ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
RTE News

The Vatican has confirmed that the Pope has accepted the resignation of Seán Brady as Catholic primate of all Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh.

He is being succeeded by Archbishop Eamon Martin with immediate effect.

Last month, Cardinal Brady offered his resignation to the Pope, as his 75th birthday approached, in accordance with Canon Law.

Archbishop Eamon Martin is aged 52 and from the Derry diocese.

He has been lined up as a replacement since his appointment as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh in January of last year.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Nic Rigby
BBC News

Ex-residents of a Catholic orphanage in Bedfordshire are to be re-interviewed by police in a new review into claims of physical and sexual abuse.

In May 2013 police revealed an investigation had begun into alleged abuse at the St Francis Boys Home in Shefford, in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ex-residents have been told there will be an evidence review under the command of senior investigator Mark Ross.

Bedfordshire Police said all previous investigations would be looked at.

The BBC has talked to former residents of the home who allege they were physically and/or sexually abused at the orphanage, run by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton.

‘Out of the blue’

Many have said they were abused by priest Father John Ryan, who ran the home in the 1960s and died in 2008.

Others say they were abused by Fr Wilfred Johnson, who ran the home between 1945 and 1954 and died in 1994.

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IRELAND
Ulster Herald

The Vatican have confirmed that Pope Francis has today (Monday) accepted the resignation of Cardinal Seán Brady as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

As of 11am, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, Archbishop Eamon Martin (52), has become the 116th Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

In line with the rules of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Brady offered his resignation to the Pope on the occasion of his 75th birthday last month.

It came two years after he refused to step down amid revelations contained in a BBC documentary. The ‘This World’ investigation found Cardinal Brady had names and addresses of children being abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, but did not pass on those details to police or parents.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

Things This Blog Has Been Called This Week — A Grim Place of Wild Claims and Ranting, Uninformed, Disrespectful, Etc.

William D. Lindsey

Things this blog has been called in public in this week after I posted a posting about Jerry Slevin’s recent censorship by National Catholic Reporter:

1. Billgrimspage oblivion. Get it? Bill + grims + page = oblivion.
2. A blog for those who want to make wild claims and to rant.

Things this blog and I have been called in emails to me this week:

1. Uninformed and disrespectful.
2. Slanderous and libelous.

None of this takes into account John Shuster’s report in a comment here two days ago that two priests he monitors on Facebook, who keep their clerical status hidden, have mocked and disparaged this blog and me on Facebook after I published my report on Jerry Slevin’s censorship by NCR. I have deliberately not sought out information about that mockery since who needs to add misery to misery? The thread John has followed (and I very much appreciate his report about it) is no doubt one among others to be found at various sites online right now.

I’m a bit weary of it all right now, folks. And so I’m going to take a few days to try to think through what has been going on and to deal with the attacks coming to me in email, which began immediately after I posted my piece about Jerry’s censorship and which are clearly related to it — and which also clearly intend to see me silenced if at all possible.

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UNITED STATES
Jewish Business News

It has been a shandah to speak about a shandah in the Orthodox communities. But now, it is increasingly becoming a shandah not to speak about the shandah of sexual abuse, as outrage is now directed at rabbis and community leaders who cover up and protect sexual predators.

The internet, much feared in insular Haredi communities, is becoming an instrument that provides a voice to those who have been silent victims and who have been threatened that their lives, within the confines of utter control, would be destroyed by breaking the silence.

As allegations of sexual abuse rise, from Manhattan to Jerusalem, Michael Lesher has written a book on the topic, “Sexual Abuse, Shonda and Concealment in Orthodox Communities.” While the Catholic church years ago had its own sexual abuse scandals, the Orthodox communities are discovering, perhaps at the 11th hour, that they can no longer rely on purely rabbinic authorities to deal with felonies that should best be left to the police and the courts.

Lesher says, “There can be no legitimate role for the rabbinical court in any sex abuse investigation.” While many Orthodox rabbis have turned the tide of opinion and have urged victims to go to the police with such crimes, there is still widespread denial, threats against those who complain and even fundraisers held to keep high profile perpetrators out of jail.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

SHERYL-LEE KERR
PERTHNOW SEPTEMBER 08, 2014

A job in Chile was beckoning the day actor John Noble got the script for Devil’s Playground, a miniseries which delves into the murky world of Catholic Church politics and intrigue. The former Adelaide Catholic schoolboy took only moments to decide.

“I looked at this script and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing, this is my childhood here’,” Noble says. “So I threw some things around so I could do it, simply based on the script.”

Noble plays progressive Bishop McNally who sees secrets, abuse and cover-ups within the church in the late ’80s. The story is based on the 1976 Fred Schepisi movie of the same name. It begins with the death of a Catholic schoolboy — and another child’s claim it was murder.

“He’s one of the good ones,” Noble says of his character.

“He knows a lot — there’s a veil of secrecy and protection in the Catholic Church. They’re like a family so if someone did err, then they would try to help them in different ways.

“The edict (to keep secrets such as abuse) came down from the top, the very top, that this needs to be covered up. It would have been the most agonising thing and it was, for the character I play, the most agonising thing to sit with, knowing this was happening and having to cover it up.”

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MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

The Associated Press
September 8, 2014

JACKSON, MISS. — A Mississippi pastor is appealing his 2013 conviction and 30-year sentence for the fondling of a child.

Larry Gene Singleton, now 72, was convicted in Tate County on two counts of fondling and one count of sexual battery.

Singleton, the former pastor of Bay Springs Baptist Church in Abbeville, Mississippi, was arrested in December of 2013 after sheriff’s investigators received a complaint from the victim, who accused Singleton of forcing him to have sex.

Authorities say the sexual abuse allegedly began when the victim was 11 years old and continued for several years.

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

LOUISIANA
KATC

[with video]

A member of the Brothers of Christian Schools, who was accused of molesting several boys in the 1980s, is living in Lafayette and traveling to a school campus every week to pray with his order.

Bro. Samuel Martinez, 78, lives in a Lafayette retirement home and is transported to the Holy Family Community on the campus of John Paul The Great Academy on weekends for religious exercises.

But the most recent head of the order’s New Orleans-Santa Fe District, David Sinitiere, says Martinez is not a risk to children. Even though some sex offenders in Louisiana are not allowed to go within 1,000 feet of a school – even if no children are present – Martinez does not have to follow that restriction because he was never criminally charged. Everything was settled in civil court.

“Brother Samuel Martinez had what we determined a credible accusation against him. It was 40 years ago, but we still had to address the issue today,” Sinitiere said

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Frank Brennan | 08 September 2014

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been granted its sought two-year extension. It will run for five years. That is appropriate. I predicted on the night Julia Gillard announced the commission that it would take five years to do its work.

I am still worried about this extended federal royal commission – and that is not because I am a Catholic priest afraid of what the commission might discover in the bowels of my Church. I have long been an advocate for State assistance to the Church in this area, concerned that the Church could not do it alone. All church members, and not just the victims who continue to suffer, need light, transparency and accountability if the opaque injustices of the past are to be rectified.

With the Commission’s case study last month into the Melbourne Response, much of the media focus was on Cardinal Pell, as it was during the case study on the John Ellis case. For some time, many Australians, myself included, had wondered how Cardinal Pell was not in a position when an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne between 1987 and 1996 to know much, if anything, about the extent of child sexual abuse by his clergy and to do much, if anything, to address the issue.

On 21 August 2014, Cardinal Pell told the Royal Commission that, prior to his becoming Archbishop in August 1996, he ‘had no knowledge of any criminal behaviour that was not being dealt with’ and that he was ‘not even sure to what extent (he) would have been privy to matters that might have been criminal but were being dealt with by the Vicar General’. He told the Commission, ‘I wasn’t in the direct line of authority before I was Archbishop. I was an Auxiliary Bishop with no responsibility in this area.’ In his written statement to the commission, he said, ‘When I took office (as Archbishop in 1996), it was my view that the arrangements in the Archdiocese for responding to and assisting victims of child sexual abuse were insufficient to ensure a compassionate, effective and consistent response. I thought there needed to be clearly documented procedures for dealing with complaints.’

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IRELAND
The Journal

POPE FRANCIS HAS accepted the resignation of Cardinal Seán Brady.

The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland to Pope Francis offered his resignation in July in accordance with the requirement under Canon Law that he retire at the age of 75.

In a statement today, Cardinal Brady said he was pleased that the pontiff had accepted his resignation. In the past, diocesan bishops have been allowed to remain on in their positions past the age of 75.

He also congratulated Archbishop Eamon Martin who becomes the new Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 11am today.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

Sue Murphy
11:00 Monday 8 September 2014

The Pope has accepted the resignation of Sean Brady as the Catholic Primate of All Ireland.

Cardinal Brady offered his resignation in July, a month ahead of his 75th birthday.

Eamon Martin (52), who has been working as his Coadjutor for the past 16 months, is taking over in the position.

Archbishop Martin says he is honoured to take on the role.

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 Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Pope Francis accepts Cardinal Brady’s resignation and Archbishop Eamon Martin becomes Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland

Today, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Father Pope Francis accepts the resignation of His Eminence Cardinal Seán Brady as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. From 11:00am today (12 noon Rome time) the Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, His Grace Archbishop Eamon Martin (52), becomes the 116th Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland in succession to Saint Patrick.

Media are invited to meet Archbishop Eamon Martin for interview this morning outside Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, from 11:00am.

Please see below remarks delivered after Mass today in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral by Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin.

Remarks by Cardinal Seán Brady

I am pleased that Pope Francis has today accepted the resignation which I offered to him on the occasion of my seventy fifth birthday. I warmly congratulate Archbishop Eamon Martin who today becomes Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Coarb Phadraic. Let us rejoice and be glad.

I pray that God may give to Archbishop Eamon in abundance all the graces he needs and I assure him of my help and total support at all times. Indeed I am quite confident that the people of the Archdiocese – priests, religious and lay faithful – will give to their new Archbishop the same whole-hearted support and faith-filled loyalty which they have always given to me and for which I will be eternally grateful.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah Stack
Published 08/09/2014

Pope Francis has accepted Cardinal Sean Brady’s resignation as leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Cardinal Brady, has been Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland since 1996, wrote to Pope Francis several weeks before he approached his 75th birthday in August.

“I am pleased that Pope Francis has today accepted the resignation which I offered to him on the occasion of my 75th birthday,” said Cardinal Brady.

“I warmly congratulate Archbishop Eamon Martin who today becomes Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Coarb Phadraic. Let us rejoice and be glad.”

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

08 SEPTEMBER 2014

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

The senior churchman whose final years as a clerical leader were dogged by abuse scandals, announced plans to step down on age grounds last month after turning 75, the standard retirement age in the church.

Archbishop Eamon Martin will take over the role as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland – the 116th man to fill the role.

“I am looking forward to retirement and, no doubt, it will take me some time to get used to it, but it will be good to have more time for family, friends and to follow the football,” Cardinal Brady said.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

The Vatican has announced that it has accepted the resignation of the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Séan Brady.

Last month, Dr Brady, who has been the leader of Ireland’s Catholics for 18 years, confirmed that he offered his resignation to Pope Francis in July.

His tenure had been beset by clerical child sex abuse scandals and claims that he helped to cover up one case.

Archbishop Eamon Martin has been announced as his successor.

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AUSTRALIA
The Irish Times

Padraig Collins

Mon, Sep 8, 2014

Speaking in Sydney yesterday, former president Mary McAleese argued for a greatly increased role for women in the Catholic Church, saying: “The old boys’ club are going to have to go.”

About 1,000 people came to Sydney Town Hall to see Mrs McAleese interviewed by ABC radio presenter Andrew West.

In a reference to an Australian Catholic newspaper refusing to run an advertisement for the event because of Mrs McAleese’s views on homosexuality and the ordination of women, Mr West said: “We have to thank the Catholic Weekly for a full house today.”

Mrs McAleese said after the advert ban was reported by The Irish Times and other media “I had emails from friends in America and Japan saying ‘what’s going on in Sydney’?”

She said trying to be heard by the Catholic Church hierarchy was comparable to shouting at children: “If I’m yelling it’s because you didn’t listen to me when I said it nicely . . . I look at the curia and I don’t know too many of them who have gone through equal opportunity training.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

While banning commenters like me is the ultimate censorship tactic that NCR has adopted, apparently in light of its conservative Catholic donors’ influence or other unknown factors, see here:

[Christian Catholicism]

Bill Lindsey has brilliantly shown at Bilgrimage.com, see here:

[Bilgrimage] ,

how NCR Discus comment objection “flags” are being managed by some bloggers at NCR to depress comments either permanently or until most other readers have read others’ comments and moved on.

Since NCR got its $2 million dollar grant from the conservative Hilton Foundation, which is associated with FAIDICA (a group of seemingly conservative Catholic foundations, in part at least it appears, under the influence of wealthy investment bankers who have also advertised another of their related groups at NCR), NCR has turned considerably to the right in its coverage and focus in my opinion. It has also hired a new management team that appears to me to be dedicated often to pleasing right wing interests.

This seems to have been done (1) by neutralizing NCR’s focus increasingly to “feel good” stories about nuns and Pope Francis, (2) by seemingly reducing the coverage and frequency of tough stories on bishops’ misdeeds, especially on Vatican priest child abuse cover-ups, (3) by controlling content by increased comment censorship and the selection of more seemingly biased articles and writers, and (4) by seemingly focusing on selecting more NCR directors who likely may better please NCR’s major donors. For example, the sister who is the communications director of LCWR is no longer on NCR’s Board of Directors. Why not? Very puzzling, no?

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

MT. UNION, HUNTINGDON COUNTY – A local priest has been placed on leave by the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese after alleged misconduct.

The diocese says 42 year old Chinemere Onyeocha is under investigation for misconduct with adults. Onyeocha was most recently the administrator of the Saint Catherine of Siena parish in Mount Union, Huntingdon County and was ordained as a priest in 2008. The diocese did not release any further details surrounding the alleged misconduct.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Sept. 7, 2014

A CATHOLIC priest has admitted to having sex with a woman at places including a beach, a camping ground, in a grandstand, a church-owned building and in the Italian city of Florence, despite his vow of celibacy.

But Father Tom Knowles, of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, has denied the woman suffered embarrassment, humiliation or damage because of their lengthy and secret sexual relationship, or that he sexually groomed and abused her.
Central Coast woman Jennifer Herrick, 60, has filed a landmark breach of trust case against the priest and the trustees of his order.

Ms Herrick alleges the Blessed Sacrament Fathers failed to act on disclosures made by the priest to senior members of the church about his sexual misconduct.

In his defence, filed in the NSW Supreme Court in August, Father Knowles admitted the two ‘‘often shared a bed at night’’ in the mid-north coast village of Harrington and ‘‘maintained a sexual relationship’’.

But he denied that it constituted a breach of duty of care, or that such a duty of care existed.

He admitted they had sex on a beach at Harrington, at a Blackheath camping ground, at a church-owned building in Chatswood, in the grandstand at Beauchamp Park at Chatswood and in Florence while on separate holidays.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: John J. Brown was ordained a Jesuit priest of the Oregon Province in 1948. He spent his career through the late 1960s in Idaho and Montana Indian mission schools and parishes. His whereabouts beyond 1967 are unclear. Brown’s name was included on the Oregon Province’s bankruptcy reorganization documents list in 2011 of Jesuits “identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.”

Ordained: 1948

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

NIGEL MORRIS Author Biography DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Sunday 07 September 2014

The choice of appointment to head the official inquiry into historic sex-abuse allegations is under question again after it emerged the new chair has several links to one of the key witnesses expected to give evidence.

The former Home Secretary Lord Brittan is likely to be summoned by the panel headed by Fiona Woolf. He was reportedly passed a dossier in 1984 by then MP Geoffrey Dickenson outlining allegations of widespread paedophile activity.

But The Mail on Sunday today listed a series of links between Ms Woolf and Lord and Lady Brittan. They include the disclosures that she sits on the board of a City of London conference with Lord Brittan, judges an annual award scheme alongside Lady Brittan and gave her a donation when she took part in a charity run last year.

Ms Woolf, who is the current Lord Mayor of London, also lives in the same west London street as the Brittans.

She had not commented on Sunday night, but the Labour MP Simon Danczuk, a prominent campaigner on historic abuse, said her position would be “untenable” if close connections to the Brittans were confirmed.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Editorial

How hard can it be to find someone to chair an inquiry who does not have any potentially embarrassing connections or conflicts of interest? Harder than you might think. It has taken Theresa May, the Home Secretary, two months to find a replacement for Baroness Butler-Sloss as chair of the independent inquiry into historical child sex abuse. Lady Butler-Sloss stepped down shortly after her appointment because of the outcry about her brother, Lord Havers, who was Attorney General at the time of some of the events.

Now Ms May has come up with another name. Fiona Woolf, the Lord Mayor of the City of London. She seems a safe choice. Her Who’s Who entry is rather uninformative, apart from listing one of her recreations as “furniture history”. It took The Times less than 24 hours, however, to find a connection with Lord Brittan, the former Home Secretary: they both sit on the Advisory Council of TheCityUK, which represents the financial services industry. This is awkward because the Home Office under Lord Brittan is accused of failing to act on a dossier containing allegations against senior politicians, a dossier that has since been lost.

This link is probably irrelevant, but it does invite questions about whether the net could not have been cast wider than the usual pool of quangocrats. Is Ms May really saying that there is no one in the whole of country who could lead this inquiry who has no connection with anyone whose actions may be scrutinised? Rather than spending the time looking beyond the usual suspects, Home Office officials seem to have been ringing up the good and the grand, only to be turned down because they do not want to have to deal with the level of media interest.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Mail on Sunday

Revealed: New boss of investigation into VIP child abuse claims is linked to Leon Brittan: The Mail On Sunday exposes family friendship of SECOND inquiry chief with the ex-MP accused of abuse file cover-up

By MARTIN BECKFORD and SIMON MURPHY FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

The new chairman of a long-awaited Government inquiry into historic child sex abuse was facing calls to resign last night after The Mail on Sunday discovered her astonishing links to Leon Brittan – a key figure embroiled in the scandal.

Fiona Woolf, the Lord Mayor of London, was appointed to carry out the important role of investigating claims of an Establishment cover-up of VIP paedophile rings on Friday, two months after the original chairman was forced to step down over conflicts of interest.

But this newspaper has found that the top corporate lawyer is also closely linked to Lord Brittan – who is likely to give evidence to her inquiry. It can be revealed that she:

* Sits on the board of a City of London conference with Lord Brittan, who is accused of overseeing an Establishment cover-up when he was Home Secretary;
* Judges an annual City award scheme alongside Lord Brittan’s wife, Diana;
* Gave Lord Brittan’s wife a £50 donation and a friendly good-luck message when she took part in a charity fun run last year;
* Has been a neighbour of Lord and Lady Brittan in the same exclusive London street for the past decade;
* Is a governor of the elite Guildhall School of Music where pupils are said to have been abused;
* Is a patron of a body for female lawyers along with Labour’s Harriet Harman, whose National Council of Civil Liberties once had links to a notorious paedophile group

Last night Labour MP Simon Danczuk – who has led calls for a public inquiry into historic child sex abuse in the wake of revelations about high-profile figures such as Sir Jimmy Savile – questioned Mrs Woolf’s appointment. ‘If it’s found that Fiona Woolf is close to the Brittans, her position is untenable and she needs to be clear about what her relationship is with Leon Brittan, who is one of the most significant figures in terms of suggestions of a cover-up,’ he said. ‘Surely the Home Office was aware of this before they suggested appointing her?’

Peter Saunders, the chairman of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: ‘It would once again seem to be incredibly inappropriate that she would even be offered the appointment.’

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

There’s an episode of To Catch a Predator, the reality show in which men try to have sex with underage boys and girls, and are then recorded in a confrontation with the show’s host who reveals that they’ve been caught on video and that the whole set up is a law enforcement sting – there’s an episode where a Jewish Rabbi “essentially tried to rape a 13-year-old boy” and is caught red handed.

Though clearly guilty, the rabbi blames the show’s host and pulls a “how dare you suggest such a terrible thing about me! I’m a religious leader!” pose. The rabbi’s attitude is exactly the sort of thing you see from people who not only abuse positions of power, but who feel entitled to positions of power. I’ve been dealing with it in the Catholic Church, sometimes on a personal level, for all of my 14 years as a Catholic.

In fact, a prominent bishop whose history shows a repeated tendency to lie in order to save face and whose record with regard to sexually abusive clergy is filled with shameful displays of half-truths and cowardice, and who’s particularly famous for protecting his favorites at all costs, pulls exactly this haughty “how dare you!” attitude when his lofty status is called into question. He even went so far recently as to claim he has a “stellar” record in handling cases of clerical abuse of minors – which he demonstrably doesn’t, and hasn’t for more than thirty years. But how dare we question it!

I mention all of this because I think it gets to the heart of why we allow abuse.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BILLY GUNN AND RICHARD BURGESS| BGUNN@THEADVOCATE.COM RBURGESS@THEADVOCATE.COM
Sept. 07, 2014

LAFAYETTE — Diocese of Lafayette Bishop Michael Jarrell has steadfastly refused to reveal the identities of clergymen who sexually preyed on south Louisiana children decades ago.

Jarrell has questioned what good would come in releasing the names he alluded to in a 2004 diocese report, which acknowledged there had been 15 priests the Lafayette Diocese knew had sexually abused 123 children in the years prior to 1985.

But advocates for people abused by priests say that position is shortsighted, saying now-grown victims who have remained silent — who have kept the secret that their parish priest raped them — would find affirmation if they saw the name of their attacker released.

“They will say ‘I’m not crazy. I’m not the only one this happened to,’ ” said Barbara Dorris, the victim outreach coordinator for the St. Louis-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “It helps them to deal with the issue.”

Dorris said abuse victims often bury the attacks deep in their subconscious, with memories returning as long as decades later. Listing the names of the priests, she said, could help them and others.

Jarrell, the bishop in the Lafayette Diocese since 2002, has company when he declines to name names.

Like Lafayette, other Catholic communities in Louisiana, such as the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and the Archdiocese of New Orleans, do not publish the names of priests known to have molested youths years ago.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BILLY GUNN AND RICHARD BURGESS| BGUNN@THEADVOCATE.COM RBURGESS@THEADVOCATE.COM
Sept. 07, 2014

LAFAYETTE — When revelations about pedophile priest Gilbert Gauthe hit the headlines in 1984, the Diocese of Lafayette was shaken by a clergy abuse scandal that, in the years after, spread nationwide.

Gauthe molested scores of children in the 1970s and 1980s throughout Acadiana as the diocese shifted him from one church to the next — and he wasn’t alone.

The scandal here unfolded to reveal other abusers in the priesthood, calling into question what the local Catholic leadership had known, what they might have done to conceal it and just how widespread the problem was.

It’s been some three decades since plaintiff lawyers and journalists first dissected church leaders’ actions, but recently unearthed court documents cast fresh light on an old scandal. The hundreds of pages of internal church records and depositions show the abuse was likely more pervasive than the public knew at the time and the roots of the problem stretch back years before Gauthe.

The paperwork also provides something that church leadership to this day has refused to fully disclose: the identities of Lafayette-area priests accused of molesting children.

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INDIA
ABC News

Associated Press

NEW DELHI — Sep 7, 2014

An Indian court has recommended that the government extradite a Roman Catholic priest wanted in the United States on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage parishioner in Minnesota, a lawyer in the case said Sunday.

It’s now up to the federal government to decide whether the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul should be sent to the U.S. to stand trial, said Naveen Kumar Matta, a public prosecutor for India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

The recommendation by Magistrate Ajay Garg was made Friday. The United States had requested in 2011 that Jeyapaul be extradited.

Jeyapaul, a 59-year-old Indian citizen, has denied molesting the 14-year-old girl in 2004 when he was working at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Greenbush, near the Canadian border.

He returned to India in 2005 to visit his ailing mother, and was asked not to return to the Minnesota church after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 30, 2014

Daniel Keating

Sam Keating
Youth worker
2-3-1989 — 26-7-2014

Sam Keating, who took his own life last month at the age of 25, hid a dark secret for nearly 20 years. It was a secret we thought Sam was starting to come to terms with.

Sam was not a celebrity or a leader in his field, but he was an extraordinarily well-loved young man, an achievement more special than fame. He grew up in the coastal town of Ocean Grove with his parents and an older brother and two sisters. It was a close, loving family. The family home – on a hectare of garden – was a playground paradise. A beautiful child with whitish blond hair, Sam had a smile that endeared him to all.

His early years at the local Catholic primary school were ostensibly very happy although an incident occurred that would continue to haunt him; an incident that we now believe cost him his life.

Sam was involved in numerous sports and activities, including little athletics, football, nippers and basketball. As a teenager, while not an outstanding athlete he won an under-16 best and fairest award at the Barwon Heads footy club and a surf lifesaving nippers club championship. He was noted for his determination and ferocity, particularly at football. He also took acting classes during his secondary school years, an activity he loved. …

With encouragement from his counsellors, Sam was advised to share his dark secret, initially with us. Just over a year ago, Sam disclosed that he had been sexually abused by a locum priest when at primary school. The priest, in the vein of all paedophile cowards, ordered Sam not to tell his parents or the school under fear of rejection by us and expulsion from his school. Sam carried those demons alone for almost 20 years.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor

For those of us who covered a Synod of Bishops at the Vatican during the John Paul II and Benedict years, there was always a slightly surreal “Emperor has no clothes” dynamic about the experience.

An all-star cast of bishops from around the world would gather in Rome for a month to debate some critical issue, often pouring considerable time and effort into their speeches, a handful of which were memorable. (The late Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini’s “I have a dream” speech at the 1999 Synod for Europe, for instance, still makes the rounds.) Working groups would assiduously go over the final propositions, which for a long time were considered a state secret – making their inevitable leak 24 hours later a cherished guilty pleasure.

Reporters would describe the synod’s fault lines, document the push for compromise, and speculate about the final result, sometimes giving the impression that we were covering the Congress of Vienna.

In other words, everybody acted as if the synod mattered. The unspoken truth, however, was that all the cards were in the hands of the pope, and in most cases the big-picture decisions were already made.

When John Paul II used to attend sessions of the synod, he would sit in the front and read his breviary, the book of daily prayers for Catholic priests. Wags would quip it wasn’t actually a breviary but the final conclusions of the synod, which had already been written.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites Australia researcher.

Father John Ignatius O’Callaghan (of the Melbourne archdiocese) took the traditional Catholic vow of a “celibate” priest. That is, he vowed never to get married. Instead, in the 1980s, he merely had a private relationship with a woman, who gave birth to Father O’Callaghan’s two daughters. These girls have grown up into adulthood, knowing that they are the offspring of Father John O’Callaghan.

The private life of Fr John O’ Callaghan is no secret among the Melbourne clergy of his generation. Several Melbourne priests have confirmed the O’Callaghan matter to Broken Rites. And a relative of O’Callaghan has spoken to Broken Rites, confirming the matter.

This kind of “private life” is accepted by a priest’s colleagues (many of whom have a “private life” of their own). Meanwhile, bishops and other church leaders (some of whom may have a “private life” themselves) look the other way, hoping that the practice does not get into the media. Any media exposure would damage the church’s corporate brand-name.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

It’s Father’s Day today. In our family, we’ve always called it Daddy’s Day. There’s a fridge magnet on my father’s fridge that says, “Anyone can be a father. It takes someone special to be a Daddy.” My brother, sister and I always called my father “Daddy.” It was one of the ways we tried to communicate to him how much we loved him and how precious he was to us. For me, it was my way of reminding him that I treasured every minute of my life with him, and still loved him as unreservedly and completely in adulthood as I did when I was a little girl and he was the brightest light in my life. I loved Daddy’s Day so much. It was the only day of the year that my father didn’t make a fuss about being given anything or tell his kids that we shouldn’t have spent any money on him.

My father’s life was not easy. It was never going to be. The damage done was too great. He woke every day of his life in terror thinking he was still in the Alkira / Indooroopilly Salvation Army Boys’ Home. He told me about this around eight years ago. I tried to break whatever terrible loop was still going on his mind decades after his abuse by being ready at the prearranged time every day for the seven years I lived with him with a cup of coffee, a knock on his door, and the most cheerful “Hey Daddy, would you like a cup of coffee?” I could muster. I didn’t know what else to do. It was futile, but it was something.

The day before my father died, the television crew from the ABC had come up and filmed and interviewed him. My father was ecstatic when they’d left. He had lost hope that he’d ever achieve justice from the Salvation Army. His hope had sprung anew. He believed, and he was right to do so, that the Salvation Army only ever did anything remotely good for people when its reputation (and thereby its money) were at stake – when people were watching. He felt that with the spotlight on the organisation once more, there was a chance again at real justice. And not just for him, but for all the Home Boys, and all the others. These things flow on, he said. If he could achieve proper compensation, he’d shout it from the rooftops, whether or not he signed a confidentiality agreement (“Let the bastards try and sue me – they couldn’t!” he said one night), and all the other institutions (and government) would have to follow suit, or be seen to be left behind. We bought a bottle of non-alcoholic wine at the IGA, ready for the day we’d crack it open and celebrate.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

September 3, 2014

Below is the article on September 3rd by dotCommonweal entitled “The New Kid On the Block” – referring to John Allen (Associate Editor of Crux) – with our comments after each paragraph.

Don’t be fooled by the catchy titles – about Crux – or in Crux. John Allen is the same SOB Same Old Bloke. But this time, he is back with a team of personally trained “clones of John Allen” – in Crux. Their trademark is in their titles and first paragraphs that brainwash idiot Catholics to adulate Pope Francis, cardinals and bishops and the oligarchs of the Vatican. They may hint a little bit of criticism but that’s to fool readers because their main texts will always be to support and defend Pope Francis Crimes and Vatican Evils – in Crux – the Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team in the USA – connected like a spider web of global deceits

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Calls for Government inquiry into sexual abuse of children to include Kincora Boys’ Home and Westminster

MARK LEFTLY , OLIVER WRIGHT Sunday 07 September 2014

Home Secretary Theresa May has been told to make sure that the Government’s inquiry into historic organised sexual abuse of children is widened to include Northern Ireland.

Margaret Ritchie, the MP for South Down and a former leader of Northern Ireland’s Social Democratic and Labour Party, wrote to Mrs May two weeks ago asking for the inquiry to include an investigation into Kincora Boys’ Home. There have been allegations for more than three decades that there was an official cover-up of the abuse of teenage boys at the Belfast home during the 1960s and 70s. Ms Ritchie said she expects an answer from Mrs May next week. Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Peter Robinson, and Amnesty International have also called for Kincora to be included in the UK inquiry.

Last week, Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf was appointed to head the inquiry into allegations of organised child abuse at a wide range of institutions over many years. These include claims of abuse by senior public figures at Elm Guest House in south-west London.

She was chosen from 60 candidates after the resignation of Baroness Butler-Sloss following a row about the role of her brother, the former attorney general Sir Michael Havers, in potentially suppressing allegations of abuse.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Click on a name to view the database entry on that priest or brother, with case summary, photograph (when one is available), and links to source articles. We also provide a link to the personnel file released in the 2007 LA settlement, if it is available. For recent revelations in Pittsburgh and the Australian connection through the Hartman case, see Marianist order focus of abuse probe with heavy ties to North Catholic, by Bill Zlatos and Bobby Kerlik, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, September 6, 2014. Note the Mueller case, the case involving Argentina, and the allegations against Fatooh, who was a senior official in the Monterey diocese, and Miller, who was a senior official in the Marianists’ educational system.

• Binder, Bro. Jerome, SM
• Botty, Bro. Paul, SM
• Christensen, Rev. William Anthony, SM

• Di Peri, Rev. Joseph B., SM – see also the Di Peri priest file released in the 2007 LA settlement
• Doyle, Rev. Thomas J., SM
• Fatooh, Bro. Charles George, SM – see also the Fatooh file released in the 2007 LA settlement

• Fitzsimmons, Bro. Eugene, SM
• Hartman, Bro. Bernard Joseph, SM
• Havel, Rev. Thomas E., SM – see also the Havel priest file released in the 2007 LA settlement

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UNITED STATES
Tribune-Review

[Accused Priests and Brothers of the Marianists – BishopAccountability.org]

By Bill Zlatos and Bobby Kerlik
Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014

From the former North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill to Australia, 157 victims have accused 31 members of the Marianist order of sexual abuse, records show.

Watchdog groups, victims and their attorneys say officials with the religious order failed to stop the abuse or to adequately supervise those accused. Experts say such abuse went on for decades in part because of a culture that granted members of religious groups more credibility than children.

A spokeswoman for the St. Louis-based Marianist Province of the United States did not respond to questions about how many members have been accused of abuse, where they taught, how many lawsuits have been filed nationwide and how much money has been paid in settlements.

But regarding at least one case, at North Catholic, the Rev. Martin Solma, head of the organization, said the order is “relieved that this information has become public and we can address the misdeeds of the past and help those affected to bring some healing and closure.”

Allegations against nine brothers at North Catholic stretch from 1945 to 1990, a timeline that doesn’t shock prosecutors. Child abuse in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s was not talked about as it is now, said Chief Deputy Attorney General Laura Ditka, a former Allegheny County prosecutor who oversaw sex abuse cases, including those involving the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. …

North Catholic scandal

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has identified nine Marianists accused of sex abuse by former North Catholic High School students:

• Brother Bernard Hartman, 74, a science teacher, removed from the school in 1997. He is charged with molesting four Australian students in the 1970s and ‘80s.
• William Charles Hildenbrand, at the school from 1951 to 1961. He died in 1979.
• Francis Meder, who was there from 1952 to 1967 and 1970 to 1976, when he died.
• Ralph August Mravintz, at the school from 1960 to 1964. Charged in 1985 with indecent assault and corruption of minors for fondling a 15-year-old boy, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. He died in 2006.
• Brother John Keegan, who left the religious community in 1962. Diocesan officials do not know whether Keegan is alive.
• Brother William Kiefer, at the school from 1956 to 1962. He is deceased.
• Brother James Kline, at the school from 1940 to 1947. He is deceased.
• Brother Jerome Binder, at the school 1961 to 1966, 1975 to 1976 and 1979 to 1989. He is deceased.
• Brother Julius May. It is unclear which years he spent at the school. He is deceased.

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UNITED STATES
The American Conservative

By ROD DREHER • September 7, 2014

The New York Times had a piece this past week that added savage detail to the Rotherham story. Excerpt:

When parents reported their daughters missing, it could take 24 hours for the police to turn up, Ms. Jay said. Some parents, if they called in repeatedly, were fined for wasting police time.

Some officers and local officials told the investigation that they did not act for fear of being accused of racism. But Ms. Jay said that for years there was an undeniable culture of institutional sexism. Her investigation heard that police referred to victims as “tarts” and to the girls’ abuse as a “lifestyle choice.”

In the minutes of a meeting about a girl who had been raped by five men, a police detective refused to put her into the sexual abuse category, saying he knew she had been “100 percent consensual.” She was 12. …

As I’ve written here before, when I was writing about the Catholic scandal, you had outraged Catholic partisans on both sides who saw the abuse as vindication for their view of What Is Wrong With The Church. For conservatives, it was entirely about the lavender mafia and sexually permissive theological liberalism. They were partly right. For liberals, it was about celibacy, authoritarianism, and sexually repressive theological conservatism. They were partly right. What few people wanted to face was that their own side failed. Even after five years of writing about this stuff, when I didn’t think I could get any more jaded and mistrustful, I fell for the lies of a manipulative priest who played off of my frustration with liberalism in the Church — until he slipped up. And I can tell you from personal experience that there was and is in the media a fear of writing everything reporters know about the church culture that produced sexual abusers because of a fear of stoking anti-gay prejudice.

Nobody — not me, not you, nobody — is free of the desire to protect those we consider our own, and to protect ourselves from having to face painful truths. A very conservative, morally upright lay Catholic acquaintance of mine observed all kinds of sexual misconduct inside the seminary where he was teaching, and told his dear friend the bishop personally about what was going on. Later, when it all blew up, I asked my acquaintance why the bishop had not acted when he was informed. He had no answer — but he also could not believe that his dear friend the bishop had done wrong. It was an extraordinary moment, watching this man struggle with cognitive dissonance. I remember it like it happened yesterday. The confusion and panic in his eyes. It is hard to imagine how a girl who had been gang-raped could think it was her fault, but if we are conditioned to believe that the world is constituted in a certain way, we will not accept, or not easily accept, anything that contradicts it. We will believe absurd things before we will accept a truth we don’t want to face.

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UNITED STATES
Providence Journal

BY ANNE GRANT
Special to the Journal

“SEXUAL ABUSE, SHONDA AND CONCEALMENT IN ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITIES,” by Michael Lesher. McFarland. 296 pages. $29.99.

In Hebrew Scripture, prophets often resist the divine call. Their prophetic job description is superhuman. They will be scorned and their message fiercely denounced by the very people they must reach. Indeed, prophets take upon themselves the full weight of shame and scandal they protest.

The Yiddish word shonda has this double meaning of a “shameful act” and the “public exposure of scandalous information,” as attorney Michael Lesher sets forth in his book, “Sexual Abuse, Shonda and Concealment in Orthodox Jewish Communities.”

Lesher has met adamant resistance to his work because of the unwelcome exposure it brings to his own people and to those rabbis who want their unquestioned power to dominate even secular government. But he accepts the prophetic mantle and insists “there can be no legitimate role for a rabbinic court in any sex abuse investigation.”

He argues passionately for the powerless, such as an Orthodox infant who died at three months in Israel because his young father took offense at a defect in the baby’s neck muscles. He bit, punched and threw his imperfect son against a wall. The father showed no remorse, rabbis declared him innocent, religious people paid for his defense, and ultra-Orthodox mobs rioted against the “bigotry” of civic authorities that deigned to judge one of their members.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

Ross Douthat

THERE are enough grim tidings from around the world that the news from Rotherham, a faded English industrial town where about 1,400 girls, mostly white and working class, were raped by gangs of Pakistani men while the local authorities basically shrugged and did nothing, is already slipping out of American headlines.

But we should remain with Rotherham for a moment, and give its story a suitable place of dishonor in the waking nightmare that is late summer 2014.

We should do so not just for the sake of the victims, though for their sake attention should be paid: to the girls gang-raped or doused with gasoline; to the girls assaulted in bus stations and alleyways; to the girl, not yet 14, who brought bags of soiled clothes as evidence to the police and earned nothing for her trouble save for a check for 140 pounds — recompense for the garments, which the cops somehow managed to misplace.

But bearing witness is insufficient; lessons must be learned as well. This is more than just a horror story. It’s a case study in how exploitation can flourish in different cultural contexts, and how insufficient any set of pieties can be to its restraint.

Interpreted crudely, what happened in Rotherham looks like an ideological mirror image of Roman Catholicism’s sex abuse scandal. The Catholic crisis seemed to vindicate a progressive critique of traditionalism: Here were the wages of blind faith and sexual repression; here was a case study in how a culture of hierarchy and obedience gave criminals free rein.

The crimes in Rotherham, by contrast, seem scripted to vindicate a reactionary critique of liberal multiculturalism: Here are immigrant gangs exploiting a foolish Western tolerance; here are authorities too committed to “diversity” to react appropriately; here is a liberal society so open-minded that both its brain and conscience have fallen out.

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INDIA
Firstpost

New Delhi: A Delhi court has recommended that the Centre should extradite to the US a fugitive criminal, who was serving as a priest in Minnesota. The accused is wanted in the US to face trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. The court said that prima facie a case was made out for extraditing Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the girl who, according to records, is undergoing treatment for post traumatic stress disorder.

“… I am of the considered opinion that prima facie case is made out for extradition of fugitive criminal Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul to the requesting state to stand trial.

“Hence, I hereby recommend to Union of India the extradition of fugitive criminal Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul to the requesting state i.e. US,” Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ajay Garg said. The Ministry of External Affairs, through special public prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta, had moved the court saying that a request was received from the US in February 2011 seeking extradition of Jeyapaul to stand trial in the case.

Giving details of records received from US Embassy, the ministry told the court that Jeyapaul was serving as a priest in three churches in Minnesota and had allegedly met the girl during a conference. It said that the girl went to the church in 2004 when he allegedly sexually assaulted her and continued to abuse her till August 2005, while referring to the documents received from the USA.

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UNITED STATES
OUP

BY HUGH THOMAS
SEPTEMBER 7TH 2014

A set of related satirical poems, probably written in the early thirteenth century, described an imaginary church council of English priests reacting to the news that they must henceforth be celibate. In this fictional universe the council erupted in outrage as priest after priest stood to denounce the new papal policy. Not surprisingly, the protests of many focused on sex, with one speaker, for instance, indignantly protesting that virile English clerics should be able to sleep with women, not livestock. However, other protests were focused on family. Some speakers appealed to the desire for children, and others noted their attachment to their consorts, such as one who exclaimed: “This is a useless measure, frivolous and vain; he who does not love his companion is not sane!” The poems were created for comical effect, but a little over a century earlier English priests had in fact faced, for the first time, a nationwide, systematic attempt to enforce clerical celibacy. Undoubtedly a major part of the ensuing uproar was about sex, but in reality as in fiction it was also about family.

Rules demanding celibacy first appeared at church councils in the late Roman period but were only sporadically enforced in Western Europe through the early Middle Ages and never had more than a limited impact in what would become the Eastern Orthodox Church. In Anglo-Saxon England moralists sometimes preached against clerical marriage and both king and church occasionally issued prohibitions against it, but to little apparent effect. Indeed, one scribe erased a ban on clerical marriage from a manuscript and wrote instead, “it is right that a cleric (or priest) love a decent woman and bed her.” In the eleventh century, however, a reinvigorated papacy began a sustained drive to enforce clerical celibacy throughout Catholic Europe for clerics of the ranks of priest, deacon, or subdeacon. This effort provoked great controversy, but papal policy prevailed, and over the next couple of centuries increasingly made clerical celibacy the norm.

In England, it was Anselm, the second archbishop of Canterbury appointed after the Norman Conquest, who made the first attempt to systematically impose clerical celibacy in 1102. Anselm’s efforts created a huge challenge to the status quo, for many, perhaps most English priests were married in 1102 and the priesthood was often a hereditary profession. Indeed, Anselm and Pope Paschal II agreed not to attempt in the short term to enforce one part of the program of celibacy, the disbarment of sons of priests from the priesthood, because that would have decimated the ranks of the English clergy. Anselm, moreover, found himself trying to figure out how to allow priests to take care of their former wives, and priests who obediently separated from their wives were apparently sometimes threatened by their angry in-laws. Not surprisingly, Anselm’s efforts were deeply unpopular and faced widespread opposition.

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CALIFORNIA
U-T San Diego

By Peter Rowe
SEPT. 6, 2014

SAN DIEGO — Bishop Cirilo Flores, a spiritual leader for the almost 1 million Catholics living in San Diego and Imperial counties, died on Saturday. He was 66.

The Diocese of San Diego released a statement saying the bishop passed away at 2:47 p.m. at Nazareth House in San Diego.

No details about funeral rites were immediately available.

His cousin Dr. Tom Martinez, Msgr. Steven Callahan and the Sisters of Nazareth were at his bedside, said Rodrigo Valdivia, diocese chancellor.

Flores had been ailing since April 17, four days before Easter, when he suffered a stroke. While under treatment, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles times

By TONY PERRY

Roman Catholic Bishop Cirilo Flores died Saturday after a battle with cancer, the Diocese of San Diego announced.

Flores, 66, died at 2:47 p.m., at the Nazareth House senior living facility in Mission Valley where he had been transferred Friday from a hospital in Los Angeles.

Flores “passed away peacefully,” with his cousin Dr. Tom Martinez, Msgr. Steven Callahan and the Sisters of Nazareth at his bedside, the diocese said.

“Please remember Bishop Flores and his family in your prayers,” the diocese added.

On Wednesday, the diocese had announced Flores was suffering from cancer that was “widespread, very advanced and very aggressive” and that doctors determined he was not a candidate for chemotherapy because of “his very weak condition and the advanced stage of the disease.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 11

By M.L. JOHNSON, The Associated Press
Published: September 6, 2014

MILWAUKEE (AP) – The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is returning to mediation with hundreds of sexual abuse victims, and experts say it wouldn’t be surprising if they reached at least a partial deal that would help resolve the archdiocese’s long and costly bankruptcy case.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, saying it wouldn’t have the money to pay if it lost lawsuits filed by victims of clergy sexual abuse. The two sides tried mediation in 2012 but couldn’t reach an agreement.

In February, the archdiocese proposed a reorganization plan that would set aside a total of $4 million for the roughly 130 people who were abused by priests who worked directly for the archdiocese, but nothing for hundreds of others abused by religious order priests or laypeople.

Victims have vowed to oppose the plan in court. Many of them still hope to tap into a $55 million trust fund created by New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan when he was the Milwaukee archbishop. The trust fund will be the focus of two days of talks scheduled to begin Monday in Minneapolis, with both sides having an incentive to settle before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago issues a decision that could affect cases in other dioceses that also have money in trusts.

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IRELAND
Bock the Robber

Posted by Bock on September 4, 2014

Archbishop Martin Drennan, Archbishop of Galway, has spoken out against a grant by the St Vincent de Paul Society to an LGBT centre in Galway.

Apparently, he objects to the grant on what he calls “moral grounds”.

Now, given Martin Drennan’s history, you might have thought that he’d be keeping his head down, but not a bit of it.

Just to refresh your memory, Martin was one of the auxiliary bishops in Dublin who failed abjectly to deal with clerical sexual abuse and who refused to resign when asked to do so. He clung to his opposition like a limpet, much to the disgust of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and now here he is again, obsessed with people’s nether regions.

What a pity he didn’t show such diligence when priests under his control were abusing children wholesale in the Dublin diocese, instead of worrying about things that don’t affect him.

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INDIA
Hindustan Times

A 59-year-old priest, who has been accused of raping a minor in Minnesota in 2004 and then

A Delhi court has given its recommendation to the Centre to extradite Ooty-based reverend Joseph Jeyapaul so that he can stand trial on charge of “first degree criminal sexual conduct.”

Trial court judge Ajay Garg, who was requested by the ministry of external affairs to look whether Jeyapaul could be extradited to the USA, gave his nod to the extradition process clearing the way for the reverend to stand trial in Minnesota, USA.

According to US authorities, in 2004, Jeyapaul sexually abused a 14-year-old girl where he was a member of his parish The Blessed Sacramont Church in Minnesota. The priest had allegedly met the girl at a youth conference in 2004, and abused her for nearly a year till he left for India on August 28, 2005.

A year later in December 2006, the teenage victim filed a criminal complaint against him accusing him of sexual assault.

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ALASKA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Paul C. O’Connor was ordained a priest of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus in August 1929. He went on to spend the better part of 50 years living and working in Alaska, mostly in remote villages. From 1959-65 he was Oregon and then Seattle- based, traveling the lower 48 states lecturing and fundraising as Procurator for Alaska Missions. He lived in Gonzaga University’s Jesuit community from 1977 until his death in March 1979. O’Connor’s name appeared on the Fairbanks diocese’s list in 2009 of “individuals against whom one person has brought a complaint of sexual abuse.”

Ordained: August 25, 1929
Died: March 8, 1979

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Introduction, read our related articles:

Australia JP2 Army! Anne Lastman the false witness to “the limping Christ towards Calvary”… she camouflages John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/07/australia-jp2-army-anne-lastman-false.html

MORON Cardinal Pell equates Catholic Church to a trucking company not liable for driver’s rape on hitchhiker – to make CC not liable for JP2 Army http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2014/08/moron-cardinal-pell-equates-catholic.html

Annabel Crabb is a female Vatican Pied Piper in Australia

At first glance (from Abuse Tracker) the opening paragraphs of Annabel Crabb’s article in The Age, “By George: Cardinal sins in child protection” seemed like an ironic poke at Cardinal Pell’s famous trucking company likeness to the Catholic Church. She wrote on her first short paragraphs: “Who can say where Cardinal George Pell gets his lines? When he drew his recent analogy between church organisations and trucking companies, it was honestly difficult to spot whether he had got the idea from some parchment-shuffler in Vatican PR, or practiced it himself in front of the mirror that morning with a hairbrush”. (But this was actually a subtle strategy to make idiot-Catholics ‘feel-good’ about the Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team – who prepped Cardinal Pell for his infamous video gig from Rome to the Royal Commission in Australia).

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: McKenzie Gernes

Another priest is facing allegations of sex abuse. Attorney Jeff Anderson says 74-year-old Richard Jeub was a priest for almost 50 years.

The file released Friday shows several women and teens came forward saying he sexually abused them. The allegations go back as far as 1966. Jeub had assignments in Hopkins, Edina, Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Robbinsdale, Fairbault and Roseville.

Jeub was removed from Ministry in 2002. On the Archdiocese’s website he is listed as permanently removed from ministry and retired. His current location is listed as Crosby, Minnesota.

According to Anderson’s investigation, throughout the years he admitted to sexual relationships with parishioners and other women

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has responded by asking for forgiveness. They say its sexual abuse reporting process is a lot different today and that they are accountable for protecting the people in their parishes.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SF Gate

By M.L. JOHNSON, Associated Press
Updated 7:40 am, Saturday, September 6, 2014

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is returning to mediation with hundreds of sexual abuse victims Monday in an effort to bring its long and costly bankruptcy case to a close. Here are a few things to know while talks are going on:
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THIS IS ROUND TWO

A 2012 attempt at mediation failed because too many issues divided the archdiocese and its creditors, most of whom are sexual abuse victims. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, saying it wouldn’t have the money to pay if it lost lawsuits filed by victims of clergy sexual abuse. Now, the matter largely comes down to two key issues: how much money the archdiocese will borrow from a $55 million cemetery trust fund to pay victims and settle its debts and how the money will be divided among victims. The archdiocese has proposed setting aside $4 million to pay about 130 people abused by its priests. Victims say that’s too little and the offer leaves those abused by laypeople and religious order priests who worked in the diocese out in the cold.
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TRUST FUND IS KEY

The key to a deal likely lies with the archdiocese’s willingness to use money from the cemetery trust fund set up by New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan when he was Milwaukee archbishop. The archdiocese says the money in the fund was given and must be used to maintain Catholic cemeteries, but its bankruptcy reorganization plan proposes borrowing $2 million from the trust fund to help cover its legal bills. Victims don’t see why the archdiocese can’t borrow more to better compensate them. That means resolution may lie in the hands of Archbishop Jerome Listecki, who leads the archdiocese and serves as the trust fund’s sole trustee. Listecki told reporters Wednesday that he is balance what’s best for the archdiocese with his responsibilities to the trust, but didn’t elaborate on what that means in terms of additional borrowing.

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.

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Last year, as I tried to drum up discussion about what seems to me a serious shortcoming of the way National Catholic Reporter moderates comments at its discussion threads, I pointed out that the heavy reliance of NCR on a flagging system to weed out undesirable comments positively invites abuse, and lends itself to a lack of transparency. As I noted, individuals working in tandem with each other to make some people personae non gratae in NCR discussion threads clearly do gang up on those they choose to target and use the flagging system to draw negative attention on the part of NCR‘s moderators to these commenters.

And they do this under the guise of anonymity, both because their own usernames are quite frequently anonymous ones, and, more to the point, because the flagging system is set up to allow them to flag comments in a completely non-public way. That fact in itself invites abuse, and then when one adds to it the fact that the moderators make decisions about how to deal with flagged comments in a hidden way — apparently choosing to pay attention to flags in some cases, while completely ignoring them in other cases — one can only conclude that the system by which comments, or even commenters, are weeded out of NCR conversation threads is non-transparent. And ripe for abuse.

It’s ripe for abuse of particular people whom various other commenters may choose to target and drive from the discussion threads, because they dislike those individuals or their opinions, etc. Because that potential for abuse has concerned me for some time now, my comments about the recent censorship of Jerry Slevin by NCR have focused on the question of transparency and accountability in how NCR moderates its threads, and how it chooses to ban certain people from commenting at its site.

These issues should concern anyone promoting healthy, open, wide-ranging discussion of significant issues at Catholic blog sites, it seems to me. NCR has not chosen to engage in any kind of open discussion of how its moderators use the flagging system to moderate comments, and not even the persistent discussion of Jerry Slevin’s banning at NCR has provoked that kind of transparency on the part of the NCR managing staff about how its censorship system works.

Even so, that persistent discussion is now producing some interesting case studies in the problem. Take the thread following the editorial about Archbishop Nienstedt on which I concentrated yesterday. As that thread has continued and as it has tossed around the issue of Jerry Slevin’s banning, some commentators have stated overtly in the thread that they do, in fact, use the flagging system to drive people out of the discussion — off the NCR discussion threads altogether and into “billgrimspage oblivion,” as the anonymous user employing the Hindi name for Brahmin, ब्राह्मण, tells John David yesterday.

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.

CALIFORNIA
ABC 30

[with video]

By Sontaya Rose
Friday, September 05, 2014

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Fresno police have arrested a man they believe committed a sex crime at a popular church. It happened a few years ago, but investigators say the victim just came forward recently.

Casey Ogden, 26, is locked up for a crime police say happened at Peoples Church. Detectives say that on at least one occasion he had inappropriate sexual relations with a teenage girl.

Fresno police say Ogden was a technical director at Peoples Church in 2011 when he befriended a 15-year-old volunteer.

“During the relationship, Ogden molested the young girl at the church on the grounds, and they remained friends for several years after their relationship began,” said Pat Farmer with the Fresno Police Department.

Police say Ogden worked part time at the church from 2009 until 2012. It’s unclear why he left the job, but the criminal allegations were just brought up a few weeks ago when detectives say the victim told her parents.

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.

CALIFORNIA
The Fresno Bee

BY CARMEN GEORGE
The Fresno Bee
September 5, 2014

A former employee of Peoples Church of Fresno was jailed Wednesday night for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who volunteered for the church.

Casey Ogden allegedly molested the girl in 2011 on church property, Fresno Police Deputy Chief Pat Farmer said Friday.

Ogden, who was 24 at the time of the alleged assault, was arrested on suspicion of having sex with a minor under the age of 16, Farmer said. Ogden remained in Fresno County Jail on Friday evening, with bail set at $50,000. Ogden didn’t have a prior criminal history, Farmer said.

Church leaders said Ogden worked as a part-time technical director from August 2009 to May 2012 and was never part of the pastoral staff.

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.

BOSNA
Vecernjilist

Hrvatski svećenik u Australiji Mato Križanac (60) osumnjičen je za seksualno zlostavljanje koje se navodno zataškavalo od osamdesetih, a nedavno je i razriješen službe. Rezultat je to jednogodišnje istrage nezavisnog crkvenog istražitelja Petera O’Callaghana i australske nadbiskupije Adelaide, gdje je zlostavljanje navodno počinjeno.

Zataškavali zlostavljanje

Klupko se počelo odmotavati kada su počela saslušanja žrtava seksualnih prijestupa koja su desetljećima zataškavana u Katoličkoj crkvi, a za hrvatskog duhovnika koji više od 30 godina bodri Hrvate u Australiji žrtvinu je šutnju, navodno, financijskom nagodbom kupila Katolička crkva. Tako je, prema pisanju australskih medija, žrtva nedoličnog seksualnog ponašanja za koje je svećenik osumnjičen odbila surađivati s policijom. Optužbe su iznesene i pred južnoaustralskom policijom u svibnju prošle godine, mjesec dana prije nego što je otac Križanac poslan na “službeni dopust”. Melbournski nadbiskup Denis Hart tada je ocu Križancu rekao da ga razrješava svih svećeničkih dužnosti, a njegovim je župljanima to ponovio na nedjeljnoj misi. O svemu je izvijestio i kardinala Vinka Puljića.

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
Sydney Morning Herald

September 7, 2014

Cameron Houston and Chris Vedelago

A Catholic priest expelled from the Melbourne diocese for sexual abuse has been allowed to resume his duties in an overseas parish despite an explicit warning from Archbishop Denis Hart to the church hierarchy in Bosnia.

The decision to assign Father Mato Krizanac to a parish in Bosnia raises further questions about the church’s resolve to clamp down on clerical sex offenders and dismantle its entrenched culture of protecting abusers.

Father Krizanac, who spent more than a decade at the Croatian Catholic Church in Clifton Hill, was permanently stripped of all clerical duties in June by Archbishop Hart following a 12-month investigation into claims he abused an Adelaide girl in the mid-1980s.

But The Sunday Age can reveal that Father Krizanac immediately returned to a clerical role in Bosnia with the apparent permission of the Archbishop of Sarajevo, who ignored the damning findings of the church’s independent commissioner in Melbourne, Peter O’Callaghan, QC.

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.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Donald Snyder | Sep. 6, 2014

Catholics in Poland are watching with interest the case of the Polish archbishop who has been laicized for sexually abusing minors while he served as papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic.

Most believe that Jozef Wesolowski, 66, a veteran Vatican diplomat who served as nuncio to the Dominican Republic from 2008 until he was recalled in August 2013, will be tried in a Vatican court.

The Vatican announced June 27 that a canonical court had investigated Wesolowski on charges of sex abuse and concluded by dismissing him from the “clerical state,” depriving him of all rights and duties associated with being a priest except the obligation of celibacy. Wesolowski would face a criminal trial under the laws of Vatican City State, the Vatican said at the time.

But the Vatican’s spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, opened the possibility that Wesolowski could be extradited when he released a statement Aug. 25 that said when Wesolowski’s diplomatic activity ceased, so did his immunity.

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.

PUERTO RICO
Primera Hora

[Summary: Superior Court Judge Angel Pagan Ocasio on Friday gave the Arecibo diocese five days to deliver to the court in sealed enveloped the information required by the justice department as part of the agency’s investigation of allegations of child sexual abuse said to be committed by several priests. Priest expelled from 2011 to present are Tomas Pagan, Andres Davila, Edwin Mercado Viera, Pedro Hernandez, Efrain Montesinos and Jose Colon Otero.]

Los sacerdotes expulsados desde el 2011 al presente son Tomás Pagán, Andrés Dávila, Edwin Mercado Viera, Pedro Hernández, Efraín Montesinos y José Colón Otero.

El juez superior Ángel Pagán Ocasio concedió hoy, viernes, un plazo de cinco días a la Diócesis de la Iglesia Católica en Arecibo para que entregue al tribunal en sobres sellados la información requerida por el Departamento de Justicia, como parte de la investigación que esa agencia interesa llevar a cabo en torno a denuncias de abuso sexual contra menores atribuido a varios sacerdotes.

Pagán Ocasio emitió la solicitud amparado en una sentencia del Tribunal Supremo que condiciona la entrega de documentos de la Diócesis de Arecibo en este caso. El juez superior establece en su orden que debe entregarse la información en sobres sellados, marcados como confidencial, para examinarlos personalmente.

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.

HAITI
Haitian-Caribbean News Network

September 6, 2014

By Joseph Guyler C. Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (HCNN) — Haitian police, under the authority of the capital’s top prosecutor, arrested and detained on Friday a US citizen accused of abusing children, housed in an orphanage he founded years ago, in the Caribbean country, officials say.

Michael Karl Geilenfeld, 62, was handcuffed at the Saint-Joseph orphanage in the Delmas district and taken to police custody on Friday behind a police pickup truck along with one of his aides, Lamarre Williams, who had been working for Geilenfeld for about six years, now.

The Port-au-Prince’s top prosecutor, Kerson Charles Darius, said Geilenfeld, who had been the object of numerous complaints for child abuses and other criminal activities, will be interrogated and prosecuted on crimes on minors and criminal conspiracy charges.

“Several people have filed complaints about Mr. Geilenfeld and about what is going on in this place,” Darius told the Haitian-Caribbean News Network (HCNN) on Friday as he left the orphanage where Geilenfeld was arrested.

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.

TEXAS
San Antonio Express-News

BY GUILLERMO CONTRERAS : SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

SAN ANTONIO — Jacob Robert Holguin led two lives. In one, he was a doting father and family man who involved himself in his church.

But in front of a computer screen he was “friend of grimm,” who would seek out child pornography — enjoying watching bestiality and kids having awful things done to them.

Those two pictures emerged Friday as Holguin, 42, a former butcher at the Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph commissary, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for distributing child pornography.

He apologized for his actions. Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery gave him the maximum for the distribution charge and an additional 10 years for possessing child pornography, but ran that portion concurrent with the 20 years.

The judge also ordered Holguin to serve a lifetime of federal supervision when he gets out of prison.

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
Reuters

(Reuters) – An HIV-positive Cleveland priest on Friday pleaded guilty to attempting to solicit sex from a ranger in a city park, according to court and police records.

James McGonegal, 69, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of soliciting after a positive HIV test and misdemeanors charges of public indecency and abusing harmful intoxicants in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, online court records showed.

Judge Stuart Friedman ordered McGonegal to participate in an early intervention program and to perform 50 hours of community service. The judge also banned McGonegal from Cleveland Metroparks property, court records said.

On Oct. 11, 2013, McGonegal solicited sex from a plain-clothed ranger in Edgewater Park, according to the police report. The ranger said McGonegal started to masturbate before he was arrested, the report said.

A bottle filled with nail polish remover, which McGonegal said he sniffed to get high, was found in his vehicle, according to the report.

McGonegal also told investigators that he was HIV-positive, leading to the felony charge, the report said.

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
Columbus Dispatch

CLEVELAND (AP) — An HIV-positive priest has pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a Cleveland-area park ranger.

The Rev. James McGonegal, 69, was arrested nearly a year ago after he solicited a park ranger near downtown Cleveland. He was charged with felony soliciting because he had previously tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In a plea agreement entered yesterday, McGonegal pleaded guilty to the felony count of solicitation and to misdemeanor counts of abusing harmful intoxicants and public indecency. Under the agreement, he will enter a yearlong early-intervention program. If he completes the program, he will not be convicted.

McGonegal also is required to serve 50 hours of community service and stay out of all Cleveland Metroparks.

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.

HAITI
ABC News

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Sep 5, 2014
By DANICA COTO Associated Press

A U.S. man who founded a boys’ orphanage in Haiti nearly two decades ago was arrested Friday following abuse allegations, authorities said.

Michael Karl Geilenfeld, 62, was detained at the orphanage on suspicion of charges of indecent assault and criminal conspiracy, Port-au-Prince General Prosecutor Charles Kerson told The Associated Press.

Geilenfeld was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police pickup truck and taken to a police station in the Petionville district of Port-au-Prince. He declined comment to an AP journalist before he was taken away, as did a manager of the orphanage who rode with Geilenfeld to the station.

Kerson said Geilenfeld did not resist arrest or say anything to police as they entered the St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in the Delmas neighborhood on Friday afternoon.

“Many people have brought complaints about this place,” Kerson said, adding that police will interrogate him. …

In June 2011, the board of directors of St. Joseph’s Home sent out a letter denying allegations of sex abuse publicized by Paul Kendrick, a co-founder of the Maine chapter of the Catholic lay reform group Voice of the Faithful who is an advocate for child abuse victims.

In February 2013, Geilenfeld and Hearts with Haiti, a North Carolina-based organization that raises money for the St. Joseph’s Home, filed a defamation suit in federal court in Maine against Kendrick, alleging that the activist “has published false and heinous allegations of plaintiffs’ involvement in child abuse” and “bullied” donors into withdrawing support for the organization.

The suit is scheduled to go to trial later this year.

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
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Sep 5, 2014

Leaders of the Twin Cities archdiocese kept a priest in ministry despite sexual contact with women under his pastoral care and didn’t report allegations of child sex abuse to police, according to documents released today in a clergy abuse lawsuit.

More than 1,000 pages from internal files show how church leaders protected the Rev. Richard Jeub for decades. The documents detail allegations that Jeub sexually abused two teenage girls and sexually exploited vulnerable women under his care. Jeub, 74, retired in 2002 – twenty years after the archdiocese received the first complaint against him. He moved to the Duluth area, where he failed to persuade the Catholic diocese to allow him to assist in parishes. No records exist of any reports to police. It’s illegal in Minnesota for a priest to have sexual contact with someone under his pastoral or counseling care.

In a 1989 memo, the Rev. Kevin McDonough, who would later serve as vicar general, told Archbishop John Roach that one of Jeub’s accusers “is being advised to file criminal and/or civil action against Father Jeub.”

McDonough wrote, “As you know, sexual exploitation by a therapist, including a clergy person in a therapeutic role, is a felony in Minnesota … There is no reporting requirement around this statute (unlike in the case of sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults) and, therefore, we are under no obligation to file a criminal complaint against Jeub.”

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
Northlands News Center

St. Paul, MN (NNCNOW.com) — Catholic diocese records have been released of a predator priest who has worked in the Northland.

Documents released indicate Father Richard Jeub had a history of sexual relations with underage girls and adult women.

One incident, he denied, involved a young girl.

A separate civil trial determined he did not engage in abusive behavior with another young woman.
Upon evaluation and treatment, a psychiatrist determined that Jeub had sexual relationships with a nun he was counseling, a blind woman he was caring for and a wife of a patient in a hospital in which he was chaplain.

He resigned from parish ministry in June 2002.

Jeub continued to exercise ministry as a lector and communion minister at a Duluth Diocese parish in Deerwood, Minnesota until at least 2009.

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 Times

Pamela Duncan

Sat, Sep 6, 2014

Religious congregations have paid less than a quarter of the €352.6 million which they had agreed to contribute to redress for victims of institutional abuse, internal documents in the Department of Education reveal.

The documents, published yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act, give an overview of the payments made by 18 congregations to date.

Following the publication of the Ryan report (the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse) in May 2009 the congregations agreed to pay €352.61 million in addition to €128 million committed to under a 2002 indemnity agreement. The €352.61 million comprised €108.6 million in cash, €238 million in property and €6 million in payments for counselling, the latter of which has been fulfilled.

The briefing documents, prepared for Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan who took up her post in July, reveal that €71.6 million in cash has now been received.

Of the €238 million in property offers, €0.2 million worth has been transferred to date while some property offers were not accepted by the Government. The congregations were asked to sell some properties and provide cash, some €4.2 million of which has been received to date.

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.

ILLINOIS
Voices

By Reema Amin | Get In Touch: @ramin215 | ramin@suntimes.com

A woman who claims she was sexually abused almost 60 times before being impregnated by a Chicago pastor is suing him, another clergy member and two churches.

The 26-year-old woman filed the suit Friday against a senior pastor for both Pentecostal Tabernacle Bible and Mission of Christ Evangelical Lutheran churches, which are both listed at 1345 N. Karlov in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

The woman, described as an active member of the churches, alleges the pastor had sexual contact with her 50 to 60 times when she was 17 until she turned 18–from November 2005 through March 2006, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court.

The pastor would take the woman to Cindy Lyn Motel in Cicero, “often driving [there] in the church van,” the suit claims. He would also take other women and minors to that location, the suit said.

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: ERIN ADLER and JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune staff writers Updated: September 5, 2014

Francis Hoefgen, 64, is accused of abusing an altar boy multiple times at a Hastings parish.

A priest accused of repeatedly raping a Hastings altar boy in the late 1980s and early ’90s pleaded not guilty in a Dakota County courtroom Friday.

Francis Hoefgen, 64, who has left the priesthood and now lives in Columbia Heights, wore street clothes and appeared subdued during the court appearance. He waived his right to a speedy trial.

Dakota County District Court Judge Thomas Pugh set a trial date of May 18 and granted Hoefgen permission to take an out-of-state trip at the end of the month.

Hoefgen was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. According to the criminal complaint, Hoefgen abused the 10-year-old boy repeatedly at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Hastings between 1989 and 1992.

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.

OREGON
Hemiston Herald

A male in his mid-30s filed a lawsuit Thursday in Federal District Court alleging sexual abuse by a Capuchin priest who was, at the time, based in Hermiston, according to a press release from his attorneys, Anthony M De Marco and Kristian Roggendorf of Roggendorf LLC.

According to the press release, the victim was abused by Capuchin Franciscan priest Fr. Luis Jaramillo, who was born and ordained in Colombia, South America. The press release states the abuse took place from 1988 to 1989 at Our Lady of Angels Parish in Hermiston, in the Diocese of Baker. At the time, the male was between the ages of 9 and 10.

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
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Sep. 5, 2014 NCR Today

An editing error led some readers of our editorial, Nienstedt should disclose findings of abuse investigation, to understand that the investigation into allegations of misconduct against Archbishop John Nienstedt by Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche is complete. This is not correct, and the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese has asked us to clarify that. Following is full text of a statement sent to us today from the archdiocese:

STATEMENT REGARDING INTERNAL INVESTIGATION
From Bishop Lee Piche, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

“Several months ago, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis received claims regarding alleged misbehavior involving Archbishop John Nienstedt. The claims did not involve anything criminal or with minors.

The Archbishop asked me to look into these claims, and the investigation is ongoing. We are still following up with individuals and information, which takes time depending on the availability of individuals and accessibility of information they may have. Any media report that the investigation is complete is inaccurate.

My interest is a thorough investigation with a focus on accuracy. To rush any part of this process would be a disservice to all involved.”

As the editorial says, in paragraph seven, “The archdiocese announced July 29 that the law firm doing the investigation, Greene Espel, had concluded its work. Piché said in a statement at that time the report ‘does not comprise’ the entire investigation.” As we note later in the editorial, this does raise a myriad of questions, especially, who will get to see the full report once it is done? That question still stands.

The main point of our editorial also still stands: Archbishop Nienstedt, disclose the findings of the investigation now.

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.

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

National Catholic Reporter’s Call for Archbishop Nienstedt to Be Transparent and Accountable: Sauce for Nienstedt’s Goose Also Sauce for NCR’s Gander, in Censoring Jerry Slevin?

As Jerry Slevin pointed out in a posting at his Christian Catholicism site yesterday, in various threads, readers of National Catholic Reporter articles continue to discuss his recent banning by NCR. As I noted in a posting a number of days ago, recently, when Jerry tried logging onto the NCR site to leave comments, he began receiving a message informing him that he had been banned from commenting at the site. Jerry also reported that he had contacted NCR managerial staff to ask why this had been done to him, but had received no explanation.

Dennis Coday, NCR’s editor, did eventually respond to Jerry about his banning, and Jerry published Coday’s email to him several days ago. Discussion of Jerry Slevin’s censorship by NCR has continued at the NCR site (and elsewhere) since that time, and as Jerry notes in a comment here today, a thread has developed just today in response to NCR’s editorial calling on Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul-Minneapolis to be transparent and accountable, and to release the report the archdiocese had commissioned to investigate allegations that Nienstedt had had sexual relationships with adult men.

The editorial states,

The health of any organization, especially one holding itself to the high standards of a religious community that regularly presents itself as a public arbiter of personal morality, is dependent on mutual respect and trust. Those characteristics, in turn, are dependent on transparency and accountability, particularly on the part of bishops, who hold almost unlimited authority over the Catholic community.

And so, understandably, some folks responding to this NCR editorial today are asking about NCR’s own commitment to the standard of transparency and accountability as it censors people contributing comments to its website — e.g., people like Jerry Slevin. For instance, Rob Christopher writes,

I agree that report should be made public. This is a position we have consistently defended here. I also agree that people who argue for full disclosure should practice full disclosure, and not conceal information when it seems convenient to do so. I encourage the editors to disclose their reasons why some people have been barred from this site, while others — some of whom do their best to offend those with whom they disagree — are allowed to continue. To demand disclosure from everyone but oneself would be transparent hypocrisy.

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
Jeff Anderson & Associates

JEFFREY R. ANDERSON

Sexual Assault Prevention Programming. For the first time, Minnesota has approved state funding for Sexual Assault prevention programming. As part of the Public Safety budget, $300,000 will be allotted to address risks, policies and practices with the goal of reducing the likelihood of sexual abuse.

Felony enhancement for repeat sexual offenders. Effective August 2014, this new law expands the probation period for 5th Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct convictions and enhances the sentence from a gross misdemeanor to a felony when the perpetrator has had a prior criminal sexual conduct conviction.

Data Sharing About School Personnel Requirement modifications. When an employee of a public or charter school commits an act of sexual misconduct with a student and resigns mid-investigation, the school district must release the perpetrator’s private personnel data to other school districts in if the employee applies for a job. The data released will not include any identifying information about the student ensuring the survivor’s identity and privacy is honored.

Safe Harbor Law Improvements. The Safe Harbor Law, enacted in 2011, has been reviewed this legislative session resulting in more funding to services for sexually exploited youth. As part of the legislation, eight regional navigators will be available to connect youth survivors with trauma-related resources across the state.

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.

CANADA
Northern Life

By: Heidi Ulrichsen – Sudbury Northern Life | Sep 05, 2014

‘Happy Hands’ Hod Marshall dead at 92

One of the Sudbury victims of a former Roman Catholic priest and St. Charles College staff member found guilty of sexual abuse said learning of his death earlier this summer at the age of 92 has brought a bit of closure.

The Windsor Star reported last month William Hodgson (Hod) Marshall died in Toronto on July 28.

But the victim, who cannot be identified due to a court-imposed publication ban, said his anger lingers despite his abuser’s death.

Marshall worked at St. Charles College for a total of 14 years in the 1960s and 1970s, part of the time as the school’s principal. He was given the nickname “Happy Hands” in the 1950s for his tendency to touch students.

He was convicted in Windsor in 2011 to 16 counts of indecent assault of minors and one count of sexual assault for incidents that occurred between 1952 and 1986 in Sudbury, Windsor and Toronto.

Marshall served a total of 16 months behind bars before being released in October 2012 on probation. After his release, he lived at Cardinal Flahiff Basilian Centre in Toronto, a home for retired and infirm priests.

On top of the criminal convictions, Marshall’s victims launched civil lawsuits against the priest in 2012.

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
KSTP

By: Megan Stewart

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is responding to a pointed editorial published by a well-known Catholic news organization Friday.

The editorial staff at the National Catholic Reporter says Archbishop John Nienstedt should release the findings of an investigation into allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct, including claims that he made unwanted sexual advances toward a former Twin Cities priest, according to a report posted online in June by Commonweal Magazine.

Nienstedt has repeatedly denied the allegations and he initiated an independent investigation into the allegations.

Editors at National say the law firm Greene Espel finished looking into the claims on July 29 and say delaying the disclosure of information “point(s) to patterns of cover-ups.”

“We have completed our work for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. We have provided a written report as requested by the archdiocese,” Matthew Forsgren at Greene Espel told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Friday.

“Any questions regarding the investigation and report should be directed to the archdiocese.” …

However, Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche, who is in charge of the investigation for the archdiocese, says they cannot release the findings of the probe in question because it has not been completed.

Piche released the following statement in response to the editorial:

“Several months ago, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis received claims regarding alleged misbehavior involving Archbishop John Nienstedt. The claims did not involve anything criminal or with minors.

The Archbishop asked me to look into these claims, and the investigation is ongoing. We are still following up with individuals and information, which takes time depending on the availability of individuals and accessibility of information they may have. Any media report that the investigation is complete is inaccurate.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Friday, September 5, 2014

Source: Anne Steffens, Interim Director of Communications

From Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Documents from the priest file of Richard Jeub given to the court earlier this year were released today by Jeff Anderson and Associates. This release is in the interest of public disclosure and accountability.

Four victim/survivors separately reported that Richard Jeub, while assigned at Our Lady of Grace in Edina in the late 1960s and St. Mark in the 1970s, sexually abused them when they were minors, about 20 years prior to their report. Lawsuits were filed against the archdiocese for Jeub’s reported abuse. In 2002, following media reports about Jeub’s sexual exploitation of adults and abuse of minors, the archdiocese removed Jeub from public ministry.

Today, when we receive an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, we immediately report it to law enforcement, regardless of when the abuse happened. We are accountable to victims/survivors, parents and guardians, Church employees and volunteers, clergy and our entire faith community for our efforts to protect children and vulnerable adults. Where we have failed to protect, we acknowledge the pain of those who have been harmed and ask for their forgiveness.

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KANSAS
The Wichita Eagle

[Ex-area priest accused of sexual abuse]

[In 5 suicides, families blame Father Larson]

BY STAN FINGER
THE WICHITA EAGLE
09/05/2014

Robert Larson, the Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing altar boys while serving in the Wichita diocese, has died.

Diocesan officials on Thursday said Larson died Aug. 27 at the age of 84. He was buried in his home state of Michigan.

“We pray for all victims of sexual abuse and for their families,” the Most Rev. Carl Kemme, bishop of the Wichita diocese, said in a statement following Larson’s death. “We continue to learn from them and we recommit ourselves to vigilance in protecting children and young people from the tragedy of sexual abuse.”

Larson pleaded guilty in 2001 in Harvey County District Court to abusing three altar boys and a 19-year-old man while he was pastor at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Newton in the mid-1980s. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, September 05, 2014

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

A Hastings-area priest has entered a not guilty plea in a child sexual abuse case. We hope as this case heads to trial any other victims who might be suffering in silence and self-blame will find the courage to speak up.

Fr. Francis Hoefgen is charged with sexually abusing an altar boy while at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish. Were it not for Fr. Hoefgen’s brave victims, the public may have never learned the extent of the cleric’s crimes. In fact, he would probably still be working with vulnerable children.

We urge anyone who saw, suspects, or suffered child sex crimes to speak up, report to law enforcement, and start healing. Archbishop John Nienstedt should also use his vast resources to encourage victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward and report to secular officials.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, September 05, 2014

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

An Ohio priest has pleaded guilty to soliciting sex and will be allowed to enter an early intervention program. We are disappointed by this outcome.

As part of Fr. James McGonegal’s plea deal once he has completed his early intervention program the case against him will be dismissed and wiped from his record. We believe this a dangerous move, because it will prevent parents, employers and guardians from having vital information about whom they let their children around.

It is not too late for any victims, witnesses or whistleblowers to come forward and report what they know about Fr. McGonegal.

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KANSAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 5, 2014

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

A notorious Wichita serial predator priest, Fr. Robert K. Larson passed away on Aug. 27. Catholic officials kept this secret, however, until yesterday.

We’re sad that Wichita’s bishop hid Larson’s passing until it was convenient for him to release it. We hope Larson’s death will provide some comfort to the hundreds who were hurt by his crimes against at least 17 children.

Crimes by Larson and cover ups by his Catholic supervisors attracted national attention in 2002. We are grateful and will always be grateful to the courageous victims who helped expose, prosecute and convict Larson. Our hearts ache for them and their families, especially the Pattersons, who worked tirelessly to protect other children and comfort other victims from coast to coast.

Wichita’s bishop should personally visit every parish where Larson worked and beg his flock to help him find and console every single child who was assaulted by this admitted criminal. We are sure the bishop will issue a statement expressing “sadness.” But that’s a public relations move, not a pastoral one. A truly compassionate shepherd would aggressively reach out to those in pain using every means possible, not just a terse, conveniently timed press release.

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OREGON
Catholic Sentinel

The Capuchin Franciscans, the Diocese of Baker and Our Lady of Angels Church in Hermiston are being sued for $8.1 million by a man who says a friar abused him 26 years ago.

The federal suit, which withholds the identity of the accuser, names Capuchin Father Luis Jaramillo for abuse allegedly committed in 1988 and 1989. The accuser says Father Jaramillo prepared him as an altar boy and abused him on parish grounds.

The suit says Father Jaramillo was transferred to Hermiston after committing abuse in California and that the priest admitted to the Hermiston incidents. The suit says Capuchin leaders dissuaded the boy’s mother from contacting local police.

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OHIO
WKYC

CLEVELAND — A westside Cleveland priest entered a plea of guilty to soliciting sex from a Cleveland Metroparks ranger.

Fr. James McGonegal, 68, was charged with soliciting sex, a felony charge, and two misdemeanor charges — abusing harmful intoxicants and public indecency.

According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, the judge accepted his plea but did not enter a finding of guilty.

Prosecutors say McGonegal will be admitted to an early intervention program. Upon successful completion, the charge will be dropped and the case expunged.

McGonegal, a priest at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church on Lorain Avenue, offered $50 to a park ranger to touch him and exposed himself at Edgewater Park earlier in October.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 09/05/2014

A Dakota County judge entered a not guilty plea for a former Hastings priest charged with repeatedly raping and molesting an altar boy from about 1989 to 1991.

The Rev. Francis Hoefgen of Columbia Heights appeared with his attorney in court Friday and waived his right to a speedy trial.

The trial is scheduled to begin May 18 in Dakota County court, with Judge Thomas Pugh presiding.

An adult man went to the Hastings Police Department in November 2013 and said he had been sexually abused by Hoefgen when the priest served at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish and the now-aduilt man had served as an altar boy. When the alleged abuse began, the boy was 9 or 10, he told police.

Hoefgen touched his genitals and penetrated him orally and anally, according to a criminal complaint in the case.

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OHIO
The Plain Dealer

By James F. McCarty, The Plain Dealer
on September 05, 2014

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A West Side priest pleaded guilty this morning to soliciting sex from an undercover ranger at Edgewater Park last October while failing to divulge he was carrying the AIDS virus.

Under provisions of a plea bargain reached with prosecutors, the Rev. James McGonegal, 69, the former pastor of St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, will enter an early intervention program.

The agreement allows McGonegal to avoid a felony conviction if he successfully completes the program. At that point, the case would be dismissed and his record expunged.

“We’re glad that we have a resolution to this matter,” said defense attorney Henry Hilow. “Father has lived an exemplary life, with the exception of this incident, and we’re glad that this chapter of his life is concluded.”

McGonegal declined to comment.

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UNITED NATIONAL
UN News Centre

4 September 2014 – Violence against children is universal – so prevalent and deeply ingrained in societies it is often unseen and accepted as the norm – according to new, unprecedented data presented by the United Nations today.

A new UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report, Hidden in plain sight: A statistical analysis of violence against children, draws on data from 190 countries in order to shed light on a largely undocumented issue.

The report found that about two thirds of children worldwide between ages 2 and 14 (almost 1 billion) are subjected to physical punishment by their caregivers on a regular basis. And yet, only about one third of adults worldwide believe that physical punishment of some kind is necessary to properly raise or educate a child.

Susan Bissell, the Chief of Child Protection at UNICEF said in interview that the data essentials show that “if there is one common aspect of human society right now, it is the fact that tremendous violence is committed against children.”

“It is important that we don’t simply go away with the message that violence is everywhere, we live in a horrific world; but in fact to say, there are tried, true, measured, evaluated solutions,” she said.

While the data focuses on physical, emotional and sexual violence in settings children should feel safe; their communities, schools and homes, there is a fundamental limitation to document violence against children.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

When reading UNICEF’s recently released report on violence against children I was struck by the very first line; “Violence against children is universal – so prevalent and deeply ingrained in societies it is often unseen and accepted as the norm.”

While I see this horrible truth at play on a daily basis, through the news and individual reports on clergy sexual abuse, it is still shocking that in this day and age our children are threatened by so much violence. I hope this report is a wakeup call to not just those in a position of authority, but also parents, guardians, teachers, coaches, and everyone who works with children.

The report also highlights six strategies to changing this violent trend towards kids. Two of the strategies that really resonate with SNAP’s mission are educating children about their rights and strengthening judicial, criminal and social systems.

Teach your children about safe touch and their rights and call your legislators and urge them to make changes to archaic statutes of limitations involving child sex crimes. Let’s work together to end the violence against our children!

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. .Bad news for Archbishop Robert Carlson from his hometown in Minneapolis. A judge had ruled that the first-ever lawsuit charging Catholic officials with causing a “public nuisance” will go to trial. The case will likely reveal more about Carlson’s role in hiding child sex crimes of Minnesota’s most prolific predator priest, the now defrocked Fr. Thomas Adamson. .

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Owen Bowcott, legal affairs correspondent
theguardian.com, Friday 5 September 2014

The lord mayor of the City of London, Fiona Woolf, has been named as the chair of the independent inquiry commissioned by the government into historical child sex abuse.

Woolf, a corporate lawyer, will replace Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who stepped down days after being appointed in July after questions were raised over potential conflicts of interest because her brother, Lord Havers, was attorney general at the time of some of the events to be investigated.

Professor Alexis Jay, author of the recent report into child sex abuse in Rotherham, is to act as an expert adviser to the panel, the Home Office said.

The inquiry will consider whether, and to what extent, public bodies and other institutions fulfilled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. Its purpose, according to the Home Office, is to address public concern over successive child abuse scandals.

The inquiry still has to finalise membership of its panel and agree its terms of reference.

Woolf will be assisted by Graham Wilmer, a child sexual abuse victim and founder of the Lantern Project, and Barbara Hearn, the former deputy chief executive of the National Children’s Bureau. Ben Emmerson QC will serve as counsel to the inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

05 SEPTEMBER 2014

The lord mayor of the City of London, Fiona Woolf, has been named as the chair of the independent inquiry commissioned by the Government into historic child sex abuse.

Ms Woolf, a leading tax lawyer, takes the place of Baroness Butler-Sloss, who stepped down days after being appointed to chair the inquiry in July, after questions were raised over potential conflicts of interest as her brother Lord Havers was attorney general at the time of some of the events to be investigated.

Professor Alexis Jay, author of the recent report into abuse in Rotherham, will act as an expert adviser to the panel, said the Home Office.

The inquiry, announced by Home Secretary Theresa May on July 7, will examine how the country’s institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse over a period of decades.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Westminster child abuse scandal: Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf replaces Baroness Butler-Sloss as inquiry head

The first female Lord Mayor of the City of London will replace Baroness Butler-Sloss as the head of an inquiry into historic child sex abuse in Westminster.

Fiona Woolf has been named as the new head of the probe, which was announced in July to examine allegations that institutions including the Government and civil service covered up or failed to investigate abuse.

The 66-year-old is a renowned solicitor and the former president of the Law Society.

She said: “Ensuring lessons are learned from the mistakes which have been made in the past and resulted in children being subjected to the most horrific crimes is a vital and solemn undertaking.

“I was honoured to be approached to lead such an important inquiry, and look forward to working with the panel to ensure these mistakes are identified and never repeated.”

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 5, 2014

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

A Twin Cities attorney has released long-secret Catholic Church records about a predator priest who worked in the Duluth area. He is Fr. Richard Jeub.

We’re sad that information about Duluth predator priests is still being kept secret by Duluth Catholic officials. It’s a shame that a victims’ lawyer must disclose information about child molesting clerics that should be released by Duluth’s bishop.

A copy of Fr. Jeub’s assignment history is available at BishopAccountability.org

We urge anyone who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Jeub – or other clerics – to get help, seek justice and start healing. No one benefits when victims stay silent.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Herald (UK)

By CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE on Friday, 5 September 2014

The diocese of Baton Rouge has asked the US Supreme Court to reverse a Louisiana Supreme Court decision that a priest may be compelled to testify as to what he heard in the confessional in 2008 concerning an abuse case.

The legal step is the latest in a case involving Father Jeffrey Bayhi, pastor of St John the Baptist Church in Zachary, Louisiana, and the sanctity of the seal of confession.

The petition to the US Supreme Court comes after a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling in May outlining arguments that priests are subject to mandatory reporting laws regarding abuse of minors if the person who made the confession waives confidentiality. The state Supreme Court opened the door for a hearing in which the priest would testify about what he heard in the confessional.

Under canon law, the seal of confession is sacred under the penalty of excommunication.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

(St. Paul, MN) – As part of an ongoing civil lawsuit, the once-secret priest file of Richard Jeub was publicly released today. Throughout his 40+ years as a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, several survivors, including adult women and children, have come forward alleging sexual abuse by Jeub.

In late 1969, early 1970, Jeub and another child abuser, Father Jerome Kern, switched parishes. Kern left his assignment at St. Mark’s in St. Paul to become assistant pastor at Our Lady of Grace in Edina, while Jeub left his position at Our Lady of Grace, to work at St. Mark’s. While supposedly under restriction, Jeub continued in ministry until at least 2009 serving communion and working as a lector at a Duluth Diocese parish in Deerwood, MN.

“We release this file with sorrow in our hearts for the suffering so many have endured,” said attorney Jeff Anderson. “To all those who have suffered, take comfort in the truth being revealed. By this truth being known, others will be protected in the future.”

The entire priest file of Richard Jeub, a timeline, and documents are available on our website under News and Events at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

Richard Jeub Timeline
Key Documents in Richard Jeub File
kern-jeub 1969 transfer
Richard Jeub file, part 1
Richard Jeub file, part 2
Richard Jeub file, part 3

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Sep. 5, 2014

EDITORIAL

The time has come for the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese to fully disclose the results of an investigation by a local law firm into allegations of sexual misconduct with adults by Archbishop John Nienstedt.

The health of any organization, especially one holding itself to the high standards of a religious community that regularly presents itself as a public arbiter of personal morality, is dependent on mutual respect and trust. Those characteristics, in turn, are dependent on transparency and accountability, particularly on the part of bishops, who hold almost unlimited authority over the Catholic community.

For a host of very public reasons, the trust between Nienstedt and much of the Catholic and civic community in St. Paul-Minneapolis has collapsed. An unrelenting and damaging stream of reports have documented cases of clergy sex abuse and the failure of Nienstedt and other chancery personnel to report or discipline clergy suspected of molesting children, leaving countless children at risk. It is clear they spent more time and effort attempting to conceal their negligence than they did being candid with the people of the archdiocese. They failed to uphold the 2002 Dallas Charter for the protection of children, the only yardstick we have to judge church leaders’ pledges to keep children safe.

The erosion of trust between Nienstedt and the Catholics of the archdiocese has continued for months, leading prominent Catholics and local and national newspapers to call for his resignation.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Catalyst September Issue 2014, Special Report

This is a special report which was originally published in the September 2014 issue of Catalyst.

The Catholic Church has many enemies these days, some of whom are ex-Catholics who left the Church a long time ago. They are joined by the disaffected, those who pretend (even convincing themselves) that they are Catholics in good standing. Most of these malcontents are lay men and women, but some are priests, and a few are nuns. All of them are animated by a strong rejection of the Church’s teachings on sexuality. Because they have the support of the secular media, they comprise a formidable group.

What motivates them today is the debased desire to take down a bishop. Not any bishop: They want to drop a bishop who is an outspoken defender of the faith. They really get excited when they learn of a diocese that was riddled with dissidents and is now almost dissident free.

Geopolitics is at work, as well. While they will work overtime to disable a bishop anywhere in the nation, they prefer to scalp a bishop from the Mid-West. Why? Because that’s where many of them live. It’s also because it is easier for activists to dominate the news in mid-size cities, as opposed to larger ones where it is much more difficult. Their attacks are orchestrated and well-coordinated: lawyers feed the activists and they feed the media.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, formerly the Archbishop of St. Louis and now the prefect of the Vatican’s highest court, has drawn the enmity of Mid-Western dissidents for years. He is despised because of his denunciations of Catholic public figures who reject the Church’s teachings that bear on public policy issues. Burke’s critics have no problem with the Nancy Pelosis who continually claim their Catholic status while doing everything they can to undermine the Church. They have a problem with him.

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OREGON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, September, 4 2014

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

A priest who was accused of molesting in California was quietly sent to Oregon where he molested again. And when he admitting abusing in Oregon, the cleric was quietly sent out of state. Those allegations have surfaced in a new civil lawsuit against the Baker diocese.

This is another in a seemingly endless string of heartbreakingly clear cases of deceit and recklessness by Catholic officials. Fr. Luis Jaramillo admitted to his Capuchin supervisors that he sexually assaulted a boy. But he was sent with no warning to dioceses in Mexico and Argentina. And Catholic officials intimidated and guilt-tripped the victim’s parents into staying silent.

We hope anyone who saw, suspected or suffered Fr. Jaramillo’s crimes – in California, Oregon, New Mexico, Mexico or Argentina – will find the courage to speak up, get help, call police, expose wrongdoers and protect kids.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent

ROME — In another milestone along the path to financial reform, Pope Francis’ new “Council for the Economy” met for the third time Thursday, among other things working out details for transfering the Vatican’s power of the purse ever more completely to Australian Cardinal George Pell.

The Council for the Economy was established Feb. 24 by Francis, and is composed of eight cardinals and seven lay experts, marking the first time at such a senior level that laity have sat on a decision-making body in the Vatican as full equals with cardinals.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston is the lone American on the council.

The council’s function is to oversee financial operations, principally the new Secretariat for the Economy established by the pope in February and entrusted to Pell, who has moved quickly to bring the Vatican’s various financial centers under his control.

Francis has made the financial clean-up operation the leading edge of his broader project of Vatican reform, and the 73-year-old Pell is the man he’s tapped to make it happen.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) – The Council of the Economy met yesterday, 4 September, in the Sala Bologna of the Apostolic Palace in the morning and evening session, under the presidency of Cardinal Reinhardt Marx and with the participation of Cardinals Pietro Parolin, secretary of State, and George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.

Among the members previously appointed (communicated on 8 March 2014), the following were absent: Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, due to heavy previous commitments, and Cardinal Jean-Baptiste de Frassu, who had presented his resignation following his appointment as president of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) and will therefore be substituted.

The meeting focused mainly on the examination of the Statutes of the Secretariat for the Economy and the Auditor General, as well as the notice of the transfer of the Ordinary Section of the APSA to the aforementioned Secretariat (cf. Motu proprio 8.7.2014) and the instructions for Vatican bodies regarding budget preparation and accounting.

The next meetings of the Council for the Economy will take place on 2 December 2014 and on 6 February 2015. It is expected that these meetings will conclude the work of defining the Statutes of the main administrative organs (Council, Secretariat, Auditor General).

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Sep 5, 2014

Those of us in the trenches confronting child abuse issues within the Church often find ourselves discouraged. Discouraged when we learn about yet another child victimized by an offender who exploits the faith to access, abuse and silence. Discouraged when we learn that a church has no child protection policy and doesn’t intend to develop one. Discouraged when we learn about yet another church leader who sacrifices the lives of little victims in order to protect the “reputation” of the church.

Discouraged when we learn of victims who are blamed for being sexually violated. Discouraged when we learn about professing Christian counselors and pastors who prefer to focus on the “sins” of the victim, instead of the heinous felony committed by the offender. Discouraged when we learn of congregations that find it much easier to embrace a perpetrator than to love and support a survivor.

You probably get my point.

This week has been different. I found myself refreshingly encouraged as I read a painfully transparent editorial by the associate publisher of World Magazine. A piece expressing regret for a second-guessing silence that he believes is partially responsible for the ongoing sexual abuse of at least two boys by the youth pastor at Kings Way Baptist Church, who was recently sentenced to prison for these crimes. The author writes about being an editor of a small Christian newspaper in the 1990s when he heard from some “credible people” about possible sexual offenses within a local church. Though his reporting of other improprieties within that church eventually led to the resignation of the senior pastor, he never followed up on the sexual offense claims. The pastor eventually opened up shop a few miles away and hired one of his sons, Bobby Price, as the youth pastor. The rest is a very dark and painful history.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

Margery Eagan
On Spirituality columnist @MargeryEagan

“We don’t want to gobble up a woman a day.”

The Religion News Service made this their Tuesday quote of the day.

How about the quote of the week, maybe even the year?

“Gobble up a woman?”

Who talks like that?

Unfortunately, the cardinal leading the church’s so-called “nunquisition” does. That’s the Vatican’s two-year-old investigation of American nuns for their alleged subversion of church doctrine. And as Crux has reported, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller insisted to the Vatican’s semi-official newspaper that, lest anyone suspect otherwise, “we are not misogynists” for demanding complete control over this dwindling number of mostly middle-aged and elderly women. As apparent proof, he used that stops-you-in-your-tracks phrase, “We don’t want to gobble up a woman a day.”

Maybe he thought we’d all feel relieved?

The Vatican has also criticized the nuns for being too feminist and too Obama-care friendly while failing to crusade hard enough against abortion. Yet in their legendary service to the marginalized and the poorest of the poor, these same nuns seem quite in tune with Pope Francis’ renewed emphasis on social justice. They are also a proud symbol to disenchanted Catholics looking for examples of true spirituality and holiness within the church. Mueller, meanwhile, seems to be operating in a different century, practically antediluvian in his condescension.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Stuart Tomlinson | stomlinson@oregonian.com
on September 04, 2014

A man who said he was sexually abused as a boy in the late 1980s by a Capuchin priest in Hermiston filed an $8.1 million lawsuit Thursday against the Capuchin Franciscan Friars, the Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Baker and a Hermiston church.

According to the federal suit, the boy was abused by Father Luis Jaramillo in the fall of 1988 and the winter of 1989. Now in his mid-30s, the man identified in the suit as “John JP Doe” says Jaramillo trained him as an altar boy and then regularly molested him on parish grounds at the Our Lady of Angels parish in Hermiston.

The suit alleges that Jaramillo was transferred from Los Angeles to Hermiston in 1987 after he was accused of molesting two boys.

After the Hermiston boy told his mother about the abuse and that Jaramillo threatened to kill him if he resisted, the mother complained to church officials, the suit alleges.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SEPTEMBER 05, 2014

Graham Richardson
Political Columnist
Sydney

NO one has been more critical of Julia Gillard’s prime ministership than I have. During the past two or three years this column has criticised her political ineptitude on far too many occasions to remember. That is not to say, though, that she did not have her successes. She did make one brave game-changing decision for which she should never be forgotten.

For decades, child abuse, like domestic violence, was an almost taboo subject. It was easy to overlook and so it was. Thousands of Australia’s children were sexually and physically abused, and their suffering went unpunished and unrecognised. Their abusers roamed free to repeat their atrocities while the organisations to which they belonged conspired to protect them from the law.

When Gillard announced a royal commission into child abuse there were many in the churches and the charities who had cause to feel the ruffle on the hairs of the back of their necks. Most important, it gave an opportunity to the thousands mentioned above to ­finally tell their stories. For many of them it had been virtually impossible to speak about what was done to them.

These dark secrets had been suppressed for 30, 40 or even 50 years. The shame and embarrassment felt by the victims was in stark contrast to the escape from scrutiny experienced by their ­oppressors.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By BENJAMIN MUELLER
SEPT. 4, 2014

A federal appeals court panel ruled on Thursday that dozens of men who say Yeshiva University covered up their sexual abuse at the hands of rabbis cannot sue for damages because too many years had elapsed since the abuse took place.

In upholding the dismissal of the lawsuit, the three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in Manhattan, placed responsibility for pursuing signs of a cover-up sooner on the 34 men, who say they were abused from the 1970s through early 1990s by two rabbis at the university’s high school in Washington Heights.

At the time the students graduated from Yeshiva University High School, more than 20 years ago, their knowledge that the rabbis who abused them were still allowed to teach at the school “was sufficient to put them on at least inquiry notice as to the school’s awareness of and indifference to the abusive conduct by its teachers,” the judges wrote in their decision.

The plaintiffs argued that the clock did not start ticking on their case until Yeshiva’s role in hiding the rabbis’ conduct was revealed in a December 2012 article in The Daily Forward. But, the judges wrote, when “administrators rebuffed their complaints or otherwise failed to take remedial action” after some of the men reported their abuse, they should have realized that they could have filed suit against the school.

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