ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by Thomas C. Fox | Apr. 23, 2013

After meeting with Pope Francis yesterday, one of the eight cardinals who will be advising him on questions of church governance and reform of the Roman Curia, spoke on Vatican radio:

Australian Cardinal Francis Pell, considered by many the most conservative of the eight advisors, said, “I can tell you what we are not. We are not a cabinet, the Pope does not answer to us. We are not a policy making group we are not an executive group. We are there as advisors to the Holy Father. Now, how that will work I am not quite sure.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A 43-year-old priest has been appointed as the new temporary leader of the Catholic Church in Derry.

Fr Francis Bradley will run the Derry Diocese until a new bishop is appointed by Pope Francis.

The diocese has been without a bishop since Dr Séamus Hegarty retired in November 2011 due to ill health.

Fr Bradley takes over from Monsignor Eamon Martin who was ordained coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh on Sunday.

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

IOWA
Quad-City Times

Steven Martens smartens@qctimes.com

The Diocese of Davenport has temporarily removed two priests from their ministries after allegations surfaced that they inappropriately touched minors.

The Rev. Robert Harness, pastor at Holy Family Church, Davenport, and the Rev. John Stack, chaplain at Mercy Medical Center, Clinton, have been removed from their positions while an investigation is conducted, according to a news release Monday from Bishop Martin Amos.

The allegations have been reported to the Scott County Attorney’s Office in compliance with a memorandum of understanding between the diocese and the county attorney.

Scott County Attorney Mike Walton said Monday the office will review the cases, according to the terms of the agreement.

“The diocese reports any and all allegations of sexual abuse to the county attorney’s office,” Walton said in a statement. This is done without screening or investigation by the diocese regarding truth of the allegations.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea | Apr. 23, 2013

In less than a month, we have seen Pope Francis alter a dizzying array of traditional papal accessories: his home, his shoes, what he sits on, what he wears, how he travels, and more. In addition, he has generated hope with gestures that are possible harbingers of change. His Holy Thursday visit to a prison included unprecedented acts of humility, inclusiveness and unconditional love: He washed the feet of women, a Muslim and an atheist. Vice President Joe Biden received Communion at the Vatican. It all is destabilizing in the best sense of that experience.

As Francis embarks on a papacy seemingly beautifully rooted in Gospel values, however, a dangerous cloud envelops the Vatican. Composed of the precipitates of grotesque abuse of power, and suffering that rivals that of Good Friday, the cloud of unresolved and inadequately addressed ecclesiastical cover-up of the sexual abuse of tens of thousands of innocents across the world threatens the ultimate legitimacy of even this new pope. Two truths are rumbling within that cloud.

The first truth is that Francis must once and for all embody justice and mercy for sexual abuse victims. This soul-searing crisis never has been about the priests who abuse and always has been about the ecclesiastics who protected them while lying to the people of God, including victims. Bishops and cardinals who protected abusive priests at the expense of children and then spent millions defending the indefensible and who remain still in office must be called to account in some meaningful way.

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

WISCONSIN
Fox 6

[with video]

April 22, 2013, by Chip Brewster

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — The Milwaukee Archdiocese’s “Mass of Atonement” has become an annual event during which the church seeks forgiveness for clergy who have sexually abused children.

This year’s Mass, held on Monday, April 22nd, came on the heels of the most recent scandal involving a Wauwatosa priest allegedly touching children.

Earlier this month, Father Robert Marsicek was removed from his post at St. Pius X and the Wauwatosa Catholic School inside. He had been accused of inappropriately touching a young girl. However, this is not the first time such allegations against the man have arisen.

“We are imperfect human beings,” Archbishop Jerome Listecki said. …

“We want to know who’s responsible for this priest and other priests that are being left in ministry. This has always been our concern,” Peter Isley with SNAP said.

SNAP is the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. While Isley says acknowledging the crimes committed within the church is a good first step, it is simply not enough — pointing to the Marsicek case.

A police report shows a teacher came forward after seeing Father Marsicek touch a young girl in what the teacher considered an inappropriate way. As the investigation continued, the report details other similar complaints that were never investigated by police.

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

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune
Updated: April 22, 2013

The Golden Valley man placed ads on Craigslist. He also claims he was abused as a child by a priest.

A Golden Valley man allegedly solicited sex with minors on Craigslist, where his ad said he accompanied his high school son’s baseball team to Florida, where “some hanky-panky went on.”

Stephen J. Schulz, 55, was charged Monday in Ramsey County District Court with one count of solicitation of a child for sexual conduct via the Internet. He was arrested April 19 after exchanging e-mails with a police officer who was posing as a 15-year-old boy.

According to the complaint: An investigator with the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was looking at personal ads on Craigslist that appeared to target minors. One ad by someone claiming to be a 45-year-old “discreet” man from the west metro area referred to his high school-aged son. The man talked about the Florida baseball trip, and indicated that he was looking for oral sex. …

Schulz told police he was sexually abused by a priest as a child, and was a plaintiff in a suit brought by a local attorney against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The attorney’s office would not confirm or deny whether Schulz was a plaintiff.

Peter Isely, Milwaukee-based Midwest director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said he was unfamiliar with Schulz.

“What I want people to know is that people who are abused sexually as children, the vast, vast majority do not grow up to commit abuse themselves,” Isely said. “This is one of those myths that has made it difficult for victims to come forward.”

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Tom Roberts | Apr. 23, 2013

In 2003, with the country newly focused on the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church, a senior U.S. church leader attempted behind the scenes to head off the investigation of the crisis by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, disparaging the institution and its researchers as inadequate.

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, in a strongly worded letter to then-Bishop Wilton Gregory, at the time president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, complained at length about the forms that John Jay researchers produced. He described them as “designed by people who apparently have no understanding of the Roman Catholic Church, ecclesiastical culture, hierarchical structure, or the language of the Roman Catholic Church.”

The previously unpublished letters that circulated among Mahony, Gregory, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, Justice Anne Burke and others provide a behind-the-scenes view of some of the tensions in the air the year after the U.S. bishops formulated their Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People during their June 2002 meeting in Dallas. Public outrage had forced the bishops to take a dramatic step to deal with the scandal of sexual abuse of children by priests and the cover-up of the abuse by scores of bishops across the United States.

The letters are part of Burke’s archives, held by DePaul University in Chicago. Burke, a member of the Illinois Supreme Court, initially served as vice chairperson of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, established under the charter. She later took over as chairperson when Keating resigned. The correspondence provides a window into the high-stakes tensions of that period, as questions swirled regarding the board’s independence and whether bishops would cooperate with or undermine investigations.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 23, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

Some child sex abusers might still be among Uniting Church clergy because of poor record keeping and failure to investigate cases, the church conceded on Monday.

The Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled sex abuse instructed the church to investigate previous cases.

In other evidence, church spokesmen said it had no records of victims seeking compensation before 1998 because of inadequate record-keeping and that since then it had paid $2 million to 63 victims from the 1940s to 1986 but had not reported any cases to the police.

There have been seven cases of child abuse since 1998, all of which were reported to the police, the inquiry heard.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

STUART RINTOUL AND PIA AKERMAN
From:The Australian
April 23, 2013

THE Uniting Church has told a Victorian child abuse inquiry that it has paid about $2 million in compensation to abuse victims arising from 63 complaints in Victoria and Tasmania dating back to the 1940s.

But the Victorian parliamentary inquiry heard that the most recent allegation involving the “criminal abuse of children” was made in September last year, among seven more recent cases.

The church’s legal adviser, Philip Battye, said many of the historic abuse cases involved the Tally Ho Methodist boys home, which closed in 1986, but many of the home’s records had been lost or destroyed.

Mr Battye said of the 63 cases spanning the 1940s to the late 80s, a “smaller rather than larger” number had been referred to police, only one involved clergy and two-thirds of the alleged perpetrators were not church employees but people involved with church homes.

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

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY
April 22, 2013

AUSTRALIA’S first commission of inquiry into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church will be held at Newcastle Supreme Court from May 6.

The NSW inquiry, which precedes and runs separately from the broader federal royal commission into child sex abuse, expects to hear some evidence without the public or media being present, the commission confirmed during a short hearing in Sydney on Monday.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen will rule on hearing in-camera testimony from some witnesses to avoid prejudicing any potential future criminal proceedings, the hearing was told.

The NSW commission of inquiry will consider police investigations of the late Hunter paedophile priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher from May 6 to 17, and Church handling of allegations involving the priests from June 24 to July 12.

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

AUSTRALIA
7 News

April 23, 2013, 6:18 pm Kristy Wettenhall Today Tonight

The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse has recently began and a priest has accused the Victorian Archdiocese of a cover-up.

It’s the Royal Commission thousands of child sex abuse victims have wanted for decades – a chance to finally expose the truth through investigating institutions like the Catholic Church.

But one man fears criminal clergy will carry on undetected, claiming the Victorian Archdiocese is determined to keep its sordid secrets buried.

Victor Buhagiar has recently quit his post as a Catholic priest, walking away from the faith after 12 years leading parishes across Victoria.

Buhagiar claims it has became impossible to continue after he found out the Church was deleting records relating to child sexual abuse.

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

UNITED STATES/NICARAGUA
Washington Post

Ex-Beauvoir teacher Eric Toth, wanted on child pornography charges, is found abroad

By Allison Klein
Updated: Monday, April 22

Eric Justin Toth, the former D.C. elementary school teacher and accused child pornographer who replaced Osama bin Laden on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, has been found in Nicaragua, according to sources familiar with the case.

Toth had been on the run for almost five years. He fled after officials at Washington National Cathedral’s exclusive Beauvoir elementary school found explicit photos of a student on a camera assigned to him, authorities said.

Toth, 31, was taken into custody Saturday night in Nicaragua, but as of Monday afternoon he had not been extradited to the United States, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Toth was not yet in the country.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

David Young– 21 April 2013

THE cleric set to become the next head of the Catholic Church in Ireland has pledged to work to heal the wounds of those who have lost trust in the institution.

Eamon Martin delivered a call for renewal in the church as he was ordained into an interim post ahead of eventually succeeding current Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady.

The Derry-born former teacher today became Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh and will act as an assistant to Cardinal Brady for at least another two years.

The 52-year-old takes up his new post after a period of unprecedented turmoil for the church in Ireland, during which its influence has been damaged by a series of clerical child abuse scandals.

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

ARGENTINA
Washington Post

Argentine ex-bishop’s widow wants Pope Francis to make priestly celibacy optional

By Associated Press,
Updated: Monday, April 22

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — She uses a wheelchair and carries the weight of her 87 years, but Clelia Luro feels powerful enough to make the Roman Catholic Church pay attention to her campaign to end priestly celibacy.

This woman, whose romance with a bishop and eventual marriage became a major scandal in the 1960s, is such a close friend with Pope Francis that he called her every Sunday when he was Argentina’s leading cardinal.

Luro’s convinced that he will eventually lead the global church to end mandatory priestly celibacy, a requirement she says “the world no longer understands.” She believes this could resolve a global shortage of priests, and persuade many Catholics who are no longer practicing to recommit themselves to the church.

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

IOWA
CBS 4

by Mike Colón
mcolon@cbs4qc.com

The Diocese of Davenport has announced that two of its priests have been removed from their duties while investigations into claims of abuse are conducted.

Father Robert Harness is pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Davenport, and Father John Stack is a Chaplin at Mercy Medical in Clinton.

Harness is accused of inappropriately touching a child in around 1990. Stack is accused of the same in the 1980s.

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

IOWA
WQAD

April 22, 2013, by Shellie Nelson

Priests serving in Iowa communities of Davenport and Clinton have been suspended from ministry amid allegations that they had inappropriate contact with children.

Father Robert Harness, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Davenport, is accused of inappropriately touching a minor in approximately 1990.

“The Diocese has reported this to the Scott County Attorney in compliance with the Memorandum of Understanding between the diocese and the County Attorney,” said a statement from Deacon David Montgomery, Director of Communication for the Diocese of Davenport.

Father Harness has been “temporarily removed from ministry” while the matter is investigated.

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

IOWA
Quad-City Times

The Diocese of Davenport says it has temporarily suspended two priests in eastern Iowa while it investigates allegations that they improperly touched minors decades ago.

Spokesman David Montgomery said Monday the diocese received separate reports of abuse allegations last week against Father Robert Harness, the pastor of Holy Family Church in Davenport; and John Stack, the chaplain at Mercy Medical Center in Clinton.

The diocese said that Harness has been accused of inappropriately touching a minor in approximately 1990. At the time, he was a pastor at St. Mary’s in Keota.

Stack is accused of inappropriately touching minors in the 1980s. He worked from 1988 to 1990 at Holy Family.

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

IOWA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport

From Bishop Amos:

The Diocese of Davenport has received a report which states that Father Robert Harness, Pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Davenport, inappropriately touched a minor in approximately 1990. The Diocese has reported this to the Scott County Attorney in compliance with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Diocese and the County Attorney.

Father Harness has been temporarily removed from ministry while this matter is being thoroughly investigated. The Diocese will meet with the leadership of the parish to assess its immediate needs and other issues of healing that may arise.

In an unrelated report, the Diocese of Davenport has received a report which states that Father John Stack, Chaplain at Mercy Medical Clinton in Clinton, inappropriately touched minors in approximately the 1980s. The Diocese has reported this to the Scott County Attorney in compliance with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Diocese and the County Attorney.

Father Stack has been temporarily removed from ministry while this matter is being thoroughly investigated.

The list of assignments for both priests is attached.

We apologize, again, for all those who have been abused and continue to pray for them.

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

IOWA
WSOC

By RYAN J. FOLEY
The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa —

Two Catholic priests in eastern Iowa have been temporarily removed from the ministry during an investigation into allegations that they sexually molested children decades ago, the Diocese of Davenport said Monday.

The diocese received separate reports of abuse allegations late last week against Father Robert Harness, the pastor of Holy Family Church in Davenport, and John Stack, the chaplain at Mercy Medical Center in Clinton, spokesman David Montgomery said.

He said the diocese turned over the reports to the Scott County Attorney’s Office, which has given church officials permission to proceed with an internal investigation into the claims.

The diocese said in a statement that Harness has been accused of inappropriately touching a minor in approximately 1990. At the time, he was a pastor at St. Mary’s in Keota. Stack is accused of inappropriately touching minors in “approximately the 1980s.” He worked at Holy Family from 1988 until 1990.

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

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Michealene Cristini Risley

Pulitzer Prize winning writer Michael D’Antonio deserves another one. Another Pulitzer prize, that is, for his new book, “Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime and the Era of Catholic Scandal.” This work is a 343 page offering that with a flick of a switch floods light onto the dark side of the sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church.

As D’Antonio reveals, the 2,000-year-old church, with its culture of secrecy and unlimited resources, covered-up thousands of cases of clergy abuse for over three decades. Bishops and cardinals used their influence at the highest levels of society around the world to suppress criminal investigations and deny victims both compensation and access to the truth.

The full story of the scandal is told for the first time as D’Antonio follows three major figures in the movement for victims’ rights – a lawyer named Jeffrey Anderson, a victim named Barbara Blaine, and a whistleblower priest named Rev. Thomas Doyle who sacrifices his career to the cause of children who had been raped and molested by ordained men.

In D’Antonio’s telling, Anderson and Doyle emerge as complex men who fought their own demons, including alcoholism and self doubt, to prevail in a thirty year fight. Blaine is transformed from a loyal Catholic social service worker into a fierce international advocate. Near the end of the tale she leads a group of victims from around the world to the International Criminal Court at The Hague to file lodge formal charges of crimes against humanity in a case that names the worldwide church, the pope, and Vatican officials as defendants.

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

NEW YORK
PR Web

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 22, 2013

Four leaders of the international campaign against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church will address the ongoing scandal and the first thirty days of Francis I’s papacy at a public forum Tuesday, April 23 at 7 PM, Bleecker Street Theater New York City.

The event, co-sponsored by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and St. Martin’s Press, will be hosted by journalist writer Michael D’Antonio, author of Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal. Published last week, Mortal Sins has already been hailed by the Boston Globe and others as the definitive work on the greatest challenge facing the 1.2 billion-member church since the Reformation. (To date, 500 American priests have been imprisoned for abuse and $2 billion paid to victims).

Appearing with D’Antonio will be

Jeffrey Anderson, a St. Paul Minnesotan who pioneered the legal strategies followed in every lawsuit brought against the church.

Rev. Thomas Doyle. — Still a priest, Doyle called attention to the looming crisis in 1985, suffered the loss of his career, but spent a lifetime working on behalf of victims

Barbara Blaine, victim of abuse, founder of SNAP, and international advocate

Patrick Wall, former priest and Catholic monk, Wall was a “fixer” for parishes struck by scandal who went over to the other side and has investigated more than a thousand claims of abuse.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013, 7pm
Bleecker Street Theater, 45 Bleecker St, New York City.

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

босна-херзоговина
Glas-Javnosti

BEOGRAD – Sinod Srpske pravoslavne crkve na današnjoj sednici prihvatio je zahtev za razrešenje vladike zvorničko tuzlanskog Vasilija. Episkop banjalučki Jefrem biće administrator do izbora novog vladike na Saboru 21. maja

Portali su juče objavili skandalozne snimke na kojima se vidi vladika Vasilije Kačavenda kako se ljubi sa nepoznatim mladićem ležeći na podu.

Ovi snimci su predočeni Svetom sinodu Srpske pravoslavne crkve još u novembru prošle godine posle čega je episkop Vasilije zatražio da se „povuče zbog bolesti”, ali se predomislio i ponovo zatražio da ostane na mestu vladike dok ne završi izgradnju crkve na Pet jezera kod Bijeljine.

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

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Kansas City Star

April 22

The Associated Press

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The Serb Orthodox Church has accepted the resignation of its bishop in Bosnia after a video posted on the Internet appeared to show him engaged in sexual activity with a young man.

Vasilije Kacavenda submitted his resignation for what he said were health reasons last year but was asked by the Church to keep the post until May.

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

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

By Daisy Sindelar

April 22, 2013

BELGRADE — The Serbian Orthodox Church has approved the resignation of a powerful cleric amid sex-scandal claims that culminated this week with the publication of a graphic video appearing to show him engaged in sexual activity with young men.

Vasilije Kacavenda, the bishop of Tuzla and Zvornik in Bosnia-Herzegovina, retreated from his clerical duties months ago as allegations mounted that he had used his position for years to stage frequent orgies and rape underage boys and girls.

But the April 22 decision by the Holy Synod to accept his resignation appears to be the first acknowledgment of the church’s growing unease with the crush of lurid accusations that seem better suited to Caligula’s court than an Orthodox diocese.

Bojan Jovanovic, a former theological student in Bijeljina, the seat of Kacavenda’s diocese, says he observed numerous orgies organized by the 74-year-old bishop and attended by fellow clerics and prominent businessmen.

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

NEW JERSEY
Observer-Tribune

Posted: Monday, December 3, 2012

By PHIL GARBER, Managing Editor

MENDHAM – To Bill Crane, a lawsuit filed by the Delbarton School against his lawyer is one more tactic of intimidation in the ongoing battle by Crane and others to uncover victims who were sexually assaulted by priests at the school.

The former Mendham resident knows about the subject. He and his twin brother Tom, 46, filed a lawsuit in March alleging that they were sexually abused as youngsters by Rev. Luke Travers, a former Delbarton headmaster, and Rev. Justin Capato, a former Delbarton teacher.

Last month, Delbarton filed a lawsuit in Superior Court in Morristown claiming Crane’s lawyer, Gregory Gianforcaro of Phillipsburg, violated a confidentiality agreement by publicly disclosing terms of a 1988 settlement of a lawsuit filed by a teenager who was a victim of sexual misconduct by a monk at the school.

Neither Anthony Cacatiello, a spokesman for Delbarton nor Michael Critchley, the Delbarton lawyer, could be reached for comment.

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

UNITED STATES
Catholic Life Ministries

by Robert Fontana

Popes John Paul II and Benedict VXI have been calling Catholic Christians to what they describe as a “New Evangelization:” the proclaiming of the Gospel to those people and nations who have a long history of Christianity, but have now rejected its doctrinal tenets and moral demands. The popes have in mind the people and nations of the so-called West—Europe, The United States, Canada, and Australia. They know the stories of the two Testaments, they know the outline of Christian doctrine, but for a variety of reasons, they simply no longer have faith in God.

I think the call for a New Evangelization is spot-on! It’s what I have been doing my entire adult life as a minister in the church, and it is the fundamental goal of Catholic Life Ministries: to awaken faith among men and women who have been raised within the church but live lives of practical agnosticism. Practical agnostics are people who might say they believe in God but do not participate in a faith community, do not pray, and are not guided by a desire to do God’s will. They have not entrusted their lives to the care and providence of a loving God, and for all practical purposes, they are agnostic. These are the people that the New Evangelization is meant to transform.

However, the New Evangelization is being de-railed, knocked off track, by what I call “Ecclesial Deceit.” These are the lies that the institutional church tells, and the people believe, in order to protect the status quo—and they totally contradict the integrity of the Catholic Christian witness. Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles is guilty of “Ecclesial Deceit” on such a grand scale that his successor has suspended him from active ministry. Mahoney ought to be in jail and kicked out of the priesthood, but instead his lies are being perpetuated by the Vatican, where at the recent conclave he was a potential, however unlikely, candidate for the papacy.

How can anyone take seriously the Church’s proclamation that the Kingdom of God and of Christ is breaking into human history through the life and ministry of the Church when not one bishop who has protected pedophiles and sexual predators has been disciplined? I could get excommunicated for advocating the ordination of women to the priesthood, but if I am a Cardinal, and I protect sexual predators who have traumatized hundreds of minors and vulnerable adults and cost the church literally billions in legal fees and payouts, I get to be a candidate for the papacy, keep my pension, and participate in the Sacraments.

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

UNITED STATES
Z Magazine

By Bill Berkowitz

Strategies used by the Church to cover up its worldwide sexual abuse scandal include: the Vatican’s refusal to cooperate with civil authorities; officially sanctioned priest shifting; the destruction of evidence; punishing whistleblowers and rewarding enablers; and blaming the victims.

At the end of February, the eyes of the world were on Pope Benedict XVI as he left the Vatican by helicopter to spend the final hours of what many would characterize as his scandal-dogged papacy at the papal summer retreat. According to the New York Times, “Onlookers in St. Peter’s Square cheered, church bells rang and Romans stood on rooftops to wave flags as he flew by.”

To the tens of thousands of survivors of the Roman Catholic Church’s worldwide sexual abuse scandals, there was little to cheer about.

A Philadelphia Grand Jury report put the long-lived scandal in unambiguous terms: by sexual abuse, “We mean rape. Boys who were raped… girls who were raped…. But even those victims whose physical abuse did not include actual rape—those who were subjected to fondling, to masturbation, to pornography—suffered psychological abuse that scarred their lives and sapped the faith in which they had been raised.”

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

DEUTSCHLAND
diesseits

„Ich kann nicht mehr“ – Der im April 2010 gegründete Zusammenschluss von Opfern sexueller Gewalt „netzwerkB“ steht möglicherweise vor dem Aus. Anfang Juni soll über die Fortführung der Vereinsarbeit entschieden werden. Norbert Denef, Vorstandsvorsitzender und Missbrauchsbetroffener, hält mehr finanzielle Unterstützung für unverzichtbar.

Arik Platzek
Montag, 22. April 2013

Katholische Bischöfe und Politiker wird es freuen: Die im Zuge der Enthüllungen unzähliger Fälle des sexuellen Missbrauchs durch kirchliche Funktionsträger vor drei Jahren gegründete unabhängige Vereinigung für die Rechte und Belange von Betroffenen von sexualisierter Gewalt netzwerkB stellt möglicherweise noch in diesem Jahr ihre Arbeit ein.

Denn Norbert Denef, Gründer und treibende Kraft hinter dem Betrieb von netzwerkB, ist erschöpft. Die Gründe bringt er so auf den Punkt: „Niemand kann dauerhaft rund um die Uhr arbeiten, sieben Tage in der Woche und 365 Tage im Jahr.“

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Helmut Jacob

Ca. 4700 Euro pro Opfer –Kniefall vor der ehemaligen Vorsitzenden des Rundes Tisches?

Unter der Überschrift „Ein Jahr Beratung für Betroffene der Heimerziehung“ teilt der Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) in seiner Pressemitteilung vom 13.03.2013 bemerkenswertes zum Opferfonds für mißhandelte Heimkinder in den zwei Nachkriegsjahrzehnten mit:

„Seit dem 1. Januar 2012 haben sich über 850 Betroffene an die Anlaufstelle beim LWL gewandt, um Beratung und Unterstützung zu bekommen.“ Konkreter fügt der LWL an: „Über 700 Vereinbarungen hierzu seien bereits geschlossen worden, … . So hat der Fonds über 3,3 Millionen Euro für Anträge aus Westfalen gezahlt. Die Betroffenen bekommen das Geld entweder als Ersatz für fehlende Rentenversicherungszeiten ausgezahlt, wenn sie während ihrer Heimunterbringung arbeiten mußten, oder sie bekommen Sachleistungen wie spezielle Therapien finanziert.“ (1)

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Freie Presse

Der ehemalige Pfarrer der Pfarrei St. Marien Oelsnitz-Stollberg-Lugau wurde 2010 mit dem Vorwurf des sexuellen Missbrauchs einer Minderjährigen konfrontiert.

Stollberg (fp). Nach drei langen Jahren jetzt die Gewissheit: Der ehemalige Pfarrer der Pfarrei St. Marien Oelsnitz-Stollberg-Lugau, Josef Reichl, ist rehabilitiert.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by NCR Editorial Staff | Apr. 22, 2013

The sister’s voice cracked with emotion as she explained her disappointment. She and the sisters in her community were “sad, so sad” when they heard the news from the Vatican April 15 that Pope Francis had “reaffirmed” the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the program of reform ordered last year by the Congregation for the Doctrine for the Faith.

Was this the dose of cold reality — the other shoe falling — that would signal that despite all the lovely symbolism of this young papacy, over the long haul the status quo would prevail? We fully understand the sadness the sister who called NCR expressed. Women religious in the United States have been ill-treated over the last four years, targets of a humiliating and, in the end, unjust takeover of their leadership organization. The Vatican has attempted to place their fate in the hands of three men, none of whom has experienced life in a religious community. Their dioceses have only benefited from the work of sisters who increasingly are the last vestige of Catholic presence in some of the most neglected corners of our cities. They stay where others — priests and bishops among them — have fled.

We also know the LCWR leadership has spent many hours and considerable resources to convey the nature of their organization and the work and lives of the women religious so that church figures better understand why the women feel they have been so unjustly treated.

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

WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

At “Mass of Atonement” Listecki must explain leaving Wauwatosa priest with years of child sex abuse reports working with children

At “Mass of Atonement” Listecki must explain leaving Wauwatosa priest with years of child sex abuse reports working with children

Group wants Listecki to “atone” by immediately placing Marsicek on church sex offender registry

Dozens of clergy known to have raped or abused children and minors still being kept secret by church officials

WHO/WHAT
Victims of clergy sexual abuse who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org/SNAPwisconsin.com), after displaying childhood photos and candles in a makeshift memorial, will discuss before attending a “Mass of Atonement” conducted by Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki, the recent and ongoing revelations concerning Fr. Robert Marsicek.

Marsicek, pastor of two Milwaukee area parishes and grade schools, Pius X and Mother of Good Council, was suspended from his job in March after it was learned that he was under a current child sex abuse police investigation in Wauwatosa. Marsicek, however, was already under a police investigation in California since last May for child sexual assaults that took place in the late 1980’s and early 1990s’. And in recent years, according to the Wauwatosa police report, complaints by parents and others about Marsicek were reported to Milwaukee church officials and known by both Archbishop Listecki and Archbishop—now Cardinal Archbishop of New York—Timothy Dolan.

Both Listecki and Dolan left Marsicek working with children and neither archbishop notified parents or parishioners of the complaints against Marsicek or his history in California. Survivors of Marsicek are also coming forward to SNAP and law enforcement who were sexually assaulted by him when working in the Green Bay Diocese in the 1970’s (see Marsicek’s assignment history).

SNAP has long insisted that Dolan, and now Listecki, must release the complete list of all known clergy child sex offenders who have worked or are working in the archdiocese. Approximately half of these clergy belong to religious orders assigned to the archdiocese, and are not on the current archdiocese published list. In a court agreement last month in Federal Bankruptcy Court the archdiocese is required to release the church file of any cleric who is on or at any time added to the registry.

WHERE
Outside of St. John Vianney Parish, 1755 N. Calhoun Rd, Brookfield

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JARED OWENS
From:The Australian
April 22, 2013

HEARINGS conducted by the NSW Cunneen sex abuse inquiry will be closed to the public iif the witnesses are expected to give evidence of criminality.

A directions hearing in Sydney was this morning told the inquiry’s “in camera” sessions would not be limited to the evidence of sex abuse victims, but also “certain other relevant witnesses” whose evidence could relate to “future criminal proceedings”.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan SC, said the public hearings would be held in private, “without access to them by the media or the general public”, so as “not to prejudice by pre-trial publicity any future criminal proceedings”.

Special Commissioner Margaret Cunneen is investigating the circumstances in which NSW Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox was directed to cease investigating sexual abuse at the state’s notorious Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese, and whether church figures obstructed or hindered his investigations.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne has revealed it has dealt with 46 cases of child abuse since 1955.

But the church has told the Victorian child abuse inquiry there may have been more because records were poorly kept.

The Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, says the church’s approach to complaints is much better now than in the 1950s and 60s.

“Children were frankly disbelieved; disbelieved by their parents, they were disbelieved by the adults around them when they raised complaints,” he said.

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

AUSTRALIA
9 News

People confessing to child sex crimes would not be absolved of their sins by the Anglican Church until they reported the matter to police, an inquiry has been told.

Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Philip Freier said while confessions were limited in the church, there was a risk offenders may seek the sacrament to alleviate their conscience.

But the church required confessors to report their crimes to police before they could receive absolution, he told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse.

“There is a risk, and possibly a certain pathology in some offenders, where having any means to convince them that what they’ve done isn’t as bad as what they probably know it is, helps their offending behaviour,” Dr Freier said.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Rob Cooper

Professor Richard Dawkins has claimed that forcing a religion on children without questioning its merits is as bad as ‘child abuse’.

In typically incendiary style, the leading atheist said he was against the ‘indoctrination of religion’ and teaching it as fact.

The evolutionary scientist, speaking at the Chipping Norton Literary Festival yesterday, was repeating claims he made last year which were roundly condemned by charities and politicians.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 22, 2013

Dan Oakes
Justice Editor for The Age

The former principal of a notorious Catholic school in Sunbury has been charged with child-sex offences stretching back almost 40 years after police negotiated the man’s return from Rome with the Catholic Church.

Police have hailed the arrest of Father Julian Fox as ‘‘a breakthrough in co-operation between the Victoria Police and the Catholic Church’’.

The 67-year-old went to the police crime command headquarters at St Kilda Road and was charged with 10 offences, including buggery, indecent assault and common-law assault, allegedly committed in Sunbury and Ferntree Gully between 1976 and 1985.

Police said they had been negotiating with the Church since July over the priest’s return. He has been bailed to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News (US)

MELBOURNE, Australia April 22, 2013 (AP)

Australian police arrested a Roman Catholic priest on pedophilia charges Monday, following months of negotiations to have him returned from the Vatican.

A police statement said the 67-year-old priest, whose name has not been made public, presented himself at Victoria state police headquarters in Melbourne on Monday.

The priest was charged with 10 counts of child abuse allegedly committed in Melbourne’s outskirts between 1976 and 1985. He was released on bail and will appear before a magistrate on Friday.

Police said they had been negotiating with the Catholic Church since July 2012 to have him returned to Australia.

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

AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Monday, April 22, 2013

Most child sex abuse complaints brought to the Uniting Church were not referred to police, an inquiry heard.

Most child sex abuse complaints brought to the Uniting Church have not been referred to police by the church, a Victorian inquiry has heard.

Legal adviser for the church’s Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Philip Battye, said police had been involved in only a small number of complaints.

‘It would be a smaller number rather than a larger number,’ Mr Battye told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse allegations on Monday.

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

AUSTRALIA
WA Today

April 22, 2013

Genevieve Gannon and Melissa Iaria
AAP

Two of Australia’s largest churches say it’s up to the people who were sexually abused as children to go to the police.

The Anglican and Uniting churches in Victoria have together paid more than $2.25 million in compensation to victims over the past 10 to 15 years but have only referred a small number of allegations to authorities, a Victorian inquiry has heard.

Melbourne’s Anglican Archbishop Dr Philip Freier says a culture of disbelieving children who complained of sex abuse and an unwillingness to face up to difficult and shameful things had helped the crime go undetected.

“As you look backwards you can see broadly as a culture we’ve not readily listened to children when they’ve made complaints,” Dr Freier told the parliamentary inquiry on Monday.

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

AUSTRALIA
SBS

The majority of child sex abuse claims brought before two churches have not been referred to police, an inquiry has heard.

Two of Australia’s largest churches say it’s up to the people who were sexually abused as children to go to the police.

The Anglican and Uniting churches in Victoria have together paid more than $2.25 million in compensation to victims over the past 10 to 15 years but have only referred a small number of allegations to authorities, a Victorian inquiry has heard.

Melbourne’s Anglican Archbishop Dr Philip Freier says a culture of disbelieving children who complained of sex abuse and an unwillingness to face up to difficult and shameful things had helped the crime go undetected.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Border Mail

By Barney Zwartz
April 22, 2013, 1 p.m.

Child sexual abuse flourished in the past because Australian culture did not readily listen to children when they made complaints and because the churches did not want to face difficult and shameful things, Melbourne Anglican Archbishop Philip Freier said on Monday.

“We’ve always had high expectations but not the necessary checks and balances,” he told the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled sex abuse.

“Functions would be clustered unhelpfully in one person or office, and it was a small community. People knew each other.

“Children would be disbelieved by parents and the adults around them and sometimes even punished for talking about it. It was an awful thing.”

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

AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | April 22, 2013

If parents and adults had paid more attention in the previous years to the complaints of children that they have been sexually abused by members of a religious church or community, the burgeoning number might have already been nipped right in the bud early on.

Philip Freier, Melbourne Anglican Archbishop, told a Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled sex abuse, said it is most unfortunate children’s grievances were not being heard, at worst just plainly disregarded.

“Children were frankly disbelieved; disbelieved by their parents, they were disbelieved by the adults around them when they raised complaints,” Archbishop Freier said.

Since 1955, the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne said it has dealt with 46 cases of child abuse. But Mr Freier said the numbers could be more because records were poorly kept

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

AUSTRALIA
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne

Archbishop Freier speaks of his Church’s abhorrence for abuse, re-affirms goals of State Inquiry

22/04/2013

Media release

​Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, today said that he welcomed the opportunity, on behalf of all Anglicans in the Diocese of Melbourne, to appear before the Parliamentary Committee inquiring into the handling of child sex abuse by religious and other non-government organisations.

In his concluding statement to the Committee today he spoke of the Church’s abhorrence for abuse, and his own experiences in dealing with both perpetrators and victims. He reiterated his apology for the pain and misery that such abuse has caused both victims and the broader community. He also spoke of the courage of those victims appearing before the Inquiry and the value of their testimony as an opportunity for organisations such as the Melbourne Diocese to better understand and continue to evolve its processes for complaint resolution. Moreover, anything that can be done to prevent abuse in the future is to be strongly affirmed and implemented.

Dr Freier acknowledged the importance of the trust and confidence of the broader community in religious organisations and welcomed the Inquiry as a way in which that confidence might begin to be restored, accepting that both the Inquiry and the Royal Commission have impacted on the wider communities’ faith in the Church.

In presenting the Diocese of Melbourne’s testimony to the Inquiry he spoke of the importance of transparent, fair and efficient processes to deal with complaints and of the importance of an organisational culture which did not tolerate abuse in any form, particularly child sexual abuse, which is the focus of the Inquiry. Assisted by the Director of Professional Standards, an independent office established by the Diocese, Dr Freier outlined the development of protocols, procedures and legislation that had occurred since 1994 and the development of the professional standards practices of the Diocese which today govern the accountability of clergy and church workers.

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

AUSTRALIA
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne

22/04/2013

by Muriel Porter

Fewer than 10 clergy in the Melbourne Diocese have either lost their licences to officiate or relinquished their holy orders because of child sexual abuse allegations, the diocese’s Director of Professional Standards, Ms Claire Sargent, told the Victorian Parliament’s enquiry into how institutions have handled child sexual abuse complaints on Monday (22 April). Some others had not been appointed to roles they had sought, she said.

Her office held records of 46 complaints, the “vast majority” against clergy, since 1955, Ms Sargent added. There did not seem to be any “pattern” of abuse in Melbourne diocese, as had been the case in other dioceses, and complaints seemed to relate to “opportunistic” abuse. Ms Sargent said that records before the 1990s had been “less than adequate”, but there had been increasing documentation since 2002/2003.

A total of $268,000 has been paid in financial compensation to 10 complaints since 2003, not including the costs of counselling and other support provided by the Diocese, the hearing heard. There are currently 685 authorised clergy in the Diocese.

Ms Sargent, the Archbishop, and the Diocesan Registrar and General Manager, Mr Ken Spackman, were subjected to polite but sustained scrutiny over a two-hour period into the Diocese’s history of complaint handling, and its current approach, by the Parliamentary committee conducting the hearing.

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

AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Wayne Flower
Herald Sun
April 22, 2013

A CATHOLIC priest who moved to Rome after years of allegedly committing child sex offences in Victoria has returned to face justice.

Taskforce Sano detectives arrested the priest today in relation to alleged historic child sexual abuse matters committed between 1976 and 1985 in Sunbury and Ferntree Gully.

Police had been negotiating with the Catholic Church over the man’s return since July last year.

The priest’s return to Victoria is seen as a major a breakthrough in co-operation between Victoria Police and the Catholic Church.

The 67-year-old man, along with his legal representative, presented himself to police at Crime Command Headquarters at St Kilda Rd.

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

AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

A 67-year-old Catholic priest has been arrested following negotiations between Victoria Police and the Catholic Church to have him returned to Australia from Rome.

The Ascot Vale man has been charged with 10 offences relating to alleged child sexual abuse between 1976 and 1985 in Sunbury and Ferntree Gully.

He will face the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday.

The Victoria Police Taskforce Sano had been negotiating the man’s return with the church since July last year.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Stuart Rintoul
From:The Australian
April 22, 2013

CHURCHES and community organisations had a culture that helped child sex abuse go undetected, Melbourne’s Anglican archbishop has told an inquiry.

Dr Peter Freier has told Victoria’s abuse inquiry it has records of 46 complaints against clergy and church workers and has paid out compensation of $268,000 in the past 10 years.

Dr Freier said historically there had been a culture that provided opportunities for people who wanted to breach the trust of children to do so and for children’s complaints to be ignored.

“As you look backwards you can see broadly as a culture we’ve not readily listened to children when they’ve made complaints,” Dr Freier told the inquiry.

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

AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | April 22, 2013

Believed to have sought the perks of an anonymous life in Rome, an Australian 67-year-old Catholic priest is bound to face 10 legal cases of sexual abuse related charges once he gets back home.

A spokeswoman from Australia’s local Victoria police said they have been negotiating for the return of the Ascot Vale man from Rome since July 2012.

It was late in 2012 when detectives were able to establish complaints against the Australian Catholic priest, gathered from complaints generated from the Victorian inquiry into child sex abuse. The child sexual abuse cases allegedly happened between 1976 and 1985 in Sunbury and Ferntree Gully.

The priest’s return to Victoria is seen as a major a breakthrough in co-operation between Victoria Police and the Catholic Church, the police spokeswoman said.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

PIA AKERMAN
From:The Australian
April 22, 2013

VICTORIAN Police have charged a Catholic priest with child sex offences after he returned to Melbourne from Rome.

Detectives from Taskforce Sano, which was established last year to deal with complaints arising from the Victorian inquiry into child sex abuse, arrested the 67-year-old man today in relation to alleged historic child sexual abuse matters committed between 1976 and 1985 in Sunbury and Ferntree Gully.

“Victoria Police have been negotiating with the Catholic Church since July 2012 to have the man returned from Rome,” a police spokeswoman said.

“The return of this man to Victoria is considered a breakthrough in cooperation between the Victoria Police and the Catholic Church.”

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

AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Shannon Deery
Herald Sun
April 22, 20131:21PM

FORMER Catholic principal Julian Fox has been charged with child sex crimes spanning two decades.

The former Salesian College, Rupertswood, principal was charged with 10 offences this morning.

The charges came after Fr Fox returned from Rome on Friday.

Allegations have been levelled at the Salesian Order that they knowingly let Fr Fox relocate to Rome after accusations were made against him.

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

AUSTRALIA
Victoria Police

Monday, 22 April 2013

Taskforce Sano detectives arrested a catholic priest today in relation to alleged historic child sexual abuse matters committed between 1976 and 1985 in Sunbury and Ferntree Gully.

Victoria Police have been negotiating with the Catholic Church since July 2012 to have the man returned from Rome.

The return of this man to Victoria is considered a break through in co-operation between the Victoria Police and the Catholic Church.

The 67-year-old man, along with his legal representative, presented himself to police at Crime Command Headquarters at 412 St Kilda Road, Melbourne.

The Ascot Vale man has been charged with 10 offences, including buggery, indecent assault and common law assault.

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

AUSTRALIA
Hong King Standard

Australian police have arrested a Roman Catholic priest on pedophilia charges, following months of negotiations to have him returned from the Vatican.

A police statement said the 67-year-old priest presented himself at Victoria state police headquarters in Melbourne on Monday. His name has not been made public, AP reports.

The priest was charged with 10 counts of child abuse allegedly committed in Melbourne’s outskirts between 1976 and 1985. He was released on bail and will appear before a magistrate on Friday.
Police said they had been negotiating with the Catholic Church since July 2012 to have him returned to Australia.

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

AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

AAP

April 22, 2013

A Catholic priest living in Rome has returned to Australia to be charged with sexually abusing Victorian children after months of negotiation between police and the church.

The 67-year-old man had been wanted for questioning over historical child sexual abuse allegations over the past 10 months.

But the priest and his lawyer walked into the Victoria Police crime department headquarters in Melbourne to face the allegations on Monday.

“The return of this man to Victoria is considered a breakthrough in co-operation between the Victoria Police and the Catholic Church,” a police statement said.
.

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

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Louise Hogan– 22 April 2013

An Irish priest whose love affair rocked the Catholic Church has revealed that he feels new restrictions sent to him by the Vatican make him a “second-class citizen”.

Sean Page (54), originally from Castlerea, Co Roscommon, last year wed his partner, Clarice Young, a mother of five.

The wedding took place in a simple Church of England ceremony near his home in Rochdale, greater Manchester.

But despite leaving the Catholic Church, he still feels it is interfering with his life.

Among the conditions delivered to him in a Vatican document were to ensure any wedding celebration was “low-key”, to “absent himself” from areas where he would have been known as a priest and to undertake to not engage in teaching theology.

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

VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Edward Jay Epstein

On June 5, 2012, financial police in Piacenza, Italy, searched the home of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who was the target of a money laundering investigation. Up until just a few weeks earlier, he had headed the Popes’ secretive organization for dealing with the world of Mammon, called not without irony the “Institute for Works Religious,” since it operates as an off-shore bank that is beyond the laws and regulations of Italy, the European Union, or any other authority. The raid uncovered a secret dossier that included 47 binders of Vatican documents, some of which exposed the Vatican Bank’s loopholes for laundering money, arrangements for discrete accounts, and a note instructing that these documents be delivered to a lawyer and the media if anything foul happened to Tedeschi. As it was reported in the Italian press, he had feared for his life because the some of the secret accounts serviced individuals in the Mafia and other criminal organizations.

Thirty years earlier, the body of Roberto Calvi, known as “God’s Banker” because of his work for the Vatican bank, was found hanging under Blackfriars bridge in London, a well-organized murder which was never solved. Also missing was a half-billion dollars siphoned through the Vatican bank to anonymous corporations owned by unknown parties. And no one found at that time certain documents from Calvi’s attache case, which more than a half decade later were used to attempt to blackmail the Pope for $40 million. (Only $2 million was paid to the blackmailers by the Vatican Bank before the police moved in.)

The secret at the heart of these crimes, as it is brilliantly adumbrated in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part III, was and remains that the Vatican is desperately short of money, and had been for more than a century. It was so impoverished after the First World War that it borrowed $100,000 from a bank to pay for the funeral of Pope Benedict XV. It had priceless art and church properties, but it could not sell them, nor did Dioceses abroad provide funds. All it had was the meager revenue from the sale of postage stamps and the annual Peter’s Pence collection boxes in churches. In light of its dire financial situation, it had no choice but to allegedly accept a settlement in 1929 with the government of Benito Mussolini, which provided it with $91.4 million in cash and bonds. That sum at prevailing interest rates did not yield enough income to pay the Vatican’s expenses, so, to get a high return, the Popes used the Vatican’s sovereign status to set up a no-hold-barred offshore bank under the guise of an “Institute For Religious Work.” As its President Archbishop Paul Marcinkus told me, after he moved to full-fledged money laundering in the Bahamas, “You can’t run the church on Hail Marys alone.” Unfortunately, in the banking scandal following the death of God’s Banker, the Vatican bank lost a large part of it capital.

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

CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino next month will begin including an intention for victims of sexual abuse in a monthly Mass at the diocesan pastoral center in San Bernardino.

An intention refers to when participants in a Mass are asked to say special prayers for someone and keep that person in their thoughts throughout a service. Usually, it is for someone who has passed away, diocesan spokesman John Andrews told me.

On the first Tuesday of every month, the intention of the Mass at the pastoral center will be for all victims of sexual abuse, including those abused by priests, he said.

“It’s not the end-all,” Andrews said. “It’s one more thing we can do to try to walk with them on their journey.”

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

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Balfe was a Jesuit priest ordained in 1927 whose career took him to Indian missions in Alaska, Washington state and Montana. He was also assigned to several parishes and hospitals. Balfe was accused in a lawsuit settled in 2011 of having sexually abused children residing at the St. Ignatius Mission boarding school in Montana. He died in 1969.

Ordained: 1927
Died: 1969

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

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Bartles was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1965. He went on to work in Kansas, Florida, Georgia, Alaska, New Orleans, Jamaica and Brazil. He died in 1993. An accusation against Bartles was revealed in the Fairbanks diocese’s bankruptcy reorganization documents in 2010.

Ordained: 1965
Died: July 28, 1993

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

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Rev. Thomas J. Hidding, s.j. was accused in 2002 of having sexually abused a Florida high school student between 1980-1982, when he was a Jesuit seminarian and teacher. He was ordained in 1986, and spent his career in Louisiana and Florida. Hidding was removed from active ministry after the accusation surfaced in May 2002. He died Oct. 12, 2005.

Ordained: 1986

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

CALIFORNIA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: McKeon was ordained a Franciscan priest of the Santa Barbara, CA Province in 1952. The first 11 years of his ministry were spent at the Franciscan minor seminary in Santa Barbara, where he taught and was for a time Prefect of Discipline. He went on to serve as Promoter of Vocations for the province and, for almost 20 years, pastor of Mission San Luis Rey. He also served as an auxiliary Navy chaplain. McKeon was accused in lawsuits in the 2000s of having sexually abused at least three boys during his time at the minor seminary. He died in 1986.

Ordained: June 8, 1952
Died: Feb. 26, 1986

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

CHICAGO (IL)
CBN

An historic conference for survivors of abuse and trauma on the mission field is being held in Chicago this weekend.

The event is sponsored by MK Safety Net, a group started in 1999 by alumni from a Christian and Missionary Alliance boarding school in West Africa.

“Abuse sent many MKs (missionary kids) and their families on an ‘Unexpected Journey.’ This conference will address actions and steps to help us move toward reclaiming our lives and breaking the silence,” the group said on its website.

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

UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

By David M. Shribman

April 20, 2013

When Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis last month, nearly every Vatican insider, observer, and commentator remarked that he had inherited leadership of a church that was troubled and in upheaval. For nearly three decades, the Catholic hierarchy had struggled with the challenges of a catastrophic sexual abuse scandal, a profound crisis of faith, and a lingering public-relations disaster.

Michael D’Antonio’s “Mortal Sins,’’ perhaps the most comprehensive history of the wrongdoing to date, will only fuel those dilemmas. This is a devastating chronicle not only of sexual abuse but also of abuse of power — or, rather, of the inclination of those in power to avert their eyes from abuse.

Every page ripples with lurid tales of dysfunction, corruption, exploitation — and, ultimately, of heartbreak, both inside and outside the church. The calamity is that this scandal, spanning cases coast to coast and spilling across the globe, seems so repetitive — so utterly familiar — with revelations prompting revelations until the reader, like the church, can barely tolerate the next episode.

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

IRELAND
Irish Central

A look at books – the Magdalene Laundries, Reverend Ian Paisley and the Irish Diaspora

Tip Sheet by Cahir O’Doherty

It Doesn’t Ring a Bell
By Racer Lynch

It hasn’t been two decades since the last Magdalene Laundry in Ireland closed in 1996. That’s well within the living memory of young adults. The question is, what to do with all that suffering now that its come to light?

Even now most would prefer to look the other way, exactly the way they used to when these unpaid gulags were in operation. The Irish government had to be browbeaten for years by a group of committed former inmates and their offspring before finally offering a full apology. That apology was offered in February 2013, by the way, just two months ago.

So the Irish reluctance to face up to the legacy of widespread physical and sexual abuse has been one of the most remarkable aspects of the now three decade long crisis in the Catholic Church. Instead of principled stock taking, denial, defensiveness and even blaming the victims have been the standard responses.

So what happens to the nation that fails to confront its own traumas? Does it hand them and their legacy on to the next generation without comment?

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

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Apr. 21, 2013

Another veteran Vatican figure has signaled openness to civil recognition of same-sex unions, in the wake of similar comments in early February from the Vatican’s top official on the family. It’s a position also once reportedly seen with favor by the future pope while he was still Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The latest expression of support for civil recognition as an alternative to gay marriage comes from Archbishop Piero Marini, who served for 18 years as Pope John Paul II’s liturgical Master of Ceremonies.

“There are many couples that suffer because their civil rights aren’t recognized,” Marini said.

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

UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah

Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz also says you should ask a rabbi before reporting suspected child sexual abuse to police or your city’s child protection services and invokes the No True Scotsman Fallacy – any Orthodox Jew who commits heinous crimes like child sexual abuse is not really an Orthodox Jew, Breitowitz claims, insisting that God and Judaism are not at fault for what its most visible adherent s may do wrong.

Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz says no matter how bad the behavior of haredi Jews may seem, we’re better than the non-Jews, and the haredi community is the place to go to live a fulfilled, moral life.

He also says that you should ask a rabbi before reporting suspected child sexual abuse to police or your city’s child protection services and invokes the No True Scotsman Fallacy – any Orthodox Jew who commits heinous crimes like child sexual abuse is not really an Orthodox Jew, Breitowitz claims, insisting that God and Judaism are not at fault for what its most visible adherents may do wrong.

On top of that, he says students at Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem don’t really have many questions related to this because Jerusalem’s Jews are holier than the Jews elsewhere, and he implies the problems of child sexual abuse, theft and corruption don’t really exist there – which is false.

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

VATIKAN
Katholisch

Der Vatikan hat einen Bericht des UN-Sicherheitsrats über sexuelle Gewalt in bewaffneten Konflikten kritisiert. Es sei “enttäuschend”, dass die Studie religiös motivierte Übergriffe dieser Art nicht berücksichtige, heißt es in einer Stellungnahme des Vatikan-Vertreters bei den Vereinten Nationen, Erzbischof Francis Assisi Chullikatt, vor dem Sicherheitsrat.

In der von Radio Vatikan am Samstag veröffentlichten Stellungnahme betonte der Erzbischof, religiös motivierte sexuelle Gewalt gebe es immer noch in “fast jeder Region der Welt”. Zugleich rief er zu einem entschiedeneren Vorgehen gegen sexuelle Gewalt weltweit auf. Dieses dürfe nicht Opfer politischer Interessen werden.

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

TEXAS
My Plain View

[John Salazar – Archdiocese of Los Angeles]

By SHANNA SISSOM | Herald Managing Editor

TULIA — A trial date has been set for the former Tulia priest accused of child molestation while he served at the Church of the Holy Spirit.

The Rev. John Anthony Salazar was sent to Tulia in 1991 as a convicted child molester who had completed a treatment program for pedophile priests and been banned for life from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

He would spend over a decade in Tulia, and eventually face more allegations of child sexual abuse until his departure in May 2002 when he was removed from ministry. That was a month before the Roman Catholic bishops in America adopted a charter aimed at protecting children from pedophile priests.

Salazar, 57, is scheduled to stand trial on a charge of indecency with a child by sexual contact in Swisher County’s 64th Judicial District Court, presided over by Judge Robert Kinkaid Jr., on Aug. 29, 2013, according to court records. The victim in this case was 12 years old when the alleged abuse began in 1997, according to information in the clerk’s office file.

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

ITALIA
IVG

Savona. Si è conclusa verso le 12,30 la prima parte del volantinaggio “Basta Bugie. Fanno male ai bambini” promosso dagli attivisti della Rete L’Abuso che si è tenuto questa mattina in corso Italia a Savona. “Durante la sola mattinata sono state distribuite quasi 5000 copie del volantino che avevamo preventivato di distribuire nell’arco di tutta la giornata, un numero enorme in una città di 36000 abitanti” spiega Francesco Zanardi, uno dei promotori dell’iniziativa.

“Non sono mancati i commenti durissimi nei confronti della Diocesi savonese, protagonista di un trentennale e ormai indiscutibile degrado morale e civile finalmente visibile a tutti sopratutto dopo la denuncia de Le Iene che ha raccontato oltre ai sotterfugi anche particolari raccapriccianti su quelle che sono state le omissioni a danni di bambini indifesi affidati alle cure del clero savonese. Molte le critiche anche nei confronti dell’attuale Vescovo di Savona, vittima della sua politica all’insegna della disonestà e delle proprie dichiarazioni che lo hanno visto in almeno tre occasioni promettere pubblicamente provvedimenti mai concretizzati” prosegue Zanardi.

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

VATICAN CITY
The Sunday Times (UK)

John Follain Published: 21 April 2013

POPE FRANCIS plans to appoint lay women to top jobs in the Vatican and to dilute the power of Italian cardinals in a radical shake-up of the Catholic Church’s government following a series of scandals.

In a move branded as “revolutionary” by Vatican watchers, the Pope last weekend appointed eight cardinals to advise him on the governance and reform of the Curia, the church’s bureaucracy which has been tainted by controversies over child sex abuse by priests, leaks of papal files and allegations of corruption.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, whom Francis named to head the panel and who is now seen as a “power behind the papal throne”, predicted a difficult fight ahead for the Argentine pontiff.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Radio Dresden

Die katholische Kirche startet ein Präventionsprojekt gegen sexuellen Missbrauch. Beim sogenannten Starkmachtag kommen dazu heute 40 Kinder in der Dresdner Herz-Jesu-Gemeinde zusammen. Die 5 bis 13-jährigen werden dabei durch zwei Clowns sensibel an das Thema herangeführt. Der Kinder sollen auf spielerische Art und Weise lernen, wie sie sexuelle Grenzüberschreitungen erkennen und dagegen vorgehen können. Der Starkmachtag in Dresden ist die Pilotveranstaltung für das Kinderschutzprogramm im gesamten Bistum Dresden-Meißen. Weitere Projekttage sind im Raum Leipzig und Chemnitz/Vogtland geplant.

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

OSTERREICH
Kirchen Privilegien

Kardinal Schönborn zählt zu den 100 reichsten Österreichern

(Wien, 19.4.2013, PUR) In einer Kolumne im Gratisblatt “Heute“ wirft Kardinal Christoph Schönborn den Initiatoren des Volksbegehrens vor, Neid zu schüren und “Unseriöses zu verbreiten“. So streitet er beispielsweise ab, dass die Kirche “steinreich“ sei und verweist einzig auf Kirchen und Klöster als „steinernen Besitz“. Dass Schönborn persönlich über feudale Besitztümer verfügt verschweigt er jedoch. Mensalgüter stehen Bischöfen zu ihrer privaten Verfügung und sollen ein “fürstliches“ Leben ermöglichen, in der Öffentlichkeit gibt es über diese Konstruktionen kaum Informationen: nur die Bischöfe und einige Verwalter wissen darüber Bescheid.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
IKVU

Jutta Lehnert wird für ihr jugendpolitisches Engagement und für ihren engagierten Einsatz gegen sexualisierte Gewalt in der Kirche ausgezeichnet.

18.04.2013 Oscar Romero-Haus/Bonn

Am 3. Mai 2013 verleiht die IKvu in Hamburg den „Dorothee Sölle-Preis für aufrechten Gang“ an JUTTA LEHNERT, Geistliche Leiterin der Katholischen Studierenden Jugend (KSJ) im Bistum Trier und Pastoralreferentin im Dekanat Koblenz.

Die Preisverleihung ist Teil des Programms des 34. Deutschen Evangelischen Kirchentags in Hamburg und findet am Freitag, den 3. Mai 2013, während des Liturgischen Tags zu Dorothee Sölle statt: Veranstaltung „Dorothee Sölle wahrnehmen und weiterdenken“
15 – 18 Uhr, Halle A2 (Messegelände).

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Der Tagesspiegel

von Sidney Gennies
Drei Jahre sind die Missbrauchskandale am Canisiuskolleg und der Odenwaldschule her. Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung fordert nun eine unabhängige Kommission – es kann also noch dauern, bis sich etwas tut.

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, hat sich für eine unabhängige Kommission zur Aufarbeitung von sexuellem Missbrauch an Kindern ausgesprochen. Ähnlich wie die irische „Ryan-Kommission“ solle sie zur weiteren Aufarbeitung des Kindesmissbrauchs beitragen, sagte Rörig am Freitag in Berlin. Die Kommission solle dem Bundestag und der Regierung regelmäßig Bericht erstatten, Daten zu sexuellem Missbrauch erheben und wissenschaftlich auswerten. Vor der nächsten Bundestagswahl wird es aber kaum dazu kommen. „Wir sollten zunächst die Arbeitsergebnisse des unabhängigen Beauftragten abwarten“, sagte die familienpolitische Sprecherin der CDU/CSU-Fraktion, Dorothee Bär, dem Tagesspiegel.

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

ARGENTINA
Irish Independent

Michael Warren Buenos Aires– 20 April 2013

Pope Francis has been accused in an Argentine courtroom of failing to help protect a fellow Jesuit priest from the country’s military dictatorship and right-wing death squads.

Graciela Yorio accused the then Jorge Mario Bergoglio of turning his back on her brother, the late Orlando Virgilio Yorio, before and after he and another priest were taken by the junta’s agents and tortured in 1976.

Fr Bergoglio has said he did what he could as a young Jesuit leader with no real power to protect Fr Yorio and other slum priests from being kidnapped.

He testified in 2010 that he worked behind the scenes to win the freedom of Fr Yorio and the other priest, Francisco Jalics. But Ms Yorio disagreed.

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

CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee

By Robert D. Dávila
rdavila@sacbee.com

Published: Monday, Apr. 15, 2013

A former pastor at Divine Savior Catholic Church in Orangevale is under investigation following allegations that he sexually abused two children who were parishioners in the 1980s and 1990s.

Officials at Divine Savior read a statement at Sunday Masses informing parishioners about the allegations against the Rev. Robert “Bob” Marsicek, who was pastor from 1987 to 2001. The statement said Marsicek is under investigation for a similar complaint in Wisconsin, where he is a pastor in the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

The statement read by the Rev. Roman Mueller, current pastor at Divine Savior, said the allegations against Marsicek involve two children who belonged to the church in the 1980s and 1990s.

Kevin Eckery, a Sacramento Diocese spokesman, said diocese officials learned about the complaint “several months ago” and turned the case over to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

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

OREGON
The Oregonian

By Aimee Green, The Oregonian

Ten years after a man secured a $900,000 settlement for abuse as a child by one of Oregon’s most notorious pedophile priests, an ugly battle over how much his attorneys got to keep is finally over.

The man’s case came to light two years ago after he filed a lawsuit saying that his attorneys claimed $877,000 of his settlement, leaving him with just $23,000. The news stirred public outrage — and deeply embarrassed the legal community, which constantly fights the stereotype of greedy, money-grabbing lawyers.

But since then, the man known only as G.B. has managed to recover $225,000. And though he’s better off than he was before, that’s far short of the $600,000 he should have gotten if his attorneys had taken only the standard fee of 33 percent.

“It’s just a travesty,” said Richard A. Weill, a volunteer trial attorney for the Oregon State Bar.

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

SOUTH AFRICA
Mail & Guardian

A church leader accused in the US of complicity in covering up child abuse shouldn’t be allowed to speak at a local Rezolution Christian conference.

Whilst it is impossible to know with certainty the rate of child sexual abuse that occurs in South Africa because of the general under-reporting of these specific cases, it is estimated that one in three girls and one in five boys suffer sexual abuse before the age of 18 years.

The high incidence of child sexual abuse is by no means unique to South Africa; it is a global problem that knows no cultural, racial, economic or societal bounds.

In an era where access to information has become an easy reality, society now more than ever has little excuse to turn a blind eye when confronted with cases of social injustice. …

One of the speakers attending the Rezolution conference, currently being held in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban this April, is implicated in a class action lawsuit against Sovereign Grace Ministries (an organisation of mainly US-based churches). As the former president of SGM, CJ Mahaney is listed as one of several defendants in the lawsuit which alleges the covering up of a number of cases of sexual abuse within the organisation.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Aleteia

The clergy sex abuse scandal, the challenges that Pope Francis puts before the Church, requests for transparency, the topic of religious liberty and a staunch condemnation of the terrorist attacks in Boston: “Evil exists, and some people choose it.”

Aleteia features this exclusive interview with His Excellency, Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Philadelphia.

Archbishop Chaput, Philadelphia has been rocked by the sex abuse scandal. How badly has it shaken the faithful, and what do you see as the way out?

That expression – “rocked by scandal” – should be retired along with a lot of other media clichés. People get addicted to lurid headlines and the drug of anger. Then they stop thinking clearly about how these tragedies happen and the best way to prevent them in the future. The abuse scandal in the Church is inexcusable. Innocent children and families were terribly hurt. As a Church, we – and by “we,” I mean first of all we bishops – owe victims our sorrow for what they endured, our prayers and our material support in helping them heal. Philadelphia Catholics have spent the last decade frustrated by the sins and mistakes that happened here. It would be a miracle if their morale weren’t low. The way out of this kind of problem is for bishops and other Catholic leaders to act with honesty, humility and justice in dealing with victims and renewing the Church. Over time, that kind of witness is the only thing that heals.

How do you think Pope Francis should proceed in this area? What would you suggest to him?

The Pope seems to know very well what to do. He doesn’t need my advice. His manner is simple, direct and honest. People are starving for that kind of leadership, both within the Church and everywhere else. We live in a modern cocoon of public relations, marketing and message control. Any leader who simply tells the truth, and tells it simply, is like rain in the desert.

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

UTAH
Salt Lake Tribune

By Jessica MIller
| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Apr 19 2013

A former LDS Church missionary accused of having sexual contact with a girl under the age of 14 has pleaded guilty to reduced charges.

Brandon Scott Cordero, 20, of Kaysville, was charged with two counts of first-degree felony of a rape child on Feb. 14 in 2nd District Court.

This week, Cordero pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree felony sexual abuse of child.

According to a probable cause statement, Cordero attempted to have sex with the girl multiple times between Nov. 23, 2010 and May 31, 2012.

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

CANADA
Calgary Herald

By Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald April 19, 2013

A former Baptist church volunteer in Calgary has been sentenced to 38 months in prison for sexual abuse of four boys, dating back more than 30 years, as well as possession of child pornography,

Provincial court Judge Anne Brown said the man has been categorized as a pedophile and has a sexual deviancy toward young boys. She gave him 32 months for the abuse charges and six months consecutive for the nearly 700 images of child pornography.

Russell Louis Rodman, 59, will be registered as a sex offender for life. He must provide a DNA sample and not attend any park, playground or other public place where children would normally attend for the next 10 years.

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

CALIFORNIA
Irvine Police Department

Contact : Julia Engen, Lieutenant 949-724-7112
jengen@cityofirvine.org

IRVINE, CA (February 10, 2013): On Saturday, February 09, 2013, Irvine Police Detectives arrested Zachary Reeder (1-28-83) of Orange for lewd conduct with a child, possession and distribution of child pornography, and child annoyance.

Detectives believe Reeder posed as a female on Facebook and befriended under-aged males. After establishing increasingly inappropriate relationships with the victims online, Reeder would convince them to take sexually explicit photos of themselves and send them to him. The false profile set up by Reeder utilized a photograph of a young white female with light blond hair.

Several victims have been identified including one that is fourteen years of age. At this time, there is no indication that Reeder had any physical contact with victims. The crimes discovered have occurred over the past two years. Detectives are investigating the possibility that Reeder targeted victims to befriend through his employment at Servite High School in Anaheim where he has worked as a history teacher since Fall, 2008. Reeder also has prior employment history at Beckman High School where he worked as a walk-on assistant baseball coach for 4 seasons through last year. The Irvine Police Department is working closely with personnel from the high schools to ensure Reeder does not have access to any students and to notify parents.

Detectives believe there may be more victims that have not yet been identified and are asking anyone with information to contact Detective Frough Jahid at 949-724-7184 or fjahid@cityofirvine.org .

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

CALIFORNIA
Latinos Post

In recent years the act of “catfishing,” or lying to someone online in order to develop a relationship with them, has become increasingly popular. The most notable case of catfishing came earlier this year when it was revealed that star Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o had been the victim of one such prankster. Well now, a Los Angeles-area teacher is accused of acting similarly towards upwards of 100 boys.

The 30-year-old teacher, Zachary Joshua Reeder, worked at Servite High School, a Catholic school in Anaheim. He had previously been a teacher and a coach in Irvine.

Reeder, a married social sciences teacher with a young daughter, is alleged to have begin luring boys into online relationships sometime roughly two years ago using a fake female online profile. The boys were generally believed to be between the ages of 14 and 17.

“After establishing increasingly inappropriate relationships with the victims online, Reeder would convince them to take sexually explicit photos of themselves and send them to him,” police from the City of Irvine said in a press release.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
WITF

Written by The Associated Press | Apr 19, 2013

(Gettysburg) — A Roman Catholic priest in central Pennsylvania will serve 11-1 /2 to 23 months behind bars for stealing more than $380,000 from his parish.

52-year-old former pastor Caesar Belchez transferred more than $190,000 from various accounts at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Bonneauville to an online stock account and more than $120,000 to a personal account.

Adams County Judge Michael George also has ordered Belchez to make full restitution and serve 12 years of probation. He is eligible for work release while serving his sentence.

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

CALIFORNIA
Patch

A former Servite and Capistrano Valley Christian Schools teacher will be arraigned Friday for allegedly encouraging sex acts and soliciting and possessing nude photos and videos of more than 105 underage boys by posing as a teenage girl on Facebook.

Orange resident Zachary Joshua Reeder, 30, faces charges of 22 felony counts of using a minor for sex acts, 15 felony counts of distributing pornography to a minor, 13 felony counts of contacting a child with the intent to commit a lewd act, six felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, two felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14, one felony count of possession and control of child pornography and one felony count of distribution of child pornography.

If convicted on all counts, Reeder faces 44 years in state prison. He is out of custody on $1 million bail.

A Servite High School teacher at the time of his arrest last month, Reeder posed as a female on Facebook and befriended underage males, police said. Scores of boys from Orange County have come forward as alleged victims.

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

CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By Steve Marble
April 19, 2013

A high school teacher is set to be arraigned Friday in Newport Beach on charges he used a fake girl’s Facebook profile to lure teenage boys to send him sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves.

Zachary Joshua Reeder, 30, of Orange, is to be charged with about 60 felonies. He could face up to 44 years in prison if convicted. He taught at Servite High School and previously worked as a teacher and coach in Irvine.

He allegedly established online relationships with at least 106 boys, some of them students he knew through teaching and coaching, prosecutors said.

While teaching at the all-male private school in Anaheim, authorities said, Reeder created a Facebook page designed to win over teenage boys and coax them into posting sexually provocative photos and videos of themselves.

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

CALIFORNIA
LAist

Authorities in Orange County say a 30-year-old high school history teacher and baseball coach victimized 106 boys aged 13 to 17 when he posed as a woman on Facebook and lured the minors into sending him explicit photos and videos of themselves.

Zachary Joshua Reeder was arrested in February, and is due in court today for arraignment.

Reeder is charged with 22 felony counts of using a minor for sex acts, 15 felony counts of distributing pornography to a minor, 13 felony counts of contacting a child with the intent to commit a lewd act, six felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, two felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14, one felony count of possession and control of child pornography, and one felony count of distribution of child pornography, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The suspect allegedly used a phony Facebook account set up as a woman between 2010 and early 2013. He made contact with students at Servite, Beckman, Northwood and Canyon high schools in Orange County. Reeder would often see the same boys he asked for lewd photos and videos the following day in the classroom or in his capacity as an assistant baseball coach.

Reeder has been a history teacher at Anaheim’s Servite High School since 2008, and spent four years coaching baseball at Irvine’s Beckman High School up until the last school year.

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

CALIFORNIA
Press-Telegram

By City News Service
dailybreeze.com
Posted: 04/19/2013

NEWPORT BEACH – Orange County prosecutors Thursday announced more than 100 boys were victimized by a 30-year-old history teacher and baseball coach previously charged with using a fake woman’s Facebook profile to lure underage teenage boys to send him sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves.

Zachary Joshua Reeder of Orange, who was arrested in February on charges of victimizing at least 35 boys, was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday and was being held on $1 million bail. Prosecutors now say 106 boys ages 13 to 17 from Servite, Beckman, Northwood and Canyon high schools fell victim to the alleged scheme.

Reeder taught history at Servite High School in Anaheim, where worked since 2008, Irvine police Lt. Julia Engen said. He has also worked at Beckman High School in Irvine, where he was an assistant baseball coach for four seasons — through the last school year, she said.

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

CANADA
CBC News

A former baptist church deacon in Calgary has been sentenced to 38 months in jail for molesting boys at his church during the 1980s and 90s.

Russell Rodman, 59, was a volunteer at the church when the assaults happened.

He pleaded guilty last November.

His three victims were between the ages of 11 and 14 and the attacks happened between 1981 and 1995.

Rodman later moved to High River, Alta.

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

WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Cardinal Dolan knew of reports against suspended Milwaukee priest but left him working with children

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)

CONTACT 414.429.7259 or Mary Caplan, SNAP New York City Director,
917.439.4187

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, when Archbishop of Milwaukee, knew of concerns by parents and teachers about Fr. Robert Marsicek

, pastor of Pius X parish in Wauwatosa, but left him in ministry with children, according to a police report released today.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel religion reporter Annysa Johnson, “Two Milwaukee archbishops had been made aware of complaints over the years, Archbishop Jerome Listecki in June 2012 and then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan – now a cardinal and archbishop of New York – in 2005. Yet there appears to have been no attempt to remove Marsicek from the two Catholic schools he served until Wauwatosa Police banned him from the schools while they investigated the latest complaint.” (More details can be found at the Wauwatosa Patch story

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

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained a Crosier priest in 1965, Funcheon was moved many times during his career with assignments in Indiana, Nebraska, Minnesota, Florida, Texas, Hawaii, California, and on military bases in the United States and Germany. He left the Crosiers in the 1980s and continued to work as a priest for the Indiana diocese of Lafayette. Funcheon has admitted to sexually abusing numerous children, and accusations span the length of his decades of active ministry. Documents show that Funcheon’s superiors had concerns about his interest in young boys as far back as his time as a seminarian. In 2003 the pastor of a parish where Funcheon served in the early 1970s stated, “The picture I now have is of a predator who has potentially hundreds of direct and indirect victims here at St. Odilia alone.” In 1994 Funcheon was said by Lafayette bishop Higi to be “unassignable”. Funcheon was sent to treatment at the Vianney Renewal Center in Missouri and given retirement status. He spent the late 1990s in Washington state with his ailing mother, was in Florida in the early 2000s, and sometime after 2002 he returned to the Vianney Center, where he was known to be living in March 2013.

Ordained: 1965
Retired: 1995

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

MISSOURI
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A member of the Societ of Jesus, Barry was a teacher and, at some point, a hospital chaplain in St. Louis. He was accused in a 2004 lawsuit, along with three other priests, of having sexually abused a student at a St. Louis Jesuit high school from 1982-1985. Barry’s accuser said the priests plied him with alcohol and “played mind games” to silence him. Barry died in 1987.

Ordained: 1979
Died: Feb. 19, 1987

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

VATICAN CITY
adnkronos

Vatican City, 19 April (AKI) – In a further sign of his wish for a ‘poor church’ Pope Francis has cancelled the annual stipend of 25,000 euros paid to each of five cardinals who oversee the Vatican Bank, the ‘Vatican Insider’ website reported on Friday.

Last year European regulators said the Vatican bank was not doing enough to combat money laundering, and in September, the Holy See hired a Swiss anti-money-laundering lawyer in its bid to enter a ‘white list’ of states judged to respect international standards on fighting money laundering and terrorism financing.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

After hitting Vatican employees, pope Francis’ “spending review” strikes the five commissioners who oversee the Vatican bank and whose work costs 25 thousand euro per year

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
Vatican City

No more bonuses for the Cardinals who watch over the Vatican bank. Each Cardinal already has a “salary” of five thousand euro per month. This money used to be called “piatto cardinalizio” now the name has been modernized to ” Cardinals’ cheque.” All the cardinals of the Curia receive the same amount. The other cardinals take their pay from the dioceses of which they are bishops. But there is an exception. The five IOR commissioners have so far benefited of an additional allowance of up to 2100€ per month.

The “spending review” of Pope Bergoglio extends also to the College of Cardinals. After cutting the 4,000 Vatican employees’ allowances for the papal election, Francis’ decision to “break with tradition” in the field economic resources’ management has once again been made in the name of austerity. The Pope has decided to cancel the fee that is usually paid to the five cardinals who make up the Board of Supervisors of the IOR. The decision was made to coincide with the meeting of the Committee to approve the 2012 budget. The “cuts” amount to 25,000 euro per annum, per cardinal. Because of the economic crisis, The Holy See is implementing a strategy of “spending reviews” and thrifty resources’ management, in order to prevent the precipitation of budgets further into the red. Speaking of the 2012 accounts, the president of APSA, Calcagno, admitted: “Last year we survived, it could have been much worse.”

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

WISCONSIN
The Journal Times

Wauwatosa police say a Catholic priest who was suspended after a teacher reported what she considered inappropriate contact with a child is the subject of numerous complaints.

Rev. Robert Marsicek has been on leave since March 28 after a Wauwatosa Catholic School teacher reported what she thought was inappropriate contact with a child.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/14zzxOQ) Marsicek also is under investigation in California, where a woman accused him of molesting her sons in the 1990s.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by NCR Editorial Staff | Apr. 19, 2013

Editorial
“A church that does not go out of itself, sooner or later, sickens from the stale air of closed rooms,” Pope Francis has written in a letter released Thursday to his fellow Argentine bishops. This is a similar message to the one he delivered to his fellow cardinals before the conclave, impressing them enough to elect him bishop of Rome

In his new note he went on to say in the process of “going out” the church always risks running into “accidents,” adding, “I prefer a thousand times over a church of accidents than a sick church.”

A church of accidents … a church willing to take risks on the edges … a church dedicated to service of the most needy … a church working on behalf of mercy, peace and justice…

This sounds a lot like the church U.S. Catholic sisters have been building in recent decades. Not only U.S. women religious, but also women religious around the world have been at this work. It is the women who have lived closest to the marginalized; it is the women who have worked on the “peripheries;” it is the women who have gone precisely where Francis is encouraging others to go.

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

CONNECTICUT
New York Post

From ASSOCIATED PRESS

HARTFORD, Conn. — A California man and his girlfriend have pleaded guilty to federal drug conspiracy charges for supplying four pounds of methamphetamine to a Roman Catholic priest’s Connecticut drug operation.

Forty-three-year-old Chad McCluskey of San Clemente and 47-year-old Kristen Laschober of Laguna Niguel pleaded guilty Thursday in US District Court in Hartford. Sentencing is set for Aug. 8 and both could face up to 10 years in prison.

The Connecticut Post reports a judge ordered McCluskey and Laschober released to an inpatient drug treatment center.

They admitted supplying meth to suspended priest Kevin Wallin of Waterbury. Wallin pleaded guilty to drug charges earlier this month and faces 11 to 14 years in prison.

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

UNITED STATES
Daily World

Monsignor Keith DeRouen

When Pope Francis set up an advisory council made up of eight Cardinals from around the world, I suspect he upset the apple cart. The advice the Holy Father is seeking centers around Curia reform. The Curia is the administrative end of the Vatican, which includes the ever-in-the-news Vatican Bank. This is exactly one month after his election that he makes yet another unprecedented move. In the Church, there is an unofficial caveat given to pastors and new administrators, “Do nothing for a year!” This Pope obviously does not believe that, nor do I.

The recent scandals that have surfaced about the administration of the Vatican are examples of what can happen when there is no transparency, and when the same people have been doing the same jobs for years and left to their own direction. Pope John Paul II wrote a document on Curia reform but nothing of substance changed. Pope Benedict XVI apparently did nothing in the area of Curia reform either except to resign, which opened up speculation about how bad things had really become in the handling of very delicate issues like money, appointments to important positions, etc., and in a lot of cases revealing a kind of nepotism in place. Not a previous Vatican insider when he was elected, this visionary Pope is not afraid to think outside the box and get other visionary people together to once again open the window to allow the fresh air of transparency, honesty and true collaboration in.

Institutions can easily become afraid of such people. Institutions can easily become resistant to change, innovation and vision. And when an institution has been around for nearly 2,000 years, the chances of those fears surfacing and patterns of turf wars and nepotism developing are very high.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Isle of Thanet Gazette

By Laura Archer laura.archer@KRNmedia.co.uk

A MARGATE priest who had a rape charge against him dramatically dropped is planning to write a book about his 14-month ordeal.

Father John Taylor, 48, of Canterbury Road, walked free from Canterbury Crown Court on Monday after the prosecution offered no evidence against the Old Roman Catholic priest.

Father Taylor was arrested in February last year after a 28-year-old woman accused him of raping her.

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

WISCONSIN
WISN

[with video]

Patch: Wauwatosa priest had prior allegations of inappropriate touching

WAUWATOSA, Wis. —Our news partners at the Wauwatosa Patch report that a former Wauwatosa priest who was relieved of his duties in March after a complaint had prior complaints filed against him.

Fr. Robert Marsicek, 71, was a priest at Pius X parish before becoming the subject of an investigation last month. A Wauwatosa Catholic Schools teacher reported seeing Marsicek touching a student while holding her in his lap.

Marsicek denied the allegations, saying he “had never intentionally touched a child in a sexual manner.”

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