ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

Galway Bay fm newsroom – A guide for survivors of Magdalene Laundries has been published – to help them understand their entitlements.

Last month – a redress scheme was announced by the government – under which survivors will get payments of up to €100,000 and enhanced State pension entitlements.

It’s in recognition of the time they spent in the laundries, such as the one at Forster Street in the city.

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Democrat

By Democrat Staff

A former Woodland priest facing several counts of sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl pleaded no contest Friday in Sacramento County Superior Court.

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda pleaded no contest to one of seven counts against him, and now faces an eight-year prison term when he is sentenced Aug. 2, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Prosecutors said the 33-year-old Catholic priest “entered the victim’s bedroom at night” at her home in Sacramento and touched her in a lewd and lascivious manner. At the time of the offense, between 2007 and 2009, Ojeda was a priest at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Woodland.

By the time of his arrest in late 2011, Ojeda had moved on to become a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Redding.

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

CALIFORNIA
Merced Sun-Star

Published: July 6, 2013

By Andy Furillo — afurillo@sacbee.com

Grudgingly, one of the nation’s leading critics of the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse by priests credited the Sacramento Diocese with doing some things right in the prosecution of the Rev. Uriel Ojeda.

The 33-year-old priest pleaded no contest Friday to a single count of molesting a 13-year-old girl and admitted to engaging in “substantial sexual conduct” with her, which will likely bring him eight years in state prison.

David Clohessy, the St. Louis-based director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Sacramento church officials did “the bare minimum” to make sure a case was filed against Ojeda after the victim’s father first made accusations against the cleric two years ago.

“Tragically, because for decades bishops refused to do even that, then by comparison, it makes Sacramento church officials look better,” Clohessy said. “On the one hand, I think it’s important to acknowledge progress where progress really happens. But by the same token, it’s hard to define doing the bare minimum in child sex cases as real progress.”

Clohessy said Bishop Jaime Soto also should have cracked down on the dozens of Ojeda supporters who packed courtrooms and danced and chanted outside the jail after the priest’s Nov. 30, 2011, arrest. He said the church should have done more to publicize Ojeda’s misdeed and to shake the trees in the parishes where the reverend worked to find other potential victims.

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CALIFORNIA
Asian Journal

By Prosy Abarquez Delacruz, J.D.
Published: July 6, 2013

TWO weeks ago, I wrote about truth and courage as the natural limits to social harmony, and about how courage manifests in other virtues.

I learned that courage is the foundational virtue. Even if you are living your life righteously each day, the moment you condone injustice, you will be deemed irrelevant.

It is very much like the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles — now distrusted, after they mishandled cases of sexual abuses done by priests within their jurisdiction. Their foundational credibility continues to be questioned.

I love being a Roman Catholic. I was baptized and confirmed. I received the Grace of the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord (wonder and awe).

Yet, I have had an ambivalent relationship with the Catholic Church. I applauded the Vatican, when they recently chose Pope Francis (who has inspired folks to become vigorous witnesses to their faith). At the same time, I questioned the practices of the Institutional Catholic Church’s hierarchy.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Lowell Sun

[with video]

By Lyle Moran, lmoran@lowellsun.com
Updated: 07/05/2013

LOWELL — Gary Bergeron publicly spoke about being sexually abused by the Rev. Joseph E. Birmingham, a former priest at St. Michael’s in Lowell, for the first time in 2002.

Since then, Bergeron has continued to be outspoken about the abuse he suffered as a child during a three-year period in the 1970s, and the need for the Catholic church and society to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse.

Bergeron, of Lowell, has written a book about his struggles called “Don’t Call Me a Victim: Faith, Hope & Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church,” in 2005. He has also co-founded a group called Survivors Voice to help adult survivors of child sexual abuse speak out. His latest project is a yet-to-be titled documentary about his life as a clergy sex-abuse survivor that he is working on at Lowell Telecommunications Corp.

The Sun recently caught up with Bergeron, 51, to find out what he hopes comes from his documentary he expects to show first in October, and how he thinks the Catholic Church is doing to address clergy sexual abuse.

Q: Why did you first decide to speak out about being abused by a priest?

A: When I found out my dad had been abused by Joe Birmingham, he told my brother and I that we suffered from the sin of his silence. I immediately thought about my son, who was 3. I decided that night that there was no way this was going to happen to my son. I was going to make sure the cycle in my family was stopped.

Q: How did speaking publicly about your story help you?

A: The value in it was understanding who I was. I was not a guy who needed to be running away all the time. I was not the guy who had to go from one relationship to another relationship. I was a family man. I was somebody who was not afraid to speak truth to power. I started to listen to my inner voice as opposed to everyone else’s voice. If I had not started talking about it, I probably wouldn’t be alive today.

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CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda will be facing a prison term of eight years in state prison when he is sentenced Aug. 2 after admitting today that he molested a 13-year-old girl in the bedroom of her parents home in the middle of the night.

“No contest,” Ojeda said, when asked how he would be pleading to the single count of child molestation, after Deputy District Attorney Allison Dunham read the factual basis for the charge against him.

Dunham told the court that sometime between June 29, 2007, and June 30, 2009, in Sacramento County, Ojeda “entered the victim’s bedroom at night when everyone in the household was asleep.”

“She woke up and the defendant was lying next to her in bed,” Dunham said.

The prosecutor said the defendant then reached underneath the girl’s pajamas and touched her in a manner that “constitutes substantial sexual conduct with a child under the age of 14 years, to wit, 13 years,” for the purpose “of arousing, appealing to and gratifying the lust, passion and sexual desire of said defendant.”

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CALIFORNIA
Record Searchlight

By Jim Schultz
Posted July 5, 2013

A suspended Redding priest today pleaded no contest to molesting a teenage girl.

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda, 33, was taken into custody after accepting a plea bargain, The Sacramento Bee reported.

He had been free on $70,000 bail.

He is to sentenced to eight years in prison under the plea deal, The Bee said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 2.

Ojeda took the plea bargain after a Superior Court judge ruled earlier this week statements Ojeda made to a Sacramento diocese official and a private investigator could be used against him at trial.

Ojeda, who was arrested Nov. 30, 2011, was charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a teenage girl over a two-year span — starting when she was 14 — in Sacramento and Shasta counties, according to the criminal complaint.

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CALIFORNIA
Fox 40

by Cecilio Padilla
Web Producer

SACRAMENTO—

Rev. Uriel Ojeda has pleaded no contest to charges that he molested a 13-year-old girl.

The plea was announced by District Attorney Jan Scully Friday. In addition to the plea, the DA said that Ojeda has also admitted to molesting the girl.

Ojeda, 33, now faces an 8-year prison sentence, per the plea agreement. He will be sentenced on August 2.

The molestation happened in Sacramento at some point between June 29, 2007 and June 30, 2009, when Ojeda was a priest at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Woodland, prosecutors said.

With the plea deal, another six charges were dropped. All charges involved the same 13-year-old girl.

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WISCONSIN
Press-Gazette

Written by
Paul Srubas
Press-Gazette Media

A man who voluntarily left the priesthood in 1972 has formally been removed from the clergy over an allegation that he sexually abused a boy in the 1960s, the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay announced Friday.

Jerome Koerner of De Pere was ordained a priest in 1960 and served until he left the ministry as a matter of his own choice on Dec. 1, 1972, the diocese said. Koerner served in Kaukauna and Ashwaubenon.

In May 2012, the diocese received an allegation that he had sexually abused a boy while serving as a priest. Upon receiving the allegation, the diocese began the process of removing him from the priesthood. Koerner denied the allegation but cooperated with the process, which requires assent from church officials at the Vatican. The process was recently completed, and the diocese put out a public statement Friday.

Civil authorities also were notified of the allegation against Koerner, the diocese said.

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CALIFORNIA
News 10

A Northern California priest pleaded no contest Friday to one count of committing lewd acts with a child.

As a result of his plea Rev. Uriel Ojeda will be sentenced to eight years in prison on Aug. 2. He had been charged with seven counts of committing lewd acts with a child; six of the counts were dismissed.

Ojeda is a former parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy parish in Redding. The charges stem from an allegation that he molested a 13-year-old in Sacramento County. A press release states from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office states that Ojeda “admitted the allegation of substantial sexual conduct.”

“The victim and her family can move forward with their lives and be proud that they had the courage to report the abuse to the Sacramento Diocese and law enforcement,” Deputy District Attorney Allison Dunham said in a press release.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Vatican defrocks Green Bay priest accused of sexual assault
Diocese of Green Bay received report over one year ago, failed to notify public
Predator priests identities and whereabouts remain unknown

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
CONTACT: 414.336.8575

The Diocese of Green Bay announced today that the Holy See has dispensed Fr. Jerome Koerner from the clerical state. Diocesan officials acknowledge that they received a report of child sexual assault against Koerner in May 2012, over one year ago, and are only now notifying the public. The diocese has not provided details about the nature of the sexual assault report, including where it occurred, or which parishes in the Green bay diocese Koerner was assigned to.

The lack of information that is forthcoming from the diocese is deeply troubling and continues a long pattern and practice of concealing child sex crimes, and keeping the names and whereabouts of child predators secret. There are at least 51 clerics, as of 2004, who are acknowledged by the diocese to have confirmed, credible, and substantiated reports of sexual assault against a child or minor. 35 of those priests are diocesan and 16 belong to the Norbertine religious order headquartered in De Pere.

The citizens of Wisconsin have no idea where Jerome Koerner or the other 51 clerics accused of child sexual assault are located.

Why?

Because the Diocese of Green Bay refuses to release the identities and whereabouts of their known child sex offenders leaving the public dangerously at risk.

Why does this matter?

Research shows that most predators will have between 80 and 100 victims over the course of their lifetime. The public safety concern is so great that legislators in Madison reintroduced the Child Victims Act. The proposed bill would help identify these predators by allowing their victims access to the doors of the courthouse, where they had previously been barred, because of outdated statute of limitations laws. When similar legislation was passed in California hundreds unknown predators were identified. It is unfortunate that the Green Bay diocese cannot voluntarily provide this information to parents so that they are able to keep their children safe.

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WISCONSIN
WHBY

The Green Bay Catholic Diocese says a former priest who was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1960s is officially no longer a member of the clergy.

Jerome Koerner voluntarily left the priesthood in 1972, and the diocese took the formal step of removing him after the allegation surfaced in May of last year.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

Rodney Stevens 6th Jul 2013

A VICTIM of physical and sexual abuse at Lismore’s Church of England North Coast Children’s Home unloaded decades of emotional distress this week, telling his stories to the Royal Commission into child abuse.

Richard “Tommy” Campion said he lived at the Keen St home from 1948 to 1963, and endured a decade of physical and sexual abuse. His back still bares the scars from the savage beatings he, and about 200 others, suffered.

“It was an abusive home where children endured sexual abuse and regular floggings and beatings. Children were flogged till they were bleeding and others were locked in cupboards and had their heads pushed down toilets,” he said.

Mr Campion said after carrying the emotional burden for more than 50 years, after talking to the “brilliant” members of the Royal Commission at a Brisbane Hotel on Wednesday he felt “wonderfully relieved.”

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CALIFORNIA
KRCR

SACRAMENTO, Calif. –
A former Redding priest pleaded no contest in court Friday to one count of molestation.

The Sacramento Bee reports Rev. Uriel Ojeda, 33, will be sentenced to eight years in prison under the plea bargain.

Ojeda was scheduled to stand trial later this month in Sacramento on seven counts of molesting a teenage girl. The girl was 13 years old at the time of the alleged offenses.

He was taken into custody Friday morning after taking a plea bargain.

A Superior Court judge ruled earlier this week that statements Ojeda made to a Sacramento diocese official and a private investigator could be used against him at trial.

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

WISCONSIN
WBAY

The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay announced Friday the Vatican has released a priest from clerical service due to sexual abuse allegations against him.

The diocese says Jerome Koerner was accused in May last year of sexually abusing a minor in the 1960s.

Koerner denied the allegations, but the diocese says it notified authorities and began the process to remove him. It says Koerner voluntarily cooperated with the removal process.
Koerner was ordained in 1960 but hasn’t served ministerly duties since December, 1972.

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CANADA
CBC News

A lawyer says she’s being denied access to documents that would support the abuse claims of former residential school students in northeast Ontario, and she said her clients are losing faith in the justice system.

Faye Brunning represents former students of Ste. Anne’s Residential School in Fort Albany, Ont., and of Bishop Horden Memorial School in Moose Factory, Ont.

She said the government is not playing fair in the latest round of civil claims stemming from the Truth and Reconciliation Commision process.

Brunning said documents from a criminal investigation into residential school abuse from the nineties would corroborate many of her clients’ claims.

But, she said, the federal government refuses to give her access to them.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Malta was a source of “child migrants” to Australia. Most attention has been placed on the child migrants from the U.K., largely because there were 7,000 from the U.K. and about 300 from Malta.

In both cases, children were promised a good life in Catholic Church Children’s Homes in Australia. The reality, of course, was very different, with many suffering all of the known forms of abuse at the hands of their supposed “carers”.

Maltese boys were placed in Castledare Junior Orphanage, Clontarf Boys’ Town, St Joseph’s Trade and Farm School, Bindoon, and in St Mary’s Agricultural School, Tardun. Previous postings have covered some of the abuses at these Christian Brotherhood institutions.

About 50 girls were sent out to Western Australia and were placed in the St. Joseph Girls’ Orphanage, Subiaco and Nazareth House, Geraldton. Nazareth House was run by the Sisters of Nazareth (see previous posting) who were responsible for abuses at other institutions they ran in Australia. It closed in 1977 and is now a residential aged-care facility. St. Joseph’s was founded by the Spanish Benedictine Monks and closed in 1974. It catered for girls from six to sixteen years of age.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Sacramento

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Uriel Ojeda, a Roman Catholic priest accused of repeatedly molesting a teenage parishioner under the age of 14, has pled no contest to charges.

Ojeda was arrested by the Sacramento Police Department at 8 p.m. on November 30, 2012 at police headquarters and booked into the Sacramento County Jail on charges of lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14 and lewd acts on a child under 14 in which the victim was at least 10 years younger than the perpetrator.

A spokeswoman with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office said Ojeda he had admitted to an investigator for the Sacramento Catholic Diocese that he repeatedly molested a parishioner.

Ojeda was assigned to Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Redding and prior to that was a priest at Holy Rosary Parish in Woodland until being transferred in the summer of 2009.

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CALIFORNIA
Merced Sun-Star

By Andy Furillo — afurillo@sacbee.com

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda pleaded no contest today to charges that he molested a girl under 14 years of age while he worked at Catholic parishes in Woodland and Redding.

The plea took place two days after Sacramento Superior Court Judge Eugene L. Balonon denied his motion to exclude the priest’s alleged admissions to the molestation charges to a church official and a private investigator.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Paedophile priest who told boy (7) he could get dead grandfather into heaven is given fourth jail term

05 JULY 2013

Paedophile priest James Donaghy – who told a distraught seven-year-old boy that he could get his dead grandfather into heaven if he performed a sex act on him – has been given another jail sentence.

But although this is the fourth time the 55-year-old sex predator has been found guilty of sex abuse, he wont spend an extra day in prison.

Donaghy is already serving a ten-year term for the sex abuse of three other victims.

Belfast Crown Court Judge Kinney told Donaghy, that had these current offences been dealt with when originally sentenced, they would have been taken into consideration.

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CALIFORNIA
KCRA

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —A priest accused of sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl entered a no-contest plea agreement Friday.

Uriel Ojeda served the Holy Rosary Church in Woodland for two years beginning in 2007 and initially pleaded not guilty to the molestation charges.

Ojeda will enter one count and other counts stemming from the case will be dismissed.

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SPAIN
The Local

A priest in Murcia has been fired after photos and a YouTube video allegedly showing him involved in public acts of gay sex became a social media sensation.

Church bosses in Cartagena have removed Francisco Javier Ruiz, the priest of the Murcian town of Churra, from his position after sex photos set off a social media scandal.

Spanish daily laverdad.es reported that images and videos were released on Twitter, purportedly showing the priest in the so-called Coto Cuadros, an area famous for “cruising” – anonymous, casual public sex.

A person alleged to be the priest can be seen masturbating with another man and practicing oral sex.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Kevin Cullen / Globe Columnist /

In 1994, seven years before the clergy sexual abuse scandal exploded, Robert Costello sent a letter to Pope John Paul II.

“Dear Holy Father,” it began, “When I was a small boy of about 10 years old, I was sexually abused by our parish priest. The abuse lasted for over four years. At the time, what was happening to me was extremely frightening. I was very battered on the inside and very cold on the outside.”

Costello was an altar boy at St. Theresa’s in West Roxbury, and a predator in a Roman collar named John Cotter routinely molested him. Cotter would follow him into the pool and put his hands down his swim trunks.

“On the inside, I was dead,” Costello wrote to the pope.

Costello felt a shame he could share with no one. He started stealing drinks from his grandfather’s liquor cabinet.

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WISCONSIN
Fox 11

Published : Friday, 05 Jul 2013

GREEN BAY – A man who voluntarily left the priesthood more than 40 years ago has been accused of sexually abusing a child in the 1960s while he was a priest, the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay says.

Diocesan officials say they received the allegation against Jerome Koerner in May. Koerner left the priesthood in 1972 and has not performed any priestly duties since, the diocese says.

Koerner denied the allegations to diocesan officials.

The diocese says it dispensed Koerner from the clerical state and notified civil authorities.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho
July 2, 201

Yesterday Milwaukee Catholics were treated to a six-thousand-page document dump revealing more information about the way their bishops handled the sexual-abuse crisis over the past few decades. Much of the news is distressingly familiar. You know the dirge: Abusers were routinely moved from parish to parish, or school to school, without telling local administrators why they were being reassigned. Even when bishops practically begged the Vatican to speedily laicize abusive priests, Rome took its time. (The case of John O’Brien seems particularly egregious. He’d been convicted of sexually assaulting a teenager and had petitioned John Paul II to be returned to the lay state. Then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan had to nag the Vatican to grant the petition twice in 2003. O’Brien wasn’t laicized until 2009.) But the document cache released by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee does hold some surprises.

In early 2011, Cardinal Dolan, now archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, warned readers of his blog that they might come across some “preposterous charges” concerning his tenure as archbishop of Milwaukee. Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson had been telling anyone within earshot that when Dolan was archbishop of Milwaukee he moved as much as $130 million off the archdiocese’s books in an effort to shield it from victims seeking damages. Not so, said Dolan. He was simply returning money–$70 million of it–to parishes who had it on deposit with the archdiocese. What about the other $60 million? According to Dolan, he was just taking money that had been designated for the care of archdiocesan cemeteries and making sure it was “secure.” The annual operating budget of the archdiocese is about $25 million.

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ITALY
International Business Times

By Vittorio Hernandez | July 5, 2013

A complaint he made in January 2013 about the theft of expensive paintings from his Salerno house could have done Vatican Monsignor Nunzio Scarano more harm than good.

The monsignor was arrested earlier this week for suspicion of smuggling into Italy 20 million euro from Switzerland for his friends in the shipping business. With questions now of his possible involvement in money laundering, the stolen paintings and other expensive items inside his apartment is being seen as an indication of his possibly being engaged in illegal activity.

The value of the stolen paintings was estimated at 6 million euro. Among those filched from his apartment were six masterpieces by Giorgio de Chirico, one by Renato Guttuso, another believed to be by Marc Chagall and other religious art.

The paintings used to line his walls and hallways that were divided by Roman-style columns.

“We asked ourselves how did this monsignor come to own this place and posses these expensive works of art,” Reuters quoted a senior investigator who requested that he not be identified.

The prober said Mr Scarano insisted the art work were all donations. However, he said the priest living in a luxury apartment, fit to be featured in The Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous, led the team to suspect at least some of the monsignor’s work could have come from illegal activities.

The luxury apartment measures 700 square metres and is located along Via Romualdo Guarna. When the investigators followed his paper trail, it led to the Vatican bank where Mr Scarano has connections, and showed a fat bank account, stocks and part ownership in three real estate companies in Salerno.

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ROME
Gazzetta del Sud

Rome, July 5 – A judge in Rome rejected an appeal Friday from Msgr Nunzio Scarano to move him to house arrest after he was jailed on suspicion of planning to elude customs with 20 million euros in cash. The prelate had reportedly said he was not comfortable in Rome’s Regina Coeli prison, and Scarano’s lawyer said he would appeal the judge’s decision. Scarano was arrested last week along with Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent in the AISI intelligence agency, and Rome broker Giovanni Carenzio. Police said Scarano and Zito got a private jet to fly back from Switzerland to Italy 20 million euros in cash for a family who were friends with Scarano. Zito is suspected of getting 400,000 euros for arranging cover for the flight.

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ROME
adnkronos

Rome, 5 July (AKI) – A senior Catholic arrested last week on suspicion of trying to move 20 million euros illegally into Italy must stay in Rome’s Regina Coeli prison, a judge ruled on Friday.

Monsignor Nunzio Scarano’s lawyer had asked for his client to be granted house arrest.

Scarono a Vatican accountant, was arrested last Friday together with Italian secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito, and a financial broker, Giovanni Carenzio.

All three suspects are accused off attempting to smuggle the cash to Italy from Switzerland on a private jet.

Scarano allegedly paid a 400,000 euro bribe in the cash-smuggling case. His lawyer said he did not dispute the facts of the bribery investigation but claimed he was merely “trying to help out some friends”.
Scarono has also been targeted by a separate probe investigating a series of suspicious transactions involving the recycling of cheques described as church donations through the Vatican Bank – a lender long-tainted by accusations of money-laundering.

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ROME
Reuters

ROME, July 5 | Fri Jul 5, 2013

(Reuters) – A Vatican prelate detained on suspicion of trying to smuggle tens of millions of euros into Italy will remain in jail after an Italian judge on Friday rejected his request to be released into house arrest, judicial sources said.

The judge decided there was still a need to keep Monsignor Nunzio Scarano in prison due to concerns that he could tamper with evidence or try to escape if released, the sources said.

Scarano, who had close connections to the Vatican bank, was arrested last week along with Giovanni Zito, a secret services agent, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio.

They have been accused of plotting to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into Italy from Switzerland for Scarano’s rich shipping industry friends in the southern city of Salerno. Scarano is under a separate investigation there on suspicion of money laundering.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

TRANSCRIPTS: Special Commission of Inquiry

By JASON GORDON July 5, 2013

PAEDOPHILE priest Denis McAlinden offered to hand himself into police if senior clergy saw fit, but none of them did.

The chilling offer came in a letter penned by McAlinden to then Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone in 1995.

The letter was tendered to the Special Commission of Inquiry in Newcastle Friday, and later released to the Newcastle Herald.

To read the letter, click here.

It follows the release of numerous other letters which suggest that senior Hunter clergy not only knew of McAlinden’s offending, they failed to alert police.

The December 8 letter was penned by McAlinden in Western Australia as he sought to save himself from church moves to strip him of his priestly duties.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Ulster Star

Published on 05/07/2013

A priest from Lisburn who is serving a ten-year jail sentence for sex crimes against three victims has been sentenced to two years for abusing a boy – however he will not serve any extra time in prison.

James Martin Donaghy, 55, originally from Lady Wallace Drive, admitted four charges of indecently assaulting the boy and one of common assault between January and May 1989.

Donaghy was told during sentencing at Belfast Crown Court on Friday that had these current offences been dealt with when he was originally sentenced, they would have been taken into consideration.

Given the “principle of totality”, Judge Kinney said, his sentence would run concurrently with the previous term.

The fact that the case had not been dealt with sooner was nobody’s fault, the judge said, and in particular there could be no criticism of Donaghy’s victim.

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

IRELAND
The Tablet (UK)

Fr Tony Flannery
5 July 2013

There are so many interesting signals coming out of the Vatican since the election Pope Francis that most of us are beginning to hope for a brighter future. The signals have not as yet been followed by real changes in approach or structure, but it is probably too soon to realistically expect that. The latest statement the CDF Prefect that the solution to the ‘problem’ of the priests’ groups is to be found in the declarations of the Second Vatican Council is one such signal. If it is real, and if the bishops mean something the same as we do when they refer to the teachings of the Vatican Council, then it is great news.

Here in Ireland those of us who were part of the founding of the Association of Catholic Priests were inspired by our desire to see the renewal and reforms of the Council implemented in full. Central to this, as we understand it, are the ideas of shared decision-making and dialogue.

In our three years’ existence we have found it very difficult to engage in any real exchange of views with church authorities here in Ireland. The bishops have largely kept us at a distance, even though we have a membership of over 1,000 priests.

As regards the Vatican, we have had no direct communication of any nature, and any indirect messages we have got were not encouraging. We continue to emphasise that we are a group of priests who have given our lives in service of Christ and his Church, and that our concerns have grown out of our love for the Church.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Former priest James Martin Donaghy, who told a young boy he could get his dead grandfather into heaven as he sexually abused him, has been jailed for a total of two years.

Although this is the fourth time the 55-year-old has been before the courts, he won’t spend an extra day in prison because he is already serving a ten-year term for the sex abuse of three other victims.

Belfast Crown Court Judge Kinney told Donaghy that had these current offences been dealt with when originally sentenced, they would have been taken into consideration.

In the circumstances, given the “principle of totality,” his sentence will run concurrently with the previous term.

Judge Kinney said that no-one was at fault for the case not being dealt with sooner, in particular, there could be no criticism of Donaghy’s victim.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A priest who is serving a ten-year jail sentence for sex crimes against three victims has been sentenced to two years for abusing a boy.

In June, James Martin Donaghy, 55, originally from Lady Wallace Drive, Lisburn, admitted four charges of indecently assaulting the boy and one of common assault.

The offences happened between January and May 1989.

However, Donaghy will not serve any extra time in prison.

At Belfast Crown Court on Friday, Judge Kinney told Donaghy that had these current offences been dealt with when he was originally sentenced, they would have been taken into consideration.

In the circumstances, given the “principle of totality”, he said his sentence would run concurrently with the previous term.

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

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Jul. 5, 2013 All Things Catholic

Note: This column was written before today’s release of Lumen fidei (“The Light of Faith”), the first encyclical from Pope Francis, as well as the announcement that Popes John XXIII and John Paul II will be canonized together. Watch NCR Today for analysis. Also watch for reaction to Francis’ visit Monday to the southern Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, a major point of arrival for undocumented immigrants from Africa and the Middle East seeking to reach Europe.

There’s something oddly fitting about the fact that Wimbledon is going on at the same time that each day seems to bring a fresh development on the Vatican bank front because contrasting signs of scandal and reform are rocketing back and forth in Rome like tennis balls during a heated volley.

Consider what June and early July have brought:

* News broke June 14 that Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, an accountant for the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, which handles the Vatican’s property and investments, was under investigation by Italian authorities for alleged money-laundering. The probe reportedly focused on accounts he held at the Institute for the Works of Religion, better known as the Vatican bank. The Vatican quickly said Scarano had been suspended from his position earlier in the month.
* One day later, Pope Francis appointed Msgr. Battista Ricca as the new prelate, or personal delegate of the pope, for the Vatican bank. Ricca had been the director of the Casa Santa Marta, where Francis has chosen to reside, and the appointment was hailed as a sign that the pope had tapped someone of personal trust to keep an eye on things.
* On June 26, the Vatican announced that Francis had set up a five-member commission to investigate the Vatican bank, giving it full authority to interview personnel and collect information. The body includes two Americans: Msgr. Peter Wells of the Secretariat of State and former Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon.

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VATICAN CITY
NBC 12

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis on Friday cleared Pope John Paul II for sainthood, approving a miracle attributed to his intercession and setting up a remarkable dual canonization along with another beloved pope, John XXIII.

In a major demonstration of his papal authority, Francis decided to make John XXIII a saint even though the Vatican hasn’t confirmed a second miracle attributed to his intercession. The Vatican said Francis had the power to “dispense” with the normal saint-making procedures to canonize him on his own merit, without a miracle.

The ceremonies are expected before the end of the year. The date of Dec. 8 has been floated as one possibility, given it’s the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a major feast day for the church. Polish media continued to report that October was likely, to mark the anniversary of John Paul’s election, but Vatican officials have said that’s too soon to organize such a massive event. …

But there remains some concern that the process has been too quick. Some of the Holy See’s deep-seated problems – clerical sex abuse, dysfunctional governance and more recently the financial scandals at the Vatican bank – essentially date from shortcomings of his pontificate.

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UNITED STATES
PolicyMIc

Medha Chandorkar

The role of the Catholic Church is to guide and protect its followers. Except, apparently, when it’s protecting its pedophile priests instead.

According to hundreds of documents that were released this week, the Milwaukee archdiocese has ignored eight decades worth of sex-abuse scandals. Instead of investigating sexual assault claims against its priests, the Milwaukee archdiocese, headed at the time by current New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, either disregarded the claims or simply reassigned priests to unsuspecting parishes. Not surprisingly, this response did not prevent further assaults because it did nothing to address the real problem: pedophile priests.

In fact, the only people that benefited from the arrangement were the sexual assaulters themselves. Records show that one priest molested the same minor close to 40 times in the span of five years, while another assaulted over 200 boys as headmaster at a school for deaf boys. Some were moved over 11 times in 34 years, while others were stayed with the church for close to a decade after the Vatican was notified of their sexual child abuse.

If that’s not disgusting enough for you, consider the fact that Dolan and the Vatican frequently corresponded on the costs of fighting sexual assault claims in court, and when certain sex scandals threatened to surface, Dolan asked permission to move $57 million of the church’s money into a trust fund to protect it from “any legal claim and liability.” In short, prevent it from falling into the hands of those abused and violated by the church’s priests.

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

CANADA
Canada.com

COMOX VALLEY ECHO JULY 5, 2013

Join us July 6 at 2 pm when local author Rev. Kevin Annett will read from his provocative book, Unrepentant: Disrobing the Emperor (2011).

Kevin will discuss his 20-year campaign to bring to light the abuses that occurred in Canada’s residential schools.

His campaign began on Vancouver Island in 1994, when Kevin was a minister in Port Alberni.

As one Amazon.ca reader says, “‘Disrobing The Emperor’ is the story of one man’s fight for truth, but in a broader sense,

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

CANADA
Medicine Hat News

By Peggy Revell on July 5, 2013.

The public is invited out to an information session concerning Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian residential schools next Tuesday.

Organized by the Blood Tribe Department of Health alongside the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the information session is taking place this July 9 at St. John’s Presbyterian Church from 6- 8 p.m.

The session is to provide information on what TRC statement gatherings are, explained Whitney Ogle with Miywasin Centre in Medicine Hat, which is partnering to help put the event on.

“What they look like, the changes that have been made for Indian residential schools’ survivors and their families.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A police whistleblower has told an inquiry into an alleged cover-up of clergy sexual abuse in the New South Wales Hunter Valley he “makes no apologies” for his pursuit of justice.

Senior policeman Peter Fox claims the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese covered-up abuse by Father Denis McAlinden and Father James Fletcher.

Documents tendered this week show church officials, including three former Bishops, knew about the abuse by both men.

Peter Fox has today told the Commission if he had the documents in 2003, when he was investigating the paedophiles, it would have sparked a “major investigation” requiring three or four detectives.

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

VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

AP Interview: Vatican’s “007” on fighting money-laundering amid scandal at the Vatican bank

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, July 5

VATICAN CITY — The revelations of wrongdoing currently rocking the Vatican bank couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Swiss-born anti-money laundering expert hired to lead the Holy See’s push for greater financial transparency.

Rene Bruelhart was heading to Sun City, South Africa, for the annual meeting of the Egmont Group, a gathering of financial information agencies from 130 countries, when the Vatican announced that its top two bank managers had resigned amid a blossoming financial scandal. The two executives were responsible for implementing the Vatican bank’s much-touted anti-money laundering efforts. But their resignations indicated — at the very least — that they hadn’t fully embraced the full scope of reform that was needed.

Despite latest news, the Holy See won a coveted membership in the Egmont Group on Wednesday, joining a club that aims to share financial information in the global fight against money laundering and terror financing.

For Bruelhart, dubbed the “James Bond of the financial world” by some media, joining Egmont meant that the Vatican now has more help in combating financial crimes — even if it can’t root them out entirely.

“With this membership, we are a credible player in the international and global fight against money laundering and terror finance,” Bruelhart said in a telephone interview Thursday from Sun City. “They trust us. That is very important.”

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DEDHAM (MA)
Wicked Local Dedham

By Sara Feijo
Wicked Local Dedham
Posted Jul 05, 2013

DEDHAM —
Boston Roman Catholic Archdiocese Cardinal Sean O’Malley banned an Austrian priest from speaking at St. Susanna Parish in Dedham, even though the lecture would address ways to lessen shortage of priests.

Rev. Helmut Schuller, who is the founder of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative (Pfarrer-Initiative), was scheduled to speak at the parish on July 17.

St. Susanna’s Deacon Larry Bloom said that the Archbishop office did not allow Schuller’s lecture because he advocates positions contrary to the Catholic Church’s doctrine.

“I understand that the Archbishop has to do what he has to do,” Bloom said Thursday morning, June 27. “He has a bigger scope of individual responsibilities than a parish has, so I wasn’t upset.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
ABC News

By M.L. JOHNSON Associated Press

MILWAUKEE July 5, 2013 (AP)

Clergy sex abuse victims have long accused the Archdiocese of Milwaukee of spending more money on lawyers to protect itself than to care for those who suffered at the hands of abusive priests. An Associated Press analysis of documents released this week found most of the $30 million the archdiocese paid out through mid-2012 went to victim settlements and therapy, but the bulk of it went to just a few victims — while hundreds of others got no money at all.

The archdiocese released the records as part of a deal with victims suing it for fraud in federal bankruptcy court. The documents cover 88 settlements worth at least $6.6 million and provide the first detailed look at which victims were paid, how much and when. Until this week, the archdiocese had only released annual totals.

The records support victims’ longtime claim that Wisconsin for many years was among the more difficult states for them to get compensation. The main reason was a 1995 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that made it nearly impossible to hold the church responsible for its priests’ actions. The court said the church was protected from negligence lawsuits by the First Amendment. No longer afraid of litigation, the archdiocese established a no-settlement policy that lasted until the national clergy abuse scandal erupted in 2002.

“It was an appalling decision,” said Peter Isely, a longtime activist who now serves as the Midwest director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “Because (Milwaukee victims) were raped and sexually assaulted by a priest, unlike anywhere else in the country, they could not exercise their civil rights and file their case in court.”

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ILLINOIS
WLS

July 4, 2013 (WEST DUNDEE, Ill.) (WLS) — A youth minister from a church in West Dundee appeared in bond court Thursday morning.

Chad Coe, 31, was arrested Tuesday night. He’s accused of having sexual contact with a minor.

The 31-year-old is the director of youth ministry at First Congregational Church of Dundee. Coe is charged with criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

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CANADA
Sun News

QMI AGENCY

MONTREAL – A $13-million settlement has been reached in the Holy Cross Congregation sexual abuse scandal.

Abused students who attended several schools run by the brothers, including the prestigious Montreal high school College Notre Dame, are entitled to payouts of between $10,000 and $250,000, depending on the degree of abuse suffered.

After nearly two years of litigation, the 206 victims can expect to receive their payment before the end of the month.

The victims of the Holy Cross Congregation have accused the church of unnecessarily prolonging the judicial process. Some have called the church’s legal tactics “sadistic.”

Eric Simard, lawyer for the congregation, blames the “colossal and complex” legal process for the delay in reaching a settlement. He says he hopes that once the victims get their settlement they’ll be able “to turn the page on these dramatic events.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
The Republic

By The Associated Press
July 05, 2013

MILWAUKEE — Documents released this week by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee provide some of the first details on settlements paid to clergy sex abuse victims in southeastern Wisconsin. They show a few victims received large sums, but most did not — and many received nothing.

Several victims spoke to The Associated Press about their quest for compensation for the abuse they suffered. Here are their stories:

Steven Geier, a 63-year-old retired carpenter who lives in Madison, was molested by Lawrence Murphy in 1964 while attending a school for the deaf in Milwaukee. He said he reported the abuse to several priests between 1965 and 1968 but nothing was done. He didn’t seek any compensation from the archdiocese until about 2005, when he learned that a friend who had suffered similar abuse had received $200,000.

Geier, whose settlement is not included in the files made public this week, said he received $80,000. He said he asked about the difference in payments and was told it was because the other man lived in Seattle, where the cost of living was much higher than Milwaukee.

“I told him that doesn’t make sense, we’re all victims,” Geier said in sign language translated by his daughter.

Several victims said that those who were abused by Murphy at the deaf school seem to have had a particularly tough time getting help from the archdiocese, in part because they were among the first to come forward and perhaps because of their disability. Geier said he was pressured to sign his deal during eight straight hours of mediation with no break, and he said he was told if he didn’t take it, there’d be no offer the next day.

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ICELAND
Pressan

Iceland: Bishop’s daughter: ‘Sexual assaulter once came to power – It can’t happen again’

Guðrún Ebba Ólafsdóttir – daughter of the late Ólafur Skúlason, previous bishop – wants that every preventative measure be taken to ensure that no sexual offender is able to reach the highest position of any church ever again. Guðrún has invited the Church council (“Kirkjuráð) – the highest executive authority of the Church in Iceland – to a meeting, after her request for a hearing.

As the newspaper DV has discussed in the previous week, Guðrún supported Sigríður Pálína Ingvarsdóttir’s claims, accusing bishop Ólafur of sexual abuse and a rape attempt.

Sigríður had a meeting with the Church Council and presented her side of the story. Guðrún requested to meet the bishop last Spring but never received a reply. She lobbied her claim to the entire Council this Spring and will be allowed another meeting this Fall.

Below is an excerpt of Guðrún’s letter to the Council a year ago. She confirms in a conversation with Pressan that the letter is real, but does not know how it was leaked:

“It is an important issue to me that the Church will attempt with all its capacities to ensure that this does not happen again; that sexual offenders cannot reach the highest positions of respect. I think it is necessary for the Icelandic national Church to take a clear position against sexual abuse and publicly condemn it as sin. The Church must side with the victims, and many of the victims are having religious difficulties – and feel that God has betrayed them. I also think it is important for priests, and everybody else working for the Church, to receive the necessary information about sexual abuse.”

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UNITED STATES
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Fri, Jul 5, 2013

A New York Times editorial has described as “shocking” revelations that the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, while archbishop of Milwaukee, moved $57 million off the archdiocesan books into a cemetery trust fund six years ago to prevent the money being paid to victims of clerical child sex abuse.

Cardinal Dolan is also president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The editorial said “newly released court documents make it clear that he sought and received fast approval from the Vatican to transfer the money just as the Wisconsin Supreme Court was about to open the door to damage suits by victims raped and abused as children by Roman Catholic clergy.”

It noted also that “the documents showed how the Vatican slowly took years to allow dioceses to defrock embarrassing priests. Yet the same bureaucracy approved Cardinal Dolan’s $57 million transfer just days after the Wisconsin court allowed victims’ damage suits.”

Vatican permission
Files released last Monday by the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee revealed that in 2007 Cardinal Timothy Dolan requested permission from the Vatican to move almost $57 million into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of sexual abuse who were demanding compensation.

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MINNESOTA
Fairmont Sentinel

July 5, 2013
Jodelle Greiner – Staff Writer, Fairmont Sentinel

BLUE EARTH – Bob Schwiderski doesn’t believe that people abused by priests suffer more than other survivors of sexual abuse.

“Damage from sexual abuse affects all people,” said the Minnesota director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “Just because I was abused by a Catholic priest does not make me a special survivor.”

SNAP follows abuse cases and is aware of the one involving Father Leo Charles Koppala, a Catholic priest in Blue Earth who was accused of molesting an 11-year-old child in June.

Schwiderski praised the child, who told a trusted adult; the adult who immediately contacted police; and law enforcement, prosecutors and other officials who tackled the case so quickly.

“Silence is not golden when it comes to child abuse,” he said. “Silence is deadly when it comes to child abuse.”

Schwiderski was a child in Hector when he was abused by a Catholic priest, and he wasn’t the only one. He is critical of the Catholic Church, which moved the priests around instead of disciplining them, he said, and of the conspiracy of silence in the community that allowed the priests to continue to abuse.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post

CAMDEN — A woman who claims she was sexually abused by a parish priest in Hammonton more than 30 years ago has won a round in her lawsuit against the Diocese of Camden.

A federal judge in Camden rebuffed a request by the diocese to dismiss the suit, filed in May 2012 by Lisa Syvertson Shanahan of North Carolina.

An attorney for the diocese argued Shanahan waited too long to sue over alleged abuse in 1980-81 by the Rev. Thomas Harkins at St. Anthony of Padua parish in Hammonton. But U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman said Shanahan could pursue her suit under the state’s Child Sex Abuse Act, which can delay for decades the normal two-year statute of limitations.

Adam Horowitz, an attorney for Shanahan, called the ruling “a victory for all child sex abuse victims in New Jersey.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

[with video]

[David Hanser]

July 4, 2013, by Mike Lowe

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — Over 6,000 pages revealing records of sexual misconduct by priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee were released on July 1st, blacking out all of the victim’s names to protect their identities.

“These files are showing people they were not mislead, they were directly lied to,” says John Pilmaier, one of the victims of the documented abuse.

Pilmaier made a decision to share his story in the hopes that other victims will know they’re not alone.
“One of the things survivors try to do is find out why this happened to them – what circumstances led to their abuse, what church officials knew about it, and what they did or didn’t do,” says Pilmaier.

Pilmaier recalls Associate Pastor David Hanser visiting his classroom when he was just eight-years-old.

“I was a second grade student at St. John Vianney grade school in Brookfield. Fr. David Hanser came to the door, knocked on it and asked for volunteers – if anyone would like to help him with some kind of project,” remembers Pilmaier. “Of course, all the kids raised their hands and, unfortunately, he picked mine.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

[with video]

July 4, 2013, by Mike Lowe

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — The release of 6,000 pages of documents revealing priest misconduct by the Archdioceses of Milwaukee has prompted state lawmakers to propose a bill temporarily lifting the statute of limitations.

John Pilmaier’s story is depicted in those documents. He was abused by Fr. David Hanser in the second grade and due to the statute of limitations, Hanser will never face justice. Pilmaier strongly believes laws should be changed to protect victims, not predators.

“He took me to the rectory and pulled my pants down and fondled me,” says Pilmaier. “He was able to elude justice because of the statute of limitations.”

State law requires child abuse victims to file their cases before they turn 35, but a group of Democratic lawmakers is hoping to change that.

“The clock shouldn’t be ticking when you’re a child and you’ve been victimized,” says Democratic State Senator Lena Taylor. “At the very least, we should want to make sure that people have a voice.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Ken Briggs | Jul. 4, 2013 NCR Today

A fellow non Catholic had heard about the alleged though plainly documented charge that the cardinal archbishop of New York had won Vatican permission to hide $57 million to keep it out of the hands of victims of priest child abuse who had won their suits against the church. Noting that this kind of money scheme sounded to him a little like Apple Computer scheming to avoid paying taxes, he wonder whether it was any more likely than any of a long string of scandals to cause American Catholics to revolt.

It’s an Independence Day question or a sort. In the Declaration, the fired up patriots had had enough of double dealing and callous disregard of common decency by King George III. Though many colonists fiercely defended remaining within the British Empire, sentiment, Thomas Paine pamphlets and a visceral desire to run their own businesses eventually won the day.

American Catholics may feel their their faith based institution is demeaned by the spectacle of evidence that the cardinal manipulated money to deprive victims of funds they were apparently entitled to at the same time that he vowed to continue leading the “moral” charge against the Obama Administration’s insistence that church institutions provide contraceptives to employees who want them without having to pay a red cent for such services. It was earlier revealed that Dolan’s archdiocese has been supplying such services under a similar agreement with New York unions for many years.

But nowhere do Catholics in this country show the least inclination to assemble the fife and drum corps in the cause of breaking from Rome. They don’t have to, I theorized to my friend, because they already have. While they may feel a growing anger at the church in the wake of painful assaults on the image of the Catholic church, they have nothing to gain by marching away, though many have quit the church. Though millions of the laity care deeply about the round of moral and theological questions from birth control to the ordination of women, the bond of compliance has been largely broken and they have silently declared independence from their bishops. The moral and mental landscape has shifted toward a position where the old rewards and punishments have diminishing effect.

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UNITED STATES
The Kansas City Star

July 4

BY MARY SANCHEZ
The Kansas City Star

No servant can serve two masters.

Those are the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. And yet how imperfectly have his followers taken them to heart. Throughout the history of Christianity, some of the most painful moments have been when church leaders cocked their ear toward Mammon when godliness would have dictated otherwise.

Other, more recent painful moments, especially for Catholic Christians, came when church authorities put institutional prestige ahead of justice and consideration for victims of sexual abuse by clergy members.

The damage done by the clerical abuse scandals to the Catholic Church, and to countless millions of its faithful, has been profound and worldwide. Although Catholic bishops and the Vatican have sought to atone and to reform the institutional practices that enabled the abuse, those efforts have often been admixed with less upright impulses.

Consider the case of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who once served as its prelate. Some of the most notorious cases of abuse took place there — well before Dolan was archbishop — and, as a consequence of legal settlements with victims, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, after Dolan had left to become archbishop of New York.

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UNITED STATES
OpEd News

By Rev. Dan Vojir

New York Times:

“Files released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday reveal that in 2007, Cardinal Timothy F. Dolan, then the archbishop there, requested permission from the Vatican to move nearly $57 million into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of clergy sexual abuse who were demanding compensation.”

“These are old and discredited attacks”

Cardinal Dolan simply must learn to lie better than that, because one letter in the latest disclosure was not in the original accusatory documents in 2012:

“However, the files contain a 2007 letter to the Vatican in which he explains that by transferring the assets, “I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.” The Vatican approved the request in five weeks, the files show.”

The deposition that Dolan himself submitted to the public (media) on Monday is now under new scrutiny: if Dolan lied about not protecting funds from liability, what else could he have lied about? Certainly the new letter casts a shadow of doubt on Dolan’s rambling, confusing statement about payouts to child molesters willing to leave the priesthood:

“I would not call that a practice. I would not deny that that was done on occasion, but I would not call that a payoff or a settlement. But I would not deny that that was done, the fact that you mentioned. Was it a payoff, was it a settlement, was it an impetus, I wouldn’t say that, nor would I saw was it a normal practice, but it was done.”

Added to the incriminating letter, are some thousands of very descriptive instances of abuse for which the current archbishop, Jerome Listecki, warned parishioners: “Prepare to be shocked.” The cardinal’s protestations of “old and discredited attacks” may not be able to withstand a totally contradictory letter to the Vatican (approved by Benedict as then-Cardinal Ratzinger) and sexually graphic child abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Vatican finances presented to Economic Council of Cardinals

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
VATICAN CITY

On Tuesday Wednesday (July 2 and 3rd), the meeting of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See took place in Vatican City, presided over by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone . Particularly noteworthy was the visit on Wednesday 3 by Pope Francis, who addressed the speakers and engaged in a brief dialogue, reiterating the aims and purpose of the Council and inviting the continuation of periodical meetings.

The following Cardinals participated in the meeting: Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Köln (Germany), Antonio María Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid (Spain), Polycarp Pengo, archbishop of Dar-el-Salaam (Tanzania), Norberto Rivera Carrera, archbishop of México (México), Wilfrid Fox Napier, o.f.m., archbishop of Durban (South Africa), Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan (Italy), Telesphore Placidus Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi (India), George Pell, archbishop of Sydney (Australia), Agostino Vallini, vicar general of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome, John Tong Hon, bishop of Hong Kong (China), Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas (Venezuela), Odilo Pedro Scherer, archbishop of São Paulo (Brazil).

The Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See was represented by the president, Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, the secretary, Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, and the Accountant General, Stefano Fralleoni. Antonio Chiminello, director of the State Accounting Administration, spoke on behalf of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

Thu Jul 4, 2013

* Probe launched after prelate arrested over smuggling
* Promises to “eradicate wrongdoing of clients”

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, July 4 (Reuters) – A preliminary inquiry by the Vatican bank after the arrest of a Vatican prelate on suspicion of trying to smuggle huge sums of money into Italy from Switzerland found “clear failings” at the institution, a source close to the bank said on Thursday.

The board of the bank, formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), held a meeting on Thursday that also addressed the shock resignation of its two top managers on Monday. The meeting had not been made public.

At the meeting Ernst von Freyberg, the bank’s German president, told the other four board members of the preliminary results of an internal investigation.

It discovered “clear failings that should serve as stark reminder of the urgency of improving the IOR’s processes,” Freyberg told the board, the senior source told Reuters.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 5, 2013

Bishop Michael Malone gave paedophile James Fletcher access to hundreds of children when he doubled the size of the priest’s Lochinvar parish six weeks after he was accused of sexually abusing a boy, a Hunter church abuse inquiry heard on Thursday.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox told the special commission of inquiry that the former Maitland-Newcastle Diocese bishop “defied” his request to have Fletcher removed from the parish and placed in an “office role” during the investigation.

The former Maitland policeman, who was leading the 2003 investigation into Fletcher, said he told Bishop Malone: “I cannot force you to do that but I would ask you to give consideration to it.”

Chief Inspector Fox said Fletcher had access to two more schools when the Lochinvar and Branxton parishes were merged and he was concerned the priest was running private reading classes with children.

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UNITED STATES
USCC Blog

By Bishop R. Daniel Conlon

Sexual abuse of children by clerics stands as an international problem and the church is just beginning to approach it that way. Last year the Vatican backed an international symposium on the problem at the Gregorian University. This year, the U.S. and Sri Lankan bishops jointly sponsored what’s known as the Anglophone Conference.

Since 2000 the English-speaking Catholic episcopal conferences have met annually to help each other effectively respond to the sexual abuse. Held in Rome, this year’s conference, for the first time, was co-hosted by one episcopal conference from the developed world (USA) and one from the developing world (Sri Lanka). The partnership was successful and enriching. This year’s theme, “Youth Protection Going Global” was inspired by the Gregorian Symposium last February.

A record number of episcopal conferences were represented, thanks in part to a generous anonymous donor. Participation included 20 episcopal conferences, represented by 56 delegates, including 15 bishops. A major interest was in how episcopal conferences around the world have responded to the Circular Letter of May 2011 from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). The letter asked all episcopal conferences to develop guidelines for child abuse and protection. Father Robert Oliver, the new Promoter of Justice at CDF reported that more than 80 percent of the conferences have submitted guidelines.

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ROME
Catholic Culture

Representatives from the bishops’ conferences of 20 English-speaking countries gathered recently to discuss their response to clerical sexual abuse.

“A major interest was in how episcopal conferences around the world have responded to the Circular Letter of May 2011 from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF),” recounted Bishop Daniel Conlon of Joliet, chairman of the US bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People. “The letter asked all episcopal conferences to develop guidelines for child abuse and protection. Father Robert Oliver, the new Promoter of Justice at CDF, reported that more than 80% of the conferences have submitted guidelines.”

“Participants found a contrast between episcopal conferences with highly developed protocols and those just beginning to develop them,” Bishop Conlon continued. “One representative from Africa said that every culture seems to have tribes that are sure it is the other tribes that are doing this horrible thing.”

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VATICAN CITY
Inquirer

AFP

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Thursday said it had a budget surplus of 2.2 million euros ($2.8 million) last year compared to a deficit of 14.9 million euros in 2011 but said cardinals should still cut costs.

The committee that approved the accounts said the biggest expenses were salaries for the Vatican’s 2,823 employees and the payment of a new property tax introduced by the Italian government.

Donations to the Vatican fell to $65.9 million from $69.7 million in 2011 and contributions from Catholic

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VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg

By Lorenzo Totaro – Jul 4, 2013

The Holy See, the Vatican’s central administration, generated a profit of 2.19 million euros ($2.83 million) last year even as donations from Catholics throughout the world declined.

Last year’s earnings compare with a 14.9 million-euro deficit in 2011, the Holy See said today in a statement. Contributions from Catholic individuals, institutes and foundations fell 7.5 percent.

The Catholic Church, which tries to supplement donations by investing in traded securities, benefited in the 1990s from booming stock markets, before plunging into the red for the first time in 2003. Last year, “the good performance in financial management” more than offset the costs of staff and taxes such as a new Italian property levy, according to the statement.

The Vatican, led by Pope Francis, is located in central Rome near the Tiber River. The Vatican Governorate, the institution that runs Vatican City and its support offices, had a surplus of 23.1 million euros last year, according to the statement.

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VATICAN CITY
Newsday

NICOLE WINFIELD (Associated Press)
VATICAN CITY – (AP) — The Vatican posted a 2.2 million euro ($2.85 million) budget surplus for 2012, an improvement from the previous year and some good news as it struggles to cope with a scandal involving its embattled bank.

In its annual financial statement Thursday, the Holy See said better management had helped it recover from one of its worst deficits a year earlier, when it booked a 14.9 million euro shortfall.

A 12 percent drop in donations from ordinary faithful, a 5 percent drop in offerings from religious orders and 5 million euros in new property taxes in 2012 prevented an even better result. Most of its expenses were for its 2,823 staff and the steep costs of running the Holy See’s global radio programming.

The Vatican City State, which runs the profit-making Vatican Museums, post office and supermarket, has a separate budget. Its profits were 23.08 million euros, up from 21.8 million euros in 2011. Fifty more people came to work in this branch of the Vatican in 2012, bringing its staffing up to 1,936.

The annual report, which was approved by a group of cardinals on Wednesday, followed one of the most convulsive weeks in the Vatican’s recent financial history: Last week, Pope Francis created a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank, long the source of scandal for the Holy See. Two days later, a Vatican accountant was arrested in an elaborate 20 million euro smuggling plot. And on Monday, the Vatican bank’s two top managers resigned, apparently because they weren’t embracing the Holy See’s new push for financial transparency sufficiently.

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VATICAN CITY
The Economist

Pope Francis grapples with his bank—the first of many problems

Jul 6th 2013 | VATICAN CITY |From the print edition

IT IS in the Vatican, but neither an institution of the city-state, nor part of the Roman Curia, the Catholic church’s central administration. It is only half a bank (it takes deposits, but does not give loans). Yet the blandly named Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) has caused endless discomfort to recent popes.

The problems go back to at least 1982 when the IOR was involved in the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano. In June of that year the Italian bank’s chairman, Roberto Calvi, was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in London. The latest scandal is less grisly, but equally bizarre. On July 1st the IOR’s director, Paolo Cipriani, and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, resigned three days after the Italian authorities arrested and jailed a Vatican cleric, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano. He is accused of bribery as part of a plot to smuggle €20m ($26m) in cash into Italy from Switzerland on a private jet. He was claimed to have paid €400,000 to an alleged fellow-conspirator, a non-commissioned officer in the Carabinieri (the Italian gendarmerie) working with the domestic spy agency.

The intelligence officer and the other alleged member of the plot, a financial broker, were said to have met through a Catholic order of chivalry. Documents presented to a judge suggest Mr Tulli and Mr Cipriani helped clear transactions involved in the case. It is hard to imagine a story more likely to reinforce the sinister, esoteric image of the Vatican propagated by authors such as Dan Brown in “The Da Vinci Code”.

According to Italian prosecutors, the intelligence officer got to Switzerland, but returned empty-handed when the broker failed to deliver the cash, allegedly entrusted to him by a Neapolitan shipping family (which denies any suggestion of tax-dodging). Monsignor Scarano, a banker who came unusually late in life to holy orders, was already a suspect in a separate money-laundering investigation involving rich friends from his home town of Salerno. He has denied wrongdoing in that case, but his lawyer said he did not dispute the facts of the bribery investigation. He would, however, contest the prosecutors’ accusations on a point of law. The monsignor had been merely trying “to help out his friends”, he said.

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VATICAN CITY
Bolletino

COMUNICATO DEL CONSIGLIO DI CARDINALI PER LO STUDIO DEI PROBLEMI ORGANIZZATIVI ED ECONOMICI DELLA SANTA SEDE: BILANCIO CONSUNTIVO CONSOLIDATO DELLA SANTA SEDE E BILANCIO CONSUNTIVO DEL GOVERNATORATO DELLO STATO DELLA CITTÀ DEL VATICANO PER L’ANNO 2012

On Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 of the current month of July, the meeting of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See took place in Vatican City, presided over by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone s.b.d.. Particularly noteworthy was the visit on Wednesday 3 by the Holy Father Francesco, who addressed the speakers and engaged in a brief dialogue, reiterating the aims and purpose of the Council and inviting the continuation of periodical meetings.

The following Cardinals participated in the meeting: Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Köln (Germany), Antonio María Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid (Spain), Polycarp Pengo, archbishop of Dar-el-Salaam (Tanzania), Norberto Rivera Carrera, archbishop of México (México), Wilfrid Fox Napier, o.f.m., archbishop of Durban (South Africa), Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan (Italy), Telesphore Placidus Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi (India), George Pell, archbishop of Sydney (Australia), Agostino Vallini, vicar general of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome, John Tong Hon, bishop of Hong Kong (China), Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas (Venezuela), Odilo Pedro Scherer, archbishop of São Paulo (Brazil).

The Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See was represented by the president, Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, the secretary, Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, and the Accountant General, Stefano Fralleoni. Antonio Chiminello, director of the State Accounting Administration, spoke on behalf of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

The Governorate of Vatican City State and the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) were represented by: Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello and Msgr. Giuseppe Sciacca, president of the Commission of Cardinals for Vatican City State and the secretary general of the Governorate of Vatican City State respectively, Cardinal Domenico Calcagno and Msgr. Luigi Misto, president and secretary of APSA respectively.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 4 July 2013 (VIS) – On Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 July, a meeting was held of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See, presided over by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. Particularly noteworthy was the visit on Wednesday 3 by the Holy Father Francesco, who addressed the speakers and engaged in a brief dialogue, reiterating the aims and purpose of the Council and inviting the continuation of periodical meetings.

Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, presented before the Council first the report on the consolidated financial statement of the Holy See for the year 2012 and subsequently that of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

The consolidated financial statement for the Holy See for the year 2012 closes with a profit of € 2,185,622, due mainly to good performance in financial management.

The most significant categories of expenditure are those regarding the cost of personnel,(2,823 persons), means of social communication considered in their entirety, and the new property taxes (IMU) which resulted in an increase in expenditure of € 5,000,000 compared to the previous year’s figures.

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VATICAN CITY
GMA News

July 4, 2013

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican, embroiled in scandal involving its bank, released a rare bit of good news on its finances on Thursday, announcing that it had posted a $2.2 million budget surplus in 2012.

However, figures released showed donations to a fund for use by the pope dropped by nearly 12 percent in 2012.

The fall coincided with the year the Vatican was hit by a leaks scandal and the arrest of former Pope Benedict’s butler.

The Vatican bank, which has been the subject of scandals for decades, is currently under investigation by Italian magistrates for money laundering. The bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), denies the accusations.

A Vatican spokesman said he believed the worldwide economic crisis was responsible for a drop to $56.9 million from $69.7 million the year before in Peter’s Pence, a special collection taken up each year for use by the pope.

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COLORADO
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 3, 2013

CONTACT:
Karna Swanson, director of communications
karna.swanson@archden.org; 303-715-3230 or after office hours 303-945-9136

The Archdiocese of Denver has received notice of a pending lawsuit regarding allegations of misconduct on the part of Fr. Jose Sáenz. There is no allegation of any misconduct with a child or minor. The Archdiocese takes this and all allegations of misconduct seriously.

The allegation concerns an incident that took place two years ago. Since that time, the Archdiocese and Fr. Sáenz have cooperated fully with legal authorities in the matter. Father Sáenz was not charged with any crime by the authorities who fully investigated the matter. The Archdiocese disputes the plaintiff’s allegations.

The Archdiocese is unable to comment on the specifics of any legal matter. In this case, we have received notification of a pending lawsuit, but have not yet been served with the lawsuit.

The Archdiocese has no reason to believe that Fr. Sáenz is a threat to anyone. Fr. Sáenz has never been accused of any other acts of misconduct. However, in order to allow Fr. Sáenz to focus on these issues, and to limit distractions in the parish, the Archdiocese has requested that Fr. Sáenz step away from parish ministry until further notice, and he has agreed to do so.

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COLORADO
9 News

written by:
Tim Ryan

KUSA – The Archdiocese of Denver disputes allegations in a pending lawsuit that a priest engaged in improper behavior in 2011.

A news release from the archdiocese says Rev. Jose Saenz has agreed to “step away from parish ministry until further notice” due to the allegations, which the news release doesn’t describe in detail.

At the time of the alleged improper behavior Rev. Saenz was a priest at St. Mary of the Crown Mission in Carbondale. He then spent a year at Blessed Sacrament parish in Denver before transferred in June to St. Therese parish in Aurora.

The Archdiocese says the allegations don’t involve any underage children, and says it disputes the lawsuit’s allegations about an incident that occurred two years ago.

9Wants to Know located a record of a court filing in Denver District Court entitled: “Jane Doe No 34 Vs. Archdiocese Of Denver.” The lawsuit was filed on June 28.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

In her opening address to the second session of the NSW government enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese, Commissioner Ms Cunneen said: “The sexual abuse of children should no longer be a crime for which the conspiracy of silence continues to the grave. It has a devastating and long-lasting effect on victims and their families and on the community generally.” Ms Cunneen then encouraged anyone with information about such crimes to contact the commission.

Yesterday, proceedings were dominated by evidence from Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, whose revelations triggered the enquiry and the Royal Commission. In the first session last month, Mr Fox gave evidence and then was followed by several other NSW police officers who were critical of him (see previous posting). In the present session, the process was extended by a couple more officers.

Fortunately, Mr. Fox was afforded the dignity of another appearance to reply to some of the criticism and to expand on his previous testimony. This set back those who would wish that, in formation of public opinion, quantity would outweigh quality of evidence.

The two priests specifically referred to in the enquiry’s Terms of Reference were Fr. McAlinden (see yesterday’s posting) and Fr. James Fletcher. Detective Chief Inspector Fox focused on Fr. Fletcher in this appearance. In 2008 Fr Fletcher pleaded not guilty in the district court but a jury found him guilty of all nine charges. Two appeals against his conviction failed and Fr Fletcher died in jail.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

The Castledare Boys’ Home was one of the notorious facilities operated by the Christian Brothers in Western Australia. Like the others (Bindoon,Tradum and Clontarf), it is worthy of renewed attention by the Royal Commission.

It was a destination for “child migrants” (see previous posting) from the U.K. and Malta. The Northern Ireland government is currently trying to contact Irish “child migrants” to these institutions (see previous posting). In 1994, the Parliament of Western Australia was presented a petition with 30,000 signatures calling for an enquiry into the Christian Brothers’ institutions.

Castledare was opened in 1929 to house what the Brothers then called “sub-normal boys”). Later it changed to a facility for boys who were state wards, orphans and child migrants. The abuses which occurred there were typical of the other Christian Brothers’ Homes in Western Australia. A very full account is given in the “Voices” organization’s submissions to the U.K. government and the 2004 Australian Senate’s enquiry (see references below).

U.K. Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, have both apologized to the “child migrants” sent to these Christian Brothers’ Homes. The Maltese Prime Minister, Mr.Gonzi, unveiled a memorial to Maltese “child migrants” to Australia. It is located in GrandHarbour, and notes that there were 310 such children.

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THAILAND
Telegraph (UK)

A Thai Buddhist monk who drew criticism after being pictured on a private jet surrounded by high-end fashion accessories has had his financial assets frozen over allegations of money-laundering and fraud.

By David Eimer, Bangkok 03 Jul 2013

The monk has been attracted attention ever since a video of him flying a private jet while wearing aviator sunglasses, carrying a Louis Vuitton bag went viral last month. A widely-circulated photograph of him lying next to an apparently naked woman caused further outrage in Thailand, which has the world’s largest Buddhist population, and where monks are supposed to be celibate.

The abbot has since been accused of fathering two children and having sexual relationships with at least eight women.

AMLO ordered that 16 bank accounts held by the monk and his associates be frozen after discovering that typical daily transactions involved around 200 million Baht (£4 million). 10 of the accounts are held in the abbot’s name.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

[Letters presented to the Special Commission of Inquiry – Newcastle Herald]

DAN BOX From: The Australian July 05, 2013

THE Catholic church continued to provide a pension to a pedophile priest after agreeing he would retire to England rather than have his victims go to the police, an inquiry has heard.

The arrangement is revealed in a series of letters tendered to the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry, which also detail how the priest, Denis McAlinden, attempted to manipulate his superiors’ response to his crimes.

In one 1993 letter sent to the church’s Sick Clergy Fund, the late bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Leo Clarke, stated that “Fr D McAlinden has retired from active priestly duty” and is living in Skegness. He should receive $12,158 per year, Clarke wrote, more than the minimum stipend paid to a parish priest.

In a May 1995 letter, Clarke said McAlinden had admitted to child abuse and “an agreement was reached by which Fr Denis was to return to England and . . . not to act as a priest”.

The letter shows that Clarke subsequently discovered the priest had in fact travelled to The Philippines and was again working in the church.

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AUSTRIA
Austrian Tribune

On Wednesday, a former priest, who was also a Catholic boarding school director, was found guilty by a court in Steyr, an Austrian town. The report said that the same is the first conviction when it comes to an Austrian clergyman ever since the Catholic Church faced a wave of similar allegation in different nations in 2010.

The priest has been sentenced for a period of 12 years. He was charged of sexually abusing children. A total of 24 boys were abused by him, not only sexually, but physically as well.

Victims themselves reported that they had been abused by the 79-year old defendant, sexually. Also, they were kicked, hit and whipped by him. He pulled out their hair and even forced the fellow students to mob them.

It has been claimed by the attorney of the defendant that an appeal would be made by him. The accused priest admitted to the crimes, which occurred in the boarding school of the Kremsmuenster abbey, province of Upper Austria, in the 1970s, 80s as well as 90s.

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UNITED STATES
Edge on the Net

by Antoinette Weil
EDGE Contributor
Thursday Jul 4, 2013

News of a so-called “gay hookup site for priests” rocked the right-wing Catholic community last month and provided cause for discussion, if not outright mockery, for all the rest.

Italian press first broke the story of Venerabilis, the “Homosensible Roman Catholic Priests Fraternity,” which not only operates out of the Vatican on a public blogspot platform, but even has its own Twitter account. This controversy, combined with Pope Francis’ recent mention of a “gay lobby” within the Church, has prompted a media frenzy and a shocking look at the LGBT truth of the Roman Catholic Church.

Perhaps what is most shocking about all of this, is that for those close to the Vatican, it is not shocking at all.

“The first thing is you’ve got to know there is a great deal of sexual activity at every level, from the cardinals down,” said Richard Sipe, psychotherapist, sociologist, author, and leading expert in the field of sex, celibacy, and the Catholic Church. “Everyone that has been close to the Vatican knows about the sexual activity and homosexual activity going on.”

This flies in the face of the commonplace notions of celibacy and LGBT exclusion and intolerance in the Catholic Church, almost to a degree of disbelief. But Sipe is pretty convincing: A Benedictine Monk for 18 years, Sipe was trained and acted as counselor, dealing with the mental health issues of Roman Catholic Priests. During this period he conducted research for what became a 25-year ethnographic study of the celibate and sexual behavior of Catholic Priests. The 1990 publication is known as a “classic,” and a reputable reference on the subject.

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Democrat

A judge refused Wednesday to exclude a former Woodland priest’s admissions of child molestation to church officials, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda — former parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy parish in Redding — is facing seven counts of molesting a girl under the age of 14 in Sacramento and Shasta counties. Ojeda also served as a priest at Woodland’s Holy Rosary Catholic Church from 2007 to 2009, when the counts allegedly took place.

Ojeda had tried to have the statements ruled inadmissable on grounds he made them under the protection of a clergy-penitent privilege, according to the Bee. Ojeda said it never crossed his mind that his discussions about his alleged misconduct might be turned over to police.

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ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

07/04/2013

By AHARON WEXLER
It is my hope and prayer that the election this summer of new chief rabbis will be used as a opportunity to clean house.

The disturbing allegations against Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger have brought the rabbinate in Israel to a new low.

The rabbinate, an institution one would hope would serve as a bridge between Judaism and the state, has been one of the chief culprits in distancing Jews from their heritage and their God in heaven.

It used to be that Cyprus was the destination last resort for couples seeking to be married because one of them was not Jewish. Now, even fully kosher Jews are opting to be married abroad to escape the draconian scrutiny of the rabbis here in Israel. It is for this very reason that organizations such as Tzohar have found much success in the Israeli public for doing what the rabbinate has failed to do; namely create a welcoming environment for Jews to celebrate life-cycle events.

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IRELAND
RTE News

President Michael D Higgins has congratulated survivors of Magdelene Laundries for making society listen to the terrible wrongs done to them.

He told a group of the women at Áras an Uachtaráin that he was pleased the justice of their cause had led to public acknowledgement of the enormous wrong they suffered at the hands of the State and society.

A group of 39 so-called “Magdalene women” met President Higgins at the request of Steven O’Riordan, spokesman for the Magdalene Survivors Together group.

Ten travelled from Britain for the occasion which many said they could never have predicted even in their wildest dreams.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

04 JULY 2013

PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins said the recognition by the State of its failures in the Magdalene Laundries was due to the “indefatigable efforts” of those incarcerated.

The President welcomed women detained in Magdalene Laundries to Aras an Uachtarain just days after they criticised a multi-million compensation package on offer from the State as part of a redress scheme. President Higgins said the story of the Magdalene women was a tale of a “terrible wrong” and a “failure” to respect the human rights and dignity of around 10,000 women and girls.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kritisches-Netzwerk

Von Wolfgang Blaschka

Ausgesuchte Knabenstimmen zum Engelsklang eines berühmten Chores zu verschmelzen war das eine. Das andere war das strenge Strafregime unserer sadistischen Präfekten und Direktoren. Die meisten waren Priester. Die Gottgeweihten bewirtschafteten einen quirligen Tümpel quakender Frösche. Das waren wir. Dann neigten sie sich herab, und siehe da: Im Spiegel der Wasserfläche wurden sie immer öfter zu giftigen Kröten. Wir hatten Angst vor ihnen. Manchmal wurden sie schwach und fischten im trüben Gewässer. Sie, die über uns standen, und die Rohrstöcke sausen ließen, um uns zu dirigieren und abzurichten. Und gelegentlich tauchten sie ein wie in einen Jungbrunnen. Die Opfer von damals sind heute Mitte Fünfzig. Sie befinden sich immer noch im Bann ihrer früheren Qualen.

Einen habe ich getroffen, einen Schauspieler, der im Gespräch beim Kaffeetrinken stotterte. Als ich nachfragte, wie das denn zusammengehe und woher das komme, meinte er nur lakonisch: „Domspatzen“. – „Was, Du auch?“ Und er erzählte mir von seiner Vergewaltigung im Arbeitszimmer des Direktors in Etterzhausen: „Er legte mich vornüber auf den Schreibtisch, zog mir die Hosen herunter und fi….e mich von hinten.“ Klare Aussage. Gar nicht gestottert. Das Stottern war auch nie auf der Bühne, vor Publikum, mit vorgegebener Rolle, nicht einmal bei den Proben. Nur im normalen Leben in privaten Gesprächen, wo er nie wusste, was der nächste Moment brächte und ihm abverlangte, da würde er ins Schlingern geraten. Eine echte Verdrehung im Verhalten, das die meisten genau andersrum an den Tag legten: Sie würden unsicher vor größeren Gruppen, vor einem Auditorium, vor der Öffentlichkeit.

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OSTERREICH
Osterreich.at

Er war wie der Teufel im Talar, seine Zöglinge nannten Pater Alfons M. (79) nur den Folterknecht. Über 20 Jahre unterhielt der Konviktsdirektor des Stiftes Kremsmünster ein wahres Terror-Regime. Seine Schüler wurden gequält, geschlagen und sexuell missbraucht. Mit zwölf Jahren Haft quittierten dies die Richter am Mittwoch im Landesgericht Steyr. Das Urteil ist nicht rechtskräftig, es gilt die Unschuldsvermutung.

Pater erklärte
 Buben für vogelfrei
Gewalt und sexuelle Übergriffe an 39 Zöglingen ermittelte die Staatsanwaltschaft, 24 davon mündeten schließlich in der Anklage. Unter Ausschluss der Öffentlichkeit berichteten die Opfer von damals schließlich von Schlägen mit einer Ochsenpeitsche, von Fußtritten und dem Herausreißen von Haaren. Gelegentlich soll der Pater einen der Buben sogar für vogelfrei erklärt haben. Die Mitschüler seien ermuntert worden, den Betreffenden zu drangsalieren.

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VATIKAN
Zeit

Der neue Papst geht gegen Geldwäsche und Korruption vor, hartnäckiger als seine Vorgänger. Sein erstes Ziel: die Papstbank IOR.

Der Name klingt nach frommer, karitativer Arbeit. “Institut für religiöse Werke”, kurz IOR, nennt sich das Geldhaus, das seit mehr als 70 Jahren seine Geschäfte unter dem Dach des Vatikans betreibt. Seit Langem steht die päpstliche Bank unter dem Verdacht, dunkle Geschäfte zu betreiben: illegale Parteienfinanzierung, Geldwäsche, Korruption. Die Bank gilt als eines der mächtigsten und undurchsichtigsten Geldhäuser der Welt. Von jenen Bankern, denen Einblick in die Geschäfte des Instituts gewährt wurde, kamen mehrere auf ungeklärte Weise zu Tode – unter ihnen der Bankangestellte Roberto Calvi im Jahr 1982 und der Jurist Michele Sindona vier Jahre später.

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COLORADO
Denver Post

COLORADO SPRINGS — The Rev. Charles Robert “Bob” Manning was acquitted Wednesday evening of charges that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy and of child porn counts but found guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The jury announced the verdict in the 4th Judicial District Court.

Formerly the pastor at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Colorado Springs, Manning was accused of coaxing the boy into a series of sex acts during a booze- and pot-fueled encounter in the fall of 2011. He retired in May 2012 when the allegations became public, and after posting $10,000 bond, he obtained a judge’s permission to move into a home for retired priests in the St. Louis area.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

AFP

The Vatican on Wednesday said it had joined a global network of government agencies fighting against money laundering, as part of its efforts to reform its scandal-ridden finances.

The move was a recognition of the Vatican’s “systematic efforts in tracking and fighting money laundering,” said Rene Bruelhart, head of the Vatican’s Financial Intelligence Authority.

The Vatican said in a statement that the Egmont Group, which consists of more than 130 national financial intelligence units, had announced the move at a meeting in South Africa.

Membership of the network “facilitates the exchange of information in the fight against financial crime,” the statement said.

The Vatican is undertaking reforms in a bid to be included on a “white list” of countries combating money laundering compiled by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Read the letter to one of his victims here

Read a letter to Reverand Pedro Bantigue here

Letters presented to the Special Commission of Inquiry

By JASON GORDON July 4, 2013

THESE are the letters that show how much the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese knew about the behaviour of paedophile priest Denis McAlinden.

For decades, the region’s most senior clergy knew about his offending, shared information among themselves, and became increasingly worried that victims would go to police.

They saw fit to ostracise McAlinden, pictured, strip him of his priestly duties and send him overseas, even warning senior international clergy of his tendencies, but they never took the information to police.

The letters are among dozens so far tendered to the Special Commission of Inquiry in Newcastle. Commissioner Margaret Cunneen on Thursday agreed to them being made public.

In one, a psychiatrist hired to evaluate McAlinden’s state of mind said the priest admitted to becoming ‘‘a little over familiar with children’’.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian July 04, 2013

A NSW POLICE detective failed to pursue a line of inquiry about a pedophile priest that, a decade later, allowed other officers to uncover evidence suggesting the Catholic church knew about these crimes, an inquiry has heard.

In 2002, the NSW special commission of inquiry has heard, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox asked a retired bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Leo Clarke, if he had any knowledge of two alleged victims of the priest.

The late bishop Clarke replied “No, you would have to ask (the then bishop) Michael Malone about that.”

Detective Fox did not, however, subsequently ask Bishop Malone about the priest, Denis McAlinden, the inquiry heard. Nor did he do so during a formal police interview with the bishop the following year, in which they discussed a different pedophile priest.

During cross-examination of the policeman, Bishop Malone’s barrister, Simon Harben SC, asked “Here was a perfect opportunity for an investigator of your experience to pursue a line of inquiry, wasn’t it?”

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ITALY
Reuters

Thu Jul 4, 2013

By Philip Pullella

SALERNO, Italy (Reuters) – Even though he was known to like to live well, police said they were startled when they entered Monsignor Nunzio Scarano’s apartment after he called them one night in January to report a burglary.

The apartment, in one of Salerno’s most up-market neighborhoods in the city center, was huge, with art lining the walls and hallways divided by Roman-style columns.

Scarano, a Vatican official with close ties to the Vatican bank and who is now in Rome’s Queen of Heaven jail, had called police to report that thieves had stolen part of his art collection.

Interviews with two key chief investigators in different judicial and police departments in Salerno, in southern Italy, and police pictures of the apartment viewed by Reuters give the most detailed picture to date of Scarano’s wealth.

The investigators disclosed that the trove of stolen goods estimated to be worth up to 6 million euro ($7.82 million) included six works by Giorgio de Chirico, one by Renato Guttuso, one attributed to Marc Chagall and pieces of religious art.

“We asked ourselves how did this monsignor come to own this place and possess these expensive works of art,” said a senior investigator in the southern Italian city who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

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ILLINOIS
CBS Chicago

(CBS) – A youth minister at a West Dundee church has been charged with having sexual contact with a minor, according to a release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office.

Chad A. Coe, 31, of the 500 block of Dundee Avenue, Elgin, has been charged with one count of criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Coe is the Director of Youth Ministry at First Congregational Church of Dundee and had sexual contact with a minor at the church between June 10 and June 14, 2013.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Clifford Ward
Special to the Tribune
July 3, 2013

The youth minister of a West Dundee church has been accused of sexual contact with a minor at the church, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office announced Wednesday.

Chad A. Coe, 31, of the 500 block of Dundee Avenue in Elgin, with criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, prosecutors said.

Coe, who authorities said is the director of the youth ministry at the First Congregational Church of Dundee, is accused of having sexual contact with a person younger than 18 at the church between June 10 and 14, according to a press release from the state’s attorney’s office.

Officials did not say whether the minor was a participant in one of Coe’s youth programs, but did say Coe was “in a position of trust and/or authority” over the alleged victim.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Elloise Farrow-Smith

An abuse survivor said the Royal Commission into child abuse had given him the chance to pour his heart out for the first time.

Richard ‘Tommy’ Campion said he was sexually and physically abused during the 14 years that he lived at the Church of England North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore.

He spoke with members of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for two hours yesterday at a Brisbane hotel.

Mr Campion has been battling for recognition from the Anglican Church for 8 years and said this was the first time his pain has had a hearing.

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UNITED STATES
Des Moines Register

Written by
TOM CARNEY

In light of the publicity in recent years about the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, it’s fair to ask, “Is the Catholic Church doing any better in protecting children?”

It appears so.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, which gathered data for an annual audit of U.S. Catholic dioceses, found “the fewest allegations and victims reported since the data collection for the annual reports began in 2004.”

The Annual Report on the Implementation of the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People says that all but one U.S. diocese — Lincoln, Neb. — are compliant with its 17-point charter. The charter is described as “a comprehensive set of procedures” established by American bishops in 2002 “for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.” It includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of acts of abuse.

Although one case is too many, it’s noteworthy that the incidence of sexual abuse by priests is mostly in the past, though we can expect a continuation of reporting of past incidents. The report notes that “68 percent of allegations made in 2011 were of incidents from 1960-1984,” and the most common period for allegations was 1975-1979. The report also found that most of the accused have died or been removed from ministry, and many had been accused previously.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

By Harry Hitzeman
A 31-year-old youth minister at a West Dundee church has been charged with having sex at the church with a minor.

Chad A. Coe, of Elgin, was arrested Tuesday night and faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. Coe, the director of youth ministry at First Congregational Church of Dundee, was arrested after the youth’s mother alerted authorities, according to the Kane County state’s attorney’s office.

Coe, of the 500 block of Dundee Avenue, is charged with using his position of trust and authority to have sex with a minor between June 10 and 14, prosecutors said.

He is charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, authorities said. The youth is between 13 and 17 years old, according to court records.

Aaron James, the senior pastor at the church, 900 S. Eighth St., said Coe has been placed on administrative leave and the church is “cooperating fully with every aspect of the ongoing investigation.”

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NEW YORK
IrishCentral

By JAMES O’SHEA, IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Thursday, July 4, 2013

The New York Times has launched a strong attack on Cardinal TImothy Dolan over his alleged shifting of $57 million in funds when he ran the Milwaukee diocese to avoid paying off child abuse victims.

The New York Times editorial called the Cardinal’s actions “shocking” and stated Milwaukee “church officials kept criminal behavior secret from civil authority,”citing evidence newly available in 6,000 pages of documents.

The hard hitting editorial states “Tragic as the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church has been, it is shocking to discover that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, while archbishop of Milwaukee, moved $57 million off the archdiocesan books into a cemetery trust fund six years ago in order to protect the money from damage suits by victims of abuse by priests.”

Cardinal Dolan, has denied the allegation and described the charges as “old and discredited” allegation and “malarkey.”

However The Times says the new documents make clear “he sought and received fast approval from the Vatican to transfer the money just as the Wisconsin Supreme Court was about to open the door to damage suits by victims raped and abused as children by Roman Catholic clergy.”

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

[cemetery trust transfer]

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: July 3, 2013

Tragic as the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church has been, it is shocking to discover that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, while archbishop of Milwaukee, moved $57 million off the archdiocesan books into a cemetery trust fund six years ago in order to protect the money from damage suits by victims of abuse by priests.
Related

Cardinal Dolan, now the archbishop of New York, has denied shielding the funds as an “old and discredited” allegation and “malarkey.” But newly released court documents make it clear that he sought and received fast approval from the Vatican to transfer the money just as the Wisconsin Supreme Court was about to open the door to damage suits by victims raped and abused as children by Roman Catholic clergy.

“I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability,” Cardinal Dolan wrote rather cynically in his 2007 letter to the Vatican. The letter was released by the Milwaukee Archdiocese as part of a bankruptcy court fight with lawyers in 575 cases of damage claims. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011. The law bars a debtor from transferring funds in a way that protects one class of creditors over another.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Nic Rigby
BBC News

A former resident of a Catholic orphanage at the centre of historic child abuse allegations has waived his right to anonymity to urge others to contact the police.

Tony Walsh, 65, was sent to St Francis Boys Home in Shefford, Bedfordshire, in the 1950s.

He says he was sexually abused by Father John Ryan at the home.

His allegations led to the priest’s arrest in 2003 but he was released without charge and died in 2008.

Mr Walsh, who was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk but now lives in Spain, is the third man to inform the BBC he was sexually and physically abused by Father Ryan.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 4, 2013

The whistleblower cop at the centre of a Hunter sex abuse inquiry said he never believed Bishop Michael Malone’s claim that he did not intentionally forewarn a paedophile priest about a police investigation.

The Commission of Inquiry heard the former Newcastle and Maitland Bishop met with the priest James Fletcher at his Branxton presbytery in 2002 and told him there had been a formal complaint of child sexual abuse against him [Fletcher].

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox told the inquiry, Bishop Malone told him the reason for his visit was to check the welfare of Fletcher who was upset.

In a statement to the Chief Inspector, Bishop Malone said Fletcher did not know about the investigation before their meeting.

“Why would he go out there and console him about something he didn’t know?” Chief Inspector Fox asked.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Renew America

By Matt C. Abbott

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has released over 6000 documents pertaining to its clergy sex offenders. I commend Archbishop Jerome Listecki for his candor; he wrote (in part):

…Attorneys for abuse survivors have determined that these documents demonstrate how the archdiocese handled allegations of sexual abuse, responded to reports and dealt with offending priests. It will be painful on many levels. It may contribute to re-living the abuse of victims at the hands of priests. It will disturb the faithful who have placed trust and confidence in archdiocesan leadership. It will embarrass and shame the good priests who have offered their lives in service to the church.

Shortly after I announced the decision to release the documents related to diocesan priests with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor, I offered an Atonement Mass at St. John Vianney Parish in Brookfield. A person approached me after Mass and expressed appreciation for the decision. The individual believed it would aid in the healing process of victim survivors. I pray that the release of the documents achieves that goal in some small way….

The documents can be viewed at the archdiocese’s website, www.archmil.org.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

An inquiry has heard a paedophile priest was allowed to continue running private reading classes at Catholic schools in the New South Wales Hunter Valley despite being accused of child sexual abuse.

The inquiry is investigating senior policeman Peter Fox’s claims the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese covered-up abuse by two priests, James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.

Documents tendered this week show senior church officials knew about the abuse by both men but did not tell police.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox said all of the documents would have helped with his investigations.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A NSW inquiry has heard a paedophile priest was allowed to continue running private reading classes at Hunter Valley Catholic schools despite being accused of child sexual abuse.

The special commission of inquiry at Newcastle Supreme Court is investigating whistleblower police officer Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s claims the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese covered up abuse by two priests, James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.

Inspector Fox has told the commission that in 2003, the bishop of Maitland-Newcastle at the time, Michael Malone, “defied his suggestion” to have Fletcher stood down as a priest while the abuse investigation was underway.

Inspector Fox said he strongly suggested the priest have minimal contact with children by moving him to a diocesan office job.

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COLORADO
Gazette

By Lance Benzel Published: July 3, 2013

A Colorado Springs priest whose attorneys painted him as a “prime target for false allegations” was acquitted Wednesday of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old altar boy.

But the Rev. Charles Robert “Bob” Manning, 78, didn’t walk on all counts.

Despite his acquittal on the sex assault counts and child pornography charges, the now-retired clergyman was found guilty of two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a felony alleging that he supplied the boy with pot and alcohol.

Manning could face two to six years in prison, but is eligible for probation. Sentencing is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sept. 26. He remains free on bond, and must report to the courthouse probation office Monday to begin requirements for a pre-sentencing report.

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