abuse cases _ further fallout from the clergy sex abuse scandal _ won the unanimous backing of the Massachusetts Senate this week, but not everyone is cheering.
Some victim advocates say the plan doesn't go far enough because it doesn't specifically include incest and some sex crimes against older teens.
And defense attorneys say eliminating statutes of limitations is generally a bad idea because it lets alleged victims lob allegations sometimes decades after the fact, when memories have faded and potential witnesses may be hard to track down.
ISRAEL
YNet News
Yael Eftar
Yaakov Ner-David, who founded the Bayit Chadash community six years ago in Jaffa, said of co-founder and suspected sexual offender Rabbi Mordechai Gafni, “For years we supported him despite the allegations, but know we know the truth. This was a blow to many people.”
Last week it was reported that three young Israeli women in their twenties filed a complaint with Haifa police against Gafni, claiming he sexually harassed them during Torah lessons conducted at his Jaffa center. Gafni fled the country for the US following the report, but left a letter in which he apologized to the women and his followers.
Two American women later came fourth claiming they too had been abused by Gafni, who now stands accused of rape and sexual misconduct, when they were still minors.
Bayit Chadash Director Or Zohar said, “I protected Gafni and forgave him for verbally assaulting and manipulating me, because I thought to myself that although he is not perfect he does do good in this world.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Ralph Ranalli and Russell Nichols, Globe Staff | May 26, 2006
The Senate unanimously passed an amendment yesterday to eliminate the statute of limitations in criminal cases involving sexual abuse of children, a measure advocates for abuse victims have sought for years.
The measure, opposed by defense lawyers and civil libertarians, gained momentum following the clergy sexual abuse scandal. Hundreds of victims came forward in civil lawsuits, but only a handful of priests were prosecuted because many cases were too old.
Senator Steven A. Tolman, the Brighton Democrat who sponsored the amendment, said the time had come for sexual predators to stop hiding behind ``a technicality."
``The sexual abuse of children is one of the most heinous crimes brought before our judicial system," Tolman said yesterday in a telephone interview. ``Those obstacles must be eliminated to protect the welfare of our children."
Senator Cynthia Stone Creem, a Newton Democrat, said the nature of child sexual abuse -- a crime in which victims are often too ashamed to come forward and are intimidated into silence by their abusers -- makes it different from other crimes.
ILLINOIS
Rockford Register Star
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Wheaton accuses a Catholic priest who formerly served in a parish in the tiny village of Lee, about 35 miles south of Rockford, of sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy at a church in the Diocese of Joliet.
Tim Shanahan, the plaintiff in the civil suit, alleges that the Rev. William Virtue repeatedly molested him at St. Mary’s Church in Mokena in the early 1980s. The suit accuses the Joliet diocese of harboring an abusive priest.
Shanahan’s brother, Dan, has filed a similar suit against the Joliet diocese alleging that he was abused by another priest, the Rev. James Burnett, at the same parish.
IRELAND
Irish Examiner
A Sligo parish priest said he was looking forward to resuming his duties after being targeted by what he claimed was an untrue allegation of abuse.
Canon Niall Ahern stepped down as parish priest of Strandhill last February at the request of his bishop but has now been informed that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has decided not to take a prosecution.
He said he was relieved that this harrowing time was over.
“While the truth was being independently and categorically determined I stood aside from ministry. This is now concluded and I greatly look forward to resuming my work in the parish.”
The allegation of abuse dated back to the late 1970s. Gardaí in Sligo confirmed the DPP had informed them yesterday of the decision not to take a prosecution in the case.
MIDDLETON (MA)
Salem News
By Jill Harmacinski
Staff writer
MIDDLETON — The Rev. Michael Hobson remembers the stranger-danger classes of his youth, lessons in which a child molester was described as a dirty man, unshaven, lurking in the bushes at night, planning his next attack on an unsuspecting boy or girl.
No one ever suggested the molester might be the parish priest — or, as in the case of St. Agnes Church, the parish youth director.
But now Hobson, 43, finds himself pastor of a church that has endured shock, bitter heartache and scandal since Christopher Reardon, St. Agnes' youth director and a Middleton Boy Scout leader, was arrested six years ago for raping and molesting more than 20 local boys, many of them right in the church rectory.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
Some lessons are being taught by local Catholic leaders about morals, leadership and tolerance through the case of the Rev. Real Bourque.
Our interpretation of these lessons is that the church has yet to learn the lessons of the clergy sex abuse scandal.
Here we sit in a community that saw 15 priests defrocked. Our experiences with victimization, denial and disregarded responsibilities helped forge the national zero-tolerance policy adopted in 2002 under the leadership of our former Bishop Wilton Gregory.
Yet is all this collective suffering, soul searching and wisdom brought to bear on the Bourque case? No.
Bourque admits he is a child molester. But because he is a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, not a parish priest, he is not covered by the sex abuse policy.
CALIFORNIA
Sonoma News
By Emily Setzer INDEX-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER Thursday, May 25, 2006 8:25 PM PDT
05.26.06 - Parishioners at St. Francis Solano Catholic Church were surprised and shocked Sunday when they heard the Rev. Xavier Ochoa had admitted to a single incident of sexual misconduct with a boy.
The Rev. Michael Kelly read a letter from Bishop Daniel Walsh to the parishioners, stating that Ochoa, 67, had been removed from priestly duties after voluntarily informing the bishop of the incident. Following diocesan policy, the diocese removed Ochoa from his priestly duties as parochial vicar and from his canonical faculties and told civil authorities.
SALEM (MA)
Salem News
By Tom Dalton
Staff writer
SALEM — Jamie Hogan will not be attending Mass tomorrow at St. Agnes Church in Middleton.
The former Salem man who filed a 2002 lawsuit alleging years of abuse by the late Rev. Joseph Birmingham, a serial child abuser who served at Salem's St. James parish, does not live in Massachusetts anymore. But even if he did, Hogan said he would not be at Cardinal Sean O'Malley's pilgrimage of repentance.
"I can't go in a church and look a (priest) in the face with all the evil that was there," he said yesterday in a telephone interview. "... This Mass doesn't mean anything to me. It's like throwing a cup of water on a 2-million-acre forest fire. It's a little late."
It's impossible to know how many victims will attend any of the nine Masses O'Malley will say around the archdiocese over the next week to publicly acknowledge the "sins and crimes" of the Catholic church in the priest sex abuse scandal. Some, like Bernie McDaid of Peabody, another Birmingham victim, have agreed to participate, but even he has serious misgivings.
ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
Published May 26, 2006
The criminal files used to convict Rev. Frederick A. Lenczycki, a Roman Catholic priest, of child molestation in 2004 can be reviewed by defense attorneys and by prosecutors who are trying to have him declared a sexually violent person.
DuPage County Judge Edward Duncan ruled Thursday that the files, including grand jury transcripts, cannot be made public, but can be reviewed by the Illinois attorney general's office and defense attorneys involved in the civil case.
Lenczycki, 61, was convicted in 2004 of abusing three boys while serving at St. Isaac Jogues Church in Hinsdale in 1984. He was to be released from prison in April but was ordered to remain in a mental health treatment facility until a hearing on the state's allegations.
Lenczycki is the first priest the state has attempted to commit under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act. Under the act, the state can force a sex offender to stay in a mental treatment facility if it can prove the person is likely to commit another sex crime once freed.
IRELAND
RTE News
26 May 2006 12:05
The parish priest of Strandhill in Co Sligo will not be prosecuted following a garda investigation into an allegation of abuse.
Canon Niall Ahern stood aside from his ministry in Strandhill in February this year while gardaí investigated the allegation which the priest had denied.
It has now emerged that the DPP has decided not to proceed with a prosecution against Fr Ahern.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
BELLEVILLE - News-Democrat Discouraged by what they say is Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton's failure to control a priest who admits he molested children, a national group has asked Attorney General Lisa Madigan to intercede.
But a spokesman for Madigan's office responded Thursday that it is local state's attorney's offices that have jurisdiction in criminal matters, and not the attorney general.
The spokesman, Melissa Merz, would not respond to whether Madigan would use her political influence, as the group requested, to recommend that two priests be sent to a secure treatment center for pedophiles. They are the Rev. Real Bourque, 78, of Belleville, and the Rev. Daniel McCormack, 37, of Chicago,
A three-page letter faxed Thursday to the attorney general's office from the St. Louis-based Survivor's Network of Those Abused by Priests, asked Madigan to use her "bully pulpit" or public position to speak out about the priests.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
Mordechai Gafni, 46, a rabbi whose charisma and brilliance dazzled students and large audiences in spiritual renewal communities in Israel and America, even as he dodged rumors and accusations about improper sexual behavior for more than 25 years, has been dismissed by the leadership of Bayit Chadash in Israel, a Tel Aviv-based prayer and study group he co-founded and where he served as teacher and religious guide.
Gafni also has had a large following in Los Angeles, where he frequently preached and served as a scholar-in-residence at the Stephen S. Wise Temple. During one such stay, 1,000 people came to hear him even on the second day of Rosh Hashanah — traditionally a low-attendance day at Reform congregations — and hundreds more came to evening lectures during the week.
Gafni’s dismissal came last week after four women, including students of his and a staff member, filed complaints of sexual misconduct against Gafni with the police in Israel.
BOSTON (MA)
The New York Times
By KATIE ZEZIMA
Published: May 26, 2006
BOSTON, May 25 — The top official of the Archdiocese of Boston's hospital system resigned under pressure early Thursday morning after at least six women accused him of sexual harassment.
The official, Dr. Robert M. Haddad, stepped down as the head of Caritas Christi Health Care Systems, the second-largest health care provider in New England, after its board voted to fire him. He will receive 10 months' severance pay, or $830,000, and benefits.
Dr. Haddad's resigned after days of criticism of Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, who has led the Roman Catholic archdiocese's effort to deal with the scandal of sexual abuse by priests.
Initially, after reviewing the accusations of harassment, Cardinal O'Malley recommended that Dr. Haddad keep his job but be reprimanded and take sensitivity training. The systems' board adopted that recommendation last week.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Jennifer Delson, Times Staff Writer
May 25, 2006
A former student who sued Mater Dei High School alleging she was sexually abused by a coach is pressing school officials in Santa Ana to turn over the records of faculty members accused of similar behavior in the mid-1990s.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan H. Cannon is expected to ru