ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Catholic Church might be challenged by an Australian finding that the practice of celibacy by its priests could have contributed to the sexual abuse of children.

The issue was raised in a landmark report from the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, which is co-ordinating the church’s response to the national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse announced by the federal government in 2012.

The council on Friday released a report about key concerns and issues arising from its engagement with people affected by abuse and with the commission over the past two years.

Under a section on culture and ‘clericalism’, the activity report looks at how this might have played a part in contributing to abuse within the church.

It notes some church leaders seemed to turn a blind eye to abuse within their orders or dioceses and acted to protect the institution rather than caring for the child.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Calla Wahlquist

Thursday 11 December 2014

Celibacy could have contributed to the instances of child sexual abuse in the Catholic church, a report by the church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council in Australia has found.

The report, released on Friday, said “obligatory celibacy” for Catholic priests “may … have contributed to abuse in some circumstances”, and recommended priests undergo “psycho-sexual development” training.

It said the church’s response to child sex abuse had been shaped by its culture and “clericalism”, which it defined as an “ordained ministry geared to power over others, not service to others”.

“Church institutions and their leaders, over many decades, seemed to turn a blind eye, either instinctively or deliberately, to the abuse happening within their diocese or religious order, protecting the institution rather than caring for the child,” the report said.

It said the selection process for priests may have contributed to a culture that ignored abuse.

The council was formed by Australian Catholic church leaders in 2013 in response to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

[the report]

December 12, 2014

Julie Power

Obligatory celibacy may have contributed to sexual abuse in some circumstances, the Australian Catholic Church has conceded in a report recommending that priests be given “psychosexual training”.

It also says the abuse of priests’ powers over others – called “clericalism” – may also have contributed to the way the church responded to claims of abuse, including its tendency to disbelieve or turn a blind eye to allegations of abuse.

“Church institutions and their leaders, over many decades, seemed to turn a blind eye, either instinctively or deliberately, to the abuse happening within their diocese or religious order, protecting the institution rather than caring for the child,” the report said.

The progress report by the Truth, Justice and Healing Council of the Catholic Church is at direct odds with a report by the Catholic Church in the United States that denied any link between child abuse and celibacy.

The report recommends that all priests undergo psycho-sexual development to learn how to better control their sexual needs and passions.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

Child sex abuse inquiry: Catholic church concedes celibacy may have contributed to child sex abuse

The Catholic Church concedes its vow of celibacy may have led to the abuse of children at the hands of the clergy and says ongoing training, including psychosexual development, is necessary for priests.

The Catholic Church has conceded that its vow of celibacy may have led to the abuse of children at the hands of the clergy.

The church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council to respond to the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse today released an activity report conceding that “obligatory celibacy” may have contributed to decades of child abuse involving the clergy, and that ongoing training was necessary for priests.

The council’s CEO Francis Sullivan said the training should include “psychosexual development”.

“The proper training, formation, the proper understanding of psychosexual issues for individuals has been raised, and it’s a no-brainer,” Mr Sullivan said.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By David Gibson | Religion News Service December 11

The Vatican announced Thursday (Dec. 11) that Pope Francis will name a new batch of cardinals in February, adding to the select group of churchmen who will someday gather to elect his successor.

Rome won’t reveal the names until next month, but could an American be among them?

There are a number of factors that will govern the choices, and thus the predictions:

First, there are 208 cardinals in the College of Cardinals, but at the age of 80 a cardinal is no longer allowed to vote in a conclave. That leaves 112 cardinals under the age of 80, as of now, though two more will age out in February and another two in March and April.

The customary ceiling on the number of electors today is 120 (it has changed many times over the centuries). That means that Francis could give a so-called red hat to 10 or 12 bishops. …

So if he were to choose an American — or two — who might it be? Here are four options, listed in order of likelihood:

1. Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles

Los Angeles is far and away the largest diocese in the U.S. church, with more than 4 million baptized members. Gomez, who turns 63 this month, is Mexican-born and, like his flock, represents the Latino future of the church. Although he hews to doctrinal orthodoxy, Gomez is increasingly outspoken on social justice issues such as immigration — a priority for Francis.

2. Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago

Cupich, 65, was only appointed to Chicago in September, but he was Francis’ first major U.S. nomination and one the pope took a personal role in. Cupich is seen as much more in line with Francis’ agenda than the retired archbishop, Cardinal Francis George. George is nearly 78 so has two more years of conclave eligibility, but he is also seriously ill with cancer.

3. Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta

Gregory, 67, was considered a contender for the Chicago spot, but a red hat would be a nice consolation prize. It would also make some sense: Atlanta is a fast-growing diocese, unlike shrinking dioceses in the Northeast and Midwest, and although it has never had a cardinal as archbishop it may be time. Also, Gregory is one of a handful of African-American bishops and making him a cardinal would be like, well, electing a black president.

4. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia

Chaput, 70, is widely seen as a leader of the culture warrior wing of the U.S. hierarchy, and not particularly in sync with Francis. But Chaput is hosting the church’s World Day of Families next September, which will serve as the main venue for Francis’ first U.S. visit. The retired archbishop of Philadelphia, Cardinal Justin Rigali, turns 80 in April. On the downside, Philadelphia — like many other dioceses in the declining “Rust Belt” of Catholicism — may no longer be considered an automatic red hat as it once was.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By JOHN CARNEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

A new landmark report has revealed that the vow of celibacy taken by Catholic priests and clergy may have been the contributing factor for the years of child sex abuse within the church.

Issued by the Australian church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council the report states that ‘obligatory celibacy’ may have caused priests to abuse thousands of children and that priests should have ‘psycho-sexual development’ training.

The council’s chief executive Francis Sullivan told The Australian that the church must now examine ‘how individuals who have chosen to be celibate, can remain healthy and not begin acting out of a dysfunctional sense of self’.

‘We’ve got to ask the question whether celibacy was an added and an unbearable strain for some,’ he said.

‘It doesn’t mean that celibacy has to be eradicated – let’s not turn the church on its head – but we are saying you can’t have honest and open discussion about the future without an honest and open discussion about celibacy. We are placing celibacy on the table.’

Catholicism is the principal religion in Australia. It is unique among the mainstream Christian churches in that priests and religious leaders must all take a vow of celibacy, and they must renounce sex entirely.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DECEMBER 12, 2014

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

THE vow of celibacy may have contributed to decades of child sex abuse committed by Catholic priests and clergy, according to a landmark report from the church’s leaders.

For the first time, the church establishment within Australia says “obligatory celibacy” may have resulted in the abuse of thousands of children and that priests should undergo “psycho-sexual development” training as a result. In a report to be released today, they also criticise a church culture “geared to power over others” and call for “greater clarity around the role of the Vatican and its involvement with the way in which church authorities in Australia responded to abuse allegations”.

By publicly acknowledging the potential role of celibacy in this way, the report sets an international precedent. Issued by the Australian church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, whose supervisory group includes the archbishops of Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra and Adelaide, its findings are in stark contrast to a recent US study that said celibacy could not be blamed for the epidemic of abuse.

The dominant religious denomination in Australia, Catholicism is unique among the mainstream Christian churches in demanding its priests and other ­religious leaders take a vow of celibacy, entirely renouncing sex.

Francis Sullivan, the council’s chief executive, said the church must now examine “how individuals who have chosen to be celibate, how they can remain healthy and not begin acting out of a dysfunctional sense of self”.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Sylvester D. Penna was a priest of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, ordained in 1948. He was assigned to many parishes and several high schools and, for a few years, was “father minister” at Gonzaga University. His work took him to the diocese’s of Seattle and Spokane WA, Great Falls and Helena MT, Boise City ID and Baker OR. He died in 1974. Penna’s name was included in 2011 on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1948
Died: 1974

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PENNSYLVANIA
Sharon Herald

By JOE PINCHOT Herald Staff Writer
Posted on Dec 11, 2014

MERCER – A former local pastor imprisoned for sexually molesting a boy has lost an appeal.
However, state Superior Court said some of Lee A. Moore’s issues could be brought up in further action challenging the performance of his trial lawyer.

Moore, 49, was pastor of a Mercer church when he molested the boy between 2004 and 2008, starting when he was 15, according to trial testimony.

Moore maintained he was not guilty, but a jury found him guilty of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, statutory sexual assault, corruption of a minor and indecent assault.

Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas R. Dobson sentenced Moore in November 2013 to 9 to 25 years in prison.

In his direct appeal, Moore argued the two-year statute of limitations had expired for the charge for unlawful contact. He was charged in 2012, about three years after the alleged abuse ceased. He claimed he did not raise the issue sooner because of how the bill of information – the charging document in common pleas court – was worded, but a three-judge panel of Superior Court said the bill included the relevant years.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

The Catholic Church has admitted that some children in its care were “tragically and catastrophically” failed.

Fr Tim Bartlett, representing the Diocese of Down and Connor, was giving evidence to Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry.

It is currently examining claims of abuse at a County Down boys’ home.

“The diocese would not wish to offer any excuse at this stage. Only apologise,” Fr Bartlett said.

‘Very evil people’

He told the hearing at Banbridge courthouse that the concept of caring for vulnerable children was “noble”.

However, he accepted that some children were abused because of the actions of some Catholic Church figures and the inactions of others.

Fr Bartlett told the inquiry that “good people made very fundamental mistakes and some very evil people capitalised on that and manipulatively, manipulatively, used that situation for the most grotesque ends.”

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CANADA
Inside Ottawa Valley

By Derek Dunn

A Catholic priest well-known in the Arnprior area was found not guilty in Pembroke court on Dec. 3 on two sexual assault charges.

Father Dan Miller, who was last year found guilty of molesting five boys in Renfrew

County about 40 years ago, was charged with indecent assault and gross indecency. The alleged assaults took place in the Deep River area in the 1970s.

He had served nine months in the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre last year after pleading guilty to the first set of charges, but maintained his innocence in the latest case.

According to Arnpriortoday.ca, Justice Martin said the victim’s testimony was credible but not reliable.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 11, 2014

VATICAN CITY
For only the second time so far in his papacy, Pope Francis will name new cardinals of the Catholic church, giving him an opportunity to concretize his influence over who will be chosen as his successor one day.

Francis will name the new cardinals at a Feb. 14-15 ceremony, formally known as a consistory, Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said at a briefing Thursday.

Cardinals, sometimes known as the “princes of the church” and for their wearing of red vestments, are usually senior Catholic prelates who serve either as archbishops in the world’s largest dioceses or in the Vatican’s central bureaucracy.

After a pope’s death or renunciation of the papal office, cardinals are also responsible for governing the church until they meet together in a secret conclave to elect the next pope.

The Vatican spokesman said the pope did not say which prelates would be named cardinals, but the names are expected to be made public in mid-January.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WTBX

Lyn Riddle, Greenville News
December 11, 2014

A two-year investigation into the way Bob Jones University officials handled reports of sexual abuse from students has recommended personnel action against Bob Jones III, the grandson of the founder of the university and former president.

The report, issued by GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment.) this morning, says Jones was ultimately responsible for many of problems GRACE found.

“Dr. Jones, III has also repeatedly demonstrated a significant lack of understanding regarding the many painful dynamics associated with sexual abuse,” the report states. “Due to the central role Dr. Jones, III played in the many issues outlined within this report, it is recommended that the university impose personnel action upon Dr. Jones, III.

Randy Page, a spokesman for BJU, could not be reached immediately for comment on whether any action had been taken against Jones.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Washington Post

Bob Jones University president apologizes to victims of sexual assault on campus

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey | Religion News Service December 11

WASHINGTON — An outside watchdog group hired to investigate sex abuse claims at Bob Jones University issued its 300-page report on Thursday (Dec. 11), concluding that the conservative Christian school responded poorly to many students who were victims of sexual assault or abuse.

Bob Jones, with about 3,000 students at its campus in Greenville, S.C., tapped Lynchburg, Va.-based GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) in November 2012 to investigate claims about sexual assualt. During its two-year investigation, GRACE interviewed 50 individuals who self-identified as victims of sexual abuse.

Some of those students claimed they were victims on campus; others said they were dealing with child sexual abuse but received a poor reception from campus officials as they struggled with their past.

The school’s teachings on sin, forgiveness, discipline and justice shaped how Bob Jones University responded to sexual assault, the report argues.

“As a result of the school’s poor responses, many of these students were deeply hurt and experienced further trauma,” a press release from GRACE states.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Time

Eliza Gray @elizalgray

“We failed to uphold and honor our own core values”

A prominent Christian university in South Carolina apologized to victims of sexual assault and abuse Wednesday ahead of a report released Thursday that documented the school’s failure to adequately respond to their needs.

“On behalf of Bob Jones University, I would like to sincerely and humbly apologize to those who felt they did not receive from us genuine love, compassion, understanding, and support after suffering sexual abuse or assault,” university president Steve Pettit said in an address to students Wednesday. “We did not live up to their expectations. We failed to uphold and honor our own core values.”

MORE: The sexual assault crisis on American campuses

The apology came in advance of a 300-page report published Thursday, drawn from interviews with some 40 victims of sexual abuse or sexual assault at Bob Jones university over four decades. The report paints a picture of an administration that failed to offer them appropriate counsel, and in some instances even made them feel at fault for their abuse.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
The New York Times

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
DEC. 11, 2014

For decades, Bob Jones University told sexual assault survivors that they were to blame for the abuse, and not to report it because doing so would damage their families, their church and the university, according to a long-awaited investigative report released Thursday.

The attitude of Bob Jones, an evangelical Christian university in Greenville, South Carolina, toward abuse victims was “blaming and disparaging,” according to 56 percent of the hundreds of current and former students and employees who replied to a confidential survey as part of the inquiry. Written comments in the survey, and interviews that investigators conducted with some respondents, detail startling, often hurtful treatment of survivors, rather than the support they sought.

“I was abused from the ages of 6 to 14 by my grandfather,” one respondent said. “When I went for counseling I was told: `Did you repent for your part of the abuse? Did your body respond favorably?’ ” The person reported being told that going to the police “tore your family apart, and that’s your fault,” and that “you love yourself more than you love God.”

Another person said the university taught that “abuse victims are considered `second-rate Christians.’ ” Yet another said, “Victims heard, consistently, from chapel speakers and faculty/staff that abusers should be forgiven, that they bore the sin of bitterness and that they should not report abusers.”

About half the abuse survivors said the university had actively discouraged them from reporting the assaults to the police.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Bob Jones University

Tomorrow morning (Dec. 11, 2014), the GRACE organization (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), based in Lynchburg, Va., will release a report on BJU’s response to reports of sexual abuse and sexual assault for a period spanning almost four decades. The University commissioned the review because of our desire to examine our history in counseling victims of sexual abuse and sexual assault and to consider how our policies and practices could be improved. We wanted to make sure that we were not only in compliance with legal reporting requirements, but far more importantly, that we were providing the spiritual and emotional support needed to help victims overcome the trauma they had experienced.

GRACE interviewed approximately 40 victims, a number of whom were former BJU students who received counseling from BJU. Most had suffered child sexual abuse while some had experienced sexual assault before or while at BJU. Some stated to GRACE that Bob Jones University did not meet their needs when they came to us for counseling and advice. Some also stated that the counseling they received made them feel responsible for the crimes against them.

On behalf of Bob Jones University, I would like to sincerely and humbly apologize to those who felt they did not receive from us genuine love, compassion, understanding, and support after suffering sexual abuse or assault. We did not live up to their expectations. We failed to uphold and honor our own core values. We are deeply saddened to hear that we added to their pain and suffering.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Independent Mail

AP

GREENVILLE – Bob Jones University President Steve Pettit says the Greenville school has failed to uphold and honor its core values in investigating reports of sexual abuse.

Local media outlets report the results of a two-year investigation into the university’s handling of such complaints is being released Thursday. The university hired a group called the Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, to investigate.

Pettis said Wednesday in advance of the report’s release that the investigation found staff members were not properly trained and were insensitive to the suffering of abuse victims. He said the report focused on the experiences of approximately 20 out of over 90,000 former students at the university.

Pettit is appointing a committee to review the 300-page report and make recommendations within three months.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Newbury Today

Reporter: John Herring Reporter
Email: john.herring@newburynews.co.uk
Contact: 01635 886633

A FORMER Thatcham vicar has walked free from court after being cleared of 11 charges he faced involving inappropriate sexual conduct with children.

The Rev. Peter Jarvis did not flinch as a jury returned not guilty verdicts on five sexual offence charges against two teenage girls and two teenage boys between June 1, 2008, and October 31, 2011.

Yesterday (Wednesday) the jury of seven women and five men cleared Mr Jarvis of seven other charges, including five counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of sexual activity with a child.

However, they failed to reach a verdict over a final count of sexual impropriety and prosecutors have a week to decide if they want a re-trial.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Dec. 11

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

We’re grateful to two retired police officers who are helping to expose stunning recklessness and deceit by Syracuse Catholic officials. They say law enforcement staff warned a Catholic bishop about suspected sexual misconduct by Msgr. Charles Eckermann.

[Syracuse.com]

We strongly suspect that, over the years, dozens of Syracuse church staff knew of or suspected Eckermann’s sexual misdeeds and crimes but repeatedly chose to ignore or hide them. We suspect that at least a few of these church officials are still on the church payroll. Shame on each of them.

It’s not enough for Bishop Robert Cunningham to apologize. For the safety of the vulnerable and the healing of the wounded, he must use his vast resources to tell parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public about other proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics in the area.

Cunningham should start by asking – through pulpit announcements, church websites and parish bulletins – that others with information or suspicions about Eckermann’s crimes should call law enforcement immediately. (Even if Eckermann can’t be prosecuted, it’s possible that others who helped him hide his crimes might be.)

Cunningham should personally visit every parish where Eckermann worked, making this same plea.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will create new cardinals Feb. 14, following a two-day meeting of the world’s cardinals that will discuss reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, among other issues.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, made the announcement Dec. 11. The names of the new cardinals are likely to be announced in mid-January, he said.

If Pope Francis respects the limit of 120 cardinals under the age of 80 and, therefore, eligible to vote for a pope, he will have 10 such openings in February.

As of Dec. 11, the College of Cardinals had 208 members, 112 of whom were under 80. Retired Indonesian Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja of Jakarta will turn 80 Dec. 20 and Italian Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo has his 80th birthday Jan. 3.

On the same occasion, Pope Francis may also follow precedent by creating a number of cardinals over the age of 80, churchmen being honored for their contributions to theology or other service to the church.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Norman E. Donohue was a priest of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, ordained in 1939. He spent 42 years in Alaska, six of them as general superior of Jesuits in Alaska. He died in 1983. Donohue was accused in a 2006 lawsuit of sexually abusing boys as young as 5 years-old in Nulato and Kaltag in the 1960s and ’70s. In a 2009 lawsuit he was accused of sexually abusing an 11 to 14 year-old boy in Kaltag in the 1960s. Additionally, there were two or more pending claims shown in bankruptcy reorganization documents for Fairbanks Diocese in January 2010.

Ordained: June 16, 1939
Died: Oct. 24, 1983

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BELGIE
HLN

[The Catholic Church in Belgium is looking to outside help to assist in putting abusive priests back into service. Bishop Johan Bonny said they need support from forensic psychiatry, social and psychosocial services or external screening.]

De kerk vraagt om ondersteuning van buitenaf voor beslissingen over de mogelijke herintegratie van priesters die veroordeeld zijn voor seksueel misbruik. Dat heeft bisschop Johan Bonny vandaag laten verstaan. Hij denkt aan steun vanuit de forensische psychiatrie, sociale en psychosociale diensten en de steuncentra van justitie. Maar ook een externe screening van de opvolging van bepaalde dossiers moet kunnen, vindt Bonny.

Eerder dit najaar ontstond heel wat ophef rond de intentie van de Brugse bisschop Jozef De Kesel om een priester opnieuw te benoemen tot pastoor, nadat die enkele jaren voordien een minderjarige had aangerand. “Allicht hadden we onvoldoende ingeschat hoe gevoelig het nog ligt en hoe dat vandaag overkomt”, erkenden De Kesel en zijn vicaris-generaal Koen Van Houtte vandaag in de Kamer, nadat ze de beslissing uitvoerig hadden toegelicht.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Dec 11, 2014

Associated Press

Pope Francis will soon be adding to the group of churchmen which will elect his successor.

The Vatican said Thursday Francis would preside over a ceremony to create new cardinals Feb. 14. Their names weren’t announced.

The February consistory, as the ceremony is known, will cap a busy two weeks with some of Francis’ key initiatives taking shape: The pope’s sex abuse commission is expected to meet for the first time with the full complement of members starting Feb. 6. Nine additional members ? including at least another victim of abuse ? were cleared this week by Francis.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 December 2014 (VIS) – A press conference was held today during which the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., announced the Holy Father’s wish to convene a Consistory for the creation of new cardinals on 14 and 15 February 2015. He also announced two other important appointments: a meeting of the Council of Cardinals for the reform of the Roman Curia (9 to 11 February) and a meeting of the College of Cardinals (12 to 13 February) to discuss matters relating to the reorganisation of the Holy See.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS • A Missouri sex offender who was extradited to Australia to face decades-old accusations that he molested students there has been deported back to the U.S. and now lives in St. Louis, his former lawyer said this week.

David Kramer, who has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Israel, had worked at the Yeshiva College school in the Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda. He left in 1992 because of a visa problem, and spent almost a decade in Israel before coming to the St. Louis area.

He pleaded guilty of sexual misconduct and statutory sodomy in 2008, after prosecutors said he fondled a 12-year-old boy and masturbated in front of him in University City.

In 2011, Kramer was months from being released from a seven-year prison sentence in Missouri when he was accused by Australian authorities of fondling four male students, ages 10 and 11, at the Yeshiva College school in 1989-1992.

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TEXAS
Click2Houston

Phil Archer, Reporter, parcher@kprc.com
Matt Aufdenspring, Web Managing Editor, Click2Houston.com

HOUSTON –
A former Channelview music minister arrested in New York City on sexual assault of a child charges in Harris County has been extradited back to Texas.

Jude Drayton Ramdial was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, but his case was reset to Jan. 30, 2015. Ramdial, 33, is charged with sexual assault of a child. He was booked Tuesday into the Harris County Jail, where he’s being held.

Ramdial is a former youth minister at the Woodforest Worship Center Church of God, now known as the Victory Temple Church of God. He is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in the church youth group in 2005.

The girl, now an adult, reported the assault last spring to her pastor, who alerted Harris County sex crimes investigators.

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TEXAS
Waco Tribune-Herald

Trial begins for former teacher accused of improperly touching young female students

By REGINA DENNIS rdennis@wacotrib.com

The opening day of the trial of a former Waco Baptist Academy teacher accused of indecency with a child included testimony from a third woman alleging abuse by Sergio David Bezerra when she was young.

The victim, who is now 27, testified that Bezerra repeatedly molested her at his Hewitt home when she was a teenager. The woman had a close relationship to Bezerra but was not one of his students.
“I feel that by keeping quiet, then in a way I’m contributing to allowing someone to hurt children,” said the victim, now an elementary school teacher.

Bezerra, 54, is on trial for four counts of indecency with a child for allegedly improperly touching two 9-year-old girls at the school.

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

TEXAS
Waco Tribune-Herald

By OLIVIA MESSER omesser@wacotrib.com

Two girls testified Wednesday that they were inappropriately touched by their former Waco Baptist Academy Spanish teacher when they were 9 years old in the second day of testimony in the trial of Sergio David Bezerra, 54, who is charged with four counts of indecency with a child.

The victims, who are now 17 years old, testified before Judge Matt Johnson of the 54th District Court that they experienced inappropriate contact at school and during private piano lessons in 2007.

One of the victims said that Bezerra had the two girls sit near his desk during Spanish class while he rubbed their legs and thighs, using the desk as a shield from the other students. There were times, she said, when Bezerra would take her hand and press it to his “private area” and rub her arms so much they turned red.

She said that during piano lessons, Bezerra alternated between one girl on his lap and another playing the piano.

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ROME
Reuters

Dec 10 (Reuters) – The former president of the Vatican bank, Angelo Caloia, has resigned from the positions he held at the Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, Intesa said on Wednesday.

The announcement came four days after Reuters reported that assets belonging to Caloia and two other people had been frozen as part of an investigation into the sale of Vatican-owned real estate in the 2000s.

It was not clear if Caloia’s resignation was connected with the report. It was not immediately possible to reach Caloia or Intesa for comment.

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

OHIO
WTOV

Wednesday, December 10 2014

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ohio — Don’t call him Father Gary Zalenski anymore. He is just Gary Zalenski now that the Vatican has taken action, removing him from the priesthood and the church entirely.

This all stems from child abuse allegations that first came to light in 2007 and puts on a bow on a nearly 7-year investigation.

The Vatican’s decision had been a long time coming. After citing “credible evidence” of attacking a child, former Steubenville Bishop Dan Conlon put Zalenski on administrative leave from the Sacred Heart Parish in Neffs in 2007.

After 7 years, his title as priest was taken away on Oct. 30. Many people learned that news via the Dec. 5 Diocese newsletter, “The Steubenville Register.”

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OHIO
WTOV

Updated: Wednesday, December 10 2014

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ohio – Questions have been raised about how Steubenville’s Diocese is handling the news have emerged after a local priest was removed from the church. Gary Zalenski is no longer a priest. To find out why, click here

That doesn’t mean the church is putting him on the street right away. It does, however, mean that the Sacred Heart Parish in Neffs can finally put the controversy behind it.

Plenty of people want to know what’s happening with Zalenski – and they haven’t heard from the Bishop Jeffrey Monforton himself. The only word came via a two-line notification in the diocese newsletter and from a letter from Monforton that was read to parishioners at Sacred Heart.

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
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Jennifer Haselberger on Current Status of Nienstedt Investigation: Contextual Information

This is a footnote to what I posted yesterday about the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and its choice to hire a high-powered criminal lawyer for its ongoing investigation of allegations that St. Paul-Minneapolis archbishop John Nienstedt has behaved inappropriately with adult males. Yesterday, at her blog site, the former chancellor for canonical affairs of the archdiocese, Jennifer Haselberger, who resigned her position last year in protest of the archdiocese’s handling of the abuse crisis, provides some information “by way of context” to interpret what’s going on now in the archdiocese.

We learn the following from this posting by someone who has strong reason to know what’s going on with the archdiocesan investigation “on the inside”:

1. “[M]y understanding has always been that it [i.e., the current investigation] originated with a group of well-meaning and influential people within the Archdiocese who, out of frustration with the growing calamity of leadership coupled with the Archbishop’s refusal to fall on his sword, saw such an investigation as a tool that could be used to pressure Nienstedt to resign.” (Note: Haselberger does not think the current investigation originated with the Holy See.)

2. “I know for a fact that certain individuals with more leverage than Father Laird had been attempting to convince the Archbishop to resign since approximately September of 2013, although I am not certain if the two groups are the same.”

3. “Where problems arose, in my opinion, was that Greene and Espel was determined to conduct a credible investigation, whatever the result, whereas those behind the investigation would (I believe) have preferred a little less success.” (Note: Greene and Espel is the firm that conducted the initial investigation, which the criminal lawyer I mentioned yesterday, Peter Wold, is now said by those in the know to be re-conducting [and second-guessing].)

4. “In other words, I think the purpose of the investigation was to get just enough information to entice the Archbishop to depart, without stirring up any additional trouble in the process.”

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

Marci A. Hamilton

This year has been an interesting year if for no other reason than that child protection issues are now front and center in the media, and there have been developments (some forward, some backward) at the state, federal, and global levels. Why is this a big deal? The short answer is that until about 12 years ago, there was mostly silence about child protection. The public did not know about the widespread child sex abuse being covered up by bishops, or children dying from treatable medical ailments, or short statutes of limitations that virtually guaranteed no child abuse victim would be able to obtain justice. At the same time, the institutions and individuals that created the conditions for abuse kept their secrets indefinitely, or at least until they could be certain they were protected from repercussions.

Children can’t vote and they have paid a price for it. Now, governments, legislators, and many others are working hard to find a way to protect children from dangers including child pornography, trafficking, medical neglect, and sex abuse. The great neglected are becoming the cared for, one step at a time. But there are also new risks for children, which require even more vigilance and which are a reminder that the protection of children requires consistent attention, not merely occasional nods in their direction.

On balance, 2014 confirms that a lot of activity does not necessarily mean good results. Yet, the very fact of the commotion educates the public and lawmakers for later developments. The following is only a summary of what happened in 2014, because inclusion of every development would require more than a column can accommodate.

2014 State Developments Related to the Protection of Children

Statutes of Limitations (SOLs). For information on each state discussed below (and the rest of them), check out www.SOL-reform.com.

* New York. This is a true case of some states moving forward, while a handful like New York are stuck in antiquated laws that only help perpetrators and institutions that cover up for them. New York yet again stayed firmly mired in the five worst states in the country for victims’ access to justice. The Republican senate has failed to act, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ignored the issue.
* The California legislature passed a significant extension on the civil SOL and eliminated the criminal SOL. Like last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the civil extension. The criminal elimination is worthwhile nonetheless.
* For the first time, Georgia considered significant improvement in its SOL. Nothing happened. A new bill has been introduced for the 2015 session.
* Hawaii. This state led the pack with the first-ever two-year extension of a window (which revives previously expired SOLs for a set period of time), making their window the longest in history: a total of four years. This move proves that a window does not cause a state to sink into the ocean and is so obviously important to the common good (survivors, institutions, and the public alike).

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By John Agar | jagar@mlive.com
on December 11, 2014

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Former Christian radio host John Balyo will find out Thursday, Dec. 11, if he stands a chance of ever leaving prison when he’s sentenced for sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography.

The investigation has uncovered disturbing details of a double life led by the former morning host at WCSG, a Christian station operated by Cornerstone University.

Beyond the sexual assaults, Balyo, 35, who was married a short time before his arrest last summer, kept photos of himself pointing a handgun at a boy-size, anatomically correct mannequin, masturbating, then wrapping the mannequin in a carpet or tarp, as if preparing to bury it.

Police also found a “bondage kit” in his storage locker.

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
Derby Telegraph

A former church organist who was previously sentenced for abusing a boy of 11 more than 40 years ago has been caught with indecent images of children on his computer.

Graham Craft, 71, was ordered to attended a sex offenders’ course when he was sentenced in 2011 after admitting two charges committed at his home in Duffield in 1969.

But this week, a new hearing was told how police seized a computer at his address in Wirksworth Road and on it found 61 images of underage boys, 12 of which were the most serious category. Analysis of the device revealed he had used search terms such as “naturist boys” when surfing the net, Sarah Allen, prosecuting, told the court.

She said: “He was the subject of a sex offences prevention order that was due to

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com
on December 11, 2014

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A 30-year-old secret began to unravel two months ago when the Vatican defrocked Monsignor Charles Eckermann over child-molesting allegations.

Two retired Syracuse police officers remembered Eckermann’s name.

John Falge remembered how, at a hastily called meeting in 1984, Syracuse’s police chief ordered him to deliver a warning about Eckermann to the bishop of the Syracuse Diocese.

Police had seen Eckermann soliciting male prostitutes repeatedly in downtown Syracuse, according Falge and another retired officer, Thomas Murphy.

In May 1984, then-Bishop Frank Harrison announced that Eckermann would be the principal of Bishop Ludden High School. Police Chief Thomas Sardino wanted to put a stop to it immediately. He called Falge and Murphy into to his office that same day and gave Falge an order, the two officers say.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

The partner of an alleged child abuser says the allegations are false and they are happy to give evidence to prove it.

Ronald Thomas, 77, who taught in Tasmania in the late 1960s, has been found living in the Manawatu hamlet of Tangimoana, more than four decades after he evaded arrest and quit Australia.

He retired after teaching in New Zealand for three decades, The Australian newspaper reported.

At Thomas’ home, obscured by trees and with all curtains drawn, a man who said he was his partner answered the door.

He said Thomas was home, but would not be commenting to the media because he had been misquoted by The Australian.

Thomas was happy to give evidence to an Australian commission and did not want to comment publicly to preserve the integrity of the investigation, the man said.

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MICHIGAN
The Voice

By Matthew Fahr
For The Voice

A preliminary hearing for a Macomb Township man accused of inappropriate computer interactions with a student while working as Director of Admissions at Austin Academy was postponed Tuesday morning.

Proceedings in 42-1 District Court against Joseph Sturza were postponed by Judge Denis LeDuc until Feb. 18, 2015 in order to allow more time for discovery in the case.

Sturza, who was also a youth minister at St. Isidore Catholic Church in Macomb Township, faces four counts including child sexual abuse activity.

He is no longer with St. Isidore or Austin Academy and has posted a $50,000 bond since his Nov. 26 arrest.

The remaining charges still pending are two counts of communicating with another person to commit a crime and accosting children for immoral purposes. The child sexual activity charge is a 20-year felony.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

High Court orders religious order to provide files on sex abuse accused priests before hearing

Tim Healy

A religious order must provide files in advance of a court hearing on two of its priests alleged to have sexually abused pupils in a Dublin school in the 1970s.

The Holy Ghost Fathers have been ordered by the High Court to provide a victim with its files and any details of what the Order did about complaints against the priests.

The victim, a man the Holy Ghost Fathers accepts was abused by the two priests, alleges the Order failed to act on or report the complaints and caused, permitted and allowed the abuse of children to continue when they knew, or should have known, abuse was occurring.

The Holy Ghost Fathers have admitted they were negligent and, in a solicitor’s letter, have apologised to the man and offered to discuss a settlement. They deny he is entitled to punitive, aggravated or exemplary damages.

They also deny vicariously liable for the acts or wrongs of the two priests but, given the admission of negligence, say the man does not have to prove any such liability.

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CHILE
La Segunda

por: Fernando Duarte M.

A 24 horas de que se cumpla un mes desde la lectura de la sentencia en su contra, el sacerdote John O’Reilly comenzó a figurar en el registro nacional de pedófilos.

Según la información que proporciona el registro de inhabilidades para condenados por delitos sexuales de menores, dependiente del Servicio de Registro Civil, el cura de los Legionario de Cristo “sí registra inhabilidades para trabajar con menores de edad”.

Su aparición se produce un día después de que una fotografía de O’Reilly en el supermercado Jumbo de Los Dominicos, desatara múltiples comentarios en las redes sociales, pues en la imagen viralizada por @carlos_osorio se ve al cura conversando con una mujer junto a un carro lleno de bolsas.

————————————————–

After a month from being sentenced, the condemned priest John O’Reilly was put in the National Chilean Register of Pedophiles.

According to information provided by the registration for convicted child sex offenders, according to the registry, the priest of the Legionnaires of Christ “cannot do any work with minors”.

The appearance in the National Registry comes a day after he was photographed at the Jumbo supermarket, unleashing multiple comments on social media, as the image went viral and shows the priest talking to a woman next to a cart full of bags.

While tweets claimed that the priest was not fulfilling house arrest, his sentence says that is subject to probation for 4 years and has to sign every certain time at a designated place determined by the judge. Otherwise, he can move freely, but must be supervised by Gendarmerie.

John O’Reilly was found guilty on October 15 of repeated sexual abuse against a 5 year-old girl who was a student at the Colegio Cumbres in Santiago.

For that same reason, yesterday the Committee on Government Affairs, Nationality and Citizenship of the Chamber of Representatives approved a motion to revoke his Chilean citizenship grated by grace to the priest because of his “contributions” to the country. The motion moves on to the Senate to be discussed and approved.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Richard Pauson was an Oregon Province Jesuit priest, ordained in 1957. His entire career was spent on Indian reservations in Montana and Idaho. He died in 1971. Pauson’s name was included in 2011 on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1957
Died: Aug. 25, 1971

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

BY JOHN HILL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
jhill@providencejournal.com

PROVIDENCE — A lawyer for the niece of a woman who left $30 million to the disgraced Legion of Christ was before the state Supreme Court Tuesday, asking the justices to find his client has a legal right to challenge her aunt’s bequest.

But lawyers for the Legion were there as well, arguing that under state law the niece doesn’t have the needed legal standing to file a lawsuit against her aunt’s will.

The fight is over the estate of Gabrielle Mee, a North Smithfield widow who died in 2008, leaving an estimated $30 million to organizations and trusts that benefit the Legion of Christ. The Legion, a religious order dedicated to training seminarians for the priesthood, was scandalized by revelations that the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, who founded the order in 1941, molested young seminarians for decades and fathered multiple children.

Bernard A. Jackvony, representing the niece, Mary Lou Dauray, said his client wants to sue the order for unduly influencing her aunt, with the hope of taking the money left the Legion and donating it to other religious charities more deserving of her aunt’s generosity. Dauray has disavowed any claim to the money for herself.

Joseph Avanzato, representing the Legion, said she can’t because, as Superior Court Associate Justice Michael Silverstein found in 2012, state law says only “interested parties” can contest wills. An interested party is someone who has a financial interest in the handling of the will.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Dec. 10

Statement by Frank Meuers of Plymouth ( 952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com )

The fate of a Twin Cities priest who has been accused of sexually exploiting adult women is now in the hands of Archbishop John Nienstedt, who is also accused of adult sexual misconduct.

[Canonical Consultation]

[Pioneer Press]

For the safety of parishioners and the public, we beg Nienstedt to keep Fr. Mark Huberty off the job.

A jury says that Fr. Huberty’s offenses do not violate the law. But regardless of legal definitions, it’s clear that this priest has used his position, prestige and power to violate a trusting parishioner who came to him for counseling. By doing so, he has obviously crossed an ethical line. Nienstedt would be foolish and callous to once again give Fr. Huberty the power to exploit others.

The standard for giving someone a position of power must be “Can he act responsibly?” not just “Has he ever been convicted of seriously harming others?”

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MINNESOTA
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on Minnesota Public Radio:

National Public Radio is no friend of Catholicism, but usually it tries to hide its bias. By contrast, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is so thoroughly anti-Catholic that it makes no attempt to be fair. Truth be told, it is a scam: its politics is pervasive. Here’s the latest proof.

On December 8, a jury acquitted Father Mark Huberty, a Twin Cities priest, of criminal sexual conduct; a woman claimed he took sexual advantage of her during counseling sessions.

Three media outlets in Minnesota have been tracking this story from the beginning: the Pioneer Press, the Star-Tribune, and MPR. When news reports surfaced clearing Father Huberty of wrongdoing, the two newspapers gave the jury verdict complete coverage. But not MPR.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

12/09/2014

Jennifer Haselberger

I apologize to anyone who has been checking my blog today expecting more information about the investigation into the (mis)conduct of Archbishop Nienstedt. Since the story has been picked up by other news organizations (I recommend the reporting done by Esme Murphy at WCCO TV and Grant Gallicho at Commonweal Magazine), and since so much about what is taking place remains unclear and therefore incomprehensible, I decided to leave the topic to the journalists. Unlike me, they are able to at least pose questions to the Archdiocese, although it seems as though they are not getting much by way of answers.

However, I do what to provide a bit of information by way of context. First, I want to be clear that I do not, and have never, thought that this investigation (especially that conducted by Greene and Espel) was ordered by the Holy See. Rather, my understanding has always been that it originated with a group of well-meaning and influential people within the Archdiocese who, out of frustration with the growing calamity of leadership coupled with the Archbishop’s refusal to fall on his sword, saw such an investigation as a tool that could be used to pressure Nienstedt to resign. I know for a fact that certain individuals with more leverage than Father Laird had been attempting to convince the Archbishop to resign since approximately September of 2013, although I am not certain if the two groups are the same.

Where problems arose, in my opinion, was that Greene and Espel was determined to conduct a credible investigation, whatever the result, whereas those behind the investigation would (I believe) have preferred a little less success. In other words, I think the purpose of the investigation was to get just enough information to entice the Archbishop to depart, without stirring up any additional trouble in the process. I think those behind the investigation were probably shocked and disturbed at the extent of what was uncovered, and equally troubled by the Archbishop’s continued refusal to resign. They may not have gone looking for a mess, but they certainly found one.

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MINNESOTA
TheMediaReport

David Pierre

Just in the past thirteen months, Madeleine Baran from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) has completely smeared an innocent priest, been busted for publishing bogus information, and has plastered the Catholic Church with a heinous three-part series rife with falsehoods and misinformation.

And yet Baran has somehow managed to reach another new low.

In her latest piece light on clear thinking and logic, Baran suggests that the Catholic Church is now somehow responsible for hunting down and shadowing every past employee accused of abuse, and then constantly publicizing their whereabouts, no matter how long ago the alleged abuse occurred.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By Theresa May, Home Secretary
10 Dec 2014

It is often the case that the most difficult issues are the hardest to confront. Yet confront them we must. Which is why today, in London, representatives from more than 50 countries have gathered with one particular aim: the elimination of online child sexual abuse.

Every day, in countries across the globe, children are subjected to this most appalling of crimes, a crime about which we don’t yet know the true scale and which we are still learning to deal with.

The impact of child sexual abuse – both online and offline – is devastating.

There are children out there who have suffered indescribable horrors. They grow into adults who carry the burden of abuse with them throughout their lives.

Advances in technology have brought us so much. Communicating across countries and time zones is now as simple as a click of the mouse, and information can be shared freely and easily.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Guam – A new organization has just formed that aims to challenge some decisions and policies of the Archdiocese of Agana under the leadership of Archbishop Apuron. The group says their mission is to heal a fragmented and deeply divided Church.

A non-profit organization, the group plans to take action that would address issues and concerns that have seemed to create a huge gap within the Catholic Community. Vice President David Sablan talks about some of the issues that compelled them to form this group.

“Some of the issues that have been confronting [the Church] with the closure of the museum, the release of Father James Benavente and Father Paul Gofigan from their parishes and duties as pastors,” says Sablan, adding that priests’ removal was surrounded by suspicion. “The main thing is we gotta get the finances in order.”

Among those concerns also includes the Archdiocese’s Sexual Abuse policy, which was recently tested when sex abuse allegations were lodged against the Archbishop himself.

“They say that you gotta have a victim to make the complaint. The policy does not require it. As long as there’s an allegation of sexual abuse, then somebody has to investigate that. I don’t think it’s being investigated properly. Unfortunately it’s because of the fact that it’s the archbishop that’s being accused, but yet he’s also the person that decides whether an investigation goes forward or not. That’s a conflict of interest and the policy does not address that,” explains Sablan.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis seems to want to avoid the fundamental challenge facing the papacy — how to make the Catholic Church’s hierarchy accountable to worldwide Catholics and to the rule of law. This is well indicated by his Synod’s new preparatory outline, or “Lineamenta” (12/9/14), and the pope’s interview with Argentina’s “La Nacion” (12/7/14).

The pope’s Secretariat has issued to the celibate male Catholic hierarchy this outline for the “final” Synod of Bishops, to be held in Rome in less than ten months, on “The vocation and the mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world”.

The outline’s seemingly slanted Synod agenda, and the Synod’s expected voting bias of exclusively clerical male participants, disappoint many hopeful Catholics who expect more from Pope Francis. As with this past October’s preliminary Synod, the agenda appears to exclude the major pressing Catholic family issue of curtailing priest child abuse and holding bishops accountable.

The Synod’s voting participants also, it appears so far, exclude woman and married men. Pope Francis, as the ultimate “guarantor” in his words, has the final say on any changes to teachings, et al., regardless of any Synod bishops’ advisory voting.

Pope Francis, in effect, in the last analysis can do whatever he wants to do, which makes one wonder why the big show with the Synods? Are Catholics being “played” again? Please see, via Google translate, the Italian version of the outline, the only now available, here:

[Vatican]

and some related comments, here:

[National Catholic Reporter]

The outline certainly covers the issue central to Francis’ all important claim to personal infallibility, contraception (Sections 40-44). Purportedly, to address the Vatican’s perceived “challenge” of the sharp drop (?) in birth rates. the outline emphasizes “Blessed” Paul VI’s 1968 “ban of the pill” and stresses the “intrinsic requirement of the openness to life in conjugal love” (“Vaticanese” for no birth control other than the “natural family planning”). An overwhelming majority of Catholics have already rejected this “teaching”.

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TEXAS
Valley Central

A series of saved text messages and a recorded phone call are both being used as evidence against a youth pastor accused of molesting a boy.

Texas Rangers arrested 38-year-old Domingo Salinas on an indecency with a child by contact charge on Monday.

Investigators reported that Salinas was a youth pastor at the Central Christian Fellowship Church in Weslaco.

Church leaders could not immediately be reached for comment but court records released to Action 4 News reveal several new details in the case.

The records show that Salinas was also a basketball coach for a local Boys & Girls Club here in the Rio Grande Valley.

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GUAM
KUAM

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam – It’s not public property; it’s not government property, but rather private property! Those are the words from the Archdiocese of Agana which is now banning the media from filming or conducting interviews on Chancery grounds unless given permission. The Archdiocese has designated the St. John Paul the Great Center for Evangelization as the facility where media interviews can be conducted. The facility is adjacent to the Chancery and media will need to be escorted there. This new policy follows John Toves invitation to media last week to follow him to the Chancery as he attempted to confront the Archbishop.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 10, 2014

THE Mangrove Mountain ashram was accused by its bosses in India of “swami says syndrome” and “hiding behind the guru’s dhoti” in its handling of the revelations that a former guru raped children, the child sex abuse royal commission heard today.

The email sent in October this year contained a stinging rebuke after it was announced that the Satyananda Yoga Ashram was being investigated by the commission over its handling of sexual abuse allegations made against Swami Akhandananda Saraswati between 1974 and 2014.

The Indian bosses also sought to distance themselves from any of the damning behaviour despite evidence that the former head of Satyananda Yoga, Swami Satyananda, was told about the abuse in 1987 in India and declined to get involved.

Along with Satyananda at that meeting in 1987 was the now-current head of Satyananda Yoga, Swami Niranjan, 52, the commission has been told.

It was Swami Niranjan who wrote the October email, saying: “From our perspective there is no accountability or concern for yoga in Australia. No one is prepared to take responsibility for the situation and events which have occurred.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Antonette Collins

The chief executive of a yoga ashram on the New South Wales Central Coast has apologised for mistakes made in dealing with child abuse victims, including some whose Facebook posts about the abuse were deleted.

Sarah Tetlow told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that compensation would be offered to victims abused by a former spiritual leader at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram.

The commission has been investigating the handling of the complaints, which date back to the 1970s and ’80s.

Ms Tetlow said the organisation made errors earlier this year, when it first gave an apology to victims on Facebook but then removed some posts and sent cease and desist letters to the posts’ authors.

“Definitely the way the organisation has responded has not been helpful to the victims,” Ms Tetlow told the Sydney hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Indian headquarters of the Satyananda yoga movement expressed its disgust and threatened to withdraw all support for its Australian ashrams after one of the communities was investigated over sex scandals.

In an angry email to the Mangrove Mountain Ashram in October the Munger ashram in India said that Australia was ‘willing and happy to hide behind the guru’s dhoti’ and suffer the ‘swamiji says’ syndrome.’

The email is understood to reflect the position of Swami Niranjan, the world leader of the movement.

It threatened to withdraw all support from Satyananda ashrams in Australia unless a full account, an apology and a new system was put in place.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Children were raped, beaten and drugged at Mangrove Yoga Ashram, say victims at Royal Commission into child sexual abuse

IN the foothills of Mangrove Mountain, some went in search of peace at a yoga ashram, instead their children were drugged, raped and beaten.

Disturbing details have been revealed of the abuse suffered by children in the 1970s and 80s at a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse at the Mangrove Yoga Ashram on the NSW Central Coast.

The ashram north of Sydney was founded by a disciple of the Indian guru who established the Satyananda Yoga movement, which helped spread the practice around the world.

The commission has heard from nine witnesses, including an account last week from one victim who was stripped naked when she was seven years old and held down while the skin between her breasts was cut by a swami. He then licked the blood and had intercourse with her during an initiation ceremony.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 10, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Victims of horrific assaults committed at a yoga ashram on the NSW central coast have asked for $1 million each in compensation, a sex abuse inquiry has heard.

Six of the nine victims who have given evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse about the trauma they suffered at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain in the 1970s and 1980s have formally requested financial redress throught their legal counsel.

Sarah Tetlow, chief executive of the ashram’s parent body, the Satyananda Yoga Academy, indicated to the commission that the organisation was considering financial compensation for victims, who have previously told of ongoing mental and physical health problems as a result of the abuse they suffered at the hands of former leader Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

She told the commission that the Satyananda Yoga Academy’s net assets were worth $5.6 million. It owns three properties at Mangrove Mountain, Manly and rural Victoria. Three more properties on the NSW central coast are held in the name of two trusts associated with the academy.

The final day of the inquiry heard evidence about the ashram’s efforts to help the victims, which included an invitation to attend a fire ceremony.

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AUSTRALIA
Business Standard

Victims of sexual assaults committed at an Indian yoga ashram in Australia have sought A$1 million (around $832,000) compensation each, media reported Wednesday.

Six of the nine victims who have given evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse about the trauma they suffered at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain in the Australian state of New South Wales between the 1970s and 1980s have formally requested financial redress through their legal counsel, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Wednesday, the final day of the inquiry, the commission heard about the ashram’s efforts to help the victims, which included an invitation to attend a fire ceremony.

Fire ceremonies were used for healing purposes in the yoga tradition.

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NEW ZEALAND
NZ City

A former teacher accused at an Australian royal commission of child abuse has spoken out from his New Zealand home, denying the allegations and that he fled Australia to avoid arrest.

Ronald Thomas, 77, was accused at the commission of abusing boys while a music teacher at Tasmania’s Hutchins School in the late 1960s.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse heard evidence from a former police chief last month that Mr Thomas had admitted molesting a boy but fled the country to South Africa before he could be arrested.

It was thought he had since died.

However, Mr Thomas has now spoken to The Australian from his home in Bulls and says he made no confessional statement.

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NEW ZEALAND
The Dominion Post

A teacher accused of abusing boys he taught in Tasmania in the late 1960s, has been found living in the Manawatu more than four decades after he evaded arrest and quit Australia.

Ronald Thomas, 77, has retired after teaching in New Zealand for four decades, The Australian newspaper reported.

The New Zealand Teachers’ Council confirmed he had taught here, and was seeking his file.

New Zealand police were also investigating whether he had been the subject of complaints.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse was told he habitually and violently abused boys when he was a young music teacher at Hobart’s elite Hutchins School in the late 1960s.

Police had given evidence he confessed to child abuse in 1970, but fled to South Africa days before he could be arrested, ending the investigation.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DECEMBER 10, 2014

Matthew Denholm
Tasmania Correspondent
Hobart

AN alleged pedophile teacher who evaded arrest and was believed by a royal commission to have died is living a happy retirement in rural New Zealand, The Australian can reveal.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse has heard Ronald Thomas, now 77, habitually and violently abused boys when he was a young music teacher at Hobart’s elite Hutchins School in the late 1960s.

Former Tasmanian police chief Richard McCreadie has given evidence that Thomas confessed to child abuse in 1970, but fled to South Africa days before he could be arrested, forcing an end to the investigation.

The commission, which has focused its Tasmanian hearings on allegations of a pedophile ring of up to eight teachers at the establishment school in the 1960s, believed Mr Thomas had died, naming him on that basis. However, The Australian yesterday found Mr Thomas alive and reflecting on a “happy and productive life” — including more than four decades teaching in New Zealand — as he shares his autumn years with a same-sex partner in quiet North Island dairy country.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former Hobart private school teacher accused of sexually abusing students in the 1960s and believed dead has been found living in New Zealand.

Last month, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held open hearings in Hobart on alleged sexual abuse at the Hutchins School in the 1960s.

Former music teacher Ronald Thomas, who was referred to in the hearings, has been found living north of Wellington despite the commission and witnesses believing he was dead.

The commission confirmed the inquiry believed Mr Thomas was dead but is now discussing with its lawyers about the next step it should take.

The Hobart inquiry focused on allegations surrounding former headmaster David Lawrence and another teacher, but heard claims up to eight former Hutchins School staff were paedophiles.

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

A teacher alleged to have abused boys during music lessons at an elite school in Tasmania has been living in New Zealand for 40 years.

Ronald Thomas, 77, was named by the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse investigating allegations of abuse at Hutchins School in Hobart in the late 1960s. It was believed he had fled to South Africa when police indicated he would be arrested, and had later died.

However, he was tracked down by The Australian newspaper to rural North Island dairy country where the now retired teacher lives with his same-sex partner.

During the Royal Commission’s inquiry, former Tasmanian police chief Richard McCreadie gave evidence that Thomas confessed to child abuse in 1970.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Wednesday 10 December 2014

A former Tasmanian teacher at the centre of paedophile allegations has denied he fled the country to avoid arrest and says he never made any confession.

Ronald Thomas, 77, was accused at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse of abusing boys while a teacher at the Tasmanian school Hutchins in the 1960s.

The royal commission heard evidence last month that Thomas had admitted molesting a boy but fled the country to South Africa before he could be arrested. It was thought he had since died.

But Thomas has now spoken to the Australian newspaper from his home in New Zealand and says he made no confessional statement.

“One of those [police] men came back two or three weeks later and I … said, ‘It’s my word against yours’,” he told the publication. “And he said ‘Yes OK,’ so I said ‘Bye, bye’. There was never any question of an arrest.”

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NEW MEXICO
KOAT

[with video]

GALLUP, N.M. —Five new clergy members accused of sexual abuse are believed to be publicly named for the first time in a motion filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The motion seeks financial and insurance statements from the province of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the province of St. John the Baptist.

Court documents name Rev. Julian Hartig and Brother Mark Schornack, who are believed to have been accused of abuse publicly in the past. The documents also name Fr. Ephraim Beltremea, Fr. Eugene Botello, Fr. Crispin Butz, Fr. Finnian Connolly and Fr. Clemetine Wottle as possible abusers.

It’s believed to be the first time those names have been mentioned publicly tied to any alleged abuse.

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MICHIGAN
CBS Detroit

ROMEO (WWJ) – A 47-year-old Macomb County youth minister and Catholic school admissions director remains behind bars, facing sexual abuse charges after he allegedly sent sexually explicit emails to a student.

Joseph Sturza made a brief appearance in 42nd District Court in Romeo on multiple felony counts. He’s charged with child sexual abusive activity, using a computer to communicate to commit a crime and accosting a child for immoral purposes. The sexual abuse activity charge is a 20-year felony. The computer charge carries a 15-year prison sentence.

A hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday was delayed until Jan. 27.

Macomb County Sheriff Anthony said the graphic emails were intercepted by the student’s parents alerted the school, which contacted the Archdiocese, which called authorities.

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BRASIL
Globo

Foi preso na manhã desta terça-feira (9) o ex-padre João Marcos Porto Maciel, conhecido como Dom Marcos de Santa Helena, 74 anos. Ele é suspeito de abusar sexualmente de adolescentes. O religioso acabou detido pela Polícia Civil, em Caçapava do Sul, na Região Central, onde reside atualmente.

Os policiais encontraram Maciel no templo em que o suspeito fundou para receber menores de idade em vulnerabilidade social, na Estrada do Salso, no município. O religioso ficará preso temporariamente na Penitenciária Estadual de Caçapava do Sul. A detenção é válida por 30 dias, podendo ser prorrogável por mais 30. Os agentes também pretendem levar à delegacia dois monges que ajudam o ex-padre no templo, para que eles prestem depoimento. Foram apreendidos duas armas, computadores e mídias de informática.

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BRASIL
ZH

por José Luís Costa, de Caçapava do Sul

A Polícia Civil prendeu, na manhã desta terça-feira, o ex-padre João Marcos Porto Maciel, 74 anos, em Caçapava do Sul, na Região Central. Ele deverá ficar detido temporariamente durante 30 dias por ser alvo da Operação Silêncio dos Inocentes, que visa a investigar suspeitas de abusos sexuais de crianças e adolescentes.

Conhecido pelo nome de Dom Marcos de Santa Helena, ele teria praticado, segundo investigações policiais, violência sexual contra dois garotos de 11 e 12 anos — um morou sob a guarda dele e outro frequentava abadia na zona rural da cidade, onde são oferecidas gratuitamente aulas de música a jovens carentes desde 1997 e celebrações religiosas à comunidade.

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BRAZIL
The Sun Daily

Posted on 10 December 2014

RIO DE JANEIRO: An excommunicated Brazilian priest was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of child abuse going back decades, police told AFP.

The Catholic Church expelled Joao Marcos Porto Maciel, 74, in Cacapava do Sul in southern Brazil in 2009 though he later founded his own congregation.

City police inspector Igor Bachmann said Maciel had been arrested and could be held for 30 days with a maximum 30-day extension while he is investigated.

“The sexual abuse started more than 50 years ago,” said Bachmann, adding that Maciel had been detained in 2012 and witnesses interviewed.

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VIRGINIA
WINA

Charlottesville Police say a former youth pastor is accused of a sex crime. 35-year-old Jacob Daniel Kepple (pictured) of Fluvanna is charged with two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child under his custodial care.

Kepple served as a youth pastor at First Baptist Church on Park Street until July. Police say there was one victim and the alleged incidents happened for two years beginning in 2009.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN DECEMBER 10, 2014

A NOTORIOUS paedophile priest jailed for horrific crimes against children has spent his first day of freedom back in court on new charges.

The former priest, who cannot be named, was released from prison yesterday after serving a seven-year stint.

It was his second time behind bars for sex crimes on kids.

The man was bailed and ordered to appear at the County Court after being committed to stand trial on 15 fresh charges.

The County Court heard a new trial would take three months to complete, and would not be able to start before 2016.

It comes after 11 new complainants came forward to police while the man, in his 60s, was completing his sentence.

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NEW MEXICO
KRQE

[with video]

By Cole Miller
Published: December 9, 2014

GALLUP, N.M. (KRQE) – There are new sexual abuse allegations against priests and friars in New Mexico. A national group is now responding to those allegations and is trying to track down victims. The allegations involve seven men that at one time served the Gallup area.

“I believe there have been 12 Gallup area priests that have been publicly accused of molesting children in the past and this now brings the total up to 19,” Barbara Dorris said.

The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is reacting to a news report that an additional seven Catholic priests and friars are now facing allegations of sexual abuse against children. SNAP says they are all from the diocese in Gallup.

“We would like to see church officials do everything within their power to do outreach, to turn over the documents they have regarding these accusations regarding the clerics,” Dorris, SNAP’s Victims Outreach Director, said.

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UNITED STATES
New York Magazine

By
Marin Cogan

Last month, the Washington Post made what was, for a newspaper anyway, an unusual decision: They would publish Barbara Bowman’s rape allegations against Bill Cosby in a first-person essay, despite the fact that Bowman had never pressed charges. When reporters outside the paper started asking about their decision, executive editor Marty Baron drafted a long statement defending their choice.

“The investigation of sexual abuse by priests within the Catholic Church was based on many allegations in which no criminal charges or lawsuits had been filed,” he wrote. “In fact, that was a major point of the investigation: How society, including its legal system, served to suppress disclosure of a pattern of abuse.”

In the end, Baron’s statement was never published (a spokesperson for the Post shared it with me when I asked them about it last week). Three days after Bowman’s piece appeared, another woman named Joan Tarshis said Cosby assaulted her in 1969. The next day, another woman, Linda Joy Traitz, said Cosby tried to assault her. Then model Janice Dickinson said Cosby raped her. Two days later, three more women stepped forward. Then three more. By the time the Washington Post published its own deeply reported investigation into the claim — which included multiple accounts of assault and multiple denials from Cosby’s legal team — no one could reasonably doubt their decision to publish Bowman’s story.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News

A group of private citizens has formed a nonprofit organization called Concerned Catholics of Guam, in part to investigate financial and leadership problems within the local Catholic Church.

The problems became public in recent months, but they’ve caused division in the local Catholic Church community for almost two years now, said one of the nonprofit’s officials, Dave Sablan.

Concerned Catholics’ leaders announced yesterday they intend to gather evidence and accept documents from concerned citizens in an attempt to influence change.

They’re not asking for Archbishop Anthony Apuron or other leaders of the Archdiocese of Agana to resign, but they’d like to get a better understanding of why the number of churchgoers in some parishes has dwindled.

If they find proof that specific officials are responsible, they’d like to present that proof to the public and to the Vatican.

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OHIO
WTRF

STEUBENVILLE – The Diocese of Steubenville has dismissed a priest who has been dogged by sexual abuse allegations since the early 1990s.

A notice was issued about Gary Zalenski in the December 5 edition of The Steubenville Register.

Zalenski is no longer a member of the priesthood and can no longer use the title Father.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

MICHELLE R. SMITH
Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island Supreme Court justices are raising questions about the conduct of a disgraced Roman Catholic order, but they also are expressing doubts that lawsuits against the order will be able to move forward.

Justices heard arguments Tuesday in a case over $60 million given to the Legion of Christ.

Mary Lou Dauray says her late aunt, Gabrielle Mee, would not have given the money if she knew its founder secretly fathered three children and molested seminarians. She says her aunt was manipulated into donating.

The Legion argued that Dauray does not have standing to sue. A superior court judge agreed in 2012, and threw her lawsuits out.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

December 9, 2014 | Author: berger

A victory for Archbishop Robert Carlson and his lawyers: a Lincoln County judge has ruled that a civil lawsuit charging Fr. Joseph Jiang with molesting a girl will be dismissed. The alleged victim’s attorney Ken Chackes is expected to appeal. And Jiang will soon be back in court in the city on criminal charges of sexually abusing a boy at the Cathedral school on Lindell Boulevard.

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

By Jasmine Stole – jasmine@mvguam.com – Variety News Staff

HAGÅTÑA — The Concerned Catholics of Guam, Inc. yesterday said that a proper audit of the Agana Archdiocese’s finances should be conducted and that it plans to investigate the of the Neocatechumenal Way’s practices on Guam.

Concerned Catholics of Guam, Inc. Vice President, David Sablan, said Archbishop Anthony Apuron has been entrusted with the finances of the Church and, according to Canon Law, the finances of the Church should be disclosed to the public.

“There’s a business part of this organization and questions related to it: ‘What are you doing with the money? Where is it going? What are you doing with the assets?’” Sablan said. “Why do we have two different seminaries? Do we have that many young men wanting to be priests? These are some of the questions that need answering and it all leads back to funding and money and where’s it all going?”

Sablan said the group does not know if the money is going to the Neocatechemunal Way. “I don’t know, is there something going on that we’re not aware of? We’ll find out what the truth is,” he said.

The group expects to pay for a proper audit of the church’s finances, Sablan said, adding that since Concerned Catholics of Guam is a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, comapanies that wish to donate to the group can deduct the donation from their taxes. “We’re going to be a formidable voice to represent the laity,” he said. “The hierarchy should be leading us correctly, based on precepts handed down by our Lord through the Pope and the Vatican, and not going in a different direction.”

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NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 9

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

Seven New Mexico clerics with a Catholic religious order called the Franciscans are accused of sexually abusing youngsters, according to the Gallup Independent newspaper and court documents.

(Full article is below.)

Five of them are believed to be publicly named as alleged perpetrators for the first time: Ephrem Beltramea (listed as Ephraim Beltremea), Eugene Botello, Crispin Butz, Finnian Connolly and Clementin (listed as Clemetine) Wottle.

Before this disclosure, an independent archive group that researches the church abuse scandal, BishopAccountability.org, said there are 12 Gallup area priests who are publicly accused of molesting children.

We urge the Franciscans and all three New Mexico bishops – especially Gallup Bishop James Wall – to reveal every church facility where these accused clerics worked – inside and outside the state – and aggressively seek out anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by them.

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MINNESOTA
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho December 9, 2014

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has retained the services of a high-profile criminal defense attorney, Peter Wold, as part of its nearly year-long investigation of Archbishop John Nienstedt, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. News of the hire comes weeks after the archdiocese announced a 20-percent budget reduction, which will include cuts to lay staff, as pending sexual-abuse litigation threatens to plunge the Twin Cities diocese into bankruptcy.

In early July, I reported that the archdiocese had hired the law firm Greene Espel to look into multiple claims that Nienstedt had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with seminarians, priests, and other adult men. Nienstedt denied the allegations, and has said he will not resign. Greene Espel’s report was completed by late July, but auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche, who has been overseeing the investigation, said at the time that the archdiocese needed more time “to digest the information and any other information we receive.” Apparently that means re-interviewing some of the people who filed affidavits as part of Greene Espel’s investigation. And, as the Star-Tribune reports, at least one of those people is not too happy about it. His name is Joel Cycenas, former priest of the Twin Cities diocese–and former friend of Nienstedt.

“I met with him [Wold] and they are trying to discredit my own affidavit,” Cycenas told the Star-Tribune. “I don’t get it.” (Cycenas has not replied to requests for comment.) One of the reasons the archdiocese took the allegations against Nienstedt so seriously, according to my sources, is that they first came from someone who had been close to him. The Star-Tribune reports that last summer Nienstedt had this to say about his friendship with Cycenas: “We were very good friends at one point. We met at World Youth Day in Toronto [in 2002]…. We went to the State Fair together. Oftentimes I would stay at his rectory at Holy Spirit when I was coming up [from the New Ulm Diocese] to fly out the next morning.” The end of their friendship coincided with Cycenas’s decision to leave the priesthood in 2009.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Dec. 3, 2014

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

ALBUQUERQUE — As the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case enters its second year, seven Franciscan friars have been named as alleged sex abusers in court documents, and one Franciscan province is battling to not be pulled into the case.

On Oct. 30, attorney James I. Stang, the legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, filed motions with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court requesting financial and insurance documents from two of the three Franciscan provinces that have provided the Diocese of Gallup with Franciscan clergy for decades. Stang’s committee, made up of clergy sex abuse survivors, represents the interests of abuse survivors who have filed confidential claims with the court.

Stang’s recent motions provided the first information regarding clergy who have been named as alleged abusers by the 56 individuals who filed confidential proof of claims in the case.

Accused friars

According to Stang’s motions, seven Franciscan friars who once worked in the Gallup Diocese were identified by claimants as alleged abusers.

Two friars, the Rev. Julian Hartig and Brother Mark Schornack, had previously been publicly identified as alleged abusers. Five others, all believed to be Franciscan priests, were also named as alleged perpetrators. Most of those named, Ephrem Beltramea (listed as Ephraim Beltremea), Eugene Botello, Crispin Butz, Finnian Connolly and Clementin (listed as Clemetine) Wottle, are believed to be deceased.

According to the Official Catholic Directory, during the years claimants cited, 1970-1972 for Beltramea and 1960-1963 for Butz, those two priests were assigned to Gallup’s St. Francis of Assisi Parish. Connolly was assigned to Immaculate Conception Parish in Cuba, N.M. in 1960-1963, and Wottle was assigned to St. Isabel Mission in Lukachukai, Ariz., 1965, and Sacred Heart Parish in Waterflow, N.M., 1966-1970.

Neither Botello’s name nor his assignment history in the Gallup Diocese could be located in the Official Catholic Directory for the years 1962-1965.

Espelage and Torisky

In addition to requesting Franciscan financial and insurance records, Stang requested documents on the seven accused Franciscan clergy, and he also requested documents on two well-known Franciscans, Bishop Bernard T. Espelage and Brother Duane Torisky, both of whom went on to serve in prominent positions in the Diocese of Gallup.

Espelage was a Franciscan priest in Santa Fe and the rector of Santa Fe’s cathedral when he was named the first bishop of the Diocese of Gallup. He served as Gallup’s bishop from 1940 to 1969, before his death in 1971. Torisky, who is currently the secretary for the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Albuquerque, served as the Diocese of Gallup’s chancellor from 1990 to 2000. Contrary to information included in the motions, Torisky was never the vicar general for the Gallup Diocese.

Stang requested documents related to the relationship between the Franciscans and the Gallup Diocese because he asserted at least 22 “sexual abuse claims were filed alleging abuse perpetrated during the tenures” of Espelage and Torisky in the Gallup chancery.

Based on Franciscan responses to drafts of his motions, Stang said, “the Committee does not believe that the Franciscan Friars … will voluntarily produce the requested documents without a court order.”

Franciscan objection

But which Franciscans should produce the documents – if U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma decides such documents should be produced?

Stang’s motions were directed at the Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Franciscan Province Our Lady of Guadalupe in Albuquerque. A third Franciscan province, the Province of St. Barbara, Calif., which has traditionally sent Franciscan friars to the White Mountain Apache reservation, has thus far stayed out of the bankruptcy court fray.

The Cincinnati province, which has not yet responded to Stang’s motion, assigned Franciscan friars to work in the Gallup Diocese for more than four decades. In the mid-1980s, however, the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe formed in New Mexico, and most of the Ohio friars working in the Gallup Diocese became members of the Albuquerque “daughter” province.

Phoenix attorney John C. Kelly, representing Albuquerque’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Franciscans, argued that the New Mexico province should not be drawn into the case.

In his objection to Stang’s motion, Kelly noted that all the listed claims of abuse allegedly took place under the Ohio Franciscans’ tenure, before the New Mexico province was formed.

According to Kelly, “not one abuse claimant has alleged that any misconduct occurred during a time period for which OLOG could be held responsible.”

“There is no need to produce documents to determine the legal validity of claims that do not exist,” Kelly added. “This is an impermissible fishing expedition, and nothing more.”

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 9, 2014

VATICAN CITY For the second time in two years, the Vatican has asked national bishops’ conferences around the world to seek input from Catholics at “all levels” about how the church should respond to sometimes difficult questions of modern family life, such as divorce and remarriage.

Issuing a document in preparation for a second worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops on family life next year, the Vatican has also stressed the need for mercy in responding to such difficult situations — even asking the bishops to avoid basing their pastoral care solely on current Catholic doctrine.

The call for input came Tuesday in a document released by the Vatican’s Office for the Synod of Bishops, which in October 2015 will to host the second of two global bishops’ meetings called by Pope Francis for 2014 and 2015.

The document is partly a summary of the last meeting in October and partly a series of 46 questions meant to help prepare for the next synod. The Vatican synod office is sending the document in coming days to bishops’ conferences around the world.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 9

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

An investigation into a Minnesota Catholic archbishop who allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct with seminarians in Detroit is deepening. Detroit’s current archbishop must help, by aggressively reaching out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered sexual misdeeds by his colleague.

Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt faces allegations of sexual misconduct with ten seminarians. At least some of the reported misdeeds happened in Detroit, where Nienstedt for six years was President of Sacred Heart Major Seminary. In 1996, he was named an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

[Star Tribune]

A months-long investigation by church officials is now being taken over by a second law firm.

For the safety of parishioners and the public, Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron must act. We beg him to use his vast resources – parish websites, church bulletins and pulpit announcements – to seek out anyone else who may have been hurt by Nienstedt. This is the very least Vigneron should do.

When allegations of sex crimes or misdeeds against clergy arise, Catholic officials almost always do the absolute bare minimum. Rarely, if ever, do they act responsibly and decisively, by helping the investigations. And by their silence and inaction, Catholic officials make such investigations harder and less successful.

Catholic officials can’t have their cake and eat it too, by insisting on internal investigations into sexual misconduct but doing little or nothing to help with these investigations.

For centuries, sexual misconduct has been carefully and effectively hidden by a rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy in the Catholic church. Despite promises of reform, such misconduct remains largely hidden. Vigneron can become part of the solution, by taking decisive action now. Or he can keep being part of the problem, by passively sitting back and refusing to extend a helping hand to Minnesota investigators and to perhaps even more suffering Detroit Catholics, some of whom might be his own priests.

(One of Nienstedt’s accusers, a former priest named Joel Cycenas, has spoken publicly in today’s Star Tribune.)

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 7 December 2014 (VIS) – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., has issued the following statement in response to questions from the press:

“I can confirm that the Promoter of Justice of the Vatican City State Tribunal has opened an investigation against two former executives of the IOR for suspected embezzlement of funds in the context of real estate transactions that took place during the period from 2001 to 2008. The investigation has also been extended to a lawyer for involvement in the case.

The matter was presented to the Vatican City State judiciary by the IOR authorities as a result of the internal audit carried out last year.

The accounts of those concerned in the IOR were frozen as a precautionary measure a few weeks ago.

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VATICAN CITY
CTV

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, December 9, 2014

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis convened his cardinal advisers to chart the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy Tuesday after acknowledging resistance to his changes but saying he welcomes the debate and is nevertheless undeterred.

It’s the seventh time the group of nine cardinals, representing five continents and the Vatican, have met to plot a revamp of the Vatican administration, which Francis has said needs to be overhauled to make it more efficient and responsive to today’s church.

In an interview with Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper ahead of the meetings, Francis acknowledged that internal resistance to his changes “is now evident.”

But he said opposition is healthy. “That is a good sign for me, getting the resistance out into the open, no stealthy mumbling when there is disagreement,” he said in the interview published Sunday.
The reforms wouldn’t be completed in 2015 and that “spiritual reform” of Vatican personnel was a longer-term concern, he said.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
Irish Times

Fr Tony Flannery

Tue, Dec 9, 2014

I have recently returned from an 18-city speaking tour in the US, organised by the network of Church Reform movements. They impressed me. Their commitment to the faith is strong, but they believe that the church as institution is not working, and that it needs urgent reform.

They display great energy and enthusiasm, and in my experience they are warm, loving people looking for a deeper spirituality and sense of community in their church. Their knowledge of theology is impressive.

More than half the people attending one gathering at a Call to Action conference in Memphis last month had masters degrees in theology. They are not the people who have left the church, but they are on the fringes. It was sad to see such an enormous resource being left unused by the church authorities.

The bishops in the US are much more vocal than our bishops who, with one or two exceptions, are quiet men who mostly avoid the public glare. The US “culture warrior” bishops take a strong public stance on some moral issues, mainly contraception, abortion and same-sex marriage.

Their doctrinaire statements, often followed by the sacking or excommunication of people who, according to them, violate the rules, drive many away from the churches.

Those who do not give up entirely often respond by setting up their own small communities, where they come together to pray, read the scriptures, and celebrate the Eucharist, with a married priest, with one of the Roman Catholic women priests or with no priest at all.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A 75-year-old man has been sentenced to six years behind bars at Reading Crown Court after pleading guilty, at a preliminary hearing, to historic child sex offences which took place in Windsor, Bournemouth and the Isle of Wight between 1965 and 1979.

Michael Feben, of Medina Avenue, Newport, pleaded guilty to six offences relating to three boys, aged between 11 and 13 years old.

Feben was a priest and aged in his twenties at the time of these offences and continued to offend for decades. This was a gross breach of his position of trust, as he took advantage of young boys who attended his parish.

– DET CON FRANCESCA WORLEY

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ESPANA
Noticias de Alava

[The Vitoria bishops said today that in 2010 he became aware of alleged sexual abuse of a child in the parish of Los Angeles Vitoria that occurred in 1983. The bishops said the alleged victim submitted a complaint to the bishop and accused a Dominican friar. Bishop Miguel Asurmendi told the victim he put the cases into the hands of the diocesan tribunal to initiate a preliminary investigation of the facts.]

Vitoria. El Obispado de Vitoria ha reconocido hoy que en 2010 tuvo conocimiento de un supuesto caso de abusos sexuales a un niño en la parroquia de Los Ángeles de la capital alavesa en 1983, que fue denunciado por la víctima pero que se archivó porque había prescrito.

El Obispado ha remitido un comunicado en el que admite que en abril de 2010 la presunta víctima remitió una denuncia por burofax al obispo en la que acusaba a un fraile dominico de los abusos ocurridos 27 años antes, en 1983.

El obispo, Miguel Asurmendi, comunicó al denunciante que había puesto el caso en manos del Tribunal Diocesano para iniciar la investigación previa de los hechos.

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GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – John Toves and his quest to confront the archbishop continues. Today the Guam native and California resident went to the Hagatna Precinct, seeking the Guam Police Department’s advice on whether he would be arrested if he were to go the chancery to try to seek yet another audience with the archbishop. Last week Archdiocese vicar general monsignor David Quitugua warned Toves that no meeting would occur and that any demands for an appointment or attempts to confront the archbishop on chancery grounds or elsewhere would be responded to appropriately and in accordance with law.

Police Officer Don Flickenger told Toves that he should seek guidance from the Attorney General’s Office. But according to Toves the AG’s Office informed him that they could not provide an interpretation of the letter as it is a private matter.

Despite not having their legal opinion, Toves proceeded to the chancery where his attempt to arrange a meeting with Archbishop Apuron…which once again failed.

Meanwhile escorting Toves was his good friend Father Paul Gofigan. Gofigan says the two went to seminary together and was there in a show of support. When asked if he was aware of any of the allegations Toves is bringing forward, the priest responded, “Yes I was, but it’s something that really again that where is the victim you know that is the issue it could be easily be taken cared of if there is a victim to really come forward but again this is a very sensitive issue for the victim himself and perhaps maybe he doesn’t want to at this time.”

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

[with video]

Esme Murphy

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The investigation into allegations that Archbishop John Nienstedt engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct with adult members of the clergy has apparently entered a new phase.

WCCO-TV has learned that the Archdiocese has hired a high-powered criminal defense attorney to continue the investigation by a prominent Twin Cities law firm.

That highly regarded attorney hired is Peter Wold, and his investigation comes at a time when the Archdiocese is undertaking deep budget cuts because of legal fees associated with the child sex abuse scandal.

The Archdiocese has already paid Twin Cities law firm Greene Espel to investigate the claims that Nienstedt misconducted himself with adult seminarians and members of the clergy.

Wold said his task will be to “tie up loose ends.”

He told WCCO that he has questioned at least one person who has made claims about Nienstedt. Wold said

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: December 8, 2014

Attorney Peter Wold has joined the ongoing investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the archbishop.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has hired a prominent criminal defense attorney to continue its investigation into possible sexual misconduct by Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Attorney Peter Wold has been retained to continue the investigation completed by the Greene Espel law firm in July, Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché confirmed Monday.

Wold has met with at least one man — previously unidentified in the media — who filed affidavits in the misconduct investigation earlier this year.

Joel Cycenas, a former archdiocese priest and former friend of Nienstedt’s, acknowledged he met with Wold last week. He had some concerns.

“I met with him [Wold] and they are trying to discredit my own affidavit,” wrote Cycenas in an e-mail. “I don’t get it.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 9, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

A long-term resident of a yoga ashram at the centre of a sex abuse inquiry wept as she said she saw no evidence of multiple child rapes despite living in close quarters with the victims and their abuser, the centre’s former leader Swami Akhandananda Saraswati✓.

Muktimurti Saraswatiwho has lived at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain on and off since 1978, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that she could not say whether the allegations were true or false.

Nine witnesses have given the royal commission graphic accounts of horrific physical and sexual abuse committed in the 1970s and 1980s over the past week of the inquiry.

Muktimurti told the commission that evidence before the inquiry had cast suspicion over the ashram, now known as the Mangrove Yoga Ashram.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Doctor ‘saw nothing wrong happening’ at Sydney ashram where children were raped and beaten

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 09, 2014

THE doctor at a Sydney ashram where children were beaten and raped by the guru saw nothing wrong happening, the child sex abuse royal commission was told today.

Dr Henry Sztulman even gave evidence for guru, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, at his trial for child sexual assault charges because he did not believe the young women who said they were forced to have sex with the swami, the commission heard.

He said that he never saw any evidence that the children were beaten and slapped and had “no idea” that Akhandananda and his second in charge, Shishy, whose name has been suppressed, were having sex even though they slept together in the same room.

Dr Sztulman, who lived at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain ashram from 1979 for a decade, said he found Akhandananda charismatic and held him in high regard.

“He seemed to be a man of wisdom. He had incredible knowledge of yoga. Those were the things that attracted me,” Dr Sztulman said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DECEMBER 09, 2014

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

A CURRENT devotee of a yoga ashram north of Sydney says she is not convinced that child sex abuse took place there during the 1970s and 1980s, and “the alleged victims are being venal” if their claims are false.

The woman, identified as Muktimurti, said in her statement to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that she finds it “morally questionable” for the victims to now seek financial compensation.

“I don’t agree with the ashram being held to ransom for something that none of us in the ashram community have anything to do with,” her statement said.

Eleven witnesses have given evidence to the commission describing the physical and sexual abuse of children at the Mangrove Mountain ashram.

At least three child victims have told the commission that Muktimurti, an Australian woman who has lived there since 1978, would be used to summon them to the bedroom of their guru, Akhandananda, who would then sexually abuse them.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A doctor has denied over-prescribing morphine to children at a NSW yoga ashram where he lived for a decade.

Former child residents at the Mangrove Yoga Ashram have given evidence that they were drugged, beaten and raped by the spiritual leader, Swami Akhandananda.

Practices at the NSW Central Coast retreat during the 70s and 80s are being examined by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Henry Sztulman, a GP who lived at the ashram for 10 years, denied allegations by witnesses that he prescribed morphine regularly for minor ailments like an infected toe.

‘Absolutely not,’ Dr Sztulman said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A worker at a New South Wales yoga ashram who denies fetching teenage girls from their beds at night and taking them to their spiritual leader, who sexually abused them, says the organisation should not be ‘held to ransom’ by people seeking compensation.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking at the handling of 11 complaints made against Swami Akhandananda Saraswati over the past 40 years, relating to abuse that happened in the 1970s and ’80s.

Muktimurti Saraswati told the Sydney hearing that she joined the ashram at Mangrove Mountain on the New South Wales Central Coast when she was 17.

She worked as a secretary and assistant to a woman called Shishi who has already appeared before the royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

An ashram should not be held responsible for abuse inflicted on children by its former spiritual leader and his second-in-command, two yoga devotees have told a royal commission.

Muktimurti, a longtime resident of the Mangrove Yoga Ashram on the NSW Central Coast, said on Tuesday she did not know if physical and sexual abuse as alleged by former child residents had taken place.

Muktimurti said she did not really believe the allegations against ashram leader Swami Akhandananda when he was brought to trial.

She said in her statement to the commission she found it ‘morally questionable’ for victims to now seek financial compensation.

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AUSTRALIA
The Daily Beast

Lizzie Crocker

An Australian Royal Commission aims to find out how sex abuse in the yoga cult founded by Swami Satyananda Saraswati flourished so heinously.

Indian guru Swami Satyananda Saraswati is celebrated in the yoga community as the founder of the international yoga movement Bihar Yoga and the purveyor of popular Tantric-based meditation techniques.

But few know that his Mangrove Mountain ashram in New South Wales, Australia, was a cloistered den of systemic sexual and physical abuse in the 1970s and 1980s—and is now at the center of a Royal Commission inquiry.

Most of the alleged abuse occurred at the hands of Satyananda’s disciple, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, a convicted pedophile and sadist who was masquerading as a peace-promoting, celibate leader of the Mangrove Mountain spiritual community.

Akhandananda was sentenced to prison for more than two years in 1989 for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl follower at the ashram, but the conviction was overturned in 1991 due to legislative changes at the time. He died from excessive alcohol consumption in 1997.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Windsor Observer

Former Windsor priest jailed for six years for historic child sex offences including indecent assaults at a Windsor church

A FORMER Catholic priest who took advantage of his position to abuse boys at a Windsor church has been jailed for historic sexual offences.

Michael Feben, pleaded guilty to six offences of indecent assault in the 1960s and 1970s on three boys who were aged between 10 and 15 with four of the offences happening in Windsor in the 1960s.
Feben, of Medina Avenue, Newport, the Isle of Wight, was sentenced to six years behind bars after pleading guilty at Reading Crown Court on Thursday.

The four offences in Windsor happened at St Edward’s Church, in Alma Road, between 1965 and 1967.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Francesca Worley of the Thames Valley Police Child Abuse Investigation Unit based at Windsor Police Station, said: “Feben was a priest and aged in his twenties at the time of these offences and continued to offend for decades. This was a gross breach of his position of trust, as he took advantage of young boys who attended his parish.

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