ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

Prosecutors Want To Drop Case Against Sam Kellner Due To Lack Of Credible Evidence, Hynes Overrules, Demotes Them

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Lame duck Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes is not leaving office easily.

Crushed in in both the Democratic primary and general election by incoming D.A. Kenneth Thompson, Hynes scandal-plagued office is adding another bizarre event to its long line of ethically challenged decisions.

Rackets Bureau chief Michael Vecchione – previously excoriated by judges for withholding evidence and wrongful convictions – has just fired his two top prosecutors, the New York Post reported, after they refused to prosecute the case against alleged hasidic extortionist Samuel Kellner due to lack of any credible evidence against Kellner.

Kellner allegedly tried to extort the family of accused molester Rabbi Baruch Mordechai Lebovits. All the supposed key evidence against Kellner has reportedly fallen apart. Hynes’ key witness contradicted himself multiple times and clearly lied. That witness is being paid by Lebovits’ supporters. And a secret tape made without the direction of Hynes or police by Lebovits’ family were mistranslated from Yiddish to English by Hynes translator. Correctly translated, the tape does not support Hynes’ case.

Vecchione kicked top prosecutors Joseph Alexis and Nicholas Batsidis out of his bureau when they refused to carry on with the broken case. With the blessing of Hynes and the help of Hynes’ first ADA Amy Feinstein, the two were demoted and reassigned to the Trials Bureau.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

11/11/13
Hella Winston
Jewish Week Correspondent

Prosecutors in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office were set to dismiss the case against chasidic abuse whistleblower Sam Kellner this week for lack of evidence, but were overruled by their supervisor and then reassigned, The Jewish Week has learned.

Last Wednesday, one day after Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes suffered a crushing defeat by Ken Thompson in his bid for re-election, Assistant District Attorney Joe Alexis informed Kellner’s lawyers, Michael Dowd and Niall MacGiollabhui, by phone that the case against their client would be dismissed at the next scheduled court date, Nov. 12.

On Friday, however, MacGiollabhui told The Jewish Week that he received a call from Alexis, bureau chief of the Rackets Division and a 22-year veteran of the office, informing him that he and the other trial prosecutor, Nicholas Batsidis (who had indicted the case), had been overruled and then transferred out of the Rackets Division by its chief, Michael Vecchione.

Vecchione, one of Hynes’ top aides, has been under scrutiny for alleged misconduct during his tenure as a prosecutor; his alleged actions form the basis of a $150 million lawsuit against the city by a wrongfully convicted man named Jabbar Collins. During the campaign, Thompson called on Hynes to fire Vecchione and in September, after Thompson’s primary victory, the Daily News reported that he intended to fire Vecchione when he takes office.

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SLOVENIA
KIPA-APIC

[Summary: Two dioceses in Slovenia received heavy fines in connection with abuse crimes by a now dead priest. For the first time the Catholic Church has been considered to be an employers of the priests and has final judgment and responsibility.]

Laibach, 11.11.13 (Kipa) In Slowenien sind zwei Diözesen für Missbrauchsstraftaten eines Priesters, der mittlerweile verstorben ist, zu hohen Geldstrafen verurteilt worden. Es handelt sich um einen Präzedenzfall. Erstmals wurde die katholische Kirche als Arbeitgeberin der Priester mit einem rechtskräftigen Urteil zur Verantwortung gezogen.

Nach einem Bericht der Tageszeitungen «Delo» und «Dnevnik» von 9. November bestätigte das Obergericht in Maribor das Urteil des Bezirksgerichts, wonach die Kirche 80.000 Euro (rund 99.000 Franken) Entschädigungsgeld für sexuellen Missbrauch zahlen muss. Täter war der ehemaliger Pfarrer von Artice, Karl Jost.

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NEW YORK
New York Times

By MICHAEL POWELL
Published: November 11, 2013

Sam Kellner, a voluble whistle-blower against child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Hasidic community, received a much-dreamed-of phone call last week.

Two prosecutors with the Brooklyn district attorney’s office promised to drop all charges against Mr. Kellner. An already-weak extortion case had utterly disintegrated, with evidence falling away.

You’ll soon be free of the shadow of prosecution, Mr. Kellner’s lawyers told him.

That was last Wednesday.

Two days later, District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and his rackets chief and longtime friend Michael F. Vecchione reversed that decision and again vowed to prosecute Mr. Kellner.

They promptly demoted the two veteran prosecutors, Joseph Alexis and Nicholas J. Batsidis, who had handled the case against Mr. Kellner.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Robbie Roulston

Mon, Nov 11, 2013

Tracing legislation, to enable adopted individuals to identify their biological parents, has recently become a subject of debate, with TD Clare Daly, in particular, pressing Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald on the matter. In response to Daly’s questions in March last year, Fitzgerald agreed reform was very important and voiced her support for “the strongest possible legislation to deal with this issue” but warned there were constitutional obstacles.

In addition to the commitments of Fitzgerald and the parliamentary questions of Daly and other TDs, a number of organisations, such as the Adoption Rights Alliance, Adopted Illegally Ireland and Adoption Rights Now, are working to shed light on this issue, thereby dislodging another skeleton from the Irish church-State closet.

Adoption Act, 1952

When the Adoption Act, 1952, was crafted, formalising the adoption process in the Republic, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church was given an unusual degree of control even by the prevailing standards in the State.

Every line of the proposed Bill was sent to the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, for his scrutiny. McQuaid proofed the legislation and insisted “the safeguards must be such as the church considers sufficient to protect faith and morals”.

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AUSTRALIA
Victoria Inquiry

The final report of the Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations is expected to be tabled on Wednesday 13 November 2013.

Committee Chair, Ms Georgie Crozier, MP expects to table the report at approximately 9.40am (subject to other Parliamentary business) and will deliver a short speech in the Legislative Council.

People are welcome to see the report being tabled in person at Parliament House or they can watch proceedings via the usual live webcast of parliamentary proceedings on the Parliament House website at www.parliament.vic.gov.au.

Obtaining a copy of the report

An electronic copy of the report will be available on the homepage of the Parliament of Victoria’s website (www.parliament.vic.gov.au) as soon as possible after it has been tabled. We expect this may take approximately one hour.

A limited number of hard copies of the report will be available on the day from Parliament House.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

[live stream of the public sessions]

Address to the USCCB General Assembly on November 11, 2013.

Just last August, I had the honor of concelebrating the Mass of Dedication for the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Kiev. A particularly moving moment came when Metropolitan Shevchuk asked the Lord’s protective hand upon believers suffering persecution for their faith anywhere in the world. That such a heartfelt plea came from a people who had themselves been oppressed for so long made it all the more poignant.

This morning I want to invite us to broaden our horizons, to “think Catholic” about our brothers and sisters in the faith now suffering simply because they sign themselves with the cross, bow their heads at the Holy Name of Jesus, and happily profess the Apostles’ Creed.

Brother bishops, our legitimate and ongoing struggles to protect our “first and most cherished freedom” in the United States pale in comparison to the Via Crucis currently being walked by so many of our Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, who are experiencing lethal persecution on a scale that defies belief. If our common membership in the mystical body of Christ is to mean anything, then their suffering must be ours as well.

The new Archbishop of Canterbury has rightly referred to victims of Christian persecution as “martyrs.” We are living in what must be recognized as, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, “a new age of martyrs.” One expert calculates that half of all Christian martyrs were killed in the twentieth century alone. The twenty-first century has already seen in its first 13 years one million people killed around the world because of their belief in Jesus Christ – – one million already in this still young century

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 12 November 2013)

A court has heard how one of Australia’s most prominent Catholic archbishops, Most Reverend Sir Frank Little (of Melbourne), covered up the crimes of a priest (Father Russell Vears). A parent notified Archbishop Little about the crimes, but the church authorities managed to conceal the crimes from the police until one of the victims contacted the police three decades years later, in 2011.

Sir Frank Little was the archbishop of Melbourne (one of the largest Catholic dioceses in Australia) from 1974 to 1996 (when he was succeeded by Archbishop George Pell).

Father Russell Robert Vears (ordained in 1975) was protected by the Melbourne diocese until the 1980s. He later ceased working in parishes and changed his surname to Walker. However, although he no longer has a parish now, Vears/Walker still has not been officially stripped of his priesthood.

Broken Rites began doing research about Vears in 1998. (See a sub-heading near the end of this article.)

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Victorian State Parliamentary enquiry into child sexual abuse by clergy is expected to release its report on Wednesday, 13th November. It is also anticipated that many people will turn out at Parliament House to demonstrate their views on the possible recommendations.

Leaks to the media suggest that the report will include a call for a law to create a new criminal offence “for ministers of religion who fail to report physical or sexual abuse of children by other clergy.” The offence is likely to involve a prison sentence, although nothing has been revealed concerning the possible length of such sentences.

The Catholic Church has previously claimed that admissions revealed in the confession box would not be referred to the civil authorities. No less an official than Australia’s only Cardinal, George Pell (see previous postings) has expressed this view. Others have claimed they would rather face imprisonment than abide by such a law. Indeed, similar laws in Ireland have met with this response, although those laws have yet to be tested in the Irish courts.

A mandatory reporting law which includes clergy will have to be very carefully crafted, since the Catholic Church will undoubtedly attempt to challenge its validity in the courts. It will have very expensive lawyers at its disposal to push its case. It would be incumbent on the Victorian state Government to ensure it fully funds its defence of the laws if they do, indeed, come up before the courts. It should not be up to victims and their supporters to carry the cost of any legal challenge to the laws.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

On Archbishop John Nienstedt’s conditions for releasing names of abusive priests, Madeleine Baran and Tom Scheck of MPR say: “It’s unclear why Nienstedt believes he would need a judge to unseal the list of 33 priests before he could release his own list, and how many priests will be on the list the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis plans to release. St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson has been asking a judge to unseal the list for years. Anderson, who is suing the archdiocese on behalf of several victims, told MPR News that the archdiocese does not need permission from the court to release a list of names. He also said some offenders have died, and some may have moved out of the Twin Cities metro area that the archdiocese represents. … If a judge does not unseal the list — as was the case last month in a Ramsey County courtroom — the archdiocese would not release the names on it, Nienstedt said. Attorneys for the archdiocese did not respond to a request for clarification.” Talk about a case study in ham-fisted obfuscation …

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Visitor

A Lancaster Cathedral Canon who trained in Rome sexually abused a young man who had hopes of joining the priesthood, a court heard.

Father Stephen Shield’s alleged victim said he felt like his soul had been “ripped out” after the sex attacks by the Catholic priest more than two decades ago.

Fr Shields denies sexually assaulting the man in the presbytery at English Martyrs Church, Garstang Road, Preston, on two occasions after first meeting his victim at a retreat at Castlerigg Manor in the Lake District – where he also allegedly abused him.

Shields became Canon at Lancaster Cathedral before he was arrested and charged with three counts of indecent assault.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

BY JOEL CRESSWELL –
November 12, 2013

Melbourne’s Catholic archdiocese actively protected a pedophile priest by moving him to a different parish, where he continued to abuse a boy, a judge says.

Russell Robert Walker, 64, was a parish priest when he repeatedly abused two altar boys in the 1970s, despite Melbourne’s then-archbishop Frank Little being warned by one victim’s mother.

Jailing Walker for five years on Tuesday, Victorian County Court Judge Felicity Hampel said the church’s response to the warning was scandalous.

“Although you’re not to be punished for the institutional response, what happened was scandalous,” she said.

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CHILE
Bio Bio

[Summary: The judge has upheld the sentence of 10 years and one day to be met by priest Orlando Rogel Pinuer. He was convicted of repeated sexual abuse of four minors.]

Este lunes la justicia confirmó la pena de diez años y un día de presidio que deberá cumplir el sacerdote Orlando Rogel Pinuer, condenado por abuso sexual reiterado contra cuatro menores de edad. La Corte Suprema rechazó el recurso de queja interpuesto por su abogado defensor.

Recordemos que el Tribunal Oral de Temuco en la sentencia dejó establecido que los delitos fueron cometidos en la casa parroquial de la iglesia católica de Cunco.

El sacerdote Orlando Rogel quedó además con prohibición de acercarse a las víctimas, quedando sujeto a la vigilancia de la autoridad durante los 10 años siguientes al cumplimiento de la pena principal. También se ordenó incorporar a un registro la huella genética del sacerdote, Orlando Rogel.

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MASSACHUSETTS
iContact

In addition to Senator Warren’s remarks, Keynote Speaker Dr. Robert Shoop, and our 10 knowledge & skill building Sessions, we are happy to announce our new luncheon program featuring four outstanding Survivor/Advocates.

Preventing sexual abuse requires a range of strategies, including mobilizing for policy and legislative changes. The effort to reform Statute of Limitations in sexual abuse cases is one example of how the prevention movement has greatly benefited from the activism of adult survivors whose powerful voices are being heard in their communities and on Beacon Hill. Angeline Clancy, Kathy Picard, Kathryn Robb, and Roseanne Sliney will speak about the experiences, motivations and visions that are at the core of their work to end sexual abuse. We will also hear from citizen/advocate Robert Kelly about why institutions that oppose SOL reform must engage in building “overlapping consensus” based on principles of justice and moral reasoning.

The Summit Agenda
View our website for more details

7:30 AM Breakfast and Networking Time
9:00 AM Viewing of “A Silent Epidemic” video
Jetta Bernier~ Executive Director, MassKids
Senator Elizabeth Warren via video from Washington
9:20 AM Keynote: Child Sexual Exploitation: How to Spot It and Stop It
10:00 AM Responders Circle
10:50 AM BREAK
11:00 AM Morning Sessions
​The Code of Conduct as a Critical Prevention Tool
Sexual Abuse Prevention Training and Resources for Your Organization
Moving Beyond Current Practices for Screening Prospective Employees
Responding to and Reporting Disclosures of Sexual Abuse
Institutionalizing Comprehensive Prevention Policies and Practices

12:15 PM Lunch ~ Topic Tables
12:45 PM The Power of Survivor Voices
1:30 PM Afternoon Sessions:
Doing the Right Thing: How to Best Respond to Adult Disclosures of Past Sexual Abuse in Schools and Youth-Serving Organizations
Reducing Sexual Abuse Risks for Children with Disabilities and Those Served by Foster Care
Preventing Sexual Abuse within Sports Programs
A Positive Youth Development Approach to Preventing Sexual Assault of Teens
Sexual Abusers: What We Know About Them and How That Can Inform Prevention Strategies
3:00 PM BREAK
3:15 PM Plenary Session: Taking Action to Prevent Sexual Abuse
4:15 PM A Singing Performance Send-Off by Framinham School Youth
4:30 PM Adjourn

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

[with video]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP/WCCO) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis plans this month to release the names of some priests who have sexually abused children, the archbishop said in an open letter Monday.

The names will be limited to those priests who live in the archdiocese and who have what church officials deem to be substantiated claims of abuse against them, Archbishop John Nienstedt said.

Nienstedt said he would disclose the names, locations and status of these men in November with “permission of the relevant court.” He said all of them have been removed from ministry.

“This is misleading as no court order is needed to release these names. Do it today. Why the delay?” said Mike Finnegan, an attorney for victims of sexual abuse. He added the conditions listed by Nienstedt wouldn’t include men who have moved from the archdiocese, or priests who have died.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Victims’ advocates are urging a swift, bipartisan response to the Victorian parliament’s landmark report on child sex abuse.

Advocacy group Commission of Inquiry Now (COIN) president Bryan Keon-Cohen said politicians must not await the outcome of the national royal commission when considering any recommendations made by the Victorian committee.

The report is due to be tabled on Wednesday after 12 months of submissions on the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations, which began in October last year.

In November, then-prime minister Julia Gillard announced a royal commission into child sex abuse.
Dr Keon-Cohen said it would be a gross injustice if the state government deferred to the royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier

“ALTHOUGH you’re not to be punished for the institutional response, what happened was scandalous. This boy was not the only victim of clerical abuse in the Melbourne archdiocese, nor the only victim whose welfare was ignored while the church took active steps to protect the priest and itself.”

These were the words of Victorian County Court Judge Felicity Hampel yesterday in sentencing a priest who sexually assaulted two Melbourne boys in 1970s. It puts into total focus the need for today’s release of a parliamentary committee report into institutionalised abuse to reinforce the community’s plea for a strong new approach to this issue.

The report comes after more than one year of hearings and interviews designed to finally unmask the dark and hidden depths of abuse in institutions which, for many people, form a significant part of our everyday lives.

The inquiry has heard calls for legislative reform that would allow organisations to be sued for their inaction or cover-ups.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

November 12, 2013 by J-Wire Staff

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published the dates and locations of the private sessions to be held throughout Australia for the remainder of 2013. Further dates will be published subsequently.

Royal CommissionPrivate Session Dates

18 November 2013 – Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Cairns
25 November 2013 – Sydney
02 December 2013 – Sydney, Brisbane and Perth
09 December 2013 – Sydney, Melbourne
16 December 2013 – Melbourne and Brisbane

Contact us to register your interest
Our website: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au
Stakeholder enquiries: stakeholders@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former Catholic priest has been sentenced to five years in jail for abusing two 14-year-old boys more than 30 years ago.

Russell Robert Walker was at two parishes in Melbourne’s south-east when the offences occurred.

He was arrested after one of his victims, who cannot be identified, went to the police in November 2011.

The Victorian County Court was told Walker began indecently assaulting the two altar boys within a year of joining the priesthood in 1976.

He gave one victim alcohol before abusing him and, on another occasion, indecently assaulted the boy on a bench.

Walker told the second boy he loved him and abused the boy more than half a dozen times.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 12, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

How child sex abuse happens and how judges sentence offenders will be an important focus of the royal commission into child abuse, its chairman said on Tuesday.

Speaking in Melbourne, Justice Peter McClellan said the commission, having returned to Melbourne, would also look at the practical impact of the statute of limitations in preventing victims from suing perpetrators, which many people see as a “significant injustice”, and whether there should be a general compensation scheme.

Justice McClellan, chairman of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, said that up to last Friday the commission had received 6362 phone calls, 2775 written inquiries and 627 personal submissions.

It had conducted 742 private sessions with victims, with 524 approved but awaiting appointments, and another 1300 seeking a private session, of whom probably half would get one, he said.
He said the private sessions, which were set up by act of parliament, had worked well. Although traumatic for many, the sessions had allowed victims to talk to someone with authority about the deeply traumatic and life-defining experiences they suffered as children.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Sarah Farnsworth

The chair of the National Royal Commission into child sexual abuse has appealed for more staff to deal with the enormous challenge of taking evidence from abuse victims.

Justice Peter McClellan told a conference in Melbourne that the Commission had been inundated with people wanting to tell their stories.

Justice McClellan says he now realises that if the commission is to properly bear witness to child abuse across Australia, he needs more staff.

When the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was set up, the laws were changed to allow people to tell their stories in private sessions.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has had an overwhelming response, prompting the chairman to call for an additional 100 staff members to handle a growing work load. In the first seven months, the commission has recieved more than 6,000 phone calls and nearly 3,500 written inquiries. Justice Peter McClellan says he believes many more private sessions with abuse victims will be held as the commissioners continue to gather evidence.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: The chair of the National Royal Commission into child sexual abuse has appealed for more staff to deal with the enormous challenge of taking evidence from abuse victims.

Justice Peter McClellan told a conference in Melbourne that the commission has been inundated with people wanting to tell their stories.

He says he now realises that if the commission is to properly bear witness to child abuse across Australia, he needs more staff.

In Melbourne, Sarah Farnsworth reports.

SARAH FARNSWORTH: When the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was set up, the laws were changed to allow people to tell their stories in private sessions.

In a rare speech, the chair of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan, says those sessions have given a clear picture of the harrowing and traumatic experiences suffered by many.

PETER MCCLELLAN: It is not uncommon for men of my own age to break down and weep when describing the trauma of their childhood. For some it is the first time they have been able to tell anyone of their personal story.

It is common for them to report not only a sexual abuse, but extraordinary levels of physical abuse and psychological trauma.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

by Rob Parsons, Crime Correspondent
Published on the 11 November 2013

CHILDREN in South Yorkshire are “not always being adequately protected” from sexual grooming because of the ‘inconsistent’ approach to tackling the problem by the county’s police force, a watchdog’s report has revealed today.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary said it had “serious concern” about the quality of protection children receive, despite child sexual exploitation being made a priority by South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner (PCC) and chief constable.

Its report said every one of the force’s 1,700 frontline staff had been given training in how to deal with child sexual exploitation between January and March and that officers working in child protection were “clearly deeply committed to their work”.

It said there had been an increase in the number of offenders prosecuted and that South Yorkshire Police was now working better with other agencies to tackle the problem.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Gainsborough Standard

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Shaun Wright says the Chief Constable must ‘act immediately’ to improve the response of the force to child sexual exploitation in the wake of a report raising serious concern about the quality of protection it provides for children across the region.

Mr Wright commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to assess the effectiveness of the force’s approach to protecting children from sexual exploitation and to develop recommendations for improvements and its findings were published this week.

Inspectors say the force is committed to tackling child sexual exploitation but an inconsistent approach across the force area gave them ‘serious concern’ about the quality of protection children receive.

Among the areas for improvement, the report says that the leadership provided by the Chief Constable for child sexual exploitation was ‘unclear’ to many police officers and staff.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By TED THORNHILL

A police force under the spotlight over its handling of child sex exploitation is still prioritising burglary and vehicle crime, according to a new report.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found that the emphasis from senior and middle local managers at South Yorkshire Police was still more focused on dealing with other crimes and must act immediately to improve its response.

It also found that intelligence teams were not fully supporting child sexual exploitation investigations and that staffing problems were hampering the investigations.

It said that these matters should be addressed ‘as a matter of urgency’.

South Yorkshire PCC Shaun Wright said there had been ‘a failure of management’ at South Yorkshire Police as he responded to the report, which he commissioned in the summer.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

IF there was one crumb of comfort to be taken from the appalling litany of abuse committed by disgraced presenters Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall it was that it starkly underlined the threat posed by prolific child sex offenders, even those who operated in the full glare of publicity.

Indeed, such are the concerns arising from the scandalous way in which so many apparently turned a blind eye to their actions that Keir Starmer, the former director of public prosecutions, has called for a mandatory reporting law which would make it a criminal offence for teachers and other professionals to fail to act over suspicions that a youngster was being targeted in such a way.

Yet there is a nagging sense that the authorities are not taking the scourge of child abuse as seriously as they should. The Government says it has no plans to introduce mandatory reporting legislation, while the response of police forces in Yorkshire has been the subject of no little controversy.

West Yorkshire Police’s investigation into its dealings with Savile, published in May, was roundly criticised for failing to appear sufficiently independent.

Now a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary says that children in South Yorkshire are “not always being adequately protected” from sexual grooming because of the inconsistent approach to tackling the problem taken by the county’s police force.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Kathy Mellott
kmellott@tribdem.com

EBENSBURG — A Greensburg lawyer representing alleged victims of Brother Stephen Baker has withdrawn the civil lawsuit filed in Cambria County, citing concern that complying with requests for more information would harm settlement talks now underway.

Attorney Susan Williams has filed a request to withdraw the lawsuit filed 10 months ago on behalf of three unnamed alleged victims of Baker, a Franciscan friar.

The action follows aggressive attempts by the leaders of Bishop McCort High School to learn details of the allegations being made against Baker, and in particular, the school, under its current structure.

In late October, Bishop McCort attorney Kathleen Gallagher attempted to force Williams to file the full complaint of the lawsuit spelling out dates, places and alleged acts committed by Baker.

Last week, Gallagher filed, on behalf of Bishop McCort, an inquiry seeking a response to statements regarding Baker and the alleged victims posted on the Williams Law Firm website.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Kathy Mellott
kmellott@tribdem.com

EBENSBURG — Action in Cambria County court stopping the lawsuit filed on behalf of alleged victims of Brother Stephen Baker has no impact on the investigation underway by Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan.

The decision to drop the lawsuit is a civil initiative, while the role of Callihan and her staff looking into the Baker case is a criminal matter.

In late October, Callihan confirmed that she is asking the state attorney general’s office to undertake an investigation into Baker and allegations by former students of Bishop McCort High School.

Baker, a Franciscan friar who worked at the school from 1992 to 2001, died in late January at a monastery in Blair County in what was ruled a suicide. He was 62, and his death came weeks after word of a settlement between 11 of his victims and a Catholic diocese in Ohio.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

12 November 2013

Parish priests around Australia have been called on to acknowledge the start of Royal Commission hearings into Towards Healing on 9 December by reading the Catholic Church’s child sexual abuse commitment statement at Mass over the coming weeks.

The statement, which has been endorsed by Church leaders across Australia, acknowledges the damage sexual abuse has done. It acknowledges past failings including cover-ups, failures of leadership and not believing victims.

It also provides a commitment to work towards repairing past wrongs, listening to and hearing victims, putting victims’ needs first, and doing everything possible to ensure a safer future for children.

Mr Francis Sullivan, chief executive officer of the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, has written to some 1100 priests suggesting they read the statement, first published in the Council’s Towards Healing submission to the Royal Commission in September, during Mass, make it available in church foyers and publish it on parish websites.

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.

NEW YORK/MARYLAND
Opposing Views

By Khier Casino, Mon, November 11, 2013

A youth pastor, Shaun M. Ross of Syracuse, N.Y., is facing trial for sexually abusing a minor in another state. He worked at Central New York church as a children’s worship leader while under investigation.

The 32-year-old has been charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in Maryland, Syracuse.com reported. Ross was detained in July in Frederick, Md., and charges originated from activity that started in 2008, court documents say.

Ross was the director of student ministry at the Calvary Assembly church in Walkersville, Md. The pastor at the church, the Rev. John Kenney, did not want to comment on Ross or the investigation.

“Please know that we have zero tolerance for misconduct of any staff,” Kenney wrote in an email to Syracuse.com.

For about a year, Ross and his wife have been living with his father, the Rev. Terry Ross, who is the senior pastor at the Victory Christian Center in North Syracuse. According to the church’s Facebook page, Shaun Ross and his wife, Brandi, took the responsibility of caring for the children’s programs at the Victory Christian Center in April.

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.

NEW YORK
The Post-Standard

By Marnie Eisenstadt and Jeff Stein

A youth pastor facing trial for sexually abusing a minor in another state worked as a children’s worship leader at a Central New York church while he was under investigation.

Shaun M. Ross, 32, has been charged with two counts of sexually abusing a minor in Maryland. He was arrested in July in Frederick , Md., according to court records. The charges stem from activity that began in 2008 in the community near Baltimore, records say.

Ross was the director of student ministry at the Calvary Assembly church in Walkersville, Md. The Rev. John Kenney, the pastor at that church, would not comment on Ross or the investigation.

“Please know that we have zero tolerance for misconduct of any staff,” Kenney wrote in an email.

Ross and his wife have been living in Clay with his father, the Rev. Terry Ross, for about a year. Terry Ross is the senior pastor at the Victory Christian Center in North Syracuse. In April, Shaun Ross and his wife, Brandi, were put in charge of children’s programs at the Victory Christian Center, according to the church’s Facebook page.

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.

NEW YORK/MARYLAND
RT

A youth pastor charged with sexually abusing a minor in Maryland had been serving as a children’s program leader at a church in New York state while he was still under investigation.

Back in July, 32-year-old Shaun M. Ross was arrested in Frederick, Maryland and charged with two counts of sexually abusing a minor. He was the director of student ministry at the Cavalry Assembly church. According to court records, the pending charges originate from activity dating as far back as 2008 in a community near Baltimore.

In April 2013, however, Ross and his wife were appointed to lead the Victory Christian Center’s children’s programs in North Syracuse despite the fact that he was not allowed to be in contact with children during the investigation. Ross’ father, Rev. Terry Ross, is a senior pastor at the center.

“We are excited to announce that Shaun and Brandi Ross will be assuming leadership in our Children’s ministry,” read one of the center’s Facebook posts dated April 1, according to Syracuse.com. “Bring your children this Sunday for Kidz Revolution! They will love it!”

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CatholicPhilly

BY MATTHEW GAMBINO

Father John Paul announced his resignation as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish in Philadelphia Sunday, Nov. 10, citing in the church bulletin a decline in his “physical and spiritual health” as a result of allegations of past misconduct.

Father Paul, 67 and ordained in 1972, had been pastor of the Northeast Philadelphia parish since 2000.

He had been the subject of allegations made against him early this year accusing him of sexually abusing minors more than 40 years ago when he was a seminarian at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, according to a statement by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Although Father Paul denied the allegations, as a matter of archdiocesan policy they were reported to law enforcement. After review the Philadelphia district attorney declined to press charges. The archdiocese then began its own investigation that has not concluded.

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
The Age

November 12, 2013

Mark Russel

A former Catholic priest has been jailed for five years for sexually abusing two altar boys during the 1970s.

County Court judge Felicity Hampel said Russell Vears, who later changed his name to Walker, had been a 27-year-old newly ordained priest in 1976 when appointed assistant priest to a parish in Melbourne’s outer south-east.

Within a year of his arrival at the parish, Walker began sexually abusing two 14-year-old boys.
“Their families were active members of the congregation, and they were both altar boys. As a result you had easy access to them, and were trusted by them and their families,” Judge Hampel said on Tuesday.

The judge said that by the third year of Walker’s tenure at the parish, the parents of one of the boys suspected he was abusing their son.

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
Courier Mail

Catholic Church cover-up of child sex abuse a scandal, says County Court Judge Felicity Hampel

PAUL ANDERSON NEWS LIMITED NOVEMBER 12, 2013

HIGH-ranking members of the Catholic Church acted in “scandalous” fashion by ignoring claims of sexual abuse and attempting to protect an accused priest and the church brand, a judge has said.

In a scathing attack on the church, County Court judge Felicity Hampel today slammed it for not helping a young sexually abused altar boy and not referring the matter to police.

Depraved Catholic priest Russell Robert Walker sexually abused two altar boys over a four-year period in the 1970s – despite the Archbishop of Melbourne at the time being warned about him.

Walker had been confronted by the parents of one of the boys, only to reply: “How dare you accuse me of sleeping with your son.”

The Catholic Church never took action, the judge said.

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
The Australian

AAP
November 12, 2013

MELBOURNE’S Catholic archdiocese actively protected a paedophile priest by moving him to a different parish, where he continued to abuse a boy, a judge says.

Russell Robert Walker, 64, was a parish priest when he repeatedly abused two altar boys in the 1970s, despite Melbourne’s then-archbishop Frank Little being warned by one victim’s mother.

Jailing Walker for five years today, Victorian County Court Judge Felicity Hampel said the church’s response to the warning was scandalous.

“Although you’re not to be punished for the institutional response, what happened was scandalous,” she said.

“This boy was not the only victim of clerical abuse in the Melbourne archdiocese, nor the only victim whose welfare was ignored while the church took active steps to protect the priest and itself.”

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.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio,
Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
November 11, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Archbishop John Nienstedt has backed away from a promise to release the names of some priests in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who have sexually abused children.

Nienstedt initially told MPR News on Friday that, in a reversal of a decades-old policy, he would release some of the names this month — and that more could be made public after a private firm hired by the archdiocese reviews all clergy files.

“For the sake of the dignity of each human person and for the sake of our souls, we must fix this problem of sexual misconduct right now,” he said. “For the sake of the God we love and serve and for all who are counting on Catholic leadership to live by our beliefs and our word, I will not allow it to stand.”

But less than 36 hours after Nienstedt read those remarks, church officials started putting caveats on them. Nienstedt then revised his statement and sent a separate, private letter to clergy saying he believes he cannot release the names without the “permission of the relevant court.” …

Bob Schiwderski, director of the Minnesota chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Nienstedt’s action doesn’t go far enough. He said the archbishop should visit every parish where offending priests were assigned and announce that they were known to have abused children. It would give victims greater courage to come forward, he said, about abuse they suffered as children.

“If they’re going to release the names, then they should also go to where they dropped them on the families and unsuspecting children,” Schiwderski said.

Several archdioceses, including those in Philadelphia and Boston, have released detailed lists of priests accused of abusing children in response to earlier scandals.

Terence McKiernan, founder of the Bishop-Accountability.org watchdog site, has said the lists often contain few surprises, since so many names have already been made public.

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.

MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Scott Theisen

It’s a significant development involving the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis following a chain of alarming allegations. Following mounting pressure, the archdiocese will release the names of priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced the decision on Monday in an open letter. One expert told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS it signals the archdiocese may be turning a corner on this issue.
For some, that would be a welcome change.

“It has been swept under for way too long, and mistakes have been made,” said Shelley Olson, a parishioner in Minneapolis.

For weeks, it’s been allegations, revelations, and condemnations.

“I’ve talked with a lot of friends of mine that are Catholic, and they say, ‘When are they going to get their act together?'” said Lea Nowak, another parishioner in Minneapolis.

Many Catholics hope Monday was the day that happened.

It began with that statement from Archbishop Nienstedt, promising to release a list of, “the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors.”

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.

MINNESOTA
KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. — An open letter written by Archbishop John Nienstedt Monday morning began with a common storyline.

Nienstedt was writing to inform the masses that a former priest, Clarence Vavra, who served 38 years in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, told church officials in 1995 he sexually abused young boys in 1975.

Nienstedt claims Vavra was sent to treatment for his self-confessed crimes but those were not disclosed further. Vavra was never criminally charged.

Nienstedt said how the Archdiocese handled that was wrong.

“Serious errors were made by the Archdiocese in dealing with him,” Nienstedt wrote.

The Archbishop went on suggesting that those kinds of wrongs won’t happen again.

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.

NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 11, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

Mark Silk, at RNS, on the VERY BIG threat to religious liberty posed by the settlement in the Fr. Fugee case in Newark. To be clear, the civil court has NO business insisting on the de-frocking of a priest as part of a civil settlement. And, it be just as clear, it is only the ridiculously bad handling of the Fugee case by Archbishop Myers that led to this situation. The USCCB should spend less time worrying about insurance policies and more time worrying about how their own members are bringing an unprecedented degree of governmental interference in the life of the Church.

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.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced he will release the names of some priests who are known to have abused children.

What does this decades-long policy reversal mean for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the offending priests and their victims? Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney who has represented many victims of clergy sexual abuse, joins The Daily Circuit to talk about the latest developments in the abuse scandal

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.

POLAND
Christian Post

BY LEONARDO BLAIR , CP REPORTER
November 11, 2013

As investigations of alleged sexual abuse of multiple young boys by two Polish clerics continue, one Polish priest, Father Ireneusz Bochynski, of Piotrkow Trybunalski in Central Poland, claims he is aware of 10-year-old children who “went to bed with adults, wanting to be fulfilled, and it was the choice of the child.”

In a recent Polskie Radio report, Father Bochynski insisted that “now that we have so many broken marriages, where most often there is a lack of a father, it will happen more and more often that children without such figures will cling on to men.”

The report highlights that Bochynski’s statement is in line with those held by head of the Polish Episcopate Archbishop Jozef Michalik. He argues that children involved in pedophilia cases are often “searching for love” because of its absence in their broken homes.

Poland’s attorney general’s office is currently examining 650 documents pertaining to allegations of sexual abuse of multiple boys in the Dominican Republic by two Polish priests.

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

MINNESOTA
Houston Chronicle

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An attorney for victims of sexual abuse by priests says Archbishop John Nienstedt’s plan to release the names of some accused priests isn’t enough.

Mike Finnegan is one attorney who has been pushing for public release of a list of 33 priests whom the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis deemed were credibly accused of sexual misconduct. He says that whole list should be released.

Nienstedt announced Monday that he will release names of accused priests who currently live in the archdiocese, upon permission from a court. Finnegan says that’s misleading because Nienstedt doesn’t need a court’s permission.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12

Statement by Karen Polesir of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 267-992-9463, karenpolesir@yahoo.com )

A Philly priest, Fr. John P. Paul, says he’s stepping down because of “stress” caused by reports that he molested two kids. And Philly Catholic officials now claim that that they’re investigating and that despite the two allegations, church officials “allowed (him) to remain at (a) parish with restrictions that prohibited him from having unsupervised contact with minors.”

[Philly.com]

[Philly.com]

The “take-away” here is twofold and troubling.

First, Philly Catholic officials – despite repeated pledges to be “open” – are continuing to pretend to do quiet, internal investigations into accused predator priests without warning parents.

Second, Philly Catholic officials – despite repeated pledges to “reform” – are still pretending that priests can “supervise” accused priests and put them on “restrictions” that keep them away from kids.

And over the past few decades, in hundreds and hundreds of cases, Catholic officials have claimed to be “supervising” or “monitoring” or “restricting” child molesting clerics when in fact, they have not been or have not been doing so effectively.

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GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola

November 11, 2013

[See also Mounting clergy sex abuse legal claims spark Chapter 11 reorganization, by Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola, Gallup Independent, September 3, 2013, with documents.]

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup plans to file a petition for Chapter 11 reorganization in federal bankruptcy court Tuesday, according to an announcement that priests in the diocese were asked to read to parishioners during the Veterans Day weekend.

It was more than two months ago that Bishop James S. Wall asked his priests to break the news of the impending bankruptcy during Masses over the Labor Day weekend.

“In early September I told you that I had made the decision that the only way to equitably and mercifully deal with the mounting sex abuse claims, still meet our commitment to you and continue the outreach mission of the church was to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in the United States Bankruptcy Court,” Wall’s brief and most recent announcement began.

The diocese, which includes much of western New Mexico, northern Arizona and parishes in seven Native American reservations, has announced previously it will file in Albuquerque’s federal bankruptcy court. Wall said the diocese will regularly post information about the progress of the Chapter 11 petition on its website.

[Article includes sidebar listing publicly accused Gallup priests and one brother.]

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

November 11, 2013

Archbishop Nienstedt Putting Kids at Risk by Delaying Release of Names of 33 Priests with Credible Allegations of Sexual Abuse
Archdiocese has known the identities of the offenders since at least 2004

Statement of Attorney Mike Finnegan

(St. Paul, Minnesota) – Nearly a decade ago, the Archdiocese had in its possession the identities of the names of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Repeated requests to release these names have gone unanswered and finally, today, Archbishop John Nienstedt says he will release the names of some of these priests – not all of them – and only with specific conditions. The limited release will only include the names of priests who are alive and living within the confines of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

In an “Open Letter from Archbishop John Nienstedt Regarding Clarence Vavra,” issued today, Nienstedt states “upon receipt and permission of the relevant court” he will disclose the names, locations and status of these priests. This is misleading as no court order is needed to release these names. Do it today. Why the delay? Are they giving these offenders more time to move outside the geographic lines of the Archdiocese so they won’t be included on this list?

Archbishop Nienstedt should start protecting children today and release the 33 names the Archdiocese has known about since at least 2004. For decades this Archdiocese has displayed a pattern and practice of protecting the sexual offender instead of putting the safety of the community and children first. Every day that goes by, every hour that passes, more children are put at risk because of their resistance to take action when a crime has been committed. The ongoing lack of transparency and accountability needs to end. The only way to do this is to release the entire list of 33 names, along with all of the documents on these offenders, and openly encourage other Dioceses in Minnesota, and nationwide, to do the same. Only then will our communities be safe for our children.

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.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Whispers in the Loggia

At his first November Meeting in 2006, the late, beloved Archbishop Pietro Sambi – blessings and peace be upon him – took the Nuncio’s customary speaking slot by storm to chide the US bishops on, among other things, an inadequate focus on Scripture in ecclesial life and “the loss of credibility” the church had suffered due to the clergy sex-abuse scandals.

Asked afterward for his reaction, one senior hierarch said that the china-shattering diplomat “turned the knife on us”… and seven years later – at least for some – it’d seem that, at the dawn of another new pontificate, history’s repeated itself here in the Premier See.

Arguably the most respected and appreciated legate to these shores since Pio Laghi – among the bench, that is – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò unleashed a remarkable message at the body in this morning’s Opening Session, implicitly responding to months of criticism of Pope Francis to various degrees among a notable share of the Stateside bishops (most of it expressed in private) and implying the negative effects of the body’s polarization on the life and standing of the American church.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Nov. 11, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

Cardinal Timothy Dolan endorsed Pope Francis’ “Poor church for the poor,” but said that the U.S. bishops don’t have to do anything new.

The cardinal, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops until the end of their meeting this week in Baltimore, was responding to questions about why the bishops were not doing more about the poor. He said that as president most of the complaint letters he received were from people complaining that the bishops talked too much about social justice, government cut backs, and the poor.

The cardinal noted that “different popes put a spotlight on different issues in the church, and certainly Pope Francis, thanks be to God, has put a spotlight on injustice and needs of the poor, and a ringing call for the church to be poor and for the poor.”

What Cardinal Dolan disagreed with is “the interpretation that the (bishops’) conference has been less than concerned about the poor.” The cardinal argued that this has been a constant concern of the conference since its founding in 1917. But there is no doubt, he said, that the pope is “asking us to be even more vigorous in an area that we already have a pretty good track record on.”

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GALLUP (NM)
Voice of the Southwest – Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup

Posted by: Suzanne Hammons on November 11, 2013

The Diocese of Gallup wishes to announce that it will formally file for Chapter 11 reorganization on Tuesday, November 12 in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Albuquerque. Please find below Bishop James Wall’s letter regarding the filing:

“Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus:

In early September I told you that I had made the decision that the only way to equitably and mercifully deal with the mounting sex abuse claims, still meet our commitment to you and continue the outreach mission of the Church was to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in the United States Bankruptcy Court. Since that time, we have been preparing for the filing. I wanted to tell you that the Chapter 11 filing will occur on Tuesday, November 12.

There is a section on the Diocese’s website that is devoted to information about the Chapter 11 filing. That can be found at http://voiceofthesouthwest.org/category/media-releases/chapter-11-filing/. We will regularly post information about the Chapter 11 to keep you informed of the ongoing process.

As I said in my letter to you in September, the process of Chapter 11 will open our Diocese to unprecedented public scrutiny which I believed would be a good thing. I am firmly convinced that as we embark on this journey to bring healing to all who have been harmed and to our Diocese.

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.

GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

Published by the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Nov. 11, 2013

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup plans to file a petition for Chapter 11 reorganization in federal bankruptcy court Tuesday, according to an announcement that priests in the diocese were asked to read to parishioners during the Veterans Day weekend.

It was more than two months ago that Bishop James S. Wall asked his priests to break the news of the impending bankruptcy during Masses over the Labor Day weekend.

“In early September I told you that I had made the decision that the only way to equitably and mercifully deal with the mounting sex abuse claims, still meet our commitment to you and continue the outreach mission of the church was to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in the United States Bankruptcy Court,” Wall’s brief and most recent announcement began.

The diocese, which includes much of western New Mexico, northern Arizona and parishes in seven Native American reservations, has announced previously it will file in Albuquerque’s federal bankruptcy court. Wall said the diocese will regularly post information about the progress of the Chapter 11 petition on its website.

Once the diocese does file, the public can read the court documents online on the federal government’s website — www.pacer.gov. Members of the public can open an account on the website to view or print court documents for a modest fee.

Bankruptcy delay

Suzanne Hammons, the new media liaison for the diocese, was asked Thursday why it was taking the diocese so long to file its Chapter 11 petition. Hammons stated in an email Friday that the process of filing “is one that must be undertaken with the utmost care so that all sides receive proper consideration.” She promised to send out a news release when the filing date “is made known to the press.” Priests, however, began announcing the date the very next day.

The diocese’s most prominent legal opponent had a different take on the delay.

“The Diocese of Gallup told me that they needed time to prepare the petition for bankruptcy and that it was taking longer than expected because Gallup’s financial records were not well kept or organized,” Phoenix attorney Robert E. Pastor said in an email Sunday, adding that the diocese has an “army of lawyers” working for it. “I hope that the two months of delay was not used to hide or transfer assets as other diocese have done in the past.”

Pastor has filed 13 clergy sex abuse lawsuits against the Diocese of Gallup in Arizona’s Coconino County Superior Court. The first case is scheduled to go to trial in February in Flagstaff. However, once the diocese files its Chapter 11 petition, all of Pastor’s cases will most likely be stayed or suspended.

Pastor’s attempts to depose diocesan officials will also most likely be put on hold. Pastor and co-counsel John C. Manly conducted depositions of Wall and the Rev. Alfred Tachias on Sept. 18. Tachias once worked under the Rev. Clement Hageman, who allegedly sexually abused dozens of children in Catholic parishes along Route 66 from New Mexico to Arizona for more than 30 years. Tachias also sexually assaulted an adult male in an Albuquerque motel room, according to an admission by Gallup’s late Bishop Donald E. Pelotte in a 2002 interview.

Pastor said Wall and Tachias submitted to the depositions on the condition that their transcripts would be confidential and not released to the public.

Four depositions

Pastor said four more current and former diocesan officials were scheduled to be deposed next week, including Deacon Timoteo Lujan and Brother Duane Torisky, O.F.M., who both served controversial terms as chancellors to Pelotte. The Rev. James Walker, the former vicar general, and the Rev. Timothy Farrell, a former media liaison for the diocese, were also scheduled to be deposed.
“We know that for years Deacon Lujan was in the negotiating room on behalf of Bishop Pelotte when the Diocese of Gallup made secret agreements with victims,” Pastor said of Lujan, who resigned in 2009. “We were hoping Brother Duane would explain the workings of the chancery office and the preservations of secret archives that the Diocese of Gallup kept when a priest was accused of sexual abuse.”

Torisky, a Franciscan friar, was also publicly accused of sexual harassment by a Gallup priest, the Rev. Gil Mangampo, who claimed he was punished by chancery officials for speaking out. Torisky has denied Mangampo’s accusations.

As for Walker, he was appointed by the bishop to conduct a review of more than 400 personnel files in the diocese to determine what clergy had been credibly accused of sexual abuse and misconduct. Wall issued a news release in 2009, promising to publicly release Walker’s findings, but he has yet to do so.

In October, Farrell resigned his media liaison position in protest after Wall reappointed Lujan to a position of authority in the diocese as co-director of the deacon formation program. Lujan and fellow deacon James Hoy, who resigned as chief financial officer in June, were frequently criticized by many Gallup priests, who raised questions about Lujan and Hoy’s professional qualifications, transparency and accountability as chancery officials.

Public scrutiny

In the Veterans Day weekend announcement, Wall referred back to his initial announcement about the bankruptcy. “As I said in my letter to you in September, the process of Chapter 11 will open our diocese to unprecedented public scrutiny, which I believed would be a good thing,” Wall said. “I am firmly convinced that as we embark on this journey to bring healing to all who have been harmed and to our diocese.”

Pastor also cited Wall’s first announcement and the bishop’s promise to be “open and transparent” throughout the bankruptcy process.

“I hope that the Diocese of Gallup will disclose the files and names of pedophile priests,” Pastor said. “Perhaps we should all pray for Bishop Wall, that he may find the meaning of true leadership and courage so that he can bring healing to victims instead of protecting the identities of those who hurt children.”

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.

GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Nov. 11, 2013

(This is a sidebar to story “Diocese to file for Chapter 11 protection,” published Nov. 11, 2013

In 2003, the Diocese of Gallup announced that seven clergy connected to the diocese had been credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors. Ten years later a total of 22 men who have worked, volunteered or lived in the Gallup Diocese have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors in church documents, police reports or court cases.

This list does not include suspected abusers who have not been publicly identified. It also does not include those who have sexually assaulted adults, sexually harassed adults or covered up the sexual abuse of others.

Publicly accused of abuse:

– Rev. William Allison: Identified by various dioceses.
– Rev. Michael J. Aten: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. John Boland: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. James M. Burns: Identified by the diocese; convicted sex offender.
– Rev. Santino Casimano, M.S.S.: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Charles “Chuck” Cichanowicz, O.F.M.: Named in Navajo Nation clergy abuse lawsuits.
– Rev. David J. Clark, C.M.F.: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Laurence Florez: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Clement A. Hageman: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. Julian R. Hartig, O.F.M.: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. Robert J. Kirsch: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. James Lindenmeyer: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Bruce MacArthur: Identified by various dioceses; Convicted sex offender.
– Rev. Diego Mazon, O.F.M.: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Douglas A. McNeill: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. Harry R. Morgan: Arrested and prosecuted in Arizona.
– Rev. Francis “Frank” Murphy: Identified by various dioceses.
– Rev. Jose H. Rodriguez: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. Raul N. Sanchez: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Brother Mark Schornack, O.F.M.: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. John T. Sullivan: Identified by various dioceses.
– Rev. Samuel J. Wilson: Named in lawsuit involving another priest.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

WILLIAM BENDER, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, BENDERW@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5255

POSTED: Monday, November 11, 2013

IN YESTERDAY’S church bulletin, the Rev. John Paul wrote that he has resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish “for physical and spiritual health” and because the parish needs “new leadership with new vision and enthusiasm.”

“Basically, I am tired and exhausted, and I need renewal for myself,” Paul wrote.

A statement from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was more illuminating, disclosing that Paul voluntarily resigned after 13 years at the helm of the Northeast Philly parish “amid the stress and anxiety relative to an investigation into alleged misconduct on his part.”

The Archdiocese is looking into allegations that Paul sexually abused minors more than 40 years ago as a seminarian. The information has been turned over to law enforcement — which declined to press charges — and Paul has had no unsupervised contact with minors since the allegations surfaced, said Archdiocese spokesman Kenneth Gavin.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 11, 2013
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

BALTIMORE The opening of the U.S. bishops’ annual fall assembly Monday morning was marked by noted changes in tone and emphasis for the prelates, who have focused extensively in the last two years on a fight against the Obama administration’s implementation of the health care law.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is stepping down this week after three years as the conference’s president, barely mentioned that fight in his presidential address, instead focusing on the issue of religious freedom globally.

Likewise, Archbishop Carlo Viganò, the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., focused on the role of bishops as witnesses who adopt a “noticeable lifestyle characterized by simplicity and holiness of life.”

Quoting extensively from Pope Paul VI, Viganò urged the American bishops to be witnesses rather than teachers. If a person listens to teachers, “it is because they are also witnesses,” he said.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
WOWK

By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer

BALTIMORE (AP) – The Vatican ambassador to the U.S., addressing American bishops at their first national meeting since Pope Francis was elected, said Monday they should not “follow a particular ideology” and should make Roman Catholics feel more welcome in church.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano noted the challenges from broader society to Christian teaching. He cautioned that the bishops’ witness to faith would be undermined if they failed to live simply. Francis, in office for eight months, has captured attention for eschewing some of the pomp of the papacy, including his decision to live in the Vatican hotel and his use of an economy car.

“There has to be a noticeable lifestyle characterized by simplicity and holiness of life. This is a sure way to bring our people to an awareness of the truth of our message,” said Vigano, the apostolic nuncio based in Washington.

“The Holy Father wants bishops in tune with their people,” Vigano said, noting that he visited the pope in June. “He made a special point of saying that he wants pastoral bishops, not bishops who profess or follow a particular ideology.”

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Entorno Inteligente

El Caribe / Santiago. En las investigaciones asumidas por la Fiscalía de Santiago aún no se ha determinado quiénes dieron la voz de alerta al sacerdote Wojciech Gil para que pudiera escapar a las acusaciones por pederastia. Para escabullirse, el cura engañó a uno de sus amigos y utilizó su cuenta de Facebook para comunicarse con una mujer que sin causa de conocimiento le reportó era buscado por los supuestos abusos sexuales. El padre Alberto solicitó a Ambiórix Espinal, actual secretario de la iglesia, que le prestara su cuenta para enviar un mensaje, pero luego resultó ser una estrategia para recibir informaciones. Al hacerse pasar por Espinal comenzó a conversar con una amiga de éste y le preguntó que si sabía lo que estaba sucediendo con el caso del padre. Espinal confirmó a elCaribe que el sacerdote le pidió su cuenta y su clave para entrar a la citada red social, pero no sabía con qué fines iba a ser utilizado, pues tenía confianza en el padre y nunca pensó que sería para nada malo. “Eso sucedió una hora antes de salir desde Polonia hacia la República Dominicana.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on our anti-priest culture:

Two stories in the news today make it clear that no Catholic priest is safe. Anyone can accuse a priest of molestation, no matter how long ago, and get away with it.

Father John P. Paul has stepped down as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary in Philadelphia. He resigned because of the emotional stress he has been under. In all his years as a priest, he has never had an accusation made against him (he was ordained in 1972). But now, out of the blue, he is being charged with abusing two boys in 1968, when he was a seminarian. It’s funny how both of these alleged victims decided to wait 45 years to make their case—in tandem, no less.

The police were contacted but the case was dropped because the statute of limitations had expired.

But Father Paul is still being investigated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Had Father Paul been Mr. Paul, a public school teacher, and he was accused of violating a minor at the end of the school year last June, the statute of limitations would have expired (accusers have 90 days to file charges against public school teachers). Moreover, no one would be investigating him. But when it comes to Father Paul, even though the alleged abuse happened in the year Rev. Martin Luther King and Sen. Bobby Kennedy were shot, it’s not too late to get him. It’s never too late to get a priest.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert

MPR’s case for award consideration is strengthened anew by today’s report on the archdiocese’s handling of one Father Clarence Vavra. Madeleine Baran, Tom Scheck and Sasha Aslanian report: “One night on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota nearly four decades ago, a 36-year-old Roman Catholic priest asked a young boy to share his bed. The boy was about 9 or 10 years old. As he climbed into bed, he asked the priest a question: Are you going to molest me, like my relative does when he asks me to spend the night? The answer was yes. What happened that night remained secret. The priest, the Rev. Clarence Vavra, stayed in ministry and served in 16 parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before retiring in 2003. He’s never been publicly identified as an abuser. There are no records of any police reports or lawsuits. No victims have come forward. Vavra admitted in a May 1995 psychological evaluation that he had attempted to anally rape the South Dakota boy. The report was stored in the vicar general’s filing cabinet at the chancery.”

Very quickly, Tony Kennedy of the Strib has a story up with Archbishop John Nienstedt promising to release names of abusive priests. Except, as Kennedy writes: “Nienstedt said the Archdiocese will disclose ‘the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the Archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors’. … the statement said the disclosures will be restricted to priests living in the archdiocese who have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors — and then only with permission of the ‘relevant court.’ [Attorney Jeff] Anderson said those limitations will protect the archdiocese from having to reveal the names of dead priests who committed sex crimes against children in recent decades, past offenders who are now living outside the archdiocese, sexual offenders who have been removed from the priesthood and any priest who has been accused of sexual manipulation of adults, including vulnerable adults.”

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NEW JERSEY
Sunlit Uplands

“This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.”

After suffering for more than a decade under one of America’s worst bishops, the Archdiocese of Newark has reason for hope with the installation today of Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda. He will share leadership of the Archdiocese with John J. Myers, until the latter’s retirement in no more than three years.

The pleas of many have been heard by Pope Francis with this appointment. And it is the most important appointment yet made in the United States by this Holy Father. Finally, an aloof, cold, arrogant and unapproachable monarch will be replaced by a true shepherd, an alter-Christus, who radiates Christ’s love in carrying out the Church’s salvific mission.

I came to recognize how utterly unsuited for pastoral leadership Archbishop Myers is shortly after he arrived in Newark. In his knee-jerk defense of priests, against the legitimate complaints of laymen, he attempted to suppress the Archdiocese’s rich diversity of ethnic parishes – particularly Polish parishes, which happen to be among the most vibrant, faithful and orthodox parishes to be found anywhere. Perhaps because he came from the much more homogeneous Peoria, or more likely because he believes no layman should question any decision by clergy, Myers would not meet with the faithful or consider the viewpoints that were expressed in many letters, prayer vigils, demonstrations and boycotts of Archdiocesan charities. I wrote the op-ed below at the height of Myers’ anti-Polish pogrom.

Myers has closed approximately 75 parochial schools and many churches, but his arrogant indifference to legitimate grievances became his undoing when the general public, the media and state political leaders became aware of his scandalous coddling of priests guilty of the sexual molestation of children. He should be in prison, but we are grateful that Pope Francis has replaced him with a man who gives every indication of being the polar opposite kind of churchman.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/11/2013

Advocates for child sexual abuse victims responded with deep skepticism Monday to Archbishop John Nienstedt’s promise to release names of abusive priests.

Nienstedt said in a statement Monday that the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis would be “disclosing the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors.”

The names will be made public sometime in November, Nienstedt said.

Attorney Mike Finnegan said that he doubts the list to be released by the archdiocese will include all of the 33 that church officials said in 2004 were “credibly accused” of sex abuse of children.

And there is no reason for delay, Finnegan said.

“My biggest question seeing this is, why wait?” Finnegan said. “Keeping this list secret for one day, one hour, puts additional kids at risk.”

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.

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 11

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

Archbishop John Neinstedt now says he’ll release a partial list of predator priests.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

“If Twin Cities pedophile priests now live in Rochester or Winona or Duluth, tough luck. We’re not gonna tell you who or where they are.”

That’s the message Archbishop John Neinstedt is sending to Minnesota parents. We deliberately use the word “citizens” here and not “parishioners” because child molesting Catholic clerics don’t just hurt Catholic kids. They also sexually assault kids from other denominations, because they’re relatives, they live nearby or for a wide range of reasons.

“If a Twin Cities pedophile priest sexually assaulted you and is now deceased, tough luck. We’re not gonna disclose the names of any deceased predator, no matter how many kids he’s hurt, how recently he died or how egregiously we covered up for him.”

That’s the message Archbishop Neinstedt is sending to victims.

There is, of course, no reason to keep hiding any predator priests, whether they are now in Mankato or Morocco, whether they’re alive or deceased. (In fact, arguably, Twin Cities predator priests who are now living far away are likely more dangerous than those who still live nearby.)

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

by Jeanette DeMelo Monday, November 11, 2013

This week on Register Radio I talked to Whispers in the Loggia blogger Rocco Palmo about Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s time as president of the United States bishops’ conference, which comes to an end Nov. 12. (Read Joan Desmond’s piece: Evaluating Cardinal Dolan’s Tenure)

In 2010, Dolan’s election to the presidency of the bishops’ conference came as quite a surprise. Rocco explained “since 1966 the foundation of the conference it was almost automatic that the vice president of the conference would be elected the next president.”

Yet, in the last election, the bishops changed course. Rather than electing the incumbent vice president Archbishop Gerald Kicanas, the bishops chose then-Archbishop Dolan. Rocco suggested one reason for the change was Dolan’s popularity with younger bishops who had developed great relationships with him during his time as rector of the North American College in Rome. They saw him as a “guru priest,” said the Church blogger.

Another historic aspect of Dolan’s election, Rocco noted, is that it was the first time the archbishop of New York was elected president of the conference. Again, the Church Whisper (as Rocco is sometimes called) suggested a reason for this: the New York post is already considered prominent in the Church world and bishops of the past didn’t want to give the premier U.S. see more influence than it already had.

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MINNESOTA/SOUTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 11

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 a long string of horrific revelations over the past few weeks about clergy sex crimes and cover ups in the Twin Cities archdiocese, today’s disclosures may be the worst.

Why are the revelations about Fr. Clarence Vavra potentially the worst yet?

Because he’s an admitted serial pedophile and because he’s never been “outed” until today, so who knows how many more kids he’s been able to sexually assault because Twin Cities Catholic officials continue to act selfishly and secretively.

For almost 19 years (and likely longer), a top ranking archdiocesan staffer has known that Fr. Vavra admitted sexually assaulting kids.

For at least a year and a half (and likely longer), the current Twin Cities archbishop has known that Fr. Vavra admitted sexually assaulting kids.

Still, neither Fr. Kevin McDonough nor Archbishop John Neinstedt has had the decency to disclose this fact to Fr. Vavra’s current or former neighbors, colleagues, parishioners or relatives (not to mention police and prosecutors).

Can Catholic officials be more irresponsible and selfish?

Until today’s report by Minnesota Public Radio, virtually no one outside the Twin Cities archdiocesan headquarters knew that Fr. Vavra admitted molesting Native American kids at a South Dakota reservation.

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MINNESOTA
Valley News Live

In an open letter released on the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis website Monday morning Archbishop John Nienstedt announced he will release the names of priests who have sexually abused children.

The move marks a major change of position. For years the Archdiocese has refused to release a list of accused priests.

In his letter Nienstedt said, the Archdiocese will disclose “the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the Archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors.”

The letter said all the priests have been removed from ministry.

There is not an exact time on when the list will be released. In the letter Archbishop Nienstedt said they expect to announce the name of an outside firm to do the file review with in the next week and announce the results when the process is finished.

Nienstedt also explained the reasoning behind the change:

“Serious mistakes have been made in the archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases. Offering expressions of regret and sorrow seems so inadequate in the context of the crimes of the offenders and our failures to deal with them properly. And yet, I must say how sorry I am. My heart is heavy for the victims of this repugnant abuse.”

Open Letter From Archbishop John Nienstedt Regarding Clarance Vavra:

Clarence Vavra, a priest ordained in 1965, was removed from ministry in 2003. We take extremely seriously the concerns and questions about Vavra’s crimes against minors and the archdiocese’s handling of them.

In 1995, Vavra self-reported that he engaged in sexual contact with several young boys and a teenage boy during the time when he worked on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in approximately 1975. Vavra was not removed from ministry at the time for his admitted crimes. Instead, he went to inpatient treatment in 1996 and continued with outpatient treatment thereafter until at least 1998. He was allowed to go back into active ministry under the supervision of other priests until 2003. Vavra also engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with other adult males during his tenure as an active priest.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

by Mike Durkin

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
Archbishop John Nienstedt said the names of all priests with “substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors” will be released once an independent review of Archdiocese files is complete.

The pledge to release a list of names was part of an open letter published Monday regarding Clarence Vavra – a priest removed from the ministry in 2003 after self-reported sexual contact with boys and sexual contact with other adult men.

Vavra sought treatment and was eventually allowed back into active ministry, but was removed again after the clergy review board determined he violated the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

ARCHBISHOP NIENSTEDT (NOV. 11)

“To demonstrate our commitment to the safety of minors and transparency, we will be disclosing information about priests who are known by us to have Charter violations. Our ability to disclose all names is reliant on the completion of the independent file review that I ordered in early October and communicated in my column in The Catholic Spirit on October 24. However, during the month of November, and upon receipt of permission of the relevant court, the Archdiocese will be disclosing the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the Archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors. All of these men have been removed from ministry.”

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune Updated: November 11, 2013

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced Monday morning that he will release the names of priests who have sexually abused minors.

The move marks an about-face for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which has refused to release a list of accused priests for years.

In a strongly worded open letter, Nienstedt said, the Archdiocese will disclose “the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the Archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors.”

The letter said all the priests have been removed from ministry.

The decision to release the names of known abusers comes in the wake of the report of another accused priest, Clarence Vavra, who admitted to the archdiocese that he had abused boys on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1995. Vavra was not removed from ministry until 2003.

“Serious mistakes have been made in the archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases,” Nienstedt wrote. “Offering expressions of regret and sorrow seems so inadequate in the context of the crimes of the offenders and our failures to deal with them properly. And yet, I must say how sorry I am. My heart is heavy for the victims of this repugnant abuse.”

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Monday, November 11, 2013

Source: Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt

Clarence Vavra, a priest ordained in 1965, was removed from ministry in 2003. We take extremely seriously the concerns and questions about Vavra’s crimes against minors and the archdiocese’s handling of them.

In 1995, Vavra self-reported that he engaged in sexual contact with several young boys and a teenage boy during the time when he worked on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in approximately 1975. Vavra was not removed from ministry at the time for his admitted crimes. Instead, he went to inpatient treatment in 1996 and continued with outpatient treatment thereafter until at least 1998. He was allowed to go back into active ministry under the supervision of other priests until 2003. Vavra also engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with other adult males during his tenure as an active priest.

After the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was promulgated in 2002, Vavra’s status was reevaluated in light of his prior conduct and the archdiocesan Clergy Review Board determined that he had violated the Charter and recommended in May 2003 he be removed from ministry. As a result, Vavra agreed to be removed from all ministry in June 2003.

Clarence Vavra not only violated his victims and their families, he violated his sacred trust as a priest and he deeply offended his fellow clergy and the laity. Serious errors were made by the archdiocese in dealing with him. In the spirit of offering him a path to healing and redemption, too much trust was placed in the hope of remedying Vavra’s egregious behaviors. Not enough effort was made to identify and care for his victims. Under our standards today, Vavra should have been removed permanently from ministry when he openly admitted his crimes and the civil authorities should have been notified immediately.

Further, after Vavra was removed from ministry, he received a transitional support payment of $650 per month that should have been made only until he reached eligibility for retirement benefits, but instead continued until 2012. As soon as these payment errors were discovered as part of an audit process, they were stopped and have not been reinstated.

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MINNESOTA
San Francisco Chronicle

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says it will release names of priests who have sexually abused children.

In an open letter posted Monday on the archdiocese website, Archbishop John Nienstedt says that during the month of November he will disclose the names, locations and status of abusive priests who are currently living in the archdiocese.

Nienstedt says all of these men have been removed from ministry.

Attorneys for victims of sexual abuse by clergy have repeatedly asked the church to release names of all priests who have been credibly accused. It’s not clear if the new disclosures will go beyond names that are already public through lawsuits or media reports.

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

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 11

For more information: David Clohessy 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com, Barbara Dorris 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com

Archdiocese claims its abuse costs rising
It says it’s spent more than $10 million over a decade
More than 70% of money spent goes to church lawyers
In six of ten years, church pays more to its lawyers than to victims

Figures just released by the St. Louis Catholic archdiocese show that, over the past decade, the church here claims to have spent $10,261,000 on “clergy misconduct.”

More than 70% of that has reportedly gone to archdiocesan defense lawyers.

The figures come from the archdiocese “financial review,” published in Friday’s St. Louis Review, the archdiocesan website.

This is the sixth time in the last ten years that the archdiocese gave more money to its lawyers than to abuse victims.

The spending was criticized by leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“It’s sad that after a solid decade, Catholic officials are still spending more on fighting victims than helping victims, more on defense lawyers than on wounded victims,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP’s outreach director. “The reason for this disparity is pure selfishness. Archdiocesan officials are willing to spend whatever it takes to protect their own reputations and hide their own wrongdoing.”

Dorris notes that the only civil clergy sex abuse and cover up trial in St. Louis was held in 1999. (A jury awarded a victim of Fr. James Gummersbach $1.2 million which was later overturned on appeal.) There have been at least two criminal clergy sex abuse trials in the archdiocese. Both Fr. Bryan Kuchar (2003) and Fr. Thomas Graham (2005) were found guilty of child sex crimes.

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MINNESOTA
The New Prague Times

Submitted by editor on Thu, 11/07/2013

By Chuck Kajer The New Prague Times

Father David Barrett, associate pastor at the Church of St. Wenceslaus in New Prague, has taken a voluntary leave of absence, the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis a n n o u n c e d Sunday. A statement by the Archdiocese said the decision is a result of “prior misconduct which occurred many years ago and did not involve members of any parish in which Barrett has served. The misconduct did not involve a violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

The Archdiocese has been aware of the misconduct and Barrett has been through counseling and has been under supervision since that incident. Due to recent cases involving priest misconduct in the news, past cases are being reviewed by a special Ministry Standards board.

Barrett has served St. Wenceslaus since 2009, and has primarily served the western portion of the parish, at St. John the Evangelist in Union Hill and St. Scholastica in Heidelberg. Prior to that he was associate pastor at Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery and also served at St. Canice in Kilkenny.

The statement said that while on his leave, Barrett “Will not be performing any public ministry and will cooperate with the Ministerial Standards Board of the Archdiocese which will make recommendations as a result of a review of Barrett’s actions.”

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SOUTH DAKOTA/MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 11

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 1995, a Catholic priest admitted sexually assaulting several kids on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Yet no Catholic official ever told anyone about him.

Today, Fr. Clarence Vavra’s admissions have been revealed by Minnesota Public Radio.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Fr. Varva now lives in New Prague, Minnesota.

In 2002, US bishops formally pledged to be “open and transparent” about clergy sex crimes.

Yet In 2003, Minnesota Catholic officials let Fr. Varva, an admitted serial child molester, quietly “retire” and told no one that he had committed – and acknowledged committing – heinous crimes against South Dakota kids.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Culture

[candidate profiles – U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has published profiles of the candidates who are in the running to succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as conference president and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville as conference vice president.

The election takes during the annual fall bishops’ meeting, which begins on November 11 and concludes November 14.

The ten candidates are Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati, Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, and Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami.

The incumbent conference vice president of the USCCB has traditionally been elected to succeed to a 3-year term as conference president. But that pattern was broken in 2010, when Cardinal Dolan defeated Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, then the conference vice president, in the presidential election.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 11, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

BALTIMORE As the U.S. bishops start their annual meeting here Monday morning, they are facing a number of tough choices: Who to elect as their new president, what tone to adopt in the new Pope Francis era, and how to engage the wider culture.

Another hard decision: Where to eat dinner each night, and with whom.

If the stakes on this one seem a bit more personal, perhaps they are. But Tomas Murray, a member of a Catholic Worker community in Ohio, thinks where the bishops choose to eat also sends a significant message about how they see the role of the U.S. Catholic church.

Murray is one of several people hosting an alternative dinner option for the prelates on Tuesday night. They want the focus of their meal, held on the night of the annual assembly at which the bishops have in the past had dinners in support of Catholic military chaplains, to be focused on peacemaking.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 11, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

BALTIMORE Two Catholic nonprofit groups urged Monday that the U.S bishops, meeting here for their annual assembly, follow the lead of Pope Francis in building a “church for the poor” in the United States.

Specifically, the groups said, the American prelates could make their national office a “bishops’ conference for the poor” by drafting a new statement on the continuing economic crisis and by launching a nationwide poverty awareness campaign.

That campaign, they said, could follow a similar game-plan as the bishops’ focus over the past two years on issues of religious liberty, which the bishops devoted significant time and energy to in 2012 and 2013, hosting twice a “Fortnight for Freedom” centered around the implementation of the health care law.

The Catholic Democrats and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good made the call for the focus on the poor Monday, holding a press conference at which they released an open letter to Louisville, Ky., Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, currently the bishops’ vice president and one of ten candidates to be elected president at this year’s assembly.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Rome Reports

[with video]

November 10, 2013. (Romereports.com) For the last three years, Cardinal Tim Dolan, has served as president of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, but a new president will be elected, during the bishops’ General Assembly in Baltimore, from November 11th to the 14th.

The new president will be one of the following 10 candidates:

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans.

From Philadelphia there’s Archbishop Charles Chaput. Also on the list is Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington.

From Galveston-Houston, there’s Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and from Los Angeles, Archbishop Jose Gomez.

From Baltimore, Archbishop William Lori is also on the list, along with the the Archbishop of Louisville, Joseph Kurtz, who currently serves as the vice president.

Cincinnati’s Archbishop, Dennis Schnurr is also a candidate, as is Detroit’s Archbishop Allen Vigneron and finally from Miami, Archbishop Thomas Wenski.

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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

By Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gathers in Baltimore Monday, the clash between Pope Francis’ gentle, welcoming brand of religion and the bishops’ hard-line push against issues such as abortion and gay marriage will lurk in the background.

The four-day meeting is the first gathering of the bishops since Pope Francis’ widely-publicized comments in September, in which he said Catholic officials should not be “obsessed” with deeply controversial issues such as gay marriage and abortion and should instead emphasize helping poor and disadvantaged people.

Howthe pope’s tone will be promoted is not on the conference agenda, but futurestances from the bishops group likely will be found in who is elected to leadership posts during the conference. Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, 65, is among the 10 nominees for the group’s president and vice president.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 10, 2013

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Several months into the era of a new pope with a flair for disarmingly dramatic pastoral gestures, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops begin meeting in Baltimore today to elect their own new leadership, with several candidates for top positions hailing from Pittsburgh and other parts of Pennsylvania.

This will be the first major gathering of the bishops since many of the headline-making actions of Pope Francis, such as his denunciations of clerical privilege; his literal embrace of the poor; and his interviews with media outlets, both secular and religious, in which he has called for a poorer, more pastoral and less combative church.

Francis, while calling himself a “son of the church” upholding its traditional teachings on sexuality, has said in interviews the church should not be “obsessed” with such battles and that he would not judge someone who is gay but also seeking God and acting in good will.

And yet the American bishops continue to find themselves in what they consider major struggles over religious freedom as they fight an increasingly rear-guard battle against provisions of the Affordable Care Act as well as same-sex marriage — which Illinois lawmakers voted to legalize, making it the 15th state to do so along with the District of Columbia.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Columbus Dispatch

By Mary Wisniewski
Reuters Monday November 11, 2013

BALTIMORE — U.S. Catholic bishops will choose new leaders at an assembly in Baltimore this week and might signal a new direction for the American church under the influence of Pope Francis.

The conference begins today and all eyes will be on whether the new leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops continue vigorous opposition to gay marriage and Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, or increase their push to help the poor and immigrants given Pope Francis’ emphasis on social-justice issues.

The new leaders also will be preparing for an “extraordinary synod” of bishops in Rome to discuss teachings related to the family. The Vatican has asked bishops and parish priests around the world about local views on gay marriage, divorce and birth control ahead of the October 2014 meeting.

“Bishops have been stuck in a bunker fighting the culture war,” said John Gehring, the Catholic program director for Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group. “Pope Francis has said we can’t just be known by what we oppose.”

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

By Jonathan Pitts, The Baltimore Sun
5:00 a.m. EST, November 11, 2013

The nation’s top Catholic bishops will convene this week in Baltimore to choose a new leader, a decision that will help set the course for an American church striving to build its appeal while grappling with stances on immigration and contraception coverage.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops expects close to 300 active and retired members as it holds its annual convention at the Waterfront Marriott Hotel. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York is to begin the four-day gathering Monday with his final address as president after serving a three-year term.

The bishops will elect Dolan’s successor Tuesday from a slate of 10 nominated bishops — including Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori.

It will be a telling decision at a key time in church history. This week’s meeting is the first during the tenure of Pope Francis, the first Latin American-born pontiff and a man widely seen as offering a friendlier face to the non-Catholic world than many of his predecessors.

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NEW JERSEY
Roman Catholic Diocese of New Jersey

In response to today’s announcement from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office concerning the conclusion of the matter of Michael C. Fugee, James Goodness issued the following:

The Bergen County Prosecutor and Grand Jury have completed their investigation into the matter of Michael Fugee. The Grand Jury determined that there was no basis for any criminal proceedings against Michael Fugee. The Archdiocese’s position has remained consistent throughout the investigation: the Archdiocese did not violate the terms of the Fugee Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) and never authorized or condoned Fugee’s unauthorized actions that led to the Prosecutor’s investigation.

Throughout the past nine months, the Archdiocese of Newark has cooperated fully with the investigation. The Archdiocese has produced hundreds of documents. The Archbishop and other Archdiocesan staff have answered every question asked of them either by the Prosecutor’s staff or the Grand Jury. At all times, the Archdiocese has complied fully with the investigation process.

When the allegations that gave rise to the Fugee matter first surfaced in early 2001, Archbishop Myers was not Archbishop of Newark. At the time of the Archbishop’s arrival in October 2001, Fugee already was out of ministry and remained so throughout the time of his trial and appeal.

We are quite frankly stunned that the Prosecutor would even suggest, much less state outright, that the Archdiocese “did not nor would ever obtain” laicization of Michael Fugee, since there is direct evidence as well as Grand Jury testimony by the Archbishop that he had begun setting the preliminary groundwork for laicization.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Nov 11, 2013

Yo, Catholic bishops meeting today in Baltimore!

As you may not have heard, last Friday the Bergen County (N.J.) prosecutor announced a pretty amazing agreement with a priest charged with violating the terms of the deal by which he avoided being retried for sex abuse. The priest, Michael Fugee, pledged to seek to be laicized by Rome. The amazing thing was that his boss, Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, was cut out of the arrangement.

How come? Prosecutor John L. Molinelli put it thusly:

By way of this agreement, the State of New Jersey need no longer rely upon cooperation by RCAN [the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark] in supervising Michael Fugee. It has appeared, based on many public comments by Archbishop Myers, that the Church had no intention of monitoring Fugee any further and, based upon this office’s review of the Archdiocese compliance with the terms of the original MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] dated July 18, 2007 wherein the Church committed to monitor Fugee, it does not appear that the Archdiocese made and significant effort to adhere to the terms of the MOU such that, at this juncture, we no longer have confidence in its ability as a signatory to honor the clear intent of the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding, which had placed direct oversight responsibility upon the RCAN.

I recognize that your excellencies are unaccustomed to being called out by officials of the criminal justice system, especially when they have names like Molinelli, and that you may find the language here a bit harsh. Indeed, you’ll probably not be surprised to learn that the Archdiocese of Newark took umbrage at the prosecutor’s remarks, issuing a defense of its conduct in re: Fugee via a statement from Vice Chancellor James Goodness.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Watch this page for live streaming of the public sessions
November 11-14, 2012

INSTRUCTIONS: To watch the live stream, mouse over the player (black box) to see the controls, and then click on the play button to start the stream.

NOTE TO iOS DEVICE USERS: We regret that we cannot bring you the live stream at this time.

Watch the archived video on the Video On-Demand page.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Whispers in the Loggia

So, here we go again – greetings from Baltimore and, for the 95th time, another edition of American Catholicism’s Fall Classic.

Under Benjamin Latrobe’s stupendous and resonant dome, this USCCB Plenary will open with a 7am Mass this Monday in the Basilica of the Assumption – the nation’s first cathedral, the holy shrine built upon the tomb of John Carroll: cousin of the lone Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, founding shepherd of these shores, and the preeminent visionary of this faith’s meaning and role in a society unbound to the old Continent’s alliances of altar and throne.

Even if its complete agenda remains to be released, the meeting’s public sessions are slated to get underway at 10am Eastern. The morning business headlined by Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s farewell address from the conference presidency and the customary remarks from the Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, full coverage in video and text will be on-tap here all through.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santiago.- The investigation by the Santiago Office of the Prosecutor has yet to determine who tipped off the priest Wojciech Gil escape indictment on child abuse.

To sneak out of the country, the Polish national deceived one of his friends and used their Facebook account to communicate with a woman who unwittingly revealed that he was being sought for alleged sexual abuse.

Gil asked current Parrish secretary Ambiorix Espinal to let him use his account to send a message, but in fact used it to get the information.

Quoted by elcaribe.com.do by phone, Espinal said he didn’t know what the priest wanted with the access to Facebook, because he had confidence in the prelate and never thought he would do something wrong. “That happened an hour before leaving for Poland from the Dominican Republic.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

‘We’ll say you touched us’: Police arrest two men for intimidating and threatening to rob a Catholic priest, 73, after following him into sacristy after mass

By CHRIS PLEASANCE

Two men have been charged after attempting to rob a Catholic priest following Mass in Chicago.
Deandrea and Markquis Little, 22 and 20, followed the 73-year-old into the sacristy at around 8.30am last Monday before demanding money.

Deandrea is alleged to have poked the priest in the head and threatened to hit him before saying he would tell the papers the priest had ‘touched us’ if anyone found out.

According to police reports the pair had carried out a four-year campaign of intimidation against the church in the Back of the Yards area, taking at least $10,000, damaging windows and jumping on the priest’s car.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

School assistant could face jail over sex video with 16-year-old Belfast pupil at St Mary’s Christian Brothers Boy’s Grammar School

BY AMANDA FERGUSON – 11 NOVEMBER 2013

A former classroom assistant who allegedly made a sex tape with a Belfast schoolboy that ended up on a pornographic website could face up to five years in prison for ‘abuse of trust’ if charged and convicted.

Jo O’Neill-McBurney (21), from Crumlin, Co Antrim, was suspended from St Mary’s Christian Brothers Boy’s Grammar School in west Belfast after a 30-minute sex video, featuring her and a teenager, thought to be a 16-year-old, emerged on the internet.

It’s understood the footage, believed to have been recorded by the pair in April, has in recent weeks been viewed more than 6,000 times on a free website.

It is not known who uploaded the graphic footage to the site.

The age of consent for sexual activity in Northern Ireland is 16, however it is illegal for anyone in a position of trust to engage in sexual activity with a person under 18 years of age.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Vella

There’s fire in the portly Charles Scicluna, the auxiliary bishop whose diminutive stature belies not just his independence of mind, but the fact that he had been the Vatican’s chief prosecutor on the sexual abuse cases that rocked the Catholic Church ever since 2002. For years he stood by the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, when the latter headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the successor to the Roman and Universal Inquisition – and in its modern incarnation, Scicluna served as a latter-day Bernardo Gui, an enforcer for the Roman pontiff and a hunter of sinners.

When Benedict XVI announced Scicluna’s appointment to auxiliary bishop, it was believed that a man who had done his job well on the Vatican’s hard-line stance against sex abuse was being punished through a “face-saving promote and remove” tactic. But as Scicluna himself said before leaving Rome, “if you want to silence someone, you don’t make him a bishop”. And silenced, he won’t be, having blogged and tweeted his views on, most recently, gay marriage and the sale of citizenship.

“Why are you so vocal – why are you entering the fray in this manner?” I tell him as we end our interview at the Curia in Floriana. “Because Charles Scicluna’s in town, and that’s who I am,” he responds, very matter-of-factly.

Canadian-born, the 54-year-old had to relinquish his citizenship under a Labour government in the late 1970s because Malta did not yet accept dual nationality. You can understand why the sale of citizenship under the IIP, approved in the House yesterday by a new Labour government, is a sore point for Scicluna. “Apart from the fact that a Bishop will always remain a citizen and will always enjoy the right to express himself as a normal citizen, given that he has also a say in democratic society, the Church cannot shy away from giving input with respect on issues that concern the common good. I have a great respect for citizenship, which is my bond to my homeland and to my country, and I feel that when you put a price on such a bond you are not necessarily doing citizenship and what it means the best of services.”

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COLORADO
Christian Post

BY MORGAN LEE , CP CONTRIBUTOR
November 10, 2013

Five Colorado church leaders covered up information about a youth pastor who allegedly sexually assaulted a female church attendee starting when she was 15, claim Boulder police officials.

Law enforcement have accused Vinelife Church executive pastor Robert Phillip “Bob” Young, pastor Luke Humbrecht, pastor Edward Bennell, church elder Warren Lloyd Williams and another member of the leadership team who is currently out of the country, of failing to report the alleged sexual abuse to law enforcement or human service officials.

Police arrested youth pastor Jason Allen Roberson, 35, on Sept. 4, “charging him with one count of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust; one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of unlawful sexual contact,” according to 7NEWS. The Boulder County District Attorney office later “added one count of stalking,”

Roberson is currently on administrative leave at the Longmont church, where his father, Walter Roberson, is senior pastor. Walter has not been charged, though his relationship with the investigation remains unknown.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

[with video]

By Hilary Lane
November 10, 2013

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) – Father Michael Kolodziej worked in the Buffalo area for about 15 years. Now that he is facing charges, the Buffalo Catholic Diocese is asking anyone who has knowledge of child sexual abuse to call a confidential hotline number.

That number is (716) 895-3010.

Father Kolodziej is accused of sexually abusing a student while he was a teacher at a Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. The alleged victim claims Father Kolodziej abused him several times while Kolodziej “wrestled him.” The alleged incidents occured from 1975 to 1979.

Now, the Buffalo diocese is asking anyone with knowledge of any type of sexual abuse to come forward and call a hotline number. One alleged victim called our newsroom and told us he tried to call, but couldn’t get through. We tried the hotline multiple times, but found only a busy signal. When we contacted the diocese about the problem, they said they would look into it. However, the number still doesn’t work.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

[with video]

Michelle Armstrong attended regular Sunday Night Mass at Our Lady Of Calvary Parish in Northeast Philadelphia not expecting to hear it’s leader of 13 years, Father John Paul resigned amid child sexual abuse allegations.

“I haven’t heard anything through the grapevine so this really surprised me,” Armstrong said.

She got the word from church leaders who say the allegations date back more than 40 years…during father Paul’s time in seminary and it took time for the news to sink in.

“It was quiet. It was solemn. People had time to kind of grieve” Armstrong said.

The Archdioceses Of Philadelphia says it learned of the accusations earlier this year and allowed Paul to stay at the parish under a watchful eye.

Officials say he was later banned from having unsupervised contact with minors but church officials say it was his choice to leave out of emotional stress caused by the investigation.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
November 11, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — In a reversal of decades-old policy, Archbishop John Nienstedt said he plans to release the names of some priests who have sexually abused children.

The list will be limited to living priests who still reside in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and who have been determined by the archdiocese to be guilty of abuse. Nienstedt did not say how many names would be released, and it’s unclear if the list would include any priests not already known to the public through lawsuits and media reports.

Nienstedt’s decision comes in response to an MPR News investigation, which found that the archdiocese continues to protect a 74-year-old priest who admitted to sexually abusing children on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota in the mid-1970s. The Rev. Clarence Vavra admitted to the abuse as part of a psychological evaluation in 1995, but Archbishops John Roach and Harry Flynn kept Vavra in ministry and did not contact police. Flynn asked Vavra to retire in 2003 – and gave him $650 a month in extra retirement payments. Vavra lives half a block from a middle school in New Prague, Minn. Prior to MPR News’ report, he was not a known abuser. …

THE LIST

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who’s represented thousands of victims of clergy sexual abuse across the country, has asked the archdiocese for years to release the names of offending priests.

Anderson often refers in news conferences to the list of 33 priests that he received from the archdiocese as part of a lawsuit in 2009. The list, which named priests against whom there were credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors, was sealed by a judge and cannot be released without a court order.

At a hearing in Ramsey County on Oct. 3, Anderson asked Judge John Van de North to unseal the list. “Until we know who the credibly accused offenders are and where they are … the peril exists,” he said.

The list of 33 priests is likely much longer than the one the archdiocese plans to release.

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MINNESOTA/SOUTH DAKOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[documents]

[with audio]

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio,
Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio,
Sasha Aslanian, Minnesota Public Radio

November 11, 2013

One night on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota nearly four decades ago, a 36-year-old Roman Catholic priest asked a young boy to share his bed.

The boy was about 9 or 10 years old. As he climbed into bed, he asked the priest a question: Are you going to molest me, like my relative does when he asks me to spend the night?

The answer was yes.

What happened that night remained secret. The priest, the Rev. Clarence Vavra, stayed in ministry and served in 16 parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before retiring in 2003. He’s never been publicly identified as an abuser. There are no records of any police reports or lawsuits. No victims have come forward. Vavra admitted in a May 1995 psychological evaluation that he had attempted to anally rape the South Dakota boy. The report was stored in the vicar general’s filing cabinet at the chancery.

Today Vavra lives in a small, gray home in New Prague, Minn., less than a block from a school. He wouldn’t answer questions when approached by a reporter.

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ARIZONA
Tucson News Now

By Mauricio Marin

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) –
Joelle Casteix, with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, spent Sunday handing out flyers to parishioners at the Dove Peace Lutheran Church to warn them about a convicted child sex offender. SNAP organizers say the church’s Music Director, Eric Holtan, should not be working at the church where he could be so close to children. Casteix says, “We feel that this is a serious problem. The fact that he’s here is a violation of the churches own rules of having sex offenders in positions of power inside of churches.”

In 2000, Holtan plead guilty to having sex with two underage female students in Minnesota. He served two years in prison and is currently on probation.

Casteix says she is fighting so hard to let people know about Holtan because she was molested as a teen by her own high school choir director. According to Casteix, as part of his probation conditions, Holtan is not allowed to be alone with underage girls.

Those we spoke we at the end of Sunday’s service say they received a letter from the church this past Friday about Holtan’s criminal past. Many were hesitant to comment about the matter, but Anita Balthaser told us, “He’s always been very nice, very cordial to us. He’s a great guy, he’s a great music director. We’ve never seen anything other than that sight of him.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

NOVEMBER 11, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Archdiocesan Statement

Father John Paul resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish earlier this week. He came to that decision of his own accord amid the stress and anxiety relative to an investigation into alleged misconduct on his part. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese received allegations that Father Paul had sexually abused minors over 40 years ago during his time as a seminarian. Father Paul has denied these allegations.

Consistent with Archdiocesan policy, all information concerning the allegations was immediately provided to law enforcement, which declined to press charges. The Archdiocese then began its own internal investigation in accordance with its policy. That process has not yet concluded.

The safety and well-being of our children and young people is of the utmost concern to the Archdiocese. Father Paul was allowed to remain at the parish during this time only after careful consideration of all available facts by the Archdiocesan Review Board, the Vicar for Clergy, the Director of Investigations, the Director of the Office for Child and Youth Protection and the Archbishop. Throughout this time, and as a matter of precaution, Father Paul’s ministry had been restricted in that he had no unsupervised contact with minors. Appropriate notification of his restrictions was made to pertinent parties and a monitoring and support plan was implemented and followed. …

A NOTE FROM FR. JOHN PAUL –

On November 6, I resigned as Pastor Of Our Lady of Calvary. For physical and spiritual health, I feel this is best for myself and the Parish.

Basically, I am tired and exhausted and I need renewal for myself. I have been Pastor for 13 years and I feel proud of our parish – the school, the renovations, the new ministries – much has been accomplished. Our Lady of Calvary Parish is in need of new leadership…with new vision and enthusiasm.

I thank my fellow priests, our secretaries and maintenance staff, our school administrators and teachers for their loyalty and support. Please pray for me as I will pray for you.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Athena Yenko | November 11, 2013
An ex-Sydney priest, Kevin Lee, who had been married to a Filipina was one among the feared 10,000 dead in the wake of the world’s fourth strongest typhoon in 2013, storm Yolanda (Haiyan).

Mr Lee had been controversial when he exposed incidents of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. He was removed from service for publicly admitting that he married a Filipina in 2011 and for owning up to his sins of having had girlfriends while still serving in church as a priest for 20 years.

Back in Sydney, he made an important contribution when he established the Padre Pio in Glenmore Park, in Western Sydney. He was, however, removed from his parish in 2012 when he comes clean about his marriage and ex-girlfriends.

In a tribute done on Sunday, Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, expressed his sympathy for Mr Lee and acknowledged his roles for being a good husband and a father.

“I extend my deepest sympathy to his widow Josefina and her children during this time of personal tragedy for them and devastation for the people of the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan,” News.com.au reported.

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GEORGIA
WRDW

By: Christie Ethridge

Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW) — News 12 confirms a priest has been removed for theft of funds at St. Mary on the Hill Catholic Church.

According to the church, Father Avery Hanna, a Parochial Vicar at the church, has been placed on administrative leave and no longer resides at the church.

Pastor Gerald Ragan made the announcement to church members at mass on Sunday.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah has released this statement:

“Father Avery Hanna, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah, has been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese as a result of criminal charges involving the theft of church property. Father Hanna, a native of the Bahamas and an Assistant Pastor at St. Mary on the Hill in Augusta, Georgia, has been placed on administrative leave as a result of his theft of tuition payments from the church office over a period of several weeks.

The total amount believed to have been stolen is approximately $1,700.00. As a result of these acts, which Father Hanna has admitted, criminal charges will be brought against him. Father Hanna has been removed from St. Mary on the Hill in Augusta and will reside at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah pending the outcome of the criminal charges and a determination of his immigration status.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

Northeast Philadelphia –
Pastor Father John Paul of Our Lady of Calvary in Northeast Philadelphia has resigned after 13 years.

The Archdiocese says. earlier this year, they were notified of allegations of sexual abuse of minors against Father Paul dating back 45 years.

After investigating the matter, law enforcement authorities declined to press charges against father Paul.

Officials say none of the cases of sexual abuse involve members of Our Lady of Calvary.

The Pastor no longer resides at the church.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA – November 10, 2013 (WPVI) — A priest from Our Lady of Calvary in Northeast Philadelphia has resigned after serving 13 years as head of the congregation.

Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was notified of alleged sexual abuse of minors by father John Paul. The allegations dated back 45 years.

After an investigation, law enforcement officials decided not to press charges against the Catholic priest.

In a letter to the congregation, Church officials added that the allegations did not involve any members of Our Lady of Calvary.

The Archdiocese says Father Paul has denied the allegations and that he decided to resign on his own.

Read the full statement from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia below:

Father John Paul resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish earlier this week. He came to that decision of his own accord amid the stress and anxiety relative to an investigation into alleged misconduct on his part. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese received allegations that Father Paul had sexually abused minors over 40 years ago during his time as a seminarian. Father Paul has denied these allegations.

Consistent with Archdiocesan policy, all information concerning the allegations was immediately provided to law enforcement, which declined to press charges. The Archdiocese then began its own internal investigation in accordance with its policy. That process has not yet concluded.

The safety and well-being of our children and young people is of the utmost concern to the Archdiocese. Father Paul was allowed to remain at the parish during this time only after careful consideration of all available facts by the Archdiocesan Review Board, the Vicar for Clergy, the Director of Investigations, the Director of the Office for Child and Youth Protection and the Archbishop. Throughout this time, and as a matter of precaution, Father Paul’s ministry had been restricted in that he had no unsupervised contact with minors. Appropriate notification of his restrictions was made to pertinent parties and a monitoring and support plan was implemented and followed.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Written by
Jodi Belgard
Louisiana Gannett

ALEXANDRIA — Decades after charges of sexual misconduct hit retired Alexandria priest Frederick James Lyons, the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith in Rome has stripped him of the title of monsignor and imposed “a life of prayer and penance” on him.

Lyons, now in his late 80s, was accused of sexual abuse of minors during a period in his early life as a priest.

The Rev. Ronald P. Herzog, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria, suspended Lyons from all priestly functions in 2006. Lyons’ case was sent to Rome at that time for examination.

Herzog announced the decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in a news release issued Thursday. The diocese was closed Friday.

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MINNESOTA
The Progressive Catholic Voice

By Bob Beutel

Note: On November 9, 2013 approximately 200 Catholics gathered outside the chancery of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis to call on Archbishop John C. Nienstedt to resign. One of the speakers at this event was Bob Beutel (right), co-chair of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR). Following is the transcript of Bob’s speech.

We are here today to express the faithful’s loss of confidence in the administration of Archbishop John Nienstedt and to ask for his resignation.

We won’t recite the litany of our issues with him, but they can be summarized as follows.:

He sows division among Catholics and among the public at large by excluding members of the GLBT community, women, abuse victims,and critics.

He intimidates his priests, his staffers, his critics, and the victims and survivors of clergy sex abuse.

He wastes our money on partisan political campaigns and holds himself unaccountable despite a pledge to be transparent.

He has embarrassed and shamed our holy Church.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

[Unholy vows– The Weekend Australian Magazine]

HARRY EDWARDS THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 11, 2013

A FORMER NSW priest who kept a marriage secret for over a year and blew the whistle on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is among the thousands killed by Typhoon Haiyan in The Philippines.

Kevin Lee, 49, was a parish priest at the Padre Pio Church in Glenmore Park in western Sydney and one-time police chaplain. He is reported to have been killed while swimming as part of a religious ritual.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed a 49-year-old man from NSW had died in the storm but declined to confirm the name.

Mr Lee spoke out on abuse in the Catholic Church, including in his book Unholy Silence.

Last year he provided NSW police with information about at least one Catholic school teacher who he believed had sexually abused boys at a religious school in western Sydney in the 1990s.

After 20 years as a priest, Mr Lee was defrocked in 2012 when he revealed he had married.

He had been living on the island of Samar in The Philippines with his wife Josefina, whom he had secretly married in 2011 in Manila, and their baby daughter Michelle, born in September.

Mr Lee told The Weekend Australian last year that when an alleged victim of sexual abuse had come to him seeking help, he had “taken it to police this time because I’m tired of keeping secrets for the Catholic Church”.

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