ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
The News Eagle

Posted Sep. 4, 2014

LAKE ARIEL- Janine Edwards, Wayne County District Attorney, announced that Norman Theodore Faux, age 54, of Lake Ariel, was arrested on August 29, 2014, and charged with numerous counts of child sexual abuse, including Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse with a Child.

According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause filed by Pennsylvania State Trooper John Strelish, Faux victimized a male child for several years starting in 2004 when the child was 9 years old. The victim is now 19 years old.

Faux was a United Methodist Pastor in Lake Ariel. Faux is also believed to have started a non-denominational-independent religious group in Lake Ariel after 2011 known as the Lake Ariel Faith Fellowship.

Faux appeared at the Wayne County Courthouse for Central Court Wednesday morning and he requested a preliminary hearing which will be scheduled before District Magisterial Judge Bonnie Carney in the near future. Faux is currently incarcerated in the Wayne County Prison in lieu of $150,000.00 bail.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

Reform of LCWR hardly a ‘nunquisition’

By Kevin J. Jones

Washington D.C., Sep 4, 2014 / 05:54 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is not a ‘nunquisition,’ as one Time magazine writer has said, but an effort to renew the Church, according to a senior fellow with The Catholic Association.

“Is there a great ‘Nunquisition’? No, there’s not,” Ashley McGuire told CNA Sept. 4.

“That’s a total exaggeration. It’s just part of a bigger process that the Church regularly has to undergo to look into its various organs to make sure everything is doctrinally sound.”

Author Jo Piazza, writing in an Aug. 31 essay for Time.com, contended that contemporary religious sisters are “dying and not being replaced” and that their work is not sufficiently appreciated by Church leaders.

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NEW YORK
New York Law Journal

Mark Hamblett, New York Law Journal
September 5, 2014

It didn’t take long for a federal appeals court to hold that the statute of limitations had since expired on claims by dozens of former students that they had been sexually abused by a former principal and two others at Yeshiva University High School for Boys.

One week after oral arguments, Judges Reena Raggi (See Profile), Guido Calabresi (See Profile) and Denny Chin (See Profile) ruled the statute was not tolled by the plaintiffs’ belated realization of an alleged school conspiracy to cover up the abuse by one-time principal George Finkelstein and a former teacher and former student at the school.

The court held in Twersky v. Yeshiva University, 14-365-cv, that the Title IX claims of some 34 plaintiffs who were seeking $680 million in damages were “correctly dismissed as untimely” by Southern District Judge Koeltl (See Profile).

On Aug. 28, the three judges grilled plaintiffs’ lawyer Kevin Mulhearn on his contention that Koeltl erred in February by dismissing the case brought against Yeshiva and former high-ranking officials for deliberate indifference to the predations of Finkelstein, ex-teacher Macy Gordon and former student Richard Andron, a friend of Finkelstein’s.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By: Tonda MacCharles Ottawa Bureau reporter, Published on Thu Sep 04 2014

OTTAWA—The federal government is “obstructing justice” by refusing to hand over unedited documents to former residents of St. Anne’s Residential School, says the NDP and a lawyer for several dozen aboriginal victims of abuse.

Nine months ago, an Ontario court ordered the federal government to hand over all documents that could help corroborate the stories of the school’s survivors, who say the documents will support their compensation claims.

About 12,300 documents — amounting to nearly 40,000 pages — were provided on Aug. 1. But the material, including trial transcripts, witness statements to police, even certificates of conviction, was heavily redacted — “nearly useless” in the words of lawyer Fay Brunning, who represents about 60 of hundreds of former students.

The names of perpetrators, the names of other potential witnesses to abuse — all key information that could help bolster people’s claims — were blacked out, she says.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Supreme Court judge says Strasbourg has ‘very serious questions’ over new role

Ronan McGreevy

Fri, Sep 5, 2014

A senior judge has warned the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg may be exceeding its own powers by taking on cases that have not been fully heard in member states. Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman of the Supreme Court said it would appear from the recent Louise O’Keeffe judgment that the Strasbourg court’s interpretation of its own powers had been changed in a “radical and indeed a revolutionary way”.

At a legal conference in Dublin City University yesterday, Mr Justice Hardiman said that article 35.1 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which set up the court, was specific in what cases it could hear. “The court may only deal with the matter after all domestic remedies have been exhausted,” it states.

However, Mr Justice Hardiman said that principal was exceeded in the case of the landmark judgment of Louise O’Keeffe v Ireland, in which Ms O’Keeffe successfully sued the State for liability over the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her primary school principal in Kinsale during the 1970s.

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KENTUCKY
Town Hall

Baptist Press | Sep 04, 2014

Matthew Fowler

KENTUCKY (BP) — I was in the first year of my first pastorate when things unraveled. I had experienced a few rough patches in previous ministry roles, but nothing to kill my dreams and make me question my calling. I was familiar with stories of petty pastoral terminations and “difficult deacons,” but I was convinced that it wouldn’t happen to me, at least not at this church. A phone call changed all of that.

I was out of town performing a friend’s wedding when a man from my church called very troubled about an issue. “Are you aware that there is a man in leadership at our church that has been sexually abusing his stepdaughter for 16 years?” he asked. I was shocked at the question and informed him that I knew nothing about it.

Evidently, the long kept secret had been shared by the victim in a college essay about what sexual abuse had done to her. The man calling me had somehow learned of this essay and had begun his own investigation. He told me that he expected me to accompany him to the police station upon my return home to make a report. I shared with my deacons what I had been told and later told the police. My deacons told me to “leave it alone” and the police said, “We will look into it.”

As quickly as I could, I met with the alleged perpetrator, his wife and a deacon. I shared with them what I had been told and that I hoped this was just some gross misunderstanding. The wife spoke up and said, “It’s true and if you want to know why I’ve stayed with him, I don’t know.” After a few moments of being speechless, I informed them of the need for thorough repentance and that he would have to step down from his leadership roles at the very least. I also stated that I was going to do everything I could to get their family help, particularly their daughter.

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FLORIDA
WFTV

[with video]

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Channel 9 has learned the State Attorney’s Office is going after a Winter Springs pastor accused of failing to tell law enforcement he knew a church member was allegedly molesting young children.

According to investigators, Cesar Chin, 65, knew one of his members, Normail Reynoso, was allegedly molesting three young children, but he waited more than six months to alert deputies.

Records show Chin found out about the abuse in January but didn’t say anything to deputies until July.

After Chin’s arrest, his friend, Roger Diaz, told Channel 9 he forced Chin to do the right thing.

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UNITED STATES
The Raw Story

By Katie Halper
Thursday, September 4, 2014

Senator Ron Johnson (WI-R) challenged Senator Kristen Gillibrand’s claims of inappropriate comments and touching from her male colleagues. If I were Senator Ron Johnson, I wouldn’t go around challenging the veracity of sexual harassment allegations. Because in addition to testifying against a bill that would have made it easier for victims of child sexual assault to sue, Johnson served on the council of a Church that covered up the abuse of children. Whoops!

Let’s talk about the Gillibrand incident first. In her new book “Off The Sidelines,” Gillibrand reveals that one male colleague who ran into her in the gym ”Good thing you’re working out, because you wouldn’t want to get porky!” On other hand, another colleague said, ”You know, Kirsten, you’re even pretty when you’re fat.” And another male senator grabbed her waist and advised, “Don’t lose too much weight now. I like my girls chubby.” …

OK. Now, let’s go back to 2010 and review footage of Ron Johnson opposing The Wisconsin Child Victims Act. The 2010 bi-partisan bill would have done what several other states have already done: eliminated the civil statute of limitations in sex assault and rape cases involving children. In Wisconsin, people are barred from suing over child sexual abuse or rape after the age of 35, a totally arbitrary cut-off that makes it harder for victims to see justice and hold abusers accountable. Controversial? Sadly, to Johnson it was.

Why? Johnson said that he wasn’t sure that the “actual victims” would benefit from the bill but rather only “trial lawyers would benefit.” A combination of logic and the fact that all of the state’s major organizations against sexual abuse supported the bill could have resolved Johnson’s doubts about the whole “is justice good?” brain teaser. But Johnson was overwhelmed by concern for the “other victims,” warning, “it is extremely important to consider the economic havoc and the other victims [the law would] likely create.” Who were these other victims? The employers of child abusers. Who will speak for the institutions and corporations that condone abuse? Rob Johnson, that’s who! Giving voice to the voiceless.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Emily Lane, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on September 04, 2014

The Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling by the state Supreme Court it says threatens the confidentiality of religious confessions.

The Louisiana Supreme Court’s ruling, rendered in May, laid out arguments that priests should be subject to mandatory reporting laws regarding abuse of minors if the person who makes the confession waives confidentiality. Normally, priests are exempt as mandatory reporters in the setting of confessions. The decision by the state’s high court stated confidentially is intended to protect the person who made the confessions, not the person who receives them.

“The Louisiana Supreme Court’s ruling strikes a very hard blow against religious freedom,” said the diocese in a press release sent Thursday (Sept. 4).

The original case involves a minor girl who alleges she confessed during the sacrament of Reconciliation to Baton Rouge priest Father George Bayhi that a fellow church parishioner had molested her.

Rebecca Mayeux, who was a minor at the time of the alleged confessions, said in an interview to WBRZ in July, at age 20, that Bayhi told her to “take care of it.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

By Mary Ann Ahern

The Chicago area’s more than 2.3 million Catholics aren’t the only ones wondering who will succeed Cardinal Francis George. The Italian newspaper La Stampa on Thursday also speculated whether it might be a surprising choice.

The article by the Vatican Insider notes that Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted is a possible contender but also suggests the Pope might choose a Chicago priest who “is a favorite of the nuncio.”

While no name was given, sources told NBC 5 that priest is Father Robert Barron.

Barron is the rector of the seminary at Mundelein and well-known as an author of the series Word on Fire. He’s also been the go-to commentator for Vatican events for NBC News.

“That’s crazy,” Barron said by telephone. “I know nothing about it.” …

Sources say they believe the three names are Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin, Spokane’s Blase Cupich and Salt Lake’s Charles Wester. Tobin’s name has often been mentioned, while the others not as often.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 917 439 4187, mcaplan682@aol.com )

An appeals court has ruled against child sex abuse victims and in favor of a school that hid child sex crimes.

Our hearts ache for the dozens of brave, wounded former Yeshiva students who still suffer because New York judges slam the courthouse doors to them. Judges couldn’t do this, however, if not for callous university officials who insist on exploiting archaic, predator-friendly statutes of limitations so that the complicity of other school staff will remain hidden.

This case is yet another in a long string of examples that clearly show New York continues to be a good place for those who commit or conceal heinous child sex crimes.

We are grateful these courageous victims will keep persisting in their heroic struggle to expose wrongdoers. But now more than ever, New York lawmakers must show courage and reform the statute of limitations. Right now, corrupt employers have an incentive to destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, fabricate alibis and protect predators. Why? Because all they have to do is “run out the clock” until it’s too late for frightened and confused victims to take legal action. If kids are to be safer in New York, this must change.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Charles R. Hale @irishcentral September 04,2014

Fallen Woman: a phrase that once described a woman or a girl who had lost her innocence or fallen from the grace of God. Two hundred and fifty years ago asylums were established in Europe whose purpose was to reform prostitutes and send them back into society. In Ireland the first was opened in 1765 and became known as the Magdalene Laundry, named after Mary Magdalene, once considered a converted prostitute who was rewarded by Jesus with forgiveness and love.

The institutions promised to reform the women and girls but in the early 1900s, the asylums became increasingly prison like. Inmates were forced to cleanse their sins through unpaid laundry work, long periods of prayer and enforced silence.

There are very few records to account for almost a full century of women and teenaged girls who were excluded, silenced, or punished. Due to a policy of secrecy, information about their circumstances, and the consequences of their incarceration are unknown. The last Magdalene asylum in Ireland was closed in 1996.

A little over a decade ago, Erin Layton heard a song by Joni Mitchell called “Magdalene Laundry.” Joni’s beautifully illustrated lyrics stirred and haunted Erin’s imagination as a playwright and as an actor. “Two years ago, I felt the pull to explore the land where it all began, in Ireland, to research the abandoned buildings that once housed these infamous Magdalene Laundries,” Erin said in a recent interview. “It was through speaking with the people who had intimate knowledge of the Laundries and through mining the remains of this hidden piece of Irish history that I felt driven to create a story about the lives of the present and the past.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY MIKE SEXTON
September 5, 2014

A confronting art exhibition in Adelaide exposes the cruelty suffered by women and girls who worked at Magdalene Laundries across Australia last century.

The exhibition entitled Enslaved is by New York-based artist Rachael Romero, who worked in the Adelaide laundry from the age of 14 in 1967 after she fled from her abusive father.

She remembers it as a workhouse like something from a Dickens novel and says women and girls were abused and injured.

“Women had hands like claws from the mangle, a woman with Down syndrome folded hankies next to loud machines and others had burns from the hot water,” she said.

Magdalene Laundries and dormitories operated across the world and the Australian ones were run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, training women and girls and providing income for the church.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Kristen Houghton Become a fan
Author of “FOR I HAVE SINNED A Cate Harlow Private Investigation

“What’s in the news is a fascinating story unto itself simply because it is true,” said a grad school writing professor of mine. He was right. True stories make for interesting reading and writers have found that combining raw truth in a fictional tale enhances a good book.

For over two years, my new novel For I Have Sinned was a work in progress, a story inside my head that wanted to be told. I wanted to take the ongoing publicly told scandal of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church coupled with the fictitious cold case of a boy gone missing ten years ago, to weave a story that would become a thriller with several twists and unexpected turns.There was truth and fiction, neatly combined.

The fiction part was easy; a missing person cold case concerning a boy who simply disappeared years ago without a trace. A private detective digging into the missing boy’s past unexpectedly finds a bizarre connection between her own case and the recent grisly murder of a priest in New York City. The murder details are eerily similar to an unsolved murder investigation she worked on less than a year ago.So far so good.

I had already created the main character, a savvy and determined private detective named Cate Harlow who goes by a strong gut instinct when confronting obstacles. She’s smart, relentless, and tough when it comes to solving her cases. But I also wanted to make her a very human and compassionate person; one who, without vanity, reassuringly tells her clients, “I’m very good at what I do. Trust me.”

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 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 Los Angeles was quietly sent out of state where he molested again. And when he admitting abusing in Oregon, the cleric was quietly sent out of state again. Those allegations have surfaced in a new civil lawsuit against the Baker Oregon Catholic diocese.

[KVEW]

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.

Shame on every single Catholic official involved.

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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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jamie Manson | Sep. 4, 2014

Two years ago, when Cardinal Gerhard Müller criticized the Leadership Conference of Women Religious for promoting radical feminist themes, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith offered a stark reminder that feminism has no place in the Roman Catholic church.

In his most recent interview in L’Osservatore Romano (the Vatican’s “semi-official” newspaper), Müller further indicates that any suggestion of misogyny on the part of the hierarchy is a claim best answered with a punch line.

Sadly, it’s a comedic lesson Müller likely learned from his boss, the pope.

Back in July, when journalist Franca Giansoldati asked Pope Francis whether the pontiff’s tropes about the “church as a woman” and the “the church as a feminine word” were misogynistic, he responded with a joke about women as Adam’s rib. The pope then went on a roll of sorts, making another zinger about priests coming under the authority of female housekeepers.

Now Müller is taking his turn as the court jester. In his interview Monday (featured, by the way, in a special pullout section on “Women Church” in L’Osservatore Romano), when asked about the doctrinal congregation’s ongoing “reform” of LCWR, the cardinal insists, “We are not misogynists.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Maureen Fiedler | Sep. 4, 2014 NCR Today

Here he goes again! Cardinal Gerhard Müller, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has sounded off once more about the shortcomings of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Some of his comments this time are so off the mark, it’s humorous. For example, he says LCWR members “do not represent all U.S. nuns, but just a group of North American nuns who form part of an association.” Just a group? LCWR represents 80 percent of American congregations of women religious. That’s four out of five, Cardinal Müller, not “just a group.”

In an apparent attempt to appeal to the feminists among us, he says, “Above all we have to clarify that we are not misogynists, we don’t want to gobble up a woman a day!” That’s really big of you, Cardinal Müller, but it’s hardly the point. Women are not interested in evading your dinner table.

We are interested in being your equals in the church and being treated as such. This phrasing is simply insulting.

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OREGON
KVEW

By Dan Thesman. Published Thursday, September 4th, 2014

Pendleton, OR — A man in his mid-30s brought a lawsuit today in Federal District Court alleging sexual abuse by a Capuchin priest who had been accused of child abuse before being transferred to Hermiston, Oregon, and claiming an effort by church officials to silence the family, allowing the then-admitted pedophile cleric to escape the country to avoid criminal prosecution.

The complaint alleges that the victim was abused by Capuchin Franciscan priest Fr. Luis Jaramillo, who was born and ordained in Colombia, South America. The abuse took place from 1988 to 1989 at Our Lady of Angels Parish in Hermiston, Oregon, located in the Diocese of Baker. At the time, the victim was between the ages of nine and ten. Before the Capuchins transferred him to Oregon, Fr. Jaramillo had been accused of abusing boys in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

According to personnel files obtained from the Los Angeles Archdiocese and the Capuchin Franciscan Order, Capuchin officials sent the priest to remote Hermiston in 1987. Consistent with the Diocese of Baker’s practice at the time, Jaramillo, then known to be an accused child molester, was accepted by the Diocese of Baker to work at Our Lady of Angels Parish. Within a few weeks or months of his arrival, the lawsuit says, Jaramillo began abusing the victim and threatened to kill him if he resisted.

The boy eventually told his mother, who reported the abuse to Capuchin officials in 1989. The complaint states that a Capuchin supervisor immediately interviewed Father Jaramillo, who admitted to the abuse. Despite the priest’s admission, the provincial—or “chief executive” of the Capuchin order—allegedly told the boy’s mother that if she attempted to have Father Jaramillo prosecuted, it would be her son’s word against the priest, and she would cause her family and son to be shamed and scorned. The complaint states that he also told her that she would have to “answer to her Maker” for any souls lost to God if she reported the abuse.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Steve Lieberman, slieberm@lohud.com

The lawyer for a Monsey rabbi accused of sexually abusing a 7-year-old boy says two police-controlled telephone calls involving the child will help prove the school administrator never touched the child.

Rabbi Gavriel Bodenheimer, 71, principal of Yeshiva Bais Mikroh, has rejected a plea agreement with state prison time and will fight the sexual abuse charges at trial, his attorney, Kenneth Gribetz, said.

In some sexual abuse investigations, the police have their victim call the abuser to get statements of guilt or attrition that can be used in the prosecution.

In two recorded conversations concerning sexual acts, Bodenheimer told the boy that he didn’t know what the boy was talking about “and he should go to the police if he has concerns,” Gribetz said.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published September 04, 2014.

Thirty-four former students have lost their appeal of a judge’s decision to dismiss their $680 million lawsuit against Yeshiva University.

A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled today that the students waited decades too long to file claims that they were abused during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s at a Y.U.-run boys high school.

Under Title IX, students have three years from the time they become aware of a school’s deliberate indifference to their abuse to file a suit.

The students said that they first found out that Y.U. knowingly employed abusive staff members in a December 2012 article in the Forward.

But the judges found that the suit, “filed more than 20 years after the last plaintiff left [the school] was correctly dismissed” by a U.S. District court in January.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE , DAREH GREGORIAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Thursday, September 4, 2014

A federal appeals court Thursday upheld the dismissal of a $680 million sex abuse lawsuit against Yeshiva University.

In a nine-page ruling, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found the 34 former students who sued the school had waited too long to try to make the school pay for covering up decades of sexual abuse there.

“This is a dark day for justice in New York State. Justice has been perverted,” said the victims’ lawyer, Kevin Mulhearn. “My clients, sex abuse survivors all, have been violated once again.”

The students’ suit said the abuse happened in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, and the decision notes that the case wasn’t brought until last year, “more than 20 years after the last plaintiff left” the all-boys’ school.

At a hearing last week, Mulhearn argued the victims couldn’t have sued earlier because they didn’t find out about the school’s culpability in the abuse until an expose on its inaction by The Forward newspaper in 2012.

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ILLINOIS
East Peoria Times-Courier

By Michael Smothers
Pekin Daily Times reporter
msmothers@pekintimes.com
Posted Sep. 4, 2014

Pekin
A former youth pastor with a Pekin church was charged this week with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child in Peoria County and is under investigation for a similar alleged crime in Pekin.

Nicholas Lawrence, 26, of Pekin, remained Thursday in Peoria County Jail on $100,000 bond that was set when he was charged in court Tuesday.

He served as pastor of youth services at Pekin Church of God from October 2012 until his dismissal June 30, the church’s pastor said Thursday.

“It’s an ongoing investigation,” said Pastor Johnny Creasong. “Until we know more we don’t have anything else to say.”

Details of the Peoria County charge against Lawrence were not yet available Thursday morning. The alleged victim, however, was “a young child,” said Pekin Police Public Information Officer Mike Eeten.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Prosecutors in Philadelphia deliberately withheld evidence that would have exonerated a Catholic priest and a teacher wrongly convicted of sex abuse, according to an explosive new court filing recently uncovered in an eye-opening article by investigative journalist Ralph Cipriano.

This remarkable development now adds yet another layer to the convincing case that three men – Rev. Charles Engelhardt, former teacher Bernard Shero, as well as ex-priest Edward Avery – are most certainly in prison serving time for crimes they never committed.

The accuser at the center of this episode, Dan Gallagher (who has since moved from Philly to sunny Florida), has bizarrely and wildly claimed that during the 1998-1999 school year, when he was a 10-year-old altar boy in Philadelphia, he was viciously raped and abused – sometimes for hours on end – by three separate men (Engelhardt, Shero, and Avery), all of whom barely even knew each other.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
CarolinaLive

by Tonya Brown
Posted: 09.03.2014

Cathedral Bible College President Reginald Wayne Miller pleaded guilty to Fraud in Foreign Labor Contracting, Visa Fraud, and Willful Failure to Pay Minimum Wage Fraud on Wednesday in federal court.

According to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office, evidence presented at the hearing showed that Miller recruited foreign students to attend Cathedral Bible College where he was president by means of false representations and promises regarding employment.

The release also says that Miller also made false statements on the related immigration documents for these student employees. And that once the students arrived in the United States, Miller violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay the students the applicable minimum wage.

The maximum penalty for Fraud in Foreign Labor Contracting is 5 years in prision and/or a fine of $250,000, the maximum penalty for Visa Fraud is15 years in prison and/or a fine of $250,000, and the maximum penalty for Wage and Hour Violations is imprisonment for 6 years and/or a fine of $10,000.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
GoUpstate

The Associated Press
Published: Thursday, September 4, 2014
.
FLORENCE — The founder of a Bible college in South Carolina faces more than 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges stemming from overworking and underpaying international students.

Area media outlets report that Reginald Wayne Miller, the founder of Cathedral Bible College in Marion, pleaded Wednesday in federal court in Florence.

Miller pleaded guilty to four felony charges and two misdemeanors involving labor fraud, visa fraud and failing to pay minimum wages.

Prosecutors say the college classes were a sham and students were forced to live in substandard conditions and work at the college or Miller’s home for little pay. Authorities say students who refused to work were threatened with deportation.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
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 popular religious official who founded Cathedral Bible Collage has pleaded guilty to forced labor charges. He’s also accused of sexual harassment.

The forced labor charges against Reginald Wayne Miller involve international students who came to the collage Miller founded. We hope Miller receives the maximum sentence.

We urge anyone who was hurt by Miller, either by forced labor or sexual harassment, will find the courage to come forward, report to police, and start healing.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Columnist Nick Garbutt
Published on the 04 September 2014

The sickening stories emerging from the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Banbridge this week bring shame and infamy on the perpetrators of grotesque crimes against children.

Let’s be absolutely clear about this: the export of unwanted children to Australia was a form of ethnic cleansing which echoed the transportation of criminals to that continent in the previous century.

The cruelty involved and the pain and suffering that resulted from it is almost beyond comprehension – especially when you consider that those responsible for inflicting it included religious orders and respected charities.

Some of the witnesses have found that even giving evidence to the inquiry is deeply painful and traumatic and have complained that they have not had sufficient help and support to get them through the ordeal.

Let us hope that their courage in coming forward is not in vain and that justice is ultimately done.

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

More in the ongoing discussion of the damage trolls (and heavy-handed censorship) are doing to online discussion spaces: at Salon yesterday, Colin McEnroe argues persuasively that if internet discussion sites don’t soon deal proactively with “orange-fanged morons” trolling these sites, the promise of the internet as a place for open, fruitful discussion of important issues affecting all of us will be choked in its infancy. As many other observers of the trolling phenomenon note, McEnroe points out that an overwhemling percentage of the online attacks target women.

He writes,

In recent days: a feminist culture critic was driven from her home by violent comments and emails; Jezebel, frustrated by the deaf ear of its Gawker father ship, published an open letter to management begging for help with rape GIF trolls; and over at Reddit, which would seem uniquely well-poised for self-policing its trolls, one subreddit was so overrun that it resorted to (wait for it) publishing an open letter to management begging for help.

McEnroe concludes,

Meanwhile, online publishers need their noses pushed into the following truth: your comment section really does say a lot about your whole operation. If it’s uncivil, indifferent to humanity, hostile to women, sub-literate, sloppily administered and shitty, well, maybe that’s you. I suppose here is the place to say I think Salon’s comments are pretty good. I mean, they’re negative and grumpy but suggestive of a well-informed, keen-eyed reader who inevitably thinks he could have done a much better job with this topic. I’ll take that any day.

But if your comments are full of racist taunts, rape GIFs, blowjob putdowns, and off-topic personal invective, please understand, that stuff is all sitting, metaphorically, in your lobby. You might want to tidy up.

Meanwhile, over at the National Catholic Reporter site, where a longtime commenter who writes exceptionally literate and thoughtful responses to news articles about Catholic issues, Jerry Slevin, recently found himself banned from commenting, other people continue to be given free rein to leave comments full of venom directed at certain targeted minority groups, notably gay folks and women. Just this morning, I opened my email inbox to find an email from a regular commenter at this blog, who also comments on NCR articles.

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
The State

BY DAVID WREN
dwren@thesunnews.com
September 3, 2014

Cathedral Bible College founder Reginald Wayne Miller — whose ambition as a young adult put him briefly in the national spotlight before allegations of sexual improprieties chased his ministry from Florence to Myrtle Beach — pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to four felony charges and two misdemeanors related to labor fraud, visa fraud and failing to pay minimum wages.

The charges stem from Miller’s treatment of international students who came to the college, which re-located its main campus from Myrtle Beach to Marion in 2012, hoping to earn degrees in theology, ministry and other Christian studies.

Students told investigators earlier this year that their classes were a sham, they lived in substandard conditions and Miller forced them to work at the college or his home for little pay, according to court documents. If they refused to work, the students said, Miller threatened to deport them.

The charges carry a combined maximum of 41 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines. Miller, who had been in jail — first at the Florence County Detention Center and later at J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Conway — since his arrest on March 21, was released Wednesday on a $50,000 unsecured bond.

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

MALTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, September 4, 2014

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

A Gozitan priest, who was accused of child sexual abuse in August, has been granted bail. We hope he is closely monitored so more innocent children are not put in danger.

Fr Jesmond Gauci was a school teacher and involved with the scouts and last month he was banned from contact with minors until his child sexual abuse case concludes.

We urge Catholic and secular officials to do their due diligence and warn families that Gauci is free on bail. Being banned from contact with minors does not necessarily shield children. It takes only a moment for a predator to shove his hand down a boy’s pants or his tongue down a girl’s mouth. We beg families and officials to be vigilant.

Anyone who saw, suspects, or suffered abuse should immediately report to police and start healing.

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.

MARYLAND
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 former Maryland youth group leader has been sentenced to 16 years in jail for sexually abusing at least three boys. We are grateful to the brave victims who came forward and helped get a dangerous predator off the streets.

While Raymond Fernandez was working as a coach and youth group leader at Greater Grace World Outreach Church in Baltimore, he abused at least three boys. We are glad that he will be behind bars for 16 years and will have to register as a sex offender, but we are worried there are more victims suffering in silence and self-blame.

We urge Greater Grace World Outreach church to use their resources and seek out anyone else who might have been hurt by Fernandez. One of Fernandez’s victims came forward after seeing him at a church function as recently as 2013. If you or anyone you know was hurt by Fernandez, or any other church official, please do the right thing and come forward, report to police, and start healing.

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.

VIRGINIA
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 former Virginia pastor and daycare operator has been sentenced to 6 years in prison. We are glad he will spend time behind bars, but believe children would be safer if his sentence was longer.

James Daley was the pastor at Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Luray and him and his wife operated a day care center out of their home. The allegations of abuse against Daley stem from his time as a pastor and from the day care.

We urge officials to reach out to everyone who attended the day care and Beth Eden church and ask them if they saw, suspect or suffered abuse. When victims find the courage to speak up predators are exposed and children are safer.

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

MALTA
Times of Malta

The Gozitan priest accused of having molested three teenage girls in Gozo was today granted bail.

His bail, granted earlier, had been revoked following an appeal by the Attorney General.

He was released today because the victims have now testified.

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.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Sep. 4, 2014

MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki said Wednesday that he is hopeful there will soon be a resolution to the bankruptcy that has shadowed the archdiocese for nearly four years but said it’s up to the survivors of sexual abuse to give him a counterproposal to the $4 million he offered for compensation of some of the victims.

In a rare public event, Listecki responded to questions from the media at a Milwaukee Press Club luncheon.

Creditors in the bankruptcy, filed in January 2011, include more than 500 sex abuse claimants — although the archdiocese has challenged all but 120 of the claims — who have rejected the $4 million settlement offer. Listecki said that’s all the archdiocese had available.

Since then, the archdiocese has spent some $14 million on legal fees, prompting some to question whether the initial offer was sincere. The judge hearing the bankruptcy case, Susan V. Kelley, has ordered all sides to enter into mediation. An earlier mediation, like the one that Listecki said prompted the bankruptcy filing, failed.

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
Get Religion

Dawn Eden

“Covering all things Catholic” is the slogan for the Boston Globe’s new online venture, Crux. Judging by the look of it — especially at the moment it went live yesterday — “all things Catholic” translates largely to “all things we think a middle-aged Catholic woman would like to read.” The site is heavy on opinion. Even the front-page headlines are opinionated in the way that the editors seem to imagine is “edgy” for a 50-something female audience, i.e. “Muller: Nuns are still being bad” — though the headline on the actual article is more newsy (“Vatican’s doctrinal chief renews criticism of US nuns”).

The initial Crux page included Lisa Miller’s agony-aunt column “OMG” oddly placed at top right, next to John L. Allen Jr.’s feature “Hard questions we’re not asking Pope Francis.” In the middle of the page was an ad seeking entrants for a liberal women’s religious order, featuring a cheery-looking sister in her 60s wearing outdoorsy plainclothes. Buried toward the bottom of the page, almost as an afterthought, was a sports article, as though some editor felt a bone should be thrown to male visitors.

As I write, the page’s layout has shifted somewhat: Miller’s column is now buried, but the overall feel of the page is still directed to Catholic women of a certain age (i.e. my age). In the top-right spot now is Margery Eagan’s “On Spirituality” column, the title of which suggests a desire to reach the Oprah-style “spiritual but not religious” crowd.

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

MALTA
Gozo News

Gozitan priest Fr Jesmond Gauci, who was accused of child molestation last month, was granted bail during a hearing this morning at the Gozo Court.

The bail granted previously had been revoked following an appeal that had been filed by the Attorney General, and Fr Gauci was held in custody until the witnesses have given their testimony.

Bail was granted today against a deposit of €1,000 and a €5,000 personal guarantee, as the witnesses have now testified.

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 3, 2014

In a sharply worded ruling, a Ramsey County judge has rejected a request by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to dismiss a massive clergy sex abuse lawsuit.

Judge John Van de North ruled that a jury should decide whether the archdiocese created a public nuisance by keeping information on abusive priests secret and was negligent in its handling of Thomas Adamson, a former priest who has admitted to sexual contact with minors.

The decision paves the way for a trial to start Nov. 3. It will be the first time in the country that a public nuisance claim against a Catholic diocese will go to trial, victims’ attorney Mike Finnegan said.

Van de North cited several abuse cases in a 17-page memorandum released Wednesday along with the order.

“The Court need look no further than Fathers Adamson and Curtis Wehmeyer as unfortunate examples of the horrendous consequences that can flow from intentional and misguided efforts to protect pedophile priests at the expense of minors,” Van de North wrote.

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
The Journal

IRISH WOMAN PHILOMENA LEE will today give a key-note speech at a major international conference on adoption law in Cork.

The woman’s story of forced adoption inspired the Oscar-nominated film Philomena. Lee is a former resident of a mother-and-baby home where her baby boy was taken from her and adopted by an American couple.

The boy, then known as Anthony, became Michael Hess, senior counsel under the Reagan and Bush administrations. He had died of AIDS in 1995, before his biological mother could find him.

However it emerged that he had travelled to Ireland a number of times trying to find her and had hit a brick wall with the sisters at the home, as had Lee when she tried to get information from them.

The two day conference at University College Cork (UCC) today is entitled ‘Redefining adoption in a new era: Opportunities and challenges for law and practice’ and will hear from intenational speakers from a number of different disciplines.

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

MALTA
The Malta Independent

Jesmond Gauci, the priest accused of abusing three girls was today granted bail after the alleged victims testified behind closed doors in a Gozo court.

Sources close to the case said Father Jesmond Gauci attended a family BBQ in Gozo and was caught by the girl’s mother touching the girl “inappropriately”. It is understood that the girl’s mother has said she is willing to testify against the priest.

The Malta Independent is also informed that the police have discovered several text messages allegedly sent by the priest to at least one of the girls.

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
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor

At 64, Cardinal Timothy Dolan is poised to be a force in Catholic life for a long time. In late August, he sat down for a wide-ranging interview about Francis, anti-Christian persecution, the Obama administration, the Church’s sexual abuse scandals, hard choices in New York, and more.

(Read more about John Allen’s interview with Cardinal Dolan)

In Part 1 of Crux’s exclusive interview, which took place at his residence in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dolan talks about the “Francis effect,” including the non-ideological bishops this pope seems to want … and the climate of refreshing honesty – and occasionally irritating uncertainty — he seems to be creating in the Vatican.

* * * * *

Crux: Pope Francis is almost at the 18-month mark. What grade do you give him?

Dolan: Oh, I’d give him an unqualified A. I thank God for him every day, because he’s a gift to the Church.

What’s very clear to me is that he really listened to the General Congregations that anticipated the conclave. [Note: These are daily meetings of the cardinals in Rome before the papal election, designed to work out the main issues facing the Church.] He was extraordinarily attentive, he listened carefully, and we cardinals aren’t surprised by what he’s doing because we can recall that it was all talked about on the floor.

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
The Guardian

Amelia Gentleman
The Guardian, Wednesday 3 September 2014

In the highly charged fallout from the Rotherham report, Nazir Afzal, the Crown Prosecution Service’s lead on child sexual abuse and violence against women and girls, tries to offer a calm perspective. Unruffled by mounting media hysteria over the ethnicity of abusers in Rotherham, he suggests stepping back and taking a wider view of the nationwide picture of child sex abuse.

His role means he has oversight of all child sex abuse cases in England and Wales. “So I know that the vast majority of offenders are British white male,” he says, setting the number at somewhere between 80 and 90%. “We have come across cases all over the country and the ethnicity of the perpetrators varies depending on where you are … It is not the abusers’ race that defines them. It is their attitude to women that defines them.”

Afzal, 51, is resigned to the ongoing scrutiny of commentators on the right towards the role of Asian men in recent grooming cases, but thinks that the focus is an overreaction. He is also wary of the suggestion found in the report, and reiterated by home secretary Theresa May on Tuesday, that a culture of “political correctness” had contributed to the authorities’ decision to turn a blind eye to the abuse of at least 1,400 in Rotherham.

“I don’t want to play it down. The ethnicity of these perpetrators is what it is. It is a matter of fact. It is an issue that has to be addressed by the state, and the authorities and the community – but it’s important to contextualise this,” he says, racing rapidly through his arguments, twizzling a paper-clip in his fingers in time with his swift delivery.

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
dotCommonweal

Luke Hill
September 3, 2014

When the Boston Globe hired John Allen away from the National Catholic Reporter earlier this year, it didn’t make sense. The Globe had closed its overseas bureaus years ago and—like every other newspaper in the country—had a shrinking newsroom.

With the launch this week of Crux (“Covering All Things Catholic”) as the Globe’s newest website, hiring the man George Weigel once called ““the best Anglophone Vatican reporter ever” makes sense—not as a newspaper strategy but as an online media strategy.

New Globe owner John Henry (also principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club) made his fortune crunching numbers, analyzing data, and trading on the commodities futures markets. According to newsroom sources, the numbers Henry has crunched persuad him there’s an unmet demand for coverage of the Catholic Church; and that the Globe—with its long history as paper of record in one of the most Catholic metropolitan regions in the country—is well-positioned to capture a profit-making share of that market.

Crux launched with a small staff: Globe veteran (and former Boston.com editor) Teresa Hanafin edits the site, with Allen as her associate editor. Inés San Martín and Michael O’Loughling are the Vatican and US reporters, respectively. Longtime Boston Herald columnist Margery Eagan was hired away to write a column on spirituality; and Christina Reinwald is Crux’s web producer. At least for now, the site is fleshed out with stories from the wires: AP, Catholic News Service, and Religion News Service.

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
U-T San Diego

By Susan Shroder
SEPT. 3, 2014

SAN DIEGO — Bishop Cirilo Flores, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, has been diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer, the diocese said Wednesday.

The disease, which is in his bones, is “widespread, very advanced and very aggressive,” Monsignor Steven Callahan said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, Bishop Flores is not a candidate for chemotherapy because of his very weak condition and the advanced stage of the disease,” the statement said.

Flores, 66, has been hospitalized at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for prostate cancer, while still suffering some effects from a stroke he suffered in April, the diocese said last week.

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
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and its editor, Dennis Coday, via an e-mail, has permanently blocked my access to making comments on its website as described further here

[Christian Catholicism]

and here

[Bilgrimage]

NCR has so far ducked many questions, including those raised by bloggers at NCR and elsewhere, about this unwarranted and unreasonable censorship tactic. But the bloggers are pushing back, even some whom have often taken issue with some of my comments.

For example, please read these pertinent excerpts from bloggers who follow NCR:

robchristopher says:

… We routinely chastise the Vatican for deciding that they know best how to deal with certain people (read: nuns, women, etc.). How can we go along with the same treatment by NCR? …

Rita says:

I fully agree that censorship of comments that do not offend common decency is abhorrent….

DANNO says:

… Gerald Slevin has helped this victim of clergy rape and molestation on my journey to becoming a survivor and a relentless advocate for other survivors.
NCR has not responded to my request for information on the censorship of Mr. Slevin. I will not allow this to stand!!!!

NCR seems to be following step one (ignore) of the hierarchy’s playbook. Corruption needs secrecy and censorship to survive.

Ignore, deny, minimize, obfuscate, shift blame. apologize but continue the immoral behavior.
Too bad that the Church and NCR has forgotten about Jesus.
Jerry, I truly appreciate and admire your efforts and you have my complete support.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune

BY TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER
Published: September 4, 2014

Attorneys for the Rev. Philip Altavilla and the woman who claims he indecently assaulted her as a teenager have agreed to preserve certain evidence from his dismissed criminal case for possible use in a civil lawsuit the woman filed.

The agreement, approved Tuesday by Lackawanna County Judge Terrence Nealon, calls for the district attorney’s office and Scranton police to retain a photo album that reportedly contains pictures of the alleged victim’s feet and shoes. Police will also preserve copies of wiretap tapes.

Joseph Lenahan, attorney for the woman, filed a writ of summons last month notifying the Rev. Altavilla and the Diocese of Scranton that she intends to file a lawsuit. Mr. Lenahan confirmed the suit is related to criminal charges filed against the Rev. Altavilla for allegedly indecently touching the woman in 1998, when she was 13.

The Rev. Altavilla was charged with several offenses, including indecent assault and corruption of a minor, in connection with the incident. The case was dismissed by Judge Michael Barrasse on Aug. 1 because the statute of limitations had expired.

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
SBS

By Greg Dyett
Source World News Radio 4 SEP 2014

(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)

Substance abuse, failed relationships and, sometimes, even premature death are some of the devastating results for adults abused as children.

Their stories are being told at Australia’s royal commission into child sexual abuse, but that is not the only place.

Some of their voices are also being heard this week in Northern Ireland, at the biggest inquiry ever held in Britain.

Greg Dyett reports.

(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)

“Better late than never” is how Tony Costa characterises his journey back to Northern Ireland after first arriving in Australia in 1953 at age 11.

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.

MARYLAND
WBAL

TOWSON, Md. —A judge sentenced a former church youth group leader on Wednesday to 16 years in prison for sexual abuse of minors, Baltimore County prosecutors said.

Raymond Fernandez, 50, of Nottingham, was a youth group leader at the Greater Grace World Outreach Church. Prosecutors said he sexually abused three young boys between the ages of 12 and 17 on repeated occasions from 1996 to 1998.

Fernandez had been the youth group leader and coach for the victims during the time period that the abuse occurred. One of the victims disclosed the abuse after he saw Fernandez at a church function in June 2013.

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.

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Jonathan Pitts, The Baltimore Sun
September 4, 2014

Three men who were sexually abused by a church youth-ministry leader years ago experienced a measure of justice Wednesday as they confronted their abuser in court, read emotion-charged statements about how his crimes have damaged their lives, and heard a judge sentence him to 16 years in prison.

Jediah Tanguay, 33; Benjamin Tanguay, 31; and Roger Robbins, 30, were minors in the 1990s when Raymond Fernandez, then a longtime youth leader at Greater Grace World Outreach Church in East Baltimore, has admitted he molested them.

Fernandez, 50, of Nottingham in Baltimore County, pleaded guilty in May to three counts of child sexual abuse, one in relation to each victim. The Baltimore County state’s attorney dropped six counts in exchange for his plea.

His conviction came after Jediah Tanguay engaged Fernandez in a telephone conversation last year, an exchange in which Fernandez admitted the sexual abuse as a Baltimore County police detective listened in, tape recorder running.

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 4, 2014

Annette Blackwell

The national inquiry into child sexual abuse will be asked not to allow the federal government to run a victims’ redress scheme because it is likely to keep payouts artificially low.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) will meet in private with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne on Friday.

The meeting is part of a week of special roundtable discussions the commission is holding to discuss a redress scheme for abuse victims.

ALA spokesman Andrew Morrison SC said the alliance had no problem with a redress scheme, but “we do have major problems with it being controlled by the very bodies which are responsible for making the payments”.

“A large part of the offending bodies are government and constraints on government expenditure mean the government will impose very low caps as they have done on victims’ compensation,” told AAP on Thursday.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
Wayne Independent

By Kevin Kearney
kkearney@wayneindependent.com
Posted Sep. 3, 2014

LAKE TWP. – A 54-year-old suspect is accused of sexually abusing a boy for 10 years.

Norman Theodore Faux, of 1811 Lake Ariel Highway, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault and single counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and indecent assault.

Faux was arraigned before District Judge Bonnie Carney and placed in the Wayne County Correctional Facility on $150,000 bail.

The suspect is scheduled to appear in Central Court this morning at the Wayne County Courthouse.

The sex assaults began when the alleged victim was nine, state police 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.

PENNSYLVANIA
PA Homepage

[with video]

A former minister in Wayne County is behind bars facing charges that he sexually abused a young boy for nearly a decade.

Norman Faux of Lake Ariel was arrested over the weekend.

He appeared in court Wednesday morning to face a judge on the allegations.

Faux requested a preliminary hearing on the allegations. That is expected to happen within the next several weeks.

State police arrested Faux after he allegedly sent a lewd text message to his victim. That alleged victim is now 19 years old and says he was abused so many times, he couldn’t count them all.

Faux is the former pastor at the Lake Ariel United Methodist Church.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice

BY JIM LOCKWOOD AND BORYS KRAWCZENIUK
Published: September 4, 2014

HONESDALE — A former United Methodist Church minister charged with molesting a boy repeatedly over a 10-year period asked for a formal preliminary hearing during an appearance Wednesday in Wayne County Central Court.

Norman T. Faux, 54, of Lake Ariel, is accused of abusing the boy, now 19, from the time the boy was 9 years old until a few weeks ago.

Faux will now have a preliminary hearing scheduled before Magisterial District Judge Bonnie L. Carney. The time was not set.

State police in Honesdale charged Faux with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with someone less than 16 years old and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, three counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of indecent assault.

Faux was arraigned Saturday, was unable to post $150,000 bail and was jailed in Wayne County Correctional Facility. He asked for a reduction in bail during Wednesday’s proceeding, but was denied by Magisterial District Judge Ted Mikulak. Unable to post bail, he was sent back to 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.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Raw Story

By David Ferguson
Wednesday, September 3, 2014

A former Pennsylvania pastor is charged with serially molesting a boy for ten years, beginning when the victim was 9 years old.

The Scranton Times-Tribune reported that Norman T. Faux, 54, former pastor of Lake Ariel and Centenary United Methodist churches is in custody after a woman found a lewd text message from Faux to her boyfriend on the boyfriend’s phone.

The woman told her mother about the message, who in turn urged the now 19-year-old victim to report the long-term sexual abuse, which began in 2004 and continued until a few weeks ago.

On Friday, the victim gave testimony to officials at Wayne County Children and Youth Services, saying that when he was 11 years old, Faux would play him pornographic videos while the minister performed oral sex on him. These encounters happened more frequently than he could count, said the young man.

Faux is currently being held at the Wayne County Correctional Center and was unable to make the $150,000 bail. On Wednesday, he asked for a formal preliminary hearing and appeared in Wayne County Central Court.

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.

VIRGINIA
NV Daily

By Joe Beck

The former pastor of a church in Shenandoah County has been sentenced in Page County to six years in prison on child molestation charges.

Judge Bruce Albertson imposed the sentence on James Daley, 72, of Luray. Daley was also sentenced to five years probation. The sentence included a total of 18 years in prison, 12 of which were suspended.

Daley’s offenses — one count of aggravated sexual battery to a child less than 13 years old and five counts of indecent liberties with a child– carried a sentence that could have gone as high as 45 years.

Daley committed the crimes while he was pastor at Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Luray. He and his wife Margaret operated a day care center from their Luray home that was linked to James Daley’s offenses.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Huffington Post

Joe Anthony

It was publicized today that Cor Jesu Academy of St. Louis, Missouri, has fired two staff members, Olivia Reichert and Christina Gambaro, after they were discovered to be in a lesbian relationship.

They weren’t fired for lewd sex acts, for using their position as a pulpit to advocate, or for pursuing their students with nefarious purpose; rather, their relationship reportedly came to light after the school received a copy of a mortgage application signed by the couple.

So let’s get this straight: A Catholic school in the Archdiocese of St. Louis fires two teachers on the sole basis of their being in a homosexual relationship, saying that they’re not upholding their commitment to serve as Christian role models — the implication being, of course, that their community has higher standards for role models than two women in a loving marriage and teaching at a Catholic school… oh, and who happen to be lesbians.

And yet this takes place within a Catholic archdiocese where 115 (one hundred and fifteen!) Catholic priests have been accused of sexual abuse since 1983 — the vast majority against children. And this number doesn’t even include more recent accusations (here, here, and here).

And yet this takes place within a Catholic archdiocese where their “most holy” man, Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, can’t seem to remember if raping children is even a crime.

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
The Chronicle-Herald

DAN ARSENAULT CRIME REPORTER
Published September 3, 2014

A former Halifax priest who left Nova Scotia in the 1990s to work with Toronto’s homeless has died.

Rev. Robert Cashin, who would have turned 64 this Sunday, was found dead inside his apartment last weekend. He hadn’t been in contact with his family for three weeks and they summoned the police to check in on him.

“They believe it to be natural causes,” a cousin, Brenda Michalski of Dartmouth, said Wednesday. “He was a very kind, loving individual. He had a heart of gold.”

Cashin was ordained into the priesthood in 1979 and spent much of the next 20 years at Saint Mary’s Basilica and Saint Thomas Aquinas parish in Halifax. He also worked in the Mount Saint Vincent Motherhouse, Chezzetcook and Sheet Harbour, Michalski said.

In 1997, Cashin filed a lawsuit in Nova Scotia Supreme Court accusing Msgr. Albert O’Driscoll, the former rector at the basilica, of sexually assaulting him twice in 1979.

He’s believed to be the first priest in Canada to allege sexual abuse at the hands of fellow clergy.

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
KAAL

[with video]

By: Jenna Lohse

(ABC 6 News) — A Ramsey County District Court judge has ruled a civil trial involving child sex abuse and the catholic church in Minnesota can move forward.

We talked with an attorney representing the abuse victims who is calling this a historic decision. The judge denied a request from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona to dismiss a public nuisance claim.

The claim involves accusations the church covered up child sex abuse. As we’ve reported, a lawsuit was filed last year against former priest Thomas Adamson of Rochester. In a sworn deposition Adamson admitted to sexually abusing at least 12 teens from the 1960’s to the mid 1980’s, including in Rochester. That prompted the release of an abuse summary of 13 priests who have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children.

We’re told today’s decision is unprecedented. “It’s the first time that a Catholic Diocese claim of public nuisance is going to move forward against the Catholic Diocese. What this means for the Diocese of Winona is that there’s now going to be a public trial that’s going to air the truth about what they did in the past, covering up and concealing priest sexual abusers in the diocese,” said Victim’s Attorney, Mike Finnegan.

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
KAAL

[with video]

By: Jay Kolls

Dr. Charles Reid, a law professor and Catholic Church expert at the University of St. Thomas, says pressure is mounting from within the Archdiocese for Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign.

This week, Fr. Patrick Kennedy called on Archbishop Nienstedt to step down after civil lawsuits were filed against the Winona Archdiocese for allegedly not reporting and then covering up allegations of child sexual abuse by priests.

Fr. Kennedy is the sixth priest within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to urge Archbishop Nienstedt to step down.

The Archbishop was not available for comment Wednesday, but a spokesperson says his position on resigning has not changed. Nienstedt has repeatedly said he has no intention of quitting as head of the Catholic Church in Minnesota.

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
Winona Daily News

By Jerome Christenson

MINNEAPOLIS — A Ramsey County judge has refused to halt legal action brought against the Diocese of Winona and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis by a Twin Cities man who claims to have been sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest nearly 40 years ago.

The man — identified in court documents only as John Doe 1 — claims church authorities were negligent by assigning a priest known to have sexually abused boys in the past to ministerial positions where he would have ready access to children and failing to inform parishioners of the priest’s history. The suit further claims that church leaders created a “public nuisance” by failing to warn parishioners about the priest.

Judge John Van de North’s ruling means the case against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona will be the first clerical sexual abuse case nationwide to use the public nuisance theory at trial, attorneys for the plaintiff said Wednesday. The public nuisance claim has already led to the unprecedented disclosure of tens of thousands of church documents and the names of dozens of accused priests.

“Failing to disclose information about an accused priest is akin to, and conceivably more offensive and dangerous, than other acts that have been considered public nuisances,” Van de North wrote in his order dated Tuesday. Harboring worrisome dogs, maintaining houses of prostitution, and swearing in public have been found to be public nuisances, the judge 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.

UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Crux is the USA branch of Vatican.va. It’s the main tentacle of the Octopus Dei Beast PR Team in the Vatican. Unlike other newspapers on earth, it will have a unique Hollywood media hype in the movie-to-be-made ‘Spotlight’. Read our related article, ‘Spotlight’ movie is Opus Dei Beast PR stunt propaganda for the Vatican & publicity for Boston Globe Catholic website – to salvage Vatican Titanic http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2014/08/spotlight-on-boston-globe-is-opus-dei.html

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
The Catholic Spirit

July 2, 2014

Father Joseph Gallatin has resigned as pastor of St. Peter in Mendota after a file review led Archbishop John Nienstedt to restrict his ministry.

Father Gallatin had been on a leave of absence since last December after his file was referred again to the Clergy Review Board because of a boundary violation involving a teenage male in 1998. At that time, the board reviewed the incident and concluded Father Gallatin required evaluation, therapy and monitoring. According to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he has actively participated in all requirements since that incident, and there have been no other allegations of inappropriate behavior with a minor against him.

Since late 2013, the archdiocese has been reviewing the files of all clergy who have served or are serving in its 12-county area. The Clergy Review Board was asked to revisit the 1998 allegation against Father Gallatin as part of the ongoing review.

In a June 22 statement posted at archspm.org, the archdiocese said that while the board examined the incident over the course of several months and determined that the act did not violate the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, it still recommended he remain in the monitoring program and work in ministry that doesn’t involve minors.

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.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Business Journal

Alison Bauter
Reporter-
Milwaukee Business Journal

It’s like trying to steer a ship while your ankles are tied and you’ve got one hand behind your back.

That simile was Archbishop Jerome Listecki’s depiction of the financial straits an ongoing bankruptcy case creates for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Without delving into specifics, Listecki told a Milwaukee Press Club panel Wednesday that member contributions to individual parishes remain strong overall, and that last year’s annual fundraising appeal exceeded goals. But for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, “Yes, it does impact upon us. There is no doubt about it,” Listecki said.

“There’s vision that you’d like to establish, but you have to basically hold off,” he said. “You basically don’t know what an end-point of the bankruptcy will be. And because that’s realistic … you have to understand that you can’t make commitments to things that you won’t be able to fulfill.”

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
The Age

Jonathan Holmes

Did you know Fairfax and the ABC are involved in a concerted attack on religious freedom in general, and the Catholic Church in particular? You didn’t? Well, Senator George Brandis thinks you should.

Two weeks ago, the federal Attorney-General delivered a lecture on religious freedom to the Law School of the University of Notre Dame in Sydney. Freedom of religion is too often ignored, he complained, when human rights and freedoms are discussed and defended. He then launched into an extraordinary attack on Fairfax Media and the ABC. It is worth quoting at some length: “In fact, not only has religious freedom been neglected, it has actually been the subject of open attack from those who dominated much of our political discourse, particularly in the national broadcaster and the Fairfax media. Almost invariably, their targets have been the Christian churches, and in particular the Catholic Church, and people of Jewish faith.

“Indeed, so deaf have we become to attacks upon religious liberty, so accepting have we been of the open scorn with which their tenets, their liturgy, their customs, their clergy and their congregations have been derided, that the great Dyson Heydon, delivering the Acton Lecture in April of this year, was moved to describe anti-Catholicism in modern Australia as ‘the racism of the intellectuals’.”

Did Brandis offer his listeners a single example of this onslaught against religious freedom? Did he quote one program on the ABC, or one article in a Fairfax newspaper, that treated Catholic or Jewish tenets, liturgy and congregations with scorn? No, he did not. Not one. Which prompts me to wonder what the hell he was talking about.

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
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

September 3, 2014

According to Reuters – A change in Germany’s capital gains tax has prompted an exodus from its Catholic and Protestant churches this year as thousands of registered members quit their parishes rather than pay the money. And pews are emptying fast. Read news article below with highlights. We urge the Germans to help Spain spearhead the abolition of the Vatican Concordats altogether because through them, the Vatican usurp billions of dollars from every country that signed it in the past. Read more — Abolition of Vatican Concordat in Dominican Republic and bring pedophile Papal Nuncio and other pedophile Polish priests to justice http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/abolish-vatican-concordat-in-dominican.html

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.

REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Diario

[Summary: A judge suspended the criminal proceeding against ex-nuncio Joseph Wesolowski, who is accused of sexually violating several children while he served as a diplomatic representative of the Vatican to the Dominican Republic.

Judge Kenya Romero stopped the hearing that was scheduled to analyze and assess the evidence presented by the public prosecutor against Wesolowski. The judge made the decision after Rodolfo Valentin, lawyer appointed by the state to represent the religious, submitted a preliminary issue to the court. Romero argued that if the judge knew th evidence presented by the prosecution without notifying Wesolowski, it would violate his rights.

Valentin said he does not know Wesolowski and the ex-nuncio has not asked him to represent him and Wesolowski was not notified of the hearing. The lawyer said he does not really represent the interests of Wesolowski but represently the interests of the due process.

The prosecution intended to present evidence and examine several witnesses and an 18-year-old alleged victim of the Polish cleric.]

Por: Panky Corcino/Corresponsal EDLP
PUBLICADO: SEP, 2, 2014

SANTO DOMINGO – Una juez de instrucción del Distrito Nacional suspendió el conocimiento del proceso penal contra el exnuncio Josef Wesolowski, imputado de violar sexualmente a varios niños mientras se desempeñó como representante diplomático del Vaticano en República Dominicana.

La jueza del séptimo juzgado de instrucción, Kenya Romero, detuvo la audiencia en la que tenía previsto analizar y valorar las pruebas aportadas por el Ministerio Público en contra de Wesolowski.

La magistrada tomó la decisión después de que Rodolfo Valentín, el abogado designado por el Estado para representar al religioso, presentara un incidente procesal al tribunal.

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
dotCommonweal

[with video]

Grant Gallicho September 3, 2014

Catholic League president Bill Donohue has never shown much aptitude for speaking truthfully about the sexual-abuse scandal. Sit him in front of a TV camera or a Dictaphone and he’ll deliver any number of pronouncements long on confidence and short on accuracy. His greatest hit–that the scandal is really a gay problem–has never been true. But his B-sides are worth remembering too. Like that time he defended Deal Hudson (for this) by referring to the woman in question as “a drunk…he met in a bar,” when in fact she was a student of his at the time (a freshman, actually). Or that other time he commented on the Mark Foley case by observing that “most fifteen-year-old boys wouldn’t allow themselves to be molested.” Or pretty much every time he comments on the case of Shawn Ratigan.

You remember him. He’s the now-laicized Kansas City priest who’s doing time–an insanely long amount of time, if you ask me–for possessing and creating child pornography, crimes he admitted. The diocese learned that he had hundreds of troubling photos on his computer, including a series depicting a child whose diaper is slowly revealed to expose her genitals. Bishop Robert Finn didn’t call the police, so he was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse. And now the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is paying for his appallingly bad judgment.

For years, Donohue has been proclaiming Finn “an innocent man.” He’s able to say so because he draws his conclusion from a bunch of made up facts, most of which he was invited to repeat on the August 21 edition of EWTN’s The World Over. Have a look (go to 46:40).

Nearly none of that is true. Right off the bat, Donohue minimizes the crime by claiming “a technician” found “some crotch shots of girls fully clothed” on Ratigan’s computer. Not quite.

According to an independent report commissioned by the diocese, the computer contained hundreds of photos, most of which depicted the rear ends and crotches of very young girls wearing some sort of clothing, such as bathing suits. Some looked like they were taken under tables. But it also contained two series of photos that Donohue forgot to mention: one, referred to above, showing a girl as young as two wearing a diaper, which is slowly removed to expose her genitals. That series included six to eight photos, three of which displayed her nude from the waist down. Another set of about two dozen photos depicted a sleeping girl who appears to have been moved–that is, posed–from photo to photo.

Donohue falsely claims the diocese found just one nude photo, and that it was “non-sexual.” Then he says the diocese reported it to the police, failing to note that Finn was convicted for failing to report suspected child abuse (possessing child pornography counts as child abuse, according to civil and canon law). And then he floats the falsehood that “the authorities looked at it” and said it was not pornographic. Also not true. Not even close to true. …

Is that the kind of consistent, penetrating analysis Catholic League donors have come to expect? I hope they feel like they’re getting their money’s worth, because it’s quite a bit of money. In 2012, the Catholic League took in about $3.7 million, according to its tax filing. (More recent filings are not yet available.) The group’s net assets totaled nearly $32 million. The Catholic League pays Donohue about half a million dollars. Nice work if you can get it. The vice president only makes about two hundred grand–fifty thousand shy of the check Donohue cut to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2012 for “general support.”

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
Mediaite

by Eddie Scarry September 3rd, 2014

In a news release Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights President Bill Donohue says the New York Times “erred” in a recent editorial about a child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church.

The editorial Donohue, a frequent news commentator, refers to was published Monday and related to Catholic Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, 66, who was accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Donminican Republic. It calls on Pope Francis to confront the Vatican’s “powerful bureaucracy” over the “pedophilia scandal” and others like it, so they can be brought to justice.

In Donohue’s statement, he says the Times should describe the nature of the sex as a “homosexual scandal” and not “pedophilia” because “the boys the archbishop abused were teenagers.”

How old, exactly, were the archbishop’s accusers? One of the prosecutors involved in the case told the Times they ranged from 12 to 17.

Sixty-something-year-old man touches 13-year-old boy. A homosexual scandal!

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry: I hope the ship with children sinks on the way to Australia, nun said

BY MICHAEL MCHUGH – 03 SEPTEMBER 2014

The name of a child migrant was changed by nuns before he sailed to Australia in an effort to ensure he could not be traced, the public inquiry heard.

Seasick children vomited from the decks and cried as they traversed the waves, on their way to a new identity and life in a country they knew nothing about.

One nun said: “I hope that ship sinks on the way out there as punishment for misbehaving.”

The decision to change the name of one child was signed by a mother superior in Northern Ireland on behalf of the Catholic Council for Child Welfare, the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry was told yesterday.

He was told not to change it back when he arrived in Australia following the month-long passage from Northern Ireland. A witness statement said he was never asked did he want to go.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY DEBORAH MCALEESE – 03 SEPTEMBER 2014

A child migrant who was transported to Australia from a Northern Ireland children’s home was allowed to believe he was an orphan for over four decades, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has heard.

Des McDaid, whose heartbreaking story as a child migrant was featured in the 2010 film Oranges and Sunshine, said he was 48 years old when he discovered that his mother was still alive.

After years of searching for information about her, mother and son have since been reunited.

“I had always wondered about my mother and her whereabouts, especially on my birthday. To the age of 48 I had no other reason to think that I wasn’t an orphan,” Mr McDaid told the inquiry yesterday via video-link.

He was the first child migrant to give evidence to the abuse inquiry which is currently investigating the child migrant programme that saw 131 children transported from Northern Ireland care institutions to Australia, many without their parents’ consent.

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
Bendigo Advertiser

By Annie Young Sept. 4, 2014

JOSEPH Conrad wrote, “A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.”

Last week I read an obituary notice in The Age (August 30) concerning a much loved young man; Sam committed suicide as a result of suffering years of depression, periodic anxiety and panic attacks. His friends knew him as a bright, gregarious and funny guy.

His counsellor knew differently. He knew a young man who had been sexually abused by a locum priest at his Catholic primary school, a priest who then ordered Sam not to tell his parents or the school under threat of rejection and expulsion.

For years Sam carried memories of that abuse, the uncontrollable thoughts, helplessness and enduring pain. This triggered his depression.

Only this year Sam, with the support of his counsellor, told his loving family. Heartache does not end with the victim.

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
Winona Daily News

A Ramsey County District Court judge ruled Wednesday that the case against the Diocese of Winona and Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis will head to court later this fall.

Judge John Van de North denied the request for dismissal of the public nuisance part of the case, finding that the diocese and archdiocese’s actions to allow priests accused of abuse to remain in service, as well as the decisions to withhold information about priests suspected of abuse, constituted a public nuisance.

“The Court need look no further than Fathers Adamson and Curtis Wehmeyer as unfortunate examples of the horrendous consequences that can flow from intentional and misguided efforts to protect pedophile priests at the expense of minors,” Van de North wrote in his ruling, referring to former diocese and archdiocese priests, respectively, accused of abuse.

Van de North ruled in July against a similar motion for dismissal. In that maneuver, lawyers from the archdiocese and diocese agreed that former priest Thomas Adamson abused the plaintiff at the center of the lawsuit, but argued that there weren’t sufficient legal grounds to present to a jury. The judge said he’ll let the man, identified only as Doe 1, to proceed with his negligence claims.

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
Houston Chronicle

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man who was sexually abused by a priest in 1976 can move forward with his claim that the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese created a public nuisance by failing to warn the public about a problem priest.

In a written order filed Tuesday, Ramsey County Judge John Van de North says a reasonable jury could find that the archdiocese and the Diocese of Winona permitted a situation that endangered public safety.

The case is scheduled for trial on Nov. 3.

Lawyers for the church argued this case doesn’t meet the criteria for a public nuisance claim, and they asked that it be dismissed.

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

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: September 3, 2014

Judge denies church’s attempt to dismiss negligence and public nuisance claims filed by alleged clergy abuse victim.

A Ramsey District Court judge has ruled that a public nuisance claim against the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese can move forward — a claim that has triggered the unprecedented release of documents and files on clergy sex offenders over the past year.

Lawyers for victims of clergy abuse have long sought the paper trail surrounding their clients’ claims. Using a “nuisance claim” to help pry that open is a first for Minnesota.

“Failing to disclose information about an accused priest is akin to, and conceivably more offensive and dangerous, than other acts that have been considered public nuisances . . ,” wrote Judge John Van de North in a ruling Tuesday.

“The Court need look no further than Fathers Adamson and Curtis Wehmeyer as unfortunate examples of the horrendous consequences that can flow from intentional and misguided efforts to protect pedophile priests at the expense of minors.”

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
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 09/03/2014

A Ramsey County judge has ruled that a groundbreaking lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona can proceed with a controversial claim intact.

Judge John Van de North denied a motion by the two church organizations for summary judgment on a claim alleging they created a “public nuisance” by concealing information about Thomas Adamson, a former priest accused of child molestation.

“Failing to disclose information about an accused priest is akin to, and conceivably more offensive and dangerous, than other acts that have been considered public nuisances,” such as harboring “worrisome dogs” and swearing in public, Van de North wrote in his order, referring to other case law.

Thomas Adamson worked in both the Twin Cities and the Winona diocese. He was known to church officials as a suspected child abuser, yet moved from parish to parish as his alleged crimes came to light.

Doe 1 is a Twin Cities man who sued the archdiocese, the diocese and Adamson in May 2013, alleging that the priest molested him while he was serving at St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park in the late 1970s. Doe 1 also alleged that the church officials created a public nuisance by harboring Adamson.

The archdiocese and diocese sought to have the nuisance claim dismissed.

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.

MICHIGAN
The Detroit News

FRANCIS X. DONNELLY THE DETROIT NEWS

Bad Axe— A new minister began last month. A school supply giveaway drew a robust response last week. New members are trickling in.

The Bad Axe Church of Christ, a long-struggling church in the Thumb, is gingerly recovering from a sex scandal that could have destroyed it last year.

In December, the pastor resigned after the Department of Homeland Security raided his home and allegedly discovered child pornography on his personalcomputer, according to a search warrant unsealed last month.

The indictment of Paul Rennix last month was another reminder that clergy sex abuse isn’t just a problem in the Catholic church. In June, the host of a Christian radio show was arrested in Grand Rapids and charged with having sex with a 12-year-old boy and photographing the encounter.

“When you have many denominations, this independent environment, and then this distortion of scripture, that’s an environment where abuse can flourish,” said Boz Tchividjian, a former prosecutor who helped start a Lynchburg, Va., group, GRACE, that investigates and educates churches about sex abuse.

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
Gloucestershire Echo

Questions about historic sex abuse allegations against the Bishop of Gloucester will not be allowed at a public meeting on appointing his successor.

On September 22, an open meeting will be held at Gloucester Cathedral where members of the public can have their say on what the next bishop should bring to the diocese.

Last month the current bishop, the Right Reverend Michael Perham, stepped back from his duties as it emerged he had been questioned by the Metropolitan Police in connection with allegations of indecent assault on a child aged under 18 years and indecent assault on a second female aged over 18 years in the early 1980s.

Bishop Michael, who has not been arrested, was due to retire in November anyway and the Bishop of Tewkesbury, the Right Reverend Martyn Snow, has taken over his duties until then.

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

Jerry Slevin has now received an email from Dennis Coday, National Catholic Reporter‘s editor, responding to Jerry’s request for information about why he recently found himself banned from commenting at the NCR website. In a posting today at his Christian Catholicism site, Jerry publishes Coday’s email (which he received yesterday), along with his own email on August 13 asking for information about why he had been banned.

For those making comments at the NCR site, be forewarned: it appears you can be banned for not commenting regularly. Coday’s email informs Jerry that a decision he had made in the past to absent himself temporarily from commenting at the NCR site several times was part of the reason NCR tried to ban him. Though, as far as I recall, none of the guidelines for commenters at NCR‘s site informs commenters that the site has a publish-or-perish policy — comment regularly or court the possibility of being banned from the site — this hidden policy seems to be have helped determined the decision to ban Jerry Slevin from commenting at the NCR site.

That, and “several complaints” that Jerry is “aggressive” in his comment-making . . . .

As I said when I first reported Jerry’s recent banning from NCR, the comments policy at this site is not in the least transparent, and it’s exceptionally capricious. The email Jerry Slevin has received from Dennis Coday appears to me to bear out that judgment.

As I noted last year when comments I made about the U.S. bishops’ cozy ties to the Republican party and the economic elite that dominates that party were scrubbed from the NCR site — on the ostensible (and ludicrous) ground that my comments were unfair to Republicans! — the NCR system is set up to allow unidentified and undisclosed interest groups to pressure NCR to censor commenters to whom those groups object. The system positively invites pressure groups outside the NCR system to step in and seek for certain comments to be expunged from the NCR site, or to have certain “aggressive” commenters banned. The system positively invites a call or two from a well-placed hierarchical figure or board member whose goat a particular commenter has managed to get and, hey presto!, said commenter can be disappeared by the powers that be from the NCR site.

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

September 3, 2014

JUDGE RULES PUBLIC NUISANCE CLAIM AGAINST THE ARCHDIOCESE, DIOCESE OF WINONA, CAN PROCEED TO TRIAL

(St. Paul, MN) – After hearing oral arguments from all parties on July 21, 2014, Ramsey County District Court Judge John Van de North issued an Order today denying the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis and Diocese of Winona’s request to dismiss the public nuisance legal claim in the Doe 1 lawsuit.

The Court found, “Failing to disclose information about an accused priest is akin to, and conceivably more offensive and dangerous, than other acts that have been considered public nuisances . . . . [t]he Court need look no further than Fathers Adamson and Curtis Wehmeyer as unfortunate examples of the horrendous consequences that can flow from intentional and misguided efforts to protect pedophile priests at the expense of minors.” (Order Denying Summary Judgment Motions Regarding Plaintiff’s Negligence and Public Nuisance Claims, pp. 10-11.)

“This is a breakthrough in child protection efforts,” said one of Doe 1’s attorneys Jeff Anderson. “The courage of this survivor and decision of Judge Van de North allows us to continue our efforts to protect children in the future.”

The lawsuit was filed May 29, 2013 on behalf of a courageous sexual abuse survivor alleging the Archdiocese and Diocese of Winona were negligent in allowing former priest Thomas Adamson continued access to children despite knowing of Adamson’s past inappropriate behavior with young boys. “This is a historic decision in this survivor’s efforts to seek truth and transparency,” said Attorney Mike Finnegan, another of Doe 1’s attorneys.

The Court continued, “A reasonable jury could find that the [Archdiocese and Diocese] maintained or permitted a condition which unreasonably endangered the safety, health, morals, comfort or repose of any considerable number of members of the public.” (Order Denying Summary Judgment Motions Regarding Plaintiff’s Negligence and Public Nuisance Claims, pp. 11.)

Through this lawsuit, numerous documents and information on priests alleged to have sexually abused children have been released, along with sworn testimony from top Church officials including Archbishop John Nienstedt, Archbishop Robert Carlson, Vicar General Kevin McDonough and former Vicar General Peter Laird.

· The Court’s Order Denying Summary Judgment is attached and can be found on our website at www.andersonadvocates.com under “News & Events.”

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665

Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

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UNITED STATES
World

Warren Cole Smith

Last week, former youth minister Robert “Bobby” Price went to jail for 16 months for molesting two boys. In addition to the prison sentence, he must register as a sex offender for the next 30 years. His life, his family, and the church he served have been wrecked, perhaps irreparably. What is even more tragic, the two young boys he abused will be scarred for life.

And I can’t shake the feeling that if I had done my job, none of this would have happened.

Rumors about Price had circulated for years. In the 1990s, his father, Bradley Price, was pastor of Northside Baptist Church, a large independent congregation in Charlotte, N.C., my hometown. I edited a small Christian newspaper back then, and one of my reporters and I investigated financial and other improprieties at the church.

On one memorable day, after we published our first story, someone from Northside Baptist Church called to warn me—with the threat of a lawsuit—not to publish any more stories about the church. I told him our reporting was fair and accurate. I also told him I had heard from credible people about sexual impropriety at the church. He would not confirm what I was hearing, but he would not deny it either. We ultimately published more stories that helped lead to the resignation of Bradley Price and the departure of most of his family members from that church.

But the Price family moved a few miles up Interstate 85 into a neighboring county and started another church, King’s Way Baptist Church. Some years later, Bradley Price had a heart attack and nearly died. When he recovered, he called to invite me out to his new church for a meeting. I was surprised to receive the invitation, but I was glad to say yes and spend a pleasant afternoon with a Bradley Price who professed to be a changed man, a man whose recent experiences had humbled him and resulted in better physical and spiritual health. He even thanked me for the stories I had published, saying they had put him on a new path that God was blessing.

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CALIFORNIA
The Fresno Bee

BY ROB PARSONS
Merced Sun-Star
September 2, 2014

The investigation into the Rev. Robert E. Gamel centers on allegations the Los Banos Catholic priest on at least two occasions obtained nude photographs of a teenage parishioner from social media websites, according to documents obtained exclusively by the Merced Sun-Star.

Gamel, 64, has been under investigation since Aug. 14 when accusations surfaced involving the leader of St. Joseph’s Church in Los Banos and a teenage boy who attended the church. Gamel, who is commonly known in Los Banos as “Father Bob,” has not been arrested or formally accused of wrongdoing, police Cmdr. Jason Hedden said Tuesday.

Efforts to reach Gamel have been unsuccessful. Church officials said he has been transferred to a location where no children are present.

Los Banos police on Aug. 15 seized a laptop, computer tower, CDs and a brown box containing nearly 20 DVDs, many involving erotic-themed male muscle and bodybuilding films, according to a copy of a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Sun-Star.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By David Gibson
Religion News Service

The Vatican’s guardian of orthodoxy and the force behind Rome’s investigation of American nuns has renewed his criticism of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, downplaying the group’s size and importance and arguing that the Vatican is trying to help them recover their religious identity so they don’t die out.

“Above all we have to clarify that we are not misogynists, we don’t want to gobble up a woman a day!” Cardinal Gerhard Mueller told L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s semiofficial newspaper, in the edition published on Monday (Sept. 1).

Mueller, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the newspaper that the sisters of the LCWR “do not represent all U.S. nuns, but just a group of North American nuns who form part of an association.”

He added: “We have received many letters of distress from other nuns belonging to the same congregations who are suffering a great deal because of the direction in which they” — members of the LCWR — “are steering their mission.”

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Boston (Sept. 2, 2014) – Boston Globe Media Partners today launched a new website exploring news and issues of the Catholic Church, faith, spirituality and Catholic lifestyle, called Crux. The free, standalone site is at cruxnow.com.

Crux provides national and international news and analysis of the Catholic Church and the practice of Catholicism, with a focus on how news from the Vatican and the words and actions of Pope Francis affect Catholics worldwide. Its content will appeal to a broad swath of people: active Catholics who regularly follow religious news, “casual” Catholics who may not be regular Mass attendees, those who are simply interested in the dynamic and popular Pope Francis, and readers of all faiths who are eager to explore spirituality in general.

“Now is as good a time as I’ve ever seen to launch a site like this,” said Globe Editor Brian McGrory. “The pope is a champion of inclusiveness, openness and social justice, and he has reignited interest in the Catholic faith and faith in general.”

Teresa Hanafin, a 29-year veteran of the Globe, will be the editor of Crux.

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NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

Lemon Juice Wins Case Against Twitter, Name Of Hasid Who Outed Sex Abuse Victim In Weberman Case Will Now Likely Become Public

“Lemon Juice’s motion for pre-action disclosure as against Twitter is granted.Twitter is directed to disclose to Lemon Juice the basic subscriber information, records, internet protocol addresses and other similar information sufficient to identify the owner or operator of the Twitter account known as “LemonJuice@moseh718″ who logged or tweeted on the account during November 26 to December 10, 2012. Twitter is also directed to preserve the documents which contain this information. Twitter is also directed to preserve the photograph of the infant [i.e.,the legal term for minor, not literally an infant] victim that was posted to that account during November 26 to December 10, 2012. Twitter is further directed not to reproduce, share, or release the photograph of the infant victim unless and until it is directed to do so by further order of this court.”

Many people have alleged that the owner of that email and the Twitter account used to out the victim of Satmar hasid Nechemya Weberman is the driver and close aide of the one of the Satmar rebbes. And now it looks like we will find out of that assertion is true.

Weberman is serving a 50-year prison term fopr abusing the gril for four years, beginning when she was 12-years-old and continuing until she turned 16.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

National Catholic Reporter (NCR) editor, Dennis Coday, evidently with NCR’s lawyers’ help (possibly on my prior advice), has finally replied to me today with a one paragraph “fait accompli”. This is after my four years of making thousands of NCR comments and writing two NCR columns. Coday told me “we” had reached an “impass”, even though he never discussed this either with me or with the general NCR blogging community that supports my right to comment, which of course he should have done. Does he think he is Cardinal Mueller or that I am Sister Elizabeth Johnson?

Coday’s approach here is a bit like “one hand clapping”. It had been almost three weeks since NCR banned me suddenly, without any prior notice or warning, subjecting me to needless and unnecessary grief and even reputation damage that could have been avoided or at least minimized by NCR’s sending Coday’s limp one paragraph three weeks ago.

See below our full e-mail exchanges and a link for more background.

Coday’s response, in effect, indicates that some unspecified persons or persons and/or unspecified editors and/or Coday, without any discussion with me, concluded:

1. Some of my NCR comments were too “aggressive”, without specifying which ones or in what way they were too aggressive;

2. I made too many comments when I commented;

3. I made too few comments when I took breaks from commenting;

4. I had earlier been suspended once for a brief period for unspecified reasons from commenting; and

5. I should take a hike and comment elsewhere, without even a chance to delete my present comments or adjust my future comments. “Father knows best”, it appears.

During this almost three week period of unnecessary delays, I have been subjected in NCR comments, without any opportunity to reply, to bloggers’ endless speculation as to the reasons for my being banned. Some of this speculation was personally offensive and insulting and most of it was inaccurate. That still troubles me. …

DENNIS CODAY’S BELATED E-MAIL REPLY ON SEPTEMBER 2:

Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 13:49:10 -0700
From: dcoday@ncronline.org
Subject: Re: I’m blocked? What’s up ??
To: Jerry Slevin

“Dear Jerry:
In August after receiving several complaints about the aggressiveness of your commenting on the website of NCR — including the tone of the comments and their frequency, after consulting with other NCR editors who monitor website comments and after reviewing similar complaints against you made earlier in the year, which resulted in your being barred for a short time from commenting as well as your decision to temporarily absent yourself fromNCR discussion boards a couple of times, it was my opinion that we had reached an impasse. You have repeatedly demonstrated that you have no intention of moderating your behavior in our comment forum to conform to our posted code of conduct. For this reason, I decided that you should be permanently barred from making comments on the NCR website. You have no shortage of other online forums where you can share your thoughts and ideas; I trust you will make full use of those.”
Dennis Coday
NCR editor

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

September 3, 2014 by J-Wire Staff

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has received a further two years to complete its work…a decision welcomed by Jewish advocacy group Tzedek.

CEO Manny Waks said: “Tzedek welcomes today’s announcement by the Australian Government to extend the Royal Commission by an additional two years, and to provide it with the necessary resources to adequately complete their important task.

We hope and expect that the Royal Commission will now have sufficient capacity to hold a public hearing into a Jewish community institution in Australia. Sadly there have been numerous Jewish institutions implicated in this ongoing scandal and the Royal Commission provides the opportunity to examine what precisely has transpired, which is critical for the sake of justice and accountability, and for the prevention of these cases from recurring. Due to the sheer volume of confirmed incidents of child sexual abuse at the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne – including allegations of cover-ups and intimidation of victims – it would seem appropriate that this institution is closely examined and ultimately held to full account for any misconduct.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times-Tribune

BORYS KRAWCZENIUK, STAFF WRITER
Published: September 3, 2014

State police charged a former United Methodist Church minister with molesting a boy repeatedly over a 10-year period from the time the child was 9 years old to the present.

Norman T. Faux, 54, of 1811 Lake Ariel Highway, Lake Ariel, was discovered when the boy’s girlfriend checked his cellphone and found an obscene text message. In the message, Mr. Faux asked to perform oral sex on the victim, who is now 19.

The girlfriend told her mother, who contacted Wayne County Children and Youth Services. On Friday, the girl’s mother brought the victim in for an interview with caseworkers. He told them Mr. Faux began to assault him when he was 9 years old in 2004, and continued for a decade, most recently a few weeks ago.

When the boy was 11, he began watching pornographic videos as a distraction while Mr. Faux performed oral sex on him. The boy said it happened so many times he couldn’t say how often it occurred.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

02 SEPTEMBER 2014

A former child migrant from Northern Ireland to Australia has told a public inquiry he was transferred with no idea where he was going and faced more sexual abuse after arriving in a Catholic home there.

Des McDaid, 70, said he was targeted by older boys, a lay teacher and members of the Christian Brothers religious order which ran the Clontarf institution near Perth in Western Australia. He thought he was an orphan until meeting his mother decades later who begged for his forgiveness.

He gave evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, which was established by ministers in Belfast.

He said: “The big thing I want you to remember is the helplessness.”

The Sisters of Nazareth order of Catholic nuns in Northern Ireland was responsible for the removal of 111 child migrants aged as young as five before and after the Second World War, some of whom faced grave sexual and physical violence after arrival. Another 20 were sent by other institutions.

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UNITED STATES
Columbia Journalism Review

By David Uberti

The religion of journalism has always found believers in Boston. The same goes for Catholicism. No small wonder, then, why the flagship Boston Globe intends to practice the former creed to examine the latter, an ambitious attempt to attract readers outside of city limits.

On Tuesday, the Globe launched Crux, a standalone website dedicated entirely to Catholicism. It covers not only the church itself, but also topics such as politics, entertainment, travel, and spirituality — all of them through a Catholic lens. The newspaper has been recognized for its local religion reporting in the past. But Catholicism, of course, stretches far past the Archdiocese of Boston, holding potential for a Globe audience spanning, well, the globe.

“We have a pope who is somewhat of a rockstar in terms of the attention he’s getting,” editor Brian McGrory told CJR, referencing Pope Francis, who was elected in 2013. “We’re in this unique moment when there’s not just a thirst of information for the pope and Vatican, but also Catholicism around the world. There’s a need for an unbiased site steeped in good journalism to discuss these issues.”

Crux’s content falls outside the metered paywall protecting most Globe journalism. The single-subject site will instead rely on digital advertisements at a time when many newspapers move their online products in the opposite direction. McGrory said a new ad sales hire, steeped in the Catholic market, will be devoted to Crux. But others wonder whether the site will be able to attract the huge readership needed for sustainable revenue.

“Where’s the money coming from?” said Dan Kennedy, a Northeastern University professor and Boston media analyst. He added that Crux could be well-positioned for a future print product. “We know what the story is from online advertising, and it’s not a pretty story.” …

While the site’s editor, Teresa Hanafin, will be based in Boston with a Web producer and two regular opinion writers, much of Crux’s original reporting will boast out-of-town datelines. Its Vatican reporter will be based in Rome and its national reporter is expected to move to Chicago by the end of the year, Hanafin said. John L. Allen Jr., a prominent religion reporter who will anchor Crux’s news coverage, is based in Denver.

“If all we were doing was covering the Vatican, put me to sleep now,” Hanafin said, offering examples of the broader scope that Crux readers should expect, such as a feature on Catholicism as practiced by a Native American community in North Dakota. “There’s so much more to Catholicism than what goes on in Rome.”

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE – SEPTEMBER 2, 2014

Moore Catholic High School, Staten Island, NY, hid sexual abuse of students and staff for years

Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the New York Archdiocese maintain silence about sexual abuse at Moore Catholic High School

Moore Catholic High School should be investigated by an independent authority concerning the sexual abuse allegations of students and staff and the secrecy allowing the sexual abuse of students and staff

What: A demonstration to alert the public and Catholic school parents, students and staff about numerous allegations of sexual abuse at a Catholic high school; namely, Moore Catholic High School, Staten Island, NY.

Where: On the public sidewalk outside Moore Catholic High School, 100 Merrill Street, Staten Island, New York, 10314

When: Wednesday, September 3, 2014 from 10:30 AM until 12:30 PM. Press conference at 11:00 AM.

Who: Members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, Dr. Robert M. Hoatson.

Why: Moore Catholic High School has been rocked by numerous allegations of sexual abuse of students and staff by members of the school administration, teachers, and coaches. Two former coaches and their athletic director, who is also the school’s chief operating officer, have been accused of sexually abusing students and at least one staff member during a nearly decade-long travesty of justice and morality involving sexual abuse in and outside the school and cover-ups of reported allegations. The public will be encouraged to demand a thorough, independent investigation of Moore Catholic High School so the children, faculty and staff of the school are safe. The New York Archdiocese, which operates the school, will be called upon to release all information it has regarding sexual abuse at Moore Catholic High School, and all sexual abuse victim/survivors at Moore Catholic High School and beyond will be encouraged to come forward to report sexual abuse and begin healing.

Contacts: Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc., 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue corrects the record:

An editorial in today’s New York Times cites the Vatican’s disciplinary action against its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, the now-defrocked Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski. It invokes Pope Francis’ promise that “in the pedophilia scandal ‘there are no privileges.’”

The Times erred again by repeating the myth of a pedophilia scandal: 100 percent of the victimizers were male; 81 percent of the victims were male; and 78 percent were postpubescent. That would make it a homosexual scandal. Indeed, less than 5 percent of these cases involve pedophilia.

The boys the archbishop abused were teenagers, meaning that homosexuality, not pedophilia, was in play. The distinction is important.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor

Pope Francis is an undeniably attractive figure whose concern for people at society’s margins can be awesome to behold. As a result, it’s almost impossible sometimes not to go soft on the man.

To take a recent example: While in South Korea in mid-August, the pontiff made a point of visiting a group of severely disabled children at a health care center outside Seoul. He delighted in a dance they performed, then utterly disregarded his schedule to embrace each one by one. He laughed with them, wiped away their tears, and for a brief, shining moment, made them feel like the center of the universe.

Even cynical reporters watching the scene had a hard time not choking up, because Francis just feels so palpably like the real deal.

Yet precisely because there’s so much to like, Francis sometimes gets a free pass on the sort of legitimate questions any other leader would attract. In that regard he often seems the mirror opposite of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Because Benedict had a bad public image, he sometimes was blamed even for things that weren’t his fault. In contrast, Francis often is absolved even for choices for which he actually is responsible. ,,,

2. Sex abuse

Sex abuse is another front. An exception came with an Aug. 24 piece in The New York Times about former Polish Archbishop Joseph Wesolowski, a onetime papal envoy in the Dominican Republic accused of molesting minors. He was recalled in late 2013 and laicized, meaning kicked out of the priesthood, in June.

The Times asked whether bringing the former prelate to Rome was a way of evading civil prosecution, forcing the Vatican to clarify that because he’s been stripped of diplomatic status, he could stand trial in the Dominican Republic or any other jurisdiction that wants a shot at him.

Wesolowski, however, was not the only question mark.

The pope set up an anti-abuse commission last December to great fanfare, yet aside from organizing a meeting for the pontiff with abuse victims in June, it hasn’t done very much. At this stage, it’s not clear where it’s physically going to be housed, or whose jurisdiction it falls under.

Word in Rome is that an announcement about the commission might be coming this week. Still, it’s fair to ask why, if fighting child abuse is a priority, it’s taken this long for the pope’s chosen reform vehicle to get going.

Another shoe waiting to drop is accountability for bishops – not in cases such as Wesolowski’s, where the bishop himself is accused of abuse, but when bishops fail to apply the Church’s “zero tolerance” policy to other clergy under their supervision.

Francis acted with vigor when the infamous “bling bishop” in Limburg, Germany, was accused of over-spending. Why hasn’t he shown the same zeal in disciplining bishops who drop the ball on abuse charges?

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Charles A. Saalfeld was ordained a priest of the Jesuits’ Oregon Province June 13, 1946. He taught high school math, physics, and religion in Tacoma WA, Yakima WA and Fairbanks AK. Toward the end of his career he pastored a parish in Nulato AK. Saalfeld died in March 1978. According to the Fairbanks diocese’s bankruptcy reorganization documents in 2010, there has been one claim of sexual abuse against Saalfeld.

Ordained: June 13, 1946
Died: March 5, 1978

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

September 2, 2014 10:29 am | Author: berger

Today’s scheduled court appearance by Fr. Joseph Jiang, charged with molesting a kid at Cathedral parish, has been postponed until October.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Tablet (UK)

02 September 2014 by Jon Stibbs

Authorities in the Dominican Republic yesterday began an analysis of whether they had the legal jurisdiction to start a trial against their former papal nuncio, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, 66.

Wesolowski faces criminal charges of soliciting underage boys for sexual acts when he was the Vatican representative in the country between 2008 and 2013.

Official sources reported witnesses and victims of Wesolowski’s alleged crimes would be questioned in the proceedings to test the legal strength of the case, reported Radio Intereconomia today.

Last month, the Vatican stripped its former ambassador of diplomatic immunity, which paved the way for the Dominican Republic to begin extradition proceedings against Wesolowski.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Many National Catholic Reporter (NCR) bloggers are today imploring NCR’s editor, Dennis Coday, in comments like the following:

“Dennis, Can you comment on why Jerry Slevin has been apparently banned from posting in the NCR comments section? Thanks.” and

“I would also like to hear from Mr. Coday on this. I don’t think we want this website to be known for censorship of anyone’s views. We already have an institution that works that way.”

NCR has seemingly ducked these calls for transparency for over a week now. Will NCR now respond independently or will it follow the censorship lead of the Catholic Church hierarchy that NCR claims to be “independent” of?

Dennis Coday’s response, or lack thereof, may be fundamental to whether NCR is still an independent voice or just another captive echo chamber of the Catholic hierarchy and their wealthy right wing apologist supporters. It is ominous surely that NCR today has a column praising EWTN, the ultra-right wing Catholic media outlet.

NCR, of course, knows Catholics are good at accepting censorship, which is sadly the case, even for many NCR bloggers who purport to be progressive and prophetic.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The New York Times

By KATRIN BENNHOLD
SEPT. 1, 2014

[The Rotherdam Report]

ROTHERHAM, England — It started on the bumper cars in the children’s arcade of the local shopping mall. Lucy was 12, and a group of teenage boys, handsome and flirtatious, treated her and her friends to free rides and ice cream after school.

Over time, older men were introduced to the girls, while the boys faded away. Soon they were getting rides in real cars, and were offered vodka and marijuana. One man in particular, a Pakistani twice her age and the leader of the group, flattered her and bought her drinks and even a mobile phone. Lucy liked him.

The rapes started gradually, once a week, then every day: by the war memorial in Clifton Park, in an alley near the bus station, in countless taxis and, once, in an apartment where she was locked naked in a room and had to service half a dozen men lined up outside.

She obliged. How could she not? They knew where she lived. “If you don’t come back, we will rape your mother and make you watch,” they would say.

At night, she would come home and hide her soiled clothes at the back of her closet. When she finally found the courage to tell her mother, just shy of her 14th birthday, two police officers came to collect the clothes as evidence, half a dozen bags of them.

But a few days later, they called to say the bags had been lost.

“All of them?” she remembers asking. A check was mailed, 140 pounds, or $232, for loss of property, and the family was discouraged from pressing charges. It was the girl’s word against that of the men. The case was closed.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A 70-year-old former child migrant from a Catholic-run home in Londonderry has said he was sexually abused after being shipped to Australia.

Des McDaid, who has waived his right to anonymity, was giving evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

He had travelled from St Joseph’s Home, Termonbacca in Derry to the Clontarf orphanage in Perth, when he was eight.

He said there was a lot of brutality at the Clontarf home and a number of brothers sexually abused the boys.

He said he was sexually abused by older boys, members of the Christian Brothers religious order and a lay teacher.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

A former child migrant to Australia has told a public inquiry he was transferred with no idea where he was going and faced more sexual abuse when he arrived in a Catholic home there.

The man, originally from Co Donegal, was housed at Termonbacca in Derry before being transported to Australia.

Des McDaid, 70, said he was targeted by older boys, a lay teacher and members of the Christian Brothers religious order which ran the Clontarf institution near Perth in Western Australia. Aged eight, he was not told where he was going when he was transferred on board the ship the New Australian.

He gave evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, which was established by ministers in Belfast.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Child migrant sexually abused in Australia after arriving at Catholic home, abuse inquiry hears

BY MICHAEL MCHUGH – 02 SEPTEMBER 2014

A former child migrant from Northern Ireland to Australia has told a public inquiry he was transferred with no idea where he was going and faced more sexual abuse when he arrived in a Catholic home there.

Des McDaid, 70, said he was targeted by older boys, a lay teacher and members of the Christian Brothers religious order which ran the Clontarf institution near Perth in Western Australia. Aged eight, he was not told where he was going when he was transferred on board the ship the New Australian.

He gave evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, which was established by ministers in Belfast.

He said: “The big thing I want you to remember is the helplessness.”

He said he was raped by an older boy at the Termonbacca boys home in Londonderry run by an order of nuns and the paedophilia continued in Australia.

Using a video link from Australia, he said: “I had a lot more of it over here, from the Christian Brothers etc.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Western Daily Press

The next stage in the process of appointing the future Bishop of Gloucester will take place on September 22 in the city.

Members of the public are invited to participate in an open public meeting and consultation which will be held at 7pm in the Chapter House of Gloucester Cathedral to discuss what will happen next with the role.

The meeting will provide any member of the public with the opportunity to put forward their views and expectations of what they would like the future Bishop of Gloucester to bring to the diocese.

The meeting will be chaired by the Venerable Robert Springett, Archdeacon of Cheltenham and chair of the diocesan’s Vacancy in See Committee.

The Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments and the Prime Minister’s Secretary for Appointments will be there to listen to the views put forward.

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