ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

It is puzzingly to me as a lawyer why Pope Francis has mainly addressed the priest child abuse scandal privately with groups of bishops or through others like Cardinal O’Malley. It may be that Francis is trying to distance the papacy from legal responsibilty for bishops and priests who violate child protection laws. It is too late legally, in my view, to do that with respect to bishops clearly. And only Francis can internally deal with unaccountable bishops under Church precedents at present.

Given Francis’ evident and admirable interest in victims of injustice, this been surprising to me. Francis has now begun responding publicly, but indirectly, through his Council of Cardinals to address the child abuse crisis, as Cardinal O’Malley just reported. Will this be enough to deal with the scandals most Catholics overwhelmingly think Francis must address effectively as a top priority? Let’s hope so.

Unfortunately, Francis and O’Malley have had an uneven record here, see:

[BishopAccountability.org]

The Vatican is also facing new scandals, some of which have Vatican fingerprints on them, such as in Minneapolis, involving such media attractions as a female ex-Chancellor and a priest brother of President Obama’s top aide, see:

[Minnesota Public Radio]

But fortunately Francis as pope can really make a fresh start if he wants to. Catholics will support him if he acts boldly with justice, as well as mercy. If not ?

The new abuse commission must be independent, focused and transparent; otherwise, it will just add to Catholics’ distrust. At a minimum, it must make bishops accountable and offer survivors justice and healing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

It is being called the “Savile effect”. I’m not sure that anyone would have predicted, when the DJ’s criminal career began to be exposed just over a year ago, that the police inquiry would have such a dramatic impact. But rape crisis centres are reporting a surge in calls, with some charities recording increases of 40 per cent. At the same time, more women are going to the police: in London alone, there has been an increase of 29 per cent in rape reports in the past 12 months.

Of course, that still means that most rapes go unreported. Ten days ago, I went with the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to the Solace Women’s Aid centre in north London. The centre helps 5,000 survivors of sexual and domestic violence each year but staff say that only 20 per cent of their clients report their experience to the police.

It is a chastening fact that, when Johnson was first elected, there was only one rape crisis centre in the country’s capital city. He spent £1.4m to set up three more, but the Savile effect is so pronounced that he has had to find an extra £25,000 for the south London centre over the past year.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

04 December 2013 14:16 by Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

The controversial Swiss theologian Hans Küng has welcomed the structural reforms advocated by Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium and said they will meet with wide approval “far beyond the Catholic Church”.

In a long article entitled “Church Reform at all Levels”, the fierce critic of Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, expressed serious concern as to whether the Pope “is still in control of his Guardian of the Faith” – the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller.

That Müller, as a loyal supporter of Benedict XVI’s collected works, was made CDF prefect surprised people less than the fact that Pope Francis confirmed him in office “quite so soon”, Küng wrote.

Recalling Müller’s conservative stance on Communion for remarried divorcees, Küng said that the present situation in the Church was contradictory. “The Pope wants to practise mercy, the prefect appeals to God’s holiness and justice.” Whenever Pope Francis pushes forward on reform, Müller immediately puts on the brakes, Küng pointed out. Pope Francis has actual people in mind, while Müller concentrated solely on traditional Catholic doctrine, Küng said.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By: Daniel Baird Published on Sat Dec 07 2013

Last February, while living in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a remote and nominally Muslim former Soviet Central Asian Republic, I remarked, on the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI’s unprecedented resignation, that there was nothing the Catholic church could do to repair itself in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal. The church, it seemed to me, had lost anything like the kind of moral high ground it needs to stand on, and the Vatican was on its way to becoming like the British monarchy: a decorative but ultimately powerless and irrelevant relic.

That was before I knew the church was about to elect the Jesuit Bishop of Buenos Aires, whom some called the “Bishop of the slums,” as the first non-European to ascend the throne of Peter.

From the moment of his election in March, the reign of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, has been unusual. He is the first pope in more than a millennium not to take on the name of one of his predecessors, allying himself instead with the radical St. Francis of Assisi, a saint known for his intense identification with the suffering, the despised, the dispossessed and the destitute. Pope Francis clearly intended upon being a pontiff concerned more with the poor and the vulnerable than with Church doctrine and canon law.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

ALEKS DEVIC HERALD SUN
DECEMBER 08, 2013

EXCLUSIVE: A FORMER bishop whose ill-health helped him avoid the sex-abuse inquiry is living independently and even holding mass at a picturesque coastal retreat.

Father Ronald Mulkearns moved priests, whom he knew had sexually abused boys, on to other parishes and ordered they have counselling rather than remove them from duties and report them to police.

In evidence, even Cardinal George Pell claimed Father Mulkearns had destroyed documents relating to child sexual abuse while serving as a Bishop of Ballarat.

Three decades of secrets from his tenure in Ballarat remain sealed because a doctor ruled he was unfit to give evidence to the parliamentary inquiry, stating a stroke had affected his memory and that he lacked focus.

But the Herald Sun tracked down Father Mulkearns, who still conducts mass, and found a coherent, active man.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER, TONY KENNEDY and RICHARD MERYHEW , Star Tribune staff writers Updated: December 8, 2013

Minnesota’s Catholic dioceses under pressure to make public the names of additional accused clerics.

The naming Thursday of 32 priests accused of child sex abuse in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese will not end the pressure on the Catholic Church in Minnesota.

More than twice that number who served in other dioceses across the state and have been similarly accused have yet to be publicly named. And victims’ advocates charge that the archdiocese’s list was incomplete.

“Victims are already asking, ‘Why isn’t the cleric who hurt me on the newly disclosed list?’ ” said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Thursday’s disclosure was an unprecedented step that had been tenaciously resisted by the archdiocese for years. It took place only after a judge presiding over an abuse case ordered that the list be made public. For some victims and church members, the moment was cathartic, but more wrenching disclosures are coming.

Another list is expected to go public this week, when the Diocese of Winona said it will unseal at least 13 names of accused priests, under the same Ramsey County Court order that required the Twin Cities archdiocese to act.

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UNITED STATES
Boston Herald

Sunday, December 8, 2013

By:
Margery Eagan

Much of the world has fallen in love with the new Pope Francis, who’s asked his priests and bishops to stop obsessing over sex and start obsessing over injustice, income inequality and the plight of the poor. To long-suffering American Catholics, Francis’ humble, holy example has been welcome and totally astounding.

But the romance was anything but hot when it came to Thursday’s announcement of a new Vatican commission on the sexual abuse crisis. Our own Cardinal Sean O’Malley, reportedly close to the pope, is the only American among the eight cardinals advising Francis. But O’Malley had barely finished his Rome press conference on the plan’s particulars when it was trashed as half-baked by organizations representing victims of sexual abuse and by some of those same long-suffering Catholics whose skepticism is well-earned.

“What I am hearing is probably much ado about nothing,” said Stephen Sheehan, a devout local Catholic who’s worked with numerous survivors of abuse.

Toothless. Window dressing. A publicity exercise with suspicious timing: The announcement came just a couple of days after a United Nations panel asked the Vatican for details on the sexual abuse crisis, and the Vatican refused.

More troubling:

• There are no survivors included on this commission. Prime “experts” are victims themselves, not priests and bishops “who’ve been the abusers, enablers, and deniers of clergy sexual abuse for centuries,” says Road to Recovery Inc., a nonprofit charity that assists victims of church sexual abuse.

• There is no mention of holding bishops accountable — a particular complaint of local co-founders of BishopAccountability.org, a disturbing website detailing continuing misconduct by church higher-ups. For example, two years ago a Kansas City grand jury criminally indicted, for the first time ever, a sitting bishop, Robert Finn, for failing to report child pornography found on the computer of a local priest. Instead of reporting this to police, as the law and the U.S. bishops now require, Finn merely relocated the priest, just as Cardinal Law did here for decades. The priest, now serving 50 years, continued to take lewd pictures of children. Finn was convicted and sentenced to two years of probation for doing nothing to stop him — a full 10 years after the church vowed to end this mess. Worse, he has refused to resign.

Unfortunately, O’Malley was not asked Thursday about Finn. He was asked whether the commission would look for ways to hold bishops accountable. “I don’t know,” he said. He also said the commission would advise on pastoral, not judicial or criminal functions, which seems to mean: Guys like Finn can stay.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

By Garreth Mac Namee and David Raleigh

A retired priest living in Ireland has been quizzed by cops after three women claimed he sexually abused them as children in the UK.

Canon Mortimer Stanley, 82, is being investigated by British police over alleged attacks on children over a 20-year period.

The cleric retired to sleepy Ballybunion, Co Kerry, in 2002 where he has been living for more than a decade.

His home on Doon Road in the town is 250 yards away from St Joseph’s secondary school where more than 200 children attend.

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GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

First in a three-part series

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola

[View the Burns file in searchable, easily downloaded form.]

GALLUP — When the Rev. James M. Burns died in 2010, he left a disastrous legacy in the Diocese of Gallup.

Burns, a convicted sex offender, left untold numbers of Catholic families still struggling to recover from the sexual abuse he perpetrated on their children. In addition, Burns helped push the Gallup Diocese into its current bankruptcy because of the numerous legal claims related to his decades of sexual abuse.

Now Burns has an additional legacy: His priest personnel file has been publicly posted on several Internet websites. Although the file has huge chunks of information missing — many pages are completely redacted — the 564 page file is brimming with evidence of Burns’ crimes and the sometimes frantic attempts by Gallup chancery officials to cope with abuse allegations.

Burns’ file was publicly released in October as part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ 2007 settlement with hundreds of clergy sex abuse survivors. A decade ago the Gallup Diocese and the Los Angeles Archdiocese were named in a civil lawsuit by an Arizona man who said Burns sexually abused him as a teen in the 1980s, on trips to Los Angeles and in his hometown of Winslow, Ariz. The man also filed a police report with the Winslow Police Department, which resulted in prosecution by the Navajo County Attorney and a criminal conviction and brief prison stint for Burns.
. . .

Burns’ file opens with a crime story: a two-page account of the priest’s alleged sexual assault of a 19-year-old Arizona man in 1974. Written April 3, 2002, as a memo by Gallup priest Larry O’Keefe to the late Bishop Donald E. Pelotte, O’Keefe relates the alleged victim’s story.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) represents hundreds of people who were in State and Church Children’s Homes. Its submission to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, for the up-coming Catholic Church’s “Towards Healing” redress scheme is one of the most critical.

It states that “CLAN feels the Towards Healing process is completely inadequate and unacceptable. At this stage, it is CLAN’s recommendation that the Towards Healing scheme be abolished and that funds be directed to a national reparations and compensation scheme facilitated by a body completely independent of any church, charity or government.”

Its submission gives the lie to much of the claims stated in the “Towards Healing” document. For example, “when an initial complaint or allegation is made to the Professional Standards Office, it is not always referred to the Towards Healing process. In some cases, Care Leavers have been referred straight to the religious order where nothing more than a discussion happens.”

Another criticism, stated in other submissions, concerns the style of the process, evidenced in the statement that “those Care Leavers who are referred to the Towards Healing process have commented that they find the whole thing confusing, overwhelming, and that the initial stages are rushed.”

There is one aspect, common to all compensation schemes that most people would not be aware of, and which should be taken up with the government, as a matter of urgency. The Australian health-care system, Medicare, is funded by the federal government. The Health and Other Services Act 1996 enables Medicare to “recover” 10% of compensation payments over $5,000 from the victim to cover its costs for counseling etc.

As CLAN states, “Either this Act needs to be abolished or Medicare should seek to recover expenses from the organisation paying the compensation, in addition to what they have already paid the Care Leaver.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Muenchner Kirchennachrichten

Kardinal Reinhard Marx und der Bostoner Kardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley sind die treibenden Kräfte hinter der Einrichtung einer Kommission zum Schutz von Kindern vor sexuellem Missbrauch. Kirchliche Fachleute fordern schon länger eine bessere kirchenrechtlche Handhabe, um die Leitlinien der jeweiligen Bischofskonferenz durchsetzen zu können.

Vatikanstadt – Der Münchner Kardinal Reinhard Marx ist nach Aussage des Jesuiten Hans Zollner eine treibende Kraft hinter der päpstlichen Entscheidung zur Einrichtung einer Kommission zum Schutz von Kindern vor sexuellem Missbrauch gewesen. Mit dem Bostoner Kardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley sei er “der größte Unterstützer der Idee im Kreis der acht Kardinäle” gewesen, sagte der Psychologie-Professor und Vize-Rektor der päpstlichen Universität Gregoriana.

O’Malley hatte die Einrichtung eines solchen Gremiums am Donnerstag zum Abschluss der Beratungen des Kardinalsrates für eine Kurienreform im Vatikan angekündigt. Details hierzu werde Papst Franziskus demnächst bekanntgeben.

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OSTERREICH
Die Presse

Der mittlerweile dienstfrei gestellte Pater soll einen heute 22-Jährigen vergewaltigt haben. Das Urteil ist nicht rechtskräftig.

07.12.2013 | 09:56 | (DiePresse.com)

Vier Jahre Freiheitsstrafe für einen Pfarrer wegen sexueller Vergehen an einem Schützling: So lautete Freitag spät abends das nicht rechtskräftige Urteil eines Schöffensenates am Landesgericht Wiener Neustadt. Demnach soll der mittlerweile dienstfrei gestellte Pater einen heute 22-Jährigen in den vergangenen Jahren vergewaltigt und auch durch K.o.-Tropfen sexuell gefügig gemacht haben.

Die Verteidiger Michael Dohr und Amir Ahmed meldeten umgehend Berufung und Nichtigkeitsbeschwerde an. Bis zuletzt hatte der Pfarrer mit einem Freispruch gerechnet, “weil ich unschuldig bin”, wie er einige Stunden vor dem Schuldspruch noch zu Journalisten sagte. In der Urteilsbegründung hieß es jedoch unter anderem, dass der Geistliche das Vertrauen des jungen Mannes ausgenützt habe.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

[includes a complete list]

Thomas Adamson
Born: July 12, 1933
Ordained: 1958
Parishes: St. Leo the Great, St. Paul; St. Boniface, St. Bonifacius; St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Paul Park; Immaculate Conception, Columbia Heights; Risen Savior, Apple Valley. Also Diocese of Winona.
Status: Removed from ministry 1985
Residence: Rochester
Put on restrictions after accused of abusing two teenagers in the 1970s

John T. Brown
Born: July 2, 1920
Ordained: 1948
Parishes: St. Timothy, Maple Lake: Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale; St. John, St. Paul; St. Joseph, Hopkins: St. Mary, Le Center; St. Mary, Waverly: St. Anthony of Padua, Minneapolis; Immaculate Conception, Marysburg; Sacred Heart, Faribault; St. Peter Claver, St. Paul; Annunciation, Hazelwood;
Status: Removed from ministry 2002
Residence: Maplewood
Sued in 2013 for sex abuse. Pending.

Cosmas Dahlheimer
Born 1908, died 2004
Ordained: 1936
Parishes: St. Augustine, St. Cloud; St. Bernard, St. Paul; St. Joseph, St. Joseph. Also St. John’s Abbey.
Accused of abusing as many as four minors in the 1970s. Sued three times, two settled. Lived under restrictions at St. John’s Abbey until his death.

Gilbert J. DeSutter
Born: April 28, 1928
Ordained: 1964
Parishes: St. Mark, St. Paul; St. Mary, St. Paul; Annunciation, Minneapolis; St. Peter, Richfield: Immaculate Conception, Faribault; St. William, Fridley; St. Michael, Prior Lake. Also St. John Vianney Seminary, St. Paul.
Status: Removed from ministry 2003
Residence: Mesa, Ariz.
Settled two lawsuits filed in 1999.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

It would be a miracle if it worked – a pastoral-cum-compensation scheme run by, for want of a better word, the accused.

The process certainly isn’t working as intended, which is one reason the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing scheme for abuse victims will be under the microscope at a national inquiry for two weeks starting on Monday.

The introduction of Towards Healing in 1996 was a watershed moment in the Catholic Church’s approach to dealing with child sexual abuse within the institution.

In a frank submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the church admits that for a decade it struggled to frame a response to the emerging revelations.

Its 207-page assessment and defence of Towards Healing can be found on the royal commission’s webpage.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 8, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

As Catholics around Australia are warned to prepare themselves for shock and shame from now until Christmas, one of Sydney’s biggest congregations may be better prepared than most.

It is understood hearings starting in Sydney on Monday into the church’s controversial Towards Healing protocol for dealing with victims will explore some of the most harrowing stories yet before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

A group of parishioners at St Mary Magdalene church in Rose Bay have been meeting since the commission was announced a year ago to share what parish priest Monsignor Tony Doherty describes as their confusion, horror and disgust.

”The trust people put in priests, Catholic schools and parishes is deeply bruised. Lots of people say that their churches are empty,” said Monsignor Doherty, who estimates 700 to 800 people attend his Sunday Mass and who marked 50 years as a priest in August.

About a year ago, when the NSW government inquiry into the Catholic Church in the Hunter and the royal commission were announced, he realised he could no longer think of child sex abuse in the church as a few isolated cases. He felt ”profound shame” that something so ”absolutely heinous” could have happened.

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EUROPE
Famagusta Gazette

FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE • Saturday, 07 December, 2013

A MONEYVAL report on the effectiveness of the measures implemented by the Republic of Cyprus in its banking sector is expected to be released next week….

MONEYVAL will also be releasing its reports on the Vatican and the Holy See, as well as the UK and Israel. — (KYPE)

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

Broken Rites is pleased that Australia’s national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating the Catholic Church’s so-called “Towards Healing” process, which claims to “help” the church’s abuse-victims. Broken Rites has been researching “Towards Healing” since 1996, and this article sums up some of our main findings so far. This Broken Rites article demonstrates how “Towards Healing” is really a business strategy, designed to protect the church’s assets and its corporate image.

The Royal Commission’s hearings about “Towards Healing” are scheduled to begin on Monday 9 December 2013 and will continue for two weeks.

The Catholic Church in Australia operates its “Towards Healing” scheme to receive (and respond to) complaints from the church’s sex-abuse victims. Broken Rites found that Towards Healing was designed in conjunction with the church’s lawyers, its accountants and its insurance company. The name “Towards Healing” is the kind of brand-name that could be inspired by any public-relations consultant or advertising firm.

In some cases, Towards Healing might give help a victim to “heal” but this help is incidental to the primary object – the church’s business strategy.

The Towards Healing scheme is conducted in association with the Catholic Church’s own insurance company, Catholic Church Insurances Limited (CCI). CCI has stated that this company “carries the burden of salary and support staff” for Towards Healing and, furthermore, that CCI will “provide practical support” for any future fine-tuning of the Towards Healing system

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MINNESOTA
Waseca County News

By CHRISTEN FURLONG cfurlong@wasecacountynews.com
Posted on December 6, 2013

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Thursday published a list of 34 priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

Ten of the 34 priests on the list were stationed in the region at some point in their careers. Only one man, Timothy McCarthy, served in the Waseca area — McCarthy acted as an administrator at St. Andrew in Elysian from 1977-1982.

Fr. Michael Ince, pastor at St. Andrew and Holy Trinity in Waterville, commented on the public’s reaction to the list, indicating that he thought its disclosure could lead to potentially negative feedback against the state’s Archdiocese.

“Well, I can’t say much from the churches’ perspective,” Ince said. “But it’s getting to be quite a witch hunt. I think we have to look at the fact that the [Archdiocese] has bent over backward and these people are still howling. The more we do, the more they yell at us.”

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

[Text of the bishop’s letter]

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bkush@telegram.com

WORCESTER — Bishop Robert J. McManus has issued directives to local pastors aimed at making parish finances more “transparent” and ensuring the proper use of contributions to the church.

The action comes in the wake of the alleged embezzlement earlier this year of $230,000 by a Northboro priest, who reportedly used the money to feed a gambling habit.

In a letter dated Nov. 22 that was released by the chancery this week, Bishop McManus told his pastors that the issue of “financial transparency” is a major concern in the church and that there cases, both locally and nationally, in which contributed funds have been misappropriated.

“We have a shared duty as pastors and as diocesan administrators to demonstrate responsible stewardship of the resources entrusted to us in carrying out the mission of the Catholic Church,” wrote the bishop. “I am confident that none of us takes that responsibility lightly.”

He said that a series of checks and balances must be in place to demonstrate that donations are being used to accomplish agreed-upon goals or to show whether contributions are able to sustain a parish’s budget.

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CONNECTICUT
Nachrichten

WASHINGTON. Der ultrakonservative katholische Orden Legionäre Christi hat nach eigenen Angaben neun seiner Priester des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Minderjährigen für schuldig befunden.

Wie der derzeitige Generaldirektor der Legionäre Christi, Pater Sylvester Heereman, am Freitag mitteilte, gehören dazu auch der 2008 verstorbene Ordensgründer Marcial Maciel sowie Pater William Izquierdo.

Pater William Izquierdo, ein ehemaliger Lehrer an einer Einrichtung des Ordens im US-Bundesstaat Connecticut soll zwischen 1982 und 1994 demnach einen seiner Obhut unterstellten Novizen missbraucht haben.

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MEXICO
Octavo Dia

Ciudad de México. De manera pública, los Legionarios de Cristo admitieron que 35 de sus sacerdotes fueron acusados de cometer abusos sexuales contra menores desde 1941 a la fecha, y nueve de ellos fueron hallados culpables.

En una carta enviada a todos los integrantes de la congregación mexicana, el vicario Sylvester Heereman, expuso un exhaustivo diagnóstico sobre los casos de abusos en el instituto religioso.

Entre los acusados están dos altos cargos de la Legión y Marcial Maciel, el fundador de los Legionarios, alejado del ministerio público por Benedicto XVI y quien falleció en 2008, fueron acusados de “comportamientos sexuales inapropiados” con adultos bajo su autoridad.

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PERU
La Republica

[Summary: Prosecutor Jorge Contreras has laid criminal charges against priest Luis Alejandro Bazalar Garcia for allegedly attempting to kidnap, indecent seduction and causing serious injury to a former seminarian.]

El fiscal ayacuchano Jorge Abad Contreras formalizó denuncia penal contra el sacerdote Luis Alejandro Bazalar García por los presuntos delitos de violación de domicilio, secuestro en grado de tentativa, lesiones graves, seducción y contra el pudor en agravio del ex seminarista de las iniciales M.S.A.R., de 17 años. El caso está en el sexto juzgado penal de Huamanga a cargo de la jueza Roxana Molina, quien tiene 15 días para pronunciarse.

De acuerdo el expediente Nro. 2485-2013, Bazalar García conoció al menor agraviado en julio del 2012, cuando acudía a la iglesia Catedral y él cumplía labor de sacerdote.

El sacerdote llegó a dormir en el domicilio de la madre del menor, Sheyla Roca Roca Gonzales, donde con engaños de comprarle ropas y llevarle al extranjero para estudiar, mantenía relaciones con el menor aprovechando que la madre trabajaba fuera de la ciudad.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 6, 2013

ROME Pope Francis told a group of Dutch bishops this week that the Vatican must continue reforms undertaken by the Catholic church in the 1960s and ‘70s, according to one of the participants in the meeting.

Bishop Jan Hendricks, who attended the meeting Monday, later recounted that the pope said implementation of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council is only half complete.

“We have been implementing the council only half-way,” Hendriks recalled from the pope’s words. “Half of the work has still to be done.”

Hendriks, the auxiliary bishop of the Haarlem-Amsterdam diocese, was one of 13 Dutch bishops to take part in the meeting with the pope. They are in Rome for their ad limina, a formal visit bishops around the world are required to make to report to the pope on their individual dioceses.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

07 DECEMBER 2013

FORMER attorney general Peter Sutherland was called in to advise the Vatican on how to reform its financial affairs, it has emerged.

Mr Sutherland, who is chairman of Goldman Sachs International, addressed the Council of Cardinals – the most senior advisors to the Pope – during the summer on how the Vatican should deal with the financial scandals that were embracing St Peters.

Mr Sutherland, who is believed to act as an unpaid sounding board for the Vatican on financial matters, told the cardinals that the Holy See had to change its ways and embrace openness, especially in its business dealings. “Transparency is important and necessary,” he is reported as saying.

Mr Sutherland has long been one of the most influential Irish people on the planet when it comes to business and politics.

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MINNESOTA
Le Center Leader

By JESSICA BIES jbies@stpeterherald.com
Posted on December 6, 2013

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Thursday published a list of 34 priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

Several of those included on the list once served in the Minnesota River Valley and in the Diocese of New Ulm, which contains the Church of St. Peter.

One of the men on the list, John Brown, served as an associate priest/administrator at St. Mary from 1958-1960.

Fr. Chris Shorner, who currently serves as pastor at St. Mary in Le Center, saw the list Thursday and shared his initial reaction.

“I’m saddened of course,” Shorner said. “It’s a time to pray for the victims and a time to pray for those who might be inclined towards perpetrating such acts, because we want a society, a church, where everyone is healthy and safe and secure.”

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MINNESOTA
Hastings Star Gazette

By Chad Richardson on Dec 5, 2013

Four former priests who served in Hastings were among those named by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as having credible claims of sexual abuse of a minor against them.

Their names were released on Thursday. The four are among 32 who were named. The 32 people named have had civil and/or criminal lawsuits brought against them.

The four are:

• Francis Hoefgen, who was the associate priest at St. Boniface in Hastings from 1985 to 1992.
He was permanently removed from ministry in 2002 and is living in Columbia Heights.

• Thomas Stitts, who served as an associate priest at Guardian Angels from 1966 to 1970.
He died in 1985.

• Clarence Vavra, who served as associate priest at Guardian Angels from 1971 to 1972.
He was removed from the ministry in 2003 and is living in New Prague.

• Patrick Ryan, who was the pastor at Guardian Angels from 1943 to 1965. He died in 1965.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Rochdale Online

Detectives are investigating reports of historic sexual abuse.

The investigation relates to the indecent assault and sexual abuse of three women during their time as schoolgirls at St Vincent’s Primary School in Norden, Rochdale.

Police are investigating complaints from three women, now aged 41, 35 and 21, but who were aged between 8 and 10, when the offences happened between 1980 and 2000.

The offences did not occur within the school but at an adjacent presbytery.

As part of the investigation an 82-year-old man has been interviewed under caution in relation to these matters.

Detective Constable Christian Chivers, from Greater Manchester Police’s Public Protection Investigation Unit, said: “I want to reassure local residents, and more importantly parents of children currently at St Vincent’s, that these are historical incidents.

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MINNESOTA
Marshall Independent

A former victim of clerical sexual abuse said the recent disclosure of a list of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse is not enough.

December 7, 2013
By Steve Browne , Marshall Independent

MARSHALL – The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Thursday released the names of 30 ordained ministers of the Catholic Church who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor and four whom the diocese said had accusations not substantiated against them.

The disclosure came in response to a court order after a case was filed by the St. Paul legal firm of Jeff Anderson and Associates.

Childhood sexual abuse survivor Bob Schwiderski said it’s a good start but still not enough.

“It’s been good for Minnesota,” Schwiderski said, “the fact that society has seen so much abut childhood abuse, it can do nothing but help us move forward.”
stees in 1962, Marks was transferred to St. Clotilde in Green Valley and to St. Dionysius in Tyler.

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CALIFORNIA
10 News

Michael Chen

SANTEE, Calif. – The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is under fire after the name of a retired priest surfaced on a list of priests accused of sexual abuse against children.

Abuse survivors want to know why Paul Palmitessa’s name wasn’t released on earlier lists and why he was allowed to work in San Diego County as a priest — even as the national abuse scandal was playing out.

“My heart drops. My stomach turns,” said Paul Livingston, who heads the San Diego chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

That was Livingston’s reaction after learning Palmitessa’s name emerged in a court-ordered release of 34 credible cases of child sex abuse accusations in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“My question is how many more names do we have coming up?” said Livingston.

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MINNESOTA
Albert Lea Tribune

By Albert Lea Tribune and Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Thursday disclosed the names of 34 priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors, following months of criticism that church leaders mishandled such allegations.

The list includes a former priest who served a stint at St. Theodore Catholic Church in Albert Lea in the 1960s who faces a civil lawsuit in Ramsey County over allegations of sexual abuse.

Thomas Adamson, now 80, served in the Albert Lea parish in 1967 and 1968, at which time he was also chaplain of Lea College, an institution of higher learning on the west side of Albert Lea that shut down in 1973. He was removed from the ministry in 1985 and lives in Rochester.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

A Catholic priest is being investigated over alleged sexual abuse of children over a 20 year period.

Canon Mortimer Stanley, 82, who retired in 2002 from St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden, Rochdale , has been interviewed by police under caution.

Three women have claimed they were indecently assaulted and sexually abused while pupils at nearby St Vincent’s Primary School.

The women were aged under 11 when its is alleged the offences happened between 1980 and 2000.

It is claimed the abuse was committed in a presbytery next to the school.

Canon Stanley, who joined the church as parish priest in 1972, retired to his native Ireland in 2002.

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IRELAND
Irish MIrror

An Irish priest is being investigated by British police over alleged sexual abuse of children over a 20 year period.

Canon Mortimer Stanley, 82, who retired to Ballybunion, Co Kerry, in 2002 was recently interviewed by Manchester cops in Ireland under caution.

It comes after three women have claimed they were indecently assaulted by him when he was parish priest at St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden, Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

The women were aged under 11 when its is alleged the offences happened between 1980 and 2000 while they were pupils at nearby St Vincent’s Primary School.

It is claimed the abuse was committed in a presbytery next to the school.

Canon Stanley, who joined the church as parish priest in 1972, retired to his native Ireland in 2002.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An 82-year-old parish priest has been questioned under caution over alleged child sex abuse that spanned two decades in Greater Manchester.

The alleged indecent assault and sexual abuse occurred in the presbytery next door to St Vincent’s RC Primary School in Norden, Rochdale, police said.

Investigations began after three women complained to police.

The women were pupils at the school between 1980 and 2000 and police have appealed for more information.

The parish priest, who has not been formally arrested, was serving at St Vincent de Paul RC Church at the time of the alleged offences.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com

Richard Jeub called what happened at Our Lady of Grace church in Edina “stupid stuff done when I was young.”

Jeub was among 34 priests the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis deemed “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children, according to a list released by the church Thursday.

Ten of the priests have since died. Another is believed dead. One, Curtis Wehmeyer, is in prison for sexually abusing two boys.

All the priests are out of the ministry, the archdiocese said.

The Pioneer Press tried to contact each living priest on the list. Of those for whom phone numbers were found, three were reached.

Jeub, 73, was one. Another was Dennis Kampa of Virginia, Minn., who said he never understood the charge against him. The third priest, 93-year-old John Thomas Brown, was hard of hearing and unable to understand a reporter.

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COLORADO
Daily Camera

By Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writer
POSTED: 12/06/2013

The arraignment hearing for a youth pastor accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a teenage church member over several years has been continued until February.

Jason Allen Roberson, 35, is facing sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and invasion of privacy.

Roberson appeared for his scheduled arraignment today before Boulder District Judge Thomas Mulvahill, but prosecutor Adrian Van Nice and Roberson’s attorney David Miller indicated the two sides needed more time to discuss any possible plea agreement.

Mulvahill continued the hearing to Feb. 7.

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TEXAS
KLTV

By Melissa Greene

UPSHUR COUNTY, TX (KLTV) –
The wife of a Gilmer former pastor serving six life sentences in prison for the sexual assault of a child was sentenced today for failing to prevent the abuse.

Rosie Evans Fluellen of Gilmer pled guilty in Upshur County Court this morning this morning to a charge of criminal responsibility to aggravated assault of a child, according to Prosecutor Natalie Miller.

Fluellen’s husband, Hugo Fluellen, was sentenced in October to six consecutive life sentences after a jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting a child for more than a decade.

Evidence presented in Hugo Fluellen’s trial showed he began molesting his victim when she was in second grade. Witnesses testified Fluellen would often molest his victim on the way home from church after she had attended Sunday School and sang in the choir.

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ROME
Headlines from the Catholic World

Rome, Italy, Dec 5, 2013 / 05:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The acting general director of the Legion of Christ has shared the steps the order has taken to prevent sexual abuse and to respond to its allegations, focusing on the gravity of abuse and its victims’ suffering.

“When we confront the reality of sexual abuse, it is helpful to keep certain complementary values in mind: compassion and solidarity with the victims, the responsibility to protect people who are under our pastoral care, the right of the accused to a due process, the promotion and defense of justice, and – keeping in mind that sexual abuse is a behavior that will never be tolerated – mercy and support of our brothers who are guilty of this crime,” wrote Fr. Sylvester Heereman in a Dec. 5 letter.

“Finally, we should see this from the point of view of Christ, who is capable of making all things new. The last word belongs, not to evil, but to him.”

The letter was sent to all members of the Legion of Christ shortly before its general chapter, which will establish a new constitution and elect new leadership.

Fr. Heerman outlined what the Legion has done to deal with sex abuse, as well as “the principles that guide the actions of the Legion in the prevention of sexual abuse and in responding to allegations made against any of our brothers.”

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ROME
Legion of Christ

ROME (Dec. 5) – The Legion of Christ is committed to openly and aggressively addressing allegations of sexual abuse.

This was the primary message in a letter sent today by Fr. Sylvester Heereman LC, the Legion’s acting general director, to all members of the congregation. He said that the Legion has created an environment that will not tolerate abuse and that in the event of an allegation the response will be thorough. And anyone found guilty will face legal and ecclesial consequences.

The letter includes a report on the Legion’s handling of past and current abuse cases, whether by the Legion’s founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel, or other members of the congregation. This is the most thorough report the Legion has issued on its past abuse cases.

“When we confront the reality of sexual abuse, it is helpful to keep certain complementary values in mind: compassion and solidarity with the victims, the responsibility to protect people who are under our pastoral care, the right of the accused to a due process, the promotion and defense of justice, and – keeping in mind that sexual abuse is a behavior that will never be tolerated – mercy and support of our brothers who are guilty of this crime,” Fr. Heereman said.

Principles that guide the actions of Legion authorities in responding to allegations
Fr. Heereman outlined the principles that guide the Legion in addressing abuse:

1. Each of the congregation’s territories is responsible for the prevention and handling of abuse in its area of jurisdiction, strictly aligned with civil and ecclesial authorities.
2. Each territory will implement a code of conduct, carefully select those who enter the order and provide proper training.
3. Each territory will have clear procedures in place for dealing with allegations, respecting the needs of the victim and the accused.
4. Our highest priority will be for the welfare of the victim and prevention of future crimes.
5. The person accused shall have the presumption of innocence until proven guilty – but we will not compromise.
6. If a Legionary still in formation is found to have engaged in abuse, he will not go forward to ordination – in addition to the legal penalties. If a priest is found guilty, civil and ecclesial penalties will apply. If not laicized, he will be excluded from any access to minors and, where appropriate, excluded from all public ministry.

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VATICAN CITY
Rappler

BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
POSTED ON 12/07/2013

VATICAN CITY – The Legion of Christ, a Catholic congregation, said on Friday, December 6, it had found 9 of its priests guilty of sexual abuse of minors including its disgraced founder and one who assaulted a novice in the United States.

The Legion’s reputation was already clouded by earlier revelations about Marcial Maciel, who set up the group in Mexico in 1941 and was accused of abusing 8 young seminarians as well as fathering a child.

Father Sylvester Heereman, the group’s acting general director, said the investigations had shown up a “painful and horrifying reality” and emphasized his commitment to tackling abuse in the conservative group.

It said two of the priests had been defrocked and 7 had “sanctions imposed on their life and ministry.”

Legion officials were unable to say whether any of these cases were being investigated by civil authorities, although some date back decades and the crimes may have expired under statutes of limitations.

A total of 35 priests were accused in the investigation, which was conducted under Canon Law.

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UNITED STATES
Pew Research Center

BY MICHAEL LIPKA

Pope Francis is creating a new commission to advise the Vatican on how to deal with the ongoing clergy sex abuse scandal, which continues to make headlines in the U.S.

Effects from the scandal continue to ripple across the U.S. Catholic landscape. On Thursday, the same day Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley announced the commission’s formation, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released a list of more than 30 priests it says have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

The Vatican’s announcement comes after some recent criticism of the pope for not moving more forcefully to confront the problem.

Most Catholics in the U.S. say the sex abuse scandal is one priority they want Francis to address. After the new pope was elected in March, 70% of U.S. Catholics said that addressing the abuse scandal should be “a top priority” for him – more than any other potential priority listed in a Pew Research survey.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Scott Theisen
Advocates for victims of sexual abuse by clergy members say they will continue to push for more information about priests who have been accused of molesting children.

A day after the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis published a list of 34 priests who have been credibly accused of abuse, victims’ advocates say the list is incomplete. They say there are known abusers who aren’t on the list, and some of the priests’ assignment histories leave out some stops.

Meanwhile, additional victims have come forward – and more lawsuits are expected. The new victims include some who are wondering why their abuser isn’t listed.

The archdiocese has said Thursday’s disclosures aren’t final.

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UNITED STATES
America Blog

by John Aravosis

Conservative anti-gay Catholics are upset with writer, advice columnist, and gay rights advocate Dan Savage for disparaging pedophile priests the other day on the Bill Maher show.

Dan referred to the child rapists as “kiddie f—ing priests,” which caused Catholic League head Bill Donohue to demand that Maher’s show be canceled.

Because, you know, who in their right mind would criticize grown men who rape 5 year olds?

Maher was asking Dan about a Catholic bishop in Hawaii who claimed, absurdly, that children of gay parents will end up killing themselves.

Honolulu bishop Larry Silva wrote in a letter that “children will be the greatest casualties [if same-sex marriage were legalized in Hawaii – and it was, the marriages began this morning at midnight Hawaii time, 5am Eastern], in that they will be deprived of being raised in a loving home by a mother and a father who loves them and whose love cooperated with God’s plan in creating them.”

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NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com

FRIDAY DECEMBER 6, 2013, 4:33 PM
BY JEFF FRANKEL
STAFF WRITER
BLOOMFIELD LIFE

A former New Jersey priest convicted in the early 1980s of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old boy is facing additional charges in Missouri.

Gerry Howard, who legally changed his name from Carmine Sita after that incident, is requesting a trial in front of only a judge, according to a Nov. 25 report in connectmidmissouri.com.

He was arrested at his Broad Street apartment in Bloomfield in 2010 and extradited to Missouri, according to Missouri court records. Prosecutors in Cooper County charged Howard with eight felony counts, including sodomy and kidnapping. The accused sexual abuse happened between 1984 and 1987, according to the report.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Abusive Priests, told Bloomfield Life the organization is “grateful that Howard has been locked up and kept away from kids.”

“Very few victims have the strength and opportunity to seek justice,” said Clohessy, who group is not directly involved with the case.

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CANADA
CBC News

The third week of the trial of Roman Catholic priest Eric Dejaeger wrapped up today with testimony from Father Robert Lechat, who worked with Dejaeger decades ago in Igloolik.

Dejaeger, 66, faces dozens of charges related to sexual abuse against children.

The incidents are alleged to have occurred between 1978 and 1982 in Igloolik.

Father Robert Lechat is now 93 and living in Ottawa, but he lived and worked in Igloolik off and on between 1972 and 1986.

In court this morning, Lechat said he was surprised when he learned Dejaeger was convicted of sex-related crimes against children in Baker Lake.

That was in the 1990s and Dejaeger subsequently was sentenced to five years in prison.

Lechat said there were always a lot of children at the mission in Igloolik. Religion courses were held after school and he said the children would go home afterwards.

Lechat said there were strict rules at the Catholic Church and kids were not allowed upstairs, but the doors of the church were never locked.

During his testimony, Lechat referred often to a journal he kept at the time. It documented the comings and goings of many people.

Lechat said he was often away from the church for meetings and parish visits. He said he left Dejaeger in the community so he could get know the people there better.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

A lowly US county judge did more yesterday to protect kids than the most powerful prelate on the planet. Yesterday, Judge John Van de North forced the Catholic archbishop of St. Paul/Minneapolis to disclose the names, whereabouts, statues and work histories of about 30 credibly accused child molesting clerics.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Yesterday, as he’s done for eight months, Pope Francis refused to disclose a single predator’s name. Nor, as best we can tell, did a single one of the planets 5,000 Catholic bishops disclose a single predator’s name.

The pontiff is at least consistent: In 15 years as head of Argentina’s largest archdiocese, he also did not disclose a single predator’s name. (In fairness to the pope, however, none of his predecessors as pope or as archbishop – ever revealed a single predator’s name.)

Yesterday, Pope Francis did, however, announce he’ll appoint a new church panel to look at abuse.

[Mercury News]

So yesterday, the earth’s most powerful religious figure promised to study clergy child sex crimes.

And yesterday, a lowly US judge actually prevented clergy child sex crimes.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

The Vatican announced yesterday that Pope Francis has set up a papal commission to advise him about dealing with the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic church. As Elisabetta Povoledo, Alan Cowell, and Rick Gladstone report for New York Times, this is the first concrete step Pope Francis has taken to address the abuse crisis, and the announcement comes two days after a United Nations panel resoundingly criticized the Catholic church for its mishandling of abuse cases.

For National Catholic Reporter, Joshua McElwee notes that the U.N. panel specifically objected to the Vatican’s refusal to provide the panel with information about how the church deals with abuse cases. McElwee also indicates that in making the announcement about the new papal advisory commission, Cardinal Sean O’Malley stated that the panel will stress the need for pastoral engagement of those abused by priests as minors.

Responses to the announcement from survivors of abuse and groups supporting abuse survivors:

For Bishop Accountability, Anne Barrett Doyle writes,

BishopAccountability.org cautiously welcomes Cardinal O’Malley’s announcement in Rome today that the Vatican will form an advisory commission on the sex abuse of minors in the Church. It’s good that the Vatican will be giving this terrible problem focused attention. But we are concerned that the commission will be toothless and off-target. Cardinal O’Malley’s list of its possible “lines of action” has two crucial omissions. There is no indication that the commission will study either the Vatican’s culpability or the crucial need to discipline bishops, religious superiors and other church supervisors who enable child rape and molestation.

For Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, Barbara Blaine states that though Francis has been a breath of fresh air to many people, he remains a breath of stale air to wounded victims, vulnerable children, and betrayed Catholics–and:

What’s needed is the ending of talk and the beginning of action. What helps kids is action, not information, especially when the Catholic hierarchy already has massive amounts of information on who in its ranks has committed and who is concealing heinous sexual violence across the globe.

For National Survivor Advocates Coalition, Kris Ward asks some blunt questions about image and substance:

Why announce a commission without details, membership, timetable if getting out the news that yet another public relations attempt isn’t the crux of the activity?
Headline puffery or solid rock honest to God reform through responsibility? It’s up to the Vatican.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

December 5
BY TONY RIZZO
The Kansas City Star

A former Catholic monk whose alleged sexual abuse of students led to lawsuits filed against a northwest Missouri abbey has died.

Funeral services for Bede Parry are scheduled for Tuesday in Las Vegas, according to the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada.

Parry died Nov. 27, according to a post on his lawyer’s Facebook page.

He was choir director at the Conception Abbey in the 1980s, and two lawsuits were filed against the abbey in 2011 by men who said they were molested by Parry as teens.

Both suits against the abbey are pending in Nodaway County, Mo.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The submission from the New South Wales Ombudsman to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse is somewhat disappointing. It says more positive things about the Catholic Church’s “Towards Healing” process (to deal with allegations of abuse), than negative things. Where it is negative, it is only mildly so.

This is shown in the following passage from the submission: “We are also of the view that the very strong emphasis in the document on responding to abuse via formal complaints could potentially divert attention from the need for the Catholic Church to also take proactive steps in identifying, and responding to, abuse. In this regard, the Church should seek to promote a culture where not only victims and their representatives are encouraged to raise concerns about abuse, but also that Church leaders – and the broader Church community – understand the importance of vigilance in relation to this issue.”

It continues with the sideline focus of using the process to improve systems when it says that “nowhere in the somewhat detailed description of the complaint processes does the policy emphasise the importance of utilizing the complaints system…to proactively identify where risks of possible abuse may exist.”

All of this may be important to an Ombudsman, but it is not what the hearings about “Towards Healing” are meant to cover. It is its failure, for current victims, which is of most concern to most people – a point the Ombudsman’s submission fails to address adequately.

One of the most serious faults of “Towards Healing” pertains to its use of the advantages, under the existing law, for civil litigation (see previous postings e.g. “Ellis Defence”). Here, the submission is very weak in its apparent criticisms. It states that “we believe that the Catholic Church would benefit from clearly articulated policy relating to how they will conduct themselves in relation to civil claims.”

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CANADA
CBC News

The third week of testimony wraps up today in the trial of Roman Catholic priest Eric Dejaeger.

The 66-year-old faces dozens of charges related to sexual abuse against children.

The incidents are alleged to have occurred between 1978 and 1982 in Igloolik.

So far the court has heard disturbing testimony about alleged sexual acts involving young girls, boys and even dogs.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Church officials “outed” him yesterday
A judge ordered that his name be released
Cleric is “credibly accused” of child sex abuse
Victims want San Diego bishop to do outreach
As recently as last year, alleged abuser was still on the job

A Catholic priest who was revealed as a “credibly accused” child molester yesterday now lives in the San Diego area.

He is Fr. Paul Palmitessa.

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims wants San Diego Catholic bishop Cirilo Flores to “aggressively reach out to anyone who this priest may have hurt while he’s been in California.”

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are asking Bishop Flores to personally visit each parish where predator priest worked and beg victims, witnesses and witnesses to call police.

“When a case of a child abuse is reported, often this is not only the instance of abuse ” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s director. “We need to make sure that anyone else who has been hurt by Palmitessa will feel encouraged to report what they have suspected, witnessed, or experienced to prevent future abuse, and begin to heal .”

“It’s always tempting to stay silent if you’ve been hurt or betrayed,” said Joelle Casteix of Orange County CA, SNAP’s western regional director. “That silence is what predators count on. And that temptation must be overcome if future clergy sex crimes and misdeeds are to be prevented.”

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on December 6, 2013

Everybody has a crush on Pope Francis. He drives a car! He eats with the priests! He cold calls Catholics who write him letters!

But wait, there’s more! He used to be a bouncer at a bar! He reportedly sneaks out at night to feed the poor! He speaks out against those nasty capitalists (whose donated money is the principal funding source for Vatican City, BTW).

Wow, with all of this action, he would have to take decisive action on the clergy abuse crisis, the first and foremost problem in his own nest, right? Eh, not so much.

Instead, he formed a committee! (Insert sad trombone here) Not only that, but he refused to answer the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s questions about child sexual sexual abuse. Apparently, Francis only takes action when solving OTHER people’s problems.

C’mon Francis! You blew it. This was low-hanging fruit! You could have been on the fast track to sainthood. All you need to do are a few simple things:

You can start by the easy, symbolic actions. First, you strip Roger Mahony of any titles, power or significance. After that, you fire Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn (I mean, really, he’s CONVICTED of child endangerment).

This is easy stuff. Send them both to the villages of Western Alaska, where they can live in abject poverty and devote the rest of their lives to the victims of Jesuit priests there.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

[Press conference video via Jeff Anderson & Associates]

[(St. Paul, MN) – Jeff Anderson and Associates sincerely apologizes for the incorrect depiction of Father Patrick J. Ryan at its Press Conference on December 5, 2013. At the conference and included in the media kit, our firm depicted Father Patrick J. Ryan on “The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ List of 34.” The image of Father Patrick J. Ryan was mistakenly confirmed as the Father Patrick Joseph Ryan contained on the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ List. There are no known allegations of sexual abuse against the Father Patrick J. Ryan pictured on December 5, 2013. When told of the potential mistake, we immediately alerted all media personnel present at the press conference.]

By Beth Hawkins

If church leaders had taken action in the wake of Father Thomas Adamson’s first admission that he sexually abused a young boy, Jim Keenan would likely never have met him, much less ended up one of the priest’s dozens of victims.

“There is no reason our paths would have to cross in a ministerial way,” a tearful Keenan said Thursday at a press conference held hours after the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was compelled to release a list of priests “credibly accused” of abusing minors.

According to court filings, Adamson’s first documented transgression took place in 1964. Keenan was born in 1967. Before Keenan was molested at the age of 13, the priest had confessed to perhaps dozens of inappropriate sexual encounters with boys.

Adamson’s is the very first name on the alphabetized list, which Keenan and his attorneys, Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, have been seeking for a decade. Five years ago, the Savage man turned down a financial settlement, saying he wouldn’t accept any agreement that did not include the list’s release.

“It’s the right step, but it’s a tiny step,” Keenan said. “They have to follow the rules like you and I.”

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Dec. 6, 2013

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

What next in the Twin Cities Catholic abuse and cover up scandal? Here are some predictions and hopes.

We predict that more victims across Minnesota will:

–step forward asking “Why isn’t the cleric who hurt me on the newly-disclosed list?” and
–push for more disclosure and other prevention steps as part of their civil settlements.

We predict that more judges – across Minnesota and the country – will be willing, for the safety of children, force other bishops to disclose names of other predators. (This is the first time a court has ordered a bishop to make predators’ names public.)

We hope that law enforcement officials will use their “bully pulpits” to prod victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to contact secular officials, not church officials, with information or suspicions about clergy sex crimes, especially by the seven or eight credibly accused clerics who were “outed” yesterday.

We predict that Archbishop John Nienstedt will:

–continue to write about this disclosure as if it were a voluntary move on his part, instead of making it clear that he was forced to do this, and
–continue distancing himself from his predator priests. (Most of the clerics listed yesterday are still priests. But Nienstedt listed them with no titles, as if to suggest that they no longer are.)

We hope, but do not expect, that Nienstedt will:

–explain why he kept the names of six or seven credibly accused child molesting clerics for years and years,
–turn over every scrap of information he has about all current and former Twin Cities predator priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers and lay employees to law enforcement immediately,
–personally visit each parish where predator priests worked – starting with the seven or eight new names – and beg victims, witnesses and witnesses to call police, and

–give all Twin Cities child molesting clerics an ultimatum: “Move to a remote, secure treatment facility in 30 days or we’ll cut off your salary, health care and other benefits.”

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PORTUGAL
TVI 24

A Diocese de Santarém iniciou um «processo canónico de averiguações a propósito de suspeitas» sobre o pároco das paróquias de Golegã, Azinhaga e Pombalinho, segundo um comunicado divulgado pelo vigário geral da diocese na Internet.

«É a preocupação pelo bem de todas as pessoas que preside a este processo», afirma o padre Aníbal Manuel Vieira, adiantando que «estão a ser cumpridas todas as normas canónicas que dizem respeito a estes casos».

Contactado pela Lusa, o vigário geral apenas adiantou que o processo ao padre das paróquias de Golegã, Azinhaga e Pombalinho «faz parte dos procedimentos normais quando há rumores», não tendo havido qualquer queixa formal junto da diocese.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Now that Pope Francis has set up a commission to study priestly sexual abuse, Bill Donohue urges reporters to get their facts straight:

Myth: Children have been the main victims of priestly sexual abuse.

Fact: Since more than 95 percent of all the victims of priestly sexual abuse, as reported by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, are not prepubescent, that means that adolescents have been the primary victims.

Myth: Pedophile priests have been the problem.

Fact: Homosexual priests have been the problem. Proof: 81 percent of the victims have been male, and more than 95 percent have been postpubescent. When males have sex with postpubescent males, it is called homosexuality.

Myth: The problem is on-going.

Fact: The homosexual scandal took place mostly between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s. In the last ten years, the average number of credible accusations made against 40,000 priests is in the single digits.

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VATICAN CITY
Kansas City Star

December 5
BY NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — In a story Dec. 5 about the wedding of a former Legion of Christ priest, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the Legion said less than 4 percent of Legion priests had been abused. Less than 4 percent have been accused of sexual abuse, according to the Legion.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Disgraced priest to wed pope adviser’s daughter

Legion priest who resigned after fathering child to marry daughter of top Vatican adviser

By NICOLE WINFIELD

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Thomas Williams, the onetime public face of the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order who left the priesthood after admitting he fathered a child, is getting married this weekend to the child’s mother, The Associated Press has learned. The bride is the daughter of former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, one of Pope Francis’ top advisers.

Glendon, a Harvard University law professor, is one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican as president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences. She is also one of five people on Francis’ commission to reform the scandal-marred Vatican bank. Her daughter, Elizabeth Lev, is a Rome-based art historian and columnist for the Legion-run Zenit news agency, which Williams published for over a decade while he was in the order.

Williams, a moral theologian, author, lecturer and U.S. television personality, admitted last year that he had fathered a child several years earlier.

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CONNECTICUT
The Raw Story

By Agence France-Presse
Friday, December 6, 2013

The Legion of Christ, an influential Catholic congregation already at the centre of an abuse scandal involving its founder, on Friday said one of its priests had sexually abused a novice in the United States.

“William Izquierdo, former instructor of novices at the Legion’s novitiate in Cheshire, Connecticut from 1982 to 1994 sexually abused a novice under his care,” the community said in a statement on its website.

The conservative community did not say whether Izquierdo would be punished but pointed out he is now 85 and in “an advanced state of dementia” and in any case has not exercised his ministry since 2008.

Izquierdo will be moved “to an assisted living facility where he will receive proper treatment,” it said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Nicole Sotelo | Dec. 6, 2013 Young Voices

Author’s note: This week, the Vatican refused to provide information to the U.N. regarding sexual abuse by church officials despite its ratification of the 1990 Convention of the Rights of the Child. On Thursday, as this column was going to be published, the Vatican announced it would begin its own commission to address sexual abuse. Similar commissions have been set up by bishops’ conferences in various countries but currently, no mechanisms are in place to discipline bishops who refuse to cooperate with their own policies or continue to cover up sexual abuse cases.

It’s a love story, really. Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel,” that the Vatican released last week reads like a love letter meant to add spark again to a church relationship that has been sorely wounded.

The document addresses some of the reasons why Catholics have turned away from the church. It shares ideas for how the church can reform itself in order to support a renewed relationship of joy and mission. It reads like a personal invitation to a marriage encounter weekend after a relationship has been through tough times. Pope Francis asks us to remember the good and rekindle the flames of faith.

I’m signed up. My bags are packed. I’m ready to write my own love letter in return. This is what I have wanted for our relationship, too!

However, if you read between the lines of the document, you’ll remember what caused perhaps the greatest collective rupture in the church relationship for U.S. Catholics of the last decade: the sexual abuse of children and its cover-up by church officials.

Earlier this year, a Pew Research Center survey found that 70 percent of Catholics in the United States said addressing the sexual abuse crisis should be a top priority for the new pope, topping the list of issues Catholics believed the Vatican should address.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 7, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

The Pope’s decision to set up a council of experts and lay people to advise him how to stop the scourge of child sex abuse is based on Australia’s approach, leading Catholics say.

Cardinal George Pell “had a big influence on this, because the announcements from Rome certainly seem to replicate the approach we have taken here”, believes Francis Sullivan, head of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, established last year to lead the Australian Catholic church’s response to the child sex abuse Royal Commission.

Pope Francis took up the suggestion from his council of eight cardinals which includes George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney. After they met in Rome this week, US Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, said at a Vatican media conference the new committee would look at how better to protect children in the church including screening checks for would-be priests, codes of professional conduct and co-operatiing with civil authorities to report crimes. The committee would work on pastoral aid for victims, their families and affected communities, including “mental health help”, Cardinal O’Malley said.

Mr Sullivan said the idea “echoed” the Truth, Justice and Healing Council’s use of experts who “give strong independent advice to place victims first and make it clear that the church can’t approach clerical sex abuse from a protective-defensive stance”.

“As a Catholic, it is shaming to hear that this went on,” said Melbourne military analyst Paul Sheehan, 36, a volunteer for Catholic Voices Australia. He said nothing could bring “true justice” to sex abuse victims who “still need as much help as we can give them” but “this is a step forward at the highest level”.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Archdiocese’s list shows it kept secret seven priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis acknowledged Thursday that it had kept secret for decades the names of at least seven Catholic priests it considers credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

Archbishop John Nienstedt revealed the names on a list of 34 priests posted to an archdiocese website. The names are from a list the archdiocese created in 2009 of priests accused of child sexual abuse. However, Nienstedt now says four of the priests should not have been included.

Three-fourths of the priests on the list are already known to the public through lawsuits and media reports. The 34 priests served in nearly half of the archdiocese’s parishes.

“These disclosures being made now, and the changes in our disclosure practices generally, are part of a comprehensive and cohesive set of actions we have been taking here in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis this fall to address the issues associated with clergy sexual misconduct,” Nienstedt said in a statement.

The disclosure came three days after an unexpected ruling by Ramsey County Judge John Van de North in a case filed by a victim of clergy sexual abuse. Van de North ordered the archdiocese to release the names of 33 priests included on a 2009 list, as well as the names of other priests accused since then.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

By Sasha Aslanian, Madeleine Baran, Molly Bloom, Mike Cronin, Meg Martin, Eric Ringham, Tom Scheck and Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio

Dec. 5, 2013

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has released the names of 30 priests it believes sexually abused children between 1950 and 2013.

• Related: Archdiocese’s list shows it kept secret seven priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children

The archdiocese also released the names of four other priests who had been included on an earlier list, but church officials now say those four should not have been included. A Ramsey County judge ordered the archdiocese Monday to release a list of 33 priests that had been sealed since 2009.

Seven of the priests named were not previously known to the public as accused abusers. Five of those seven are still living. About one-third of the priests on the list are dead.

The accused priests have served at nearly half — 92, in total — of the 188 parishes in the archdiocese, according to an email sent to priests by vicar general Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, the archbishop’s top deputy.

The disclosure comes three days after Ramsey County Judge John Van de North ordered the archdiocese to release the names of all the priests on a sealed list of clergy with credible allegations of child sexual abuse against them. The 33 names had been disclosed to attorneys in a 2009 clergy sexual abuse lawsuit, but a judge ordered they remain private.

The number of names on the original list — 33 in total — originated in 2004 when the Rev. Kevin McDonough, then second in command at the archdiocese, told researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice that 33 priests in the archdiocese were “known to have credible allegations of the abuse of minors.” The John Jay group had been commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to study clergy sexual abuse in the United States.

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CANADA
The StarPhoenix

BY HANNAH SPRAY, THE STARPHOENIX DECEMBER 6, 2013

Paul Leroux remains unrepentant for molesting eight boys he was supposed to be caring for and protecting, and that makes it very hard to forgive him, says one of his victims.

“He has lived in denial.

Forgiveness for me is something that has to be reciprocal. And if he’s not willing to do that, I cannot give him that, because he still denies what he’s done, so I cannot in any way give him that,” the 59-year-old man said outside Battleford Court of Queen’s Bench on Thursday. His name cannot be published due a publication ban on the victims’ identities.

Leroux, 73, was convicted last month of the string of crimes at the Beauval Indian Residential School in the 1960s, but on Thursday during sentencing arguments he still maintained his innocence, saying he intended to appeal.

Nevertheless, he said the sentence for fondling and raping the teenage boys should be three years, noting he already received a 10-year sentence in 1998 for similar crimes in Inuvik in the late 1960s and 1970s.

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CANADA
CTV

One of Paul Leroux’s sex abuse victims says he won’t ever forgive the former residential school supervisor.

The man, who was a student at the Beauval Indian Residential School in northern Saskatchewan during the 1960s, was one of several students Leroux was found guilty of sexually abusing.

At Leroux’s sentencing hearing Thursday in Battleford, the man said he can’t forgive Leroux, now 73, because he still denies what he’s done.

The Crown argued for an 11-year-sentence, but Leroux, who acted as his own lawyer, said that was too harsh for crimes that happened so long ago.

Last month, a judge convicted Leroux on 10 of 17 charges involving boys at the school — eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency

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CANADA
CBC News

Posted: Dec 05, 2013

A former residential school worker in northern Saskatchewan was in court for his sentencing hearing today after being found guilty last month of indecently assaulting young boys nearly five decades ago.

Paul Leroux, 73, a former dormitory supervisor at the Beauval Residential School in the 1950s and 60s, is guilty on 10 counts of indecent assault.

The sentencing hearing was held this morning at the Battleford courthouse, which was packed with victims, family and media.

There were 17 charges altogether, including indecent assault and gross indecency. The allegations included sexual touching, oral and anal sex, and bringing boys to his room where they were given alcohol and shown pornography.

The Crown is asking for an 11 year sentence. The charges added up as consecutive sentences would equal 25.5 years, but Prosecutor Mitch Piche said a number of factors need to be considered, including how much time has passed, that Leroux was back in society and is a low risk to re-offend.

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UNITED STATES
Perspective

Coming right after the Vatican rebuffed UN inquiries about clergy sex abuse, the Pope [is] Setting Up Commission on Clerical Child Abuse.

There’s a lot about this in the Catholic press … at NCR, Vatican announces new papal advisory commission on sex abuse … at US Catholic, Pope Francis launches commission to tackle sex abuse … at dotCommonweal, Pope Francis to create commission on protection of minors. From David Gibson’s post at US Catholic …

[…] O’Malley acknowledged that Catholics were most keen to hear how and whether the pope and the new commission would tackle the question of disciplining bishops who have shielded abusive priests …. Several current cases in the U.S. have rekindled anger over the abuse crisis: last year in Missouri, Bishop Robert Finn was convicted in court of failing to report an abusive priest to authorities, and in Minnesota it was recently revealed that Archbishop John Nienstedt did not report priests suspected of abuse to authorities. Archbishop John Myers of Newark, N.J., has faced similar criticism for his handling of abusers. All three men are outspoken conservatives, and all three remain in office [not to mention Mahony] ….

I think Francis has good intentions but I don’t hope for much from this new commission … it won’t address the accountability of church leaders for covering up abuse, and also it doesn’t appear that the actual causes of clergy sex abuse will even be addressed.

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UNITED STATES
Notes to Ponder

The Vatican has announced formation of a commission to protect young people from Catholic priests. To be fair; not all priests, just those with a fondness for “choir boys”. Spokesman, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston broke the news today; reportably a recommendation coming out of the Council of Cardinals meeting in Rome this week. Pope Francis, acting on the advise of his advisory council, gave the green light to “draft guidelines for prevention of abuse, developing training programs, advising on co-operation with law enforcement officials, and promoting care of victims of abuse”.

The as yet to be appointed commission members will be experts on sexual abuse and prevention. Up until now, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have been handling discipline for naughty priests. Cardinal O’Malley didn’t know if the commission would have authority over Bishops who cover up allegations of abuse by priests. The announcement comes on the heals of the church refusing a United Nations request to provide information on how it dealt with abusive clergy.

Call me cynical but something smells fishy. I’ve pondered Pope Francis long and hard – my conclusion being, he might be a man willing to make some changes. On the surface this announcement reads like a step in the right direction. Peel back a few layers and I’m still astounded. The very fact that a commission needs to be formed in order to “educate” and “counsel” clergy leaves me speechless.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has today announced the first public hearing for 2014.

The hearing, which will commence on 28 January, will inquire into the responses of The Salvation Army (Eastern Territory) to child sexual abuse within its children’s homes at:

* Alkira Salvation Army Home for Boys, Indooroopilly, QLD
* Riverview Training Farm (also known as Endeavour Training Farm), Riverview, QLD
* Bexley Boys’ Home, Bexley, NSW
* Gill Memorial Home, Goulburn, NSW

The hearing will also examine The Salvation Army’s processes in investigating, disciplining, removing and/or transferring anyone accused of, or found to have engaged in, child sexual abuse in these homes.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines is urging anyone who suffered sexual abuse as a child within these homes to contact the Royal Commission.

“We are in the process of gathering information relevant to this matter and would like to hear from as many people as possible.

“People’s experiences will help to inform the Royal Commission as to how The Salvation Army responded to allegations of child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The ‘roadmap’ and Issues Paper 5 are both available on the Royal Commission website at www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today released a paper outlining its approach to examining the scope of justice for victims, ‘Justice for Victims: Addressing or Alleviating the Impact of Child Sexual Abuse in Institutions’.

The Royal Commission’s examination of the scope of justice for victims will cover:

• civil litigation and redress/compensation schemes
• the criminal justice system
• past inquiries, the regulatory system and advocacy bodies

Along with this paper, the Royal Commission has also released Issues Paper 5 on Civil Litigation and is inviting members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise on the best ways to ensure justice for victims through redress.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said civil litigation is one of the ways in which victims may bring a claim for damages against the institution where they were abused.

“Through our private sessions, we have already heard from many people about the impact of the sexual abuse they suffered as children, and their difficult experiences throughout the civil litigation process.

“Our Terms of Reference require us to inquire into what institutions and governments should do to address or alleviate the impact of child sexual abuse, particularly through the provision of redress.

“We invite interested individuals, government and non-government organisations to tell us their views on the effectiveness of civil litigation as a mechanism for providing redress or compensation.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (updated 6 December 2013)

Australia’s national Royal Commission on child-abuse is holding two weeks of public hearings (in Sydney, beginning on 9 December 2013) to investigate how the Catholic Church’s “Towards Healing” system has handled (or mis-handled) the church’s sex-abuse victims. The December hearings will focus on the experiences of several victims who came through that system.

“Towards Healing” is the church’s own damage-control system (devised by the church’s lawyers and public relations consultants), under which the church is allowed to “investigate” itself.

“Towards Healing” is financed by the church’s in-house insurance company, Catholic Church Insurances Limited. Many victims have contacted the Royal Commission, complaining that the purpose of “Towards Healing” is primarily to help the church (and to protect its assets), rather than to help the victims. These victims say that, after going through “Towards Healing”, they feel re-victimised.

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CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Sylvia

No court today in the Father Eric Dejaeger sex abuse trial in Iqaluit, Nunavut. There was a possibility of something in the afternoon regarding having a video entered into evidence as testimony of a deceased victim/complainant who died of cancer. We arrived at the courtroom – nothing today.

Tomorrow Father Robert Lechat omi will testify. According to an Oblate directory Father Lechat, a 93-year-old French-born Oblate priest, served in Igloolik from 1972-1986, and was back for one year in 1988. Father Lechat served in Igloolik while Father Dejaeger was there. Most witnesses testifying to date recall Father Lechat as a priest who was at the Igloolik mission while Father Dejaeger was there.

My friend and I fly out tomorrow afternoon – will be able to catch the morning court session and then head for the airport when court recesses for lunch.

With no court, today turned into a day of sight-seeing and picture taking. We were squired around town and beyond. Such a breath-takingly beautiful part of this beautiful country. I took lots of pictures – will share a few after I get home.

Met wonderful people who have been so very gracious, hospitable and kind. It’s been a wonderful whirl which started last Friday evening . Silver linings. So very many silver linings.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The formal submission by Judy Courtin (see previous posting), a Monash University researcher, to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, is based on interviews with many victims, lawyers and victims’ relatives and support persons. It is both interesting and informative, and represents one of the few studies anywhere on the theme of “Sexual Assaults and the Catholic Church: Are Victims Finding Justice?” (That is her doctoral thesis’ title).

Her submission complements and supports the general thrust of that of John and Nicola Ellis (see previous posting), on the “Towards Healing” process of the Catholic Church for dealing with allegations of abuse throughout Australia, except for Melbourne which has its own protocol, termed the “Melbourne Response”, which was established by Cardinal George Pell (of Domus Australia fame – see previous posting).

Details of the interviews contained in Ms. Courtin’s submission are not given here, but are available from her submission at http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/14-Judy-Courtin1.pdf (Only the general findings will be discussed here.)

One may as well get across early on just how she views the “Towards Healing” process by giving a few quotes from the submission. “It’s not ‘Towards Healing’; it actually takes you towards madness.” “The Towards Healing process needs to be dismantled.” “Towards Healing has failed.”

“The Towards Healing process is flawed. It is a Kangaroo court giving it the ‘opportunity to mislead and lie’. It is a sham and a con and an incredibly unsatisfactory process. It is difficult, inappropriate and insensitive. It is deficient, condescending, depersonalizing, demeaning and obscene.”

By the conclusion of the up-coming hearings, many people will surely share this perspective.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

[with video]

video report by Iris Perez

On Thursday, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis revealed that 7 of the men church leaders believe have been credibly accused of child sex abuse spent at least a year leading congregations in Faribault, Minn.

Attorney Jeff Anderson’s office reports at least 15 victims are connected to the following men:

– Dennis Kampa
– Lee Krautkremer
– Gilbert DeSutter
– John Brown
– Richard Jeub
– Patrick Ryan
– Albert Longley

All of the priests led churches in Faribault for between a year and a decade between the years of 1922 and 2000, but some stayed even longer. Anderson believes that’s because the church had a habit of purposely moving accused clergy to serve in the quiet, rural city, away from victims who had reported them.

“Sometimes they would place known offenders in rural parishes, where they’re less likely to be known to the victims that reported the crimes,” Anderson said.

While all those listed have been permanently removed from ministry or no longer serve, the list shows allegations against Longley and six others have been kept secret for decades. In fact, allegations against Ryan and Longley were revealed for the first time Thursday.

“My name is Finnegan. Once it got misspelled with an S — Sinnigan. That’s so true; we all sin,” Father Kevin Finnegan told Fox 9 News.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

In today’s world, headlines can masquerade as substance.

Because of the general goodwill Pope Francis has created for the Vatican worldwide, NSAC raises an alarm bell today that the headlines about a sexual abuse commission not be welcomed without examination.

NSAC asks how independent will the Vatican’s commission on sexual abuse be?

If the proof’s in the pudding and the pudding is not made by a truly balanced commission designed to go where the truth is, find it, expose it and deal with it, the result will only be a soggy, tart, and unsatisfying whitewash. More’s the pity, the sin and the crime if that is the outcome.

A bedrock question here is: who will be on the commission, how balanced will the representation be, what’s the timetable, and what’s the endgame: report or action?

By balanced, NSAC means real representation from those who know this problem: the survivors themselves, critics of the why the crisis has been covered up and handled with public relations, the whistleblowers, professionals in law enforcement, psychology, sociology, mental health and finance – for indeed the survivors regardless of how the Church has portrayed it have been on the short end of the financial stick given the depth and breath of this lifelong problem for survivors and their families.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Dec. 5, 2013

1:56 p.m., CST: This post has been updated with comments from BishopAccountability.org President Terrance McKiernan.

Following through on a vow made a month ago, the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese released Thursday the names of 30 former priests with substantiated claims of sexual abuse of minors.

The priests named relate primarily to reported incidents that occurred between the mid-1950s and 1980s. All but one of those with substantiated claims were listed in a 2004 report by the archdiocese as part of a nationwide survey of credibly accused clergy.

The 30th priest is Curtis Wehmeyer, currently serving five years in prison, whose name appeared among others in news reports by Minnesota Public Radio — based on documents and information supplied by former archdiocesan canon lawyer Jennifer Haselberger — detailing negligence and lack of adherence to abuse-related archdiocesan policies.

All 30 have been removed from ministry. Two have been laicized, and one was dismissed from his order and dispensed from vows. …

Six of the 30 names became public for the first time, according to Terrance McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org. They are Frs. Alfred Longley (deceased), Timothy McCarthy, Paul Palmitessa, Joseph Pinkosh, Richard Skluzacek (deceased) and Raymond Walter.

Saying the release of names will allow for further investigation and greater protection of children in the case of those priests accused still living, McKiernan expressed gratitude to Nienstedt for posting the list, but also for the work of victims in achieving the end.

“They have found a way of transforming the numbers … into names. And of course names have stories, and names unfortunately have victims. And it’s a really, really crucial achievement,” he told NCR.

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VATICANO
El Nuevo Herald

ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICANO — El papa Francisco respondió a las acusaciones de que ha pasado por alto las quejas por los abusos sexuales por parte de sacerdotes y creó una comisión de expertos que asesore al Vaticano para proteger a los niños de los sacerdotes pedófilos y ayudar a las víctimas.

Sin embargo, se desconoce si los integrantes de la comisión asumirán uno de los problemas medulares detrás del escándalo de abuso sexual en la Iglesia Católica: la rendición de cuentas de los obispos que protegieron a sacerdotes pedófilos.

El cardenal Sean O’Malley, arzobispo de Boston, anunció el jueves la creación del panel al término de la reunión de Francisco con los ocho cardenales que lo asesoran sobre el gobierno de la Iglesia y la reforma de la burocracia vaticana.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Channel Online

The Bishop of Dover and Bishop of Basingstoke are in Jersey today to get a better understanding of complaint procedures.

Both are on a pastoral visit organised by the Bishop of Winchester. The Bishops will stay at Government House and meet with local church leaders and island authorities from both Deaneries.

They plan to ease tensions within the church following months of disruption among church-goers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Channel Online

Later today (Fri), the Jersey’s recently ‘exonerated’ Dean, will meet with the Bishops of Dover and Basingstoke.

The two Bishops are in Jersey to get a better understanding of the complaint procedures.

The trip was initiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Today they will meet with Jersey’s Chief Minister, Ian Gorst.

Both are on a pastoral visit organised by the Bishop of Winchester. The Bishops are staying at the Government House.

Their plan is to ease tensions within the church following months of disruption among church-goers.

The visit follows the suspension of Jersey’s Dean earlier this year, for failing to properly handle an allegation of abuse.

The Bishops’ visit was first outlined in a statement by the Bishop of Winchester on 22 November, in which he also said he would not be taking disciplinary action against any member of the clergy in Jersey. He also said he would not be publishing the Steel report.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Charlotte Observer

By Michael Gordon
mgordon@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Dec. 05, 2013

A Mecklenburg County judge Thursday dismissed the claims of a former Charlotte official of the United House of Prayer who accused the top leaders of the congregation of wrecking his marriage.

In his lawsuit, the Rev. Ronald Belton described a church atmosphere of rigged national elections, political infighting and millions of dollars raised by House of Prayer congregations that is sent to post office boxes in Charlotte, long a center of activities for the Washington, D.C., based church.

Whether a jury hears any of those accusations is now in question. Superior Court Judge Robert Ervin threw out Belton’s remaining claims against the House of Prayer’s presiding Bishop C.M. Bailey and its former first lady, Deloris Beal “St. Lady” Madison.

Church attorney Robert Dortch argued that Belton and his attorney failed to prove that a North Carolina court could hear the case against Bailey because he lives in Maryland and doesn’t own property in Charlotte or the state.

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NORTH CAROLINE
Charlotte Observer

By Michael Gordon
mgordon@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Wednesday, Dec. 04, 2013

A lawsuit in court Thursday casts unflattering light onto what it describes as the political infighting and private financial dealings of a secretive church with deep spiritual and economic ties to Charlotte.

The United House of Prayer for All People is known nationwide for the exuberant worship style of its congregations, along with its shout bands, mass baptisms with fire hoses, and the stone lions guarding the front doors of its sanctuaries.

But the lawsuit by Ronald Belton, a longtime House of Prayer evangelist who lives in Charlotte, focuses on what his attorney describes as the “absolute power” of the church’s top leaders, namely the presiding bishop and the widow of the former one.

Believers hold their leaders as intermediaries with God.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

By Lee Filas
A former monk accused of trying to lure teenage girls into his car in Antioch pleaded guilty to a single count of child abduction in Lake County court Thursday.

Thomas Chmura, 57, who had been associated with the St. Benedict’s Abbey in Benet Lake, Wis., will spend 24 months on probation. He also has been ordered to undergo sex offender treatment, and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Victor O’Block said following the plea deal.

Chmura was also sentenced to a six-month periodic imprisonment in Lake County. However, that was delayed by Lake County Judge James Booras and could be dropped if Chmura meets all the requirements of his probation.

Booras also allowed Chmura to move to Jefferson County, MO, where he will receive treatment at the Vianney Renewal Center, O’Block said.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Susan Berger
Special to the Tribune
2:41 p.m. CST, December 5, 2013

A monk accused of trying to lure girls into his car pled guilty today to child abduction, officials said.

Thomas Chmura, a Benedictine monk who lived at an a abbey in Benet Lake, Wis., was given two years probation and must register as a sex offender and receive counseling as part of the plea, according to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office.

Chmura was arrested last April after authorities said he pulled up alongside a 14-year-old girl who was on foot in Antioch, told her she was beautiful and asked her to let him drive her home.

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ILLINOIS
San Francisco Chronicle

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — A Wisconsin monk has pleaded guilty to a child abduction count after being accused of trying to abduct four girls in Illinois earlier this year.

Thomas Chmura (shah-MOO’-rah) agreed to a negotiated plea deal on Thursday in Lake County court. Chmura is a former monk at the St. Benedict’s Abbey in Benet Lake, Wis.

The 57-year-old was sentenced to two years of probation. He also must undergo sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. The judge has allowed Chmura to move to Jefferson County in Missouri where he can receive treatment.

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ILLINOIS
WLS

Sun-Times Media Wire

December 5, 2013 (WAUKEGAN, Ill.) — A judge accepted a plea deal Thursday in the case of a former Benedictine monk accused of child abduction attempts earlier this year in the north suburbs, sentencing him to probation and periodic jail time.

Thomas Chmura, 57, was charged with four counts of child abduction and could have faced up to three years in prison after authorities alleged he offered rides to a number of girls ages 11 to 14 in April in the Antioch area.

On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to one count of child abduction and was sentenced to six months of periodic imprisonment, plus 24 months of felony probation, the News-Sun is reporting. He must register as a sex offender for life and undergo sex offender treatment.

Chmura never actually abducted any of the victims he tried to lure into his car, but under state statute, his behavior qualified for the abduction charge, according to assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Victor O’Block.

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VATICAN CITY
NBC News

By Claudio Lavanga, NBC News Correspondent

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican is to set up a special committee to improve measures to protect children against sexual abuse within the Church, the archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, said on Thursday.

“Up until now there has been so much focus on the judicial parts of this but the pastoral part is very, very important. The Holy Father is concerned about that,” O’Malley told reporters, referring to Pope Francis.
The commission of experts would “study these issues and bring concrete recommendations” for the Pope and the Vatican, he said.

“Continuing decisively along the lines undertaken by Pope Benedict XVI, and accepting a proposal presented by the Council of Cardinals, the Holy Father has decided to establish a specific Commission for the protection of minors, with the aim of advising Pope Francis on the Holy See’s commitment to the protection of children and in pastoral care for victims of abuse,” O’Malley said in a statement.

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COLORADO
Christian Post

BY MORGAN LEE , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
December 5, 2013

Boulder police have accused a Colorado senior pastor of covering up information about a youth pastor who allegedly sexually assaulted a female church attendee starting when she was 15.

Walt Roberson was out of the country when police first announced charges for four members of Vinelife Church’s pastoral and elder teams. Jason Allen Roberson, 35, Vinelife Church’s youth pastor and the son of Walt, was arrested in September on charges that he sexually abused a former church member and emplyoyee who was underage when the abuse began.

Walt is due on court on Dec. 9 and the church’s executive pastor Robert Phillip “Bob” Young must report later this month, according to The Daily Camera. Church elder Warren Lloyd Williams is set to appear on Jan. 6 while pastors Luke Humbrecht and Edward Bennell have no court dates set yet.

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MINNESOTA
KVSC

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has disclosed the names of 34 priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors.The names of the priests were made public Thursday following months of criticism that church leaders mishandled allegations of abuse. Archbishop John Nienstedt says he hopes the move will restore trust.

The archdiocese says it has substantiated claims against 30 priests on the list. The remaining four have claims against them that could not be substantiated, but the archdiocese released them after a court order.

The information includes the clerics’ names, parishes where they served, and other details. It does not include details of the allegations.

Of the 34 names, three of them, Father Cosmas Dahlheimer, Francis Hoefgen, and Brennan Maiers, have had ties with the St. Cloud Diocese.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley unveils Vatican effort to prevent abuse

By Lisa Wangsness | GLOBE STAFF DECEMBER 06, 2013

Almost 12 years after the clergy sexual abuse crisis exploded in Boston, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley announced Thursday the creation of a Vatican commission on protecting children from abuse, marking the Catholic Church’s first comprehensive effort to address the crisis globally.

O’Malley, speaking in Rome after a meeting of the eight-cardinal council that advises Pope Francis on church governance reform, said the new commission would advise the pope about the protection of children and the pastoral care of victims of abuse.

The new panel represents Pope Francis’s first substantive attempt to confront the central issue facing the church in recent years. Its establishment also came days after the church refused a UN committee’s request for detailed information about sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy and religious orders.

Some church observers praised the new commission, calling it long overdue.

“It reflects that Pope Francis is determined to get to the root causes of the clergy sexual abuse scandal and to prevent it from ever happening again,” said Thomas Groome, a theologian and chairman of the department of religious education and pastoral ministry at Boston College. …

Critics were skeptical that the panel would be effective. Terence McKiernan — president of Bishop Accountability, a watchdog on clergy abuse and an online archive of the crisis — said that the commission’s to-do list is too long. But he also said the panel lacks a clear mandate to figure out how the church could hold bishops accountable if they mishandle abuse complaints.

Bishops in Philadelphia and Kansas City failed to enforce US church laws for handling abuse cases in recent years. The Kansas City bishop was convicted in secular court for failing to report suspected child abuse, but he remains in office.

Asked at Thursday’s press conference whether the commission would deal with bishop accountability, O’Malley said that was something that the church needs to address, but he said he was not sure whether the commission or a Vatican department would take it on.

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MINNESOTA
Woodbury Bulletin

By Michael Longaecker on Dec 5, 2013

The identities of 33 Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing minors – including one who was briefly involved with a Woodbury-area church – were released Thursday, prompting a promise of more openness in disclosure from the leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Among the priests accused of sexually abusing minors is Timothy McCarthy, a 67-year-old who was removed from the ministry in 1991. According to the list issued Thursday, McCarthy spent part of 1984 as an associate priest at Guardian Angels Catholic Church in Oakdale – what was formerly Lake Elmo, prior to annexation.

Denny Farrell, church administrator at Guardian Angels, said he and current priest Rodger Bauman were notified Wednesday that a former pastor from the church would be on the list. After learning McCarthy’s name on Thursday, Farrell said he went in search of information about the priest since he was at Guardian Angels less than a year.

“We didn’t know much about him,” Farrell said, adding that a cursory check with older parishioners turned up no answers. “That’s how interim he was.”

McCarthy served a few months in between two permanent Guardian Angels priests, Farrell said.

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WALTHAM (MA)
BishopAccountability.org

Statement by Terence McKiernan

December 5, 2013

We welcome the release of this highly significant list – the first church list to be released by order of the court.

We’re grateful to Jim Keenan (John Doe 73C) and John Doe 1, and to their attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who saw that their cases could help make children safe, and could help other survivors to heal. Their visionary work has transformed the cold numbers of a 2004 press release into the human story of abuse in St. Paul and Minneapolis – and soon Winona as well. Names can do what numbers never can.

We’re also grateful to Archbishop Nienstedt for his belated conversion to the cause of transparency. He clearly chose wisely in posting the entire list, including the so-called unsubstantiated claims (not a correct term for two or three of the four). As Cardinal Keeler wrote when he released the Baltimore list more than a decade ago, “Telling the truth cannot be wrong.”

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Parade

By LINDSAY LOWE

Since he was elected pope this March, Pope Francis has made headlines for his relatively simple lifestyle and his emphasis on helping the poor and embracing people of all faiths.

However, not everyone is a fan. Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, who was raised in a strict Catholic household and once trained for the priesthood, says that despite the Pope’s talk of reform, he will not fundamentally change the Catholic Church.

“Like Barack Obama, a bit like Tony Blair, he’s a figurehead, a CEO—a man who does the bidding of the masters who hide behind him,” Bryne said in an interview with the Michael Des Barres Show today.

He added that while Pope Francis has set a new tone within the Church by performing “Christ-like things” such as bathing prisoners’ feet, these are empty gestures that won’t change the Catholic Church’s “innately conservative” agenda.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Blake McCoy

MINNEAPOLIS – Knocking on the door of a priest accused of molesting children, we were surprised when that door opened.

“I have never abused anybody,” said Father Joseph Wajda. “I deny all these allegations. They are false. They are ridiculous.”

Fr. Wajda’s name is one of 34 released by the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese Thursday as credibly accused of molesting children. Fr. Wajda was removed from the priesthood in 2002.

11 years have passed but Wajda maintains his innocence and admits he is still being compensated by the archdiocese.

“I’m in the process of trying to get reinstated, so that’s it.”

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

John Croman

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is working to restore trust among Catholics and the public at large, in the wake of the latest clergy sex abuse disclosures.

The archdiocese Thursday complied with a court order to release the names of 34 former priests, 30 of whom were deemed by the church to have substantiated claims of abuse.

Archbishop John Nienstedt, who has come under fire from some advocates, issued a lengthy statement in the online edition of The Catholic Spirit newspaper, detailing efforts to aggressively pursue reports of abuse.

Fr. Nienstedt also pledged to involve law enforcement in the process immediately, and to publish the names of verified offenders in a special section of the Archdiocesan website.

“All clergy feel the shame of the acts of some of their brother priests,” Nienstedt wrote.

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CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara Independent

by PAUL FERICANO

In 1965 when I was 14 I was sexually abused at St. Anthony’s, a Catholic minor seminary in Santa Barbara operated by the Franciscan religious order. My offender (who died on November 23 at the age of 83) was the school’s prefect of discipline. It’s since been estimated that during his six years of tenure he may have molested more than 250 boys. In 2003, after years of therapy, I chose to forgive him. It was a conscious and willing choice, and a significant change in my way of thinking. I did this without expecting, demanding, or receiving any apology. Even though the evidence against him was overwhelming, he never admitted any crime and insisted he’d done nothing wrong. But I did not allow his denials to prevent me from doing what is necessary to heal.

Deniers of clergy abuse are not limited to those who perpetrated the abuse. They are everywhere. The Franciscan friars currently in charge at Old Mission Santa Barbara (not to be confused with the Parish of St. Barbara) are some of those who still believe they are the victims of this crisis and that survivors are to blame. It’s a deep, dark hole that they’ve dug into the mythology of their lives. Their behavior and actions over the last six years have served to rewound survivors and poison the community. For this reason, I have publicly called for the removal of these friars from any positions of power. I’ve undertaken this without malice, but rather with compassion for those who have been hurt and for those who have done the hurting.

We all dig our holes, some deeper than others. The holes in my life have led me to some encouraging encounters with the church, particularly through my work with SafeNet, a survivor nonprofit I cofounded in 2003 that focuses on the healing process. Though I’m no longer Catholic and have no desire to return to Catholicism, I’ve found good reasons to explore these issues with bishops and cardinals who’ve shown an eagerness to explore them with me. These perceptible shifts in the church indicate a willingness by some to tackle complex questions of peace, reconciliation, and restorative justice.

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UNITED STATES
The New Yorker

POSTED BY ALEXANDER STILLE

From the first day of his papacy, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francesco, changed the mood music around the Vatican by presenting the world with a very different kind of pope. Wearing a simple white cassock, he declined to live in the papal apartment and chose instead to stay in a Vatican guesthouse so that he could continue to live in a community. He scandalized some Church traditionalists, washing the feet of female juvenile delinquents and expressing nonjudgmental compassion for gay priests, and treated everyone—even journalists—with infectious, sunny warmth, simplicity, and disarming candor. Without saying so, he seemed to be casting off a traditional idea of the pope as a solitary, infallible absolute monarch. Pius XII, who reigned from 1939 until 1958, ate alone all but a few times during his nearly twenty-year papacy. Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, had paid close attention to papal vestments, steeped in the liturgical meaning of this or that medieval garment.

The papacy during the last years of Benedict had come to seem an institution in sad decline, closed off behind the Vatican walls, out of touch, on the defensive, fighting a losing cultural war with its own followers, resigned to a smaller Church of “true believers,” in a hostile or indifferent secular world. Francis changed that almost overnight by showing how radically challenging it could be if a world leader tried to put into practice the basic precepts of the Christian gospel—dedicating oneself fully to task of loving and caring for others—and doing so with genuine joy.

Yet the question remained: Would these stylistic changes translate into significant, lasting shifts in the life and doctrine of the Catholic Church and, if so, how? We are beginning to get some concrete answers. Francis’s candid public interviews and his most recent publication, a two-hundred-and-twenty-four-page apostolic exhortation called “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), have attracted the most attention. But he has also made a series of careful management changes that may transform the Church.

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ROME
Daily Mail

Disgraced US cleric to wed daughter of Pope Francis’ highest-ranking female adviser after fathering her child and resigning priesthood

The former public face of the discredited Legion of Christ order who left the priesthood after fathering a love child is getting married this weekend to his son’s mother.

Former clergyman Thomas Williams will walk down the aisle with the daughter of former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon – one of Pope Francis’ top advisers.

Glendon, a Harvard University law professor, is one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican as president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences.

She is also one of five people on Francis’ commission to reform the scandal-marred Vatican bank.
Her daughter, Elizabeth Lev, is a well-regarded art historian and columnist for the Legion-run Zenit news agency, which Williams published for over a decade while he was in the order.

Williams, a moral theologian, author, lecturer and U.S. television personality, admitted last year that he had fathered a child several years earlier.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

BY KELLY GLISTA, Kglista@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
7:46 p.m. EST, December 5, 2013

CHESHIRE — The Legionaries of Christ, a religious order plagued in the late 1990s and early 2000s by allegations of sexual abuse against its founder, announced on Thursday that an independent investigation had revealed “significant evidence” of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest who served at the order’s Cheshire seminary.

The allegation against Fr. William Izquierdo surfaced in July 2012, and involved abuse that took place while Izquierdo served as an instructor of novices in the Cheshire seminary, a position he held from 1982 to 1994, according to a letter from the Legion’s North American territorial director Fr. Luis Garza.

The Legion commissioned Praesidium Inc., a firm that specializes in abuse risk management, to do an independent investigation of the allegations, the letter states. That investigation concluded in August and was reviewed by the Legion’s North American review board in October.

“We have no reason to doubt that sexual abuse with a minor actually occurred,” Garza wrote in his letter.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

In a surprise move, the Holy See yesterday announced that Pope Francis is to assemble a panel of experts to advise him on the problem of clerical sex abuse. This Vatican Child Protection Commission represents arguably the first concrete proposal to emerge from the so-called “G8” Council of Cardinals who have been meeting with the pope in Rome this week.

Originally appointed in April by Pope Francis to help him both govern and reform the Catholic Church, the G8 council is only now getting down to serious work.

Vatican insiders last night suggested that such a decision, at this early stage in the process of Curia reform, indicates the level of commitment that Pope Francis wants to bring to the sex abuse issue.

As far as the composition of the commission’s panel of experts goes, it seems likely that the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, will be nominated, given his extensive track record in dealing with the problem in the Dublin archdiocese. Another obvious panel member may well be the Maltese bishop Charles Scicluna, the former Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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MINNESOTA
Patch

Posted by Mike Schoemer (Editor) , December 05, 2013
with Chris Steller, James Warden

A priest assigned to northeast Twin Cities churches and now resides in Oakdale appears on the newly released list of clergy deemed “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The archdiocese published a list of 34 priests Thursday in the online edition of The Catholic Spirit, the newspaper that serves the archdiocese.

About half of the parishes in the archdiocese—92 out of 188 parishes—had one of the priests on the list there at some point, according to the archdiocese.

Many of those listed had associations with parishes on the east side of the Twin Cities metro area, with one (see below) having served in Lake Elmo in 1984.

The publication was made in response to ongoing lawsuits against priests and the church arising from childhood sexual abuse cases. The achdiocese and Diocese of Winona originally sought to seal the list—which was created in 2004 and included 33 of the 34 priests named today, according to the Star Tribune.

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MINNESOTA
Shakopee Valley News

By Lori Carlson editor@plamerican.com

Former Catholic priests at churches in Prior Lake, Spring Lake, Cedar Lake, New Prague and Shakopee are among those named on a list of clergy accused of sexually abusing minors.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Thursday released the list of 29 priests with credible claims against them.

The archdiocese and Archbishop John Nienstedt have come under fire in recent months for their handling of sexual misconduct cases. Included in the list are clergy members from other dioceses or religious orders who at one time worked in the archdiocese and were accused of engaging in sexual abuse of minors.

According to the archdiocese, there is “reliable and sufficient information” to substantiate the sexual abuse claims against the men on the list.

In a statement on the archdiocese’s website, Nienstedt wrote: “My staff and I are completely committed to combating the problem of sexual abuse and doing all we can to ensure that these horrors are never repeated in the church. To that end, as I have been communicating to you over the last two months, we are evaluating and improving our policies and practices in our concerted effort to protect children and prevent sexual abuse.”

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MINNESOTA
Patch

Posted by James Warden (Editor) , December 05, 2013

A former Lake Minnetonka clergyman is on a list of priests “credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors in the archdiocese (of St. Paul and Minneapolis),” according to the archdiocese’s newspaper.

Thomas Stitts was a pastor at St. George in Long Lake from 1973 until 1980. His careers ran from 1962 to 1985, when he was permanently removed from the ministry. He died that same year.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis published the list of 34 priests Thursday in the online edition of The Catholic Spirit, the newspaper that serves the archdiocese.

About half of the parishes in the archdiocese—92 out of 188 parishes—had one of the priests on the list there at some point, according to the archdiocese.

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