ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The Victorian inquiry into how institutions and organisations responded to child abuse is the latest in dozens of state-based investigations concerned with the sexual abuse of children, either in institutional care, foster care, child migration, or child protection systems. The Royal Commission is expected to gather all of the previous Australian reports, identify the good and bad amongst the recommendations they made, and evaluate their effectiveness.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: While work of the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry has now wound up, the national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues its work.

The World Today’s Emily Bourke has been reporting on the Royal Commission and she joins us now.

Emily, how will the Royal Commission – a national inquiry – handle this state-based report?

EMILY BOURKE: Eleanor, it’s expected that this will feed into the Royal Commission.

This report out of Victoria is just the latest in many state-based inquiries concerned with sexual abuse of children.

In fact The Head of the Royal Commission, Justice Peter McClellan, said this week that over the past 30 years there have been at least 80 state or territory based inquiries that have looked at issues directly relevant to the Commission’s work.

ELEANOR HALL: Eighty?

EMILY BOURKE: Eighty. That’s right. 80. Now, all of these previous Australian reports will be gathered up and the Royal Commission will try to identify the good and the bad amongst the recommendations and how effective they’ve been.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

As the child abuse inquiry report was handed down in the Victorian Parliament, the public gallery was packed with victims of child sexual abuse, and their families. Some later said they felt a sense of euphoria about the report, but they also had trepidation about the future. They also said they wanted the government to amend laws, as recommended by the report, as quickly as possible.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: As the report was handed down in the Victorian Parliament this morning, the public gallery was packed with victims of child sexual abuse and their families, many of whom gave evidence at the inquiry.

Our reporter Alison Caldwell spoke to some of them afterwards.

ALISON CALDWELL: Anthony Foster’s daughters, Emma and Katie, were repeatedly raped by their parish priest, Father Kevin O’Donnell, at their primary school in Melbourne’s south east, from 1987 until 1992.

The Catholic Church had received numerous complaints about O’Donnell’s behaviour dating back to the 1940s, but no action was ever taken.

Emma Foster eventually committed suicide. Her sister Katie was seriously disabled when she was hit by a car after binge drinking and now requires 24 hour care.

Anthony Foster says he and his wife Chrissie feel a sense of euphoria today, but also trepidation about what lies ahead.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

More than 100 new allegations of sexual abuse have been referred to Victorian police as a result of the state’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

The final report of the inquiry says that as of November 6, 135 matters had been referred to the Sano task force, established by police to follow up specific allegations of child abuse raised during the inquiry.

The report says more referrals are expected as a review of submissions made to the inquiry continued.

‘As could be expected, the establishment of the inquiry and the task force … encouraged more victims to report abuse to the police,’ the report says.

Task force members attended all hearings, liaised with witnesses, gave assistance when required and in some cases the committee arranged for police to seek further information or clarification.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A victim of church-related sexual abuse has hailed the tabling of the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations as a “watershed” moment.

The report outlines 15 recommendations to end abuse, including the creation of new criminal offences for concealing abuse and endangerment.

The report also calls for the creation of an independent tribunal to hear abuse complaints.

Premier Denis Napthine has pledged to immediately start drafting legislation in response to the inquiry’s recommendations.

“We will act and act immediately to protect children in Victoria,” he said.

Abuse victims who were in the public gallery stood and hugged each other after the report was tabled.

A former school teacher, who lost her job after pursuing a sex abuse case, called it a watershed moment, while another victim said the tabling of the report is immensely important.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

[the report]

JOHN FERGUSON THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

THE nation’s first major inquiry into religious child sex abuse has recommended a sweeping legislative overhaul to curb future criminality.

The Victorian Parliament inquiry also has slammed the behaviour of the Catholic Church for failure to deal with the decades long problem.

The inquiry has called for the lifting of the statute of limitations on offences to assist victims to pursue justice.

It calls for the introduction of a criminal offence relating to child endangerment and backs a criminal offence of grooming.

The report calls for a law to be introduced calling for a new crime of failing to report a serious indictable offence.

As revealed in The Australian, the report backs an independent body to administer a scheme for dealing with victim claims.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

THE Catholic Church’s “institutional failure” to respond appropriately to child abuse extends from parish priests to its leader in Australia, Cardinal George Pell.

The Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse took Cardinal Pell to task in its report over his attempt to separate the church as a whole from the actions of senior religious figures it said had “minimalised and trivialised” the issue.

In a swipe at Cardinal Pell’s evidence, its report said that following repeated questioning he agreed some bishops and religious superiors had covered up the issue.

“That is quite different from the whole church … the whole church is not guilty of that,” he told the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MELBOURNE Archbishop Denis Hart says senior figures in the Catholic Church made indefensible mistakes in response to sexual abuse claims.

Archbishop Hart said the church acknowledged the failings of the past, as highlighted in a Victorian parliamentary report handed down on Wednesday.

“The committee’s report is rightly called Betrayal of Trust,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

“It is the worst betrayal of trust in my lifetime.

“I fully acknowledge that leaders in the church made mistakes – these are indefensible.”

Archbishop Hart said the church had made significant progress since 1996, when it set up the national Towards Healing protocol and the Melbourne Response to handle abuse complaints.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

November 13, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

It began slowly, amid some well-merited cynicism, but on Wednesday the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse delivered – and brilliantly.

Many of the victims who followed the inquiry religiously throughout its dozens of public sessions were almost euphoric after the report, Betrayal of Trust, was tabled in parliament and committee members rose to excoriate the concealers and enablers, and to recommend far-reaching reforms.

It was not just the recommendations, it was the tone. The inquiry had heard the victims – and believed them. It gave the vital verdict: vindication.

The inquiry heard from the church hierarchy too, in particular the Catholic Church – and took a far more sceptical view. The language with which they described the church made that clear, along with their rejection of the church claim that the problem was purely historical, as Archbishops Denis Hart and George Pell had suggested in evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Hang your heads in shame, Denis Napthine tells Catholic leaders

Hannah Jenkins
From: The Australian
November 13, 2013

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine has condemned the culture of the Catholic Church in The Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into religious child sex abuse.

Dr Napthine said the Catholic Church had failed in its duty to protect the welfare of young children who had suffered in the hands of people they had every right to trust.

“The leaders of the Catholic Church should hang their heads in shame,” he said.

Dr Napthine criticised the Catholic Church for decades of concealing abuse and not taking action against the perpetrators responsible.

“The culture seemed to be putting the interests of the church and its priests ahead of the interests of children and victims, and that is totally and utterly wrong,’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Olivia Monaghan
PhD student in the School of Social and Political Sciences at University of Melbourne

Twelve months ago, I wrote an article encouraging inquiries into child sex abuse to treat the church like a corrupt police force. Today, the first of the nation’s inquiries to child sex abuse, run by the Victorian government’s Family and Community Development Committee, released its recommendations, and they have done just that.

This inquiry was established prior to the national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. As such, it focuses on child sex abuse in Victorian non-government organisations. Above all else, the findings and recommendations of the inquiry suggest a government-initiated response to child sex abuse in any part of Australia is long overdue.

As the committee acknowledges, the extent of abuse at the hand of non-government actors (especially in religious organisations) is difficult to measure. However, it reasonably estimates that:

…there have been several thousand victims criminally abused in non-government organisations in Victoria alone.

The nature of the organisations investigated by the inquiry prevents the true extent of the crime from being known. For example, the inquiry found that victims were often deterred or actively discouraged from making allegations of abuse against members of the Catholic Church because of the esteem held by the church and its employees within the community.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Ray Cassin | 13 November 2013

Will the recommendations of Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into the sexual abuse of children in non-government institutions be overshadowed by the proceedings of the Royal Commission that is now under way? Probably, but it doesn’t matter. The first thing to be said about the Victorian inquiry, which tabled its report, Betrayal of Trust, in the state’s parliament today (13 November 2013), is that the MPs have done a far better job than many people — including this writer — had expected them to do in the relatively short time allotted to them, and without the resources available to the commission.

The inquiry’s recommendations are, with one important exception, carefully considered responses to the evidence the bipartisan committee received from 405 written submissions and in more than 160 hearings. Apart from the exception, of which more later, the Napthine Government should implement these recommendations and, if they are later subsumed under all-state legislation recommended by the Royal Commission, that will not render them pointless. They will have been a model and a guide in dealing with a problem that all forms of institutionalised authority — not only the churches — have preferred to avoid dealing with openly for far too long.

That is not to say, of course, that the sexual abuse of children has ever been condoned, let alone treated as less than a serious offence under criminal law. As the inquiry’s report notes, buggery of children under 14 and rape were capital crimes until 1949. But that official abhorrence makes all the more lamentable the fact that until the early 1990s abuse happened extensively in non-government institutions, especially the churches, and that perpetrators were typically redeployed rather than being suspended from their duties and the police notified.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

By Jeff Waters and staff

Melbourne Archbishop says confessional is sacrosanct despite inquiry recommending withholding information relating to child abuse be criminalised.

The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne has stood by the church’s stance on keeping information on abuse gained through the confessional secret, despite a Victorian Parliamentary inquiry recommending withholding information relating to child abuse be criminalised.

Denis Hart says he supports all 15 recommendations made by the inquiry into institutional child abuse, but he will not commit to implementing them in full.

Archbishop Hart was speaking to the media hours after a parliamentary committee tabled recommendations that would criminalise the withholding of information relating to child abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

[the report]

In its final report, the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations has condemned the Catholic Church for trivialising the problem, failing to hold perpetrators accountable and keeping allegations from the public. The Church has accepted some of the criticism and says it will consider the report’s recommendations carefully.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into child sexual abuse has condemned the Catholic Church for protecting offenders, trivialising abuse and keeping the details from the public.

The inquiry tabled its final report today. It recommends a dramatic overhaul of the handling of abuse in the state’s religious and secular organisations.

The Catholic Church has accepted many of the report’s findings and says it will consider the recommendations carefully. They include setting up an independent scheme to compensate victims and making it a criminal offence to put a child in danger.

The Victorian Government says it will start drafting legislation to make some of the changes immediately.

Samantha Donovan reports.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: After nearly 600 submissions and more than 150 hearings, the committee conducting the inquiry tabled its report in the Victorian Parliament today.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

For the survivors of child sexual abuse, the victims and their families who gave evidence to the inquiry, the final report brought tears, joy and some trepidation about what lies ahead. Many want the other states to examine and even adopt the inquiry’s recommendations.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: For the survivors of child sexual abuse, the victims and their families who gave evidence to the Inquiry, the final report brought tears, joy and some trepidation about what lies ahead.

Many want other states to adopt the inquiry’s recommendations.

Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: The survivors of sexual abuse who were inside the Victorian Parliament today as the report was handed down described it as an historic and wonderful moment.

Many say today’s recommendations will go a long way towards protecting children.

ANTHONY FOSTER: I think I feel particularly euphoric that we’ve got to this point. No doubt about that, and I feel great trepidation about the steps from now on. There are some big organisations out there who are going to be trying to protect their wealth because this was always been about the wealth and reputation of organisations like the Salvation Army, the Catholic Church and others.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

By Darren Mara
Source World News Australia Radio

(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)

Victims groups say they’re satisfied with the outcome of a Victorian parliamentary child sex abuse inquiry.

The inquiry handed down its findings in an 800-page report which recommends making it a crime in Victoria to conceal sexual abuse by organisations.

Darren Mara has this report.

(Click on audio tab above to listen to this item)

The inquiry committee’s report recommends that people in positions of authority should be criminally responsible for placing children at risk of harm by other individuals.

Tabled in the Victorian parliament, the report comes after months of committee hearings, during which victims and Victoria Police alleged the Catholic Church had concealed child sexual abuse by clergy members.

The report states that it’s only in recent months that senior members of the Catholic Church have accepted responsibility for the church’s failure to pay due regard to the safety of children.

It’s also recommended that an independent statutory body be established to monitor and oversee the handling of sexual abuse allegations.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A national compensation scheme is needed immediately for victims of sexual abuse, a Catholic Church body says.

Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, which co-ordinates the church’s response to the royal commission into child sex abuse, has called on the federal attorney-general to establish the scheme now rather than wait for the commission’s findings to be released.

“We think the attorney-general should meet as soon as possible with the state and territories to establish a national scheme for compensation,” Mr Sullivan said.

“People should not have to wait around for the end of the royal commission for other states and territories to address these matters.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Editorial

AT last, the silent victims of sexual abuse of church clergy and other institutions have been given a unified voice.

The emotional tabling of a parliamentary inquiry into the enduring scandal is a major step forward in preventing and detecting future abuse, identifying risks and, hopefully, in healing.

For decades, lone victims have fought church hierarchy and a fraught legal system for true justice — recognition of the depth of damage caused by paedophile priests let loose on those they were obliged to protect.

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Such were the words of Jesus, in Mark 10:14.

It is a shameful hypocrisy the Catholic and some other church organisations not only allowed this biblical tenet to be systemically and horribly breached, but then worked to cover up abuse and deny victims access to justice or, in some cases, even recognition.

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AUSTRALIA
Rappler

BY MARTIN PARRY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
POSTED ON 11/13/2013

SYDNEY, Australia – An Australian state inquiry into the handling of child sex cases by the Catholic Church on Wednesday, November 13, said religious leaders trivialized the problem and recommended concealment of abuse should be a crime.

Its report tabled in the Victorian parliament follows a long-running probe and concluded that “we can reasonably estimate that there have been several thousand victims criminally abused in non-government organizations in Victoria alone”.

The most senior Catholic in Victoria, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, previously admitted to the hearing that the Church had been too slow to act on pedophile priests, but insisted things had changed.

The report, “Betrayal of Trust”, said failure to report serious child abuse should lead to prosecution, a move likely to conflict with the church’s insistence that information gathered in the confessional should remain secret.

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SLOVENIA
GlobalPost

Slovenia’s Catholic Church has warned a court decision ordering it to compensate a victim of sexual abuse could open the floodgates for lawsuits against other institutions, like schools or hospitals.

Local media reported a court ruling over the weekend that ordered the archdiocese of Maribor, Slovenia’s second city, to pay 80,000 euros ($107,000) to a woman who had been sexually abused as a child by one of its priests.

“Court sentences have to be obeyed,” the Slovenian Bishops’ Conference said in a statement on its website.

But it warned: “We are convinced it will open the doors for lawsuits not only against the Church, but also other institutions in education or health, for example.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

[the report]

A Victorian Parliamentary inquiry has released a scathing report accusing the Catholic Church of a systemic cover up of child sex abuse cases over years.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: It was another day of reckoning for the Catholic Church today with the Victorian parliamentary inquiry releasing a scathing report accusing the Church of a systemic cover-up of child abuse cases over many years. Other churches and institutions were also slammed for failing in their duty of care to children. The findings could open up hundreds of claims for financial compensation in the courts, as national affairs correspondent Heather Ewart reports.

LES LAST: I’ve got about four plants in the house, and if they can survive, then I think there’s a chance for me.

HEATHER EWART, REPORTER: It’s the simple things that help ease a lifetime of suffering for Les Last.

LES LAST: I’ve been such a failure at so many things for so many years, it still amazes me that I have any desire to attempt anything, you know.

HEATHER EWART: Les Last and his sister Helen share a terrible story. He was repeatedly sexually abused by a Christian brother at Melbourne’s Aquinas College in the 1960s from the age of 12.

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GEORGIA
The Christian Century

Nov 07, 2013 by Bob Allen

An independent Baptist pastor has resigned his church in Georgia after allegations about sexual abuse 18 years ago in Michigan resurfaced on the Internet.

Leaders at King’s Way Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia, confirmed in a letter dated October 18 that Bill Wininger has resigned after more than 15 years as pastor. Another letter dated October 27 acknowledged that church leaders were aware of recent allegations and charges.

Wininger’s troubles started when a woman who is now 25 years old claimed she had been abused by Wininger, stating that it began when she was three at North Sharon Baptist Church in Grass Lake, Michigan. A Facebook group titled Justice for the Victims of Bill Wininger went online October 23 and in the first week grew to 466 members.

“The beauty of the technological age we are in today is that perps cannot hide any longer,” Julie Silvestrone, an Iowa resident who studied at Hyles-Anderson College, posted October 25. “We are forming an army that will not be silenced and powerful in-roads are being made behind the scenes.”

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MINNESOTA
Faribault County Register

November 12, 2013
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said that with a court’s permission, it plans this month to release the names of some priests who sexually abused children. Archbishop John Nienstedt said the initial disclosure will be limited to priests who live in the archdiocese and have substantiated claims of abuse of a minor.

Critics are skeptical, noting Nienstedt’s criteria excludes priests who have died, moved from the archdiocese or have been accused of abusing adults.

While Nienstedt and other church leaders have previously argued against disclosing a list of accused clergy, about two dozen other archdioceses and dioceses have done it — including Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles — in different ways.

ORIGIN OF ‘THE LIST’

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a nationwide study published in 2004 to determine the scope of clergy sex abuse.

For the study, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis compiled a list of 33 priests deemed to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Attorneys for victims obtained the list in 2009, but a judge ruled they couldn’t release it. At that time, archdiocesan attorneys said all the priests already had been removed from active ministry, and 23 of them had been publicly named.

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AUSTRALIA
North Queensland Register

[the report]

BARNEY ZWARTZ

The state government’s eagerly awaited report on clergy child sex abuse recommends sweeping changes to laws behind which the Catholic Church has sheltered, and accused its leaders of trivialising the problem as a ‘‘short-term embarrassment’’.

Launching the report in State Parliament, inquiry chairwoman Georgie Crozier spoke of ‘‘a betrayal beyond comprehension’’ and children suffering ‘‘unimaginable harm’’.

She said the inquiry had referred 135 previously unreported claims of child sex abuse to the police.

The report into how the churches handled clergy sexual abuse wants to establish a new crime for people in authority knowingly to put a child a risk, and to make it a crime not to report suspected child abuse or to leave a child at risk, which apparently includes what priests hear in the confessional.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

THAT child sexual abuse by clergy has been found to be considered by Church hierarchy as “a short-term embarrassment” and not a reason to question their own culture is a toxic delusion hopefully to be exploded by today’s State Government report. It found the abuse of trust of children and parents was beyond comprehension.

Committee member Andrea Coote said the committee found current Catholic leadership saw child sexual abuse as something that could be minimalized and trivialised, and that “a sliding morality has emerged in the Catholic Church”. How terrifying, how dangerous and yes, how incomprehensible.

As chairwoman Georgie Crozier said tabling the Betrayal of Trust report, and as became painfully clear during the committee’s hearings, the children betrayed by trusted figures in organisations of high standing suffered unimaginable harm.

“Parents experienced a betrayal beyond comprehension, and the community was betrayed by the failure of organisations to protect children in their care,” Ms Crozier told Parliament.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

MATT JOHNSTON, JAMES CAMPBELL, ANNIKA SMETHURST
HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

HORRIFIC sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.

The nation’s first inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations found several thousand children were criminally abused by people within non-government organisations in Victoria over decades.

Committee chair Georgie Crozier has tabled the report in State Parliament and urged the Napthine Government to act on recommendations.

As revealed by the Herald Sun last week, the new laws proposed include compulsory reporting to police, with those who conceal child abuse able to be charged.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

KEITH MOOR HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

NOTHING in the new parliamentary report on sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church comes as a surprise to paedophile catcher Chris O’Connor.

He was reactiing to the horrific sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church which has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.

The nation’s first inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations found several thousand children were criminally abused by people within non-government organisations in Victoria over decades.

The recently retired detective senior sergeant has been Victoria Police’s child sex expert for decades.

He has been warning for years about the disgraceful behaviour of the Catholic Church and other institutions with responsibility for caring for children

Sen-Sgt O’Connor said evidence suggested some priests chose to be priests because of the hold it would give them over children they could abuse, just as other paedophiles were attracted to jobs which gave them easy access to children.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

A man who claims to have been sexually abused by a senior priest in Preston came face to face with his attacker in Rome, a court has heard.

Stephen Shield, 53, denies three counts of indecent assault against the man – who had dreams of joining the priesthood – more than two decades ago.

Shield trained in Rome and spent some time at English Martyrs Church in Garstang Road, Preston, where two of the offences were alleged to have taken place.

The man told the court he had been targeted by the priest several years earlier at a retreat centre in the Lake District. Rachel Grimshaw, a friend of the victim, said she had spent time with him at a retreat centre outside Rome.

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MINNESOTA
Faribault County Register

November 12, 2013
Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Authorities on South Dakota’s Rosebud Indian Reservation have opened an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children by a Minnesota priest.

Supervisory special agent Grace Her Many Horses says authorities will try to locate several men who as boys may have been sexually abused by the Rev. Clarence Vavra.

She tells Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/1fzesG0) authorities also will try to interview Vavra and officials with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Vavra self-reported in 1995 that he had sexual contact with several boys while working on the Rosebud reservation in 1975. Vavra was removed from ministry in 2003.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

SEXUAL abuse victims and their supporters burst into tears and applause as they welcomed a State Parliament report calling for sweeping new laws to protect children.

Some said the recommendations, including for new offences related to grooming and cover-ups, offered a “glimmer of hope” that children would be better protected.

Others called for a fresh look at compensation paid by churches to victims.

Chrissie Foster, two of whose three daughters were raped by a Catholic priest, Kevin O’Donnell, while they were in primary school, said the release of the report was a happy occasion.

One daughter, Emma, committed suicide in 2008.

Emma’s sister, Katie, became a heavy drinker and was left disabled when hit by a drunk driver in 1999.
Despite the family’s tragedies, Ms Foster said the release of the report of the parliamentary inquiry was a happy occasion for victims.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio,
Tom Crann, Minnesota Public Radio
November 12, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Tribal authorities on the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota are opening a criminal investigation into alleged sexual abuse of several boys and a teenager by the Rev. Clarence Vavra. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis kept the priest in ministry after he admitted to abuse on the reservation in the 1970s.

MPR News reporter Madeleine Baran talked to All Things Considered host Tom Crann about the potential legal ramifications of Monday’s report.

How are tribal investigators handling this case?

They are first trying to locate the men who Vavra may have abused when they were children. Vavra admitted in a May 1995 psychological evaluation that one of his victims was nine or ten years old at the time. That person would likely now be in his late 40s.

Today, Grace Her Many Horses, the supervisory special agent at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said that she wants to question Vavra and anyone at the archdiocese who knew about the abuse. Vavra is now retired and lives in New Prague, Minn., halfway between the Twin Cities and Mankato. Her Many Horses said it is likely that she will need to ask the FBI for assistance.

This abuse is said to have taken place in the mid-1970s. Is it still possible to file criminal charges against Vavra?

It depends. The situation is complicated, because it involves a reservation. We don’t have all the information yet. Since this is considered a major crime, tribal authorities can investigate, but they will ultimately turn the case over to the FBI.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Victorian police say they’re pleased the issues raised by the government’s inquiry into child abuse have been given the prominence and scrutiny they demanded.

Victoria Police made significant submissions to the inquiry, including that the Catholic Church destroyed evidence, shielded paedophile clergy members and put its own image ahead of the needs of victims.
In its response, the church acknowledged past failures but said it was not aware of a single example of a clergy authority not co-operating with police.

The inquiry’s final report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, recognised Victoria Police’s work in dealing with victims of sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MATT JOHNSTON, JAMES CAMPBELL, ANNIKA SMETHURST HERALD SUN
NOVEMBER 13, 2013

HORRIFIC sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.

The nation’s first inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations found several thousand children were criminally abused by people within non-government organisations in Victoria over decades.

Committee chair Georgie Crozier has tabled the report in State Parliament and urged the Napthine Government to act on recommendations.

As revealed by the Herald Sun last week, the new laws proposed include compulsory reporting to police, with those who conceal child abuse able to be charged.

The committee also recommended:

A CHILD endangerment offence, making it a criminal offence for people in authority to knowingly put a child at risk, or fail to remove them from risk;

EXPANDING grooming offences to create a separate offence for grooming a child regardless of whether sexual assault actually occurs;

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

These are the 15 recommendations of the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations

Reform criminal law

Compulsory reporting to police – Legislative amendments to ensure that a person who fails to report or conceals criminal child abuse will be guilty of an offence.

A new child endangerment offence – Making it a criminal offence for people in authority to knowingly put a child at risk, or fail to remove them from a known risk, of criminal child abuse.

A new grooming offence – The creation of a separate criminal offence extending beyond current grooming laws to make it an offence to groom a child, their parents or others with the intention of committing a sexual offence against the child (regardless of whether the sexual
offence occurs).

Easier access to the civil justice system

Address legal entity of non-government organisations – Require non-government organisations to be incorporated and adequately insured.

New structures – The Victorian Government is to work with the Australian Government to require organisations that engage with children to adopt incorporated legal structures.

Remove time limits – Legislative amendments to exclude criminal child abuse from the current statute of limitations, recognising that it can take decades for victims to come forward.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

[the report]

Incorporating non-government bodies so they can be sued is a landmark recommendation from the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse, lawyers say.

Judy Courtin, a lawyer who is conducting research into sexual assault and the Catholic Church, says the recommendations contained in the inquiry report are extremely comprehensive.

“They address all the criteria for justice for victims and their families,” she told AAP.

She said at the moment the Catholic Church did not exist as an entity so could not be sued.

The committee has recommended such bodies be incorporated or miss out on tax exemptions and government funding.

“I think that’s a landmark recommendation,” Ms Courtin said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Nov. 12, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

The election of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops puts him in the positions to be a key player in the appointment of bishops in the United States, perhaps even the kingmaker.

DiNardo has all of the attributes necessary to be a kingmaker. As a former staff person in the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, he knows the process, the key players, and the politics of episcopal appointments. As a cardinal, and now as vice president and eventually as president in three years, he will make numerous visits to Rome where he can make his recommendations known to the right people, including Pope Francis. He has the additional advantage of being able to communicate with the pope in Italian, since the pope is not at home in English.

Pope Francis has little personal knowledge of the United States. He will be dependent on people to advise him. The American prelate closest to him is Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, but O’Malley is a saint, not a politician. He will not push his favorites or even give his advice unless the pope asks him.

In previous papacies, Cardinals Joseph Bernardin, John O’Connor, Bernard Law, Justin Rigali, William Levada, James Stafford, and most recently Raymond Burke have influenced episcopal appointments in the United States. Cardinal Burke is still a member of the Congregation for Bishops, a committee composed mostly of cardinals in Rome.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published November 12, 2013.

The troubled bribery and extortion trial of a Brooklyn man who says his son was a victim of child abuse has been delayed — again.

Laughter could be heard in the Brooklyn Supreme Court courtroom, November 12, when prosecutor John Holmes said that the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office was still not ready to try the case, which has dragged on for two years.

Kellner is accused of paying a witness $10,000 to falsely testify in the trial of a Brooklyn cantor on sex abuse charges. He is also accused of trying to extort the cantor’s family for $400,000.

Kellner’s lawyers had anticipated that the charges against their client would be dropped this week.

Lawyer Michael Dowd told the court that prosecutors contacted his office last week to say that they were dropping the case for lack of evidence.

The same prosecutors told the court in July that a key witness against Kellner had given inconsistent testimony.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Josh Saul
November 12, 2013

The office of lame-duck Brooklyn DA Charles “Joe” Hynes tried to postpone a troubled sex abuse-extortion case Tuesday until after the veteran DA leaves office in January after 23 years – but an exasperated judge set another hearing for later this month and chastised the latest unlucky prosecutor assigned to handle the case.

“I have an ADA who has no info on this case,” said Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Ann Donnelly, who told prosecutors to turn over evidence faster. “In a case from 2011, this should already have been done.”

Assistant District Attorney John Holmes took over the case this week after controversial rackets chief Michael Vecchione booted the two veteran ADAs handling the case Friday when they demanded he dismiss the evidence-challenged prosecution against Sam Kellner. The Post first reported the shakeup on Monday.

Asked if the DA investigation into the extortion was complete, Holmes said, “I’m not sure, Your Honor.”

“You’re not sure?” Donnelly said incredulously.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY OREN YANIV / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013

The Brooklyn District Attorney seemed intent to kick the can of a problematic extortion case in the Hasidic community down the road Tuesday as possible new evidence and allegations of prosecutors’ infighting added to the legal mess.

A new prosecutor assigned to the case against Samuel Kellner — after two assistant district attorneys that had handled it were demoted Friday — tried to push it back to January, days after lame duck DA Charles (Joe) Hynes leaves office.

The new ADA, John Holmes, said his office is not ready for trial and that he has no information about the status of the case, which has been dragging since April 2011.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

The last we heard from ultra-Orthodox sex abuse whistleblower Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg he was recovering from an assault involving a cup of bleach tossed in his face on a Williamsburg sidewalk. Rosenberg, who was nearly blinded, has become anathema in the tightly-knit Satmar community for exposing perpetrators of sexual abuse. Almost a year after the bleach attack, Vice checks in on Rosenberg, who of course has more horrifying stories to tell:

On a visit to Jerusalem in 2005, Rabbi Rosenberg entered into a mikvah in one of the holiest neighborhoods in the city, Mea She’arim. “I opened a door that entered into a schvitz,” he told me. “Vapors everywhere, I can barely see. My eyes adjust, and I see an old man, my age, long white beard, a holy-looking man, sitting in the vapors. On his lap, facing away from him, is a boy, maybe seven years old. And the old man is having anal sex with this boy.”

Rabbi Rosenberg paused, gathered himself, and went on: “This boy was speared on the man like an animal, like a pig, and the boy was saying nothing. But on his face—fear. The old man [looked at me] without any fear, as if this was common practice. He didn’t stop. I was so angry, I confronted him. He removed the boy from his penis, and I took the boy aside. I told this man, ‘It’s a sin before God, a mishkovzucher. What are you doing to this boy’s soul? You’re destroying this boy!’ He had a sponge on a stick to clean his back, and he hit me across the face with it. ‘How dare you interrupt me!’ he said. I had heard of these things for a long time, but now I had seen.”

Rabbi Rosenberg believes around half of young males in Brooklyn’s Hasidic community have been victims of sexual assault, but Ben Hirsch, director of Survivors for Justice, tells Vice, “From anecdotal evidence, we’re looking at over 50 percent. It has almost become a rite of passage.” And yet it’s extremely rare that any of the perpetrators are brought to justice, a fact that may have cost Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes his job.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

A group of insurers has agreed to pay the Archdiocese of Milwaukee an unspecified sum to settle a lawsuit over its liability for sex abuse claims filed against the church, a move hailed as a major step toward a resolution of the archdiocese’s nearly three-year-old bankruptcy.

Under the terms of the agreement still to be finalized, London Market Insurers, including Lloyds of London, would effectively “buy back” policies they sold to the archdiocese in return for a release of liability for any current or future claims, according to court records.

Those general liability insurance policies, uncovered by creditors during the bankruptcy proceedings, could cost the insurers hundreds of millions of dollars if they were ruled enforceable, according to victims’ attorneys.

Church Spokesman Jerry Topczewski said Tuesday that the settlement amount would be spelled out in the archdiocese’s forthcoming plan of reorganization, which must be approved by the bankruptcy court for it to exit Chapter 11. He said he did not know when that would be filed.

Settlement talks are continuing with a second carrier, Stonewall Insurance, according to court records.

“This is just one part of a complex plan that will address the demands of all the creditors,” said Topczewski, who serves as chief of staff to Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki. “We’re as anxious as anyone to move this forward.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Government has been challenged by the UN Human Rights Committee on what measures it has taken “to prohibit all corporal punishment of children in all settings”.

It has also been asked to explain the narrowness of abortion provision in the new Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, and the lack of an independent inquiry into the Magdalene laundries. Ireland’s treatment of asylum seekers and Travellers has also been raised, as have the issues of overcrowded prisons and why members of the judiciary must take a religious oath.

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

The name of an evangelical preacher linked to an alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse has been dropped from a list of speakers at an upcoming conference at an SBC seminary.

By Bob Allen

A controversial evangelical preacher, named in a highly publicized lawsuit alleging participation in what has been described as the biggest evangelical sexual-abuse scandal to date, is no longer listed as a speaker for an upcoming collegiate conference at a Southern Baptist seminary.

C.J. Mahaney, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville, Ky., and close friend to Southern Baptist proponents of theology that goes by names including the New Calvinism and “young, restless and Reformed,” originally appeared among speakers scheduled for next year’s 20/20 Collegiate Conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

Last month ABPnews reported his name on the program for “Ekklesia: God’s Perspective on the Church,” scheduled Feb. 7-8, 2014, alongside other speakers that included Southeastern Seminary President Daniel Akin and SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore.

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AUSTRALIA
Victoria Inquiry

Volume1

Volume 2

Each year hundreds of thousands of children and young people in Victoria spend time involved with religious and other non-government organisations. These organisations provide a broad range of valuable services and social programs including child care, education, social activities, spiritual guidance and sports and recreation programs.

Some organisations also provide temporary or permanent residential care away from the family.
The overwhelming majority of children who participate in organisational activities or who are cared for by personnel in non-government organisations are safe and they gain great benefit from engaging in such activities and services. …

There has been a substantial body of credible evidence presented to the Inquiry and ultimately concessions made by senior representatives of religious bodies, including the Catholic Church, that they had taken steps with the direct objective of concealing wrongdoing.

The Committee welcomed the commitment made by many organisations during the course of the Inquiry to actively cooperate with any new schemes that the Victorian Government establishes in response to the Inquiry’s recommendations. The CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, Mr Francis Sullivan, recently stated that the community should ‘judge us on our actions’.3 It is reasonable for the community to expect that organisations will honour their undertakings.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[the report]

November 13, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

A government report on child abuse has savaged the Catholic Church, recommending a new independent mechanism for pursuing justice and new criminal laws.

Betrayal of Trust, the report of the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse, recommends a new law making it a criminal offence to allow a child to remain at risk, plus making it

The report also recommends excluding child abuse from the statute of limitations because victims can take decades to come forward.

It says organisations should be held accountable for their legal duty to protect children and should be vicariously liable – an indication the committee wants to end the so-called Ellis defence by which the Catholic Church argues it cannot be sued.

Committee member Andrea Coote said the committee found current Catholic leadership saw child sexual abuse as a short-term embarrassment and not as a reason to question their own culture. “A sliding morality has emerged in the Catholic Church,” Ms Coote said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[the report]

By Jeff Waters

The Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations has made 15 recommendations to the Government, several of which are likely to be strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church.

The two-volume report entitled Betrayal of Trust was tabled in the State Parliament’s Upper House this morning.

Among the recommendations is a call to change laws to ensure anyone failing to report serious child abuse is guilty of an offence.

The Catholic Church hierarchy has always insisted that information gathered by priests in the confessional should remain secret.

The report also recommends the creation of new criminal offences of “grooming” children and “endangerment” where figures of authority within institutions can be sanctioned for not taking enough precautions.

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AUSTRALIA
Victoria Inquiry

The Family and Community Development Committee has released its report from the Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations entitled “Betrayal of Trust”.

Please click on the links below to download the report:

Summary and Recommendations (PDF 308Kb)

OR

Whole Report:
Volume 1 (PDF 2.2Mb),
Volume 2 (PDF 4.0Mb)

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP NOVEMBER 13, 2013

THE concealment of sexual abuse should be a crime, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse says.

The inquiry committee’s report recommends that people in positions of authority should be criminally responsible for placing children at risk of harm by other individuals.

The report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, comes after months of committee hearings, during which victims and Victoria Police alleged the Catholic Church had concealed child sexual abuse by clergy members.

The church’s procedures for sexual abuse complaints – the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing – do not allow for public acknowledgment of wrongdoing, regardless of the circumstances, the report says.

“Only in recent months have senior members of the Catholic Church accepted responsibility for the church’s failure to conduct its operations with due regard to the safety of children,” the report said.

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MAINE
Houston Chronicle

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A Maine man who claimed he was abused by a Roman Catholic priest in the 1980s has lost in his effort to hold the Diocese of Portland accountable.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday upheld a judgment against William Picher of Augusta, who contended the priest’s supervisors knew he was an abuser but failed to intervene.

A judge previously ruled that the 39-year-old Picher failed to prove “fraudulent concealment” by the diocese. The state supreme court unanimously upheld the ruling, saying there was nothing in the record to prove the diocese was aware that the Rev. Raymond Melville sexually abused minors during the period in which Picher was abused.

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MAINE
Morning Sentinel

By Scott Dolan sdolan@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has upheld a ruling in favor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland in the case of an Augusta man who alleges he was sexually abused by a priest as a child. The lawsuit also alleges that the church did not disclose that the priest was later accused of abusing other children.

William Picher of Augusta accused the Rev. Raymond Melville of molesting him while he was a student at St. Mary’s School, from September 1986 to June 1988, while Melville was serving his initial assignment as assistant pastor at St. Mary’s Parish in Augusta.

Picher filed his complaint against the diocese in 2007, saying the diocese covered up knowledge of earlier abuse complaints against Melville that came to light after Picher was abused.

A Superior Court judge had ruled in favor of the diocese in August 2012 that it was not obligated to reveal the other abuse claims to Picher because he did not file his own complaint until years later. The Supreme Judicial Court, in its unanimous decision issued on Tuesday, denied Picher’s appeal of the lower court judge’s ruling.

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NEW JERSEY
Religion Clause

Bergen County, New Jersey prosecutor John L. Molinelli issued a press release last week announcing an unusual resolution in a clergy sex abuse case. As explained by an RNS report yesterday, in 2007 Catholic priest Michael Fugee, in order to avoid a retrial on improper sexual conduct charges, signed an agreement, embodied in a judicial order and Memorandum of Understanding, banning him from ministering to children. It was discovered earlier this year that Fugee violated the agreement by attending youth retreats and hearing confessions from teens. In response, in May he was charged with 5 counts of criminal contempt. On November 1, those charges were disposed of through a binding agreement and court order under which Fugee has agreed to petition the Vatican to remove him permanently from the priesthood. Prosecutor Molinelli said that this result could not have been achieved by a contempt conviction because:

it is not believed that the American Justice System has such authority as a condition of probation or upon conviction. This is a requirement that will eliminate the threat of Michael Fugee, ever again, obtaining the trust of people through his clerical position nor using his ordained position as a Priest to exert improper contact with children…. The agreement that has been reached forever bars Michael Fugee from holding himself out as a current or former priest or spiritual advisor. Most importantly, he is prohibited from working with children in any capacity.

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MINNESOTA
Wandervogel Diary

The rolling wave of outrage has recently been hitting the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, my home of 30 years, over charges that pedophile priests were for decades constantly moved (and not taken out of circulation) by their higher-ups in the Catholic Church.

John Nienstedt, as a sacrificial lamb for the archdiocese’s history of obfuscation and evasion. But he has just announced that he will release instead a list of some 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. It has been reported that all priests on the list have been relieved of their priestly duties. Less than a day after he made this commitment, Neinstedt has begun backing off from this promise… so the list may not be released at all.

Chances are, the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will remain embroiled in this issue, not because this particular archdiocese is any worse than any other with respect to clergy abuse, but because the Twin Cities is the home of attorney Jeff Anderson, who has built his national practice around clergy abuse. Jeff Anderson & Associates pioneered the use of civil litigation to seek justice for survivors of child sexual abuse and is recognized as the nation’s premier law firm in that specialty.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013

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 )

An appeals court says a clergy sex abuse and cover up suit against a Kansas City Catholic bishop and priest must be tossed out because the alleged crimes did not happen directly on church property.

[Kansas City Star]

Congratulations again to Bishop Robert Finn for successfully finding and using another legal loophole to keep the cover ups of Fr. Michael Tierney’s crimes covered up.

The “take away” is frightening here: Elementary teachers should molest students while parked on the street, not in the school lot. Middle school coaches should molest their players after “away” games, not “home” games. And ministers should molest their flocks on retreats, not in the church itself.

It’s hard to know what’s more outrageous: that secular officials permit this loophole or that allegedly religious officials exploit this loophole.

The 1997 Missouri Supreme Court ruling – Gibson v. Brewer – on which part of today’s ruling is based, will not stand. Catholic officials will, however, exploit it as long as they possibly can.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Abuse victims say they hope there will be a strong response to the findings of the Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

The committee has spent the past year analysing the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations and will hand down its final report today.

It will make recommendations to the State Government, which has six months to respond.

There is a long history of the sexual abuse of children in Ballarat’s schools, churches and orphanages, dating back to the 1950s.

Many people gave evidence to the inquiry when public hearings were held in the city last December

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM

TONY EASTLEY: A Victorian inquiry into sex abuse in institutions will be tabled in Parliament today.

It began last year, before the national Royal Commission into similar sorts of systemic failures and the Victorian inquiry has had a special focus on the central Victorian city of Ballarat, which has a long history of abuse in schools and children’s homes.

Some of those who’ve made submissions are thankful for the chance to tell their stories.

From Ballarat, Kate Stowell reports.

KATE STOWELL: After being abused in the 1950s, John says he’s had a lifetime of suffering the consequences.

JOHN: I’ve had a lot of issues with relationship problems, in particular workplace difficulties. It affects your whole life. It affects your decisions with your family, with your children, with your society. In every way, it affects your life forever.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Posted on November 12, 2013

The Victorian state Parliamentary enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse will release its report tomorrow. It had originally been due for release by 30th September. While it is expected to recommend mandatory reporting laws for clergy, with a custodial sentence for non-compliance, much interest exists in its possible recommendations for victim compensation.

In the past, religious organisations have adopted an adversarial approach to the issue. It is well known that officials of all churches have been keen to hide abuse so as to protect the “reputation” of their organisations, but it is also becoming more and more evident that these same officials have been equally concerned with protecting their institutional wealth from victim compensation claims.

What financial help has been given to victims has been little, and given begrudgingly. The religious organisations, in particular the Catholic Church, have hidden behind their privileged legal status to avoid helping victims financially. The notorious “Ellis Defence” (see previous postings) is a classic example which basically says that the church does not exist, so they cannot be sued. This must change by way of Parliamentary legislation.

Another protection for the wealth of religious, and other, organisations is the provision of a statute of limitations. This is particularly unfair, since everyone agrees that it is normally a very long time before victims are able to report abuse. If these limitations can be avoided when prosecuting the abusers, they should also be avoided when it comes to the matter of compensation for those same victims.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013

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

We are grateful that South Dakota law enforcement officials are doing what Minnesota and South Dakota Catholic officials refuse to do – taking seriously the admitted child sex crimes of Fr. Clarence Vavra.

Today, Minnesota Public Radio reports that an investigation has been opened “into alleged sexual abuse of children by a Minnesota priest” who admitted molesting kids on a reservation in South Dakota.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

This is precisely what should happen.

South Dakota’s two Catholic bishops should show real leadership and aggressively help police and prosecutors by visiting every place where Fr. Vavra worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to step forward. Catholic officials recruit, educate, ordain, train transfer and shield child molesting clerics. When those clerics admit sexually assaulting kids – as Fr. Vavra has – the least Catholic officials can do is to act like the shepherds they purport to be and seek out others who have been hurt.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

November 12
BY MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

The Kansas City Catholic diocese cannot be liable for the actions of a priest alleged to have sexually abused a boy away from church property, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

A three-judge panel of the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals upheld a decision last year by a Jackson County judge dismissing civil allegations filed against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph by a plaintiff identified by the appeals court only as “D.T.”

In his suit, D.T. had claimed that the Rev. Michael Tierney had abused him twice in the early 1970s, once in a hotel room and once in the basement of Tierney’s mother’s home.

Tierney has denied all wrongdoing, and D.T. dismissed his claims against the priest while his appeal of rulings in favor of the diocese was pending.

D.T. filed three negligence claims against the diocese, which the appeals court agreed could not stand because of a 1997 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that limited such actions against religious institutions in order to avoid entangling courts in First Amendment, freedom-of-religion issues.

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VIRGINIA
WSLS

By Aaron Martin, Anchor, Reporter
By Tim Ciesco, Reporter

ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VA –

A Rockbridge County judge set bond for Pastor Larry Clark at $7,500 Tuesday morning.

Clark, who is the pastor at Pentecostal Outreach Church in Buena Vista, has been accused of molesting two teenage boys on separate occasions back in 2011. He was arrested last week on two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and one count of cruelly treating a child.

The judge said given the nature of the charges, she felt the bond amount was “reasonable.”

She also attached several conditions to his bond that he must meet:

-No contact with either of the alleged victims in this case
-No unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18
-He must stay with his mother in Buena Vista while he is out on bond

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

The King of Morocco plans to expel an Israeli rabbi who is wanted in Israel for questioning regarding alleged sex crimes, Moroccan media outlets report.

Rabbi Eliezar Berlan, head of the Shuvu Banim Hassidic sect, has been accused of committing indecent acts against several young female followers. Shortly after he fled the country his son and several other followers were arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering involving the sect’s finances.

A source in the Shuvu Banim movement told the hareidi news outlet Kikar Hashabat that Berland would be forced to leave Morocco in the near future because local authorities were not pleased at the fact that dozens of his followers had arrived in the country with the intention of staying permanently.

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NEW YORK
Vice

By Christopher Ketcham

Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg—who is 63 with a long, graying beard—recently sat down with me to explain what he described as a “child-rape assembly line” among sects of fundamentalist Jews. He cleared his throat. “I’m going to be graphic,” he said.

A member of Brooklyn’s Satmar Hasidim fundamentalist branch of Orthodox Judaism, Nuchem designs and repairs mikvahs in compliance with Torah Law. The mikvah is a ritual Jewish bathhouse used for purification. Devout Jews are required to cleanse themselves in the mikvah on a variety of occasions: women must visit following menstruation, and men have to make an appearance before the High Holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many of the devout also purify themselves before and after the act of sex, and before the Sabbath.

On a visit to Jerusalem in 2005, Rabbi Rosenberg entered into a mikvah in one of the holiest neighborhoods in the city, Mea She’arim. “I opened a door that entered into a schvitz,” he told me. “Vapors everywhere, I can barely see. My eyes adjust, and I see an old man, my age, long white beard, a holy-looking man, sitting in the vapors. On his lap, facing away from him, is a boy, maybe seven years old. And the old man is having anal sex with this boy.”

Rabbi Rosenberg paused, gathered himself, and went on: “This boy was speared on the man like an animal, like a pig, and the boy was saying nothing. But on his face—fear. The old man [looked at me] without any fear, as if this was common practice. He didn’t stop. I was so angry, I confronted him. He removed the boy from his penis, and I took the boy aside. I told this man, ‘It’s a sin before God, a mishkovzucher. What are you doing to this boy’s soul? You’re destroying this boy!’ He had a sponge on a stick to clean his back, and he hit me across the face with it. ‘How dare you interrupt me!’ he said. I had heard of these things for a long time, but now I had seen.”

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VIRGINIA
NBC 29

Nov 12, 2013

A valley judge has set bond for a pastor who faces several child sex abuse charges.

Larry Clark, 61, is charged with two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and one count of putting a child’s life at risk. The alleged incidents date back two years ago and involve two male minors. Clark is the pastor at Pentecostal Outreach Church in Buena Vista.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Star Tribune

Article by: Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — An attorney representing clergy sexual abuse victims says his clients were shut out of negotiations between the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and one of its major insurers.

The archdiocese faces claims in federal bankruptcy court from hundreds of sexual abuse victims who have accused it of transferring abusive priests to new churches and covering up their crimes.

The archdiocese said in court documents filed Monday that it has reached a settlement with Lloyd’s, of London, which issued policies during the 1960s and 1970s, when much of the abuse occurred.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Lindsay Toler
Tue., Nov. 12 2013

The St. Louis Archdiocese has paid $10 million in ten years in legal fees and victim payments associated with clergy misconduct, including sexual abuse, according to the church’s annual financial report.

The Catholic church in St. Louis paid $943,700 in abuse and misconduct costs in 2013, compared to $342,100 in 2012.

The costs recorded in a particular year don’t necessarily come from cases filed or tried in that year, says chief financial officer Frank Chauvin.

“There is a time lag, a significant time lag, in some of these cases as to when we might get a recovery for the legal fees or payment to victims,” Chauvin tells Daily RFT.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 12, 2013 Distinctly Catholic
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

The election of Archbishop Joseph Kurtz as president of the USCCB was widely expected. But I think everyone was a bit surprised that the election was achieved on the first ballot. It is not easy to get more than 50 percent of the vote in a contest with 10 candidates.

The fact that +Kurtz won a majority so quickly attests to three things. First, the bishops want to return to the practice of allowing a USCCB president three years as veep as a kind of preparation for the post. Second, +Kurtz is not seen as belonging to any party or faction and so is ideally suited to lead a conference that has been dominated in recent years by conservatives and is now grappling with Pope Francis’ call to focus on issues that have a more leftward tilt, at least as they intersect with U.S. politics. Third, +Kurtz is a great guy and almost everyone likes him. Fr. Anthony Chandler, a priest of the archdiocese of Louisville and an old chum of mine, told me, “Archbishop Kurtz is a very genuine person. He works hard to give people the opportunity to share their views. He will work very hard. He keeps an amazing schedule in the archdiocese and gets to meet lots of people.” Sounds like the kind of guy the bishops can live with for the next three years.

The election of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as vice president is more difficult to read. As I noted before, I have never really gotten a handle on +DiNardo. He is very bright, and he has studied academically and works into his talks lots of references to the Church Fathers, which is a quick way to my heart.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

VICTORIA’S parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse should support the national work of the royal commission but must not wait for its findings to act, the state’s child safety commissioner says.

Bernie Geary, who used his inquiry submission to urge an expansion of the working with children checks, has said there is a lot that can be done immediately to make Victorian children safer.

The inquiry’s landmark 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.

Mr Geary, along with victims’ advocate Bryan Keon-Cohen, said the Victorian government must act swiftly by amending legislation and providing compensation to victims.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

November 12, 2013

An attorney who represents victims of child sex abuse named four officials in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who he thinks bear criminal responsibility for failing to report abuse of children by priests.

Mike Finnegan, an attorney with Jeff Anderson and Associates, said the law in Minnesota and across the country requires church officials to notify authorities of even the suspicion of child sex abuse.

“They do have a criminal responsibility under our criminal laws here in Minnesota and in every state across the country to report any suspicions of child sex abuse,” Finnegan said. “As soon as they have a suspicion of child sex abuse, under law they are required to report that.”

He said that reports by MPR News made clear, in his view, that “the archbishop, the top official, and his lieutenant — any of them that knew and had a suspicion about child sex abuse — could face criminal responsibility.

“I think they are definitely criminally responsible: Archbishop [John] Nienstedt, [former] Vicar General Peter Laird, [former] Vicar General Kevin McDonough, former Archbishop Harry Flynn: all four of those men, I think, face criminal responsibility for their failure to report child sex abuse.”

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Sentinel

Catholic News Service

BALTIMORE — The U.S. bishops this week approved the development of a pastoral statement on the dangers pornography poses to family life that would serve as a teaching tool for church leaders.

On Day Two of their annual fall general assembly in Baltimore, the bishops voted 226 to 5 to allow the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth to develop the statement.

Developing such a statement falls in line with an objective of the U.S. Conference of catholic Bishops’ 2013-16 strategic plan to address pornography and its dangerous effects on family life.

The committee planned to bring a draft to the bishops in 2015. It would be the first formal statement on pornography issued by the bishops as a body.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Roberts | Nov. 12, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

I read with interest my colleague Michael Sean Winters’ blog on the meaning of the elections that occurred this morning at the meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Of Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., the conference president-elect, he wrote:

“Kurtz is not seen as belonging to any party or faction, and so ideally suited to lead a conference which has been dominated in recent years by conservatives, and is now grappling with Pope Francis’ call to focus on issues that have a more leftward tilt, at least as they intersect with U.S. politics. … Kurtz is a great guy and almost everyone likes him. Fr. Anthony Chandler, a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville, and an old chum of mine, told me, ‘Archbishop Kurtz is a very genuine person. He works hard to give people the opportunity to share their views. He will work very hard. He keeps an amazing schedule in the archdiocese and gets to meet lots of people.’”

The term “genuine” applied to the archbishop would seem consistent with his reputation from his days as a priest in the Diocese of Allentown, Pa. Full disclosure, I knew him for a few years back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Fuller disclosure: my wife, Sally, worked for him when he was head of the diocese’s social justice office. She worked on a staff that helped him open the diocese’s first soup kitchen and on other programs for the poor and disenfranchised.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Bishops elect chairman of Catholic Education Committee
Chairmen-elect chosen for five other USCCB committees
New CRS, CLINIC board members chosen

November 12, 2013

BALTIMORE—Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) during the bishops’ annual fall General Assembly, November 12, in Baltimore. Archbishop Kurtz has served as vice president of USCCB since 2010. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was elected USCCB vice president.

Archbishop Kurtz and Cardinal DiNardo are elected to three-year terms and succeed Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Archbishop Kurtz, respectively. The new president and vice president’s terms begin at the conclusion of the General Assembly, November 14.

Archbishop Kurtz was elected president on the first ballot with 125 votes. Cardinal DiNardo was elected vice president on the third ballot by 147-87 in a runoff vote against Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., of Philadelphia.

The president and vice president are elected by a simple majority from a slate of 10 nominees. If no president or vice president is chosen after the second round of voting, a third ballot is taken between only the top two vote getters on the second ballot.

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MINNESOTA/SOUTH DAKOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
November 12, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Law enforcement authorities on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota have opened an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children by a Minnesota priest.

Supervisory special agent Grace Her Many Horses said authorities will attempt to locate several men who as boys may have been sexually abused by the Rev. Clarence Vavra. She said they will also try to interview Vavra and officials with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Tribal investigators will likely ask the FBI for assistance, she said.

“We would interview the victims and anyone else who would have knowledge of this,” Her Many Horses said. “And, apparently the archdiocese did have knowledge of it. Otherwise they wouldn’t have moved him around.”

The development follows an MPR News investigation that found Vavra, had admitted to sexually abusing several young boys and a teenager on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in the mid-1970s. Vavra admitted to the abuse in a psychological evaluation in 1995, but church leaders did not contact police. Vavra retired in 2003 and lives in New Prague in southern Minnesota.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

November 12, 2013

U.S. bishops in Baltimore approve drafting of statement on pornography
Bishop Malone highlights negative effects on men, women, children
Statement to be pastoral in nature, focus on effects on marriages and families

BALTIMORE—The U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the drafting of a formal statement on pornography to be issued from the entire body of bishops. Following a presentation by Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, New York, chair-elect of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, the bishops, who are gathered in Baltimore for their annual fall General Assembly, voted 226-5 to approve the drafting of the statement.

“As pastors, we’re aware that many people are consuming or are exploited by pornography, and many also are struggling with pornography addiction,” Bishop Malone said in his report. “The number of men, women, and children who have been harmed by pornography use is not negligible, and we have an opportunity to offer healing and hope to those who have been wounded.”

The statement will be pastoral in nature and will emphasize the effects of pornography on marriages and families, while attending to all those harmed by pornography use and addiction. The Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth will lead the drafting process, and the statement will come before the body of bishops for approval. The tentative timeline is to have a finalized statement by the end of 2015.

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CHILE
Cooperative

[Summary: Jose Andres Aguirre, who was sentenced to prisons for sexual abuse of children, died early Tuesday after suffering cardiac arrest. Aguirre was released from prison last year after serving the 2003 sentence for abusing nine boys and one incidence of rape.]

El ex sacerdote José Andrés Aguirre, condenado a 12 años de presidio por abuso sexual menores y conocido como “cura Tato”, falleció la madrugada de este martes.

Según confirmaron fuentes de la Conferencia Episcopal, Aguirre perdió la vida producto de un paro cardíaco, mientras era atendido en el Hospital del Salvador, hasta donde fue trasladado desde un hogar de ancianos de la comuna de Las Condes.

Aguirre había dejado hace un año la cárcel, después de cumplir una condena desde el año 2003 por abuso sexual contra nueve menores y un caso de estupro.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. .Today’s issue of the St. Louis Review includes the archdiocesan annual financial statement, which shows the church spending on clergy sex abuse has risen again and the total abuse-related expenses have now topped $10 million since 2004. It also shows that, for the last eight years, no payments have been made for “clergy counseling.” One wonders “Are pedophile priests getting any psychological help at all?”

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MAINE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013

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

A clergy sex abuse victim has lost his bid to expose Maine Catholic officials who have ignored and concealed the heinous crimes of a predator priest.

[Bangor Daily News]

Our hearts ache for William Picher. Despite his betrayal – first, by a predator priest and later, by that priest’s complicit colleagues – Picher is being denied a right guaranteed to most crime victims: his day in court.

He has done a heroic job of trying to shed light on clergy sex crimes and cover ups by Maine Catholic clerics. His courage and persistence are admirable.

Shame on Maine Catholic officials for exploiting legal technicalities to avoid responsibility for heinous child sex crimes committed and concealed by Maine Catholic clerics.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: November 12, 2013

BALTIMORE — The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday elected Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., a prelate who has earned a reputation as a consensus-seeker, president of their conference on the first ballot.
Related

Archbishop Kurtz, who served as vice president the last three years, will succeed Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, who finishes his three-year term at the conclusion of the bishops’ meeting this week.

In a closely watched decision, the bishops elected Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston as vice president from a slate of 10 candidates. In the runoff vote, they passed over Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, a razor-sharp writer who often weighs in on politics from a markedly conservative point of view.

The bishops customarily elevate their vice president to president, so the election for this post often determines their leadership for years to come. Among the other candidates defeated for vice president were Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, who has led the bishops’ religious liberty campaign to fend off what they see as serious threats to religious freedom, and Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, an immigrant from Mexico and an outspoken advocate for immigration reform.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Thomson Reuters Foundation

By Mary Wisniewski

BALTIMORE, Nov 12 (Reuters) – U.S. Catholic bishops on Tuesday elected an archbishop from Kentucky and a Texas cardinal known for his support of immigrants to head their leadership conference in a nod toward Pope Francis’ emphasis on social justice.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, 67, of Louisville, Kentucky and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, 64, of the Galveston-Houston diocese, were elected to three-year terms as president and vice president, respectively of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Their election comes as Catholic bishops worldwide are being given new direction by Pope Francis, who has emphasized greater humility and more concern for the poor. The bishops oversee 69 million U.S. Catholics, or about one-quarter of the country’s population.

“We think these are the leaders who will move the American Church in the direction Pope Francis desires,” said Christopher Hale, senior fellow with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a progressive group that focuses on social justice issues.

Hale cited Kurtz’s “long pastoral experience” and praised him as a “tireless leader on immigration reform. He knows firsthand the problems of a broken immigration system.” …

Barbara Dorris of the group SNAP, which represents victims of clergy sex abuse, expressed disappointment with Kurtz’s election, saying he had not joined the ranks of 30 U.S. bishops who have posted on their web sites the names of “proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics.” SNAP is short for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. (Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Leslie Gevirtz)

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For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013

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 )

Juneau’s top Catholic official is the new head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Child and Youth Protection.”

[National Catholic Reporter]

We call on Bishop Edward Burns to take two immediate steps.

First, Burns should post names of predator priests on his church websites. This is the quickest and easiest way any Catholic prelate can protect kids right now. As head of the “child protection” committee, it’s crucial that Burns lead by example.

Roughly 20 US bishops have taken this simple, proven, inexpensive safety measure (starting with Tucson and Baltimore dioceses in 2002). Days ago, Minnesota’s top Catholic official pledged to do so soon. The Philadelphia archdiocese posts the names, photos and work histories of predator priests.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted Nov. 12, 2013

PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday ruled against an Augusta man who claimed the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland knew the priest who abused him as a child was a serial abuser.

The justices unanimously upheld the decision of Superior Court Justice Donald Marden. He granted summary judgment to the diocese last year.

William Picher, 39, claimed in his lawsuit, originally filed in 2007, that Raymond Melville, 70, of North Carolina, who left the ministry in 1997, sexually assaulted him between 1986 and 1988 when Picher was a student at St. Mary Catholic School in Augusta. Picher alleged that Melville’s supervisors at the Chancery in Portland knew the priest had sexually abused children previously but hid allegations from parishioners.

Picher’s attorney’s argued that the diocese had a duty to disclose to parishioners allegations that Melville had assaulted a 14-year-old in 1980 while in the seminary.

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UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville has replaced Timothy Dolan as president of the US Bishops’ Conference. He was elected at a bishops’ assembly in Baltimore

JOHN ALLEN JR *
ROME

Catholic bishops in the United States, who are perceived in recent years to have moved somewhat to the right, today find themselves coming to terms with a Pope whose words and deeds have emboldened the Church’s progressive wing. Logically speaking, that seems to present the American bishops with three core options:

– Resistance, pushing back against the new papal line.

– Adjustment, not watering down their pro-life concerns or vigilance about orthodoxy, but locating those matters within the new vision presented by Francis.·

– Capitulation, utterly overhauling their priorities and ways of doing business to satisfy popular expectations of the ‘Francis effect.’

In effect, at their Nov. 11-14 meeting in Baltimore the bishops appear to have chosen the middle path. By electing Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville as the conference president, replacing the charismatic Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, the bishops chose a centrist known both as a champion of the church’s pro-life teachings but also a flexible pragmatist capable of adjusting course in light of the new direction being set in Rome.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 12, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

BALTIMORE Returning to a tradition they broke three years ago, the U.S. bishops elected Tuesday morning as their new president the sitting vice president of the bishops’ conference, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky.

The bishops elected Kurtz on the first ballot Monday by a 53 percent majority: 125 votes of the 236 cast.

The next closest prelate in the running was Galveston-Houston Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, who received 25 votes. Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput received 20 votes.

Following Kurtz’s election, the election of the bishops’ vice president entered into a third ballot runoff between Chaput and DiNardo. The Texas cardinal won, receiving 63 percent on that ballot: 147 votes to Chaput’s 87.

Tuesday’s election means the Kentucky archbishop takes the reins of the bishops’ conference from New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has led the conference for the last three years. The formal handover occurs Thursday afternoon at the end of the bishops’ annual assembly, being held this week in Baltimore.

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CYRPUS
Cyprus Mail

NICOSIA District Court has sentenced a 57-year-old priest to 18 months’ imprisonment for indecent assault on an underage girl who was in his care as part of the welfare services’ fostering system.

Sentencing is effective immediately and includes the time the priest has served under detention from November 1. A judge delivered sentence behind closed doors.

But the priest’s crime dates back over a decade relating to the indecent assault at some point between 1993 and 2000 of his foster daughter, who was just a child at the time. The woman only recently came forward to police, a delay that is common among abuse victims who sometimes only come to terms with what happened to them after they no longer are in their abusers’ power.

The maximum penalty available to the court given the law when the crime took place, was two years. In 2009, the law was amended to allow maximum imprisonment of five years.

The priest’s flock from Ergates village showed up in court to indicate their support. They were reportedly angry at a sentence they considered unfair. Daily newspaper Politis said the priest’s wife cursed the woman who reported her abuser, wishing for her “to burn”. Other, unnamed supporters were quoted as complaining against the “injustice” done to the priest.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Washington Times

By Nathan Porter-The Washington Times Tuesday, November 12, 2013

In an overwhelming victory, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at their leadership meeting Tuesday.

Archbishop Kurtz, 67, was ordained as a bishop in 1999, and archbishop in 2007 and has served as vice president of the USCCB for the last three years. He has also served as USCCB treasurer.

The first-ballot win — in a field of 10 candidates — was seen by some as a safe, traditional choice for the Conference, after the three-year leadership of the high-profile New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. The choice was also being closely watched as a first sign of the American Catholic Church hierarchy’s reaction to the selection earlier this year of Pope Francis.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

November 12, 2013

Archbishop breaks promise to treat survivors fairly during bankruptcy

(Milwaukee, WI) – Yesterday the Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed legal papers in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin seeking to extend the stay of proceedings due to a confidential settlement agreement reached between the Archdiocese and one of its primary insurers, LMI. While at first glance this seems to bring the bankruptcy one step closer to resolution, in reality it’s one of the Archdiocese’s latest steps in a concerted effort to exclude sexual abuse survivors from participating in the bankruptcy proceedings.

In its motion, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee fails to mention that the settlement was reached without the participation of survivors, their attorneys or the creditor’s committee which represents all creditors in the bankruptcy proceedings. The Archdiocese’s mediation with the insurance companies specifically excluded survivors and is yet another demonstration of the Archdiocese’s actions speaking louder than words.

“We are deeply concerned that the Archdiocese and its insurance companies engaged in a process without survivors of sexual abuse or their attorneys involved,” said attorney Mike Finnegan who represents numerous survivors in the bankruptcy case. “The Archbishop made a promise at the outset of this case to treat survivors fairly and the exclusion of survivors from this process falls far short of that promise.”

The Archdiocese’s initial purpose and goal in the chapter 11 filing was “[t]o provide compensation for the unresolved claims of victims/survivors of Abuse including those Abuse victims/survivors who have not yet come forward.” Yet, legal papers have been virtually filed on every sexual abuse claim to have the claims thrown out of court. If the Archdiocese’s intent was to truly help these survivors, it would have included them in these settlement negotiations so their voices could be heard.

Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612-205-5531

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate: November 12, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director, 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com

We are grateful that Archbishop Charles Chaput’s bid for higher office has failed. He got just 20 out of 236 votes in his bid for the presidency of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

[National Catholic Reporter]

We hope Chaput takes this rebuke as a sign that he should stay home and better protect his flock from predator priests, instead of work at burnishing his image and boosting his clerical career.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – A local clergy abuse support group has some questions about new financial figures from the St. Louis Archdiocese.

The Archdiocese recently released its clergy misconduct costs from the fiscal year 2013, totaling $943,000. That’s compared to $342,000 in fiscal 2012.

“It’s hard to reconcile the fact that Archbishop [Robert] Carlson claims that he and his staff are doing better on abuse although abuse costs continue to rise,” says David Clohessy with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

About 60 percent of the $943,000 went to abuse victims and the rest was spent on defense attorneys.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director, 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com

It’s disappointing that Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz is the new president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. His predecessor, Cardinal Tim Dolan, did a terrible job. We don’t expect Kurtz to do any better.

Kurtz refuses to join the ranks of the 30 US bishops who have posted on their websites the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics – a simple, inexpensive, proven public safety measure.

In Knoxville

—Kurtz continually defended his predecessor, Bishop Anthony J. O’Connell, an admitted child predator.

[BishopAccountability.org]

— Kurtz refused to remove photos and plaques dedicated to O’Connell in diocese schools and buildings

[BishopAccountability.org]

In Louisville

— Kurtz let Fr. Bruce Ewing, who was indicted on seven felony sex charges, live in a parish for more than a year while the internal investigation was “pending”

[BishopAccountability.org]

– When a church employee complained about Fr.Ewing living at her parish, she says she was fired for being a whistle blower.

[Daily Journal]

[WDRB]

[BishopAccountability.org]

In 2002, America’s Catholic bishops pledged to better protect kids from clergy predators and promised to do background checks and finger printing on employees and volunteers. We believe Kurtz has violated that pledge. He should apologize for and explain his irresponsible moves. And, we feel, he should severely discipline those responsible. (When bishops ignore or minimized wrongdoing, SNAP believes, they essentially endorse and encourage wrongdoing.)

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the election of the new president and vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB):

The influence of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who ably led the USCCB for the past three years, is not over: his commanding presence helped to shape the selection of Archbishop Joseph Kurtz as the new president, and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as the new vice president. The “Dolan Effect” was palpable, and will be felt for years.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Nov. 12, 2013

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home )

Houston’s Cardinal Daniel DiNardo is the new vice-president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). We believe he’s a terrible choice.

[Reuters]

Regarding the safety of children, his record in Sioux City was abysmal. His record in Houston shows no improvement.

As long as the Vatican continues to promote bishops who covered up clergy child sexual abuse, Catholics can expect more kids to be hurt and more sex crimes to be committed.

In 2008, we named DiNardo as one of the worst Cardinals in the US. Our view of him has not changed.

[SNAP]

In November 2007, a victim reported having been sexually abused by Fr. Stephen Horn between 1989 and 1993. DiNardo found him credible and suspended Horn. The Cardinal, however, kept the allegation and his determination secret from parishioners, police and the public for two months, despite US bishops’ repeated pledges to act quickly and openly with credibly sex abuse allegations. Finally, in mid-January, DiNardo disclosed his action. (The delay gave Horn, a credibly accused molester, ample opportunity to fabricate alibis, destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, or even flee the country, as some pedophile priests have done.)

Part of DiNardo’s secrecy and delay occurred in the weeks between when the Pope announced that DiNardo would be named a Cardinal (October 2007) and when DiNardo was promoted amid much pageantry (November 24). Some Houston Catholics have speculated that DiNardo didn’t want the news of Horn’s crimes to ‘rain on [DiNardo’s] parade.’

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic World Report

November 12, 2013
By Catherine Harmon

This morning the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, meeting in Baltimore for their annual fall assembly, elected Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky as the conference’s new president. He will begin his three-year term at the conclusion of the bishops’ meeting on Thursday morning, succeeding Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as conference president.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was elected vice president of the USCCB; after three rounds of voting he beat out Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput, 147-87.

Archbishop Kurtz has served as vice president of the bishops’ conference since 2010. While it is customary for the vice president to be elected president at the conclusion of the three-year term, it does not always play out that way; Dolan was elected president in 2010 rather than then-vice president Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson.

Archbishop Kurtz, 67, has been archbishop of Louisville since 2007, having served as bishop of Knoxville from 1999-2007. Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Allentown in 1972, he serves on the boards of the Catholic Extension Society and the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Morning Call

By Dan Sheehan, Of The Morning Call
10:05 a.m. EST, November 12, 2013

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, a former priest in the Diocese of Allentown, has been elected to lead the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Kurtz succeeds Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

“By what name will you be called?” Dolan asked Kurtz after this morning’s vote — a joking reference to the first question asked of a newly elected pope.

Kurtz, 67, who had been vice president of the bishops’ body, was one of 10 church leaders from around the country nominated to become the organization’s president.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
News Observer

BY RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer
November 12, 2013

BALTIMORE — U.S. Roman Catholic bishops have elected new leaders as they adjust to changing priorities under Pope Francis.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., won a three-year term for president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He served the last three years as vice president of the conference. It’s customary for the vice president to move onto the top job. The new vice president is Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Texas.

The election was part of a national meeting Tuesday in Baltimore. It is the first such event for the Americans since Francis was elected and said the church was too focused on divisive social issues.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Register

by CNA/EWTN NEWS 11/12/2013

BALTIMORE — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has elected Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., as its next president, giving national prominence to a prelate with significant experience in Catholic social services.

Archbishop Kurtz, 67, has served as the conference vice president since 2010. He was elected conference president at the conference’s fall assembly in Baltimore the morning of Nov. 12. He will serve a three-year term.

The bishops’ conference president plays a significant role in coordinating and leading charitable and social work and education, while providing a public face for the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Archbishop Kurtz served as bishop of Knoxville, Tenn., from 1999-2007. He was a priest of the Diocese of Allentown, Pa., for 27 years, with a special focus in social services, diocesan administration and parish ministry. He served as the director of the diocese’s Catholic Charities affiliate from 1988 to 1998 and was an executive director of the diocese’s Catholic Social Agency and Family Life Bureau.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 12, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

Returning to a tradition they broke three years ago, the U.S. bishops elected Tuesday morning as their new president the sitting vice president of the bishops’ conference, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky.

The bishops elected Kurtz on the first ballot Monday by a 53 percent majority: 125 votes of the 236 cast.

The next closest prelate in the running was Galveston-Houston Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, who received 25 votes. Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput received 20 votes.

Following Kurtz’s election, the election of the bishops’ vice president entered into a third ballot runoff between Chaput and DiNardo. The Texas cardinal won, receiving 63 percent on that ballot: 147 votes to Chaput’s 87.

Kurtz was installed as the fourth archbishop and ninth bishop of the archdiocese of Louisville on Aug. 15, 2007, according to the archdiocese’s website. Before going to Louisville, Kurtz served as bishop of Knoxville, Tenn., from 1999 to 2007, and before that served for 27 years in the diocese of Allentown, where he was in charge of social services, diocesan administration and parish ministry.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Reuters

(Reuters) – U.S. Catholic bishops on Tuesday elected Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, as president of their leadership conference.

The election of Kurtz to a three-year-term comes as Catholic bishops worldwide are being given new direction by Pope Francis, who has emphasized greater humility and more concern for the poor. The bishops oversee 69 million American Catholics, or about one-quarter of the U.S. population.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013

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

We are appalled that Charles Hynes and Michael Vecchione of the Brooklyn DA’s office are ignoring the recommendations of experienced prosecutors and inexplicably deciding to pursue a case against a brave whistleblower, Sam Kellner.

[The Jewish Week]

We believe Kellner is a hero, not a criminal. And we believe that Hynes and Vecchione are undermining public respect and confidence in the criminal justice system by this mean-spirited move.

Hynes and Vecchione are making it harder for others who see, suspect or suffer child sex crimes to speak up and prevent abuse.

Hynes has lost his post. There’s absolutely no reason for him to interfere in this case. He should leave it to his successor to decide what, if anything, to do about the Kellner case.

And Kellner should hold his head up high, knowing that in a struggle between the powerful and the powerless, he made the right choice by helping the powerless.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Victims of clergy abuse and their advocates want to see more support to stop suicides in a Victorian inquiry’s recommendations.

Support to stop the tragically high number of suicides among victims of clergy sexual abuse must be a key recommendation of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry, victims and advocates say.

Clergy abuse survivor Stephen Woods says the deaths are a indictment of the Catholic Church, with as many as 60 linked suicides in western Victoria.

He hopes the Victorian parliamentary inquiry will recommend providing funds for abuse survivors to pay for health bills, counselling, housing and living expenses.

“There are so many victims who are hurting and whose lives are still shattered from pedophilic activity, that society is going to have to support them for the rest of their lives – and that support needs to be adequate to stop the deaths,” he told AAP.

“The number of suicides even from Ballarat has been just outrageous.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

PATRICK CARUANA –
November 5, 2013

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry into institutional responses to child abuse has apparently empowered victims to tell their stories.

Manny Waks, who formed the Jewish victims’ support group Tzedek this year, says the inquiry has already provided a huge service to those who have suffered abuse.

“This has empowered victims and their families and given them confidence,” he told AAP.

“They feel they are being listened to for the first time.

“This was the catalyst for the founding of Tzedek; I personally credit the inquiry for this development.”

Mr Waks, who gave evidence to the inquiry of his own abuse, said Tzedek had been contacted by about 100 victims from around the country, including dozens from Victoria.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

[with video]

Victoria’s landmark inquiry into child sex abuse by clergy is expected to demand priests and religious leaders be forced into reporting abuse allegations against their colleagues or face jail themselves.

A final report from the state’s parliamentary inquiry into institutional responses to child abuse is due to be released within days.

The inquiry’s report will recommend the state government create a criminal offence “for ministers of religion who fail to report physical or sexual abuse of children by other clergy”, News Corp Australia says.

Clergy who don’t pass on abuse allegations they have heard within their organisations “should face jail”, the report recommends, according to News Corp on Saturday.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JOHN FERGUSON, VICTORIAN POLITICAL EDITOR THE AUSTRALIAN
NOVEMBER 13, 2013

THE Catholic Church will be heavily criticised today by the Victorian child sex abuse inquiry, which is set to back an overhaul of reporting arrangements.

The report is expected to find the church had protected its own reputation in past decades rather than dealing with the systemic issues and injury caused to the victims.

The report will add weight to calls for a fully independent complaints system to be set up to deal with abuse cases in non-government institutions.

But victims, while broadly supportive of the inquiry, will have to wait many months to determine what action the Napthine government will take because the national royal commission into the matter is still under way.

The Victorian parliament will today be handed the final report of the inquiry into the way non-government institutions handled child sex abuse cases and whether the law needs to be changed in order to prevent or minimise further abuses.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Josh Saul
November 11, 2013

In a stunning move that reveals the turmoil inside lame-duck Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes’ office, controversial rackets chief Michael Vecchione kicked two veteran assistant district attorneys out of his bureau Friday for demanding he dismiss an evidence-challenged extortion case involving the Orthodox Jewish community, The Post has learned.

Prosecutors Joseph Alexis and Nicholas Batsidis told Vecchione their case against Sam Kellner, a Hasidic Jew accused of paying a young man to make up sex-abuse claims against a Brooklyn cantor, had to be dismissed because of a lack of evidence, a law-enforcement source said.

Vecchione — who in 2010 saw a high-profile murder conviction overturned amid allegations he withheld evidence — told the men to speak with Hynes or his first ADA, Amy Feinstein, before ordering them, “Get out,” the source said.

When Alexis and Batsidis went to Feinstein, she immediately told them they were off the case and reassigned both men to the trials bureau.

“Dismissal is the only decision that makes sense,” the law-enforcement source said. “They want to leave it for the new administration to dismiss.”

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