ABUSE TRACKER

DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Wegen möglichen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger ist in den vergangenen drei Jahren gegen 21 Trierer Bistumspriester eine kirchenrechtliche Untersuchung eingeleitet worden. Die Hälfte aller Fälle ist nach Angaben eines Sprechers inzwischen abgeschlossen.

Liegt es an der harten Hand des katholischen Missbrauchsbeauftragten Stephan Ackermann oder der seines obersten Richters Georg Holkenbrink? Oder ist die Zahl der Missbrauchspriester im Bistum Trier höher als in anderen Diözesen? Seit Februar 2010 wurden im Bistum Trier gegen 21 der insgesamt 700 Priester sogenannte kirchenrechtliche Voruntersuchungen eingeleitet, sagte jetzt Bischofssprecher André Uzulis auf Anfrage unserer Zeitung. Dabei geht es um eine mögliche Bestrafung der Geistlichen durch die katholische Kirche. Nach Angaben von Uzulis sind elf Verfahren „seitens des Bistums abgeschlossen“. Über eine Bestrafung wurde nur in einem Fall etwas bekannt.

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OSTERREICH
Steiermark

Nachdem sie von zwei Patres des Stifts Admont sexuell missbraucht worden sein sollen, sind zwei ehemalige Zöglinge im Jänner von der Klasnic-Kommission entschädigt worden. Eines der beiden Opfer klagt jetzt aber auch auf zivilrechtlichem Weg.

Der frühere Zögling soll von den beiden Patres vor 45 Jahren unter anderem bis zur Bewusstlosigkeit geschlagen und auch mehrmals vergewaltigt worden sein. Dafür erhielt der heute 58-Jährige im Jänner von der Klasnic-Kommission 25.000 Euro und 100 Stunden Therapie als Entschädigung.

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OSTERREICH
kath.net

Graz (kath.net/KAP) In der Missbrauchs-Causa im Stift Admont hat der Grazer Bischof Egon Kapellari Aussagen eines Proponenten des “Volksbegehrens gegen Kirchenprivilegien” zurückgewiesen, er habe “unermüdlich behauptet, von den Vorkommnissen nie erfahren zu haben”. Wie die Pressestelle der Diözese Graz-Seckau am Donnerstag gegenüber “Kathpress” mitteilte, habe sich Kapellari dazu “in einem Briefwechsel mit einem der Kläger klar geäußert”, was auch dokumentiert sei. Werde die “unwahre Behauptung” aufrecht erhalten, wolle man dieser mit rechtlichen Schritten entgegentreten, hieß es.

Hintergrund der Klarstellung sind im Raum stehende Vorwürfe gegen zwei hochbetagte Priester des Stiftes Admont, sie hätten vor über 40 Jahren körperliche Gewalt gegen Jugendliche angewendet. Während anfangs von sexuellem Missbrauch nicht die Rede war, sei dies erst später behauptet worden, so die Mitteilung der Diözese.

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NEDERLAND
NRC

by Joep Dohmen

Een klacht wegens kindermisbruik tegen oud-bisschop Jo Gijsen is ongegrond verklaard wegens gebrek aan steunbewijs. De klachtencommissie voor seksueel misbruik binnen de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk vindt wel dat daarmee “bepaald niet gezegd wil zijn dat de door de klager gestelde feiten niet waar zouden zijn”.

Dat schrijft de klachtencommissie in haar advies dat dateert van januari vorig jaar. De uitspraak bleef tot nu toe binnenskamers in afwachting van een oordeel van het Vaticaan.

Gijsen (80) is de hoogste Nederlandse kerkbestuurder die is aangeklaagd wegens kindermisbruik. Volgens de klacht heeft de oud-bisschop van Roermond, toen hij in 1958 kapelaan was in Valkenburg aan de Geul, verregaande seksuele handelingen verricht met de 10-jarige zoon van een parochiaan. De nu 64-jarige man diende zijn klacht hierover in 2009 in, vóór het misbruikschandaal in Nederland geopenbaard werd.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Emily Moulton
From:PerthNow
April 19, 2013

A FORMER Christ Church Grammar School teacher who sexually abused a student nearly three decades ago was today jailed for 12 years.

Lindsay William Hutchinson, 63, who was the director of music at the exclusive Claremont boys’ school from 1981 to 1985, was charged with a range of sexual offences, including the rape of his young victim, who was just 13 when the abuse began.

He was jailed for 12 years for the sexual assault and rape of the boy. Hutchinson will be eligible for parole after 10 years.

In handing down his sentence, District Court Judge Patrick O’Neal described Hutchinson as a “narcissistic” man who not only brutalised his victim over an 18-month to two year period but went to extraordinary lengths to create opportunities to satisfy his sexual desires, even admitting on the stand to choosing boys schools for that very reason.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Sasha Aslanian, Minnesota Public Radio
April 19, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — As the state Legislature nears a vote on a controversial bill that would give victims of sexual abuse more time to sue, a new book chronicles the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, including some key characters and cases from Minnesota.

Some victim advocates are pursuing legislation to remove statutes of limitations in abuse cases, a step they see as a final frontier in the reckoning they seek with the church.

The Child Victims Act before the Senate would drop Minnesota’s statute of limitations for civil suits involving child sexual abuse. The House version would create a three-year window for victims to bring old cases.

In Minnesota, victims of childhood sexual abuse must file civil suits before they turn 24 – a stricter threshold than many states. Four states have eliminated statutes of limitations for these kinds of cases, and three others have opened windows for victims to file.

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ARGENTINA
Fox News

Published April 18, 2013

Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Pope Francis is being harshly criticized in an Argentine courtroom.

Graciela Yorio accused Jorge Mario Bergoglio of turning his back on her brother, the late Jesuit priest Orlando Virgilio Yorio, before and after he was kidnapped by the military dictatorship in 1976.

Bergoglio has said he did what he could as a young Jesuit leader to protect Yorio and other slum priests from being kidnapped by the right-wing junta. He also testified in 2010 that he worked behind the scenes to win their freedom.

But Graciela Yorio testified Thursday that her “brother was practically abandoned” by Bergoglio and the Church.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.comtwincities.com
Posted: 04/18/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT
April 18, 2013

The author of a new book about the priest sexual-abuse scandal is scheduled to appear in the Twin Cities on Friday and Saturday, April 19 and 20, along with St.Paul attorney Jeff Anderson.

Anderson is one of two men whose paths converge in Michael D’Antonio’s “Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime and the Era of Catholic Scandal.”

Anderson, 65, is the church outsider in the book — a Stillwater resident who has made his living suing the Catholic Church on behalf of people who allege assaults by clergy.

In his early days as a lawyer, D’Antonio writes, Anderson was infamous for parties “that would put a rock band to shame.” Anderson’s drug- and alcohol-fueled antics included, on one occasion, jumping onto a windowsill, howling with laughter and then “pissing on the sidewalk below.”

But Anderson emerges as a fierce crusader for the victims he represents. A lawsuit he filed in 1984 on behalf of the parents of a young boy “touched off a legal war of historic and global proportions,” according to the book.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Apr 18, 2013

Michael D’Antonio came to Trinity this week to talk about his new book Mortal Sins, the best account yet of the abuse scandal in the American Catholic Church. D’Antonio, who was part of the team at Newsday that won a Pulitzer in 1984 for coverage of the Baby Jane Doe case on Long Island, is a prolific author who likes taking the side of those who take on the system.

In this case, the system is the Catholic hierarchy; those who took it on, an improbable assortment of lawyers, priests, and abuse survivors. D’Antonio shows the latter struggling through their own personal problems to achieve some measure of justice for the victims. At center stage is Jeffrey Anderson, the Minneapolis lawyer whose out-of-control lifestyle was exceeded only by his determination to hold Catholic bishops’ feet to the fire. His personal redemption helps frame the story.

Apologists for the hierarchy’s response to the scandal like to claim three things: that bishops handled accusations no differently than the heads of other organizations; that priests have, if anything, been less guilty of the sexual abuse of children than others entrusted with their care; and that the Church is now doing a better job of protecting children than any other institution.

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VATICAN CITY
USA Today

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The global economic crisis is hitting Vatican employees in their cassock pockets.

The Vatican said Thursday that Pope Francis, known for his frugal ways, had decided Vatican employees won’t be getting the bonus that traditionally comes with the election of a new pope.

In the past, the Vatican’s 4,500-plus workers — both religious and lay — would get an extra little something upon the death of one pope and another upon the election of his successor: In 2005, the total reportedly came to 1,500 euros (nearly $2,000) apiece.

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NEW JERSEY
Courthouse News Service

By ROSE BOUBOUSHIAN

(CN) – A man who claims that he was sexually molested in the first grade by a priest cannot challenge the scope of discovery in his claims against the Diocese of Camden, N.J., a federal judge ruled.

Mark Bryson, 52, alleges that he suffered traumatic amnesia and repressed memories until Feb. 10, 2010, when he saw a man who triggered memories of his alleged abuser, the Rev. Joseph Shannon.

Bryson then filed a federal complaint against the Diocese of Camden, alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duty claims.

The diocese moved to dismiss, arguing that the statute of limitations bars Bryson’s claims because the abuse occurred over 40 years ago. Citing the 1972 decision Lopez v. Swyer, Bryson countered that New Jersey’s discovery rule tolls the statute of limitations until a plaintiff knows of the wrong suffered.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

April 18, 2013

The Wauwatosa priest suspended after a teacher reported what she considered sexually inappropriate contact with a child has been the subject of numerous complaints by parents and others over the years, according to a Wauwatosa Police report.

Father Robert Marsicek had been repeatedly counseled by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and his religious order, the Society of the Divine Savior, about “boundary” issues and was told to stop hugging and touching children.

In one case, a mother reported that Marsicek touched her daughter’s genitalia through her clothes, but the case was not turned over to police, and there appears to be no record of it at the archdiocese or the religious order.

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.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Alessandro Speciale| Religion News Service,

Updated: Thursday, April 18

VATICAN CITY — Vatican employees won’t receive the special bonus they are traditionally awarded when a new pope is elected, the Vatican confirmed on Thursday (April 18), under orders from Pope Francis to give extra money to charity instead.

“On account of the difficult situation of the general economy, it seemed neither possible nor opportune to burden Vatican institutions with a considerable unforeseen extraordinary expense,” the Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in an emailed statement..

In place of the employees’ bonus, Pope Francis ordered Vatican officials to make a donation to some “charitable organizations.”

The money will be drawn from the pontiff’s personal charity budget “as a sign of the church’s attention for the many people who are suffering” from the global economic slowdown, Lombardi said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

For a Church whose very name – Catholic – means broad, big and universal, it has become head shakingly predictable that when caught and called out in media exposure regarding sexual abuse it ducks head first in to the internal, the interior, the parochial.

The most recent case in point: the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in Pennsylvania.

This diocese is one of a number in which the estimated dozens of victims of Franciscan friar Stephen Baker, who committed suicide on 1/26/13, have come forward.

Besides Altoona-Johnstown, Baker victims have come forward in the Diocese of Youngstown, OH as well as Orchard Lake, MI. He also was assigned in Iver Lake, MN.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Written by
Steve Lieberman

SPRING VALLEY — A religious school principal pleaded not guilty Thursday to misdemeanor charges of slapping a young male student hard enough to leave swelling and bruises to his eye, ear and face.

Rabbi Meilech Spitzer, once the principal at United Talmudical Academy in the village, stood for arraignment before Justice Alan Simon on misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He entered the plea through his lawyer, Robert Conklin.

While Spitzer made his first appearance since being arrested by Spring Valley police in February, the future of the prosecution remains cloudy.

The Rockland District Attorney’s Office needs a signed complaint by the 10-year-old boy to prosecute the rabbi. Without the signed affidavit, the case amounts to hearsay based upon the police investigation and prosecutor Eric Holzer cannot move forward, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 18 April 2013 (VIS) – “The Holy Father shares your sorrow, and that of the many mothers and families who have and are suffering the tragic loss of their loved ones at this moment in Argentina’s history.” These are the words that the Pope addressed to Hebe de Bonafini, president of the Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, in a letter dated 10 April and signed by Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States.

The Bishop of Rome thus responded to the letter that Hebe de Bonafini sent to him this past 21 March, gladdened by Cardinal Bergoglio’s commitment in the “slums” of Buenos Aires and asking him to join with “all those in this unjust world who are fighting for an end to poverty.”

The Pope, writes Msgr. Camilleri, expresses his gratitude for the letter and responds to “your kindness, asking God for the strength for the fight, in the ministry that he has just accepted, for the eradication of poverty in the world, so that the suffering of so many who are in need might cease. His Holiness appreciates and highly esteems those who are close to the most disadvantaged and who make the effort to assist them, understand them, and meet their aspirations. In his prayers, he also asks that those responsible for the common good be enlightened so that they might fight the scourge of poverty with effective, equable, and caring means.”

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Buenos Aires, April 18 – Pope Francis has spoken out for the first time in his pontificate about the forced disappearances during the Dirty War of Argentina, his home country. Speaking on behalf of the pope, Antoine Camilleri, Vatican undersecretary for relations with states, said the pope “shares the pain of many mothers in that moment of Argentine history”. The response came just over a month after the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was named pope and received a letter days later from the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an association of mothers whose children “disappeared” during the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

April 18, 2013 by Susan Matthews

Justice4PAKids will hold a 5K Walk or Run and 1 Mile Fun on Saturday, May 4, 2013, starting at 8 a.m. on the Chester Valley Trail, at 140 Church Farm Lane, Exton PA.

The event will honor victims of child sexual abuse and several Chester County elected officials will be coming out to lend their support. In attendance will be: Chester County DA, Tom Hogan; Assistant DA and Candidate for Chester County Judge, Pat Carmody; State Rep. Duane Milne, and Philadelphia City Councilman, Denny O’Brien, staff members from State Senator Andy Dinniman’s office and Chester County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone.

The timed race will include prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place with T-shirts for all participants. FREE pizza from Season’s Pizza and free snacks from Herr’s. Every child will receive a goodie bag filled such prizes as free bounce time at Bounce U, a free bowling game at The Bowling Palace, Coupons for Rita’s and Dairy Queen and more. A raffle includes Wagsworth Manor doggie day care, Dairy Queen cake, 6 tickets for a behind the scenes tour for QVC, golf passes for Broad Run Golf Course and so much more!

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NEW YORK
City & State

Written by Aaron Short on April 18, 2013

For the past eight years Assemblywoman Margaret Markey has introduced legislation to expand the statute of limitations for victims of sex abuse.

The bill, which would allow child sex abuse victims to file lawsuits against their abusers, has failed to gain traction previously, but Markey believes a number of high-profile abuse cases in the Catholic Church and the Hasidic community, and an increased lobbying effort, will sway her colleagues and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “I really think the governor is open to it,” she said. “If we get it past the Senate he’ll be open to signing it. You can’t pick up a newspaper these days without reading about an incident happening in a school or a religious institution.”

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WISCONSIN
Patch

By Jim Price

Father Robert Marsicek was the subject of a number of complaints about overt physical contact with children over nearly a decade and had repeatedly promised to reduce his contact with students before incidents on March 22 and 26 that led to a police investigation, according to Wauwatosa police reports.

Detectives investigating the recent allegations from a teacher at Wauwatosa Catholic School learned that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee had records dating to 2005 of parental concerns that Marsicek’s physical contact with children went beyond comfortable boundaries.

Marsicek, 71, responded to the police inquiry that his physicality with children is an outgrowth of his own demonstative nature and the children’s warm spirits and has never been for sexual gratification.

But the child in question told officers that on at least one of the occasions, Marsicek had touched and squeezed her breasts, the reports say.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

As many as 75 members of the Magdalene Survivors Together group will meet Judge John Quirke, president of the Law Reform Commission, in Dublin this afternoon to discuss proposed compensation packages for them.

Last February the Government asked Judge Quirke to undertake a three-month review and to recommend criteria to be applied in assessing the help it can provide to the women “in the areas of payments and other supports, including medical cards, psychological and counselling services and other welfare needs”.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Survivors of the Magdalene Laundries are to meet Judge John Quirke today to discuss proposed compensation packages.

The Government last February asked the Law Reform Commission president to carry out a review to devise recommendations on payments and support.

The 75 members of the Magdalene Survivors Together group will meet him today.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that when Judge Quirke has reported, the Government will establish a fund to assist the women, based on his recommendations.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

Monika Preis ist Vertrauensperson in der “Initiative gegen Gewalt und sexuellen Missbrauch an Kindern” – und fühlt sich bei ihrer Arbeit von der Kirche eingeschüchtert.

Interview: D. Stawski

Monika Preis lebt im Bistum Regensburg. Die 50-Jährige ist Lehrerin. Vor sieben Jahren trug sie dazu bei, dass ein Geistlicher wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs verurteilt wurde. Preis engagiert sich in der “Initiative gegen Gewalt und sexuellen Missbrauch an Kindern” und ist Vertrauensperson für Betroffene. Ihr sind noch weitere Vorwürfe bekannt. Die Informationen hält sie aber zurück, weil sie sich von der Kirche eingeschüchtert fühlt. Die Geistlichen, die ihr verdächtig sind, arbeiten ihr zufolge weiterhin in ihren Ämtern. Das Bistum Regensburg teilte auf Anfrage der Süddeutschen Zeitung mit, dass Daten von Hinweisgebern absolut vertraulich behandelt würden. Dem Ordinariat seien in jüngster Zeit keine Fälle von Unterlassungserklärungen gegen Personen bekannt, die sich ans Bistum wandten.

SZ: Welche Missbrauchsvorwürfe sind Ihnen bekannt?

Monika Preis: Ein Fall wurde mir gleich nach der damaligen Verurteilung des Geistlichen zugetragen. Eine Haushälterin erhob Vorwürfe gegen ihren Pfarrer. Er soll mit ihrem Auto nach Tschechien auf den Straßenstrich gefahren sein und dort Buben aufgesucht haben, außerdem soll er eine Art Ziehsohn gehabt haben, einen 16-jährigen Schüler, der bei ihm Tag und Nacht ein- und ausging. Auch im Schlafzimmer des Pfarrers.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Von Henrik Jacobs

Eine Anzeige aus Norderstedt, elf Anzeigen aus Schnelsen und mehrere Verdachtsfälle aus Winsen: In den vergangenen Wochen häuften sich die Vorwürfe gegen den Erzieher Stefan H. beinahe täglich. Jetzt sitzt der 29-Jährige in Untersuchungshaft. Das bestätigte die Staatsanwaltschaft Hamburg. H. soll mehrere Kinder sexuell missbraucht haben. Am Montag wurde Haftbefehl gegen den 29-Jährigen beantragt, am Mittwoch folgte der Haftbefehl. “Es besteht Wiederholungsgefahr”, begründete Carsten Rinio, Sprecher der Hamburger Staatsanwaltschaft, den Haftbefehl.

Stefan H. gilt in vier Fällen als dringend tatverdächtig. Ein Fall soll sich in Norderstedt ereignet haben, drei Fälle in Schnelsen. Die Vernehmungen der betroffenen Kinder dauerten bis zur vergangenen Woche an. Dabei hatte sich der Tatverdacht verdichtet. Ob H. möglicherweise noch wegen weiterer Taten angeklagt wird, ist noch unklar. “Die Ermittlungen gehen noch weiter”, sagte Rinio. Die Hamburger Staatsanwaltschaft hatte die Ermittlungen federführend auch für den Fall in Schleswig-Holstein übernommen.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 18, 2013

■“Damning” police report will be released
■It shows priest admits “sexual attraction” to boy
■Cleric was sued and temporarily suspended in 2009
■But Vatican has just “cleared him,” his relative says
■So archbishop may put him back to work, SNAP fears
■Church hid the fact that a 2nd victim also sued & settled
■A victim’s friend & relative will speak publicly for first time

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, three people who have never spoken publicly before will disclose, for the first time,
–parts of an incriminating police report on a local predator priest who was suspended in 2009, and
–the existence of a second lawsuit against and secret settlement involving the same predator priest.

Along with SNAP members, they will call on St. Louis’ Catholic archbishop to
–keep the suspended priest out of ministry,
–reveal where he now lives and how many settlements involving him have been paid,
–put him in a remote, secure treatment center, and
–reach out to anyone he may have hurt, especially in Belize (where he worked a few years ago).

WHEN
TODAY, Thursday, April 18 at 1 p.m.

WHERE
Outside archdiocesan chancery office, 4440 Lindell (near Sarah) in the CWE

WHO
Three St. Louisans who have never spoken publicly before and are all connected to the same predator priest. One is Christopher Bertke, whose friend was molested by the priest. Another is John Doe, a victim who sued that priest. The third is a relative of a victim of that same priest. (The latter two will talk in silhouette without revealing their names.) With them will be two leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

WHY
In 2009, Fr. Kevin F. Hederman – a St. Louis priest – was suspended from his ministry in Belize when he was sued for allegedly abusing a St. Louis teenager who he met at Christian Brothers high school (CBC) in Clayton.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 18 April 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father appointed: …

– Fr. David J. Walkowiak as bishop of Grand Rapids (area 17,592, population 1,318,000, Catholics 179,500, priests 141, permanent deacons 40, religious 67), Michigan, USA. Fr. Walkowiak, of the clergy of the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio, USA, was born in Cleveland in 1953, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1979. Holding a doctorate in Canon Law, he serves as an associate judge of the appellate tribunal for the Province of Cincinnati as well as the pastor of St. Joan of Arc parish in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, USA. The bishop-elect succeeds Bishop Walter Allison Hurley, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The nuns’ case is the first challenge to Pope Francis’ pontificate

Marco Tosatti
Rome

The “honeymoon” of American “progressive” Catholics with Pope Francis could be over: this is the comment by USA Today (and by other media) after the prefect of the Congregation of the Faith, Gerhard Müller, has confirmed the desire of the Pope to continue with the reform of the US sisters.

It is the first “substantial” action of government about an open problem, and it is significant that the Pope is following and confirming what was arranged by the previous management. At the same time, on the National Catholic Reporter (the outlet of Catholic progressives), the voices of influential nuns criticizing the Vatican’s decision have already been raised.

The facts: last Monday the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a press release. Müller, the Congregation’s Prefect, had met with the leaders of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization that brings together about 70% of US nuns. Other religious orders have left the LCWR and have formed another group. Müller praised the work done by sisters. But at the same time he reported the Pope’s thought. That is, he reported that Pope Francis has re-affirmed the need for a reform of the group; that he has approved the critical “evaluation” written after an apostolic visit (an inspection, in lay terms) to the LCWR and that the nuns must cooperate both with individual bishops and with the US Episcopal Conference.

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POLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on April 17, 2013

An organization to advocate for and help the survivors of clergy sex abuse in Poland is now being created.

We stand in solidarity with these victims as they unite to address the on-going, horrific child sex abuse and cover up crisis in the church. It’s encouraging any time that survivors of abuse can come together to promote healing and prevention. We wish these brave survivors all the success possible as they being their work to help kids and sex abuse victims in Poland.

We urge all survivors of abuse to contact this group and learn just how useful a support and advocacy group can be. We welcome cooperation with this group and applaud their efforts.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Matt Vande Bunte | mvandebu@mlive.com

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – David John Walkowiak will be the 12th bishop of Grand Rapids. The successor to Bishop Walter A. Hurley is a priest in the Diocese of Cleveland, according to an announcement from the Diocese of Grand Rapids.

Walkowiak (pronounced wall-COE-vee-ack) is set to be introduced to the public at a 10 a.m. Thursday, April 18, press conference at Cathedral Square, 360 S. Division Ave. He is scheduled to be ordained as a bishop and installed in Grand Rapids on June 18, which is when Hurley will retire.

You can watch live video of this morning’s press conference here. The June 18 ordination Mass and installation will be a ticketed event, with details announced later.

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MICHIGAN
Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids

Release date: April 18, 2013

Click to watch live coverage of the 10 a.m. press conference introducing Bishop-elect Walkowiak.

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — Pope Francis has appointed Bishop-elect David John Walkowiak (wall-COE-vee-ack), a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio to be the 12th bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids which serves 82 parishes and 182,000 Catholics in West Michigan.

The announcement was made by the Vatican this morning. Bishop-elect Walkowiak succeeds Most Reverend Walter A. Hurley who submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 at age 75 as required by canon law. Bishop Hurley will retire June 18th, the same day Bishop-elect Walkowiak will be ordained to the episcopacy and installed as bishop of Grand Rapids during a Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew.

“I am grateful to Pope Francis for entrusting me with this apostolic office as bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids,” said Bishop-elect Walkowiak. “In accepting this appointment I renew my trust in the Lord who asks me to set out again on a new mission. I thank God for providing me with the opportunity to serve this local church, which I pray will be a blessing to its people.”

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MICHIGAN
Cadillac News

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Pope Francis has appointed a priest from the Diocese of Cleveland as the next bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids in western Michigan.

The Diocese of Grand Rapids announced Thursday that 59-year-old David John Walkowiak (wahl-COH’-vee-ak) will be its 12th bishop. Walkowiak will succeed Bishop Walter A. Hurley, who submitted his resignation in 2012 at the age required by the church of 75.

Hurley will retire June 18, the same day Walkowiak will be installed as bishop.

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CALIFORNIA
KCRA

ORANGEVALE, Calif. (KCRA) —A former pastor of the Divine Savior Catholic Church now faces accusations of sexual abuse and has been temporarily removed from public ministry in the Milwaukee area.

Father Robert Marsicek, 71, who helped build the Orangevale church and served as pastor there from 1987 until 2001, is now under investigation by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department for possible child abuse, according to Kevin Eckery, a spokesperson for the Sacramento Catholic Diocese.

Marsicek has been temporarily relieved of his duties at two parishes in the Milwaukee area, as the church investigates a possible incident of child molestation before Easter of this year.

Eckery said the Sacramento Catholic Diocese learned that there could be two victims — two boys from one family — who experienced child abuse in the late 80s and 90s, months before the Milwaukee allegations surfaced.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

Police investigating a historic rape allegation have granted two men bail after they were questioned by detectives.

The inquiry involves allegations that a girl- now a woman- was raped and sexually molested by fellow members of a Jehovah’s Witnesses group .

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Packet

An officer honoured for his part in uncovering a pagan paedophile ring has paid tribute to the “real courage and inner strength” of the perverts’ victims.

Falmouth Detective Constable Rick Milburn was praised alongside colleagues DC Sarah Brown and PC Rich McSweeney, both based out of Camborne, at the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly police commander’s awards.

The trio helped bring to justice Peter Petrauske, aged 73, and Jack Kemp, aged 69, who were jailed for a combined total of 32 years at Truro Crown Court in December.

The paedo pair were found guilty of “ritualistic, sickening abuse” in the Falmouth area, where victims as young as three were violated during the 1970s and 1980s, the court heard.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Joshua J. McElwee | Apr. 17, 2013

The president of the primary group of U.S. Catholic sisters has asked Pope Francis to consider appointing women to “major leadership posts” in the church and to be open to dialog with women religious.

Franciscan Sr. Florence Deacon, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), makes those encouragements in the May issue of U.S. Catholic, the magazine published by the Claretians.

“Recent popes have ex-pressed gratitude for Catholic sisters’ deep love of the church and generous service to God’s people,” Deacon, whose organization represents some 80 percent of the country’s 57,000 sisters, writes.

“However, there were two investigations of Catholic sisters undertaken during Pope Benedict’s era. We hope that Pope Francis, a member of a religious order himself, will be open to a dialogue with women religious and will work with us to support our mission.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Somerset County Gazette

PAEDOPHILE priest the Rev David Roberts has been sacked and banned for life from officiating by the Church of England.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has been informed of the decision announced last week by the Bishop of Bath and Wells.

Roberts, 68, was suspended as priest-in-charge at St John’s Church, in Park Street, Taunton, after his victim reported the historic offences to the police.

Roberts, of Henley Road, Taunton, was later jailed for 12 years at Taunton Crown Court in December after he pleaded guilty to five charges of sexual assault in the early 1980s against a boy aged 13 to 15.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on April 17, 2013

Just when you thought he was going away quietly …

Sources say that disgraced Cardinal Roger Mahony is embarking on a “mandatory attendence” PR campaign to convince local priests that he’s the good guy in cases of dozens of clerics who sexually abused hundreds of children during his tenure as Archbishop of Los Angeles.

Although this information has not been confirmed with the Archdiocese (they really don’t like to return my phone calls), we are hearing that Mahony has (allegedly) scheduled meetings in each of the pastoral regions in Los Angeles. All priests in the region will be required to attend the meetings, where Mahony is slated to discuss the recent conclave and his role in the management of sex offending priests.

Considering that Mahony’s blog and Twitter feed discuss how he’s being scape-goated, and how he is big enough to pray for all of those nasty folks who dare protest him, I sincerely doubt he will be answering the “tough questions.” Or any questions at all, for that matter.

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TEXAS
Forth Worth Star-Telegram

By Elizabeth Campbell
liz@star-telegram.com

The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth has reached a settlement this week with one of the victims reportedly abused by former priest James Reilly.

The settlement was reached through mediation, and the victim asked to remain anonymous, according to a news release from the diocese. The terms of the settlement were also confidential.

Diocese spokesman Pat Svacina said he didn’t have additional details as to whether the settlement was based on a lawsuit or just a mediated settlement.

In a statement shared with the victim, Msgr. Stephen Berg, diocesan administrator, said he is deeply sorry for any sexual abuse and suffering the victim may have suffered and endured by Reilly.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Jonathan BullingtonTribune reporter
2:49 p.m. CDT, April 17, 2013

The Notre Dame College Prep faculty member who was found dead on the Niles campus this week of an apparent suicide was the subject of a police investigation in whether he had engaged in “inappropriate communications” with “current or former Notre Dame students,” Niles police said today.

Police would not elaborate on the investigation of Richard Balentine, 38, the high school’s director of campus ministry, other than to say it was in the “preliminary stages prior to his death.” Balentine was found dead by staff members in his on-campus residence near the Catholic school’s sanctuary at about 9 a.m. Tuesday, officials said.

“It had not yet been determined if these communications were criminal in nature or a violation of school policy,” Niles police said in a release.

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ILLINOIS
Journal & Topics

By TOM ROBB Journal & Topics Reporter

Updated: A Notre Dame College Prep teacher who a Cook County Medical Examiner’s spokesman said hung himself Monday was being investigated for inappropriate communications with current or former students, Niles police said today (Wednesday) in a written statement.

Notre Dame Director of Campus Ministry and chair of the Religious Studies Dept. Richard Balentine, 38, was found dead in his residential room just off the sanctuary at Notre Dame in Niles Monday. Police said he appeared to have taken his own life.

Niles police spokesman Sgt. Robert Tornabene said his department’s investigation into inappropriate communications between Balentine and students was in the very preliminary stages. Tornabene said he could not discuss specifics of the investigation at this time.

Balentine was to receive the “Teacher of the Year” award from at the Niles Chamber of Commerce at the annual Niles Night of Roses awards banquet later this month.

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ILLINOIS
Patch

By Pam DeFiglio

The Niles Police Department said Wednesday that it was investigating Richard Balentine, a department head at Notre Dame College Prep, before he was found dead on Tuesday.

The department released a statement saying the investigation centered on whether inappropriate communications took place between Balentine and current or former Notre Dame students.

Police interviewed Balentine Monday morning, April 15, and said the investigation was in its preliminary stages, and nothing had been determined as to whether the communications were criminal in nature or violated school policy.

Police released Balentine after the Monday interview, and he was found dead Tuesday. Police said the investigation remains open.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Mail (UK)

Tragedy as Illinois high school teacher hangs himself in campus residence just days before receiving ‘Teacher of the Year’ award

By Helen Pow

Suicide: Richard Balentine, pictured, director of campus ministry at Notre Dame College Prep in Niles, was found hanged at around 9 a.m. yesterday in his home, which is on the school’s property

An Illinois high school teacher has been found dead of an apparent suicide on his school’s campus, just days before he was slated to receive a prestigious ‘Teacher of the Year’ award.

Richard Balentine, director of campus ministry at Notre Dame College Prep in Niles, was found hanged at around 9 a.m. yesterday in his home, which is on the school’s property.

The popular 38-year-old teacher had last been seen at around 6 p.m. on Monday night, police said.

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ILLINOIS
Niles Herald-Spectator

By JENNIFER JOHNSON | jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com April 16, 2013

Updated: April 17, 2013

A Notre Dame College Prep teacher who committed suicide this week had been under investigation by Niles Police prior to his death, authorities said Wednesday afternoon.

The Niles Police Department said in a statement that the investigation of Richard Balentine, 38, involved “inappropriate communications between Mr. Balentine and current or former Notre Dame students.”

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

FACT: Catholic priests abuse at a rate far lower than that of other males in the general population.
Read more

Notwithstanding the media hysteria over sex abuse in the Catholic Church, priests abuse at a rate far lower than that of other males. While even one case of abuse is too many, approximately only 4% of all active priests between 1950 and 2002 were even accused of abuse – a rate far lower than that of other males in the general population.

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IRELAND
Journal

A COMPENSATION PACKAGE for the survivors of the Magdalene Laundry system will be discussed at a historic meeting between 75 women and former judge John Quirke tomorrow afternoon.

Advocacy organisation Magdalene Survivors Together said it has been inundated with requests from women for a meeting with the man tasked by government to examine what form redress should take.

“This is a unique opportunity for the women to express directly what their needs are,” said group director Seven O’Riordan.

Meanwhile, there have been claims made that many of the women who are still under the care of the religious orders and the HSE are not allowed to fill out the form about claiming compensation.

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FLORIDA
Miami Herald

By DAVID OVALLE
dovalle@MiamiHerald.com

A former West Miami-Dade altar boy cannot sue the Archdiocese of Miami for alleged abuse at the hands of a priest because the statute of limitations long ago ran out, an appeal courts ruled Wednesday.

The Rev. Francisco Carrera’s alleged abuse of Jorge Rubio ended in 1976, but the man did not file his lawsuit against the church until May 2011.

Miami’s Third District Court of Appeal said Rubio’s lawsuit should have been filed within four years of the abuse, the time period set by law.

“We certainly do not intend to discredit the courage of these survivors who break the silence that shielded their abusers,” Judge Thomas Logue wrote. “We hold only that Rubio’s lawsuit for money damages cannot be filed so long after the alleged injury was inflicted.”

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FLORIDA
WPEC

April 17, 2013

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida appeals court has ruled that a former altar boy who claimed he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest filed his lawsuit decades too late.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a lower court’s ruling in favor of the Archdiocese of Miami. The archdiocese was sued by Jorge Rubio, who accused them of negligence for not protecting him from the priest’s abuse when he was 10 years old.

Rubio filed his lawsuit in May 2011, about 35 years after the alleged abuse took place. The judges said the lawsuit was barred by a four-year statute of limitations in such negligence cases.

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CONNECTICUT
Minutesman News Center

Published: Wednesday, April 17, 2013

By Meg Learson Grosso
mgrosso@fairfieldminuteman.com
Twitter: @mlearsongrosso

A judge has ruled that twenty-three Haitians may go forward with their lawsuit against Fairfield University, Father Paul E. Carrier, S. J., the Society of Jesus of New England (Jesuits), Hope Carter, and the Knights of Malta–the people and institutions that the lawsuit says should have protected the homeless boys from the sexual abuse they suffered in a school founded for street children by 1992 Fairfield University graduate Douglas Perlitz.

United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny denied the motions of Fairfield University, Carrier, the Jesuits, Carter, and the Knights of Malta, to dismiss the lawsuit on some grounds and granted them on others. The judge said they could be sued for negligent supervision of Perlitz, for negligent supervision of Father Carrier and for a breach of fiduciary duty to the young boys. On the other hand, the judge wrote, in his March 31, decision, that the defendants could not be sued for vicarious liability, or for secondary liability. Nor said the judge, could they be sued on the grounds that either Father Carrier or Hope Carter gave assistance to Perlitz, with the purpose of aiding Perlitz in his wrongdoing.

Mitchell Garabedian, the attorney who won a large settlement against the Archdiocese of Boston in a Catholic clergy sex-abuse scandal, is arguing the case for the twenty-three boys, some of whom are now young men. The lawsuit asks damages of $20 million each for the sexual abuse they suffered from Perlitz between 1999 and 2007 when they were students at Project Pierre Toussaint, the residential school founded in Cap Haitien, Haiti by Perlitz, who, in 2002, was the speaker at Fairfield University’s commencement.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
JimmyCSays

“One does not become a university president without cultivating a close relationship with deniability.”

I had already been thinking how closely the Barchi-Pernetti situation mirrored the scandal surrounding Bishop Robert Finn last year. After it surfaced that the Rev. Shawn Ratigan had surreptitiously taken pornographic photos of elementary school girls at the parish where he was pastor in Kansas City, North, Finn attempted to shift the blame to Vicar General Robert Murphy, saying that he himself never saw the photos and that he relied on Murphy’s assessment that the photos were not pornographic.

In other words, Finn gave himself deniability.

That didn’t fly with a Jackson County Circuit Court judge, of course, who found Finn guilty of a misdemeanor charge of failing to report child abuse. Now, Finn, who is on probation for two years, stands as the most senior Catholic official convicted in the church’s long-running child sex-abuse scandal.

Nevertheless, Finn has refused to resign, even after ruining the reputation of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese. Like Barchi, he’d rather carry on tattooed with shame than bow out gracefully and allow his organization to start afresh with new leadership.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

By Alan Owens
Published on 17/04/2013

LIMERICK’S new Bishop has acknowledged the “darkness” and “the faults” of the Catholic Church and the pain of those who have suffered abuse at the hands of clergy, and has promised to “give the time, the resources, we want to be there” for people who seek the solace of the Church.

Speaking to media shortly after being ordained at St John’s Cathedral last Sunday, Bishop Brendan Leahy said to those struggling with faith or feeling marginalised “we are a community, we are close, we want to be there for each other, there should be nobody feeling alone”.

“We want to say, look, we recognise the faults, the wounds, they don’t heal easily,” he said.

“We want to give the time, the resources, we want to be there. And we recognise that it is very difficult to hear from us, because we are part of the problem, but we want to do our part.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Hayling Today

Published on 17/04/2013

A former choirboy who suffered years of abuse on the Isle of Wight by a “vile” Church of England priest has spoken of his relief at being awarded compensation of £200,000.

The victim, now aged in his 40s, says the abuse he suffered at the hands of Father Maxwell Halahan at St Faith’s Church in Cowes in the 1970s “ruined his life” causing him lifelong psychological damage.

The payout, agreed by the Bishop of Portsmouth, is to cover the cost of psychological treatment and loss of earnings.

Halahan, then aged 81, was jailed for three years in September 2011 at Portsmouth Crown Court after being found guilty of four counts of indecent assault.

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OSTERREICH
Betroffen

Der Wiener Rechtsanwalt Wolfgang Renzl hat Klage gegen die “Unabhängige Opferschutzkommission” eingebracht, an die sich Opfer kirchlicher Missbrauchsfälle wenden können. Der Anwalt verlangt in seiner Klage gegen deren Vorsitzende Waltraud Klasnic und deren Sprecher Herwig Hösele, die Verwendung des Namens zu unterlassen. Gegenüber der Austria Presseagentur begründete er die Klage damit, dass die Kommission einerseits nicht unabhängig sei und sich andererseits “wie eine Behörde” bezeichne und als solche aufzutreten versuche.

Der Anwalt erklärte, die Klage aus eigenem Antrieb eingebracht zu haben. Unterstützt wird er unter anderem von der Plattform “Betroffener kirchlicher Gewalt”.

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OSTERREICH
Salzburg 24

Schläge, Essensentzug, sexuelle Übergriffe, tagelange “Haft” im “Besinnungskammerl”: Fast drei Jahre lang haben sich drei Historiker der Universität Salzburg im Auftrag des Landes mit dem Thema Demütigung, Gewalt und Missbrauch in der Heimerziehung der Salzburger Jugendwohlfahrt auseinandergesetzt und am Mittwoch das Ergebnis in Buchform präsentiert.

Die Studie – mehr als 470 Seiten stark – durchleuchtet dabei die Situation fremduntergebrachter Kinder und Jugendlicher in Salzburg in der Zeit nach 1945. Bis in die 1970er Jahre hinein waren im Bundesland ständig von 1.200 bis 1.500 Personen von einer der im Jugendwohlfahrtsgesetz vorgesehenen Maßnahmen betroffen. Dabei gab es in Salzburg kein einziges öffentliches Erziehungsheim: Kinder wurden in Heime in andere Bundesländer, nach Bayern oder in kirchliche Einrichtungen geschickt. “Kilometertherapie”, nannte man das laut dem Salzburger Universitätsprofessor und Studienautor Robert Hoffmann damals. “Je weiter weg, desto besser.

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POLEN
Tiroler Tageszeitung

Warschau – Die Opfer von Kindesmissbrauch durch Priester in Polen haben sich zusammengeschlossen. Eine neue Stiftung startet mit 15 Mitgliedern, erfuhr das Radio TOK FM. Sie sprechen zwar mit den Medien, geben ihre Nachnamen aus Angst vor Stigmatisierung nicht preis. Der Arbeitsname der Stiftung heißt „Fürchtet Euch nicht“. Das ist eine Anknüpfung an berühmte Worte von Papst Johannes Paul II. während seiner ersten Polenreise im Jahr 1979.

Die wichtigste Forderung der Stiftung ist, die Kirche solle einen Dialog mit den Sexualopfern von Priestern beginnen. „Wir wollen für die Kirche Partner sein. Heute betrachtet sie uns oft als Erpresser. Zu Gesprächen in den Kurien werden wir nicht eingeladen, sondern wie zum Verhör beinbestellt. Wir hoffen, dass das sich dank der Stiftung ändern wird“, erklärte einer der Mitgründer der Stiftung Marek, der angeblich im Alter von 14 Jahren von einem Priester in einem Kleinort der Plock-Diözese sexual belästigt wurde, gegenüber der Tageszeitung „Gazeta Wyborcza“. Danach wurde er süchtig und hatte psychische Probleme. Erst nach 30 Jahren entschloss er sich, die Sache an die Kurie zu melden.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 17, 2013

A support group is blasting Pittsburgh’s Catholic bishop over a short announcement to one parish about a credibly accused child-molesting cleric.

In a letter to Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik, leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org), charge that Zubik minimizes the impact of abuse by Fr. John Wellinger and that he may even be hindering police investigations into sex abuse and cover-up in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The letter raises four major concerns:

— Zubik does not urge victims to call police,
— Many parishes where Wellinger worked have NOT been warned,
— Parishes where 33 other accused clerics have worked have not been told about potential child sex crimes, and
— Zubik does not encourage witnesses and whistleblowers to report what they know to law enforcement.

“You [Bishop Zubik] may believe that since Wellinger is deceased, there is no need to contact the police,” the letter says. “But the cover-up of his crimes may still be a criminal offense. Victims, witnesses and whistleblowers may have important and valuable information that can still protect kids and put wrongdoers behind bars.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Isle of Wight County Press

By Richard Wright

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Former parish priest Maxwell Halahan, who was jailed in 2011 for sexually abusing a child.

THE victim of a former Isle of Wight priest’s sex abuse has been awarded a £200,000 settlement from the Church of England to help him rebuild his shattered life.

The former choirboy received compensation from the church after suffering abuse in the 1970s at the hands of Father Maxwell Halahan at St Faith’s Church in Cowes.

It was not until 2011 that Halahan, then aged 81, was jailed for three years.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Joshua J. McElwee | Apr. 17, 2013

Within hours of the Vatican’s announcement Monday that Pope Francis had reaffirmed a controversial takeover of the primary group of U.S. Catholic sisters, reactions from prominent American sisters ranged from “wait and see” to the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

It may be too early to tell what the news means for the country’s 57,000 Catholic sisters, said several former leaders of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Others said it could signal it is time to reconsider their energy in trying to tamp down potential tensions with bishops.

“LCWR has spent an enormous amount of energy in conversations and in preparation materials and in actual meetings” with Vatican prelates, Mercy Sr. Helen Marie Burns, a former LCWR president, said. “The question becomes, How fruitful is the continued use of that energy for the church as well as for the LCWR organization?”

“It’s a question of limited energy and what’s the best use of that energy in the present moment,” said Burns, who served in LCWR’s presidency from 1988 to 1990.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Wednesday, 17 April 2013, 13:10, by Martin Scicluna

In August 2011, two defrocked priests were sentenced to jail for sexually abusing eleven boys placed in their care at St Joseph’s Home in Santa Venera. The former Father Charles Pulis and Father Godwin Scerri, both members of the Missionary Society of St Paul, had sexually molested the victims, in ways too disgusting to describe here, over a long period until 2003, when the abuse allegations at the St Joseph Home were first brought to public attention.

When Charles Pulis was reported by a social worker, who had caught him at the Home lying on the bed in his vest and boxer shorts with a full erection with a young boy on top of him, the Missionary Society of St Paul chose to believe the priest, who denied the accusation, and not the care worker. The report was dismissed when the victim, not unexpectedly given his vulnerable position as someone who had nowhere else to call home, failed to support the accusation.

When Godwin Scerri escaped from Canada in 1993 to evade police arrest on charges that he had abused a twelve year-old boy for four years, he was welcomed back to the local Missionary Society of St Paul without demur. The Society totally disregarded the Canadian arrest warrant and the serious charges against him. Instead, he was given a job at St Joseph’s Home, including unlimited and unsupervised access to young boys like the one he was accused of abusing in Canada.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Archbishop Marchetto comments on the creation of a mini-synod of eight cardinals appointed to advise the pope and help reform the Curia

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

It is fair to say that Pope Francis’s decision to set up a permanent group of cardinals hailing from the five continents to help him govern the Church and reform the Roman Curia is a ‘daughter’ of the Second Vatican Council. This is what archbishop Agostino Marchetto – a diplomat for the Holy See and former Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, as well as a scholar specialising in the history of the Second Vatican Council – maintains in this interview with Vatican Insider.

What does the pope’s decision to appoint a group of eight cardinals to advise him in governing the Church and reforming the Curia mean? Is it a novelty from an historic point of view?

“The pope’s decision expresses the wish to proceed collatis consiliis along a process of ecclesiastical renewal, with loyalty, that takes into account the episcopal collegiality expressed by a representative council qualified to govern the church and in view of the approaching reform of the Curia. It is an instrument designed to exercise papal primacy in an authentic and proper collegial context. I wouldn’t say that it’s an unprecedented move, given the historical variety in relations between the episcopacy and papal primacy, which are both very complex and in constant evolution, even though a certain level of continental representation, which seems to have been deliberate, gives it its own particular character.”

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

Pope Francis is passing a strange milestone today, one that is more on some people’s minds than I would have guessed: his 34th day in office.

In 1978, Pope John Paul I died 34 days after his election, one of the briefest reigns in church history. His death shocked the world and launched conspiracy theories that the “smiling pope” was murdered by enemies inside the Vatican.

I was in Rome at the time, and based on what I have learned over the years I remain unconvinced of any supposed plot to remove the reform-minded John Paul I. He had serious health problems, and there’s no good reason to doubt that he died of a massive heart attack.

But in the popular imagination, the modern Vatican has never completely shed its Borgia-era image. The idea that powerful prelates will stop at nothing to advance their hidden agendas is still very much alive.

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VATIKAN
Katholisches

(Washington) Gestern empfing Kurienerzbischof Gerhard Ludwig Müller in Rom den Vorstand der rebellischen Ordensschwestern der US-amerikanischen Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). Der Vatikan versucht noch einmal einen Dialog mit jenen ungehorsamen Schwestern, die den katholischen Glauben in Frage stellen, schwerwiegende Verfehlungen gegen die kirchliche Ordnung begangen und häretische Positionen eingenommen haben. Der Konflikt zwischen Rom und den in der LCWR zusammengeschlossenen Ordensfrauen spitzte sich 2012 zu und erreichte im Sommer einen Höhepunkt.

Die Delegiertenversammlung der LCWR, in der fast 80 Prozent der amerikanischen Frauenkonvente zusammengeschlossen sind, mußte im August 2012 entscheiden, ob sie mit den drei vom Vatikan ernannten Bischöfen zusammenarbeiten oder ein offenes Schisma vollziehen wollte. Papst Benedikt XVI. hatte den LCWR-Vorstand entmachtet und unter kommissarische Verwaltung gestellt. Schließlich fand sich eine Mehrheit, die den Eingriff akzeptierte und an der Einheit mit der katholischen Kirche festhielt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Augsburger Allgemeine

Im Augsburger Internat St. Joseph waren körperlicher Züchtigung und sexueller Missbrauch offenbar gängige Praxis. Weitere Betroffene bekräftigen die jüngsten Vorwürfe. Von Rüdiger Heinze

Nach den schweren Vorwürfen , die der Komponist Wilfried Hiller vor kurzem in unserer Redaktion gegen zwei mittlerweile verstorbene Benediktiner-Patres des Augsburger Internats St. Joseph erhoben hatte, haben ihn und unsere Redaktion mehrere Reaktionen erreicht. Der in München lebende Hiller hatte von persönlich erfahrenem mehrfachen sexuellen Missbrauch sowie von persönlich erlittener schwerer körperlicher Züchtigung während seiner Schulzeit in den 50er-Jahren berichtet.

Vorwürfe belasten ehemaligen Seminardirektor

Dies bestätigen hinsichtlich der schweren körperlichen Züchtigung die uns erreichten Zuschriften und Telefonanrufe auch für die 60er- und 70er-Jahre in St. Joseph. Und sie spitzen sich, ohne dass unsere Redaktion die Namen der von Wilfried Hiller Beschuldigten genannt hat, auf den damals amtierenden Seminardirektor zu. Der jetzige Abt des Klosters St. Stephan, Theodor Hausmann, hatte nach Hillers Vorwürfen auch umgehend eingeräumt, dass er selbst zuvor schon zwei Beschuldigungen dieses ehemaligen Seminardirektors erhielt. Eine davon habe laut Richtlinien der Bischofskonferenz die freiwillige Entschädigungssumme von 5000 Euro nach sich gezogen.

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

KREMSMÜNSTER / STEYR. Der Verteidiger des ehemaligen Kremsmünsterer Paters, der von der Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs sowie anderer Sexual- und Gewaltdelikte angeklagt wird, ergreift dagegen Rechtsmittel.

Konkret gehe es um die Frage, ob der illegale Waffenbesitz, der dem 79-jährigen Ex-Geistlichen ebenfalls vorgeworfen wird, die Verjährung hemmen kann oder nicht, so Anwalt Oliver Plöckinger. Wie lange eine Entscheidung des Oberlandesgerichts dauern wird, ist offen. Weil der Einspruch aber nur einen Teil der Anklage betrifft, wird der Prozess dadurch wohl nur verzögert und nicht verhindert.

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POLAND
Interfax

Kaliningrad, April 15, Interfax – A group of citizens, victims of priests-pedophiles, wants to establish a fund in Poland, which will pursue the phenomenon in the Church, the Polish cultural center in Kaliningrad said citing Polish mass media outlets.

The center said that this would be the first organization of this kind in Poland.

People who were sexually abused by priests as children intend to make such cases public and help other victims and their families.

The idea to create such a fund emerged as a result of the discussion of the issue on online forums, during which people talked about what had happened to them in the past. The group comprises both genders. Most of them are over 40 years old but there are those who are just over 20.

The fund’s base was formed in 2011 when three victims had joined, one of the fund’s founders said. “The legal form will allow us to be partners during talks with the Church because when we reach it as private citizens, this establishment is not taking that very seriously,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Global Mail

By Stephen Crittenden
April 17, 2013

The role of record-keeping is close to the centre of what the royal commission into abuse is all about: the battle between the Closed and the Open Society. But — at least in some cases — documents have been subpoenaed only as far back as 1970.

——————

In Belgium in 2010, such was the level of paranoia surrounding the investigation of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church that police broke into the cathedral tombs of cardinals, drilling holes and poking cameras down in search of hidden cachès of documents – which they didn’t find.

Australia’s national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse doesn’t seem to be provoking anything like those levels of lurid sensationalism, at least not so far.

In his address opening the royal commission this month the chairman, Justice Peter McClellan, welcomed the Catholic Church’s repeated assurances that it wants to co-operate fully with the royal commission, and said he understood that the “enormous task” of collecting and organising documents held by the Church had already begun.

Justice McClellan conceded that most of the organisations whose activities are likely to be of interest to the commission are not yet in a position to provide documentation about their internal management practices or the way they have dealt with complaints of child sexual abuse.

But he also revealed that the commission has already served notice for production of documents on “particular bodies within the Catholic Church in Australia, its insurer, the Salvation Army and the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions.”

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ORANGEVALE (CA)
Divine Savior Parish via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

FINAL
April 12, 2013

(Please attribute to Fr. Roman Mueller, SDS, Pastor at Divine Savior Parish)

To be read at all Masses (Weekend of April 13-­‐14),

We have received notice that Fr. Robert Marsicek, a Salvatorian priest and former Pastor of this
Parish, has been accused of sexually abusing minors and has been removed from ministry by the
Salvatorian Provincial.

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WISCONSIN/CALIFORNIA
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

April 17, 2013

Catholic Church officials in Milwaukee had known for 10 months that Father Robert Marsicek was under investigation on suspicion of molesting two children in California, according to the Sacramento diocese.

But they did not move to suspend him from his duties at two local parishes and schools until a new allegation surfaced at a Wauwatosa school last month.

Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the Diocese of Sacramento, said officials there notified the Archdiocese of Milwaukee; Marsicek’s Milwaukee-based religious order, the Society of the Divine Savior; and attorneys for both of the organizations about the California allegations in May 2012.

Marsicek is accused of sexually abusing two children in one family while he served at Divine Savior Parish in Orangevale, according to an announcement read at the California parish last weekend.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Fox 8

[with video]

The Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown says they are conducting an internal investigation of abuse allegations. Diocese spokesman Tony Degol says the investigation started very recently. This just months after dozens of former Bishop McCort High School students came forward with abuse allegations against Friar Stephne Baker who worked as a trainer at the school. Baker committed suicide in January. Since then Principal Ken Salem was put on Administrative leave.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

A priest has been cleared of rape after a court heard the woman made up the allegation based on the violent books of a popular crime writer.

By Telegraph reporters
1:17PM BST 16 Apr 2013

Father John Taylor, 49, found himself accused of raping the woman after meeting his accuser on Facebook and going on a dinner date which ended in sex.

The woman reported him for rape and he lost his job, found himself shunned by parishioners and had his car vandalised three times.

He was also banned from seeing his two young children who live with his ex wife Zsanett, 34, in her native Hungary because of the allegation.

Father Taylor was due to stand trial for rape on Monday but the case collapsed minutes before it was due to start.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that the woman, in her late 20s, told police she identified with the characters in the novels by Martina Cole which feature violent rape.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Mark Abrams

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A prominent nun active in supporting survivors of clergy sex abuse in Philadelphia says she is surprised the new pope is backing the crackdown on a group representing religious women in the Roman Catholic Church here in the US.

Sister Maureen Paul Turlish belongs to the Sisters of Notre Dame and is active in the Philadelphia chapter of Voices of the Faithful, a national organization which represents nuns in the US.

Turlish had hopes that Pope Francis would distance himself from the actions of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who, while pope, directed the organization to change its ways because of what he called “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith,” an apparent reference to the group’s exploration of church stance on sensitive topics including birth control, abortion, church governance, and the ordination of women.

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VATICAN CITY
Alaska Dispatch

Jason Berry|GlobalPost.com|

April 15, 2013

The Vatican announced that Pope Francis supports a controversial plan approved one year ago by Pope Benedict which calls for leaders of the organization representing the majority of American nuns to function under a Vatican-appointed overseer. The pope’s decision lets stand an investigation critics say is of dubious research, and which has been likened to a modern ‘inquisition.’

Upholding the “supervision” of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) signals that despite his conciliatory words on working with women that drew favorable attention in his first days as pope, Francis has taken a traditionalist stance toward progressive American nuns.

A Doctrinal Assessment issued last April by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) empowered Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain as delegate, or effective overseer of LCWR, which represents the superiors of 80 percent of American nuns.

A Vatican Press Office communiqué today said that LCWR officials met in Rome at CDF, the office that enforces doctrinal conformity among theologians and religious groups. The CDF also has responsibility for defrocking priests found guilty of abusing children.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Maureen Fiedler | Apr. 16, 2013

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious has posted a statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in which Archbishop Gerhard Müller of the doctrinal congregation said he talked to Pope Francis about the LCWR mandate and claims the pope affirmed it.

I am frankly very skeptical of that information. First, I doubt this issue is on the top of the new pope’s agenda or that he had much knowledge of this when he was an archbishop in Argentina.

And what does “affirm” mean? Affirm what? Some general, vague report? Did Müller give him a full explanation, talk about the opposition to it among U.S. Catholics or give him an outline of the actions proposed? Did he talk about the accusation that says U.S. women religious spend too much time on social justice and not enough on other issues? I frankly doubt the new pope would “affirm” that.

Did he even mention the questions raised by LCWR at the meeting several months ago? I doubt he gave both sides.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former choirboy who suffered years of abuse in the 1970s by a priest has been awarded compensation of £200,000.

The payout comes two years after Father Maxwell Halahan who worked at St Faith’s Church in Cowes, Isle Of Wight was jailed for three years.

Halahan, a Church of England priest, was found guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court in September 2011, of four counts of indecent assault.

His victim said the abuse, which went on for five years, “ruined his life”.

The payout has been agreed by the Bishop of Portsmouth and will cover the cost of psychological treatment and loss of earnings.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

April 16, 2013

The Wauwatosa Catholic priest suspended from ministry over inappropriate contact with a child is the subject of a similar investigation in California, a spokesman for the Sacramento diocese said Tuesday.

Father Robert Marsicek, 71, was removed from ministry at Pius X Catholic Church in Wauwatosa, Wauwatosa Catholic School and Mother of Good Counsel parish and school in Milwaukee, on March 28, after a teacher reported what she considered inappropriate contact with a child.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department has been investigating an allegation, reported last year, that Marsicek molested two boys while serving at Divine Savior Parish there in the 1990s, said diocese spokesman Kevin Eckery.

The Milwaukee County district attorney’s office declined to charge Marsicek, saying it could not prove the elements of a crime.

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WISCONSIN
Patch

By Jim Price and Viviana Buzo

A popular Wauwatosa priest suspended from his duties during an investigation of possible inappropriate behavior with a child is also under investigation in his former California parish and diocese on allegations that he sexually abused two boys when he was pastor there.

Father Robert Marsicek, 71, was suspended from his duties at St. Pius X Church in Wauwatosa last month for allegations of inappropriate contact with a student. No charges have yet been filed in that investigation.

A congregational letter signed by the pastor of his former parish in Orangevale, CA, announces the investigation there and also sheds more light on the allegations against Father Robert Marsicek in Milwaukee.

The letter, approved by the Diocese of Sacramento and signed by Father Roman Mueller, pastor at Divine Savior Parish in Orangevale, says that Marsicek is under investigation by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and has been accused of sexually abusing minors.

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UNITED STATES
Legal Examiner

Eric Chaffin
Attorney

In February 2012, a Connecticut jury awarded a $1 million verdict to a boy who was sexually abused by a priest 30 years ago. The plaintiff brought claims against the Archdiocese of Hartford, arguing it was negligent and reckless when appointing the priest, who had a history of child abuse.

Though trying a child sexual abuse case against an institution can be more challenging than trying one against the perpetrator, it can also result in more substantial compensation for the plaintiff. Understanding the steps necessary to prove such a case can help increase the odds of securing a result the client deserves.

Negligent Hiring and Negligent Supervision

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one in six boys and one in four girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. The American Psychological Association (APA) adds that other research indicates about 300,000 children are abused every year in the U.S., though the problem is likely underreported.

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NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter

by Ben Feuerherd | Apr. 16, 2013

New York —
Victims of clergy sex abuse are tired of the meager steps taken by the church to prevent these crimes. These victims want the Vatican to acknowledge them and want their suggestions taken into account. Above all, they want bishops and priests who do not report these crimes to be held accountable. These were among the issues raised Thursday at a Manhattan fundraiser for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP.

“Bishop after bishop will say to me, ‘The media have caused this problem,’ ” said retired Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton at the event. “They are the ones the bishops blame on a regular basis, as well as blaming the victims themselves. They want to keep it all quiet.”

Three Catholic organizations sponsored the event — Call To Action – Metropolitan New York; Voice of the Faithful, New York; and Dignity/NY — and was endorsed by the Center for Constitutional Rights. About 50 people attended.

For Gumbleton and the other speakers at the fundraiser, the sex abuse crisis is an institutional problem. Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney showed a clip from his recent HBO documentary, “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” to prove this point. The clip showed Laurie Goodstein of The New York Times speaking about her investigation of clergy sex abuse at a church-run school for the deaf in Wisconsin. The documentary says documents Goodstein unearthed implicated Pope Benedict XVI in an attempt to keep the abuse quiet.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by Edward Pentin Monday, April 15, 2013

For the third time in as many weeks, Pope Francis has warned not to speak ill of others, and again mentioned the devil in another striking homily this morning in the chapel of the Vatican’s Santa Martha residence.

Calumny, he said, is worse than sin and is the direct expression of Satan. “We are all sinners; all of us. We all commit sins. But calumny is something else. It is of course a sin, too, but it is something more,” he said, according to a Vatican Radio report.

“Calumny aims to destroy the work of God, and calumny comes from a very evil thing: it is born of hatred. And hate is the work of Satan. Calumny destroys the work of God in people, in their souls. Calumny uses lies to get ahead.” Be in no doubt, he said: “Where there is calumny, there is Satan himself.”

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Quotidiano

Roma, 15 aprile 2013 – “La calunnia distrugge l’opera di Dio nelle persone”, “è peggio di un peccato: la calunnia è un’espressione diretta di Satana”. Questo è il monito lanciato da Papa Francesco nella consueta omelia mattutina, durante la messa presieduta nella cappella della Domus Santa Marta. Il Pontefice ha inoltre invitato a pregare, come aveva già fatto ieri, per i tanti martiri che anche oggi sono falsamente accusati, perseguitati e uccisi in odio alla fede. Tra essi, il Santo Padre, ha ricordato il primo martire della Chiesa, Stefano, che è stato vittima della calunnia. “Stefano viene trascinato davanti al sinedrio per via della sua testimonianza al Vangelo. Qui lo accusano dei falsi testimoni”. Così, ha sottolineato il Pontefice, i nemici hanno intrapreso “la strada della lotta sporca: la calunnia”.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Vatican Insider

La homilía de Bergoglio en la misa con el personal de los Servicios telefónicos vaticanos y de la Oficina de Internet del Vaticano

Redacción
Roma

«La calumnia destruye la obra de Dios en las personas». Lo afirmó el Papa en la misa de hoy en Santa Marta en la que participaron, entre otros, el personal de los Servicios telefónicos vaticanos y de la Oficina de Internet del Vaticano. Una síntesis de la homilía fue publicada por la radio Vaticana.

El Papa Bergoglio invitó a rezar por todos los mártires que todavía hoy siguen siendo injustamente acusados, perseguidos y asesinados por su fe. «Esteban, el primer mártir de la Iglesia –observó– es una víctima de la calumnia». Y la calumnia, indicó el nuevo Pontífice, «es peor que un pecado: la calumnia es una expresión directa de Satanás». Los enemigos de Esteban, explicó el Papa, «tomaron la vía de la lucha sucia: la calumnia».

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Vatican Insider

L’omelia di Bergoglio al personale il personale dei Servizi telefonici vaticani e dell’Ufficio Internet vaticano

Redazione
Roma

«La calunnia distrugge l’opera di Dio nelle persone». Lo ha affermato il Papa nella messa a Santa Marta, cui oggi ha partecipato, tra gli altri, il personale dei Servizi telefonici vaticani e dell’Ufficio Internet vaticano. Una sintesi dell’omelia del Pontefice è pubblicata dalla Radiovaticana.

Papa Bergoglio ha invitato a pregare per i tanti martiri che anche oggi sono falsamente accusati, perseguitati e uccisi in odio alla fede. «Stefano, il primo martire della Chiesa, – ha osservato il Papa – è una vittima della calunnia.

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VATICAN CITY
Zenit

Vatican City, April 15, 2013 (Zenit.org) Staff

Drawing from the First Reading account of Stephen, the first martyr, being dragged before the Sanhedrin, Pope Francis today strongly condemned the sin of calumny.

At his customary morning Mass in Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Holy Father noted that Stephen was accused of “false witness,” and that his enemies chose “the path of calumny.”

Vatican Radio reported on the Holy Father’s homily, noting that Francis described calumny as worse than sin and a direct expression of Satan.

“We are all sinners; all of us. We all commit sins. But calumny is something else. It is of course a sin, too, but it is something more. Calumny aims to destroy the work of God, and calumny comes from a very evil thing: it is born of hatred. And hate is the work of Satan. Calumny destroys the work of God in people, in their souls. Calumny uses lies to get ahead. And let us be in no doubt, eh?: Where there is calumny, there is Satan himself,” he said.

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CZECH REPUBLIC
Prague Daily Monitor

ČTK |

15 April 2013

Olomouc, North Moravia, April 12 (CTK) – The Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church Metropolitan Krystof stepped down Friday amid his critics’ allegations that he has breached his oath as a monk and had sex with women, a church dignitary said, adding that Krystof has resigned on his own for the sake of the church’s unity.

Krystof (Christopher of Prague), 59, previously dismissed the accusations and said he would take legal steps to clean his name.

TV Nova reported last week that Krystof, who headed the Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands and Slovakia from 2006, had several girlfriends with whom he has children. It said the urged Primate Krystof to refute the accusations by mid-May.

According to Nova, the church has accused Krystof of having sex with church synod discussed the issue at an extraordinary meeting and the wife of one of the priests for seven years. In addition, she is not the only woman with whom Krystof committed a sin. He has even children with others, maybe up to ten of them, Nova said.

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CZECH REPUBLIC
Columbus Dispatch

PRAGUE — The head of the Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic and Slovakia resigned yesterday, amid allegations of affairs with women and fathering illegitimate children.

Having already denied the charges, Metropolitan Krystof, 59, opted to resign to help maintain the unity of the church, a church spokesman said.

TV Nova cited church documents suggesting the metropolitan had an affair with a priest’s wife. It is also alleged that he had fathered several illegitimate children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
San Francisco Chronicle

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in central Pennsylvania says it is investigating claims that a Franciscan friar who committed suicide in January molested Catholic high school students when he helped at the school from 1992 to 2001.

More than 50 former students at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown have hired attorneys and say they intend to sue church and school officials they believe are responsible for their alleged abuse by Brother Stephen Baker.

Baker committed suicide Jan. 26 at a monastery in Newry more than a week after the Youngstown, Ohio diocese disclosed financial settlements involving 11 students who claimed Baker abused them at a northeastern Ohio school in the late 1980s.

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MEXIQUE
Lavenir

Le procès de l’abbé Ernesto Rueda-Moreno a commencé. En l’absence de l’ancien curé de Tarcienne, retourné au Mexique.

L’abbé Ernesto Rueda-Moreno, de nationalité mexicaine, a exercé durant 3 ans comme curé de la paroisse Saint-Martin, à Tarcienne (Walcourt). Ce mardi, il était cité à comparaître devant le tribunal correctionnel de Dinant, pour des faits de moeurs, que l’on pourrait qualifier d’une gravité relative. On peut même écrire que si le prévenu n’avait pas d’ascendant moral sur sa victime mineure, il n’aurait pas eu à se défendre dans les prétoires.

Que lui reproche-t-on? D’avoir embrassé et enlacé une jeune paroissienne, issue d’une famille très croyante au sein de laquelle il était régulièrement accueilli.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Published – 15 April 2013

A group representing victims of child abuse has revealed that several survivors have received death threats, warning them against giving evidence to the Royal Commission. The group says the threats have come from individuals inside the Catholic Church, and are yet another barrier to survivors coming forward.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Randy Griffith rgriffith@tribdem.com

ALTOONA — Facing several lawsuits, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown is conducting its own investigation into events surrounding allegations that a Franciscan friar sexually abused some Bishop McCort students in the 1990s and early 2000s.

“I can confirm that the diocese is conducting an investigation,” spokesman Tony DeGol said in an emailed statement.

“As for the status, I can tell you that it is ongoing.”

Baker died in late January of a self-inflicted stab wound to the heart at his residence in St. Bernardine Monastery near Hollidaysburg. He was 62.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Radio Vatikan

Die Anwälte von Missbrauchsopfern im kirchlichen Bereich wollen vertrauliche Unterlagen einsehen. Sie fordern von Ordensgemeinschaften Einsicht in deren Aufzeichnungen über Priester, die des Missbrauchs beschuldigt werden. An diesem Dienstag soll bei einer gerichtlichen Anhörung entschieden werden, ob und wie die Dokumentationen der Orden, darunter Jesuiten und Salesianer, öffentlich gemacht werden.

Der juristische Kampf ist in Gang gekommen, nachdem die Erzdiözese Los Angeles Dokumente über 120 ihrer Priester veröffentlichte, die wegen sexuellen Missbrauch zivilrechtlich angeklagt wurden. Bis zu einem Drittel der betroffenen Priester gehören einem Orden an; diese Orden haben allerdings jeweils eigene Hierarchien, Strukturen und Disziplinarverfahren.

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CALIFORNIA
Fox 40

by Sam Cohen
Executive Producer of Digital Content

ORANGEVALE-

A Catholic priest was removed from the ministry after accusations of abuse during a period of time he was pastor at an Orangevale church.

Father Robert Marsicek was formerly the pastor at Divine Savior Parish along Greenback Lane. More recently, he was pastor for two parishes in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Marsicek faces allegations of sexual abuse of minors from two people who were parishioners at Divine Savior in the 1980s and 90s, and also more recent allegations from two people in Wisconsin.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Associated Press

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Less than three months after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles released the files of priests accused of sex abuse, attorneys for alleged victims are back in court seeking similar records kept by more than a dozen religious orders.

A hearing Tuesday will begin the process of determining if — and in what form — the records kept by religious orders such as the Jesuits, Vincentians, Salesians and Dominicans, among others, will be made public.

The continued legal battle comes after the Los Angeles archdiocese unsealed under court order the files it kept over the years on 120 of its priests who have been accused of sex abuse in civil lawsuits. The church agreed as part of a $660 million settlement to release the documents, but attorneys for individual priests fought for five years to keep them under wraps, citing privacy issues.

A number of religious orders signed off on the settlement agreement and contributed significant amounts to it because up to one-third of the accused priests belonged to religious orders, said J. Michael Hennigan, an archdiocese attorney representing the interests of the orders at the hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP
April 16, 2013

A NSW priest who sexually abused underage girls says evidence about how hypnosis could have distorted the memories of witnesses should have been allowed into his trial.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is appealing his sentence and conviction after he was found guilty in 2010 of nine counts of indecently assaulting two underage girls and a 16-year-old girl.

Describing the assaults as “predatory and planned”, Judge Michael Finnane sentenced him in 2012 to a minimum of five years in prison, with his earliest date of parole set for November 2015.

But in a hearing before the Court of Criminal Appeal on Tuesday, his solicitor Greg Walsh said justice had been miscarried on a number of fronts.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Washington Post

By Associated Press

Updated: Monday, April 15

LOS ANGELES — In an April 14 story about confidential personnel files on Roman Catholic religious order priests, The Associated Press reported erroneously that such clergy were loaned out to the Los Angeles Archdiocese to relieve priest shortages. Religious order priests were assigned to work in the archdiocese in many capacities.

A corrected version of the story is below:

LA priest ministered despite abuse conviction

Attorneys seek religious order files on accused priests, including 1 who served after jail

By GILLIAN FLACCUS

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — When the Rev. John Anthony Salazar arrived in Tulia, Texas, in 1991, he was warmly welcomed by the Roman Catholic community tucked in the Texas Panhandle. What his new parishioners didn’t know was he’d been hired out of a treatment program for pedophile priests — and that he’d been convicted for child molestation and banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for life.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 15, 2013

A leading advocacy organization will this weekend (April 19-21) hold a conference that will address the prevention and awareness of the past and present abuse of missionary children.

Missionary Kids Safety Net (MK Safety Net) has been raising the issue of abuse of missionary children by evangelical missionaries for the past 20 years. This weekend, they will hold their first national conference in Rolling Meadows to address the state of the crisis and focus on solutions. Speakers include William Paul Young (author of the best-selling novel The Shack), David Clohessy (Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), and Dr. Andrew Schmutzer (Professor of Bible at Moody Bible Institute).

“This is a current, cutting edge issue in the North American evangelical mission community,” said Rev. Rich Darr, a Board Member of MK Safety Net and Lead Pastor at First UMC in Park Ridge, IL.

The conference will take place at the Holiday Inn Rolling Meadows-Schaumburg at 3405 Algonquin Rd in Rolling Meadows, IL (847-259-6600), and will run from noon on Friday, April 19 to noon on Sunday, April 21. Beyond the plenary speakers, items on the agenda include sessions on topics like how to report abuse to authorities, and screenings of documentary films like “All God’s Children.”

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BOSTON (MA)
Daily Mail (UK)

By Daily Mail Reporter

The head of the Roman Catholic church in Boston is among eight cardinals named by Pope Francis to advise him on running the church and reforming the Vatican bureaucracy.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, known for imposing a ‘zero tolerance’ policy on clerical sex abuse in his archdiocese of Boston, was given the honor by the Vatican on Saturday.

The group includes only one current Vatican official, with the rest being cardinals from Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia. They will hold their first meeting Oct. 1-3, though the group are reportedly already in communication with the Pope.

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VATIKAN
Spiegel

Wie weit geht der Reformwille von Papst Franziskus? Gerade bestätigte der neue Pontifex einen Bericht, in dem allzu liberal gesinnte US-Nonnen abgemahnt wurden. Sie hätten radikal-feministische Thesen vertreten, hieß es. Der Argentinier fordert Gehorsam.

Rom – Er will die Kurie reformieren, hat eigens einen Arbeitskreis zusammengerufen, in dem acht Kardinäle aus fünf Kontinenten sitzen. Mit seinen ersten Schritten im Amt verbreitet Papst Franziskus allerorts Hoffnung auf Bewegung, Veränderung und Reformen in der katholischen Kirche. Jetzt bestätigen Berichte von US-Medien, dass der Pontifex liberalen Strömungen offenbar weniger zugetan ist als vermutet.

Der Vatikan hatte im vergangenen Jahr auf eine Reform der US-Vereinigung katholischer Nonnen gedrängt. Die hatten sich mit allzu progressiven Ideen in Sachen Empfängnisverhütung, Abtreibung und der Homosexualität innerkirchliche Feinde gemacht. Man warf der Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) vor, “radikal-feministische Thesen” zu vertreten. Die Organisation ist in Maryland ansässig und hat etwa 1500 katholische Frauen in führenden Positionen als Mitglieder.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

The Pope has approved a report criticising the leadership of the largest group of American nuns.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) is accused by the Vatican of “radical feminism” and of failing to obey church teaching on such matters as the possible ordination of women as priests.

They have accused the Vatican of a “flawed” process of investigation.

The report was ordered by Pope Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Alessandro Speciale| Religion News Service,

Updated: Monday, April 15

VATICAN CITY — Nearly a year after the Vatican announced a makeover of the largest umbrella group for American nuns, Pope Francis has directed that the overhaul of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious continue.

The decision, while not entirely unexpected, could nonetheless bring an end to Francis’ honeymoon with the many American Catholics who had viewed the crackdown on nuns as heavy-handed and unnecessary..

Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, who heads the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, met on Monday (April 15) with the LCWR’s leadership for the first time since Francis’ election on March 13.

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UNITED STATES
Slate

By Abby Ohlheiser
Posted Monday, April 15, 2013

New pope, same story—at least when it comes to America’s nuns.

Pope Francis announced Monday morning that he will stick to his predecessor’s hard-line approach to reforming an umbrella group representing about 80 percent of U.S. nuns, an organization that Benedict XVI believed was promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

Given Francis’ Jesuit background, some had speculated that he might take a softer approach to dealing with the more liberal wings of the church. But the new pope, like his predecessor, leans theologically conservative, so his commitment to Benedict’s hard line shouldn’t come as a shock. In the case of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), that means the continuation of a five-year plan that Benedict set into motion last year aimed at pushing the group back in line with the Vatican’s positions on social issues like homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, and women in the priesthood.

Leaders of the nun’s group were informed of Francis’ decision at a morning meeting with church officials, according to the Vatican. As part of the ongoing plan, the Vatican has given Archbishop of Seattle Peter Sartain the authority to take the steps he sees as necessary to ensure the group better toes the party line as laid out by the Vatican and echoed by the American contingent of Catholic bishops. Those steps including requiring the nuns to get approval from the archbishop for every speaker they invite to a public event, replace their handbook, and revise their statutes, along with generally ensuring that they don’t publicly “disagree with or challenge positions taken by” American bishops or the Vatican.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By Tom Kington
April 15, 2013

ROME — Pope Francis has backed the Vatican’s doctrinal crackdown on a major group of American nuns, reasserting the Roman Catholic Church’s conservative approach to various social issues in a move that could cool the warm reception he has received from some liberal Catholics since taking office last month.

In a statement issued Monday, the Vatican said Francis had “reaffirmed” the doctrinal evaluation and criticism of U.S. nuns carried out last year by the Vatican under his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The assessment accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella organization that represents most U.S. female Catholic orders, of promoting “radical feminism” and of ignoring the Vatican’s hard line on same-sex marriage and abortion.

At the time, the Vatican dispatched an archbishop to rewrite the group’s statutes and set up reeducation programs to bring nuns back into line, alleging that leaders of U.S. orders had challenged the church’s teachings on women’s ordination and ministry to homosexuals.

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