ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian July 12, 2013

A CATHOLIC bishop told that a parish priest may have sexually abused a child chose not to speak to the victim or the priest and decided there was too little evidence to go to the police.

Giving evidence yesterday to the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry, the former bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone, said he had been defensive of the church at the time and wanted to avoid scandal.

“I think the early years of my being bishop were fairly bumbling when it came to dealing with sexual abuse . . . I was not adequately handling these matters,” he said.

The former bishop, who retired in 2011, also appeared yesterday to contradict his earlier evidence about how much he knew about another pedophile priest, Denis McAlinden.

Bishop Malone had previously told the inquiry he did not read McAlinden’s personnel file and knew only of two local victims of the priest when he took over the diocese in 1995.

Yesterday, he said he had read some documents in the file, including internal church correspondence from decades earlier that said the priest had admitted to abusing children.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

by Barbie Latza Nadeau Jul 11, 2013

Faced with a demands for explanations from the U.N.’s body on children’s rights, Pope Francis expanded the Vatican’s legal system to allow broader prosecution of sex crimes.

After years of non-compliance, the Vatican is finally being taken to task by the United Nation’s Commission for the Rights of the Child about its dodgy record on child sex abuse. And it looks like Pope Francis is taking it serious.

The Holy See was given until January to submit a detailed report to the United Nations answering very specific questions and providing confidential records and documentation about how and why Catholic diocese moved predatory priests between dioceses like chess pieces. And on Thursday, Pope Francis issued a “motu proprio” extending the scope of the Vatican City legal system to bolster criminal legislation against child sex abuse, possession of child pornography and child prostitution on Vatican grounds by Vatican staff, seen as a shot across the bow to those in the Holy See who have harbored secrets of the sex abuse scandal. The extended scope of the legal system should pave the way to greater transparency and even prosecution of those who may have been the great enablers of the Church’s worst sinners.

The U.N.’s request, called the “List of Issues to be Taken Up in Connection with the Consideration of the Second Periodic Report of the Holy See” outlines a series of concerns the U.N.’s child protection arm wants addressed, including requests like “please indicate whether the Holy See still label children born outside wedlock as ‘illegitimate children’ and whether it has assessed the consequences of the use of such terminology on the rights of these children.”

The commission also asks the Holy See to clarify its procedure in investigation child sex abuse claims both regarding the recent pedophile priest scandal and the historical use of so-called “Magdalene’s laundries” as Catholic slave workhouses where women of ill repute were kept. These laundries, according to the U.N.’s accusations, were widely used in Europe and North American from the 18th to the 20th centuries, and still in use in Ireland until 1996. “Please indicate whether an investigation was conducted by the Holy see into the complaints of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and of subjection to force labor of girls held in Magdalene’s laundries run by Catholic Sisters in Ireland until 1996,” the report demands. The U.N. also wants a clear record on the number of babies taken from their mothers in the Magdalene’s laundries, and placed in Catholic orphanages or given for adoption.

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VATICAN CITY
Newser

By NICOLE WINFIELD | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pope Francis overhauled the laws that govern the Vatican City State on Thursday, criminalizing leaks of Vatican information and specifically listing sexual violence, prostitution and possession of child pornography as crimes against children that can be punished by up to 12 years in prison.

The legislation covers clergy and lay people who live and work in Vatican City and is different from the canon law which covers the universal Catholic Church.

The bulk of the Vatican’s penal code is based on the 1889 Italian code. Many of the new provisions were necessary to bring the city state’s legal system up to date after the Holy See signed international treaties, such as the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Others were necessary to comply with international norms to fight money-laundering, part of the Vatican’s push toward financial transparency.

One new crime stands out, though, as an obvious response to the leaks of papal documents last year that represented one of the gravest Vatican security breaches in recent times.

Paolo Gabriele, the butler for then-Pope Benedict XVI, was tried and convicted by a Vatican court of stealing Benedict’s personal papers and giving them to an Italian journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi.

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VATICAN CITY
GMA News

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican unveiled changes to its law on Thursday that name the sexual abuse of children as a specific crime and aim to implement international anti-money laundering norms as the city state seeks to end years of scandal.

Under the changes, child prostitution, sexual violence and sexual acts with children and child pornography will be included in a broader definition of the category of crimes against minors, the Vatican said in a statement.

Issuing a “Motu Proprio,” a decree of his own initiative, Pope Francis also said he wanted to renew the Holy See’s commitment to international conventions against crimes such as money laundering and terrorism.

The reforms extend the criminal liability of officials and staff of the Roman Curia, making it possible to indict them even for crimes committed outside the Vatican city state.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 July 2013 (VIS) – Published below is the full text of a presentation given by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States, on the laws approved by the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State:

“The laws approved by the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State bring about a broad-ranging normative change, necessary for the function that this State, entirely sui generis, is called upon to carry out for the benefit of the Apostolic See. The original and foundational aim of the Vatican, which consists of guaranteeing the freedom of the exercise of the Petrine ministry, indeed requires an institutional structure that, the limited dimensions of the territory notwithstanding, assumes a complexity in some respects similar to that of contemporary States.

“Established by the Lateran Pacts of 1929, the State adopted the judicial, civil and penal structures of the Kingdom of Italy in their entirety, in the conviction that this would be sufficient to regulate the legal relationships within a State whose reason for existence lies in the support of the spiritual mission of Peter’s Successor. The original penal system – constituted by the Italian Penal Code on 30 June 1889 and the Italian Penal Code of 27 February 1913, in force from 7 June 1929 – has seen only marginal modifications and even the new law on sources of law (No. 71 of 1 October 2008) confirms the criminal legislation of 1929, while awaiting an overall redefinition of the discipline.

“The most recently approved laws, while not constituting a radical reform of the penal system, revise some aspects and complete it in other areas, satisfying a number of requirements. On the one hand, these laws take up and develop the theme of the evolution of the Vatican judicial structure, continuing the action undertaken by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to prevent and combat money-laundering and the financing of terrorism. In this regard, the provisions contained in the 2000 United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime, the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, and the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism, are to be implemented, along with other conventions defining and specifying terrorist activity.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 July 2013 (VIS) – The Holy See Press Office has today published the following communique regarding Pope Francis’ Motu Proprio on matters of criminal law in Vatican City State:

“Today His Holiness Pope Francis has issued a Motu proprio on criminal law matters. On this same date, the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State has adopted the following laws: Law No. VIII containing Supplementary Norms on Criminal Law Matters, Law No. IX containing Amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, Law No. X containing General Provisions on Administrative Sanctions.

“The Motu proprio makes the criminal laws adopted by the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State applicable also within the Holy See. The criminal laws adopted today are a continuation of the efforts to update Vatican City State’s legal system, building upon the measures adopted since 2010 during the pontificate of Benedict XVI.

“These laws, however, have a broader scope, since they incorporate into the Vatican legal system the provisions of numerous international conventions including: the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, on the conduct of war and war crimes; the 1965 Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination; the 1984 Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the 1989 Convention on the rights of the child and its optional protocols of 2000.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 July 2013 (VIS) – Pope Francis’ apostolic letter issued Motu proprio on the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities of Vatican City State in criminal matters was published this morning. The full text is given below:

“In our times, the common good is increasingly threatened by transnational organized crime, the improper use of the markets and of the economy, as well as by terrorism.

It is therefore necessary for the international community to adopt adequate legal instruments to prevent and counter criminal activities, by promoting international judicial cooperation on criminal matters.

In ratifying numerous international conventions in these areas, and acting also on behalf of Vatican City State, the Holy See has constantly maintained that such agreements are effective means to prevent criminal activities that threaten human dignity, the common good and peace.

With a view to renewing the Apostolic See’s commitment to cooperate to these ends, by means of this Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio, I establish that:

1. The competent Judicial Authorities of Vatican City State shall also exercise penal jurisdiction over:
a) crimes committed against the security, the fundamental interests or the patrimony of the Holy See;
b) crimes referred to:
– in Vatican City State Law No. VIII, of 11 July 2013, containing Supplementary Norms on Criminal Law Matters;
– in Vatican City State Law No. IX, of 11 July 2013, containing Amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code;
when such crimes are committed by the persons referred to in paragraph 3 below, in the exercise of their functions;
c) any other crime whose prosecution is required by an international agreement ratified by the Holy See, if the perpetrator is physically present in the territory of Vatican City State and has not been extradited.

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CONNECTICUT
Minuteman News Center

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

A $12 million settlement ended a lawsuit filed on behalf of 23 Haitians abused by a Fairfield University alumnus who founded and ran a school for destitute street children in Haiti. Attorney for the Haitians, Mitchell Garabedian, called it “a landmark case.”

The school, called Project Pierre Toussaint, was supported with donations often received through the help of the University’s charismatic chaplain, Fr. Paul Carrier. Over $2 million was raised for the project and Carrier held the checkbook and made frequent trips to Haiti.

The 1992 graduate, Douglas Perlitz, was the Fairfield University’s commencement speaker in 2002 and the University gave him an honorary degree.

Perlitz founded the school in 1997 and directed it until 2007, when the first tales of his sexually abusing boys came to the attention of those funding the school.

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By CHRISTOPHER EMSDEN

ROME— Pope Francis on Thursday proclaimed new laws governing conduct at the Vatican in a move that makes international agreements covering the sexual abuse of minors binding within the Holy See.

The pontiff personally signed what is known as a motu proprio—a directive whose name means “on his own impulse” in Latin and which has been used by pontiffs or Vatican administrative matters for more than 500 years—on criminal-law matters, making it clear they applied to all members of the Roman Curia.

The new rules mean the ecclesiastical city state is incorporating into its own legal system provisions from important conventions including one on the rights of children, another against cruel or degrading treatment as well as the Geneva protocols on proper conduct during wartime.

The motu proprio means that sexual acts with children are now a crime.

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VATICAN CITY
Focus

Vatican City. Pope Francis on Thursday bolstered criminal legislation against child abuse in the Vatican and increased criminal liability for employees of the tiny city state in a legislative overhaul, AFP reported.

The Vatican said in a statement that the pope’s decree included “a broader definition of the category of crimes against minors” including child prostitution, sexual acts with children and child pornography.
The new laws are part of an introduction of forms of crime indicated in international conventions that the Vatican has already ratified including against racism and war crimes and on children’s rights.

“While many of the specific criminal offences included in these laws are undeniably new, it would however be incorrect to assume that the forms of conduct thereby sanctioned were previously licit,” said Monsignor Dominique Mamberti, who is in charge of relations between the Holy See and other states.

“These were indeed punished, but as broader, more generic forms of criminal activity,” it added.

Francis also increased cooperation with other states against money laundering and terrorism in a continuation of reforms begun by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, to get the Vatican in line with international legislation.

The new norms also introduce the administrative responsibility of Vatican departments — a potentially radical change that would complement his plans to root out corruption from the scandal-ridden Vatican bureaucracy.

The pope’s reform “extends the reach of the legislation contained in these criminal laws to the members, officials and employees of the various bodies of the Roman Curia,” the central body of the Catholic Church, Mamberti said.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

From Hada Messia, CNN
updated 7:15 AM EDT, Thu July 11, 2013

Rome (CNN) — Pope Francis has laid down a law making it a crime to abuse children sexually or physically on Vatican grounds, the Holy See announced Thursday.

The acts were already crimes under church law, but are now specifically outlawed within the Vatican city-state, which is home to hundreds of people.

The legislation also covers child prostitution and the creation or possession of child pornography.
But it has a “broader scope,” according to Radio Vatican.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 11, 2013

The former bishop of Maitland and Newcastle Michael Malone, who yesterday claimed he could not recall looking at paedophile priest Denis McAlinden’s file, this morning agreed under cross-examination that he did see the file.

Bishop Malone agreed with counsel assisting the special commission of inquiry, Julia Lonergan SC, that he did look at the paedophile’s personnel file and told a victim it was: “So big you could not jump over it.”

When asked by Ms Lonergan asked why he was reluctant to reveal that he opened the file, Bishop Malone said that he didn’t look deeply into it and had “no idea” what he saw.

He said he knew about the abuse allegations in 1995 but did not contact police until 1999 through a professional standards committee, which acted as a church conduit.

“You must remember I was being torn by the knowledge [the two women] didn’t want police involved,” Bishop Malone said.

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MINNESOTA
Fairmont Sentinel

July 11, 2013
Jodelle Greiner – Staff Writer, Fairmont Sentinel

BLUE EARTH – Father Leo Charles Koppala has made bail and been released from the Faribault County Jail.

A jail spokesperson confirmed that Koppala was released Monday afternoon, after his $75,000 bail was posted by a bail bondsman.

Koppala, who had been serving as priest for Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Blue Earth, has been charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The charges stem from an incident June 7 in which Koppala allegedly engaged in sexual conduct with a child under 13 years of age, with the defendant being more than 36 months older than the child.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Express Milwaukee

By Joel McNally

You’d think lawyers suing a major religion that proclaims itself to be the guiding authority on moral behavior in every aspect of life would have the easiest job in the world.

Defendants wouldn’t even need to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. They’ve already declared themselves the world’s foremost authorities on the truth.

So why have thousands of victims of sex crimes by Catholic priests around the country had to fight in the courts for years to get access to the facts about sexual predators and the church authorities who covered up their crimes?

It’s because the facts slowly emerging expose the completely false picture the church is still trying to present in court that puts protecting its enormous financial assets above accepting moral or legal responsibility for horrendous crimes.

This is after years of truly unholy, hardball legal tactics of lying and attacking victims, hiding behind legal loopholes and statutes of limitations and drawing out cases through endless legal stalling to intentionally bankrupt victims seeking compensation.

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NEW YORK
Rockland County Times

Brooklyn – Child sexual abuse is an infrequent but unfortunate and tragic occurrence in any community, but adding insult to injury by purposely ostracizing a child’s family almost seems too cruel to comprehend.

Still, for reporting sexual abuse of children, Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish families, also known as Haredi or ritually observant, often report strong ostracism from their community members up to and including exclusion from housing and having children booted from private schools.

“There is no nice way of saying it: Our community protects molesters,” Pearl Engelman, whose son reported he was fondled by a United Talmudical Academy teacher in Williamsburg, explained to the New York Times. “Other than that, we are wonderful.”

Such communities often prefer to handle problems internally through rabbinic authorities. According to the interpretation of many rabbis, informing on other Jews, or “mesirah,” is forbidden under Jewish law.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 11:30 by Keith Porteous Wood

Will the UN finally bring the Vatican to account for its child abuse crimes?
As a United Nations Committee on children’s rights confronts the Vatican on its abysmal record on clerical paedophilia and criminal cover-ups, Keith Porteous Wood describes his role in bringing the Holy See to account.

Hardly a month passes without a further scandal emerging of child rape and other sexual violence by clerics acting under the auspices of the Catholic Church.

In the first week of July (2013), as well as a scandal with the Vatican Bank that resulted in its top two executives being fired, there was the release of devastating court papers on the RC Diocese of Milwaukee in which countless boys in a Catholic school for the deaf were abused, presumably chosen because of their reduced capacity to communicate.

An attorney for some of the victims alleges that there were more than 8,000 cases of abuse by more than 100 staff. A harrowing film Mea Maxima Culpa has been made about this.

The diocese has declared itself bankrupt, limiting the funds available to victims of abuse. It transpires from the 6,000 pages of these court papers (just 10% of the total which the Church failed to have suppressed) that the then Archbishop, now the top US Cardinal Timothy Dolan, had transferred nearly $57 million shortly before the bankruptcy was declared to offer, in his words, “an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability”. The papers also show that the Vatican readily agreed to this transfer.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Alison Winfield Burns

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) will investigate widespread sexual assault against children by Catholic clergy.

“We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life,” says Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger), in a traditional end-of-the year address to cardinals and bishops at the Vatican, 20 December 2010. He rushes to add that as late as the 1970s, pedophilia was not considered an absolute evil. Pedophilia, the sexual rape of children, was not a crime, says Pope Benedict XVI. He states that in 2010, rape allegations within the ranks of Catholic clergy have reached “unimaginable dimension.”

Benedict XVI’s Address to the Bishops, 20 December 2010:

In the 1970s, pedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children. This, however, was part of a fundamental perversion of the concept of ethos. It was maintained – even within the realm of Catholic theology – that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a better than and a worse than. Nothing is good or bad in itself. Everything depends on the circumstance and on the end in view. Anything can be good or also bad, depending upon purposes and circumstances. Morality is replaced by a calculus of consequences, and in the process it ceases to exist.

Benedict/Ratzinger is now yanked out of the fray, replaced by another man as pope. Ratzinger retired into seclusion. A popular Vatican tactic. A plethora of men come to mind.

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Thursday bolstered criminal legislation against child abuse in the Vatican in an overhaul of laws that apply to the clergy and lay people who work in the tiny city state.

The Vatican said in a statement that the pope’s decree included “a broader definition of the category of crimes against minors” including child prostitution, sexual acts with children and child pornography.

He also increased cooperation with other states against money laundering and terrorism in a continuation of reforms started by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, to get the Vatican in line with international legislation.

The new norms also increase criminal liability for people working in Vatican departments — a potentially radical change that would complement his plans to root out corruption from the scandal-ridden Vatican bureaucracy.

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NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published July 11, 2013, issue of July 19, 2013.

Six more former students have come forward with accusations against Yeshiva University, days after 19 former high school students filed a $380 million suit charging that Y.U. covered up decades of physical and sexual abuse.

Mike Reck, an attorney representing the six, said his clients are disappointed they have been unable to reach a settlement with Y.U. and are poised to file lawsuits.

If the impasse continues, “the survivors have no choice but to avail themselves of the court system,” said Reck, an attorney with the New York office of Jeff Anderson and Associates, a Minnesota firm that specializes in abuse cases.

So far, two former Y.U. high school staff members and a former Y.U. student have been accused of abuse in the lawsuit already filed. Reck says his clients’ suit could reveal three additional people as accused molesters.

His clients, the attorney said, include people who were abused by Rabbi George Finkelstein, a former principal of Y.U.’s Manhattan boys high school. Most say they were assaulted between 1969 and the early ’80s. But Reck says he also represents a woman who says she was abused by Finkelstein during the 1990s, when Finkelstein was dean of the Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School, in Florida.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Adults who were abused in childhood suffer from more chronic health conditions and put far greater pressure on the health system than those who were not abused, according to new research from the University of Technology, Sydney.

The new research, conducted by by Rebecca Reeve and Kees van Gool from the University of Technology, Sydney and published in the journal Economic Record, highlight that long-term consequences of abuse should be considered when investing in health services to prevent abuse or assist survivors of child abuse.

The authors analysed data on 8,841 people aged 16 to 85, who were interviewed in private dwellings in all Australian states and territories as part of the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

The data showed that 15.5% of Australians aged 16 to 85 were physically and/or sexually abused as children, with the mean age of first abuse falling between eight and 11 years of age. In Australia, there are 17,000 substantial cases of physical and sexual child abuse each year, according to a 2010 report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

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OKLAHOMA
KJRH

TULSA – A Tulsa pastor arrested last month for allegedly impregnating a 15-year-old is now facing six felony counts of child sexual abuse.

Gregory Hawkins was charged Wednesday. He was a pastor at Zion Fellowship Ministries and owned a day care next door to the church on East 46th Street north between MLK Jr. Boulevard and North Peoria.

Police say Hawkins admitted having sex with the girl, a family member, and at the time of his arrest he said the teen was five months pregnant with his child. He was also recorded during two phone calls admitting having sex with the victim.

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AUSTRALIA
if.com

By Don Groves

Lynette Curran, Susie Porter, Gillian Jones and Lisa Hensley are attached to star in a 30-minute drama which tackles sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

A Priest in the Family is based on a short story by Irish writer Colm Tóibín about an elderly woman whose son, a parish priest, is accused of molesting his former students.

The producers aim to raise $40,000 via crowd-funding site Indiegogo (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-priest-in-the-family/x/2213312) by August 5, with plans to start shooting in the hamlet of Portland, near Lithgow, on September 28. Peter Humble wrote the screenplay and will share the directing duties with the producer Anni Finsterer.

“We are making a film that tells the emotional tale of how clergy sexual abuse affects not just individuals but also families and communities,” Anni said. “We want to make people more informed and thereby give them a voice.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 10, 2013

BISHOP Michael Malone says he never looked at confidential files about his priests despite the paedophilia controversy that raged during his 16 years in charge of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese of the Catholic Church.

In an extraordinary afternoon of evidence before the Special Commission of Inquiry sitting in Newcastle, the retired bishop agreed that some of his evidence “defied belief”.

But he insisted it was true, and repeatedly said he had never seen a trove of documents obtained by the commission’s investigators, even though they all came from the diocese headquarters and some came from filing cabinets in his own office.

Some of Bishop Malone’s early evidence yesterday about the circumstances of his taking over the diocese from Bishop Leo Clarke in 1995 drew sympathetic laughter from many in the 50-strong gallery.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 11, 2013

A LETTER tendered to today’s Special Commission of Inquiry hearings shows the Maitland-Newcastle diocese should have known police in two states were considering ‘‘misprision of felony’’ charges over the concealment of child sex offences by priests.

The letter, dating from January 1996, was addressed to senior diocese figure Monsignor Allan Hart.

Bishop Michael Malone, whose 16 years at the head of the diocese began the year before, agreed with counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan, that such a letter should have been drawn to his attention, but he ‘‘didn’t remember’’ seeing it before the current investigations.

This letter was one of a number tendered to the commission on Thursday that concerned the investigation of priests accused of child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian July 11, 2013

A FORMER Catholic bishop has admitted his handling of child abuse committed by priests was “bumbling” and inadequate, and that he did not report one such pedophile to police despite believing he could reoffend.

Giving evidence to the NSW special commission of inquiry this morning, Bishop Michael Malone also appeared to contradict his earlier evidence about how much he knew about this priest, Denis McAlinden.

Bishop Malone yesterday told the inquiry he had not read McAlinden’s personnel file and only knew of two local victims of the priest when he took over the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, in NSW, in 1995.

However, today he said he was also aware at the time that McAlinden had previously been prosecuted for child abuse in Western Australia, although he was not convicted.

He also said he had read some documents within McAlinden’s file, including internal church correspondence from decades earlier that said the priest had admitted to abusing children.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Paul Maguire, AAP
July 11, 2013

A retired Catholic bishop has admitted that he found the area of child abuse so distasteful that he didn’t look at the files of priests under his care.

One of the files was so big that Bishop Michael Malone couldn’t jump over it, he told the special NSW government commission of inquiry.

The former Maitland-Newcastle bishop appeared before the inquiry for a second day of evidence on Thursday.

Barrister assisting the commission, Julia Lonergan SC, asked the bishop why he didn’t think child protection was his responsibility from 1995, when he started in his Hunter Valley diocese, to 2004, when he first took some action.

“I wasn’t fully aware of the extent of the issue, I was on a sharp learning curve,” he replied.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

July 10, 2013

Paul Maguire
AAP

Michael Malone’s first official duty as bishop of Newcastle was to strip Denis McAlinden of his priesthood for sexually abusing children.

Bishop Malone began giving evidence on Wednesday at a special NSW Government commission of inquiry into how the church and police handled child sexual abuse allegations against Fr Denis McAlinden and another priest, James Fletcher.

Bishop Malone was appointed in 1995 and retired in 2011, after dealing with a succession of child abuse by clergy in his diocese.

Bishop Malone admitted that the diocese had stored confidential documents dating back to the 1970s confirming McAlinden was a known pedophile, with allegations reaching as far back as the 1950s.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

The former Bishop of the Catholic Church in the NSW Hunter Valley says he knew a paedophile priest had a psychological condition that made him an ongoing threat to children.

Former Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone is giving evidence at the inquiry which was sparked by policeman Peter Fox.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox says the church covered up abuse by father James Fletcher and father Denis McAlinden.

Bishop Malone says he knew about the abuse but did not tell police because the victims did not want to press charges.

Bishop Malone told the public hearings today McAlinden “thought his tendency to sexual abuse was somehow controlled by prayer and the sacraments”.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Paul Maguire, AAP
July 11, 2013

A Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a boy was given control of a second parish four months after a police investigation had begun.

The appointment of Branxton’s Father James Fletcher to also run the Lochinvar parish in October 2002 was one of numerous regrets Bishop Michael Malone expressed to a special NSW commission of inquiry on Thursday.

When asked by a barrister assisting the commission, Julia Lonergan, why Fr Fletcher was appointed to a parish that had a primary school and high school whose students had no knowledge of the allegations, Bishop Malone answered: “We had no-one else to put in.

“So it was better to appoint someone accused of paedophilia than no-one at all?” Ms Lonergan asked.

“I take your point,” Bishop Malone responded.

“I have a lot of regrets about this.

“In hindsight I wish I’d have acted with more determination in standing him aside and not informing him (Fr Fletcher that the police investigation was underway).

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Bishop Michael Malone, speaking to the NSW government inquiry into clerical child sexual abuse in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese, said he asked his predecessor, Leo Clarke, what the skeletons in the closet were. Bishop Clarke pushed a wooden box across the table and told him to also look in a briefcase in the corner of the room. “I asked what’s in the briefcase and he said ‘oh well, you’ll find out’,” Bishop Malone said.

The skeletons were paedophile priests, notably Fletcher and McAlinden (see previous postings). The elephant in the room, which went un-noticed, was that they were being protected. Malone may have continued his predecessors practice. Only the fly on the wall could be sure. Perhaps, Malone was just reluctant to open the can of worms. In the end, he let sleeping dogs lie.

The public interest in Malone’s evidence was reflected in the public gallery, which was full to over-flowing.

Bishop Malone admitted that the diocese had stored confidential documents dating back to the 1970s confirming McAlinden was a known pedophile, with allegations reaching as far back as the 1950s. Although Bishop Clarke, had formally removed McAlinden’s right to practice as a priest in 1993, in mid-1995 he was still being paid by the diocese, had been traveling the world for some time and was in the Philippines masquerading as a priest and carrying out the work of a priest.

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KENTUCKY
WDRB

By Valerie Chinn

Louisville, KY (WDRB) — Is a Louisville priest competent to stand trial? That’s the question both the defense and prosecution are hoping to get answered soon in the Father James Schook case.

Two boys who are now grown men say they were abused by Schook in the early 1970s. In 2011, he was charged with seven counts of sodomy.

Schook was supposed to be evaluated at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, but the prosecution says because the facility didn’t think it could handle his medical needs, their doctors will now evaluate him at Atria Senior Living in St. Matthews, where is he currently staying.

The defense says Schook has terminal skin cancer and those records are now being looked at, as well.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Jon M. Sweeney

Right now, the United States government is doing all it can to capture a young man who leaked sensitive information that embarrassed it. They are probably justified in trying to capture Edward Snowden. But Catholics are still wondering why the U.S. government hasn’t insisted that the Vatican send Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston back to face charges for knowingly harboring and supporting a criminal priest who raped more than 150 boys in his archdiocese. After fleeing Boston in late 2002, Cardinal Law was appointed by Pope John Paul II to a prestigious position in Rome, where for a decade he recommended the appointment of new bishops and helped to investigate American nuns. Today, he sits in happy retirement behind the Vatican walls. Matthew Fox is angry about this sort of thing, as well he should be. So, too, are millions of Catholics.

It is from such a place of anger and frustration, but also hope for the future, that Fox’s Letters to Pope Francis: Rebuilding a Church with Justice and Compassion (July ’13, 152 pp, ebook and printed book editions) comes. Just published, the book is a welcome set of missives, echoing themes that are at once familiar and well argued. Surely, the new Pope will never read these letters, but one wishes that he would, particularly before planning what he will say to millions of Catholic youth in Rio de Janeiro later this month. (Look for millions of young people glued to the Pope’s every word, July 23-28.)

Fox reinvigorates a term from the Second Vatican Council, sensus fidelium, “sense of the faithful,” in these letters to Pope Francis. It is a beautiful phrase and a powerful reminder that the Catholic Church is larger–much larger–than the Chair of Saint Peter. The Second Vatican Council said that the Church was supposed to listen carefully to the sensus fidelium, and Fox makes the point that the performance and perspective of Pope Francis’s two predecessors shows that, not only hasn’t the Church done so, but it is actually in schism as a result. The last two popes have deliberately gone about undoing the reforms and teachings of Vatican II. Fox explains, “Quite simply, in Catholic theology a Council trumps a Pope but a Pope does not trump a Council.” What we’ve essentially had since 1978 is two popes turning their backs on reforms that were decided by a valid Council, leading to a schismatic Church.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: RANDY FURST , Star Tribune Updated: July 10, 2013

The Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis discovered in 1966 that a priest was engaging in sexual contact with boys, and that priest was assigned to four more parishes, according to documents.

The Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis discovered in 1966 that a Minnesota priest was engaging in sexual contact with boys, but the priest was nonetheless assigned to four more parishes over the next 25 years, according to Archdiocese documents and information made public Wednesday.

The accused priest, John Brown, 92, who retired in 1991, said in an interview with the Star Tribune at his assisted living apartment in Maplewood that he “very, very vaguely” recalls fondling some boys in a locker room.

He was asked if he was sorry.

“I have to be sorry,” he said. “Wouldn’t anybody be sorry?”

Asked about other accusations of molestation, Brown appeared to contradict himself, saying “I don’t recall actually molesting,” adding, “If it happened I’d have to have remorse.”

A parent complained about Brown’s behavior to Archbishop Leo Binz in 1966, according to a 1992 memorandum by Rev. Kevin McDonough, the vicar general of the archdiocese. Attorney Jeff Anderson made the document public at a news conference Wednesday.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

St. Paul attorneys and an alleged sexual abuse victim asked a Minnesota court Wednesday, July 10, to unseal a list of 33 priests in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, who have been accused of sexual abuse.

The alleged victim identified as David Pususta, of Waverly, Minn., also came forward regarding abuse he allegedly experienced by Rev. John Brown. Brown is retired and living in a nursing home, Pususta said.

Pususta said he was abused by Brown from 1961-1962 while the priest was working at St. Mary Catholic Church in Waverly, which is west of the Twin Cities. Pususta was between the ages of 10 and 13 during the abuse, he said.

“I came forward because, not only did he molest me, I know he molested other people in our small community,” Pususta said. He said Brown also molested children on Pususta’s basketball team.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Video: Abuse Survivor Requests Judge to Release List of 33 Accused Priests

Notice of intervention to unseal list

Memo of intervention to unseal list

Archdiocese’s 1992 letter regarding Fr. John Brown’s history

Father John T. Brown Timeline

JEFFREY R. ANDERSON

The courage of survivors such as David Pususta always inspires and amazes us. David came forward today to not only reveal publicly for the first time that he is a child sexual abuse survivor, but he also discussed his abuse and identified his abuser, who was never publicly named previously. David also filed court documents in Ramsey County District Court seeking to force the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to unseal and make public its secret list of 33 Archdiocesan priests credibly accused of child sex abuse.

David’s act of courage today is monumental. It will help hold the Catholic Church and the Archdiocese accountable. More importantly, it will help protect children from predator priests.

While a minor, David was sexually abused by Father John Brown, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. David is fearful for the safety of other children and wants to ensure that no other harm is inflicted on children as it was on him. He believes releasing this list of known priest offenders will help keep children safe. David was made aware of the Archdiocese’s secret list of offender priests by virtue of new lawsuits filed under the recently enacted Child Victims Act.

Only approximately 30 U.S. dioceses have released lists of credibly accused priests in their diocese. That is a sad and disturbingly low number. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ choice to keep its list secret is a choice to protect the Archdiocese and the credibly accused priests, instead of children. David didn’t have to come forward today – he chose to. His courageous act will help force the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and all other dioceses, to do the morally right thing.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Dan Cox

The former Bishop of the Hunter Valley’s Catholic Church has told a New South Wales inquiry he did not take child sexual abuse allegations to police because it was not what the victims wanted.

Former Bishop Michael Malone is the first Church witness to come under examination at the inquiry.

He was the head of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese from 1995 to 2011.

Senior policeman Peter Fox sparked the Special Commission with claims the Church protected two paedophile priests, Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

Bishop Malone will be back in the witness box this morning.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
July 10, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson called Wednesday for the Catholic Church to release information on all priests in Minnesota with “credible allegations” of child sex abuse.

The request comes after the passage of the Child Victims Act in May, a new state law that gives victims of child sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits. Anderson’s request also follows the release last week of thousands of pages of documents by the Milwaukee archdiocese about dozens of priests accused of sexually abusing children dating back decades.

Similar efforts by Anderson have failed in the past. However, the new state law may provide an opportunity to seek those names in court.

Anderson also announced that he has requested a Ramsey County District judge unseal a list of 33 priests that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has identified as having credible allegations of abuse lodged against them. The list of names is already in court files from a previous lawsuit, but a judge sealed it.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 11, 2013

The former head of the then Maitland Diocese denied knowledge of the existence of church letters that exposed paedophile priests as far back as the 1950s.

Bishop Michael Malone said he had never seen a series of letters filed in the diocese office that were found by the special ­commission of inquiry staff investigating ­concealment of child sex abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese.

“I’ve seen letters and statements in the last two weeks I’ve never seen before,” Bishop Malone told a packed gallery at yesterday’s inquiry.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan SC, asked Bishop Malone why, in his 16 years overseeing the diocese between 1995 and 2011, he had never seen the documents on paedophile activities by priests Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

“I didn’t have time to go trawling through archives,” the bishop said.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By John Brewer
jbrewer@pioneerpress.com
Posted: 07/10/2013

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson (Pioneer Press file photo: Ben Garvin)
The most powerful men in Waverly, Minn., in the 1960s were the banker and the parish priest.

That’s why when the Rev. John T. Brown told the parents of 10-year-old David Pususta to send him over to the rectory for sex education, they sent him.

It was on that summer night, Pususta, now of St. Paul, said Wednesday morning, that Brown first sexually abused him.

Pususta said that during Brown’s sex education, he stroked, gripped and tugged the boy’s private parts.

Pususta spoke at a news conference at the St. Paul offices of attorney Jeff Anderson, who, on Pususta’s behalf, filed a notice of intervention in Ramsey County District Court to unseal a list of 33 priests credibly accused of sexual abuse.

Anderson, who first saw the list in 2009, said he couldn’t say whether Brown was included. But the public should know who is included, he and Pususta said, so no more children are put at risk and any abusers can be held accountable.

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OKLAHOMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday July 10, 2013

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

A Tulsa pastor, Rev. Gregory Hawkins, was charged with sexual abuse of a teenage girl. The 15-year-old girl is now five months pregnant with Hawkins’ child. Hawkins is also the owner of Zion Child Care & Learning Center.

We commend the young girl for informing details to the police leading to his arrest and disabling him from bringing harm to others.

We strongly urge other potential victims and witnesses who have more information to come forward to help keep this predator in jail where he belongs. We also encourage officials at Zion Plaza Church to inform their flock of this crime in order to spread awareness and provide support to other potential victims.

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VATICAN CITY
Pravda

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child wants the Vatican to expose information about all the crimes committed by the clergy against minors. The request is published on the official website of the committee.

In addition, the committee asked the Vatican to clarify the cases when church authorities tried to cover up the actions of pedophiles and indicate what measures had been taken to protect children from sexual predators in church robes.

The committee also wondered what measures were in effect to avoid discrimination in parochial schools. To crown it all, church official want to know if textbooks still contain articles that demean the rights of children born out of wedlock and instill intersexual stereotypes. Such articles, committee officials believe, should be withdrawn from textbooks.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Alessandro Speciale| Religion News Service, Updated: Wednesday, July 10

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has been called to give detailed information on its record on child sexual abuse to a United Nations panel, a move that will show how Pope Francis wants to handle an issue that has deeply scarred the Catholic Church’s image in the past decade.

The Geneva-based U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child has asked the Vatican to “provide detailed information on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, brothers and nuns.”

The request comes ahead of the Vatican’s scheduled appearance in front of the committee in January 2014.

All countries that have ratified the 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child must submit to a periodic evaluation of their performance on child protection. The Vatican was among the first countries to ratify the treaty.

According to the “List of Issues” submitted by the U.N. committee, the Vatican will have to explain the measures it has put in place to “ensure that no member of the clergy currently accused of sexual abuse be allowed to remain in contact with children.”

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AUSTRALIA
AD2000

Anne Lastman

Anne Lastman, BA (Psy/Rel Stds), Dip Ed, M Rel Ed, MA (Theol Stds) is a Member of the Australian Counsellors’ Association (Level 3), of the Federation of Victoria Counsellors and of the ACA College of Loss & Grief (Level 3). She is the founder of Victims of Abortion Trauma Counselling and Info Services (PO Box 6094, Vermont South, 3133).

A revised second edition of her book Redeeming Grief has just been published (see page 16).

There is a sense of shame which hovers over the Catholic Church at this moment. It’s a church limping towards Calvary, being spat upon, being vilified, despised. It’s the one church which is the focal point of child sexual abuse allegations by its ministers and others within its ranks. And yet I would suggest that there is more to what we are seeing. We are seeing the crucifixion of the Bride of Christ just like the crucifixion of her Groom. There is much pain, shame, guilt in this time, and enduring this can unhinge. Loss of faith is possible.

Defined, sexual abuse is the forceful intrusion or violation into the sacred space of sexuality in the life of a person, but in this instance, a child, in the context of one in whose trusting care the child or children were situated.

This is a very clinical explanation for sexual abuse, but behind these words there is an immensity of pain and distortion. However, there is still much more to the experience and more and more the voices of those who have lived with the experience report dimensions which had hitherto been unacknowledged.

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CONNECTICUT
New Britain Herald

By LISA BACKUS
STAFF WRITER

NEW BRITAIN — The sentencing for a former Berlin priest who pleaded guilty to charges he engaged in ribald Facebook chats with male teenage parishioners has been postponed until August.

Michael Miller, once affectionately called “Father Michael” by parishioners of St. Paul’s Church in Berlin, is expected to serve five years in prison followed by 20 years probation as a sex offender when his sentencing is complete Aug. 15.

Miller was scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday but his attorney asked for a continuance to gather more information, according to court staff.

Miller’s activities came to light in June 2011 when the mother of a 13-year-old male parishioner reported to police that the priest, who was well known for showing up at accident scenes and volunteering at youth events, was chatting in a sexual manner on Facebook with her son.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 10/07/2013
Reporter: Suzanne Smith

Retired Catholic Bishop, Michael Malone, who headed the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese from 1995 to 2011 has told the Newcastle Inquiry into sexual abuse in the church that he was not aware of all the documentary evidence in his files about a paedophile priest until three weeks ago.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: A retired Catholic bishop has told the NSW inquiry into child sexual abuse that despite being bishop of his diocese for 16 years he’d not acquainted himself with a substantial amount of documentary evidence about a known paedophile priest held in his own files until the documents were released three weeks ago.

The internal Church letters and documents on father Denis McAlinden were released last week, showing the Church had information about his paedophile behaviour as far back as 1953.

Bishop Michael Malone, who headed the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese from 1995 until 2011, said he’d been the bishop of a busy diocese and hadn’t had the luxury to go trawling through personnel files.

Suzie Smith reports from Newcastle. The producer is Stephen Crittenden.

SUZIE SMITH, REPORTER: Michael Malone was nominated to succeed the Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle Leo Clarke in November, 1994.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian July 11, 2013

THE former Catholic bishop of Newcastle has claimed he was unaware of documentary evidence dating back decades that one of his priests was abusing children, despite the files being stored in his own office.

Giving evidence yesterday to the NSW special commission of inquiry into church child abuse, Michael Malone said he had been too busy to access the files, which contained allegations of abuse dating back to 1954.

“I don’t know where (the inquiry’s) investigation team found all these letters. Presumably they would have accessed the archives of the diocese, and that’s a luxury I didn’t have,” he said.

“I was bishop of a large, busy diocese.”

Bishop Malone said he had not seen many of the documents, which included letters to and from abusive priest Denis McAlinden, until a few weeks ago.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A woman from Warwickshire who was raped by a Catholic priest when she was a child has given evidence to a United Nations Committee on the rights of the Child.

It has now ordered the Vatican to appear before it.

Sue Cox leads a group representing hundreds of people who say they were abused by priests.

The Vatican must now explain how it is dealing with allegations of child abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

July 11, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

All the retiring Bishop Leo Clarke did when handing over the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese to successor Bishop Michael Malone in 1995 was slide an ancient ornamental cross across the desk and point to a ”rather large briefcase that sat in the corner of his office”, Bishop Malone says.

Bishop Malone asked him, ”Are you going to show me where the skeletons are, where the secret things are?” But Bishop Clarke merely responded, ”Ah, you will find out,” Bishop Malone testified on Wednesday.

The state inquiry into alleged police and church cover-ups of child sexual abuse by priests in the diocese heard evidence that by then Bishop Malone knew of sexual abuse allegations against the disgraced priest Denis McAlinden and was aware of suspicions about another priest.

Bishop Malone told the inquiry that although one of his first tasks as bishop was to continue the process of defrocking McAlinden, he did not remember reading McAlinden’s personnel file during his 16 years as bishop. Bishop Malone, who retired in 2011, said he would have personally placed letters and correspondence in McAlinden’s file ”as matters came in” concerning the two victims he knew about in 1995, but ”I don’t recollect that I actually sat down and read the file”.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday July 10, 2013

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

A new South Carolina study finds that in child abuse cases “churches often stand between victims and help” and that churches “were least likely to report abuse and sometimes covered it up, urging victims to forgive their abusers instead of reporting them,” according to today’s New York Times.

This is very distressing. Churches know better. But time and time again, church officials and members timidly put their selfish interests above the safety of kids.

It’s been more than 25 years since the first shocking clergy sex abuse and cover up case garnered national attention. In just one denomination (Catholic), church officials admit there have been more than 6,200 child molesting clerics (and we strongly suspect the real figure is substantially higher).

Yet we still see, time and time again, spiritual figures acting like cold-hearted CEOs instead of like compassionate shepherds.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Today TMJ4

By Cody Holyoke
CREATED JUL. 9, 2013

MILWAUKEE – One Milwaukee business is crying foul against the Catholic Church, a week after the archdiocese released scathing details on its long sex abuse scandal.

The problems, however, have nothing to do with assaults.

North Side Coal & Oil Company supplied fuel to three Catholic cemeteries for decades.

“It’s for machinery. Basically the lawnmowers, weedeaters, backhoes, anything that they would use. Pickup trucks. Dump trucks. Anything they would use within the cemetery,” explained Steven Pitel, the company’s general manager.

The money stopped coming in years ago, and the church owes the company more than 10-thousand dollars. Pitel contacted TODAY’S TMJ4 after watching an interview last week with Archbishop Jerome Listecki.

Listecki discussed a $57 million fund set aside to defray the costs of maintaining those cemeteries.

“…it’s our responsibilty on the part of the leadership that that money is set aside for that purpose and and basically it’s protected,” Listecki said.

Pitel wants to be paid. He sees his shop as yet another victim of the church.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

By Vince Lattanzio | Wednesday, Jul 10, 2013

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has barred local churches from inviting a rebel priest to speak at parishes during his upcoming trip to Philadelphia.

Austrian Catholic priest Father Helmut Schuller, described by supporters as a priest activist, has been pushing for major reforms in the Roman Catholic Church through his organization, the Austrian Priests’ Initiative. Schuller is scheduled to speak at Chestnut Hill College this month on his “The Catholic Tipping Point” tour.

In a 2011 edict called the “Call to Disobedience,” Fr. Schuller and the Austrian Priests’ Initiative, citing a shortage of priests and declining followings, called for lay people to take a larger role in the church and help with decision-making.

Fr. Schuller also supports relaxing the rule barring women and married people from being ordained as priests and prohibiting communion from being given to divorced parishioners and other Christians.

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UNITED STATES
KUOW

[with audio]

By THE CONVERSATION WITH ROSS REYNOLDS

In the mid-1980s a dynamic young monsignor assigned to the Vatican’s embassy in Washington set out to investigate the problem of sexually abusive priests. He found a scandal in the making, confirmed by secret files revealing complaints that had been hidden from police and covered up by the Church hierarchy.

Meanwhile, a young lawyer listened to a new client describe an abusive sexual history with a priest that began when he was ten years old. The lawsuit he filed would touch off a legal war of historic and global proportions. Ross Reynolds talks with author Michael D’Antonio about his new book “Mortal Sins,” which reveals this long and ferocious battle for the soul of the largest and oldest organization in the world.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 10, 2013

A United Nations’ committee has asked the Vatican to turn over documents pertaining to child sex abuse and cover up.

According to The Tablet:

The UN’s Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child on Tuesday issued a list of demands for detailed information from the Holy See regarding all cases of child sexual abuse committed by clergy and Religious.

The Vatican has until January to compile the information, in time for a meeting of the UN committee at which Vatican officials will be questioned.

The Vatican is asked about the steps it has taken to prevent accused clergy from having access to children, about bishops who have failed to report allegations to the police, about what investigations the Church has run and what compensation or counselling [sic] the Church has offered victims, and about the safeguarding measures the Church has put in place to prevent future abuse.

The real story will be in Francis’ response. The UN has no real authority over Vatican sovereignty – in fact, Vatican officials have been giving this committee the run-around for years. The only consequences for noncompliance are sanctions. For a nation-state eye-deep in wealth and with a constant income stream from faithful Catholics worldwide, I am sure the Curia could not care less.

So Francis has three choices:
1, Pony up the documents,
2. Tell the committee to go pound sand, or
3. Stall

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GENEVA
CBC News

A United Nations panel is demanding that the Vatican hand over detailed information on child sex abuse cases involving Catholic clergy.

In a document published online, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has asked the Vatican to come clean with how it addresses children’s rights around the world, including what measures it takes when dealing with sexual violence.

The panel, which polices the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, wants the Catholic Church to reveal confidential records on investigations and legal proceedings against clergy members accused of sexual crimes on children.

The Geneva-based committee also wants to know what measures are being taken to ensure that clergy members accused of sexual abuses are not in contact with children and how members are told to report allegations of sexual violence.

The document mentions specific cases of abuse, including the Magdalene Laundries, which were Catholic-run workhouses in Ireland where thousands of women and girls were forced to work unpaid and under harsh conditions. The committee wants any records looking into complaints of torture and inhumane treatment as well as information on the number of babies taken away from their mothers at the laundries.

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GENEVA
Reuters

Robert Evans
Reuters
July 10, 2013

GENEVA (Reuters) – A United Nations human rights panel has posed a list of tough questions to the Vatican about child abuse by Catholic priests, a potential embarrassment for Pope Francis a few months into his papacy.

The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) asked for “detailed information on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, brothers or nuns” since the Holy See last reported to it some 15 years ago, and set November 1 as a deadline for a reply.

The request was included in a “list of issues”, posted on the CRC’s website, to be taken up when the Vatican appears before it next January to report on the Church’s performance under the 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

It will be the first time the Holy See has been publicly questioned by an international panel over the child abuse scandal which severely damaged the standing of the Roman Catholic Church in many countries around the world.

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OKLAHOMA
Fox 23

A Tulsa pastor arrested is charged with sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Rev. Gregory Hawkins, 54, of Zion Plaza Church in North Tulsa is charged with six counts of child sexual abuse for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

Records show the victim is now age 15 and five months pregnant with Hawkins’ child. Court documents allege they had sex several times at Zion Plaza, a Holiday Inn and in his Suburban at a park.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 7

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

A United Nations panel is seeking information from Vatican officials about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. We are grateful for this and hope it inspires other international institutions to take similar steps to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, expose the truth and prevent more heinous crimes.

The ongoing sexual violence against children by priests and the enabling of those crimes by bishops should outrage the global community. And this horror will continue until more secular authorities show insist that the Catholic hierarchy honor common sense laws and practices that prosecute those who commit and conceal child sex crimes and safeguard those who suffer child sex crimes.

In many nations, Catholic officials violate child safety laws. And at the international level, we believe, Catholic officials violate the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

They do this because they can. They get by with it because few secular authorities have the courage and strength to hold the Catholic hierarchy accountable for repeatedly reckless, callous, deceitful and self-serving actions regarding vulnerable kids, powerful prelates, and child molesting clerics.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
The New York Times

By KIM SEVERSON

In South Carolina, people accused of sexually abusing children do not face trial for years. Children who report abuse are not interviewed for weeks. Churches often stand between victims and help.

Those were among the findings of a privately financed report that comes as South Carolina is working to shore up its child protective system. The state is facing lawsuits and legislative scrutiny after a series of deaths, rapes and other assaults on children who were in state custody.

The report was welcomed by Gov. Nikki R. Haley, who said it offered useful recommendations for improving how the state — both the government and its citizens — can better address childhood sexual trauma.

It also prompted Ms. Haley to recount her own experience as a physically abused child.

While her mother worked she spent her days in day care at a neighborhood home, the governor said.

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NEDERLAND
Katholiek Nieuwsblad

De schadevergoedingen voor slachtoffers van het misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk lopen waarschijnlijk op tot boven de 10 miljoen euro.

Dat zei Wim Deetman, voorzitter van de commissie die onderzoek deed naar het misbruik, donderdag in het KRO-radioprogramma Goedemorgen Nederland.

Tot dusver is door de Kerk 3,7 miljoen euro uitbetaald aan slachtoffers, maar volgens Deetman is nog niet de helft van de zaken behandeld.

“De zaak is nu op stoom en er komt nog heel veel aan”, aldus Deetman. Hij verwacht dat het uiteindelijke bedrag boven de tien miljoen euro uitkomt.

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NIGERIA
allAfrica

Vanguard

BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI, 8 JULY 2013

Port Harcourt — A CHURCH founder simply identified as Pastor Chinagoro has been released by the Oyigbo Divisional Police Office in Rivers State after five days in detention for alleged abuse of a 13-year-old Destiny Kalu.

The police, acting on complaints by the victim’s mother, Mrs. Kalu through a counsel, had arrested the Pastor who runs a church in Mbesie, Imo State after the teenager had confided in her mother that the suspect has been having sex with him through his anus.

Vanguard investigations revealed that Destiny, a drummer, had been living with Chinagoro who offered to take care of him out of pity over his parents’ living condition in their Port Harcourt residence.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

Robin de Wever − 09/07/13

Rooms-katholieke monniken, nonnen en oversten hebben ‘alles gedaan om slachtoffers van misbruik tegemoet te treden’. Toch stort de hele samenleving zich op de katholieke kerk, vindt de voorman van de kloosterorden.

In een interview in De Volkskrant vertelt secretaris Patrick Chatelion Counet dinsdag dat de oversten de maatschappelijke kritiek ervaren als een ‘groot onrecht’. ‘In feite werpt de katholieke kerk veel minder barrières op dan alle andere maatschappelijke instellingen, inclusief de overheid. Zij geeft het voorbeeld aan andere instellingen om zaken te aanvaarden die verjaard zijn.’

‘Geen enkel ziekenhuis, school of sportorganisatie, noch een overheid, gemeente of provincie, zou processen accepteren tegen overleden daders waarbij ook nog eens geen sluitend bewijs hoeft te worden geleverd. De kerk wel.’ Volgens Counet pakt de knieval niet gunstig uit voor de kerk. De rechtsbescherming van beschuldigde paters en zusters zou nu ‘bedenkelijk zwak’ zijn. ‘Het rechtsprincipe dat iemands onschuld verondersteld wordt tot het tegendeel is bewezen, is hier al lang verlaten.’

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

10 July 2013

The UN’s Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child on Tuesday issued a list of demands for detailed information from the Holy See regarding all cases of child sexual abuse committed by clergy and Religious.

The Vatican has until January to compile the information, in time for a meeting of the UN committee at which Vatican officials will be questioned.

The Vatican is asked about the steps it has taken to prevent accused clergy from having access to children, about bishops who have failed to report allegations to the police, about what investigations the Church has run and what compensation or counselling the Church has offered victims, and about the safeguarding measures the Church has put in place to prevent future abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

NICK SQUIRES ROME – 10 JULY 2013

A UNITED NATIONS committee has demanded that the Vatican reveal potentially explosive details about the systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.

Campaigners have called on Pope Francis, who was elected in March, to make tackling the issue of sexually abusive priests a priority of his papacy.

The UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child said yesterday that “given the scale” of the sexual violence acknowledged by the Holy See, it must provide detailed information on all cases of abuse committed by clergy and on its investigations into such abuses.

The Vatican was told to show whether it had implemented measures “to ensure that no member of the clergy currently accused of sexual abuse be allowed to remain in contact with children”.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

SARAH MCCABE – 10 JULY 2013

THE Vatican Bank is one of Europe’s best known but least understood financial institutions, and it is no stranger to scandal.

This week Italian prosecutors decided to drop a negligence inquiry into the bank’s former president, but investigations roll on; two of his juniors are now implicated in a money-laundering scandal.

Under the microscope are the bank’s director general Paolo Cipriani and its deputy director Massimo Tulli, who both resigned last week. The allegations cast yet more global scrutiny on the secretive 70-year-old institution.

The Vatican Bank is known formally as the Institute for the Works of Religion and was established in 1942 by Pope Pius XII. It is used by Vatican agencies, church organisations, bishops and religious orders around the world.

It has an investment portfolio and offers currency exchange services and savings accounts to its members.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

[with video]

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — An attorney spoke Tuesday about a lawsuit alleging abuse by trusted teachers at the prestigious Yeshiva University High School for boys.

As CBS 2’s Tony Aiello reported Tuesday, the 148-page lawsuit demands $380 million for pain and suffering.

The school sits like a fortress at 186th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Upper Manhattan, but 19 former students said the school was no place of safety.

“They were housing known sexual predators who were roaming the hallways looking for new victims to abuse,” said attorney Kevin Mulhearn.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A former bishop of the Hunter Valley’s Catholic Church has told a New South Wales inquiry into child sexual abuse his predecessor had a briefcase containing secret files.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox sparked the Special Commission with claims the church protected two paedophile priests.

Documents tendered at the commission show three former Maitland-Newcastle bishops, including Michael Malone, knew about abuse by priests James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.

Bishop Malone today gave evidence at the public hearings in Newcastle, with around 50 people packing out the gallery.

He was the Maitland-Newcastle bishop from 1995 to 2011, and is the first church witness to come under examination at the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 10, 2013

A FORMER police officer has denied he was concerned about collusion between senior church figures as depicted by whistleblowing officer Peter Fox.

Donald Mark Brown, who left the force in 2010, was the officer that Mr Fox had assigned to take a statement from Father Robert Searle over a 1998 outburst by AH, a victim of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher.

Mr Fox had expected Father Searle to make a statement saying that AH had been complaining about paedophile priests. But this detail was absent from the statement Mr Brown obtained from Father Searle.

Mr Brown said Mr Fox had not asked him about the differences after he arrived with the statement.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 10, 2013

A former police officer has denied he ever had concerns about a church cover-up despite contrary evidence by whistleblower Peter Fox.

Donald Brown’s only involvement with the investigation into paedophile priest James Fletcher was taking a statement from Nelson Bay priest Robert Searle in 2003 over a confrontation with one of Fletcher’s victims five years earlier.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox said Father Searle told him that the man was drunk and yelling about “filthy things” priests do to children outside the presbytery.

But the statement taken by Mr Brown, who left the NSW Police Force in 2010, had no mention of filthy things.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 10, 2013

BISHOP Michael Malone says he has never seen files obtained by the Special Commission of Inquiry even though some had been in his office for all of his 16 years at the head of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese.

In an extraordinary afternoon of evidence, Bishop Malone told the inquiry he eventually ‘‘tipped off the police’’ about paedophile priest Denis McAlinden in 1999 but that at no time did he look at McAlinden’s personnel file, or that of any other priest in his diocese.

This was despite the files being contained in an office he inherited from his predecessor, Bishop Leo Clarke, sitting in filing cabinets until their discovery by the commission’s investigators.

Late on Wednesday afternoon, counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan, said to Bishop Malone that it ‘‘defied belief’’ that he ‘‘did not familiarise’’ himself with McAlinden’s file during the years the diocese was battling to defrock him.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian July 10, 2013

A DETECTIVE investigating a pedophile failed to identify existing police records that suggested the Catholic priest had a number of other victims and did not follow up a postal address in the man’s name, an inquiry has heard.

Despite learning the priest, Denis McAlinden, returned to Australia from the UK in 2002, the detective did not subsequently attempt to locate him using Centrelink or ATO records, or follow up a PO Box address registered in his name.

Three years later, the NSW special commission of inquiry has heard, a separate police investigation into McAlinden used Centrelink records to find him living in Western Australia, but detectives could not extradite the priest due to his health and he died shortly after.

Giving evidence to the inquiry this morning, Detective Senior Constable Jacqueline Flipo said she received a report in 2002 that McAlinden had sexually abused a young girl.

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VATICAN CITY
Radio New Zealand

The United Nations has asked the Vatican to provide details of thousands of cases of child abuse committed by members of the Catholic clergy.

The request by the committee, which governs the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, comes six months ahead of Vatican representatives appearing before the UN body.

The Holy See has been asked to answer a range of questions, many of them linked to the epidemic of child sex abuse within the Church, the BBC reports.

The request for details of all abuse committed by priests, nuns and brothers over several years is accompanied by queries about support for victims and any incidents where complainants were silenced.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | July 10, 2013

The United Nation’s Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) wants the Vatican, the seat of the Holy See and Pope Francis’ bailiwick, to hand over the Catholic church’s records as to how it dealt the child sex abuse cases against the church throughout the years.

“In the light of the recognition by the Holy See of sexual violence against children committed by members of the clergy, brothers and nuns in numerous countries around the world, and given the scale of the abuses”, the UNCRC believed it is high time that the Vatican should provide detailed information on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by the Catholic clergy around the world.

More precisely, the committee wants to know if the Vatican properly instituted and implemented measures “to ensure that no member of the clergy currently accused of sexual abuse be allowed to remain in contact with children.” Unfortunately, it is an open secret among the Roman Catholic faithful that bishops just moved abusive priests from one parish to another to avert potential crisis and leadership breakdown.

The committee’s aggressive stance follows the apparent determination of Pope Francis to crack down on allegations of corruption and money laundering within the Vatican bank. A complete opposite of his predecessor, the new pope who was installed in March is seen by many as more approachable, sensible and open.

“I think it’s a good sign,” Keith Porteous Wood, the executive director of the National Secular Society, was quoted by The Telegraph. “Child abuse is a major issue, along with corruption, that he needs to sort out. His legacy will be judged, I think, on his ability to deal with these immensely difficult problems.”

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

A major UN child rights protection body has asked the Vatican to disclose details of thousands of paedophilia cases involving Catholic clergy.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) made the request ahead of its hearing with Holy See officials, scheduled for January.

It is the first time the UN has asked for such a wide-ranging appraisal.

After taking office in March, Pope Francis said cracking down on sex abuse was vital for the Church’s credibility.

He said the Vatican needed “to act decisively as far as cases of sexual abuse are concerned, promoting, above all, measures to protect minors, help for those who have suffered such violence in the past (and) the necessary procedures against those who are guilty”.

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UNITED STATES
Charisma News

7/9/2013 SHAWN A. AKERS

C.J. Mahaney, who was recently accused in a lawsuit of covering up sexual abuse of children, has withdrawn from participation in the April 2014 Together for the Gospel (T4G) conference in Louisville, Ky., a biennial pastors’ conference he co-founded in 2006.

A May 23 statement that voiced support for Mahaney from pastors Mark Dever, Al Mohler and Ligon Duncan has been removed from the Together for the Gospel website.

Mahaney says he wanted to draw any type of negative attention away from the conference that might have stemmed from the civil lawsuit, which was dismissed in May by a Maryland judge and is now on appeal.

“I love these men and this conference, and I desire to do all I possibly can to serve the ongoing fruitfulness of T4G,” says Mahaney, president of Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) and pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville. “Unfortunately, the civil lawsuit filed against Sovereign Grace Ministries, two former SGM churches and pastors (including myself), continues to generate the type of attention that could subject my friends to unfair and unwarranted criticism.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A detective involved in the arrest of a paedophile priest has told an inquiry into child sexual abuse he has no evidence of collusion within the Catholic Church in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.

The inquiry is examining whether senior church officials helped or hindered a police investigation into Maitland-Newcastle priests James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.

Former policeman Donald Brown has given evidence at the public hearings and was involved in Fletcher’s arrest.

Police whistleblower Peter Fox was his supervisor in May 2003, when the pair interviewed and charged Fletcher over child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

A NSW commission of inquiry has heard a policewoman was not told a priest previous sexual assaults.

A policewoman investigating allegations that a Hunter Valley Catholic priest sexually abused a little girl was not told of his previous offending, a special NSW commission of inquiry has heard.

Detective senior constable Jacqueline Flipo also admitted on Wednesday she did not make inquiries of several government bodies, including Centrelink, Medicare and the taxation office, to help track down Fr Denis McAlinden.

The inquiry, before commissioner Margaret Cunneen in Newcastle Supreme Court, is examining how police and church leaders handled sexual abuse allegations against McAlinden and another priest, James Fletcher.

Constable Flipo said that for about three years, from July 2001, she investigated historic allegations that Fr McAlinden abused a girl when she was aged eight to 11.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Dan Cox, ABC
Updated July 10, 2013

A former bishop of the Hunter Valley’s Catholic Church has told a New South Wales inquiry into child sexual abuse his predecessor had a briefcase containing secret files.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox sparked the Special Commission with claims the church protected two paedophile priests.

Documents tendered at the commission show three former Maitland-Newcastle bishops, including Michael Malone, knew about abuse by priests James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.

Bishop Malone today gave evidence at the public hearings in Newcastle, with around 50 people packing out the gallery.

He was the Maitland-Newcastle bishop from 1995 to 2011, and is the first church witness to come under examination at the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Michael Malone’s first official duty as bishop of Newcastle was to strip Denis McAlinden of his priesthood for sexually abusing children.

Bishop Malone began giving evidence on Wednesday at a special NSW Government commission of inquiry into how the church and police handled child sexual abuse allegations against Fr Denis McAlinden and another priest, James Fletcher.

Bishop Malone was appointed in 1995 and retired in 2011, after dealing with a succession of child abuse by clergy in his diocese.

Bishop Malone admitted that the diocese had stored confidential documents dating back to the 1970s confirming McAlinden was a known pedophile, with allegations reaching as far back as the 1950s.

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ILLINOIS
My Suburban Life

By MARY BETH VERSACI – mversaci@shawmedia.com
Created: Wednesday, July 10, 2013

WEST CHICAGO – A West Chicago priest released on parole in early June after serving most of a prison sentence for felony criminal sexual abuse now faces deportation to his native country of Bolivia.

Alejandro Flores, 40, pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges that he abused a St. Charles boy after his relationship with the 13-year-old from St. Mary’s Catholic Parish in West Chicago was investigated. He was released on parole after serving about 80 percent of a four-year prison sentence.

Although Flores was released on parole, he now is being held at the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility in Woodstock, pending his removal to Bolivia, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

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WISCONSIN
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Editorial

Last week, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee released an estimated 6,000 pages of documents related to clergy sex abuse. It is believed this is only a tenth of all the information given to victims’ attorneys during litigation.

But those 6,000 pages confirmed what many had talked about — some priests preying on parishioners, officials publicly denying it while privately covering it up and moving abusers to other parishes. And they included some revelations, such as payments to priests and the legal, but questionable, transfer of $57 million to a trust that would provide “protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.”

While the accusations of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are not new, the documents renewed some of the bitterness many have felt toward the church.

It’s hard not to be upset when the church questioned the integrity of many of the victims while offering some priests accused of abuse buyouts of $20,000 — $10,000 when they applied to leave and $10,000 when the pope dismissed them.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Leader

Published: 14 July 2013
By: Paul Dobbyn

AUSTRALIAN Catholic lay people in some parishes are already meeting to discuss issues surrounding the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, including how the Church has handled the issue.

Truth, Justice and Healing Council chief executive officer Francis Sullivan (pictured) said priests and clergy needed to consider encouraging such initiatives.

He met with more than 30 priests responsible for the pastoral care and support of clergy to discuss the role of the council as it prepares for the September start of public hearings at the Royal Commission.

At the recent National Conference of Directors of Clergy Life and Ministry in Sydney’s north-west, Mr Sullivan said priests and clergy needed to help parishioners understand what the Catholic Church had done and was doing to protect children.

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NEDERLAND
Volkskrant

De schandalen over seksueel misbruik hebben de kerkreputatie onrechtvaardig zwaar aangetast, vindt de voorman van de kloosterorden. ‘Religieuzen berusten nu in de vernedering.’

‘Dat de hele samenleving zich nu stort op de katholieke kerk en al onze inzet uit het verleden in een kwaad daglicht stelt, ervaren de oversten als een groot onrecht.’ Patrick Chatelion Counet, algemeen secretaris van de Konferentie Nederlandse Religieuzen (KNR), de koepelorganisatie van zo’n tweehonderd kloosterorden en congregaties in Nederland, is het zat.

Voor het eerst treedt de KNR naar buiten over de misbruikaffaire in de rooms-katholieke kerk, en vooral de afwikkeling daarvan. De kloostergemeenschappen willen niet meer door het slijk worden gehaald en weggezet als ‘obscure clubjes’.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 10, 2013

The father of one of James Fletcher’s victims lost his job with the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese when his son made a formal complaint against the paedophile, according to police whistleblower Peter Fox.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox told the special commission of inquiry a Hunter husband and wife suffered reprisals from the clergy during investigation and trial of Fletcher – who was convicted of sexually abusing their son.

The inquiry heard the man told the chief inspector he began to feel “more and more alienated” at the diocese office in Hamilton where he worked in 2002.

“He felt that because he sided with his son he was being made to pay the penalty by the diocese,” Chief Inspector Fox said.

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ILLINOIS
CBS Chicago

[with audio]

(CBS) — A 40-year-old priest who served time in an Illinois prison for abusing an 8-year-old boy is set to be deported to his native Bolivia – but the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is opposing deportation.

Alejandro Flores is the priest whom after abuse allegations were made public, he apparently attempted suicide by jumping from the choir loft of a Joliet church.

Flores pled guilty to molesting an 8-year-old St. Charles boy and was paroled after serving part of a four-year prison term.

After he was released from prison a month ago, he was taken into custody by the federal government, which plans to deport him.

Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says Flores should not be deported.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 9, 2013

POLICE whistleblower Peter Fox has been questioned at length over his reaction to gay pornography found at the Lochinvar presbytery a few months after Father Jim Fletcher took up duties there as a priest.

In a session of cross examination before lunch on Tuesday, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox was taken through evidence he had previously given to the Special Commission of Inquiry sitting in Newcastle.

Mr Fox had said previously that a lay worker had found gay pornography in the presbytery and that Mr Fox believed it had belonged to Fletcher, who was subsequently convicted of abusing an altar boy and who died in jail in 2009.

But counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan, put it to him that he had no evidence that proved the pornography belonged to Fletcher, and that another priest, Father Desmond Harrigan, had told him it belonged to him.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The former Catholic Bishop accused of tipping-off a paedophile priest about a police investigation will today front a New South Wales inquiry into clergy sexual abuse in the Hunter Valley.

Documents tendered at the commission last week show senior Catholic church officials, including the former Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone, knew about Father James Fletcher and Father Denis McAlinden’s abuse.

Late yesterday, whistleblower detective, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox finished giving evidence at the special commission.

DCI Fox claimed Bishop Malone intentionally hindered his investigation into Fletcher by telling the priest about the allegations, which gave him time to “destroy evidence”.

Michael Malone’s barrister Simon Harben has previously told the inquiry the former Bishop was legitimately concerned for the priest’s poor health and Peter Fox he had “no basis” for the accusation.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Michael D’Antonio

In 1993, more than seven years after the Catholic sexual abuse crisis began, John Paul II acknowledged it for the first time. He called it evil, and expressed his concern for how much his brother bishops and the faithful “are suffering because of certain cases of scandal given by members of the clergy.”

It was the scandal, not the rape and molestation of children that was the main problem, according to the Pope. Indeed, he didn’t mention the pain, suffering and loss of faith among victims, nor did he use words like “abuse” or “rape.” Instead he referred to “certain offenses” and “sins” and he said that America’s bishops had two responsibilities in the face of the crisis — to deal with problem priests and their victims and to address the damage done to society when the Church is swept by scandal.

By any measure, John Paul II’s sentiments were focused primarily on the welfare of the Church. The problem of clergy abuse was, he said, a product of an American society that “needs much prayer — lest it lose its soul.” Prayer was the primary remedy recommended by John Paul II, but he also suggested temperance on the part of the mass media. “Evil can indeed be sensational,” he wrote, “but the sensationalism surrounding it is always dangerous for morality.” This point, echoed repeated complaints by priests and bishops who said the media and plaintiffs lawyers were exaggerating claims, stirring public animosity, and singling out Catholicism in a bigoted way.

Anyone who missed the Pope’s point could turn to his spokesman Joaquín Navarro-Valls for clarification. “One would have to ask if the real culprit is not a society that is irresponsibly permissive, hyper-inflated with sexuality and capable of creating circumstances that induce even people who have received a sound moral formation to commit grave immoral acts.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Owen Bowcott
The Guardian, Tuesday 9 July 2013

The Vatican is to face tough questioning by a United Nations committee over the Catholic church’s record in tackling child sexual abuse by its clergy around the world.

A detailed “list of issues” has been released by the Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) before the appearance of officials from the Holy See. The session is expected early next year.

The decision to ask senior Roman Catholic clerics to hand over confidential internal documents to such a high-profile inquiry marks a fresh initiative in the global debate over clerical abuse. It will present the new pontiff, Pope Francis, with a direct challenge to provide records of financial compensation given to victims of sexual abuse and disclose whether secret deals were made to preserve the church’s reputation.

The UN committee’s document is headed: “List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the second periodic report of the Holy See.” Paragraph 11 of the CRC’s document states: “In the light of the recognition by the Holy See of sexual violence against children committed by members of the clergy, brothers and nuns in numerous countries around the world, and given the scale of the abuses, please provide detailed information on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, brothers and nuns or brought to the attention of the Holy See.”

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

A United Nations committee has demanded that the Vatican reveal potentially explosive details about the systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic clergy.

By Nick Squires, Rome 09 Jul 2013

Campaigners have called on Pope Francis, who was elected in March, to make tackling the issue of sexually abusive priests an urgent priority of his papacy.

The UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child released its demands for information from the Holy See on Tuesday.

The committee said that “in the light of the recognition by the Holy See of sexual violence against children committed by members of the clergy, brothers and nuns in numerous countries around the world, and given the scale of the abuses”, the Vatican should provide detailed information on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by clergy.

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CONNECTICUT
Hispanic Business

July 9, 2013

Distressed after losing his job at Starbucks in December 2010, accused cannibal Tyree Lincoln Smith asked his brother-in-law to get him a gun.

“He was hearing voices that were instructing him to kill certain people: a pedophile priest, a cop in Bridgeport he thought was involved in drugs,” Yale University psychiatrist Dr. Reena Kapoor testified Monday.

Kapoor testified that Smith’s behavior so frightened his family they reported the incident to officials in California, where he was living, and officials took his young son away from Smith. Kapoor’s testimony is the crux of the defense case to prove Smith was insane when he killed and cannibalized Angel “Tun Tun” Gonzalez.

The police officer and priest were not identified.

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MICHIGAN
The Detroit News

Robert Snell
The Detroit News

Detroit — A former Catholic priest charged with downloading child pornography is expected to plead guilty in federal court July 24, according to court officials.

Timothy Murray of Novi, former pastor of St. Edith Parish in Livonia, is expected to enter the plea in front of U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts, said Gina Balaya, spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to prosecutors, Murray was detected by undercover U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators downloading pornographic pictures of naked young children engaged in sexual poses on his personal computer between May and November 2012.

Murray is free on a $10,000 bond.

The former priest allegedly admitted to investigators that he used special software to download child porn and that he had about 500 images and videos of child porn that he downloaded from the Internet onto his computer, according to court files.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Lawyers for the Catholic Church at the NSW government enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese, appear to have been emboldened by the recent decision of the enquiry Commissioner, Margaret Cunneen, to hold “in-camera” hearings for Adelaide Archbishop Wilson.

[As a reader comment by “James” notes in one newspaper: “In camera = in secret. Calling it ‘in private’ is a euphemism. Whatever their rationalization, it looks bad.”]

Lawyers for Fr. Hannigan and Fr. Searle both tried to gain a gag order on evidence relating to these two priests. Elizabeth McLaughlin, for Harrigan, wanted a non-publication order which was rejected. Then Searle’s lawyer, Lachlan Gyles, tried the same thing. This time his move was opposed by both Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s lawyer, and the Counsel Assisting the enquiry. It, too, was rejected.

Mr. Gyles has had better success in the past at suppressing information. When the publication the Australian Financial Review obtained information under Freedom of Information laws on the money given by the Federal Government to Ford and General Motors, these organisations, and the Australian Government, moved for a suppression order to stop the newspaper publishing the information.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON JULY 08, 2013

We believe that church officials agreed to settle this case because proof of the cover-up of these horrific crimes would have been made public during the course of this trial. We are grateful to the Teeman family for their courage and for putting aside their pain in order to protect others.

We hope anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes will follow their lead and report crimes to the police and begin to heal.

Church officials may pretend this settlement is to spare this family pain but cases like this are often settled on the eve of a trial in order to protect how much they knew and how little they did to protect children.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

From his choice of residence to the break with past practices: Francis’ sobriety is taking over the Vatican

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

It’s a pleasant sultry summer afternoon in Rome and two Swiss guards and a Vatican policeman, all in uniform, stand in front of the entrance to St. Martha’s House, home to the Pope and another forty or so bishops, monsignors and lay people who work in the Vatican. It is a sign the Holy See’s top man is about. The white and yellow flag with the Vatican crest hangs limply in front of the windows on the second floor of the anonymous rectangular building which John Paul II had built in the mid 90’s to give cardinals taking part in the Conclave a decent place to stay.

Now we are in Francis’ living quarters. Guests take the semi-circular staircase that leads down to the austere and slightly cold hall. There, standing behind a bar is an Oriental looking layman in a tobacco-coloured suit. All is silent. One can feel it’s summer even inside St. Martha’s House and guests know Bergoglio could pop out from just about anywhere, at any moment: from the elevator, from an opening door, from the dining hall or from one of the sitting rooms. Everyone needs to look their best when the Pope is about.

In the hall way there is another Swiss Guard and Vatican policeman in plain dress. “I was seated in a sitting room with green upholstery. The Pope appeared out of nowhere, alone, without any butlers or secretaries and he was carrying an envelope with some rosaries,” says an anonymous source who was received by the Pope in a private audience. “At the end of our meeting he opened the door for me himself and showed me the way out.” No other scene can better describe the change that is taking place in the Holy See. St. Martha’s House is half-way between a hotel and a pilgrim’s residence: there is almost no trace of that courtly feeling you get in the apostolic palace with its renaissance-like dignity. St. Martha’s House is the ideal starting point to our journey through the most important changes introduced by the Argentinean Pope, the small and big breaks with protocol and their significance. Francis’ choice to stay put in the residence where he stayed as a cardinal elector during the Conclave was taken for “psychiatric reasons” because he did not want to be isolated. As he wrote to his friend, the Argentinean priest Enrico Martinez, also known as “Quique”: “I am visible to people and I lead a normal life. A public Mass in the morning, I eat at table with everyone…”

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UNITED STATES
Wonkette

Oh, man, New Pope is doing that thing again, where he says stuff that makes us like him even if he is that head of a big corrupt institution that does evilnasty things. But we give him credit for trying to turn some of that down, what with the living in a little apartment and not eating gold and stuff, and so let’s have a little cheer for some comments Saturday that would probably bring a smile to the face of his simple-living namesake. In a talk to trainee priests and nuns, New Pope said that they should avoid fancy material possessions and instead concentrate on helping the poor. That shouldn’t be news — it’s no “New Pope Blesses Bikers” — but considering that the papacy is notorious for Prada slippers and a level of décor that Donald Trump considers a tad overdone, it’s news.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

YAEL T. ABOUHALKAH

July 9

It takes a lot to grab the national spotlight given the continued unfolding of the Catholic priests’ sexual abuse scandal, which seemingly has reached into every corner of this country with its disgusting revelations for years.

But Kansas City has managed to do it once again, in another embarrassment for Catholics in this city.

On Monday the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese decided to pay the eye-popping total of $2.25 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit. It had been filed by the parents of a boy who allegedly killed himself 30 years ago because of sexual abuse by a local priest.

The case gain national attention this week given the size of the settlement and the fact that the Catholic church apparently had decided it was culpable, in some way, for the boy’s death. The church settled the lawsuit just as a trial was about to begin, a trial that might have reached a verdict awarding even more money in the boy’s death.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

An employee of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese was ostracised by the clergy and lost his job of ten years because he supported his son, who was the victim of a paedophile priest.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The New South Wales Special Commission of inquiry into child sexual abuse was today told that an employee of the Maitland Newcastle Diocese lost his job because he supported his son who was the victim of a paedophile priest. The employee known as B.I. had a senior job with the diocese for more than 10 years. His son was abused by Father James Fletcher who was convicted and died in jail in 2006. The whistleblower police officer who sparked the inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox gave evidence today that BI told him that after his son reported the abuse to police he was ostracised by senior clergy and treated unfairly by Bishop Michael Malone.

PETER FOX, DETECTIVE CHIEF INSPECTOR (voice over): He confided me very early on that. He felt the diocese would ultimately refuse to renew contract and try to terminate his employment as such, which is ultimately what occurred.

EMMA ALBERICI: DCI Fox also told the inquiry that the victim’s mother had told him that Bishop Malone felt he’d been handed a poisoned chalice when he became bishop of the Maitland Newcastle diocese in 1995.

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OHIO
Albany Times Union

CINCINNATI (AP) — Prosecutors are urging a federal judge to reject an Ohio priest’s contention that he was charged too late with allegedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy he took to West Virginia more than two decades ago.

Robert Poandl (POHN’-duhl), of the Cincinnati-based Glenmary Home Missioners, has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing the boy while the two visited a church in Spencer, W.Va., in 1991.

His attorney has asked U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett to throw out the case, saying a five-year statute of limitations should apply.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian July 10, 2013

A DETECTIVE at the centre of a state inquiry into church child abuse has been forced to defend his public claim that Catholic priests destroyed gay pornography that would have provided evidence in a criminal investigation.

In a 2012 interview with the ABC that led to the establishment of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox claimed priests were “removing evidence and destroying it before we were able to secure it”.

Under cross-examination at the inquiry yesterday, Mr Fox said this was a reference to gay pornography found in a presbytery in 2003, when he was investigating the late pedophile priest Jim Fletcher.

Despite being told the magazines and videos belonged to someone else, Mr Fox said he continued to believe it was actually owned by Fletcher and did not have a “completely open” mind during his investigation.

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UNITED STATES
Jeff Anderson & Associates

JEFFREY R. ANDERSON

The Vatican has fast-tracked Pope John Paul II for sainthood, even though a significant portion of the clerical sex abuse scandal happened on his watch. This is concerning, but not surprising, given the Church’s history of protecting priests instead of children and patting itself on the back while willfully failing to take meaningful action regarding abusive priests or abuse survivors.

According to an Associated Press (AP) story, Pope Francis signed a decree on Friday declaring John Paul for sainthood, culminating a “fast-track” process that informally began at John Paul’s 2005 funeral , where thousands at St. Peter’s Square chanted “Santo subito” – Sainthood now! John Paul’s sainthood was initially fast-tracked by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, when he “dispensed with the traditional five-year waiting period and allowed the beatification process to begin weeks after John Paul’s death,” according to the AP story. The canonization ceremony may take place by the end of 2013 and reports speculate that the ceremony could occur as soon as December 8.

Fast-tracking. Yes, the Vatican has the power to move things along quickly.

Or very slowly – or not at all – as documents released last week by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee starkly show. According to those documents, the Vatican delayed the requested laicization of admitted Archdiocese sexual offender priests for several years while children continued to be abused and at risk. But when asked by then Archbishop of Milwaukee Timothy Dolan to “proceed with alienation of property” owned by the Archdiocese – approximately $57 million – for transfer to a cemetery trust and offer “an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability,” the Vatican acted and approved the transfer in a little more than one month. This maneuver was done as the Archdiocese prepared to file for bankruptcy. Clerical sex abuse survivors and their attorneys have accused Dolan of bankruptcy fraud and moving money to protect it from abuse survivors.

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