ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
SBS

Victims groups, religious organisations and State governments have all welcomed the final details for the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse. In announcing the terms of reference today, the Prime Minister said the six member commission will ensure that the voices of victims will be heard and that adults no longer turn a blind eye to such shocking crimes.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced the terms of the Royal Commission into institutional child abuse, with plans for a legislative change to allow for more evidence to be submitted. Here are the details of the Commission.

Six commissioners will examine past and current child sexual abuse in organisations. They will look at:
* how organisations have managed and responded to claims of sexual abuse and other associated forms of abuse and neglect
* whether the response was enough
* what can be done better protect children under their care
* what should be done to identify child sexual abuse and encourage people to report it
* how organisations should respond when they find out information that suggests that sexual abuse of children under their responsibility
* barriers and failures to reporting, investigating and dealing with cases of child sexual abuse in organisations
* how these barriers can be removed
* how to support survivors
* how to ensure victims receive justice
* Also will look at archives, records and documents, submissions from public, non-government and private organisations, and laws, policies and practices of institutions, organisations and governments

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

WE look at who is who in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and what part they will play.

Announced in November 2012, the royal commission will only focus on child sex abuse in institutional contexts.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard today declared the royal commission’s terms of reference, as well as the names of those trusted to head up the important report.

We take a look at who is who inside the royal commission:

Justice Peter McClellan AM – Chair Commissioner

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

NSW Supreme Court judge Peter McClellan has been appointed to head a royal commission into child sexual abuse

Prime Minister Julia Gillard made the announcement as she outlined the details of the inquiry, which was approved by Governor-General Quentin Bryce today.

”It is clear from what is already in the public domain that too many children were the subject of child sexual abuse in institutions,” she said.

”And that too many adults who could have assisted them turned a blind eye so that they didn’t get the help that they needed.”

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

January 11, 2013

Paul Osborne, AAP Senior Political Writer

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says a six-member royal commission will ensure the voices of child sexual abuse victims are heard and adults no longer turn a blind eye to such shocking crimes.

Ms Gillard on Friday announced the appointment of NSW Supreme Court judge Peter McClellan to head the inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

The commission will be expected to provide an interim report by the end of June 2014 and will wind up in December 2015.

However, child advocates say it could take much longer given the complexity of the problem.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The “broad expertise” of the six members of a royal commission into child sexual abuse will ensure a balanced approach to the investigation, a leading church welfare group says.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced on Friday that NSW Supreme Court judge Peter McClellan would head the commission as it examines institutional responses to child sex abuse.

UnitingCare Australia National Director Lin Hatfield Dodds has welcomed the appointment of multiple commissioners, saying her group had urged such an approach.

“In our submission, we argued for the appointment of more than just one commissioner, saying a broad range of expertise was needed to deal with the volume of work that this issue will generate,” Ms Hatfield Dodds said.

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AUSTRALIA
Prime Minister of Australia

FRI 11 JANUARY 2013

Prime Minister
Sydney

Subject(s): Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse; Newstart; Executive remuneration; Drink spiking in Indonesia; Cyber-bullying; NSW bushfires

PM: Good afternoon.

With Ministers Macklin and Roxon who are here with me today, I have just visited the Governor-General, and the Governor-General has agreed to my request to establish a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia.

In November, I announced the Government’s intention to have such a Royal Commission.

Since that announcement in November we’ve been involved in a process of consultation about the terms of reference and Minister Macklin will detail some of the consultations that have been gone through.

In addition, I had the opportunity to speak directly to my State and Territory colleagues about collaborating on this at the Council of Australian Governments meeting towards the end of last year.

Following those consultations and discussions, today we can announce the establishment of the Royal Commission.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC
Updated January 11, 2013

There has been a collective sigh of relief from victims, their families and advocates after the release of the terms of reference for the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Prime Minister to head the commission which will begin work next week.

The terms of reference leave it up to the commissioners to decide who gives evidence, which public and private organisations it wants to examine, and if and who should pay compensation.

The commission will have the power to set up a special investigative unit to liaise between the commission and police so criminal allegations that do arise are investigated and prosecuted quickly.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Editorial
From:Herald Sun
January 12, 2013

The Catholic Church has copped the brunt of the accusations of child sexual abuse among its ranks. For 20 years it has faced a rightfully growing cacophony of blame.

For 20 years it has faced a rightfully growing cacophony of blame.

Mostly, its handling of abuse allegations is a lesson in how not to do things.

But the problem has run much deeper than the Catholic Church.

Individuals in organisations – church, state and welfare – have stolen the innocence of countless children and teens for decades. They’ve lived and sometimes died with their secrets.

Now, for all these organisations the time for hiding is over. Documents must not be kept in dusty filing cabinets. Secrets held tight over the generations should be told.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

January 12, 2013

Barney Zwartz

Analysis

TRUTH, justice and redress: bold promises for a royal commission, but ones Australians have been longing to hear when it comes to the scandal of child sex abuse.

At first sight, victims and their supporters are greatly heartened by Friday’s announcements: both the commissioners and the terms of reference seem excellent. The reasons why the inquiry was necessary – the suicides and premature deaths, the plight of survivors, the concealment and protection of predators, the barriers to justice, the need for law reform and more – are all recognised.

The government has promised the necessary resources, including for advocacy groups, given a long and extendable time frame, but balanced that with a request for an interim report after 18 months and set up a mechanism by which police can investigate and prosecute as the commission keeps working.

In some ways the most vital work the six commissioners will do over their three-year mandate will take place in the first two months, as they decide how they will operate and who they will hear. The commission has two mutually exclusive imperatives: to be as thorough as possible, yet also timely.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advocate

By Judith Ireland and Bianca Hall
Jan. 11, 2013

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said too many people have turned a blind eye to the shocking crime of child sexual abuse, as she announced the terms of reference for the royal commission today.

Ms Gilllard said that it is clear that too many children had been subject to sexual abuse in institutions and were not provided with a safe childhood.

Describing child abuse as a ”hideous, shocking and vile crime”, Ms Gillard said, ”I believe our nation needs to have this royal commission.”

Ms Gillard said to survivors of child sexual abuse, ”we want your voices to be heard. Even if you felt for all of your life that no one’s listened to you.”

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GERMANY
Spiegel

The German Catholic Church called off an independent review of allegations of sexual abuse in its ranks this week. The head of the investigation accused the Church of censorship. On Thursday, the two sides traded blame as German commentators largely mourned the end of the examination.

Representatives of the German Catholic Church and independent investigators traded blame Thursday after an agreement to have an independent examination of sexual abuse in the Church broke down earlier this week.

The Church’s Bishops’ Conference called off the investigation — agreed to in 2011 after a nationwide abuse scandal the year before — citing a lack of trust with the investigators. The Lower Saxony Criminological Research Institute (KFN) had been tasked with investigating personnel files from churches in all of the country’s 27 dioceses, to look for and examine cases of abuse.

But the Bishops’ Conference was allegedly unable to agree on a way to cooperate with the KFN, with some citing the issues of privacy and data protection. Some dioceses refused to make documents available, reportedly out of fear that private information on those involved could possibly be made public.

Christian Pfeiffer, who as the director of the KFN had led the investigation, told SPIEGEL ONLINE this week that the Church had refused to cooperate with the investigation, and that he had had to remind the Church of its promise of transparency.

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INDIA
Times of India

By V Narayan, TNN | Jan 11, 2013

MUMBAI: A 70-year-old dargah priest in Mumbai was thrashed by a mob before being handed over to the police on Thursday for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl and them making an MMS clip of the act.

Niyad Ahmed Hasan Ansari, sadar of a dargah in Mumbai was arrested on Thursday and his phone, which he used to make the MMS, seized. As the news spread, two more minor girls and their parents came forward as witnesses in the case against Ansari. “The two minor girls were his victims too. The accused had dismissed the teachers who use to come to the dargah to teach Arabic. After sacking them, he started taking the classes where sexually abused the minor girls,” a police source said.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

KATHRYN HAYES

The new Bishop of Limerick has said he hopes legislators will be inspired to know how best to protect the lives of mothers and their unborn children. Fr Brendan Leahy from Dublin was yesterday appointed Bishop of Limerick by Pope Benedict XVI.

The 52-year-old professor of systematic theology at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, succeeds bishop Donal Murray, who resigned three years ago following the publication of the Murphy report.

The report, which dealt with clerical child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese, criticised Bishop Murray for his failure to adequately deal with allegations of abuse when he was an auxiliary bishop in in Dublin.

Speaking in Limerick following the official announcement of his appointment, Fr Leahy, who will be ordained Bishop of Limerick after Easter, spoke about the need to protect the life of unborn children.

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AUSTRALIA
The Rural

By Bianca Hall, Michelle Grattan and Josephine Tovey
Jan. 11, 2013

AN investigation unit designed to prosecute sex offenders will be established as part of the royal commission on the sexual abuse of children due to begin later this year.

The federal government will today announce the terms of reference for the commission, which will focus on the ”systemic failures and issues” in the response of organisations and institutions to the sexual abuse of children.

While royal commissions do not have the power to prosecute individuals, the government will ensure that allegations of abuse raised by the commission can be investigated and, if proven, prosecuted.

Fairfax Media understands that the commission’s terms of reference will require commissioners to establish a process for the referral of individual cases to the police.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The federal government will appoint six royal commissioners to investigate cases of child sexual abuse.

The commissioners, to be appointed for three years, will be asked to provide an interim report within 18 months.

“The royal commission is going to have an enormous job ahead of it,” Attorney-General Nicola Roxon told ABC Radio on Friday.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will announce the commission’s terms of reference later on Friday.

The commission will include an investigative unit to examine specific cases of sexual assault and institutional secrecy.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News – AM

[with audio]

The Federal Government’s revealed the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse will be designed to ensure individual cases of abuse that emerge in the inquiry are investigated by police and prosecuted as swiftly as possible. There’ll be six commissioners on the inquiry, each with three year terms – with an interim report due at the 18 month mark. The Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, has told AM there’ll be no set time limit for the commission, but the government wants to ensure it runs efficiently, given the mountain of evidence it’s set to hear.

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UNITED STATES
Freethought Blogs

The Catholic Church continues its war on women in ever-more bizarre ways, tying itself into all kinds of knots as it tries to enforce its policies on the people over whom it has some authority. For example, the church seems to hate the thought that women might be getting pregnant in ways that it does not approve of based on its medieval ways of thinking. As a result, it finds itself embroiled in legal cases that do not show it in a good light.

A former first-grade teacher at Kettering’s Ascension Catholic School is suing the school, Ascension Church and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati in federal court, saying officials discriminated against her a year ago when they fired the unmarried woman after she told the principal about her pregnancy.

Kathleen Quinlan of Kettering, who has since delivered twin girls, said in the Dec. 14 lawsuit that her firing for moral reasons was discriminatory because male employees who engage in premarital sex don’t face the same consequences “insomuch as they do not show outward signs of engaging in sexual intercourse (i.e., pregnancy).

But the church is not only opposed to women getting pregnant outside of marriage, it is also opposed to women getting pregnant while married if the pregnancy did not occur through ‘normal’ sexual activity.

In Indiana, Emily Herx made national headlines in April when she sued the Diocese of Ft. Wayne-South Bend in federal court, saying the diocese discriminated against the married teacher when officials fired her for having in vitro fertilization treatments. Diocesan officials say the procedure is “gravely immoral.” She said other employees violate Catholic teachings without consequence.

And it is not only in vitro fertilization that is verboten, so is artificial insemination.

The Cincinnati archdiocese is facing a pending federal lawsuit similar to Quinlan’s, filed by former parochial teacher Christa Dias of Clermont County. The 2011 lawsuit claims the single woman was fired after she became pregnant through artificial insemination.

And who was this person who was entrusted by the church to uphold its high moral values and thus had to fire Dias because she did not meet those standards? It was the principal Rev. James Kiffmeyer, “who was suspended from 2002-2006 on allegations of sexual misconduct against two male students in separate incidents while he was a teacher at Middletown’s Fenwick High School.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles

From: Archdiocese of Los Angeles Priority: Normal

The Center for Religion and Spirituality at Loyola Marymount University is sponsoring a lecture by Dr. Colt Anderson, Dean of the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Studies at Fordham University. He will speak on resources from medieval reforms for the modern clerical abuse crisis. He will deliver his lecture, “Lessons of History: What Can the Church of the Middle Ages Teach Us about the Modern Sex-Abuse Scandal?,” on Wednesday, January 23, at 7:00 p.m., in the Ahmanson Auditorium (University Hall, Room 1000) on campus.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Jeffrey R. Anderson

Once again, our most trusted and most powerful religious and social institutions are fighting to keep their secrets and their sins safe from disclosure. Luckily, courts continue to recognize how important the exposure of secrets is to accountability and child protection.

On Monday, California Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias ordered the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to release the names of priests and church officials contained in the Archdiocese’s internal records on the sexual abuse of children. The records were originally ordered to be released as part of a groundbreaking $660 million settlement between the Archdiocese and survivors in 2007. Since that time, the Archdiocese has fought tooth and nail to release the files (which include abuse reports, church memos, and letters to and from the Vatican) in redacted form to protect the anonymity of abuser priests and those church leaders who protected them.

The release of the Archdiocese’s files in unredacted form is a major victory for survivors, who no doubt agree with Judge Elias, who spoke publically about the release, saying “Don’t you think the public has a right to know?”

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the California Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America must provide decades of files detailing sexual abuse allegations as part of discovery in an ongoing lawsuit. The BSA maintains that the files are not relevant to the lawsuit, while the lawsuit alleges that prior to the plaintiff’s 2007 sexual abuse, the BSA concealed knowledge of sexual abuse in scouting. The files will not immediately be public due to a protective order in the case.

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INDIA
Times of India

JAIPUR: A 68-year-old priest of a temple was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman devotee on Thursday morning. People at the temple located in Mahesh Nagar beat the priest black and blue after they came to know that he had grabbed a woman and did a few indecent things. Initially, the priest was booked for disturbing peace but was later arrested on charges of outraging the modesty of a woman.

According to the police, the 24-year-old victim had gone to the temple on Thursday morning. She was taken aback when the accused identified as Ram Naresh Das (68) grabbed her and touched her private parts. This was done while the victim woman was taking a round of the temple’s

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GERMANY
The Star

By Alexandra Hudson

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s justice minister said on Thursday the country’s Roman Catholic Church appeared to be shrinking from independent scrutiny after bishops sacked a top criminologist they had hired to investigate clerical sexual abuse.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said the German bishops had initially committed to an outside study after devastating abuse revelations in 2010 which saw 600 people file claims against priests, but said they now seemed to want to control which findings would be published.

Victims’ groups and sympathisers were outraged by the Catholic bishops’ decision on Wednesday to sack Christian Pfeiffer, a man described by Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger as one of Germany’s foremost criminal experts.

“It appears that conducting an independent, serious study into the abuse cases, as originally intended, is impossible for the Church,” she told Deutschlandfunk radio. “This is a shame, as it gives the impression that ultimately they (the Catholic Church) did not want everything to be independently studied.”

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GERMANY
Salon

By Mary Elizabeth Williams

Today in irony: Catholic church leaders are having trust issues.

A sweeping independent investigation into sex abuse charges dating back nearly 70 years has screeched to a halt in Germany, because the German Bishops Conference there says “The trust was shattered” between the conference and the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony. The bishops have now canceled their contract with the institute.

The head of the institute, Christian Pfeiffer, lashed back at the bishops Thursday, citing old-fashioned butt-covering as the cause of the falling out. “The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising clearly demanded that all texts must be submitted to them for approval,” he said, “and they made it clear to us that they also had the right to prohibit the publication of texts.” He added, chillingly, “They have a requirement that you have to destroy the papers ten years after the conviction of a priest. They kept us in the dark about this, because we agreed in the contract to an analysis of records going back to 1945.”

German Bishops’ Conference spokesman Matthias Kopp has denied Pfeiffer’s charges, saying, “Because the Catholic church is ready to undertake a research project of this kind, it shows how much freedom of research means to it … There has been, to our knowledge, no destruction of documents. A major problem was data protection regulations. It was important to us to clarify how we would be able to anonymize data and keep it safe.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Joshua J. McElwee | Jan. 10, 2013

Roy Bourgeois, the longtime peace activist and Catholic priest dismissed by the Vatican because of his support for women’s ordination, has received the official letter notifying him of the move three months after it was made.

The letter, which comes from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is signed by the congregation’s prefect on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI and states that the pope’s decision in the matter is “a supreme decision, not open to any appeal, without right to any recourse.”

Written in Latin, the letter dismisses Bourgeois from the priesthood and restricts him from all priestly ministries. It asks Bourgeois to return a signed copy “as a proof of reception and at the same time of acceptance of the same dismissal and dispensation.”

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 10, 2013

Backpedaling. Backsliding. Moving in the wrong direction. Whatever you call it, bishops all across the US are quietly doing this with clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

Remember that pledge to be “open and transparent?” It’s increasingly being honored only in the breach.

A clear and recent example is Springfield IL Bishop Thomas Paprocki. (Yes, the same guy who once said that the devil was behind lawsuits against child molesting clerics and complicit church officials.)

Times reporter Bruce Ruston lays out at least three low-key backward moves by Paprocki:

–A report on clergy sexual misconduct (and financial misdeeds) in the diocese by ex-U.S. attorney J. William Roberts has quietly been removed from the diocesan website.

— The biography of retired Bishop Daniel Ryan, on the same diocesan website, was edited in May, removing any hint that Ryan “engaged in illicit sex or otherwise did anything improper” (which Roberts’ report had found).

–The diocesan panel “that once screened candidates for the seminary is no longer active, according to one panel member.”

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
Sun-News

LAS CRUCES – The Diocese of San Antonio has announced Bishop Oscar Cantú, auxiliary bishop of San Antonio, will replace Bishop Ricardo Ramirez as head of the Diocese of Las Cruces.
The appointment was publicized in Washington, Jan. 10, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States, according to the San Antonio website.

Oscar Cantú was born December 5, 1966, in Houston, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Dallas and his master of arts and master of divinity degrees from the University of St. Thomas, Houston.

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
KHOU

Associated Press

Posted on January 10, 2013

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has appointed a Houston-born bishop as the next bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces.

Bishop Oscar Cantu was introduced Thursday at a press conference in Las Cruces and will replace Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, who is retiring.

The son of Mexican immigrants, Cantu is a product of Houston’s Catholic Schools, attending Holy Name Catholic School and St. Thomas High School. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Dallas and a Masters in Divinity and Masters in Theological Studies from the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

BARRY ROCHE, Southern Correspondent

A Dominican priest has been returned for trial by judge and jury on 39 counts of sexually assaulting a juvenile at various locations in Munster over an eight-year period.

Fr Vincent Mercer (66), who is out of ministry but remains a member of the Dominican Order, made his second appearance in relation to the charges today at Cork District Court.

He is charged with 39 counts of sexually assaulting the juvenile, who was aged between 11 and 17 at the time, on various dates between January 1st, 1986, and February 22nd, 1994.

The offences are alleged to have happened at a house in Cork city, a location in Co Limerick, a location in Co Cork and a number of unknown locations.

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

January 10, 2013

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Ricardo Ramírez, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and named Bishop Oscar Cantú, 46, auxiliary bishop of San Antonio, to succeed him.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, January 10, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Oscar Cantú was born December 5, 1966, in Houston, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Dallas and his master of arts and master of divinity degrees from the University of St. Thomas, Houston.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Huffington Post

Michael D’Antonio

After years of delay, orchestrated by some of the most able lawyers in the country, the Catholic Church may soon reveal more truth about how it dealt with priests who sexually abused hundreds of children in the sprawling Archdiocese of Los Angeles. A court order issued Monday, in a case joined by the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press, requires the release of more than 30,000 pages of documents, with the names of abusers and their superiors un-redacted. Considering previous actions by higher courts, Judge Emilie Elias’s decision is likely to survive appeals and the deluge of new facts could occur in weeks, if not days.

At the very least, the memos, personnel files and psychiatric reports will give the public an unprecedented look inside the process followed by then Cardinal Roger Mahony and his fellow officials, as they received complaints about priests whose crimes included the serial rape of minors. The papers will also reveal something of the Catholic hierarchy’s mindset as it weighed the imperatives of the law against the needs of the Church. At times in the decades-long, international sexual abuse crisis, top churchmen did cover-up crimes and protect perpetrators. It’s hard to imagine this did not occur in America’s largest diocese, where more than $700 million has been paid to compensate men and women who were sexually violated as boys and girls.

It’s hard to imagine, too, that the files on notorious priest abusers, who continued in service after complaints were lodged against them, won’t raise serious questions about the conduct of their supervisors including Cardinal Mahony. As the recent conviction of Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia showed, high-level Catholic leaders risked being charged with serious crimes as they sought to protect the Church from scandal and neglected their duty to protect the public. The self-protective impulse, reinforced by the oath cardinals take to avoid scandal, has inclined some clerics toward unconscionable cover-ups and evasions including the transfer of priests out of jurisdictions where their arrest was imminent. Transfers, including international reassignments, have permitted priests to escape arrests. Others have been hidden in psychiatric treatment centers out of the reach of police and prosecutors.

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 10, 2013

We are not optimistic about Bishop Oscar Cantu’s promotion. Pope Benedict has appointed a number of bishops in recent years who have terrible track records on child safety.

While Bishop Cantu was a high ranking official in the diocese of San Antonio, dangerous predators have only been exposed because of the courage of victims

— Brother Richard Suttle recently lived in San Antonio and studied at a Catholic college. Archdiocesan officials permitted this, even though, according to the Express News, Suttle “sexually abused a teen in the early 1980s in Arizona, according to a public notice from the Phoenix diocese.”

— Father Charles H. Miller “worked at St. Mary’s University for more than two decades and was let go in 2007 after his religious order found a claim that he sexually abused a teen in 1980 to be credible. In 2008, Miller was moved to Rome,” the Express News wrote in 2009. Evidently, Miller still works for the Marianists though they have since sent him to Rome.

— Fr. Larry Hernandez had his faculties (i.e., his ability to function as a priest) suspended in early 2008 because of credible child sex abuse allegations. San Antonio Catholic officials, including Cantu, kept it quiet until March 2009.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

Published on Thursday 10 January 2013

THE Diocese of Limerick has announced that Fr Brendan Leahy is the new Bishop of Limerick.

Fr Leahy, who will take up his appointment in the spring, was announced as the incoming Bishop of Limerick by Diocesan Administrator Fr Tony Mullins on the steps of St John’s Cathedral at 11am today to coincide with the announcement in Rome by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI at midday (local time).

Also present for the announcement was Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency Charles Brown along with a number of priests of the Diocese.

Fr Leahy will succeed Bishop Donal Murray, who retired as Bishop in December 2009. Fr Mullins has for the past three years served as Diocesan Administrator.

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IRELAND
RTE News

[Murphy Report – Commission of Investigation Report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin – BishopAccountability.org]

Fr Brendan Leahy has been appointed Bishop of Limerick by Pope Benedict XVI.

Fr Leahy, who is a professor of theology at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, succeeds Dr Donal Murray.

Dr Murray resigned three years ago following the publication of the Murphy Report.

The report had found that Dr Murray mishandled sexual abuse allegations in the Archdiocese of Dublin, where he had been a bishop before moving to Limerick.

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IRELAND
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) After three years of sede vacante, clergy and faithful of the diocese of Limerick, Ireland, celebrated the news Thursday that Pope Benedict XVI has appointed a new bishop to the mid-western diocese.

He is 53 year-old Rev. Brendan Leahy, a qualified barrister and to date Professor of Systematic Theology at Ireland’s major seminary, St Patrick’s Maynooth.

Limerick, which has been without a bishop since the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray in 2009, is one of six suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cashel (also known as Munster) and is subject to the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. With over 60 parishes, it encompases Ireland’s third most populous city, of the same name. Limerick diocese is also located in one of the areas worst hit by the nation’s economic down-turn, with high levels of unemployment and emigration.

A priest from the Dublin Archdiocese, Rev. Brendan Leahy is a von Balthasar scholar and ecumenist, and has published books and articles on topics such as John Paul II, the Marian profile of the Church, issues facing the Church in the twenty-first century, the ecclesial movements of the Church, interreligious dialogue and the Priesthood.

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ILLINOIS
Illinois Times

By Bruce Rushton

Sexual no-nos among clergy are nothing new in the Diocese of Springfield.

The diocese in 2005 hired a Methodist to figure things out when a priest was severely beaten after soliciting sex in Douglas Park. Accusations of homosexual conduct rose to the very top of the diocese, with one man claiming to have bedded a half-dozen men of the cloth, including then bishop George Lucas.

J. William Roberts, the former U.S. attorney and Sangamon County state’s attorney retained by the diocese to investigate, concluded that the bishop was pure, but other clergy members were not. Daniel Ryan, the bishop prior to Lucas, wasn’t celibate, according to Roberts, and Ryan had fostered a culture of secrecy that resulted in mistrust among parishioners and failure to hold accountable priests who engaged in inappropriate conduct. Eight priests were either removed or placed on leave after the investigation began, Roberts told reporters in 2006.

Clergy misconduct ranged from viewing inappropriate websites to sinful sexual activity between consenting adults to sexual abuse of minors that cost the diocese more than $6 million in legal settlements. The Roberts investigation also revealed misappropriation of church funds.

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PHILADELHIA (PA)
San Francisco Chronicle

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Testimony is expected to begin Monday in the trial of a Roman Catholic priest and a former Catholic school teacher accused of raping a former altar boy.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports (http://bit.ly/13js0jN) the final jurors were selected Wednesday in the trial for the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero. It’s a panel of eight men and four women.

The case was spun off from last year’s high-profile trial of a church official charged with helping the Philadelphia archdiocese cover up abuse complaints.

The 65-year-old Engelhardt and the 49-year-old Shero are charged with sexually assaulting the boy in the late 1990s. Both have pleaded not guilty. Their lawyers wanted them tried separately from the defendants in last year’s case.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kolnische Rundschau

Die katholische Kirche trennt sich von Wissenschaftlern, die die Missbrauchsfälle in ihren Reihen aufarbeiten sollten. Studienleiter Christian Pfeiffer wirft der Kirche Aktenvernichtung vor. Justizministerin Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger ist erstaunt über den Rückzieher. Von Ulla Thiede

Berlin.
Damals, im Sommer 2011 in Bonn, war Christian Pfeiffer geradezu euphorisch gewesen. “Weltweit hat sich noch keine katholische Kirche dazu entschlossen, so detailliert Aufklärung zu betreiben”, sagte er seinerzeit im Bonner Uni-Club. Der niedersächsische Kriminologe hatte gerade von den deutschen Bischöfen den Auftrag bekommen, den sexuellen Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg zu erforschen. Einen ersten vollständigen Überblick hoffte er, 18 Monate später veröffentlichen zu können. Das wäre in diesen Wochen gewesen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Donaukurier

Nach der Aufkündigung der Zusammenarbeit mit dem dem Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer bei der Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchskandals hält die Kritik an den katholischen Bischöfen an.

Nach der Aufkündigung der Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer bei der Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchskandals hält die Kritik an den katholischen Bischöfen an. Bundesjustizministerin Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP) zweifelte den Aufklärungswillen der Bischöfe an, die katholischen Laien forderten einen neuen Forschungsauftrag.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Von Harald Biskup

Norbert Denef, der selbst jahrelang missbraucht wurde, ist enttäuscht von der mangelnden Missbrauchsaufklärung in der katholischen Kirche. “Aus Sicht der Betroffenen hat sich nichts verändert”, sagt er.

Herr Denef, wie beurteilen Sie das Scheitern des Forschungsprojekts?

Das hatte sich ja schon abgezeichnet, und ich fühle mich mit meinen Befürchtungen bestätigt. Das Modell konnte auf der Basis einer freiwilligen Selbstverpflichtung der katholischen Kirche einfach nicht funktionieren. Die gemeinsame Unterzeichnung des Vertrags durch den Vertreter der Bischofskonferenz und den Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer war eine große Aktion für die Presse. Passiert ist danach nichts mehr.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Mittelhessen

Bonn/Hannover (dpa) – Im Streit um die gestoppte Studie zu Missbrauchsfällen in der katholischen Kirche geht die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz rechtlich gegen Zensurvorwürfe vor.

Der Hannoveraner Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer sei aufgefordert worden, nicht mehr von Zensur in der Kirche zu sprechen, weil dies schlichtweg falsch sei, teilte die Bischofskonferenz am Donnerstag in Bonn mit. Der Direktor des ursprünglich mit der Studie beauftragten Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen (KFN) sagte, er habe von der Kirche eine Unterlassungserklärung erhalten.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 10 November 2012 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

– Appointed Bishop Oscar Cantu as bishop of the diocese of Las Cruces (area 115,166, population 532,000, Catholics 140,200, priests 81, permanent deacons 38, religious 82), USA. Bishop Cantu, previously titular of Dardano and auxiliary of San Antonio, was ordained to the priesthood in 1994 and received episcopal ordination in 2008. In the national bishops’ conference he currently serves on the committees on Catholic Education, International Justice and Peace, and Protection of Children and Young People, as well as the Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs. He succeeds Bishop Ricardo Ramirez C.S.B., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

– Appointed Fr. Marwan Tabet, M.L., as bishop of the eparchy of Saint-Maron de Montreal of the Maronites (Catholics 85,000, priests 20, religious 15), Canada. The bishop-elect was born in Bhamdoun, Lebanon in 1961, entered the Congregation of the Lebanese Maronite Missionaries in 1980, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1986. He succeeds Bishop Joseph Khoury, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same eparchy the Holy Father accepted in accordance with canon 210 para. 1 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

– Appointed Fr. Brendan Leahy as bishop of the diocese of Limerick (area 2,100, population 178,800, Catholics 171,500, priests 167, religious 411), Ireland. The bishop-elect was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1960 and ordained a priest in 1986. Since 2006 he has taught Systematic Theology at St Patrick’s College Maynooth and served as a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology. He is also the chairman of the archdiocese of Dublin’s Diocesan Ecumenical Committee and the secretary of the Irish Bishops’ Advisory Committee on Ecumenism.

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NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 09, 2013

We are not optimistic about Las Cruces’ next Catholic bishop. Pope Benedict has appointed a number of bishops in recent years who have terrible track records on child safety.

And we’re disappointed with Bishop Ramirez’ handling of pedophile priest cases. Roughly 30 of his brother bishops have posted on their diocesan websites the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics. Ramirez’ has not.

In 2002, Bishop Ramirez said that the diocese, in its nearly 20-year history, had not faced any abuse suits. Weeks later, however, he admitted that he had let an admitted molester, Fr. David Bentley, work in a parish since 2000. (Catholic officials had paid $70,000 in 1997 to a man who said Bentley abused him and his siblings at a children’s home in the 1970s.

We wish Ramirez well in retirement. But let’s not re-write history and ignore the fact that Bishop Ramirez, like most of his Catholic colleagues, has acted recklessly and callously and secretively about children’s safety.

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
National Catholic Reporter

by Dennis Coday | Jan. 10, 2013

USCCB has announced:

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Ricardo Ramírez, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and named Bishop Oscar Cantú, 46, auxiliary bishop of San Antonio, to succeed him.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, January 10, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Oscar Cantú was born December 5, 1966, in Houston, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Dallas and his master of arts and master of divinity degrees from the University of St. Thomas, Houston.

He was ordained a priest in 1994 and named auxiliary bishop of San Antonio in 2008.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO

Il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha accettato la rinuncia al governo pastorale della diocesi di Las Cruces (U.S.A.), presentata da S.E. Mons. Ricardo Ramírez, C.S.B., in conformità al canone 401 §1 del Codice di Diritto Canonico.

Il Papa ha nominato Vescovo di Las Cruces (U.S.A.) S.E. Mons. Oscar Cantú, finora Vescovo titolare di Dardano ed Ausiliare di San Antonio (U.S.A.). …

NOMINA DEL VESCOVO DI LIMERICK (IRLANDA)

Il Papa ha nominato Vescovo di Limerick (Irlanda) il Rev.do Sac. Brendan Leahy, del clero dell’arcidiocesi di Dublin, finora Professore di Teologia sistematica al Collegio di San Patrizio a Maynooth.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Barry Duggan

Thursday January 10 2013

A PROFESSOR OF theology and qualified barrister has been appointed as the Bishop of Limerick by Pope Benedict.

Fr Brendan Leahy is a priest in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

He is the currently professor of systematic theology at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth.

Born in Dublin in 1960, Fr Leahy lived in Crumlin until he was six-years-old before moving to Rathfarnam.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Failed Messiah

The Pike County sheriff released the Affidavit of Probable cause against Rabbi Aryeh Goodman of Chabad of East Brunswick, New Jersey. It explains what Goodman allegedly did to a young camper in 2001, and it also tells some of the story of how police got the goods on him.

Rabbi Aryeh Goodman, the rabbi of Chabad of East New Brunswick, New Jersey, was arrested on child sexual abuse charges late last week.

This is what the Affidavit of Probable Cause alleges Goodman, now 30-years-old, did to a student in Camp Menachem, a Chabad (messianist) sleepover camp, in 2001:

• The alleged victim says that while he was in school in the spring of 2001, Goodman approached him and asked if he would like to attend camp at Camp Menachem that summer. Goodman said that he was a counselor there and promised that if the victim agreed to attend, Goodman would be his counselor.

• The alleged victim attended the camp and Goodman was indeed his counselor. Approximately 15 boys were in his group. They all shared a bunk area with bunk beds.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger

Published January 10, 2013

Yeshiva University has declined to say if it will make public the results of an investigation into sexual abuse allegations at its Manhattan high school despite former students’ fears about the scope, openness and motivation behind the probe.

In a statement to the Forward, released January 8, a Y.U. representative promised “a full and completely independent investigation,” but declined to say what will happen to the work now being conducted by an international law firm hired by the university. In a follow-up statement issued the next morning, the representative said that after the investigation was complete, the board expected that it “will be in further communication with the public.” He declined to explain what that means.

Y.U. launched its investigation after the Forward published allegations by three former students that they had been abused by Rabbi George Finkelstein, who served at Y.U.’s High School for Boys from 1968 to 1995, where he rose to become principal. Another student said that he had been abused by a Talmud teacher, Rabbi Macy Gordon, who taught at the school from 1956 to 1984.

Immediately following the story, Finkelstein resigned from his executive position at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, and Gordon was placed on indefinite leave from his teaching position in Jerusalem.

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GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

It was supposed to provide a great deal of enlightenment on the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal. But now, researchers and bishops are parting ways after a bitter disagreement over a report on the affair.

The goal was clear: the abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church to its core since the beginning of 2010, was supposed to be addressed seamlessly. The church leadership wanted to investigate the abuse cases in detail in which priests and others abused young people – going back as far as 1945. To carry out the study seriously and objectively, the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) brought in the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN). The scientists from Hanover were to be granted access to all personnel records of the past decade in all 27 dioceses.

Researcher Christian Pfeiffer accused the Church of interference

But there is now disagreement between the KFN and the DBK. The bishops canceled the contracts with the Institute. “The trust was shattered,” official sources said. It was impossible to think of continuing this work. On the other hand, KFN head Christian Pfeiffer spoke of censorship and the hindrance of his work: “The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising clearly demanded that all texts must be submitted to them for approval, and they made it clear to us that they also had the right to prohibit the publication of texts, ” Pfeiffer told German public radio.

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CANADA
Times-Colonist

Father Phil Jacobs’s evidence was rehearsed and calculated and in some cases, simply not believable, the Crown argued Wednesday during final submissions in B.C. Supreme Court.

Jacobs, 63, who was parish priest at St. Joseph the Worker in Saanich from 1997 to 2002, is charged with sexual assault and sexual touching of a young person under the age of 14.

He is also charged with sexually touching a second youth under the age of 14 and, while in a position of trust, sexually touching a third young person.

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ROME
Chiesa

by Sandro Magister

ROME, January 10, 2013 – Every time Benedict XVI speaks out against marriage between homosexuals, he is immediately besieged with criticism. But the last time he did so, in the annual pre-Christmas address to the curia, this did not happen. Everybody silent.

Acting as shield for the pope was the chief rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, whom he cited in support of his own ideas. And none of the opinionists on the other side felt like taking aim against a luminary of European Judaism, in addition to the head of the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A New South Wales Catholic priest has been charged with sexually abusing two boys he taught in Newcastle more than 50 years ago.

Police from Strike Force Georgiana have been investigating the 83-year-old man for some time.

The Strike Force is based at the Lake Macquarie Local Area Command. …

Police say the alleged offences happened while the man was teaching at a school in Hamilton in the 1960’s.

The man is from Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

A CATHOLIC priest will face court charged with indecently assaulting two teenage boys at a school in the NSW Hunter region in the 1960s.

Police on Thursday served court attendance notices on the 83-year-old Glenbrook man’s legal representatives in Sydney.

He is facing eight counts of indecent assault with a child under 16 years.

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LEOMINSTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com

WORCESTER — A former Leominster church pastor convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old girl has lost his bid for a new trial.

The Rev. Angel Morales, 34, onetime pastor of the Casa de Restauracion Church at 134 Spruce St., Leominster, was sentenced to 10 to 12 years’ imprisonment in 2011 after being found guilty by a Worcester Superior Court jury of two counts of child rape aggravated by age difference. The jury acquitted him on a third count.

The victim, whose family attended Rev. Morales’ church, testified at his February 2011 trial that she and her pastor engaged in sexual intercourse three times in late 2009 and early 2010, when she was 14 years old.

Rev. Morales admitted to two sexual encounters with the girl when questioned by Leominster police detectives. A DVD of the videotaped interview was played for the jury.

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UNITED STATES
Justia Verdict

Marci A. Hamilton

This is the era in which institutions are learning that they simply cannot keep their secrets about sexual abuse and assault to themselves, no matter how hard they try. The reasons for this profound change will be the stuff of sociology and history dissertations, to be sure, but we can also see, right in front of us, a primary mechanism that is spurring this revolution against the conspiracies of silence that aided perpetrators and endangered the vulnerable for so long. As this means of effecting justice has prospered, the public’s outrage has increased, survivors have been empowered, and the pace of revelations has sped up significantly.

We are witnessing the end of the old boys’ network that treats women and children as expendable. You know it’s over when even the world of football can’t keep its ugly secrets anymore: Penn State, Poly Prep, and now Steubenville, Ohio have faced, or will face, justice. Men in power, including the mighty football heroes, no longer can feel confident that the victims can be intimidated or made to be silent.

In football, when the sport has gone wrong, the players and coaches have been treated not just as heroes, but as beings tantamount to gods. In their twisted universe, they deserve what they take, because they have sacrificed so much, and the system around them covers up any transgressions for the greater good of the team and the community. Until now, women and even children were expendable, merely the spoils of war for them. (Current headlines have focused on football, but a recent alleged assault in the Philadelphia Four Seasons Hotel by a professional basketball player is confirmation that this is a sports-wide issue.)

For example, at Penn State, hallowed coach Joe Paterno not only failed to take action to protect children from the predatory Jerry Sandusky, but also allegedly gave players accused of sexual misconduct a pass.

Similarly, Notre Dame had not one, but two, players credibly accused of sexual assault on its national championship bowl team. Neither is being brought to justice, because one of the victims committed suicide and the other was so intimidated by teammates that she was too afraid to press charges. Why would two alleged criminals be on a Notre Dame football team? There is no requirement that the school permit them to stay on the team. One might have thought that the Catholic Church had enough problems with credibility on the sexual assault and abuse of children that it would not want its signature university and its revered football team to reinforce its current image of callous disregard for sexual assault and abuse victims.

Suffice it to say that the bishops and university administrators continue to struggle with the concept that their sexual abuse and assault secrets are everyone’s business in this era. Why are they everyone’s business? Because the Internet has given victims a voice, provided critics with a platform, and created a means of collecting disparate data that, when brought together, paints the pictures of cover-up.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

January 11, 2013

Bianca Hall

AN INVESTIGATIVE unit designed to prosecute sex offenders will be established as part of the royal commission on the sexual abuse of children due to begin later this year.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and Families Minister Jenny Macklin will on Friday announce terms of reference for the commission, which will focus on ”systemic failures and issues” in the response of organisations and institutions to the abuse of children.

While royal commissions do not have the power to prosecute individuals, the government will ensure allegations of abuse raised by the commission can be investigated and, if proven, prosecuted.

Fairfax understands the terms of reference will require commissioners to establish a process for the referral of cases to the police.

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GERMANY
Times of Malta

Germany’s Roman Catholic bishops sacked a criminologist studying sexual abuse of minors by their priests yesterday, prompting him to accuse them of trying to censor what was to be a major report on the scandals.

The independent study, examining church files sometimes dating back to 1945, was meant to shed light on undiscovered cases of abuse after about 600 people filed claims against molesting priests in 2010 following a wave of revelations.

The German scandals were part of a series of abuse scandals that also shook the Catholic Church in Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands and the United States, and forced Pope Benedict to issue a public apology. …

Pfeiffer told German Radio the bishops wanted to change previously agreed guidelines for the project to include a final veto over publishing its results, which he could not accept.

“Everything was settled reasonably and then suddenly came… an attempt to turn the whole contract towards censorship and stronger control by the church,” said Pfeiffer, head of the Lower Saxony Criminological Research Institute.

The critical lay Catholic movement We Are Church called the decision “a devastating signal for the credibility of the church leadership” that showed the bishops could not accept an independent inquiry into the scandals.

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GERMANY
God Discussion

By D. Beeksma
On January 9, 2013

Christian Pfeiffer, a criminologist who was investigating sexual abuse of minors by priests, has been fired by German Roman Catholic bishops, Euronews reports (see news video embedded below). Pfeiffer accuses the bishops of trying to censure a major report on the scandals, which looks at cases dating back to 1945.

Matthias Kopp, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference, says the investigation will be continued without Pfeiffer. “We did not give up the research project,” he told Euronews. “Of course it will be continued in order to come to terms with sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. It is not a matter of with or without Pfeiffer. We terminate the work with Pfeiffer today because the mutual trust is totally broken.”

A series of abuse scandals forced Pope Benedict XVI to issue an apology and offer compensation to victims in 2010, but Pfeiffer says a cover-up continues, “It is obvious that the project has failed because of the Catholic Church’s wish to control and to censure,” he said. “We were asked to sign a new contract in which the Church would have had the right to forbid the texts that had been written by us over years of work if they don’t like it.”

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VERMONT
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on January 9, 2013.

The legacy of pain and shame created by Catholic Priest Father Edward Paquette is coming to something of a resolution. Paquette was alleged to have molested numerous children and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington was accused of having covered up his crimes.

Lawyer Jerry O’Neill stated that “Many people who have walked away from this diocese because of the way it has treated the survivors.” Among those who sued the Burlington Diocese was a Rutland native who says that Paquette began molesting him at the age of twelve back in 1974. The federal trial was set to start Wednesday morning, but the settlement was reached at the last minute. O’Neill spoke truly saying that “It’s never a win. When you’re sexually molested as a child you never win, no matter how much money you get.”

It is unlikely that there will be any more cases involving Paquette, Alfred Willis or Joseph Dussault, all priests accused of molesting children, and all named in this latest round of lawsuits. According to O’Neill “The reason is because in April 2006 a court released a protective order and all the documents showing that the diocese was knowledgeable about what the priests were doing took place. Six years have passed. That’s the primary statute of limitations.”

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Catholic priest charged with indecently assaulting two teenage boys – Lake Macquarie LAC

Thursday, 10 January 2013

Police have charged a Catholic priest with allegedly indecently assaulting two teenage boys in the 1960s.

Strike Force Georgiana was established in March 2008, consisting of investigators from Lake Macquarie Local Area Command, to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse by various priests within the area.

About Midday today (Thursday 30 August 2012), police attended an address in Penrith, and served two Future Court Attendance Notices on the legal representative of an 83-year-old Glenbrook man.

The notices relates to eight counts of indecent assault with a child under 16 years.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By SAM RIGNEY
Jan. 10, 2013

POLICE have charged a Catholic brother with allegedly indecently assaulting two teenage boys in the 1960s.

Strike Force Georgiana detectives attended a home in Penrith about midday today, serving two court attendance notices on the legal representation of an 83-year-old Glenbrook man.

Police said the notices relate to eight counts of indecent assault with a child under the age of 16.

The 83-year-old man will appear in Newcastle Local Court on February 26.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

RICK MORTON
From:The Australian
January 10, 2013

A CATHOLIC priest has been charged with eight counts of indecently assaulting two boys in the 1960s in a police investigation that has already charged six other priests with child sexual offences in the Hunter Valley region of NSW.

The 83-year-old Glenbrook man was served with court attendance notices through his legal representative, based in Penrith, about noon yesterday.

Police will allege he indecently assaulted two boys younger than 16 on eight occasions while he was teaching at a school in Hamilton in the “early to mid 1960s”.

He is due to appear in Newcastle Local Court on February 23.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A Catholic priest will face court charged with indecently assaulting two teenage boys at a school in the NSW Hunter region in the 1960s.

Police on Thursday served court attendance notices on the 83-year-old Glenbrook man’s legal representatives in Sydney.

He is facing eight counts of indecent assault with a child under 16 years.

Police allege the offences occurred in the early to mid 1960s when the man was teaching at a school in Newcastle.

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PHILADELHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Joseph A. Slobodzian, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: Thursday, January 10, 2013

Testimony is to begin Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court in the trial of a priest and a former parochial-school teacher charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at a Northeast parish in the late 1990s.

Judge Ellen Ceisler confirmed the start of testimony Wednesday after prosecution and defense lawyers completed picking a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates to hear the evidence against the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, 66, and Bernard Shero, 49.

Jury selection began Monday and concluded Wednesday with two final jurors and six alternates. The final panel is composed of eight men and four women, with four male and two female alternates.

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MARYLAND
Delmarva Now

Written by
Brian Shane
Staff Writer

OCEAN CITY — Ocean City Police have brought child abuse and sex offense charges against a former priest, dating to an encounter with a teenage boy in the resort more than 30 years ago.

Bruno Michael Tucci, now 70, is alleged to have fondled a 15-year-old boy while on an excursion to Ocean City in August 1981. Because there is no statute of limitations on child abuse in Maryland, Tucci can still be brought up on charges.

According to court documents, Tucci allegedly inappropriately tickled and put his hands up the boy’s shorts while they were staying at the Tides Motel. A short time later, Tucci excused himself and went into the bathroom and closed the bathroom door.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Factual distortion … Misleading claims … Bigoted sources … Here is the definitive review of Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, a new film by Alex Gibney, scheduled to begin airing on HBO on February 4.

Gibney’s documentary purports to chronicle the stomach-turning case of deceased Catholic priest Rev. Lawrence Murphy, who reportedly abused dozens of students while working at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, Wisconsin, from 1950 to 1974. Indeed, there can be no doubt that Murphy wreaked immeasurable harm upon his innocent victims.

However, after thoroughly studying the film, TheMediaReport.com’s Dave Pierre has commented:

“Considering the vast media coverage over the issue in the past two decades, the topic of sex abuse in the Catholic Church is certainly worthy of an honest and compelling documentary. Sadly, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God does not qualify as one. The film is so consumed by its desire to browbeat the Catholic Church that honesty, fairness, and perspective have been lost.

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NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter

by Jamie Manson | Jan. 9, 2013

Carmen Villegas occupied the church years before “occupy” became a movement.

Six years ago, she and a group of parishioners made local headlines when they protested the closing of Our Lady Queen of Angels, a church that had served their East Harlem community since 1886. The parish was among 21 churches and nine schools in the Archdiocese of New York that were casualties of Cardinal Edward Egan’s cost-saving closures in 2007.

When almost 40 parishioners assembled for a peaceful witness on the sidewalk outside of the church on East 113th Street on the evening of Feb. 12, 2007, the archdiocese saw fit to send in private security guards to “protect” the church from its lifelong members. …

The Gonzalez family petitioned the archdiocese to again reopen the church for one day in order to honor their mother’s last request to have her funeral held in the parish she called home for more than 50 years. But Egan refused.

Rather than have their mother’s funeral at a church she did not know, the Gonzalez family held her funeral on the sidewalk outside of Our Lady Queen of Angels. Renowned mujerista theologian Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, a member of the parish who passed away in May 2012, was among many mourners to speak at the streetside service.

“Church is not a building. Church is the community,” Isasi-Diaz said. “We take very literally the teaching that the church is a community of the believers.”

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces

Las Cruces, New Mexico, January 9, 2013

The Most Reverend Ricardo Ramírez, C.S.B, the first and only Roman Catholic Bishop of Las Cruces, to date, announced his retirement on his 75th birthday in 2011. Since that time, Bishop Ramírez has been leading the diocese in prayer for a new bishop, a leader who will guide with wisdom, truth, compassion and care.

Pope Benedict XVI has now chosen his successor and Bishop will announce the name of his successor at a Press Conference at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 1240 S. Espina, Las Cruces, NM, on Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 10:00 a.m.

In 1982, Bishop Ramírez was appointed by Pope John Paul II to lead the newly formed Diocese of Las Cruces. Bishop accepted the position and took his newly formed diocese from a blank sheet of paper to the thriving diocese that it is today, 30 years later. Along the way he became one of the most preeminent Hispanic bishops in the country.

Bishop Ramírez is an educator, theologian, peacemaker, and spiritual leader for all faiths. Bishop is well-known for his unifying multicultural and ecumenical approach to evangelization and service. During the last three decades, Bishop Ramírez reached out to others to build communities of love, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation. Bishop Ramírez is a humble shepherd whose lifelong endeavors have made a unique contribution in affirming life’s spiritual dimension.

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
Sun-News

Sun-News reportlcsun-news.com
Posted: 01/09/2013

LAS CRUCES – The Most Rev. Ricardo Ramírez, C.S.B, the first and only Roman Catholic Bishop of Las Cruces to date, will announce his successor, chosen by Pope Benedict XVI, at 10 a.m. Thursday at a press conference at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary 1240 S. Espina.

Bishop announced his retirement on his 75th birthday in 2011. Since that time, Bishop Ramírez has been leading the diocese in prayer for a new bishop, a leader who will guide with wisdom, truth, compassion and care.

In 1982, Bishop Ramírez was appointed by Pope John Paul II to lead the newly formed Diocese of Las Cruces. Bishop accepted the position and took his newly formed diocese from a blank sheet of paper to the thriving diocese that it is today, 30 years later. Along the way he became one of the most preeminent Hispanic bishops in the country.

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OKLAHOMA
Washington Post

Ex-Okla. teacher pleads no contest, retired Pa. professor pleads guilty to child porn charges

By Associated Press

Updated: Wednesday, January 9

SHAWNEE, Okla. — A retired college professor pleaded guilty Wednesday and a former third-grade teacher pleaded no contest to child exploitation and pornography charges after prosecutors said the Oklahoma teacher took photos of her students dancing in their underwear and shared them with the man in Pennsylvania.

Kimberly Crain of Shawnee and retired professor of early childhood development Gary Doby of Bloomsburg, Pa., entered pleas in Pottawatomie County District Court. They had been scheduled for trial Monday.

Judge John Carnavan Jr. sentenced Doby to life in prison on each of the exploitation counts and set Crain’s sentencing for March 22. The judge told Crain she faces a minimum of 25 years, but the prosecutor said he’ll seek the maximum.

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OKLAHOMA
Fox 25

Thursday morning former Oklahoma Baptist University professor Gary Doby has plead guilty to 20 counts of crimes against children and was sentenced to life in prison. He will be required to serve more than 38 years before becoming eligible for parole. McLoud District school teacher Kimberly Crain also entered a no contest plea with her formal sentencing March 22nd, 2013, in Pottawatomie District Courts.

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OKLAHOMA
Oklahoman

By Andrew Knittle | Published: January 9, 2013

SHAWNEE — Former McLoud elementary teacher Kimberly Crain pleaded no contest to sex crimes involving children Wednesday and former Oklahoma Baptist University professor Gary Doby pleaded guilty in the case.

Doby, who has gone by the name “Uncle G,” was given a life sentence and must serve more than 38 years before becoming eligible for parole. Crain has not been sentenced yet, but the judge in the case said she will get at least 25 years.

Both were in Pottawatomie County District Court Wednesday. Crain taught third grade at the rural district until her resignation in November 2011.

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VERMONT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 09, 2013

We are glad these brave victims will be spared the stress of a trial. And we are grateful to those who were courageous enough to step forward and wise enough to seek justice in court. We hope this settlement will help bring them sorely-needed closure and healing.

At the same time, however, no single event can magically erase decades of pain. So we strongly urge these victims to continue in therapy, twelve step programs and support groups. Long after the checks are cut and the public forgets about these cases, these deeply wounded victims will likely still need help coping with the often life-altering impact of horrific childhood betrayal.

At the same time, we are disappointed in the Vermont Catholic hierarchy. Why can’t they help suffering victims promptly and without the pressure of an impending trial?

And how long have they known of but kept secret about credible child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Dussault (who, we believe, has never been publicly accused before). Whatever became of the repeated promises by Catholic bishops to be ‘open and transparent’ about child sex cases?

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CAMDEN (NJ)
Patch

A group of sexual abuse survivors slammed the Catholic Church’s choice of New York Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Sullivan to become the new Bishop of Camden, critizing Sullivan’s record and the Archdiocese of New York’s record on alleged abuse by clergy.

“He’s a member of the completely ineffectual US bishops sex abuse panel which functions largely as window dressing for a public relations campaign masquerading as reform,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), which has a membership of 12,000 nationwide. “He’s part of the New York archdiocese which, in recent years, has had a disappointing and deceptive track record in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases.”

“As he has repeatedly in the past, Pope Benedict is again promoting a cleric who shows no signs whatsoever of acting more responsibly with the safety of kids.”

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GERMANY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on January 09, 2013

Once again, Catholic officials are backing away from a commitment they’ve made about the pedophile priest crisis.

This time, it’s German prelates. They’re reneging on what they promised would be an independent study of clergy sex crimes.

We’re disappointed but not the least bit surprised. When clergy sex abuse and cover up scandals erupt, bishops often promise the sun and moon and stars to mollify parishioners and the public. When attention begins to shift elsewhere, bishops often quietly pull back from their pledges and go back to “business as usual.”

Church officials can’t or won’t adopt meaningful reform. Such pressure must come from external sources and secular authorities. We hope that government and law enforcement officials understand this and will step up their efforts accordingly, so that German children are safe from child molesting clerics and their complicit church colleagues.

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VERMONT
Rutland Herald

By KEVIN O’CONNOR
STAFF WRITER | January 09,2013

Three years after paying more than $20 million to close almost 30 priest misconduct lawsuits, Vermont’s Catholic Church settled a dozen new cases Wednesday just minutes before the first was set for trial.

The state’s largest religious denomination had hoped to rid itself of nearly a decade of lurid headlines and legal headaches in 2010 when it sold its historic 32-acre Burlington headquarters and 26-acre Colchester Camp Holy Cross to make good with all its then-known accusers. But that settlement didn’t preclude other former altar boys and young male churchgoers alleging sexual abuse from filing later lawsuits.

Lawyers for the first of 12 new plaintiffs were scheduled to argue their case in U.S. District Court in Burlington Wednesday at 10 a.m. But attorneys for the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese offered a settlement just minutes before the start of opening statements.

Neither church counsel Thomas McCormick nor Burlington lawyer Jerome O’Neill, representing all but two of the three dozen past and present plaintiffs, would reveal the amount of the settlement.

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VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

Written by
Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer

The state’s Roman Catholic diocese agreed Wednesday to settle 11 priest sexual abuse cases moments before a trial on one of the cases was set to get underway today at U.S. District Court in Burlington.

“We settled it,” Jerome O’Neill, the lead attorney for the alleged victims in the cases, said outside the courtroom. “It was a negotiation that had been going on for a long time and the diocese this morning accepted our demand and agreed to pay it.”

O’Neill and Tom McCormick, a lawyer for the diocese, declined to disclose the settlement amount. McCormick said the settlement was approved after the diocese reached an agreement settling a separate lawsuit with its insurer.

“The bishop, in consultation with his board of advisors, authorized the settlement,” McCormick said later Wednesday morning.

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UNITED STATES/UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Julian Kossoff

January 9, 2013

Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and London are reeling from a series of sex scandals that have exposed a close-knit world which has sought to silence the victims.

In New York, Brooklyn Jewish leader Nechemya Weberman is due to be sent to prison after being found guilty on 60 charges of child sex abuse, for molesting a girl he was counselling over a three-year span beginning when the girl was 12.

Weberman is a member of the fiercely private Satmar Hasidic sect, one of the largest and most powerful within the Charedi (ultra Orthodox) world. In the run up to his trial in December 2012, four Satmar members were arrested for allegedly trying to bribe the victim.

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GERMANY
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan

January 9, 2013

Germany’s Roman Catholic bishops sacked a criminologist studying sexual abuse of minors by their priests on Wednesday, prompting him to accuse them of trying to censor what was to be a major report on the scandals.

The independent study, examining church files sometimes dating back to 1945, was meant to shed light on undiscovered cases of abuse after about 600 people filed claims against molesting priests in 2010 following a wave of revelations there.

The German scandals were part of a series of abuse scandals that also shook the Catholic Church in Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands and forced Pope Benedict to issue a public apology.

Bishop Stephan Ackermann, spokesman on abuse issues for the German Bishops Conference, said the hierarchy had lost confidence in the researcher, criminologist Christian Pfeiffer, and would look for another specialist to take up the study.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Hamburger Abendblatt

Bonn/Trier/Würzburg. Nach dem vorläufigen Scheitern der Missbrauchsstudie haben Opfervertreter erneut eine unabhängige Aufklärung der Vorfälle durch den Bundestag gefordert. “Die katholische Kirche ist offensichtlich mit der Aufarbeitung überfordert”, teilte der Opferzusammenschluss Eckiger Tisch am Mittwoch in Berlin mit.

“Drei Jahre nach den ersten Veröffentlichungen liegen noch immer keinerlei detaillierte Zahlen und Informationen über das Ausmaß der Missbrauchsfälle in der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland vor.” Ähnlich wie in den Niederlanden solle nun eine vom Parlament eingesetzte Kommission tätig werden, fordert der Eckige Tisch.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bild

Skandalakten vernichtet?

Sie leiden bis heute, die Opfer von damals. Missbraucht als Kinder – von Priestern, von Vertrauten. Wurde das Treiben doch bekannt, entließ die Kirche die Beteiligten – oder versetzte sie einfach. Und schwieg darüber.

Bis immer mehr Missbrauchsfälle an die Öffentlichkeit kamen, Erwachsene von den schrecklichen Erlebnissen ihrer Kindheit erzählten. Erst da stellte sich die Kirche ihrer Verantwortung und beauftragte im Juli 2011 eine Studie zu sexualisierter Gewalt durch Priester.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Allgemeine

Ein Frühwarnsystem schaffen für Gewalt gegen Kinder: Damit hatte sich der Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer immer wieder beschäftigt. Nach Amokläufen Jugendlicher oder nach Missbrauchsfällen gegen Kinder, die die Öffentlichkeit bewegten: Stets sind Rat und Einschätzung Pfeiffers gefragt von Politikern oder durch Medien. So gewann er das Bild eines „Medienprofessors“ wie kaum ein anderer.

Die Aufmerksamkeit half ihm auch. Sie trugen dazu bei, dass das von ihm seit 25 Jahren – unterbrochen von drei Jahren als niedersächsischer Justizminister – geleitete unabhängige Kriminologische Institut Niedersachsen Aufträge erhielt und sich damit finanzieren konnte. Äußere und innere Unabhängigkeit ist ihm ein Glaubenssatz.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Berlin/München (dapd-bay). Der vorläufige Stopp einer wissenschaftlichen Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals bringt die katholische Kirche in Deutschland in Bedrängnis.

Bundesjustizministerin Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP) forderte vom Vorsitzenden der Bischofskonferenz, Robert Zollitsch, eine schnelle Aufklärung der Zensurvorwürfe des Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer. Die amtskirchenkritische Bewegung “Wir sind Kirche” hielt den Bischöfen vor, ihnen fehle der ernsthafte Wille zur wirklichen Aufklärung. Die Kirche verteidigte ihr Vorgehen.

Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz (DBK) hatte zuvor die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kriminologischen Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen (KFN) beendet. Das Vertrauensverhältnis zwischen dessen Direktor Pfeiffer und den deutschen Bischöfen sei zerrüttet, begründete der DBK- Missbrauchsbeauftragte Stephan Ackermann die Entscheidung. Der Trierer Bischof betonte: “Vertrauen ist aber für ein so umfangreiches und sensibles Projekt unverzichtbar.” Im Deutschlandfunk warf er dem Wissenschaftler vor, er habe “zwischendurch immer wieder Absprachen, die wir getroffen hatten, uminterpretiert”. Die Bischöfe hätten immer wieder Angst haben müssen, dass Pfeiffer Daten zu früh veröffentliche.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

München – Die Laienorganisation «Wir sind Kirche» sieht im vorläufigen Scheitern der Missbrauchsstudie ein verheerendes Signal für die Glaubwürdigkeit der katholischen Bischöfe. «Die verschiedenen Einzelmaßnahmen der vergangenen drei Jahre können nicht darüber hinwegtäuschen, dass die deutschen Bischöfe bisher wohl immer noch nicht zu einer unabhängigen Aufarbeitung und Ursachenforschung sexualisierter Gewalt bereit sind», sagte Sprecher Christian Weisner am Mittwoch in München.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Die katholische Kirche fürchtet wieder einmal sehr wohl die Wahrheit – und gibt im Zweifel dem Selbstschutz den Vorrang vor Selbstkritik und Transparenz.

Die Kirche fürchtet gewiss nicht die Wahrheit. Diesen Satz formulierte Johannes Paul II. im Jahr 1999, vor dem Missbrauchsskandal und mit Blick auf die Öffnung der vatikanischen Archive für die Historiker. Er versah sein beherzt-trotziges Bekenntnis zur Quellenforschung denn auch mit einem wichtigen Nebensatz: keine Furcht vor der Wahrheit, fuhr der Papst fort, „die aus der Geschichte kommt“. Was aber, wenn die unangenehmen Wahrheiten an die Gegenwart heranreichen und Funktionäre betreffen, die bis heute in Ämtern und Würden sind? Gilt dann weiter die Schotten-dicht-Doktrin? Verdrängen, leugnen und beschwichtigen Bischöfe dann weiter so, wie Johannes Paul II. höchst persönlich es tat, als Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen den Gründer der „Legionäre Christi“ laut wurden, einer vom Papst stark geförderten Ordensgemeinschaft?

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DEUTSCHLAND
Focus

Um die wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals in der katholischen Kirche ist heftiger Streit entbrannt, in dessen Folge das Projekt zu scheitern droht.

Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz und der von ihr mit der umfassenden Untersuchung beauftragte Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer erheben schwere Vorwürfe gegeneinander. Noch ist das Aus der bereits 2011 angekündigten Studie noch nicht besiegelt: „Ob mit Pfeiffer oder ohne, das Projekt läuft weiter“, sagte der Sprecher der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Matthias Kopp, am Dienstag der Nachrichtenagentur dpa. Beide Seiten haben sich bis Ende dieser Woche eine Frist gesetzt, um über den Fortgang der Studie zu entscheiden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Heute

Aufklärungsprojekt zum Missbrauch vorerst gescheitert

Es sollte ein Befreiuungsschlag werden: das Aufklärungsprojekt der katholischen Kirche zum Missbrauch Minderjähriger. Doch nun ist es im Streit zwischen Kirche und Kriminologischem Forschungsinstitut erstmal gescheitert.

Die umfassende Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsfälle in der katholischen Kirche ist vorerst gescheitert. Die Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem Kriminologischen Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen (KFN) und der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz sei beendet worden, sagte KFN-Leiter Christian Pfeiffer im Morgenmagazin des ZDF. Als Ursache nannte Pfeiffer die zu starken Kontrollwünsche von Seiten der Kirche, denen das Institut nicht nachgeben wollte.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

Eine unabhängige Missbrauchsstudie passte der Katholischen Kirche nicht mehr, sagt Betroffenensprecher Denef im Interview. Weil sie keine Verantwortung übernehmen will.

ZEIT ONLINE: Die Katholische Kirche hat das Forschungsprojekt zur Aufarbeitung ihres Missbrauchsskandals vorerst gestoppt. Warum ist die Studie ihrer Ansicht nach gescheitert?

Norbert Denef: Die Bischofskonferenz versprach unter dem Druck der Öffentlichkeit eine Aufklärung. Tatsächlich gibt es in der Kirche auch Kreise, die einen Täterschutz wollen und die Taten als “Fehltritte” bagatellisieren. Der römisch-katholischen Kirche selbst fällt es bei jedem konkreten Einzelfall schwer, die Verbrechen einzugestehen und eine Mitverantwortung zu übernehmen. Und natürlich passt eine Schuld der Kirche nicht in das Konzept der stärker werdenden reaktionären Kreise, für die eine Unfehlbarkeit und der moralische Alleinvertretungsanspruch nicht verhandelbar sind. Darum wurden seitens der Kirche immer mehr Nachbesserungen verlangt. Eine unabhängige Studie war nicht mehr gewünscht. Zum Schluss wurde der Vertrag, wie man uns berichtet hat, aufgekündigt. Nach anderthalb Jahren ist also außer Spesen nichts gewesen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

Ein Kommentar von Matthias Drobinski

Die Geschichte vom Jüngling Narzissus, erfüllt vom trotzigen Stolz auf die eigene Schönheit, endet tragisch: Die Götter verdonnern ihn, sich ins eigene Spiegelbild zu verlieben. Getrieben von unstillbarer Selbstliebe bringt er sich um; andere erzählen, er sei ins Wasser gefallen und ertrunken, als ein Blatt herniederfiel und die Wellen das gespiegelte Gesicht verzerrten. Narzissmus jedenfalls – die Unfähigkeit, anderes zu sehen als sich selbst – ist gefährlich. Es kann im sozialen und realen Tod enden.

Die katholische Kirche steckt in dieser Narzissmusfalle, was die Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals angeht, der vor nun drei Jahren offenbar wurde: Sie kann den Blick nicht von sich selber abwenden. Sie hat, anders als der arme Narziss, in diesen drei Jahren zum Glück gelernt, dass das Gesicht, das ihr da entgegenblickt, auch Falten, Wunden und Flecken hat. Aber sie ist gefangen, kann den Blick nicht heben, fragt furchtsam und auch selbstmitleidig: Wo soll das hingehen mit uns? Was muss geschehen, damit unser Bild, unser Image, wieder besser wird?

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Presse

Berlin/Gau. „Canisius-Kolleg: Missbrauchsfälle an Berliner Eliteschule“, prangte Ende Jänner 2010 in großen Lettern auf dem Titelblatt der „Berliner Morgenpost“. So erfuhr eine schockierte Öffentlichkeit, dass zwei Patres an dem Jesuitengymnasium in den 1970er- und 1980er-Jahren systematisch Schüler sexuell missbraucht hatten. Der Skandal weitete sich rasch aus. Bald wurde klar: An vielen kirchlichen Einrichtungen in Deutschland (und Österreich und anderen Ländern) hatten sich Priester an Kindern und Jugendlichen vergangen.

Vertrauensverlust, Austrittswelle, Hagel an Kritik: Die deutsche katholische Kirche erlebte die schwerste Krise ihrer jüngeren Geschichte. Nach längerem Zögern traten die Bischöfe die Flucht nach vorne an: Für viele überraschend beauftragten sie im Juli 2011 das Kriminologische Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen (KFN) mit einer wissenschaftlichen Aufarbeitung der Fälle. Es sollte die weltweit größte Untersuchung zum Thema werden. Rückhaltlose Offenheit statt Vertuschung, lautete die Devise. „Ein Wunder, das es auch in Kirchenkreisen immer wieder gibt“, frohlockte Stephan Ackermann, Missbrauchsbeauftragter und Bischof von Trier. Doch das Wunder blieb aus. Am Mittwoch teilte Ackermann mit, dass man den Vertrag mit sofortiger Wirkung kündige. Grund sei ein „zerrüttetes Vertrauensverhältnis“ zu Institutsleiter Christian Pfeiffer.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sudwest Presse

Die katholische Kirche wirft Ihnen vor, das Vertrauensverhältnis gestört zu haben. Deshalb habe sie das Forschungsprojekt gekündigt. Was ist vorgefallen?

CHRISTIAN PFEIFFER: Ich muss erst einmal Positives zu Bischof Ackermann sagen. Er hat sich außerordentlich um das Gelingen des Projektes bemüht. Er stand auch an unserer Seite, als es erste Anzeichen gab, dass einige Diözesen mehr Macht für die Kirche wünschen. Doch es ist ihm leider nicht gelungen, die Abweichler zu überzeugen. Der VDD hat uns im Mai 2012 einen neuen Vertrag abverlangt, um die Bischöfe zu beruhigen.

Das heißt ein bestehender Vertrag sollte einseitig verschärft werden .

PFEIFFER: Ja, man hat von uns verlangt, dass wir Regelungen zustimmen, die der Kirche ein Zensurrecht einräumen. Im Einzelnen hieß das, dass wir alle Texte zur Genehmigung vorlegen – Doktorarbeiten, Forschungsaufsätze, Habilitationen – und dass die Kirche dann entscheidet, ob sie den Text freigibt oder Änderungen wünscht. Widersetzten wir uns den Änderungswünschen, hätte sie das Recht gehabt, die Veröffentlichung zu verbieten. Der Vertrauensverlust ist dann, vielleicht dadurch entstanden, dass ich sehr deutlich sagte, dass wir Zensur zuletzt in der DDR hatten. Mit scharfer Kritik können die Bischöfe nicht umgehen.

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VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

Written by
Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer

A settlement was reached in federal court in Burlington today just before a trial involving clerical sex abuse was set to begin.

Lawyers for the state’s Roman Catholic diocese and a plaintiff alleging he was molested as a boy in 1974, would not disclose the amount of money agreed upon in the settlement as they left the courtroom.

The case involved allegations that a Rutland youth being trained to be an altar boy was molested by the Rev. Edward Paquette in 1974.

The victim, now a resident of California, says he was 12 years old when the incident occurred at Christ the King Church in Rutland, according to court documents. He said Paquette molested him two or three times.

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VERMONT
News-Times

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A lawsuit filed against Vermont’s Catholic Diocese of Burlington by a man who claimed he was sexually abused by a priest has been settled.

The settlement was reached Wednesday before the federal court trial was to get under way.

The Burlington Free Press (http://bfpne.ws/UKYX7A ) reports lawyers for both sides refused to disclose the settlement details.

The former Rutland youth claimed he was molested by the Rev. Edward Paquette in 1974 when he was 12.

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GERMANY
GlobalPost

Jessica Phelan
January 9, 2013

BERLIN, Germany — The Roman Catholic Church in Germany has called off an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

The independent inquiry was commissioned in 2011, in response to accusations of abuse at multiple Catholic schools across Germany….

A panel of retired prosecutors and judges, led by Professor Christian Pfeiffer of the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony, was responsible for looking into the allegations against Church employees.

Pfeiffer told German newspaper the Süddeutsche Zeitung that Church officials had attempted to “censor” his team’s findings, seeking to control which results would be made public and to select which researchers were allowed to be involved.

Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger told the paper that she had demanded an immediate explanation from the Church.

The Bishops’ Conference denies that it is failing to confront the issue and says it plans to commission a new abuse inquiry from a different team in the coming months.

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GERMANY
The New Age

Germany’s Roman Catholic Church said on Wednesday it had severed ties with criminologists commissioned to research sexual abuse by clergy in a row over the right to publish their findings.

The Church announced in July 2011 it would open its archives, which date back to the end of World War II, to shed light on abuse claims, tasking the northern Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony to analyse evidence.

But “mutual trust” between the Bishops’ Conference and the head of the research centre has been “shattered”, the bishops complained, adding they would now search for a new partner in the project.

Bishop Stephan Ackermann, appointed to handle issues surrounding claims of sexual abuse of minors, said they had been forced to terminate their contract with the institute “for an important reason with immediate effect”.

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GERMANY
Spiegel

By Barbara Hans

An independent inquiry into sex abuse in the German Catholic Church was supposed to restore faith in the embattled institution. But now the Church has called it off, citing a breakdown in trust with the researchers. The country’s justice minister has demanded that an inquiry continue, though.

It was a major promise after a major disaster: In summer 2011, the Catholic Church in Germany pledged full transparency. One year earlier, an abuse scandal had shaken the country’s faithful, as an increasing number of cases surfaced in which priests had sexually abused children and then hidden behind a wall of silence.

The Lower Saxony Criminological Research Institute (KFN) was given the job of investigating the cases in 2011. The personnel files from churches in all 27 dioceses were to be examined for cases of abuse in an attempt to win back some of the Church’s depleted credibility.

But now the Church has called off the study, citing a breakdown in trust. “The relationship of mutual trust between the bishops and the head of the institute has been destroyed,” said the Bishop of Trier, Stephan Ackermann, on Wednesday morning.

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GERMANY
Herald Sun (Australia)

AAP
January 09, 201310:29PM

GERMANY’S Roman Catholic Church has fallen out with a prominent outside expert who was tasked with researching sexual abuse by clergy dating back decades.

The church in 2011 assigned Professor Christian Pfeiffer’s Lower Saxony Criminological Research Institute with analysing data on abuse from German dioceses as far back as 1945. It was part of efforts to address the scandal triggered by revelations in 2010 of abuse in Germany, Pope Benedict XVI’s homeland, and elsewhere.

But the German Bishops Conference said on Wednesday that “mutual trust is shattered” between the bishops and Pfeiffer and it was terminating its agreement with the institute. It said it would seek a new partner for the project.

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GERMANY
Irish Times

Germany’s Roman Catholic bishops cancelled a study into sex abuse scandals within their church today, prompting the lead researcher to accuse them of trying to censor his findings.

Bishop Stephan Ackermann, spokesman on abuse issues for the German Bishops Conference, said the bishops had lost confidence in researcher Christian Pfeiffer and would look for another specialist to continue the study.

Mr Pfeiffer told German Radio the bishops, who had agreed with him in 2011 to open staff files for nine diocese dating back to 1945, had begun demanding changes in the project guidelines including a final veto over publishing its results.

“We regret that this project … cannot be continued and we will have to find a new partner,” Bishop Ackermann said in a statement.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

A report compiled by the committee investigating the treatment of women in Magdalene laundries will be published in about four weeks, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said.

It is expected that the final report will be submitted to the Minister within 10 days.

“As soon as I have had an opportunity to read what I understand to be a very substantial report, I will bring it to Government and it will then be published. I expect its publication within approximately four weeks,” Mr Shatter said.

The independent interdepartmental committee, chaired by Senator Martin McAleese,was forced to extend the publication time-frame after new material emerged. The final report was originally due to be published last September and an interim report was published the following month.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has announced that he intends to bring the Report on the Magdalene Laundries to Government with a view to publication within four weeks.

The Inter-Departmental Committee chaired by Senator Martin McAleese was set up to establish the facts of the State’s involvement with the Magdalene Laundries.

“I understand that the report will be submitted to me within 10 days by Senator McAleese,” Minister Shatter said.

“As soon as I have had an opportunity to read what I understand to be a very substantial report, I will bring it to Government and it will then be published.”

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Wednesday, 9 January 2013

A report on state involvement in the slave-like conditions in the Magdalene laundries is expected to be published in four weeks.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter revealed that he will receive what he called a substantial review within 10 days before bringing it to Government.

“As soon as I have had an opportunity to read what I understand to be a very substantial report, I will bring it to Government and it will then be published. I expect its publication within approximately four weeks,” said Mr Shatter.

The timeframe for the review was extended in November after additional material came to light.

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