ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Mick Forgey | Apr. 7, 2014

Catholics in Newark, N.J., were outraged to learn that Archbishop John Myers had spent $500,000 for an extension on his retirement home. Catholics in Atlanta questioned the acceptability of Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s building a $2.2 million residence for himself (see story).

For many, these actions raised the questions: What is acceptable compensation for a sitting bishop and for a retired bishop? Who determines what’s acceptable?

NCR’s interviews with bishops and experts who monitor church finances found that no hard and fast rules govern this issue. National guidelines exist, and seem to be widely followed, but specifics on local implementation are hard to come by.

The average bishop’s salary seems to be in line with that of priests within his diocese.

“Most dioceses use the compensation levels for their clergy as the reference point,” said Frank Butler, principal and founder of Drexel Philanthropic Advisors. “So, we do know what that is. Typically, across the country, average priests’ salaries go from anywhere from $15,000 to $18,000, maybe a little bit higher than that.” Butler is also former president of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA).

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Jason Stein, Patrick Marley and Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel
April 4, 2014

Madison — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, his chief of staff and a Waukesha County GOP official were all told three years ago of allegations that a then-aide to the senator had been sexually assaulted by state Rep. Bill Kramer, but none of them took the matter to the police or Assembly leaders.

The woman told her supervisor in Johnson’s office and a number of other people, but decided at the time to have her attorney send a letter to Kramer rather than go to the police, records show. Last month — nearly three years after the alleged assault outside a Muskego bar — the woman learned of Kramer’s alleged mistreatment of other women and filed a complaint with Muskego police that has resulted in two felony charges of second-degree sexual assault.

In the meantime, Kramer’s Assembly colleagues elected him last fall to the job of majority leader, the No. 2 position in that house. Before that vote, some Republicans in the Assembly who opposed Kramer’s bid raised concerns about his behavior.

But neither Johnson nor anyone from his office contacted Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), who has led that body since January 2013, or Jeff Fitzgerald, who served as speaker at the time of the alleged 2011 assault.

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WISCONSIN
Blue Cheddar

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson has a history of protecting institutions where sex assault is concerned

As of this weekend the public knows that Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson did know – or at least he suspected – that his aide was sexually assaulted by Wisconsin Rep. Bill Kramer. By now the public knows that Johnson held that knowledge for three years without contacting either police or leadership in the Wisconsin Assembly about the matter.

Ron Johnson has told Politico the victim asked him to stay quiet about it. I hope we’ll get to hear what she says about the matter.

Right now she is quiet and anonymous.

Before this situation, there was an episode that informed us Sen. Johnson places the reputation and finances of institutions above the welfare of sexual abuse victims.

In January 2010, Ron Johnson testified in a state senate committee AGAINST a proposed Wisconsin Child Victims Act [text of SB319, Record of SB319 Committee Proceeding].

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NEW YORK
Courthouse News Service

By NICK DIVITO

BROOKLYN (CN) – A man named Lemon Juice wants to force Twitter and Blackberry to reveal a user’s identity after he was falsely accused of posting a picture of a molestation victim testifying against her convicted attacker, who was a high-ranking official in a conservative Orthodox Jewish community.

Juice was charged with contempt in November 2012 after a photo of the teen witness was allegedly taken after the judge had ordered audience members to not take pictures during the criminal case against Nechemya Weberman, a religious leader in the orthodox Jewish community who was later convicted on 59 counts of sex-related crimes.

According to his complaint in Kings County Supreme Court, Juice, Yoana Weissman and Joseph Fried were arrested and jointly hit with misdemeanor charges alleging that an informant saw Weissman with a camera and Fried was spotted nudging him when the informant approached.

“To stress, Mr. Juice was charged for allegedly posting a photograph on his Twitter account,” the lawsuit states.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, April 6, 2014

A Brooklyn man named Lemon Juice is putting the squeeze on Twitter and Blackberry.

The 32-year-old with the odd appellation is seeking a court order compelling the social media network and the smartphone maker to disclose the identity of the person who operated a Twitter account in his name in 2012.

That’s when Lemon Juice was arrested and charged with contempt for tweeting a photo of a sex-abuse victim testifying in court during a high-profile trial.

Prosecutors dropped the case against Juice last month after evidence emerged that someone else was operating the account. Juice suspects a man named Moses Klein of the frame-up.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Josh Saul and Selim Algar
April 7, 2014

Lemon Juice is putting the squeeze on Twitter and BlackBerry.

The oddly named man is trying to force both companies to reveal the identity of a user who posted a teen molestation victim’s photo under his name and caused his arrest, court papers show.

Juice was busted after the photo was posted amid the 2012 sex-abuse trial of the young woman’s abuser, Rabbi Nechemya Weberman.

Juice was charged with contempt of court because the presiding judge had prohibited taking any pictures of the woman during the trial. The photo was taken with a BlackBerry.

He was eventually cleared of all charges after 14 court appearances.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

Abuse victim sues Church for £300,000, arguing archbishops ‘vicariously liable’ for priest

07 April 2014 11:30 by Christopher Lamb

A former altar boy who was sexually abused by a priest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham has launched a £300,000 compensation claim.

Eamonn Flanagan, 51, has started a legal action against the “personal representatives” of the late Archbishops George Dwyer and Maurice Couve de Murville. The claim has been put in the care of the current Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley.

Mr Flanagan was abused by Fr Samuel Penney between 1975 and 1986 and argues that the deceased archbishops are “vicariously liable” for the priest’s actions. Back in 2012 the Diocese of Portsmouth unsuccessfully argued in the High Court that a diocese should not automatically be held liable for an abusive priest. This ruling has opened the Church up to claims for damages.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Child abuse victim raped, burned, held underwater by Salvation Army major Victor Bennett

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN APRIL 07, 2014

A SALVATION Army officer put out cigarettes on the body of a seven-year-old boy, who was also thrown into a swimming pool with bricks tied to his feet, the royal commission has heard.

The boy, who cannot be named, was repeatedly raped by the officer, Major Victor Bennett, at a Salvation Army-run home in Queensland but was later offered only $10,000 in compensation by the church.

In a formal statement sent to the Salvation Army in 2007 and subsequently tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the victim said “Major Bennett put out cigarette butts on me and even between my toes.

“I was stripped naked and bricks were tied to my feet then I was thrown in the pool by Major Bennett. I managed to get my feet loose but when I tried to get out, he pushed me back in,” the statement said.

A separate internal report, drawn up by another Salvation Army officer who interviewed the victim, said he “has terrible memories of his experiences, waking at night screaming at his wife.”

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

04 April 2014 15:50 by Christopher Lamb

A top Vatican investigator has been appointed to examine claims of sexual misconduct in the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, where Cardinal Keith O’Brien resigned amid scandal last year.

Bishop Charles Scicluna, who has a reputation for forensic investigations into sexual abuse, has been asked to listen to and report the testimony of past and present clergy in the archdiocese.

Cardinal O’Brien resigned last February after being accused of sexual misconduct by five men, four of them priests.

He later admitted that his sexual conduct had fallen short of that expected of priest, archbishop and cardinal.

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GEORGIA
El Paso Inc.

Posted: Sunday, April 6, 2014

By Michael Paulson New York Times

The archbishop of Atlanta had a plan to resolve the space crunch at his cathedral: He would move out of his residence so priests could move in, and then he would build himself a new house with donated money and land.

It wasn’t just any house. It was a $2.2 million, 6,000-square-foot mansion, with plenty of room to host and entertain, on land bequeathed by Joseph Mitchell, a wealthy nephew of the author of “Gone With the Wind,” Margaret Mitchell.

But as Pope Francis seeks “a church which is poor and for the poor,” expectations for Catholic leaders are changing rapidly.

So last Monday night, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory apologized, saying that lay people had told him they were unhappy with his new house and promising to seek guidance from priests and lay people and to follow their advice about whether to sell it.

“What we didn’t stop to consider, and that oversight rests with me and me alone, was that the world and the church have changed,” he wrote in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Georgia Bulletin.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Old Gold and Black

Posted by Austin Cook on Apr 6, 2014

With revelations of sexual abuse and subsequent cover-ups still surfacing and a crisis of faith spreading throughout the world, the Catholic Church faces many challenges in the years to come that are already shaking the institution to its core.

Despite signs of reform under the new leadership of Pope Francis, the Church is at a true crossroads, and few people are as insightful into this topic that journalist Jason Berry, who spoke to an audience on campus April 2 in Farrell Hall.

“This is one of the great stories of our times,” Berry said, referencing the stark challenges that the Pope faces both within the Vatican and throughout the world. “The guy parachuted into a vipers nest.”

Berry, originally a journalist from New Orleans, has pioneered investigative reporting into the sex abuse scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church for decades. Hailing from a culturally diverse and fascinating part of the country, Barry began his career covering New Orleans’s deep Cajun roots—but it took an unexpected turn when he started looking into allegations of sexual abuse by a local priest.

When he published a series of stories exposing the abuse in local papers, Berry faced a backlash from the local Catholic community of which he himself was a member. But despite the criticism he faced, Berry continued his reporting. “You can attack the messenger all you want,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Betty Clermont

Opus Dei, an official institution of the Catholic Church, at the top is a secret society of international bankers, financiers, businessmen and their supporters. Their goal is the same as other plutocrats – unbridled power – except they use the influence of the Catholic Church and its worldwide network of institutions exempt from both taxes and financial reporting to advance rightwing parties and governments.

A year after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s elevation as head of the Church and his many appointments, the dust has settled. Three cardinals have emerged as the most powerful in this papacy; all have close ties to Opus Dei. Two now control all Vatican finance.

Still the most exhaustively researched book written about “The Work” as it is referred to by its members, Their Kingdom Come (1997, 2006) by Robert Hutchison, a Canadian financial journalist, traces the growth of Opus Dei financial power “by all available means” – deception, dirty tricks, even “physical muscle” like poisonings which mimic heart attacks. “What gives Opus Dei its importance is the influence it wields and also that it deploys its immense financial resources…Opus Dei knows very well that money rules the world,” Javier Sainz Moreno, professor of Law at Madrid University, told Hutchison. One of their goals was to control the Vatican’s wealth, now closer than ever to being realized.

Like many religious cults, the members at the bottom are sincere believers that Opus Dei the path to personal holiness. Many are “numeraries,” men and women vowed to celibacy who live in communal residences and hand over their earnings to the organization. This creates workers totally dedicated to their assigned tasks, assures a steady stream of revenue and makes it difficult for members to leave. “Supernumeraries” are married and live independently but are still required to make large contributions and send their children to Opus Dei schools if available. At all levels, the names of the lay members are secret unless self-disclosed. Opus Dei also has an order of publicly identified priests and prelates.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

In the UK, there is a currently a vigorous and growing protest movement against the Workfare program. It’s been led by the Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty. The name of the campaign is Boycott Workfare (www.boycottworkfare.org). Australians would use the phrase “Work for the Dole” to describe Workfare. Many would use the expression “slave labour.”

Boycott Workfare describes its mission as follows:

“Boycott Workfare is a UK-wide campaign to end forced unpaid work for people who receive welfare. Workfare profits the rich by providing free labour, whilst threatening the poor by taking away welfare rights if people refuse to work without a living wage. We are a grassroots campaign, formed in 2010 by people with experience of workfare and those concerned about its impact. We expose and take action against companies and organisations profiting from workfare; encourage organisations to pledge to boycott it; and actively inform people of their rights.”

Boycott Workfare names some of the failings of the Workfare program as including that it replaces jobs and undermines wages, which gives the campaign great relevance not just to those who are caught up in the scheme, but all people in the UK. Other problems include that the program does not include only those people classed as unemployed, but sick and disabled people too. …

In the UK, the Salvation Army is a leading participant in and beneficiary of Workfare (the YMCA is also heavily involved – see previous postings about the YMCA and the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse). This involvement by the Salvation Army is not particularly surprising, even if disappointing. The organisation has a long history of exploiting unpaid labour, including child labour. The latter was common practice in the children’s homes it ran in Australia, where children in Salvation Army children’s homes report being sent out to work to private individuals and some businesses as unpaid (well, it was the children who were unpaid, anyway) domestics and farm workers, amongst other things. Molestation by people who received child workers into their homes and properties was not uncommon. The author does not know whether money changed hands when adults were allowed to enter some children’s homes and rape children in Salvation Army children’s homes. Media reports, however, have used the phrase “rented out” to describe the practice occurring in the Salvation Army Bexley Boys’ Home in Sydney.

Should Work for the Dole come back, the first question that must be asked is whether the Salvation Army will jump at the chance to increase its vast riches with a new army of unpaid workers who must do exactly what the Salvation Army tells them to do or lose their benefits? Or whether it will do the right thing and refuse to participate in the scheme, as other Australian organisations with greater social consciences will do. This is a pressing moral issue for the Salvation Army. It will have an opportunity to resist the temptation to get in on the action and make some more profits from disadvantaged people in our society and demonstrate to Australian society that it puts people and principles above profits. It deserves to be judged harshly if it does not.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Neil P. McLaughlin was ordained a Jesuit of the Maryland Province in 1959. He spent the bulk of his ministry in the Scranton, PA diocese, as a Scranton Preparatory School science teacher and later as a campus minister and alumni club administrator at the University of Scranton. He was sent to a Highland Park, NJ parish for a year or so in 1964, then returned to Scranton. From the mid-1960s to the early 1980s McLaughlin spent summers as a Georgetown University Hospital chaplain. He also helped out at Scranton area parishes throughout the years. In 2006 McLaughlin was removed from ministry by the Jesuits after a review of his personnel file revealed an allegation of child sexual abuse from “much earlier.” In 2008 a woman reported to the province what they deemed a credible allegation that McLaughlin sexually abused her in 1963 in Scranton, when she was a young girl. The allegations weren’t made public until 2010, after McLaughlin told his order that “there may be other victims” in Scranton. McLaughlin was known in 2010 to be living in a Jesuit Community in Baltimore.

Ordained: 1959

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

It’s not Roman Catholic Church anymore. Pope Francis Bishop of Rome “is not a public official” with duties of “public service”: says Italian church norms

Paris Arrow

Updated April 5, 2014

One of the reasons why the Catholic Church must be called Vatican Catholic Church is that Catholics owe their allegiance to the Pope and to the Vatican “country”. Catholics have no loyalty to Rome or Italy whatsoever. Catholics are not Romans. Catholics are Vaticanites (rhymes like Canaanites)

The old tradition of saying Roman Catholic Church is obsolete, false, and not based on truth of today. To keep saying Roman Catholic Church is to steal the identity of the people of Rome.

We have been saying that Rome is a secular city where the pope has no power whatsoever. And today, the Italian bishops conference who published the new first Italian church norms – confirmed our reasons. It says that bishops “are exonerated” from releasing to the state documents in their possession about sexual abuse because a bishop is not a public official and is not charged with duties of “public service, he does not have the juridical obligation — save for a moral duty to contribute to the common good — to report to civil judicial authorities news he has received concerning illicit matters” of sex abuse. (That phrase of “save for a moral duty to contribute to the common good” is applicable to all persons be they citizens of Rome or not).

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NORTH CAROLINA
The Pendulum

by Stephanie Lamm on April 6, 2014

On April 4, Elon’s Society of Professional Journalists, the School of Communications, and the Truitt Center hosted Nicole Winfield, Vatican correspondent for the Associated Press. Winfield discussed the balance between critical and delicate coverage when reporting on religious figures as well as the stories she covered in her years at the Vatican.

The night opened with a somber reminder of the sacrifices journalists make to preserve freedom of the press. Two of Winfield’s AP colleagues, Anja Niedringhaus and Kathy Gannon, were killed last week while covering the conflict in Afghanistan.

“I have a pretty low risk assignment, but there is another side of reporting. Religious reporting can be particularly dangerous,” said Winfield. “Religion matters to people; they take it very seriously.” …

“Don’t let Francis’ positive appeal mislead you; he’s a conservative Catholic,” said Winfield. “He doesn’t care for a lot of ‘small minded rules,’ but there are some rules that form the core of church doctrine. Those won’t change. He is still against abortion and gay marriage.”

Several students who attended the lecture remarked that they did not know Francis’ comment had been misconstrued.

“I was surprised to hear her say Pope Francis is a conservative pope,” said sophomore Shelby Lewis. “You always hear the media frame him as a champion of social justice. It’s interesting to hear that many of his quotes have been taken out of context.” …

Winfield called her reporting style “informed, critical coverage.” Having reported on the sex abuse scandal, tense interfaith relations and Pope Benedict XVI’s controversial stance on condom use, Winfield said covering the Vatican is not a always a comfortable job.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 7, 2014

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

Barry Wilson does not have long to tell his story.

Six weeks ago, he was told he was dying of liver cancer. In five days, he shed about 16 kilograms.

Barry, who is 59, is not expected to live beyond next week, let alone long enough to see the end of the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

So on Tuesday, the royal commission will send representatives to his hospital bed in the northern Victorian town Kerang to hear him testify about the sexual abuse he suffered.

Barry says the pain comes and goes. His brother Peter, who is a year older than Barry, asks him if he wants him to leave the room. Barry says he can stay.

Slowly, Barry begins revealing as many details as he can. When he was about eight or nine, he was abused while in the care of the Christian Brothers at St Augustine’s Orphanage in Highton, Geelong.

Barry and Peter were both sexually abused by the same people when they were children. But they chose never to speak about it to each other. They probably never will.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MARK SCHLIEBS THE AUSTRALIAN APRIL 07, 2014

THE Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide warned that a government inquiry into the abuse of ­intellectually disabled children at an archdiocese school could jeopardise police attempts to convict a pedophile, a letter tendered to a royal commission has revealed.

Three months before the sexual abuse of several children between 1986 and 1991 at the St Ann’s Special School in Adelaide was revealed publicly, Archbishop Philip Wilson wrote to South Australia’s then education minister in 2001 about private calls for an inquiry.

Archbishop Wilson said that the church was prepared to “co-operate fully” if an inquiry was held but added that other parties would be concerned, according to the letter dated December 17, 2001.

“Our advice from the Police Department (sic), however, is to avoid taking any action that might jeopardise or inadvertently undermine their attempts to investigate (pedophile Brian) Perkins and have this matter ­resolved in the judicial system,” Archbishop Wilson said in the letter.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

APRIL 6, 2014

BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

One of loneliest places in church these days is the confession line. The act of confessing one’s sins, a requirement for Catholics, has sharply fallen over several decades with evolving views on sin, penance and the stature of the priesthood.

But now Pope Francis and church leaders, in a push to draw people back to confession, are highlighting what clergy say are the healing, uplifting aspects of the sacrament and focusing less on themes like punishment and condemnation.

A penance service in Dumont. Many Catholics remember when making confession meant waiting in long lines.

The Paterson Diocese and Newark Archdiocese are using websites, newspaper ads and highway billboards to get the message out. Under diocesan guidance, local churches have also added one extra day a week to hear confession during Lent, the period before Easter when penance is considered a Catholic duty. And the pope, in an image seen and talked about around the world, confessed to a priest last week in public view.

But will these efforts change attitudes among Catholics, many of whom believe confession no longer is a necessary part of the faith?

“It’s not something I look at as something I need to do to be a good Catholic, but I always know it’s there if I feel a need to go,” said Keith Ahearn, a churchgoer who lives in Oakland. …

The sex-abuse scandals that erupted in the church during the 1980s and ’90s made it less appealing to confess sins to priests, whose own sins and flaws were being exposed, especially amid reports that confession was used in some cases to groom victims.

“I think that does play into it. It’s what broke the image that priests are infallible,” Ahearn said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A survivor of child sexual abuse at the hands of Salvation Army officers says an apology from the organisation means nothing to him, while another witness has urged Australians to think twice about donating to the charity.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday heard from two men who survived abuse at different Salvation Army schools.

One man, FE, was raped repeatedly by guards at the Gill Memorial School in Goulburn in the early 1970s.

He said he was offered a $60,000 ex gratia payment by the Salvos in 2006, but was not told how that amount was calculated.

‘The way I saw it, it was hush money,’ FE said.

‘It’s an insult to be quite honest. It means nothing unless it’s sincere.’

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GEORGIA
AL.com

By Cassie Fambro | cfambro@al.com
on April 06, 2014

ATLANTA, Georgia– Roman Catholic Archbishop Wilton Gregory decided to sell his new $2.2 million mansion after the people in the pews voiced concerns over its excess, according to the LA Times.

Pope Francis has recently called for frugality, and followers of the Catholic faith believed that such a mansion wasn’t in line with that standard.

Gregory moved into the mansion earlier this year. The 6,000 square foot home was built at the site of a house donated to the archdiocese.

The house was paid for by a donation as well, according to the Associated Press.

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FLORIDA
10 News

Brandon, Florida- The church congregation arrived en mass. The assistant pastor identified herself, and we asked for comment.

“Not at this time,” she said.

As they walked in, none of the members said a word about Francisco Rios, pastor of Case de Amor, a name which means House of Love in Spanish.

It’s an ironic name, considering the charges Rios is facing and was arrested for Friday. Police say since 2011, Rios repeatedly touched a 17-year-old girl inappropriately, and told her it was because he loved her as a pastor.

He’s also accused of touching a 12-year-old-girl, and then an adult female, telling her it was to cure a medical condition.

The response to that allegation was swift.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

Abuse claims at four WA Christian Brothers’ school to be investigated by Royal Commission

EMILY MOULTON LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER PERTHNOW APRIL 06, 2014

CLAIMS of widespread child sex abuse at four Christian Brothers-run WA boarding schools will be investigated as part of a nationwide inquiry.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold its first WA public hearing at the end of this month.

It will hear from dozens of former boarders who spent time as young boys at Castledare Junior Orphanage in Wilson, St Vincent’s Orphanage in Clontarf, St Mary’s Agricultural School in Tardun, and Bindoon Farm School.

The inquiry will be one of the biggest investigations into claims of child sex abuse ever held in WA, with not only the Catholic Church under the spotlight but also successive WA governments.

It is understood the victims claim they were tortured, raped and degraded by Catholic priests while they were living at the residences run by the Christian Brothers.

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IRELAND
Sunday Independent

JIM CUSACK – PUBLISHED 06 APRIL 2014

MURDERED Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin was told her phone conversations with a garda about paedophile priest Sean Fortune were bugged by the same recording system which is only now coming under scrutiny.

She also believed that gardai were tipping off members of the hierarchy about her efforts to expose the cover-up of Fortune’s rape and abuse of teenage boys.

The concerns that Veronica had stemmed from an apparent tip-off she received from a senior garda source in Dublin who told her that her conversations with a garda source in Wexford had been recorded. One of her sources for the story about the priest was local activist Billy Moroney, a former Labour Party member who, along with Fethard-on-Sea farmer Sean Cloney has since died, had built up files on Sean Fortune and other clerical abusers in the south east.

The whole abuse scandal stemmed from the work these men started and the publicity generated by Veronica and other journalists.

Mr Moroney said that as part of her investigations, Veronica had been in touch with a garda who was also concerned about Fortune, who was effectively being shielded by the church.

He told the Sunday Independent: “She (Veronica) rang me early on a Sunday morning, around 7.30pm, and told me to contact (the garda) and tell him their conversations had been bugged. She had been at a social function in Dublin on the Saturday night and some senior garda had told her about it. She was catching a flight to Manchester for a match in Old Trafford on the Sunday morning. She was adamant that I talk to (the garda) face to face.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 6 April 2014)

In a written statement issued on 4 April 2014, the Catholic Church archdiocese of Melbourne says it will “revisit” its system of compensating church-abuse victims in the Melbourne-Geelong area, with a view to either increasing or removing the current maximum of $75,000 per victim. At present, most Melbourne victims are lucky to receive half that amount, or less, even if the church-abuse has devastated a family’s life.

The statement, issued on behalf of Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, promised that the archdiocese would seek input from victims “into how compensation should be awarded in the future and how past cases should be reviewed”.

Limitations

The following analysis from Broken Rites demonstrates that Archbishop Hart’s promise has some limitations:

* Australia is divided into 30 or so Catholic diocese (seven of these dioceses have the prefix “arch-“). The Melbourne archdiocese has a compensation system called the “Melbourne Response”, which operates only in the Melbourne region. Apart from Melbourne, all of Australia’s other dioceses a have a different compensation system, called “Towards Healing”.

* Geographically, the Melbourne archdiocese is confined to the Melbourne metropolitan area (plus the city of Geelong and a few small towns near Melbourne). This archdiocese does not cover the remainder of the state of Victoria. Victoria’s country areas are covered by three other dioceses – one for western Victoria (which has a cathedral at Ballarat), one for northern Victoria (with a cathedral at Bendigo) and one for eastern Victoria (with a cathedral at Sale).

* The Melbourne Response does not cover all priests in Melbourne — but only those priests who officially belong to this archdiocese. The Melbourne Response does not cover the many priests in Melbourne who belong to religious orders (such as Jesuits, Franciscans, Salesians and so on), as each of these religious orders has its own national leader (who is not a bishop). For example, priests in Melbourne from the Salesian religious order would be covered by Towards Healing, not by the Melbourne Response.

* And the Melbourne Response does not cover religious Brothers (such as the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers or the De La Salle Brothers), or nuns (such as the Sisters of Mercy, etc), as each of these orders has its own Australian national leader.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Observer

Chris McGreal
The Observer, Saturday 5 April 2014

A former Anglican archbishop of Rwanda has challenged a claim by the Church of England that he endorsed the appointment of a priest in Worcestershire who is under investigation over accusations that he was complicit in the 1994 genocide.

As Rwanda prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of the genocide tomorrow, the church said that Bishop Jonathan Ruhumuliza has been suspended while it looks into “disturbing” accusations, brought to its attention by the Observer in February, that he was a propagandist for the regime responsible for the murder of 800,000 Tutsis and was implicated in killings.

The Church of England has defended Ruhumuliza’s appointment as a priest at St Mary and All Saints church in Hampton Lovett, Worcestershire, in 2005 by saying that it conducted “extensive checks” into his background and found no evidence of involvement in the genocide. It said the bishop was “commended” to it by the then archbishop of Rwanda, Emmanuel Kolini.

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GEORGIA
Neighbor Newspapers

by Staff Reports

April 05, 2014

After being criticized for living in a $2.2 million home in Buckhead, Atlanta Roman Catholic Archbishop Wilton Gregory announced Saturday he will vacate his residence in early May and move into another available Archdiocesan property.

Gregory was criticized for living lavishly despite Pope Francis’ call to live more frugally. The archdiocese recently received $15 million from the estate of Joseph Mitchell, nephew of “Gone with the Wind” author Margaret Mitchell, and chose to spend some of it for Gregory’s home.

“After consultation with the members who were available to attend from the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, Archdiocesan Finance Council, and the Council of Priests and hundreds of well-meaning parishioners of differing points of view some who sent written observations, as well as my own personal reflection and prayer, I have decided to sell the Habersham [Road] property and invest the proceeds from that sale into the needs of the Catholic community,” Gregory said in a statement. “In early May, I will vacate the house. At this time we are considering a number of locations including another Archdiocesan property excluding the former residence.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ

New Vatican PR stunt of the day! by Opus Dei PR Deceits Team: “Pope Francis imposes austerity and Vatican officials complain of SOCIALISM”. Vatican claptrap!

Paris Arrow

Updated April 5, 2014

The Vatican has been deceiving mankind for 2,000 years and it is time for it to stop. And it must be stopped – now.

The Vatican City, the 0.2 square miles, is the apex of the 1% of the world’s wealthiest people. To comprehend the Vatican’s “Two thousand years of accumulated wealth from Cesar to the Space Age”, read the book Vatican Billions with highlights here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/03/vatican-billions-holy-mass-tourism-for.html Everyone who has read this book say that they will never believe again what Pope Francis say is the total assets of the Vatican Bank or Vatican finances, or what cardinals and bishops say is the wealth of their dioceses. Pope Francis and his cardinals and bishops are all masters of deceits and secrets especially when it comes to money. They have lots of practise because they can keep secret all the sins and crimes they hear in the Sacrament of Confession where they are cold-blooded and callous as they set criminals scot-free even while their victims suffer – many for a lifetime. Popes, cardinals, bishops and priests have no qualms about the consequences of those criminals who sins/crimes they have forgiven i.e. rape and forced pregnancy of victims, theft and loss of millions of dollars of victims, pedophilia and a lifetime of “living Hell” torture of victims.

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COLORADO
CBS Denver

[with video]

DENVER (CBS4)- Construction is underway on a multi-million dollar meeting facility that will include living quarters for Denver Arch Bishop Samul Aquila. Some are asking questions about how that money is being spent.

Pope Francis wants the Catholic church “Of the poor, for the poor” and big spending in other locations has caused some concern among the church.

The Pope has chosen to live the life of the messages he preaches, living in a modest guest house. He fired an Archbishop in Germany over living in a multi-million dollar home.

In Atlanta the Archbishop there apologized after moving into a $2.2 million home. He said he is putting that property up for sale.

University of Denver Religious Studies professor Carl Raschke said the Pope’s message is clear, “If you really want to get in tune with what Jesus was preaching, humble yourself. Don’t become this ‘bling-bling’ notion.”

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GEORGIA
CNN

By Chandrika Narayan, CNN, and Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

(CNN) – After coming under sharp criticism and issuing an apology earlier this week, the Archbishop of Atlanta announced Saturday that he would vacate his $2.2 million mansion in early May.

The decision came after a meeting with members of several church councils and parishioners in Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s headquarters north of Atlanta.

“I want to thank those parishioners whose prayers, counsel and concern brought this issue to light and ensured that their Archbishop was properly attuned to the important symbolism of simple actions and the challenges faced by many of the faithful in the Archdiocese of Atlanta,” Gregory said in a statement.

There were nearly 60 people present at the closed-door meeting, said Pat Chivers, communications director for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. They included members of the Archdiocesan Pastoral and Finance Council, the Council of Priests and parishioners of differing points of view,

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GEORGIA
Los Angeles Times

By Paresh Dave

April 5, 2014

A house built for $2.2 million by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta will be put up for sale — with proceeds to be spent on the local Catholic community — after some parishioners questioned why the mansion was ever erected, the archbishop announced Saturday.

The mansion, which Archbishop Wilton Gregory had moved in to early this year, represented a symbol of excess to some parishioners, he acknowledged this week. And its grandiosity contrasted with the calls for frugality from those made by Jesus Christ to those made by “the phenomenon we have come to know as Pope Francis,” the 66-year-old archbishop said.

After a meeting with church leaders and community members Saturday, Gregory released a statement declaring his plan to vacate the residence early next month and then sell it.

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ITALIEN
Die Welt

[Summary: New employees of the Catholic Church in Italy must now provide a police certificate when they come into contact with minors. The same is true for volunteers in a similar work envirgonment. The fine for employers who do not enforce the law is 10,000 to 15,000 euros.]

Maßnahme zur Verhinderung von Kindesmissbrauch: In der katholischen Kirche Italiens müssen neue Mitarbeiter ab Montag ein polizeiliches Führungszeugnis vorlegen, wenn sie bei ihrer Tätigkeit mit Minderjährigen in Kontakt kommen. Das gleiche gilt für Ehrenamtliche in einem arbeitsähnlichen Beschäftigungsverhältnis.

Laut dem betreffenden staatlichen Gesetzesdekret drohen Arbeitgebern, die auf den Nachweis verzichten, Geldstrafen zwischen 10.000 und 15.000 Euro. Die Maßnahme soll verhindern, dass Personen mit Kindern und Jugendlichen in Kontakt kommen, die durch pädophile Übergriffe oder Kinderpornografie straffällig wurden.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

APRIL 5, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Click here to read: “On the same page with Francis?,” by Will Bunch, The Philadelphia Daily News, April 4, 2013

Excerpt:

Indeed, the raw feelings caused by the abuse scandal has some local Catholics saying that Chaput could still be even more humble.

One group calling itself Catholics4Change questioned the cost of the recent donation-funded trip in which Chaput and top Pennsylvania pols went to Rome, as well as the archbishop’s failure to meet with their protesters outside the Center City cathedral on a recent Sunday.

The group’s leader, Susan Matthews, said that despite his recent remarks on inclusion, she believes that Chaput is still “all about a smaller church, a more pure church.”

EDITOR’S NOTE:

I just want to clear up that I never said that the “protestor’s” were “ours.” The group consisted of victims. While they may protest the actions of the Church, I think it’s very important that these people are referred to as victims of the Church. That’s why Archbishop Chaput should have personally greeted them. Also, Catholics4Change is a online forum not a group. I’m humbled by the relationships that have been formed here, but I don’t lay claim to them. Nor, do I claim to be a leader – I’m just a blog publisher. Each and every one of you is a leader in this cause.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

BY WILL BUNCH, Daily News Staff Writer bunchw@phillynews.com, 215-854-2957
POSTED: April 04, 2014

IT WAS 33 months ago that Archbishop Charles Chaput rode into Philadelphia from out west, with a whirlwind of social conservatism at his back.

The former top cleric in Denver had made a national name for himself with harsh words for President Obama and Catholics who were blase about Obama’s support for abortion rights – and in his first major Philadelphia interview he proclaimed that stopping gay marriage is “the issue of our time.”

But a little more than a year ago, Pope Francis took charge in Rome – and the winds of Catholicism shifted 180 degrees.

Under former Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the mission of fighting poverty has taken center stage while the hard-line approach on social issues has been moved to the background. As the new pope famously said of gay priests, “Who am I to judge?” …

But most agree that the big picture for Chaput has been blurred by the more immediate day-to-day crises of the Philadelphia Archdiocese – including the sex-abuse scandal involving dozens of priests named by two grand juries, multimillion-dollar budget deficits and controversial school and parish closings.

“Being vocal is not going to help him,” said Anthea Butler, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, suggesting another reason that Chaput has been less overtly political since arriving here.

Indeed, the raw feelings caused by the abuse scandal has some local Catholics saying that Chaput could still be even more humble.

One group calling itself Catholics4Change questioned the cost of the recent donation-funded trip in which Chaput and top Pennsylvania pols went to Rome, as well as the archbishop’s failure to meet with their protesters outside the Center City cathedral on a recent Sunday.

The group’s leader, Susan Matthews, said that despite his recent remarks on inclusion, she believes that Chaput is still “all about a smaller church, a more pure church.”

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GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Jaime Sarrio

Archbishop Wilton Gregory will vacate his $2.2-million Buckhead mansion in early May and move into another available archdiocese property.

The decision followed a Saturday morning meeting at the Archdiocese of Atlanta with three advisory councils.

“After consultation with the members and hundreds of well-meaning parishioners of differing points of view, as well as my own personal reflection and prayer, I have decided to sell the Habersham property and invest the proceeds from that sale into the needs of the Catholic community,” Gregory said in a statement.

Some parishioners have criticized the Catholic leader for living too opulent a lifestyle that’s out-of-step with the example set by Pope Francis. Gregory said earlier this week he erred in moving to a 6,196-square-foot house in the toniest section of Atlanta.

Gregory arrived at the meeting at the Archdiocese of Atlanta in his Lexus, according to news reports. About 60 people — including religious clergy and laypeople — attended the meeting, which started with a prayer led by Gregory, according to Patricia Chivers, spokeswoman for the archdiocese.

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GEORGIA
WSB

[with video]

ATLANTA, Ga. — Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory announced Saturday afternoon that he will vacate his$2.2 million Buckhead mansion next month and move into another Archdiocesan property.
He released the following statement, in part:

“After consultation with the members who were available to attend from the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, Archdiocesan Finance Council, and the Council of Priests, and hundreds of well-meaning parishioners of differing points of view some who sent written observations, as well as my own personal reflection and prayer, I have decided to sell the Habersham property and invest the proceeds from that sale into the needs of the Catholic community.”

Gregory met with the leaders in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.

Gregory apologized last week for building a 6,400 square foot Tudor-style mansion for himself, a decision criticized by local Catholics who cited the example of austerity set by the new pope. He said the home was paid for with money that was donated to the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

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GEORGIA
TH Online

Posted: Saturday, April 5, 2014
Associated Press

SMYRNA, Ga. — Trying to appease angry parishioners, the archbishop of Atlanta said today that he will sell a $2.2 million mansion just three months after he moved in.

Archbishop Wilton Gregory announced the decision following a closed-door meeting with members of several church councils at his headquarters north of Atlanta. He publicly apologized Monday for building the Tudor-style residence and offered to move elsewhere.

“I have decided to sell the Habersham property and invest the proceeds from that sale into the needs of the Catholic community,” Gregory told The Associated Press after the meeting.

A group of Catholics in Gregory’s diocese had asked since January that he sell off the more than 6,000-square-foot home in keeping with the tone of austerity set by Pope Francis. Elected last year, Francis said he wants a church for the poor, drives in an economy car and lives in a guestroom instead of a Vatican palace. He has denounced the “idolatry of money” and warned against “insidious worldliness” within the church.

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GEORGIA
The Week

Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory announced today that he will sell his $2.2 million mansion, which he just moved into three months ago.

Gregory says he made the decision following outcries from parishioners — and from an example of austerity Pope Francis has stringently followed during his first year on the job. Wondering what Gregory’s Tudor-style palace looked like?

As for how a priest even affords such digs, Joseph Mitchell, nephew of the author of “Gone With the Wind,” left more than $15 million to the local diocese when he died in 2011. The money was to be used for “general religious and charitable purposes,” and Gregory apparently decided a personal mansion fell under that umbrella.

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SCOTLAND
Telegraph

The Vatican knives are out – again – for disgraced gay Cardinal Keith O’Brien. Should we feel sorry for him?

By Damian Thompson

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, already bears the title of Most Disgraced Cardinal of the Twenty-first Century. He was the only cardinal-elector banned from voting in the conclave that elected Pope Francis. Why? Because he’d been accused of making sexual advances to young clergy, and admitted inappropriate sexual behaviour even after he was made a cardinal. He resigned his see and planned a quiet retirement in the Scottish countryside, only for Rome to force him into exile abroad. At which point his successor, Archbishop Leo Cushley, suggested that the old man “had been punished enough”.

Now we read this, by Joshua McElwee in the National Catholic Reporter:

The Vatican has appointed a bishop known for aggressively investigating cases of sexual abuse to take testimony of clergy alleging sexual misconduct in Scotland’s archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, where Cardinal Keith O’Brien was archbishop until resigning under disgrace in February 2013.

The archdiocese’s current leader, Archbishop Leo Cushley, announced the investigation in two letters sent to his clergy Tuesday.

The letters, which were obtained by NCR Thursday from a priest of the archdiocese, announce what may be the first instance of an investigation by the Vatican of sexual misconduct by one of the church’s cardinals, who are normally considered nearly above reproach in the Vatican’s hierarchical structure. …

There may be mixed feelings about this news from many Scots who knew Cardinal Keith O’Brien. He was an affable chap who enjoyed a dram and responded warmly to flattery: sly Alex Salmond worked this out early on, and sucked up shamelessly to O’Brien in an attempt detach Catholics voters from the Labour Party. I met the cardinal at a reception in Edinburgh and it was like talking to one of those twinkly-eyed Irish priests who build a personality cult in their parish. (Incidentally, Keith O’Brien is an Ulster Catholic by birth and upbringing.) His former friends may find it hard to banish the memory of this bonhomie, so much more agreeable than Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow’s chippy grandeur. Also, he hasn’t been charged with a criminal offence.

On the other hand, there are reasons not to feel sorry for the former archbishop.

First, he was a steaming hypocrite. Writing in the Telegraph in 2012, not long before the allegations against him were made public, the (actively homosexual) cardinal described gay relationships as “harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of those involved”. Funnily enough, he didn’t mention the harm caused by being sexually assaulted by your religious superior.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 6, 2014

Cardinal George Pell’s performance as the first Vatican financial tsar will be a factor in whether Pope Francis maintains popularity during his second year.

Attendances at Francis’ weekly audiences are more than twice as numerous as those of his two predecessors, but some observers suspend judgment awaiting action on matters such as clerical child abuse. If the Pell era means an end to financial scandals – and there is little excuse if it doesn’t – it could help persuade the sceptical that Francis is steak as well as sizzle.

The cardinals who elected Francis agreed that the stench of scandals from the central administration, the Roman Curia, had to be eliminated. The financial shenanigans and leakage of documents from the Pope’s study was confusing, but one thing was clear: the Italians, with their fierce turf wars, were the protagonists. Francis has now selected Pell to clear up the money.

Some commentators make it sound as if Pell’s job will be to pistol-whip shifty Italian functionaries on the grounds that Italians have no idea of Anglo-Saxon financial probity. But as there have been no Italian bank collapses or home-financing scandals as in the United States and England, some Italians consider Anglo-Saxon finance irresponsible.

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MARYLAND
Fox Baltimore

[with video]

for Updated: Friday, April 4 2014

An Archbishop Curley High School science teacher has been charged with sexual abuse of a student.

According to charging documents, Lynette Trotta and the victim began texting and emailing each other in November 2013. At some point, those exchanges allegedly became sexual. The student said that between December 2013 and January 2014, Trotta would pull him out of study hall so they could spend, “quality time” in her classroom.

The student says they kissed and fondled each other in her room. He also alleged that the two engaged in sexual activity in her car. Trotta is being held on three charges related to these allegations.

Her bail was set at $250,000. Trotta and the librarian, who the Archdiocese says was aware of the abuse but delayed reporting it, have been suspended.

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COLORADO
The Denver Post

By Joey Bunch
The Denver Post
POSTED: 04/05/2014

While the Vatican is calling out bishops across the globe for approving lavish homes for themselves, the Archdiocese of Denver on Friday defended its $6.5 million Holy Trinity Center project, which includes a new residence for Archbishop Samuel Aquila.

The project also provides meeting space and residences for other bishops as part of a church-approved expansion on the John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization seminary campus in Denver, said archdiocese spokeswoman Karna Swanson.

The money for it comes from private donors and church investments earmarked for such construction on the 108-year-old campus, she said.

“The archbishop took it on himself to do most of the fundraising,” Swanson said of Aquila, a former student at the Denver seminary.

Aquila received approval for the project from several intra-church committees as part of the campus’ long-range plan, and it has been publicized in church reports for months without issue, she said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune

BY PETER CAMERON (STAFF WRITER)
Published: April 5, 2014

When Kay Vargo decided to marry her high school sweetheart, she asked the priest with whom she felt most connected to officiate the ceremony later this year: the Rev. Philip Altavilla.

So the revelation late Thursday that the priest had been arrested for giving alcohol to a 13-year-old and touching her inappropriately after a midnight Christmas Mass in 1998 at St. Patrick’s Parish in Scranton hit Ms. Vargo particularly hard.

“I cried,” said Ms. Vargo, 19, who first met the Rev. Altavilla while he served at her family’s church, Our Lady of the Snows in Clarks Summit. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“It’s kind of a shock-and-awe situation,” said her father, Al Vargo, echoing many who knew and worshipped with the priest.

Police took the Rev. Altavilla, 315 Wyoming Ave., Scranton, into custody Thursday night after he admitted on the phone – while officers listened – to the now-adult victim of having a “foot fetish” and touching her inappropriately, according to court records. The priest is free on $75,000 unsecured bail after being charged with indecent assault, criminal attempt to indecent assault and corruption of minors. His preliminary hearing is slated for Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
Pearls and Irritations

Posted on March 29, 2014 by John Menadue

It was sad and painful, and no satisfaction, sitting at home in front of a computer, watching a senior prelate stagger around, wounded and bleeding. I sat glued to the screen, mesmerized, fiercely proud of our legal system, and watched a prince of the Church in humble street-clothes being tormented.

George Pell, Cardinal Archbishop, sat there day after day, an image of King Lear, a broken man, weary, slow and incompetent, a man who had spent his life climbing the greasy clerical pole, now at the tail-end of his life, being forced to answer questions and to confront his conscience, summoning hollow logic to assist in his defence, thrashing about blaming others, constructing academic distinctions, trying to exculpate himself and deflect the load which will inevitably be heaped upon him. His private secretary, Dr Casey, Mr John Davoren, the elderly man and ex-priest who used to be in charge of the healing service of the archdiocese, and Monsignor Brian Rayner, his former chancellor – all muddlers, all incompetent and unable to provide an accurate version of events, while he was macro-managing the show with his hands off the wheel. The board of any public company would have long since called for the resignation of its CEO.

His time in Sydney was at an end and the cardinal was heading off to the Vatican to take control of a bank in trouble and of the finances of a giant, international organization. Let’s hope he asks more questions over there than he did at St Mary’s. He was in charge. He was the boss. The orchestra was under his direction. At the beginning of the hearing, even years before, Pell should had put his hands in the air and confessed. “I made bad choices. Very bad. Me. I received bad advice and accepted it. I allowed wounded people to be tormented. They were my mistakes – and they have had truly awful consequences.”

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Informador (Mexico)

LONDRES, INGLATERRA (05/ABR/2014).- El Vaticano abrirá una investigación sobre el cardenal católico escocés Keith O’Brien, acusado por otros sacerdotes de haber cometido acoso sexual en la década de 1980, reveló ayer la cadena británica BBC.

El 25 de febrero de 2013, la Santa Sede aceptó la renuncia de O’Brien, poco antes de que se celebrara el cónclave para nombrar a un nuevo papa, del que salió elegido Francisco y en el que no hubo representantes británicos. En esos días Benedicto XVI anunciaba su retiro, entre otras cosas, por no tener fuerzas para atender las necesidades de la iglesia, sumida en varias crisis: pérdida de fieles, corrupción en el banco Vaticano y fuerte presión internacional por los casos de pederastia encubiertos por la misma institución.

Keith O’Brien, de 75 años, admitió en marzo del pasado año haber mantenido una “conducta sexual inapropiada” y lo hizo pocos días después de haber renunciado al cargo de arzobispo de St Andrews y Edimburgo. En febrero de ese año, habían trascendido las acusaciones de tres sacerdotes y un ex sacerdote, que lo denunciaron por “conducta indebida”.

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By Dan Swenson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on April 02, 2014

New Bethany Home for Girls near Arcadia, La., was open from the early 1970s until its closure in 2001. It was a boarding school founded by Mack Ford, a preacher who identified himself as an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist. Over the years, Ford fought attempts by state and local agencies to investigate fire code compliance and claims of child abuse at the home. Four women who lived there recently made reports to law enforcement claiming sexual abuse at the home.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Rebecca Catalanello, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on April 04, 2014

Teresa Frye knows that what she is about to say could make some people angry but she needs to say it anyway.

“It’s wrong,” the 46-year-old says in her North Carolina twang, “for me to say that it’s perfectly acceptable for an adult survivor of sexual abuse to stay silent about what happened to them.”

Frye, a single working mother of four, feels so strongly that sex abuse victims should report their abusers that she recently traveled 900 miles and spent hundreds of dollars to help support a woman she knew only through Facebook on her quest to tell investigators her story of childhood molestation.

The trip, which she helped coordinate with several other like-minded women, was the culmination of a core-shaking journey that Frye started about seven years earlier as she sought to make sense of the eight months she spent as a child at New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia, La.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Dan Swenson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on April 03, 2014

New Bethany Home for Girls survived for three decades amid law enforcement inquiries, court battles and accusations of abuse. A chronology of key events in the compound’s legal history:

1971

New Bethany Home for Girls is founded in Arcadia, La., by Mack Ford, a preacher with the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Church denomination.

1975

December: Ford is arrested on four counts of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon after the Bienville Parish Sheriff receives a report that another employee of New Bethany fired a shotgun into the back of a car carrying four brothers and driving on a road that cuts through the compound. A witness would tell The Times-Picayune in 1983 that Ford was one of several to arrive at the scene after the four young men bailed out of the car and started running for safety — and that Ford emerged from his vehicle with a rifle. The case was never pursued in court, according to news accounts.
1980

Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources tries to close the school for refusing to allow state inspection and licensing. A district judge rules the state lacks the authority to do so.

1981

May: L.D. Rapier, manager for New Bethany Home for Boys in Longstreet, La., is arrested and charged with cruelty to children after four boys who ran from the home say they were beaten. Ford is quoted in a wire story saying the school is being harassed, the boys can’t be trusted and the school uses “old fashioned ways — discipline.” The school is soon closed and the charges against Rapier are dropped.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Rebecca Catalanello, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on April 04, 2014

The girl rose from the ditch like an animal in headlights.

In 32 years, Ralph and Elizabeth Jordan haven’t forgotten the sight.

“We just saw a kid,” Elizabeth Jordan remembers. “I thought if she was desperate enough to come out of the ditch, something was wrong.”

Ralph slowed his green van along Highway 9 in Arcadia, La. The couple’s two young daughters were in the back seat. Elizabeth cracked her door to speak to the girl. Without asking, the girl climbed in.

“Take me to the sheriff’s office,” she begged as she crawled over Elizabeth. “Take me to the sheriff’s office!”

As the Jordans discussed what to do, a car passed them on Highway 9, then slowed and pulled across the road to block them. Four or five men jumped out, according to a story in The Times-Picayune from the time.

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

LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

Part 1: To New Bethany and back: One woman’s journey to report the man she says sexually abused her

By Rebecca Catalanello, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on April 03, 2014

In late December of 1991, a 20-year-old woman sat down in a room with a cassette recorder and two other women more than twice her age.

Tell us everything that happened, one of the older women said. Then she pressed a button to record.

Shannon Scott says she did as she was told. In five years living at New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia, La., that was one thing she knew to do.

Three days later, she says, one of the women handed Scott a plane ticket, directed her to a car with keys in it and instructed her to drive herself to the airport where she would board a plane back home — far away from this place where she had lived since she was 15 years old.

The Associated Press reported a few days later, on Jan. 8, 1992, that New Bethany had closed. After years of legal entanglement with state and local authorities, the school had decided to send all the residents home.

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

LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Rebecca Catalanello, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on April 04, 2014

A national victims’ advocate organization concerned with sexual abuse by members of the clergy is calling on Louisiana law enforcement to act quickly with respect to its investigation into abuse allegations at a former girls home in the state.

Barbara Dorris, outreach director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, issued a statement in response to Nola.com | The Times-Picayune’s stories this week chronicling a woman’s journey to report sex abuse she said happened to her while she was a resident at New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia.

Bienville Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana State Police have confirmed they are investigating complaints made by former New Bethany resident Jennifer Halter, 39, and others that the school’s founder, Mack Ford, sexually abused them.

Ford, now 82, has declined to talk to Nola.com | The Times-Picayune.

Here is a portion of Dorris’ statement:
“We urge Louisiana law enforcement officials to move very quickly to investigate … the horrific crimes reported by Jennifer Halter and others at the New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia. We are deeply moved by the suffering and the courage of these brave women. Their concern for others and their own deep pain should prompt speedy and thorough action by police and prosecutors.

“Quick movement by authorities would likely encourage other sex crime victims to step forward. That, in turn, would almost certainly prevent more sex crimes.

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OHIO
Columbus Dispatch

By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch • Saturday April 5, 2014

Ohio law gives victims of childhood sexual abuse until age 30 to file lawsuits over the trauma they couldn’t acknowledge until they become adults.

Amid furor over sexual abuse by some Catholic priests, lawmakers in 2006 enacted a law instituting a 12-year statute of limitations for the filing of lawsuits from the time most victims turn 18 years of age.

The law permits almost anyone to be sued for damages within 12 years — parents, teachers, coaches, clergy, juvenile-detention-center employees and others.

But, those who claim they were sexually preyed upon by state employees at state institutions don’t have nearly as long to turn to court.

Damage claims against the state must be filed within two years of an injury or loss under a separate law.

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

AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

By GEMMA KHAICY April 5, 2014

Kathleen McCormack has retired from the Wollongong Catholic welfare agency she established 35 years ago. She spoke to GEMMA KHAICY about what she witnessed through her work.

The Church’s culture of silence muted their voices, but the pain of sexual abuse victims burned until it couldn’t be contained.

When CatholicCare’s Kathleen McCormack heard victims’ stories, she went straight to the police demanding justice.

“Sexual abuse in general was a hidden culture, no one talked about it,” she says.

“A number of parents abused their children too, and in those days people didn’t believe or support you.”

In the early to mid-1990s, CatholicCare advocated for victims of sexual abuse in the Church and asked clergy to address the problem.

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

MALTA
Times of Malta

by Fr Joe Borg

Yesterday the Curia lambasted Minister Helena Dali’s reported speech in Parliament of April 2nd wherein she stated that paedophile priests and paedophile laymen are treated differently and this has to stop.

Minister Dalli seems to have repeated what she had written in her March 28 column in The Times of Malta titled “Matters pertaining to the state”. She most quoted from an article she had written three years ago: “ The situation is such whereby a priest abusing children and teenagers may be treated differently to a lay person committing the same crime in that the former may simply be prosecuted internally within the Church structures“.

This is manifestly not true and a member of the Cabinet is expected to know that this is not true. It was only a few months ago that two priests were handed a prison sentence because of sexual abuse of minors. There is a difference in the sense that priests are condemned by both Church and civil/criminal courts while laymen are judged only by the criminal/civil courts.

I however agree with another point made in the article she quoted from, that is, abusive priests should also be reported to the police.

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SCOTLAND
Telegraph

By Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor

The Vatican has appointed a bishop with a reputation for investigating sexual abuse to conduct an inquiry into the scandal surrounding the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, it has been announced.

Bishop Charles Scicluna has been appointed by the Congregation for Bishops as its special envoy to listen and report on allegations against the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh following a request from Pope Francis.

Cardinal O’Brien resigned in disgrace in February last year after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour against him.

Archbishop Leo Cushley said that the appointment of Bishop Scicluna is “indicative of the seriousness with which this matter is being taken”.

The bishop has been credited with reforming the Vatican’s attitude to sexual abuse over the past decade, even by victims, overhauling its internal norms to make it easier to defrock abusers.

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CONNECTICUT
CT Now

COURANT STAFF REPORT
The Hartford Courant
4:52 p.m. EDT, April 4, 2014

Voice of the Faithful, a lay organization pushing for structural reform in the Roman Catholic Church, has its first overall assembly in two years in Hartford on Saturday.

More than 200 people are registered to attend the conference at the Connecticut Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. This year’s theme is “Turning Talk Into Action.”

“This is a great opportunity,” said Jayne O’Donnell of West Hartford, development coordinator for Voice of the Faithful. She said workshops will give participants hands-on tools they can use when they return to their communities to promote reform and healing in the church.

The morning will be dominated by an address by John L. Allen Jr., a longtime news reporter covering the Vatican, who was recently named associated editor for Catholic news at the Boston Globe. Also speaking will be the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest, author, and senior analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper.

Afternoon workshops will focus on financial accountability, women in the church, clericalism and celibacy, and support for survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

The final session Saturday will be a panel discussion on healing and reform.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Express

By: Stephen Wilkie
Published: Sat, April 5, 2014

Maltese Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna, who headed the team examining clerical abuse for a decade, will be in Scotland next week to take evidence about alleged sexual misconduct.

Cardinal O’Brien’s successor, Archbishop Leo Cushley, gave details in a letter to clergy in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

He said Bishop Scicluna would “listen to and report the testimony offered by past and present members of the clergy concerning any incidents of sexual misconduct committed against them by other members of the clergy”.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down in February 2013 after acknowledging that his sexual behaviour as a priest, bishop and cardinal, had “fallen beneath the standards” of a clergyman.

Following allegations from three serving priests and a former seminarian, the Cardinal was told to have a period of repentance and reflection outside Scotland.

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UNITED STATES
Seattle Times

By Mary Dispenza
Special to The Times

A WEEK ago, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian Episcopal Conference, defended the Vatican’s policy of not requiring clergy to report child sex abuse to the authorities. “The Vatican requires national laws to be respected, and we know that there is no such duty (to report abuse) under Italian law,” he told reporters.

It was a disappointment because Pope Francis had just appointed a commission to advise him on sex-abuse policy. Bagnasco’s comments sounded like business as usual.

The comments also ignore the scathing report issued by a United Nations human-rights committee in February, which rebuked the Vatican for its long-standing and systematic cover-up of sexual abuse of children around the world. The report made concrete suggestions for ways to protect children in the future.

I call on Pope Francis and his newly formed committee to respond to Bagnasco’s words by showing they take the U.N. report seriously. To do so, he must take action now to acknowledge the Vatican’s leadership role and initiate a worldwide process to end priest sexual abuse of children and to begin healing the Catholic Church.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Saturday 5 April 2014

Gerry Braiden
Senior reporter

THE Vatican’s chief sex crimes prosecutor is to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

In an unprecedented move, Bishop Charles Scicluna, who has been investigating clerical abuse for a decade, will be dispatched to Scotland next week to take testimonies from those with information about the sexual misconduct allegations surrounding the Cardinal.

Complaints against other members of the clergy will also be taken on board.

Cardinal O’Brien’s successor Archbishop Leo Cushley said the Maltese bishop would “listen to and report the testimony offered by past and present members of the clergy … concerning any incidents of sexual misconduct committed against them by other members of the clergy whomsoever”.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February 2013 after confessing to sexual behaviour spanning his time as a priest, bishop and cardinal.

In a letter to clergy in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Archbishop Cushley said Bishop Scicluna would visit betweenTuesday and Thursday, adding he had spoken to the Pope and to Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, about the matter.

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SCOTLAND
Glasgow Evening Times

The Vatican is to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct which led to the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Bishop Charles Scicluna has been appointed by the Congregation for Bishops as its special envoy to listen and report on allegations against the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh following a request from Pope Francis.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down in February last year after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

His successor Archbishop Leo Cushley said the appointment is “indicative of the seriousness with which this matter is being taken”.

Bishop Scicluna has been credited with reforming the Vatican’s attitude to sexual abuse over the past decade.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Evening News

A LEADING Vatican enforcer has been ordered by the Pope to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct which led to the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Maltese bishop Charles Scicluna has been appointed by the Congregation for Bishops as its special envoy to listen and report on allegations against the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

O’Brien stepped down in February last year after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

The former leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland admitted that he had “fallen beneath the standards expected of me”.

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

ITALY
The Local

The Catholic Church in Italy from Sunday will implement new guidelines against child sex abuse that have proved controversial because they impose a “moral duty” but no legal obligation to report allegations to the police.

The rules also oblige Catholic dioceses to exclude anyone with prior convictions involving children from working with minors, but make an exception for volunteers who are not subject to the same requirement.

In an official document published on Friday, the Italian Bishops’ Conference said that this exception “does not exclude the possibility or opportunity of requiring a copy of criminal records also for them”.

The guidelines state that collaborating with judicial authorities is “important” but at the discretion of bishops — unlike in Germany or Ireland where Catholic bishops’ conferences have imposed more binding rules.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Italy’s top cleric, defended the decision earlier saying: “The Vatican requires national laws to be respected, and we know that there is no such duty (to report abuse) under Italian law”.

But the guidelines have sparked fury among victim support groups, with the US-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) deploring the “stunning, depressing and irresponsible contradiction between what Vatican officials say about abuse, and do about abuse.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s reorganization plan for exiting its bankruptcy is “morally repugnant,” not in the best interest of its creditors and should be rejected by creditors and the court, a committee representing clergy sex abuse victims and other creditors said in a document filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Friday.

That objection, submitted in advance of an April 17 hearing on the plan’s disclosure statement, takes issue with myriad assertions made by the archdiocese in the reorganization plan submitted to the court in February. And it telegraphs the committee’s intention to continue to pursue certain assets, including $60 million the committee says was fraudulently transferred into a cemetery trust, proceeds from a $105 million capital campaign and the archdiocese’s sprawling lakefront headquarters campus, known as the Cousins Center.

“The Committee believes the Plan is a morally repugnant attempt to shield essentially all of its assets, save insurance proceeds, from the claims of the Abuse Survivors and obtain releases (of liability) for itself and all its parishes,” the creditors committee asserts in the filing. And it urges all creditors with standing to vote on the plan to reject it.

Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for Archbishop Jerome Listecki, said Friday that lawyers for the committee are “re-arguing points that the court has already ruled upon.”

“The committee’s objections have been clearly addressed, in great detail, in the disclosure statement,” Topczewski said in an email to the Journal Sentinel. “After three and one-half years, we have turned a corner in this proceeding, and it is time for both the archdiocese and the community to move forward by bringing the Chapter 11 to its conclusion.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SF Gate

By M.L. JOHNSON, Associated Press
Updated 3:19 pm, Friday, April 4, 2014

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Attorneys representing sexual abuse victims filed an objection Friday to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s bankruptcy reorganization plan.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, saying it would not have the money to pay if lawsuits filed by victims of clergy sexual abuse went against it. Hundreds of victims then filed claims in bankruptcy court, accusing the archdiocese of covering up abuse and moving priests to new churches without warning parishioners.

The reorganization plan filed by the archdiocese in February would set aside about $4 million to compensate nearly 130 people abused by priests who worked for the archdiocese. It would be one of the smallest per-victim settlements yet in about a dozen bankruptcy cases involving Roman Catholic dioceses, and would pay nothing to people abused by lay people or priests assigned to religious orders — even if they worked in the archdiocese.

The $4 million would come from a roughly $8 million settlement the archdiocese reached with a group of insurers known as Lloyd’s of London. The rest of the settlement would go toward the archdiocese’s bankruptcy costs.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

[with video]

April 4, 2014, by Stacy Lange

SCRANTON — Father Philip Altavilla was the pastor at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton for the past few years, making him one of the most visible priests in the Diocese of Scranton. He has been removed from his post since being arrested and charged Thursday night with indecent assault and corruption of minors.

The charges stem from allegations that Altavilla abused a teenage girl back in 1998.

As pastor of the Diocese of Scranton’s flagship church, Fr. Altavilla has preached in front of thousands. He’s now been suspended from his priestly duties after those allegations of child sexual abuse.

Altavilla was charged with indecent assault and corruption of minors stemming from a 1998 incident where he allegedly molested a 13-year-old girl.

That girl was an altar server at St. Patrick’s Church in west Scranton where Altavilla once was pastor. According to court papers, Altavilla gave the girl alcohol after Christmas Eve midnight mass in 1998.
He then drove her to a parking lot on Academy Street in Scranton. The girl told police he took off her shoes and touched her legs and feet.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times Leader

[with assignment history]

April 04. 2014

By Mark Guydish – mguydish@civitasmedia.com

SCRANTON — Priest, pastor of the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, chaplain for high school students and Boy Scout troops, adoptee who presided over his father’s funeral in Wilkes-Barre, Bishop Hoban Graduate class of 1984 — the Rev. Phillip Altavilla was all these things.

Now he is one more: The latest Diocese of Scranton priest accused of misconduct with a minor.

Scranton police arrested Altavilla Thursday after a woman approached them with a story as sordid as the night it allegedly happened was spiritual.

As a 13-year-old member of St. Patrick’s Church in Scranton in 1998, she had the honor of serving Midnight Mass Christmas morning, the police affidavit says. It is often the most ornately decorated and richly orchestrated ceremony of a Catholic parish, marking the Christian date for the birth of the faith’s Savior.

Police report

According to police, the woman said that after the Mass, Altavilla offered her alcohol in the parish rectory, then gave her a ride home, parking along the way and fondling her feet and legs before she objected.

Police say upon receiving the report they had the woman call Altavilla while they listened in, and he admitted to the alcohol, touching her feet and placing his hand up her leg. According to the affidavit, Altavilla said “he has a foot fetish and feet gratify him and are sexual to him.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2014

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

A lawyer for convicted child rapist Bernard Shero is seeking a new trial based on “newly discovered evidence” of contradictory and false statements made by alleged victim “Billy Doe” to his many drug counselors.

Doe, now 26, is the former 10-year-old altar boy who claimed at two historic Philadelphia sex abuse trials that he was raped by two priests as well as Shero, a former Catholic school teacher. It was Doe’s testimony that also sent Msgr. William J. Lynn to jail for 18 months before an appeals court overturned Lynn’s conviction.

The “newly discovered evidence” surfaced during a civil case that Doe has filed against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Doe, a former heroin addict, had been treated at 23 drug rehabs. In the civil case, he’s seeking money for alleged damage to his mental health. So a judge in the civil case has ordered the defendant’s lawyers to turn over Billy Doe’s medical records from the 23 drug rehabs.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Yesterday, spry octogenarian Ralph Doughty (pictured above) gave evidence at the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Dr Doughty, a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court NSW and High Court of Australia, suffered unimaginable abuses during the ten years he spent at the Nazi concentration camp environment that was the Salvation Army Gill Memorial Boys’ Home in Goulburn, in New South Wales, Australia. Dr Doughty spent 10 years of his childhood in the home, experiencing multiple forms of abuse, of the most extreme nature.

The atrocities committed against innocent young boys committed at ‘The Gill’ have been documented well in various enquiries and media accounts, so the author will not recount these in this post, leaving the interested reader to instead learn more by reading the ‘Read more here’ links at the end of this post.

This post is to give something of an overview of Dr Doughty’s appearance, with a focus on how Dr Doughty appears to have been treated by the Salvation Army, and how he resisted the ‘authoritah’ of the Salvation Army.

Dr Doughty, a man of great courage, mounted, over the years, a fierce resistance to the Salvation Army’s fairly standard modus operandi in dealing with victims of its many, many children’s homes in Australia. While there are some variations, from media and enquiry reports to date, these might broadly be summarised as including the elements of the Salvation Army:

Apologising to the victim.
Offering a ludicrously low “ex-gratia” sum of money to the victim.
Calling the payment offered “a tangible expression of our regret.”
Denying liability to the victim “as alleged or at all.”
Withholding payment of said “ex-gratia” payment until the victim signs a Deed of Settlement and Release that, broadly, sees the victim agree not to pursue the Salvation Army in legal actions and also often agree to not speak to anyone about the ‘settlement’ made unless the Salvation Army allows them to.

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MARYLAND
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho April 4, 2014

Today the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced that it has suspended a high-school teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with one of her students this year. Which is what a diocese does when it learns that one of its employees may have abused a minor. But what does a diocese do when it also learns that the staff member who first received the allegation waited weeks to report it? Turns out this one suspends that employee too–and names her (and the accused) in a public statement and a letter to parents.

A number of weeks ago, Annette Goodman, the school’s librarian, learned about the allegation. Maryland law and the policies of the Archdiocese and Archbishop Curley High School require that allegations of child abuse be reported to civil authorities and to the head of the school as soon as possible. Ms. Goodman reported the information to the school’s administration on April 1.

There’s transparency and then there’s transparency.

Maryland law requires mandatory reporters–which includes educators–to orally notify civil authorities of suspected abuse “immediately” (they have forty-eight hours to file a written report).

You may recall a somewhat similar case involving a diocesesan staff member who came to suspect one of his priests was in possession of child pornography. He was eventually found guilty of failing to report suspected child abuse. But he wasn’t suspended, and he remains in the position he held when he broke the law: bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore

April 04, 2014

Statement from the Archdiocese of Baltimore

The Archdiocese of Baltimore and Archbishop Curley High School have received an allegation involving Ms. Lynette Trotta, 33. Ms. Trotta has been a science teacher at Archbishop Curley High School since January 2007. Ms. Trotta is alleged to have engaged in a sexual relationship with a current student during the current school year.

A number of weeks ago, Annette Goodman, the school’s librarian, learned about the allegation. Maryland law and the policies of the Archdiocese and Archbishop Curley High School require that allegations of child abuse be reported to civil authorities and to the head of the school as soon as possible. Ms. Goodman reported the information to the school’s administration on April 1. The school immediately informed the Archdiocese about the allegation and the Archdiocese reported the allegation to the Baltimore Police Department and Child Protective Services of the Department of Social Services the same day.

The Archdiocese and the school have been cooperating with the Baltimore Police Department in its investigation, which has resulted in the arrest of Ms. Trotta. The Baltimore Police Department permitted the Archdiocese and the school to share with the school community information about the allegation.

Archbishop Curley High School has suspended Ms. Trotta and Ms. Goodman from their positions at the school.

A letter is being sent with this statement to families of current students and to recent school graduates informing them about this matter and encouraging anyone with information about this or any possible incident of abuse to report it to civil authorities and to the Archdiocese and/or Archbishop Curley High School. Likewise, current students are being informed of the allegation today and being encouraged to share any concerns or relevant information with civil authorities and the Archdiocese and/or Archbishop Curley High School. The Archdiocese and the school are offering counseling assistance and pastoral care to those who may have been affected and to the entire student community.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore and Archbishop Curley High School are committed to protecting children and helping to heal victims of abuse. Anyone who has any knowledge of child sexual abuse is urged to come forward, and to report it immediately to the police. If clergy or other Church personnel are suspected of committing the abuse, please also call the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Office of Child and Youth Protection at 410-547-5348.

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MARYLAND
KERO

BALTIMORE, Md. – A science teacher at Archbishop Curley High School has been suspended from the school and is facing criminal charges after allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with one of her students.

Lynette Trotta, 33, of the 3000 block of Oak Forest Drive in Parkville, is charged with sex abuse of a minor, sexual solicitation of a minor and fourth-degree sex offense by a person of authority.

Trotta has been a science teacher at the high school since 2007, the Archdiocese of Baltimore confirmed in a statement. The alleged abuse involved one of Trotta’s current students and took place during the current school year, according to the Archdiocese.

Trotta’s male student told investigators she developed a personal interest in him in November 2013 and between December and January, allegedly pulled him out of class on a regular basis to spend “quality time” with her in her classroom and engage in sexual activity, according to police documents.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Lizzy Davies in Rome
theguardian.com, Friday 4 April 2014

A Vatican-appointed bishop will fly into Scotland next week to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding Cardinal Keith O’Brien, it has emerged.

O’Brien’s successor as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, announced the unusual step in letters sent to his clergy this week, according to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR).

The Pope’s spokesman, Federico Lombardi, told the Guardian he had “nothing to add” to the report, which said that, following a request from Pope Francis, the Maltese auxiliary bishop Charles Scicluna would visit the archdiocese from 8-10 April.

According to the NCR, Cushley’s two letters said Scicluna, the Vatican’s former sex crimes prosecutor, would “listen to and report the testimony offered by past and present members of the clergy … concerning any incidents of sexual misconduct committed against them by other members of the clergy whomsoever.”

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UNITED STATES
The Huffington Post

by Yasmine Hafiz

Posted: 04/04/2014

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released their eleventh annual report on the progress of implementing the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People as part of the effort to increase transparency with regards to sexual abuse. The 2013 audit was carried out by StoneBridge Business Partners, which collected data from 127 dioceses/eparchies between July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, USCCB president, wrote:

The healing of victims/survivors of abuse remains our first priority. We join Pope Francis in his desire that the response of the Church be pastoral and immediate. This year’s report reflects our pledge to address the sexual abuse of minors through comprehensive efforts to reach out to victims with care and compassion, a commitment to report all abuse to the authorities, accountability for those who have committed acts of abuse, and strong efforts in education and prevention.
This report is part of a pledge we have made to remain accountable and vigilant. Behind the data contained in the report are men and women, adults and children, in need of our prayers and support. As we continue to create a climate of safety for all minors entrusted to the Church’s pastoral care, our three-fold pledge guides us: to help victims heal; to educate about and prevent abuse; and to hold accountable those who have harmed children. These remain essential priorities for our Church.
Takeaways from the report:

936 Allegations Of Sexual Abuse Were Made Last Year

Between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013, 857 people came forward in 191 Catholic dioceses and eparchies to make 936 allegations of sexual abuse.

136 Allegations Of Sexual Abuse Have Been Substantiated
allegations

As of June 30, 2013, 136 allegations were considered substantiated, which means that enough evidence was found to prove that abuse occurred.

730 Clerics Were Accused Of Abuse During The 2013 Audit Period

538 of those accused were priests, of which 382 were diocesan priests, 110 belonged to a religious order, and forty-six had been incardinated elsewhere. Eleven deacons were accused, and 175 accused were of an unknown clerical status.

28% Of Accused Clerics Are Currently Deceased

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VATICAN CITY
O’Dwyer’s

By Kevin McCauley

The emergence of Pope Francis as a global media superstar is a shocker for the former Time magazine and Fox News Channel reporter who is now a media advisor to the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

Greg Burke, who became Fox’s Rome correspondent when Pope John Paul II fell ill, noted that Pope Francis had minimal contact with the media in his former capacity as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and head of the Jesuits in Argentina, doing only about half dozen media interviews.

Speaking today at Arthur Page Society spring meeting in New York, Burke conceded that he didn’t know what he was getting into.

Scant PR Plan

Francis has little formal contact with Vatican spokesperson Father Federico Lombardo, whom he meets two or three times a week.

The Pope’s authenticity and message of compassion and inclusion has registered with the world’s media, but Burke said Francis is just carrying out the role of the traditional parish priest.

Burke pointed out that even at the depth of the Church’s sex abuse scandals, Catholics have rallied around their local priests.

Doing an electronic survey of the audience, Burke showed three questions on global poverty, homosexuality and womens’ role in the Church and asked people to identify which statement came from Francis. The poverty question came out on top.

Burke said each was a statement from Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict.

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MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

for immediate release: Friday, April 04, 2014

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

A Baltimore teacher has been arrested for sexually abusing one of her current students. We urge Catholic officials to fire and denounce – not just suspend – the librarian who kept silent about these crimes for weeks and discipline two Catholic officials who are calling these crimes “a relationship.”

[WBAL]

[Archbishop Curley High School]

They are wrong and callous to do so. It’s misleading and hurtful to call child sex crimes “a relationship.” That implies equality and consent that cannot exist between an adult and a child, especially between a teacher and a student.

Baltimore Archbishop William Lori’s spokesman used that insensitive and inaccurate phrase in a radio interview. And school president Fr. Joseph Benicewicz did the same in a letter to parents.

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MARYLAND
CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — An Archbishop Curley High School teacher has been arrested after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a current student at the school.

Lynette Trotta, 33, has been a science teacher at Archbishop Curley since January 2007.

A statement of probable cause from Baltimore Police says Trotta and the student started texting and e-mailing on a regular basis.

During December 2013 and January 2014, the student reported Trotta would pull him out of study hall to spend time together. The student said there was fondling and kissing. On other occasions, there was other sexual activity on and off school grounds.

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MARYLAND
Fox 45

Updated: Friday, April 4 2014

A 33 year-old teacher at Archbishop Curley High School has been charged with sexual abuse of a student.

The Archdiocese says they received an allegation involving Lynette Trotta, a science teacher at the school. Ms. Trotta, who has worked at Curley since 2007, is alleged to have engaged in a sexual relationship with a current student at the school.

The librarian got word of the allegation weeks ago and reported it on Tuesday. The school notified the Archdiocese and Baltimore City Police the same day.

City Police arrested Trotta on Friday and charged her with sex abuse and solicitation of a minor. Trotta is being held on a $250,000 bail.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Ian Duncan, The Baltimore Sun
12:55 p.m. EDT, April 4, 2014

A science teacher at Archbishop Curley High School accused of engaging in sexual activity with a student has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor.

Lynette Nicole Trotta, 33, was charged Friday and is being held in jail on a $250,000 bail.

School officials learned about the allegations from a librarian on April 1 and worked with police to investigate, according to a statement released by the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.

The student told investigators Thursday that Trotta began showing a personal interest in him in November 2013 at a daycare center, according to police. The two began emailing and texting and at some point the exchanges became sexual, the student told police.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Apr. 4, 2014 Faith and Justice

The sexual abuse crisis was the worst crisis to have hit the U.S. Catholic church in the 20th century. It destroyed the lives of thousands of children, cost the church billions of dollars, and undermined the authority of bishops in the church. While many would like to move on from the crisis, others fear that if we are not vigilant, more abuse will happen.

One way of knowing the current state of the abuse crisis is through the annual report done for the U.S. bishops’ conference on the implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, colloquially known as the Dallas charter.

This year’s report, the 11th so far, is divided into two parts: the finding of a three-year audit done by StoneBridge Business Partners and a statistical report on new allegations of abuse in 2013 conducted by CARA, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

The latest audit shows continued improvement but still indicates that some areas need improvement, as explained by Joshua J. McElwee’s excellent article.

One diocese (Lincoln, Neb.) and three eparchies refused to participate. The National Review Board also urged more bishops to allow parish audits and not just on-site audits of dioceses. In 2013, StoneBridge visited 91 parishes and schools in 26 dioceses, a 44 percent increase over the year before.

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SCOTLAND
Catholic Herald

By MARK GREAVES on Friday, 4 April 2014

The Vatican has appointed its former chief prosecutor on clerical sex abuse to investigate allegations against Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna of Malta will visit the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh next week (April 8-10) and has asked those who would like to speak to him to “prepare their narratives in writing”, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

The bishop was appointed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith following a request by Pope Francis.

The news was presented in a letter to priests and religious by Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Cardinal O’Brien’s successor. It is understood the letter invites anyone with concerns to speak to Bishop Scicluna next week and does not refer specifically to Cardinal O’Brien.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

Archbishop Leo Cushley informs priests, hopes for ‘eventual reconciliation’ and welcomes Maltese Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna, who visits to look into allegations of misconduct and abuse

The Vatican is sending an expert to look into the issue of misconduct in the St Andrews and Edinburgh Archdiocese.

An ad clerum letter from Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh to the priests of his archdiocese reveals that Pope Francis asked the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops to send Maltese Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna (above) to ‘listen to and report the testimony offered by past and present members of the clergy concerning any incidents of sexual misconduct committed against them by other members of the clergy whomsoever.’

The Maltese bishop, who will visit the archdiocese next week, ‘will be available to listen’ to those who make an appointment. Bishop Scicluna, has also asked those who wish to speak with him to ‘prepare their narrative in writing.’

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

A BISHOP from Malta has been enlisted by the Vatican to investigate claims of sexual misconduct against Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Auxiliary bishop Charles Scicluna, who has been probing clerical abuse for the last ten years, will travel to Scotland next week to hear from those with information about sexual misconduct surrounding the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

Wider allegations will also be looked into.

Cardinal O’Brien’s successor, Archbishop Leo CUshley, said in a letter to the archdiocese clergy that Bishop Scicluna would ‘listen to and report the testimony offered by past and present members of the clergy’, adding the investigation would look at any incidents of sexual misconduct committed against them by any other members of the clergy ‘whomsoever’.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

WBAL Radio has learned of an allegation involving a female Archbishop Curley High School teacher involved in a sexual relationship with a current student at the school.

An email to parents from the Archdiocese of Baltimore states 33-year-old science teacher Lynette Trotta has been arrested by Baltimore Police.

Lynette Trotta has been a teacher at Curley since 2007.

Trotta has been suspended from her position at the school.

According to the archdiocese statement obtained by WBAL Radio, Annette Goodman the school’s librarian informed the school administration of the information on April 1st.

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ITALY
National Catholic Reporter

Carol Glatz Catholic News Service | Apr. 4, 2014

ROME The Italian bishops’ conference encouraged its members to cooperate with civil authorities in cases of clerical sexual abuse, but said the bishops have no legal obligation to report abuse allegations to the police or other civil authorities.

In addition, the new Italian church norms say the bishops “are exonerated” from releasing to the state documents in their possession or information connected with abuse cases.

Because a bishop is not a public official and is not charged with duties of “public service, he does not have the juridical obligation — save for a moral duty to contribute to the common good — to report to civil judicial authorities news he has received concerning illicit matters” of sex abuse, the guidelines said.

The guidelines are the first national norms published by the Italian bishops’ conference for dealing with the sexual abuse of minors by priests. The guidelines were published on the conference website March 28 after being approved by the bishops in January.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

04 April 2014 by James Macintyre

Campaigners against sexual abuse have expressed grave concerns after a leading figure in Catholic education was given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to downloading more than 5,000 indecent images of children.

Fr Tim Gardner, 42, avoided prison as he received an eight-month sentence, suspended for two years, at Southwark Crown Court on Monday. The Dominican friar, who is a former adviser to the Catholic Education Service (CES), will be put on the sex offender register for 10 years. He also received a five-year sexual offences prevention order which will allow police to inspect any computers and storage devices in the priest’s possession.

Police found 5,005 indecent images on his home computer last August, downloaded from the internet, including six images graded at level five – the highest – with one depicting bestiality.

Fr Gardner was also found to have taken part in at least 150 internet discussions with others who shared an interest in the material. He claimed to have been drunk when engaging in the conversations on the online communication tools Skype and Yahoo chat.

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SCOTLAND
The Extra

The Vatican is to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct which led to the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Bishop Charles Scicluna has been appointed by the Congregation for Bishops as its special envoy to listen and report on allegations against the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh following a request from Pope Francis.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down in February last year after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

His successor Archbishop Leo Cushley said the appointment is “indicative of the seriousness with which this matter is being taken”.

Bishop Scicluna has been credited with reforming the Vatican’s attitude to sexual abuse over the past decade, even by victims, overhauling its internal norms to make it easier to defrock abusers.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

EDITORIAL

Kristine Ward

We hope with all our hearts that the aggravation and outrage that Catholics have poured into emails, letters and any other avenues of speaking up and out they used in Atlanta are the beginning and not the end of their involvement in what ails the Roman Catholic Church.

In a statement describing his ineptness, Atlanta’s Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, caught in his plush plans for a $2.2 million residence, backed down saying:

“While my advisers and I were able to justify this project fiscally, logistically and practically, I personally failed to project the cost in terms of my own integrity and pastoral credibility with the people of God of north and central Georgia,” he wrote. “I failed to consider the impact on the families throughout the archdiocese who, though struggling to pay their mortgages, utilities, tuition and other bills, faithfully respond year after year to my pleas to assist with funding our ministries and services.

First off, if these “advisers” really did provide these kinds of justifications they should be fired.

Secondly, Archbishop Gregory’s apology should not be limited to the Catholics of central and north Georgia. All Catholics are hurt by his actions. Just as they are by the actions of the bishop of bling in Germany, the Archbishop of Newark John J. Myers’ weekend and planned retirement $800,000 home, as well as the Camden’s Bishop Dennis Sullivan’s $500,000 home and Archbishop of Cincinnati Dennis Schnurr’s half million home – and the list, of course, doesn’t stop there.

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MALTA/SCOTLAND
Malta Independent

The Vatican has appointed Bishop Charles Scicluna to take testimony of clergy alleging sexual misconduct in Scotland’s archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, where Cardinal Keith O’Brien was archbishop until resigning under disgrace in February 2013, The National Catholic Reporter reports.

The archdiocese’s current leader, Archbishop Leo Cushley, announced the investigation in two letters sent to his clergy Tuesday.

The letters, which were obtained by NCR Thursday from a priest of the archdiocese, announce what may be the first instance of an investigation by the Vatican of sexual misconduct by one of the church’s cardinals, who are normally considered nearly above reproach in the Vatican’s hierarchical structure.

O’Brien, who had served as the archbishop of Edinburgh since 1985, resigned abruptly just days before Pope Benedict XVI abdicated in February 2013, following allegations by three priests and one former priest of the Scottish archdiocese that the cardinal had inappropriate sexual relations with them dating back some 30 years.

Mgr Scicluna, Cushley states, will visit the archdiocese April 8-10 and “will be available to listen” on those days. The Maltese bishop, Cushley writes, has also asked those who wish to speak with him to “prepare their narrative in writing.”

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SCOTLAND
Glasgow Evening Times

Maltese Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna, who has being investigating clerical abuse for a decade, will visit Scotland next week to take testimonies from those with information about sexual misconduct surrounding the Cardinal.

Wider allegations will also be investigated.

In a letter to clergy in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Cardinal O’Brien’s successor Archbishop Leo Cushley said Bishop Scicluna would “listen to and report the testimony offered by past and present members of the clergy … concerning any incidents of sexual misconduct committed against them by other members of the clergy whomsoever”.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February 2013 after he acknowledged sexual behaviour spanning his time as a priest, bishop and cardinal.

The move is a clear indication Pope Francis has not allowed the matter to drift.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

for immediate release: Friday, April 4, 2014

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

Again, Archbishop John Nienstedt’s been caught being deceptive, claiming to have “offered” information about predator priests to the police while not having done so.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Twin Cities Catholics and citizens deserve straight answers but we doubt they’ll get them. Nienstedt should obviously publicly rebuke and sack any and all of his staff who are responsible for this deceit.

“Beginning, last week. . .we offered the police the opportunity to review those (predators’) files,” Nienstedt’s staff claimed. But they refused to provide a list of the 50 police agencies they said they’d contacted. And 11 out of 12 agencies called by MPR News said they had no record of any contacts with the archdiocese in the past two weeks.

New Prague Police Chief Mark Vosejpka did talk to one of Nienstedt’s lawyers. He asked to have the information sent to him, but Nienstedt’s lawyer told Vosejpka to call him back later.

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GEORGIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 4, 2014

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

Bishop Wilton Gregory’s meeting on Saturday with his clergy about his expensive home is just silly.

[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

These clergy have all sworn an oath to respect and obey Gregory. So this is like a king “consulting” with his subjects.

Gregory should stop making excuses and start living humbly.

And keep in mind Gregory’s extravagance – and similar extravagance by his colleagues in Camden and Newark and elsewhere – the next time you hear Catholic officials whine that they lack sufficient funds to adequately compensate suffering victims of pedophile priests.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

for immediate release: Friday, April 4, 2014

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

A Scranton priest, Fr. Philip Altavilla, has been arrested for giving alcohol to a minor and assaulting her. We are grateful for this brave victim for having the courage to report to police. More children will be safe because of her bravery.

[Times-Tribune]

We hope, although it is unlikely, that this was an isolated incidence. Predators rarely attack only once. It’s not enough for Bishop Joseph Bambera to simply suspend this priest and express anger. What children and victims need now is action.

Bambera should aggressively seek out any other people who may have been hurt, using his bully pulpit and parish bulletins. He should personally go to each parish where Fr. Altavilla worked and beg victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to speak up and call police.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

April 4, 2014

By Erin Rhoda

The pastor would later tell Linda he set eyes on her the first day he met her — on his first day assigned to a church in the Bangor area. She was actively involved at the church and married, with children. Once, after conducting a church event, the pastor remarked to her, “I fell in love with your hands.”

But it wasn’t love. He relied on his position of power to gain her trust and draw her into his life over a period of three and a half years, Linda said. Then he took advantage of their relationship sexually.

Clergy sexual abuse of children has rightfully drawn much public attention in recent years, as more and more priests have been found guilty of sexual assault or sued for covering it up. But clergy sexual misconduct also extends to adults. It is not a crime under Maine law for a pastor to have sex with a member of his or her congregation, but it violates professional boundaries and is an abuse of power. And it can certainly feel like a crime to the victims, who find their vulnerabilities exploited.

Indeed, 13 other states have made clergy sexual relations with congregants illegal. Some include language specifying that the misconduct happen within the counseling relationship. While it is illegal in Maine for psychiatrists, psychologists or licensed social workers to have sex with their patients, the statute does not refer to clergy.

“The manipulation of false authority, manipulating you through the sacred texts, that’s where the grooming happens. That’s where the damage is,” said Linda, which is not her real name. She wanted to talk about her experience to prevent future abuses and remind people it’s OK to question automatic authority. Just as most people are not perpetrators, most clergy aren’t either. But the few who are can exact lasting damage on their victims and communities.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Hamish Fitzsimmons

The Catholic Church says it will revisit compensation arrangements under the Melbourne Response with a view to either increasing or removing the current cap of $75,000.

The move comes after Cardinal George Pell last week told the parents of two victims of a paedophile priest that he would make moves to remove the cap and revisit 300 existing claims against the church.

Anthony and Chrissie Foster have spent the last 18 years campaigning for justice for the two eldest daughters, who were abused by paedophile father Kevin O’Donnell.

Anthony Foster said the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart told the ABC’s Lateline program he has agreed to some of their demands.

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MALTA/SCOTLAND
Times of Malta

Vatican appoints Bishop Scicluna to take testimony of Scottish clergy alleging sexual misconduct

Auxiliary bishop Charles Scicluna has been appointed by the Vatican to take testimony of clergy alleging sexual misconduct in Scotland’s archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Archbishop Leo Cushley, announced the investigation in two letters sent to his clergy on Tuesday.
Archbishop Cushley took over the archdiocese from Cardinal Keith O’Brien who resigned under disgrace in February last year.

He resigned days before Pope Benedict XVI following allegations by three priests and one former priest that he had inappropriate sexual relations with them some 30 years before.

Archbishop Cushley’s letters state that Pope Francis asked the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops to send Maltese Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna to “listen to and report the testimony offered by past and present members of the clergy … concerning any incidents of sexual misconduct committed against them by other members of the clergy whomsoever.”

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

The Vatican is to investigate claims of sexual misconduct which surrounded the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, it has emerged.

He resigned as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February 2013 following allegations of improper conduct in the 1980s.

Cardinal O’Brien admitted that his sexual conduct had “fallen beneath the standards” expected of him as a bishop.

The inquiry will be carried out by Maltese bishop Charles Scicluna.

He will take testimony from clergy in the archdiocese in an attempt to discover what evidence there is against the cardinal or any other clergy.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Apr 4, 2014

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Thursday that it has contacted nearly 50 law enforcement agencies in the past two weeks to provide files on priests accused of child sexual abuse. However, none of 12 metro law enforcement agencies contacted by MPR News confirmed that the archdiocese had offered files to review.

The archdiocese made the claim in a statement emailed to MPR News on Thursday morning. It said, “Beginning, last week, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis informed nearly 50 law enforcement agencies that we were going to provide several priest files to Jeff Anderson and we offered the police the opportunity to review those files.”

The archdiocese wouldn’t provide a list of the 50 agencies. MPR News contacted 18 law enforcement agencies in the Twin Cities metro area and 12 responded. Eleven officials said they had no record of any contacts with the archdiocese in the past two weeks.

New Prague Police Chief Mark Vosejpka was the only official who said he received a call. He said an attorney from a private firm called him on behalf of the archdiocese on Monday. The attorney said the archdiocese planned to release information to the public within the next month about priests it believes have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse, Vosejpka said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Jehovah’s Witness Report

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and the Ipswich Star have reported another Jehovah’s Witness pedophile has been dealt with and that in this case – given a UK sex offender’s prevention order.

After serving seven years in prison for child abuse while he was an elder, William Rogers was released in October 2000 and was required to report under the (UK) Sexual Offences Prevention Act. In 2006, after failing to report, it was discovered that he was in the Dominican Republic and was declared “wanted” by authorities.

In January 2014, Rogers returned to the UK and was arrested. He admitted that he had continued to abuse children as a Jehovah’s Witness and teacher throughout the eight years he was living in the Caribbean. The prevention order limits Rogers’ contact with children.

But what about the survivors of the abuse?

SNAP is asking:

“Will his Jehovah’s Witness colleagues and supervisors, both in the UK and Dominican Republic, do the right thing and aggressively seek out others who he hurt?”

And expresses their hope that:

“. . . every single Jehovah’s Witness who saw, suspected or suffered Rogers’ crimes will find the strength to contact their local authorities, not the local elders.”

Could this have been prevented? After all, this is not the first time that the Watchtower Society has been asked to account for their actions. Watchtower critic Barbara Anderson notes (referring to other similar cases) in Secrets of Pedophilia in an American Religion:

It is the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses who establish the policies and who dictate practices for Jehovah’s Witnesses. That Body operates through various corporate entities, primarily Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., and Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Inc. The Plaintiffs charged in their lawsuits that the Jehovah’s Witnesses assumed a duty to protect children in their organization but they failed to exercise reasonable care and common sense policies in fulfilling that duty. For example, they failed to enact a policy forbidding unsupervised one-on-one contact between elders or ministerial servants and children. They permitted children to go out in door-to-door ministry alone with male members and encouraged parents in the congregations to allow their children to attend un-chaperoned Bible study with adult males (elders/ms) and allowed these men to “counsel” children without any supervision.

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SCOTLAND
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Apr. 4, 2014

The Vatican has appointed a bishop known for aggressively investigating cases of sexual abuse to take testimony of clergy alleging sexual misconduct in Scotland’s archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, where Cardinal Keith O’Brien was archbishop until resigning under disgrace in February 2013.

The archdiocese’s current leader, Archbishop Leo Cushley, announced the investigation in two letters sent to his clergy Tuesday.

The letters, which were obtained by NCR Thursday from a priest of the archdiocese, announce what may be the first instance of an investigation by the Vatican of sexual misconduct by one of the church’s cardinals, who are normally considered nearly above reproach in the Vatican’s hierarchical structure.

O’Brien, who had served as the archbishop of Edinburgh since 1985, resigned abruptly just days before Pope Benedict XVI abdicated in February 2013, following allegations by three priests and one former priest of the Scottish archdiocese that the cardinal had inappropriate sexual relations with them dating back some 30 years.

Tuesday’s letters from Cushley state that Pope Francis has asked the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops to send Maltese Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna to “listen to and report the testimony offered by past and present members of the clergy … concerning any incidents of sexual misconduct committed against them by other members of the clergy whomsoever.”

Scicluna, Cushley states, will visit the archdiocese April 8-10 and “will be available to listen” on those days. The Maltese bishop, Cushley writes, has also asked those who wish to speak with him to “prepare their narrative in writing.”

Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, a noted canon and civil lawyer widely known for his advocacy and work on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse by clergy, said in a brief interview Thursday he had “never heard” of such an investigation before.

“That’s very unusual indeed,” said Doyle. “I’ve never heard of a cardinal being investigated like this by the Holy See.”

Jesuit Fr. John O’Malley, a noted church historian who has written books on the Second Vatican and Trent Councils and a history of the popes, likewise said he “could not recall” a similar instance of an archdiocese or cardinal being investigated.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

A man who spent 10 years in a Salvation Army-run boys home wanted the army to pay him $1 million for every year he suffered abuse.

Ralph Doughty, who was in the Gill Memorial Home for Boys in Goulburn, NSW, from 1940, when he was seven, to 1950, said he calculated the amount based on cases overseas.

“I will guarantee that not one judge … would be prepared to accept a million dollars a year to [be sexually abused],” said Mr Doughty, now in his 80s.

Decades of unspeakable acts exposed

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