ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jason Berry | Aug. 26, 2014

ANALYSIS

The scandal-battered Legionaries of Christ, still facing the unresolved consequences of a disgraced founder, may be seeing a turn in their fortunes with the development of the Magdala Center at the Sea of Galilee in the Holy Land. The order is conducting a major fundraising drive to cover the projected $100 million cost.

The complex, with newly discovered ruins of a synagogue Jesus may have visited, will contain an archaeological park, women’s institute, media center and a luxury hotel the Legion will own. Eduardo Guerra, the center’s assistant director, said that the Legion has raised $40 million from benefactors toward the finished work. (See story.)

Whether the center can overcome its founder’s reputation and the fallout from the prolonged scandal is an open question. While the order is still reeling from revelations that its founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, was a sexual predator, abusing young seminarians and living a double life that included fathering three children by two women from Mexico, he still has his loyalists.

A booklet intended to promote the new center, Magdala: God Really Loves Women, contains material demonstrating Maciel’s posthumous hold on certain top-rank Legionaries. The booklet compares Maciel to Mary Magdalene and portrays the Legion founder as harshly judged. In the quotation from the text that follows, the speaker is Fr. Juan María Solana, who heads the Magdala project:

The priest speaks his heart: “Marcial Maciel’s initials are also MM, just like Mary Magdalene. She had a problematic past before her deliverance, so there’s a parallel. Our world has double standards when it comes to morals. Some people have a formal, public display and then the real life they live behind the scenes.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Aug. 26, 2014

NEWCASTLE Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson has urged the federal government to fully fund the royal commission into child sexual abuse as the diocese faces a major police investigation and a royal commission investigation back to the 1950s.

In an extraordinary interview on Tuesday the bishop confirmed the Anglican Church had already paid compensation to sexual abuse victims of a late former Newcastle bishop for offences against children in another state.

It was ‘‘more than likely’’ there were serial perpetrators in the Hunter Region’s past who were ‘‘aware of one another’’, and ‘‘people of significant influence’’ in the Church had failed to respond to child sexual abuse allegations when they were made, he said.

The diocese provided tens of thousands of documents to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in July in response to a summons issued within months of Bishop Thompson taking up his position in February.

The correspondence of every Newcastle Anglican bishop back to 1953 had been handed to the royal commission, which is also investigating St John’s theological college at Morpeth, and St Alban’s children’s home at Cessnock.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Father Lombardi: “he might also be subjected to judicial procedures from other courts”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

After being dismissed from the clerical state, according to a verdict by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the former nuncio in Santo Domingo Jozef Wesolowski, who is accused of enticing young boys on the beach and paying them for sexual favours, is not granted diplomatic immunity any longer and will thus be prosecutable in other countries. Other than in Santo Domingo, the former prelate is under investigation in Poland, his home country. The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, announced this while answering the questions of the press following an article in the New York Times that brought the issue back into the spotlight, criticising the Vatican for his management of the incident.

Wesolowski, who was recalled to Rome immediately after being accused, was reduced to the lay state in few months, which is the highest possible punishment for a priest in Canon law. Now, says Lombardi, the former archbishop “has recently appealed, within the prescribed limit of two months, the most serious canonical sentence of a return to the lay state”. It appears that the appeal will be judged within October. As soon as the canonical sentence becomes definitive, the punitive procedure of the Vatican’s civil judiciary departments will begin: if he is found guilty by them as well, he might go to prison.

Lombardi explained that “Wesolowski has ceased functioning as a diplomat of the Holy See and has therefore lost his related diplomatic immunity”. The spokesman for the Vatican highlights that the Authorities of the Holy See “moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See.” Lombardi continues “This action relates to his recall to Rome and in the treatment of the case in relation to Authorities of the Dominican Republic. Far from any intention of a cover-up, this action demonstrates the full and direct undertaking of the Holy See’s responsibility even in such a serious and delicate case, about which Pope Francis is duly and carefully informed and one which the Pope wishes to address justly and rigorously”

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COSTA RICA
La Nacion

[Summary: An assistant in the Santa Marta parish at San Jose has denounced a priest named only Villalobos for allegedly sexually abusing an adult. The incident allegedly happened in the parish rectory in October 2013. A complaint was filed Aug. 8 with the assistance prosecutor for domestic violence and sexual offences]

Un ayudante de la parroquia de Santa Marta, en la Y Griega, San Francisco de Dos Ríos, San José, denunció a un sacerdote de apellido Villalobos, por presuntamente cometer el delito de abuso sexual contra persona mayor de edad.

El hecho se habría cometido en la casa cural de la citada parroquia, en octubre del 2013.

Así consta en una denuncia presentada, el pasado 8 de agosto, ante la Fiscalía Adjunta de Violencia Doméstica y Delitos Sexuales en San José, de la cual La Nación tiene una copia.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Pamela Duncan

Tue, Aug 26, 2014

Two women who gave birth to children in mother and baby homes are seeking legal advice on bringing cases against the State, according to the Irish First Mothers group.

The women are both members of the organisation but will bring their cases in a personal capacity, according to the group’s press representative, Fintan Dunne, who said the cases centred on the women’s parental rights.

Mr Dunne said one of the women had already received legal advice from senior counsel and intended to pursue a case based on this advice.

He said legal advice had been sought in the case of a second woman.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

The Vatican has stripped the former papal envoy to the Dominican Republic of his diplomatic immunity, opening the way for him to be extradited to face sex abuse allegations in the country.

The Polish priest Jozef Wesolowski was found guilty of sexually abusing young Dominican boys by the Vatican in June.

Correspondents say the Caribbean state was unhappy at his immediate recalling by the Church when the claims surfaced.

He is the most senior Vatican official to be investigated for sex abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A charity supporting sex abuse victims has opened a new support centre due to an increase in demand for its services in the wake of high profile cases.

Sarah Kelly, of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), said calls “went up sevenfold” after the allegations about Jimmy Savile in 2012 and remained high.

She said Rolf Harris and Stuart Hall’s convictions had also brought in calls.

The Stockport centre will offer both phone and face-to-face support.

In total, the charity received about 3,600 calls and emails between 2010 and 2011, a number which increased to just over 7,000 between 2012 and 2013.

Ms Kelly said celebrity cases had “given survivors permission to start talking”, which could be a cathartic experience.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, on Monday confirmed that former Apostolic Nuncio Josef Wesolowski has appealed his “most serious canonical sentence” of being returned to the lay state, in a canonical trial related to the sexual abuse of minors.

“The appeal will be judged without delay over the course of the coming weeks, most likely in October 2014,” Father Lombardi said.

The former Nuncio was recalled from the Dominican Republic after the allegations were made, and was tried earlier this year on canonical charges. Once the appeals process is complete in the canonical trial, Wesolowski can face criminal charges in the Vatican City court system.

“It is important to note that former nuncio Wesolowski has ceased functioning as a diplomat of the Holy See and has therefore lost his related diplomatic immunity, and has been previously stated, the punitive procedure of the Vatican’s civil judiciary departments will continue as soon as the canonical sentence becomes definitive,” Father Lombardi said.

“Regarding stories that have appeared over the past few days in various media, it is important to note that the Authorities of the Holy See, from the very first moments that this case was made known to them, moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See,” he continued.

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POLAND
The News

The Vatican has revoked the diplomatic immunity of a former Polish archbishop who is accused of sexually abusing children while serving as papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic.

“We must finally state that since former nuncio Wesolowski has ended all diplomatic activity and its related immunity, he might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him,” Vatican spokesman Reverend Federico Lombardi outlined in a statement.

Reverend Lombardi stressed that Pope Francis has been “duly and carefully informed” about the case and that “the Pope wishes to address [the matter] justly and rigorously.”

The Dominican Republic’s attorney general Francisco Dominguez Brito has commented that the Vatican’s announcement represents a “just and positive” turning point.

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OHIO
Toledo Blade

BY TK BARGER
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo has a new bishop. At a press conference at the diocese‘‍s Catholic Center today, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, who has been serving as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, will be introduced as the eighth bishop of Toledo, succeeding Archbishop Leonard P. Blair, who in December 2013 was installed as archbishop of Hartford in Connecticut.

Bishop Thomas, 55, was appointed to the post by Pope Francis. He had been named auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006, and a monsignor in 1995 by Pope John Paul II. He was ordained a priest in 1985. Bishop Thomas was born in Philadelphia and has served in ministry in Pennsylvania and Rome.

Bishop Thomas will be installed in Toledo at a Mass at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, on Oct. 22.

As a member of the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, he continues his service on the council’‍s committees for clergy, consecrated life and vocations, and divine worship and the ad hoc committee on catechism.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has named Daniel Edward Thomas as the new bishop of Toledo in the U.S. He currently serves as the titular Bishop of Bardstown and as an auxiliary in the archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Brief Biography of Bishop Thomas:

Thomas was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 11th, 1959. He graduated from Catholic High School in 1977, and then attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 18th, 1985, and then served as parochial vicar of Saint Joseph’s Church in Aston.

In 1987, Thomas undertook graduate studies in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, earning his Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1989. He was an official of the Congregation for Bishops in the Roman Curia for 15 years, from 1990 to 2005, whilst also serving as spiritual director to the seminarians of the North American College.

Upon his return to the United States, he became pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Strafford on November 19, 2005.

On June 8, 2006, Thomas was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia and Titular Bishop of Bardstown by Pope Benedict XVI. He received his episcopal consecration on July 26th. Bishop Thomas currently heads the Secretariat of Clergy in the archdiocesan curia, and oversees his alma mater of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and the Archdiocese’s Vocation Office, as well as its Department for Media Affairs.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The Melbourne archbishop admits he was wrong not to pay for accommodation for a homeless victim of a pedophile priest.

Archbishop Denis Hart said if he had his time again, he would have authorised payment for three months of crisis accommodation for Emma Foster.

Ms Foster was abused by the notorious Father Kevin O’Donnell, and she developed serious psychiatric problems as a result.

When her family could no longer care for her at home, they asked the church in 2003 to pay for her crisis accommodation.

At the time, Archbishop Hart told the Fosters that paying for accommodation was not part of the Melbourne archdiocese’s available support for victims.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Tuesday, August 26, 2014 by Ivan Fenech

Our latter-day generation of liberals must have been rubbing their hands in glee all last week as an apparent internal revolt against the leadership of the Maltese Church broke out. It is only apparent because no one really knows what is going on inside the Curia. Let’s hope we don’t have another Don Gaetano Mannarino in the making. His uprising didn’t come to a happy end.

In any case, Archbishop Paul Cremona made his position very clear last week: “I hold this position in obedience [to the Pope’s wishes] and will only leave in obedience… The wish, the idea is not mine, but it is the Pope’s.”

Those can only be the words of a man who must have dedicated his life to service and obedience and not to a career. Priesthood is a vocation, not a career. The rules that apply to most other institutions do not apply to the Catholic Church. It is wrong to think otherwise.

As all this was going on, two incidents happened last week: a priest in Gozo was arraigned over child abuse charges and Malta’s first baby was born through in vitro fertilisation using frozen eggs. The two totally unrelated events point to the incredibly challenging situation the Church in Malta finds itself in.

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OHIO
WKYC

CLEVELAND — A judge has ruled that an HIV-positive priest who police say solicited sex from a Cleveland Metroparks ranger last year will face a felony charge should he go to trial.

The attorney for 69-year-old Rev. James McGonegal asked the judge to reconsider a 1996 Ohio law that makes it a third-degree felony for someone with HIV to solicit sex.

The attorney argued McGonegal’s HIV status should be ignored because of medical advancements and he should face a third-degree misdemeanor charge.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By MATTHEW KELLY Aug. 26, 2014

POLICE are appealing for information from the public over alleged historical child sexual assaults in Newcastle.

Strike Force Arinya-2 is investigating allegations of child sexual assault by those associated with the Newcastle Diocese of the Anglican Church in the 1970s, including the handling of child sexual assault allegations.

As part of the investigation, police invite anyone with information to come forward.

The NSW Police Force has firm policies and systems in place to manage victims of sexual assault who make a report.

Police are urging anyone who has been a victim, or has knowledge of child sexual assault by members of the Newcastle Diocese of the Anglican Church during the 1970s, to contact Strike Force Arinya-2 at Newcastle Police Station on (02) 4929 0768, (02) 4929 0769 or contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Aug. 21, 2014

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

ALBUQUERQUE — Fifty-six individuals, claiming they suffered injury by sexually abusive clergy or other representatives of the Diocese of Gallup, filed claims against the diocese in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, according to a U.S. Justice Department official.

The 56 confidential claimants filed their proof of claim form by the case’s bar date deadline of Aug. 11, Ronald Andazola, the Assistant U.S. Trustee, said Monday. The claimants’ identities will be protected throughout the bankruptcy case by the court.

With the passing of the bar date, the Gallup Diocese’s case has reached a significant milestone.

Nearly a year ago, over the Labor Day Weekend, Gallup Bishop James S. Wall shocked parishioners across the diocese by announcing plans to file a Chapter 11 petition. More than two months later, attorneys for the diocese filed the petition in Albuquerque’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

During the first court hearing on Nov. 15, 2013, Judge David T. Thuma and diocesan attorneys, discussing a confidential mailing list that had to be created, referred to 105 individuals who had come forward as survivors of clergy sex abuse in the Gallup Diocese. That number included people who had already signed financial settlements with the diocese, people who came forward with allegations but did not seek settlements, and those who had current legal claims against the diocese.

Less than two weeks later, diocesan attorneys revised that number up to 121. That revised number included 32 individuals who were being represented by attorneys at the time of the Chapter 11 filing.

In April, when the claims bar date was set, any person who had already received a financial settlement from the Gallup Diocese was prohibited from filing a new claim in bankruptcy court.
Filing extensions

While the bar date was reached last week, two other important milestones may be pushed back into the next year.

Originally, the Diocese of Gallup was scheduled to file a plan of reorganization by March 12, 2014, and the diocese’s exclusive period to solicit acceptance of such a plan was to expire May 12. However, Susan G. Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, filed a motion in February to extend the filing period through Sept. 8, and the acceptance period through Nov. 10. A month later, Thuma approved that extension.

Last week, Boswell filed a second motion requesting another extension to push back the exclusive filing period to May 12, 2015, and the exclusive acceptance period to July 10, 2015. Boswell cited a number of factors, including the complexity of the Diocese of Gallup’s case because of incomplete record keeping for nearly 75 years, the task of determining what real property the diocese owns that can be sold, the hiring of an insurance archaeology company to determine insurance coverage, and the identification of other entities that might have “indemnification or contribution obligations” to the diocese for sexual abuse that occurred in the past.

Objections to Boswell’s motion must be filed by Sept. 5, and a hearing on the motion is scheduled Sept. 15.

Legal wrangling

One effort to identify another Catholic entity that might have a legal indemnification or contribution obligation involves ongoing legal wrangling with the Diocese of Corpus Christi in Texas.

In April, James I. Stang, the legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which advocates for the interests of abuse survivors who are confidential claimants, filed a motion for the examination of the Corpus Christi Diocese under Bankruptcy Rule 2004. In the motion, Stang requested an extensive list of documents pertaining to the diocese’s finances and insurance coverage.

Corpus Christi was pulled into the bankruptcy case because one of its former abusive priests, Clement A. Hageman, ended up working in the newly formed Diocese of Gallup after being pushed out of Corpus Christi for sexual abuse. He worked in the Gallup Diocese for approximately 35 years, until his death in 1975.

Hageman’s personnel file from Gallup was posted on the Bishop Accountability website in 2011 after being obtained by one of Hageman’s abuse victims. In addition to documenting Hageman’s molestation of Catholic school children and altar boys in Arizona parishes along old Route 66, the file contains an undated document filled out by Hageman years after arriving in the Gallup Diocese. In the document, which Hageman filled out between 1942 and 1953 while working in Holbrook, Ariz., he identified his “present” bishop as the “Most Rev. E. Ledvina Corpus Christi.”

Albuquerque attorney Jennie D. Behles, hired to represent the Corpus Christi Diocese, filed two replies in opposition of Stang’s examination motion.

Last month, Thuma issued a memorandum opinion and order that attempted to navigate what Thuma called “reasonable middle ground” between Stang’s motion and Behles’ opposition. The judge granted Stang’s Rule 2004 Motion in part, but limited the scope of discovery. Thuma also limited discovery to just the Diocese of Corpus Christi and not to Catholic organizations affiliated with the diocese.

In spite of Thuma’s order, however, the Corpus Christi issue is far from resolved. Last week Behles filed a notice of appeal, followed by a motion to stay Thuma’s order.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has named Judge Timothy O’Malley, the former head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, to a newly-created position as director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

The appointment comes as a key recommendation by the Task Force as sex abuse victims have come forward with allegations and charges have been filed against clergymen in recent months, as well as backlash against Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Nienstedt contended he won’t resign in a letter published in the Catholic Spirit in early August, and in it, he says he feels bound to his position because the Holy Father put him there. He also claims he never knowingly covered up any clergy abuse, but did say he could have been more involved in handling priest misconduct. He also answered questions regarding allegations of his own possible sexual misconduct, and how he intends to help the church come together again.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe
By Travis Andersen | GLOBE STAFF AUGUST 26, 2014

A Roman Catholic priest has been indicted on charges of stealing nearly $240,000 over several years from the Northborough parish where he served as pastor, according to the office of Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

The Rev. Stephen M. Gemme is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Worcester Superior Court on five counts of larceny, stemming from allegations that he had stolen $239,969.87 from St. Bernadette Parish and its elementary school, a spokesman for the district attorney said.

A call to a number listed for Gemme’s lawyer, Carol S. Wheeler, was not returned Monday.

According to prosecutors, Gemme allegedly siphoned the cash from the parish and school starting in January 2008.

Last October, Bishop Robert J. McManus of the Diocese of Worcester wrote in a letter posted on the St. Bernadette website that Gemme had resigned his position after spending more than $120,000 in parish funds and more than $110,000 from the St. Bernadette School for personal expenditures.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

As a State, we are either unwilling or unable to face up to our past, and our shameful treatment of women, writes ConallÓ Fátharta

WATCHING Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald being thoroughly grilled by the chair of the UN Committee on Human Rights Nigel Rodley last month, one thing was clear — as a State, we are either unwilling or unable to face up to our past.

Year after year, scandal after scandal, from the Magdalene laundries, to symphysiotomy, and now to mother and baby homes all are linked by a common thread — the shameful treatment of women and the lengths to which the State will go to delay or deny justice.

In the aftermath of the long overdue State apology that was issued to the survivors of Magdalene laundries last year, many people forgot just how much effort successive governments had put into denying State involvement, in the face of incontrovertible evidence.

As this newspaper reported at the time of that apology, the spectre that loomed large for the Government was that of the mother-and-baby homes. Yet, thanks to the Tuam babies making global headlines, it has been forced into an inquiry.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic World Report

Vatican City, Aug 25, 2014 / 05:14 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican countered media reports that it protected a former nuncio who faces sex abuse charges through diplomatic immunity, saying instead that the Holy See acted justly and swiftly in the case.

Father Federico Lombardi, director of Holy See Press Office, stated that former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic Josef Wesolowski – following charges and a guilty verdict of sexual misconduct – has been removed from his post as nuncio, and thus no longer has diplomatic immunity.

The former nuncio may “be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him” in the Dominican Republic, Fr. Lombardi said in an Aug. 25 statement.

Though there is no extradition treaty between the Vatican and the Dominican Republic, Vatican officials in September expressed their willingness to hand over Wesolowski to civil authorities in the Dominican Republic.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 25 August 2014

The Catholic church did not take abuse allegations seriously enough and showed too much sympathy to paedophile priests, Melbourne’s archbishop has admitted.

Archbishop Denis Hart said the church had come down too often on the side of the priest when allegations were made.

“I would see that people sometimes have a greater deal of sympathy for a church person than they should have, and they didn’t sufficiently identify the crime that that person had committed for what it was,” Hart told the child abuse royal commission on Tuesday.

“I think these times have made us see quite clearly both in what we think and know but also in our action what we must do.”

Hart also acknowledged that apologies he had sent to victims of paedophile priests were identical form letters with just the names changed.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 26, 2014

Jane Lee and Cameron Houston

Melbourne Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart instructed his lawyers to “take the defences” in a high-profile victim’s court case, it was revealed hours after he told the sex abuse royal commission that he had only told the lawyers to resolve the matter as quickly and compassionately as possible.

The directive, in a note by the church’s lawyer, Richard Leder, of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, raises further concerns about the church’s combative legal response to victims of sexual abuse at the hands of paedophile priests.

When asked about the note, Archbishop Hart began a heated exchange with Tim Seccull, the lawyer representing the Foster family, which filed a statement in 2003. Two of Anthony and Chrissie Foster’s daughters were sexually abused by serial sex offender Kevin O’Donnell.

The Archbishop turned to chairman of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan: “I’ve already provided evidence on this point … I can repeat it if Mr Seccull wishes.”

Mr Seccull suggested that the instructions were consistent with the church’s default position until 2002 to warn victims in correspondence that any legal challenge against the church would be “strenuously defended”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Lucy Carter
Updated 26 Aug 2014

New South Wales Police have begun a new major investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse within Newcastle’s Anglican Diocese in the 1970s.

Strike force Arinya-2 has been established to investigate alleged child sexual assaults in the Newcastle region, dating back 40 years.

The Anglican Church in Newcastle has been investigated before, most recently in 2012 when the then Newcastle Anglican Bishop, Brian Farran, defrocked three priests over what he described as “disturbing” allegations of abuse that allegedly occurred in the 1970s and 1980s.

At the time, the Professional Standards Board of the Anglican Church of Newcastle accepted that the former dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, and the reverends Bruce Hoare and Andrew Duncan engaged in sexual misconduct against a male teenager.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY JEAN EDWARDS
August 26, 2014

The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, has defended the place of celibacy in the church, even though he says it is a burden for some priests.

Archbishop Hart took the stand for a second day at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne, where he was questioned about the causes of abuse by the clergy.

He told the commission celibacy was fulfilling for many priests.

“I believe that celibacy, supported by prayer… is a wonderful vocation and a wonderful engagement with people,” Archbishop Hart said.

“Once it becomes limited, or once it becomes turned in upon itself, then there is a danger, but celibacy rightly lived and prepared for with proper formation, I do believe has a valid function.

“I’ve had sufficient experience with people who’ve found celibacy a burden and have asked the Pope to dispense them from priesthood.

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VATICAN CITY
Portland Press Herald

BY NICOLE WINFIELD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican said Monday that its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country, had lost his diplomatic immunity and could be tried by Dominican or other courts.

The Vatican has previously insisted in its handling of the delicate case of Josef Wesolowski that he enjoyed diplomatic immunity and that the Holy See doesn’t extradite its own citizens.

But in a statement Monday, the Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Wesolowski had ceased all diplomatic activity for the Holy See, lost his related immunity and therefore “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican recalled Wesolowski a year ago after allegations emerged in the Dominican Republic that he had sexually molested young boys there.

Dominican authorities have said their country’s investigation uncovered allegations that Wesolowski had paid at least six minors to watch them masturbate and had recorded it with his mobile phone, but prosecutors did not file charges because the nuncio had diplomatic immunity.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

By FRANCIS X ROCCA on Tuesday, 26 August 2014

The Vatican has denied covering-up for a former papal ambassador accused of sexually abusing boys and suggested he might have to stand trial on the charges in the Dominican Republic.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, released a statement on August 25 in response to journalists’ questions about former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole who served as nuncio to the Dominican Republic until August 2013.

According to an August 23 article in the New York Times, the Vatican “secretly recalled (Wesolowski) to Rome last year before he could be investigated, and then invoked diplomatic immunity for Mr. Wesolowski so that he could not face trial in the Dominican Republic.”

Father Lombardi responded that the Vatican, by recalling the diplomat from his post last summer “moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See.”

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VATICAN CITY
Deutsche Welle

A former Polish archbishop and diplomat has appealed against his defrocking after a Vatican tribunal convicted him of pedophilia. Jozef Wesolowski faces further criminal proceedings in Vatican City and possibly beyond.

The Vatican announced Monday the former archbishop 66-year-old Jozef Wesolowski, who had served as the Vatican’s diplomat for the Dominican Republic and former Holy See ambassador, had appealed against his defrocking.

In June, he was reduced to the status of a layman after being stripped of his diplomatic title and defrocked after being found guilty of child sex abuse and deemed unfit to be a priest by a Vatican tribunal. He was the most senior Vatican figure to be punished for such a crime. His was the harshest penalty the Vatican tribunal could rule against a cleric under canon law.

He now faces a separate criminal trial in Vatican City state courts – the first of its kind there – for sexual abuse and could face up to 12 years in prison. As he no longer has diplomatic immunity, Wesolowski could also face charges in the Dominican Republic, where there is a criminal investigation against him on allegations he paid boys for sexual acts, or in his native country of Poland.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Archbishop Denis Hart regrets hurt caused by identical apology letters to clergy abuse victims

PADRAIC MURPHY HERALD SUN AUGUST 26, 2014

THE Catholic Church sent victims of clergy sexual abuse almost identical apology form letters drafted by lawyers, the sex abuse Royal Commission has heard.

The letters — which were almost identical other than the names of the victim and the offending priest — were sent for more than a decade and signed at first by former Melbourne Archbishop George Pell and then his successor, Archbishop Denis Hart.

Each of the letters purported to be heartfelt apologies from the Archbishop, but were in fact prepared by staff in consultation with lawyers. Under cross examination, Archbishop Hart said he regretted hurt caused by the letters and said he had taken steps in the past year to ensure the letters were now more personal.

“The letters were very similar. It was never indicated to me that this was unhelpful,” Archbishop Hart said.

The state’s most senior Catholic admitted celibacy was difficult to cope with for some priests, but defended the practice.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

AUG. 25, 2014

The Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, who has been accused of paying underage boys there to engage in sexual acts, has lost his diplomatic immunity and could ultimately face prosecution in criminal courts outside of the Vatican, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church announced on Monday.

The former ambassador, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, has already been defrocked by the Vatican, the harshest penalty under the church’s canon law short of excommunication. Beyond that, the Vatican has also said that it intends to try Mr. Wesolowski on criminal charges — the first time it will hold a criminal trial for sexual abuse.

But the Vatican has also caused an uproar in the Dominican Republic because it abruptly recalled Mr. Wesolowski last year before he could face a criminal inquiry and possible prosecution there. Acting against its own guidelines for handling abuse cases, the church failed to inform the local authorities of the evidence against him, secretly recalled him to Rome, and then invoked diplomatic immunity.

The Vatican has said in the past that because Mr. Wesolowski was a member of its diplomatic corps and a citizen of the Holy See, the case would be handled in Rome.

The announcement on Monday came a day after a New York Times article detailed the allegations against Mr. Wesolowski and the Vatican’s handling of the case. In the Vatican’s statement on Monday, the church said that it took the proper steps to make sure that the allegations against Mr. Wesolowski were dealt with seriously.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Blake McCoy, KARE 7:20 p.m. EDT August 25, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Archbishop John Nienstedt has hired an outsider to oversee child sex abuse claims going forward.

Judge Timothy O’Malley will take on the newly created role of Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment in the Minneapolis St. Paul Archdiosese.

“It took a bit too long to get to the point we’re at now,” said O’Malley in an interview with KARE 11. “I think there has been some disappointment that the response hasn’t been as purposeful and organized as I think it can be.”

O’Malley has an extensive law enforcement background and served as Superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from 2006-2010. He is confident that will provide a different and necessary perspective going forward.

“As bad as this has been and knowing that we can never undo the past … the Catholic Church can be a part of moving forward in as positive a way as possible,” said O’Malley.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

[with video]

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The embattled Twin Cities archdiocese has appointed a former top cop to investigate allegations of clergy abuse.

Tim O’Malley is not only the former Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, he is also a judge and a former FBI agent. Archbishop John Nienstedt announced O’Malley’s appointment to the new position of Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

“I’m hoping that by these steps we are taking, we can regain the trust of our clergy and victim survivors,” Nienstedt said.

O’Malley said he’s honored to have the job.

“The first step is to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” O’Malley said, referring to the clergy sex abuse scandal that’s rocked the Catholic Church.

O’Malley says while he is deeply troubled by the church’s handling of abuse claims, he is confident he will have the full authority to investigate all misconduct cases. Nienstedt said O’Malley will have the power to investigate all alleged misconduct.

“He is his own man. He is a man of great integrity and experience and he will report directly to me,” Nienstedt said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Kathleen McPhillips
Lecturer, sociologist of religion and gender at University of Newcastle

It is the long-held view of Cardinal George Pell and other senior Catholic officials that the sexual abuse crisis is an issue primarily about the moral failure of individual priests and not related to church culture itself.

In other words, the church institution cannot be held responsible for the evil of individual priests.

Observing the Royal Commission

On Friday, I sat in on day four of Case Study 16 at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse being held at the County Court in Melbourne. I’d been there all week – and morality itself appeared to be on trial.

Case Study 16 is investigating the Melbourne Response, the redress scheme that the then Archbishop Pell established in Melbourne in 1996 to deal with the growing number of people reporting child sexual abuse by Catholic priests. After a harrowing first day on Monday listening to three victims read distressing statements detailing their abuse and then their attempts to seek redress, the lawyers managing the Melbourne Response gave evidence and George Pell joined in on a video link from Rome.

Pell caused general outrage when he compared the offending priest to a truck driver who molests a woman he picks up by the side of the road. His analogy: the behaviour of the truck driver is not the responsibility of the trucking company and similarly the behaviour of the offending priest is not the responsibility of the church.

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TEXAS
Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth – The Bishop’s Office

March 14, 2014

Dear Friends,

As Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth, I have the sad duty to inform you about an allegation of sexual abuse by a priest who served at Notre Dame Catholic School many years ago. Rev. Hugh John Sutton served as a teacher and chaplain at Notre Dame from 1964 to 1992. Father Sutton was ordained for the Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado. He left Wichita Falls and the Diocese of Fort Worth in 1992 and died in 2004. Civil authorities have been notified of this claim.

Allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct are always deeply troubling, and this allegation against Father Sutton was found to have a semblance of truth. This weekend, members of my staff and I will be visiting the parishes served by Notre Dame during the years Father Sutton was there, to make an announcement of the allegations and to invite others who may have been abused to contact me or Judy Locke, the diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator, to report abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, August 25

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

Now, after a page 1 New York Times story, Vatican officials have striped a former archbishop of his diplomatic immunity. We hope Josef Wesolowski is caught by police before he flees.

[Huffington Post]

It should not take embarrassing international headlines to force the Vatican to turn over a fugitive to law enforcement. Helping secular officials catch, charge and convict child molesting clerics routinely, not rarely, should be the norm.

There isn’t much progress when wrongdoers change only when caught.

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VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald

Tuesday Aug 26, 2014

The Vatican says its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, who has been accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country, has lost his diplomatic immunity and could be tried by Dominican courts.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, said Josef Wesolowski had ended all diplomatic activity for the Holy See and lost his related immunity and therefore “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican recalled Wesolowski last August after rumors emerged in the Dominican Republic that he had sexually molested young boys.

Earlier this summer, a Vatican tribunal found him guilty under canon law and ordered him to return to the lay state.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican City

11/ 4/2011

The Holy See wants to verify whether the accusations made against Archbishop González Nieves are valid. The faithful have taken his side as controversy grows

ANDRÉS BELTRAMO ÁLVAREZ
VATICAN CITY

The Vatican has ordered an apostolic visit for the Archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico. An extensive and in-depth inquiry, which has already caused controversy in the country. Holy See authorities want to confirm whether some of the accusations made against Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves are true, especially with regards to the alleged mismanagement of the ministry. But the Puerto Rican faithful are willing to defend their pastor.

In addition, Gonzalez Nieves is willing to defend himself by arguing, among other things, that the cases of abuse identified in his ecclesiastical territory were duly reported to the Vatican and consideration was given according to the precepts of Canon Law. …

It is for this reason that the enormous interest of the Apostolic Nuncio of the Dominican Republic and Apostolic Delegate to Puerto Rico, Jozef Wesolowski attracted so much attention both in Rome and in San Juan, that the visit would take place at all costs.

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PUERTO RICO
Free Republic

March 31, 2008 | Liz Arelis Cruz Maisonave

(English-language translation)

TOA ALTA- The Catholic Church’s Apostolic Delegate to Puerto Rico, [Monsignor] Josef Wesolowski, called on troubled Puerto Ricans to be calm in the wake of last week’s news that the Governor faces 19 charges of alleged acts of corruption.

The Monsignor, who is Pope Benedict XVI’s envoy to Puerto Rico and the [Apostolic] Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, was in Puerto Rico during the weekend to acquaint himself with the Puerto Rican Catholic Church and visited the premises of what will be the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Providence in Cupey.

“We wish for calm and serenity to follow the great paths of democracy. With serenity, the island may overcome the difficulties it may face. History is filled with difficult times, but things may always end well,” [Wesolowski] stated before celebrating the great Feast of Divine Mercy, which took place yesterday at Lauro Dávila Félix Arena.

This was his first visit to Puerto Rico, but the Polish-born cleric will return for the Congress on the Family, which will be held in Mayagüez on the third week of April. He was pleased with the affection he has been given in both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and pointed out that redoubling the Catholic Church’s efforts to strengthen family unity is among his plans.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

13 August 2014

Santo Domingo.- Public defender Rodolfo Valentin on Tuesday said the National District 7th Instruction Court held a hearing Tuesday to review evidence submitted in the pedophilia case against former Vatican envoy Joseph Wesolowski.

He said Ole Miranda, 18, who was one of Wesolowski’s alleged victims, would’ve been interviewed, but failed to appear.

Valentine said the depositions started at the request of the National District Office of the Prosecutor, which is gathering evidence to send to Poland and seek the former diplomat’s extradition.

He revealed that he was appointed public defender in the case at the Court’s request, but “from the standpoint of respect for constitutional guarantees and due process, it cannot empower a public defender when they don’t even know the defendant.”

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican denied covering up for a former papal ambassador accused of sexually abusing boys and suggested he might have to stand trial on the charges in the Dominican Republic.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, released a statement Aug. 25 in response to journalists’ questions about former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole who served as nuncio to the Dominican Republic until August 2013.

According to an Aug. 23 article in the New York Times, the Vatican “secretly recalled (Wesolowski) to Rome last year before he could be investigated, and then invoked diplomatic immunity for Mr. Wesolowski so that he could not face trial in the Dominican Republic.”

Father Lombardi responded that the Vatican, by recalling the diplomat from his post last summer, “moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See.”

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News Latino

Josef Wesolowski, the former Vatican ambassador to the Dominican Republic embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal in the country, will now be tried by Dominican courts after he lost his diplomatic immunity.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said late Monday that Wesolowski had ended all diplomatic activity for the Holy See and lost his related immunity and therefore “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican recalled Wesolowski last August after rumors emerged in the Dominican Republic that he had sexually molested young boys. Earlier this summer, a Vatican tribunal found him guilty under canon law and ordered him to return to the lay state. A Vatican criminal trial is pending, but Monday’s ruling means he can now be tried in the Dominican courts.

According to The New York Times, Wesolowski offered young boys money to perform sexual acts – and was known by many in the country as “the Italian.”

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

Defrocked diplomat may become first priest accused of sexual abuse to be tried at the Vatican

By Michelle Boorstein August 25

The world may be about to witness a first: the Vatican putting on trial one of its own officials for sexual abuse. On Monday a Vatican spokesman said church authorities are in the midst of figuring out what the procedure would even look like.

“This is history in the making and we must wait to see how this will develop,” said the Rev. Thomas Rosica, an English-language spokesman for the Vatican.

The case of Josef which as a city-state has its own judicial systemi exploded earlier this summer when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the Vatican’s doctrine-enforcing arm — found the former ambassador to the Dominican Republic had sexually abused boys there and laicized, or defrocked, him. That was the first time someone officially representing the pope had been punished for sexual abuse. The Polish priest is appealing that decision.

On the criminal front, media reported that Dominican authorities never charged Wesolowski because he had diplomatic immunity. But that question reemerged this past weekend when the New York Times quoted legal experts in the Dominican Republic questioning why Wesolowski would not be forced to face his accusers locally. Wesolowski was recalled to Rome in the summer of 2013 before local officials could investigate there. Some advocates for clergy sex abuse survivors said the case is a test for Pope Francis’s claim of zero-tolerance and that Wesolowski should be imprisoned.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – news.va

Former nuncio Josef Wesolowski has recently appealed, within the prescribed limit of two months, the most serious canonical sentence of a return to the lay state that has been imposed upon him. The appeal will be judged without delay over the course of the coming weeks, most likely in October 2014.

 It is important to note that former nuncio Wesolowski has ceased functioning as a diplomat of the Holy See and has therefore lost his related diplomatic immunity, and has been previously stated, the punitive procedure of the Vatican’s civil judiciary departments will continue as soon as the canonical sentence becomes definitive.



Regarding stories that have appeared over the past few days in various media, it is important to note that the Authorities of the Holy See, from the very first moments that this case was made known to them, moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See. This action relates to his recall to Rome and in the treatment of the case in relation to Authorities of the Dominican Republic.

 Far from any intention of a cover-up, this action demonstrates the full and direct undertaking of the Holy See’s responsibility even in such a serious and delicate case, about which Pope Francis is duly and carefully informed and one which the Pope wishes to address justly and rigorously.

 We must finally state that since former nuncio Wesolowski has ended all diplomatic activity and its related immunity, he might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

The case of a former Vatican envoy in the Dominican Republic, who has been laicized for molesting young boys, could test the Vatican’s determination to prosecute abusive clerics, a New York Times article suggests.

In a detailed report on the case of former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic, the New York Times observes that the Vatican did not inform civil authorities of evidence that the nuncio had engaged in sexual abuse of children.

The Times story reports that Wesolowski routinely preyed on young boys, until investigative reporters in the Dominican Republic uncovered evidence of his misconduct. When the Vatican learned of that evidence, in August 2013, the nuncio was quickly recalled to Rome.

In June of this year, the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith found Wesolowski guilty of sexual abuse, and the archbishop was laicized. He remains in Rome, pending an appeal of that canonical sentence, and could also face criminal charges before a Vatican tribunal.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY Mon Aug 25, 2014

(Reuters) – A Polish archbishop accused of child sex abuse in the Dominican Republic has appealed against a Roman Catholic tribunal’s decision to defrock him, the Vatican said on Monday.

Jozef Wesolowski, who had served as a Vatican nuncio or ambassador to the Caribbean nation, was sentenced in late June to be expelled from the priesthood, an extremely rare step against such a senior church official.

“Former nuncio Josef Wesolowski has recently appealed, within the prescribed limit of two months, against the most serious canonical sentence, that of a return to the lay state, which has been imposed upon him,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

The appeal will be judged “without delay” over the coming weeks, most likely in October 2014, Lombardi said. He said that Wesolowski, who was recalled last August to the Vatican, had lost diplomatic immunity when he stopped functioning as a diplomat of the Holy See.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Aug 25, 2014, 3:14 PM ET

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

The Vatican said Monday that its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country, had lost his diplomatic immunity and could be tried by Dominican courts.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement that Josef Wesolowski had ended all diplomatic activity for the Holy See and lost his related immunity and therefore “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican recalled Wesolowski last August after rumors emerged in the Dominican Republic that he had sexually molested young boys there. The case was highly sensitive, given that the Polish-born Wesolowski was an ambassador of the Holy See — not just one of the world’s 440,000 priests — and had been ordained both a priest and a bishop by St. John Paul II.

This summer, a Vatican tribunal found him guilty under canon law of abusing young boys and defrocked him, the harshest sentence under church law and the first time such a high-ranking Vatican official had been sanctioned for sex abuse. Wesolwski recently appealed that sentence and a final decision is expected in October, Lombardi said.

After that appeal is heard, the Vatican’s criminal courts will take up the case and jail time is possible if he is found guilty.

As a papal diplomat and citizen of the Vatican City State, Wesolowski faces criminal charges by the tribunal of the Vatican City, which recently updated its laws to specifically criminalize sex abuse of children. It is not clear, however, if the new 2013 law can be applied retroactively.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- The charges for child sexual abuse, hanging over the Vatican’s ex-ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, have fueled the debate about the diplomatic immunity the Pope’s former envoy enjoys, which prevents him from being tried outside the Vatican.

In its Sunday edition the U.S. newspaper The New York Times published an article that highlights how Wesolowski walked in the area of the monument to the 16th-century Spanish friar Antonio de Montesinos, on the Malecon of Santo Domingo, in search of minors to commit sexual acts.

According to the article, the boys say he gave them money to perform sexual acts. They called him “the Italian” because he spoke Spanish with an Italian accent.

“He definitely seduced me with money,” Francis Aquino Aneury told The New York Times. He was 14 when the man he met shining shoes began offering him increasingly larger sums for sexual acts. “I felt very bad. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, but I needed the money.”

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

David Gibson Religion News Service | Aug. 25, 2014

As Pope Francis tries to reshape the Catholic church’s response to the clergy sex abuse crisis, the case of Jozef Wesolowski, the former nuncio — or Vatican ambassador — to the Dominican Republic has drawn close scrutiny, most recently in a Sunday New York Times article that detailed the former archbishop’s predations.

The story also recounted how Wesolowski was brought back to the Vatican to face charges there rather than in the Dominican Republic because he had diplomatic immunity, an argument that sounded legalistic to many and could undermine the pontiff’s “get tough” stance.

Late Monday, the Vatican responded with a statement explaining that since Wesolowski was defrocked in June, he is no longer an archbishop nor is he a Vatican diplomat and when his appeals are exhausted he “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

What that could mean for Wesolowski is unclear. It’s not known whether the Vatican has an extradition agreement with the Dominican Republic (or Wesolowski’s native Poland) or whether Italy could try or extradite him. The former archbishop has been spotted by fellow Dominican prelates strolling around Rome’s historic district.

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VATICAN CITY
Dominican Today

Vatican City.- Former Vatican envoy to Dominican Republic Josef Wesolowski, indicted on sexual abuse of boys, has been stripped of his diplomatic immunity and faces prosecuted in the Caribbean country, AP reports citing the Holy See.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi Monday afternoon said Wesolowski no longer works as a diplomat for the Holy See and has no diplomatic immunity, and therefore “may be subjected to judicial proceedings in courts that have jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican secreted Wesolowski out of the country in August last year amid rumors he sexually abused boys in the Dominican Republic.

In recent weeks, a Vatican tribunal found the former envoy guilty under canonical law and was defrocked. Wesolowski has criminal proceedings pending against him in the Vatican.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Aug. 25, 2014

KANSAS CITY, MO. A judge’s recent affirmation that the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese pay $1.1 million for breaching abuse settlement terms has led a retired Milwaukee priest to again request that the pope initiate a penal process investigating Bishop Robert Finn for violations of church law.

In a letter dated Aug. 21, Fr. James Connell, a canon lawyer, wrote to Pope Francis to inform him of recent developments that “solidify the need for a penal process in this matter.”

“It just struck me that it would be wise to get it documented that further court actions confirmed Finn being wrong with the way he handled things and the church really ought to be doing something about that,” Connell told NCR.

On Aug. 14, Jackson County Circuit Judge Bryan E. Round upheld an arbitrator’s March decision that the diocese violated five of 19 nonmonetary terms included as part of a 2008 settlement with 47 clergy abuse survivors. Both Round and arbitrator Hollis Hanover ordered the diocese to pay $1.1 million in damages. Spokesman Jack Smith confirmed to NCR the diocese would not appeal the decision.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Elaine Thompson TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
elaine.thompson@telegram.com

WORCESTER — The Rev. Stephen M. Gemme, former pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Northboro was indicted last week on charges he embezzled more than $230,000 from the parish and school to fuel a gambling habit.

A Worcester County grand jury on Thursday returned indictments against Rev. Gemme, charging him with five counts of larceny by a common scheme over $250. He is to be arraigned in Worcester Superior Court Wednesday.

The Worcester Catholic Diocese last year said the pastor, who was appointed to the parish in 2003, had stolen methodically from two separate church and school accounts since at least 2009. It went undetected until a member of the school’s advisory board flagged a financial irregularity in a school account and informed Bishop Robert J. McManus in mid-July. Rev. Gemme immediately acknowledged a gambling problem, according to the diocese.

He was removed from his posts and sent him to residential treatment at an undisclosed location for a self-confessed gambling addiction.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[SNAP apeluje: Wesołowskiego do więzienia, a jego ofiary powinny się ujawnić! / SNAP: Vatican must jail Polish archbishop now! – Ocaleni (Polska)]

For immediate release: Monday, Aug. 25, 2014

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

Catholic Church officials in Rome and the Dominican Republic must take action to protect kids now from former Archbishop Josef Wesolowski.

We call on Vatican officials to either put Wesolowski in a Vatican jail or turn him over to secular authorities immediately.

We call on Dominican Catholic officials to actively seek out others who were hurt by Wesolowski and help secular prosecutors convict Deacon Francisco Javier Occi Reyes, who procured boys for the then-archbishop, by making announcements about both clerics in parishes, urging those who saw, suspected or suffered their crimes to come forward, get help and call police.

We call on Dominican Catholics and citizens to stop donating to their dioceses until this happens.

Finally, we call on every person with knowledge of or suspicions about crimes by Wesolowski or Reyes to find the strength to report to law enforcement. Secular authorities, not church authorities, can best safeguard kids from those who commit, enable or conceal heinous crimes against children.

We applaud the courage of the Dominican boys who were sexually violated by this now-defrocked Polish archbishop who Vatican officials continue to protect from prosecution. For their healing, and for the safety of other children, Wesolowski must be put behind bars immediately.

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UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning news

Evidence of Vatican complicity in sex-abuse case highlights global pattern documented by The News

By Reese Dunklin rdunklin@dallasnews.com
August 25, 2014

The Vatican moved its top diplomat out of the Dominican Republic because of sex-abuse complaints, failed to tell criminal authorities and then harbored him in Rome as his list of accusers grew.

The case, reported Sunday by The New York Times, underscores findings from our landmark 2004-2005 investigation into the Catholic Church’s global transfers of predator priests.

In “Runaway Priests: Hiding in Plaint Sight,” we found several accused clergy who fled to Rome with their superiors’ help. At least two were fugitives from criminal charges.

Another priest we featured was also a diplomat, an American who had been the Vatican’s No. 2 official in India. A top aide to Pope John Paul II was warned in the 1990s that the priest had abused an Ohio girl. But the priest remained on duty until around the time of our inquiries in 2003.

Pope Francis has vowed greater accountability in addressing the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse crisis since taking over. Earlier this year, he begged victims for forgiveness.

Yet Pope Francis was alerted to the Dominican Republic diplomat’s misconduct before the secret transfer last August, authorities told The Times. The allegations should have been reported to police, according to Vatican rules.

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

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: August 25, 2014

Job taken by former BCA chief Timothy O’Malley created at suggestion of church abuse task force.

The former superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been named to fill a top St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese position addressing clergy sex abuse.

Timothy O’Malley, currently an administrative law judge, will fill a new leadership position created by the archdiocese in response to the wave of clergy abuse allegations over the past year.

“We are honored that Judge O’Malley has offered to share his experience and insights with the church to help protect the young and vulnerable and hold accountable those who have caused harm,” said Archbishop John Nienstedt in a news release.

“He brings with him a high level of intellect, an impressive background of experience and leadership with local law enforcement, the FBI, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the judicial system, and he has a compassionate heart for victims/survivors.”

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

OHIO
The Plain Dealer

By James F. McCarty, The Plain Dealer
on August 25, 2014

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge today ruled that the soliciting case against a Cleveland priest could go forward after rejecting defense challenges to the constitutionality of the law.

The Rev. James McGonegal, 69, the former pastor of St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, is charged with soliciting sex from an undercover ranger at Edgewater Park last October. The charge is a felony because McGonegal is HIV positive, but failed to divulge this to his intended partner.

Judge Stuart Friedman released a written opinion today in favor of the prosecution’s position that the law used to charge the priest is valid, and that defense attorney Henry Hilow’s request for dismissal was groundless.

Friedman scheduled McGonegal’s trial for Sept. 9.

“We’ll be ready to go to trial on the 9th,” said Joe Frolik, a spokesman for the county prosecutor’s office.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 26, 2014

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

NSW police have launched a major new investigation into alleged child sex abuse within the Anglican Church in Newcastle.

Detectives have formed a strike force, codenamed ­Arinya-2, to investigate the ­alleged abuse, which is understood to involve multiple alleged victims and said to have taken place in the mid-1970s.

The investigation is the most recent of several inquiries into alleged child sex abuse within Newcastle’s major Christian churches. A previous case of ­alleged child sexual abuse in the Anglican Church was sent to trial at Newcastle District Court in 2001, but was ultimately “no-billed”, meaning prosecutors ­decided not to pursue the case.

A criminal prosecution that is no-billed can be brought back before the court if there is further evidence to support it, unlike other cases where the “double jeopardy” principle prevents an accused person facing trial twice for the same offence.

More recently, NSW police have investigated abuse allegations against three clerics from the Newcastle Anglican diocese, including a former dean of the city’s cathedral. The three priests — Andrew Duncan, Graeme Lawrence and Bruce Hoare — were formally defrocked in 2012 after an internal church inquiry found they had sex or were involved in group sex sessions with a teenage boy aged as young as 14. A fourth priest, Graeme Sturt, was prohibited from exercising any ministry for five years.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Speaking out critically of the Catholic Church is actually a crime in this country. It’s called ‘offending religious sentiment’, and the penalties are harsher for offending Catholic sentiment than the sentiments of any other religion

Raphael Vassallo 21 August 2014

I trust that Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle will forgive me for stealing the title of their classic 1974 sci-fi masterpiece novel for this article. But there are some ingenious turns of phrase that are just too clever not to be used again.

‘The Mote in God’s Eye’ is one of them. I won’t bore you with the details, but in the book it refers only to an optical illusion caused by the conjunction of two stars – a red supergiant (‘the Eye’) and a much smaller, sun-sized yellow star (‘the mote’) – when viewed from a particular planet.

But you needn’t have read the book to appreciate how well the same expression might work outside that context. Gozo bishop Mgr Mario Grech’s homily on the feast of Santa Marija last week was a classic case in point.

The theme was ‘freedom’, with particular emphasis on ‘freedom of expression’. Here are some choice quotes lifted from a newspaper report… and which I have taken the liberty to categorise under three different headings.

1. Tradition

“Many Christians are obsessed with tradition and this is hindering them from discovering spiritual freedom, according to Gozo Bishop Mario Grech.”… “Instead of thinking ahead with vision, they prefer to think backwards,” Mgr Grech said…

2. Political pressure

“Mgr Grech also hit out at the lack of individual freedom as a result of the ‘subtle pressure’ created by partisan politics. Although political participation was a good thing, Mgr Grech said partisan considerations held back individuals from saying what they wanted: ‘Others choose to genuflect not to fall out of grace with those in power,’ he added.”

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MALTA
Malta Today

Daniel Mizzi 21 August 2014

The Attorney General and the police have today filed an appeal against the Gozo court’s decision to grant bail to a 40-year-old priest accusing of molesting three young girls.

On Tuesday, the Gozitan priest, whose name cannot be published by court order, was granted bail against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €5,000 after pleading not guilty to charges of child molestation, in what it is understood to have been criminal acts taking place over several months and involving a number of minors.

In his conditions for bail, the young priest has been prohibited from approaching the victims and their homes, and also ordered to stay in and around his house.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSPR

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) –
A judge is expected to decide soon whether to dismiss probation for the highest-ranking U.S. church official convicted of a crime related to the child sexual abuse scandal.

The Kansas City Star reports that Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker filed a probation status report for Bishop Robert Finn on Friday. Finn leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. He was convicted in September 2012 of one misdemeanor for failing to report child abuse suspicions.

While offering no opinion on whether probation should be dismissed, Baker did praise two diocese employees’ efforts to keep the diocese in compliance with the terms of the probation.

Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence will review the report before ruling on Finn’s probation. It’s set to expire Sept. 5.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing in Darwin commencing on Monday 22 September 2014 into the Retta Dixon Home.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to:

1. Hear the experience of men and women who were sexually abused as children at the Retta Dixon Home in Darwin, Northern Territory between 1946 – 1980.

2. Inquire into the response of the Australian Indigenous Ministries (formally the Aborigines Inland Mission) (AIM) and the Northern Territory and Commonwealth governments to allegations of child sexual abuse against AIM workers who were employed at the Retta Dixon Home.

3. Inquire into the response of the Northern Territory’s Police Force and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 1975 and 2002 to allegations raised by residents of the Retta Dixon Home against Donald Henderson.

4. Inquire into the current laws, policies and procedures governing children in out-of-home care in the Northern Territory today.

5. Inquire into the redress schemes available to persons who were victims of child sexual abuse while resident at the Retta Dixon Home.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A Baptist home in the Northern Territory where mixed-race and Aboriginal children were sexually assaulted over three decades will be the focus of the next hearing to be held by the national inquiry into child abuse in institutions.

The hearing scheduled for Darwin on Monday, September 22 will hear from men and women who were sexually abused as children at the Retta Dixon Home between 1946 – 1980.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will also examine how the evangelical Baptist organisation, the NT and commonwealth governments responded to allegations of abuse against workers who were employed at the home.

The home was run by Aborigines Inland Mission (AIM) which was founded in 1905 by a Baptist Missionary, Retta Long (nee Dixon).

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POLSKA
Wiadomosci

[For Nuncio Accused of Abuse, Dominicans Want Justice at Home, Not Abroad – The New York Times]

“New York Times” opublikował artykuł poświęcony polskiemu duchownemu oskarżonemu o molestowanie dzieci na Dominikanie. “To pierwszy raz, kiedy ambasador Watykanu, który służył jako osobisty wysłannik papieża, został oskarżony o molestowanie seksualne nieletnich – pisze w internetowym wydaniu “NYT” Laurie Goodstein. Mieszkańcy Dominikany chcą, aby Wesołowski był sądzony w ich kraju. – Powinien być sądzony w kraju, w którym czyn miał miejsce – powiedział Antonio Medina Calcaño z Autonomicznego Uniwersytetu Santo Domingo.

Dziennik przypomina historię polskiego arcybiskupa Józefa Wesołowskiego, który został wykluczony ze stanu kapłańskiego, i zarzuca Watykanowi, że w dużej mierze pomógł nuncjuszowi uniknąć stawienia się przed świeckim sądem. Jak czytamy na stronach “NYT” Wesołowski otrzymał już najwyższą karę, którą przewiduje prawo kanoniczne Kościoła i 27 czerwca został przeniesiony do stanu świeckiego. Watykan, który jako miasto-państwo ma swój własny system sądowniczy, ogłosił również – po raz pierwszy w historii – starania o oskarżenie za nadużycia seksualne według prawa karnego.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Jane Lee and Cameron Houston

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne has been forced to provide the Royal Commission with its balance sheet and other private financial dealings, which reveal the church controls a vast portfolio of property and investments valued at $309 million and reaped almost $53 million in income last year.

Head of the Melbourne Archdiocese’s finances, Francis Moore, prepared the church’s financial records for 2013 and conceded it could afford to triple its payments to victims of clerical abuse without a significant impact on its bottom line.

After taking into account net liabilities of $87 million, the Melbourne Archdiocese has net assets of $222 million, from which it could fund additional ex gratia payments to victims.

The payments – made once victims sign a deed promising they will not sue the church – are currently capped at $75,000. The average pay-out for sexual, physical and emotional abuse is about $36,100.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart announced from the witness stand on Monday that he had appointed former Federal Court judge, Donnell Ryan, QC, to review ex gratia payments made under the Melbourne Response, the church’s internal process for handling victims’ complaints. This would include the scale of future payments.

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta

The terms of reference for the inquiry must be as wide as possible, writes Conall Ó Fátharta.

THE decision of the Government to delay the terms of reference for the mother-and-baby-homes inquiry until the autumn should have raised a few more eyebrows than it did.

As anybody campaigning for justice on any issue here will tell you, the terms of reference for any investigation are everything. After all the platitudes about truth and transparency fade from newspapers and airwaves, what you are left examining is the small print of what will and what will not be open for inquiry and investigation.

In his brief time as children’s minister, Charlie Flanagan was a breath of fresh to campaigners for justice for women who went through Ireland’s infamous mother-and-baby homes.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

Infant death rates at the Bessborough mother-and-baby home in Cork soared to almost 70% in the early 1940s.

The revelations come just two months after the Government announced a statutory commission to investigate practices, deaths, illegal adoptions and vaccine trials at the country’s mother-and-baby homes.

Previous research done by adoption campaigners indicated a death rate of around 50% and above at Bessborough throughout the late 1930s and 1940s.

However, material uncovered by the Irish Examiner in the Cork City archives shows an official investigation carried out by the Cork County Medical Officer in 1943, on foot of inquiries from a Department of Local Government inspector, confirmed a death rate of 68% at the home.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Patrick Counihan @irishcentral August 25,2014

A new mother-and-baby home scandal has come to light with reports of a near 70 per cent mortality rate at Bessborough in Cork in the 1940s.

The shocking new report, carried in the Irish Examiner newspaper, highlights government concerns at the time over the infant death rates.

The story comes just two months after the Tuam scandal which prompted the establishment of a state commission to investigate practices, deaths, illegal adoptions and vaccine trials at the country’s mother-and-baby homes.

The Irish Examiner reports that previous research done by adoption campaigners indicated a death rate of around 50% and above at Bessborough throughout the late 1930s and 1940s.

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UNITED STATES
Daas Torah

Full Disclosure: David Morris is one of my heroes. Someone who has successfully devoted his time and energy to help other people with a major chesed organization and one dealing with child abuse .[My nephew Rabbi Shmuel Zalman Eidensohn runs competing chesed and child abuse organizations in Beit Shemesh and works together with Rav Malinowitz] He wrote a chapter in my sefer on child abuse where it is interesting to note – he does not once mention going to the police in cases of child abuse – but only to his organization Magen. He is also very intelligent and sincere – but like all of us has issues where his emotion blinds his rational thought. One of them is Rav Malinowitz and anything connected with him.

1) Friday he published a rather egregious example of misinformation and slander. To set the stage for his slander against Rav Malinowtiz he first brought up something unrelated to the Seminary Scandal – the suicide of a child abuse victim – Corporal Dave Gordon. Yes it is true that the trauma of being molested as a child unfortunately endured into adulthood for Dave Gordon. But the Seminary Scandal is not a case of child abuse. The Seminary Scandal involved adults who were involved in either being touched or hugged by their teacher. It is not clear at this stage to what degree the contact was forced and unwanted or was consensual. This is not the same as a child being molested or raped. Both halacha and secular law recognize a distinction between consensual and involuntary contact and that which involves a child and an adult. Thus the case of Dave Gordon – while unfortunate – was just brought in to inflame emotions. Or to be more generous, while David Morris was upset about the death of Dave Gordon – he incorrectly free associated to the Seminary Scandal in order to criticize Rav Malinowitz.

2) David Morris is offering any existing victims – something he doesn’t know to be true – the services of his organization dealing with sexual abuse. While that is very generous – it would be helpful to first establish there are in fact victims. However the offer is clearly a club to attack the IBD for what he alleges is improper response to victims. Even though in fact he doesn’t know that victims exist or how they have been dealt with – either by the CBD or the IBD. Rather strange to offer help in a crime that you don’t know even happened?! While the CBD is claiming unofficially that there were women who were raped – however no official declaration has been made nor has any evidence been produced or even a single woman making anonymous public claims. Clearly no one has gone to the police. David Morris is fully aware that he has no evidence that there are victims who have been traumatized. Unlike Frum Follies he apparently does not have a pipeline to Gottesman and the CBD. But he believes whatever Frum Follies posts – at least as long as it is an attack on Rav Malinowitz. In other words his justification for this offer is that since Rav Malinowitz is involved and he just “knows” that Rav Malinowitz will mishandle the victims that means there must be victims that need help.

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

Dear Rabbi Eidensohn,

I read your response to my post of Friday [8/22/14] with… profound sadness that a distinguished person who has done so much to make the world a safer place for children and all types of abuse victims, should forget all he learned, and all he wrote, and all we learned from him.

Many people who have had great respect for you have watched in the last two months as you have chosen to wage a truly bizarre campaign with only one obvious goal – participating in the minimizing, whitewash and cover-up of a painful scandal.

There is no need to rehash all the charges and counter-charges. Suffice it to say you have chosen to minimize, distract and obfuscate about an abuser and those who enabled him – you have put the wherewithal of the institutions and of three rabbonim, above the safety of the students.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Monday, August 25, 2014

Source: Jim Accurso, Media and Public Relations Manager

Former Superintendent of MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to fill key leadership role recommended by Safe Environment Task Force

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced the appointment of Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge Timothy J. O’Malley to the new position of Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The creation of this new position was one of the key recommendations called for in the independent Safe Environment and Ministerial Standards Task Force Report and Recommendations in April 2014. He begins his new role at the archdiocese on September 15.

“We are honored that Judge O’Malley has offered to share his experience and insights with the Church to help protect the young and vulnerable and hold accountable those who have caused harm,” said Archbishop John Nienstedt. “He brings with him a high level of intellect, an impressive background of experience and leadership with local law enforcement, the FBI, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the judicial system, and he has a compassionate heart for victim/survivors.”

Judge O’Malley said, “I am honored to join the team that the archdiocese put together and hope my contributions position us to better serve those who have been abused and their families. Like many others, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, I have been profoundly troubled and disappointed by how the Church has addressed reports of abuse. I want to help change that. The archdiocese must do everything possible to prevent the kind of abuse that Pope Francis has accurately and pointedly described as ‘despicable.’ Protecting children must be our highest priority.”

Michael Campion, former Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner and fellow former BCA superintendent, said of the appointment, “Tim has a high level of integrity, displays a strong backbone, and stands up for the right thing. He has the expertise and gravitas that is needed for an important position such as this. He is not one to be intimidated nor shy away from a challenge. Above all else, he is fair. He will serve victims well.”

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has named the former head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to a key position in the wake of clergy sexual misconduct.

Administrative law Judge Timothy O’Malley will serve in the newly created position of director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment. The position was recommended by a task force that investigated the way church officials have handled accusations of priest misconduct.

The archdiocese is combining all safe environment and ministerial standards programs under one office, which O’Malley will direct.

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

NEW ZEALAND
NZ City

A former Catholic brother facing hundreds of child sex charges in Australia is challenging Justice Minister Judith Collins’ decision to extradite him.

Australian authorities are trying to extradite Bernard Kevin McGrath, 65, from New Zealand to face 252 child sex charges.

A Christchurch District Court judge agreed to McGrath’s extradition in June last year, but it was up to Ms Collins to make the final decision and the case was referred to her in April.

Ms Collins’ office confirmed on Monday an order for McGrath’s surrender to Australia has been issued.

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NEW ZEALAND
The Press

ANNA PEARSON

Former Catholic brother Bernard Kevin McGrath will face child sex abuse charges in Australia, the justice minister has ruled.

In November 2012, Australia requested the extradition of McGrath on 252 charges of sexual offending between 1977 and 1986.

Authorities allege that he raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at church-run institutions.

In June last year, Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish decided McGrath’s extradition should be granted, but the case was successfully appealed to the High Court.

The case was then referred back to district court level, from where Judge Farish sent it on to Justice Minister Judith Collins.

”I am satisfied that there are extraordinary and compelling reasons for the matter to be referred to the minister,” Judge Farish said in January.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 25 August 2014

A former Catholic brother facing hundreds of child sex charges in Australia is challenging the decision by New Zealand’s justice minister, Judith Collins, to extradite him.

Australian authorities are trying to extradite Bernard Kevin McGrath, 65, from New Zealand to face 252 child sex charges.

A Christchurch district court judge agreed to McGrath’s extradition in June last year, but it was up to Collins to make the final decision and the case was referred to her in April.

Collins’s office confirmed on Monday that an order for McGrath’s surrender to Australia had been issued.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By New Zealand correspondent Dominique Schwartz and Giselle Wakatama
Updated 25 Aug 2014

A former Catholic Brother wanted in Australia for alleged child sexual abuse is challenging a decision to extradite him from New Zealand.

Bernard Kevin McGrath has been fighting authorities’ efforts to bring him back to Australia for two years.

In 2012, New South Wales police requested his extradition so he could answer 252 charges of sexual offending.

The charges relate to allegations McGrath sexually abused 35 boys in the 1970s and 1980s in the Lake Macquarie region, south of Sydney.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam – Close to 300 people have signed off on a petition and letter that was sent to the archbishop hoping they’ll see “their way”. Yet another controversial document has been posted on the JungleWatch blog, which focuses on the dealings with the local Catholic church.

This letter was sent to Archbishop Anthony Apuron last Friday by former senator Tommy Tanaka, a parishioner from Saint Francis Church in Yona. “We want to respectfully advice the archbishop that the Parish of Saint Francis is not desiring having a neo priest assigned to it. we have seen the impact of other parishes where the priest from neo have been assigned and parishioners are confused and they go to other places and seeing that Yona has been a Capuchin parish since the early1950’s we respectfully requested that it remain a Capuchin parish,” he explained.

Tanaka, who was born and raised Catholic, and has been attending St. Francis Church in Yona for more than ten years he is one of almost 300 parishioners who hope the archbishop will see it ‘their way’. Although there has been no indication the archbishop plans to assign a priest from the Neocatechumenal Way, they are being proactive to ensure their church remain a “capuchin-pastored parish”. Tanaka says with the Redempotoris Mater Seminary nearby they are asking the archbishop not to impose the way at St. Francis.

He explained, “My feeling personal feeling is Catholics are free to choose their path to God. but personally speaking I choose to continue to practice what I grew up with and I have no desire to seek a different way for me and therefore I have no desire for someone trying to bring a different path to god we’re happy with the capuchins and we want to keep St. Francis parish capuchin that’s our whole intent I have no problem with the way as a practice I just don’t want it being imposed on St. Francis Church in Yona.”

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

Late last week, the 15 remaining students enrolled in the 2nd year program (shana bet) of the Pninim seminary controlled by Elimelech Meisels were sent a notice informing them the seminary program was cancelled this year.

They were not offered any alternative placements. I do not know if they refunded the tuition payments, whether they plan to, and if so, on what schedule. Last year, this same 2nd year program had approximately 35 students. I do not know if it was grossly under enrolled before the scandal broke, or whether some 20 other students already withdrew.

BACKGROUND

Meisels has been embroiled in the highly publicized “Seminaries Scandal” since July 10th when the Chicago Beis Din (CBD rabbinical court) advised against attending any of the four seminaries he operated because of the results of their investigation into allegations of “unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature” with his students. Pninim was the seminary where he was the principal and spent the most time.

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PUERTO RICO
Jamaica Observer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CMC) – The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency says a suspended Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to child exploitation charges for taking a minor on a cruise with the intent to engage in criminal sexual conduct.

Israel Berrios-Berrios who pleaded guilty in court on Thursday was arrested on May 13 at his residence in Naranjito, Puerto Rico, following an indictment that charged him with transporting a minor with the intent to engage in sexual activity.

Prosecutors charged that Berrios-Berrios transported a 15-year-old male minor to Miami, Florida, where they took a four-day cruise to the Bahamas.

“While on the cruise, Berrios-Berrios engaged in lewd acts with the minor,” prosecutors claimed.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 25, 2014

Angus Livingston and Melissa Iaria

The Catholic Church might increase payouts to abuse victims in the Melbourne archdiocese although it maintains that its much-criticised complaints scheme works well and is caring.

The church is considering lifting or removing the $75,000 cap on compensation payments to victims in the Melbourne archdiocese.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said overall the Melbourne Response scheme remains a sound and appropriate mechanism for responding to complaints of child sex abuse.

The system operates effectively and efficiently and the process is conducted with professionalism and real compassion, he told the abuse royal commission.

He said he had been moved by reports of how “caring” the scheme’s independent commissioners were.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Cheryl Hall
Updated 25 Aug 2014

It took more than 20 years and three requests to Rome to defrock a priest convicted of child sexual abuse, the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart has told an inquiry.

Archbishop Hart told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that Father Michael Glennon was first convicted and jailed in 1978 but it was not until 1998 that he was laicised.

He was convicted five times on multiple charges and died in jail in January this year.

Archbishop Hart, who was vicar general of the Melbourne diocese before being appointed archbishop in 2001, replacing George Pell, told the hearing it was very difficult before 2001 to get approval from the Vatican to defrock a priest.

“The difficulty would be a serious concentration on procedure,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart says the protection of children has always been the priority, but abuse victims disagree he has been quick to act on child sex abuse claims.

Archbishop Hart said when there’s litigation between the church and abuse victims, his attitude had been that the church had a responsibility to meet victims’ needs with compassion and resolve their claims fairly and as early as possible.

“When these criminals do these awful things, it gives me no joy whatsoever and that’s why I’ve always been … very quick to act because the protection of children is the absolute priority,” he told the abuse royal commission on Monday.

Archbishop Hart also told the commission he was conscious of the “heavy burden of responsibility” owed generally by the church to Emma and Katie Foster, two sisters abused by pedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell.

Emma later took her own life and Katie was left permanently disabled in a road accident.

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AUSTRALIA
Blayney Chronicle

By Rachel Browne Aug. 25, 2014

It was a random phone call in 2006 that set Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy on a path which ultimately exposed the extent of horrific crimes by paedophile priests and led to the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

The award-winning reporter told Australian Story of the day she was at her desk when she received a call from a reader wanting to know why no media had reported that a priest named John Denham had been convicted of child sex offences a number of years before.

So she rang Denham, who was immediately defensive.

“I’ve spoken to a few paedophile priests,” she said. “They’re a breed. Massive egos. At first he denied that he had been convicted. Then his next line was, ‘I hope you have a good lawyer.'”

Last week, Denham gave evidence at his sentencing hearing before a Sydney court, after pleading guilty to 25 charges relating to offences against 20 victims.

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VATICAN CITY
Press TV (Iran)

Following Pope Francis’s vow to punish those clergymen who sexually abuse children, a Vaticanist says it is necessary for the credibility of the church to organize itself against sex abuses.

“Certainly, for the credibility of the church, it is important that the church organizes itself in the best way,” says Marko Politi, an Il Fatto-Vaticanist.

The comment comes at a time that human rights activists and the alleged victims of church pedophilia demand the implementation of immediate and practical regulations that could ensure an end to the sexual abuses by clergymen.

“I think that the UN panels are important in order to stimulate the Catholic Church to act better and better in this field,” adds Politi.

During a meeting with six victims of sexual abuse by priests at his private morning mass in the Vatican residence back on July, the Head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, vowed to punish clergymen who sexually abused children, describing their actions as “satanic.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 25, 2014

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

The Catholic Church’s Melbourne archdiocese could afford to double or triple its $75,000 cap on compensation for sexual abuse victims but would need to review the other programs it funds.

The royal commission into child sexual abuse entered its second week of hearings in Melbourne on Monday. The commission is investigating the effectiveness of the church’s Melbourne Response, which has paid more than $17 million to 326 abuse victims since 1996.

Asked whether the archdiocese of Melbourne could afford a doubling or tripling of its current cap on compensation payments, Francis Moore, its executive director of administration, said: “I think it would certainly require some adjustments to the way the Archdiocese operated, and whether the archdiocese could continue all of the programs that it currently provides – could it be managed? Yes, I suspect it could. But not without impacts elsewhere.”

Counsel assisting the commission, Angus Stewart, asked whether increasing the cap would require the archdiocese to sell off assets.

Mr Moore replied that, depending on how much the cap was increased, “it might be more than the accumulated income can cover, in which case there would be a need to go to the reserves of the archdiocese”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 25, 2014

Rachel Baxendale
Reporter
Melbourne

CATHOLIC Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart has appointed a former federal court judge to review the church’s complaints scheme, despite maintaining the process is conducted with professionalism and compassion.

Archbishop Hart told the child abuse royal commission in Melbourne this afternoon he had appointed Donnell Ryan QC to head a review of the Melbourne Response.

The scheme has paid more than $17 million to 326 abuse victims since it began in 1996.

Mr Ryan will be asked to examine possible improvements to the scheme, including lifting or removing the $75,000 cap on compensation, changing how the amount of compensation paid to victims is determined, and considering whether the amount of compensation paid to victims in the past should be reviewed.

Archbishop Hart said that although he took all complaints about the Melbourne Response seriously and did not wish to discount victims’ pain, the complaints had been “relatively small” in number.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Catholic Church to review compensation for sexual abuse victims, says Archbishop Denis Hart

PADRAIC MURPHY HERALD SUN AUGUST 25, 2014

A CONTROVERSIAL cap of $75,000 compensation for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy could be scrapped, Archbishop Denis Hart told the royal commission into sexual abuse.

Archbishop Hart said he had appointed former Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan QC to review compensation levels offered to victims of abuse by clergy in the Melbourne archdiocese.

“(He will provide a report) on whether the cap should be increased or removed,” Archbishop Hart said.

Amid regular gasps from the public gallery, Archbishop Hart defended the church’s handling of sexual abuse cases.

“I think the church seeks all along to act according to justice, charity and compassion,” Archbishop Hart said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
theguardian.com, Monday 25 August 2014

The archbishop of Melbourne has described the scheme implemented by the church to investigate child sex abuse claims as compassionate and caring, despite victims heavily criticising it.

Archbishop Denis Hart said the Melbourne Response, implemented in 1996 by the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne and still investigating child sex abuse claims today, operated with integrity.

“I think that the church seeks always to act according to justice, charity and compassion,” Hart told the royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse on Monday.

“There is evidence from time to time of very real compassion shown. I know that’s not universal, but it shows that it is possible and it shows the type of work that we are doing, that it [compassion] has to be an objective.”

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MALTA
Times of Malta

A court this morning banned publication of details about a case where an 18-year-old man from Marsascala is accusing of defiling a 14-year-old girl at the Splash and Fun Park.

Defence counsel made a request for the court to ban publication of testimony by the victim and her friend.

Police Inspector Josric Mifsud objected, pointing out that in the Gozo priest sexual abuse case, the court had lifted a ban on publication after noting that there was no connection between the priest and his alleged victims. The situation was similar in this case,

The court, however, decided on an outright ban on publication of the details of the case and asked reporters to leave the courtroom.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Express-Times

By Matthew Bultman | The Express-Times

Statements made by former Warren County employees revealing years of suspicion that ex-Sheriff

Edward Bullock had a perverted interest in young boys carry potentially heavy weight in civil litigation against Bullock and the county, according to legal experts.

The experts, including one with experience in similar lawsuits, agreed the county appears vulnerable as the statements indicate those in a position of authority knew — or should have known — Bullock may have been preying on children but took no steps to prevent it.

“It’s very significant that people would come forward,” said Jeffrey Fritz, a Philadelphia-based attorney who represented numerous victims in the Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State. “It’s the smoking gun.” …

Mark Crawford, director of the New Jersey Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the parallels are stark between what is alleged to have happened in Warren County and previous high-profile sexual abuse scandals involving the Catholic church, Penn State and the Boy Scouts.

People are often hesitant to be a whistleblower, particularly if the person is in a position of authority or is well respected within the community, Crawford said. There can be additional concerns over bad publicity being brought upon the organization, he said.

“Whenever you have an institution that has a vested interest in keeping a reputation, people tend to look the other way,” Crawford said. “Instinctively, they try to protect their own reputation, so to speak, instead of doing the right thing.

“It appears this may be one of those examples,” he said.

Kenneth Lanning is a former FBI agent, who worked in the agency’s behavioral science unit, and authored the book, “Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis.” He said cover-ups or cases of people looking the other way often come down to two factors: ignorance and damage control.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

For the second time in two years, lawyers for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and sex abuse victims will sit down with a mediator next month in hopes of hammering out a settlement in the archdiocese’s nearly 4-year-old bankruptcy.

None of the parties associated with the case would estimate what it would take to resolve the underlying issues, including a pending lawsuit over $60 million in trust set aside for maintenance of the archdiocese’s cemeteries.

But two things appear certain: Abuse survivors will undoubtedly push for more than the $3 million-plus they were offered as part of the reorganization plan proposed by the archdiocese in February. And the archdiocese appears reluctant to budge, at least at the outset.

“If anything, our starting position is the (reorganization) plan,” said Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for Archbishop Jerome Listecki. “That’s what’s on the table, and we think it’s a viable plan.”

James Stang, lead attorney for the creditors committee, suggested there would have to be some give for the mediation to succeed.

“They want the bankruptcy done with,” Stang said of the archdiocese. “It’s been hard on the community, it’s been hard on the survivors…and they want to move on.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Betty Clermont

Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga was named by Pope Francis as head of a group of cardinals to help him govern the Church one month after the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope. “Vice pope” or the pope’s “right-hand man” is how Rodriguez Maradiaga is usually described in the press.

Australian Cardinal George Pell was appointed by the pope this past February as prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy, giving him control of all Vatican finances and administration including hiring and salaries.

Yet the backgrounds of these now powerful men which demonstrate Pope Francis’ disdain for both the poor and the victims of clerical sex abuse remain unreported by the U.S. media.

Rodriquez Maradiaga actively supported the 2009 coup against the progressive and democratically elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya Rosales. The cardinal was condemned by Latin Americans:

Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez: The path you have chosen to be an accomplice of the military dictatorship is not the way of the Gospel. You cannot be against your people and allow violence and repression in the name of supposed safety and law and the committing of serious human rights violations.

Mr. Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga has brought disrespect to his ecclesiastical position by joining the coup and attacking the Honduran people and their democratic institutions, taking sides in a situation so critical for Honduran society….[H]ere he is, heretically offending the faith in the God of Life that he says he proclaims in order to allay himself with the forces of Death. And, there they are, our brothers, killed in cold blood by military assassins legitimated by the word, equally assassin, of Cardinal Rodriguez.

The cardinal appears to have allied himself with the Honduran oligarchy behind the coup….He has adopted a stance that renders him, if not an accomplice of the Honduran coup leaders, then certainly a cardinal who is very useful to their plot….He appears to have chosen what is arguably the most Machiavellian way of trying to stop Zelaya from returning to Honduras.

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AUSTRALIA
Frum Follies

According to the Herald Sun of Australia, David Samuel Cyprys was accused of assaulting a teenager in jail while serving his prison sentence for assaulting nine Jewish children. Incredibly, after he was convicted of child sexual abuse in 1991, he was allowed to continue working at the Chabad-dominated Yeshiva College of Melbourne where he preyed on children for another two decades.

I am willing to bet many parents complained and were given any of these standard lines to assure them this would not happen again:

* This is the first we have ever heard of such a thing and we will investigate;
* We will get him into therapy;
* We will keep an eye on him;
* He has a family, so this is the best way to deal with it;
* You can’t go to the police; it is forbidden under Jewish law;
* You will destroy your standing in the community and the marriage prospects of you kids if you make a public fuss, instead of letting us handle it privately.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 25, 2014

Kieran Tapsell

In his video appearance before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on August 21, the former Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, insisted that the Catholic Church should be treated like every other organisation in society. It should not be held responsible for the crimes of its priests in the same way as the “ownership or leadership” of a trucking company is not responsible if one of its drivers picks up a hitchhiker and molests her.

Pell conceded that “if in fact the authority figure has been remiss through bad preparation, bad procedures or been warned and done nothing or insufficient, then certainly the church official would be responsible”.

Pell’s analogy revealed the fatal flaw in his own argument the moment he used the word “company”. If a trucking company had been remiss as he described, and people were injured as a result, the trucking company would be liable. Those injured would have access to the company’s assets to meet any judgment, even if its directors or officials were dead or had no assets.

Pell spent over $750,000 on lawyers in the Ellis case to prove that the Catholic Church was not like his trucking company, but is an unincorporated association that could not be sued. All of its billions are tucked away in a corporate trust that does nothing else than hold property. The only person who could be sued in that case was Cardinal Freeman, who had been warned about Ellis’s abuser, and yet let him continue as a priest. Cardinal Freeman was incapable of being sued because he was resting in peace in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 25, 2014

Editorial

Leadership is about asking a simple, profound question – ”is this right?” – and then acting appropriately in response. On this measure, Cardinal George Pell, who now resides in the Vatican after his stints as archbishop of Sydney and before that of Melbourne, has serially failed.

His performance throughout the slow and painful emergence of evidence during the past few decades of rape and other abuse of children by Catholic priests on occasions has been disgraceful.

Let there be no mistake: he has been at the pinnacle of an important organisation – one in which so much trust is placed – that has sought to minimise the financial and reputational damage to itself of the despicable criminal behaviour of some of its clergy. It is an organisation that previously even protected perpetrators by covering up their crimes.

Instead of seeking prosecution of these men, this is a church that in some instances merely transferred them to other dioceses, where their predatory acts continued. As the chairwoman of the recent Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse, Liberal MP Georgie Crozier, said early in the hearings: ”The evidence is quite clear; the criminal sexual abuse of children occurred under the watch of the Catholic Church and it was covered up … These facts are not in dispute.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 25, 2014

THE Vatican has asked the Catholic archdiocese of Sydney to review an investigation conducted under previous archbishop Cardinal George Pell, which criticised the credibility of two alleged victims of church child sex abuse.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is also investigating the matter, following the publication of the resulting church decree in The Australian this year.

This decree, provided to the ­alleged victims in January, provides a powerful and controversial insight into the secretive canon law processes used by the Catholic Church to ­respond to claims of child sex abuse.

After more than a decade of lobbying by one of the alleged victims, the Vatican’s powerful Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith authorised Cardinal Pell “to conduct an administrative penal process” into the case. Cardinal Pell personally appointed three senior Australian clerics to undertake the investigation and forwarded the resulting decree back to the congregation.

The decree itself states that its authors “decided not to see themselves as judges charged with ­determining the guilt or otherwise” of the priest alleged to have committed the abuse.

“What is being tested is the ­reliability, the credibility of those making the complaints,” the ­decree states. It describes one ­alleged victim as “an exaggerator” with “a detailed dossier of these ‘remembered’ events clogging his computer’’. A previous decision by the church to pay this alleged victim financial compensation was done “for actuarial reasons and to appear pastorally concerned”, the decree said.

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IRELAND
Boston globe

By Kevin Cullen | GLOBE COLUMNIST AUGUST 24, 2014

TUAM, Ireland — In 1975, Frannie Hopkins and Barry Sweeney were playing in an apple orchard just off the Dublin Road where the old St. Mary’s mothers and babies home used to be.

Frannie Hopkins, 12, jumped from a wall and whatever he landed on made a funny noise. Barry Sweeney, 10, followed suit and the hollow they felt made them curious.

They pulled back some weeds and found a concrete slab, pulled back the slab, and to their utter amazement saw a collection of skulls and bones.

“I’d say there were a dozen sets of bones,” Frannie Hopkins told me, standing on the spot. “It was a concrete chamber, a crypt or a tomb or a tank.”

For reasons both complicated and not entirely surprising, it is only now that the macabre discovery two boys made 39 years ago has become yet another exercise in Ireland’s ongoing, agonizing confrontation with its uncomfortable past.

Yet, in a sometimes frenzied rush to now consciously confront that ugly past, the concrete chamber that Frannie Hopkins and Barry Sweeney found has been transformed, in some recent accounts, into a septic tank into which evil nuns stuffed the remains of some 800 children who died at the home for unwed mothers run by the Sisters of Bon Secours between 1925 and 1961.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Editorial

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Is local Church in crisis?

Fr Joe Borg lit a fuse in his The Sunday Times of Malta column last weekend when he questioned Archbishop Paul Cremona’s ability to lead the local Church. He said that while others discussed the issue behind closed doors, he felt as a matter of conscience the duty to speak out about the issue.

If for nothing else, he deserves credit for being upfront. There are many discontented people in various walks of life, priests included, who would do well to take a leaf out of this particular book. However, the second issue that needs to be addressed is, does he have a point?

We asked the Archbishop for an interview on the issue. We got a one-line statement the day after the column was published, saying that he was committed to serve the Church to the best of his ability, and after catching up with him on Friday, he said it is the Pope who decides his future. But no interview.

This in itself is evidence of a problem. The Archbishop is a good man. No one questions that. He has had health problems. Everybody sympathises with that. But, as a question raged over whether Pope John Paul II should carry on in the latter stages of his papacy – and we all know the step Benedict took – so the issue must be addressed as to whether the Church’s best interests are served with Mgr Cremona at the helm.

This is a question the Church itself must resolve. But it can only do this if it first shows a hitherto unseen willingness to discuss it. In truth, rumblings have been around for quite some time and clergymen are doing themselves no good by running away from them.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Editorial

August 23, 2014

In the face of demands from a victims’ advocacy group, Bishop Michael Jarrell continues to stand firm on his resolve not to reveal the names of 15 priests on whose behalf the Diocese of Lafayette and its insurers paid $26 million to the families of victims in sex abuse cases that spanned the 1980s and ’90s.

In the place of information, representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and the media have received only reports of shoddy record-keeping, poor memories on the parts of investigating bishops and flat-out refusals.

In response to questions from The Daily Advertiser, Jarrell would say only that seven of the 15 priests have died, five moved away and none are in the ministry.

We do know that one of them is Gilbert Gauthe, the infamous convicted pedophile who is reportedly living in Texas since his release from jail. Another is the late David Primeaux, who committed suicide in 2012 in Virginia.

That leaves seven of the 15 unaccounted-for and living anonymously among us. As Jarrell put it, it’s “almost impossible” to monitor their activities.

And that is unsettling.

It was decades ago, some reason — what’s the point of knowing who was involved in the incidents?

The point is that these men were not caught shoplifting or cheating on their taxes. They were accused of molesting children.

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DOMINIKANISCHEN REPUBLIK
Die Welt

[For Nuncio Accused of Abuse, Dominicans Want Justice at Home, Not Abroad – The New York Times]

By Constanze Reuscher, Rome

Als Botschafter des Papstes in der Dominikanischen Republik soll Erzbischof Wesolowski jahrelang Jungen missbraucht haben. Doch der Bischof läuft frei in Rom herum – vom Vatikan geschützt.

Er hatte schon ein paar Bier getrunken, als er durch die Rotlichtviertel von Santo Domingo zog, genügend Geld in der Tasche, auf der Suche nach schnellem Sex. Er suchte nach ganz jungen Männern, er suchte nach Kindern. Er nannte sich nur “Josie”. Viele wussten dennoch, wer er war: Der Botschafter des Heiligen Stuhls, der vatikanische Nuntius, vom Papst in die Dominikanische Republik entsandt – der polnische Erzbischof Josef Wesolowski.

Im Schatten der ältesten katholischen Kathedrale Amerikas betrieb er jahrelang sexuellen Missbrauch. Gemeinsam mit dem polnischen Pater Wojciech Gil soll er sich mit jungen Messdienern in seinem Haus am Strand vergnügt haben. Zwei weitere Geistliche aus seiner Botschaft stehen unter Verdacht, Frauen und Kinder zum Sex gezwungen haben. Ein dominikanischer TV-Sender soll Wesolowski dabei gefilmt haben, wie er ein Kinderbordell in Santo Domingo betrat.

Inzwischen ist der 66-jährige Wesolowski Amt, Würde und auch den Stand des Geistlichen los. Papst Franziskus rief ihn schon 2013 von seinem Posten als Botschafter des Heiligen Stuhls ab. Im Juni wurde er offiziell aus dem Priesterstand entlassen. Der Vatikan hat zudem angekündigt, ihm wegen der “weltlichen” Verbrechen, die er begangen hat, den Prozess zu machen.

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CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

ANDREW NGUYEN

August 24, 2014

André Samson thought the only way to hide his sexual orientation was to be celibate and enter the priesthood.

But when he was ordained, he quickly discovered that there were many others in the church who shared his secret.

Nearly a year ago, Samson summoned the courage to come out on the popular TVA show hosted by Denis Lévesque. After the show, he wandered over to a nearby restaurant in a celebratory mood and thought, “I really felt for the first time in my life, I felt free.”

Following his appearance, Samson said he received hundreds of emails from strangers applauding him for his courage, but what stung the most was that not one of them was from a Catholic priest.

Just last year, Samson suffered backlash from his colleagues after attempts to raise the issue of sexual abuse. His attempts led to a confrontation at the large Montreal church where he was serving, he was treated as a pariah and eventually lost his position at the church.

Samson, who remains a priest, said he feels he has a responsibility to speak out: “If not me, who will?”

He added that many priests and bishops continue to hide their sexual orientation because of their dependence and their fear of being rejected by the church, but he wants others to revel in who they really are.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

By Ken Stickneyk stickney@theadvertiser.com August 23, 2014

Public scandal surrounding priest molestation cases in the mid-1980s struck the Diocese of Lafayette at a time when it was woefully ill-prepared to deal with it.

But court papers reviewed by The Daily Advertiser in recent weeks suggest diocesan leaders should have seen trouble coming years earlier.

Those papers were made known recently after Minnesota Public Radio investigated sex abuse in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, uncovering a wealth of documents about numerous priests in the Diocese of Lafayette who had been accused of sexual misconduct since the 1950s. The link between the dioceses — what led MPR to the court files stored in Texas — was Bishop Harry Flynn, who served in both dioceses.

The court papers, which included legal depositions of key diocesan figures in Lafayette, suggest strongly that former Bishop Gerard L. Frey, who served from 1973-1989, lacked the knowledge, savvy and judgment he needed to address sexual misconduct among his priests. One psychologist who worked with the diocese said simply, “It appeared to me that Bishop Frey was hit with a truck.”

But Frey wasn’t alone. Depositions show little communication between diocesan clergy and the diocesan leadership about the onset of trouble. The bishop and clergymen testified under oath that they had little knowledge of myriad, isolated incidents from around the diocese, although the legal papers suggest otherwise in many cases. Priests’ files reportedly contained few specifics, diocesan leaders testified, perhaps intentionally.

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FLORIDA
News-Press

Mary Wozniak, mwozniak@news-press.com August 24, 2014

The 16-year-old boy molested by a priest serving at a Fort Myers church is now a 37-year-old man who remains haunted, angry and determined to help stop others from suffering his fate.

The Port Charlotte man spoke of his experience at the hands of the Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph for the first time Wednesday, exclusively to The News-Press. His story is one of an accuser’s worst nightmare: Outed by the accused and his attorney at a news conference; the letter he sent to church officials describing the abuse and its effect on him read aloud; his own community turning its back on him.

A six-figure settlement with the Diocese of Venice in the case was announced Tuesday by his attorney, Adam Horowitz. The News-Press does not name victims of sexual abuse.

The victim, who came forward in 2008, said he spoke out 15 years after the 1993 incident not because he wanted money but to stop Joseph, who his dying mother considered a second son, from participating in her funeral.

“For many years, I just acted like it never happened and tried to move on with my life,” he said. When his mother was dying from cancer and lupus, he knew he had to tell her. Besides, he said he realized he was getting older, and knew he had to face what had happened.

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