ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

More than 300 lines of inquiry are being pursued by officers investigating alleged child abuse at a London guesthouse during the early 1980s.

Two people have been arrested but no charges have been brought.

The inquiry, Operation Fernbridge, is examining claims a paedophile ring, with links to the then government, abused boys at Elm Guest House, Barnes.

The Met is also looking into links between the guesthouse and the former Grafton Close children’s care home.

Claims resurfaced

A 66-year-old Catholic priest from Norfolk and a 70-year-old man from St Leonards-On-Sea, East Sussex, were arrested earlier this year.

In total seven officers have been assigned and about £25,000 has been spent on the investigation since its launch in January, the Met’s response to a Freedom of Information request by a newspaper revealed.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Melbourne Archdiocese Admits Giving False Information to the Victorian Parliamentary Enquiry (Or: Better Late Than Never – The New Version)

Cardinal “Georgie” Pell and his offsider, Melbourne bishop Denis Hart, have come up with a new way to hide the extent of clerical child sexual abuse within their parishes. Give some rubbery figures to the Victorian Parliamentary enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse, then give the real figures after the enquiry finishes public hearings. This way, the media misses the real picture because it has moved onto other things. Only the old impression remains.

In its submission to the Victorian enquiry, the Catholic Church said it had paid compensation to 618 victims. This was widely reported. Now, due to the equivalent of an accounting error (so Pell and the boys would have us believe), the real figure is 849. This was not widely reported. Even this new figure has all of the credibility of government unemployment and CPI figures. The “real” total is probably in excess of 1,000.

Also, at the time of the enquiry, no data were available on the number of clerics convicted of abuses, so no figure was reported by the media. Again, surprise, surprise, these figures are now available. There have been 269 people from the Catholic Church found guilty of child sexual abuse, 218 of them priests and brothers. This, too, was not widely reported. If it had been released during the enquiry, it would surely have been very widely reported.

Another post-enquiry revelation, which might have attracted more attention if released on time, is that nine nuns have been found guilty of child sexual abuse crimes.

In all cases, the Catholic Church has not yet released details of which schools, parishes, or Orders have been involved. The statistics on this could be quite revealing. Perhaps they will be released when the Royal Commission is finished its deliberations.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

GARETH NAUGHTON – 10 JUNE 2013

A MAGDALENE support group has rejected any attempt to set up a reconciliation forum between survivors and the religious orders.

The forum is believed to be a key plank of Justice John Quirke’s recommendations to the Government on the establishment of a redress scheme for the survivors of the laundries.

However, Stephen O’Riordan, director of Magdalene Survivors Together, said that the women in his group would not be facilitating a reconciliation forum having already spoken about their time in the laundries in the McAleese report and through the media.

“The women would have no interest in participating in that process at all in any way, shape or form. They have already told their stories,” he said.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

Cyril Byrne / The Irish Times
Marie O’Halloran

Mon, Jun 10, 2013

Survivors of the Magdalene laundries have described as “utterly pointless” a reported recommendation that there should be a reconciliation forum between them and the religious orders who ran the institutions.

A reconciliation forum and mediation are among a number of recommendations RTÉ has claimed are in the report prepared by a retired High Court judge, appointed to advise the Government on a redress scheme for women and girls held in the laundries.

The national broadcaster suggested that under the proposed forum survivors and nuns from the four religious orders who ran them could meet and discuss their experience.

But one of the organisations representing some 75 survivors has insisted they will not participate in any such forum which was a repetition of a process their members had been prepared to go through two years ago but which the religious orders refused to participate in.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Monday, June 10, 2013
By Caroline O’Doherty

One of the groups representing survivors of the Magdalene Laundries has said it will not take part in any truth and reconciliation forum the Government might set up as part of a redress scheme.

Magdalene Survivors Together activist Steven O’Riordan said the women had already told their stories and now wanted progress on practical elements of redress, such as compensation, supports, a national monument and a Magdalene museum.

“The women within our group would have no interest in taking part in that kind of process simply because they have been relaying their stories as far back as 2009 when we first met the Department of Justice,” said Mr O’Riordan.

“They’ve told their stories to the cross-party committee and they’ve relayed them again to the McAleese report. They don’t want to keep going back any more. They want to move on.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

NICK LEYS From: The Australian June 10, 2013

THE Catholic Church has revoked an invitation to one of Australia’s leading television producers to deliver the main address at its annual press association conference to avoid her speaking about sexual abuse in the church.

Penny Chapman – the award-winning producer whose credits include Brides of Christ, The Leaving of Liverpool and The Slap – has been told she will no longer deliver the main address at the Australasian Catholic Press Association conference gala dinner in September following a decision by the Melbourne archdiocese to veto the invitation because they feel her speech would not be “positive”.

Chapman’s latest project is a TV series sequel to the seminal Australian film directed by Fred Schepisi, The Devil’s Playground. It will deal with how members of the church handle sexual abuse.

An organiser for the conference, Tim Kroenert, the assistant editor of social affairs magazine Eureka Street, wrote to Chapman’s personal assistant saying he was “embarrassed” but the invite had been “vetoed”.

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CANADA
CBC

The trial of Canada’s highest-ranking Orthodox Church cleric, accused of sexually abusing boys over two decades ago, is set to begin today in Winnipeg.

Archbishop Kenneth (Seraphim) Storheim was suspended by the Orthodox Church of America after two sexual assault charges were laid against him in November 2010. (Archdiocese of Canada)
Archbishop Kenneth William (Seraphim) Storheim is accused of assaulting two pre-teen boys who were both members of the church more than 25 years ago, when he worked at a parish in Winnipeg’s North End.

The jury trial is scheduled to begin on Monday morning.

The allegations surfaced in 2008, when a clergyman filed a written report to the national church.

Storheim turned himself in to Winnipeg police in November 2010, when two charges of sexual assault were laid against him.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

By MARY ALEXANDER June 10, 2013

THE Catholic Church is being urged to reveal the full extent of child sexual abuse by its clergy in Victoria.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) said the church should provide accurate details of the number of victims to the state parliamentary inquiry

“The Catholic Church confirmed on Friday that it accepted the authenticity of 849 complaints against 269 male and female clergy and lay persons, of whom 114 were Brothers from various unspecified Catholic orders,” ALA spokesman Dr Andrew Morrison said.

“That is far from the complete story because two-thirds of the Victorian diocese were not included in those horrific figures and the church is aware of at least another 90 cases,” Dr Morrison said.

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DOMINICA
Fox News

Published June 09, 2013
Associated Press

ROSEAU, Dominica – Dozens of parishioners have gathered outside a Roman Catholic church in Dominica to support a parish priest who has been accused of molesting a girl nearly two decades ago.

Catholics in Dominica’s Grand Bay gathered Sunday holding placards and chanting their support for Monsignor Reginald Lafleur.

The 59-year-old priest has been put on administrative leave after a woman alleged that he touched her inappropriately on her “bottom and breast” and made “sweet eyes” at her 19 years ago when she was a 12-year-old parishioner. The woman made the accusations against Lafleur in a series of letters to Bishop Gabriel Malzaire, the leader of Dominica’s diocese.

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UNITED STATES
scribd.com

Pam Palmer June 8th, 2013

at 1:12 pmJulie Anne Smith (Spiritual Sounding Board),

Thank you for posting about all of this. The tactics and pressure that Houston’s First Baptist Church exerted on Amy Smith are deplorable. It is never a “conflict of interest” for a concerned Christian to
encourage awareness of child sexual abuse and the cover-up of it, that has gone on in some of our churches.I am planning on standing with Amy Smith and SNAP and linking arms with them at this Awareness Event outside of the SBC meeting. As the mother of one of the SGM survivors/plaintiffs, I want to publicly support Amy and SNAP as they seek to raise awareness about the problems of sex abuse cover-up, which has occurred allegedly within the SBC at Prestonwood Baptist.

I am also choosing to stand outside the SBC during its meeting, because of the T4G statement, which some of the top SBC leaders made, who as I understand it, will be in attendance and/or speaking at the SBC meeting — Al Mohler and Mark Dever, specifically. In this T4G statement, they openly honored C.J.Mahaney, and in relation to our lawsuit on the alleged sex abuse cover-up in SGM, declared that “no such accusation of direct wrongdoing was ever made against C.J. Mahaney”. They have since altered this statement surreptitiously and removed this phrase.

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UNITED STATES
New BBC Open Forum

The Southern Baptist Convention is about to convene their 2013 annual meeting in Houston, Texas, and the Pastor’s Conference begins today. In a world where the SBC is becoming more irrelevant by the year, this just might be the headline story from this year’s gathering.

Since I don’t seem to be able to comment on the ABP site, this is what I’d say to Doug Bischoff’s rebuttal to Amy Smith’s allegations:

Bischoff said the Smiths misinterpreted the conversations. “When I spoke with Amy and then with Matt, I expressed that we as a church are not — nor have we ever been — against them personally, their organization or their mission to protect children,” he said. “Houston’s First Baptist Church takes very seriously the safety and well-being of the children who attend our church, and we hope and pray that other churches — of all denominations –are doing the same. We applaud Amy for her dedication to SNAP and the survivors whom they serve.”

Bischoff said he did not ask them to resign from their position as teachers in the student ministry, but they suggested during conversations that he did. “The resignation from ministry was at Amy’s insistence,” he said.

“We hope and pray.” Before I get into the “meat” of this post, I have to get something off my chest. I do believe that “praying!” is one of the most casually thrown about and overused phrases in our lexicon today, and it’s not just Christians who toss it around. I’ve heard news anchors (who may or may not be Christians) use the phrase “our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims” in the case of natural disasters or crimes such as the Sandy Hook shootings. Really? How many times have you seen someone on Facebook write about some illness or problem in their life and seen all the “praying!” responses which often pop up within minutes? Some are likely sincere (I’m not judging who is or who isn’t), but I suspect many never give the person or situation another thought.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

GARETH NAUGHTON – 09 JUNE 2013

THE Government is considering a recommendation that it should establish a reconciliation forum for the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries and the religious orders who ran them, according to reports.

It is believed that Mr Justice John Quirke, a retired High Court judge, has advised the Government to set up the forum to facilitate the healing process for survivors. The forum would be run on a confidential, voluntary and neutral basis and would not assign blame to any party involved.

According to an RTE report, Mr Justice Quirke has also recommended that mediation be included in the dispute resolution mechanism for the proposed compensation scheme.

The Department of Justice is currently considering his proposals and is expected to publish the full report shortly.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

A priest is under investigation over allegations he took advantage of vulnerable patients during his work as a nurse.

Stephen Sheridan, who worked at Stone Cross, near Pevensey, until last summer, is accused of behaving inappropriately with patients between 2002 and 2010 while working for the NHS in Worthing.

The Diocese of Chichester has provided a report to the nursing watchdog, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which is leading the investigation into Mr Sheridan, who is accused of misconduct.

Barnaby Hone, acting on behalf of the NMC, said Mr Sheridan used his position in the church to act in an inappropriate way and that his behaviour was “sexually motivated”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Arcor

«Ja, wir gewinnen in den vergangenen Jahren, nachdem wir eine schwierige Zeit erlebt haben, neues Vertrauen und neue Glaubwürdigkeit in der Öffentlichkeit», sagte der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz in einer Erklärung zum Abschluss des Eucharistischen Kongresses am Sonntag in Köln. Der Kongress selbst habe dazu in besonderer Weise beigetragen. Es sei eine «Rückbesinnung nach Innen» gelungen.

Das eher traditionell ausgerichtete Glaubensfest war vom Kölner Kardinal Joachim Meisner initiiert worden. Nach Angaben der Veranstalter hatten sich 40 000 Besucher angemeldet. Viele Beobachter sahen in dem Kongress eine Gegenveranstaltung zu den diskussionsfreudigen Katholikentagen, was von den Bischöfen aber bestritten wurde.

Meisner sagte in seiner Predigt im Abschlussgottesdienst: «Deutschland ist trotz allem – von Gott her gesehen – nicht gottverlassen. Deutschland ist durch die heilige Eucharistie ein gottverbundenes Land.» In der Eucharistie werden nach katholischer Überzeugung Brot und Wein in Leib und Blut Jesu Christi verwandelt. Kurienkardinal Paul Josef Cordes verlas während der Messe eine Grußbotschaft von Papst Franziskus. Der Papst sagte darin, es sei wichtig, dass die heilige Messe «nicht verkümmert zu flacher Routine».

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bedfordshire on Sunday

Written by STEVE LOWE

ALLEGATIONS into abuse at a Catholic boys’ home took another twist this week when a former local resident says she saw a priest leaving the home with Jimmy Savile.

Jill Fagg lived in Shefford at the time the priests running St Francis Boys’ Home have been accused of sexual and physical abuse against some of the children.

Many of them are getting together to start a ‘class action’ against the Catholic Church for compensation of the abuse they say they suffered.

The police have also reopened an investigation into the allegations.

Bedfordshire on Sunday has been asking if former boys at the home would be willing to come forward to give evidence and offer support to the action. Now one former resident of Shefford, Jill Fagg, 75, has said she saw Father Johnson, who used to run the home, leave with Jimmy Savile.

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MICHIGAN
The Oakland Press

By CAROL HOPKINS
carol.hopkins@oakpress.com Twitter: @opcarolhopkins

Barbara Peluso of Troy often thinks back about how the Rev. Edward Belczak helped her family.

“He was there for our family when our daughter was hospitalized and visited her several times, bringing a teddy bear with him to cheer her up,” said Peluso, a long-time member of Troy’s St. Thomas More Catholic Church.

Belczak, who has served as the pastor there since 1984, is under investigation for possibly mishandling more than $400,000.

The most significant amount involved was alleged compensation and benefits for an individual best described as a “ghost employee,” who an estimated loss of $240,000 to the parish over the past six years, officials said.

At the end of May, Belczak sued the city of Troy in an effort to have his assets unfrozen.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A reconciliation forum between Magdalene survivors and the four religious orders that ran the institutions has been recommended.

The retired High Court Judge appointed to advise the Government on a redress scheme for the women has recommended a package of measures including mediation and reconciliation.

Mr Justice John Quirke has proposed setting up a reconciliation forum in which the women and former nuns who ran the laundries could opt to meet and discuss their shared experiences.

Mr Justice Quirke is understood to have placed considerable emphasis on mediation as part of a dispute resolution mechanism within the proposed ex gratia scheme.

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UNITED STATES
BrentDetwiler.com

Saturday, June 8, 2013

This morning, I sent the following correspondence to 77 national leaders including Al Mohler, Ligon Duncan, and Mark Dever from Together for the Gospel.

From: Brent Detwiler
Sent: Saturday, June 08, 2013 9:23 AM
To: Danny Akin; Thabitti Anyabwile; Voddie Baucham; Alistair Begg; John F. Bettler; Jon Bloom; Ian Booth; Jerry Bridges; Mike Bullmore; Robert C. Cannada Jr.; Don Carson; Matt Chandler; Tim Challies; Bryan Chapell; Lane Dennis; Mark Dever; Kevin DeYoung; Mark Driscoll; Iain M. Duguid; Ligon Duncan; Sinclair Ferguson; John F. Frame; Richard B. Gaffin; Mark Galli; W. Robert Godfrey; Wayne Grudem; Michael A. G. Haykin; Dennis Hollinger; Michael S. Horton; Robert Jones; Douglas F. Kelly; Simon J. Kistemaker; Ted Kober; Andreas Johannes Kostenberger; Tim Keller; Edgar Keinath; Timothy S. Lane; John MacArthur; Michael Milton; Albert Mohler; Russell D. Moore; Stephen Nichols; Moss Nplha; Marvin Olasky; Ray Ortlund; Burk Parsons; Paige Patterson; Richard Phillips; John Piper; David Platt; David Powlison; Vern S. Poythress; Guy Richardson; Phil Ryken; Ken Sande; Pete Schemm; Thomas R. Schreiner; Alan Schuster; Scotty Smith; Winston T. Smith; R.C. Sproul; Ed Stetzer; Sam Storms; Justin Taylor; Tullian Tchivdjian; Bryce Thomas; Derek W. H. Thomas; Paul David Tripp; Carl L. Trueman; Gene Edward Veith; Donald S. Whitney; Bruce A. Ware; Stephen J. Wellum; David Wells; Edward T. Welsh; Luder G. Whitlock; John D. Woodbridge
Subject: Changes to T4G Statement / Janet Mefferd – Boz Tchividjian / Conspiracy Surrounding Grace Goe

Janet Mefferd interviewed Boz Tchividjian on Thursday. It was excellent. Here is the link.

[Brent Detwiler]

This statement was put out by the Janet Mefferd Show regarding the changes made by Al, Lig, and Mark.

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

Christa Brown

Jack Graham will be a featured speaker at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual Pastors’ Conference on June 9 in Houston. His topic? Leadership.

So . . . let’s talk a little about the kind of leadership that Jack Graham has shown.

Graham is the senior pastor at the 32,000-member Prestonwood Baptist megachurch in Plano, Texas. It’s a church that has been mired in a clergy child molestation cover-up scandal that just won’t go away – mainly because the church leadership just keeps digging itself deeper.

For example, last March, Prestonwood officials called the cops on a church member who dared to ask questions about the widely-reported cover-up – an act that only made church leadership look like bullies. And Graham himself refused to comment back in 2011 when WFAA-News first reported the scandal – a refusal that only served to raise more questions. Two years later, with the cover-up scandal still in the news, Graham tried to use Jesus to justify his continued silence on the alleged cover-up – a justification that looked like nothing more than an evasive “cop-out.”

So this is the kind of leadership that Jack Graham has shown. It’s the kind of leadership that declines any transparency and that acts as though it’s above accountability. More importantly, it’s the kind of leadership that raises disturbing questions about whether church image and crony protection were given priority over kids’ safety – and about whether church leadership violated the law in failing to report to the police information about suspected child sex abuse.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

By Lauren Crooks

9 Jun 2013

AN angry choir mistress yesterday revealed how a whistle-blowing priest’s controversial book has made her life hell.

Laura Gaddis, 53, hit out over personal attacks made by Father Matthew Despard in a best-selling book that claimed gay bullies in the priesthood were damaging the Catholic Church.

But the book also contains claims about sex scandals in a choir that have prompted Laura and other women to complain to the Church hierarchy.

Despard, 48, claimed an unnamed woman led a church choir where several married members were having affairs.

He alleged the choir mistress turned a blind eye and even attempted to cover up the scandal.

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RICHMOND (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Sat Jun 8, 2013.

BY LOUIS LLOVIO
Richmond Times-Dispatch

RICHMOND, Va. — Jonathan Falwell will serve as an adviser to the board of directors of the Richmond Outreach Center as it looks to move forward after its founder and senior pastor resigned this week to face child sex abuse charges in Texas, board member Billy Croxton said today.

Croxton, who spoke outside the church’s Youth Center on Warwick Road, said Falwell and an executive pastor would serve as spiritual advisers and offer counsel as the South Richmond megachurch known as the ROC looks for a new pastor.

Falwell is pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg.

Several other local pastors will also assist the church’s board as it looks for someone to replace Geronimo Aguilar, who stepped away from the church Wednesday evening, Croxton said.

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RICHMOND (VA)
CBS 6

[with video]

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – Since the resignation of head pastor Geronimo Aguilar and three others, many have questioned what the future holds for the Richmond Outreach Center.

On Saturday, ROC board member, Billy Croxton spoke for the first time publicly, discussing what is next for the church. He said the church is currently searching for a new pastoral team, but could not give a time frame for the process.

“We’ve never had to do this before, so we’re going to wait and see what God has in store for us,” Croxton said.

After the resignations, the board reached out to Jonathan Falwell, a pastor in Lynchburg, VA. He, along with other local pastors, will be providing guidance and assistance to the ROC during the transition.
The ROC’s attorney, Stephen Lewis, said Aguilar, who is also facing sexual abuse charges in Texas, is still living in the church’s parsonage in South Richmond.

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VATICAN CITY
Boston Globe

By Jacob Soll / June 8, 2013

AS POPE FRANCIS sets the course for his young papacy, one of his first challenges has nothing to do with theology or the behavior of the far-flung priests and bishops he supervises: It is to reform the troubled Vatican Bank. A private and highly secretive institution estimated to control more than $7 billion in capital and more than 33,000 secret accounts, the Institute for the Works of Religion (its official name) has long been dogged by scandals and questions.

Founded in 1942 to “safeguard and administer” the funds of church members, it has become a modern symbol of the hazards of secrecy in finance. It was accused of holding Croatian Nazi funds during World War II and more recently has faced continued suspicions of money laundering for the mafia.

Publicly, at least, the bank is making efforts to push back against this reputation. Ernst von Freyberg, who became the bank’s chief in February, has characterized it as “very, very safe,” and pledged to clean up the scandal-racked institution. He has retained an American law firm to help the bank meet international anti-money-laundering and terrorism finance standards.

But if history is any guide, Francis and von Freyberg face a difficult task. Effectively, the pope is the last absolute monarch in Europe, a single individual with total authority over the city-state’s government—and this extends to its banking arm, which he personally oversees with the help of two boards of advisers. The Vatican is essentially trying to run a modern bank within a monarchy. No matter how sincere reformers of the Vatican Bank are, they are up against an age-old problem: The long history of European banking suggests that secretive, absolute government and long-term successful banking do not coexist well.

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Michael Fitzgerald
Record Columnist
June 09, 2013

The Catholic Diocese of Stockton announced this week that it has shelled out so many millions to victims of molester priests that it may have to file for bankruptcy.

The diocese was home to that scourge, Father Oliver O’Grady. As well as to leaders who covered for O’Grady as he molested at least 25 children, and probably more.

So it can be said that the moral bankruptcy of the diocese preceded its financial bankruptcy. It has been said. What I want to know is, when is it time to forgive?

I don’t mean forgive O’Grady. Forgiving the likes of him is above my spiritual pay grade.

But what about the church, the diocese? It is, after all, home not only to the occasional cover-up cardinal but to many humble, spiritual people who sacrifice for others.

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VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY LOUIS LLOVIO
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Richmond Outreach Center has turned to Jonathan Falwell to advise the church’s board of directors after its founder and senior pastor, who is facing child sexual-abuse charges in Texas, resigned Wednesday.

It is one of several steps being taken after a scandal-filled month in which the South Richmond megachurch known as the ROC has seen its popular pastor go from the pulpit to a jail cell and then back home as he faces a potential life sentence.

Board member Billy Croxton said Saturday that Falwell, who is pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, and one of his executive pastors would serve as spiritual advisers and offer counsel as the ROC looks for a new leader while continuing to operate the church’s ministries.

“Pastor Falwell continues to support the mission and vision of the ROC,” he said.

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RICHMOND (VA)
NBC 12

[with video]

By Tayleigh Davis

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) –
People and staff close to the former pastor of the ROC Church are speaking with NBC12 following his recent resignation. Geronimo Aguilar faces child sex charges in Fort Worth, Texas.

Police say the man known as “Pastor G” sexually assaulted two young girls under the age of 14 dating back to 1996. Aguilar’s attorney maintains his client’s innocence.

Services will continue as usual and core outreach programs will carry on. Right now, leaders of the ROC are focused on finding a new church leader.

“He was my pastor for 10 years,” said ROC board member Billy Croxton. “He was a good friend and I wish him well but that’s about it. We have to continue with this mission.”

“We don’t want it to go on forever,” said Stephen Lewis, the attorney representing the ROC. “We want to move forward. We feel like we need to move on that quickly.”

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AUSTRALIA
Queensland Times

APN Newsdesk 9th Jun 2013

THE Australian Lawyers Alliance has called on the Catholic Church “to come clean” to the Victorian child sexual abuse inquiry on the number of victims the Church knows about.

In hearings on Friday, the Church confirmed it had accepted the authenticity of 849 complaints against clergy and brothers across the Victorian Church.

ALA spokesman Dr Andrew Morrison SC said the figures were not complete “because two thirds of the Victorian diocese were not included in those horrific figures and the Church is aware of at least another 90 cases”.

“It is not acceptable to wait for the Royal Commission to call for this material and then start the process of producing it,” he said.

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VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Posted: Sunday, June 9, 2013

BY ROBERT ZULLO ∙ Richmond Times-Dispatch

When it was found three days after Christmas, the small pickup truck was still running, idling in a secluded spot at a shuttered rock-and-sand plant off a lonesome stretch of state Route 5 in Charles City County. • A hose ran from the Mazda’s exhaust pipe through the passenger-side window, where it had been taped in place, according to a report by the Charles City Sheriff’s Office. A wallet and a journal with a 10-page suicide note were clearly visible on the dashboard.

The 62-year-old man lying dead inside was David Primeaux, a Virginia Commonwealth University associate professor respected by his colleagues in the university’s computer science department, where he had taught since 1996, and liked by his students, who offered glowing endorsements of his courses in online reviews.

Primeaux was also well-known for his advocacy of historic preservation in Petersburg, where he and his wife bought and renovated a historic home on West Washington Street nearly 13 years ago and where he served as a chairman and trustee of the Historic Petersburg Foundation. …

Indeed, what few people here could have known was that the story that ended in Charles City began 1,100 miles away in the Cajun country surrounding Lafayette, La., where Primeaux grew up and was ordained in 1975 as a Catholic priest.

Primeaux’s tenure there overlapped with a flood of sexual-abuse litigation against the Diocese of Lafayette that was launched before, during and after the 1985 conviction of the Rev. Gilbert Gauthe, who was at the center of the first of the high-profile sexual-abuse scandals that would engulf the Catholic church in ensuing decades.

Gauthe wasn’t alone. In 2004, the diocese acknowledged that 15 priests from 1950 to 2002 were the subject of substantiated sexual-abuse complaints involving 123 victims. Primeaux was one of them, the diocese says.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on 09/06/2013 00:00

THE Vatican may parachute in a Scots diplomat as the new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh with orders to clean up the troubled diocese in the wake of the scandal surrounding Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Monsignor Leo Cushley, a priest from the Motherwell ­diocese who is currently working in the Vatican with its ­secretariat of state, the Vatican’s foreign office, is believed to be at the top of a three-man shortlist to be submitted to Pope Francis for approval.

Other names are understood to be Monsignor Patrick Burke, another Scot in the Vatican who was close to Benedict XVI, and the current Bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Gilbert.

However, Cushley is believed to be the favoured candidate on account of his “outsider” status and skills in diplomacy and conflict resolution. He served in troublespots during the civil wars in Burundi and Rwanda in east central Africa.

A source said: “The archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh is in a mess. The Vatican needs someone to clean up the mess and they need someone whom they know and trust implicitly and Leo Cushley fits the bill.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Post

By Anugrah Kumar , Christian Post Contributor
June 8, 2013

Christian radio host Janet Mefferd talked with Boz Tchividjian, evangelist Billy Graham’s grandson and founder of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, who strongly responded to the silence of evangelical leaders on the Sovereign Grace Ministries lawsuit.

The issue is far from being over, Mefferd said on her show on Thursday, noting that the lawsuit against SGM – filed last November and involving multiple allegations of child abuse as well as conspiracy and cover-up charges – was dismissed due to the expiration of statute of limitations for several of the plaintiffs. But the plaintiffs’ attorneys have now filed a motion for reconsideration.

C.J. Mahaney, president of SGM until recently, was one of several defendants accused of permitting and covering up the sexual abuse of children in churches that formed part of the ministry.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Bernard Shero can be alone in a room with somebody, but he doesn’t know who’s there until he hears a voice.

“He can’t distinguish faces,” his mother Bonnie says. “He’s done that all his life. He doesn’t know it’s them until they start talking.”

“He has to get this close,” his father, Bob, says. He’s leaning on his wife’s shoulder, peering over her at a menu she’s holding inside a Bucks County diner. If Bernard was walking into the diner today, Bob says, he would have had to tell him, “Watch out, Bern, there’s a step coming.”

Bernard Shero was born with congenital cataracts. Between the ages of six months and seven years, he had 23 eye operations. He’s worn glasses since he was 18 months old. He’s legally blind in his right eye, and can’t drive at night.

Bernard Shero has spent a lifetime peering at the world through thick lenses, and getting too close to people. That’s why, Bonnie Shero is convinced, Billy Doe accused her son of rape.

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NEDERLAND
Powervrouwen

Hoe gaan kerken om met slachtoffers en plegers van seksueel misbruik? Wordt het slachtoffer geloofd of komt het buiten de kerkelijke gemeente te staan?

Voor gz-psycholoog Annelies van Luttikhuizen zijn dat geen puur theo­retische vragen. Ooit werd ze namelijk zelf door een ambtsdrager misbruikt.

Nog steeds mist ze bij de kerkelijk verantwoordelijken de bereidheid tot zelfreflectie………

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NEDERLAND
Omroep Brabant

EINDHOVEN – Er hebben zich zestien nieuwe slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik gemeld bij de lotgenotengroep Eikenburg. Dat schrijft het Eindhovens Dagblad. Eikenburg was het voormalig internaat van de congregatie Broeders van Liefde in Eindhoven.

Volgens Dolf van Nijnatten van de lotgenotengroep gaat het bij de nieuwe meldingen met name om zwaar beschadigde mensen. Ze hebben lang geaarzeld over het naar buiten treden met hun verhaal.

Misbruik op Eikenburg
Eikenburg was een internaat voor jongens met een school voor lager onderwijs en een broederopleiding. Nu wonen er alleen gepensioneerde paters. De congregatie Broeders van Liefde kwam twee jaar geleden in opspraak toen NRC Handelsblad onthulde dat daar in het verleden ook leerlingen misbruikt zijn door paters.

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NEDERLAND
Powervrouwen

In haar roman ‘Mantel der liefde’ beschrijft Henrieke Groenwold hoe een vrouw van rond de 30, Hanna, in het reine probeert te komen met de herinneringen aan seksueel misbruik uit haar jeugd.

Als kind werd ze door haar vader gemanipuleerd en misbruikt, terwijl diezelfde vader op zondag in de ouderlingenbank zat en aan het avondmaal ging.

Pas na jaren lukt het haar om over dat verleden te praten………

De verschijning van de eerste roman van Henrieke Groenwold valt vrijwel samen met de afronding van haar studie godsdienst en pastoraal werk in Zwolle.

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FLORIDA
13 News

EUSTIS —
A youth pastor, suspected of sexually abusing a child at a Lake County day care, is now facing more charges.

Investigators said two more children, who went to Pat’s Kids World in Eustis, said Kenneth Hagins made them pull down their pants and touched them inappropriately.

Hagins was arrested last July, after a 4-year-old at the day care told their parents about the abuse.

The new charges were filed after the children reportedly admitted to the abuse.

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NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) – The archbishop of Newark has appointed a new top deputy to replace the administrator who stepped down last month in the wake of a scandal involving a former priest.

The Rev. Edgar M. da Cunha was named Thursday to the post of vicar general in the archdiocese, home to 1.3 million Catholics.

Da Cunha is the country’s first Brazilian-born bishop and has served in the archdiocese since the 1980s.

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TEXAS
Deep Thoughts

As an atheist blogger who tracks clergy sexual abuse, I am officially outside the system. A few of us who fight the good fight do so from within the system and at great risk. My dear friend Christa Brown is a good example, and now it seems I can point to Amy of Watch Keep. Amy is the Houston leader for SNAP as well as a member of Houston’s First Baptist Church. Amy has been outed as a “being on the fringe” and “standing outside the SBC” What are her crimes? She tries to protect children. Her story starts below:

A pastor at our church of almost 18 years, Houston’s First Baptist Church, has told me and my husband this week that it’s for the best that we step down from serving there, teaching in the youth ministry, since we don’t see what I’m doing is a problem, like he does: my efforts to shine the light of truth and spread awareness about the horrific problem of child sexual within Southern Baptist churches and the silence from SBC leaders. Up until this blog post, I have never mentioned our church or any of the HFBC pastors on my blog.

I have never talked to this pastor, Doug Bischoff before, not in person, not on the phone, not via email. Last Friday, he left me a message, but I was out of town. Then, Monday, I didn’t get a chance to call him back, being my 18th wedding anniversary, etc…and he left me another message late that afternoon, in a little put-out sounding tone of voice, in my opinion, saying, “trying to reach you, don’t know if you’re out of town or what.”

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CALIFORNIA
KBSW via You Tube

Published on Jun 7, 2013
California’s statute of limitations gives sexual abuse victims a timeline of when they can seek justice, and when it’s too late

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PHILIPPINES
Rappler

BY PATERNO ESMAQUEL II
POSTED ON 06/08/2013

MANILA, Philippines – In Vatican City, the first Latin American pontiff denounces a self-centered Catholic Church. Shaking mindsets about a supposedly unquestionable hierarchy, Pope Francis engages the Church in self-criticism.

In the Philippines, during the papacy of Francis, a veteran investigative journalist does exactly this.

A Catholic who once desired to enter the priesthood, journalist Aries Rufo has launched an unsettling book on the sexual misconduct, political interference, and financial mismanagement by bishops and priests.

The first of its kind in the Philippines, the book Altar of Secrets: Sex, Politics, and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church contains groundbreaking exposés on ranking prelates. These include investigative stories on the sexual indiscretions of high-profile bishops and multimillion-peso donations that remain unaccounted for.

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PHILIPPINES
GMA News

Gian C. Geronimo, Rouchelle R. Dinglasan
June 8, 2013

A new book — “Altar of Secrets” — portrays the Catholic Church in the Philippines as an institution filled with secrets and lacking in accountability.

Journalist Aries Rufo’s book “Altar of Secrets: Sex, Politics, and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church” shows “tough love” for the Church, with the goal of reforming its ills.

At the launching at Fully Booked bookstore in Taguig City on Friday, Rufo asked, “Are we out to destroy the Church? Of course the answer is no. How can one book destroy a Church that has been in existence for more than two thousand years?”

Rufo dedicated his book to “those who remain steadfast in their faith yet ache for reforms within the Holy Mother Church.”

Rufo hopes the book will engage the Church, ask tough questions, demand accountability, and push for transparency.

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CALIFORNIA
Press-Enterprise

JUNE 7, 2013 BY DAVID OLSON

On Thursday, Pope Francis will complete his third month as head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

I recently sat down with Bishop Gerald Barnes of the Diocese of San Bernardino – which comprises Riverside and San Bernardino counties – to discuss Francis’ leadership. As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to rule on the constitutionality of California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Barnes also discussed church teaching on homosexuality and marriage. In addition, the bishop talked about immigration, priest sexual abuse and the need for the church to embrace the cultural traditions of its followers.

Here is an edited transcript of the conversation. …

Q: On May 5, the pope asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to act decisively to root out priest sexual abuse. Are there any other actions the pope can take along these lines?

A: I think that one of the actions that needs to be taken, and I’m not in that arena to know what is being done, what are we doing in other countries of the world? We know the abuse of children is worldwide. It’s in all sectors of society. What are we doing to raise that (issue) in other nations and cultures that are not as open to speaking about that? Here in (parts of) the English-speaking world, wherever we are, Australia, New Zealand, America and (part of) Europe, it’s out there, it’s out there in front. And we’re began to see things happening in other parts of Europe: Germany, Belgium, non-English-speaking countries. But we also need to look at where this is happening in Asia and Africa and Latin America, and can the pope help bring that awareness that this a world problem, it’s not an English-speaking problem, it’s not a Catholic Church problem, it is a world problem?

What’s happened to us here – as painful as this has been. And it’s extremely painful, and sad. There’s a profound sadness about this whole thing. We’re beginning, and it’s going to take awhile, but we’re beginning to see and to understand that we, church leaders, need to take a role of eradicating this from all aspects of society. It should never have happened in the church. Never. But it did. It has. We need to as leadership say: It cannot happen in schools either. It cannot happen in team sports, leagues. It cannot happen in homes. My prayer is the pope will take that kind of leadership to keep this awareness alive, that maybe we can begin to address the immensity that is there.

We have to advocate for the victim, wherever the victim is. I think that’s one of the big things for our diocese. It’s become a ministry of outreach. And I think the pope can help that by continuing to raise the issue with bishops of other countries and lend support to those countries where the church is taking some leadership.

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SERBIA
NFTU

June 07, 2013 The troubles of the Serbian Patriarchate continue to afflict the Serbian nation and the souls of individual Serbs. As the previously reported and horrific scandal surrounding Serbian Patriarchate Bishop Vasilije Kacavenda continues, other sources note that the Serbian Patriarchate refused to act despite the evidence (one could also ask Fr. Goran Arsic what happened when he tried to expose the evil). Even the former Deacon of Bp. Vasilije Kacavenda is even writing a book about the matter of sexual abuse in the Serbian Patriarchate. Now it seems that the priest who has been accused of supplying children to Serbian Patriarchate Bishop Vasilije Kacavenda, has also been accused of narcotics trafficking.

Yet, Bp. Vasilije, despite being relieved (and not deposed by the Serbian Patriarchal Synod) continues to maintain his innocence.

It seems, however, that the Serbian Patriarchate is in the worst moral crisis it has ever experienced; bishops being accused for years of immoralities and abuse, the official Serbian Patriarchate intentionally ignoring the accusations, bishops being penalized who simply criticized the Serbian government, priests involved in narcotics trafficking and pimping children to bishops, abbots being relieved of their positions over sexual abuse, and the Serbian Patriarchate deeply involved in ecumenism with its Patriarch publicly celebrating Jewish religious festivals with Roman Catholic and Islamic clergy. What more, one asks, can we expect to be revealed next?

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NEDERLAND
Klokk

OPPERDOES –
Het Noord-Hollandse dorpje Opperdoes is opgeschrikt door een ernstige zedenzaak.
Een oudere dorpsbewoner zou zich hebben vergrepen aan kinderen. Bronnen in Opperdoes beweren dat hij ontucht heeft gepleegd met zowel zijn kinderen als zijn kleinkinderen, meldt het NHD.

De Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk heeft de man uit zijn functie ontheven nadat hij door twee leden van de kerk in verband was gebracht met misbruik in hun kinderjaren. De verdachte was verbonden aan de kerk als bestuurslid.

De kerk vraagt andere leden en niet-leden die mogelijk iets soortgelijks hebben meegemaakt om aangifte te doen. Dat zei een woordvoerder van de plaatselijke kerkenraad vrijdag.

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BELGIE
Klokk

NAMEN (RKnieuws.net) – Priester Mar­cel Col­ignon (70), die beschuldigd wordt van sek­sueel mis­bruik van min­der­jari­gen, is op 1 juni overleden in de abdij van Rochefort waar hij sinds enkele maan­den verbleef. De priester werd gedag­vaard om op 18 juni voor de recht­bank in Dinant te ver­schi­j­nen maar doro zijn over­li­j­den gaat de recht­szaak niet meer door.

Mgr. Van­cot­tem (foto), biss­chop van Namen, liet inmid­dels weten bereid te zijn elke per­soon te ont­van­gen die wil dat hij het statuut van slachtof­fer kri­jgt. Het bis­dom is ook bereid morele schade­v­er­goed­ing te betalen aan de slachtof­fers. Priester Col­ig­nob ver­greep zich aan een twintig­tal jon­geren. De feiten wer­den gepleegd tussen 1968 en 2011.

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SCHWEIZ
Blick

FISCHINGEN (TG) – TG – Die Beratungsstelle für Landesgeschichte (BLG) sucht Zeitzeugen im «Fall Fischingen», wie das Kloster Fischingen am Samstag mitteilte. Die BLG wolle möglichst viele Interviews führen, um ein abgerundetes Bild der Vergangenheit liefern zu können.

Das Kloster Fischingen lässt Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen einen Pater und ehemaligen Lehrer des 1976 aufgehobenen Kinderheims St. Iddazell durch die Beratungsstelle für Landesgeschichte AG in Zug überprüfen.

Ehemalige Schüler der Sekundarschule des Kinderheims St. Iddazell hatten im vergangenen Sommer ihrem früheren Lehrer sexuellen Missbrauch und Körperstrafen vorgeworfen. Die Vorfälle liegen rund 40 Jahre zurück. Der beschuldigte Pater, der heute noch im Kloster Fischingen lebt, weist die Vorwürfe zurück.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

DECLAN BRENNAN – 08 JUNE 2013

A FORMER priest who is serving 16 years for the rape and abuse of schoolboys has had 15 months added to his sentence for abusing two other boys in the ’70s and ’80s.

Tony Walsh, who was known as the ‘Singing Priest’, is also due to have the entirety of his sentence reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeal next month.

Walsh (59), formerly of North Circular Road, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of indecent assault on January 1 and April 4, 1979. The victims were aged between 10 and 11.

Judge Martin Nolan said that Walsh had worked his way into the confidence of the families of the two victims with “cold- blooded intent”. He said the sexual assaults were aggressive and incredibly frightening for the children involved.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on June 07, 2013

Two weeks after forcing out his top deputy to quell a lingering scandal, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers announced a replacement Thursday, promoting the country’s first Brazilian-born bishop to the post of vicar general.

The Most Rev. Edgar M. da Cunha, an auxiliary bishop and regional bishop for Essex County since 2003, will serve as Myers’ second-in-command in the archdiocese, home to 1.3 million Roman Catholics in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties. da Cunha, 59, has served in the archdiocese for more than three decades.

He replaces Monsignor John Doran, who resigned under pressure from Myers late last month. The archbishop cited “operational failures” and breaches of protocol in Doran’s supervision of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in violation of a lifetime ban on ministry to children.

In a statement Thursday, Myers made no reference to the scandal, which has spawned calls for his resignation from elected leaders, rank-and-file Catholics and advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

June 8, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

The Catholic Church has revised its figures on clergy sexual abuse victims in Victoria, now saying it has identified 849 victims and 269 offenders.

The church submitted the new figures on Thursday afternoon to the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled clergy sexual abuse, replacing the statistics in its original submission, Facing the Truth. That cited 618 victims.

The offenders include 98 priests, 114 brothers, nine nuns and 42 laypeople of whom two are female. There are two seminarians and four are unknown.

Church spokesman Shane Mackinlay said the revised figures were the result of collating all five submissions to the inquiry by church ”entities”: the Melbourne and Ballarat dioceses, the Christian Brothers, and the Salesian and St John of God orders.

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NEW JERSEY
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Newark parish priest, Nickas was known as a progressive who served the poor and homeless. He founded several shelters, a childrens’ center, a day care and an alternative high school. In the 2000s two men came forward separately with accusations that Nickas sexually abused them as young boys in the 1970s. One of the men said he was abused for two years, beginning when he was an 8 year-old altar boy, and that Nickas plied him with altar wine and threatened to harm his family if he told. The other accuser said his abuse occurred while he lived at one of Nickas’ homeless shelters, and included incidents in a car while Nickas cruised the streets in search of young male prostitutes. The Archdiocesan Review Board deemed the accusations to be not credible, yet the archdiocese settled with one of the accusers in May 2013.

Ordained: 1966
Incardinated: Newark archdiocese
Retired: 2005
Died: Oct. 9, 2008

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MASSACHUSETTS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: McCarthy was a priest of the diocese of Fall River MA, ordained in 1945. He served in parishes throughout the diocese and was involved with Catholic Charities until going on Sick Leave for two years in the early 1970s. In 1972 McCarthy was assigned as a nursing home chaplain, then to a parish for a year, before going on Sick Leave again in 1974. He is last indexed in the Official Catholic Directory in 1978, still on Sick Leave. McCarthy was named in 2002 by the Bristol MA District Attorney among priests of the Fall River diocese against whom there were accusations of sex crimes. McCarthy had four accusations against him. McCarthy died in November 2005 in Missouri. According to his obituary, he relocated to the St. Louis area in the early 1970s, where he founded a counseling center in Clayton and presided at mass in parishes throughout the region.

Ordained: 1945
Died: November 2005

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TEXAS
Watch Keep

A pastor at our church of almost 18 years, Houston’s First Baptist Church, has told me and my husband this week that it’s for the best that we step down from serving there, teaching in the youth ministry, since we don’t see what I’m doing is a problem, like he does: my efforts to shine the light of truth and spread awareness about the horrific problem of child sexual within Southern Baptist churches and the silence from SBC leaders. Up until this blog post, I have never mentioned our church or any of the HFBC pastors on my blog.

I have never talked to this pastor, Doug Bischoff before, not in person, not on the phone, not via email. Last Friday, he left me a message, but I was out of town. Then, Monday, I didn’t get a chance to call him back, being my 18th wedding anniversary, etc…and he left me another message late that afternoon, in a little put-out sounding tone of voice, in my opinion, saying, “trying to reach you, don’t know if you’re out of town or what.” So about 5:00 Monday evening I called him back and pointed out I had been out of town and about to go out to dinner for our anniversary, but wanted to see what he needed, and then he proceeds to, after saying he wouldn’t take much of my time, take offense at my blog. He started out telling me he had called a friend of mine whom I teach with at church, to that which I was shocked, asking why he would call and discuss the issues he has regarding me and my blog with her BEFORE talking to me? He made the excuse that he couldn’t reach me, so he called her. What was so urgent? This, apparently:

I saw your blog.
I’m confused. You don’t see it as a problem? [speaking out about child sexual abuse by Baptist clergy, about Baptist churches that cover up such abuse, about silence from SBC leaders about this abuse, about the vocal support of another evangelical pastor C.J. Mahaney accused in a lawsuit by 11 plaintiffs of covering up child sex abuse, and planning an awareness event next week at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Houston]

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HOUSTON (TX)
Associated Baptist Press

“It’s not a problem for me to point out these issues with Catholic churches or Penn State, just don’t point the finger at my own Southern Baptist Convention,” SNAP representative Amy Smith says of pastors at First Baptist Church in Houston.

By Bob Allen

A woman who advocates on behalf victims of clergy sex abuse says she was sidelined by her Houston mega-church for planning an awareness event at next week’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.

Amy Smith, Houston representative of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has been active for years in trying to expose what she believes is a systemic problem of abuse and cover-up in Southern Baptists’ free-wheeling polity in which each congregation hires and fires its own ministers.

Because of that, she was surprised on returning home after a few days out of town to find phone messages from a pastor she does not know from First Baptist Church in Houston who urgently desired to talk to her.

Smith said Doug Bischoff, “next generation” minister at the church she and her husband have attended for 18 years, took offense at her May 23 blog post announcing an “awareness event” outside the George R. Brown Convention Center when the SBC convenes its 2013 annual meeting June 11-12 in Houston.

Since she and her husband “don’t see what I am doing as a problem,” Smith said, they were told “that it’s for the best if we step down” from teaching in the church’s youth ministry. Asked how he found her blog, Bischoff reportedly told her husband that his boss, Pastor Gregg Matte, showed it to him.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Jun. 7, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

Over the weekend, most of the bishops in the United States will head to San Diego for their annual summer meeting. It is not really a meeting and is styled as a retreat, and some bishops do not attend. It is not a full plenary. Nonetheless, this will be the first time most of the bishops will be together since the election of Pope Francis and the first opportunity for the USCCB administrative committee to meet this year: Their March meeting was canceled because of the conclave.

The bishops undoubtedly will use their time together to reflect upon their public witness in the light of the election of Pope Francis. While the new pontiff has made few formal changes and has not issued much in the way of official speeches, he has definitely set an agenda for the church, calling it to be less self-referential and less bound to the sacristy, and encouraged the church to go out to the peripheries, to the margins, to engage people and to love them. He has acknowledged that sometimes going to life’s margins to encounter the poor means the risk of making mistakes, but he has bluntly said this is a risk worth taking. If the church remains self-referential, it becomes “sick” and incapable of preaching the Gospel.

I would submit that this has not been the public witness most commonly seen among the U.S. hierarchs in recent years, especially in the last two when they have defined themselves primarily in reference to the ongoing struggle over the controversial HHS mandate. Their posture has been defensive, to say the least, and angry; at times, even bitter.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times – Sunday Book Review

MORTAL SINS
Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal
By Michael D’Antonio
400 pp. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. $26.99.

By JANET REITMAN
Published: June 7, 2013

It’s hard to say anything original about the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church over the past 30 years. Hundreds of books and articles have dealt with the subject, which has also spurred an entire genre of daytime talk show — the secular confessional. By now, the basic outline of the story has become depressingly familiar: a needy, socially isolated boy (sometimes girl) falls victim to a charming, manipulative priest while church elders either turn a blind eye or quietly ship the offender to a different parish. Afterward, it’s business as usual.
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Michael D’Antonio’s exhaustively researched, if meandering, new book, “Mortal Sins,” adds a new dimension to the story, concentrating on the arduous legal battle to bring the church to account. In this new telling, the heroes are not just the survivors of the abuse but also the lawyers and advocates who have gone to bat for them. This is perhaps the most comprehensive narrative of the abuse debacle to date, and D’Antonio, a former Newsday reporter and the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, had access to key players, as well as a trove of previously unseen church files and court documents. The glut of information D’Antonio presents is overwhelming, but the story he tells — about the culture of secrecy inside one of the world’s largest religious organizations — is damning.

D’Antonio begins in 1984, with the Rev. Thomas Doyle, an expert in canon law assigned to the Vatican’s embassy in Washington. Doyle, a gun-loving conservative, begins investigating complaints against members of the clergy after receiving a report that Gilbert Gauthe, a priest from Lafayette, La., had molested several boys. The parents had filed a lawsuit, and Doyle immediately recognizes the situation for what it is: a scandal that could open the floodgates to many more pedophilia cases and destroy the church. But Doyle’s superiors meet his warnings with a shrug. They are less concerned, as D’Antonio tellingly points out, with the fate of a few isolated priests and their victims than they are with finding a Latin American priest who is bishop material: apparently, too many churchmen in that part of the world had children.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

DECLAN BRENNAN – 07 JUNE 2013

A former priest who is serving a 16 year sentence for the rape and abuse of school boys has had 15 months added to this sentence for abusing two other boys in the 70s and 80s.

Tony Walsh, who was known as the “Singing Priest”, is due to have the entirety of his sentence reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeal next month.

Walsh (59) formerly of North Circular Road, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of indecent assault on January 01 and April 4, 1979. The victims were aged between ten and 11.

Judge Martin Nolan said that Walsh had worked his way into the confidence of the families of the two victims with “cold blooded intent”. He said the sexual assaults were aggressive and incredibly frightening for the children involved.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON JUNE 07, 2013

We’re worried about the safety of kids now that Fr. “Alex” Flores walks free. We suspect he’ll “vanish” before he can be deported.

We also believe he could easily face more child sex charges and be convicted and imprisoned again. And we believe that Joliet Catholic officials could make this happen, if only they would find the courage to use their resources to seek out more people who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Flores’ crimes.

Instead, we predict church officials will now do what they’ve long done in pedophile priest cases – little or nothing.

Joliet’s bishops – both Bishop Daniel Conlon and his predecessor, Bishop Peter Sartain – have been among the most complicit in the US. One would hope they might be interested in rehabilitating their sullied reputations and take action now to protect other from Fr. Flores for that reason alone. But again, we predict both prelates will stay silent.

We beg every Joliet area Catholic – current or former church staff or member – to search his or her conscience. We beg them to summon the strength it takes to speak up about known or suspected child sex crimes. We beg them to call police or prosecutors, so that those who commit or conceal heinous crimes against kids might face justice.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 07, 2013

Victims ask to speak at SBC convention in Houston
Group deplores “rallying around” alleged predators
It wants Baptist church officials to train their staff and flocks
SNAP: “There’s a right way & a wrong way to act when ministers are accused”

Clergy sex abuse victims are asking to speak to thousands of Baptists next week in Houston about how church staff and members respond when allegations of clergy sex crimes and cover ups surface.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing officials with the Southern Baptist Convention hoping for a chance to address their annual convention which begins this weekend. SNAP leaders say that congregants and clergy often “immediately and publicly rally for an accused child molester instead of keeping an open mind and urging anyone with information to come forward.” Then, SNAP contends, “Victims, witnesses and whistleblowers are frightened or depressed and stay silent. And as a result, all too often, those who commit and conceal child sex crimes walk free, remain hidden, and hurt others.”

The group cites three congregations at which it says church employees or board members publicly rallied or are rallying behind accused wrongdoers: Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas, Sovereign Grace Ministries in Maryland, and The Richmond Outreach Center in Virginia.

“Many Baptist pastors offer their staff and their flocks absolutely no training on how to act when church folks are accused of abuse,” said Amy Smith, Houston SNAP Director. “Even worse, many times ministers themselves take insensitive or hurtful actions, by backing the accused and intimidating the accusers.”

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UNITED STATES
America

June 17, 2013

Nicholas P. Cafardi

Mortal Sins
Michael D’Antonio
Thomas Dunne Books. 416p $26.99

When I began to read this intriguing book about the crisis of sexual abuse of children that corrupted the Catholic church in the United States in the second half of the 20th century, I could not imagine why the author, Michael D’Antonio, began it with an account of the fall of papal Rome to Italian national troops at the battle of Porta Pia in 1878. That seemed an odd place and time to start a book about the American church in the late 1900s and early 2000s. But by the end of the book, the realization dawned: D’Antonio was simply implying that the sexual abuse crisis and the church’s mishandling of it is the second fall of papal Rome. The first, with the end of the papal states, deprived the church of its earthly authority. The second deprived the church of its moral credibility.

That is really too bad, because the end of the 20th century was, as others have said, shaping up to be the Catholic moment, that point in history when the church’s vocabulary and wealth of thought on issues like social and economic justice, just war, the protection of life and so many other issues confronting humankind would set the terms of civil society’s debate of those issues and, in the best result, provide the means of analysis as well. Alas, that did not happen. The Catholic moment was never to be, and the reasons for that are exposed by the stories told in Mortal Sins.

I say stories, plural, because D’Antonio’s book is an artful stringing together of a number of accounts, beginning in 1984, when the sexual abuse crisis first broke with the case of the Rev. Gilbert Gauthe, a serial molester of children in the Diocese of Lafayette, La., and ending with the conviction in 2012 of Msgr. William Lynn, former secretary for clergy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, on a charge of child endangerment. These episodes are appropriate book ends because they emphasize two of the major themes: the horrible abuse perpetrated by the church’s ordained ministers and the utter mishandling of these abusers by so many chancery officials, from clergy personnel directors to diocesan bishops.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 07, 2013

These thugs belong behind bars. Shame on them for trying to intimidate a sex crime victim and help a predator stay out of jail.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun had a chance to send a strong signal to those who obstruct justice. But he blew it. We hope he feels guilt the next time he hears or reads about another person who actively tries to prevent the prosecution of a predator. And we hope he levies tougher punishment next time on those who try to silence crime victims.

There are two silver linings here. First is the courage of Nechemya Weberman’s victim and her husband Hershy Deutsch. Both of them are heroes.

Second is the wisdom and determination of Brooklyn prosecutors who fought hard for jail time for the Bergers. We applaud them for trying to get the maximum penalty for these mean-spirited men.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Magazine

Mari Steed was two years old when she was adopted from Ireland by a Flourtown family. Years later, her search for her birth mother turned up the Magdalene Laundries’ horrifying legacy, and Steed wants justice—along with an apology from the Catholic church.

By Ronnie Polaneczky
June 2013

Mari Steed’s fingers trembled as she tapped commands on her laptop.

The unprecedented apology was about to be streamed online, projected onto a big screen in the conference room of the Philadelphia World Affairs Council. As the group’s director of technology and new media, Steed had set up numerous live feeds before. But her hands had never shaken.

Today was personal. Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny was going to use a session of Parliament to issue an apology, acknowledging what Mari Steed had known for years: that for nearly a century, the Irish government had participated in the imprisonment and abuse of thousands of women whose only crime was that they’d been orphaned, or abandoned by their families, or gotten pregnant outside of marriage. They were known as the Magdalenes. And Mari’s birth mother had been one of them.

The government had long touted a party line about the Magdalenes: They had voluntarily entered the institutions where they’d been treated like slaves, had willingly relinquished their children. But now, the Irish government could no longer deny the disgrace it had abetted.

And so today, Ireland’s prime minister would officially apologize to the surviving women—all of them elderly. And Mari would begin to make peace with the country that had betrayed the child she had been and the mother who had borne her. The conference-room screen flickered to life. Mari leaned in to watch, her co-workers gripping her hands in support.

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PHILIPPINES
Gulf News

By Barbara Mae Dacanay, Bureau Chief
Published: June 7, 2013

Manila: Catholic priests will be treated like ordinary citizens and the amount of wine they serve during Sunday Mass won’t count as an alibi when they are caught in drink driving cases, a local paper reported.

“It’s practically impossible that a priest will get drunk because of celebrating Mass with mompo [wine used as sacrament],” retired archbishop Oscar Cruz told the Bulletin.

“The mompo that we use during Mass every Sunday is not made of pure grape juice. Its alcohol content is only 12 per cent. The amount of wine that a priest pours into the chalice is just about two or three tablespoons. And water is added to it,” Cruz said.

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OSTERREICH
der Standard

Abt will Hochwasserhilfe damit unterstützen, Kläger einen Verein gegen sexuelle Gewalt an Minderjährigen

Kremsmünster/Steyr – Nachdem eine Zivilklage im Zusammenhang mit der Missbrauchsaffäre gegen das oberösterreichische Stift Kremsmünster abgewiesen worden ist, diskutieren die Parteien nun darüber, was mit den Verfahrenskosten passieren soll. Die Kläger, die über 9.000 Euro an das Kloster zahlen müssen, wollen das Geld dem Verein Selbstlaut gegen sexueller Gewalt an Kindern und Jugendlichen spenden. Der Abt würde das Geld aber lieber der Hochwasserhilfe der Caritas zukommen lassen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Merkur

Würzburg – Judenwitze, rechte Musik, Nazi-Rituale: Das wird Studenten aus dem Würzburger Priesterseminar vorgeworfen. Tatsächlich scheint es rechtes Gedankengut in den christlichen Reihen zu geben.

Studenten aus dem Würzburger Priesterseminar sollen bei gemeinsamen Treffen Judenwitze erzählt, rechtsradikale Musik gespielt und an Nazirituale angelehnte Zeremonien gefeiert haben. Seminarleiter Herbert Baumann bestätigte am Mittwoch in Würzburg entsprechende Vorwürfe. „Dass zumindest einmal im kleinen Kreis ein KZ-Witz erzählt wurde, ist offensichtlich wahr“, sagte er. Darüber hinausgehende Vorwürfe könne er „nicht verifizieren“.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Im Streit über die Pädophilie-Vorwürfe gegen die Grünen schlägt der Publizist Götz Aly jetzt zurück. Allerdings macht er sich dabei 75 Jahre alte Argumente von Joseph Goebbels zu eigen. Von Sven Felix Kellerhoff

Der Entlastungangriff musste kommen – das war klar, seit intensiv über die höchst fragwürdige Nähe der Grünen zu pädophilen Gruppen in den 1980er-Jahren gestritten wurde. Spannend war allein, wer ihn vortragen würde und mit welcher Stoßrichtung.

Seit Dienstag ist die Frage beantwortet: Der Publizist Götz Aly hat in seiner Kolumne in der “Berliner Zeitung” die Ablenkungsoffensive eröffnet, und er zielt auf die katholische Kirche: Die “Sittlichkeitsprozesse” gegen Geistliche in den Jahren 1936/37 würden “heute gern als Kirchenverfolgung abgebucht, die geistlichen Täter zu Opfern geadelt”. Es sei Zeit, solchen “Beschönigungen ein Ende zu setzen”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Berliner Zeitung

Mit dem Verweis auf eine rigide Sexualmoral wurden wiederholt sexuelle vergehen an Minderjährigen bagatellisiert. Die katholische Kirche verhält sich zu ihrer eigenen Geschichte bis heute eher abwiegelnd und in einem merkwürdigen Ton.

Die Kolumne „Pädophilie I“ handelte von Onkel Otto, der im Dritten Reich und danach wegen seiner Homosexualität strafrechtlich verfolgt wurde, in seinem erotischen Treiben jedoch die Grenzen zwischen Erwachsenen und Minderjährigen missachtete. Deshalb kann Otto nicht einfach als nationalsozialistisch verfolgte Unschuld gelten. Ein Leser vermutete, meinem Onkel sei „übel mitgespielt“ worden. Ja, er war mehrfach wegen Homosexualität im Gefängnis, aber das ist nur ein Teil der Wahrheit. Das Problem liegt darin, dass unter Hinweis auf eine rigide Sexualmoral oder auf Verfolgung in der NS-Zeit sexuelle Vergehen an Minderjährigen als nebensächlich bagatellisiert werden. Das haben Aktivisten der Achtundsechziger getan, der Schwulenbewegung, der Grünen – aber auch katholische Geistliche. Von letzteren soll heute die Rede sein.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, June 07, 2013

The Catholic Church has come under fire on several fronts for not supporting priests against whom false allegations of abuse are made.

By Donal Hickey

Kerry priest Fr Liam O’Brien, who received a High Court apology this week from a woman in her 50s, said that if false allegations had been dealt with properly and promptly, it could have saved him “years of suffering and significant legal costs”.

His solicitor Robert Dore said Fr O’Brien’s civil challenge did “great service” to the body of priests. But Mr Dore said the Killorglin curate, very vulnerable at the time of the allegations, was “deeply, deeply, disappointed” at the lack of support from the Church.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) also claimed priests remained an easy target, with a considerable number of false allegations being made against individual clergy. Spokesman Fr Tony Flannery said colleagues were delighted Fr O’Brien’s “long nightmare was over”, but added: “For us in the ACP, this case highlights two matters of great concern: the reality of false allegations against priests and the absence, in most cases including this one, of any real support from Church authorities for a priest who finds himself in this terrible situation.”

Mr Dore said Fr O’Brien found himself in a very vulnerable position and sought the support of his Church.

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OHIO
Star-Beacon

By SHELLEY TERRY – sterry@starbeacon.com
Staff Writer

ASHTABULA — The Rev. Raymond Thomas says he’s not ignoring the talk and turmoil in the Catholic community caused by Sunday’s advertisement in the Star Beacon.

He will address the issues during this weekend’s homily, he said.

Thomas would not elaborate.

The anonymous, full-page, paid advertisement disagreed with the future plans of Our Lady of Peace Parish — all a result of the merger of the city’s Catholic churches and a mission.

The ad, directed to the parishioners of Our Lady of Peace Parish, from “concerned Our Lady of Peace Parishioners, read (among other things), “You will be asked to pay for renovating the former Mt. Carmel School building into parish offices at a cost of $1.3 million. There is already a school building used for parish offices. Why move?”

The ad made eight additional points, including:

* Objections to selling the Mother of Sorrows school building without consultation of the parish at large, and that there’s “a bid to buy one of the churches” when the parishioners were told that churches would not be closed at this time;

* Objections to remodeling the rectory kitchen when the building is relatively new, and

* Objections to expanding Mt. Carmel worship site when there already exists a very large church that doesn’t need expansion.

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CANADA
CBC News

A dark chapter in Canadian history is being remembered in Red Deer today as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission public hearings looking at the impact of residential schools got underway.

The national commission was established in 2008 to record stories, educate and help with healing.

An eagle feather and box of tissues were passed around a sharing circle in the Red Deer College gym during the start of the two-day event.

Residential school survivors talked about the loneliness and physical labour. They remembered being forbidden to speak their language and going without shoes.

“We’ve gone through so much and now we need to move on. It takes each and every one of us to start that process,” said Adeline Sampson-Harvey, who travelled from Hobbema to take part.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY OREN YANIV / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013
Three Brooklyn brothers admitted they tried to bully the boyfriend of a Hasidic sex abuse victim before an explosive trial but received no jail time from the judge Thursday.

Jacob, Joseph and Hertzka Berger ripped the kosher certificate off the wall at a restaurant owned by Hershy Deutsch, the now-husband of the star witness against the influential Hasidic counselor Nechemya Weberman.

Although prosecutors insisted they should get at least 30 days in jail for misdemeanor coercion, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun allowed the trio to plead guilty and get conditional discharge.

They only have to stay out of trouble for one year, with Jacob Berger, who also pleaded to felony mischief, required to pay a $500 fine.

“It’s over,” said his lawyer Michael Cibella. He added prosecutors “took a hardline stance of jail only” because of the high-profile nature of the case.

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NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

Hasidic Brothers Who Extorted Boyfriend Of Weberman Sex Abuse Victim Get No-Jail Sentences From Brooklyn Judge

Shmarya Rosenberg • Failedmessiah.com

Three Satmar hasidic brothers from Brooklyn admitted yesterday that they tried to extort the boyfriend of a teenage girl who was sexually abused by Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed Satmar therapist, from the time she was 12-years-old until she turned 16, the Daily News reported.

The three hasidic thugs – Jacob, Joseph and Hertzka Berger – were allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanor coercion.

Prosecutors – who say they objected to the plea deals – asked Justice Danny Chun for at least a 30-day sentence in the city jail for each of the brothers.

But this is Brooklyn. Chun refused.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer
June 07, 2013

STOCKTON – Bishop Stephen Blaire said Thursday that, despite a potential bankruptcy by the Diocese of Stockton, churches and schools under its umbrella would not be financially impacted.

Bankruptcy could be the next chapter for the church because of child sex abuse scandals, a move more than half a dozen dioceses across the country have made after being hit by lawsuits from victims seeking billions of dollars.

The Diocese of Stockton, based in a city that is facing its own financial problems as the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, said the organization is considering relief from the federal court.

Confirmation of the potential to file for bankruptcy follows a lawsuit settlement for $1.75 million with a victim of defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady, whose pedophilia was chronicled in the documentary “Deliver Us From Evil,” and who was convicted in San Joaquin County in the 1990s.

Half of the settlement from this lawsuit will come from an insurance company, and the diocese is responsible for the other half, but Blaire said the organization has few resources left to settle other pending claims.

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

This week’s $1.75 million settlement with a former parishioner who says he was sexually abused by defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady has Stockton Diocese officials seriously considering bankruptcy.

“No decision has been made,” Sister Terry Davis said on Thursday. “But our reserve funds have been virtually depleted, and we have four more cases coming at us.”

It will be three to five months before Bishop Stephen Blaire and other diocese leaders decide whether to file for bankruptcy, Davis said. The diocese’s reserves are now less than $1 million, she added.

The diocese and a man who was reportedly sexually abused by O’Grady in the 1980s agreed to the settlement on Monday, according to a press release from the diocese. The diocese will pay the victim $875,000 of the settlement amount, with the remainder to come from the diocese’s insurance, Davis said.

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CALIFORNIA
KCRA via YouTube

Published on Jun 6, 2013
Leaders of the Catholic Diocese of Stockton said they may have to file for bankruptcy, due to years of lawsuits and multimillion-dollar settlements with sexual-abuse victims — which are depleting the diocese’s reserves.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Beauftragler

Rörig: „Bei der strafrechtlichen Verjährung ist das neue Opferschutzgesetz (StORMG) keine Antwort auf berechtigte Opferinteressen. Betroffene sind oft erst in ihrer Lebensmitte in der Lage, strafrechtlich gegen die Täter vorzugehen.“ Forschungsergebnisse der Humboldt Universität Berlin bestätigen dringenden Reformbedarf im Strafrecht.

Berlin, 6. Juni 2013. Das vierte und vorerst letzte Hearing der Veranstaltungsreihe „Dialog Kindesmissbrauch“, das heute in Berlin zum Thema „Verlängerung der strafrechtlichen Verfolgbarkeit – Erwartungen und Risiken“ stattfindet, bietet Betroffenen, Fachwelt und Politik erstmals eine öffentliche Plattform, über ihre Positionen zu einer Veränderung der strafrechtlichen Verjährungsfristen zu diskutieren.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Badische Zeitung

Freiburger Hochschule hat frühere Zustände in kirchlichen Behinderteneinrichtungen untersucht.

FREIBURG (epd). Sie wohnten in kasernenartigen Gebäuden, schliefen in riesigen, abgeschlossenen Gruppenräumen, die medizinische und personelle Betreuung und Versorgung war schlecht: Heimbewohner von Behinderteneinrichtungen wie etwa der Johannes-Diakonie in Mosbach lebten in den 1950er und 1960er Jahren in heute kaum mehr vorstellbaren Verhältnissen. Dass es dabei auch zu Gewalt, Übergriffen und Exzessen kam, hat nun eine Untersuchung des Sozialwissenschaftlichen Frauen-Forschungsinstitutes an der Evangelischen Hochschule Freiburg ergeben.

Das Ausmaß sei “sehr üppig” gewesen, sagt Professorin Cornelia Helfferich. “Körperliche, psychische und sexuelle Gewalt gab es ebenso wie Fixierung oder die Verabreichung von Psychopharmaka”, sagt Helfferich. Ursächlich dafür seien unter anderem die geringe Zahl und mangelnde Ausbildung der Mitarbeitenden gewesen. Außerdem seien in der Nachkriegszeit viele “Sozialwaisen” aufgenommen worden, die keine oder nur eine geringe Behinderung aufwiesen. Die Zahl der betreuten Menschen stieg so von ursprünglich 42 Behinderten im Jahr 1949 auf mehr als 700 im Jahr 1964. Dies habe zu einem System “von Macht, Hierarchien und rigiden Regeln” geführt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Evangelisch

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, setzt sich bei der strafrechtlichen Verfolgung von Missbrauchstaten für längere Verjährungsfristen ein.

06.06.2013 | EPD

Rörig forderte am Donnerstag in Berlin, die Verjährungsfrist solle nicht vor dem 30. Lebensjahr beginnen. Betroffene seien oft erst in ihrer Lebensmitte in der Lage, strafrechtlich gegen die Täter vorzugehen, sagte er bei einem Experten-Hearing, auf dem über Chancen und Risiken verlängerter Strafverfolgungsmöglichkeiten debattiert wurde.

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DEUTSCHLAND
General-Anzeiger

BONN. Das Collegium Josephinum Bonn (CoJoBo) verliert einen langjährigen Seelsorger. Der Pater, der wegen des umstrittenen Einsatzes von Zäpfchen bei erkrankten Schülern in die Schlagzeilen geraten war, kehrt nicht mehr an das Jungen-Gymnasium zurück.

Das teilte Johannes Römelt mit, der Provinzial des katholischen Redemptoristenordens, der Schulträger ist. In einem Brief an die Schulgemeinde betont Römelt, dass der Pater durch die mittlerweile eingestellten Ermittlungen der Staatsanwaltschaft vollständig rehabilitiert sei.

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MISSOURI
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CN) – Two years after state prosecutors dropped lurid charges against a woman’s ex-husband and family, she claims in court that the Mormon church covered up clerical sexual abuse of children and shamed the victims.

Jane Doe and her present husband sued the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its Bishops Paul Tonga and Grant Bench, Stake President Gordon Goodman, Minister and Elder Burrell Edward Mohler Jr. (Jane Doe’s ex-husband), Mohler’s father Burrell E. Mohler Sr. (a pastor in the RLDS/COC Church), and the Community of Christ Church (RLDS/COC).

Doe claims in Jackson County Court that she and her children were sexually abused by the Mohlers.

The Mohlers were arrested in November 2009 on charges of sexual abuse and child endangerment. Prosecutors dropped the charges in 2011, according to the Kansas City Star.

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TROY (MI)
Click on Detroit

[with video]

Author: Bisi Onile-Ere, Local 4 Reporter

TROY, Mich. –
Spokesmen for a church in Troy have spoken out on an investigation into a possible sexual assault of a child at the church’s preschool program.

Two weeks ago, a parent filed a report with police alleging their child was abused at the St. Augustine’s Lutheran Church preschool in Troy.

On Thursday, church spokesmen confirmed the person accused was a volunteer.

Church spokesman Richard Gady said the allegations stemmed from an incident several years ago.

“It’s important to get the message out that we are protecting the children involved, the parents involved in our preschool, and we are using this opportunity to disclose this to you with whatever information we can honestly give you,” Gady said.

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TROY (MI)
Detroit Free Press

By Ann Zaniewski
Detroit Free Press Staff

Leaders at St. Augustine Lutheran Church in Troy have identified a former volunteer as the subject of an ongoing child sexual assault investigation.

The allegation involves a child who attended the church’s preschool. Police launched an investigation after being contacted by a parent May 22, said Troy Police Capt. Robert Redmond.

At a news conference Thursday outside the church on Livernois, Richard Gady, a member of the preschool’s board of directors, said the person named as the suspect is no longer involved with the school. Church officials identified the person as a volunteer, not an employee.

“We ended the person’s involvement immediately upon hearing of this complaint,” Gady said.

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MINNESOTA
Isanti County News

By Rachel Kytonen on June 6, 2013

“The side effects of what Ryan did have great impact on me, my family, my former place of employment and my close community. On a personal level, as a result of the abuse, I have struggled with not being able to look at my body and have felt great detachment, and at times, shame and hate for my body. The pain and anger of being used and abused at such an intimate and personal level through spiritual means have been quite overwhelming to try to deal with emotionally.”

Those words were read by Isanti County Victim Services advocate Cheryl Terhaar during the June 5 sentencing for former pastor Ryan Jay Muehlhauser.

Muehlhauser, 55, of Cambridge, had been an Isanti County pastor serving the community for more than 20 years when he was charged in November 2012 with eight counts of felony, fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with two adult males seeking spiritual counsel.

Muehlhauser pleaded guilty to two of those counts Feb. 28. Under the plea agreement, Muehlhauser will serve 160 days in Isanti County Jail, remain on supervised probation for 10 years and register as a predatory offender. The other six counts were dismissed. Under state sentencing guidelines, a prison sentence can’t be ordered for fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Northern Echo

Abuse victims move a step closer to compensation payments from the Middlesbrough Catholic diocese

By Graeme Hetherington

VICTIMS awaiting compensation for abuse suffered at a Catholic children’s home have moved a step closer to reaching resolution.

In one of the largest abuse cases the country has seen, more than 170 men are seeking compensation following claims of physical and sexual abuse at St William’s Children’s Home in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, between 1958 and 1992.

As part of an investigation into the claims, James Carragher, former principal of St William’s, was jailed in 2004 for 14 years for a series of sex crimes against young boys.

St William’s – a home for boys aged ten to 16 with behavioural issues – was owned by the Roman Catholic diocese of Middlesbrough but employed a number staff from the De La Salle Brotherhood, including Carragher.

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CALIFORNIA
News 10

The Diocese of Stockton has reached a $1.75 million settlement with a man who said he was sexually abused by a priest who spoke openly in a 2006 documentary about molesting children

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IRELAND
Newstalk

A former priest who received a 16 year prison sentence for the sexual abuse of 9 boys in the 70s and 80s has admitted abusing 2 other boys.

Tony Walsh, formerly of North Circular Road will be sentenced for those offences today.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard how Walsh, who was known as the ‘Singing Priest’, featured in the 2009 Murphy report into clerical sex abuse.

He pleaded guilty to 2 counts of indecent assault on January 1st and April 4th 1979.

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CALIFORNIA
Manteca Bulletin

By Rose Albano-Risso
City Editor ralbanorisso@mantecabulletin.com 209-249-3536
POSTED June 7, 2013 .

STOCKTON – The Diocese of Stockton has reached a negotiated settlement with attorneys for a man who was a victim of sexual abuse in the 1980s by defrocked Catholic priest Oliver O’Grady.

The announcement was made on Monday by Sr. Terry Davis, director of communications for the diocese.

Under the agreement, the victim who was not named will receive $1.75 million. The case will be dismissed. The Diocese is to pay $875,000 of the settlement amount, with the remaining portion to be paid through insurance proceeds.

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, in a statement issued along with the announcement of the settlement, stated, “It is our hope that this settlement will help the victim continue to find healing for the suffering he endured. We have tried to find resolutions to these cases that will provide some measure of solace for victims. We continue to follow strict measures to ensure that we are protecting the young and the vulnerable.”

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

The Association of Catholic Priests is delighted that Fr. Liam O’Brien’s name has been cleared, and that his long nightmare is over.

We wish to sincerely thank the great work done by solicitor, Robert Dore, and our legal team, in this case.

For us in the ACP this case hightlights two matters of great concern.

1. The reality of false allegations against priests. We have known of this for some time. Priests are now an easy target, and there are a considerable number of false allegations being made against individuals.

2. The absence, in most cases including this one, of any real support from Church authorities for a priest who find himself in this terrible situation.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Clearing of name of Kerry priest falsely accused raises ‘matters of great concern’

Patsy McGarry

Fri, Jun 7, 2013

The clearing of the name of Kerry priest Fr Liam O’Brien who was falsely accused by a woman of abuse, has highlighted “two matters of great concern,” the leadership of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has said.

The association said there are a considerable number of false allegations being made against individuals.

“We have known of this for some time. Priests are now an easy target, and there are a considerable number of false allegations being made against individuals,” they said.

And there was “the absence, in most cases including this one, of any real support from church authorities for a priest who finds himself in this terrible situation.”

Apology

On Wednesday, Eileen Culloty apologised at the High Court in Dublin to Fr O’Brien whom she had falsely accused of abusing her.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
Posted: 06/06/2013

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday took up the question of whether a St. Paul priest’s criminal-sexual-conduct conviction was based on “excessive religious evidence,” and should thus be overturned, as a lower court had ruled.

Christopher Wenthe became sexually involved with a 21-year-old penitent while he served at Nativity of Our Lord parish in St. Paul. The relationship lasted from November 2003, when he was 39, until February 2005, according to testimony at his Ramsey County trial.

The woman testified that she told Wenthe about her struggles with an eating disorder and prior sexual abuse. He agreed to serve as her confessor. She said Wenthe exploited her vulnerability and her trust in him as a priest.

Wenthe’s attorney countered at trial that the relationship was a “mutual affection that went awry” and that the woman was a willing participant.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

THURSDAY JUNE 6, 2013
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER

The Most Rev. Edgar M. da Cunha was named the new vicar general of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark on Thursday, less than two weeks after his predecessor stepped down over his oversight of a former Wyckoff priest who allegedly violated an agreement with law enforcement by working with children.

Archbishop John J. Myers said in a letter made public on May 24 that Monsignor John E. Doran resigned from the position after an independent law firm’s investigation found certain protocols had been followed in the oversight of the Rev. Michael Fugee. The vicar general is second in command in the archdiocese.

Fugee, who confessed to groping a 13-year-old boy, was arrested last month for allegedly violating a memorandum of understanding with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office that barred him from ever working with children. Authorities said he heard confession from children on at least seven occasions, twice in Rochelle Park and once in Paramus. Doran had signed the agreement on behalf of the archdiocese.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

June 7, 2013

Christopher Knaus
Police reporter for The Canberra Times.

A Canberra Catholic priest has denied allegations he committed historical acts of indecency on a child in the 1990s.

Father Edward Evans, 83, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court for the first time on Friday, and was charged with three acts of indecency stretching between 1994 and 1997.

The elderly priest, who worked as a chaplain for the German community, is accused of indecently touching a girl three times, twice when she was between 11 and 12, and a third time when she was 13.

Father Evans pleaded not guilty to all charges in a brief court appearance before Magistrate Bernadette Boss.

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CALIFORNIA
NBC Bay Area

By Chris Roberts | Thursday, Jun 6, 2013

Will Lynch admits he punched the priest he accused of molesting him as a child decades ago. And now he’s launching another campaign against child molesters.

A political campaign.

Lynch claims that he and his younger brother were abused by Rev. Jerold Lindner on a “religious camping trip” 35 years ago, when the pair were 7 and 4 years old, respectively, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

He filed suit claiming that Lindner raped him and made him have oral sex with his brother — and decades later, as an adult, was acquitted of assault after he punched Lindner — and now wants to have the state eliminate the statute of limitations for filing charges against alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse, the newspaper reported.

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ILLINOIS
NBC Chicago

A Diocese of Joliet priest who sexually abused a boy for five years was released on parole Thursday.

Alejandro Flores, 40, served around 80 percent of the 4-year sentence he agreed to in a 2010 plea deal.

Flores must now register as a sex offender, according to the Joliet Herald-News.
The priest had befriended the boy’s family while assigned to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in West Chicago.

Flores was ordained in 2009. In January, when the boy’s mother alerted the Joliet archdiocese to the alleged abuse, Flores was removed from the parish. Two days later, he leaped from the balcony of a Joliet church in a suicide attempt, according to church officials.

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TEXAS
Statesman

By Cyndi Wright
Austin Community Newspapers Staff

According to the Catholic Diocese of Austin, Ascension Catholic Church pastor Rafael Padilla-Valdes will not celebrate Mass this weekend after an incident in San Antonio on May 29.

Padilla-Valdes, 42, was allegedly the victim of an assault after he was found in a motel on Roosevelt Avenue near I-10 and I-37 by an officer who responded to a 911 call, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

In the police report, the responding officer noted that Padilla-Valdes was standing in his room with the door open, wearing only underwear, with what appeared to be swelling and abrasions to his face and arms. The officer also noted in the report that he saw condoms and beer in the room and that Padilla-Valdes appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

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ILLINOIS
Greenwich Times

PONTIAC, Ill. (AP) — A Chicago-area Roman Catholic priest who was sentenced to prison for abusing a boy has been released on parole.

The Herald-News in Joliet reports (http://bit.ly/1883wig) that 40-year-old Alejandro Flores was released on Thursday. Flores pleaded guilty in 2010 to felony criminal sexual abuse. He served about 80 percent of his four-year prison sentence. Flores now must register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors say the priest abused the 12 or 13-year-old boy while working at St. Mary’s Church in West Chicago.

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NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Jun. 6, 2013

The archbishop of Newark, N.J., named a new vicar general Thursday, filling a position made vacant in the wake of the Fr. Michael Fugee scandal.

Archbishop John J. Myers appointed Auxiliary Bishop Edgar da Cunha to the post, according to an archdiocesan press release.

“Bishop da Cunha’s long history with the Archdiocese of Newark, both as a priest and pastor serving in urban parishes, and with his work in the fields of Evangelization and the New Energies Parish Transition Project, have given him a full understanding of the breadth and depth of the Archdiocese, its clergy and its people,” Myers said in the release.

“Since his ordination as an Auxiliary Bishop in 2003, I have benefited from his expertise and counsel over the years, and look forward to his serving as my Vicar General,” he said.

Da Cunha replaces Msgr. John Doran, who resigned May 24 as part of a number of administrative changes in the archdiocese since the re-emergence of the case of Fr. Michael Fugee, who was alleged to have violated a court order banning him from ministry with children, in late April.

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VIRGINIA
CBS 6

[with video]

June 5, 2013, by Nick Dutton and Sandra Jones

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – A community leader is worried that a Richmond mega church that has lost four of its five pastors may not be able to continue its mission.

Jeff Davis Neighborhood Civic Association’s Charles Willis, who has worked closely with the church and Pastor Geronimo Aguilar, fears the Richmond Outreach Center’s mission of serving the needy may be too difficult.

This after Aguilar, known as Pastor G, is accused of sexually abusing two young sisters in the mid 1990s in Texas prior to founding the ROC in 2003.

“It’s a sad day in Richmond,” said Willis. “The ROC has been a ROC within the Richmond community and that ROC has been shattered.”

As civic association president, Willis worked closely with Aguilar on prayer vigils and programs involving Citizens Against Crime.

Willis calls him a spiritual leader who looked out for underprivileged and troubled kids.

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VIRGINIA/TEXAS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

BY BILL MILLER
wmiller@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — The Richmond, Va., minister accused of sexually assaulting two girls in the 1990s in Fort Worth has resigned as senior pastor along with three members of his staff, church officials said Wednesday.

The Rev. Geronimo Aguilar, 43, who was senior pastor of Richmond Outreach Center, or ROC, is free on $200,000 bail. He was briefly jailed last week in Tarrant County.

Wednesday evening, the ROC board of directors issued a statement announcing that they had accepted Aguilar’s resignation “upon mutually agreeable terms.”

Other resignations were accepted from Jason Helmlinger, executive pastor; Andrew Delgado, children’s pastor; and Matthew Aguilar, assistant pastor and brother of Geronimo Aguilar.

“We wish the best for the pastors and their families,” the board said in its statement. “The Richmond Outreach Center remains focused on serving those in need and we will never stray from this mission.”

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RICHMOND (VA)
Richmond Outreach Center

June 06, 2013
To the Greatest Church in the Whole World,

The past twelve years at The ROC have been an amazing journey. God took an unlikely crew from the West Coast, planted us in a warehouse that was a little larger than our current lobby, and grew us into one of the fastest-growing churches in America. In the last twelve years, we have:

* Helped hundreds of men and women overcome drug and alcohol addictions and become productive, hard-working citizens through our Discipleship Homes,
* Shared the life-changing love of Jesus Christ with thousands of children ages 5-12 through our weekly Kids Service, giving more than 351,150 rides to Kids Service through our Whosoever Kids Bus Ministry, and
* Won more than 150,000 souls to the Lord.

My heart’s desire was to establish a soulwinning church that embraced the principles of love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness; and that’s what we have been able to do. And this unorthodox church, which was founded on what many thought to be an impossible and unrealistic vision, has positively impacted Richmond more than any other church in our city’s history. God has used The ROC to transform our city. And through all of this, never has a pastor been loved as much as your pastor.

As you all know, my family and I have been facing difficult trials and persecution. This has taken a toll on me and my family, as well as those close to me. Unfortunately, during this difficult season, the focus has been taken off of Jesus and put on me, and that is not what The ROC is all about.

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VIRGINIA
CBS 6

[with video]

June 6, 2013, by Scott Wise and Jake Burns

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – One day after the Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) announced the resignation of Pastor Geronimo Aguilar and three other pastors, Aguilar posted a statement on the church’s website.

“The past twelve years at The ROC have been an amazing journey. God took an unlikely crew from the West Coast, planted us in a warehouse that was a little larger than our current lobby, and grew us into one of the fastest-growing churches in America,” Aguilar wrote. [Click here to read the entire statement]
Aguilar, who is currently out on bond, was recently charged with seven felony charges in Fort Worth, Texas based on allegations that he sexually abused two young girls in the mid-90s.

“As you all know, my family and I have been facing difficult trials and persecution,” Aguilar wrote. “Although we will not be at The ROC, Samantha [his wife] and I are not leaving Richmond, and we hope to continue the many relationships we have built with you all. I would ask that you pray for me and my family, as we don’t know what God has in store for us, next.”

According to a Texas arrest warrant, the parents of Aguilar’s alleged victims followed the pastor from California to Texas to join him at New Beginnings church. The warrant indicated the parents allowed Aguilar to live in their home because “he was their trusted spiritual leader.”

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VIRGINIA
Christianity Today

(UPDATED) Mass resignation after more details emerge on sex abuse allegations against Richmond Outreach Center founder Geronimo Aguilar.

Melissa Steffan

Update (June 6): Local news sources report that four of the five pastors at Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) have resigned from their positions. The resignations came one day after the release of more details regarding the sex abuse case against ROC founding pastor Geronimo Aguilar, which has “shattered” the church.

The church announced the resignations Wednesday evening, stating that Aguilar and the others had been released “upon mutually agreeable terms.” According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “Other resignations were accepted from Jason Helmlinger, executive pastor; Andrew Delgado, children’s pastor; and Matthew Aguilar, assistant pastor and brother of Geronimo Aguilar.”

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