ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Post

A PRIEST under investigation over allegations he had a sexual relationship with a patient while working as a nurse is being allowed to continue his ministry.

Reverend Stephen Anthony Sheridan, a curate with the diocese of St Asaph, is alleged to have behaved in an “inappropriate manner” towards patients while working for the NHS in Worthing, West Sussex between 2002 and 2010.

One allegation relates to claims he had a “sexual relationship” with a “vulnerable” patient (known as Patient X), and the other relates to claims he asked another patient to shave his back.

The misconduct allegations, being investigated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), do not relate to North Wales.

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AUSTRALIA
Lawyers Weekly

11 June, 2013 Stephanie Quine

The Australian Lawyers Alliance is calling on the Catholic Church to reveal the accurate number of victims known to it in the Victorian child sexual abuse inquiry.

The Catholic Church in Victoria confirmed on Friday (June 7) that it accepted the authenticity of 849 child abuse complaints, made since the 1950s, against 269 male and female clergy and lay persons.

Those the Church said have been found guilty include 114 brothers, 98 priests, nine nuns, two seminarians, 42 lay people and two listed as ‘unknown’.

ALA spokesman Dr Andrew Morrison SC (pictured) said these figures are far from the complete story because two-thirds of the Victorian diocese was not included in those figures and the Church is aware of at least another 90 cases.

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CALIFORNIA
DFW Catholic

Los Angeles, Calif., Jun 12, 2013 / 02:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Critics say a proposed Calif. bill lifting the statute of limitations on some child sex abuse lawsuits threatens the Catholic Church and its schools, failing to allow suits for similar abuse in public schools.

“The bill itself is just unfair on its face,” Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the California Catholic Conference, told CNA June 11.

“Legislation is supposed to protect victims. The only thing (this bill) does is eliminate the statute of limitations for a year and revive a lot of old claims, but it only does so against private organizations.”

Eckery said private schools, organizations like the YMCA, and Catholic dioceses and schools are “concerned about the fact that they’re being singled out.”

The legislation, S.B. 131, passed in the state Senate May 29 by a vote of 21-10. It now heads to the California House of Representatives.

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ILLINOIS
Patch

Russell Romano is listed on the Archdiocese of Chicago’s website as a priest with “substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct with minors.”

Posted by Melissa Sersland (Editor), June 11, 2013

Members of SNAP—Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests– called for the firing of Bolingbrook ex-priest Russell L. Romano May 9.

Romano has worked as a counselor for Advocate Health Care in the Illinois Professional Heath Program in Des Plaines for 12 years, according to SNAP. He is listed on the Archdiocese of Chicago website as a priest with “substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct with minors.”

SNAP learned Tuesday that Romano was retire from his position at Advocate Health Care by the end of the month.

“Romano should be fired. And those who hired him – Advocate Health and the Chicago archdiocese – should aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes,” said Barbara Dorris of SNAP in a release. “Letting him retire implies that he’s innocent and that’s wrong.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – This is sentencing day for a priest and former lay teacher convicted of sexually assaulting the same 5th and 6th grade boy at St. Jerome’s in Philadelphia in 1999 and 2000.

The prosecution is expected to argue for lengthy prison terms for Father Charles Engelhardt and former lay teacher Bernard Shero. They were convicted of sexually assaulting the same boy assaulted by another now defrocked priest, Edward Avery, who pleaded guilty last year.

Even with conviction, defense attorney Michael McGovern has maintained Father Engelhardt is not guilty and he’s said he will fight this injustice.

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PENNSYLVANIA
A.I.R. Network

By Greg Banks on June 11th, 2013

Following a statement from the Bishop McCort High School Board of Trustees in the aftermath of the allegations against the now deceased priest Brothetr Stephen Baker, who abused Bishop McCort students in the 90s many questions go unanswered and victims continue to hang in limbo. The Steve Austin Show asked Judy Block Jones of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests to come back on the show after an appearance in March to discuss the Board’s public comments of “moving on”. In the highly charged environment presently in Johnstown; Jones spoke with Steve Austin about the issue on Monday’s show.

Hear the highlights here: Judy Block Jones on Bishop McCort

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter
June 12, 2013

Advocate Health Care has disclosed that a former Roman Catholic priest removed from ministry 20 years ago for a substantiated allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor will retire at the end of the month.

Russell Romano of Bolingbrook, who was a priest in the Chicago Archdiocese from 1973 to 1991, has worked for Advocate for 12 years, hospital officials said. According to the system’s website, he works for a publicly funded treatment program for Illinois health care professionals.

In May, victims advocates expressed concern that Romano worked as a counselor at an Advocate health clinic in Des Plaines.

This week, leaders of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests received a letter addressing those concerns. In the letter to Barbara Blaine and David Clohessy, Kevin Brady, senior vice president and chief human resources officer for Advocate Health Care, said the organization “completed a full investigation” and found that “Mr. Romano has had no contact with children.”

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

Written by Scott Dolan, Staff Writer

BANGOR – Attorneys in the case of an Augusta man who accused a priest of sexually abusing him as a child argued before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday whether the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland was obligated to disclose that the same priest was later accused of abusing other children.

William Picher of Augusta accused Raymond Melville of sexually abusing him when he was a student at St. Mary’s School from September 1986 to June 1988, while Melville was serving his initial assignment as assistant pastor at St. Mary’s Parish in Augusta.

Picher, now 39, filed his complaint in 2007. He also accused the diocese of covering up knowledge about previous sex abuse complaints against Melville that came to light after Picher was abused.

In 1990, a Maryland man wrote to then-Portland Bishop Joseph Gerry, saying he had been “emotionally, sexually and physically abused” as a teenager by Melville between 1980 and 1985, when Melville was a seminarian studying to be a priest in Baltimore.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted June 11, 2013

BANGOR, Maine — An Augusta man who claims he was abused in the 1980s by a Catholic priest has asked the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to consider what the bishop knew and when he knew it about the conduct of the Rev. Raymond Melville.

Justices heard oral arguments in the case Tuesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center. It was the second time the court has considered the case, originally filed in February 2007 in Kennebec County Superior Court.

The state’s high court four years ago affirmed 5-2 that under Maine law charitable groups such as churches, museums and sports organizations are immune from claims for negligent actions, but it said they are not immune from intentional actions.

William Picher, 39, claims that Raymond Melville, 70, of North Carolina, who left the ministry in 1997, sexually assaulted him between 1986 and 1988 when Picher was a student at St. Mary Catholic School in Augusta. Picher also alleges that Melville’s supervisors at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland knew the priest had sexually abused children previously but hid allegations from parishioners.

Gerald Petruccelli, the Portland attorney representing the diocese, told the justices Tuesday that the bishop’s office did not receive its first complaint about Melville until 1990, after the alleged abuse of Picher ended. It could not conceal what it did not know, he said.

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

By The Record
June 11, 2013

STOCKTON – The Diocese of Stockton’s Bishop Stephen Blaire wrote a letter that was read to congregations over the weekend addressing speculation on the diocese filing for bankruptcy and settlements on sexual abuse lawsuits.

A recent settlement brought the total the Catholic diocese has paid in judgments, legal costs and settlements to $15 million over the past 20 years, Blaire said in the letter. And of that, $6 million has been paid in the last three years.

The latest settlement is with a victim of defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady. The victim was 10 or 11 years old when he was molested by O’Grady in the 1980s, according to the letter.

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CANADA
CTV

By Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, June 11, 2013

WINNIPEG — A second man testified Tuesday that he was sexually abused as an altar boy three decades ago by a priest who would become the top Canadian cleric in the Orthodox Church in America.

“I listened to everything he said,” the 39-year-old man testified at Seraphim Storheim’s trial.
“My mother clearly mentioned ‘Listen to everything he says.”‘

Storheim has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the man and the man’s brother. Neither complainant can be identified under a publication ban.

Both men have told the trial they were sent by their single mother at different times in 1985 to live and work with Storheim at a church in Winnipeg. They were both pre-teens at the time.

The man who testified Tuesday said Storheim would routinely walk naked around the small house attached to the church and would sometimes lie on the floor naked and touch himself.

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CANADA
Sun News

DEAN PRITCHARD | QMI AGENCY

WINNIPEG — A former altar boy who says he was sexually abused by Kenneth William (Seraphim) Storheim told court Tuesday the future archbishop inspected his pyjamas for semen stains.

“He really wanted to look at my pyjamas,” the now 39-year-old man testified. “It was like a sexual education briefing, he was talking about pre-ejaculation … ‘because this is what happens at your age.'”

The man said Storheim was naked as he held the pyjamas up to the light.The man said he was 10- or 11-years-old when he spent two weeks living and working with Storheim at a Winnipeg church.

Upon arriving at the church’s attached residence, Storheim asked the boy if he would object to Storheim walking around naked, court was told.

“I told him I didn’t mind,” the man said. “I didn’t know any better … He was a role model (to our family).

Whatever he said, we didn’t think twice about it.”

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HOUSTON (TX)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 11, 201

We are here today to protect kids. For far too long, SBC church officials have remained silent on what we believe to be a systemic problem of inappropriate and dangerous responses within Southern Baptist churches when Baptist clergy are credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

Church staff and members often immediately and even publicly rally around an accused child molester instead of keeping an open mind and urging anyone with information to come forward. Then, victims, witnesses and whistleblowers are intimidated or frightened and stay silent, many times, for decades. As a result, all too often, those who commit and conceal child sex crimes walk free, remain hidden and hurt others.

This ought not to be. All children and their parents in our churches and communities deserve our utmost transparency and truthfulness. It’s the light of truth and knowledge that is our greatest tool to protect kids.

We urge the SBC to wait no longer and today decide to leave behind the status quo of silence and worn-out, weak and cowardly excuse of Baptist polity and autonomous church structure that keeps officials from cooperatively addressing the issue of child sexual abuse within SBC churches and subsequent cover-ups of that abuse by the failure to immediately report any knowledge or suspicion of abuse to law enforcement authorities.

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

Why Aren’t Bishops Following Sexual-abuse Reforms?

Nicholas P. Cafardi June 3, 2013

Last month the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops published its report on the latest round of diocesan audits conducted by the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People. The results are encouraging.

Accusations of sexual abuse by clergy have fallen dramatically over the past decade. While it goes without saying that a single instance of child sexual abuse is one too many, just thirty-four minors made allegations of abuse in 2012. Of those thirty-four allegations, six were considered credible, twelve not, and the rest are still being investigated. These are the fewest allegations we’ve seen since the audits began in 2004—audits made possible by reforms the bishops conference adopted in Dallas in 2002. While it’s true that most dioceses self-report their data, and that many refuse to allow auditors into parishes and schools, no one can deny that the Catholic Church made significant progress on this issue. Yet some bishops still act as if the sexual-abuse scandal never happened.

I was at the National Press Club in February 2004, when Archbishop Wilton Gregory, then president of the USCCB, announced that the sexual-abuse crisis was “history.” He was roundly criticized for that comment, but I’m sure he was being sincere. At that point, two years after the bishops adopted the Dallas Charter and Essential Norms governing their response to abuse accusations, the new rules seemed to be working. Predominantly lay review boards in every diocese were assessing abuse allegations in order to advise bishops whether accused priests should be removed from ministry. And, according to the new rules, no priest with a credible allegation of child sexual abuse against him would be allowed to remain in ministry.

When the spotlight of the national press was on them, it appeared that the bishops had acted responsibly. But, as an inaugural member of the bishops’ National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth, I had a different perspective. When the board went looking for national data about the phenomenon of sexual abuse by clergy, the California bishops, led by Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles (now retired), strongly resisted the audits.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The leaders of the Conference of Latin American Religious (CLAR) refer to an audience in which Francis spoke of the existence of a “gay lobby” in the Roman Curia. Lombardi issued no statement on the matter, saying the meeting was of a private nature

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

In the Curia…there are holy people,” but there is also “a current of corruption”, Pope Francis allegedly told the leadership of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR) in a private audience in the Apostolic Palace library on 6 June. A Chilean website published a partial account of the conversation.

According to the Latin American religious, the Pope also talked about a “gay lobby” existing in the Vatican: “The “gay lobby” is mentioned, and it is true, it is there… We need to see what we can do…,” the Pope was quoted saying. The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi said he had “no statement to make on the proceedings or on the content of the conversation” the content of which was not therefore recorded or transcribed.

According to CLAR’s leaders, Francis apparently encouraged the Conference’s members to “keep moving forward” and not be afraid to take risks by approaching the poor and new emerging figures across the continent. “Perhaps even a letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine (of the Faith) will arrive for you, telling you that you said such or such thing… But do not worry. Explain whatever you have to explain, but move forward… Open the doors, do something there where life calls for it. I would rather have a Church that makes mistakes for doing something than one that gets sick for being closed up…,” the Pope was quoted saying.

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CANADA
Macleans

by Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press on Tuesday, June 11, 2013

WINNIPEG – A second man testified Tuesday that he was sexually abused as an altar boy three decades ago by a priest who would become the top Canadian cleric in the Orthodox Church in America.

“I listened to everything he said,” the 39-year-old man testified at Seraphim Storheim’s trial.

“My mother clearly mentioned ‘Listen to everything he says.’”

Storheim has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the man and the man’s brother. Neither complainant can be identified under a publication ban.

Both men have told the trial they were sent by their single mother at different times in 1985 to live and work with Storheim at a church in Winnipeg. They were both pre-teens at the time.

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VATICAN CITY
Rorate Caeli

[First post: traditional groups; second post: “gay lobby” in the Curia]

On June 6, 2013, the Pope received the presiding board of the CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women – Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosos y Religiosas). A transcript of the pope’s words was made by those present, and given to the Chilean ultra-progressive page Reflexión y Liberación (Reflection and Liberation) for exclusive publication.

Whoever knows the Pope and who knew the words and demeanor of former Cardinal Bergoglio can have no doubts about the accuracy of the words below – in which different groups within the Church and the Curia are specifically mentioned. Words in (parentheses) are part of the original transcript to provide the context. Words in [square brackets] were added by us to clarify language difficulties and explain a few points. All ellipses are part of the original Spanish transcript. We hold no public opinion on any part of the text: we report, you decide.
_____________________

In an unprecedented gesture, Pope Francis received and held a dialogue of one hour with the board of the Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosas y Religiosos (CLAR). They spoke in a circle, among equals, as it happened in the first communities founded by Jesus…

In an environment of trust and simplicity, Francis prompted the leaders of the CLAR to not be afraid of continuing to carrying on their mission to the boundaries and to the borders…. “Courage! Advance towards new horizons! Do not be afraid to run risks going to the poor, and to new emerging subjects in the continent,” said Pope Bergoglio, who at the end of the meeting emphatically thanked religious life for being “sign and witness of the Gospel” in many places in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas C. Fox | Jun. 11, 2013 NCR Today

Pope Francis met last week with the presiding board of CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women). Reportedly, they had a cordial and informal meeting, with Francis, as he is prone to do, speaking off the cuff.

A reported transcript of the conversation covers a lot of ground. Reportedly at one point, he encouraged the religious leaders to continue to take risks on behalf of their mission and not worry too much about some of the consequences of their commitments.

Reading the transcript in light of longtime tensions between U.S. women religious and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith should offer solace to the women, especially the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Rev. James J. Greenfield, Provincial of the Wilmington-Philadelphia Province of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, is publicly coming to the defense of his fellow priest, Fr. Charles Engelhardt, one of three men recently convicted in the high-profile Philadelphia clergy abuse trials.

“We cannot just roll over in the face of being falsely accused,” Fr. Greenfield says. “That is wrong. We need to stand up for what’s right.”

Greenfield made his remarks in the latest blog post of journalist Ralph Cipriano, who has bravely exposed the massive fraud and corruption in the prosecution of Catholic clergy in Philadelphia.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

January 20, 1947 – May 21, 2013
James Zorigian, 66 years old, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. He is survived by his son Garrett and three wonderful grandchildren, Sienna, Colin and Zoe. Jim also leaves his twin brother, John and his sister in law, Ronnie, his nephews, Jason and Christopher, his niece, Jamie and her husband, Ignacio and their children, Isabela and Nicolas. Jim was born in 1947, attended 54th Street Elementary School, Audubon Jr. High School, Dorsey High School and on to UCLA where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. He then went on to pursue a law degree at U.S.C. where he was elected to president in his second year. He began a very successful law career and spent 41 years helping people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Jim lived for many years in Playa del Rey where he spent his time gardening, playing sports and fishing. What Jim loved most was spending time with his family and friends, doing for them in every way possible. Jim was also a 50 year member of the Armenian Triple X Fraternity whose many members included some of his best of friends. He was also a member of Brentwood Presbyterian Church where he held many positions and contributed much to the church and its community.

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GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, June 7, 2013

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — A memorial service will be held in California Saturday for an attorney who claimed to represent many alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse from the Diocese of Gallup.

James Zorigian, 66, died May 21. A memorial service will be held Saturday in Los Angeles.

Zorigian, who practiced law in California for more than 40 years, was drawn into the Diocese of Gallup’s legal morass of sex abuse allegations a decade ago. In 2003, former Winslow resident Joseph Baca sought Zorigian’s assistance in pursuing a clergy sex abuse claim against the Gallup Diocese. Zorigian, who had experience in railroad and transportation law, had previously represented Baca in a railroad claim.

Without ever filing a lawsuit against the diocese, Zorigian negotiated a financial settlement on behalf of Baca. Zorigian, Baca and Gallup diocesan officials have never disclosed the amount of that settlement. However, as news of Baca’s settlement spread through Winslow, Zorigian began acquiring a number of other alleged clergy abuse survivors as clients.

In an interview in 2011, Zorigian claimed he had obtained out-of-court settlements for more than a dozen alleged victims in the Gallup Diocese and had another dozen clients preparing to file claims. Most, if not all, were reportedly from Winslow.

Because Zorigian did not file lawsuits, the public and the media were never able to review his clients’ allegations through public court documents, court hearings or media coverage. Zorigian and the Diocese of Gallup have never provided information as to what allegations have been made against what clergy members, and neither have provided information about settlement amounts paid to alleged victims.

Baca is the only Zorigian client to discuss his allegations publicly.

In 2011, Zorigian said the settlement agreements he negotiated were not confidential, just the specific amounts of the settlements were confidential. He claimed officials with the Diocese of Gallup didn’t want abuse survivors comparing settlement amounts. However, Deacon Timoteo Lujan, the former Gallup diocesan chancellor, previously stated in an email that Zorigian had been the one to request confidentiality of the settlement amount.

In contrast, Lujan and former Bishop Donald E. Pelotte had not been hesitant to publicly acknowledge that a $134,000 settlement had been paid by St. Bonaventure Mission to a victim of Douglas A. McNeill. That settlement, inked in 1995, arose out of a very publicly reported lawsuit filed by the late attorney Bruce E. Pasternack.

Unlike attorneys who file lawsuits and prepare for possible trials, Zorigian did not request records or information on the alleged abusers. According to Zorigian, he simply notified the Gallup Diocese that he had another claim, he submitted a statement by his client about the alleged abuse, diocesan attorneys conducted an interview with his client, and the two parties then negotiated a settlement.

Although advocates for survivors of clergy sex abuse encourage victims to file reports with law enforcement agencies, Zorigian said he didn’t think any of his clients wanted to file police reports so he never encouraged them to do so. Therefore, his clients who claimed they had been abused by James M. Burns never went to the police while Burns was still alive, and those who claimed abuse by John Boland never went to the police while Boland was still living in the United States.

As a result, Arizona law enforcement officials never had the opportunity to investigate allegations made by Zorigian’s clients, and prosecutors never could evaluate the allegations for possible criminal prosecution.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Alessandro Speciale Religion News Service | Jun. 11, 2013

VATICAN CITY Weeks after authorizing a continued investigation of American nuns, Pope Francis told a group of nuns and priests from Latin America not to worry if they found themselves under similar scrutiny.

The pope’s purported remarks came during a meeting with top officials of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR) on June 6.

During the meeting, Francis seemed to refer to the Vatican investigation of an American nuns’ group, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, while telling the Latin American delegates not to worry should they find themselves the target of a similar investigation.

“They will make mistakes, they will make a blunder, this will pass! Perhaps even a letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine [of the Faith] will arrive for you, telling you that you said such or such thing. … But do not worry. Explain whatever you have to explain, but move forward.”

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PHIIPPINES
UCAN Philippines

A book launched on Friday is set to send shockwaves through the Philippines Church, with serious allegations about the behavior of bishops and clergy.

“Altar of Secrets: Sex, Politics, and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church,” describes an institution cloaked in secrecy.

It claims that Church leaders have been concealing wrongdoings committed by bishops and clergy, including sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and corruption, for many years.

Author Aries Rufo, who researched the book over 20 years of covering the institutional church as a journalist, said he does not intend to destroy the reputation of the country’s bishops and priests.

“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 said.

He said he has dedicated the book to “those who remain steadfast in their faith yet ache for reforms within the Holy Mother Church.”

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

BLUE EARTH, Minn. (AP) – The Diocese of Winona says a Blue Earth priest has been placed on administrative leave after he was charged with sexually assaulting a young girl.

Bishop John Quinn said in a statement that Rev. Leo Koppala is not allowed to minister in the Winona diocese while the investigation continues.

A criminal complaint filed in Faribault County accuses Koppala of fondling an 11-year-old girl last week at the home of her grandmother where he had been invited to dinner. The 47-year-old priest serves the Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Blue Earth.

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CANADA
CNW

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Notes 5th Anniversary of Parliament Apology for Residential Schools: “Actions Must Match Words”

OTTAWA, June 11, 2013 /CNW/ – On the fifth anniversary of Parliament’s Apology for Indian Residential Schools, Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo called attention to the outstanding requirement for all governments and all Canadians to commit to reconciliation.

“There is a growing frustration among First Nations across the country with lack of action and lack of commitment on the part of the Government of Canada to work in real partnership with our peoples and governments,” said AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo. “Five years ago, the Prime Minister stated: ‘There is no place in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian Residential Schools system to ever prevail again.’ Those attitudes include the colonial notion that other governments know best for First Nations and have the right to make decisions for us, yet we have not seen change in the continued pattern of unilateral approaches and imposed legislation. This is incongruent with the apology and other commitments. We must break the pattern once and for all. Actions must match words. Our people are calling for a true and collective commitment to reconciliation that respects First Nations peoples and rights as the way forward to a stronger Canada.”

The historic apology offered to residential school survivors took place in the House of Commons June 11, 2008. It included a commitment by Parliament and all of Canada to join First Nations on a shared journey toward healing and reconciliation, including ensuring continuity with healing efforts initiated through the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

“All those affected by the Residential Schools must be supported in their healing journey,” said AFN Regional Chief Bill Erasmus who leads the national advocacy work in this area “The work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission remains fundamentally important and the Government of Canada must cooperate fully in achieving their mandate, including programming and supports for all survivors and their descendants.”

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CANADA
Market Watch

Minister Valcourt Marks Fifth Anniversary of the Prime Minister’s Historic Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Jun 11, 2013 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — The Honourable Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, issued the following statement today on the fifth anniversary of the Prime Minister’s 2008 historic Statement of Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools and their families:

“Five years ago today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood in the House of Commons with all Parliamentarians, Inuit, Metis and First Nation leaders and offered a historic Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools on behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians. He apologized not only to former students, but also their families and communities, whose lives were impacted by this dark chapter in our history. The Apology acknowledged that the policy of assimilation was wrong, had caused great harm, and has no place in our country.

On June 11 2008, our Prime Minister recognized the extraordinary courage of former students of Indian Residential Schools and asked for their forgiveness.

The legacy of Indian Residential Schools is still felt today by Aboriginal people across Canada. Our Government recognizes this and that is why we have placed such importance on reconciliation and the restoration of Canada’s relationship with Aboriginal people. We acknowledge that we must forge a new relationship, one that is based on an appreciation of our shared history, a respect for each other’s cultures and traditions, and an honest desire to move forward together with a renewed understanding that Canada’s future will be stronger if we build it together.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

MICHAEL O’REGAN and MARIE O’HALLORAN

The report prepared by a retired High Court judge on a redress scheme for women and girls held in the Magdalene laundries is expected to become before the Cabinet in the next two weeks, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

Mr Kenny told the Dail this afternoon that the Government would consider the report’s recommendations, as well as the views of Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, and make a decision on it.

“Hopefully, it can be dealt with speedily and conclusively,’’ he added.

The Taoiseach was replying to Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald, who referred to weekend media reports suggesting that Mr Justice Quirke had recommended the setting up of a reconciliation forum between the women and their former abusers.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Huffington Post

Jonathan Wolfman

My hometown, Philadelphia, became known over the past decade for its criminally accused and criminally liable priests, 37 of them. One of them, Monsignor William Lynn, the first member of the U.S. Catholic Church hierarchy to suffer a conviction in the scandal, is serving a serious prison term not for rape but for helping to bury the pedophilia scandal by shredding internal Church documents. Copies were subsequently found (by, my guess, some heroic female office lay worker in the Archdiocese).

The Archdiocese is also now known for the fact that, in Philadelphia, the Church has not lived up to its no-tolerance pledge. Like many mammoth institutions, the Church has found advancing molesters onward and, at times, upward, far simpler than confrontation. In some cases, the Church simply removed these men from the priesthood.

I am not in favor of the Church simply ridding itself of these priests. If that’s zero tolerance, it’s flawed. The Church should be held accountable to its faithful and to the rest of us — including those who have taught distraught teens after their horrified parents have pulled them from diocesan schools — by taking full responsibility for these men. The Church recruited, groomed, educated, trained and ordained them and provided them, worldwide and for generations, extraordinary access to tens of millions of children.

Cashiering these men would force secular society to wholly assume a responsibility that is not wholly ours. There’s no reason to think that pedophilic priests, defrocked and loosed onto the streets, would be less dangerous than they were, say, at Saint Paul’s or Saint Bart’s. In fact, defrocked and on the loose, they would be harder to identify within the thousands of communities their presence would make vulnerable.

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MINNESOTA
The Mankato Free Press

A Blue Earth priest charged with sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl has been put on leave.

The Rev. Leo Charles Koppala will not be permitted to exercise his public ministry or live on the property of the Diocese of Winona pending the outcome of the legal process, according to the diocese.

The diocese also said in its news release that it has received no other allegations of this nature involving Koppala, a priest of the Nellore Diocese in South India. He is on loan from the Indian diocese and has been in the Winona diocese for fewer than five years.

Koppala, 47, had previously worked at a different church in the diocese, though a diocese spokesman was out of the office and said he wasn’t sure where it was.

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CANADA
Medicine Hat News

By The Canadian Press on June 11, 2013.

WINNIPEG – Another former altar boy has testified about alleged sexual abuse by an Orthodox priest in Winnipeg.

The man, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, says he lived with Seraphim Storheim for two weeks in the summer of 1985.

The man, who was 11 at the time, says Storheim would frequently walk around naked, and sometimes lie naked on the floor and touch himself.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

Victims support groups are outraged that senior members of the Catholic Church will be able to give evidence in private to the New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry into sexual abuse investigations in the Hunter Valley. But the Commissioner Margaret Cunneen has ruled that private hearings are appropriate, because of the potential for criminal charges to be laid in the future.

Transcript

ASHLEY HALL: Victim support groups are outraged that senior members of the Catholic Church will be able to give evidence in private to the New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry into sexual abuse investigations in the Hunter Valley.

That privilege is normally only extended to victims of abuse.

But the Commissioner, Margaret Cunneen, has ruled that private hearings are appropriate because of the potential for criminal charges to be laid in the future.

Here’s Eliza Harvey.

ELIZA HARVEY: Catholic priests Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher were notorious paedophiles.

Both abused scores of children across Australia.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON JUNE 11, 2013

A Winona Diocese priest has been arrested for allegedly molesting a girl.

[CBS Minnesota]

We applaud this very brave girl and her grandmother. The child was smart and strong enough to promptly report and the grandmother was smart and strong enough to call police. All too often, even now, Catholics who see, suspect or suffer clergy sex crimes call church officials, instead of secular officials.

Many times, predator priests have fled overseas after being accused or arrested. If Fr. Koppala is released on bail, we hope secular or church authorities take his passport.

It’s now up to the Winona Catholic bishop to use his vast resources to urge others with information or suspicions about this cleric to step forward. The bishop should use his diocesan website and newspaper and parish bulletins and pulpit announcements to beg anyone with potentially helpful details to call p police and prosecutors. In a criminal investigation, no tidbit – no matter how small, old or seemingly insignificant – should be withheld from law enforcement.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 11, 2013

Accused child molester to retire
Clergy sex abuse victims protested him last month
Former priest now works for Advocate Health Care
For 2nd time, he is allowed to quietly resign without any consequences

A former Chicago Catholic priest who now works for Advocate Health Care and was the subject of controversy last month will retire soon, his employer said.

In a letter received yesterday by SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Kevin Brady, Advocate’s Chief Human Rights officer and senior vice president, says that Russell L. Romano will leave the firm at the end of this month.

In 2006, as part of a settlement of clergy sex abuse lawsuits, the Chicago archdiocese admitted that Romano had been credibly accused of molesting at least one child. In 2009, a civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit against Romano and the archdiocese was settled.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

LYNDSEY TELFORD – 11 JUNE 2013

A planned compensation scheme for survivors of the Magdalene laundries will be published in the next two weeks, the Taoiseach has confirmed.

Enda Kenny said he expects Justice Minister Alan Shatter to bring the report to Cabinet this month when the Government will consider recommendations for a redress process.

“Once the process is decided upon, there will be no delay on the Government’s behalf in following through on this,” Mr Kenny said.

“I do hope it will be possible, together with the women involved, to deal with that process and deal with it in their interests.”

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Vittorio Hernandez | June 12, 2013

Pope Francis confirmed the existence of a gay lobby in the Roman Curia, which administers the Roman Catholic Church. He promised on Thursday during an audience with the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women to reform the Curia.

“In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption,” Huffington Post quoted the pontiff.

He also acknowledged that he could not carry out the reforms himself and tasked the commission he formed to help govern the church, made of eight cardinals, to initiate the reforms.

The powerful gay lobby is speculated to be one of the reasons why then Pope Benedict XVI retired on Feb 28, 2013, which caught the Catholic world by surprise. The pope then said he could no longer perform his function well as shepherd of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics throughout the world.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Pope Francis has acknowledged the existence of a ‘gay lobby’ inside the Vatican’s secretive administration for the first time.

Speaking during an audience with Latin American Catholics, the Argentine Pontiff said that there was a ‘current of corruption’ in the Roman Curia – the central governing body of the Catholic Church.

He also admitted the existence of a long-rumoured ‘gay lobby’ in the Curia, and hinted that he might take action over the issue.

Speaking in his native Spanish last Thursday, the 76-year-old told the CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women): ‘In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption.

‘There is talk of a ‘gay lobby’ and it’s true, it exists,’ he said, in a report on Chilean website Reflexion y Liberacion. ‘We will have to see what we can do.’

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Pope Francis acknowledged the existence of a ‘gay lobby’ in the Roman Curia for the first time last week and suggested that he was considering taking action on it.

The Pontiff made the statement on a ‘gay lobby’ in the Vatican during an audience granted to CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women – Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosos y Religiosas) on June 6, 2013, the Catholic blog Rorate Caeli reported.

Excerpts of that meeting were reported in Spanish on the Chilean Catholic website Reflexion y Liberation:

“Y, sí… es difícil. En la curia hay gente santa, de verdad, hay gente santa. Pero también hay una corriente de corrupción, también la hay, es verdad… Se habla del “lobby gay”, y es verdad, está ahí… hay que ver qué podemos hacer…”

(translation)

“Yes, it is difficult. In the curia there are holy people, truly holy people. But there is also a current of corruption, also there is, it is true… they speak of a ‘Gay Lobby’ and that is true, it is there.. we will have to see what we can do…”

He did not specify what kind of action he might take.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

Missbrauch | 11.06.2013 – Bonn

Dreieinhalb Jahre ist es her, dass der Jesuitenpater Klaus Mertes den sexuellen Missbrauch am Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin publik machte und einen der größten Skandale der katholischen Kirche ans Licht brachte. In seinem neuen Buch “Verlorenes Vertrauen” zieht Mertes Bilanz. Er kritisert das Versagen kirchlicher Vertreter gegenüber den Opfern und diagnostiziert eine Vertrauenskrise, die für ihn vor allem mit einem falschen Verständnis von Macht in der katholischen Kirche zusammenhängt. Im Interview mit katholisch.de erklärt Mertes auch, warum die Krise ihn in seinem Glauben bestärkt hat.

Frage: Pater Mertes, wie bewerten Sie die bisher erfolgte Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals?

Mertes: Wir sind zwar noch nicht am Ende, aber es ist bereits viel an Aufarbeitungsarbeit geleistet worden. Die Jesuitenschulen, das Koster Ettal, die Erzdiözese München und manche andere kirchlichen Institutionen haben Berichte vorgelegt. Die Kirche ist bei den Anerkennungszahlungen und auch bei Entschädigungsleistungen vorangeschritten. Auch bei der Prävention haben wir wichtige Schritte getan: Unabhängige Ombudsstellen, besseres Beschwerdemanagement, regelmäßig Fortbildungsmaßnahmen, neue Sprache und Offenheit für das Thema Gewalt, und vieles andere mehr.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Will Wright do the right thing?

Probably not.

Seriously, though, Bishop William Wright (pictured above on left, with Cardinal Pell) has been called before the New South Wales enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse. Previously, he had said he might not be called. He has also gone on record as saying that he had been “surprised” at the extent of claims in his diocese, and also states it passes all claims on to the police.

Wright, who was born in the US, where his father worked for the IMF, is a member of the Catholic Church’s PR unit, which was set up to deal with the fall-out from the Royal Commission. This will be a practice session for him.

Appearing along with Wright will be the secretary of the Australian Bishop’s Conference, Fr. Brian Lucas. (The head of the conference is Melbourne bishop Denis Hart – see previous posting). Lucas worked in the Newcastle diocese in the past.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

SENIOR members of the Catholic clergy will give evidence behind closed doors when an inquiry into the handling of allegations of child sex abuse by Hunter Valley priests resumes next month.

The list of more than 20 witnesses released during a short hearing in Sydney on Tuesday included Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle William Wright, who will be called to give evidence publicly at the start of the inquiry’s next phase on July 1 and at its conclusion.

His predecessor Bishop Michael Malone will also appear as well as Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, and a number of police, clergy and abuse victims of Father James Fletcher and Father Denis McAlinden.

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson will be among at least half a dozen witnesses to give evidence in closed hearings. Another will be Peter Gogarty, a victim of Fletcher, who had sought to give evidence publicly.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

Written by Scott Dolan, Staff Writer

ALFRED — A pastor who ran a Christian ministry catering to Biddeford’s homeless and poor has been indicted by a York County grand jury on 31 counts of possession of child pornography.

James Napier, 61, of 75 Middle Branch Drive, Alfred, had been arrested after Maine State Police received a tip about him and confronted him at his home on Aug. 31, 2012. Napier gave them permission to search his home and his computer, where officers found more than 100 images of child pornography, police said.

Napier was initially charged with a single count of felony possession of explicit material of a child younger than 12 years old, and released on $500 cash bail. The images were of children outside of Maine.

A grand jury indicted Napier on 29 counts of that same felony charge, each punishable by up to five years in prison, and two additional misdemeanor counts of possession of explicit material of a child younger than 16 years old, according to the York County District Attorney’s Office, which released of list of grand jury returns on Monday.

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Tuesday, June 11, 2013
By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

The Catholic diocese serving parishes from Lodi to Turlock has spent about $15 million in judgments, settlements and legal costs regarding clergy abuse cases by priests and former priests, according to Bishop Stephen Blaire.

Blaire, bishop of the Stockton Diocese, issued a message to parishioners throughout the diocese. The message was read aloud during Masses on Saturday and Sunday.

“It was a sad comment, kind of scary,” Lodi resident Patty Ibarra said after Sunday’s 10:30 a.m. Mass at St. Anne’s Catholic Church.

Diocese officials agreed last week to a $1.75 million settlement with a former parishioner who says he was sexually abused by defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady. …

Statement by Bishop Stephen Blaire

The following message by Stockton Diocese Bishop Stephen Blaire was read aloud during all Masses from Lodi to Turlock on Saturday and Sunday:

Dear Friends,
By now, most of you will have seen (last) week’s newspaper and television news stories about our diocese and the difficult financial situation we face. I want, however, to address this topic with you directly and bring you up to date on where things stand and what lies ahead.

(Last) week, our diocese reached a negotiated settlement that brings an end to a lawsuit arising from sexual abuse by Oliver O’Grady in the 1980s. The man who brought the suit was a boy of 10 or 11 when this abuse occurred, and he suffered greatly as a result of it. It is my hope that this settlement helps him continue to heal. He, and all victims of sexual abuse, must be in our prayers always.

This most recent agreement brings the total our diocese has paid in judgments, settlements and legal costs to more than $15 million over the past 20 years. Of this amount, more than $6 million has been paid in the last three years alone.

Since my arrival as your bishop 14 years ago, I have tried to settle these cases when possible and to heal the deep wounds caused to our church and our diocese by the evil of sexual abuse. I hope that we will be seen to have treated victims fairly.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By The Auditor/The Star-Ledger

The New Jersey Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the state’s bishops, is getting a little help from one of Trenton’s higher powers.

The bishops, who have been battling bills that would extend the statute of limitations on lawsuits for child sex-abuse cases and a measure that would establish a system for physician-assisted suicide, have hired the prominent State Street firm Princeton Public Affairs Group.

Dale Florio, the firm’s founder, is the consummate Trenton insider to whom, for example, the Orthodox rabbis in Lakewood turned when they wanted to get their yeshiva a chunk of the state’s higher education grants.

Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the Catholic Conference who is a registered lobbyist, said it was the first time the organization had hired an outside lobbyist in his seven years there, although he wasn’t sure if it had done so earlier.

Brannigan said the firm would be dedicated to all the group’s causes, not just opposing those two bills.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 47

[with video]

BLUE EARTH, Minn. (FOX 47) — A Blue Earth priest accused of having sexual contact with a young girl made his first court appearance Monday afternoon.

Fr. Leo Koppala, 47, a priest at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, is charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Koppala was arrested at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

According to the criminal complaint, Koppala is accused of touching the victim on her lower back and breasts on Friday evening while he was at the family’s home for dinner. The victim also told investigators he kissed her on the cheeks and mouth. He told her he loved her and wanted to be together after she was done with school.

The county attorney says the female victim is under the age of 13 and the crime was committed at the girl’s grandmother’s house.

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

A priest who served on a temporary basis in Lodi is due to appear in court for a preliminary hearing June 27 on charges including false imprisonment and molesting a minor.

Father Julio Cesar Guarin-Sosa, 43, was arrested on March 10 after a 16-year-old girl in Yuba City told authorities that Guarin-Sosa sexually abused her while he visited her family at their residence.

Guarin-Sosa is charged with a felony count of false imprisonment and misdemeanor counts of annoying or molesting a minor and sexual battery involving the 16-year-old girl.

A preliminary-pretrial conference is set for 1:30 p.m. June 19 and the preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. June 27 at Sutter County Superior Court in Yuba City, court records show.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona

A Statement from Most Rev. John M. Quinn, Bishop of Winona

WINONA, MN – June 10, 2013 – Bishop John Quinn placed Rev. Leo Charles Koppala, a priest of the Nellore Diocese in South India, on administrative leave in accordance with the diocesan policy for the protection of minors. Rev. Koppala has been charged with Criminal Sexual Conduct in the Second Degree involving a minor.

While on administrative leave, he is not permitted to exercise his public ministry or live on any parish property in the Diocese of Winona pending the outcome of the investigation.

A representative of the Diocese of Winona indicated that no other allegation of this nature involving Rev. Koppala has been received by the Diocese.

The Diocese of Winona is committed to the protection of children and the safe environment of our parishes and schools. The Diocese of Winona has fully adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (“the Charter”), as promulgated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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AUSTRALIA
News Mail

APN Newsdesk 11th Jun 2013

VICTIMS of child sexual abuse have started sharing their stories during face-to-face private sessions in Brisbane.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse expects to conduct the private sessions for at least the next month.

Private sessions, which are conducted in an informal setting in the presence of one or two commissioners, have been running in Sydney for the past four weeks.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said a large number of people were talking about their experiences for the first time and had different reasons for coming forward.

“Many people have said that after years of keeping silent, they feel safe to speak out,” Ms Dines said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Federal Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is considering holding sessions in Canberra.

Commissioners are holding private sessions around Australia with people who experienced child sexual abuse while in institutional care.

Sessions will be set up in Canberra if there is demand.

Liberal Senator Gary Humphries says the abuse may not have happened in Canberra but people who experienced it now live here.

“Their stories are best heard where they are now, rather than where they originally were,” he said.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted June 10, 2013

BANGOR, Maine — Justices with the state’s highest court will consider whether a Portland man convicted of manslaughter was tricked into waiving his Miranda rights and whether a Kennebec County man’s lawsuit against the Catholic Church over alleged clergy abuse may go forward.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear appeals in those cases and 10 others Tuesday and Wednesday when it convenes at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor. …

On Tuesday, justices will consider for a second time an Augusta man’s lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

William Picher, 39, claims that the Rev. Raymond Melville, who left the ministry in 1997, sexually assaulted him between 1986 and 1988 when Picher was a student St. Mary Catholic School in Augusta. Picher (pronounced pee-SHAY) also alleges that Melville’s supervisors at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland knew the priest had sexually abused children previously but hid allegations from parishioners.

The state’s high court four years ago affirmed 5-2 that under Maine law charitable groups such as churches, museums and sports organizations are immune from claims for negligent actions, but it said they are not immune from intentional ones.

Picher’s Augusta attorneys Sumner Lipman and Benjamin Tucker claim the diocese knew Melville had a history of sexually abusing minors when in 1985 he was assigned to St. Mary’s Church and School in Augusta. The diocese has denied the claim, arguing that it did not receive its first complaint about Melville until 1990.

In the latest appeal, Picher’s attorneys argued that Superior Court Justice Donald Marden erred in granting summary judgment to the diocese and abused his discretion by refusing to permit Picher and his lawyers access to Diocese records containing the names of clergy accused of sexual misconduct and the names of their accusers.

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CANADA
Updated News

Mon, Jun 10th, 2013

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 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 Orthodox Church of America has launched an internal investigation into the matter.

“It’s been a sad and stressful time for everyone. The church has been praying for everybody involved just that God’s will would be done,” said Matthew Estabrooks, the lawyer representing the church’s Archdiocese of Canada.

Melanie Sakoda of a Chicago-based victims’ organization called SNAP — Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests — said the group pushed for years for an investigation into complaints involving Storheim.

“It’s certainly been a long time coming, but I’m really grateful that those men will have the opportunity to tell their truth. In the U.S., a lot of people don’t have that opportunity because of the statute of limitations we have down here,” Sakoda said.

“I hope justice will be done in the trial. But I think no matter the outcome of the trial, those two men are winners for speaking up and coming forward.”

Sakoda said she hopes the case will encourage more sexual-abuse survivors to come forward.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By MICHELLE HARRIS June 11, 2013

COMMISSIONER Margaret Cunneen SC has decided not to refer a tweet from detective chief inspector Peter Fox for possible contempt of the Special Commission of inquiry into child sex abuse cover-ups in the Hunter Valley.

Ms Cunneen said on Tuesday morning she had the power to refer such matters to the registrar of the Supreme Court, to consider pursuing possible contempt proceedings.

It followed a tweet Mr Fox made in relation to the evidence of a police officer given during a previous hearing of the inquiry in May.

Legal representatives of some police officers who are involved in the inquiry said the tweet was inconsistent with earlier evidence given to the inquiry.

However, in a brief directions hearing in Sydney Tuesday morning, Ms Cunneen said she was not persuaded such a referral for contempt action was warranted over the tweet.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

By Sophie Tarr, AAP
Updated June 11, 2013

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson will be among witnesses grilled behind closed doors as an inquiry into the handling of allegations of child sex abuse by Hunter Valley priests enters its second phase.

The special commission of inquiry began in Newcastle last month and is focusing on how police and church officials handled sex abuse allegations, particularly those involving serial sex offender Father Denis McAlinden and convicted pedophile Father James Fletcher, who are both dead.

The first stage of the inquiry, which examined whether local Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox had been asked to stop investigating abuse, is expected to wrap up with a final week of public hearings later this month.

Witnesses for the second phase of the inquiry, examining whether Catholic Church officials helped or hindered police investigations, were unveiled on Tuesday.

Public hearings into this second term of reference are slated to begin on July 1.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By court reporter Jamelle Wells

A New South Wales detective who triggered an inquiry into the handling of allegations of church child sex abuse will not face a contempt charge for tweeting from the hearing room.

The inquiry is focusing on the handling of allegations involving priests in the Catholic diocese of Maitland and Newcastle and allegations Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox was stopped from investigating the matters.

In May, Patrick Saidi, a barrister for several high-ranking police officers, told Special Commissioner Margaret Cunneen that Inspector Fox had tweeted a message from the hearing room that was inconsistent with evidence.

Mr Saidi asked Ms Cunneen to ban tweeting while sessions were sitting and to refer the matter to the Crown Solicitor’s office to consider a contempt charge against Inspector Fox.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A detective won’t face a contempt charge over a tweet he sent during a court hearing into claims the Catholic Church covered up child sex abuse.

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson will be among witnesses grilled behind closed doors as an inquiry into the handling of allegations of child sex abuse by Hunter Valley priests enters its second phase.

The special commission of inquiry began in Newcastle last month and is focusing on how police and church officials handled sex abuse allegations, particularly those involving serial sex offender Father Denis McAlinden and convicted pedophile Father James Fletcher, who are both dead.

The first stage of the inquiry, which examined whether local Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox had been asked to stop investigating abuse, is expected to wrap up with a final week of public hearings later this month.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By New Zealand correspondent Dominique Schwartz

A judge has ruled that a former Catholic brother wanted in Australia on 252 charges of child sexual abuse can be extradited from New Zealand.

The extradition order was made in the Christchurch District Court for 66-year-old Bernard Kevin McGrath.

He has 15 days in which to appeal or voluntarily return to Australia, otherwise he will be arrested and extradited.

New South Wales police say the alleged offending involved 35 boys from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

AAP

Former Catholic brother Bernard McGrath will be extradited to Australia from New Zealand to face child sex charges barring a successful appeal.

Judge Jane Farish ruled in Christchurch District Court that it would not be unjust or oppressive to McGrath, 65, for him to face charges that he repeatedly raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at institutions in NSW during the late 1970s and 1980s.

He faces 252 charges, which follow allegations by 35 complainants.

McGrath now has 15 days to appeal the decision, or he can voluntarily return to Australia.

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

By Kurt Bayer @KurtBayerAPNZ
5:18 PM Tuesday Jun 11, 2013

A former Catholic brother will be extradited to Australia to face 252 sexual abuse charges alleged to have been made against 35 complainants, a judge ruled today.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, 65, has 15 days to appeal against the decision, made at the Christchurch District Court, or he’ll be extradited to stand trial.

The Commonwealth of Australia want him extradited from New Zealand to face allegations he raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at church-run institutions in New South Wales over several decades.

A hearing to discuss whether he should be extradited was heard before Judge Farish at Christchurch District Court earlier this year.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

A judge has granted the extradition of former Catholic brother Bernard McGrath to Australia to face hundreds of sex-abuse charges.

The Australian Government’s application for extradition was granted by Judge Jane Farish in the Christchurch District Court today.

In Australia, charges have been laid against McGrath, 65, alleging that he raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at church-run institutions over several decades.

A total of 252 charges have been laid.

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CANADA
Digital Journal

By Marcus Hondro
Jun 11, 2013

The sex trial of Archbishop Kenneth William (Seraphim) Storheim, highest-ranking cleric in the Canadian diocese of the Orthodox Church in America, began in Winnipeg Monday. The archbishop is accused of sexual assault on two brothers in the mid-eighties.

The first of the brothers, pre-teens when the alleged abuses occurred, took the stand on the first day of the trial and spoke of being an altar boy at the parish Storheim then administered to in the north end of Winnipeg in 1985.

Former altar boy: “I was disgusted”

The man, now 39, had a room in the same house as Storheim and testified he was hugged at night and subjected to a nude Storheim wandering about the house, inviting him to look at and to touch his penis. He said that he saw Storheim take boys that the church was feeding into his room.

The man, who now experiences problems with his mental health, said he would call his mother back in Ontario crying and asking to go home. His mother didn’t believe there was anything untoward going on, he said, telling the court that his mother thought he was “lying because I just want to come home and see my friends.”

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Aldo Santin

A man says a priest in the Orthodox Church of America offered him money to sleep with him when he was a young boy during the summer of 1985.

The man was testifying on the opening day of the trial of Seraphim Storheim, a priest in Winnipeg in 1985 and now an archbishop of his church.

Storheim is charged with two counts of sexual assault. The alleged victims are brothers. He pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday.

A publication ban prohibits the disclosure of any information that could identify the victims.
Storheim was suspended as archbishop in November 2011 after Winnipeg police charged him after a lengthy investigation.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

June 11, 2013

Peter Jean
Chief Assembly Reporter for The Canberra Times.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is being urged to hold hearings in Canberra to encourage local victims to tell their stories.

ACT Liberal Senator Gary Humphries said many child abuse victims had shown the courage to speak up publicly and in the courts in recent years and they deserved to be heard.

“I know there’s been at least 150 cases that have been raised in the ACT – it could be closer to 200 cases,” Senator Humphries said.

“And in those circumstances I think there’s ample basis for the commission to come to Canberra.”

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CANADA
The B.C. Catholic

‘Protecting God’s Children’ screening process keeps offenders out of Church ministries

By Agnieszka Krawczynski
The B.C. Catholic

The Catholic Church in Canada is ahead of its neighbours to the south when it comes to addressing sexual abuse by clergy, according to Father George Mulligan, CSC.

The New York priest spoke at a workshop for clergy at St. Patrick’s Church in Vancouver May 2.

“I say this with humility and embarrassment: the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) did more than U.S. bishops did prior to the crisis,” Father Mulligan began.

He praised the Church in Canada for treating the issue with appropriate seriousness and transparency.

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AUSTRALIA
Peninsula Weekly

Victims of child sexual abuse in government and church institutions have finally been given the chance to tell their stories at two major inquiries. LEE OPITZ looks at two men’s experiences at a Mt Eliza boys’ home in the 1960s.

MORE than 5000 victims of child sexual abuse in institutions, or those who bore witness or knew of cover-ups of abuse in institutions, are expected to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse over the next year.

While an interim report is expected in June next year, it will be years before the inquiry is complete. But no matter how long it takes, victims say it is time that those who abused them, and through their silence those who abandoned them, are brought to justice.

“There is a quote that I heard somewhere: ‘Go forth, speak the truth, and fear nobody’. And that’s what I have to do,” says Len, a victim of institutional abuse in the 1960s and ’70s.

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CALIFORNIA
Manteca Bulletin

By ROSE ALBANO RISSO
The Bulletin

News about the most recent sex-abuse settlement involving the Catholic Diocese of Stockton raised widespread speculation on whether the church will seek bankruptcy protection.

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire addressed these speculations in his open letter to all the faithful in the diocese which was read during all the Masses over the weekend.

“At this point, no decision has been made about how we will go forward and how we will meet our obligations,” he stated in his pastoral letter.

The bishop added that “it is too early to tell” exactly what type of protection the diocese will seek in court. However, he emphasized that any decision made will “not impact the solvency or operations of the parishes.”

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

A Georgia pastor says SBC leaders who are coddling a minister accused of covering up sexual abuse send the public a message that all Southern Baptists are soft on clergy predators.

By Jeff Brumley

The Georgia preacher who proposed a resolution urging the Southern Baptist Convention to get tough on predators says Baptist leaders’ public support of an evangelical preacher accused in a lawsuit of covering up child sex abuse has tarnished all Southern Baptists.

What’s more, said Peter Lumpkins, pastor of Corner Stone Baptist Church in Waco, Ga., a show of support by Albert Mohler and Mark Dever for C.J. Mahaney of Sovereign Grace Ministries sends a painful message to those who have been abused: that alleged perpetrators are valued over victims.

“Mohler and Dever make these victims appear that they don’t count,” Lumpkins said Monday in Houston, where he will be a messenger at the SBC’s annual convention Tuesday and Wednesday. “And because they are such high-profile leaders, they make Southern Baptists look like that, too.”

Should it make it out of committee and be approved by messengers, Lumpkins’ resolution would urge convention entities to enact more stringent and uniform anti-abuse policies, implore ministers and churches to more readily notify authorities anytime abuse is reported, and push convention officials and agencies to break ties with outside groups involved in abuse cases.

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NEW ZEALAND
Radio New Zealand

A former Catholic brother is to be extradited to Australia to face hundreds of sex offence charges.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, who is in his 60s, was told he has 15 days to appeal against the extradition decision.

Mr McGrath is wanted in Australia in connection with 252 charges of sexual abuse, including allegations that he raped, molested and abused dozens of boys at church-run institutions in New South Wales in the 1970s and 80s.

At the Christchurch District Court on Tuesday afternoon, Judge Jane Farish granted the Australian government’s application for Mr McGrath’s extradition, saying she did not think the decision would be unjust or oppressive to him.

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PHILIPPINES
Rappler

BY ARIES C. RUFO
POSTED ON 06/04/201

MANILA, Philippines – This is the first in a series of excerpts from the upcoming book Altar of Secrets: Sex, Money, and Politics in the Philippine Catholic Church by veteran journalist Aries C. Rufo that Rappler is running this week. The book will be launched on Friday, June 7, at The Forum, FullyBooked at The Fort, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Metro Manila. Launch price is at P400; regular price at P450.

THE MEETING was called to order and, as in previous ones, Jaime Cardinal Sin, the patriarch of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM), sat at the head of a long table. It was January 1987 and the board of directors of the archdiocese met for the first time that year.

Sin, as the sole administrator of the properties and businesses of the RCAM, presided over the meeting. They were to discuss some financial matters and, of course, the forthcoming anniversary of the EDSA 1 “people power” revolution where Sin played a pivotal role.

After being apprised of the status of the RCAM businesses and properties, Sin was in high spirits. Clearly, he was satisfied with the financial reports. But he was more excited with the preparations for the EDSA 1 anniversary.

But one board member had something on his mind. He knew that one important item was never raised in the board meeting and the cardinal appeared to have forgotten about it. He waited for another board member to raise it during the meeting, but it never cropped up.

There had been talks within RCAM about huge donations received by the archdiocese for the repair and restoration of Radio Veritas, the Church-run radio station which had been instrumental in the downfall of dictator President Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986.

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PHILIPPINES
Rappler

BY ARIES RUFO
POSTED ON 06/06/2013

MANILA, Philippines – This is the second in a series of excerpts from the upcoming book Altar of Secrets: Sex, Money, and Politics in the Philippine Catholic Church by veteran journalist Aries C. Rufo that Rappler is running this week. The book will be launched on Friday, June 7, at The Forum, FullyBooked at The Fort, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Metro Manila. Launch price is at P400; regular price at P450.

* * *
They had many things in common: both were protégés of Manila Cardinal Jaime Sin; both were former auxiliary bishops of Manila; both at one time worked and taught at the San Carlos Seminary — Bishop Teodoro Bacani as former dean and professor of theology and Bishop Crisostomo Yalung as former rector.

Both were also forced to resign after committing indiscretions involving the opposite sex.

Bacani and Yalung were both promising prelates before their fall from grace. The former was a most-sought-after inspirational speaker, a media personality in his own right, and a public figure largely active in political affairs.

Yalung, for his part, was very popular among parishioners but most feared by young priests and seminarians. A rising star in Church circles, he was nurtured by Sin as a potential Church leader, appointing him as treasurer of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM) when it was hit with financial scandals. Among his contemporaries, his only rival to Sin’s attention and favor was Socrates Villegas, who would become archbishop a few years later. (Sin had prophesied that Villegas would one day become the Archbishop of Manila.)

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CANADA
Brandon Sun

By: Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
Monday, Jun. 10, 2013

WINNIPEG – A man who was an altar boy years ago testified Monday that a cleric in the Orthodox Church in America exposed himself and asked to be touched sexually in the small house attached to his church.

“I just started feeling really uncomfortable … disgusted,” the man, who cannot be identified under a court-ordered publication ban, said on the first day of Seraphim Storheim’s trial.

“To this day, it really, really bothers me.”

Storheim, who became the church’s Canadian archbishop, pleaded not guilty to two charges of repeated sexual assaults against the man and his brother when they were pre-teens in the summer of 1985.

The boys were from another province and had been sent by their single mother to live and work with Storheim, court was told.

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LOUISIANA
KATC

Posted: Jun 10, 2013 5:23 PM by Ian Auzenne

A priest whose body was found in an Alexandria hotel was facing legal trouble at the time of his death. KALB reports Father Jamie Medina-Cruz had been arrested and charged with indecent behavior with a juvenile in Avoyelles Parish after a grand jury indicted him on those charges. The Diocese of Alexandria placed him on administrative leave afterward.

The cause of death is pending an autopsy and toxicology reports. Police say they found no signs of foul play.

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MINNESOTA
Mankato Free Press

By Dan Linehan
Free Press Staff Writer

BLUE EARTH — A Blue Earth priest has been charged with molesting an 11-year-old girl.

Leo Charles Koppala, 47, was having dinner with the girl and her family member on Friday night. At one point, the girl went downstairs to watch television.

According to the criminal complaint, Koppala came downstairs, pulled her up from where she was sitting and kissed her on the cheeks and lips. He then put one hand on her lower back and the other on her chest, according to the complaint.

The girl said Koppala “moved his hand around on her chest touching her breasts,” according to the complaint. All of the touching was done over her clothes.

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OHIO
WKBN

The Youngstown police officer accused of soliciting sex from a 14-year-old is the second law enforcement agent to be charged with inappropriate conduct with minors this year.

Detective Sgt. Robert Lodwick was assigned to investigate a rape involving a 14-year old girl, but he’s now accused of possessing naked photos of her and soliciting sex from her online. Back in February, a probation officer with the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center found himself behind bars as well. …

Judy Jones of SNAP, an organization started to help victims abused by priests, said sexual predators are often people with some kind of power who the victims know and even trust.

“It would be comforting if it was the odd, creepy person sitting in the corner of the party. But that usually isn’t the case. They are usually the ones throwing the party,” Jones said. “They are known to do a lot of good things. They are very well loved by people in the community. They have to be, in order to not get caught.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

JUNE 10, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Sister Maureen Turlish would like everyone to spread the word that the June First Friday Vigil has been rescheduled for Friday, June 14th on the pavement in front of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan offices at 222 N. 17th St. from 12 noon to 1 pm.

The Vigil for July will be held on July 12th because of the 4th of July holiday.

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NEW JERSEY
U.S. Catholic

By Scott Alessi

After the latest chapter in the sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey–which saw a priest who had been ordered by the prosecutor to be kept away from children somehow end up being involved in youth ministry in another diocese–someone had to take the blame. In an editorial last month, Newark, New Jersey’s Star-Ledger called for Archbishop John J. Myers to step down after this latest failing. And in a poll today on NJ.com, as of this writing, 89 percent of respondents agree that Myers should resign. So guess who takes the fall?

If you guessed the archbishop, you haven’t been paying close attention. Instead of admitting fault and stepping aside, Myers denied that he was to blame and instead pointed the finger at his vicar general, Msgr. John Doran, who has resigned as a result.

Of course, we don’t really know how much Myers knew about the actions of Father Michael Fugee, nor do we know how much blame Doran actually deserves for what happened. But Myers has come out and said there are “vulnerabilities in our own systems” and that the failings of the archdiocese need to be addressed. Yet he stops short of admitting these problems–and things like Fugee being given the position of co-director of the office of continuing education and ongoing formation of priests in the Newark archdiocese–happened on his watch. Nor does Myers’ account of the shortcomings of their efforts to protect children include even a hint of an apology.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 47-year-old Blue Earth man, who is also a Catholic priest, has been charged with allegedly sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl, according to the Faribault County Attorney’s Office.

Leo Koppala now faces second-degree criminal sexual conduct — a felony — in connection to the June 7 incident.

According to the criminal complaint, on June 8, Blue Earth Police Chief Tom Fletcher received a call that a 12-year-old had been sexually assaulted the evening before.

During an ensuing interview, the victim told police that she was at her grandmother’s residence in Blue Earth spending the weekend when the assault happened.

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LOUISIANA
KSLA

By KSLA Staff

ALEXANDRIA LA (KSLA/KALB) –
Police in Alexandria are investigating the death of a Catholic priest found dead in a local motel on Friday.

Officers were called the Value Place Motel for a welfare concern, and found Father Jamie Medina-Cruz dead in one of the rooms there.

Police say there were no signs of foul play. They say they are not releasing any further details at this time.

Father Medina Cruz, 48, was on administrative leave from Saint Mary’s Assumption Catholic Church in Cottonport, after he was arrested and charged with indecent behavior with a juvenile. A grand jury in Avoyelles Parish had recently indicted him on those charges.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
Posted: 06/10/2013

A Blue Earth priest who organizes support for an orphanage in his native India has been charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct of an 11-year-old girl, according to the Faribault County attorney’s office.

Leo Charles Koppala, 47, of the Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Blue Earth was taken into custody by Blue Earth city police about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, the Faribault County jail record said.

Koppala had been invited to dinner at the home of a relative of the girl Friday evening, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in Faribault County District Court.

The adult relative took a phone call during the evening. Koppala went down in the basement where the girl was watching TV, and told her he was glad to have gotten away from the relative, the complaint said.

He then pulled the girl up from where she had been sitting, “kissed (her) on the cheek and lips … put one hand on her lower back and the other on her chest,” the complaint said. The girl told police Koppala moved his hand around, fondling her breasts, according to the complaint.

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PHILIPPINES
Rappler

[with video]

BY RAPPLER.COM
POSTED ON 06/11/2013

MANILA, Philippines – A veteran journalist launches a book on the abuses of bishops and priests. The book “Altar of Secrets” is the first of its kind in the Philippines.

Paterno Esmaquel reports.

(Watch Rappler’s video report below.)

(The script of the video report follows)

In the Vatican, Pope Francis denounces the hypocrisy of priests, admonishes “intolerant” Catholics, and says prelates should become “shepherds… and not collectors of antiques and novelties.”

In the Philippines, veteran journalist Aries Rufo launches a groundbreaking book called “Altar of Secrets.”

The first of its kind in the Philippines, the book exposes sexual misconduct, political interference, and financial mismanagement by bishops and priests.

These include investigative stories on a high-ranking prelate who fathered a child and later resigned, and on multimillion-peso donations to Radyo Veritas that remain unaccounted for.

ARIES RUFO, AUTHOR, ‘ALTAR OF SECRETS’: That’s a lie, bishop. Who told you that?” Bishop responds nervously: “Office, the office.”

The book also includes some of Rufo’s most heated discussions with Catholic bishops.

RUFO: So if I will ask for all the donations received for all the calamity victims and all the disbursements, will you be able to give these to me?”

BISHOP JESSE MERCADO: I think we have the right to ask also. Why?

RUFO: For publication.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
Posted: 06/10/2013

A Blue Earth priest who organizes support for an orphanage in his native India has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree criminal sexual conduct of a female, according to Faribault County jail records.

Leo Charles Koppala, 47, of the Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Blue Earth was taken into custody by Blue Earth city police about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, the jail record said.

Additional details were not immediately available.

The Diocese of Winona, in which Koppala serves, said it would issue a written statement about the matter.

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Aldo Santin

The trial of an Archbishop of the Orthodox Church of America for sexually abusing two 11-year-old boys in the summer of 1985 began this morning.

Seraphim Storheim pleaded not guilty this morning to two counts of sexual abuse between June and August of 1985.

The first witness this morning was one of the victims, now 39 years old.

A publication ban was imposed prohibiting the disclosure of the identities of the two victims.
The witness often sounded confused and repeatedly contradicted himself when questioned by Crown prosecutor Breta Passler and defence counsel Jeff Gindin.

The witness said that he suffers from a variety of mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, panic attacks and other mental health issues, and is heavily medicated.

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CANADA
CTV

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
Published Monday, June 10, 2013

WINNIPEG — A man has told a Winnipeg courtroom that when he was an altar boy he was sexually abused by a cleric in the Orthodox Church in America.

The man, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, says Seraphim Storheim exposed himself and asked to be touched sexually.

The man also testified that Storheim, now in his late 60s, got into bed with him on one occasion.
Storheim, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of repeated sexual assaults on two boys in the mid 1980s.

He later became Canadian archbishop of the church, which is separate from other orthodox churches such as the Greek Orthodox Church and Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

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LOUISIANA
KATC

Alexandria Police say no foul play is expected after an Alexandria priest was found dead in a motel room. Police say on Friday, they got a call about a “welfare concern” at the Value Place Motel in Alexandria. There, they found the body of 48-year-old Reverend Jamie Medina-Cruz. Father Medina-Cruz is a native of Puerto Rico, and his assignments included churches in Natchitoches, Marksville, Ferriday, Alexandria and Cottonport. He was on administrative leave from Saint Mary’s Assumption Catholic Church in Cottonport.

“We are still grieving over this and making our way for all that must be done. Please, let us keep him and so many in our prayers,” says Father S. Scott Chemino, Vicar General of the Diocese of Alexandria.

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LOUISIANA
Westport News

ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — A body found last week at an Alexandria motel has been identified as a 48-year-old priest with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria.

Alexandria police said there was no sign of foul play in the death of Jamie Medina-Cruz (meh-DEE’-nah crooz). The body was found at the Value Place Motel on Friday. Autopsy results were pending.

On its website Monday, the diocese said Medina-Cruz was on administrative leave from St. Mary’s Assumption Catholic Church in Cottonport. The Town Talk reported (http://townta.lk/11D1SAi ) that he was placed on administrative leave at St. Mary’s on March 12, pending an investigation of alleged misconduct with a minor. No charges had been filed.

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LOUISIANA
The Town Talk

Mar. 13, 2013

An Avoyelles Parish priest was placed on administrative leave Tuesday after he was accused of misconduct with a minor, Diocese of Alexandria officials said.

The Rev. Jamie Medina-Cruz, pastor of St. Mary’s Assumption Catholic Church in Cottonport was relieved of his duties by the Rev. Ronald P. Herzog, bishop of the diocese, pending an investigation by the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office.

No charges against Medina-Cruz had been filed as of Tuesday evening, Avoyelles Parish officials said. Diocese officials said they would have no further comment on the matter while the accusation was under investigation.

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LOUISIANA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria

The Diocese of Alexandria announced today the death of Reverend Jamie Medina-Cruz, S.T.L., on Friday, June 7, 2013. Father died in Alexandria, LA. At this time no further details are being released by the Alexandria Police Department pending autopsy and toxicology reports.

Father Medina-Cruz, a native of Puerto Rico, was ordained on May 29, 1999. His assignments included churches in Natchitoches, Marksville, Ferriday, Alexandria and Cottonport. He was currently on administrative leave from Saint Mary’s Assumption Catholic Church, Cottonport.

Father S. Scott Chemino, Vicar General of the Diocese of Alexandria, said today, “We are still grieving over this and making our way for all that must be done. Please, let us keep him and so many in our prayers.”

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LOUISIANA
The Town Talk

A 48-year-old priest with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria was found dead Friday in a room at a local hotel, according to the Alexandria Police Department.

Police identified the man as Jamie Medina-Cruz. He was found in the Value Place Motel, 1000 MacArthur Drive.

Police, who were responding to a call about a welfare concern, said there were no signs of a crime at the scene.

Autopsy and toxicology tests will be performed.

Medina-Cruz was a pastor of St. Mary’s Assumption Catholic Church in Cottonport and an assistant pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Marksville.

Medina-Cruz was placed on administrative leave at St. Mary’s on March 12 after being accused of improper conduct with a minor. He was relieved of his duties by the Rev. Ronald P. Herzog, bishop of the diocese, pending an investigation by the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office. No charges had been filed.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on June 10, 2013

What if, during his recent travels with a couple of Catholic youth groups, the Rev. Michael Fugee had a relapse and groped another child? There’s no evidence that happened, but it’s a legitimate concern. There’s a reason prosecutors made him promise never to work with children again.

Years from now, what if a child says Fugee crossed a line?

As we speak, New Jersey’s Catholic leaders are spending big bucks to make sure the church, its bishops and, most importantly, its bank accounts can’t be held responsible for crimes committed on their watch.

Princeton Public Affairs Group is the most high-powered, high-priced lobbying outfit in Trenton. That’s whom the New Jersey Catholic Conference has hired to fight legislation meant to give victims of childhood sexual abuse the time they need to seek justice.

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ROME
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) — Members of Regnum Christi, the lay movement associated with the Legionaries of Christ, said they don’t feel they are on a salvage mission, but rather are part of a transformation.

They have been shocked and disillusioned by revelations that their movement’s founder — the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado — fathered children and sexually abused seminarians, and they recognize that many more have been hurt by Father Maciel’s actions. Yet they are frustrated by widespread doubts about the validity of the movement, which they still strongly believe can improve their own lives and the life of the church.

Brenner LeCompte, 28, entered the Legionaries’ “apostolic school,” a kind of minor seminary, when he was 15, and spent eight years with the Legionaries before deciding he was not called to the priesthood. LeCompte, who lives in Connecticut, told Catholic News Service he has checked out other movements, but “I haven’t connected with anything else.”

Now married with a new baby, he said he believes his involvement with Regnum Christi “is a vocation. I don’t feel at home anywhere else.”

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CANADA
The Province

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS JUNE 10, 2013

WINNIPEG – The archbishop of an orthodox church has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault against two boys in Winnipeg.

Seraphim Storheim is accused of repeated sexual assaults on two boys in the mid-1980s when he worked as a rector for the Orthodox Church in America.

He had served as a priest in Alberta, North Carolina and London, Ont., and later became the head of the church’s Canadian archdiocese.

Storheim, who is in his late 60s, sat quietly as his trial began.

The Crown and defence have been discussing potential evidence in a voir dire, the contents of which cannot be reported.

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CANADA
Global News

By Lorraine Nickel Global News

WINNIPEG – The archbishop of an orthodox church has pleaded not guilty to charges he sexually assaulted two boys in Winnipeg.

Seraphim Storheim, who is on leave from his position at the head of the church in Canada, pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting two teen brothers 30 years ago.

Storheim, who was charged in 2010, is on a leave of absence from his position as the head of the Orthodox Church of America in Canada.

One of the accusers, who is now 39 years old, had a tough time remembering details of his time as an altar boy for the church in many cities, including Winnipeg.

The man said for a few months he lived at the Orthodox Church in Winnipeg, where Storheim also lived.

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UNITED STATES
theological curves

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Amy Jacober

In nearly every class I have taught for the last 15 years two major topics have arisen. One is a conversation around ministry with and to those with disabilities. The second, and all too often not unrelated, is around issues of abuse and violence.

I have no shortage of stories of horrific things that have been done to children and youth. I also have no shortage of youth workers who have been wounded in the process of trying to do right. I have spoken before about the very seminary where I taught being told that there was no place in chapel to have this conversation. As frustrated and angry as that made me, I was simply ignored not told I was a trouble maker for bringing up this very subject.

It is beyond time for leaders, vocational ministers and lay leaders to take a stand. To demand better. To seek justice so that peace may come. To be willing to face consequences and speak truth even when it costs.

Amy Smith has been valiantly speaking up for those who have been abused for years. She has also been a volunteer youth worker for years. It seems that a narrow understanding of what is “good” for our children has distorted the perspective of leadership where she has been. While I do not know her personally, I know her work. I know that what she is experiencing is deeply personal. I also know that being uninvited to the table is not necessarily a sign of being wrong. In fact, it may be that she was a little too right.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
June 10, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Nick Stoneman arrived in 2003 determined to save Shattuck-St. Mary’s. His job was to turn this hockey powerhouse in the small southern Minnesota town of Faribault into an elite prep school.

Shattuck-St. Mary’s was struggling. It had lost about $2 million a year for two years straight. Student enrollment was flat, and the boarding school had been without a permanent head of school for two years.

Yet at the hockey rink, it was hard to imagine anything was wrong. Future superstar Sidney Crosby had just led the school to a national championship. And Shattuck athletes, including current Minnesota Wild player Zach Parise, were eagerly awaiting the NHL draft.

Shattuck-St. Mary had ”nothing short of tremendous potential,” Stoneman wrote in his first piece published in the school magazine.

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IRELAND
Herald

FIONA DILLON – 10 JUNE 2013

A RECONCILIATION forum between survivors of the Magdalene laundries and the religious orders that ran them has been recommended.

A retired High Court judge has recommended a package of measures including mediation and reconciliation.

In February, Mr Justice John Quirke was asked by the Government to report back within three months on proposals to set up a non-adversarial scheme to compensate the women.

Judge Quirke delivered his report to the Justice Minister Alan Shatter last month.

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

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ARGENTINA
Truth Out

Thursday, 06 June 2013
By Ricardo Guerra, Truthout | News Analysis

The election of the Argentine Jesuit cardinal Jorge Bergoglio – now mostly referred to as Pope Francis – as the new pontiff came as a big surprise to the whole world. Pope Francis is considered a modest man who, as an archbishop in his own country, declined the luxurious perks of the position; he is also an avid fan of football, tango and Italian literature. He is mostly known to be a theological conservative with a strong social conscience. As a Jesuit had never before been chosen for the illustrious role, and as he was the first from Latin America to be chosen for the position, his election was undoubtedly a watershed moment in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

But not everyone has given the new pontiff a hearty welcome. In Argentina, many consider Bergoglio to be a divisive figure, not simply because of his conservative stance on social issues (e.g., abortion, marriage equality, the definition of family, etc.), but also, more pointedly, due to persisting speculation about his role during the violent military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983.

Argentina was not unique in Latin America for coming under military rule during the 1970s. Leftist movements were gaining significant ground in several different countries in the region, and many within ruling elite circles saw their development as a challenge to their interests. At the same time, in most of those countries, the military structures and forces were ready and prepared to combat “subversive” elements.

However, the role of the Catholic Church within this historical current varied greatly, depending on the country in question. In Argentina, for example – and distinct from other countries – the role played by certain elements within the Catholic Church has baffled and troubled many.

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

STEYR. Der wegen des Missbrauchs von früheren Zöglingen des Stiftsgymnasiums Kremsmünster angeklagte Ex-Pater Alfons M. (79) muss sich ab 1. Juli vor einem Schöffensenat des Landesgerichts Steyr verantworten.

Diesen Termin bestätigte der für Medienauskünfte zuständige Richter Christoph Mayer im Gespräch mit nachrichten.at. Insgesamt sind vier Prozesstage anberaumt, sie finden von 1. bis 4. Juli jeweils von 9 Uhr bis 15 Uhr statt. „Bei dem 79-jährigen Angeklagten ist die Dauer der Verhandlung auch abhängig von seiner Belastbarkeit, weswegen wir die Hauptverhandlungstermine jeweils nur bis zum frühen Nachmittag festgelegt haben“, sagt Mayer.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Stadt Zeitung

Der Pfarrer der Pfarrei Maria Hilf in Unterthührheim (Landkreis Dillingen) wurde von seinem Amt abberufen. Ein entsprechender Brief der Diözese wurde nach dem Gottesdienst am Sonntag vorgetragen.

Bistumssprecher Nicolas Schnall erklärt, dass das Bistum Augsburg den Pfarrer mit Wirkung zum 8. Juni beurlaubt habe. Grund für diesen Schritt sei der Vorwurf des sexuellen Missbrauchs.

„Er soll sich Anfang der 1980er Jahre im Ausland zugetragen haben, wo der Betreffende damals als Ordensmann tätig war. Dieser Vorwurf ist dem Bistum erst in jüngster Zeit bekannt geworden“, stellt Schnall klar. Auch die Staatsanwaltschaft sei über den Sachverhalt informiert worden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kolnische Rundschau

Die rheinische evangelische Kirche will Opfer sexueller Gewalt in ihren Reihen entschädigen. Zum Teil brauchen Opfer Jahrzehnte, bis sie sich offenbaren. 67 Fälle wurden in zwei Jahren bekannt.

Düsseldorf.
Die Evangelische Kirche im Rheinland entschädigt Opfer sexueller Gewalt in den eigenen Reihen mit bis zu 5000 Euro. Das Geld werde ohne Anerkennung einer Rechtspflicht an Betroffene gezahlt, wenn sie glaubhaft machen könnten, dass sie sexuelle Gewalt durch berufliche Mitarbeiter der rheinischen Kirche erlitten hätten, sagte Vize-Präses Petra Bosse-Huber am Montag in Düsseldorf. Auch an Regelungen in Fällen ehrenamtlicher Mitarbeiter werde gearbeitet.

Für die Entschädigungszahlungen hat die Kirche einen Fonds gebildet. Über die Anträge entscheidet eine unabhängige Kommission. „Es geht niemand leer aus, der Anspruch hat“, sagte Bosse-Huber. Über die Übernahme von Therapie- oder Beratungskosten wird gesondert verhandelt.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 10, 2013

Victims: “No response from church officials yet”
Thousands of Baptists will meet this week in Houston
Group has asked to speak to convention about abuse
Abuse survivors deplore “rallying around” alleged predators
It wants Baptist church officials to train their staff and flocks

Baptist officials have not responded yet to clergy sex abuse victims who have asked to speak to this week to thousands of Baptists in Houston. The victims want to discuss how church staff and members respond when allegations of clergy sex crimes and cover ups surface.

Last week, leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, wrote officials with the Southern Baptist Convention hoping for a chance to address their annual convention which begins tomorrow. 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.

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PHILIPPINES
Preda

June 10, 2013 ·

Catholic bishops in the Philippines are covering up “rampant sexual abuse of children by the clergy,” said a missionary priest who has been working with prostituted children for the past four decades.

“We have these bishops who have been covering up so much of this abuse, and we know that it is still going on,” said Fr. Shay Cullen, an Irish priest and founder of the People’s Recovery Empowerment Development Assistance Foundation.

Cullen, a member of the Missionary Society of St Columban who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times, told ucanews.com that the fact that clergy sex abuse cases in the Philippines is not exposed is “a big problem.”

A 2004 report by the non-government group Catholics for Free Choice and Likhaan stated that no priest accused of sexual abuse in the Philippines has been successfully prosecuted.

Most of the clergy accused of sexual abuse settled cases out of court, were acquitted, or moved to other parishes by their bishops. There were also priests with pending court cases who were quietly reinstated to pastoral duties, the report said.

In 2002, the Catholic hierarchy in the Philippines apologized for the reported sexual abuses, including adultery, homosexuality and child abuse by at least 200 priests over the past 20 years.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Cardinal Pell, of Australia, is easy to lampoon. Combine this with his long holiday in the palatial Domus Australia (which was officially opened by the Pope himself), and his penchant for gaudy outfits, and there is automatically derisive humour to be had. The picture (below) of him being served by a young maid needs nothing more than to be shown, to demonstrate a caricature of the quintessentially arrogant man.

Even his attendance at a serious event, a summit on priestly paedophilia (see below) is ludicrous of, and in, itself. He is a natural comic.

However, his flight to Rome today for a three-month holiday (or “pilgrimage” as he prefers to call it – sort of like the politician’s “study tour”) is no laughing matter.

It means several things. Firstly, his role as CEO of the Sydney Catholics must be minimal if he can be away for so long. One could then ask why he has not got more time to meet with victims, counsel clergy to be transparent about abuses, and spend a lot of time apologizing to the public at large for his organization’s crimes.

The timing, also, has deep significance. For a start, he will be safely out of the country when his old house-mate, Ridsdale, comes up for parole. Where are his comments about whether or not he should be released? Melbourne bishop, Denis Hart, has said he has no opinion either way, but surely Pell should come out against Ridsdale’s release? Surely, Pell should be available for media scrutiny about the whole Ridsdale matter?

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