ABUSE TRACKER

PARAGUAY
WorldMeets

“In July, a special papal envoy, Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló, paid a rare visit to Paraguay that has been interpreted as a mission to evaluate the situation in the Dioceses of Ciudad de Este, where the Argentine priest accused of sexual abuse had been working for nine years. … One source of tension within the heart of the Paraguayan Church has been the presence of Priest Carlos Urrutigoity who was charged in 2002 of sexual molestation by a student of the Saint Gregory Academy in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.”

By Ignacio de los Reyes
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

October 1, 2014

BBC Mundo – Original Article (Spanish)

Buenos Aires: After a long dispute involving the papal mission to Paraguay, controversial Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano [photo, left] was deposed on Sept. 22 from his post as head of the Dioceses of Ciudad del Este.

The Holy See announced the deposition in a statement and named as new apostolic administrator Monsignor Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Ríos, the bishop of Villarrica del Espiritu Santo.

“The grave decision taken by the Holy See, under the weight of serious pastoral concerns, is for the greater good and unity of the Church of Ciudad del Este and Episcopal communion in Paraguay,” read the Vatican text.

Bishop Livieres had been accused of embezzling funds and covering up for a priest accused of pedophilia [Reverend Carlos Urrutigoity, who is, like Pope Francis, from Argentina.]

In July, a special papal envoy, Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló, paid a rare visit to Paraguay that has been interpreted as a mission to evaluate the situation in the Dioceses of Ciudad de Este, where the Argentine priest accused of sexual abuse had been working for nine years.

Abril y Castelló is archpriest of the Papal Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – a post he assumed in 2011, replacing Bernard Francis Law, a cardinal from the United States accused of protecting pedophilic priests while he was archbishop of Boston.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Luton on Sunday

‘Appropriate penalty’ may be imposed by St Albans Bishop on Luton vicar James Ogley jailed for encouraging girl, 13, to commit sex offences

THE Diocese of St Albans has said it may impose an ‘appropriate penalty’ on a Luton vicar was jailed for two years after encouraging a teenage girl to commit child sex offences.

Revd James Ogley, Vicar of St Francis, Luton, was jailed yesterday (September 30) at Luton Crown Court. He had pleaded guilty to seven charges of publishing obscene material in the form of chat logs.

In one of them he had told a 13-year-old girl to sexually abuse her nine-year-old sister.

The Diocese of St Albans said Revd Ogley had been suspended from all his duties as a clergyman and as vicar in January 2013 following his arrest by the police. He is still suspended.

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PARAGUAY
ABC Color

[Catholic News Service said that Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano was removed from office because of ideological differences with other bishops and not because he protected a priest accused of sexual abuse.]

El destituido obispo de Ciudad del Este Rogelio Livieres Plano colgó ayer en su página web un artículo que señala que el papa Francisco no lo echó de su diócesis por proteger a un sacerdote acusado de haber abusado de menores, sino por desavenencias ideológicas con sus pares de la Conferencia Episcopal Paraguaya.

El artículo publicado en Catholic News Service (Servicio de Noticias Católicas), el servicio informativo católico más importante y antiguo, lleva por título “El Vaticano dice que la salida de obispo no es resultado de un caso de abuso sexual”. El periodista Francis X. Rocca, del mencionado medio, entrevistó al respecto al vocero del Vaticano, padre Federico Lombardi.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY THOMAS
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
09/29/2014

The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese was told repeatedly since the 1970s that Monsignor Thomas O’Brien was a danger to children but failed to prevent him from sexually abusing a former altar boy, his lawyer told jurors Monday.

Though no amount of money could make up for what happened to Jon David Couzens, attorney Rebecca Randles said, $10 million in compensatory damages plus punitive damages would be fitting.

But lawyers for the diocese told jurors that no credible evidence existed to prove Couzens’ allegation that the diocese — basically then-Bishop John J. Sullivan — knew of O’Brien’s alleged actions and that Couzens’ claims of repressed memory were invalid.

The lawyers gave their opening statements as the first case alleging sexual abuse of a minor by a priest to go before a jury in the Kansas City area got underway in Jackson County Circuit Court in Independence.

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ARKANSAS
The Courier

by Laura Bean

Father James Melnick was relieved of his responsibilities as pastor of St. Augustine Church in Dardanelle, St. Andrew Church in Danville and associate pastor for Hispanic Ministry at St. John Church in Russellville for sexual misconduct. He is currently suspended from active ministry by the Arkansas Diocese.

Bishop Anthony Taylor, Roman Catholic Bishop of Little Rock, told area churches on Saturday and Sunday he received credible allegations of sexual misconduct against Melnick and was able to act quickly enough to prevent him from leading Mass on Sept. 20.

“Later that day, we were able to interview some of his victims and verify multiple acts of sexual misconduct with multiple adult victims during the period of less than a year,” Taylor said in a news release. “Since there were multiple victims, we seem to be dealing with predatory behavior, not romance.”

Melnick allegedly admitted to the misconduct. Taylor encouraged victims to report the incident.

“I know that his misconduct has harmed some of you directly, and if you have been a victim of his misdeeds or know someone who has been harmed by him here or elsewhere, I ask that you contact the diocese to report the incident for your own good and for the good of the Church,” Taylor said.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

EXCLUSIVE: Dominic Quigley allegedly made sexual contact with a high school junior in a room near the school chapel, the victim claimed.

BY LARRY MCSHANE
Wednesday, October 1, 2014

A Franciscan brother was removed from his job at a Queens parish as prosecutors investigate charges he sexually abused a student while teaching at St. Francis Prep.

Dominic Quigley was accused of engaging in sexual contact with the high school junior — including one session in a room near the school chapel, the victim charged.

In another of the 2003 incidents, Quigley allegedly lifted his brown Franciscan robe and removed his boxer shorts after asking the teen to expose himself. Quigley was “immediately informed of the allegation and removed from ministry pending the outcome of the investigation by the district attorney,” the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn said in a statement.

Quigley was working as a sacristan at the American Martyrs Catholic Church in Bayside when the graphic sexual abuse allegations were made in mid-September.

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VERMONT
Brattleboro Reformer

By DOMENIC POLI / Reformer Staff / Associated Press

BELLOWS FALLS — Two adult sisters are suing the local Jehovah’s Witness congregation they attended as children, claiming they were sexually abused more than 20 years ago and the religious organization ignored the issue.

Miranda Lewis, 23, and 27-year-old Annessa Lewis say they were abused in the 1990s at ages 5 and 4.

Irwin M. Zalkin of The Zalkin Law Firm in San Diego, Calif., and Jerome O’Neill of Gravel & Shea in Burlington released a statement saying they filed in federal court two sexual abuse civil lawsuits on Tuesday against the Bellows Falls congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., the headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witness faith.

Zalkin told the Reformer his law firm has teamed up with O’Neill in the past to battle the Roman Catholic Church on cases child sex abuse and the two lawyers have recently been fighting for the victims of abuse at the hands of Jehovah’s Witness organizations. Zalkin said Miranda Lewis found his law firm while researching online.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

A Church of England vicar told a 13-year-old girl to sexually abuse her 9-year-old sister during a series of depraved online chats.

Reverend James Ogley, a married father of two young children, told the teenager he wanted her and her sister to have sex with their own mother.

In another shocking online exchange, he told the teenager to rape her younger sibling.

Police officers discovered the clergyman’s warped communications when they went to the vicarage in Luton, Beds., where he lived with his family and seized his laptop computer from his study.

Ogley had been a regular visitor to the chat room for youngsters, deriving sexual gratification from the chat logs, a court was told.

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VIRGINIA
Northern Virginia Daily

By Joe Beck

The wife of a former area pastor has been sentenced in Page County Circuit Court to 10 days in jail in a child molestation case in which her husband was sentenced to six years in prison.

Judge Bruce Albertson sentenced Margaret Daley about a month after he sentenced James Daley, 72, on one count of aggravated sexual battery of a child less than 13 years old and five counts of indecent liberties with a child, all offenses committed against the same victim.

The Daleys operated a day care center from their Luray home, the site of the offenses. James Daley was also a pastor at Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Luray at the time he committed the offenses. He was a pastor at Lebanon Lutheran Church in Shenandoah County for a period in the 1980s.

Margaret Daley was convicted and sentenced under a provision of the law making it a crime to contribute to the delinquency of a minor. A related felony charge against her was dropped earlier this year when Albertson ruled that part of the law, as applied to her case, was vague, unenforceable and unconstitutional.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — A circuit court jury heard opening statements and witnesses’ testimony Tuesday in the trial of a Mercer County man who allegedly used claims of magical power to get close to children and sexually abuse them.

James Rolan “Jim” Irvin, 57, of Bluefield is being tried before Circuit Court Judge William Sadler multiple charges of sexual assault first degree, sexual abuse first degree, and sexual abuse by a parent or guardian.

Irvin was arrested in April after an investigation by the Bluefield Police Department indicated that Irvin told children he had magical power so he could sexually abuse them. Detectives said Irvin told his victims that he was a “warlock” that practiced paganism and Wicca.

The court spent most of Tuesday morning and the early afternoon selecting a 12-member jury and two alternate jurors. After the jury was seated, Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney George Sitler showed the jury a chart that described how Irvin knew the three alleged victims in the case. The girls were approximately 3, 9 and 13 years old when the abuse occurred.

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VERMONT
WCAX

BURLINGTON, Vt. –
“It’s difficult to put into words the effect the sexual abuse has had on me,” Miranda Lewis said.

Lewis says she suffered at the hands of a leader at the Bellows Falls congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“Throughout my life, I have struggled with depression, anxiety, self-identity and countless other issues that I now realize stem from my sexual abuse,” she said.

Lewis, now 23, says she was sexually abused when she was 5. Her sister Annessa, now 27, says she was also abused by the same person when she was 4.

Now, the sisters are bringing civil lawsuits against not only the alleged abuser, but the Bellows Falls congregation itself and the national governing body of all Jehovah’s Witnesses– the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York– who they say covered it up.

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VERMONT
Vermont Public Radio

By TAYLOR DOBBS

Two sisters raised in Vermont filed lawsuits Tuesday against the Bellows Falls congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, alleging that an ordained minister of the church sexually abused them as children.

Miranda Lewis, 23, said she was in a church meeting when she was around the age of four when Norton True – at the time a “ministerial servant” in the church – held her back as everyone else left.

“He waited for the room to clear out, and that’s when the abuse started,” Lewis said. She didn’t go into detail about the abuse, but the lawsuit, to be filed in Windsor County Superior Court, alleges that True lifted her dress and touched her.

In the case of Miranda’s sister Annessa Lewis, the complaint says that True was babysitting her on his property (years before the incident with Miranda allegedly happened) and took her to his barn and, when lifting her up “to be able to see horses located in a horse stall,” put his hands under her underwear and touched her.

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VERMONT
NECN

[with video]

Two women are suing a Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Vermont, saying they were sexually abused by a church official.

Miranda Lewis says she and her sister, Anessa, were molested as little girls in the 1990s at the Jehovah’s Witness Church in Bellows Falls.

The sisters allege a ministerial servant named Norton True repeatedly abused them and that the church was more concerned with protecting its image than the kids.

Their legal team previously won tens of millions of dollars from Vermont’s Catholic Diocese through a series of other sexual abuse lawsuits.

Miranda sued in state court. Her sister filed suit in federal court.
They want punitive and compensatory damages and legal fees.

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VERMONT
MSN News

Associated Press

LISA RATHKE

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Two adult sisters filed suit Tuesday against a Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Vermont, saying they were molested by a minister when they were minor children and the church did nothing to protect them.

Miranda Lewis, 23, and Annessa Lewis, 27, say in their lawsuits that they were abused in the 1990s at ages 4 and 5 by then ministerial servant Norton True, who they said the church knew had a history of sexually assaulting minors. They have sued True, the Bellows Falls congregation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and its governing body, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. They say their mother reported the allegations to the congregation but no action was taken against True.

The congregation and the Watchtower Bible and Track Society of New York did not return messages seeking comment. True could not be reached; there is no phone listing for him in Vermont.

Miranda Lewis on Tuesday attended a press conference with lawyer Jerome O’Neill, who has won millions of dollars in settlements for plaintiffs in priest sex abuse cases against the Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington. Co-attorney Irwin Zalkin said his law firm has similar cases against the Jehovah’s Witnesses pending in four other states.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Luton on Sunday

LUTON vicar James Ogley has been jailed for two years after encouraging a teenage girl to commit child sex offences.

Reverend Ogley, 38, told a 13-year-old girl to sexually abuse her nine year old sister during a series of depraved conversations, Luton Crown Court was told.

The married father of two young children told the teenager he wanted her and her sister to have sex with their own mother.

In another online exchange, he told the teenager to rape her younger sibling.

Police officers discovered the clergyman’s warped communications when they went to the vicarage in Luton, where he lived with his family and seized his laptop computer from his study.

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VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

Sam Hemingway, Free Press Staff Writer September 30, 2014

Two sisters, one of them a Vermonter, filed lawsuits Tuesday alleging they were sexually molested as young girls in the mid-1990s by a Jehovah’s Witnesses official in Bellows Falls.

“These very courageous and brave young women have decided that they need to do something about what happened to them as children that has been kept silent by the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” San Diego attorney Irwin Zalkin said at a Tuesday news conference in Burlington.

According to court papers, Miranda Lewis, 23, of Chester and Annessa Lewis, 27, of Austin, Texas, claim Norton True fondled them on several occasions when they were little girls living in Bellows Falls.

True, who still lives in Bellows Falls, was a ministerial servant with the church, a deacon-like position that performs clerical and other duties. The alleged abuse occurred either at the Jehovah’s Witnesses hall in Bellows Falls or at True’s barn.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
09/30/2014

In 2011, Jon David Couzens got a frantic call from a longtime friend who told him that her daughter might be a victim of sexual abuse by a priest.

After the call, Angela Couzens told jurors in a Jackson County courtroom on Tuesday, her son went through an immediate transformation.

“He was curled up in a fetal position, unable to function,” she said, her voice wavering, and he stayed that way for about a month. “He was sobbing day and night whenever I saw him.”

Angela Couzens’ testimony came on the second day of a civil trial involving her son, who alleges that he suffered sexual abuse by Monsignor Thomas O’Brien three decades ago and that the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was told repeatedly that O’Brien was a danger to children but failed to prevent the abuse.

The diocese contends that no credible evidence exists to prove those allegations and argues that Jon David Couzens’ claims of repressed memory are invalid.

The trial, in Jackson County Circuit Court in Independence, stems from a lawsuit filed by Couzens in 2011 shortly after the Rev. Shawn Ratigan was indicted on child pornography charges. Couzens alleges that O’Brien sexually abused him and three other youths in the early 1980s when they were serving as altar boys at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Independence.

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LOUISIANA
Headlines from the Catholic World

Baton Rouge, La., Sep 30, 2014 / 04:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Nearly 20 organizations, both Catholic and other denominations of Christian, have joined the Diocese of Baton Rouge in asking the Supreme Court to protect a priest from being forced to violate the Seal of Confession.

The group heading the support for the diocese, Catholic Action for Faith and Family, stated it “fully supports the Diocese of Baton Rouge’s position that ‘civil courts are entirely without jurisdiction to decide what constitutes a sacrament in the Catholic Church’.”

“For this reason Catholic Action has filed an Amicus Brief, supported by 17 other Catholic and Christian organizations. The brief decries the fact that the Louisiana Supreme Court has directed the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing to decide whether or not a sacrament actually took place.”

The case in question is a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that a jury, not the Catholic Church, may determine if a priest’s conversation with a minor about sexual abuse was made in the Sacrament of Confession and thus is protected under confidentiality in state law.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

BY MARY SANCHEZ
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
09/30/2014

The culture of silence continues. It’s hovering in a courtroom in Independence this week like a blanket threatening to smother.

Attorneys for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph invoke it with every objection, every debate about whether a particular witness should testify in the case of a former altar boy, Jon David Couzens, who alleges abuse by the late Monsignor Thomas J. O’Brien.

This trial is so important because it could tie together decades of allegations and emotions about what the diocese knew, when it knew it and what various clergy did or didn’t do with information. But what the jury is allowed to hear is a compressed and sanitized version. That’s often for good reasons: ensuring a fair trial to the accused.

But sexual abuse of children generally isn’t revealed in succinct ways that are always chronicled and documented, easily recounted in testimony years later.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Read our related article: USA ambassador to Vatican – for what exactly? “Pray” with the pope in one office, in one basilica that equals “one country”? http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/02/usa-ambassador-to-vatican-for-what.html

The Holy See a.k.a. VCS Vatican City State of 800 adults homosexuals misogynists gays popes and priests repeated again its ruse reply today – to the UN CRC Committee on the Rights of the Child that found the Holy See guilty last May. Here’s the crux of the VCS stratagem reply: “Therefore, the obligations of the Convention and its Optional Protocols refer to Vatican citizens, as well as, where appropriate, the diplomatic personnel of the Holy See or its Officials residing outside the territory of Vatican City State.

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