ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Irish Times

Dr Roisin O’Shea

Tue, Jul 1, 2014

On Sunday, June 15th, 2014, Fr Arthur O’Neill, parish priest of St Brigid’s Catholic parish, Cabinteely, Dublin, issued a challenge to 40 journalists including Fintan O’Toole to “prove” that Fr Michael Cleary had fathered two children with Phyllis Hamilton, including their son Ross. He issued this challenge by way of the official parish newsletter, thereby giving the impression that he was speaking on behalf of the church.

Before this public challenge I had never heard of Fr O’Neill. I never heard Michael Cleary speak of him, nor did I meet him or hear of him visiting the home where Michael, Phyllis and Ross lived on Leinster Road in Rathmines for many years.

I sent Ross a message on the day Fr O’Neill’s newsletter was published. I told him I wanted to respond in a short statement, and asked him to read it beforehand. Ross gave me the go-ahead and poignantly responded: “Thanks for standing up for me, it is heartening.”

Ludicrous and offensive

It is astonishing to me that Fr O’Neill has taken it on himself to challenge the parentage of Ross and his older brother, and he did so without contacting Ross, who is entitled after all these years to get on with his life without this kind of attempt to once again seek to deny who his father is. I will not stand quietly by and allow this man to bring more pain to Ross, who has had enough denial rained on him to last more than a lifetime. The challenge is even more ludicrous and offensive when the most cursory comparison between Ross and his father shows the startling likeness between them.

Michael Cleary was the brother of my aunt (who was married to my mother’s brother). The pure force of nature that was Michael would charge into our childhood periodically. He was wildly entertaining, irreverent, loud and opinionated, and through my child’s eyes seemed omnipotent. During my years in art college I thought at one stage I wanted to teach art, but quickly learned I didn’t have the patience for teaching during my first placement in Ballyfermot.

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IOWA
TribTown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: June 30, 2014

DES MOINES, Iowa — The bishop of the Des Moines Diocese has place a priest on indefinite administrative leave after finding a decades-old allegation of sexual abuse of a minor was credible.

The diocese says in a news release Monday that Bishop Richard Pate has placed the Rev. Howard Fitzgerald on leave while the matter is forwarded to the Vatican.

While on leave, Fitzgerald can’t function publicly as a priest. Pate also has asked him to not wear clerical garb.

During the investigation, Pate had asked Fitzgerald to step aside from his responsibilities at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Indianola, Immaculate Conception Parish in St. Marys and at Simpson College.

Pates says he’s apologized to the victim.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Fintan O’Toole

Tue, Jul 1, 2014

Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has strongly dissociated himself from a parish priest who cast doubt on claims that Fr Michael Cleary had fathered children.

Fr Cleary, who was among the best-known priests in Ireland and a champion of orthodox church teaching on sexuality, died at the end of 1993.

In 1995 it was revealed he had a son, Ross, with his housekeeper Phyllis Hamilton, who subsequently revealed the couple had previously given another son up for adoption.

In his June newsletter for St Brigid’s parish in Cabinteely, Fr Arthur O’Neill described these revelations as “exasperating”, unproven and the result of “shoddy practice” by named journalists, whom he challenged to prove them. He suggested his former clerical colleague had suffered a serious injustice: “The burial of a person’s legacy deeper than their body just isn’t fair – if it’s based on a falsehood.”

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Volume 1
Volume 2

SHANE WRIGHT AND ANDREW PROBYN CANBERRA The West Australian
July 1, 2014

A royal commission has uncovered child sexual abuse of such a scale that it needs two more years to deliver justice for victims.

In its interim report, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse reveals allegations of abuse have been made against more than 1000 institutions, ranging from long-day childcare centres to religious orders.

It warns that without being able to report in December 2017, the stories of thousands of victims will go untold. The commission, launched by then prime minister Julia Gillard in 2012, has found that “institutions and adults have systematically failed to protect children”.

Though its final recommendations may be some years away, the commission has expressed some support for a national agency to screen people who work with children as there are inconsistencies between the States.

But some jurisdictions have resisted such an agency, arguing it may not be achievable or appropriate.

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TEXAS
KIII

[with video]

CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) – We have new information on the story involving a local pastor accused of inappropriate conduct.

The church leader is currently being investigated by the Catholic Diocese.

Sunday, we have learned the alleged incident took place between 25 and 30 years ago. The accusation of inappropriate conduct was made against Monsignor Michael Heras, a well known church leader within the catholic community.

Monsignor Heras was most recently the Pastor at St. Peter Prince of the Apostles Parish in Corpus Christi.

Prior to that, he was the long time Pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

3 News has confirmed that Monsignor Heras is no longer in public ministry and is currently under supervision.

Information for the criminal investigation has been turned over to the district attorney’s office according to church officials.

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TEXAS
Caller-Times

Krista M. Torralva
4:26 PM, Jun 30, 2014

CORPUS CHRISTI – The Nueces County District Attorney’s office has turned information related to the pastor who resigned last week to Corpus Christi Police for a possible investigation.

The office received a letter from the Diocese of Corpus Christi on Friday, District Attorney Mark Skurka said Monday.

Monsignor Michael Heras resigned as pastor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostle’s Parish in Corpus Christi amid an investigation into inappropriate conduct, the Diocese said in a news release late Saturday.

When the diocese received an accusation of inappropriate conduct, Heras was immediately placed on leave, pending a complete investigation, and law enforcement was notified.

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TEXAS
KIII

Statement from the Diocese of Corpus Christi:

The Diocese of Corpus Christi, and its Churches and Schools, continue to be committed to protecting children and young persons. Any accusation of inappropriate conduct, made against a church worker or employee of the Diocese is always taken seriously and fully investigated regardless of the age of the victim or the amount of time that has passed.

An accusation of inappropriate conduct on the part of Msgr. Michael Heras, Pastor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostle’s Parish in Corpus Christi has been received by the Diocese. The alleged inappropriate conduct occurred years ago. In keeping with Diocesan policy, Msgr. Heras was immediately placed on leave, pending a complete investigation, and law enforcement was notified. Monsignor Heras has subsequently resigned as Pastor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostle’s Parish.

Prayers are requested for all concerned together with an appeal for the fair treatment and protection of the good name of all parties. As this is an ongoing investigation there will be no further comment.

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TEXAS
KRIS

CORPUS CHRISTI – A local pastor is placed on leave, amid allegations of inappropriate conduct against a church worker or employee.

Monsignor Michael Heras has been serving in the Corpus Christi area since 1993, making him a very well-known figure throughout the community.

He was appointed as pastor at St. Peter Prince of the Apostles Parish in Corpus Christi just last July.

Before, he served as pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help also in Corpus Christi. He was in Gregory before that for about 8 years, and has been ordained for nearly thirty.

We received a statement from the Diocese of Corpus Christi about the Monsignors’ resignation:

“The Diocese of Corpus Christi, and its Churches and Schools, continue to be committed to protecting children and young persons. Any accusation of inappropriate conduct, made against a church worker or employee of the Diocese is always taken seriously and fully investigated regardless of the age of the victim or the amount of time that has passed.

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TEXAS
KIII

[with video]

CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) – The Nueces County District Attorney has asked the Corpus Christi Police Department to conduct a formal investigation against a priest in the Corpus Christi Diocese who has been accused of inappropriate conduct.

Pastor Monsignor Michael Heras of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles Parish in Corpus Christi resigned from being pastor of that church after being removed from public ministry while the Diocese continues its investigation.

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UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

Remember that brief 39 essay question survey the Vatican issued a few months back? You know… the one soliciting opinions about the church’s teachings on human sexuality and marriage to act as input to this October’s Synod on the Family. Well, the Vatican has compiled and released its preliminary findings from the survey in a document called an instrumentum laboris. Literally translated from Latin as…and we know the Vatican is all about literal Latin translations… granting us, O Lord, we pray, to hear about impoverished Jesus having an oblation in a gallant chalice held by his holy and venerable hands on a regular basis… But, I digress. Literally translated, instrumentum laboris means “instrument of labor”, basically a tool.

If you don’t want me to spoil your pleasure reading the 85 page report yourself, then stop reading now. However, if you don’t want to invest numerous irretrievable hours of your life reading a report that could have been written without surveying a single person, you might prefer reading this summary instead.

When it was first issued, I wrote this about the survey in a November 2, 2013 blog article, “…do not place too much hope that the Vatican seeking your opinion means the Vatican will actually heed your advice. It might again just inspire the Vatican to write another really long document in Latin explaining why you are wrong.”

It turns out that statement was prescient other than the Vatican crowd did disappoint by writing the original report in Italian rather than Latin. Don’t despair. We can still hope that some dreadfully long academic admonition in Latin emerges from the Synod itself.

To be fair, amidst the 85 pages of “We are right so how do we get these stubborn, misguided idiots to follow us…”, there were 2 entire sentences acknowledging the hierarchy’s lack of credibility as a moral authority since its culture enables criminal sexual abuse of children (paragraph 75). And there was a half sentence which came dangerously close to acknowledging cultural sexism, “In some places characterized by a somewhat sexist cultural tradition, there exists a certain lack of respect towards women…” (paragraph 55)

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News Latino

VATICAN CITY – Father Alvaro Corcuera, who led the Legion of Christ religious order through the turmoil surrounding revelations that its founder was a pedophile and fraud, has died. He was 56.

The Legion said Corcuera, who stepped down as superior in 2012 because of a brain tumor, died Monday afternoon in Mexico City.

Corcuera took over as superior in 2005, a year after the Vatican opened a secret sex abuse investigation into the Legion’s founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel. Even though the Vatican found Maciel guilty in 2006 and Legion officials opened their own internal investigation, Corcuera and the rest of the Legion leadership continued to publicly defend him as a saint until admitting to his double life in 2009.

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IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, June 30, 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 )

Des Moines’ Catholic bishop is being far too secretive and lax about the credibly accused child molesting cleric that he has suspended.

[Des Moines Register]

For the safety of kids, Bishop Richard Pates should disclose where Fr. Howard Fitzgerald, is now. He should disclose when Catholic officials first received allegations of child sexual abuse against Fr. Fitzgerald. He should put Fr. Fitzgerald into a remote, secure treatment center so he’ll be kept away from kids. And he should personally visit every parish where Fr. Fitzgerald worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police, so that Fr. Fitzgerald might be criminally charged, convicted and be kept away from kids even longer.

In short, Pates is not saying or doing enough about Fr. Fitzgerald. Pates has pledged to be “open” about clergy sex abuse cases. He should honor that pledge right now.

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MEXICO
aciprensa

MÉXICO DF , 30 Jun. 14 / 02:31 pm (ACI/EWTN Noticias).- El P. Álvaro Corcuera, que fuera director general del Regnum Christi y de los Legionarios de Cristo de 2005 hasta 2014, falleció este lunes 30 de junio en Ciudad de México (México) luego de una larga lucha contra el cáncer.

“El Movimiento Regnum Christi y los Legionarios de Cristo agradecemos al Señor por la vida del P. Álvaro Corcuera, religioso y sacerdote de Jesucristo, y lo confiamos a la misericordia del Señor que ha querido que donde Él esté, estén también sus servidores. Acompañamos a sus hermanos y familiares con nuestras oraciones para que la victoria de Cristo sobre la muerte les llene de consuelo. ¡Descanse en paz!”, expresó el movimiento en su sitio web.

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MEXICO
Legionairies of Christ

Fr. Álvaro Corcuera LC passes away in Mexico

Mexico City, June 30, 2014 -Today in Mexico City, Fr. Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río, L.C. departed for the Father’s house after a long battle with cancer. Fr. Álvaro served as General Director of Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ from 2005 until 2014.

His final resting place will be in the French Cemetery in San Joaquín, Mexico City.

The Regnum Christi Movement and the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ give thanks to the Lord for Fr. Álvaro’s life as a religious and priest of Jesus Cristo. We entrust him to the Lord’s mercy and pray that “where he is, there also may his servant be.” (John 14:23) We wish to accompany his family and relatives with our prayers. May Christ’s victory over death fill them with consolation. May he rest in peace!

The Legion of Christ has opened an online book of condolences at: http://legionariesofchrist.org/inmemoryofFrAlvaro/

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MEXICO
Aleteia

John Burger

The Legion of Christ has announced that the priest who took over as head of the order after disgraced founder Father Marcial Maciel stepped down has died.

“Father Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río, L.C. departed for the Father’s house after a long battle with cancer,” said a statement issued by the Legion just an hour after Father Corcuera’s death.

Father Corcuera, who was 56, served as General Director of Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ from 2005 until 2014. Father Eduardo Robles-Gil, who was elected general director at the order’s general chapter in Rome this year, wrote in a letter to members of Regnum Christi: “I invite everyone to offer Masses and prayers to commend his soul to God and thank God for the life of this father, brother and friend who has been our General Director during the nine most difficult years in our history.”

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

There’s a strange phenomenon that’s been at work within the Church for the past sixty years or so.

A number of groups have sprung up within the Catholic Church that have become more or less full-blown cults. These groups present themselves as Catholic, but they share several of the following characteristics with cults …

* An “us vs. them” mentality
* The attempt to control every aspect of the lives of their members
* Secrecy – not being open about who they are or what their intentions are
* Recruitment of new members is done thorough “love bombing” and false friendships
* Members are isolated – cut off from their families and from society at large
* An emphasis on sex – either sexual purity or sexual license – which becomes almost obsessive
* Members are abused either psychologically, physically or sexually
* The founder is adored, and his sins or flaws are hidden or excused away
* Totalitarian techniques are used: history is rewritten, dissidents are shamed, expelled and stripped of their dignity and humanity, and brainwashing is practiced
* A spirit of sadism and masochism can begin to flourish
* Esotericism – the full truth of the aims of the cult is revealed only to a select few who have become sensitive and keen enough to appreciate the secret, after a long process of initiation; the true aims of the cult are hidden from the public and from new members
*A narrow and bizarre doctrine is taught and sick and perverse discipline is followed

Many Catholic sub-groups like this make a lot of money and cultivate a large following of powerful people.

The response by bishops and the Vatican to the formation of cults withing the Church? Typically they sit on their thumbs, or else praise the cult leaders, until, like the founder of the Legionaries, the founders are demonstrated to be wolves in sheep’s clothing, or worse.

***

My question is this.

Is there a tendency within the “devout” demographic of the Church toward seeing the divinely constituted Body of Christ itself as being nothing more than a narrow, sick cult?

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

Last week I wrote about the difference between Living in the Church and Living in a Cult.

Here’s an article at The Atlantic that describes the effects of Living in a Cult within the Church. In this case, it’s within the Protestant segment of the Church, but note the similarities to the Catholic cults within the Church.

As in the Catholic Church, the International House of Prayer case shows that those (the school’s counselors and administrators) who could have stepped in to intervene, or who could have been more helpful to the victims once the cult was fully exposed for what it actually was, appear to have been less than diligent. The same is true for authority figures in the Catholic Church, who for years knew about the damage being done by cult leader Marcial Maciel (founder of the Legionaries of Christ), but at best did nothing to restrain him, and at worst actively protected him.

After all, if bishops enabled (and still sometimes enable) the sexual abuse of children on their watch, they’ll enable cults.

***

I think it’s important to note this about cults. They are not neutral things. They are not merely means of seeking a close group of like-minded friends and somehow worshiping with them. In my last piece on cults, I focused on the unrealistic element of hyper-control that most cult members are seeking in their lives, and this is bad enough, but what’s really happening in cults goes far beyond this hyper-control and the insularity that comes with it.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, June 30, 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 )

For perhaps the first time ever, a local Protestant church body is exposing an ex-minister as a credibly accused child molester, even though there are no criminal charges, no civil lawsuit and no admission by the alleged predator. SNAP is applauding the move. We also applaud the brave victim who helped us prod church officials to do this.

Today, Presbyterian officials sent out a news release (below) announcing that child sex abuse allegations against Michael Walker Jackson, who was a minister in Presbyterian churches in this area and in Georgia, are “credible.” Until today, perhaps a dozen or two dozen people knew this. Now, because Presbyterian officials are acting with compassion and courage, hopefully thousands will know to keep their kids away fromJackson. We hope that hundreds of parents – in Missouri and Georgia – will ask their kids if Jackson may have hurt them.

We applaud the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy. They could and should have done this sooner. But kids are now safer. We hope their colleagues in Georgia take this simple, prudent step too. Child molesters thrive on secrecy. And their employers, past or current, owe it to parents, the public and their staffs to disclose the truth about child molesters every time they can.

We hope that other denominations follow the Presbyterians’ lead. The safety of kids trumps the comfort of adults. It’s ok to worry about being sued for “outing” a child molester. But responsible leaders won’t let that fear prevent them from something even more troubling: being part of the secrecy that predators want, need and use to hurt more children.

We in SNAP met with a Presbyterian committee about a year ago and begged them to tell the public that the accusations against Jackson are credible. Again, we are relieved that they have done this. We believe Jackson’s victim or victims will also be relieved.

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IOWA
Radio Iowa

June 30, 2014 By Dar Danielson

The Bishop of the Des Moines Catholic Diocese has placed a priest on indefinite administrative leave over an allegation of sexual abuse. The Diocese released a statement that Bishop Richard Pates has placed Father Howard Fitzgerald on leave after a review committee determined an allegation of sexual abuse against a minor from decades ago is credible.

The statement says Fitzgerald cannot function as a priest during the leave and the matter is being forwarded to the Vatican. Fitzgerald has responsibilities at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Indianola, Immaculate Conception Parish in St. Marys and at Simpson College. The statement from Pates says the victim has asked to remain anonymous, and no other details of the alleged abuse have been released.

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DES MOINES (IA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines

June 30, 2014
Written By: Anne Marie Cox

Priest on indefinite leave during process

Bishop Richard Pates has placed Father Howard Fitzgerald on indefinite administrative leave following a determination by the diocesan Allegation Review Committee that an allegation of a decades-old incident of sexual abuse of a minor is credible.

While on administrative leave, Father Fitzgerald cannot function publicly as a priest. Bishop Pates has asked him to refrain from wearing the clerical garb.

The matter is being forwarded to the Vatican.

Bishop Pates has apologized to the victim, who asked for anonymity. The diocese will honor the request.

“It is a top priority that we address all credible allegations of sexual abuse in the manner outlined by the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. In addition, the diocese continues to do all it can to ensure we create a safe environment for children and all vulnerable individuals in our churches and schools,” said Bishop Pates.

After learning of the allegation, the victim was provided the services of the Victim Assistance Advocate of the Diocese of Des Moines. Local law enforcement where the alleged abuse occurred and the Allegation Review Committee were informed.

The matter was studied by the Allegation Review Committee, which has among its members a judge, a licensed clinical social worker, a police detective, an attorney, a priest and a permanent deacon. During the committee’s investigation, Bishop Pates had asked Father Fitzgerald to step aside from his parish responsibilities at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Indianola and Immaculate Conception Parish in St. Marys and at Simpson College.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Sharyn Jackson, sjackson@dmreg.com
June 30, 2014

The Diocese of Des Moines has placed an Iowa priest on indefinite administrative leave after determining that a decades-old allegation of sexual abuse of a minor is “credible,” according to a news release issued today from the diocese.

Father Howard Fitzgerald, the priest at Simpson College, St Thomas Aquinas Parish in Indianola and Immaculate Conception Church in St. Marys, can no longer function publicly as a priest and has been asked to stop wearing clerical garb, the release says.

The case has been forwarded to the Vatican.

No details were given about the sexual abuse incident. Bishop Richard Pates of the Diocese of Des Moines apologized to the victim, who asked to remain anonymous. The victim has received services from the diocesan Victim Assistance Advocate, Sherry Knox. Local law enforcement has been informed of the incident, the release says.

“It is a top priority that we address all credible allegations of sexual abuse in the manner outlined by the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. In addition, the diocese continues to do all it can to ensure we create a safe environment for children and all vulnerable individuals in our churches and schools,” Pates said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

THE federal government is being urged to give the royal commission into child sex abuse more time and money to finish its job or risk squandering the opportunity and insulting the victims.

The commission tabled a report yesterday, saying it needs another $104million and an extra two years to do its job and reach more vulnerable groups.

Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive Francis Sullivan says the inquiry must be given the time and resources it wants.

‘‘To not finish the job properly and completely would be an insult to all the victims of abuse and one of the greatest lost opportunities of our generation,’’ he said. …

THE scale of child sexual abuse in Australian institutions could be far wider than expected and the potential for it to happen still exists.

The child sex abuse royal commission also says in its interim report, released yesterday, that it will need to extend its final reporting date by two years to December 2017 to finish its job.

The time extension will allow it to hear from survivors who have never disclosed their abuse to anyone.

The interim report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse comes midway through the time originally set for the final report.

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AUSTRALIA
Jerusalem Post

By SAM SOKOL
06/30/2014

Testimony showws that senior rabbinic figures in Chabad hassidic community knew of allegations of sexual abuse against children and did not report them.

Australian police are currently investigating several rabbis for allegedly covering up sexual abuse in community yeshivot, according to local media outlet The Age. The newspaper reported that it had obtained recordings and testimony used in prosecuting Australian-American Daniel “Gug” Hayman earlier this month that indicated that senior rabbinic figures in the Chabad hassidic community in the Sydney area knew of allegations of sexual abuse against children and did not report them to the relevant authorities.

Hayman, who lives in Los Angeles, was given a 19-month suspended sentence. He had pleaded guilty in May to indecently assaulting the 14-year-old in the woods at Camp Gan Israel, where Hayman was a volunteer.

Testimony during Hayman’s trial revealed that during the late 1980s several children had told Rabbi Boruch Lesches, then a senior figure at the Bondi Yeshiva Center, of Hayman’s actions. Lesches is currently a Rabbi in Monsey, New York.

Rabbi Pinchas Feldman, dean of the yeshiva, “just told me it shouldn’t happen and I should take steps to avoid it. It was a once-off conversation in his office,” Hayman said in tape of a telephone call with a victim obtained by The Age in which he stated that he had told both Lesches and Feldman of his actions.

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AUSTRALIA
New Zealand Herald

By Greg Ansley

Tuesday Jul 1, 2014

The widening web of allegations that followed the establishment of Australia’s royal commission into the handling of child sex abuse has entangled the Defence Force’s Catholic bishop.

Bishop Max Davis, who holds a military status equivalent to a major-general, has been charged with a child sex offence allegedly committed more than 40 years ago, when he was a teacher at a Benedictine school in Western Australia.

The most senior cleric yet to be charged with such an offence, Bishop Davis “emphatically denies” the allegation but has stepped down from his post until the case has been decided.

Although not emerging from the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuses, the claims against Bishop Davis join a huge number of allegations reported to authorities that has mushroomed since the commission was set up by the former Labor Government in December 2012.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge told the commission that the Catholic Church had been hit by a “tsunami” of allegations.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 30, 2014

As the world’s Catholic bishops prepare for an October global meeting at the Vatican on family life issues, they face one central and disputed question: How much should the experiences and opinions of lay Catholics influence their discussions?

Listen too closely to laypeople, some say, and you run the risk of turning church teaching into a sort of popularity contest.

Ignore their experiences, others say, and you flirt with alienation from the faith as known by Catholics worldwide — particularly for bishops who prefer not to talk about sometimes controversial subjects like divorce and remarriage or use of birth control.

The church tries to solve that dilemma with the sensus fidei, a notion expressed particularly during the Second Vatican Council that Catholic believers have an innate ability to identify what the faith is.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

Catholic U. student recounts her struggles after reporting a sex assault

BY NICK ANDERSON June 29

Erin Cavalier downed a couple of glasses of wine and a­ few shots of tequila, grabbed a water bottle filled with vodka and Sprite, and headed out from her dormitory to celebrate the end of her first semester at the Catholic University of America.

After polishing off the mixed drink, the 18-year-old from Northern California started drinking beer at a party. After midnight, in what she describes as a stupor, she asked if someone could help her walk to her room on the campus in Northeast Washington. A male student she considered an acquaintance volunteered. She says she blacked out.

Back in her room, Cavalier recalled, she regained awareness. The man was on top of her, she said, raping her. Cavalier said she was too drunk to agree to sex. “I never consented,” she said.

The man saw it differently, telling investigators that Cavalier was a willing participant in a sexual encounter after he walked her home and she signed him into her dorm. The man was never charged with a crime, and an initial D.C. police report said evidence indicated there was mutual consent. But that was not nearly the end of it.

What happened that night in December 2012 set off a chain of events that a year and a half later pushed the Vatican’s university in America into a fierce national debate over how colleges respond to allegations of sexual assault. In growing numbers, students such as Cavalier are stepping forward to force public scrutiny of an issue that has quietly affected colleges for decades.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 30 June 2014 (VIS) – The Autorità Informazione Finanziaria (AIF), the Financial Intelligence Authority of the Holy See and Vatican City State, has signed an agreement to exchange information with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

This Information Sharing Exchange of Letters is the first bilateral agreement of AIF in its role as Financial Supervisor and Regulator within the Holy See and Vatican City State. It represents a significant strengthening of international cooperation between the Holy See and the United States of America.

“This is a further step in Holy See’s efforts towards perfecting a system of financial regulation and part of our commitment to transparency and international cooperation,” said Rene Bruelhart, the Director of AIF. “The Holy See is part of the global family of well-regulated jurisdictions and the signing of this agreement reflects that very clearly.”

The agreement with the OCC follows the passing of the new law regarding financial activities in the Holy See, Law XVIII, in October 2013 and the enactment of AIF’s new statute in November 2013, which introduced a new supervisory function as part of AIF’s mandate.

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By LIAM MOLONEY
June 30, 2014

ROME—The Holy See’s financial supervisor and regulator said it signed an information-sharing agreement with the U.S. regulator overseeing national banks, as the Vatican continues efforts to boost transparency and international cooperation.

The Financial Information Authority, or AIF, said the accord with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, represents a significant strengthening of cooperation between the Holy See and the U.S.

“This is a further step in the Holy See’s efforts toward perfecting a system of financial regulation,” said René Brülhart, the director of the AIF, said in a statement.

“The Holy See is part of a global family of well-regulated jurisdictions and the signing of this agreement reflects that very clearly,” added Mr. Brülhart, a Swiss national, who has been in charge of the AIF since November 2012.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, June 30, 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 deceased New York priest is being sued for child sexual abuse. We are grateful to this brave woman for standing up for justice and accountability.

[New York Post]

Fr. Jamie Duenas plead guilty to sexually abusing a teenage girl before he died. During his guilty plea he blamed the victim for wearing “short skirts.” Blaming the victim for the egregious actions of an adult is unacceptable. The Archdiocese of New York should have immediately condemned him and reached out to victims.

We urge Cardinal Timothy Dolan to visit every parish Fr. Duenas worked and beg witnesses, whistleblowers, and victims to come forward, report to police and start healing.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

June 30, 2014

Annette Blackwell

The Marist Brothers had received at least 48 complaints of abuse by a brother before he was jailed, an inquiry has been told.

Some of them dated back to the 1950s, but the man who held the order’s top job in the late 1980s, and was in charge of the office dealing with abuse victims until 2012, has told the inquiry he didn’t know John Chute, also known as Brother Kosta, had a history of complaints against him until 1993.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is continuing to investigate the order’s handling of allegations against two brothers, Chute and Gregory Sutton. Both have been jailed for multiple offences against children.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JULY 01, 2014

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

A CATHOLIC brother allegedly abused at least 48 children at six ­schools over 31 years before being jailed for his crimes, a royal commission has heard.

At one of the schools, Marist College Canberra, two other members of the religious order and one lay teacher also allegedly abused children.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating the Marist Brothers’ handling of child sexual assault allegedly committed by two of the order, Brother Kostka Chute and former brother Gregory Sutton.

Documents presented to the inquiry show the order received complaints from 48 children ­allegedly abused by Chute bet­ween 1959 and 1990 while Sutton allegedly abused at least 21 children over 16 years at several different schools.

The former head of the order, Brother Alexis Turton, told the commission he first heard of complaints against Chute in 1993, although other evidence suggests that the church may have been warned decades before.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Ray Downs Mon., Jun. 30 2014

The pillars of morality at the St. Louis Archdiocese are not pleased with all this gay-marriage stuff happening in the city.

One day after Mayor Francis Slay granted marriage licenses to four gay couples, the archdiocese released a statement expressing its disappointment over two things church leaders are not exactly famous for knowing much about: getting married and same-sex relationships that consist of consenting adults.

“It is disheartening to see our wonderful city, named after the great Catholic civil leader St. King Louis IX, so eagerly cast aside the laws of our state and disregard the laws of nature,” the statement says. “The fact is, the union of two men or the union of two women is not the same as the union of a woman and a man.”

That’s pretty standard language from a Christian organization condemning gay rights, but the statement gets a little weirder:

“Loving a person does not mean accepting all their behaviors. The Church does not condemn individuals for having same-sex attraction. Persons who struggle with same-sex attraction must be loved with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. At the same time, the Catholic faith teaches that all people are called to responsibility regarding sexuality — whether they are homosexual or heterosexual, priest or lay person. Part of that responsibility means understanding that sex is to be reserved for marriage, and that marriage between a man and a woman is the only kind of union from which children can come.”

Maybe this reporter is reading too much into the statement, but are these words really a subtle explanation for Archbishop Robert Carlson’s recent controversy over his statements about “not remembering” when he learned pedophilia was a crime when he was involved in the cover-up of a priest who admitted to molesting children in Minnesota back in the ’80s?

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Police seized 1,555 child porn images at Father Stanislaus John Hogan’s St Ignatius residence, court told

A SENIOR priest at a prominent Catholic school was caught with more than a thousand perverse images of children and teenagers, some in the worst category known to authorities, a court has heard.
In March, Father Stanislaus John Hogan, 69, pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to access child pornography and one aggravated count of possessing child pornography.

In sentencing submissions today, the District Court heard police had seized a collection of videos, images and magazines of children aged between three months and 16 years in his bedroom at Saint Ignatius College at Athelstone in 2012.

However, The Advertiser has subsequently learned prosecutors mis-spoke, and that the youngest children depicted were three years of age.

The court heard about 70 per cent of the 1555 images and videos were of teenage boys but Hogan also had five images and two videos classified as category 5 — which is saved for the worst type of child exploitation material.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

Catholic priest, 69, faces jail after police found 1,555 child pornography images in his bedroom at college where he worked

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS and FREYA NOBLE

A Catholic priest who had over a thousand child pornography images in the bedroom at the college he worked at struggled to reconcile his sexuality with his Jesuit beliefs, an Adelaide court has heard.

In Father Stanislaus Hogan’s locked room at St Ignatius College in Adelaide, police discovered 1,555 images and police also located magazines and videos bought legally in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Sophie David, for Father Stanislaus Hogan, said the 69-year-old had done a lot of good in his life but had now lost his teaching career and his good reputation had been ‘indelibly stained’.

‘He has also made clear his intention to apply to be released from his vows on August 14,’ she said on Monday at Hogan’s sentencing hearing in the Adelaide District Court.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

The scale of child sexual abuse in Australian institutions could be far wider than expected and the potential for it to happen still exists.

The child sex abuse royal commission also says in its interim report released on Monday that it will need to extend its final reporting date by two years to December 2017 to finish its job.

The two year extension will cost $104 million.

“If the royal commission is not extended we will not be able to hold a private session for any person who contacts us after September this year,” the report said.

“This will mean we will not be able to meet the demand generated by our national public awareness campaign.”

The extension will allow for an additional 3000 private sessions, bringing the commission’s total to 7000.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

It takes an average of 22 years for survivors of child abuse to come forward – and it takes men longer than women, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse says.

In its interim report, released on Monday, the commission said its analysis of information it received shows 90 per cent of sex abusers are men.

It also found on average, female victims were nine years old and male victims 10 years old when the abuse started.

‘Although many instances of abuse reported to us occurred some years ago, the information we have gathered and the public hearings we have conducted confirm that abuse remains a contemporary issue,’ the commission found.

‘We understand that although many people have come forward to the Royal Commission, it is likely that they represent only a minority of those abused.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sex abuse has handed down its interim report, but says it has not yet compiled enough information to make any recommendations.

It is calling for an additional two years and $104 million in extra funding to complete the 70 public hearings they have identified as “essential”.

So far, only 13 of the hearings have been held. The commission has also conducted thousands of private sessions with individuals, but it says there are around 3,000 more on a waiting list.

The interim report says that despite legal obligations to report child abuse, it remains significantly under-reported in Australia.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Children can help design institutions that are safe for them, a royal commission says.

The Royal Commission into Institutional responses to Child Sexual Abuse says Children have knowledge and experience different to adults and can make a unique contribution to developing safe institutions.

As part of its interim report released on Monday, the commission says it has ordered research into the views of children about their safety from sexual abuse in institutions.

‘In considering prevention, it is important that institutions do not overly rely on any one practice, including child focused programs,’ the commission said.

‘Rather, they need to holistically address the risk of child sexual abuse with a range of approaches.’

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Jimmy Savile admitted getting knighthood was ‘a relief because it got me off the hook’

In the light of details about sexual abuse and macabre acts that emerged from an inquiry into Jimmy Savile last week, this compelling and disquieting interview by the celebrated journalist Lynn Barber takes on new meaning. We run it in full for the first time since it was published in 1990 in The Independent on Sunday

LYNN BARBER Sunday 29 June 2014

Sir James Savile is absolutely knocked out, over the moon, tickled pink, and thrilled to bits with his knighthood, and still reeling from the excitement of it all. Ooh, but it has played merry hell with his diary. “The Queen deciding to give me this tremendous responsibility – I mean, you go to bed one minute without a care in the world and you wake up the next morning with this gi-normous responsibility come through the letterbox.

Do you want to see the gear?” he asks, burrowing under the put-u-up to find his briefcase (we are in his London flat) from which he produces a transparent plastic folder. “Read it all,” he urges. “Go on. Have a little dwell on that. That folder encapsulates it all.”

The folder encloses the letter from the Prime Minister offering him a knighthood, the envelope it came in, some bumf about keeping it secret till the proper date and then – proudest of all – telegrams from Charles and Diana, from Prince Philip, a handwritten letter from Angus Ogilvy and a very sweet homemade card with a stuck-on snapshot of Princess Bea, from the Duchess of York. He is almost bursting with pride as he shows them off.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

Girls targeted from nine, boys from ten and it takes 22 YEARS for survivors to come forward: Chilling statistics of child sex abuse revealed in Royal Commission report

Volume 1
Volume 2

By SARAH DEAN and AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

It takes an average of 22 years for survivors of child abuse to come forward and many Australians who have been abused still haven’t spoken out, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse says.

In its interim report, released on Monday, the commission said on average female victims were nine years old and male victims 10 years old when the abuse started and that it takes men longer than women to disclose their abuse.

The commission, which began its inquiry into institutional abuse on 13 January 2013, said its analysis also showed 90 per cent of sex abusers are men.

‘We understand that although many people have come forward to the Royal Commission, it is likely that they represent only a minority of those abused,’ the commission said.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Royal Commission has so many cases to hear it must sit for three years

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH JULY 01, 2014

One in four abusers are members of the clergy or religious order
Justice McClellan asks to extend its deadline to the end of 2017

THE child sex abuse royal commission needs another two years and $104 million to do its job, Commissioner Peter McClennan has said in the first of its long-awaited reports.

There have been more than 1000 individual institutions reported to the commission, with more than one in four child abusers being members of the clergy or religious orders.

The Catholic church was the worst culprit, with 68 per cent of abuse claims out of all the religious instutitions reported.

The commission estimated a shocking one in three girls and one in seven boys in Australia will be victims of some form of child sexual abuse in their lifetime.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Suman Varandani@suman09
on June 30 2014

Bishop Max Davis, a senior member of Australia’s Catholic Church, has stepped down from his position after being charged with sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in 1969.

Davis, who is believed to be Australia’s first bishop to be charged with sexually abusing a teenager, was a teacher at St. Benedict’s College in New Norcia, northeast of Perth, when the alleged incident took place, the Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia reportedly said, in a statement. According to reports, Davis faces three counts of indecent treatment of a child under the age of 14.

“At that time – 45 years ago – the bishop was not ordained. The bishop emphatically denies the allegation and the charge will be defended,” the Ordinariate, which is the Catholic Diocese of the country’s defense force, said in the statement.

The statement also reportedly said that Davis will not be allowed to continue in his role as a member of the Religious Advisory Committee to the Services until the court has made its ruling. Davis reportedly holds a military rank that is equivalent to a two-star officer.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A story in the Local section Sunday about retired Milwaukee Archbishop incorrectly stated that former priest David Hanser is deceased. In addition, the story said the Catholic Church sees gay and lesbian people as “intrinsically disordered.” The Vatican has stated that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” and same-sex attraction is “objectively disordered.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

June 30, 2014

The outgoing head of the Anglican Church in Australia says a lack of central authority in the church has affected its efforts to deal with child sexual abuse.

Addressing the church’s national parliament in Adelaide on Monday, Brisbane Archbishop Phillip Aspinall said the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse had expressed surprise and concern at the dispersed power structure within the church.

Dr Aspinall, the Anglican church primate, said the church had taken a number of steps to improve child safety and respond to allegations of abuse over the past decade but acknowledged more work was needed.

However he said the “very weak” nature of the national offices within the Anglican church represented a serious challenge.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Kirstan Conley

A Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to molesting a Bronx teenage girl is being sued by his victim — even though the cleric has died.

Father Jaime Duenas was 87 when he was charged in 2011 with fondling the 16-year-old. He pleaded guilty to the charges and had the case sealed — but not before blaming the victim for his lewd behavior when he pointed out to investigators that “she wore short skirts.”

Now, he is named in a lawsuit seeking restitution.

“My client comes from a very religious family and she lost her faith because of what he did,” lawyer Michael Dowd said after filing the civil suit in the Bronx last week.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY THE NATIONAL REPORTING TEAM’S LORNA KNOWLES
June 30, 2014

A disabled woman who was sexually abused by her priest has spoken out against the Catholic Church for relying on the so-called “Ellis defence” to fight her legal claim.

Jennifer Herrick says the church is still using the controversial legal precedent to block victim’s claims, despite Cardinal George Pell telling the child abuse royal commission that victims should be able to sue the church.

Ms Herrick was a shy 19-year-old with a severe physical disability when her local priest, Father Tom Knowles, struck up a friendship with her.

“He made me feel normal, he made me feel like my walk didn’t matter,” she said.

Ms Herrick says when she was 22, Father Knowles initiated sex with her. It was sudden and painful and she felt powerless to stop him.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

[with video]

The Catholic bishop accused of child sex offences at a college northeast of Perth 45 years ago will face court next month.

Bishop Max Davis, the head of the Catholic Church’s military diocese, was on Friday charged by West Australian police with three counts of indecent treatment of children under 14.

Police allege Bishop Davis indecently assaulted a 13-year-old boy while he was a teacher at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia in 1969.

Bishop Davis, 68, who lives in the ACT, is due to face the Perth Magistrates Court on July 25.

It’s understood he is the first Australian bishop and the most senior Australian church official charged with a child sex offence.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Ben Worsley

A Marist Brother who was sentenced to six years’ jail for abusing boys and girls is still a Brother in the Catholic order, a royal commission has heard.

John Kostka Chute was convicted in 2009 of 19 sex offences involving six children, most involving his time teaching at Marist College in Canberra.

The former head of the Marist order, Alexis Turton, is on the stand at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for a third day.

Peter O’Brien, the lawyer for one of Chute’s victims, asked Brother Turton about Chute’s current status within the order.
Mr O’Brien: “Kostka Chute is still a Brother with the Marist order?”
Brother Turton: “Yes.”
Mr O’Brien: “Having spent six years of a term of imprisonment for molesting children under his care, he’s still a Brother in the Marist Brother order?”
Brother Turton: “Yes.”

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Thomas E. O’Rourke was a Jesuit of the California Province, ordained in 1943. He ministered in San Francisco and Los Angeles CA, as well as in Phoenix, AZ where he was a staff member at Brophy Prep. from 1975 until his death in 1993. O’Rourke was accused at some point of sexually abusing a minor in 1968 in Los Angeles, while he was assigned to Loyola High School.

Ordained: 1943
Died: Jan. 1, 1993

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

WHEN well-known scandals, like that of the mother-and-baby homes or the Magdalene Laundries, finally hit the public consciousness — we often hear a common refrain: “Oh it was a different time.”

Journalists and commentators get accused of imposing the morality and ethics of 21st century Ireland on an Ireland which bears no comparison.

As a result, we hear that the religious orders and nuns who ran these homes and institutions “did their best” operating within a very different set of moral boundaries. In short, people thought differently and the treatment of unmarried mothers and their children was an acceptable, if unfortunate, aspect of that society

However, a recent discovery made by the grandson of Dr Halliday Sutherland paints a picture of an Irish clergy deeply suspicious of anyone asking questions of how Magdalene Laundries and mother-and-baby homes operated.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

The two-week Perth inquiry investigated the responses of the Christian Brothers and West Australian state authorities to abuse allegations at Christian Brothers-run schools and orphanages in Bindoon, Castledare, Clontarf and Tardun.

Among the most shocking evidence presented at the hearings, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was told boys were subjected to torture, rape and beatings by Christian Brothers at the four childcare institutions between 1947 and 1968.
And they were abused with impunity, the commission was told.

Survivors of abuse were hamstrung at every turn, with children as young as ten, many of whom were child migrants, being beaten by Christian Brother superiors if they told of the abuse.

The survivors told of how statute of limitation laws in WA, as well as double jeopardy laws, prevented men from coming forward to identify a Christian Brother later convicted of abusing five boys in his care.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thirteen young Catholic girls were raped and molested by their teacher in Queensland because five adults stayed silent to protect the church.

That was the damning case presented to the royal commission into child sex abuse when it came to Brisbane to look at how a teacher was allowed to keep working at a Toowoomba school for more than a year after abuse claims surfaced against him.

The commission was told the school’s principal, assistant principal, a student protection officer, and two Catholic education officers first learned of the abuse claims against Gerry Byrnes in September 2007.
But not one of them ever told police or parents.

It wasn’t until Byrnes was arrested in November 2008 that the church began investigating his 37-year teaching career at seven schools.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

June 30, 2014

A man jailed for six years for abusing children is still a member of the Marist Brothers, a hearing in Sydney has been told.

Brother Alexis Turton, the former head of the order in Australia and head of their professional standards office until 2012, said that John Chute, known as Brother Kostka, was still a member, at Monday’s hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Peter O’Brien, the solicitor representing Damian De Marco, who was assaulted by Chute when he was a student at Marist College in Canberra, asked Brother Turton, if he was aware of any moves to “defrock [Chute] as a brother”.

Brother Turton said he had no knowledge if moves were afoot to remove Chute from the brotherhood.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

How did a pedophile stay a Scout leader, evade NSW working-with-children vetting processes, become CEO of a children’s home, get close to fostering a child and escape early prosecution?

The first public hearing of the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse wanted answers to those questions when it sat on September 16, 2013 at Governor Macquarie Tower in Sydney.

Steven Larkins, former Scout leader and general manager of Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Services (HACS), was jailed in 2012 for a string of offences against children and for offences committed to avoid detection.

There had been reports about him since the early 1990s.

Five institutions – Scouts Australia NSW, HACS, the Department of Community Services (DoCs), the Commission for Children and Young People, and the NSW Police Force – were under the commission’s spotlight.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP JUNE 30, 2014

In 18 months the child sex abuse commission has revealed just the tip of a deep iceberg.

EXPLOSIVE claims by a NSW detective that the Catholic Church covered up evidence of pedophile priests led to the creation of one of the biggest royal commissions ever in Australia.

THE pressure on government to call a national inquiry grew as public outrage gained momentum over Peter Fox’s allegations of cover up by the church and police.

When then Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced on November 12, 2012 a Royal Commission into institutional responses to instances and allegations of child sexual abuse in Australia there had already been 300 various child abuse inquiries across three decades – but nothing like this.

On January 11, 2013 Justice Peter McClellan was named head of a six-member panel and by February terms of reference were announced.

The number of commissioners and scope of the inquiry signalled the wide-ranging forensic power this commission would have – it could compel powerful institutions to open their archives and ledgers and powerful people to give evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
Caracol Radio (Colombia)

Un obispo católico dimitió en Australia tras ser acusado de abuso infantil.

Max Davis, quien se convirtió en el primer obispo australiano procesado por el delito, está acusado de abusar de un adolescente en 1969, dos años antes de convertirse en sacerdote.

El sacerdote ocupaba el cargo de obispo castrense desde 2003.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

A man who as a child had cigarette butts put out between his toes while in the care of the Salvation Army was given just $10,000 compensation.

The 10th public inquiry by the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse looked at how the organisation dealt with abuse complaints.

It heard a matrix was used to measure what was offered to abuse victims.

EF was seven when placed in the Indooroopilly Boys Home in Queensland in 1966. He was violently punished and raped by the home’s manager, Major Victor Bennett.

This second hearing into the Salvation Army was shown a report outlining EF’s complaint, including that Mr Bennett put out cigarette butts between his toes.

The report had “allegations not proven” written on it.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

“The ones who suicided are the lucky ones; we are the walking dead who remain.”

The 66-year-old man who had been placed in the children’s home run by the Anglican Church in Lismore when he was two, sat slightly hunched in the witness box at the royal commission hearing.

His evidence, like that of many abuse survivors who told their stories during 14 public hearings into child sex abuse in institutions, was listened to in numbed silence.

In a broken voice and sometimes in tears he told how his six-year-old brother used to protect him, but then his brother was sent to another home.

Forty years later in 2006 the man giving evidence read an article by Tommy Campion, another former resident of the North Coast Children’s Home.

He said he cried for days.

In the 1980s he had been diagnosed with depression and attempted suicide several times. He now had leukaemia. In broken voice he told of beatings that left him scarred; of being left at a table for ten hours because he could not eat the food. If he threw up he would be made to eat the vomit.

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MICHIGAN
WKZO

by John McNeill

BATTLE CREEK (WKZO) — Authorities are looking for more potential victims of former Christian radio host John Balyo, who is accused of sexually assaulting at least one young boy.

Homeland Security agent Kenneth Duke says Balyo had contact with children through his photography business and his sponsorship of children through an aid agency.

They also found news articles in a storage facility about missing children along with a bondage kit and it made them think he may have done it more than once.

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MICHIGAN
Fox 17

by Jessica McMaster
Reporter/Produce

CALHOUN COUNTY, Mich. (June 29, 2014)– A former West Michigan radio host accused of molesting a child is expected in court Monday.

John Balyo faces charged of criminal sexual conduct after police say he had oral sex with an 11-year-old inside a Battle Creek hotel room.

According to a spokesperson with Homeland Security, investigators found duct tape, handcuffs, rope, zip-ties and children’s socks in a so-called “bondage kit” that was found inside a storage unit rented by Balyo.

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MICHIGAN
Radio Ink

Former WCSG host John Balyo is expected to be in court today to face charges of criminal sexual conduct. Police say the former Christian radio host had oral sex with an 11-year-old at a hotel. Balyo was quickly fired from his job at WCSG. Investigators say Balyo’s arrest was part of a bigger sex trafficking investigation.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

MARGARET SCHEIKOWSKI
June 30, 2014

A bus driver’s repeated sexual abuse of intellectually disabled children, many of whom could not speak or communicate in any way, was the focus of the Royal Commission’s Adelaide hearing.

It investigated the response, such as it was, made by the South Australian police, St Ann’s Special School and the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide to claims of child sexual abuse by Brian Perkins.

From 1986 to 1991, Perkins was the school’s bus driver, volunteered in woodwork classes and provided respite for parents by taking groups of boys on weekend camps and other excursions.

The then-principal didn’t carry out a police check on Perkins, who had three child sex convictons.

He ended up molesting as many as 30 disabled children, but it was not until 1991 that police raided his home and seized two canisters of film later found to contain images of naked students.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Volume 1
Volume 2

Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Monday 30 June 2014

The royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has requested an extra two years and $104m to finish its job.

The royal commission, set up by former prime minister Julia Gillard, released its interim report on Monday afternoon. It has interviewed more than 1,700 people in private sessions, identified abuses in more than 1,000 institutions and held 14 public hearings into case study incidents, which include the handling of abuse claims within the Catholic Church, the Salvation Army, NSW state-run children’s homes and Marist Brothers schools.

The commission recently announced it would hold a public hearing into Swimming Australia.

The interim report, the most comprehensive document on the royal commission released so far, covering all findings to date, comes in two parts, including 150 de-identified victims’ stories of abuse.

The report confirmed statements by chief commissioner Justice Peter McClellan in a speech at Griffith University earlier this month, including that the slated 2015 end date to the commission – which was always open to change – did not allow enough time to adequately hear all cases.

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AUSTRALIA
Press TV (Iran)

One of the most senior members of the Catholic Church in Australia has resigned after being charged by a court with child sex abuse.

Bishop Max Davis is accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old student at Saint Benedict’s College in Western Australia, where he was a teacher back in 1969.

Davis is the first Australian Catholic bishop to be charged with child abuse as sex scandals continue to shake the Catholic Church.

“At that time – 45 years ago – the bishop was not ordained,” the church said in a statement. “The bishop emphatically denies the allegation and the charge will be defended.”

Davis served as chaplain on various ships and bases in Australia and overseas as bishop of the Australian Defense Force.

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AUSTRALIA
Yahoo! News

Volume 1
Volume 2

The royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sex abuse has handed down its interim report, but says it has not yet compiled enough information to make any recommendations.

It is calling for another two years to complete its work, as well $104 million in extra funding.

The royal commission says it has identified several main themes from the many personal stories it has heard.

The themes include repeated abuse and multiple perpetrators, barriers to reporting the abuse and adults that have systematically failed to protect children.

However, it says it is not clear how prevalent abuse has been, or continues to be, in institutions.
The royal commission says its initial research shows 90 per cent of perpetrators were male.

It has found that it took 22 years on average for victims to report abuse, with men taking longer than women.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual abuse is yet to reach a view on a national redress scheme for survivors.

In it’s interim report released on Monday, the commission said it had heard calls in public hearings, submissions and in the media for a national redress scheme.

“We have not yet reached a view on a national scheme,” the commission said.

“It is likely that we will be able to identify shortcomings in the institutional redress schemes we have considered in detail.

“We might also recommend some principles of best practice.”

Four Australian states have offered redress schemes for former residents of child institutions in Qld, WA, Tas and SA.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

PETER TRUTE
June 30, 2014

The Salvation Army is facing a slump in donations to its flagship fundraising drive after an inquiry’s revelations of terrible sexual abuse of children in its care.

Donations to the Red Shield Appeal Doorknock in May are down an estimated 20 per cent this year.

Spokesman Major Bruce Harmer said the evidence heard at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a key factor.

The church expects to fall 20 per cent or $2 million short of its $10 million target for the doorknock held on May 24 and 25.

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ILLINOIS
My Fox Chicago

The former pastor of a west suburban church sexually abused a boy who was his neighbor and a parishioner, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.

John Hays, 57, allegedly abused the victim from the time he was 8 until he was 13, Assistant State’s Attorney Beth Novy told a judge.

Hays, of the 5800 block of West Race, is listed in police records as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of River Forest, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

“Beginning when the victim was about 8 years old, the victim would go to the defendant’s house to play video games with the defendant’s sons. While the boys were playing the games, [Hays] would enter the room and place the victim on his lap” and fondle him, Novy said.

Hays played what he called “a tickle game and touch the victim all over the victim’s body,” Novy said.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Report of Case Study no.1 – The response of institutions to the conduct of Steven Larkins

Report of Case Study no. 2 – YMCA NSW’s response to the conduct of Jonathan Lord

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission Interim Report was released on 30 June 2014. The Interim Report is in two volumes.

Volume 1 outlines why we are here, what we have done, what we’re learning and what we need to do next.

Volume 2 includes the personal stories of 150 people who shared their experience of abuse by coming to a private session or providing a written account. They have been chosen as a representative group and all names and other identifying features have been changed. This volume also includes a selection of de-identified poetry given to us by survivors.

You can download a copy of the Interim Report below.

Volume 1

Volume 2

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

What has already been said at the royal commission into child sex abuse.

“Until I began my work with the commission I did not adequately appreciate the devastation and long-lasting effect which sexual abuse, however inflicted, can have on an individual’s life.” – Justice Peter McClellan on opening the first public hearing.

“Unless we address this, we have no credibility.” – Deputy head of Christian Brothers Oceania Julian McDonald at a Perth hearing into two residences run by the order.

“Fifty years in the church and I do not know if I can even say I am a Christian.” – Pat Comben after two days of evidence on how he handled abuse survivor claims at an Anglican home in Lismore in northern NSW.

“We have historically provided a poor service for poor children. No government has ever really paid the money that it really requires to care for someone else’s child.” – Former Queensland senior welfare officer Janice Doyle.

“To work with kids and help them to experience life, love and friendships in an environment where there are no walls or boundaries.” – Pedophile Jonathan Lord listing his ambitions in his resume for a YMCA job.

“Why in the diocese of Lismore, then across all of Australia, then the world, why not one good fearless person could have stepped out against the depravities and wrongs that existed.” – What abuse survivor Jennifer Ingham wanted to ask a bishop.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

An inquiry into Catholic Church legal liability in abuse cases heard how Cardinal George Pell took a hardline with one victim to stop people suing.

Cardinal George Pell agreed that putting a sex abuse victim through a legal wringer was un-Christian when he faced a child abuse inquiry in March.

The hearing was the eighth by the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

It was revisiting the well-known John Ellis case to explore Catholic Church legal liability.

Father Aidan Duggan abused John Ellis when he was an altar boy between 1974 and 1979. The impact hit Mr Ellis as an adult and broke him mentally.

He lost his job as a partner in a law firm.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph (UK)

Bishop Max Davis accused of sexually assaulting 13-year-old boy in 1960s, becoming most senior Australian clergyman to be charged in Catholic Church sex abuse scandal

By Associated Press 30 Jun 2014

A senior member of Australia’s Catholic Church has stepped down from his post after being charged with sexually abusing a teenage student decades ago, the church said on Monday.

Bishop Max Davis, the head of the church’s military diocese, is accused of abusing a student in 1969 when he was a teacher at St. Benedict’s College in Western Australia, the Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia said in a statement. The Ordinariate is the Catholic Diocese of the country’s defence force.

Bishop Davis – the most senior clergyman in Australia to be charged in the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal – has denied the allegations

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ANNETTE BLACKWELL
June 30, 2014

The pastoral got shoved aside as financial payouts became the focus of the Catholic Church’s system of dealing with abuse victims, the fourth royal commission public hearing discovered.

Towards Healing – a protocol put in place by Catholic bishops in 1997 to help people who were sexually abused by clergy – was the focus of this hearing.

The process was shown to be inconsistent and at times poorly run. The church agreed that once insurers took over, the pastoral got lost.

Two women abused by priests and two men sexually assaulted by Marist brothers told of their journey through Towards Healing.

Payouts varied widely depending on the diocese and who was running the process.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ANNETTE BLACKWELL
June 30, 2014

Men and women who survived childhood rape and beatings in a NSW Anglican home were told to go away when they asked for help, the third hearing into child sexual abuse was told.

In October, 2013, the commission sitting in Sydney examined how the Anglican Diocese of Grafton handled complaints of extreme abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore. Up to 200 children passed through the home from 1944 to 1985.

Children were malnourished and flogged with canes, pony whips and belts. Staff, pastors and other inmates raped young children.

Tommy Campion, a 67-year-old former resident, and about 40 others came forward in 2006 to seek an apology and redress. The diocese denied liability and challenged the group’s assertion that it was liable for the home.

Evidence was the diocese, which was $12 million in debt because it had built a loss-making private school, took a hard line on compensation.

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AUSTRALIA
Digital Journal

BY GRETA MCCLAIN

A senior Roman Catholic Bishop who is head of the Australian Defence Force military diocese, has been arrested by Western Australian police and charged with sexual assault.

Bishop Max Davis, 68-years-old, is charged with sexually assaulting a student at St. Benedict’s College in New Norcia in 1969. The alleged assault occurred when Davis was a teacher and the school, and prior to Davis being ordained as a Catholic priest.

The charges and arrest were confirmed in a statement by the Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia, which stated:

“An allegation has been made to the police that in 1969 Bishop Max Davis abused a student at St. Benedict’s College in New Nocria. At that time – 45 years ago – the bishop was not ordained. The bishop emphatically denies the allegation and the charge will be defended.”

According to The Guardian, Davis is thought to be the highest ranking Catholic clergy to be charged with a sexual offence, and is believed to be the first Australian Catholic clergy to be charged with such an offense.

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VATICAN CITY
The Voice of Russia

A senior Polish cleric has been found guilty of child sex abuse by a disciplinary panel of the Catholic Church and has been defrocked, the Vatican announced.

Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, 65, was removed in August from his post as Holy See ambassador to the Dominican Republic after allegations surfaced in the media of child sexual abuse, dpa reports.

After an investigation into the matter, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s disciplinary watchdog, convicted him and deemed him no longer fit to serve as a priest, a statement said.

Wesolowski has two months to file an appeal against that decision.

Until then, “all the actions that are commensurate to the seriousness of the case” will be taken against the archbishop, the Vatican said, in remarks that were seen as hinting at the possibility of an arrest.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Malcolm X said something that applies today to Pope Francis’s secret biggest hidden heist in mankind’s history and deceptive hypocritical papacy: “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” Pope Francis’ boss the Vatican Mammon Beast a.k.a. Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team – together with the 1% wealthiest of the globe – are the people doing the oppressing.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Courier Times

By Elizabeth Fisher Correspondent

The fighting faithful of St. Ann parish in Bristol packed the pews, the side aisles and the vestibules Sunday for what the Archdiocese of Philadelphia decreed would be the final Mass before the church merges with St. Mark, just blocks away.

About 250 worshiping warriors, many wearing battle “uniforms” of white T-shirts emblazoned with the traditional Trinitarian symbol, a red and blue cross usually fronting priest vestments and nun habits, attended the 10 a.m. Mass.

The Rev. Tom Morris, pastor of St. Ann, read his farewell remarks, written in what he called a “love letter” to his flock.

“I consider myself a married man, married to the church and to you, the members of St. Ann,” Morris told the congregation. “My hands will miss holding, touching, washing of your feet (emulating Jesus’ washing of the feet of his apostles at the Last Supper, and emulated today at Holy Thursday services). These hands will miss baptizing, distributing the Holy Eucharist, the anointing of the sick and dying.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
NECN

June 29, 2014

BOSTON (AP) – A Boston lawyer who represents victims of childhood sexual abuse is calling a change in state law a step in the right direction.

Gov. Deval Patrick recently signed legislation that would extend the statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits against alleged perpetrators.

Individuals who previously had only until age 21 to sue would now have until age 53.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian said the law will help victims seek justice, but expressed disappointment it would not allow people older than 21 to retroactively sue those who supervised their alleged abusers or the institutions that employed them.

The new law also extends from three years to seven the period in which a lawsuit can be filed after the recovery of repressed memories of childhood abuse.

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UNITED STATES
The Washington Times

By Meredith Somers-The Washington Times Sunday, June 29, 2014

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, former Vatican ambassador to the Dominican Republic, was defrocked last week by a church inquisition board and was stripped of his credentials as a priest. He has two months to appeal his conviction, and likely faces separate charges from Vatican City judicial authorities.

Mr. Wesolowski is the highest ranking official in the Catholic Church to face a conviction on sex abuse charges.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the defrocking was “encouraging,” but criticized the Holy See for not pursuing criminals charges first — or letting outside authorities take the reins.

“Changing someone’s job title is secondary,” said David Clohessy, SNAP’s national director. “Keeping pedophiles away from children is crucial.”

Mr. Wesolowski, 65, is a Polish native, and was serving as a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic when he was recalled to Vatican City in August, amid charges of sex abuse on the Caribbean island.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic opened their own investigation after he had returned to Rome. Polish authorities tried unsuccessfully to extradite Mr. Wesolowski in January, but the Holy See stopped him from being transferred on the basis that he is a Vatican citizen.

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NEW YORK
Sunday Gazette

Editorial
Sunday June 29, 2014

Tim just wants justice, any way he can get it.

He called the paper the other day looking for help.

He said he’d been sexually abused by his stepfather between about the ages of 8 and 12, and he wanted his story to come out. He’s about 40 now, so it’s been about 30 years since the abuse occurred. But the pain is still deep.

He begged for a story. But newspapers are often very reluctant to print such accounts because they’re difficult to verify and because they would be opening themselves up to a libel lawsuits should the allegations turn out to be false.

He said repeatedly that if we didn’t believe him, he’d take a lie-detector test. He’d make his stepfather and his mother and his brother take lie-detector tests as well.

It wasn’t a case of whether we believed him or not. A newspaper is not a law enforcement agency that can administer such tests. It would need corroboration, a criminal charge or a court decision or something from the police.

If only, he said, the statute of limitations on his case hadn’t expired, he would be able to get his story to the public and perhaps get some justice for what he suffered.

If there’s anything you can do, he said, anything, it would be much appreciated.

“God bless you,” he said as he hung up.

It happens more often than one might think, a victim abused decades earlier coming forward in late-middle age to tell of their abuse. But by then, it’s too late for legal action.

Despite numerous such cases, and despite the publicity surrounding the experiences of sex abuse victims in the Catholic Church, Penn State University and other institutions, New York still has among the shortest statutes of limitations for sex crimes in the country. Some states have eliminated or are in the process of eliminating limits on child sex crimes altogether, recognizing that it often takes many years for victims to muster the courage or strength to come forward. New York, advocates say, still lags far behind.

Assemblywoman Margaret M. Markey of Queens has been fighting to get the limits changed for the past several years. This year, she sponsored the Child Victims Act of New York. The bill, which has been passed by the Democrat-controlled Assembly four times in the past eight years but never has never gotten through the Senate, would eliminate criminal and civil statute of limitations for certain sex offenses (such as incest) committed against a child younger than 18.

The bill also includes an unusual provision for those cases in which the statute of limitations has already expired. It would suspend the civil statute of limitations for one year after passage of the law in all applicable cases. That would allow older victims such as Tim to have their stories heard in civil court. California, Hawaii, Delaware and Minnesota are among the states that have adopted the window, according to a June 4 article in The Wall Street Journal.

Opponents of extended or unlimited statutes of limitations argue that as cases grow old, they become more difficult to prove, especially after decades. Perpetrators and witnesses forget things. They die. Evidence disappears, if there ever was any. And some institutions have argued that opening that door would allow people to tarnish their reputations without being able to produce irrefutable proof.

But we’ve all heard stories of so-called “cold cases” being solved many years after they’ve been committed, thanks to advances in evidence technology and the perseverance of detectives and victims.

Child victims of sex crimes at least deserve a chance to make a case.

Unfortunately, the state Legislature, as it has in the past, went home for the summer without taking action on the statute of limitations, leaving child abuse victims once again trapped between their pain and the arbitrary limits of the law.

Perhaps when they return to session, they’ll reconsider and finally do something.

Among the most heinous crimes are those in which the victims are children.

Why should there be a limit on justice for them?

Why should there be a limit on justice for Tim?

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Updated June 27, 2014

Paris Arrow

The selected sick goes to the Vatican for photo-ops while the sick in hospital is shunned by Pope Francis

For the second time, Pope Francis has canceled again a planned visit to one of Rome’s main hospitals, the Gemelli hospital where he was to celebrate a mass there Friday afternoon. But an hour before his planned arrival, the Vatican issued a statement saying he was cancelling the visit due to an “unexpected indisposition.” Does anyone know what “unexpected indisposition” means? Ever hear any of Pope Francis’s colleagues those Hollywood celebrities use that word as an alibi? It’s unheard of. Pope Francis of course is the most famous celebrity on earth (as his fellow Jesuit Thomas Reese said, read here http://pope-francis-con-christ.blogspot.ca/2014/02/whos-liar-pope-francis-or-un-vatican.html ) for he has graced the cover of every magazine on the planet that Opus Dei partner Murdoch Media Empire owns, read about Murdoch here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2014/06/australia-investigate-catholic-mafia.html

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

John Hooper in Rome
The Guardian, Sunday 29 June 2014

In his first interview with a female journalist since his election to the spiritual leadership of the world’s 1.2 billion baptised Catholics, Pope Francis dodged a string of questions about whether he intended raising the status of women in his church and made a joke about women being “taken from a rib”.

The pope said women were “the most beautiful thing God has made”. And he added: “Theology cannot be done without this feminine touch.”

He agreed not enough was said about women and promised that steps were being taken to remedy the situation.

But when his interviewer, the Vatican correspondent of the Rome daily Il Messaggero, Franca Giansoldati, asked him whether he could detect an underlying misogyny in the Catholic church, Francis replied: “The fact is that woman was taken from a rib.” Giansoldati wrote that he then laughed “heartily” before saying: “I’m joking. That was a joke.”

The 77-year-old pontiff went on: “The issue of women needs to be gone into in more depth, otherwise you can’t understand the church itself.” But did he envisage, say, appointing a woman to head a Vatican department?

“Well,” replied the pope cryptically. “Priests often end up under the sway of their housekeepers.”

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

LIAM CROY AND AAP The West Australian
June 30, 2014

A senior Catholic bishop has been charged with sexually abusing a child in New Norcia 45 years ago.

Max Davis, 68, is believed to be Australia’s first bishop and the most senior Church official to be charged with a child sex offence.

He is currently the Bishop of the Australian Defence Force.

Bishop Davis has been charged by WA Police with sexually abusing a student while teaching at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia in 1969 – two years before he was ordained.

He has denied the charge and will defend it.

The Catholic Church Military Ordinariate of Australia last night said that Bishop Davis would stand down while the matter was before the court.

Bishop Davis was not an ordained priest when the incident is alleged to have occurred, and he “emphatically denies” the charge.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Liberal

By STEPHANIE KONATAR June 30, 2014

THE Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed a four-year high in sexual assault reports last year, on the back of greater awareness created by Royal Commission into child sexual assault, according to executive officer Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia (RDVSA) Karen Willis.

Almost 20,000 sexual assaults were reported in police in 2013, this is an increase of 8 percent on the previous year.

NSW saw an increase of 11 percent since 2012- an increase is quite a positive thing Ms Willis said at the launch Sexual Assault Counselling Australia in Dubbo.

“This is great news, because what we know is that only 17 per cent of people who experience sexual assault report it to police,” she said.

“We know it’s really difficult for victims to come forward.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JUNE 30, 2014

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

SEVENTY years ago, when she was just a teenage girl, the Salvation Army used to keep Dulcie May Holmes locked inside a cage.

Every time she ran away, Dulcie would be subjected to forced internal examinations by staff working at the church-run Industrial School for Girls in Toowong, Brisbane.

“Until now I just kept it to myself,” the 86-year-old said. “I never told anyone. I was too ashamed in the beginning … I just couldn’t get it out.”

Earlier this year, officers from the child abuse royal commission visited Dulcie’s rural home in Glenwood, Queensland, and asked her to describe what happened. Other graphic stories of abuse at boys’ homes run by the church emerged at two public commission hearings in January and March this year. “I’m pleased somebody knows about it now. We’ve suffered enough anyway, deep down,” Dulcie said.

Today, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will deliver its first interim report, 18 months after it first came into being.

After 14 public hearings, more than 1700 private meetings with victims, and allegations of child abuse at more than 1000 institutions, the report is expected to make the case for an extension of its current 2015 deadline.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

Leslie Hittner

It was nice to see the Diocese of Winona respond to my last column. Even then, the diocese was vague about the nature of the criticism.

When I asserted that the collections in December went to diocesan priests, I was wrong. Thanks to a friend of mine, I found out that those monies go to men and women in religious orders. Diocesan priests pay into a separate fund — one to which the diocese no doubt contributes as well. It was not clear about diocesan contributions in the news release — but that would be normal.

I promised my friend that I would write a column to correct my error. The defensive response of the diocese made it much easier for me to do so. I found it of continuing interest that financial issues can be counted upon to bring the diocese forth. It sounded like the bishop of Winona corresponded with each parish about the error that I had made in my recent criticism of the church’s continuing cover-up of sexual abuse.

But predictably the bishop’s response was about the money. It was not about the sexual abuse cover-up.

Since 2008, I have written a total of 10 columns that were critical of the actions of the church. I have also written a letter to the bishop of Winona that was critical of the reasons that led the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the social justice arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to decide not to fund the Land Stewardship Project after having done so for over two decades.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Oregon Peter P. O’Grady was a Jesuit of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, ordained in 1933. He served in parishes and schools in the dioceses of Seattle and Spokane WA, Great Falls and Helena MT, Boise City ID and Portland OR. He died in Spokane June 16, 1993. O’Grady was accused in a 2004 lawsuit of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in 1991. The diocese deemed the allegations “proven or credible”.

Ordained: 1933
Died: June 16, 1993

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

[November 17, 2011 – Statement Of The Archdiocese Of Boston Regarding Reverend Victor C. Lavoie – Boston archdiocese]

LaVoie, Rev. Victor C. 69, of Woburn, MA went to his heavenly reward June 26, 2014. The son of Rene and Ruth (McCusker) LaVoie, he was born August 25, 1944 in Hartford, CT. His early years were spent in Manchester, CT, before moving to Watertown. He graduated from Saint Mary’s School in Waltham. He attended Saint John’s Seminary, and was ordained May 15, 1971. He attended Boston College and received his Master’s in Spirituality from Santa Clara University in California. Brother of Anne Uva of Syracuse, NY, John LaVoie and his wife Mary of Duxbury, Joseph LaVoie and his wife Debbie of East Falmouth, and the late Thomas LaVoie.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

June 28, 2014

Patrick Hatch
Reporter for The Age

A former student at an ultra-orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne is suing the school and its former principal, who fled the country days after molestation claims against her surfaced.

Malka Leifer fled to Israel in 2008, days after being sacked as principal of Adass Israel Girls’ School, in Elsternwick, following complaints of inappropriate conduct with students.

Parents told The Age at the time that Ms Leifer had molested students aged 15 and 16 at her home and probably at school camps and that one victim had attempted suicide.

Two former students filed civil claims in the Melbourne Supreme Court in March last year against Mrs Leifer and the school for breach of duty.

Solicitor Nick Mazzeo, of law firm Lennon Mazzeo, has acted on behalf of a number of former students at the school who claim to have been sexually abused by Mrs Leifer.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Evening News

The head of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland has been honoured by the Pope.

Archbishop Leo Cushley was today presented with the Pallium, an ancient ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, bestowed by Popes on Metropolitan Archbishops as a symbol of jurisdiction and of communion with the See of Peter, on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul

Archbishop Cushley replaced Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who stood down in February last year after admitting sexual misconduct, as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

The Catholic Bishop of the Australian Defence Force has been charged by police with a child-sex offence allegedly committed in 1969. Bishop Max Davis, 68, is believed to be the most senior Catholic clergyman (and the first bishop) to be charged by Australian police with a child-sex offence.

The alleged incident took place when Davis was teaching at St Benedict’s College, a boys’ school in New Norcia, north-east of Perth.

On 29 June 2014 a statement from the Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia said:

“An allegation has been made to the police that in 1969 Bishop Max Davis abused a student at St. Benedict’s College in New Norcia. At that time – 45 years ago – the bishop was not ordained. The bishop emphatically denies the allegation and the charge will be defended.”

The statement said that Bishop Davis will stand aside while the matter is dealt with by the courts in Western Australia.

Research by Broken Rites

Bishop Max Leroy Davis was born in Townsville, Queensland, in 1945 and grew up in Perth, where he was educated by the Christian Brothers.

From 1962 to 1964 he served as a sailor in the Australian Navy.

After studying for the priesthood, he was ordained in 1971. He served with parishes in the Perth archdiocese and was a part-time chaplain for the Army.

From 1975 to 1993, he served as chaplain on various ships and bases in Australia and overseas.

In 1990 he became part of the Catholic Church’s newly established Military Ordinariate and was appointed its vicar-general (that is, the administrator under the military bishop). He became the principal Catholic chaplain for the Navy in 1993.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY June 29, 2014

THE Catholic Church has warned a woman it will block her compensation claim by using a defence that was severely criticised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The Victorian order, the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, has advised Central Coast woman Jennifer Herrick it will raise the High Court decision known as the Ellis defence to block her claim against its trustees when the matter returns to court in August. The trustees hold the order’s assets.

The order’s use of the defence has been condemned by solicitor and child sexual abuse victim John Ellis, whose unsuccessful compensation case against the Catholic Church led to the 2007 decision that has insulated the Church from claims against it ever since.

The commission’s investigation in March this year of the Church’s handling of Mr Ellis’s case included an admission by Cardinal George Pell that Church litigation against Mr Ellis amounted to “legal abuse”.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The head of the Catholic Church’s military diocese, Bishop Max Davis, has been charged by West Australian police with a child sex offence dating back to 1969.

The alleged incident is believed to have taken place when Bishop Davis was teaching at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia, northeast of Perth.

It is understood he is the first Australian bishop and the most senior Australian Church official to be charged with a child sex offence.

Bishop Davis was not an ordained priest when the incident is alleged to have occurred, and he ’emphatically denies’ the charge.

‘An allegation has been made to the police that in 1969 Bishop Max Davis abused a student at St. Benedict’s College in New Norcia,’ the Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia said in a statement on Sunday night.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

The Bishop of the Australian Defence Force has been charged with a sex offence dating back to 1969.

Bishop Max Davis is believed to be the most senior clergyman in the Catholic Church, and the first bishop, to be charged with a child sex offence.

The alleged incident took place when Bishop Davis was teaching at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia, north-east of Perth.

The Church said Bishop Davis was not an ordained priest when the incident is alleged to have occurred, and that he “emphatically denies” the charge.

“An allegation has been made to the police that in 1969 Bishop Max Davis abused a student at St. Benedict’s College in New Nocria,” said a statement from the Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

June 29, 2014

Rachel Olding
Reporter

One of the most senior members of the Catholic Church has been charged with a child sex offence, the Church has confirmed.

Bishop Max Davis, who was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1998, has stood aside from his post as bishop of the Australian Defence Force while the matter is before a Western Australian court.

He has been charged with abusing a student at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia, Western Australia, in 1969 when he was a teacher at the school.

It is believed Bishop Davis, who was elected Military Ordinary Bishop of Australia in 2003, is the first bishop in Australia to be charged with child sexual assault.

“The bishop emphatically denies the allegation and the charge will be defended,” a statement from the Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia said.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

I don’t know about you, but when someone who’s hurt me or a loved one tells me to “move on,” or “move forward,” and hasn’t made amends, I get a little tetchy. But I get a little curious too, the way one does when one is told not to look at something.

Recently, a friend sent me a link to a beautifully scripted and filmed video featuring Australian Salvation Army Eastern Territorial Head, James Condon, called “Dealing with Regret.” Jimmy’s video was a warm, intimate ramble in the style of FD Roosevelt’s fireside chats. Jimmy says he has no regrets in life. I’m sure we’re all happy for him (with the possible exception of anyone who may have been harmed by Colin Haggar, perhaps).

At the end of the video, though, Jimmy explains that he’s often had to tell people: “You need to let go of that and move on.” He admits moving on isn’t easy (he’s only human), but reassures us that God is there to help us. This riled me, because if you’re a victim of the Salvation Army, or love someone who is, you can be pretty damn sure the Salvation Army isn’t there to help you. Not properly.

Anyway, I was a little angry by the end of this video, but curious too. What’s this “moving on” business and why did Jimmy place such heavy emphasis on it?

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IRELAND
Birmingham Mail

Jun 29, 2014 By Mike Lockley

A Midland car worker has won his 16-year fight to get the Irish government to investigate a former children’s home where 222 youngsters died from 1922 to 1949.

Derek Leinster, who now lives in Rugby, was a former resident of the controversial Bethany Home in Rathgar, Dublin, which has been included in the Commission of Investigation into mother and baby homes in Ireland.

Derek, aged 72, claims he suffered neglect at the home and as a result endured gastroenteritis, diphtheria, whooping cough and pneumonia in his formative years at the home, where his unmarried mother, Hannah, was forced to spend the last four months of her pregnancy.

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