ABUSE TRACKER

CANADA
rabble.ca

BY KRYSTALLINE KRAUS | JULY 24, 2013

On Thursday July 25, 2013, First Nations activists across Canada are calling for the Federal government to release all documents pertaining to our history of residential schools immediately.
Nation-wide prayers are encouraged across Canada from 12:00 pm noon to 1:00 pm.

“If Canada made the apology, they need to honour it,” the call out explains.

In 2008, the Federal government under Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, made a rare public apology to First Nations, Metis and Inuit for their treatment under the residential school system.

Residential schools – funded by the Canadian government and administered by Christian churches — operated here quite soon after settlers began migrating to Turtle Island.

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ILLINOIS
WIFR

[with video]

ROCKFORD (WIFR) — A former church employee is now in jail, accused of taking advantage of a young girl.

That girl is just 13 years old. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department says the man who molested her, Charles Tucker, is now behind bars. He’s charged with child molestation and child pornography. Tucker worked at North Love Baptist Church when the alleged abuse happened and when he was arrested, but the pastor says Tucker no longer works for the church. Investigators won’t say whether the girl was taken advantage of at the church or somewhere else.

Tucker’s neighbors say they were shocked to learn an accused sexual predator lived right down the street.

“I feel surprised and I feel concerned having small children living in this neighborhood. I would like to be aware of this information and I would like to see our neighborhood notified in some way shape or form so that we can just be a little more cautious,” Wendy Seerup, said.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

by VICTORIA RAIMES
Published on the 23 June 2013

THE VATICAN has finally agreed to demands to launch a formal inquiry into Cardinal Keith O’Brien following allegations of sexual misconduct, it has been reported.

The church is set to undergo a high level inspection – known as an apostolic visitation – in response to the claims made against Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric, who resigned from the diocese of Edinburgh and St Andrews in February.

Archbishop Antonio Mennini is understood to have revealed the inspection when he met with a former priest, known only as Lenny, who accused the cardinal of making sexual advances towards him when he was a seminarian.

The alleged victim said: “The archbishop told me the holy see had decided there would be an investigation into all the allegations. Anyone affected would be able to give evidence. If it is judged that there is sufficient evidence, then it would go to another, deeper process in Rome.

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MEXICO
e-Consulta

La canonización del fallecido Papa Juan Pablo II debe detenerse, pues es un personaje vinculado a la red mundial de pederastia, y se encuentra en investigación, afirmó el ex sacerdote Alberto Athie.

“Pedimos que la santificación de Juan Pablo II se detenga, que se esperen a los veredictos y a las recomendaciones que se lleven a cabo, y veamos que hay quienes fueron responsables de qué y ya sobre eso veamos una valoración si su vida fue una virtuosa y valiosa al extremo”, dijo Athie en entrevista en Noticias MVS Primera Emisión.

Esto, como respuesta a que el Comité de Naciones Unidas para los Derechos de los Niños solicitó esta semana al Vaticano revelar la información sobre casos de pedofilia que involucran al clero católico.

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MEXICO
El Pais (Espana)

Organizaciones de víctimas de abusos sexuales de México han elevado la voz para exigir a Francisco que paralice el proceso de canonización de Juan Pablo II mientras se investigan los casos de abusos sexuales de la Iglesia. Tras la petición está la solicitud del Comité sobre los Derechos del Niño de la ONU, que este mes de julio ha requerido al Vaticano “información detallada” sobre todos los casos de abusos a menores.

Es la primera vez en la historia que un organismo internacional cuestiona a la Santa Sede. El Papa, de visita estos días en Brasil, tendrá que enfrentar un caso que mermó la credibilidad de su antecesor antes del 1 de noviembre, fecha impuesta por la ONU para presentar una respuesta a sus duras preguntas. “El Papa tiene una oportunidad histórica y única de entregar toda la documentación y de demostrar que no está dispuesto a que esto siga sucediendo”, dice al teléfono el exsacerdote mexicano Alberto Athié.

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MEXICO
Latin Times

By Megan Taros, Jul 24, 2013

The UN Convention On The Rights Of The Child have backed a Mexican sexual abuse victims group that formed in response to the impending canonization of late Pope John Paul II. This is the first time a group has formed to challenge the Vatican when it comes to a person’s sainthood. The current Pope Francis will now see a case that gives him a chance to reveal pressing questions about the Catholic Church’s history with child sexual abuse. He has until Nov. 1 to come forward with any and all evidence pertinent to the case.

“The Pope has a unique and historic opportunity to deliver all the documentation and demonstrate that it is willing to move forward,” Alberto Athié, a former Mexican priest, said.

Athié, like many others, left the priesthood after the molestation allegations began surfacing. The Vatican refused to hear the cases in both Mexico and Rome. Another who is opposed to the canonization of John Paul, Joaquín Aguilar of the Clergy Abuse Survivors Network, believes Pope Francis must make an effort to investigate the cases so all involved can be properly punished. He criticized late John Paul’s failure in doing so.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

July 25, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

There is “not much more you can do” to prevent children being abused by paedophile priests once you’ve removed the ministers from office, a Catholic Church priest has told a NSW government inquiry.

But Father Brian Lucas agreed his system of managing accused priests was a failure of risk management and did not comply with the church’s protocols at the time.

In the five or six years from 1990 when his role was to deal with sexual abuse allegations against the church in NSW, some of those accused did admit their guilt to him, he said. But he did not pass the admissions on to police because he “never felt able to do that”.

Father Lucas, who is also a lawyer with expertise in child protection, was being grilled at the inquiry into the alleged church cover-up of paedophile priest activity in the Hunter Valley.

His insistence that defrocking paedophile priests was the best approach in the early 1990s is under challenge from counsel assisting the inquiry Julia Lonergan, SC. Also under challenge is the credibility of his assertion of a total absence of memory about his dealings with paedophile priest Father McAlinden.

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CANADA
CBC News

Two former students of a Catholic school in Burns Lake, B.C., have filed notices of civil claims in B.C. Supreme Court, alleging sexual abuse at the hands of former VANOC CEO John Furlong, who taught at the school in the 1960s.

The lawsuits filed by Grace Jessie West, 53, and Beverly Mary Abraham, 55, name Furlong, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver, the Roman Catholic Prince George Diocese and the Catholic Independent Schools Diocese of Prince George.

The story first broke last fall when journalist Laura Robinson wrote a story for the Georgia Straight newspaper alleging Furlong had mistreated native students while he was a teacher at a Catholic school in Burns Lake in the late 1960s.

Furlong has vehemently denied the accusations made in the newspaper story and launched a lawsuit against Robinson and the Georgia Straight newspaper.

Allegations of sexual touching

In the lawsuits filed on Wednesday in Vancouver, the two women allege Furlong abused them sexually, physically and verbally during and after gym classes at the Catholic school while he was a teacher there in 1969 and 1970.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

SUNNY DHILLON
VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Jul. 24 2013

Two women who allege they were physically and sexually abused by former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong when he was a physical education teacher decades ago have filed lawsuits against him.

Beverly Mary Abraham and Grace Jessie West filed their notices of civil claim Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court.

Mr. Furlong has not filed a response and the allegations have not been proven. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Mr. Furlong’s lawyer did not return phone and e-mail messages Wednesday seeking comment.

Communications firm TwentyTen Group issued a statement saying Mr. Furlong and his counsel would not comment because the matter is before the courts.

Allegations that Mr. Furlong abused several aboriginal students when he was a physical education teacher in Burns Lake, B.C., more than 40 years ago first surfaced in September in the alternative weekly newspaper the Georgia Straight. Mr. Furlong filed a lawsuit against the newspaper, as well as the article’s author, in November.

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CANADA
The Province

BY KIM NURSALL, THE CANADIAN PRESS JULY 24, 2013

VANCOUVER – Two women who allege the former head of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics sexually molested them at least a dozen times when he was a teacher decades ago in Burns Lake, B.C., launched separate lawsuits Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court, documents show.

In one statement of claim, Beverly Abraham, now 55, alleges Furlong would ask her to stay late after class before molesting her in the gym, the equipment room and a mechanical closet.

Abraham, who was 11 at the time, said in the statement that Furlong also emotionally and psychologically manipulated her, calling her his “beautiful Indian girl” and saying it was not wrong for him to touch her.

Grace West, 53, filed a separate statement of claim, alleging that almost every week Furlong would touch her breasts and vagina while stroking himself. West’s claim also states Furlong would kick her almost every day, calling her “dirty Indian” and “squaw.”

Abraham does not state that Furlong physically abused her. Rather she claims he would request that the school’s nuns force her to kneel and the nuns would strike her open palms repeatedly.

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CANADA
Global News

[with video]

Two Burns Lake women are suing former VANOC CEO John Furlong for physical abuse, sexual touching and defamation.

Beverly Mary Abraham is alleging she was 11-years old when Furlong sexually molested her 12 times from November of 1969 to May of 1970.

The court documents state Abraham attended Immaculata Roman Catholic Elementary school in Burns Lake in 1969 and 1971.

Furlong was a teacher at the school in 1969 and 1970.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

BY KELLY SINOSKI, VANCOUVER SUN JULY 25, 2013

Two former students of a Burns Lake Catholic elementary school have filed notices of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court, alleging they were physically and sexually abused by former Vanoc CEO John Furlong when he taught at the school in 1969-70.

Beverly Mary Abraham and Grace Jessie West claim the abuse occurred after gym class at Immaculata elementary school where Furlong was a physical education teacher.

The women also allege the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver, Roman Catholic Prince George Diocese and Catholic School Diocese of Prince George are “vicariously liable” for the abuse because they did nothing to stop it.

In their claims, which have yet to be proven in court, both women allege they were sexually abused by Furlong in the school gym, the equipment room and a mechanical closet, usually after the physical education class had ended. Furlong could not be reached for comment through his lawyer or the public relations firm that represents him, TwentyTen Group.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

TO STEP into the shoes of disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien, after a difficult year for the Catholic Church in Scotland, must be a daunting task.

So this newspaper wishes Monsignor Leo Cushley, the new Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, good fortune in taking up his new post at a difficult time.

Little is known of Mgr Cushley, but initial reports suggest he holds orthodox views on the key doctrinal issues facing the Catholic church. This is perhaps unsurprising. The new archbishop may, however, be wise to take a somewhat more nuanced view of his role in the life of the nation than has been evidenced in recent years from senior Catholic clergy in Scotland.

The 52-year-old from Lanarkshire is reputed to be one of the Vatican’s most gifted diplomats. That may be useful, because what the Church in Scotland needs now is a tone that is, in the broadest sense of the word, diplomatic.

The need for a new approach rests not on the saga of O’Brien’s fall from grace – although senior Church figures have acknowledged that having a cardinal condemn homosexuality while being guilty himself of homosexual indiscretions leaves the Church open to the charge of hypocrisy.

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SCOTLAND
The Guardian

Press Association
The Guardian, Wednesday 24 July 2013

The Catholic church can recover from “the battering” it has taken in recent months, according to Monsignor Leo Cushley, who is to succeed disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien as the archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The priests and people are “anxious to move on” from the scandal involving Cardinal O’Brien, who left the post earlier this year after admitting inappropriate sexual conduct, Mgr Cushley said.

He said he would take stock of what happened within the governance of the archdiocese when he is ordained on 21 September.

The 52-year-old also expressed surprise at being appointed archbishop, given his background as part of the Vatican’s diplomatic team, although he described the challenges of his new role as “comparatively easy” compared with previous situations he has faced.

“I am humbled that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has nominated me for such an important task here in our ancient capital. I know it’s a delicate moment and that there is a lot to be done but, with God’s grace and the kind support of the clergy and people of Edinburgh, I will work cheerfully and willingly with all the energy I can muster,” he said.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Mike Wade
Published at 12:02AM, July 25 2013

The Archbishop-elect of St Andrews and Edinburgh has said he will back a Vatican inquiry into the sex scandal surrounding Cardinal Keith O’Brien, emphasising his determination “to sort this business out”.

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SCOTLAND
The Sun

By ANNABELLE LOVE

THE Pope’s aide chosen to replace shamed Cardinal Keith O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh said yesterday the Catholic Church can recover from its recent “battering”.

Airdrie-born Monsignor Leo Cushley, 52, said he was “humbled” that Pope Francis had chosen him.
The hillwalking U2 fan said: “I know it’s a delicate moment and that there is a lot to be done.
“I will work cheerfully and willingly with all the energy I can muster.”

He added: “I think the Church has taken a bit of battering. I think that is fair.

“But also I think the fundamentals are good and they are right.

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MICHIGAN
Advisor & Source Newspapers

By DAVE PHILLIPS

A 62-year-old former priest from Novi has pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography and possession of child pornography, federal officials announced Wednesday.

Timothy Murray “used peer-to-peer software to trade child pornography with others,” including an undercover Department of Homeland Security agent, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade.

Agents recovered at least seven devices from Murray’s home. Those devices contained more than 650 movies and 450 images of child pornography, the release states.

“Murray had previously served as a Catholic priest within the Archdiocese of Detroit before being removed from public ministry when substantiated allegations of Murray’s prior sexual abuse of a young boy came to light,” the release states.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

One of the country’s most senior Catholic Church officials says the bishop of a diocese does not need to know about a paedophile priest’s admissions of guilt.

In the 1990s father Brian Lucas had a special role, to “seduce paedophile priests” to resign.

Father Lucas is a qualified lawyer and general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and is giving evidence at the inquiry into claims the church covered up abuse by two priests, including Denis McAlinden.

The commission’s heard McAlinden confessed in 1993 to the abuse of children but father Lucas said he did not need to tell the Maitland-Newcastle bishop.

He said the bishop “didn’t need to know the names of the victims to fulfil his child protections obligations”; he “only needed to know the outcome of the meeting” that the paedophile priest had resigned and should never work for the Church again.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

by CHRIS MARSHALL AND STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on the 24 July 2013

A VATICAN career diplomat ­appointed to be the new archbishop of St Andrews and ­Edinburgh has promised a ­period of “reconciliation and healing” following the scandal surrounding his disgraced predecessor.

Monsignor Leo Cushley said the standing of the Catholic Church in Scotland had taken a “battering” when Cardinal Keith O’Brien resigned after admitting inappropriate behaviour with a number of priests.

Mgr Cushley, a Scot who has worked all over the world in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps, said Catholics in Scotland had been left “upset and dismayed” at what had happened. But he said the task facing him was “comparatively easy” when compared to missions he had carried out for the Church in Africa.

The 52-year-old, who was born in ­Airdrie, has been a priest of Motherwell diocese for 28 years, but has not worked in Scotland since 1993.

He will be ordained at St Mary’s ­Cathedral in Edinburgh on 21 September. His appointment comes after revelations emerged earlier this year about inappropriate relationships Cardinal O’Brien had with priests and seminarians.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 24, 2013

Inquiry archive

Transcripts of inquiry

A SENIOR priest at the heart of the Catholic Church’s efforts to deal with paedophile priests has admitted to not taking notes of his investigations so as not to leave a paper trail.

Father Brian Lucas, general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, yesterday gave evidence to the Special Commission of Inquiry in Newcastle.

Father Lucas has been identified in earlier evidence as being involved in attempts to discipline paedophile priest Denis McAlinden, who died in a church-run facility in Western Australia in 2005.

Although he acknowledged evidence at the inquiry that McAlinden had confessed to him personally during an interview in the 1990s, Father Lucas said he had no recollection of that meeting.

Father Lucas said repeatedly that he did not report McAlinden to the police because the victims who had come forward did not want this to happen.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jamie Manson | Jul. 24, 2013 Grace on the Margins

Much has been written about Austrian priest and reformer Helmut Schüller since he opened his 15-city U.S. tour, called “The Catholic Tipping Point,” in New York last week.

Schüller has been making news in the Roman Catholic church reform movement since 2006, when he and a group of fellow priests organized the Austrian Priests’ Initiative. In 2011, they made global headlines when they launched the “Call for Disobedience,” an appeal to the Vatican to address the shortage of priests and other predicaments facing the institutional church.

The Austrian Priests’ Initiative is concerned that the dwindling number of clergy is impacting the quality of pastoral care offered to baptized Catholics. Their “Call for Disobedience” suggests reforms such as the ordination of women and married men to address this unfolding crisis.

What makes Schüller an intriguing figure among reformers is that he is not simply an upstart parish priest. He spent years as a hierarchical insider, filling the very public roles of president of Caritas Austria and vicar general under Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. He has the rare insight of one who has served both in the hierarchy and in the parish. Rarer still, he has risked his position and privilege to be in full, outspoken solidarity with lay Catholic reformers.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
A Ram in the Thicket

By Ryan A. MacDonald

I grew up in the sprawling metropolis of New York City. My parents, being somewhat refined folks, took me to all of the city’s great cultural institutions, all within walking distance or a subway ride of home. During summer trips to a friend’s Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire home, however, all that hard won culture was cast off at a Weir’s Beach arcade where I excelled at a game called “Whack-a-Mole.” Armed with a heavy padded mallet, there was something cathartic about clobbering those moles popping up in rapid succession. In the summer of 1994, I was hands down the “Whack-a-Mole”champ of Weir’s Beach.

I was completely insulated back then, of course, from something happening in another corner of New Hampshire that year. As I played “Whack-a-Mole,” Catholic priest Gordon MacRae, today winding up nineteen years in prison, was fighting for his life and freedom in Cheshire County Superior Court sixty miles away in Keene, NH. Having studied in depth that debacle of a trial and all that preceded it, I know I’ve lost my “Whack-a-Mole” title to some folks in the “Live Free or Die” state.

As I prepare to publish this article, I have just learned that a pending habeas corpus appeal in the Father MacRae case was denied by Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler without a hearing on its new evidence or merits. This will bring about further appeals and additional media scrutiny of this case. The latest in a series of articles on the MacRae case by Wall Street Journal investigative writer, Dorothy Rabinowitz, drew international attention to this injustice. At WSJ.com, “The Trials of FatherMacRae” (May 11, 2013) was the most viewed and most emailed article of that week. At last count, it generated over 32,000 links and was cited in whole or in part in hundreds of other venues.

Among the more than 150 comments posted at the article’s on-line version, a few were from New Hampshire resident, Ms. Carolyn Disco, an outspoken critic of the Diocese of Manchester and of Father MacRae (who, by the way she has never met, seen, or spoken with). In posted comments at WSJ and other sites over recent years, Ms. Disco has played a skillful game of “Whack-a-Mole,” knocking down any and every exculpatory fact to vie for points in the one-sided propaganda game that fueled MacRae’s trial, sent him to prison, and keeps him there today. A few years ago, Carolyn Disco was honored by SNAP, the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests, for her outspoken pursuit of New Hampshire’s accused priests.

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MICHIGAN
My Fox Detroit

DETROIT, Mich. (AP) –
A Detroit-area man removed from the priesthood nine years ago has pleaded guilty to two federal child pornography charges.

The U.S. attorney’s office announced Wednesday that Timothy Murray made the pleas to one count of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

Prosecutors say the 62-year-old Novi resident used peer-to-peer software to trade child pornography with others, including an undercover Department of Homeland Security investigator.

A search warrant executed at Murray’s home recovered at least seven different computer devices containing child porn. Murray’s collection included more than 650 movies and 450 images.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 25, 2013

The priest who extracted a confession from paedophile Denis McAlinden has admitted he advised other clergy not to take notes of criminal admissions because it could be used as evidence in legal proceedings.

Father Brian Lucas, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference general secretary, yesterday gave a number of reasons it would be counter productive to create a permanent record of conversations with accused priests.

He told the special commission of inquiry into alleged Hunter clergy sexual abuse cover-up: “If you’re sitting in front of him taking notes he isn’t going to say anything, that’s my experience.”

Senior counsel assisting the commission Julia Lonergan SC put it to Father Lucas the real reason he was adverse to taking notes was because he knew it could be used in legal proceedings against the offending priests.

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MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

Emma Ockerman
Free Press Special Writer

Timothy Murray, a non-practicing Catholic priest with the Archdiocese of Detroit, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Detroit to one count of distributing child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Murray, 62, of Novi, was removed from public ministry in 2004 after he was accused of touching a 13-year-old boy’s genitalia. Then, he was not charged due to the length of time passed since the alleged abuse and the report of the allegation.

After a federal investigation conducted on Murray last year on suspicion of possession of child pornography, he was found to be trading child pornography with others, including an undercover Homeland Security special agent. That prompted a search warrant to be executed in Murray’s home.

The warrant uncovered at least seven different computer devices containing child pornography, with a collection that included 650 movies and over 450 images, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade’s office said in a press release. According to court documents, Murray told investigators that he viewed pornography weekly, and preferred 13-year-old males.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)/AUSTRALIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 24

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

A Jewish teacher who worked and abused in St. Louis and Australia has been sentenced to three years in jail but could be freed in about three months.

David Kramer, 52, is a former Yeshivah College teacher. He pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation in St. Louis in 2008 and was sentenced to a seven-year prison term.

This week in Australia, Kramer pled guilty to charges of molesting four boys there.

We urge Jewish officials – in Missouri and Australia – to do more. Kramer very likely hurt other kids. He could face other charges. And if he doesn’t, he could walk free soon and assault more children.

It’s not enough for religious figures to sit back and do little or nothing while victims, police and prosecutors work overtime to try to keep kids safe from criminals like Kramer. Every single person who saw, suspected or suffered Kramer’s crimes must find the courage to speak up now. And every single Jewish employee or synagogue member who has knowledge or suspicions of wrongdoing here must do likewise.

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: July 24, 2013

Statement by Becky Ianni Washington, DC/Virginia SNAP Director, SNAPVirginia@cox.net, 703-801-6044

A former pastor from Virginia has been charged with 12 counts of aggravated sexual battery on children less than 13 years of age taking place between January 2011 to September 2012.

Amongst the charges is the accusation that James Richard Daley, currently the pastor of the Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Luray, had inappropriately touched a female child. The wife of the predator, Margaret Daley—who also ran a day care out of their home—is being charged with failure to report child abuse and keeping a child in a dangerous environment.

We urge the leaders of Beth Eden Lutheran Church to inform their flock and community of this man’s crimes and ask that anyone with more information about Daley to come forward in order to insure he is kept in jail, safely away from children.

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CALIFORNIA
TheMediaReport

Making the news recently is California Senate Bill 131, which seeks to open up a one year “window” in 2014 allowing anyone over the age of 26 to sue the Catholic Church for damages stemming from clergy sex abuse. Suits would be allowed even if the alleged activity took place many decades ago and even if the accused abuser is long ago deceased, thus making it nearly impossible for the Church to effectively defend itself in court.

Sound familiar? It should. California enacted the exact same measure a decade ago, which led to the Catholic Church in California paying out $1.2 billion in settlements because of the “window” year of 2003 determined by the state legislature.

Indeed, it was implicit a decade ago that California’s temporary lifting of the statute of limitations was a one-time event that would give people who were abused decades ago a unique opportunity to come forward and collect damages. Yet cash-hungry contingency lawyers are at it again for a second round.

Yet a recent article about SB 131 in the Los Angeles Times by Ashley Powers, like other media coverage about the unfair bill, makes no mention at all of the Church-suing contingency lawyers who stand to score humongous settlements yet again if SB 131 passes.

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NEW JERSEY
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Jul 24, 2013

Imagine two teachers at a private school who are good friends, and one is fired by the headmaster as the result of credible accusations that he molested a teenage boy 25 years ago. The dismissed teacher relocates to his beach house where his friend also goes to live when he is not in residence on campus.

A decade after the dismissal, the house is damaged in a storm and the headmaster gives permission for the man to come live on campus with his friend. The rest of the school is not told anything about the man’s past. When the story comes out, the friend is forced to resign.

This is a secularized version of the story reported in the Newark Star Ledger by Mark Mueller on Sunday, about two priests of the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, Robert Chabak and Thomas Iwanowski. The headmaster? Archbishop John J. Myers, of course.

Myers’ spokesman, Jim Goodness, explained to Mueller that the decision to let Chabak stay at Iwanowski’s rectory was made “out of a sense of compassion.” As for Iwanowski, his comment to Mueller was, “He lived in the rectory and went to Mass every day. He didn’t do anything else. I don’t see the problem with that.”

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: July 24, 2013

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

A Detroit priest is expected to plead guilty to child porn charges today. For the safety of kids, we hope he’s jailed for a long time.

We also hope that Detroit Catholic officials will use their vast resources to reach out to anyone else who may have been hurt by Fr. Timothy Murray. It’s not enough for the archbishop to passively sit back doing nothing while the burden of keeping this criminal away from kids falls on victims, police and prosecutors. Archbishop Vigneron has tremendous power. He should use it to seek out and help every single person who was assaulted or exploited by Fr. Murray. He should use it to gather every bit of evidence law enforcement officials need to keep Fr. Murray behind bars for years. And he should use it to lobby Michigan lawmakers to reform the state’s archaic, predator-friendly statute of limitations that prevents most child molesters from ever being prosecuted.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 24

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

A page one New York Times story today documents troubling mistreatment of children at private institutions in Utah, California, Florida, South Carolina, Montana, Louisiana, Mexico, Jamaica, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere.

It’s immoral to outsource the safety of kids to private companies and institutions without any real oversight.

The Times reports that “there are no federal laws governing (these) schools” and “private boarding schools are not regularly inspected and are not required to be licensed or accredited” and there’s “little governmental control because the schools are regulated as religious institutions.”

Hasn’t the horrific, decades-long abuse and cover up in the Catholic church taught our society anything about the dangers of letting religious institutions deal with predators and children without regulation?

The Times also reports that

–“a 2011 Congressional bill that would have banned physical abuse and the withholding of food at such schools died in committee after it was opposed by lawmakers reluctant to impose new federal standards on a matter often regulated by states.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

July 25, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

Father Brian Lucas agreed that studying law taught the discipline of good note-taking.

But despite being a non-practising barrister with a fistful of law qualifications, the senior figure within the Catholic Church on Wednesday told an inquiry into sexual abuse he never made notes when dealing with about 35 priests accused of sex crimes.

The inquiry also heard that Father Brian wrote advice for clergy that it was a good idea not to take notes during interviews with accused priests to avoid the material being exposed during any ”subsequent legal process”.

Asked repeatedly about his own practice of not taking notes, Father Brian insisted it could be ”unproductive” because the priest would stop speaking with him.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian July 25, 2013

ONE of the country’s most powerful Catholics, Brian Lucas, does not remember his private meeting with pedophile priest Denis McAlinden.

But then, Father Lucas met dozens of pedophile priests during the early 1990s, convincing them to resign their positions, but taking no notes of the conversations and not reporting their crimes to the police.

“One had to, in some sense, seduce them to resign,” the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference yesterday told the NSW special commission of inquiry into church child abuse.

Working closely with the current chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, John Usher, Father Lucas said he met about 35 alleged pedophiles from across NSW over about six years.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

MONSIGNOR Cushley was appointed by the Catholic Church this morning and replaces Cardinal Keith O’Brien who left the post earlier this year after admitting inappropriate sexual conduct.

THE Catholic Church can recover from “the battering” it has taken in recent months, according to Monsignor Leo Cushley, who is to succeed disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien as the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The priests and people are “anxious to move on” from the scandal involving Cardinal O’Brien, who left the post earlier this year after admitting inappropriate sexual conduct, Mgr Cushley said.

He said he would take stock of what happened within the governance of the archdiocese when he is ordained on September 21.

The 52-year-old also expressed surprise at being appointed Archbishop, given his background as part of the Vatican’s diplomatic team, although he described the challenges of his new role as “comparatively easy” compared with previous situations he has faced.

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HAWAII
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

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

For immediate release: July 24, 2013

A predator priest has just been released on parole.

Fr. Mark Matson, a Catholic priest of the Colorado-based Theatine Fathers order, was tried and convicted in 2000 in Hawaii for sexual assaulting a 13-year-old boy. Matson was sentenced to 20 years.

[Star-Bulletin]

This week, he was freed. (See official notice below.)

We believe Catholic officials, in Hawaii, California, Texas and Colorado, should use their vast resources – parish bulletins, church websites, diocesan newspapers and pulpit announcements – to warn families about him.

In addition to his Hawaii conviction, Matson has been accused of abusing boys in Colorado and California. Furthermore, a Colorado man filed a civil suit against Matson for sexual molesting and assaulting him at 13 years old at St. Andrew’s Seminary in the 1970s. (Miami attorney Adam Horowitz represented the victim.)

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UNITED STATES
Berlin Daily Sun

By FRANK BRUNI

The men were spiritual leaders, held up before the children around them as wise and righteous and right. So they had special access to those kids. Special sway.

And when they exploited it by sexually abusing the children, according to civil and criminal cases from different places and periods, they were protected by their lofty stations and by the caretakers of their faith. The children’s accusations were met with skepticism. The community of the faithful either couldn’t believe what had happened or didn’t want it exposed to public view: why give outsiders a fresh cause to be critical? So the unpleasantness was hushed.

This is not a column about the Catholic Church.

This is a column about Orthodox Jews, who have recently had similar misdeeds exposed, similar cover-ups revealed.

And I’m writing it, yes, because the Catholic Church over the last two decades has absorbed the bulk of journalistic attention, my own included, in terms of child sexual abuse. There are compelling reasons that’s been so: Catholicism has more than one billion nominal adherents worldwide; endows its clerics with a degree of mysticism that many other denominations don’t; and is just centralized enough for scattered cover-ups to coalesce into something more like a conspiracy. The pattern of criminality and evasion has been staggering.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

When the NSW government enquiry into child sexual abuse and its cover-up in the Newcastle-Maitland Catholic church diocese heard evidence from Fr. Fletcher victim, “AH”, a strange thing happened. The assembled public, media representatives, lawyers and enquiry officials flooded the court with their tears. When he had finished his statement (see full transcript below), all media reported that the hearing chamber “erupted in spontaneous applause”.

Indeed, as he was about to leave the witness box, Commissioner Cunneen told him that “You must always remember, no shame attaches to you. Your courage has placed the shame squarely where it belongs.”

AH did not go into details of the abuse he had suffered, as it was detailed in his mother’s book. What he did go into was the effects the abuse had on him and his family. It was these effects, from an obviously impressive young man, that triggered the tears from those present.

The effects were what are becoming recognized as the standard for the victims of these pathetic priests and include alcohol use, relationship breakdowns, depression, business-failure and suicide attempts. As “AH” put it so well, “I actually thought I was just stuffing up my life until I realized I was a typical victim.”

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Fr. Brian Lucas has admitted to the NSW inquiry into Catholic Church cover-ups of child sexual abuse within the Newcastle-Maitland diocese that he did not take notes during meetings to ensure they could not be used later in court.

The meetings were of a committee established by the Bishop to review allegations against local priests. Lucas is a frequent media spokesman for the Sydney Archdiocese, headed by Cardinal George Pell. The name of the third member of the committee is the subject of a suppression order.

Lucas, who is also a lawyer, said it was a “serious and well understood dilemma” within church legal circles that clergy risked being charged with the crime of misprision of a felony (covering up a crime) if they did not go to police with victims’ complaints. He said he was prepared to take this risk when priests admitted their crimes to him.

One of the Australian Catholic Church’s most prominent and senior figures, Lucas admitted he also advised other clergy it was a good idea not to take notes of interviews with priests accused of sexual abuse so they “couldn’t be successfully used in legal action.”

Clearly, Lucas is defying the law. His close association with Cardinal Pell demands a reply from Pell, who remains on holiday in his palatial, $30 million apartments in Rome. Pell should be called before the enquiry to clarify this matter, but of course that is unlikely since the enquiry officials would probably think he was far too important to be called before them to answer the obvious questions.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

One of Australia’s most senior Catholics, Father Brian Lucas, has told the Cunneen Inquiry into the sexual abuse cover up, that he convinced 35 paedophile priests to resign from the church rather than reporting them to the police.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: A senior Catholic Church official has admitted he was willing to risk breaking the law by failing to report cases of clergy sex abuse to police.

Father Brian Lucas told the Special Commission of Inquiry into church sex abuse in Maitland-Newcastle that he’d never betray the trust of a victim if they didn’t want to go to police about abuse allegations.

Father Lucas said he’d been tasked with seducing alleged paedophile priests to resign, but took no notes of their confessions.

Emma Renwick reports.

EMMA RENWICK, REPORTER: As a lawyer, a priest and former media advisor, Father Brian Lucas is careful with his words.

Father Lucas was at the forefront of the Catholic Church’s process of dealing with paedophile priests in the 1980s and ’90s. His special role was convincing them to leave the ministry.

Today Father Lucas told the special inquiry into the cover up of child sexual abuse, “… one had to seduce them into agreeing to resign …”.

EMMA RENWICK: Later, Counsel Assisting asked, “How many of these matters have you dealt with?”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 24 July 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

– appointed Msgr. Leo Cushley as metropolitan archbishop of Saint. Andrews and Edinburgh (area 5,504, population 1,533,000, Catholics 115,900, priests 120, permanent deacons 4, religious 145), Scotland. The bishop-elect was born in Wester Moffat, Scotland in 1961 and was ordained a priest in 1985. He holds a licentiate in liturgy from the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm and a doctorate in canon law from the Gregorian Pontifical University. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish vicar of the cathedral “Our Lady of Good Aid” in Motherwell, chaplain of Our Lady’s High School, parish vicar of St. Serf’s, Airdrie, and chaplain of St. Margaret’s High School in Airdrie, Glasgow, and parish vicar at St. Aidan’s in Wishaw. He collaborated in the English section at the Secretariat of State before admission to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1997, serving in the Apostolic Nunciatures in Egypt, Burundi, Portugal, New York (United Nations) and South Africa. He is currently nunciature counsellor in the Section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

Evidence to a NSW inquiry has reveled senior clergy failed to act against a paedophile priest despite evidence they knew he’d been abusing girls for decades, and a warning this story contains graphic language.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: More damning evidence of the Catholic Church’s failure to report serial child sex abusers has emerged at an inquiry in New South Wales.

The focus of today’s hearing was Father Denis McAlinden, a veteran paedophile who abused dozens of children.

In the witness box was one of the Church’s most senior office holders, Father Brian Lucas, currently the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He’s played an integral role in the Church’s handling of paedophile priests and survivors have slammed him for failing to report offenders like McAlinden to the police.

Adam Harvey reports, and a warning: this story contains explicit language and sexual references.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

by STEPHEN McGINTY
Published on the
24 July

MONSIGNOR Leo Cushley has been named new Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh, replacing Cardinal Keith O’Brien who resigned in disgrace after admitting inappropriate behaviour with a number of priests.

• Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s successor named
• New Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh comes to role from Vatica’s foreign office

Monsignor Cushley, a priest from the Motherwell diocese, is currently working in the Vatican with its secretariat of state, the Vatican’s foreign office.

Cushley has been involved in the visits by heads of state to the Holy See, and was also present on the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK in 2010.

Cushley is believed to have been chosen on account of his “outsider” status and skills in diplomacy and conflict resolution, following service in troublespots during the civil wars in Burundi and Rwanda. He is also known to be a trusted aide and confidante of Pope Francis.

The new Archbishop will today deliver his first message to the Archdiocese which has been shocked by the scandal surrounding Cardinal O’Brien who was revealed to have had a number of inappropriate relationships with priests and seminarians.

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SCOTLAND
Motherwell Times

By Mike McQuaid
Published on 24/07/2013

A priest from Uddingston has been chosen to succeed the disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien as Archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrews.

Monsignor Leo Cushley (52) had been head of the English language section at the Vatican, a post he held for four years.

He was the official English translator for Pope Benedict, who stepped down earlier this year.

And when the newly-elected Pope Francis addressed cardinals for the first time in March, Mgr Cushley acted as his personal secretary.

Mgr Cushley, a former pupil at St John’s School in Uddingston, was ordained a priest in 1985. He served as a curate at Motherwell Cathedral and chaplain at St Aidan’s High School in Wishaw before moving to the Vatican’s diplomatic corps.

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

Mgr Leo Cushley is to become the next archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, succeeding Cardinal Keith O’Brien who resigned in February amid revelations of sexual misconduct, the Vatican announced this morning.

Glasgow-born Mgr Cushley, 52, was ordained in 1985 and spent eight years as an assistant priest serving in the Diocese of Motherwell before he was called to Rome to be trained as a diplomat at the prestigious Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

His first posting in 1997 was to the troubled central African nation of Burundi. In 2001 he was sent to Portugal and in 2004 he moved to work at the Vatican’s diplomatic mission at the United Nations for three years. After a posting at the nunciature in South Africa he was asked back to work in the Vatican, where he has been head of the English-speaking section of the Secretariat of State.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh News

Pope Francis today appointed Monsignor Leo Cushley as the new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

He will take over the governance of the Archdiocese from Archbishop Philip Tartaglia who has been Apostolic Administrator following the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who was the most senior Catholic cleric in Britain.

Mgr Cushley, 52, is presently Head of the English-language section of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and has been a close collaborator of

both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. In his capacity as Prelate of the Anticamera Mgr Cushley has been regularly involved in the visits of Heads of State and other important guests to the Holy See.

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SCOTLAND
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Andrews & Edinburgh

on Wednesday 24th July 2013

It is with great joy and gratitude that the priests and people of the Archdiocese received the news that Pope Francis has today nominated Monsignor Leo William Cushley as the 8th Archbishop and Metropolitan of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

Commenting on the news, Bishop Stephen Robson, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese, said ‘after months of prayer by the priests and people of the Archdiocese, we are so delighted to learn that God has given us Monsignor Cushley as our new chief pastor. We will now continue to be close to him in prayer in these coming months as he prepares for his ordination and to take on this great task which the Lord has entrusted to him.’

Monsignor Cushley was born at Wester Moffat, Lanarkshire in 1961. He attended Holy Cross High School, Hamilton and the National Minor Seminary of St Mary’s College, Blairs. He was a student at the Pontifical Scots College, the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of Sant’ Anselmo. On 7th July 1985 he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Motherwell at St John the Baptist Church, Uddingston by the Right Reverend Joseph Devine, Bishop of Motherwell. After ordination he was appointed curate at Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral, Motherwell and then at St Serf’s, Airdrie in 1988.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Guide

By Barnaby Miln – Posted on 24 July 2013

Pope Francis has appointed Monsignor Leo Cushley as Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Andrews & Edinburgh.

The new Archbishop will take over the governance of the Archdiocese from Archbishop Philip Tartaglia who has been Apostolic Administrator following the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who was Archbishop from August 1985 until March 2013.

Mgr Cushley is presently Head of the English-language section of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and has been a close collaborator of both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. In his capacity as Prelate of the Anticamera Mgr Cushley has been regularly involved in the visits of Heads of State and other important guests to the Holy See. Recently he has assisted as Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, the Archbishop of Canterbury and many other high profile visitors called upon the Pope.

As Head of the English section of the Secretariat of State it was his task to accompany the Holy Father to English-speaking countries. During 2010 he accompanied Pope Benedict to Malta and Cyprus as well as the United Kingdom. During that visit, at Bellahouston, Mgr Cushley had the pleasure of presenting his family to Pope Benedict.

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SCOTLAND
East Kilbride News

Jul 24 2013
Monsignor Leo Cushley has been appointed Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh by the Roman Catholic Church, replacing Cardinal Keith O’Brien who left the post earlier this year after admitting inappropriate sexual conduct.

Mgr Cushley, 52, is currently head of the English language section of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and returns to Scotland where he was born and ordained a priest in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, in 1985.

He will be ordained as archbishop in St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, on September 21.

He said: “I am humbled that our Holy Father Pope Francis has nominated me for such an important task here in our ancient capital. I know it’s a delicate moment and that there is a lot to be done but, with God’s grace and the kind support of the clergy and people of Edinburgh, I will work cheerfully and willingly with all the energy I can muster.”

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SCOTLAND
The Guardian

Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 July 2013

A senior Vatican official has been appointed to replace the disgraced Scottish cardinal Keith O’Brien as archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrews.

Monsignor Leo Cushley, 52, a close and influential adviser to Pope Benedict and his successor Pope Francis, is based in Rome as head of the English language section of the Vatican’s civil service, functioning as a senior career diplomat for the Holy See.

The appointment to succeed O’Brien, five months after he resigned in disgrace after the Observer revealed allegations of sexual impropriety, has come sooner than commentators had expected, suggesting the Vatican is keen to draw a line under the affair.

In a statement to mark his appointment, Cushley alluded to the O’Brien crisis by acknowledging it was a “delicate” time for the Scottish church, and warned he would need months to get to grips with his new post and the damage caused by the scandal.

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Don Marks

I will never forget the first time I heard about the horror of Indian residential schools. It was 1982 and I had been commissioned to write a play for the World Assembly of First Nations. A musical combining traditional native song and dance with contemporary rock, jazz, blues, classical and operatic styles, the play was to cover 500 years of history of First Nations in North America.

My script had to be checked by elders throughout Saskatchewan, and when I told them the play was going to be presented at the magnificent mainstream Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts, many of them told me this might be a fine opportunity to finally tell the world about their experiences at “boarding school.”

I had never heard about this sad chapter in Canada’s history and some of the stories went way beyond what we have since learned about physical and sexual abuse, cultural genocide and the latest revelation that entire communities were used as “laboratories” with people as guinea pigs for experiments about malnutrition.

My first reaction was one of horror, then shame, then guilt, even though I knew full well I would never be a part of such atrocities and I would never support such terrible behaviour. I was pretty sure I would do everything I could to expose such a wrong and try to get it stopped and prevent it from happening in the future.

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

BY MICHAEL WOODS, POSTMEDIA NEWS JULY 23, 2013

OTTAWA — Grassroots indigenous activists are calling on the Harper government to honour the 2008 Indian residential schools apology, part of the ongoing fallout from news that aboriginal adults and children were unwitting subjects of nutritional experiments run by government bureaucrats in the 1940s and 1950s.

News of the experiments has provoked mass outrage and also led to renewed scrutiny of what critics see as the government’s lack of cooperation with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) efforts to compile a historical record of Indian residential schools.

The experiments, which involved intentionally depriving 1,300 aboriginal people — including children in several residential schools — of important vitamins and leaving them malnourished between 1942 and 1952, were detailed in a research paper by University of Guelph food historian Ian Mosby.

The news provoked horror among non-aboriginal Canadians, and outrage coupled with a sad sense of familiarity among indigenous peoples whose relatives have told them of such horrors that took place at the government-funded, church-run residential schools.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

July 24, 2013 by J-Wire Staff

53-yr-old convicted paedophile Rabbi David Kramer has been sentenced to a maximum of three years and four months for sexually abusing students at Melbourne’s Yeshiva Centre but will possibly be a free man in three months’ time given the time he has spent in detention…and one of his victims has made a statement.

Kramer had been a teacher at Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre. Kramer was sentenced to a non-parole period of 18 months imprisonment but he has already served 457 days in pre-sentence detention.
Prior to the sentencing, one of the US-based victims requested to (belatedly) submit a Victim Impact Statement. We are thankful that the judge agreed to this request. The victim requested that Tzedek CEO Manny Waks read the statement on his behalf, which he did with great difficulty.

Tzedek CEO Manny Waks issued the following statement :

“Today is another important milestone for the Australian Jewish community. Justice has finally been served.

“We must acknowledge and thank the courageous victims in standing up to these heinous crimes that were committed against them when they were most vulnerable – as innocent children.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian

Melbourne’s Yeshivah College apologises for ‘protecting’ teacher jailed for sexual assault

A MELBOURNE Jewish school has apologised for not telling police of allegations against a teacher jailed today for sexually assaulting schoolboys.

David Kramer, 53, was today sentenced to three years and four months in prison for groping four boys through their clothing between 1990 and 1992 while a teacher at Yeshivah College.

Angry parents accused Yeshivah College of protecting Kramer by sending him to Israel after it was alerted to allegations against him, and today demanded an apology.

Following today’s sentencing, college principal Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler issued an “unreserved apology for any historical wrongs”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

July 24, 2013

Stephen Cauchi

A Jewish teacher who molested four boys at Melbourne’s Yeshivah College over 20 years ago has been sentenced to three years and four months in jail.

But David Kramer, 52, could be out of jail in 100 days. He was sentenced to a non-parole period of 18 months but has already served 457 days in pre-sentence detention.

Kramer was sentenced in Melbourne’s County Court by Judge Michael Bourke on five counts of indecent assault and one of indecent acts against a child under 16.

Outside the court, Jewish child sexual abuse survivor and advocate Manny Waks said the sentence was “a little bit lower than we anticipated but justice has been served.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

July 24, 2013

Joel Cresswell
AAP

A Melbourne Jewish school has apologised for covering up the sexual abuse of students by a teacher.

David Kramer, 53, has been jailed for three years and four months for fondling four schoolboys between 1990 and 1992 while a teacher at Yeshivah College.

The St Kilda school did not alert police and sent Kramer to Israel when confronted by angry parents in 1993.

Yeshivah principal Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler unreservedly apologised for the “historical wrongs” after Kramer’s sentencing on Wednesday.

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“Yeshivah sincerely regrets and unreservedly apologises for not informing the police at the time the allegations arose,” Rabbi Smukler said in a statement.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former teacher at a Jewish primary school in Melbourne has been sentenced to three years and four months in jail for sexually assaulting four students.

David Kramer, 52, pleaded guilty to five charges of indecent assault and one of an indecent act with a child under 16.

The offences were committed against four boys aged between 10 and 11 at the Yeshivah College in St Kilda East between 1989 and 1992.

In his sentencing remarks the Victorian County Court judge revealed the college received complaints about Kramer’s offending at the time but no report was made to police.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN JULY 24, 2013

A JEWISH teacher who committed “unforgivable” crimes on four students at an orthodox Melbourne school has been jailed for a maximum of three years and four months.

But father of 11 Rabbi David Kramer could walk free from prison after just three months because of time already served in pre-sentence detention.

The 53-year-old paedophile is believed to be the first member of a Jewish institution in Australia to have admitted – and been sentenced for – child sex crimes.

The sentence was welcomed by victims, who said while it was lower than they had hoped, justice had been served.

Kramer pleaded guilty to molesting four boys while teaching at Yeshiva College in the early 1990s before fleeing to the US, where he was jailed for further offending.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

Posted by Devin McGinley (Editor), July 22, 2013

Prosecutors voiced concerns about the proximity to children of Michael Fugee, the pastor accused more than a decade ago of groping a Wyckoff teenager, long before he was arrested in May for allegedly violating a court order to cease his work with minors, according to records obtained by Northjersey.com

Fugee was imprisoned in 2003 on charges of sexual misconduct, but his conviction was overturned due to a judicial error in 2006. Prosecutors opted not to retry Fugee, instead allowing him to return to the church under an agreement between the court, the priest and the Archdiocese of Newark that he concede to a lifelong ban on ministering to children.

Fugee now faces charges that he violated the order on seven occasions by hearing confessions from minors around the state, and according to a report by Northjersey.com prosecutors were concerned as early as 2009, the year Fugee began working again under the auspices of the church, that the supervision of the priest by the archdiocese was inadequate.

In a brief filed in 2010, which blocked an attempt by Fugee to expunge his conviction and seal evidence pertaining to the case, prosecutors told the court that “Fugee and the Archdiocese recently teetered on a potential violation of his agreed to restrictions” with a 2009 assignment to St. Michael’s Hospital in Newark.

In that instance, prosecutors wrote, authorities had been alerted to the potential violation only through news reports. Fugee’s alleged contact with children this year was again brought to light by news reports that the priest had accompanied youth retreats at various central New Jersey churches.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Parishioners of an Oradell church were never told that a suspected child sex offender was allowed to live in the rectory, yet a Newark Archdiocese spokesman said the public was never at risk.

But public outcry about this incident, and two others involving a disgraced Wyckoff cleric, have underscored potential conflicts between church operations and the public’s right to know when troubled priests are in their midst.

The archdiocese’s mind-set, a Catholic church expert says, “flies in the face” of developments in criminal law — where sex offenders are required to register with authorities and to live certain distances from schools and child-care centers.

The Rev. Robert Chabak was stripped of priestly duties after church officials, investigating a complaint, found “sufficient evidence” that he abused a teenage boy in the 1970s. While he “vehemently denied” the accusations, he chose to resign in 2004 when the archdiocese planned to take action under church law, said Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the archdiocese. The statute of limitations had expired and Chabak was not criminally charged.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 24, 2013

The priest who extracted a confession from paedohpile Denis McAlinden agreed it was his “published view” not to take notes of criminal admissions because it could be used as evidence in legal procedures.

During a morning of cross-examination at the Special Commission of Inquiry, Father Brian Lucas, the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, gave a number of reasons why it would be counter-productive to create a “permanent record” of conversations with accused priests.

“If you’re sitting in front of him taking notes he isn’t going to say anything – that’s my experience,” said Father Lucas who went on to explain that evidence also could be inadmissible.

Senior counsel assisting the commission Julia Lonergan SC put it to Father Lucas the real reason he was adverse to taking notes is because he knew it could be used in legal procedures against the offending priests.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 24, 2013

A SENIOR cleric has blamed his counterparts in the Philippines for letting disgraced paedophile Denis McAlinden act as a priest in a school with thousands of children.

Father Brian Lucas, general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, told the Special Commission of Inquiry sitting in Newcastle yesterday that he was absolutely disgusted that any bishop would allow someone in McAlinden’s position to work in the diocese.

Asked whether he knew the church this end had told the Philippinos about McAlinden’s offences, he said there was no need to because McAlinden should not have been able to work without the proper documents.

He said he was appalled the Philippino bishops would have been ‘‘so fundamentally careless’’ in not following the fundamentals of church policy.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian July 24, 2013

ONE of the most senior officials in the Catholic church personally interviewed dozens of alleged pedophile priests, many of whom admitted their crimes, but took no notes as they might have been used in legal action, an inquiry has heard.

Brian Lucas, the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, told the NSW special commission of inquiry into church child abuse that his role was to “seduce them to resign.”

One of the priests Father Lucas interviewed, Denis McAlinden, was subsequently subject to an arrest warrant issued by NSW Police, but died before being charged, the inquiry has heard. Another is currently before the courts, charged with child sex abuse.

Giving evidence this morning, Father Lucas said McAlinden had admitted abusing children and he had been prepared to risk committing an offence himself by not reporting this to police.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan, asked Father Lucas if he did not take notes during these meetings as “you didn’t want it to have to be disclosed in any subsequent legal process?”

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VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph (UK)

By Damian Thompson
Last updated: July 23rd, 2013

The world’s press are – understandably – focussing on Pope Francis’s visit to World Youth Day in Brazil: it is nice to see such positive coverage of a Pope who deserves it, such is the freshness and vigour he has brought to his role. But I can’t help thinking that, if Benedict XVI were in Brazil, the media would talk about celebrations “overshadowed” by the extraordinary allegations facing Mgr Battista Ricca, the man appointed by Francis to oversee reform of the Vatican Bank. (For background, read my post here.)

The are reports that Ricca, 57, who was allegedly caught stuck in a lift with a rent boy, has tendered his resignation to the Pope. We don’t know if this is true, though the level of detail about Mgr Ricca’s allegedly flamboyant gay past supplied by leading Vaticanologist Sandro Magister suggests that his position is untenable. Should Francis accept a resignation, he’d leave people wondering why his own press officer brushed off the allegations against Ricca who, as director of the Domus Santa Marta hostel where the Pope lives, often eats with the Holy Father.

The following is from a well-connected priest source. It’s partly guesswork – but the Ricca affair is so mysterious, and its possible consequences so serious, that informed speculation needs to be taken seriously, at least by those commentators trying to work out whether Pope Francis will succeed in his mission to clean up the Vatican. The emphases in bold type are mine.

The first thing is that it is truly without precedent for someone like Magister, who is no tabloid sensationalizer, to put his career on the line in this way. I think he can be trusted, and ought to be supported. He is a loyal Ratzingerian, and was before it became fashionable. He is not naive. It is quite posssible that his sources are trying to use him, but he would not play such a hand with such decisive stakes unless he believed it was necessary for the good of the Church.

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VATICAN
Cath.ch

Rattrapé par des révélations sur son homosexualité, Mgr Ricca aurait présenté sa démission au pape

Après les révélations de l’hebdomadaire italien L’Espresso sur ses activités homosexuelles, Mgr Battista Ricca, récemment nommé prélat de l’Institut pour les œuvres de religions (IOR), aurait présenté sa démission au pape François, a appris l’agence I.MEDIA à Rome.

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VATICAN CITY
Pink News

by Scott Roberts
23 July 2013

The Prelate of the Vatican bank, Monsignor Battista Ricca, who is facing claims of inappropriate sexual behaviour, has offered to resign, according to an Italian news agency.

I Media, which specialises in covering the Vatican, say Monsignor Ricca offered his resignation to Pope Francis on Saturday, but it remains unknown if it’s been accepted.

Pope Francis, who appointed Monsignor Ricca to reform the Vatican bank in June, is currently on a tour of Brazil.

Earlier this month Italian journalist Sandro Magister, from the magazine L’Espresso, claimed Monsignor Ricca provided accommodation and a job for a male companion while he was assigned as a Vatican diplomat in Uruguay between 1999 and 2001.

According to Mr Magister, when Monsignor Ricca arrived he arranged for a male friend and captain in the Swiss army to live with him in the embassy, it is said that the “intimacy” of their relationship created a scandal.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Inquiry needed to compel congregations to reveal truth about treatment of Magdalenes

James S Smith

The Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, and Good Shepherd Sisters will not apologise to survivors of the Magdalene laundries. As stated on RTÉ’s The God Slot programme (8th March), the nuns claim there is nothing to apologise for – they provided refuge to women abandoned by their families, the State and Irish society.

Neither will the congregations make a financial contribution to the Government’s reparations scheme, which was founded on the tenets of restorative justice. In holding to this position, the orders expose the Achilles heel of the Government’s Magdalene policy over the past two years – a policy dependent on the congregations’ voluntary co-operation.

Co-operation voluntarily given does not compel the nuns in any legal sense. Their negative response invalidates the Government’s assertion that survivors are being afforded restorative justice. There is no justice without the nuns’ apology and/or financial reparation.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter told the Dáil the nuns seek reconciliation with survivors. But the legal definition of reconciliation “ordinarily implies forgiveness for injuries on either or both sides”. Instead, the orders expect an amnesty for gross human rights violations.

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

Marie Madden

The treatment of the women of the Magdalene Laundries is a subject that continues to grip and horrify the nation, but one of the first true insights into the lives of these victims was written by a Galway woman and revealed to the nation in 1992.

The treatment of the women of the Magdalene Laundries is a subject that continues to grip and horrify the nation, but one of the first true insights into the lives of the survivors was written by a Galway woman and revealed to the nation in 1992.

‘Eclipsed’ by Patricia Burke Brogan tells the story of a young novice nun who is set to work in a Magdalene Laundry and is hugely troubled by her experiences. It draws on Ms Burke Brogan’s true-life experiences and aims to show the day-to-day reality of life for those interned in these religious prisons.

When first performed by Punchbag Theatre in 1992, the play drew scorn and abuse on the writer, with Ms Burke Brogan once telling me that someone had cut her picture out of the paper and drawn horns and different symbols on it before sending it to her home.

“I got up one morning and this had been thrown in the door, which was very upsetting and hard to handle. People thought I was being anti-Church but I wasn’t. Everyone blamed the sisters, but the State did nothing to intervene.”

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Andrew Hamilton | 24 July 2013

Geoffrey Robinson’s book ‘For Christ’s Sake’ features that title superimposed over the image of a person in silhouette holding up a crossCulture has become a popular word to analyse organisations whose members do bad things: football clubs whose players dismantle bars and their patrons; political parties whose members are paraded before courts; and churches in which sexual abuse has been rife.

The culture of an organisation comprises the shared attitudes, values, patterns of relationship and practices that make it more likely that members will act in particular ways. In an army unit where there is a culture of binge drinking and contempt for women, more incidents of sexual assault may well occur than in other units where these features are absent.

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson’s recent book on the culture of the Catholic Church carries on his critique of the factors that have contributed to clerical sexual abuse of children and to denial and concealment of it. The aspects of Catholic culture that he believes conducive to it include: a relationship with God dominated by fear; immaturity; compulsory clerical celibacy, an exclusively male caste standing over the church; a lonely way of life; a cult of privacy and secrecy; a compulsive need to defend the actions and attitudes of the Pope.

Together these things made it more likely that priests will be tempted to abuse children, will have the opportunity to do so, will abuse with impunity, and have their actions denied and covered up by others.

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VIRGINIA
NV Daily

By Joe Beck

A Page County grand jury Monday handed up indictments of 12 counts of aggravated sexual battery of a child less than 13 years old against the former pastor of a church in Shenandoah County.

Page County Sheriff John B. Thomas said the defendant, James Richard Daley, 70, now pastor of the Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Luray, was arrested after someone reported him to the Luray Police Department. Daley remained held without bond in the Page County Jail on Tuesday afternoon.

Daley was pastor at the Lebanon Lutheran Church in Lebanon Church for several years in the 1980s.

News of Daley’s indictments stunned John D. Cutlip, the current pastor of Lebanon Lutheran. Cutlip said he has been in sporadic contact with Daley through the years, most recently two or more years ago when they co-officiated at a wedding.

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AUSTRALIA
Blayney Chronicle

By Catherine Armitage July 24, 2013

One of the Australian Catholic Church’s most prominent and senior figures has admitted he advised other clergy it was a good idea not to take notes of interviews with priests accused of sexual abuse so they couldn’t be successfully used in legal action.

Father Brian Lucas, a frequent media spokesman for the archdiocese of Sydney and general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference said he had dealt with about 35 accused priests around NSW from 1990 to 1995 when he was part of a team whose job was to confront them and persuade them out of the ministry.

He gave evidence to the NSW government inquiry into alleged police and church cover-ups of sexual abuse by priests in the Hunter Valley that he had persuaded more than 10 of them to leave the ministry.

He said if he had taken notes fairness would have required that he check them with the accused for accuracy. Asked whether he had ever done that he said no.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A senior Catholic Church official says he was willing to risk breaking the law by not reporting child sexual abuse allegations against a Hunter Valley priest.

Father Brian Lucas is a former lawyer and the current general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops conference.

He is giving evidence at the New South Wales inquiry investigating claims the church covered up abuse by two Maitland-Newcastle priests, Father James Fletcher and Father Denis McAlinden.

Father Lucas has told the inquiry he did not take notes during meetings to ensure they could not be used later in court.

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MICHIGAN
Desert Sun

Written by
Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

There was supposed to be someone from the Archdiocese of Detroit watching Timothy Murray of Novi, a Catholic priest banned from working in the Catholic Church because of sexual misconduct.

But the archdiocese did not know what Murray was doing inside his home. And last year, federal agents investigated him for possession and distribution of child pornography.

Today in federal court, Murray is scheduled to plead guilty to child pornography charges, which could put him in prison 20-30 years. According to court documents, he was in possession of sexually explicit videos of boys ages 6-16 and had downloaded roughly 500 images of child pornography from the Internet.

Murray told investigators that he viewed porn weekly and preferred 13-year-old males, court documents reported.

Murray’s case illustrates the conundrum facing the Catholic Church: What do you do with priests accused of long-ago sexual abuse? Because technically, the former pastor of St. Edith parish in Livonia is still a Catholic priest.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 July 2013

A Catholic priest who encouraged paedophile clergy in NSW and the ACT to resign has admitted he never took notes during confidential meetings with them.

Father Brian Lucas on Wednesday appeared at Newcastle supreme court for a special commission of inquiry into how church leaders and police handled child sexual abuse allegations against two Hunter Valley priests, Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

Barrister assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan, asked Lucas if he thought it was unwise to take notes during the meetings in case he had to make them public in subsequent legal proceedings.

“I think that would be reasonable comment,” Lucas answered.

Lucas said after discussions with paedophile priests he reported what was said to their bishops and left it to them and their advisers to take whatever action they considered appropriate.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A paedophile NSW priest stripped of his authority allegedly pretended to be a cleric and became a school chaplain in the Philippines.

The claim has been revealed at an inquiry examining how church leaders and police handled reports of child sexual abuse by fathers Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher in the Hunter region of NSW.

Barrister assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan, said Fr McAlinden wrote to Maitland-Newcastle bishop Leo Clarke in 1995 claiming to have heard “no less than 10,000 confessions” in six months working in the Philippines’ San Pablo diocese.

In the letter, Fr McAlinden said he had made admissions of “past failings” to senior NSW Catholic priest Brian Lucas but, through prayer, was no longer that way inclined.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Monsignor Leo Cushley has been appointed Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh by the Catholic Church, replacing Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who left the post earlier this year after admitting inappropriate sexual conduct.

More soon…

Mgr Cushley, 52, is currently head of the English-language section of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and has been a close collaborator of both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

In that capacity, Mgr Cushley has been regularly involved in the visits of heads of state and other important guests to the Holy See, inmcluding Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

As head of the English section of the Secretariat of State it was his task to accompany the Holy Father to English-speaking countries.

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SCOTLAND
STV

The Catholic Church have named Monsignor Leo Cushley as the new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien stood down at the end of February amid allegations of “inappropriate behaviour”.

In Edinburgh on Wednesday, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia introduced Mgr Cushley as the new archbishop-elect.

Mgr Cushley works in the Vatican’s secretariat of state as a papal translator. As head of the English Language desk, he is responsible for relations with the English-speaking world.

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SCOTLAND
Catholic Herald

Pope Francis has named Mgr Leo Cushley as the new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The appointment was announced at noon today in Rome. The archbishop-elect succeeds Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who led the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh from 1985 until his resignation in February.

Mgr Cushley is currently head of the English-language section of the Vatican Secretariat of State and has been a close collaborator of both Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. In his capacity as Prelate of the Anticamera, Mgr Cushley has been involved in the visits of heads of state and other important guests to the Holy See. Recently he has assisted the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, and many other high-profile visitors to the Vatican.

As head of the English section of the Secretariat of State it was his task to accompany the Holy Father to English-speaking countries. In 2010 he accompanied Benedict XVI to Malta, Cyprus and Britain.

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BRAZIL
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Jul. 23, 2013 NCR Today

RIO DE JANEIRO Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia is renowned for speaking plainly, which in part means he’s often willing to say things out loud that others in his position may sense but are hesitant to acknowledge.

During an interview in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, for instance, Chaput bluntly tackled three questions about Pope Francis, his early record, and his current trip to Brazil:

* The 68-year-old Capuchin conceded that last night’s mob scene with the papal motorcade was a “frightening moment,” hinting that perhaps Francis could listen a bit more to handlers charged with his safety and saying, “There has to be some distance between the crowds and the Holy Father.”

* Chaput acknowledged that members of the right wing of the Catholic church “generally have not been really happy” with some aspects of Francis’ early months and said the pope will have to find a way “to care for them, too.”

* Chaput defended Francis on concerns in some circles that he’s been silent on abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia, saying, “I can’t imagine he won’t be as pro-life and pro-traditional marriage as any of the other popes.” He insisted the bishop of Rome “has to talk about those things.”

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TENNESSEE
WATE

By LAURA HALM
6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) – Attorneys for a former Knoxville priest convicted of child rape returned to a courtroom Tuesday to appeal his conviction.

William Casey was convicted in 2011 in Sullivan County of criminal sexual conduct and aggravated rape in a case that dated back to the 1970s.

He was sentenced to a 35-year prison term.

The victim, Warren Tucker, is now in his forties. He says the abuse lasted for years.

The defense team is asking the Tennessee Court of Appeals judges to dismiss Casey’s conviction.

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TENNESSE
KnoxNews

By Jamie Satterfield
Posted July 23, 2013

The fate of a former Kingsport priest convicted in a decades-old molestation of an altar boy could rest on the shoulders of another Tennessee child rapist.

Attorneys for William “Bill” Casey, 79, on Tuesday asked a three-judge panel of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals to toss out convictions the former priest received in the molestation of a then-teenager more than three decades ago. The victim, Warren Tucker, now in his late 40s, did not disclose the molestation to law enforcement until 2010.

Father and son defense team Rick Spivey and Matthew Spivey are relying in large part on a Wilson County child rape case in which the victim kept the rape quiet for 42 years in arguing Casey’s constitutional rights were violated, and the case should be thrown out.

It was 1950 when Harold Winter Gray allegedly raped his niece. It would be 1992 — when she said she became concerned about possible molestation of Gray’s granddaughter — before she went to authorities.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Government has confirmed that it does not think there is a basis to include the Bethany Home residents for compensation within the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme.

It’s also decided that it’s not going to introduce a specific scheme for the Bethany Home resident.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Government has decided it will not be introducing a redress scheme for survivors of the Protestant Bethany Home.

However, it has said it is willing to look at the questions of a memorial and the availability of records with regard to the institution.

The Government said it had confirmed the view expressed by Minister Ruairi Quinn two years ago that there was no basis for revisiting the previous government’s decision not to include the Bethany Home within the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme.

The Bethany Survivors Group has strongly criticised the Government’s decision.

Chairperson of the group Derek Leinster said: “The offer to look at records production and “modest” funding for a memorial is an insult.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Steven Carroll, Arthur Beesley

The Government has ruled out creating a redress scheme for former residents of the Bethany Mother and Child Home and stated that they will not be able to access existing compensation funds.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, who briefed Cabinet colleagues on the matter today, said he understood the decision would be “disappointing” for the former residents.

Mr Shatter said the Government was willing to look at developing a memorial and making records relating to the Protestant-run home available.

“I understand this is disappointing for the group involved but the Government has taken its time and arrived carefully at this decision,” he said.

The Bethany Home Survivors Group said an offer of “modest funding” towards a memorial and making records available was “an insult” and that it would continue its campaign for justice.

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TEXAS
Amarillo Globe-News

By Jim McBride
jim.mcbride@amarillo.com

An attorney representing a former Tulia priest facing child indecency charges has asked a judge to change the location of the trial, citing extensive local and national publicity.

Lubbock Attorney Rod Hobson said in court documents that John Anthony Salazar, 57, charged with indecency with a child for allegedly touching a 12-year-old boy’s genitals, cannot obtain a fair trial in Tulia. The alleged abuse began in 1997.

“It is feared that many, many people that would be potential jurors in this case have already made up their mind on Salazar’s guilt. There exists in the community such a great prejudice that the defendant cannot receive a fair and impartial trial in this county,” according to a motion for a change of venue.

The motion also includes statements from three Swisher County residents who agree that Salazar can’t receive a fair trial in Tulia.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

July 24, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

He has moved on with his life but even nine years after the court case, the man who endured years of “dreadful” abuse as a boy by a Catholic priest in the Hunter Valley could not keep the incredulity from his voice.

On that day in 2004 when Father James Fletcher was found guilty of all charges of sexually abusing him, Fletcher’s bishop, Michael Malone – “his” bishop, his father’s boss – rang his home and asked his father to put him on the phone.

“I still remember, he told me that Fletcher would never work in the diocese again and he asked me to keep my faith. To this day I wonder what faith he was talking about,” the man known as AH told the silent courtroom at the NSW government inquiry into alleged church and police cover-ups of child sexual abuse by priests in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese.

AH told of how he was “an innocent little kid with a big hope for the future” when Fletcher stole the promise from his life. He remembered other things in gut-wrenching detail. The priest’s number plate – JPF004 – ”will always be in my head”. He remembered how during the trial, clergy visited and supported Fletcher but none went near him and his family, they “didn’t want to look at us”. It was a feeling of two sides, he said, “completely opposite”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A victim of a Hunter Valley paedophile priest has praised the policeman who blew the whistle on an alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

The inquiry is investigating allegations the Catholic church covered-up abuse by priests Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

Fletcher died in jail just two years into his 10-year sentence for abusing a victim, known as AH.

AH told the inquiry he wonders how different his life would be if senior clergy had taken action against Fletcher years before his abuse, instead of moving the priest from parish to parish.

“There are many, many more victims so I want the commission to uncover that,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Adelle M. Banks| Religion News Service, Tuesday, July 23

More than 1,200 people have signed an online petition decrying the “silence” and “inattention” of evangelical leaders to sexual abuse in their churches.

The statement was prompted by recent child abuse allegations against Sovereign Grace Ministries, an umbrella group of 80 Reformed evangelical churches based in Louisville, Ky.

“Recent allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up within a well known international ministry and subsequent public statements by several evangelical leaders have angered and distressed many, both inside and outside of the Church,” reads the three-page statement spearheaded by GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment).

“These events expose the troubling reality that, far too often, the Church’s instincts are no different than from those of many other institutions, responding to such allegations by moving to protect her structures rather than her children.”

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CHILE
La Tercera

por Karen Soto Galindo – 23/07/2013

El ministro de fuero, Juan Manuel Muñoz, fijó para el próximo 8 de agosto la toma de declaración del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, en el marco de la indagatoria solicitada por los denunciantes, para luego interponer una demanda civil en contra del Arzobispado de Santiago.

La diligencia se realizará en un convento ubicado en Parque Bustamante de Santiago, donde el sacerdote cumple penitencia tras ser condenado por el Vaticano por el delito de abuso sexual.

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CHILE
Terra

Caso Karadima: juez fija para el 8 de agosto el interrogatorio a sacerdote en acción civil

El ministro de fuero, Juan Muñoz Pardo, reagendó todos los interrogatorios al sacerdote Fernando Karadima y otros dos sacerdotes por la demanda contra el Arzobispado de Santiago que presentaron tres de sus víctimas.

El magistrado fijó las diligencias para este jueves 8 de agosto, a las 16 horas, en el lugar de enclaustamiento eclesiástico contra el ex párroco de El Bosque.

En noviembre del año pasado, el médico James Hamilton, el filósofo Juan Andrés Murillo y el periodista Juan Carlos Cruz interpusieron una “pre demanda” civil por daños y perjuicios, en la que exigirán al Arzobispado de Santiago una indemnización económica.

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TENNESSEE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: July 23, 2013

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

We hope a judge will affirm the conviction of Father William Casey who sexually assaulted a boy and was found guilty in 2011. For the safety of kids, he should remain in prison.

We hope that other victims and witnesses will look to this case for the inspiration to come forward. Although putting a predator in prison doesn’t undo the crime, it does prevent the same from happening to other children.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

by STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on the
23 July

THE new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh is to be named tomorrow as the Vatican announces who will succeed Cardinal Keith O’Brien who resigned in disgrace after admitting inappropriate behaviour with a number of priests.

• Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s successor to be named tomorrow morning
• New Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh to be introduced by Archbishop Philip Tartaglia

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, until now Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese, will introduce the new Archbishop-elect to the archdiocese at 11am.

The new Archbishop will answer questions and deliver his first message to the Archdiocese which has been shocked by the scandal surrounding Cardinal O’Brien who was revealed to have had a number of inappropriate relationships with priests and seminarians.

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TENNESSEE
WBIR

(WBIR-Knoxville) A Knoxville court will hear the appeal of a former East Tennessee priest convicted of sexually molesting an altar boy Tuesday afternoon.

A judge sentenced former priest William Casey to more than 30 years in prison in Nov. 2011. A Sullivan County jury convicted Casey of sexually molesting Warren Tucker between 1978 and 1980, while Tucker served as an alter boy.

Casey’s hearing to appeal the conviction is set for 1:30 p.m. in the court of criminal appeals.

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OHIO
NBC4i

By: Denise Yost, Multimedia Content Manager

COLUMBUS, Ohio –
The man accused of attempting to trade nude photos and sex acts for positions in the All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir was released on bond Monday afternoon.

Zachary Ruppel, 26, is facing two counts of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles and one count of compelling prostitution. He appeared in court for a preliminary hearing Monday afternoon, and two types of bond were set at $25,000.

Columbus police say Ruppel was soliciting nude pictures and sex acts in exchange for positions in the All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir from his St. Francis DeSales High School students, as well as other juveniles involved with the All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir in 2011.

Ruppel is no longer employed by the school.

Detectives searched Ruppel’s home after complaints were made to Ohio State Fair Choir staff about the allegations against Ruppel.

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OHIO
Columbus Dispatch

By Kathy Lynn Gray and Allison Manning
Tuesday July 23, 2013

Investigators are combing through a cache of nude photos that police suspect were solicited by a former youth choir director who is facing child-sex charges.

Already, Zachary R. Ruppel, 26, a former St. Francis DeSales High School choir director and former Ohio State Fair choir staff member, is charged with soliciting nude pictures and sex acts from two boys in exchange for membership in the state fair choir.

But Sgt. Terry McConnell, of the Columbus police sexual-assault unit, said there are many more victims.

Investigators are trying to identify the boys in photos found on Ruppel’s cellphone and iPad, using school yearbooks and, when possible, school staff members to review cropped photos. Some victims, officials say, were DeSales students; some were choir members.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh News

A NEW Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh is to be announced tomorrow to replace shamed Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the former head of the church in Scotland.

The Catholic Church in Scotland said it would make the announcement at 11am in Edinburgh.

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, until now Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese, will introduce the new Archbishop-elect who will then speak to clergy, staff and media and deliver his first message to the Archdiocese.

Since being ordered to leave Scotland by the Vatican around two months ago, it is understood Cardinal O’Brien has been staying at an enclosed abbey in the English midlands.

The Papal nuncio to the UK said on a recent visit that he hopes a new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh will be appointed soon.

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CANADA
APTN

By Jorge Barrera
APTN National News

The commission created to delve into the dark history of residential schools has been in possession of documents related to nutritional experiments conducted on First Nations people for at least three years, according to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt’s office.

Valcourt’s office said most of the 900 documents were turned over to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2010 and the rest in 2011. The documents are all related to nutritional experiments conducted on First Nations people and children in residential schools between 1942 and 1952.

“These are abhorrent examples of the dark pagers of the residential schools’ legacy,” said Andrea Richer, in an email to APTN National News.

A spokesperson for the TRC confirmed the commission is in possession of the documents. The spokesperson said TRC Commissioner Justice Murray Sinclair believes the commission’s researchers need to take a thorough look at the documents before issuing any comment.

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ARIZONA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 23

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

In what an expert calls a “highly unusual move,” a predator priest – who has quietly been living in Phoenix and is licensed to teach in Arizona – is seeking $450,000 in “back pay,” from his Catholic supervisors.

[Merced Sun-Star]

Fr. Marvin T. Knighton was tried on two child sexual abuse charges in Milwaukee in 2003. The statute of limitation had expired on one of the charges. Knighton was acquitted on the other charge.

But Milwaukee Catholic officials dismissed him because they found at least two of his four victims credible.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Cardinal Newman Society

July 23, 2013, at 9:08 AM | By Matthew Archbold

“Where has obedience got us?”

That was the question posed by Fr. Helmut Schüller in a speech at Chestnut Hill College, according to The National Catholic Reporter which covered the event.

OrdinationThe Cardinal Newman Society exclusively reported earlier this month that Fr. Schüller was barred from speaking at any parish or diocesan-related facility in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia because of his views that, according to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, “diverge very seriously from Catholic belief and practice” including female ordination.

The Archdiocese released a statement earlier this month, saying that Schüller’s presence on the campus of a Catholic college “inevitably damages the unity of the local Church.” Archbishop Chaput’s concerns were communicated to the college and the Sisters of St. Joseph who run the college to no avail.

Father Schüller, founder of the Austrian Priest Initiative, was a leader in a movement that issued a “Call to Disobedience,” which advocated for the ability of divorced and remarried Catholics to receive sacraments as well as the ordination of women and married men.

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