ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
The Irish Times

Patsy McGarry Religious Affairs Correspondent

An independent commission of investigation ought to be set up to inquire into the abuse of children by Fr Brendan Smyth, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said. This was necessary as “the Brendan Smyth story is of such a dimension,” he said earlier today.

Where Cardinal Brady was concerned he said “I’ve never called for anybody’s resignation, I’ve never done that. Everybody has to make their own decisions.”

Asked about the censuring of Irish priests by the Vatican he believed the best way to deal with such cases was to address them first in Ireland. “I think the Theological Commission of the Irish bishops has not been carrying out its function as in other countries where this dialogue would take place as a first stage and then be resolved without it necessarily being dealt with from Rome directly,” he said. He “would have preferred that these matters be dealt with in a dialogue…in a robust dialogue within the Irish church.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Cormac McQuinn

Saturday May 05 2012

As the parents and children of the sleepy northern village of Pomeroy gather today for this year’s First Holy Communion ceremony, they will be doing so without local priest Fr Martin McVeigh.

A pillar of the community who was highly respected in Tyrone GAA circles, Fr McVeigh has been on “sabbatical leave” after becoming embroiled in controversy after inadvertently showing gay pornographic slides to a group of parents.

Fr McVeigh denies the images were his and the PSNI says he has no case to answer.

But the controversy has refused to go away — with a bizarre series of subsequent events further adding to the intrigue.

These include the theft of a laptop and the circulation of rumours that Fr McVeigh was “set up” by persons unknown.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SOUTH AFRICA
Eyewitness News

Theo Nkonki | 06 May 2012
JOHANNESBURG – Police on Sunday said they are hopeful that they will soon arrest a priest who allegedly raped a ten-year-old girl, during a night prayer in Braamfischerville, Soweto.

The incident allegedly happened on 14 April but the girl only reported the matter to police on Friday.

She claimed that during the vigil, the man took her to another room to pray for her, but then raped her.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Breaking News

06/05/2012

The solicitor for Fr Kevin Reynolds has said the chairman of RTE Tom Savage is ultimately responsible for the errors in the ‘Mission to Prey’ programme which libelled the priest.

According to a report in today’s Sunday Independent, Solicitor Robert Dore said: “The buck stops with the head of the board.”

Mr Dore said he was not calling for the chairman’s resignation, but said Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte would have his full support if he felt that there was a need for resignations.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES/UNITED KINGDOM
Sunday Mercury

Catholic church knew pervert priest had “unwholesome relationship” 25 years before he was jailed for sexually abusing boys

May 6 2012 by Jonny Greatrex, Sunday Mercury

THIS is the letter that sensationally reveals that the Catholic Church KNEW a paedophile priest had “an unwholesome relationship” – 25 years BEFORE he was jailed for sexually abusing six boys.

James Robinson, who worked in parishes across the Midlands, fled to America in 1985 – days after police were first alerted by a victim that he had been abused by the ex-priest when he was a child.

Yet in October of that year a letter was sent on behalf of the then Archbishop of Birmingham, Maurice Couve de Murville, by Monsignor Canon Daniel Leonard, Vicar General of the Archdiocese, to Reverend Monsignor John Rawden, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The Birmingham Vicar General made no reference to the shocking allegations of child sex abuse that had been levelled against Robinson, and were later proven, in his correspondence.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Limerick Post

by Rebekah Commane

Monday, 30 April 2012

SURVIVORS of institutional abuse are calling for the reopening of The Redress Board and for more transparency on plans for a €110 million trust fund. The Right of Place/Second Chance Group believes that many people were not ready to come forward to the Board and apply for compensation while it was open, but they may now want to do so. In its recently published annual report, the group also called on the government to publish plans for the trust fund contributed to by 18 religious congregations. Right of Place/Second Chance Outreach Co-ordinator for HSE West, Val Groarke, said the group is worried that the government are dragging their feet in coming up with criteria for recipients of the fund.

He urged the government to supplement the fund on an annual basis to allow survivors who have not yet come forward, to access it.

“I believe that there are a lot of people out there who didn’t get the redress,” Mr. Groarke told the Limerick Post.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sunday May 06 2012

CONTEMPT for authority has become so ubiquitous these days that it’s the self-proclaimed individualists who all end up thinking and sounding alike, and those who, by remaining faithful to tradition, are actually the last remaining non-conformists.

All the same, the fact remains. Ours is an age which worships mavericks. Free thinking and iconoclasm are held up as ideals. Duty and obedience are scorned.

It’s Archbishop Sean Brady’s misfortune to be caught in the pincer movement between those two forces and to find himself radically at odds with his society as a result. He is clearly a man who needs the comfort and solidarity that comes from subsuming one’s identity into a greater whole; who is temperamentally suited to belonging. Many priests are.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By DON LAVERY

Sunday May 06 2012

Vatican likely to appoint coadjutor bishop for top churchman under fire over documentary

CARDINAL Sean Brady — under increasing pressure over his failure as a priest to report child rape allegations to civil authorities — will effectively be replaced by a coadjutor bishop within months when Rome finally acts to deal with the latest fallout from the activities of notorious paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth.

Despite a week of unrelenting demands for Dr Brady to resign from Smyth’s victims, child abuse groups, politicians, and some clergy, the indications were yesterday that the cardinal has no intention of resigning, particularly as he will play a role in the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin next month.

However, with just two years to go to his retirement age of 75, the Vatican, which will also consider reports from the Papal Nuncio’s office, is to appoint a coadjutor bishop this year who will be a successor to the cardinal.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Thursday May 03 2012

Almost two decades after playing a major role in the collapse of the 1993-4 Fianna Fail/Labour coalition, the crimes of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth continue to cast a long shadow over Irish life.

Now, not for the first time, Cardinal Sean Brady, the leader of Ireland’s Catholics, finds himself forced to explain his role in the Church’s investigation into Fr Smyth’s crimes.

In 1975, the then Fr Sean Brady was called upon to assist in the investigation of allegations of sexual abuse made by several children against Fr Smyth. His role in the investigation was a relatively junior one. He first acted as a notetaker in the interview of one of Fr Smyth’s victims and subsequently interviewed a second child who had been identified as a victim of Fr Smyth in the first interview.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sunday May 06 2012

The betrayal of trust that has led to the national broadcaster and self-styled watchdog of the citizen being found guilty by the BAI of the same ‘groupthink’ that characterised the rest of our discredited institutions is bad enough.

What should be of even greater concern, however, is that the station is behaving in the same manner as some FF minister caught with his hand in the ‘greasy till’. All of last week’s Fianna Fail-speak about “grave errors”, “lessons learnt”, “regrettable period in our history”, and most importantly of all, from the viewpoint of RTE, the need to move on, does not disguise the fact that despite its current sheep’s clothing of sorrow, RTE still runs with the ideological wolves.

RTE, however, should not be allowed to move on quite as quickly as it wants to. The libelling of Fr Reynolds did not, to borrow one of the favoured phrases of the Minister for Communications, grow like Topsy. It was instead merely the worse efflorescence of a systemic culture of arrogance, which reached its apotheosis in the even more disturbing Sean Gallagher/Frontline affair. RTE’s Mission to Prey is just one sordid example of how that station has used its protected state to drive a liberal-centred Kulturkampf into the living rooms of a trusting citizenry. The station may publicly cherish its impartiality but the reality is best summarised by the Elizabeth Barrett Browning sonnet about “How do I love thee, let me count the ways”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Eilis O’Hanlon

Sunday May 06 2012

Lawyers are the bane of a journalist’s life. Sometimes it seems as if their only function is to stop us saying what we really want to say. They even quibble over commas.

Theirs may be one of the most important jobs in journalism — saving us all from making fools of ourselves and paupering the organs for which we work — but oh, the frustration.

In that respect, the most alarming finding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) report into the defaming of Fr Kevin Reynolds, published on Friday, has to be that the RTE legal department only became involved in that fateful edition of Prime Time Investigates a mere two weeks before the programme was due to broadcast false allegations that he had fathered a child with a minor whilst on a mission in Africa.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Maeve Sheehan

Sunday May 06 2012

In October 2010, the Prime Time Investigates team kicked around ideas for programmes the following spring. Aoife Kavanagh went to Brian Pairceir, the programme editor, with an idea: a show looking at Irish missionaries in Africa, in the context of an alleged clerical abuse.

She was an experienced reporter and on an upward trajectory in RTE. Originally from Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, she cut her teeth on the Examiner and moved from there to RTE in 1996. She worked on the flagship morning news show, Morning Ireland, as well as covering foreign news for television, including American elections, African elections, and fronted a whole series on Ireland’s overseas development programme.

Her biography on RTE’s website describes her “passion for Africa” and her “slightly warped fondness” for the difficulties of travelling and working in hot spots.

Given her background, it wasn’t surprising that Pairceir should take her idea seriously. She hadn’t worked on Prime Time Investigates before but her record spoke for itself.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By JEROME REILLY

Sunday May 06 2012

THE record fine of €200,000 imposed on RTE over the Fr Reynolds fiasco will end up in the hands of Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

According to Section 55 of the 2009 Broadcasting Act all fines made to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) have to be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer “in such manner as the Minister for Finance may direct”.

The BAI had the option of imposing a fine of up to €250,000, but the sanction against the national broadcaster is still the biggest ever.

With RTE already facing a financial crisis, it will ultimately be the taxpayer who will have to pay the fine via the TV licence fee.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Jody Corcoran

Sunday May 06 2012

THE approach of RTE to the controversies which have dogged News and Current Affairs in recent months has been one of pre-emptive containment.

Each step of the way, the broadcaster has shown itself to do just about enough to meet the obvious requirement for action in the face of damning evidence.

This approach was again evident on Friday upon publication of the Broadcasting Association of Ireland (BAI) findings, and the report of the investigator, Anna Carragher, into the Prime Time Investigates: A Mission to Prey programme.

The timing of that publication, at the start of a bank holiday weekend, at a time when the media, and the public in general, were focussed on another significant issue, is a curious aspect in itself.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By RONALD QUINLAN

Sunday May 06 2012

AHASCRAGH in Co Galway was a picture of innocence and tranquillity yesterday as the small, tightly knit community came together in St Cuan’s Church to celebrate the first holy communion of 21 children drawn from the town and surrounding countryside.

Presiding over what one local described as the “happiest day of the year” was Fr Kevin Reynolds. What a difference a year makes.

For one year ago to the very day, the quiet and unassuming parish priest had his world, life’s work and vocation turned upside down by the appalling misdeeds of State broadcaster RTE’s Prime Time Investigates team and its programme A Mission to Prey.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By NIAMH HORAN

Sunday May 06 2012

RTE JOURNALIST Aoife Kavanagh chose to resign from her highly paid job as a Morning Ireland presenter rather than languish in the archive unit, an RTE source said. Her resignation, announced by the NUJ, took management by surprise.

High-level discussions will take place early next week on her severance terms.

The reporter has worked in RTE for the last 15 years in News and Current Affairs.

Sources close to Ms Kavanagh said that there was “no question” of her taking a legal case against the state broadcaster. Other RTE personnel involved in the programme have either stepped down or moved sideways.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By NIAMH HORAN EXCLUSIVE

Sunday May 06 2012

THE solicitor for Fr Kevin Reynolds has piled pressure on RTE chairman Tom Savage to resign by insisting that he is ultimately responsible for the catastrophic errors of the Prime Time Investigates programme A Mission To Prey.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent yesterday, Robert Dore said: “The buck stops with the head man in RTE. The head of the board.”

He added: “If there are defective procedures within RTE that permitted this to happen, the responsibility for those defective procedures must go to the very top.”

The solicitor’s comments follow the publication of a damning report on the RTE programme by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), which criticised journalistic standards and a lack of editorial and managerial controls.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Kilkenny People

Published on Sunday 6 May 2012

A KILKENNY priest falsely accused of child abuse has returned to his parish after taking a leave of absence while the matter was sorted out writes Sean Keane. The Church of The Assumption in Mooncoin in the south of the county was full on Saturday night as Fr Peter Muldowney, returned to say Mass for the first time since September 24, 2010 when he asked for a leave of absence. He was assisted in the Mass by his bishop, Dr Seamus Freeman who welcomed the Kilmanagh native back to the parish where he has been doing great work for the last number of years.

Addressing the parishioners, Fr Muldowney thanked them for their support and invited everyone back to the parochial house after the service for tea and sandwiches. He received a round of applause from the congregation.

Speaking to the Kilkenny People, he said he was relieved and happy to be back and that everyone who knew him was aware that he was innocent. He bears no grudges over what happened.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

By Erika Pesantes and Mike Clary, Sun Sentinel

He called his unlicensed foster home “London’s Hotel,” and there were always plenty of young boys checking in.

As a counselor at the Boys & Girls Club, a mentor at his Sistrunk Boulevard church and then a dean at a Lauderdale Lakes charter school, Jeffery London had access to dozens of poor and often-neglected kids who were too much for their financially strapped parents or other relatives to handle.

“Me and the boys. We became a family,” London said in a 2004 interview.

But inside London’s Hotel, say Broward prosecutors, at least some of the boys were subjected to a horrifying regime of sexual abuse occurring even as one of Broward County’s most respected charities paid for his Lauderdale Lakes home, bankrolled trips to colleges and the Grand Canyon, and funded his position as Eagle Academy dean of students.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Tulsa World

By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer

Child sexual abuse is woefully under-reported and harder to detect, says a Tulsa woman who created an abuse prevention program.

“The biggest difference is that other types of physical abuse can occur in public, and sex abuse is a private crime,” Sharon Doty said. “The prevention and treatment of sex abuse is something distinctly different. The reporting is outrageously low, especially for boys.”

Sexual abuse of a child represented about 5 percent of substantiated abuse and neglect cases in fiscal year 2011, according to statistics from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

Doty created a sex abuse prevention program that has been adopted in 122 Catholic dioceses in the nation, with about 1.5 million people going through the workshops. It focuses on understanding the behavior of predators and how to intervene.

She created the nonprofit group Empowering Adults – Protecting Children, and has written the book “Evil in Our Midst” to spread the word of prevention.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sunday May 06 2012

Senior church figures in the Vatican have come, once again, to the defence of the now intensely beleaguered Cardinal Sean Brady.

In 1975 Fr Sean Brady, a 36-year-old canon lawyer, was appointed to be one of three churchmen conducting an inquiry into the sexual molestation of children by the Norbertine priest Brendan Smyth. Sean Brady says now, as he said after the publication of the Murphy report in 2009, that he had believed the children’s allegations. And that he presumed that when he passed his report to his superiors, he believed in good faith that it would be followed up to protect those children and others. At the time, after one session in company with the other religious lawyers, and one where he questioned at least one child alone, he swore them to secrecy about their abuse. He did nothing further.

Those are the bones of the actions which the Vatican was defending last week, saying he “acted correctly”. And that is the core of the problem. He did act “correctly” according to canon law. He did not act compassionately; he did not act responsibly; he did not act justly.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Colum Kenny: ‘You never got to like it?’ The answer to that sinister, suspicious, insinuating, abusive question remains ‘No’

By Colum Kenny

Sunday May 06 2012

‘You never got to like it?” That was one of the remarkable questions put to Brendan Boland when he was interrogated by priests in 1975 after reporting to the Catholic Church his sexual abuse at the hands of Fr Brendan Smyth.

“You never got to like it?” The question itself is abusive. It serves no obvious good purpose. I sought an explanation for it last week, but was told only that the entire exercise was intended “to gather evidence against the criminal priest”.

A spokesperson for Cardinal Sean Brady, who was present as a priest at that investigation in 1975, told me that Brady “did not construct those questions or ask those questions”. But he was there and he signed off on them (as plain “John” and not “Sean” Brady).

“You never got to like it?” Being abused, that is. The answer that Boland gave to the three priests was an absolute “No”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

A new reference book on the Archdiocese of Dublin which lists every priest who served there up to 2011 leaves out some important names.

The 400-page book, The Archbishops, Bishops and Priests who served in the Archdiocese of Dublin 1900-2011, gives the names and CVs of the nearly 2,000 priests who have served since 1900 — except those guilty of sex abuse, who have been airbrushed from history.

The book is written by Fr J Anthony Gaughan, author, historian, former UCD chaplain and retired parish priest in Blackrock, Co Dublin. It includes a foreword by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, praising the work as giving due recognition to the ordinary priests who would not otherwise be recorded in the annals of history.

To date, the Dublin Archdiocese has paid out over €13.5m in compensation to victims of abuse, well over 500 victims have been identified, at least eight priests have faced criminal cases and civil actions have been brought against 35 priests, all of whom were part of the archdiocese.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

Dianne Williamson
dwilliamson@telegram.com

The Rev. Donald J. Peters sat outside the crowded courtroom, his tall frame folded and hunched, as though single-handedly absorbing the pain of a parish in torment.

“This is one of the saddest days of my life,” he said softly. “But it’s also one of the most important. It’s about truth, which is a basic tenet of orthodox theology. … I truly believe that almost every person in that room feels the pain in a different way.”

He was referring to Room 24 of Central District Court, which was filled, quite literally, with a church divided. On one side sat those loyal to the Rev. Charles Michael Abdelahad, 55, pastor on leave of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral, now a criminal defendant in a bizarre sexual assault case. On the other side, supporters of the alleged victim sat in unity behind her parents, on wooden benches as unyielding as church pews.

On Thursday, Rev. Peters was waiting to take the stand as the star witness in a case that has pitted families against families, friends against friends and priest against priest. It’s a case rife with reference to demons and exorcism, a case that includes photographs of a woman bruised, battered and bitten, allegedly at the hands of a priest she had turned to for counseling.

Rev. Peters, once associate pastor under Rev. Abdelahad, would be called by the prosecution to testify about what he saw and heard in the pastor’s office, and his testimony would draw gasps from the crowd, many of them senior citizens who refuse to believe that the man known affectionately as “Father Mike” could abuse anyone. Father Mike, after all, had baptized their children. He reigned for years over a large, close-knit parish with a proud tradition. He was, quite simply, incapable of cruelty or violence.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

In recent weeks I have found myself thinking of and praying for Fr John Dermody. Born in the parish of Cappatagle in the diocese of Clonfert some 160 years ago, stories about him are still legion within the parishes he served. Older people will swear he was born with a “cross on his back” made of hair, which they firmly believe presaged his “powers.”

On one occasion, having been summoned by a displeased Bishop John Healy to give an account of himself, Dermody reportedly grew so irate that he created from thin air a hive of angry, swarming wasps which chased the bishop and his terror-stricken aides from the room. Such stories are, of course, the stuff of nonsense.

One of the real reasons people recall his memory so vividly is because he was `silenced.` A tendency to speak too plainly and, sadly, a fondness for `the jar` conspired against him.

One would imagine that things have changed radically in the Church since then but have they? I find it disturbing that clerical students are to be virtually sequestered within St Patrick`s College, Maynooth, and consider it a regressive move. How does one live a semi-cloistered existence for seven years and then face into the hurly-burly of an urban parish?

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

Dear Friends in The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,

You may be aware that we in Ireland have a special reverence for our Saint Columbanus. He was one of our saints who disagreed with a Pope and said so. You may be more acquainted with Saint Catherine of Siena who did the same, although she had the disadvantage of having to disagree with three possible popes at one time.

Some of us view with dismay then, but no great alarm, your decision to censor some of our fellow citizens and fellow members of the Catholic Church who have done nothing at all so serious.

We are puzzled – naturally and supernaturally – by the fact that you and we preach the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit and then you tell us, so inspired, to stop talking – as if we had nothing important to say. This is not a matter of doctrine, it is one of logic and we in Ireland are inclined to judge these things by logic as well as doctrine and not too often by emotion. We remember the Gamaliel principle – you remember it too, when forced to make a decision, he told his colleagues, If this be of God it’s useless to oppose it, if it be of human planning it will fade away in any case, so we should not take extraordinary measures for ordinary happenings.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

May 5, 2012
By Marilyn S. D’Angelo

The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests spent the morning handing out fliers that asked the Philadelphia archbishop to secure abusive priests in treatment centers.

Members from SNAP handed out literature to parishioners who attended this morning’s mass at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. Members from the advocacy group are asking that Philadelphia’s Archbishop Chaput “be more honest with his flock” in regards to the recent allegations of sexual abuse.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Predator priest who worked in Milwaukee to be early released on legal technicality; victims fear he still poses danger

Donald Buzanowski, sentenced to 32 years in 2005 for child sex abuse acts in the 1980’s has admitted to sexually assaulting at least 14 boys

Survivors to flier congregation where Buzanowski lived in 1990’s

WHERE
St. Pius X Parish, 2506 Wauwatosa Avenue, Wauwatosa

WHEN
­Sunday May 6, fliering will begin after the 10:00 a.m. Mass (approximately 11 a.m.)

WHAT
Wisconsin leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, will be joined by David Schauer, a victim of childhood sexual assault by Green Bay priest Fr. Donald Buzanowski, who will flier the St. Pius Congregation following morning Mass. Survivors will alert parishioners to the release of Buzanowski who lived and likely ministered at the church after being secretly transferred from the Green Bay diocese in the early 1990’s. Buzanowski continued to live and work with youth in Milwaukee until his arrest in 2005 in various social service agencies.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
RTE News

It has emerged that the Diocese of Kilmore allowed paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth to return to hearing confession and saying Mass in public in 1984.

This came nine years after a 1975 inquiry led to him being banned from doing so. Cardinal Sean Brady, then a priest, participated in that inquiry.

According to a statement issued to RTÉ News this evening by the current Bishop of the diocese, Dr Leo O’Reilly, in 1984 Smyth asked the then Bishop, the late Dr Francis MacKiernan, to lift the ban.

Following consultations with the then Abbott of Smyth’s monastery, Bishop MacKiernan acceded to Smyth’s request.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNSOTA
MN SNAP via YouTube

Survivors in Minnesota this past May 1st delivered “May Baskets” with a list of Minnesota’s accused villainous clerics, nuns and church staff to chancery’s across the state. The following video identifies these actions and the various media reports.

The organizationa also established a page on the MN SNAP blog displaying the media reports and video’s of the events. The title and electronic address for the page is:

Minnesota’s Villainous Clerics

http://mnsnap.wordpress.com/minnesota-villainous-clerics/

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

May 5, 2012 11:05 am | Author: Jerry Berger

Look for SNAP to protest and hand out leaflets tomorrow (Sunday) at a special mass at the Cathedral honoring hometowner Cardinal Timothy Dolan. SNAP says Dolan, on his blog, attacks a 16 year-old girl who reported being molested last August by her Bronx pastor. Dolan calls the charges “surreal” but the priest, Fr. Jaime Duenas,, has been arrested. SNAP’s also upset about Archbishop Robert Carlson’s legal maneuvers to try to get access to any private emails between a local teen who says she was sexually assaulted by Fr. Joseph Ross.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Herald

By Fiona Dillon

Saturday May 05 2012

THE Vatican is expected to quickly appoint a Bishop to assist Cardinal Sean Brady as he battles calls for him to resign as Primate of All Ireland.

Pressure is being ratcheted up on him to step down over his handling of the allegations against paedophile priest Brendan Smyth in 1975.

However, Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore has vehemently denied that some politicians were trying to hound Cardinal Brady out of office.

He said it was the responsibility of the Church and not the Government to decide who remains in or leaves a position.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conor Ryan

Saturday, May 05, 2012

On May 23 last year Fr Kevin Reynolds had his life and reputation torn apart when a high profile television investigation branded him a child rapist.

Prime Time Investigates said his victim, who he met while working as a missionary in Kenya, had a child as a result of his abuse. And it said he secretly transferred money to cover the parenting costs.

RTÉ has since accepted all of these allegations were false and the programme should never have been aired. It has apologised to Fr Reynolds, a priest of 40 years, and it has paid him compensation believed to have been in excess of €1m.

The allegations were first put to him outside his church in Ahascragh, Galway, on May 7, 2011. Reporter Aoife Kavanagh approached Fr Reynolds after a Communion Mass he officiated at and laid out the allegations.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Saturday May 05 2012

The solicitor who represents Fr Kevin Reynolds, the priest libelled in the RTE Prime Time Investigates programme, ‘Mission to Prey’, is sorry “on a human level” that the programme’s reporter, Aoife Kavanagh, has had to resign.

However, he said that in light of section four of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland report into the programme, she had no other option.

The report found that RTE had seriously breached the Broadcasting Act.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on May 04, 2012

We are shocked that fourteen months after a grand jury raised concerns over 37 accused priests only 8 of these cases are resolved.

Catholics, citizens, children and the accused priests deserve better.

This weekend Chaput should start visiting churches where the three priests with “unsubstantiated” allegations worked. He should beg victims, whistle-blowers and witnesses to come forward, share information, and get help.

Parishioners and the public should continue to be highly skeptical of the secretive internal church processes and redouble their efforts to get victims and witness to contact police and prosecutors.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Saturday May 05 2012

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland report on the RTE programme ‘Mission to Prey’, which grievously libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds, does not portray the national broadcaster, which is funded by TV licence payers, in a flattering light.

In the organisation’s own statement on the report, RTE director general Noel Curran admitted: “We are not proud of the picture presented in the findings.”

Mr Curran then goes on to acknowledge that RTE made “grave errors” in the making of the programme. That’s almost certainly an understatement.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Saturday May 05 2012

ED Mulhall had been tipped as a potential candidate for director general of RTE, making his resignation from the broadcaster all that more significant.

When he retired as head of news and current affairs last month, it was a dark day for staff at Montrose.

For over two decades at the helm, Mr Mulhall was considered to be the major force behind investigative programming.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Louise Hogan

Saturday May 05 2012

THE PROBE into the failings of the ‘Mission to Prey’ broadcast criticised an “almost complete absence” of documentary evidence behind the high-risk programme. Former BBC controller in Northern Ireland, Anna Carragher, was highly critical of a lack of “scrutiny and challenge” within RTE’s current affairs department. The following are the key areas where RTE fell down:

Note Taking

Ms Carragher found fault with the standards of the production team on the ground — Aoife Kavanagh and Mark Lappin — describing these as falling short of what should be expected. Among the failures highlighted was an “almost complete absence of documentary evidence” and a failure to document interviews with significant sources.

There were no notes or minutes kept of key editorial meetings between executive editor Brian Pairceir, head of current affairs Ken O’Shea and director of news Ed Mulhall, the probe found.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Mark Hilliard

Saturday May 05 2012

RTE reporter Aoife Kavanagh resigned last night after a damning report was published into the defamatory ‘Prime Time Investigates’ programme.

She also apologised to Fr Kevin Reynolds, the priest she wrongly accused of fathering a child with a woman in Kenya.Fr Reynolds received an estimated €1m in a libel settlement last year after being falsely accused of rape in the ‘Mission To Prey’ programme.Ms Kavanagh’s decision to quit came after the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) released a report that severely criticised RTE.The state broadcaster was fined €200,000. It claimed last night it was introducing sweeping reforms. In the first investigation of its kind, the BAI probed how the programme was put together. It found “one of the most significant errors made in broadcasting history”.

The report also found:

– Secret filming of Fr Reynolds and a doorstep interview was an unreasonable breach of privacy.

– Credibility of key sources was not sufficiently questioned.

– RTE’s legal affairs department became involved very late in the process.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND/UNITED STATES
The Irish Sun

By AOIFE FINNERAN

PRESSURE on embattled Cardinal Sean Brady to resign increased after a victim of paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth claimed he should face a criminal investigation.

US lawyer Helen McGonigle, who was abused by Smyth in the Sixties in Rhode Island, said Cardinal Brady’s failure to protect victims was “unforgivable”.

She blasted the cleric for his “arrogance and insensitivity” after it emerged that he did not tell authorities about at least five children who were victims of Smyth.

Brady was a priest in 1975 when he took part in a church inquiry into allegations by Brendan Boland, then 14, that he had been abused by Smyth.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SOUTH AFRICA
Post

Police were searching for a Dobsonville priest who allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl during an all night prayer vigil, a spokesman said on Saturday.

Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela said the rape had taken place on April 14 but that girl only told her sister about it on Friday.

“The girl had attended a prayer meeting with her parents and the priest took her to another room to pray for her but instead raped her. She did not tell her parents immediately and only told her sister yesterday,” Makhubela said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

May 5, 2012

The National Union of Journalists says it does not accept many of the conclusions reached in a report by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland into an RTÉ programme which defamed Ahascragh priest, Fr Kevin Reynolds.

RTÉ has been fined 200 thousand euro over the ‘Mission to Prey’ Prime Time Investigates programme, which falsely accused Fr Reynolds of raping a minor in Africa.

The NUJ says it is not satisfied with aspects of the BAI’s investigation process, including the authority’s failure to interview members of RTÉ’s legal department.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
TV3

Aoife Kavanagh quit the state broadcaster after the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland published its report into the Prime Time programme that defamed priest Fr Kevin Reynolds.

The BAI have fined RTE €200,000 and severely criticised the broadcaster.

Ms Kavanagh apologised to Fr Reynolds for the hurt caused by the report that wrongly portraying him of having fathered a child with a minor while working as a missionary in Kenya.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SOUTH AFRICA
Eyewitness News

Theo Nkonki | 05 May 2012

JOHANNESBURG – A manhunt has been launched by police, for a priest who allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl during a night prayer in Braamfischerville, Soweto.

The incident allegedly happened on April 14, but the girl only reported the incident to police on Friday.

Police spokesperson Kay Makhubele said the girl was afraid to tell her parents of the incident.

But she confessed to her sister recently, who then accompanied her to open a case against the man.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES/IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan

Saturday, May 05, 2012

An American lawyer who was abused by Fr Brendan Smyth has said that the Vatican has “blood on its hands” for its failure to inform Irish Church authorities that it had censured Smyth for abuse in the United States years before the 1975 secret inquiry.

Helen McGonigle has learnt that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Religious issued a decree that Smyth wasn’t allowed to take Confession and was to be supervised following abuse complaints made in the late 60s.

Yet, in 1975 the Bishop of Kilmore and the Abbot of Killnacrott agreed a similar censure of Smyth — seemingly oblivious that a similar reprimand had already been handed down.

“Why didn’t the bishop or the abbot inform the Papal Nuncio of this second censure? Why weren’t they informed by the Vatican of the original censure? It is very clear that the 1968 censure was not enforced. What does all of this say about the organisation that is the Catholic Church,” Ms McGonigle asked.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Journal

THE SOLICITOR FOR Father Kevin Reynolds has said that the priest is awaiting ‘with interest’ the outcome of the meeting between the Communications Minister and the Board of RTE on Tuesday.

Speaking for the first time after the release of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland report into the controversial Prime Time Investigates programme, Robert Dore said the priest is not out for revenge, and that dealing with the Board is an issue for Pat Rabbitte.

“Father Kevin is not a vindictive person… He personally is not out for revenge, as it were, but that is a matter for the Minister,” said Dore.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
PittsburgTruth.org

WHAT:
As Catholics go into mass, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand out fliers calling on Philly’s archbishop to:

–put five permanently-ousted predator priests in secure, independently run treatment centers,
–work harder to resolve accusations against 32 other allegedly sexually troubled clerics, and
–give parishioners and the public more information about the allegations

They will also urge current and former Catholic Church employees and members to step forward now and disclose any knowledge of crimes to Philadelphia law enforcement.

WHEN:
Saturday, May 5 at 11:45 a.m.

WHERE
Outside the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in Philly

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

EL PASO (TX)
El Paso Times

By Adriana M. Chávez / El Paso Timeselpasotimes.com
Posted: 05/04/2012

A youth minister at a Lower Valley church has been ordered jailed without bond while he awaits his trial date on child pornography charges.

Joe Tapia III, 46, is accused in a criminal complaint filed in federal court of downloading several nude images of young boys on his work computer at Excel Learning Center, where he worked as an admissions service representative, and of engaging in a sexually-explicit Internet chat with someone whom he believed was a 16-year-old boy in Argentina.

Tapia is also accused of taking nude photographs of two boys, each 15 years old, and sending photos of one boy to seven online contacts.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Norbert Garney ordered Tapia held without bond, calling him a potential danger to the community, during a hearing Friday morning.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SAM ROBERTS

Published: May 5, 2012

Nobody calls the cardinal’s residence on Madison Avenue “the Powerhouse” anymore. Mayors no longer consult regularly with the church about appointments to the health and Education Departments, police promotions or Family Court vacancies. Nor has any recent leader of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York been called “the American Pope,” as one predecessor was.

But while decades of demographic changes have cost the archdiocese much of its political clout, it does have the newly appointed Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan to its credit. He is personable, persuasive and politically astute, and has an even bigger bully pulpit as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has been battling the Obama administration, with some success, over whether religiously affiliated hospitals and universities should have to provide free birth control for employees.

Still, the church has learned to pick its fights. Last year, it largely sat out the politicking that led to the legalization of same-sex marriage by the State Legislature. But, aligned with other religious groups, Catholic leaders again defeated a bill that would have temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases — a threat to budgets more than to theology.

“Loss of the statute of limitations literally could have put the church out of business,” said James F. Gill, a Manhattan lawyer who has formed Friends of the Catholic Church, a coalition of former public officials and other power brokers, to lobby for legislation that the church favors, including tax credits for businesses that award scholarships to the thousands of students in parochial schools.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By John McDevitt

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – There was criticism from those gathered outside the building where Archbishop Chaput made the announcement regarding the priest administrative leave cases.

Many say the lack of information disclosed is disturbing. There were many questions. Like what exactly were the accusations and how the determinations were made. Among them, Voice of the Faithful member Sister Maureen Paul Turlish.

“I expect that the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church will be as accountable and transparent as they promised in 2002 through the USCCB. But they promise accountability and transparency but haven’t followed through on it since.”

A representative of SNAP, a survivors network of those abused by priests, says for those priests where the finding were “unsubstantiated,” it doesn’t mean they were innocent, just not enough information.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Chicago Tribune

Rossilynne Skena
Tribune-Review, Greensburg, Pa.

The national group of Roman Catholic nuns led by a Western Pennsylvania woman will meet at month’s end to discuss a Vatican rebuke of the organization.

Last month, the Vatican, which oversees the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, slapped the group with sanctions for promoting “certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

The Leadership Conference’s national board will meet in Washington May 29 through June 1, “beginning to look at what the next steps will be in response to this (Vatican) report,” according to Sister Annmarie Sanders, the group’s associate director for communications.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Maureen Paul Turlish on May. 04, 2012 Examining the crisis

I found out something significant about the Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church as I sat inside Judge M. Teresa Sarmina’s criminal courtroom in Philadelphia April 30 and listened to Msgr. Kevin Michael Quirk, a church canon lawyer from the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, W. Va.

Quirk, the presiding judge during the 2008 canonical trial of Rev. James J. Brennan – one of two defendants in the current Philadelphia priest abuse trial – for charges of child sex-abuse, was on the stand to authenticate the transcript of that trial, as well as provide insight into the procedures of a canonical trial.

One revelation proved startling.

While possible victims of childhood sexual abuse and other lay witnesses are asked to take an oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth etc.” during a canonical trial concerning the public good, an alleged priest-perpetrator is not. Canon 1728.2 says, “The accused is not bound to confess the delict [crime] nor can an oath be administered to the accused.”

Why in God’s name would anyone believe that an individual like the criminally charged Brennan is necessarily telling the truth during a canonical trial when he is not even required to swear to the truth of his statements?

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GREEN BAY (WI)
WBAY

[with video]

A Brown County judge is releasing a former Green Bay priest convicted of child sexual abuse just seven years into a 32-year sentence.

After that decision, one of Donald Buzanowski’s victims spoke out about the defrocked priest getting out of prison decades early.

A jury found Buzanowski guilty in 2005 of fondling ten-year-old David Schauer at Saints Peter and Paul School in 1988.

Prosecutors agreed to a motion Friday afternoon to release Buzanowski early, because of a legal technicality with the state’s statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases before 1989.

Buzanowski will be supervised in a group home when he’s released as early as next week.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GREEN BAY (WI)
NBC 26

By Kasey Hott

CREATED May. 4, 2012

GREEN BAY – A family is outraged, after learning the priest who molested their young boy will be released from prison early.

Donald Buzanowski was granted early release by a Brown County judge Friday afternoon, and could be out of prison as early as next week. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison in 2005 for molesting a student at Saints Peter and Paul School in Green Bay.

It’s been more than 20 years since David Schauer went to Green Bay Police, telling them he had been sexually abused by Buzanowski. He says he was shocked to learn that after serving only seven years in prison, Buzanowski has been granted early release.

“It was very frustrating to hear that, after all of the difficult work and the difficult time I had in testifying.. but looking back at it, I would still do it all over again,” said Schauer.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

OSTERREICH
Gay Osterreich

Das Kloster Mehrerau muss sich derzeit gegen Missbrauchsvorwürfe vor einem (weltlichen) Gericht verteidigen. Nun herrscht ‘große Betroffenheit’, weil ein Großbrand mehrere Klostergebäude vernichtete. Lies etwa Gott – wie einst Sodom und Gomorra – die Gebäude ‘unter einem Regen aus Feuer und Schwefel’ begraben?

Wie wir erst letzte Woche hier berichteten, finden derzeit am Landesgericht Feldkirch zwei Prozesse gegen das Vorarlberger Klosters Mehrerau statt, weil sich ein Pater des Klosters mehrfach an zwei minderjährigen Knaben vergangen haben soll. Das Kloster weist vor dem (weltlichen) Landesgericht die Forderungen eines der Kläger jedoch zurück, weil keine Beweise für den Missbrauch vorlägen und der Fall zudem bereits verjährt sei (wir berichteten hier). Im zweiten Fall bestreitet das Kloster die Missbrauchsvorwürfe zwar nicht, rät aber dem Opfer, sich an die Klasnic-Kommission zu wenden. Diese – und nicht das (weltliche) Gericht – solle darüber entscheiden, denn immerhin würde, sofern die Komission dem Mann eine Entschädigung zuspreche.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

LUXEMBURG
Letzebuerg Privat

Die Seite ist ein Treffpunkt für viele Homosexuelle im Großherzogtum. Dort schreiben sich Schwule aus Luxemburg, verabreden sich zu erotischen Treffen, knüpfen Kontakte zur Szene in Deutschland, Frankreich und Belgien.

Eine harmlose Seite, auf der Schwule ihre Fantasie ausleben können. Teuflische Fantasien?

„Privat“ wurde von einem Leser ein Link zu einem Mann zugespielt, für den Sex und Erotik Satans-Zeug sein müssten! ES GEHT UM EINEN KATHOLISCHEN PRIESTER AUS DEM UNMITTELBAREN UMFELD DES ERZBISCHOFS!

Der Mann ist unter seinem Vornamen im Chat zu finden, hat sogar ein Foto auf seine Seite gestellt und schreibt: „Ich bin neu hier und auf der Suche nach geilen Kontakten.“

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTCHLAND
Die Standard

4. Mai 2012

Emanzipation und Befreiung im Internet: Frauen werden dazu aufgerufen zu sagen, warum sie sexuelle Gewalt nicht bei der Polizei angezeigt haben

Meldet sich ein Opfer sexualisierter Gewalt öffentlich zu Wort, brechen in der Folge oft viele weitere ihr Schweigen. Zuletzt konnte dieses Phänomen bei den Missbrauchsfällen in Einrichtungen der katholischen Kirche beobachtet werden. Dass sich dazu auch das Internet eignet, beweist die Initiative #ichhabnichtangezeigt. Sexualität im Internet wird meist mit Pornografie in Verbindung gebracht, dass es sich auch um emanzipatorische, befreiende Momente handeln kann, zeigen die Initiatorinnen aus München.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ROME
Boston Globe

By Michael Rezendes
| Globe Staff
May 05, 2012

Three respected Catholic publications are reporting that Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the controversial former Boston archbishop, played a key role in the Vatican’s decision to tighten its grip on the largest association of Catholic nuns in the United States.

The Vatican announced its initiative on April 18, naming three American prelates to ensure that US nuns conform to Church doctrine, which has grown more conservative under Pope John Paul II and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Earlier this week, a columnist for The Tablet, a British Catholic weekly, reported that the Vatican’s initiative was sparked by Archbishop William E. Lori, who was recently named to lead the Archdiocese of Baltimore, who “formally petitioned’’ the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to investigate the nuns.

The Tablet also reported that Law was “the person in Rome most forcefully supporting Bishop Lori’s proposal.’’

But Lori denied the first of those assertions in a statement issued to the Globe yesterday through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ROME
USA Today

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

Is the Vatican leaning on U.S. nuns to focus on authentic doctrine — or bullying them into submission for political purposes?

Religion News Service’s David Gibson raised the question in his analysis today of the Vatican crackdown on nuns and sisters announced last month. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is now to be governed by bishops and redirected to focus on battling gay marriage, contraception and abortion, rather than the social justice focus for which it has been known.

Now, further reports reveal, the efforts were pushed by conservative U.S. cardinals in Rome including Boston Cardinal Bernard Law– who was last in headlines when he was forced to resign as Archbishop of Boston in 2002 for gross mismangement of the sexual abuse crisis.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NORTH CAROLINA
Digital Journal

[with video]

By Yukio Strachan
May 5, 2012

A Fayetteville, North Carolina pastor says he was just joking in a sermon Sunday when he authorized parents to make their “butch” daughters smell like girls and to “punch” boys with limp wrists.

Sean Harris, pastor of Berean Baptist Church, told The Fayetteville Observer that the comments that have made international headlines were simply misinterpreted.

They should have taken as a joke, he said.

Indeed, national news outlets, such as CNN, have reported that laughter that can be heard in the background, from some members of the congregation, as well as cries, of “Amen!” as the 46-year- old pastor spoke about what some say is violence against children if they are gay.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

BY TIM TOWNSEND • ttownsend@post-dispatch.com

The St. Louis Archdiocese has moved its legal work in house, severing a decades-long relationship with the Huger family.

In a statement sent to the Post-Dispatch late Friday afternoon, Katie Pesha, the archdiocese’s executive director of communications and planning, confirmed that Archbishop Robert Carlson had hired Tom Buckley, formerly of the law firm Buckley & Buckley, as the archdiocese’s in-house general counsel.

Bernard Huger, whose father was doing legal work for the archdiocese in the 1960s, and whose daughter Lucie represented the third generation of the family to work as an attorney for the archdiocese, works for Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale. His father merged the family firm, Huger & Cramer, with Greensfelder in the 1980s.

The Hugers have done legal work for six of St. Louis’s ten archbishops.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

EL PASO (TX)
KVIA

EL PASO, Texas — The Catholic Diocese of El Paso has indefinitely suspended Joe Tapia III, a youth minister at San Jose Catholic Church in the diocese, who has been arrested and charged with the sexual exploitation of children for allegedly receiving and producing child pornography.

It’s a crime punishable by 15 to 30 years in federal prison.

“… Please be advised that prior to his arrest, neither Diocesan representatives nor San Jose Parish representatives had received any notice Mr. Tapia was allegedly receiving or producing child pornography. Prior to his selection as a youth minister, Mr. Tapia was subjected to a customary criminal background check, which did not reveal any adverse information. Mr. Tapia completed the Safe Environment and Sexual Harrassment Training provided by the Diocese of El Paso and was in compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Since his appointment as a youth minister at San Jose Parish, there have been no complaints about his behavior. Mr. Tapia has been indefinitely suspended as youth minister for San Jose Parish pending a complete investigation of the allegations by the Diocese and San Jose Parish. The suspension is for an indefinite time period since the investigation by the Diocesan and San Jose Parish cannot interfere with the ongoing FBI investigation,” said Deacon Carlos E. Rubio, Vice-Chancellor for the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, in a statement.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Cardinal Sean Brady offer to step down in 2010 ‘was rejected by Vatican’

By Greg Harkin
Saturday, 5 May 2012

Cardinal Sean Brady was willing to resign over the Brendan Smyth affair two years ago but the Vatican refused because it had “no idea” who to replace him with, sources indicate.

The cardinal was in meetings with advisers on Thursday amid growing calls for him to stand down over his handling of child rape allegations against paedophile priest Smyth in 1975.

It has been learned Dr Brady was willing to step down, but dithering by the Vatican delayed the selection of a successor.

Asked if he had indicated his willingness to resign to the Pope two years ago, a Catholic Communications Office spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the claim, which was given currency yesterday by ‘celebrity’ priest Father Brian D’Arcy.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

As Cardinal Sean Brady turns his back on calls to quit, pressure mounts on police to get involved

By Liam Clarke
Saturday, 5 May 2012

Pressure is growing on the PSNI to interview Cardinal Sean Brady over the most recent claims in the child sex abuse scandal.

The police didn’t act two years ago when the revelations that Dr Brady was present at the interview of two victims of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth first emerged.

One of the young victims, Brendan Boland, gave the names and addresses of several other children he knew were being abused by Smyth.

Despite this evidence nothing was done to warn the children’s parents or inform the police, and Smyth went on to abuse dozens more children over subsequent decades until he was finally brought to justice in the 1990s, dying in prison in 1997.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Liam Clarke
Saturday, 5 May 2012

An auxiliary bishop is to be appointed by the Vatican to work beside Cardinal Sean Brady as part of a carefully choreographed exit strategy for the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

The coadjutor bishop would be a senior Church figure who would act as the cardinal’s understudy in his role as Archbishop of Armagh, before eventually inheriting the role after a respectable amount of time had elapsed.

The furore over Cardinal Brady’s handling of child sex abuse allegations when he was a priest in the 1970s, which re-ignited this week, has taken a heavy toll on the Church leader.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Fionnan Sheahan and Lise Hand

Saturday May 05 2012

Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore last night denied politicians were trying to hound Cardinal Sean Brady out of office in the wake of revelations of his failure to report child rape allegations against the notorious paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth.

Labour Party ministers continued to pile pressure on Dr Brady to resign yesterday — in contrast to the approach of their Fine Gael colleagues.

Although government sources insist there is no tension between the parties, Labour has been far more vocal about the cardinal’s position than their coalition partners.

Social Welfare Minister Joan Burton added to calls for him to consider his position.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

By Louise Hogan

Saturday May 05 2012

THE country’s first non- resident ambassador to the Holy See yesterday presented his diplomatic credentials to Pope Benedict.

The Foreign Affairs Minister and Tanaiste, Eamon Gilmore, upset Catholic Church leaders last year when he announced the closure of the Holy See embassy. The reason given for the closure of one of Ireland’s oldest missions, dating back to 1929, was to save money.

David Cooney, the secretary-general at the Department of Foreign Affairs, was selected as the first non-residential ambassador. The top diplomat will retain his post in Dublin and will travel to Rome as required.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Greg Harkin

Saturday May 05 2012

CARDINAL Sean Brady was backed by his senior advisers when he offered to resign more than two years ago, the Irish Independent has learned.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland informed the Vatican of his “willingness to stand aside” as one of a range of possible options when his role in the Brendan Smyth controversy became public in 2010.

And his senior advisers backed the move — expressing concern that the Smyth controversy would damage the church.

The cardinal is now planning an alternative exit strategy.

Cardinal Brady had asked the Pope for ‘Episcopal help’ or an auxiliary bishop two years ago when the controversy first erupted, but the bishop was not appointed.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Allison Bray

Saturday May 05 2012

NOTORIOUS paedophile priest Brendan Smyth “candidly” admitted to raping young children like a serial killer confessing to a string of murders.

That is one of the chilling memories of the whistleblower whose confrontation with the priest led to his conviction.

Jude Whyte (55), a social work lecturer, said a former adult student told him about the sexual abuse of his children at the hands of the disgraced priest in 1994.

Mr Whyte, who now teaches at the Department of Health and Social Care at Belfast Metropolitan College, confronted Smyth a couple of days later. Mr Whyte repeated the allegations to the priest.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GREEN BAY (WI)
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Written by
Hannah O’Brien
Green Bay Press-Gazette

A former Green Bay priest who was sentenced to 32 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child has been granted early release after serving less than seven years, a victim advocacy group says.

Donald Buzanowski had a motion hearing Friday in front of Brown County Circuit Court Judge William Atkinson. Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests said Buzanowski could be released within a week.

Buzanowski’s release is part of a deal made between the prosecution and defense that aimed to prevent Buzanowski from appealing his sentence based on a technicality relating to the statute of limitations in effect at the time of the crime, SNAP Midwest Director Peter Isely said Friday. Buzanowski will serve eight years on probation, Isely said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADLEPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

May 5, 2012 by Susan Matthews

While I put together my thoughts on today, I thought I’d share one of our commentor’s thoughts. – Susan

by “Had It Catholic”

These are SOME of the things that disappointed me as I watched the live stream of the announcement, today:

1. Neither Chaput nor the woman in charge of this weekends parish-based “counseling initiative” (“response trauma”) could articulate how it will proceed after this weekend. They are going to watch things and see. The initiative lacks scope and clarity at this point.
2. The “counseling initiative” was presented, today, in light of the fact that, statistically, 1 in 4 people will be victims of sexual abuse. The “counseling initiative” was presented in a way that seemed more focused on the national epidemic of sexual abuse than the Philly AD’s history of abuse and cover up which is THE main cause of parishioner distress and lack of trust. The “counseling initiative” seems to want to take the focus off the AD and put it on the general issue of sexual abuse.
3. How can the “destruction of trust” be repaired by the AD when the fates of so many accused priests remain on the table? It looks like Philly Catholics will be exposed to a series of calculated doses of priest-fates that could conceivably go on for another year or two. To think that trust can be repaired in this broken up, no timeline, no deadlines, and unfinished scenario is ridiculous. While the fates of priests remain on the table, there is no trust.
4. Does Chaput limp? He seemed to be limping, today. Is Donna Farrell friendly? No. She’s short with people and intent on protecting her people from hard questions. She’s a rottweiler.
5. When Chaput was asked by Susan Candiotti of CNN why it took a grand jury report to get to today’s announcements, he responded, “I don’t know. I’ve only been here 9 months…” Trust me, he knows!!!

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

[with video]

By Karen Araiza and MARYCLAIRE DALE

Friday, May 4, 2012

Five Catholic priests accused of child sex abuse will not be able to return to their jobs. They were deemed unsuitable for ministry.

The five are among 26 priests investigated for abuse in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

Archbishop Charles Chaput announced today that decisions on eight priests had been made, one priest has died since the investigation began, three priest were found “suitable for ministry” and that decisions on 17 more cases are in different stages of investigation but that more decisions would be announced in the coming weeks.

The five priests found “unsuitable” to return to ministry are:

•Reverend Robert Povish
•Reverend John Reardon
•Reverend Thomas Rooney
•Reverend Monsignor Francis Feret
•Reverend George Cadwallader

The three priests found “suitable” to return to ministry are:

•Reverend Philip Barr
•Reverend Michael Chapman
•Monsignor Michael Flood

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

IT BEGGARS belief that, following what was discovered about Fr Brendan Smyth’s abuse of children at two 1975 church inquiries, the bishop of Kilmore diocese, Francis McKiernan, would have restored to the priest his right to hear Confession and say Mass publicly there.

Those faculties were removed following the inquiry conducted by then Fr Seán Brady, Fr Francis Donnelly and Fr Oliver McShane with 14-year-old Brendan Boland in Dundalk on March 29th, 1975. He told them of his abuse and that of five other young people by Smyth.

On April 4th, 1975, Fr Brady interviewed a 15-year-old boy at the parochial house in Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, concerning his abuse by Smyth. He was one of five young people whose names and addresses had been given by Brendan Boland at that inquiry in Dundalk. Four of those were never spoken to by any priest, nor were their parents. Nor were the parents of the 15-year-old boy interviewed by Fr Brady in Ballyjamesduff.

We now know, following last Tuesday’s BBC This World documentary, that Smyth continued to abuse another boy, who was on the list supplied by Boland to the priests, until 1976, that boy’s sister until 1982 and four cousins of theirs, members of one family in Belfast, until 1988.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

NEW AMBASSADOR: THE DEVELOPMENTS in Cardinal Brady’s situation came on a historic day for Vatican-Irish relations yesterday.

The secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, David Cooney, presented his diplomatic credentials to Pope Benedict as Ireland’s new, non-resident Ambassador to the Holy See.

The Holy See likes to make a point about the status of “non-resident” ambassadors by signing them on just twice a year, and in a job lot.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

DEAGLAN de BRÉADÚN, TOM SHIEL, MARTIN WALL and PAMELA DUNCAN

TÁNAISTE EAMON Gilmore said Government Ministers were not seeking to drive Cardinal Seán Brady out of office.

“It’s not the case,” he told reporters in Dublin yesterday. “There is a separation in this country between church and State. It is not the Government’s responsibility to decide who are bishops or who should remain as bishops, or archbishops or cardinals – that’s entirely a matter for the church.

“What is the Government’s business is to ensure that there is adequate protection provided for in this State for children.

“We have seen appalling episodes of the abuse and rape of children in this country by people who have responsibility over them, including clergy people and, in effect, a cover-up of that in many respects by church authorities.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

KEVIN CULLEN

ANALYSIS: AS HE sits in Ara Coeli in Armagh, Cardinal Seán Brady has begun to resemble someone who was under siege in a similarly fine house a decade ago: Cardinal Bernard Law, the archbishop of Boston who became the first American bishop to resign over a sex abuse scandal involving priests under his supervision.

The drumbeat for Cardinal Brady’s resignation, growing louder each day, is reminiscent of the one that eventually hounded Cardinal Law out of Boston 10 years ago.

There are key differences in their cases: Cardinal Law was under fire for direct actions he took as a bishop, while Cardinal Brady is being pressured for his inaction as a priest some 35 years ago. But the arc of the criticism is remarkably similar.

Like Cardinal Brady, Cardinal Law was initially firmly resolute in his refusal to step down, saying his resignation would solve nothing. But the drumbeat got louder and more persistent.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

MARIE O’HALLORAN

PRESS OMBUDSMAN: RTÉ SHOULD consider whether each Prime Time Investigates series should be reduced from four to three programmes to allow for the possibility a programme cannot be transmitted, a report on the broadcaster’s current affairs has recommended.

It also recommends any reporter undertaking a long-form documentary for the first time should be given a “brief, informal but intensive induction”, arranged by the editor of current affairs, a report on RTÉ’s current affairs has recommended.

The producer/director of a programme should prepare a brief risk assessment document specifically covering any potential risks such as defamation, within a month of being assigned to the production.

And it recommends any written communication from the legal representatives of an actual or potential interviewee should be dealt with exclusively by legal affairs in consultation with the recipient and current affairs editor.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

CARL O’BRIEN

ANALYSIS: RTÉ FACES a major challenge in re-establishing its trust with viewers who have come to expect high standards from the national broadcaster.

The damage is in the detail. It’s one thing to say RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme was unfair and a breach of Fr Kevin Reynolds’s privacy. We have known that for months.

But it’s the sheer extent of failings – both individually and collectively – that make for shocking reading.

Former BBC Northern Ireland executive Anna Carragher investigated the programme for the Broadcast Authority of Ireland and has documented a series of failures that make it difficult to understand how a team with such a good reputation could allow the programme to be broadcast.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

What the report says

AOIFE KAVANAGH
(reporter on Prime Time Investigates – Mission to Prey) An experienced RTÉ journalist who had not previously reported for the programme.

● Second-hand repetition of gossip appears to have been treated as corroboration, as Ms Kavanagh did not appear to have met or questioned colleagues who according to the primary source, were aware of the allegations.

● The journalist’s “sweeping assumptions about the behaviour of various orders” raises concerns about her objectivity in approaching the programme.

● The report has “considerable concerns” about the lack of documentation during conversations on a research trip to Africa in January 2011.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PAMELA DUNCAN

REACTION: MINISTER FOR Communications Pat Rabbitte has described the RTÉ documentary A Mission to Prey that defamed Fr Kevin Reynolds as a “shoddy, unprofessional, cavalier, damaging piece of work”.

Speaking on the RTÉ News last night after the publication of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) report, Mr Rabbitte said it posed a fundamental challenge to RTÉ to re-establish its reputation and to rebuild the trust it has had with the Irish people.

“It is quite disturbing that a man’s character could have been traduced in such a cavalier fashion,” he said. It was “beyond belief” that a programme that had won such a high reputation for its investigative journalism “should put together a piece of work based on frankly no more than uncorroborated gossip”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

CARL O’BRIEN, Chief Reporter

RTÉ IS to be fined €200,000 following a report by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland which found that the Mission to Prey programme was unfair and a breach of Fr Kevin Reynolds’s privacy.

The authority’s statement of findings, as well as an independent report by former BBC Northern Ireland controller Anna Carragher, were published yesterday.

The programme falsely claimed that Fr Reynolds sexually abused a young girl and fathered her child while a missionary in Kenya.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

FR REYNOLDS’S RESPONSE: FR KEVIN Reynolds, a popular parish priest in Ahascragh in Co Galway, will preside over a First Holy Communion service tomorrow. It is the same service at which he was secretly filmed by an RTÉ crew last year.

In a statement his solicitor, Robert Dore, said they had expected the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland report to be published next week. “We will need time to consider its contents carefully before making any comment,” he said.

“In the interim Fr Reynolds is presiding over this year’s Communion Mass in his parish in Ahascragh this weekend and is entirely focused on it.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

May. 04, 2012
By Brian Roewe

Five of the 26 Philadelphia priests suspended in the wake of sexual abuse allegations revealed in last year’s grand jury report will be removed from public ministry, Archbishop Charles Chaput announced this afternoon at a press conference.

Three of the 26 will be returned to ministry, while 17 cases are still pending in various stages of the investigation process, it was announced.

Chaput said the fate of the five priests determined “unfit for ministry” is still unknown. Each has the option to appeal the decision to the Vatican. If they decline or fail in their appeal, they could face laicization, life under supervision or a life of prayer and penance.

The type of conduct each was found guilty of — sexual abuse or a violation of boundaries — will likely dictate their fates. Of the five, only one, Fr. John Reardon, was accused of sexually abusing a minor, according to documents released by the archdiocese.

The remaining four – Fr. George Cadwallader, Fr. Msgr. Francis Feret, Fr. Robert Povish, Fr. Thomas Rooney – were found in violation of the archdiocese’s Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries, applicable to all clergy, staff and volunteers in the archdiocese.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

…The archdiocese is shuffling lawyers. Bernie and Lucie Huger are out and Tom Buckley is in. Buckley attends St. Ambrose on The Hill, where at least two sexually troubled priests from out-of-state quietly worked in recent years. A cleric from Washington was sent here after photos of naked kids were found on his computer. And a cleric from Kansas was sent here after being accused of sexually assaulting an adult parishioner. .

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ROME
The Christian Century

May 04, 2012 by David Gibson

Religion News Service (RNS) When the Vatican last month announced a doctrinal crackdown on the leadership organization representing most of the 57,000 nuns in the U.S., the sisters said they were “stunned” by the move. Many American Catholics, meanwhile, were angry at what they saw as Rome bullying women whose lives of service have endeared them to the public.

Vatican watchers also were perplexed since a broader, parallel investigation of women’s religious orders in the U.S. was resolved amicably after an initial clash. That seemed to augur a more diplomatic approach by the Vatican to concerns that American nuns were not sufficiently orthodox.

Now it turns out that conservative American churchmen living in Rome — including disgraced former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law — were key players in pushing the hostile takeover of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, or LCWR, which they have long viewed with suspicion for emphasizing social justice work over loyalty to the hierarchy and issues like abortion and gay marriage.

Vatican observers in Rome and church sources in the U.S. say Law was “the person in Rome most forcefully supporting” the LCWR investigation, as Rome correspondent Robert Mickens wrote in The Tablet, a London-based Catholic weekly. Law was the “prime instigator,” in the words of one American churchman, of the investigation that began in 2009 and ended in 2011. The actual crackdown was only launched in April.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David O’Reilly, Dan Hardy, Alfred Lubrano and Bonnie Cook
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

In parishes around the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, both joy and uncertainty greeted the news Friday that three priests among the more than two dozen accused of wrongful behavior with children would soon be returning to ministry, while five would not.

“Yay!” shouted 17-year-old Emily Ferry when she learned that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput had reinstated the Rev. Michael Chapman, former pastor of Ascension of Our Lord parish in Kensington.

“I’m excited,” she said. “He was a fine, nice guy.”

“I’m happy he’s back,” said her brother, Hugh, 21. Both had been altar servers at Ascension.

The accusations against Chapman and others have not been made public, and Chaput did not indicate Friday if he would be reassigning the returning priests to the parishes where they served most recently. Priests also have the option of going to new parishes, he said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Digital Spy

By Andrew Laughlin

Catholic primate Séan Brady has today accused the BBC of making “seriously misleading and untrue” allegations against him in a documentary.

Aired on BBC Northern Ireland last night (May 1), This World documentary The Shame of the Catholic Church focused on the Church’s handing of clerical sex abuse allegations in the 1970s.

Cardinal Brady has resisted calls for him to resign as the primate of all-Ireland after This World claimed that he had names and addresses of those being abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, but had not passed the details on to police or parents.

Dr Brady said that the BBC’s allegations against him were “seriously misleading and untrue”. He also said that the documentary-makers had set out to “deliberately exaggerate and misrepresent” his role in the scandal.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, May 04, 2012

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is again refusing to be drawn on whether the Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady should resign over his handling of abuse allegations against Father Brendan Smyth in the 1970s.

The Tánaiste, a number of ministers and other senior political figures on both sides of the border have all urged Cardinal Brady to consider his position.

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton is the latest member of the Government to call on the Cardinal to consider his position over his failure to inform civil authorities about the abuse allegations against Fr Smyth.

However Mr Kenny today reiterated his position that given his role as the head of Government, it is not for him to make such a call.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Head of Irish Church has ‘lost his moral credibility’ and must resign over failure to warn parents about paedophile, say fellow priests

Pressure is building on the head of Ireland’s Catholic Church to resign over accusations he failed to warn parents their children were being sexually abused.

A BBC documentary broadcast this week said Cardinal Sean Brady was given, in 1975, the names and addresses of children being abused by paedophile Brendan Smyth during a Church investigation but had failed to act to ensure their safety.

‘Considering the damage done by that awful man Brendan Smyth, considering the repercussions, one has to say that unfortunately the Cardinal has lost his moral credibility,’ Father Vincent Twomey told national broadcaster RTE.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, May 04, 2012

Speculation is growing that the Vatican may appoint a Bishop to assist Cardinal Sean Brady who is under growing pressure to stand aside over his role in the Fr Brendan Smyth affair.

The Catholic Press Office today rejected a report today that the Cardinal offered to step down two years ago.

However the office says that Cardinal Brady did request Episcopal support in 2010 and that request has now been reactivated.

Michael Kelly is deputy editor of the Irish Catholic:

“I think this current controversy, and the fall out from it, will make it very very clear to Rome that they do need to act swiftly and act decisively, and appoint a coagular archbishop.”, he said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Catholic News Agency

Armagh, Ireland, May 3, 2012 / 02:29 am (CNA).- Cardinal Sean B. Brady of Armagh, Ireland has denounced a BBC documentary on clerical abuse, saying he does not deserve blame for the results of a decades-old investigation in which he played a subordinate role.

“In the course of the program a number of claims were made which overstate and seriously misrepresent my role in a Church inquiry in 1975,” said Cardinal Brady, in response to a May 1 installment of “This World” entitled “The Shame of the Catholic Church.”

Cardinal Brady, who was not ordained as a bishop until 1995, issued a statement offering several clarifications about his role in the investigation of Norbertine priest Father Brendan Smyth, described in the BBC program.

Parts of the documentary, he said, gave viewers the impression “that because of the office I hold in the Church today I somehow had the power to stop Brendan Smyth in 1975.” But Cardinal Brady, who was not yet a bishop, had “absolutely no authority” over him.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Christian Century

May 04, 2012 by David Gibson

Religion News Service (RNS) Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput announced Friday (May 4) that five priests accused of sexually abusing children last year would be barred from ministry and could be defrocked, while three others were cleared by a church-led investigation and could return to pastoral work.

The eight were among more than two dozen priests who were suspended from ministry as a result of accusations made in a scathing February 2011 grand jury report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the archdiocese.

One of the 27 suspended priests is Monsignor William J. Lynn, who was not accused of direct abuse but of covering up for clergy molesters while overseeing personnel matters for the archdiocese from 1992 to 2004. Lynn is currently on trial in Philadelphia on charges of child endangerment, the only church official ever to go before a jury for allowing abusers to prey on minors. …

Terence McKiernan, head of BishopAccountability.org, a lay-led church reform group, said Chaput “missed a crucial opportunity” because he “could have made Philadelphia the bellwether for nationwide reform of a system that has never delivered on its promise. He has not done so.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

by Jon Hurdle

Published: May 4, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — The Roman Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia announced Friday that five priests under investigation for sexual abuse would be permanently removed from ministry, while three other priests had been exonerated. The eight were among 26 priests who were suspended in early 2011 because of past accusations of sex abuse or improper sexual behavior.

The five who will be removed were deemed ”unsuitable for ministry,” while the other three may return to active ministry immediately, said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, announcing his first major action in the sexual abuse scandals since he took office last September.

His predecessor, Cardinal Justin Rigali, suspended the 26 priests after a withering grand jury report in February 2011 accused the archdiocese of allowing as many as 37 priests to keep working, and remain in possible contact with children, despite “substantial evidence of abuse.”

At a news conference Friday, Archbishop Chaput said that one of the priests mentioned in the grand jury report had died, and that church officials had not yet reached conclusions about an additional 17. Six of those priests are still under criminal investigation by the Philadelphia district attorney’s office.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

The Rev. George Cadwallader, who most recently was assigned to St. Vincent de Paul Church in Richboro, was one of the five priests removed from the ministry Friday by Archbishop Charles Chaput.

Richard Janowski of Joshua Drive in Richboro said Cadwallader “never impressed me. I don’t know — there was something wrong with him. The pastor, Father Joseph McLaughlin, is the opposite, very intelligent, very devout.”

Janowski, who helps with the parish collections once a month and has been a parishioner for about 25 years, said Cadwallader was at the parish for about a year. One of the priest’s jobs was training altar boys and girls, Janowski said.

Jeff Schuck, 48, of Joshua Drive, did not know Cadwallader or that the priest had been removed from the parish during the archdiocese’s investigation. But, “it is very disheartening the way the church is going,” he said. “I worry about the kids — can you leave them alone? I don’t think I will.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WXXI

[Resolutions to Some of the Cases of Priests on Administrative Leave – via BishopAccountability.org]

(Reuters) –
By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput stripped five priests of their duties and apologized to their victims on Friday following an investigation into a pedophilia scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic archdiocese.

The sanctions come as the archdiocese nears the end of its investigation into 27 priests who were put on leave when a January 2011 grand jury report raised questions about their possible involvement in abusing children.

Chaput said five of the cases were substantiated in the investigation, and those priests would be barred from public ministry, meaning they can no longer perform duties such as saying Mass. They can appeal to Rome, and later could be defrocked.

Another three priests under investigation were cleared. One priest named in the grand jury report has since died.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WISCONSIN
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Written by
Hannah O’Brien
Green Bay Press-Gazette

A former Green Bay priest who was sentenced to 32 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child has been granted early release after serving eight years, a victim advocacy group says.

Donald Buzanowski had a motion hearing today in front of Brown County Circuit Court Judge William Atkinson. SNAP, Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said at a news conference Buzanowski could be released within a week.

Buzanowski’s release is part of a deal made between the prosecution and defense that aimed to prevent Buzanowski from appealing his sentence based on a technicality relating to statute of limitations in effect at the time of the crime, SNAP Midwest Director Peter Isely said today.

Buzanowski will serve eight years on probation and will remain on the sex offender registry, Isely said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Ann Cornell

The Rev. Robert W. Povish, a former in-residence priest at St. Eleanor’s Parish in Collegeville, is one of five priests removed from ministry, according to a press conference held by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput on Friday afternoon, May 4.

Povish was among 27 priests suspended following a February 2011 grand jury report that charged the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had allowed several priests to remain in active ministry despite what the grand jury deemed credible allegations of abuse or misconduct.

Those on leave face accusations of inappropriate behavior or boundary issues with minors, or of more serious abuse, according to a March 2011 interview with archdiocesan Director of Communications Donna Farrell.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Tom Sofield

It was reported Friday afternoon that former St. Vincent de Paul parish Parochial Vicar Reverend George Cadwallader was one of five Philadelphia-area priest removed from ministry after a ”thorough and complex” investigation into reports of sexual abuse of minors by clergy and violations of the church’s Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.

Cadwallader was identified as one of the clergymen removed by a Philly.com report.

Details on Cadwallader’s removal and the allegations mounted against him will not be released by the archdiocese as to protect the victims, Archbishop Charles Chaput said during a press conference streamed on the church’s website. It is unclear if any misbehavior occurred during his time at the Hatboro Road parish or during his previous assignment at Queen of the Universe parish in nearby Middletown.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: DeSutter has been accused of the sexual abuse of several boys, and of inappropriate sexual advances against a young adult male parishioner. The archdiocese knew of accusations against him in at least 1989. The earliest known incidents are alleged to have happened in the late 1970s. Two others are said to have occurred in 1992. DeSutter was sent for psychological evaluations by the archdiocese in 1989, and again in 1992. He contact with minors was restricted after the 1992 evaluation, but he was eventually allowed to work as a weekend fill-in priest. He retired in 1994 and relocated in the late 1990s or early 2000s to Mesa, Arizona.

Ordained: 1954
Incardinated: St. Paul and Minneapolis
Retired: 1994

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia via BishopAccountability.org

May 4, 2012
Below is background information regarding those cases announced today of priests placed on
administrative leave after the 2011 grand jury report. Notification had been made at their most
recent parish assignment at that time. Announcements of the final resolution of their cases will be made at those parishes this weekend.

Prior to reaching a final resolution, each case was submitted to the appropriate local district
attorney’s office as the process is designed to ensure that the district attorney has an opportunity for review before an Archdiocesan investigation proceeds. After receiving clearance that investigation was conducted by the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) led by veteran child abuse prosecutor Gina Maisto Smith. The results of the investigations were provided to the Archdiocesan Review Board (ARB), which provided a recommendation to the Archbishop, who made the final decision.

The remaining cases cannot be announced immediately for a variety of reasons. The
Archdiocese referred all of its cases to the local district attorney. A handful of cases have not yet been cleared so the internal Archdiocesan investigation led by the MDT has not begun. A few cases were just recently released by law enforcement and are currently under investigation by the MDT. In other cases, the Archdiocese has received clearance, the internal investigation is complete, and the matter is awaiting examination by the Archdiocesan Review Board or a final decision by Archbishop Chaput.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.