ABUSE TRACKER

BELGIE
HLN

De dagvaarding van de Heilige Stoel en de Belgische bisschoppen door slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik, is nietig. Dat heeft de rechtbank van eerste aanleg in Gent beslist. 39 slachtoffers probeerden een groepsvordering in te dienen, maar krijgt nu ongelijk van de rechtbank. “Een tussenstadium”, noemt Christine Mussche, advocaat van de slachtoffers, de beslissing. “We hebben nog niets gehoord over de morele verantwoordelijkheid van de verweerders, die zich enkel op basis van procedurele elementen verdedigd hebben.”

De groepsvordering werd ingeleid door de advocatenassociatie Van Steenbrugge, Van Acker & Mussche en gebeurde in naam van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de kerk. Het advocatenkantoor probeerde een collectieve vordering of ‘class action’-zaak in te stellen. De bedoeling van de klacht was om de aansprakelijkheid in hoofde van de Heilige Stoel, de Belgische bisschoppen en de hogere oversten te laten vaststellen.

De burgerlijke zaak werd in 2011 ingeleid voor de rechtbank van eerste aanleg en werd vandaag pas uitgesproken. Volgens de rechtbank kan één slachtoffer niet dagvaarden in naam van een hele groep slachtoffers en geldt de immuniteit van de Heilige Stoel.

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ILLINOIS
The Doings

By: Jane Michaels | jmichaels@pioneerlocal.com | @janemichaels22

LA GRANGE – Military records have been requested of a La Grange pastor charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child.

Assistant States Attorney Michelle Papa asked for the military records of the Rev. Donald Jung at a hearing Oct. 1 in the Bridgeview branch of Cook County Circuit Court.

Jung was charged in February with having inappropriate sexual conduct with a juvenile, a relative from Milwaukee, while serving as pastor of the Second Baptist Church of La Grange.

Defense attorney Ricky Granderson objected to Papa’s request, calling it a fishing expedition, which lacked relevance, because Jung left the Army 21 years ago after 19 years of service to his country.

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BELGIUM
Straits Times

GHENT (AFP) – A Belgian court on Tuesday rejected a rare attempt at a child sex class-action suit against the Holy See filed in 2011 by 39 alleged victims of priests and church workers.

The court in Ghent said the Holy See, which represents the Pope and the Vatican government, “is considered to be a state protected by international law that cannot be judged by a foreign court”.

Vatican lawyers had pleaded that line before the court, arguing the Holy See’s immunity could not be questioned.

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NEW JERSEY
The Times of Trenton

Protesters call for Trenton bishop’s resignation over handling of Jackson priest who sent explicit messages

By Brendan McGrath/The Times of Trenton
on October 01, 2013

LAWRENCE — Protesters stood outside the offices of the Catholic Diocese of Trenton this morning to call for the resignation of Bishop David O’Connell for his handling of a priest who exchanged sexually explicit text messages with someone he thought was a 16-year-old boy.

Matthew Riedlinger, who was an assistant pastor at the St. Aloysius Church in Jackson, did not know he was actually communicating with a character created by Catholic University graduate Timothy Schmalz, who said the priest sexually harassed him in the past.

The diocese found out about Riedlinger’s behavior and removed him from his post, but waited more than a year to inform his parish why he had been removed.

Road to Recovery, an organization that assists victims of clergy sexual abuse, held a protest outside of the diocese headquarters in Lawrence this morning.

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Cottage Grove man was sentenced to more than two years in prison for his role in stealing nearly $700,000 from his church.

Scott Joseph Domeier, a former employee of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, was sentenced to 27 months for swindling $670,000 between 1995 and 2012. In addition to misusing the company credit card, he also diverted a check from another parish designated for Katrina relief to buy himself a car, the criminal complaint states. Domeier also paid for his children’s private school education with illegally obtained funds.

He pleaded guilty back in May to three counts of theft by swindle, and two counts of filing a false tax return.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

A former accountant for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was sentenced Monday for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the church.

Scott J. Domeier, 52, was sentenced in Ramsey County District Court on three counts of theft by swindle for the theft. He pleaded guilty in May to the charges.

He was given about two years on one count, a little over two years for a second count and a little over three years for the third count. The sentences will run concurrently.

Domeier was also sentenced on two counts of filing false tax returns, receiving about a year-and-a-half for one count and almost two years for the second count. The sentences will run concurrently.

Domeier was director of accounting services for the archdiocese from 1995 until the thefts were reported in January 2012.

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BOSTON (MA)
Museum of Fine Arts

Friday, October 4, 2013
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Alfond Auditorium, G36
ADMISSION
$9
MFA members, seniors, and students
$11
Nonmembers
Ticket Purchase Required

Who Takes Away the Sins: Witnesses to Clergy Abuse by John Michalczyk (US, 2013, 54 min.). In 2002, with the disconcerting revelation by the Boston Globe Spotlight Team of extensive clergy abuse throughout the Boston archdiocese, the city suddenly became the epicenter of the long-hidden and dark secrets of the Catholic Church. Further investigations brought to light the all-pervasive abuse of power and authority of pedophile priests, followed by a carefully orchestrated cover-up as Church officials focused on preserving and protecting the image of the institution. This decision led to countless cases of physical, sexual and psychological abuse of young boys and girls across the country and continents. Countering the betrayal, victimization, and failed accountability are the voices of individual survivors who courageously broke through the silence, along with those of the advocates who persistently confronted these unconscionable acts. With accountability and openness, it is now time to acknowledge the sins of the past and seek justice and renewal.

Panel discussion follows screening.

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COLOMBIA
LA F.m.

[Summary: Bishop Francisco Nieto, Bishop of San Jose del Guaviare, said he received anonymous telephone calls naming two priests allegedly who committed sexual abuse. He asked the complainant to meet with him and receive help and guidance.]

El obispo de San José del Guaviare, reconoció que recibió llamadas anónimas donde denuncian a 2 sacerdotes por pederastia.

Monseñor Francisco Nieto, obispo de San José del Guaviare, admitió que recibió varias llamadas anónimas, donde denunciaban a dos sacerdotes de esa diosesis por abuso sexual, Monseñor Nieto, agregó que invitó al denunciante a reunirse con él para que recibiera ayuda y orientación.

“Tengo que llamarlo yo he dejado que se calme la cosa para llamarlo y pedirle que sí era él, el de las llamadas, diga ante los medios cuantas veces el obispo le puso citas, le abrió la posibilidad de dialogar y decirle que era una persona que yo debía protejer. Que hiciera las denuncias ante las autoridades”.

Recordemos que en conversaciones de días anteriores entre LA F.m. y el obispo, monseñor Nieto, había indicado que no conocía esta denuncia. Por otra parte, el obispo dijo que el próximo jueves habrá un consejo episcopal, para definir la situación de Carlos Fernando Vázquez como sacerdote, luego de las denuncias donde se le acusa de pederastia.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio,
Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
September 30, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A former top accountant for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis claimed Monday that the church has made payments to nine priests despite their sexual misconduct.

Scott Domeier, the former accounting director for the archdiocese, pleaded guilty in May to filing improper tax returns and stealing more than $600,000 from the archdiocese.

Domeier’s sentencing Monday focused mostly on the time he will serve in prison — 39 months — and the amount of money he’ll have to repay his former employer.

During sentencing discussions, however, Domeier’s attorney tried to introduce an exhibit that detailed his concerns about payments the archdiocese has made to the nine priests.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com

The attorney for a man sentenced Monday for embezzling $560,000 from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis alleged that the organization has been financially supporting five priests involved in misconduct with children and four priests involved in misconduct with adult women.

Attorney Terry Duggins tried to introduce in court a March 4, 2012, memo faxed from his office to attorney William Egan of Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly of Minneapolis, a law firm hired by the archdiocese.

Ramsey County District Judge Joanne Smith would not allow it.

The memo, provided to reporters, details what Duggins described as a “hostile work environment” faced by Scott Domeier, who worked for 17 years as the director of accounting services for the archdiocese. Domeier was disturbed, the memo said, by work he had to do related to the allegations of priestly misconduct.

As a part of his annual duties, Domeier requested information from archdiocese attorneys about the status of various lawsuits, and forwarded it to the organization’s CPA firm.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The coordinator of the Group of 8 Cardinals set up by Pope Francis to advise him on the government of the Catholic Church and Reform of the Roman Curia, speaks about their task on the eve of their October 1-3 meeting

GERARD O’CONNELL
ROME

The Group of Eight Cardinals from all five continents chosen by Pope Francis to advise him on matters relating to the government of the Catholic Church and the reform of the Roman Curia will sit with him in the Vatican for their first plenary meeting from 1-3 October. They will also travel with him to Assisi on October 4, to pray at the tomb of St Francis.

It will be the Groups’ first meeting with the Pope since the Vatican announced its establishment on April 13. But there will be other meetings in the future, the Group’s coordinator, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, stated in Quebec last week, in interviews with Canada’s Catholic television channel -“Salt and Light TV”.

“There has to be a lot of discussion and a lot of discernment” about the reform of the Curia, he said; “it cannot be done in one month or two.” He predicted that “it will be a long process of discussion and discernment.”

He recalled that there have been several reforms of the Roman Curia – the papal civil service, starting way back in the 16th century. More recently, Pope Pius X carried out one at the beginning of the 20th century, and Paul VI conducted another one after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). John Paul II carried out the last such reform in 1989 and this resulted in the Constitution “Pastor Bonus” (The Good Shepherd) which formalized and codified that reform, Cardinal Maradiaga stated.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

[Vatican Bank annual report]

The Vatican has published the first-ever annual report for the Vatican bank. Its director, Ernst von Freyberg, says the bank is ready for inspection

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

The Vatican took another step in its efforts to be more financially transparent by publishing a first-ever annual report for the Vatican bank on Tuesday. It comes as Italian prosecutors investigate alleged money-laundering there, a Vatican monsignor remains in detention and the Pope himself probes the problems that have brought such scandal to the institution.

Net earnings at the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, rose more than four-fold to 86.6 million euros ($116.95 million) in 2012, the report said. More than 50 million euros of that was given to the pope for his charitable works. The improvement in earnings was driven by profits made on the value of securities that the bank held and sold — net trading income rose to 51.1 million euros from a loss of 38.2 million euros in 2011.

The picture may not be so rosy for 2013, with rising interest rates cutting into profits and millions of euros earmarked for the IOR’s ongoing transparency process, which has involved hiring outside legal, financial and communications experts to revamp its procedures, review its client base and remake its image.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Oct. 1

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)

Catholic officials with the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis admitted today to paying at least nine predator priests.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Their motivation for these payments, we maintain, is self-serving. We’re convinced that these predators know of other misdeeds and crimes by their church supervisors and peers. And we believe that high ranking Catholic officials pay known wrongdoers so those wrongdoers will stay silent about wrongdoing.

Archbishop Nienstadt and his staff know how to keep predators away from innocent children and vulnerable adults: call police promptly, reward – not punish – whistleblowers, give prosecutors all the files about known and suspected predators, put the names, photos and whereabouts of proven, admitted and credibly accused clerics on the archdiocesan website and in parish bulletins, put the predators in a remote, secure treatment centers, and lobby for – not against, reforming archaic, predator-friendly statutes of limitations. This isn’t rocket science. It’s common sense and common decency. But Nienstadt refuses to do most of this.

Nienstadt’s public relations team claims the archbishop pays predators so they won’t re-offend. Huh? Ask yourself: What other institution pays criminals so they don’t commit more crimes?

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
October 1, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is acknowledging it has financially supported priests involved in alleged sexual misconduct with adults and children.

Priests who were involved in misconduct received financial, therapeutic and spiritual support, the archdiocese said in a statement released Tuesday.

The support is needed to ensure that the priests in question do not reoffend, the archdiocese said. The statement also said offending priests are monitored to ensure that they do not offend again.

The former top accountant for the archdiocese has alleged that payments were made to nine priests.

Scott Domeier was sentenced to 39 months in prison for stealing more than $600,000 from the archdiocese and filing false tax returns. The archdiocese statement said Domeier’s claims included factual errors and misrepresentations.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

By JODIE DUFFY
Oct. 2, 2013

A former Wollongong Catholic primary school principal will give evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Jim Walsh said he would tell the commission about his friend, whistleblower Father Maurie Crocker, who exposed paedophile behaviour within the Catholic Church in 1993.

Mr Walsh said he helped and supported Fr Crocker as he took the allegations of the victims to the relevant hierarchy – but when the police, priests and Bishop William Murray failed to act on the complaints, Fr Crocker had no choice but to take the matter to the Illawarra Mercury.

He said Fr Crocker was then ostracised by some of the clergy for exposing and speaking out.

“He was doing God’s work,” Mr Walsh said. “But he wasn’t treated kindly at the time by the Catholic Church. I want to go to the commission and stand up for Maurie and for what he did.”

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NEW JERSEY
SOL Reform

Piecing together the details of a decades-old child sexual assault case is a daunting task. The Warren County Prosecutor’s Office is on such a trail right now, having initiated a criminal investigation spurred by allegations made against former Warren County Sheriff Edward Bullockin a civil suit.

The suit, filed by attorney Brad Russo, alleges that Bullock sexually assaulted his client, now in his thirties, in the 1980s — when he was between the ages of 8 and 11, while under the sheriff’s supervision. (The suit does not identify Bullock as a defendant. However, he was the sheriff from 1982 until his resignation in 1991 — within the time frame of the allegations.)

The existence of such claims can’t come as a shock to anyone who has followed Bullock’s criminal history. In an investigation into his behavior in the early 1990s, Bullock admitted he used his authority over boys at Warren Acres, the county’s youth detention center, to cultivate future sex partners, according to state police. Bullock told investigators he had sexual contact with eight boys he met at Warren Acres. He was never charged in connection with those incidents, according to state police, because the boys had been discharged from Warren Acres and were 16 or older, the state’s age of consent. …

There are other legal issues to be sorted out, including adherence to the statute of limitations. While New Jersey has no time limit on criminal prosecutions in cases alleging of child sexual abuse, the standard is different for civil suits. They must be filed within two years after a victim discovers he or she had been injured by the abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

October 1, 2013

Gerard Henderson
Executive director, The Sydney Institute

According to David Marr, the influence of the Catholic activist B. A. Santamaria (1915-1998) lives on. In Marr’s view, one of Santamaria’s disciples is George Pell, the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, and another is Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister.

Following the publication of his Quarterly Essay last week, titled The Prince: Faith, Abuse and George Pell, Marr received numerous – and overwhelmingly soft – interviews on the ABC. On September 23 he told Philip Clark on Radio National Breakfast that ”these two old followers of Bob Santamaria, now a cardinal and a prime minister” are part of a political movement which ”is running the country in 2013”.

Earlier in the interview, responding to Clark’s claim that Pell is ”the prince or spiritual adviser to the leader of our country Tony Abbott”, Marr commented: ”It’s a dream. It’s a Medieval dream.” Not really. It’s a journalistic beat-up.

No doubt, Abbott’s swearing-in as prime minister has re-focused attention on Pell who has been a national figure since his appointment as Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996. He moved to Sydney in 2001.

Extracts from The Prince were published in the Herald on September 21-22 but there was no news flash. This gives veracity to Pell’s response to Marr’s essay. He described it as ”a predictable and selective rehash of old material” and quoted from G. K. Chesterton’s Heretics: ”A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about the author.” Sensibly, Pell declined to be interviewed by Marr.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Here is a letter being sent today to Cardinal Tim Dolan, head of the New York archdiocese:

(NOTE: At 1:30 today, SNAP is holding a news conference about this outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue in Manhattan.)

October 1, 2013

Dear Cardinal Dolan:

We are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). Our mission is to heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable. We believe you are acting irresponsibly regarding Deacon Al Mazza.

On Sunday, you ousted Mazza from his post because of substantiated child sex abuse allegations. But you admit waiting months to do so. You won’t say when police gave information about the predator to you or your staff. And in a letter to parishioners on Sunday and a news release yesterday, you claim you suspended the deacon months ago but offer no proof of having done this.

Let’s take each of these separately.

First, undisputed media accounts say that the child sex abuse allegations against Mazza were given to you by police because the statute of limitations precluded prosecution. Obviously, independent, unbiased and experienced law enforcement found them credible. So why didn’t you publicly disclose those allegations – quickly and widely – right away? Every day a credibly accused child molester continues “under the radar,” he has more chances to hurt kids, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and even flee the country. Through your silence, you have helped a child molester and endangered innocent children.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

Kevin O’Brien, a conservative Catholic, increasingly takes on his church’s hierarchy over sex scandals on his well-written blog, “Waiting for Godot to Leave”.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

A defense lawyer for Msgr. William J. Lynn has publicly accused District Attorney Seth Williams of professional misconduct.

In a letter hand-delivered on Friday, defense lawyer Thomas A. Bergstrom ripped the D.A. for teeing off on his client during a Thursday press conference about the arrest of another priest, Father Robert L. Brennan. The defense lawyer said he intends to report the D.A. to the state disciplinary board. A spokesperson for Williams did not respond to a request for comment.

At the press conference, D.A. Williams took the occasion to lambaste the monsignor, now in jail serving a 3 to 6 year sentence after his conviction last year on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child. But according to the district attorney, Lynn was also guilty of conspiring to keep abusive priests in active duty, so they could harm more children.

“The case of Robert Brennan presents another instance of abuse under the watch of Msgr. Lynn, secretary of clergy under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua,” Williams said. “The actions Lynn took to shield predator priests from exposure and prosecution led to the victimization of untold numbers of Philadelphia area children.”

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VATICAN CITY
Whispers in the Loggia

2.35am ET – In the latest proof of his desire to reach out from behind the walls – and along the way, (again) remind the Establishment he inherited who’s Boss – today’s cover of Italy’s largest-circulation daily indeed blared the second major interview in 12 days with the Pope, this time given to one of the country’s most prominent atheists.

As Eugenio Scalfari tells the story, the pontiff called the La Repubblica founder out of the blue to arrange a meeting as a follow-up to their public exchange of letters over the summer. With Francis looking over his calendar to find a workable time – “I can’t on Wednesday, Monday either; would Tuesday work for you?” – the Pope booked the Domus sit-down himself.

Saying he had no idea how to end a call with the Pope, when Scalfari asked if he could “hug [Francis] through the phone,” Papa Bergoglio replied, “Sure, I’m hugging you too. Then we’ll do it in person. See you soon.” Of course, the stealth strategy ensured again that, as with Antonio Spadaro SJ in August, the interview would not leak in advance nor be sabotaged from within.

Once they came together – with jokes about trying to convert each other as they first met – the 4,600-word extravaganza that ensued touched on everything from the journalist’s non-belief to movie picks, politics and a “court” mentality in the church which Francis termed “the leprosy of the papacy,” admitting that church leaders were “often… narcissistic, flattered and badly excited by their courtiers.”

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

“Heads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy.”

Once again, Pope Francis has delivered a dose of candor, on topics ranging from reform of the Vatican bureaucracy to his favorite saints. And once again, he’s done it by going outside the usual (filtered) Vatican channels of communication – in this case, in a conversation with an Italian newspaper editor who happens to be a nonbeliever.

The remark about the papal “court” will deservedly make headlines. It should be noted that Francis was not impugning the entire Roman Curia, which he said has another defect: “It is Vatican-centric. It sees and looks after the interests of the Vatican, which are still, for the most part, temporal interests.”

“This Vatican-centric view neglects the world around us. I do not share this view and I’ll do everything I can to change it. The Church is or should go back to being a community of God’s people, and priests, pastors and bishops who have the care of souls, are at the service of the people of God,” he said.

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

Vatican City — Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop who admitted to sheltering a priest accused of child abuse, although the cleric said he was stepping down because of poor health.

William Lee, the bishop of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore, issued his own statement saying he had resigned on health grounds, making no mention of the abuse allegations.

The Holy See said in a brief statement that Lee was relieved of his functions under paragraph 2 of article 401 of the Code of Canon Law, which covers both serious offenses such as paedophilia and corruption, and resignations on health grounds.

The Irish bishop publicly apologised in 2010 after admitting that his response to child abuse allegations in the mid-1990s was “seriously inadequate”.

Faced with multiple claims of abuse by a priest in his diocese, Lee transferred him to another ministry, and waited two years before notifying the police, according to reports at the time.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas C. Fox | Oct. 1, 2013 The Francis Chronicles

Francis and eight cardinals from around the world are holding three days of closed-door meetings to discuss the Vatican’s troubled administration and to map out possible changes in the worldwide church.

As the talks begin with the cardinals, Italian newspaper La Repubblica published a long interview conducted by its atheist editor last week in which the Argentine pope spoke frankly about the problems facing the Vatican administration, known as the Curia.

He reportedly said too many previous popes in the church’s long history had been “narcissists” who let themselves be flattered by “courtier” aides in the Curia instead of concentrating on the wider mission of the universal church.

“The (papal) court is the leprosy of the papacy,” Francis is reported to have said.

This is the English translation of the interview.

NCR’s newest blog, The Francis Chronicles, reports on the ministry of the world’s parish priest. Sign up for email alerts so you won’t miss a thing.

The following are Francis quotations as reported today in the interview.

On the Roman curia …

The curia “manages the services that serve the Holy See. But it has one defect: it is Vatican-centric. It sees and looks after the interests of the Vatican, which are still, for the most part, temporal interests. This Vatican-centric view neglects the world around us. I do not share this view and I’ll do everything I can to change it. The Church is or should go back to being a community of God’s people, and priests, pastors and bishops who have the care of souls, are at the service of the people of God. The Church is this, a word not surprisingly different from the Holy See, which has its own function, important but at the service of the Church. I would not have been able to have complete faith in God and in his Son if I had not been trained in the Church, and if I had not had the good fortune of being in Argentina, in a community without which I would not have become aware myself and my faith.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Oct. 1, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

Pope Francis delivered another bombshell interview, this time with Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica. It is, in its way, even more stunning than the longer interview with the Jesuit journals in part because the pope is here speaking with a man who does not share the faith of the Church yet that fact does not once produce a breakdown in communication and Francis displays in his dialogue exactly what he means by a culture of encounter.
Scalfari writes:

And here I am [at the pope’s apartment]. The Pope comes in and shakes my hand, and we sit down. The Pope smiles and says: “Some of my colleagues who know you told me that you will try to convert me.”

It’s a joke I tell him. My friends think it is you want to convert me.

He smiles again and replies: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.”

“Solemn nonsense.” It is a phrase I wish I had coined myself. It is certainly an experience many of us have shared, listening to a priest or deacon preach who is one hundred percent certain he has all the answers, the world is going to hell in a handbasket because it does not listen to his answers, etc. One suspects that Francis has had the experience too. Indeed, a few questions on he states: “It also happens to me that when I meet a clericalist, I suddenly become anti-clerical.”

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

He hides child sex allegations for months
Three child molesting clerics worked at one parish
Group to Cardinal: “Go to parish, seek out victims”
SNAP doubts Dolan’s claim that deacon was ousted months ago
It also challenges him to say when he first learned of abuse from cops

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will harshly criticize NYC’s Cardinal Tim Dolan for

— hiding credible child sex abuse accusations against a deacon for months,
— allegedly suspending the deacon months ago but doing it quietly, and
–asking parishioners with information to call church officials instead of law enforcement officials.

The will also
— urge Dolan to personally visit the parish seeking out other victims, and
— urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes in New York – by this cleric or others – to call police, protect kids and expose wrongdoing.

WHEN
Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
On sidewalk outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral (5th Avenue entrance) in New York City

WHO
Three members of a clergy sex abuse victims’ support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
On Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan ousted a deacon from his post because of substantiated child sex abuse allegations. But Dolan admits waiting months to do so. He won’t say when police gave information about the predator to the archdiocese. And in a letter to parishioners on Sunday and a news release yesterday, Dolan claims he suspended the deacon months ago but offers no proof of having done this.

SNAP believes parishioners, parents and the public deserve straight answers about this case from Dolan, especially in light of Dolan’s repeated pledges to be “open” about clergy child sex cases. They want him to hold an open meeting at the predator’s parish and take questions from the public.

Deacon Al Mazza is the third cleric at Holy Name of Mary church in Croton-on-Hudson to be credibly accused of child sex crimes. In his letter to parishioners, Dolan refused to name the other two. They are Fr. Gennaro L. “Jerry” Gentile and Fr. Kenneth A. Jesselli. Both were defrocked by the Vatican in 2005.

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

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is calling on former residents of the North Coast Children’s Home, who suffered child sexual abuse, to come forward and tell their story.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said the Royal Commission is in the process of gathering information relevant to this matter, including talking to people who were sexually abused at the North Coast Children’s Home.

“Information shared with the Royal Commission is confidential and will not be shared without the permission of the individual,” said Ms Dines.

The Royal Commission has already received more than 5,500 phone calls and over 1,600 emails relevant to its work.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Rome, October 1 – The Vatican bank’s chief said on Tuesday that the financial institution is engaged in deep house-cleaning in a note accompanying its first ever annual report. Reforms include anti-money laundering measures and shutting client accounts that aren’t consistent with the bank’s religious mission, said Ernst von Freyberg, president of the Vatican bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR). “The IOR is engaged in a process of comprehensive reform, to foster the most rigorous professional and compliance standards. These efforts are based on the legal framework set forth by the Vatican, in cooperation with international bodies,” wrote von Freyberg. “This includes implementing strict anti-money laundering processes and improving our internal structures,” von Freyberg continued.

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

VATICAN CITY
euronews

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis began landmark meetings on Tuesday to reform the Vatican, promising to do all he could to change the mentality of an institution he said was too focused on its own interests.

Francis and eight cardinals from around the world are holding three days of closed-door meetings to discuss the Vatican’s troubled administration and to map out possible changes in the worldwide Church.

As the talks began, left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper published a long interview conducted by its atheist editor last week in which the Argentine pope spoke frankly about the problems facing the Vatican administration, known as the Curia.

He said too many previous popes in the Church’s long history had been “narcissists” who let themselves be flattered by “courtier” aides in the Curia instead of concentrating on the wider mission of the universal Church.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 1 October 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father: …

– accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Rockhampton, Australia, presented by Bishop Brian Heenan, upon having reached the age limit.

– accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore, Ireland, presented by Bishop William Lee, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

[Vatican Bank annual report]

Vatican City, 1 October 2013 (VIS) – The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) today published its annual report for 2012 on its website, www.ior.va. It is the first report to be made public. The document, over a hundred pages long, reveals that in 2012 the IOR recorded a net profit of 86.6 million euros, a figure which enabled the Institute to make a contribution of 54.7 million euros to the budget of the Holy See. The report in itself is not a novelty, but rather the fact of its publication is; this constitutes a response to the demand for greater transparency in the Institute’s activities, according to the president of the IOR, Ernst Von Freyberg, in an interview published today by Vatican Radio.

Von Freyberg explains that it is the first annual report published in the 125-year history of the IOR, and contains a description of its work, a summary of 2013 and the first eight months of 2013, statements from the supervisory board, from the commission of cardinals and from the prelate, and over sixty pages of detailed financial statements with a full audit statement from KPMG. “You do not have to be an accountant to understand these pages; if you read the introductory letter and the description of our business of 2012 and 2013 you will get a good idea of what the Institute for Religious Works is about’”.

With regard to the question of external auditing, included in the process of preparing the document, Von Freyberg reiterates that the IOR accounts have been audited for a long time by reputable international accounting firms, such as KPMG in 2013, and insists that this is not unusual; the novelty resides in the publication of the report. “The most surprising thing is how unsurprising it is. You see a rather conservatively managed financial institution safeguarding assets, investing in very conservative investments like government bonds and bank deposits. And you will see a highly capitalised institution. At the end of last year our equity ratio was 15% which is way above what comparable financial institutions would have”.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Poor Fr. Lombardi, the Vatican’s Jesuit “spin doctor”. After loyally spinning for years for the sly academic ex-Pope, Benedict, who rarely even talked to him directly, he now must spin for a politically clever Jesuit Pope, Francis. Benedict had disdain for most journalists, as was evident in his televised “Wehrmacht style” slap of an ABC-TV journalist who dared to ask him about the decades’ old Maciel case. Francis is much smoother. Time will tell if he ”shoots any straighter”, though.

Increasingly, Francis is employing classic political tactics well described as ”bait and switch” and “hurry up and wait”. This is vividly shown with the Council of Cardinals.

For six months the Council was touted by papal propagandists and wishful thinking Catholics — the “bait”– as almost the upcoming equivalent of the Council of Trent. It gave Francis cover on reform questions. Now that the Council is here, Fr. Lombardi indicates to us that it will be purely advisory, likely undecisive and mostly secret–the “switch”. Yes indeed! Hurry up and wait!

Meanwhile, Francis still makes his decisions like an absolute monarch. For example, almost no input from the laity, and of course, no women’s input, on appointing new bishops, a key matter.

On dealing with the sexual abuse scandal, there has been no real change from Benedict either. Convicted Bishop Finn remains in office and no other bad bishop has been publicly chastised for protecting sexual predators

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Barry Roche

Tue, Oct 1, 2013

Bishop of Waterford and Lismore Dr William Lee (71) has confirmed he is stepping down from his ministry due to ill-health following the acceptance of his resignation by Pope Francis.

Bishop Lee confirmed in a statement today he had been diagnosed with a serious illness and under medical care since July 2011, which has impacted greatly on his health and his ministry. Recently he had been advised by his doctors to retire from office.

“Even though I found the time since diagnosis quite demanding, I had hoped that I would be able to continue in office and looked forward to doing so. Now, my doctors have advised otherwise,” he said in a statement.

“Accordingly, I have in the past few weeks submitted my letter of resignation as Bishop of Waterford and Lismore to Pope Francis. The Holy Father has considered my request and graciously accepted my resignation.”

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

What on earth is wrong with our bishops?

As bad as I thought Bishop Finn handled the Fr. Ratigan case, I had no idea that he ignored the red flags described in this letter alone. The letter was written in 2010 by Julie Hess, the principal of the Catholic school at the parish where Fr. Ratigan was pastor, and delivered to Finn’s Vicar General, his second-in-command.

All you need to keep in mind while reading it is that Fr. Ratigan was later discovered to have been busy taking pornographic photographs of the little girls of his parish (one as young as age two), was molesting them, and has since been sentenced to 50 years in Federal prison without the possibility of parole.

How did Fr. Ratigan’s ordinary react to this letter and to the unfolding of this horrific case?

Bishop Finn utterly and totally ignored this letter. As far as I know, he never even acknowledged receiving it until more than a year later, after the story broke, when he claimed he finally “read it for the first time.” Even if this is true (and I doubt it), how can the Vicar General receive a letter like this and not insist that the bishop read it immediately and act on it?
Bishop Finn failed to report the abuse of these children to the police once it became known to him.
Bishop Finn refused to let the parishioners know their children were victimized by Fr. Ratigan.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

OK, there’s an obvious connection between my last two posts –

between the rejection of the Cross and the full message of Christ in the vast majority of Catholic parishes in this country, as described by Rod Dreher

and monstrously bad bishops enabling child molesters and deliberately and carefully covering up for them.

The connection drove Dreher from the Church, and the connection is simple, but you can’t say it as a Catholic, for a kind of bizarre clericalism reigns in the so-called conservative circles of the Catholic Church, a bizarre clericalism that overlooks the obvious connection.

And that obvious connection is this.

Most of our bishops apparently don’t believe a damn thing they preach. They don’t live it. They live in ways that flagrantly contradict it. They are so morally corrupt that they don’t even have the common decency of normal secular men, who at least have enough natural goodness in them to protect children from harm. They lie, they bully, they enable very sick men to do very sick things.

I know that people will criticize me for saying this. They’ll tell me I’m extreme, over-reacting, hateful. They’ll tell me there are many good bishops; they’ll tell me there are many good priests; they’ll tell me I’m judgmental and I need to go to confession and they’ll pray for me. They’ll tell me I think I’m the perfect Catholic and how dare I criticize the successors to the apostles. They’ll tell me I’m a miserable sinner. And much of this is very true.

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CALIFORNIA
Ms. Magazine

by Melissa McGlensey

California Senate Bill 131, otherwise known as the The Child Victims Act, was passed by the state Legislature earlier this year–but it’s still sitting on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. He has until October 13 to sign the bill, veto it or let it pass into law without signing.

The governor, a former Jesuit seminarian, is under pressure to veto the bill from Catholic dioceses and other Church officials, as well as from organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and USA Swimming–all entities that could face lawsuits if the bill is passed into law.

The Child Victims Act would expand the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse to seek monetary damages in civil courts. If the bill becomes law, victims would be able to sue institutions that failed to adequately protect them from sexual predators.

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PERU
La Republica

[Summary: Bishop Luis Bambaren denied he ever said Bishop Gabino Miranda was accused of pedophilia.]

El proceso seguido por el Vaticano contra el ex obispo auxiliar de Ayacucho Gabino Miranda Melgarejo fue reservado; por lo tanto, se desconocen las motivaciones de la expulsión, señaló el ex presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal del Perú (CEP), monseñor Luis Bambarén.

“Yo no mencioné a Gabino Miranda, tampoco afirmé que había sido sancionado por pedofilia como se ha difundido erróneamente”, apuntó Bambarén.

El ex titular de la CEP recordó que el periodista Augusto Álvarez Rodrich le preguntó sobre el tema en el programa ‘Buenas Noches’ del jueves 19 de setiembre, y respondió textualmente a la pregunta respecto a un sacerdote expulsado.

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PERU
La Republica

[Summary: Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, the highest authority of the Catholic Church in Peru, said the case of former Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Miranda of Ayacucho is not clear. He does not know how the situation will end. He added that all people should have their dignity respected.]

La máxima autoridad de la Iglesia Católica en el Perú, el cardenal Juan Luis Cipriani, dijo que el caso del ex obispo auxiliar de Ayacucho Gabino Miranda, cesado en su funciones por el propio Vaticano, no está claro aún como para conocer cuál será su desenlace. “No sé en qué va a acabar todo esto, pero definitivamente tiene que aclararse por todos los motivos, porque también tiene derecho la persona a que su dignidad se respete, tanto la de él como la de los jóvenes y niños. Pero no está muy claro, desde aquí no veo muy claro el panorama”, expresó el cardenal en un nuevo comentario sobre el polémico caso.

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PERU
Expreso

Desde la ciudad de Roma, el Arzobispo de Lima, Juan Luis Cipriani, pidió paciencia y no seguir especulando sobre el caso del obispo auxiliar de Ayacucho, Gabino Miranda Melgarejo, sobre quien pesa una acusación de pedofilia, que ha hecho que la Santa Sede lo separe de sus funciones.

“Desde Roma me parece temerario lanzarme a esa piscina que veo está un poco alborotada, esperaré llegar a Lima para estar un poco al tanto, pero realmente se tiene que aclarar hasta el final (…) También tiene derecho la persona a que su honra y su dignidad se respeten, tanto la de él como de los jóvenes o niños”, dijo.

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CALIFORNIA
U-T San Diego

By U-T San Diego Editorial Board

A flawed bill giving some victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits found its way through the state Legislature, but we hope Gov. Brown has the common sense to see SB 131 as the sham that it is and veto it.

The bill would open a one-year window to eliminate the statute of limitations for civil sex-abuse cases brought against private employers — essentially just private schools. In sex-abuse cases involving public schools, lawsuits can only be filed against the abuser, not the school or district. That doesn’t make any sense. Is the pain and suffering caused by sexual abuse any worse if it happens in a private school rather than a public school? Some 90 percent of the state’s children are in public schools.

The state enacted a similar law in 2002 that resulted in the Catholic Church settling more than 1,000 cases in California and shelling out more than $1.2 billion in restitution, most of which went to lawyers.

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ISRAEL
Failed Messiah

Gur Rebbe Forbids Men To Dance On Simchat Torah With Their Little Children On Their Shoulders, Allegedly Because It May Be Sexually Arousing For The Men

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

On the day before Simchat Torah, Gur (also known as Ger or Gerrer) hasidim were told that adults would no longer be allowed to dance with little children on their shoulders – even their own little children – to avoid awakening the evil inclination, Ha’aretz reported.

The order was reportedly issued in the name of the Gerrer Rebbe Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter.

Dancing with Torah scrolls is part of the celebration of Simchat Torah in synagogues from all Jewish denomination and sub-sects worldwide, and it is common practice for adults not carrying a Torah scroll to put young children on their shoulders during the dancing to help the children participate without being trampled by adults who have often been drinking and who might not see small children in front of them until it is too late.

Gur rabbis reportedly told haredi blogger Haim Shaulson the new decree was meant as a safety issue to prevent the children from falling or being dropped during the wild dancing.

However, an unofficial Gur source said the decree was really meant to prevent child sexual abuse because placing small children on one’s shoulders could lead to the adult male becoming sexually aroused.

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

By Yair Ettinger

Gur Hasidic sect followers were told the day before Simhat Torah that adults would no longer be allowed to dance with children on their shoulders, including their own children, to avoid awakening “the evil inclination.”

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CANADA
CTV News

[with video]

The Canadian Press
Published Monday, September 30, 2013

TORONTO — Toronto police say a Romanian Orthodox priest is facing seven more sexual assault charges in addition to one laid earlier this month.

Ioan Pop, 54, of Toronto was arrested in early September and charged with one count of sexual assault after a woman was allegedly assaulted at All Saints Romanian Orthodox Church in the city’s east end.

Det. Teresa Curtis of the sex crimes unit says several more women have since come forward with allegations against Pop, who is now charged with eight counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis made his international advisory panel on church governance a permanent council of cardinals, thereby emphasizing the importance and open-endedness of its work among his pontificate’s various efforts at reform.

The Vatican made the announcement Sept. 30, a day before Pope Francis was scheduled to meet for the first time with the panel, which has been informally dubbed the “Group of Eight” or “G-8.”

The new Council of Cardinals will have the “task of assisting me in the governance of the universal church and drawing up a project for the revision of the apostolic constitution ‘Pastor Bonus’ on the Roman Curia,” Pope Francis wrote in his decree, dated Sept. 28.

“Pastor Bonus,” published in 1988, was the last major set of changes in the Roman Curia, the church’s central administration at the Vatican.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

September 30, 2013

Terry Fewtrell

It’s a simple proposition. There is no place in the list of Catholic saints for someone who gave succour to paedophiles. But that is what the Catholic Church seems determined to do with the mooted canonisation of former pope John Paul II.

It is not suggested that John Paul was a paedophile. Sadly, though, there is evidence that he harboured and effectively protected a serial offender. There is also good reason to claim that it was during his time as pontiff that paedophilia prospered, with accountability and management structures not only failing to act, but seemingly putting their main energies into protecting the institution and covering up the problems.

For a pope these amounted to monumental failures of duty, the cost of which is directly borne by the victims. They resulted in a perversion of the church’s role, a total negation of its mission and message. Apart from direct involvement in child abuse, which has not and is not here suggested, it is difficult to imagine a more grievous distortion or failure. On a purely organisational level it is likely that the church will struggle for generations to gain the faith and confidence of what is otherwise known as ”the faithful”.

The accusations against John Paul fall into two categories. The first relates to the notorious case of Father Marcial Maciel, the founder and promoter of a traditionalist order known as the Legionaries of Christ. For many years John Paul refused to listen to, or accept as worthy of investigation, repeated accusations against Maciel that he molested young men at his seminaries. John Paul not only turned his back on these allegations, but he also made Maciel an honoured person in the Vatican. He was a sort of protected species, untouchable.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Paul Vallely
The Guardian, Sunday 29 September 2013

The date for the arrival of two more saints within the Catholic church will be announced on 30 September. So what’s two more, given the recent deluge from the Vatican? After all, Pope John Paul II, all by himself, created more saints than all the previous popes put together. But this time John Paul II is to be one of them, along with a predecessor pope, John XXIII. This is a bad idea.

For the first half of Christianity’s 2,000-year history, saints were created by the acclamation of ordinary believers. It often took centuries for the church authorities to then give official endorsement to this demotic sanctification. But John Paul II’s elevation to sainthood must be the fastest in history. His successor, Benedict XVI, even dispensed with the requirement that the dead pope had to wait a minimum of five years before the sainting process could begin.

There was a point to institutionalising delay in the procedure. A saint is an individual whose “heroic virtue” is an exemplar for others. The passing of the years allowed any personal failings the future saint may have had to be eclipsed by that virtue in popular memory. …

The Polish pope’s supporters are clear about the case for his greatness. The globetrotting rock-stadium-star pontiff was the most popular pope in modern times; some 17 million people travelled to Rome to see him in his time as history’s second longest-serving pope. He played a key role in the fall of Soviet-bloc communism. He was the first pope to visit a synagogue and a mosque. He went to Auschwitz and Jerusalem’s Western Wall and repeatedly begged forgiveness for centuries of Christian slander of the Jews. He apologised, finally, for the Crusades and the persecution of Galileo. And he gave dignity to the dying by his own protracted public illness.

But if the first half of his papacy was good for the world, the second was bad for the church. He suppressed debate, silenced theologians and outlawed discussion on women priests. He applied his condemnations of the “dictatorship of relativism” to pluralistic societies without qualification. The Vatican II doctrine of collegiality was changed to mean that bishops were being collegial if they agreed with him – and he appointed bishops who did that. Most grievously, for decades he ignored the mounting evidence of priestly sex abuse which devastated thousands of lives. And he refused to take action against the serial abuser Father Marcial Maciel, the founder of the conservative Legionaries of Christ later suspended by Pope Benedict.

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VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports

[with video]

September 29, 2013. (Romereports.com) Six months after Pope Francis’ election, his approach and the focus of his pontificate are becoming clearer. One of the most significant events will be the first meeting between the Pope and the eight Cardinals that will advise him on changes to the governance of the Church and the Roman Curia.

In the past few months leading to this meeting, each Cardinal has been gathering information from the bishops in their region. Between October 1st and 3rd, they will meet inside the Vatican. And on October 4th, the Cardinals will travel with Pope Francis for his firs visit to Assisi.

But who are these eight Cardinals?

Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, is the group’s coordinator. He speaks various languages and has worked numerous times with Pope Francis, most tellingly, when they drafted the Aparecida Document in 2007.

The same goes for Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, from Chile. He just turned 80 years old, and has extensive experience leading the Church in Latin America.

Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias will represent Catholics in Asia. He is 68 years old and serves as the Archbishop of Bombay.

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News

Eight cardinals appointed by Pope Francis are set to meet at the Vatican this week to revise the church’s constitution, with one declaring that “we need to write something different.”

Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Honduras says the group has received suggestions on Vatican reform from around the world, The Telegraph reports.

The current church constitution was drawn up in 1988 by Pope John Paul II, who will be declared a saint in April.

Francis and the cardinals will meet from Oct. 1-3. After the meetings, Francis will review proposals for changes to the constitution, according to Rome Reports.

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

Vatican City — Pope Francis outlined plans for reform of the Church to make it less “Vatican-centric” on Tuesday as he met with top cardinals tasked with helping him overhaul the 2,000-year-old institution.

In his strongest censure of the intrigue-filled Vatican world yet, the Argentine pontiff condemned “leprosy” in the Vatican and called for a less hierarchical Church structured “horizontally”.

“Leaders of the Church have often been Narcissuses, gratified and sickeningly excited by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy,” Francis said in an interview with Italian left-wing daily La Repubblica.

The comments came as the pope, who has become known for his humble style, met with a group of eight cardinals he has called to advise him on reforming the Vatican administration and bettering communication with local churches.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Tue, Oct 1, 2013

Giving his second interview in a month, Pope Francis has this morning said the Holy See was often too “Vatican-centred”, adding that he promised to “do my best” to change the Catholic Church.

In an interview with Italian daily “La Repubblica”, the pope conceded that in the past popes had been “narcissistic” as well as “flattered, and badly egged on by their courtiers”, adding: “The court is the leprosy in the Vatican. ”

Asked whether by the term “court”, he was referring to the Roman Curia, Francis replied: “No, in the Curia we sometimes have courtiers, but overall the Curia is a different thing… However, it does have a serious defect, in that it is very Vatican-centred. It sees and looks after the interests of the Vatican, which are still, in great part, temporal matters…

“This Vatican-centred vision tends to ignore the world all around us. I don’t agree with this vision and I will do my best to change it. The church is, or it has to once again become, a community for the people of God – and the priests, the bishops in caring for souls, are at the service of the people of God…”

Asked what he sees as the most urgent priorities facing the church, Francis replies: “The most serious problems afflicting the world at the moment are the unemployment of youth and the loneliness of the old. The elderly need care and company; the young need work and hope but they don’t have either, and what is worse, they don’t even look for them any more. They have been overwhelmed by the present…”

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VATICAN CITY
RTE News

Pope Francis has promised to do everything in his power to change the Vatican’s mentality, saying in an interview published today that it was too focused on its own interests.

He also revealed that he had briefly considered not accepting his election as the first non-European pope in 1,300 years when his fellow cardinals chose him in March.

In the long interview with the atheist editor of the left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper, he said too many previous popes in the church’s long history had been “narcissists” who let themselves be flattered by their “courtier” aides.

“The [papal] court is the leprosy of the papacy,” Pope Francis said.

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VATICAN CITY
NBC News

Pope Francis has vowed to change the mindset of the Roman Catholic church, saying that the institution “must return to being a community of the people of God” and rethink the relationship between its leaders and the laity.

“Leaders of the Church have often been Narcissus, flattered and sickeningly excited by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy,” the pope said in the interview published Tuesday in Italy’s La Republicca newspaper. He also disclosed some of his own fears before being elected to the position by a conclave of cardinals in March

“Sometimes when I meet a cleric, I suddenly become anti-clerical,” the pontiff said, according to the paper. “Clericalism shouldn’t have anything to do with Christianity.”

The interview was conducted last week in the Vatican guest house where Francis, who has been praised for what is seen as a simpler and less ostentatious approach to the papacy, lives in a low-key residence.

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VATICAN CITY
La Repubblica

Dialogue between Francis and Repubblica’s founder, Eugenio Scalfari: “Starting from the Second Vatican Council, open to modern culture”. The conversation in the Vatican after the Pope’s letter to La Repubblica: “Convert you? Proselytism is solemn nonsense. You have to meet people and listen to

by EUGENIO SCALFARI

Pope Francis told me: “The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old. The old need care and companionship; the young need work and hope but have neither one nor the other, and the problem is they don’t even look for them any more. They have been crushed by the present. You tell me: can you live crashed under the weight of the present? Without a memory of the past and without the desire to look ahead to the future by building something, a future, a family? Can you go on like this? This, to me, is the most urgent problem that the Church is facing.”

Your Holiness, I say, it is a largely a political and economic problem for states, governments, political parties, trade unions.

“Yes, you are right, but it also concerns the Church, in fact, particularly the Church because this situation does not hurt only bodies but also souls. The Church must feel responsible for both souls and bodies.”

Your Holiness, you say that the Church must feel responsible. Should I conclude that the Church is not aware of this problem and that you will steer it in this direction?

“To a large extent that awareness is there, but not sufficiently. I want it to be more so. It is not the only problem that we face, but it is the most urgent and the most dramatic.”

The meeting with Pope Francis took place last Tuesday at his home in Santa Marta, in a small bare room with a table and five or six chairs and a painting on the wall. It had been preceded by a phone call I will never forget as long as I live.

It was half past two in the afternoon. My phone rang and in a somewhat shaky voice my secretary tells me: “I have the Pope on the line. I’ll put him through immediately.”

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
La Repubblica

[English version]

ESCLUSIVO Su Repubblica il dialogo con Francesco: “Ripartire dal Concilio, aprire alla cultura moderna”. Il colloquio in Vaticano dopo la lettera di Bergoglio a Repubblica: “Convertirla? Il proselitismo è una solenne sciocchezza. Bisogna conoscersi e ascoltarsi”. “La Santa Sede è troppo vaticano-centrica. Basta cortigiani”

di EUGENIO SCALFARI

Il Papa a Scalfari: così cambierò la Chiesa “Giovani senza lavoro, uno dei mali del mondo”MI DICE papa Francesco: “I più gravi dei mali che affliggono il mondo in questi anni sono la disoccupazione dei giovani e la solitudine in cui vengono lasciati i vecchi. I vecchi hanno bisogno di cure e di compagnia; i giovani di lavoro e di speranza, ma non hanno né l’uno né l’altra, e il guaio è che non li cercano più. Sono stati schiacciati sul presente. Mi dica lei: si può vivere schiacciati sul presente? Senza memoria del passato e senza il desiderio di proiettarsi nel futuro costruendo un progetto, un avvenire, una famiglia? È possibile continuare così? Questo, secondo me, è il problema più urgente che la Chiesa ha di fronte a sé”.

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VATICAN CITY
Bradenton Herald

By NICOLE WINFIELD — Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis says he wants a missionary church with a modern spirit that gives hope to the poor, young and elderly, speaking as key meetings begin on church reform.

Francis gave a lengthy interview to the editor of Rome daily La Repubblica that was published Tuesday as Francis began meeting with his parallel cabinet of eight cardinals tapped to advise him on reforming the church.

In the interview, Francis denounces the “Vatican-centric” nature of the Holy See, explains his affinity for his namesake St. Francis and describes how he was “invaded by anxiety” after he was elected, but then excused himself from the Sistine Chapel, closed his eyes and was filled with a light that enabled him to accept the job.

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VATICAN CITY
Deutche Welle

The Vatican’s bank has published its first-ever annual report as part of Pope Francis’ reform drive. He is also due to convene talks with eight cardinals to map out administrative reforms in the church worldwide.

The Vatican bank published its accounts for the first time on Tuesday, showing that its earnings in 2012 were 86.6 million euros ($117 million), four times higher than in 2011.

The bank’s new president Ernst von Freyberg said the bank, known internally as the Institute for Works of Religion [IOR, using the Italian-language acronym], was “working hard” to improve its transparency, compliance and organization.

More than 50 million euros of the 2012 profit was given to the papal chair for charitable works, said the report. The bank, founded in 1942, runs the Vatican pension system and oversees 6.3 billion euros in customer assets.

Its clients include religious orders, Vatican embassies, individual cardinals and foreign embassies accredited to the Vatican.

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VATICAN CITY
Zee News

Vatican City: The Vatican bank today published its accounts for the first time in a new drive for transparency aimed at overcoming a series of scandals as Pope Francis plans a major overhaul.

The Institute for Works of Religion, also known as IOR under its Italian acronym, said its earnings for 2012 were USD 117 million, more than four times higher than in 2011.

“At the IOR, we are working hard on our part of the reform process: improving organisation, compliance and transparency,” said Ernst von Freyberg, the bank’s president who was appointed this year.

He said the earnings for 2013 would be impacted by spending linked to reforms at the bank, which is also due to complete an audit on compliance with money-laundering rules by the end of the year.

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VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg Businessweek

By Sonia Sirletti and Chiara Vasarri October 01, 2013

The Vatican bank disclosed its annual report for the first time in the institute’s history as it seeks to improve financial transparency after several corruption scandals.

The bank, formally called the Institute for Works of Religion, or IOR, expects 2013 to be marked by extraordinary expenses “for the ongoing reform and remediation process”and the effects of rising interest rates, according to a statement. The bank earlier this year reported that 2012 profit more than quadrupled to 86.6 million euros ($117 million).

A review of all customer relationships and procedures to prevent money-laundering is under way, the bank said in the statement posted on its website. IOR will shut down about 900 accounts, including all of those held by foreign embassies, Corriere della Sera reported today without saying how it got the information. The decision was taken after viewing large cash transactions by diplomatic missions of Iran, Iraq and Indonesia, according to the newspaper.

“The remediation efforts and the introduction of appropriate regulation in the institute apply independently of the nature of the clients,” Max Hohenberg, a spokesman for the IOR, said by phone. “It doesn’t matter whether they are employees, cardinals or ambassadors.”

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Written by
Marcela Rojas

CROTON-ON-HUDSON — The pain of leaving the Church of the Holy Name of Mary some 10 years ago came rushing back to Georgianna Grant after learning Monday that a deacon there had been dismissed following allegations of sexual abuse of minors years ago.

Grant had been a member of the parish for 50 years. Holy Name, she said, was where her husband was baptized, they married and christened their eight children. But she left in 2003 after two Holy Name pastors were defrocked for similar allegations.

“I miss dreadfully the heritage, the Gregorian chant, the candles. But I can’t support the hypocrisy,” Grant said. “I just couldn’t take it any longer. This newest situation doesn’t raise my comfort level.”

Parishioners were told during Sunday Masses through a letter read to them by Cardinal Timothy Dolan that Albert Mazza was accused of engaging in immoral and illegal conduct with minors prior to becoming a deacon in 1996. Authorities could not bring charges against Mazza because the statute of limitations had expired.

On Monday, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, a national group that supports people victimized by clergy, issued a statement criticizing Dolan for keeping the allegations from the community in the months following Mazza’s leave.

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UNITED STATES
Charisma News

9/30/2013 SHAWN A. AKERS

Apparently, the Catholic Church isn’t the only religious entity forced to deal with sexual abuse of youth. Evangelicals are just as guilty, if not more so, says Boz Tchividjian, Billy Graham’s grandson and a law professor at Liberty University.

Tchividjian, who investigates such abuses, told a room of journalists last week that evangelicals have no room to chastise Catholics when it comes to sexual abuse in the church.

“Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics,” Tchividjian, executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), told Religion News Service (RNS). Tchividjian said too many evangelicals have “sacrificed the souls” of young victims in order to protect the reputation of their churches.

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NEW JERSEY
AZCentral

By Amanda Oglesby
Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

Mon Sep 30, 2013

JACKSON, N.J. — A Catholic priest who once ministered to a congregation here has taken a leave of absence following a sexting scandal with a man he reportedly thought was a 16-year-old boy.

The Rev. Matthew Riedlinger preached at St. Aloysius Church until August 2012, when he entered counseling following complaints of inappropriate cellphone text conversations with other adults, according to church leadership.

While in out-patient treatment, Riedlinger continued having sexual conversations, prompting the Diocese of Trenton to remove him from his parish. Last week, the diocese announced that Riedlinger had taken a leave of absence from the priesthood.

The Rev. John Bambrick, St. Aloysius’ administrator, said perpetrators as well as victims of sexual crimes need treatment to stop the cycle of abuse.

“This is a compulsive behavior,” said Bambrick, who was a victim of a priest’s sexual abuse when he was a teenager.

Bambrick serves on various organizations to help halt sexual abuse. He is a member of the Catholic Whistleblower Network; Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and formerly served on the board of New Jersey’s Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

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